SEQUEL TO HOLD ME
"it's only human."
those are words that stick in the minds of eight boys who have found themselves closer than ever because of a year spent at the same college.
minsung, seungin, changhyunlix... and chan :')
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
.
Boredom hit hard, even when they were all hyped up on anxiety and discomfort and regret and huge doses of fear. Minho had gone out and bought a deck of cards from a nearby convenience store this morning, and it'd been a bit more of an ordeal than he expected, because apparently torrential rainstorms were now officially in season.
She'd been doing better this morning, well enough to sit up for a moment (but not quite well enough to stand), just to give Jisung the tightest hug she could muster. (Minho had taken a keen interest in the floor tiles right around then.)
By the time the three of them ran out of card games to play (and after having played War twice and Go Fish about... maybe seven times), Jisung's mother was exhausted enough to say she'd rest her eyes for a bit. Jisung still sat in the chair pulled right up next to her bedside (where he'd been all morning), and he kept a gentle hold on her hand as she dozed off. Minho didn't like how haggard and sunken her face now appeared. Had it happened overnight?
Was it the sickly hospital lights that made her look... old?
Looking at her, Minho came to the conclusion that he probably wouldn't survive being a hospital patient. The idea of being confined to a bed in the middle of a wide room with lights on; with chairs for visitors to gather around him, staring, talking in soft voices... it was torturous.
In fact, pondering this gave him such an ick that he got antsy, feeling his stomach turn. He sought distraction, but go figure, everything he fixed his eyes on in this room, from the monitors to the industrial light fixtures, served to remind him that he was, in fact, in a hospital, even if he wasn't actually the poor unfortunate soul on the receiving end of all this disturbing, wildly uncomfortable nonsense.
He just needed something to occupy his mind for a while... and there was Jisung, sitting so quietly, staring into space.
"Um... Jisung," Minho began, quietly.
shit, i should've thought about what i was going to ask him. shitshitshit.
"Yeah?" Jisung murmured back.
whatever you do, just don't ask something touchy or... something that would make him feel bad.
but i can't just hit him with 'so uh, weather, huh?' it's gotta be interesting. ish. just not boring.
"Do you mind if I ask..."
some random thing i always wondered about him? uh...
"Um, what happened to your dad?"
aaaand i blew it. that's probably too personal; too weird. and perhaps too touchy, just like i wanted to avoid! he's not gonna wanna answer something like that because... we're not... close... anymore.
