[일반 / 1]

note: good lord this is bad. so bad. tried to fix it. nope.

A violent headache woke him to the darkness of the room. His hands stumbled under the covers looking to grip the edge of his bed. A small flutter of panic beat inside in his chest when he found it much farther than his body remembered it to be. His eyes scrambled to find the sliver of light coming through the door, but it just made him more disoriented than he already was. A small pressure on the underside of his arm as he tried to lift himself from the bed.

Slowly, his eyes started to adjust to the darkness until he could make out just the basic outline of a hospital room. His fingers wound tightly at the edge of the bed and it took him a moment to remember why he was here, the white walls strewn in a darkness he'd never felt before. He brought his hands up to rub circles into his temples, his body felt weightless but the pressure on his arm was keeping him grounded. A small bead of sweat formed as the tightness in his stomach got worse and it burned in his chest. The light flickered on, bright and painful and the burning in his chest intensified when a soft hand pressed itself into his back, pressed him forward into a bedpan and he heaved forward. His throat closed up and the tears stung in eyes as the strained cough passed through his lips. He coughed again, heaved again but the burning got worse. The hand on his back shifted and he felt the nails digging into his spine. He felt the burning in his hands, in his head and he was too scared to open his eyes, he didn't want the light to hurt. The nails in his back stabbed through his skin and he screamed, his eyes flying open to an empty room.

The burning sensation is gone, but he could still feel the small flutters of panic as he looked around to the weak electric light shining through the window.

He sat up, for real this time, and reached back to rub his shoulders. There was no IV on his arm, and the crisp sheets weren't the frightening white of his dream. They're his own bedsheets, his own slippers sitting at the foot of his bed, his own clothes in the closet but he won't be tricked this time. He knew that this wasn't his room, and that there were nurses and doctors outside the door monitoring him.

As if on cue, the door slid open and a nurse walked in, smiling with a tray in her hand.

"Finally getting used to the schedule, huh?" She said with a small chuckle. "You have a visitor in a few minutes, remember? So, put on something nice and I'll let them in when you're ready."

He nodded slowly, opening his mouth as she slipped two white pills in and handed him a small paper cup of water. After she was gone, he jumped out of the covers and into his slippers. His father had been coming over more frequently so it wasn't a surprise to have a visitor. Minseok pulled on a decent shirt and a pair of pants and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, wondering what new excuse his father had come up with to hold a conversation with him.

He opened the door a crack, and called out a soft "I'm ready," before heading back to his bed and sitting cross-legged. He didn't expect the skinny body that slid through the door, or the chill that ran through his body at seeing that face, that jawline, the frail fingers that had gripped his hand for night on end. The name came out in a low whisper, or not at all and it didn't matter for a single second as he stumbled down from the bed and closed the distance between them.

"Jongdae," he finally said, teeth clattering around the name he hadn't heard himself utter in so long. His arms wrapped around the tiny waist, and he burrowed his face into the younger's shoulder. "Jongdae, you're here," Minseok whispered and it's all he can think to say right now.