Super Seventeen

Chapter Ten

Jisoo normally enjoyed heading home. It was a momentary escape from the suffocating grasp of schoolwork and allowed a small window of time to just relax and generally not have to worry about anything.

But lately, he found that no matter how hard he wanted to, he just couldn't relax. It was nearly impossible when a) he had pretty much perfect memory so now he always had something he could think about and b) he was a superhero, which involved having around a million problems to think about and try to balance out at once.

He must've let off a strange vibe on the bus as well, considering the strange looks he received from some passengers. Had it been under different circumstances, he would've gave a slight bow along with an apologetic smile; that was usually something that resulted in immediate forgiveness. This time, however, he could hardly focus on his surroundings. His mind kept on repeating what Jeonghan had told him in the washrooms.

"Hey, everything's going to be okay," Jisoo told his friend gently, patting him on the back simultaneously.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Jeonghan said harshly, pushing Jisoo's arm away. "He said everything would be okay. But it's not."

In a slight daze from Jeonghan's sudden reaction, it took Jisoo a couple of seconds to process what Jeonghan had said. "He? Who?"

Jeonghan didn't say anything, his only response being clenched fists as he leaned against the sink.

"Jeonghan. Please."

He hesitated before mouthing, 'Chan'.

Jisoo raised his eyebrows. Chan? Although knowing of Jeonghan and Chan's more 'special' relationship, he didn't recall hearing about them conversing recently, as both of them were relatively insistent when it came to their studies. So when?

Unless...

"He and I talked a couple months ago." Jeonghan still wasn't looking at Jisoo, intent on staring dead at the sink. "You remember that time, right? When I was just having a mental breakdown and completely losing it. Which I'm sorry for, by the way, I must've been quite the annoyance for everyone that had to deal with my bullshit."

"It was fine. We all need a mental release sometimes." Jisoo was well aware of when the pressure had started getting to Jeonghan. Jisoo had noticed long before the incident that Jeonghan was pushing himself way too far, and had tried on multiple accounts to let the boy calm down a bit, but as the aforementioned stated, Jeonghan was stubbornly insistent when it came to his studies. Eventually, around the middle of the last school year, Jeonghan had finally started to crack. He'd spent most of his time inside and on the rare occasion that he did come out, he looked and felt like death; there was just no life to him. It took several talks and moral support for Jeonghan to get back on his feet, but once he was feeling more lively again, everyone could act like it never happened. And that's what they did.

So having Jeonghan mention this situation again was another shock for Jisoo. It was awkward enough for the others to try and avoid the topic, but having Jeonghan himself openly admit to his past mental concerns, was, admittedly, quite brave and unexpected.

Jeonghan glanced at Jisoo quickly in the mirror, flashing him a slight smile upon hearing his response. Continuing, he said, "Chan was the one that visited me the most. Well, Seungcheol was there pretty often too, but he still had a lot of schoolwork, so Chan was generally the one with the most free time to come and keep me company. He would always do something different; somedays he'd just come and listen to me talk or visa versa; somedays he would just bring his textbook over and we would both work on our own things. And I don't know, it was just comforting in a way."