UNBLOCKED

38 | doctor, doctor

tick... tick... tick...

the hands of the clock on the wall moved forward in their slow progression of time. youngjae shifted on the uncomfortable surface of the chair in the waiting room. he tapped his feet to the ticking of the ticking of the clock, occasionally missing a beat. next to him, a magazine flicked in someone else's hands, completely out of time. 

youngjae glanced up. a boy two seats away met his eyes. 

youngjae glanced away again, embarrassed. he'd lost all confidence after what happened at school, after the weeks of hell everyone gave him until he finally gave up. he'd spent another few weeks ignoring the world, holed up in his room, asleep. 

"you bored?"

youngjae blinked. "a-are... you talking to me?" he asked, barely meeting the other's eyes. 

"yeah!" said the stranger cheerfully, with the brightest grin youngjae had ever seen. the boy leaned in with a whisper and said, "or can i not do that...?"

"it-it's fine," youngjae hiccuped. 

the boy laughed a little and offered him an earphone. "you can listen to my music if you want," he said. "it's hella cool."

"it's fine," youngjae repeated. he offered him a small smile in return before looking away again. 

the stranger couldn't also be there to see doctor hong - youngjae's therapist of about three or so months. the boy just seemed to happy, too at ease, as if he had no troubles in the world. 

"are you-" youngjae began in a burst of confidence. 

"are you-" the boy began at the same time. 

they both laughed at the awkwardness of it all. 

"sorry, you go first," he said. 

"i was just wondering..." youngjae continued in a quiet voice, "are you here to see dr. hong?"

the boy smiled at him again, and the smile was so big each time it spread right to the corners of his eyes. youngjae even found himself smiling. it was contagious. "no," said the stranger. "wish i was, though. dr. hong is pretty hot."

youngjae giggled then, and his heart felt lighter. it was like the boy was transferring all of his happy energy to him, lifting him up a little. 

"thank you for seeing me," came dr. hong's sweet voice from his office as the door opened, and he said goodbye to his patient. 

youngjae was stunned to see it was none other than jeon jungkook stepping through those doors. 

"thank you, dr. hong," jungkook mumbled on his way out. 

"well, this is my stop," muttered the unidentified boy softly to youngjae, as he stood and put the magazine down on the pile. "let's go, kook."

youngjae watched the boy sling an arm around jungkook's shoulders and turn towards the exit. a strange sort of feeling coursed through him and he frowned slightly. 

"youngjae, would you like to come in?" asked dr. hong.

"oh," said the stranger, turning back to youngjae and flashing one last blinding smile full of contagious happy energy, "i'm seokmin, by the way."

youngjae's lips parted, about to give a response, but none found it's way out. he watched seokmin leave with jungkook, blinking. 

"youngjae?" called dr. hong in that soft voice of his, once more. 

youngjae inhaled and exhaled slowly, and made his way into dr. hong's office, sitting comfortably on the so-called 'therapy chair'. "good afternoon, dr. hong," youngjae murmured.