Guardian Angel | Minsung

XXII. Split

"Sure." He watched as Minho handed him a class of water and a painkiller for his head. He grabbed the glass and pill and quickly chugged them both. He hadn't noticed Minho had glanced at his arms again. "Sung... Can I ask you something?" Minho said as he put a plate of steaming hot pancakes down in front of the younger. "Sure, but can I ask you how you made these pancakes, I thought you were bad at cooking?" Minho snickered. "I went to the convenience store on the corner and bought the ingredients. It came out of those 'easy to make' boxes." Jisung let out a hum in approval, taking a bite of the pancakes. He bounced up and down the chair excitedly, enjoying the taste of the sweet 'breakfast' food before regretting his actions when the pain hit him again. Minho almost didn't dare to ruin the mood, considering letting the question go.

"What did you want to ask, hyungie?" He let out a sigh as he turned off the stove, placing his pancakes on a plate for himself and moving to sit down next to Jisung.

"I changed your clothes last night, Sung. I-I really don't want to ruin your mood but... may I ask why you... hurt yourself... again?" He watched Jisung's previous happy expression fall, instantly regretting bringing it up. "Sorry, don't respond if it makes you uncomfortable." Minho just wanted to help his crush so Jisung could get better, but he was only 'human'. He didn't know what the best things to say were at times either, making him wonder how he could bring up those topics in a better way.

"N-No. I'm the one that's sorry... I should've called you but I was scared you'd be studying and I didn't want to disturb any of you, or worry either of you. I thought I could be s-strong by myself. But I failed and did it anyways."

"You didn't fail anything, Jisung. You're going through a hard time, relapses are normal! No one can just drop a form of 'addiction' instantly. It takes time and you should not feel bad for falling back. Be positive. You didn't do it for longer than you ever have since you started, right?" Jisung nodded slowly, his head still pounding. "See, that's improvement! Two steps forward, one step backward still means you took a step forward. Now, next time don't be afraid to call me or Changbin. We can and want to help you. Whatever time we may 'lose' studying isn't worth you feeling pain for, okay?"

"Thank you, Minho hyung."

"Just call me Minho." Jisung's eyes widened, shocked the older let him drop honorifics. "We're close friends, right? No need to call me that. Plus, I like it when you say my name rather than just hyung."

"Okay hy—... Minho." A smile crept itself onto Jisung's face as he leant forward, hugging Minho tightly. The older returned the hug, still smelling the alcohol of the party on Jisung. "I don't want to sound rude..." he muttered, "but I think you should take a shower after eating, I can smell the alcohol on you."

"I know, thanks h—Minho." Jisung said sarcastically, still trying to get accustomed to calling the older by his name. The two both pulled back from the hug and continued to eat their 'breakfast'. At this time, it could nearly be considered dinner, but the two didn't care. Minho helped the younger boy up the stairs and into the bathroom. Due to his splitting headache, Jisung hadn't noticed how much his lower back ached. Minho had confirmed they hadn't done anything, but that didn't stop Jisung from imagining the things they could have done. Not that he wanted things to have happened, but he is still a teenager with a wild imagination.

"You literally laid in the same position for 10 or so hours, of course your back hurts!" Minho laughed as Jisung groaned, slowly sitting down on the closed toilet.

"Still... I didn't expect to be this miserable... I had like... 7 drinks or something? Gosh, I can't believe I'm such a lightweight!" Minho shook his head, a grin playing on his face. "Need I remind you, you were literally drugged. Besides, I'm pretty confident you had more than 7 drinks. You were already pretty intoxicated when I arrived."