Side Effects ~ Minsung

-9-

[Tuesday - 09.05]

The group of 8 had split up into 2 groups, working separately on the song they had to produce and perform. The rappers, Chan, Hyunjin, Changbin and Felix, were writing rap lyrics, while the vocalists, Seungmin, Jeongin, Minho and Ji were writing lyrics more fit for vocal lines.

"How are you guys coming along?" Chan asked the groups, making everyone look up from their sheets.

"It's good over here." Seungmin shrugged.

"Yeah, we're all writing suggestions to vocal lyrics, we figured the best ones would be used in the song." Minho smiled.

"Great, let's see them." Changbin cheered, collecting all the sheets to read the lyrics.

"Changbin and I will be busy producing the track the next couple of weeks since we're the only ones in music production, you guys can make a choreo or something. Or rearrange the lyrics to fit together." Chan suggested, looking at the clock.

They were 15 minutes away from lunch and exhausted from 2 hours of hard work.

Ji scoffed silently to themselves, looking down. Hyunjin, whom had heard the scoff, turned to the latter with gritted teeth.

"What's wrong with you?! The fuck are you annoyed for now, you have no right to be annoyed!" The tallest growled.

Ji looked up in surprise, their mouth slightly agape.

"I-I literally didn't say anything, man." Ji sighed tiredly.

"Yeah but I heard that ugly ass scoff of yours."

"Hyunjin fucking cut it out. I'm sure Ji had a reason, they wouldn't just scoff without a reason like that." Felix slapped Hyunjin's shoulder.

"Yeah, what's up? Something wrong?" Chan asked, raising his eyebrows.

Ji shook their head.

"Nothing. Sorry." Ji quickly said, gaze kept low.

Minho frowned, laying his head on Ji's shoulder, looking up at the younger.

"What is it? Please!" Minho pouted cutely.

Ji cracked a small smile, laying their arm over Minho casually while shaking their head.

"Nothing, don't worry about it, Min." Ji forced a small smile.

"C'mon~. I can see something's on your mind." Minho pouted even more.

Ji sighed, glancing up at everyone whom were staring at the two.

"I was just- I was thinking that I'm actually in music production too, but it's fine. I don't mind." Ji quickly said, quietly so only Minho would hear.

Minho sat up.

"You're in music production too? You should work with Channie and Binnie!" Minho beamed.

Ji shook their head.

"No No No, it's fine! Really! I'm sure you guys work better alone, I don't wanna bother." Ji quickly said, breath trembling and body tense.

Minho noticed the change of Ji's body language, worrying him a lot. The elder quickly pulled Ji sideways into his lap, pressing the latter's head onto his shoulder.

"Ssh, breathe. Relax. You're safe with us." Minho whispered, holding the younger tenderly.

Ji leaned into the touch, taking a deep breath. They could feel everyone's eyes on them, but decided to only focus on Minho for now.

"Listen to my heart. You're doing great." Minho whispered, treading his fingers in and out of Ji's hair.

"Ji, you should work with me and Changbin on the track!" Chan cheerfully said.

Ji opened their eyes widely, looking at the eldest anxiously.

"N-No, really it's fine, I-"

"Come on! It'll be fun! Got anything we can listen to now? To see kind of your style and stuff." Changbin interrupted, smiling politely.

Ji looked between the group for a second, dazzled at how friendly they were being - of course except for a certain someone - before snapping out of it, grabbing their phone and finding their 3 finished tracks.

Ji handed the phone over to Chan since he was the closest, watching as the latter pressed play on their most recent track. It was a more untraditional style for Ji, they usually kept it soft and lyrical, but this one was an all out diss track written during the times when they were getting extremely fed up with all the haters and bullies.

"Damn, you rap too? This is awesome man, I thought you only sang." Felix commented, bobbing his head to the beat.

Ji mumbled a small 'yeah', hiding away in Minho's bigger figure.

Minho chuckled at the younger, poking Ji's side teasingly. Ji squirmed, slapping Minho's hand away with a threatening glare and a pout. Minho only chuckled more, starting to tickle Ji mercilessly.

Ji quickly threw themselves on the floor, squealing and squirming to get away from Minho.

Minho followed put, ignoring Felix commenting on how cute they were, and Seungmin teasing Minho for 'being in love with Ji'. The elder kept tickling Ji until the younger had shuffled all the way into the nearest corner and curled into a fetal position to hide away while laughing.

Minho stopped tickling the younger, instead just watching as Ji stopped laughing, trying to catch their breath with a wide smile on their face and tears in their eyes.

Minho offered Ji his hand, pulling the younger out of the corner and into his body for a hug. Ji wrapped their arms around the elder, sighing in content, their face still red from the laughing earlier.

"Idiot. I almost died from lack of air." Ji muttered, closing their eyes.

Minho chuckled, playing with Ji's medium long dark hair.

"You're fine, drama queen." Minho chuckled.

"Easy for you to say!"

"You know, you should dye your hair again! It'd make you look less dead inside." Minho suggested.

Ji leaned out of Minho's body, looking the latter dead in the eyes with a fed up expression.

"Gee, thanks."

"Hey, I'm just kidding, don't worry! But for real though, you'd look hot!" Minho smiled sweetly at the younger.

"Maybe I will." Ji shrugged, smiling softly in return.

The two heard a loud coo from behind, making them turn to the rest of their group, whom they had forgotten were even there.

"Felix!" Jeongin slapped Felix's shoulder to shut him up.

"What? They're pretty darn cute, you have to admit that!" Felix held his hands up in defense.

Ji and Minho both blushed a dark red, pretending they didn't hear what Felix said.

"You're kidding right? Minho would never get with that freak! Friggin Ji is way too ugly for someone like Minho!" Hyunjin exclaimed, looking at Ji with a disgusted facial expression.

"Hyunjin what the fuck!" Minho exclaimed, about to go over to Hyunjin and teach him a lesson.

Ji held the latter back, smiling softly.

"Hey it's ok. No need to get violent." Ji assured Minho, smiling through the small sting of pain in their chest.

"No, what the- *RING*" Minho was cut off by the loud bell, signaling it was lunch.

"I'll see you later. Bye." Ji politely said, standing up and bowing at everyone before hurrying out the room to collect his emotions before they broke out.