It had been almost fifteen minutes since the two had started their walk through the forest, and Minho already felt like his head was about to explode.
The slight throbbing he had not given much thought to had now turned into a full blown migraine amd Minho cursed as his eyesight turned blurry after a few more steps.
"You okay?" Jisung asked from next to him, in a voice surprisingly soft for all the snark and sass it could hold.
"Yeah.... I'm fine" Minho murmured, shaking his head slightly but that made his migraine even worse. "Slight headache"
"Do you want to sit down?" Jisung asked, tentatively. "Or maybe stop for a while? I think we've lost those thick headed idiots by now"
Minho rasped out a small laugh at Jisung's description of the Ateez members. His smile turned to a grimace as he shook his head slightly. "No I think we should get to the base first. And then I'll think of fixing my headache provided I don't get killed or chopped to pieces before that"
Jisung rolled his eyes playfully, a smirk dancing on his lips. "You won't get killed, hyung"
Minho lurched at the sound of Jisung calling him hyung. Even though there was a 99 percent chance that this hyung was a sarcastic one too, it didn't stop Minho's stomach from rolling over itself at the honorific.
"I definitely hope not" Minho muttered but then let out a small ahh as he stumbled against a tree.
"Woah!" Jisung exclaimed, panicked. "Okay Mister Tough Guy. We are stopping right now whether you like it or not."
Minho shook his head and opened his mouth to say something when Jisung shushed him. "I will shoot you if you say anything more"
"One" Minho started, rolling his eyes as he leaned heavily against the tree. "You do not have a gun on you. Two, what makes you think I won't shoot back?"
"Easy. You don't have a gun on you either" Jisung shrugged as he pushed Minho into a sitting position against the same tree and then leaned against another one just across him, so now they were face to face.
"Sit down" Minho gestured as he rubbed two fingers across his temple, mentally cursing himself for having not brought anything remotely medicine related with him for this case. He watched as, after a minute of hesitation, Jisung sat down too.
"So who's the lucky girl?" Jisung questioned with a smirk as he sat down. "Or guy. I won't judge"
Minhos brows furrowed. "What d'you mean?" He asked and the younger gestured to the lifted sleeve of his right arm.
The older looked down and his eyes widened. On his forearm, the previously unfilled tattoo of yin and yang had burst with colour, the original symbol being black and white but the surrounding art could be seen in vivid colour.
"When did this happen?!" He looked shocked, and a little scared, Jisung noticed confusedly.
"What d'you mean?" The younger asked, but quickly silenced himself when he saw Minho breathing heavily, eyes blown wide with panic as he pressed a shaky hand over his chest, trying hard to breathe properly.
Jisung immediately recognised the symptoms. Minho was having a panic attack. Why, the younger had no clue, but what was more important right now was calming Minho down or his condition might worsen. Pair that with a migraine and the thought was enough to spur Jisung into action.
The boy jumped up, and crouched down next to Minho who was now hunched over himself. "Minho" He whispered, his calm voice in wild contrast with his rapidly beating heart. "Minho look at me"
Minho looked up slowly at the younger's calm, intense eyes.
"Good job" Jisung murmured still in the same soft voice. "Now can you do something with me?" He asked, as he hesitantly took Minho's hand in his, grabbing onto it when he didn't face any problems from the older.
Minho nodded, looking hesitant.
"Okay" Jisung said. "Now, can you follow my breathing?" He asked, squeezing Minho's hand when he nodded shakily. "Good. Okay now, breathe with me. In-" Jisung took a deep breath in. "-and out" He let go of the breath he had been holding, smiling in encouragement when Minho managed to follow him.
"You're doing a great job, hyung" Jisung said soothingly. "Just a few more"
Jisung continued breathing in and out, finally stopping when Minho seemed to have calmed down enough to gently extract himself from the younger's grip.
"Better?" Jisung asked hesitantly, as he went back to where he was sitting. Minho nodded, still taking in deep breaths. "Yeah"
A few minutes passed by in thick silence, until Minho cleared his throat. "Umm..... thank you" He said, almost inaudibly, looking down as a faint red blush coated his cheeks.
"You're welcome" Jisung looked down too, feeling slightly embarrassed for absolutely no reason.
"And uh... sorry"
"For what?"
"For worrying you like that"
Jisung scoffed even as he knew how true the statement was. "Pfft. Me? Worry? About you? Did that panic attack of yours scramble your breathing as well as your brains?"
Minho just shot Jisung an unimpressed look, watching as the younger's cocky demeanour deflated. "Okay..... maybe I was a bit worried. But I'm also not that cruel to leave you here alone and suffering while you get a random panic attack so...." The younger trailed off as images of Minho's wide, panic stricken eyes and laboured breathing clouded his mind.
He lurched to reality when a soft yet calloused palm fell on the top of his hand. "This okay?" Minho asked softly.
Choosing not to answer, Jisung just nodded, enjoying the warmth of Minho's palm a little more than necessary.
"Can I ask you something?" Jisung asked hesitantly, after a little while.
"As long as it isn't anything related to my sexuality or love life" Minho joked.
Jisung sighed, shaking his head. A few hours with the older and he began to question how Felix, Hyunjin and Seungmin could tolerate the guy. Then again, he was good at his work. "Why did you get the.... the-"
"The sudden panic attack?" Minho completed Jisung hesitant trail off with a small, bitter smile.
The younger nodded. "If you're okay with sharing of course. I know that I'm not the ideal audience for what I'm guessing is some kind of a traumatic back story to your hero—" He paused, then shrugged and continued. "Or villain origin-" a soft chuckle made Jisung break off his ramble once again.
"Don't worry about that" Minho replied. "I don't mind sharing, even though you will probably use it to blackmail me in the near future. Definitely."
"C'mon dude" Jisung huffed. "I'm not that cruel"
Minho shrugged. "Lets agree to disagree on that matter"
"Fair enough"
"So..... my sob story" Minho sighed, looking up at the stars twinkling overhead. "God how do I start?" The older murmured. "Well," Minho started, looking like he was struggling to search for words. "Contrary to popular belief, soulmates have never struck me as a very dreamy, lovey-dovey concept. I mean, the couples around me always seemed perfect but.... when you have a broken family yourself, it doesn't take to long to look through other people's veils."
Jisung remained silent, expecting Minho to stop here but the older continued.
"My parents.... at least according to my mom had hit it off amazingly at the start. My dad would constantly surprise her with dates and flowers and extravagant dinners and stuff.... that was when they had just found out about soulamates. But as time passed, things started changing. My mom no longer had the same sparkle in her eyes when she would look at my dad, and my father stopped caring after that. By the time I was five, my father became a full fledged alcoholic and..... long story short... my only moments of salvation were when I was out of the house."
Jisung had listened to Minho's entire story with rapt attention, his mind visualizing images to tally with Minho's words as the older spoke. At the end of his story, Jisung was speechless. The younger never enjoyed the concept of soulmates either, but at least he didn't have it this bad.
No wonder Minho had had a panic attack when he first found out he had met his soulmate, albeit unknowingly. He was terrified of going through the same thing as his parents did, and Jisung understood completely.
"I'm sorry" The younger mumbled finally, unable to find words to articulate what he was feeling for the older.
Minho laughed, a hollow broken sound, and for the first time Jisung recognised the raw emotion in his voice. "It's okay. It was long ago anyways. Now my parents are dead and gone, hopefully in a better place than they were in this life"
Jisung felt lightheaded at the way Minho had admitted his parents death so calmly. "I-"
"You don't need to say anything" Minho interrupted. "I've gotten over it. As I said, it was a long time back anyways."
But even as he uttered those words Jisung could see the shattered look in Minho's eyes, and hear his pain in the emotionless way he spoke. However, much as he was overcome with the sudden desire to comfort the older and just hold him against himself, Jisung refrained from doing so.
After all, they were still frenemies at this point.
"What about you?" Minho asked, after a minute of silence.
"Hm?" Jisung hummed, eyes closed as he rested his head against the tree trunk.
"Who's the lucky girl? Or guy. I won't judge" Minho chuckled as he quotes Jisung's previous quote, and watched as Jisung's brow furrowed in confusion, as he looked down at his own sleeve.
"What do you-" The younger's eyes widened as he looked down at his own tattoo, which was a mirror of Minho's one down from the shape to the exact same colour.
"Wait, why do we have the same tattoos?" Minho asked, sounding alarmed.
Jisung looked up at the older, wide eyed. "You do know what same tattoos mean right?"
"I.... really hope I don't"
"What the-?"
"Jisung" Minho started clearly, sitting up properly, all traces of a headache gone. "We are not soulmates"
"Oh so we just happened to have the same tattoos that also got coloured at the same time, hm?"
"Uh- Changbin?"
"....what?"
"Changbin can be your soulmate!" Minho exclaimed. "Did you guys meet anytime yesterday?"
"That midget?!" Jisung exclaimed, shocked. "Yes we did meet yesterday but please. Him? He clearly has eyes for that puppy kid in you guy's group"
"Seungmin?" Minho's question was confirmed with a nod of Jisung's head. "Damn. I doubt Seungmin knows the guy exists"
Jisung laughed, shaking his head. "Changbin's gonna be heartbroken"
"That emo guy has a heart?" Minho sounded surprised.
"You'd be surprised at how many ballads he's composed"
"Jesus" The older muttered surprised at the thought of emo Seo Changbin composing ballads for Seungmin and they way they had switched topics so fast.
"So!" Jisung exclaimed, standing up suddenly. "Should we go now, soulmate? We've wasted enough time as it is."
"I still don't know how you accepted the fact that I'm your soulmate so easily" Minho grumbled as he stood up.
"Oh come on" Jisung nudged Minho in the ribs. "We can still be flirty enemies"
"Those exist?" Minho asked curiously as he fell into step beside the younger, headache long forgotten as he focused on the small smirk pulled against Jisung's lips.
"We can make them exist" The younger shrugged.
"I just know you're gonna kill me with your sarcasm one day"
"Oh c'mon. It's been literally 4 or 5 hours since we've been in each other's company. Give me some more credit"
"Jesus Christ"
_______________________
It took them a while to reach Charmer's base but ultimately, Jisung and Minho ended up standing in front of the wrought iron gates of a large but nondescript house which Jisung claimed was their base.
"And how exactly do I believe you?" Minoo half wondered.
Jisung sighed. He had been hearing this question for the past half an hour, which was roughly the time it took for the two to reach the base after their break. It would've taken less time had a certain someone not had so much problems with their cardio, but that's beside the point.
"I'm your soulmate" Jisung sassed, laughing at the intense eye roll Minho gave him in response.
"That doesn't change the fact that you're my rival too"
"I mean, it might"
Not bothering to look at Minho's dumbfounded face, Jisung smirked and kicked open the gates.
"After you" He bowed and extended a hand, smiling at the way Minho rolled his eyes and walked past him straight into the house, then followed him inside.
The interior of the house was like a normal house. No computer screens stacked one over the other like a hacking base or something (Minho didn't know what those were just that they looked cool), no wardrobes— in sight at least— large enough to hide skeletons, no weapons in sight.
Footsteps behind Minho made the older jump in fright. As he turned around, a surprised Jisung burst out laughing.
"Hey don't laugh!" The older complained.
"Sorry" Jisung huffed out. "You just looked so much like a bunny when I scared you"
"Oh for fucks sake—"
"Well well Jisung. I thought you had enough brains to not fraternize with the enemy" A deep voice spoke from the shadows and the duo looked around for potential sources.
As if on cue, footsteps could be heard coming from a hallway just across the room in which the two were standing, and a figure clad in all black emerged from the shadows.
"Changbin" Jisung murmured.
"Seriously what is up with you guys and emerging from the shadows like a rat?" Minho spluttered as he stared at the figure standing in front of him, at least a good five inches shorter but still attempting to draw himself up to his full glory in his horrifyingly high platform boots.
"Hey!" Jisung snapped. "A little respect here"
"Right"
"Also that's our signature move" The younger whispered in context to the less insulting part of Minho's question, before slapping on a Loki worthy smile and stepping towards a glowering Changbin.
"Changbin hyung!" Jisung exclaimed sweetly. "It's so good to see you here!"
"We both know it isn't" Changbin rolled his eyes. "Now you better be having a good reason as to what this.... person is doing here and it better not be that you two are banging cause then—"
"Well....." Jisung's previous award winningly bright smile gave way to a nervous one as he looked back at the fidgeting older. "Funny you mention that—"
"Oh for God's sake Han!" Changbin exclaimed, throwing up his arms.
"We aren't fucking!" The younger yelped hastily. "We're just—"
"Soulmates" Minho said, finally raising his voice a bit since he entered the room.
Changbin's gaze turned to Minho. "Soulmates" He repeated, and as Minho nodded, looked at Jisung for confirmation who nodded as well.
"Soulmates as in the matching coloured tattoos, bound for life soulmates?" Changbin questioned once again.
"...yes" Jisung's hesitance made Minho snicker silently, as he realised the younger was struggling to bite back a scathing remark at Changbin's obvious question.
"Jesus could my day get any worst" Changbin muttered.
"Ateez somehow tracked us" Jisung stated in response, wincing at Changbin's violent face palm.
"Of course I had to jinx it"
Changbin looked at the two standing silently. "Well now that I won't be able to kill you anymore," He said, casting a bitter glance towards Minho. "How do you propose on breaking this news to Chan? Or anyone else for that matter?"
"We.... don't?" Minho asked tentatively.
"Well, if not the world at least our band mates need to know" Jisung shrugged.
"For once I agree with him" Changbin nodded.
"Well then we're screwed" Minho smiled sarcastically.
"Not completely" a voice said from the doorway and the trio turned to see Felix, Hyunjin and Seungmin standing at the doorway, bruised, battered and leaning onto each other for support but still standing there. With all the injuries they sported however, the three also wore matching triumphant smiles, as if they had won a bet against someone.
"What are you guys doing here?!" Minho yelped, shocked.
"Went searching for you—" Hyunjin started.
"Ran into Ateez—" Felix continued.
"And ended up here" Seungmin finished, as the three entered the house.
Immediately Felix ran upto Minho, hugging him tightly as Hyunjin and Seungmin followed.
"I should kick you guys out of the team for your reckless behaviour" Minho laughed.
"Well if it wasn't for you getting yourself kidnapped, we wouldn't have ended up behaving recklessly in the first place, isn't it?" Seungmin said, and Minho shrugged.
"Touché"
"As touching as this little reunion is-" Changbin started but got abruptly cut off but Felix's girlish squeal.
"OMG ARE YOU JISUNG?!" He shrieked as left the hug and went over to Jisung, who's lips gave way to a hesitant smile.
"Yes..."
"Damn Minho you've got yourself a hot s/o" Felix clicked his tongue approvingly, laughing when Hyunjin cleared his throat loudly and pointedly.
"Right so I'll just third wheel here" Changbin muttered but was quickly joined by Seungmin. "Me too" The younger said as he looked over at the two couples in disgust.
Jisung smirked and nudged Minho as he saw Changbin shift noticeably, gulping when Seungmin came to stand next to him. As the two watched, the tattoos on Changbin and Seungmin's necks slowly coloured at the same time, signifying that the two were soulmates.
"Well guys, looks like we've gotten ourselves a third couple!" Jisung clapped his hands together loudly, smiling when the couple in question realised that their soulmate tattoos were now coloured and they were officially bound together.
"Umm what's going on here?" Another voice called from the doorway and everyone turned to see Jeongin and Chan standing there blinking confusedly.
"Are we fucked?" Minho whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
"Hopefully not yet" Jisung whispered back.
"Chan hyung" Changbin also looked decently scared of the older, gulping when the two stepped into the room. "What are you doing here?"
"Ateez" Jeongin answered on behalf of the older.
"Ateez has made it their mission to couple up everyone today" Minho muttered.
"At least they're not completely useless then" Jisung muttered back.
"To answer your previous question" Seungmin said. "All of us, evidently were being chased by Ateez, ended up here coincidentally and we have three new couples. Well, one old and two new."
"We're definitely fucked now" Minho said, sounding resigned.
"Actually" Jeongin scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Four new couples"
"Wait what?" Hyunjin asked surprised.
Silently, Jeongin and Chan lifted up the hem of their shirts, to show matching butterfly tattoos on their waistline.
"Damn" Felix muttered. "That's one ship I didn't think about"
"I don't think any of us did, to be honest" Hyunjin replied.
"Now this is the literal definition of ripping the bandaid off" Minho laughed.
"Anyone up for an orgy?"
"Felix!"
***
Word count: 3190
The last line was so random lmfao. Also yeah, I'm not very satisfied with this one mainly cause I just winged it. But ofc, feedback is appreciated.
This one was a mess tho I won't deny it.
Anyways, have a great day/night!
<3