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 :')
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It was a Tuesday evening and Jeongin had just gotten home from work.
Today was strange. The past week, with his lightened workload and extra hours of rest, he'd been feeling markedly better physically and mentally, but today, Jeongin was tired and stressed. And he'd only gotten worse as his shift progressed. A headache had been pressing at his skull in waves— squeezing it like thinly-stretched rubber bands all day— and the longer it lingered, the sloppier his movements and words became.
"Hey, Jeongin," Seungmin welcomed, while Jeongin tried not to trudge through the house as he walked inside.
Seungmin's parents were there as well, in the kitchen cooking dinner while Seungmin stood at the counter with his phone in hand; they said their warm-smile-wrapped hellos. Jeongin felt a bit exposed in front of them, knowing he was in some kind of state that he understood neither the meaning of, nor the cause for. He planned to head straight upstairs after saying a quick hello back to everyone— but Seungmin threw a wrench in those plans unknowingly by striking up a conversation.
"You haven't seen the group chat, have you?"
Jeongin shook his head, stepping closer obligingly when Seungmin held out his phone for inspection.
On it, there was a picture of a small, plain-looking townhouse, with its only striking feature being the smiling Changbin on its porch, holding a thumbs-up.
"Apparently Chan hyung got a house in town with Changbin hyung. He just sent the picture."
It hurt to do, but Jeongin momentarily raised his eyebrows in surprise. Something slurred, along the lines of 'that's awesome' left his lips. He wasn't really sure. Rather, he was sure only of the growing knot in his stomach. Something was off. He could feel something rising to the surface inside of him, so he bit his lip and inched toward the stairs, toward the retreat of his room, isolated by a closed door.
But Seungmin continued on, glancing back at his phone, looking over the chat— missing the way Jeongin looked more ready to burst with every passing second that he stuck around for the sake of being polite and not walking away while Seungmin was still talking to him. "Oh, he's asking if we wanna have a little housewarming party tonight. You down for that?"
Already having climbed the first step, hand on the banister, Jeongin replied, "Um— m-maybe. One second— I'll be right back." He just needed a minute or two alone. He hoped. So he made a break for it.
Uneasy, Jeongin shut the door of his room behind him and slid down against it, biting his nails.
His mind felt funny.
Everything was slipping away from him— his sense, his composure, even his inner monologue's coherent words.
It was starting to feel lighter, but at the same time, heavier. Jeongin felt all his defenses dissolve— and at last, this felt familiar. Oh no.
