Pain Is Never Permanent

26 1 0
                                    

Jisung's dreams liked to stay in the past. That was alright with him, he'd much rather relive days he'd spent wishing he was older, wishing the others didn't baby him so much.

Stupid, he thought. Stupid, ungrateful brat. He'd give anything, absolutely anything to have that back. He didn't deserve Taeyong. No one did, and he wouldn't make that same mistake with Sicheng.

Last night, he found himself in Taeyong's living room. He used to babysit for Jisung's parents, even as Jisung was self proclaimed 'too old' for a babysitter. He was fourteen!

Taeyong's apartment was always open to everyone, so it was usually the hangout spot for their group. Not to mention how cozy it was (and it was on the bottom floor). Taeyong always kept everything clean and organized. Jisung wondered how he could stand having so many people around all the time, since he'd just have to keep cleaning up. When he'd asked, Taeyong just shrugged and said that he liked having company so he didn't mind.

That made sense, as Taeyong often got lonely while Jaehyun was away at college with Johnny. The two worked at the radio station for the city, somehow managing to get their own time slot when the older guys who had been running it by themselves decided they wanted to spend more time at home before they actually retired.

Jaehyun was there on a full athletic scholarship, playing for their college's soccer team (which Yuta had been the captain of before he graduated and passed the title off to Jaehyun). Johnny was there for Fashion Design, which most strangers found surprising because apparently their idea of a "masculine guy" normally wouldn't take that path, but Jisung thought it was all too fitting.

It was over spring break that Jaehyun and Johnny were able to come home (home being Taeyong's apartment, remember), so a large chunk of their group were all hanging out, and it just so happened to be a night that Taeyong was babysitting Jisung. Johnny had his own apartment, but he usually spent time with everyone before going off to be alone.

Chenle was on the wood floor, lining up dominoes and absolutely losing it on whoever was unlucky enough to shake the floor a little too hard when they moved-more often than not, that person was Jisung.

Jisung was chewing on his gloves, the ones he used to wear to protect his hands from his constant need to chew on something. His fingers were already so scarred up, he couldn't imagine what they'd look like after another fourteen years if his parents hadn't stepped in to fix his habit. The fabric was soaking wet but Jisung kept right on gnawing at the glove anyway.

During the time when Jaehyun had gone into the bedroom to change out of his pajamas, Yuta had arrived wearing baggy sweatpants and a way oversized hoodie. Jisung had a hard time believing anything could be oversized on Yuta, and Jisung thought that if he were to try it on, he'd disappear.

Sicheng was still in school, Yuta had remarked sadly. He'd be going to pick him up later on that night to start their late spring break, and he figured he'd stop by to pass the time.

Mark and Donghyuck sat side by side on the couch across the room. Donghyuck was hugging Mark's arm, his legs tucked between Mark's as he pressed kisses to the boy's cheek every few minutes, and Mark looked like he was about to doze off. He must've been, since Mark was always embarrassed about PDA (it wasn't a, "get off me, not now" type of embarrassment, more of a, "nobody look at me!").

"Oh, hey, Yuta," Jaehyun said when he reappeared in his new attire (black T-shirt, black jeans, and a barbed wire choker-he seemed to be taking on a less extreme version of Taeyong's alternative goth agenda, Jisung wouldn't be surprised if he started seeing Jaehyun with tapers in his ears pretty soon), seeing that there was one more person in the room than when he'd left. "What's up?"

Lost Boys {Book Two}Where stories live. Discover now