Chapter 26: A Storm

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Thunder echoed all around me, but I couldn't see a thing. I was completely surrounded by complete and total darkness to the point I couldn't even see my own limbs.

I hated the sound of thunder. I tried to move, tried to cover my ears, but no matter how much I tried to move my arms, they wouldn't go anywhere.

So I stayed like that for what felt like an eternity. Stuck.

Then a spotlight shined on a figure a good bit away from me. I could see it was a person, but it wasn't until the figure stood up and turned around that I was able to identify exactly who it was.

It was my mother.

"My baby," she cried out to me. I wanted to respond. I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to warn her about the storm. But nothing would come from my mouth.

The next thing I knew, a bolt of lightning flashed and thunder roared, temporarily overwhelming my sense of sight and sound. Once I could see again, my mother was still standing there, but now her chest was bleeding right where her heart was.

No. No. Not again. I don't wanna see this again. Blood started dripping from the corner of her mouth and that was when I couldn't take it anymore.

I needed to scream.

"Nooooo!" Jisung screamed out as he shot upright in his bed. Jisung was panting wildly as he frantically looked around his room for his mother. When all he saw was Minho sitting up in his own bed staring back at him worriedly, he finally realized that it had just been a nightmare.

"Are you okay?" Minho softly asked from across the room.

"Uh, yeah..." Jisung managed to say as his breathing steadied. "I was just having a bad-"

BAM. A loud clap of thunder rumbled through the entire academy and Jisung screamed immediately and wrapped his blanket tighter around him in response.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Minho asked more worriedly as he swung his legs over the side of his own bed to face the younger more directly.

"I really, really don't like thunderstorms. They always give me nightmares," Jisung admitted. "I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"

"No, I was already awake just now," Minho said as he shifted his gaze downward. "I also hate storms."

"Oh," was all Jisung said. The two of them sat there on their beds in silence for what seemed like ages before Jisung finally built up the courage to open his mouth again.

"Minho?"

"Yeah?"

Jisung hesitated for a moment before saying, "you can say no if you don't want to, but my mom always used to let me sleep in her bed whenever I woke up from a nightmare... and I was wondering... I mean if you're not opposed... do you think I could sleep with you in your bed for the rest of the night?"

Minho was taken aback by the request. Of course he didn't mind, but he really wasn't expecting to be asked that by the younger. He was about to open his mouth to respond when-

BAM. Another thunderclap sounded. This time, rather than just screaming, Jisung shot up from his bed and speed directly into Minho's, pulling up the covers and diving underneath them so that he was between Minho and the wall at that point.

The older had many conflicting emotions going on at once at that moment. Fear: he was also scared of the thunder because he really hated sudden loud noises. Amusement: the younger had been so cute just then he was trying to hold back a laugh. And lastly, embarrassment: his face was a red mess as a result of Jisung suddenly being in the same bed as him.

"I'm s-sorry," Jisung squeaked from under the covers.

"It's okay," Minho was able to reassure. "I was about to say I was okay with it anyway."

That was when Jisung finally uncovered his face and looked up at Minho who was still sitting up in bed to say, "Thank you."

"N-no problem," Minho stuttered in response as he pulled himself back into his bed and laid back down so that he could break eye contact with the breathtaking boy.

It took them a few minutes of moving around and apologizing to each other until they figured out the most comfortable way to sleep, but eventually, they both relaxed with Jisung's back against Minho's chest while Minho had his arms wrapped around the younger protectively. They continued to jump nervously each time the sound of thunder spread across the night, but they found comfort in each other's presence, and soon enough, the storm had passed and they drifted to a pleasant sleep.

*****

For the entire Monday after the thunderstorm, Minho didn't really get a chance to pay much attention to his teachers while in his morning classes, Korean and History. His mind kept going back to the night before, questioning if it meant anything.

'Of course it didn't you idiot. He was just scared and that's all,' Minho kept repeating to himself every time his mind considered that idea.

They were walking to lunch now, opting to stay inside since the ground was still wet from the storm the night before, when Chan came up behind him.

"Hey, are you doing okay, Minho? You've seemed out of it all morning," their leader asked as he threw a reassuring arm over Minho's shoulder.

"Yeah... I guess I'm just tired is all. I didn't sleep too well last night because of all the thunder," Minho lied. Truth be told, he slept amazingly last night as soon as Jisung joined him.

"That makes sense. Well, like I always say, if there ever is something wrong, know you can talk to me or any of the members," Chan said with a smile before addressing the whole group. "Felix, Changbin, Woojin, and I will get the food like usual. The rest of you should hurry to the lounge and snag a spot before it gets too crowded. And remember to not-"

"Not let anyone give their spots to us just because we are a team," Jisung finished Chan's sentence. "We know how to be humble, Chan hyung, with or without you. Have a little faith."

Chan just laughed in response to the passive aggressive comment, knowing that Jisung didn't mean anything negative by it. "If you say so," he even added with a wink before removing his arm from around Minho and walking off to get food.

Minho looked to Jisung briefly and the younger boy smiled in response before he grabbed the older's arm and dragged him into the lounge.

"Don't worry, if we get mobbed again 'cause everyone is inside for the most part today, we will just have Seungmin and Jeongin be their usual cute but savage selves and tell everyone to fuck off," he said to the older as he caught him nervously glancing into the lounge filled with people. The two youngest who were just mentioned didn't even correct him, and instead, just took the lead with Hyunjin as they proceeded forward.

Minho's nervousness was immediately replaced with a different emotion when he walked into the lounge and he was met with a gust of wind to the face.

"Using your gift is cheating, hyung!" someone shouted at the boy practically flying across the middle of the room with a plate full of pizza.

Minho immediately recognized both the gift and boy tauntingly stealing someone else's food as Beomgyu and the boy who was yelling at and chasing him as Heungingkai from their prison bust.

"Can you please both just calm down? Beomgyu, give him back his pizza," the boy, who Minho also recognized as Soobin, shouted at them while semi-hiding his face behind his hands, obviously embarrassed by the commotion his friends were causing. He was sitting in one of the windowsill loveseats along with Taehyun who just looked worried and Yeonjun who looked just about ready to fight the two goofing off.

A smile couldn't help but find its way to Minho's face at seeing these familiar faces. He had been so busy over the past week and a half with school and getting to know his own team that he hadn't had time to check in on any of the other runways from his time with BTS. Even if he had cut himself off from the rest of them while staying with BTS, he still felt a responsibility to them as an older brother.

That's why he didn't waste any time in surrounding Beomgyu in one of his force fields in order to get him to stay still. As soon as he did, Beomgyu whipped his head around the room looking for the only person he knew that could create such a barrier.

"Minho hyung!" he shouted when he made eye contact with the older. "What are you doing here?!"

"Uh... I live here?" Minho asked confused at the question as Heungingkai came to a stop just outside of Minho's forcefield, eyeing his stolen pizza.

"Well I know that, but everyone was saying that the team you're with here is all reclusive and doesn't really get seen outside of their dorm wing," Beomgyu explained.

"That's because we usually eat outside and like to avoid the paparazzi," Hyunjin says with a smile as he walked over to the three sitting around the loveseat. He was happy to see them doing well after their imprisonment, especially Yeonjun, and since Hyunjin had been apart of the undercover team alongside Minho, he had gotten a chance to start a friendship with those he'd met inside the prison. "I'm glad you guys decided to stay at the academy. I know Chan had mentioned that you weren't sure about it at first."

"Is Chan the guy with the curly, bleach blonde hair?" Soobin asked.

"Yeah, he's our team's leader," Hyunjin responded.

"Hey. You mind dropping the forcefield, Minho?" Beomgyu shouted, but Heungingkai immediately threw his hands up in a stopping gesture.

"No! Don't free him until he promises to hand over my lunch," he demanded. "Or better yet, Yeonjun! Just tell him to give it back."

"I'm not going to use my gift for the sake of petty teasing," Yeonjun groaned and went back to eating.

"Fine, fine. I'll give it back. Just let me free. I'm getting claustrophobic, Minho hyung."

So Minho compiled and Beomgyu actually handed Heungingkai his plate back, earning a wide smile from the youngest. They then walked over and joined everyone in a growing circle around the windowsill.

There had been quite a lot of other people in the lounge, but they had been purposely trying to stay out of their business because the Rank 5 was with them.

Minho sat down across from Taehyun who was sitting on the floor, leaning his back against the loveseat, and Taehyun gave him a smile as he did.

"You look good, hyung. You seem actually happy," Taehyun said to him.

Minho coughed after hearing that. Coughed on what? Who knows? But he felt like Taehyun had lowkey just called him out for being grumpy.

"You don't look too bad yourself," he managed to say in response.

"Yeah, the five of us have become really close and Yeonjunnie hyung and Soobinnie hyung have been helping me be a bit more courageous. At least not as big as the wimp you knew before."

Beomgyu came and sat down next to Taehyun, wrapping his arm around his shoulder in a similar reassuring fashion that Chan had done to Minho just before.

"Stop being so hard on yourself. You handled yourself just fine and definitely weren't a wimp."

"So why'd you tease me so much?" he whined at the older.

"Cause it was fun," Beomgyu said with a smile and a shrug.

"You seem like someone I'd get along with," Seungmin says, joining their conversation.

Just then, Chan and the rest of the food crew walked up to them.

"Hey, guys. Long time no see," Chan said with a bright smile as they made the sitting circle larger and started handing out food. "How are you guys enjoying JYP Academy?"

"It's amazing actually," Yeonjun said as a smile grew on his face. Everyone was happy to see him enjoying himself the most since he had had the hardest time.

"Yeah, we are even going to try and become a team during the tournament the week after next," Heungingkai said confidently.

"Tournament?" Minho questioned, confused.

"Oh, did we never tell you about it?" Jisung said who had taken a seat next to Minho in the circle.

"It's an alternative opportunity for a group of students to become a team without having to go through a heavy training process beforehand," Chan explained. "Regular students can form their own temporary teams and compete against the formed teams in events, and if the temporary team manages to beat the official team, they are allowed to go on their first mission."

"Most of the time, the temporary teams fail, though because they don't have the same training as the official ones," Woojin added. "The main purpose of the tournament is to just be a fun event for students to watch or maybe participate in."

"Day6 is the only team to be formed this way. They managed to beat Got7 at the tournament two years ago," Seungmin stated proudly.

"Which only happened because Jae managed to get Bambam and Jackson drunk enough to have them make a stupid promise to Dowoon about letting them win," Hyunjin defended Got7.

"Still, it was fair play since it was just a clever application of a gift," Seungmin said back with a coy shrug.

"Well we are definitely going to beat whoever we are faced up against," Heungingkai stated proudly.

"Especially since we've heard that the academy's most powerful team, Twice, won't be participating this year because they are on an extensive mission overseas," Soobin added.

"Well if you get put against us, I wouldn't be too confident even if you do have a Rank 5 as a member," Chan said with a challenging smile. "My team won't be going easy on anyone."



*********



My editor was taking too long so apologies if there are more mistakes than usual.

So I know I'm like a week late to comment on Side Effects, but I freaking love it so much! 😭 😭 I honestly think it beat My Pace out to be my favorite title track.

Q: If you had to describe yourself in five words, what would they be?

Hmmm.

Imaginative. Kind. Dorky. Lazy. Calm. 

And yeaaaa. That's about all I got for that one. 

Short A/N but I still love you all. Thank you for reading!

~Shadow

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