Not Just Fan Service

stage 28: avoid

★·.·'𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚏𝚊𝚗 𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚌𝚎'·.·★

"Is Jisung still here?" Seungmin asked as he sat down beside Felix with a bowl of popcorn. It was already three in the afternoon and Jisung had been hanging out in Minho's room all morning, only having exited together once to bring their dishes from breakfast out to the sink.

"Yeah, he is," Felix replied to the younger and right after he said so, Minho walked out to inform them, "taking a shower, do y'all need the bathroom before I get in there?"

"Nope," Seungmin shook his head as Felix did the same. Minho nodded in response and then walked back down the hallway as Felix picked up the remote to hit play on Lost, watching for only a minute before Jisung hurriedly walked out into the living room, making a beeline for the front door.

"Hey- oh, are you leaving now?" Felix asked as he paused the show, he and Seungmin had started in the living room. Jisung turned as the foreigner continued, "Minho just got in the shower. And, you know, I'm sure he's expecting to see you once he gets out."

"Yeah, and that's why I plan on being gone," Jisung gave a short nod paired with a simple smile before turning back towards the front door again, reaching for the handle.

"Why?" Seungmin asked, eyebrows furrowed before he wondered, "are you avoiding him now?"

"I just think I should keep a little bit of distance for a minute," Jisung sighed out, trying to keep it short and simple so as to not expose any of his thoughts, "not be too clingy. I don't want him to catch on."

"Ji, why are you actually avoiding him all of the sudden?" Felix pressed a little more, sitting on the edge of his seat. Part of him knew it wasn't going to work. That Jisung wouldn't crack. But the other part of him was hoping Jisung would open up to him.

"I'm f..." Jisung trailed off, unable to even say the stupid phrase, "It's just complicated, okay? I'll see you guys at practice tomorrow."

Felix and Seungmin shared a look as Jisung finally opened the door and left. The duo sat in silence for a moment before playing their show again, trying to get their mind off the older to not worry about him. And even though they tried to focus on their show, they ended up pausing it five minutes later when Minho came out into the living room, asking, "where's Hannie?"

"He headed back to his dorm," Felix replied with a shrug.

"Oh," Minho replied with a small nod, turning to head back to his room, but then turning back to continue, "wait- but why? I thought he was free the whole day."

"Maybe he ended up having something to work on after all?" Seungmin replied with a shrug of his own. Minho watched the duo as they shared a look before he hummed in response and headed back to his room slowly, scratching his head. After they heard the older's bedroom door click shut, Seungmin turned to Felix, "do you think he bought it?"

"Nope not even slightly," Felix replied, but he played the show once again anyway.

Over in his own room, Jisung played a random video from YouTube on his TV. He wasn't paying attention to it, but he needed it for sound as he sat with his laptop in his hold, writing away lyrics that would probably never see the light of day as he wasn't sure what else to do in his state. He couldn't think of any other way to organize his thoughts.

His phone buzzed but he didn't bother looking at it, assuming it was Minho asking where he was and he knew that if he looked at the notification, he'd feel more tempted to answer it. So, he was better off pretending like there was nothing there.

He wrote for the rest of the night, getting out every single feeling he'd had ever since they started up. Ever since the Maniac Tour. Ever since...he wasn't sure. He still couldn't tell if the feelings were there beforehand. Maybe they had been. Maybe they'd been there all along and Jisung was just too blind to see it.