ten

Minho hurriedly closed his apartment door, sitting against the wall to pull on his shoes — once again, he was running late for work. He heard another door open and looked up to greet the neighbour, but instead just smiled brightly. "Jisung — good morning!"

"You're rather happy for a morning," Jisung muttered, sniffling as he riffled his hair to fix it. "Late again?"

"Yep — why are you up?" Minho asked as he pulled on his other shoe. "As long as I've known you, I've only seen you up this early once. What gives?"

"... I wanted to see you off..."

Minho stopped tying his shoelace, glancing up at the brunette boy. Jisung avoided his eyes, cheeks clearly turning a soft red of embarrassment. Minho quickly tied his shoelace and stood up quickly. "Fine. Come on, I need to catch a train."

"No, I—... hyung." Jisung held his breath for a moment before bringing his hands from behind his back to reveal a brown paper bag. "You're in a rush. It's fine. Here — I made these for you. They might not be that good, b-but... sorry, I'm just wasting your time—"

"N-no! Thank you, Jisung," Minho said, quickly accepting the bag. "Whatever it is, I'm sure I'll enjoy it thoroughly. This is.... sweet of you. Thank you."

"It's no problem," Jisung smiled, nervously wringing his hands. "I, uhm... I have therapy today. And then I'll be with Felix, so... don't worry about me, okay? I'll be fine today."

Minho nodded, shaking the bag excitedly. "That's very good, Jisungie. I'll eat it well. Stay safe and enjoy your day, okay?"

Jisung bowed his head politely as Minho ran down the corridor while waving his hand. Jisung turned away almost immediately, putting a nervous hand to his chest to feel his heartbeat. He bit his lips together, letting out a nervous breath.

"Ah, almost forgot!"

Minho ran up to him again, turning him by his shoulder so that they faced one another. Before Jisung could say anything, Minho leaned forward, lessening the distance between them. Jisung scrunched his eyes shut as Minho softly pressed a kiss to his cheek, withdrawing and running away almost immediately.

"Wha—?!"

"Bye-bye, Jisungie!"

Jisung watched with widened eyes as Minho ran off happily, fluffy hair bouncing with every movement. Jisung was so shocked, he barely moved an inch. He fell back to reality when he heard someone else unlock their apartment, causing him to quickly enter his own and hurriedly shut the door behind him.

"What the fuck just happened...?!"

"A romantic interest?"

Jisung silently nodded his head, holding a pillow to his chest. "He's this guy that moved in about two weeks back. He's been... really nice to me, and he, uhm... kind of deduced that I'm depressed. He cares about me, and h-he... cooks dinner for me, and buys some of my groceries, and makes sure I take my meds."

"Sounds like a very caring person," the therapist hummed as he wrote something down. "And this man... seems to show interest in your recovery?"

"He likes to 'keep an eye' on me," Jisung chuckled, hugging the pillow tighter. "He makes me... happy. He's not sweet, or soft or gentle. He's... caring. He's unapologetically himself. Someone that can be so true to themselves is... envious. But instead of envy him, I... admire him. I wish I could be as confident as him."

"Is that where the attraction stems from?"

"I didn't really have a romantic interest in him until recently," Jisung replied. "I thought it was impossible to get a guy to like me, given how absolutely terrible my communication skills are, but... I tried baking something for him, and... he kissed my cheek this morning. That means something, right?"

"... usually..."

"But I can't date someone now!" Jisung exclaimed suddenly, tossing the pillow to the side. "What if I disappoint him? What if he sees what a sad human I am and decides that... I'm not worth being his friend?"

"Hasn't he already seen you at your lowest low?"

Jisung held his breath for a second, his eyes widened. "Does he... l-like me?"

"Isn't a kiss on the cheek usually an indication of feelings?"

"W-well, friends kiss that way, too!"

"Would you kiss a friend in that way?"

Jisung crossed his arms, shaking his head. "There's just... no way that someone like him could have feelings for me. Minho is... very attractive, but that's not even the basis of me being... interested in him. He makes me feel important. Cared for. Heck, he makes me feel loved. I don't want to ruin that, just in case it's all platonic."

"Well, give some time for your relationship to develop further instead of going out of your way to be rejected, hm?" the therapist smiled, putting his pen into his shirt pocket. "You're experiencing a lot of happiness these days, Jisung. You've gained some healthy weight, too. I'm very proud of you. Let's wrap up today with a behavioural check, hm?"

Minho closed his apartment door, kicking his shoes off with a tired groan as he entered his apartment. He sat on his couch, closing his eyes as he leaned his head back. His day was tiring. With a sigh, he raised his head and glanced into his kitchen. He saw a note on the fridge and frowned as he approached it.

'yoohoo~ i borrowed some milk because i forgot to buy some on the way from therapy for some cereal. hope you don't mind!! — sungie ♡'

Minho stared at the little heart with a fond smile, promptly raising his phone to message the other. He stopped, closing Kakao and rather opening the call screen. He searched Jisung's number, putting the phone to his ear as he awaited an answer.

"Hello?"

"Hi, J— you're not Jisung."

"Aha, you're Lee Minho! I'm Jisung's... friend. Lee Felix."

"Nice to meet you, Lee," Minho hummed. "So, uh... where's Jisungie? Could you let him know that we need to talk?"

"He's... kinda busy emptying his bowels right now," Felix answered with a slight laugh. "I could take a message, if you'd like."

"... tell him I'm grateful for the gift and that it was delicious. Also that I'm sorry for what I did last night. If it's occupying his mind, he can forget it."

"O... kay, I'll tell him that. Anything else?"

"... thank you for caring about my dear friend, Felix. He needed someone like you. Keep up the good work."

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