PLUGGED IN | minsung

part 22

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

The next morning rolled around bright and early. The rising sun sent beams of light bouncing off of the machines in the hospital room, the same ones that Jisung thankfully no longer had to be connected to.

A nurse had told Felix, who had been back and forth from the hospital, that Jisung would be out by the end of the day.

The same nurse rolled her eyes when she walked in and saw Minho still there, tucked up in bed beside Jisung and clinging onto him for dear life. She checked something on Jisung's chart and nodded. She closed the door behind her when she left.

The noise was loud in the otherwise quiet room and it startled Minho awake. His face flashed with worry at first but it eased into a smile when he saw Jisung. He would never admit it, but these were his favourite moments. He liked watching the younger boy when he didn't know he was being watched. His face was peaceful, one eyebrow twitching every now and again.

As though he knew, Jisung's eyes flicked up. A smile spread slowly across his face as eyes still blurry from sleep focused and met Minho's.

"Morning," Jisung murmured.

"Morning."

Jisung went to stretch but then winced at the pain in his ribs. Minho flinched as though he was hurting in the same place.

"It's okay," Jisung mumbled. He lifted one hand to pat Minho's face. "I'm okay."

"They said you can go home today. I'll come with you, start moving my stuff out of the dorm."

This woke Jisung up better than a bucket of ice water ever could've. He shot up into a sitting position, ignoring the pain, and glared down at Minho.

"What?"

Minho blinked quickly. This obviously wasn't the reaction he was expecting.

"The only reasonable answer you could give me right now is that we're both moving our stuff out of the dorm. Are we moving to Chan's?" Jisung asked pointedly, the same eyebrow that twitched in his sleep now cocked sarcastically.

Minho was struggling to form a sentence.

"How can you still want me anywhere near you?" he asked finally. Even the carefully picked words didn't sound right. "I did this to you, Jisung."

Jisung rolled his eyes.

"What's with the saviour's complex?" Jisung pouted. "Did you stab me? Did you break my ribs?"

Minho flinched again. "You wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for me."

Jisung frowned. "Didn't you beg me to leave? I came willingly. Get over yourself."

Minho's eyes doubled in size. He was speechless and his mouth opened and closed repeatedly, unable to form the thoughts in his brain into real, actual words.

"If you think you can just leave me, you're not as smart as I thought. I followed you into a literal knife fight. If anything, that should prove that I'm loyal," Jisung continued.

"Jisung, you being with me is only ever going to lead to you getting hurt. There are a lot of bad people in my past, and just as many in my present. Don't you get it? I can't see you get hurt like this." Minho was begging.

Jisung scoffed. "Don't you get it, hyung? We're bound now. It made sense to me when that man said you could leave, and you acted like you were going to. I was relieved. The only thing I could think about was you getting out of there safe, even with a knife to my throat."