It Started In The Hallway - Minsung

Forty

It's 7:00 PM and they are all sitting in a big booth at a cafe. Jisung is right next to Minho, obviously.

"What are you getting, Jisung?" Minho asks.

"Oh, I'm not getting anything. I didn't bring any money, heh." Jisung replies.

"You can choose something, I can buy it for you." Minho says.

"No, no, I'm fine." Jisung says.

"Is hot chocolate good?" Minho asks, ignoring what Jisung said before.

"I mean yea, but really, you don't have to get me anything!" Jisung says.

"It's ok."

They all order and get their stuff.

"So, Felix and Changbin are dating right? But what about Minho and Jisung?" One of the boys say.

"Oh, no! We aren't..." Jisung says, embarrassed.

"But you like Minho, don't you?"

"H-huh? No way!" Jisung says, flustered.

"Come on, just admit it~" another boy says.

"N-no, really..." Jisung is starting to feel anxious and uncomfortable now. He doesn't know why they are asking him instead of Minho too, but Minho is just laughing along.

"You might as well just start dating, you look so cute together. I think he's lying, haha. Are you sure you don't like him?" They are all laughing at him.

They just won't stop trying to pressure Jisung and he can feel the tears forming in his eyes.

"Can I get out please?" Jisung asks Minho, tugging on his shirt a little while looking down.

"Are you okay?" Minho asks, not moving yet. 

"I think we embarrassed him so he's running away, haha." They continue joking. They can't tell Jisung is sad, they just think of it as teasing him a little.

"Please, can you just let me go?"

Minho moves and lets Jisung through. He is going to wait until Jisung comes back to ask again.

Minho sits there in silence, listening to the others but not really interacting while waiting for Jisung to come back.

Jisung decides to go to the upstairs bathroom in hopes that nobody will be there. He was right. As soon as he gets there, he gets into a stall and he just starts crying, sitting in the corner. He is having a panic attack.

His heart is racing, he can't stop crying, and he is struggling to breathe. He feels like he is going to pass out.

He sits in the bathroom for around three minutes before he gets messages from Minho.

"Are you okay?"

"Where are you? I can't find you."

"Answer me, Jisung."

Jisung doesn't want to worry Minho, so he messages back, "I'm fine! Don't worry about me!"

After a few more minutes Minho bursts through the door, concerned.

"Jisung? Are you in here?" Minho asks. But he could tell Jisung was with all the sniffling.

Minho walks to the stall, trying to open it.

"Jisung, open the door." Minho says.

After a few seconds, Minho can hear the click of the stall door opening, but Jisung goes right back to his spot on the floor.

Minho opens the door to see Jisung, tears streaming down his cheeks, him shaking.

"Jisung..." Minho says as he gets on his knees and starts hugging Jisung while pulling his head close, letting him cry into his shoulder. He can feel the smaller boy shaking.

He sits down next to Jisung and pulls him onto his lap, letting Jisung lay on him. He continues running his hands through Jisungs hair and stroking his head, letting Jisung cry into his shoulder more.

They sit there for a quite a few minutes before Jisung tries to talk.

"I haven't had a panic attack in a while... I thought I was doing good..." Jisungs voice breaks a couple times.

"It's okay, you're doing perfectly fine." Minho says, still holding Jisung closely.

"I really don't like it when people go up against me... it makes me feel really bad, like I did something wrong..." Jisung says, wanting to cry again.

"I'm sorry... I ruined the fun. If only I wasn't so sensitive..." Jisung says, a few more tears escaping.

Minho quickly wipes Jisungs tears off his cheeks.

"You did nothing wrong, I should've noticed sooner. You're doing good." Minho says, continuing to cuddle Jisung, rubbing his back.

"There is no way I can stay here after this... I will walk home, you can stay here with them."

"I'm not going to let you walk home alone, it's 8:30, it's dark." Minho says.