::::
jisung had his head in his hands as he sat alone in the quiet waiting room. it had only been a few minutes since he got separated from minho, but it's felt like the longest few minutes of his life.
the room was closed in by double doors in another part of the hospital. the lights were dimmed, and there was a small noise machine just blowing out lovely smelling air. it reminds him a lot of the office.
unexpectedly, the doors opened, revealing yeosang who had his arm around a shaken up jeongin. jisung picked his head up, not expecting to see the youngest.
jeongin could say the same.
"jisung?" he asked, voice cracking. him and yeosang took a seat next to him. "what are you doing here?"
jisung sucked in a breath, letting it out slowly to calm himself a bit, "i'm here about minho."
jeongin raised an eyebrow, glancing confusedly at yeosang, and then back at jisung. "how do you know minho?"
yeosang gave jisung a little nod, aiming his eyes towards jeongin.
jisung sighed, "jeongin, there's something you don't know about minho. it's not my place to say, but you would have found out eventually, especially after this. i'm his therapist, he's been seeing me since november."
jeongin mumbled a small 'oh', nodding his head. "and?"
"and, he's been struggling with bad depression and anxiety for awhile."
jeongin felt his heart drop all the way down to his toes. he suspected something like this was going on, but after praying so hard that this awful reality was really just a a suspicion, hearing the words come out of his former therapists mouth about his new friend hurt a ton.
"fucking hell! i shouldn't have brushed it off, i should have talked to him, and then none of this crap would be going on!"
"jeongin, it's not your fault!" yeosang comforted, rubbing his friends shoulder.
"but it is! i yelled at him, i hurt him when he was already hurting. that's not what a friend is supposed to do!"
jeongin got up, moving to the other side of the room to give himself some space. you could tell being here in the hospital, especially for this reason, makes him uncomfortable.
"i'm sorry," he mumbled, looking back up at his friends, "being here just brings up bad memories."
jisung walked over, giving him a tight hug, "i get it. but you're okay, and minho will be too. i promise."
then the three sat back down, and began talking about whatever came to mind to distract themselves from the stress.
::::
they sat there for hours. nobody ever came in, and nobody ever came out. just the three of them, sitting and wondering how minho is doing.
around 8:00, yeosang spoke up, "guys, i'm hungry. do you wanna go get something to eat, and then come back?"
with a sigh, jeongin nodded, "sure. jisung?"
jisung didn't budge from the position he was sitting in, slouched in his chair with his arms folded in front of him. "i'm not hungry."
"but you gotta eat at some point," jeongin tried convincing, but jisung once again shook his head.
and then, the door opened. it was a doctor.
"are you all here for minho?" he asked. they all nodded.
"is he okay?" jeongin asked, biting his lip out of nervousness.
relieving all the stress in the world, the doctor nodded. "he's sleeping right now, but he'll be fine. his wrists were slit pretty bad, but luckily you called us before it was too late."
the friends exanged the same facial expression, but you couldn't tell what is was. they were all feeling a mix of emotions.
"you can come see him if you want. he might not want to be alone when he wakes up."
with that, the group were following the doctor to minho's room.
::::
the three stepped foot in his room one after the other. yeosang first, then jisung, then jeongin.
as jeongin was entering, he stopped in his tracks.
minho looked awful. his face was pale, his arms were bandaged from top to bottom, but yet he peacefully laid asleep.
jeongin hated how familiar it looked. he gulped at the sight, not knowing if he had the courage to walk in.
jisung looked back when he realized jeongin wasn't trailing behind him like before. he let out a quiet sigh, wrapping his arm around the other and bringing him in.
only after a few minutes, they could tell minho was starting to wake up, he shifted in his bed, eyes starting to flutter open.
the first thing minho saw when he opened his eyes was jisung. it took a second for him to process what was going on.
it didn't work?
"jisung?" minho asked, voice croaky and tired.
jisung smiled, throwing himself onto minho and giving him a big hug, "you're okay! oh my shit and a half thank good you're okay!"
it didn't work...
using all his strength, minho shoved jisung off of him, "did you save me?"
jisung nodded, grabbing minho's hand, thankful he's really gonna be okay.
"why did you save me!" minho then shouted, struggling to sit up straight, "i wanted to die! why would you do this to me!"
minho then caught sight of the two other people in the room. he cringed at himself.
"minho, did you really think as your friends we would ever let you do something like that to yourself? we care so much about you, of course we would save you," yeosang spoke, keeping his voice low to not overwhelm the other.
jeongin just kept his gaze on the floor.
"i didn't want to be alive! nobody cares about me, no matter how many times you say it-"
"minho we care for you more than you fucking know!" jeongin then screamed, cutting the other off, "i know how you feel, and god i know it seems like nobody cares, but we love you so much that it's impossible to put it into words."
"you don't know anything about how i'm feeling right now, anything!" minho yelled back, tears welling up in his eyes.
jeongin shoved jisung out of the way, stepping closer to minho's bed, "oh, don't i? did you know that i saw the self harm scars on your arms? did you know that i have matching ones on my legs? did you know this was the same hospital they brought me to when i tried to kill my self two years ago? and did you know jisung was my therapist up until last year? no. but what you do know is that i'll always be there for you, and so will they. we will never let anyone hurt you. and i'm sorry i left when you needed me, i shouldn't have done that. but don't you dare say nobody cares about you, because we care so fucking much."
minho was speechless. he looked at his friend with a shocked expression. he never expected his cheerful friend to have such a dark past.
jisung stood with his hand across his mouth, not expecting the out blow from the youngest. he didn't know what to do either, except put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
minho started sobbing, grabbing jeongin's arm and pulling him into a hug. the two cried together in each other's arms, and eventually jisung and yeosang joined in.
"i'm so s-sorry," minho apologized, wiping his eyes, "i didn't know, i'm so sorry."
"i-its okay, i shouldn't have kept it from you, and i should have talked to you when i knew something was wrong instead of ghosting you," jeongin replied, rubbing the others back.
"listen minho," jisung started, "sometimes the worst place you can be is in your own head. you gotta break out of the the thoughts that make you believe nobody cares about you, cause they're wrong. and i should have told you that the first time you walked into my office."
minho sighed, nodding along. he wasn't expecting to wake up, and he definitely wasn't expecting to wake up to see people here with him.
but sitting on the hospital bed, surrounded by his friends who care so much, made him realize that maybe, just maybe, he's not alone after all.
~
GUYS YA GIRL WON A VIDEO CALL WITH FELIX, IM GONNA EXPLODE IM SO HAPPY AND EXCITED 🥺
but on a different note, HELLO?? ALL IN?? A FUCKING MASTERPIECE??? stray kids never disappoint :)