"Can you please stop glaring at me other lee"
Felix nearly spat his sweetcorn at his hyung across the table "other lee, OTHER LEE?!!?!? I HAVE A NAME"
"okay cat food."
Felix let his mouth hang open in shock, just glaring at Minho who was ripping apart onion rings and feeding them little by little to Jisung who was perched on Minho's lap comfotably leaning against his chest.
eventually he managed to close his mouth and instead turned his glare to his chips and began eating them viciously,
"Why are mad at him anyway?" Jisung said swallowing the last mouthful of his meal, he was well aware that Felix was going to rant but he went ahead with the question anyway
The blonde Australian inhaled deeply through the mouth and then let it all out within the space of 5 seconds"Because I'm single, and you two couples are making me feel even more single, and Minho stole you from me and we never hang out anymore." Felix sniffled and let a single forced tear roll out of his eye and into his chips.
There was silence.
A tumble weed rolled past
"Stop being dramatic Felix." Hyunjin said finally and everyone including Felix turned, stopped eating and just stared at Hyunjin, making direct eye contact with the boy until he became uncomfortable
"W-what? What did i say?"
Seungmin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Nothing idiot."
They all went back to eating, ignoring Hyunjin who was still trying to get someone to answer, unable to understand the issue with his comment.
The chatter in the canteen quieted a little as they where getting closer to the end of lunch, girls dressed for the hot weather in tiny shorts and crop tops wandered past, glared at Jisung and tried to catch the eye of Seungmin, Hyunjin and Minho,
Minho noticed of course but he was used to it and it simply reminded him of something he'd been meaning to ask Jisung
"Hey Jisung..."Minho mumbled thoughtfully, the boy in his lap shifted slightly to face him better, "It's boiling these days why are you still wearing long sleeves."
Jeongin in the corner of his table coughed and almost spat his strawberry milk, Chan rubbed his back gently and said "Minho..." pointedly
Minho wasn't qualmed and just prodded Jisung gently, the younger blanked, was Minho seriously stupid? Or did he forget?
"Have you forgotten that I have Acarophobia?"
"No."
Minho's face was completely blank so Jisung decided the best way to explain was to just show him, he hitched up one of his sleeves and waited for reaction, he could feel it coming, Minho was going to be cringing in disgust and to be honest how wouldn't blame the elder
but Minho looked at the scars that lined and simply nodded "Yeah but why won't you wear short sleeves?"
Jisung sighed and tugged his sleeve back down "Because my arms are....oh whatever...nevermind.."
"Say it." Minho demanded firmly
"They're... well they're ugly."
Minho grabbed his arm placed a gentle kiss on his wrist, "They're not, I mean look how slender and pretty they are" he raised it up for everyone on the table to see while Jisung covered his face with his other hand out of embarrassment, they others didn't say much, just nodded, they where already used to Minho simping for Jisung at this point
"Look how tiny your wrists are" He repeated waving it in Jisung's face, the younger pulled his arm away
"I get it.." He mumbled under his breath
"Good, short sleeves from tomorrow okay?!"
Jisung nodded slowly and allowed Minho to continue feeding him.
~~~
When the next day came He did get quite a few strange looks from judgy people at school but Minho and Felix where by his side to protect him the entire way through, Minho had even walked him from his house to school.
His mother was delighted to hear that the two of them was dating as she loved Minho and this resulted in her loading him with snacks before letting them leave the house much to Minho's delight, at this point Jisung wouldn't be surprised if Minho was just dating him for his mothers cooking.
Days went by and the 5 or so girls that thought they could turn Minho straight gave up and left the two of them alone, In fact people started looking at the two of them in a positive light, the two of them and Seungmin and Hyunjin became know as the cutest couple on campus because with everything they did it was very clear that they deeply loved one another.
Strange as it may sound it was almost like Minho was his medicine, his Acarophobia attacks became less and less frequent and Minho would be there to help him every time, they went from weekly to monthly to every couple of months.
Minho, Hyunjin and Felix formed an official dance team to go to competitions and Jisung and Chan produced many tracks for them, Seungmin stopped being so shy about his beautiful voice and started chasing his passion.
As for Jeongin and Chan, Jeongin did in fact confess to him but he confessed on the very day that Chan became an adult so now they both had to wait until Jeongin was no longer a minor..
There was only one thing that bothered the group...
~~~
"I don't see why the principal even let him in the school building" Felix grumbled, scowling when Minho hushed him..
"You're sure you want to do this? He reached out to apologies but that doesn't mean you have to accept.."
Jisung paused and mulled over his options, but honestly in his mind there was no competition, he didn't want this wound to stay fresh in his mind all the time and he didn't want the other to live with burning guilt, he nodded firmly at his boyfriend
"I want to do this."
He puffed himself up and made his body as big as possible but as soon as he entered the room and saw Changbin sitting on the opposing couch he deflated and Minho had to gently guide him to sit down, Felix came and sat on his other side and held his hand, gently stroking it, trying to calm Jisung down.
The boy opposite him looked less tough than usual, his eyes which used to be cold and hard showed a pit of pain and regret and his dark hair was tousled and unkempt, he looked across at Jisung in his short sleeved yellow shirt and flinched at the scars on the boys arm, knowing that he had caused some of them
There was silence for a while before Changbin slowly raised his head fully, he took a deep breath and made eye contact with Jisung, coughing to get the younger attention,
"I.... It's difficult to put into words exactly" He started, his voice trembling a little, you could hear the sincerity behind his tone
"but I wanted to talk to you, because I wanted to say that I was stupid and foolish and cruel and there is no excuse.... what I did.... It was disgusting....." Jisung looked down at this point, his body shaking a slight bit as he remembered things that had happened.
"I've come to recognize that recently and I don't expect you to forgive me, but I just wanted to..... I'm trying.... to.... repent? I guess..."
Jisung was staring at his hands as he clenched them together tightly he silently nodded before making eye contact again trying ever so hard not to let himself cry
"I hated you.. I hated you back then... but.... I'm not mad anymore, I just want us to put this behind us, let's move on okay!?"
Visible relief and gratefulness coursed through Changbin as he relaxed his body a little, Minho looked at him, asking if he wanted to go with his eyes,
Jisung whispered yes and the elder pulled Jisung to a stand very gently, they both gave Changbin short nods which he returned and watched them as they headed towards the door of the school office, only stopping when they noticed that Felix wasn't with them,
"I'll catch up in a second.." He said
They left and blonde turned back around and sat forwards in his seat making eye contact boldly, not at all afraid of Changbin
"I still don't like you I hope you know that."
Changbin nodded
"And I haven't forgiven you yet"
Changbin nodded at this again
"But...." Felix paused "I don't think that you're a bad person, just a decent person in a really bad place.... and If your in a bad place in your mind, you should reach out for help, there are people out there that are willing to reach out a hand, including me, I hope you know that...... It's never to late to change."
Changbin was quiet for a moment before a small smile broke out across his face
"I know.. I'll try."
Felix smiled back warmly at Changbin for the first time ever.
"I'll be waiting." He whispered and exited the room.
~~~
AUTHORS NOTE
thank you all for reading!!
this has been one of the longest things i've ever written and honestly it went really weird in the middle...
I'm not the best at writing but I'm always trying to improve and working hard, hopefully my work will become maybe half enjoyable sometime in the future hehe
I started writing this because I actually have Acarophobia myself and it thought it would be nice for me to be able to write about some of my experiences through this book (Mine isn't as bad as Jisung's though)
Anyway yes,, thank you all for reading, I've really enjoyed reading all your comments!!
There will be a special seungjin chapter (how they got together at the zoo) at some point in the future but for now it is:
THE END