He's So Innocent

Smile(23)

"Wait what the fuck?"
Chan shook his head and sighed.
"I know, fuck, okay so I was closing up at the cafe once I got back my from my dinner break when I talked to Jisung and I thought hey I should go check on Minho, make sure he isn't hurting himself or anything. The guy just fucking left and this is all there was," he responded, fumbling to pull a piece of paper out of the pocket of his jeans.
He shoved it into Seungmin's hands.
"Hey it's Minho. If u found that that means u care about me. Nothing to worry about I just wanted to get some air and the constellations in the sky look really pretty. if u see jisung, or are jisung, I need to talk to him immediately. some things I just can't write in a suicide letter."

"Woah," Felix muttered, standing up. Changbin and the other stood up with him. "I think we have some tracking down to do," the shortest boy mentioned.
Jisung scratched his neck.
"I'm not so sure," Jisung began as he bit his lip, "what if it's too late?"

He regretted saying the words as soon as they left his mouth.
He still loved Minho. No exceptions.
He couldn't get the boy out of his mind, the way his lips tasted, the way his eyes shone, the way his laugh was deep within his throat.
All of it, Jisung was drunk on it.
Jisung couldn't be happy without thinking of Minho.
As much as he neglected the feeling, Minho made him smile.

"Jisung you absolute shithead," Jeongin yelled.
His things shook their heads with a disapproving look. "No swearing," Chan advised.
Jeongin waved his response away, turning his attention to Jisung. "You have to be kidding me. You are gonna neglect the boy that pulled you out of your shitty life?"
Jisung felt his jaw drop. He never told Jeongin any of that in the short time they knew each other. He saw Felix raise and eyebrow and cough.
"I'm sorry he was asking about you-"
"Fine whatever. Fuck it," Jisung said, throwing his arms into the air.
The blonde turned to Felix, eyeing him with a small frown.
"You know him the best, so where could he be?"
Felix scratched his chin and hummed.
"Shit," he exclaimed.
The other boys looked at him with confused eyes.
"He wouldn't be at the cliff, that's too easy, he knows that's where we would look, maybe-"
Felix's eyes widened.
"Everybody in the car, I'm driving," Felix mumbled, eyes zoning out as he pondered. The others trusted the freckled boy and moved to Seungmin's car, a black minivan his mother used to transport him and his soccer team-

when he actually played soccer.

"Yah Seungmin, whens the last time you played baseball?" Hyunjin teased as he climbed into the back of the van.
Seungmin rolked his eyes.
"One, it's soccer, you know this. And two, I was 12," he bragged.
The others just shook their heads. Chan scoffed as he took shotgun, "Is there anything I can help with, Lee?"
Felix shook his head, putting the car in reverse.
"Just sit tight and find something on the radio."
_

"Felix, where the fuck are we?" Seungmin asked, peering out the window in the pitch blackness.
Felix ignored him and pulled the car over. He slid the gears into park and gestured for everyone to stay silent. The boys complied, exiting the vehicle carefully.
Everyone was curious, even Felix who knew where they were.
They approached a darkened building, cloaked with night. The moon did little to illuminate the area but the boys could tell that there was some abandoned houses nearby.
Jisung walked at the back of the pack and ran his fingers along the wall as the group headed inside. His insides were rattling with anxiety but he had to be strong.
His fingers ghosted over a picture frame once they stepped inside, but the glass was so fractured that Jisung couldn't make out the picture. He shrugged and kept walking.
Felix led them to a staircase where they climbed a few floors.
"Apartment building?" Jisung heard Jeongin whisper to him. All he did in response was out his finger to his lips.
The boys stopped climbing at floor 4 and walked to the end of the hallway.
Suddenly, they stopped.
Jisung pushed his way to the front of the group, standing next to Felix.
"Here?" he mouthed. Felix nodded and Jisung's hand landed on the doorknob. He took a distilled breath in and turned his wrist.
The door pushed open.
Someone looked up.
Tears slowly ran down his face, but he still made one surprising gesture.

He smiled.

And who was it?

Minho.

"You found me," he whispered.
"Yeah I guess I did," Jisung muttered. The other boys held back as Jisung walked in, knowing he was the only one that could reach him.
Jisung entered the room and saw how dusty everything was. Minho was seated on the couch  which was worn and tattered.
Jisung sat next to him, but still a foot away.

"How'd we get here?" Minho said, breaking the silence.
Jisung shrugged.
"I guess we both have some messed up lives."
Minho scoffed then, causing Jisung to look away and look at his shoes.
"You? Messed up? So your dad doesn't live you and your mom died, tragic. You don't understand...."
Jisung blinked.
"Minho, you're right, I don't understand. I don't understand the longing emptiness you feel because you never actually got to live the life and childhood everyone seemed to because of your fucked up parents..." Jisung responded calmly.
Minho's breathing stalled.
He turned to look at Jisung, his eyes tearing up.
"Wait...how do you know about my parents?"
Jisung looked at him and then back at his knees.
"The nurses told me," he lied, not wanting to throw Felix under the bus.
Minho shook his head.
"I don't-"
Jisung cut him off, "I visited you everyday, but only when you were sedated because I knew you wouldn't want to see me."

Minho blinked and a single tear fell from his eye.
"So you were the asshole that kept leaving chocolate milk in my room."

He let out a choked laugh and stood up.
"Wow..."
Jisung stood up after him and faced the older boy.
"Minho, where are we?"

The other boy grimaced.
"The place where it all went down."

"What-

"The apartment my dad lived in. Where I lost my parents..."

Jisung was silent for a moment. He was going through every ounce of memory in his mind.

"So?"
Minho snapped his head to look at Jisung.
"So?! My mom was so innocent and-"

Jisung looked up at Minho, confidence in his throat.
"And she's gone. Well so is my mom, so shouldn't we be growing from that instead of dwelling on it?" Jisung advised. He placed a hand on Minho's shoulder.
"I'm willing to if you are."

Minho bit his lip and pondered.
"You'll just leave again."

Jisung snorted.
"Did I leave the first time? I'm sorry, but everything I said to you in the floristry was true, I swear on it," Jisung cleared his throat then, "And you left me, almost for forever..."

Minho looked down at Jisung and let another tear fall. He didn't bother to wipe it.

"Look," Jisung mentioned, "You don't have to like me, love me, or tolerate me, or even want to see me, but right now? We are going to get through this, and we will do it together."

The light in Minho's eyes glinted as his lips threatened to quirk up in a small grin.
"I have something to tell you."

Jisung raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah?"

"I-"