Therapy // Minsung

T H I R T Y - T H R E E

i've been very excited to publish this chapter >:))

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something was different when minho walked into jisung's office the next day. instead of the usual softly dimmed lights, jisung sitting in his spiny chair, and files all across his desk, the lights were pretty bright, jisung sat on the couch minho usually sits on, and there were blank pieces of paper on his desk, accompanied by some colored pencils.

"what's going on?" minho asked, completely confused on why everything seemed so different.

jisung smiled upon the other entering, welcoming him into the room. "we are going to try something different today. take a seat at my desk."

minho nodded, following the elders instructions and awkwardly taking a seat. he felt weird sitting at his therapists desk, but he kept quiet about it.

"you're an artist, correct?" jisung asked for clarification. minho nodded again, which made jisung happy he remembered the correct information.

"alright. since you have trouble expressing how you're feeling, i want you to draw it. i'm giving you forty-five minutes. draw in as much or as little detail as you want. just try putting your emotions into your art. draw me how you're feeling. then we'll talk about it."

minho mumbled a quick 'okay', before picking up a pencil and began getting to work. jisung relaxed on the couch, just playing games on his phone. he didn't want to watch over minho and have him feel pressured to hurry or feel embarrassed.

at first, minho didn't know what to do. put my emotions into art? what kind of crap is this?

but then, he got an idea. minho grabbed the colors he knew he would need, pushing the others off to the side so they didn't get in his way. he began drawing away.

after about fifteen minutes, jisung peered his eyes over to see how the other was doing. he seemed completely in the zone. his hand was busily moving, his head tilted slightly to the left as he bit his lip. his focused face made him look cute, and jisung took a mental picture.

minho finished a few minutes before the forty-five minutes were up. his left hand was cramping and felt completely sore, but he was proud of the drawing.

and now, the hardest part of any artists career; explaining the meaning of their work.

minho walked over to the couch and plopped himself next to jisung, who stared at the drawing in completely awe. he was, in full honesty, just expecting a stick figure with a frowny face, but this was completely different.

it was space. the paper was now colored black, aside from a white and subtle orangey-red planet in the middle of the paper. the sun was in the distance, you could tell because it was smaller and off to the side. there were little white stars surrounding both the main images to make it look more realistic.

"i- this is- i'm so?? wow..." jisung struggled to get any words out, and minho embarrassingly chuckled as his face turned red. "this is outstanding! can you explain what it means?"

minho took a breath, twirling the strings on his sweatshirt as he spoke.

"that planet in the middle is pluto. pluto is the furthest planet from the sun, i mean if you believe in it. recently, i've been feeling like pluto. forgotten, alone, small...and i feel like i'm the furthest from my sun, the sun being any ray of hope i have that things will get better for me."

minho stopped and paused, keeping his eyes on the drawing. he gulped, being afraid of getting judged.

but jisung smiled and rubbed his back, encouraging minho to go on.

"i'm constantly being misplaced as either a good or bad person, like how pluto is misplaced as a planet or not. i feel like nobody would care if i were just gone, much like how people don't care of pluto is a planet or if it were to be gone—again. and most of all, i feel like i'm trapped in my own solar system, away from humanity. and no matter how many planets i'm surrounded by, i'm still alone...lost in a giant solar system."

jisung blinked, completely speechless. he had no idea how to respond to that. he wasn't expecting it all.

"oh, minho..." he frowned, pulling the younger into a hug. "it's my job to bring you closer to your 'sun', and that's what i'm going to do, okay? but in order to do that, i need you to open up to me more. do you think you can do that?"

minho thought about it, he was proud to say he can. within the last few months, he's grown to become more comfortable around jisung, the elder making him feel safe. like he can trust him with anything, and that he'll never stir minho in the wrong direction.

and that's why minho decided, right then, it's time to stop being like pluto.

~

this was only part one of the space foreshadowing ehehe, there is still more to come! ^^