Respiration

7

Jinyoung woke up the next morning with Jackson on his mind yet again. Ever since he's invaded his life, Jinyoung's mind had been compromised as well. He's found himself distracted with thoughts of Jackson a lot recently, it was kind of weird.

He tried to focus on more important things as he got ready for school, but Jackson still occasionally crept into his mind. It was probably because Jinyoung had never met someone like him before. Jackson was such a high spirited, excitable, kind hearted and caring guy, it was almost startling. He was definitely a one of a kind person, that's what really stood out to Jinyoung the most.

And again Jinyoung was stuck deep in thought about him, only to realize he'd spent 20 minutes blankly staring into space. He quickly snapped out of it, grabbing his bag and rushing out the door.

He walked out of his apartment only to be greeted with that damn bright red convertible. The color was starting to annoy Jinyoung, and so was the presence of Jackson, especially when he kept trying to distance himself from the guy.

Jackson seemed oblivious to that though, waving excitedly at Jinyoung when he noticed the latter exiting the building. "Jinyoung! Look, I know that yesterday you told me not to-"

"Why are you here? I said don't come. What part of that don't you get?" Jinyoung asked, storming up to the car and catching Jackson by surprise with his sharp tone.

Jackson scratched the back of his head, looking down at his lap. "I know Jinyoung but please let me explain-"

"There's nothing to explain. Don't come means don't come. Is it that hard for you to respect my wishes?" Jinyoung was laying it on a bit thick, and deep in his chest, he felt like he was being too mean. Jackson only had good intentions, he knew that. But he didn't want to become Jackson's responsibility. He didn't like suddenly getting close him so fast, and becoming a burden on top of that was crossing the line.

Jackson struggled to try and reason with him. "N-No but-..."

As Jackson tried to explain, Jinyoung actively didn't want to hear it, knowing that anything Jackson would say would only make him feel worse about rejecting his constant offers to help. "Look, I appreciate everything you've done for me, but I've been living completely independent for the past couple of years or so, and I don't suddenly need someone to come around and baby me. Thank you so much for everything, but you can stop helping me now."

Jinyoung started walking away, heading in the direction of the bus stop. Jackson pulled up next to him in his car, driving slowly down the street to keep up. "Jinyoung just wait a sec..."

"I have to go. I'll be late for class." Jinyoung stated, not even looking over at him.

"Okay, at least let me drive you to the bus stop." Jackson offered.

Jinyoung again shot it down. "I can walk."

"What if you have another attack again?" Jackson blurted out.

Jinyoung stopped in his tracks, turning towards the car. He gave Jackson a look sharper than he intended to, the latter immediately shutting his mouth after bringing up the topic Jinyoung almost always avoided. Jinyoung stepped closer, leaning over the side of the car. "Y'know, I have to think about that every single day. I have to pay attention to my surroundings and take allergy medicine just so nothing fucks with my asthma, and I've done it all by myself for a while now. I don't need your help, now leave me alone."

Jackson obviously knew he messed up by bringing up Jinyoung's asthma, as he didn't even try to argue after that point. Jinyoung walked away, leaving Jackson behind in his car. Only a minute or so later did Jinyoung see that exact car driving past him, obviously heading to school. He let out a breath, and had no idea why a tiny part of him wished Jackson had stayed and argued a bit longer. But of course, Jinyoung clearly said he wanted to be left alone, why would he have stayed?

Jinyoung watched the red car zoom off into the distance, knowing that he'd probably just ruined yet another possible friendship. It wasn't unexpected though, since it wasn't the first time, and probably won't be the last.

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(*Trust me a good portion of the angst in this story will be for very minor reasons because Jinyoung is a dramatic bish lmao*)