the following morning, minho was the first one to wake up. he looked down at the boy laying peacefully in his arms, the rise and fall of his chest in sync with minhos.

minho brushed away the boys stray hairs from his forehead and placed a soft and sweet kiss there instead.

he kept his arm around jisung, but reached over slightly to grab his phone from the nightstand. he flicked it on and saw all his missed notifications.

one particular notification raised a great deal of concern for minho. he read the contact name and the message attached and immediately his heart sunk.

hi honey, your father and i were

hoping you could come home this

weekend.

we have someone we want to

introduce you to:)

minho stared down at his phone in shock. it was rare for him to receive a message from his parents, and when he did, it didn't usually consist of good news.

minho contemplated what he would respond with, but to make it simpler on everyone, he knew what he had to say.

okay mom

see you this weekend

great!

can't wait honey

minho let out a loud sigh as he cuddled into jisung, dreading this weekends event. jisung began to stir from hearing and feeling minho beside him.

"min?" jisung asked groggily as he rubbed his eyes.

"yes gorgeous?" minho responded, looking at jisung with an immense amount of admiration.

"everything okay?" jisung laid on the boys chest, but raised his head slightly so he could see minho's face.

"i'm fine ji, don't worry." minho smiled at the boy before starting to climb out of bed.

"no!" jisung whined as he tried to pull the boy back into bed, "stay awhile longer, please!"

"no ji, we need to get up, it's late. we should check on our friends too..." minho suggested and jisung knew the boy was right, but he wanted to stay in his little bubble of bliss for just a moment longer.

"i'm scared for what will be left of our friend group after last night's events." jisung sighed as he sat up and faced minho.

minho stood in front of jisung, moving closer to the boy slowly as he enlaced his fingers with jisung's.

"it's going to be okay," minho said softly, "you should speak to felix, changbin, and chan. i will speak to hyunjin, seungmin, and jeongin. okay?"

"i mean... it sounds fine... but i'm scared. what if everyone is mad at each other? what if we can't fix it? what if we lose them?" jisung began to tear up, his greatest fears turning into what seemed like reality to him.

"you won't lose anyone jisung, i promise you that." minho said as he leaned down and placed a gentle kiss onto jisung's tiny nose.

"don't make promises you can't keep." jisung pulled away from minho and curled back up underneath his covers.

minho stood there confused for a moment until he remembered what jisung explained to him about his father.

"jisung... i'm sorry... i should've chosen my words more carefully. i meant you won't lose any of your friends. there's nothing that can't be fixed between us all. i can promise you that." minho said as he laid down beside jisung, being guilted back into bed with the boy.

"make up for it with cuddles." jisung mumbled as he turned around and burrowed himself into minho's arms.

"anything to make you happy, kitten." minho said. he brushed through jisung's hair, allowing the boy to fall back to sleep in his arms. he knew jisung was getting bad, bad in ways he had seen in people from his past.

whether it was jisung's anxiety eating away at him or if he just also happened to suffer from depression... minho did not know, but what he did know was that he needed to help jisung in any way possible before it was too late.

"you're okay jisung, you're safe with me... i'm not going anywhere." minho gently whispered when he thought jisung had fallen back asleep.

"promise?" jisung muttered, his eyes fluttering open once more.

"i thought you were sleeping..." minho trailed off.

"no, i'm awake, just comfortable." jisung smiled up at the boy, "but... do you promise?"

"i pinky promise, jisung. i am not going anywhere." minho held jisung tightly in his arms, no longer having the desire to leave bed that day, but eventually he knew he had to.

a.n.

those of you who are worried about me stressing myself out with updates... please do not worry... writing is my only outlet, i cannot take a break from it.

i may take breaks from certain stories for periods of time, but i cannot stop writing all together

if i am being honest, the story i am most inspired for currently is my changlix story, 'ex'

i absolutely love writing that one and it has been helping me a lot lately... i have a lot of drafts saved for future updates on that story :)

but thank you for your concerns and your kind messages, you guys help me in ways you don't even know 🥺❤️