Tightly pressed together, they stood in the shower. Minho's clothes were now soaking wet, but for nothing in the world he would have let go of Jisung now.

Jisung had put his head on Minho's shoulder and took a deep breath. Minho's smell was more familiar to him than anything else and his thoughts and also his heart slowly calmed down again.

He was safe. In Minho's arm. Where he belonged.

They would probably have been in the shower even longer if Chan hadn't come to the bathroom at some point.

Surprised, Jisung who stood in such a way that he could see the door, scared up when he suddenly saw Chan standing in the bathroom.

He had knocked, but Minho and Jisung had been so focused on each other that none of them had heard the knocking.

"I don't want to bother you, but breakfast is here."

With a slight grin, he looked at the two for a moment and then left the bathroom again.

"Uhm..."

Jisung hid his face giggling at Minho's shoulder, while Minhos ears turned suspiciously red.

"All right, then take a shower and I'll put on dry clothes."

Jisung nodded grinning and looked after Minho when he left the bathroom.

Minho always managed to cheer him up and make him laugh. He didn't even really have to do much for it.

There was a lightness between them that others often didn't understand. Especially since they often only saw Minho's sarcastic shell.

But Jisung had learned to see through the shell and knew the Minho under the it so well that he could also see him when Minho tried to hide behind his sarcasm.

For a moment his heart was light and the experiences of the past few days were not forgotten but at least pushed aside.

A few moments later, when he had just finished, Minho came back to the bathroom with dry clothes in his hand.

"Will you help me? Chan already changed me yesterday, he doesn't necessarily have to do it again now."

With a grin on his lips, Jisung took off carefully Minhos wet T-shirt and handed him a towel.

"So Chan changed you?" he asked with raised eyebrows and tried hard to hide his grin.

Minho looked at him astonished, but then also had to grin.

"Jealous?"

"Maybe..."

Jisung pulled Minho to himself and kissed him. And for a moment it was again as if the last few days hadn't existed.

For a moment, Minho felt the passion between the two of them.

Slowly he let his hands slide down on Jisung's body and pulled him even closer to him.

"I missed you so much!" Minho muttered.

"Me too," Jisung whispered.

But when he turned around to reach for a towel, his gaze fell on his reflection and Minho could see Jisung's self-confidence disappear and turn into something he hadn't seen with him for a long time.

Self-doubt and uncertainty.

It took Minho a long time to convince Jisung that on the one hand he was really serious about him and on the other hand that there was nothing about him to be ashamed of.

And he could see exactly that Jisung fell into an old pattern again.

He stood with his back to Minho, but he knew very well that the younger had clenched his hands into fists and his nails drilled into the palms of his hands.

Minho suppressed an unfortunate sigh and pulled Jisung into his arms.

"It's okay, baby! I'm here!"

He knew it would take some time until Jisung would have processed what he had experienced.

Especially Jisung, who had to struggle with fear and panic attacks anyway.

For moments, he blamed himself for what had happened again, even if he knew that it neither helped nor it was really his fault.

"Come on, get dressed and then let's eat breakfast!"

"I'm not hungry..." Jisung murmured quietly, but Minho had also expected that.

"No respeech! Either you eat something, or there will be no more kisses. Not even from the others!"

Jisung turned to him and stared at him with big eyes.

"Don't you love me anymore?" he asked sadly.

"Of course I do love you, baby! I love you so much that you can't even imagine it! And that's why you have to eat something! Otherwise, I'll soon have no one I can love..."

He gently grabbed Jisung's waist to make him realize how much he had lost weight in recent days.

"All right..." the younger one finally murmured.

And although food in the hospital was usually anything but delicious, both Minho and Jisung ate their breakfast completely.

Minho had almost completely forgotten the food while he was looking for Jisung and only looped down something quickly when he had the opportunity to.

And Jisung had been able to drink a bit in between, but food had been completely withheld from him. In addition, the drugs had made his body feel even more starved.

Chan and Changbin had gone to the canteen for breakfast and just came back when the doctor left the room.

Curiously, the two stormed into the room and found Minho and Jisung a bit perplexed.

"It looks like we can go tomorrow. So Jisung is allowed to leave tomorrow. And I will probably dismiss myself against medical advice," Minho explained after he had seen Chans questioning look.

"Excuse me?! Is he serious?"

Chan was about to run after the doctor and punch him in.

"Physically, he doesn't miss anything, says the doctor. He is still supposed to go into therapeutic treatment and he has left us some information about it. But otherwise he is healthy and could go home."

Jisung unhappy cuddled up on Minho. He didn't feel comfortable being the center of the conversation and seeing how upset Chan got because of it.

"I don't want to stay here anyway," he muttered.

Minho stroked his back calmly. He realized very well how tense the younger was and knew that he normally would have left the room now and hid in their bed.

"It's okay, baby! The family doctor can also look at my wounds. I don't have to stay here for that. One more night and then we'll go home!"

Jisung nodded, even if he was not happy that Minho wanted to act against medical advice.

On the other hand, he didn't want to be home alone.

Actually, he just wanted to lie in bed with Minho, eat ice cream and watch anime until they felt like throwing up.

Minho leaned over to him and kissed him gently.

"Everything will be fine! I will at least be on sick leave for the next four weeks and we will have enough time to do everything you feel like. Chan postponed your comeback, so nothing stands in our way!"

Smiling, he attracted Jisung, who looked over at Chan astonished.

"You postponed the comeback?"

"Uhm, of course? Or do you want to be back on stage in two days?"

Jisung thought about it for a moment, but the mere thought of standing in front of so many people shuddered him. Especially since the choking marks on his neck would never have disappeared by then.

He quickly shook his head.

"Well, you see," with a smile, Chan came over to him and kissed him on the forehead.

"It's much more important that you get well first!"

After that, Chan began to collect the first things together, while Minho and Jisung went back to bed somewhat exhausted.

꧁ ⸺ ♥ ⸺ ꧂