Pretty Boy Across the Hall

Stop the Elevator

Jihoon stood anxiously beside Jisoo as the elevator doors closed. As someone who was already bad with people, Jihoon really didn't know what to do in this situation. He listened as Jisoo whimpered to himself and Jihoon could just feel his pain, even if he didn't know what was actually going on. It was almost ironic how much these two had in common when it came to their heartache, and yet they had only ever spoken to each other a few times.

After about fifteen seconds of silence, Jisoo groaned and leaned over. Shaking, he cried, "Oh my god."

Jihoon glanced over at him and gave a deep sigh. Without any hesitation, he stepped in front of the buttons and pressed the big, red emergency stop. A small alarm went off and the elevator shook to a halt.

"What?" Jisoo uttered, looking up at Jihoon with tears and panic. "Wha—what are you doing?"

Jihoon sighed again and closed his eyes. Brushing his hair off his forehead, he leaned against the wall and slid to sit on the floor. "Don't worry, I've lived here long enough to know the alarm doesn't call anyone. People can just use the other elevators. No one even notices when you hit that button."

Still a little confused, Jisoo just stared at Jihoon. He could see the water on his face and the lack of color in his cheeks. Jisoo could hear Seungcheol's voice in his head again, "He feels nothing for me...he's fucking done...he's gonna move on..." Just looking at Jihoon, he couldn't tell what he should think of him. Yesterday, Jihoon was the boy who one of his best friends fell in love with. But now, Jihoon was the boy who broke the heart of the guy who loved his boyfriend. How are you supposed to feel about someone like that?

"You've done this before?" Jisoo asked.

Jihoon slowly nodded. "Sometimes you just need everything to stop."

Jisoo closed his eyes and groaned again. "Yeah."

Jihoon glanced over at him. "Are you okay?"

"No, not really." He opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow at Jihoon. "Are you?"

"No, not really."

Jisoo nodded. For a minute, neither of them said anything. They both just stayed there in their own discomfort and sadness, until Jisoo sniffled. He wiped his nose and said, "I heard...about you and Seungcheol."

"Already?" Jihoon blurted out, a little surprised.

Jisoo slowly joined the boy on the floor, criss-crossing his legs. "Well, I wasn't really supposed to hear, but yeah." Jisoo paused as he watched Jihoon's expression drop ever so slightly. "He was...pretty upset."

"I can imagine."

Jisoo hesitated. "He said you were gonna move on."

Jihoon let out a puff of air and started playing with his shoelaces. "That's the plan."

Observing Jihoon, Jisoo could see what Seungcheol meant. He had definitely been crying and he was for sure hurt, but for some reason his face didn't fully express that.

There was a pause in their conversation, so Jihoon decided to shift the subject. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but what happened to...?"

"What happened to me?" Jisoo finished for him. He scoffed and shook his head. "Same thing as you I guess." He chuckled into his chest as a few tears escaped him. "I found out Seungcheol loved Jeonghan."

Jihoon stared at Jisoo and realized that there was actually someone out there who had it even worse than him. Putting it into perspective, it was one thing for him to find out that the guy he was falling for loved someone else, but how would it feel for Jisoo to find out one of his best friends loved his boyfriend?