Chapter 27: Can't Be Alone

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After the encounter with Beomgyu and Taehyun, Minho was reminded that he should probably also check in with Ryujin and Yuna, so he ended up looking for them after their afternoon class. Jisung had tagged along, saying that he was Minho's 'get out of jail free card' in case he got mobbed by students. Whatever the hell that means.

Luckily, they weren't mobbed and ended up finding the two of them, along with three other girls, sparring with each other by the large pond behind the academy. They stopped sparring as soon as they saw the two boys approach them.

"Jisung!" The girl with the high ponytail, whom Minho didn't recognize, called out. "Long time no see. You and Chan and everyone else have been so busy as a team, we hardly get to see you anymore." She walked up to the two of them, and after giving Jisung a hug, much to Minho's annoyance, she turned her attention to him.

"You must be Minho. My name is Yeji and I've heard a lot about you from Ryujin and Yuna as well as all the gossip going around," she said to him as she extended her hand for Minho to shake.

"What kind of rumors?" Minho asked as he shook her hand, interested to hear what was being said about him.

"How you're quiet and don't like to talk to other people other than the other Stray Kids members," Ryujin walked up with Yuna. "The quiet and distance part isn't new, but it is good to hear that you are opening up to some people. Cool team name, too."

"Yup, yup. How did you manage to do it?" Yuna asked Jisung. "We tried to get him to open up to us for months and he never did."

Jisung pretended to think about it for a bit, and then shrugged, saying, "I guess I just have a special charm."

Yeji just punched him in the arm. "Still as cocky as ever."

They continued to talk with the five girls for a bit, Jisung and Yeji introducing the other two girls that Minho didn't know as Chaeryeong and Lia. It turned out that they had been practicing for the tournament themselves just now, so Minho was beginning to understand how big of a deal this whole thing was.

After Jisung gave them the same statement as Chan did earlier about how Stray Kids wouldn't be going easy on anyone if they fought, the two of them decided to go back to their dorm and let the girls continue to practice.

*****

Later that night, after Minho had gone to sleep, he was suddenly woken up by someone crawling into his bed. He groggily opened his eyes and saw Jisung there for the second night in a row.

Jisung seemed to notice Minho wake up and hurriedly said, "I had another nightmare."

"Are you okay? It isn't even storming," Minho said back, still half asleep.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I've just been thinking about my parents too much lately for some reason, and I figured since you were fine with it last night it would be okay... If you don't want me to, I can go back to my bed," Jisung mumbled as he started to slide back out of bed. Minho confirmed he was completely fine with it by grabbing the smaller boy around his waist and pulling back into the bed before falling back to sleep.

What Jisung hadn't wanted to say was that he was slowly starting to realize that Seungmin and Hyunjin had been right, much to his own annoyance. He was falling in love with Minho. And he also realized why he was so scared of that fact.

He now had a loved one he could lose. Just like how he lost his mom and dad.

*****

The week flew by, and suddenly it was the weekend again. Chan had proposed they should do something fun as a team since the next weekend would be the tournament and they wouldn't have another free day for a while as a result. Hyunjin happily recommended a swim day which they all agreed to, so they got ready and headed down to the pool.

Unfortunately, a ton of other students seem to have had the same idea, and the pool was heavily crowded. They didn't want to just give up on their idea of swimming since they were already dressed and ready to swim, so Woojin suggested swimming at the pond instead. Apparently, all of the original students used to just swim there instead back in the day because the pool had only been built five years prior.

When they got to the lake, they had fun and were goofing off in the water, but Jisung seemed to be on edge the whole time.

"What's wrong," Minho asked after noticing it.

"I really don't like swimming in water where you can't see the bottom. I had a bad experience with a crocodile when I was a kid."

Seungmin seemed to have overheard this statement because the next thing he did was swim over to Woojin and whisper something in his ear.

The next thing to happen occurred so fast, Minho couldn't help but laugh alongside everyone else when Woojin shifted into a crocodile and swam up behind Jisung, hitting his tail against the water just as he came up right next to the poor boy.

Jisung screamed the loudest he had ever screamed before and grabbed onto Minho who was closest to him. When Woojin shifted back, Jisung looked around at all of his members laughing and then back at Minho. It nearly broke his heart to see him laughing along with them.

"You're such a scaredy cat, Jisung," Hyunjin teased.

"Fuck all of you," Jisung shouted angrily as he let go of Minho, swam to the shore, and ran off up the hill to the side of the academy. I might seem as if he was overreacting, but the fact they had targeted a specific fear of his had made Jisung a lot more sensitive.

Minho looked after the boy, suddenly feeling sorry for laughing even though it was just supposed to be a joke.

"I'm going to go check on him," Minho said as he also got out of the lake and headed towards the spot Minho could guess the younger had fled to. He climbs the hill until he sees two recognizable trees with a hammock hanging between them come into view. Sure enough, Jisung is laying face down in said hammock.

"Hey, Jisung," Minho said to get his attention as he came up beside one of the trees.

"Go away, I don't want to talk to you," Jisung said, his voice muffled by the hammock since he still had his face buried in it.

"I just wanted to say sorry for laughing. It wasn't cool to pick on a fear of yours."

Jisung didn't respond.

"Come on, Jisung. Come back down to the water, and just have fun. No need to get all mopey."

Silence.

"Why are you getting so sensitive?" Minho questioned as he took a step closer to the hammock. "We tease each other all the time. Why are you choosing now to get upset about?"

When Jisung didn't move for the third time Minho sighed and gave up. "Whatever. Waste the day away if that's what you want to do. I'm going back if you're going to just sit there and say nothing."

As Minho started to walk away, Jisung wasn't sure where he found the courage to finally act on the feelings he only recently realized. Maybe it was his anger at the moment or maybe it was him just wanting answers about what these feelings actually meant, but the next thing he knew, he sped out of the hammock, grabbed Minho's arm to turn him back around, and smashed his lips into the elder's before Minho even realized what was happening.

It didn't last for too long, and as he detached his lips, the first thing out of his mouth was, "You're such a dumbass."

Their faces were so close and all Jisung wanted to do was yell at Minho and say, 'how could he not realize why his words and opinions meant more to him than those of the other members,' but apparently he used up all the courage he had before in that kiss.

Jisung was about to take a step away when Minho suddenly grabbed Jisung's shirt by the collar and pulled him back for a much, much deeper kiss. Jisung yelped in response, shocked by this sudden turn of events, but the older didn't stop as he pushed Jisung's back into the closest tree that supported the hammock. He pushed his leg up between Jisung's thighs and the younger let out a soft moan against Minho's lips in response. He nibbled on Jisung's bottom lip to ask for entry, and when the squirrel boy complied, Minho's tongue explored Jisung's mouth fully. His tongue wrapped itself around the younger's, both of them fit together so perfectly it seemed. The push and pull of the kiss was seemingly so natural for both of them.

After what seemed like a blissful eternity, Minho finally broke the kiss to catch his own breath. Jisung was panting as well and a red-faced mess with his eyes wide and hair askew all across his sweating forehead. Minho takes in the sight and barely manages to restrain himself from reconnecting their lips. What stopped him was the fact that he was still very confused as to what just happened between the two of them.

"What the hell was that?" he managed to ask once his breathing steadied enough.

"Why are you asking me? You're the one that just shoved your tongue down my throat," Jisung retorted.

"You kissed me first."

"And you kissed me back."

"I-I guess I did," Minho stuttered while shaking his head. 'Really, what the fuck came over him just now?'

Jisung could see the panic in Minho's eyes as his own actions seemed to become real to him for the first time.

"You don't regret it, do you?" a frantically nervous Jisung questioned. He was desperately trying to restrain himself from grabbing onto Minho and forbidding him from walking away from him at that point. He really didn't want any more people he cared about leaving him.

But Minho didn't leave. He didn't move at all. Instead, he was spaced out looking past the tree at nothing in particular.

"Not necessarily, no," he finally said as he returned his face to Jisung's. "Do you?"

Jisung shook his head wildly, both boys visibly relaxing after hearing validation and standing there for a moment in silence.

"Want to do it again?" Minho suddenly asks while raising one of his eyebrows.

Jisung didn't say yes, but he also didn't say no, so the next thing they knew, their lips were reconnected. They struggled for dominance as both of them stumbled away from the tree trunk until Minho eventually won and succeeds in pushing Jisung down onto the hammock below him. Jisung looks up at him, having brief déjà vu of a similar, but reversed moment. All such thoughts erase from the boy's mind, however, as he examines the look in Minho's eyes and recognizes the look of uncertainty.

Minho then, instead of taking it further, just joins Jisung in the hammock, merely laying down next to him and pulling the smaller against his chest.

"Minho?" Jisung speaks up after the older remains quiet for a bit too long.

"I think I might like you more than I should, Jisung," was all he managed in response. Jisung's heart skipped a beat. The fact that Minho had actually not only kissed him back just now but was also possibly admitting to having feelings for him, made the situation even more real. He pulled away from Minho's chest and came to eye level with his hyung.

"I-I think I might like you too much, too, hyung."

Minho sat up abruptly causing Jisung's heart to race in nervousness again.

"But why? How? No one has ever cared about me, so how could you?" his voice cracked a bit as he asked the question that suffocated himself every day: how could anyone like him, an abomination whose own parents couldn't even bare to live with? The only other people who had cared for him ended up betraying him. "You're lying."

"No I'm not!" Jisung shouted as he raised himself up as well. "I d-don't know either why I like you so much. All I know is that from the moment I saw you, the world has been normal for the first time since my parents died." He wrapped his arms around Minho's waist from behind. "Ever since I started talking to you, started learning about you, I have valued every new bit of information you let me know as if it were a national secret." He rests his head against the center of the older's shoulder. "All I know is that when I was scared and afraid of my nightmares, it was your warmth that finally calmed me down," Jisung paused for a moment, the next sound that escaped his mouth was that of a muffled sob. Minho's entire body stiffened.

"All I know is that if you don't believe that my feelings are true and I am left alone again, I don't think I will be able to ever feel okay." And the sobs continued to flow.

The pit of Minho's stomach tightened painfully. He didn't mean to make the younger cry, and he certainly didn't want it. Minho gently grabbed onto Jisung's arms around his waist and struggled to disconnect them since Jisung was stronger than he seemed. The volume of Jisung's sobs increased as he didn't want to let go, but was relieved when he felt Minho pull him to the edge of the hammock with him, and wrap him into the biggest hug.

"I'm sorry, Ji. I don't want my own insecurities to ever make you cry. I've never had anyone truly care about me for me before, but I suppose the reason I like you so much is that I can feel potential with you." Jisung sobbed even louder as he heard those words spoken by Minho's melodic voice.

"Please don't cry anymore." Minho separated them just enough so that he could look into Jisung's dark eyes that still managed to be beautiful despite their red and puffy state. "I'm not going to leave you alone."

Then he reconnected their lips for the third time, but this time, it wasn't driven by desire. It was one that was soft and filled with reassurance.



*********



Helloooo again. 

I promised y'all something special when I posted 25 and so I was determined to deliver. 

This scene has literally been written for like 2 months because I got bored one night and just skipped to the kiss scene. So yeah. Had to tweak it quite a bit but I'm glad it's finally seeing the light of day.

Whatcha think?

Q: What's your favorite snack food?

Definitely cheez-its. I use to not like them because I wasn't a huge fan of how sharp cheddar is, but now I absolutely love them. 

I literally just keep a box of them by my bed and binge eat them whenever I'm watching stuff online or something. 

It might be a little bit of an unhealthy addiction at times, but I never really care in the moment.

Thank you for reading! See ya next time <3

~Shadow

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