MANIAC 🕸️ MINSUNG

4

Jisung ended up skipping a day to gather his thoughts. It was his established self-pity day, as Mr. Park said. After those twenty-four hours, however, he was back in school and Jeongin was avoiding him. With good reason, Jisung thought, but still painful. Minho was back with Flash and the other jocks, too. Jisung was a hundred percent alone.

He stared at the field trip paper in his hand with a sigh. Aunt Jihyo needed to sign it. Stupid permission slips. Who was going to deny a trip to Park Industries? An idiot. Aunt Jihyo was anything but an idiot. She signed off on it real quick when Jisung got home. After securing it in his folder, Jisung changed into his suit and went out for his patrol. It was the same old same old. The whole time he kept thinking about what Jeongin had said. How he didn't care about people and how he never let people in. Mr. Park had said that keeping your loved ones close made you a better hero. He didn't know whether to trust those words or not.

At the end of his patrol, he ended up swinging around for fun. Just to get a little extra outdoor exposure and some time alone. That idea was quickly trashed when he spotted someone hanging out on their rooftop. A familiar face, actually. Jisung dropped onto the rooftop of the apartment building, feet taking him over to the boy sitting by the edge with his legs dangling over the street.

At closer inspection, Jisung noticed the small downward curve to the boy's lips and his far away look. "You look sad," he said, stepping up onto the edge Minho was sitting on.

Minho flinched at the sudden appearance of someone next to him. "What the hell?" he exclaimed, eyes examining Jisung's suit with furrowing brows. That wasn't exactly the reaction he expected.

"What a way to greet a superhero," Jisung joked. His eyes locked onto the treat in his schoolmates hands. Ice-cream. "Isn't it kind of cold for that?"

Minho took a breath, shooting the hero a short glare for scaring him. "I eat it when I need to think. Shouldn't you be off saving someone right about now?" he interrogeted.

Usually people would be asking for a picture. He guessed Minho wasn't a big fan of superheroes. "I was heading home and you looked sad. As a superhero, it is my duty to ease worries. Try running it through me. Maybe I have an answer." That's funny, he thought. Last time Jisung checked he couldn't even solve his own problems.

Minho gave a skeptical look as he licked his spoon. "I can't imagine a superhero has a love life."

Now this was an interesting topic. Maybe Jisung should have left and not invaded Minho's thoughts. After all, he wasn't telling Jisung so he probably didn't want him to know. On the other hand, he was really curious why Minho liked him. "I don't. I suck at that. But I have ears and I can listen. Sometimes that's all you need," he told him as he took a seat.

The basketball player hummed as he turned to look at the street. "I don't know why I'm telling you this but there's this guy at school. He's smart to the point its annoying and he's kind of awkward. A lot of people avoid those types of people cause they are unattractive."

"You don't seem to agree," Jisung commented.

"Yeah, not quite sure why. There's something about him that's different and I can't put my finger on it." Minho chuckled as he took another bite of his ice-cream. "It's probably cause he's a horrible actor," he muttered.

Jisung started to have heart palputations. The feeling he got when he was in a fight and at a loss as to what he should be doing. "He's an actor?" Jisung asked, trying his best not to stutter.

"Hardly," Minho answered. "He tries to play this nerdy role in school but it doesn't really match up with who he is when he's by himself. It's hard to explain. My so-called friends have picked on him a lot ever since freshmen year. Watching him from then till now, it's obvious there's more to him than good test scores. And his awkwardness is kind of cute. His cheeks puff and get red and he plays with his fingers. That or completely ignores you. He's bipolar, I swear."