Minho heard his door being unlocked, a loud bang of the door, rapid footsteps and to his expectation, Jisung flopped himself on the bed. Minho's, nontheless.

"What's the matter this time?"

"Parents," Jisung croaked, not wanting to talk anything else, "Just...let me stay for the night."

Minho didn't make any verbal response. Instead, he jumped from his chair to the bed directly and landed on Jisung, earning a screech from the younger.

"What the actual-"

"Shut up, you need cuddles," Minho interrupted Jisung's protest, "Or do you rather have me tickling you?"

Jisung silently hold up his sleeve under Minho's nose.

"Ew," Minho faked gagged, "Shower now. You know where your clothes are, right?"

"Yeah, yeah," Jisung stood up after Minho removed himself from the bed, "Thanks, hyung."

~

He couldn't even count how many times his home had been Jisung's place to run away from all the stress.

It first happened when they were still both in middle school, Jisung's anxiety acted up hard at school.

He was working on a choreography in the music room, while Jisung was at another corner of the room mumbling something (which Minho knew now, was lyrics), when the mumbling suddenly stopped and he heard heavy breathing along with choking sounds.

He glanced at the boy at the opposite side of the room, and he didn't look good.

"Hey, are you alright?"

No response, except for a choke which sounded different from the other ones.

He didn't really want to do anything - what if he accidentally killed him? What if that boy thought he was hostile? What was even happening to him right now? Minho didn't know. Instead, he chose the most logical option at that moment. "Hang on there, I am going to get the school nurse."

He did, and left for lesson after the school nurse took note of his name and class. He finished his afternoon lessons, about to return to home, but it surprised him that the school nurse was outside his classroom after the last lesson. Even more surprising, the school nurse asked for his will to keep that choking boy.

"He refused to return to his own home, and refused to tell me if he had any friends." The school nurse explained apologetically, "He's fine now, but I can't just leave him at school."

"I have my own parents at home."

"Then I suppose you should discuss with him?" The nurse asked. Apparently, the kid didn't seem to mind Minho's presence, because when the nurse suggested he stay at Minho's place for the night, he didn't protest.

Minho sighed. He shouldn't have left his name for the nurse.

It's not like he had a choice either. He followed the nurse to the infirmary and locked eyes with the younger boy. The other's eyes seemed to be silently pleading Minho to keep him for at least a night.

"I'll leave you two to discuss by yourselves. I'll be waiting outside." The nurse finished and left the infirmary, leaving the two in awkward silence.

"Can you – can you just, let me stay at your place for just one night?" The younger broke the silence first, "I really can't return to my own house at this state-"

"Whoa, calm down, I haven't even caught your name...And also, why do you insist on staying at my place?" Minho stopped the younger from babbling on. Really, why Minho? They didn't even know each other.

He gently urged the younger to tell him everything that he was willing to say – his name is Han Jisung, he had a panic attack just now, he didn't want to get interrogated by his parents, and he didn't have any trustable friends.

"And why do you think that I am trustable?" Minho asked. "We are strangers before this. You don't know anything about me, and neither do I know anything about you."

"You didn't ignore me and run away when you saw me acting up, and you didn't laugh at or look down on me when you heard about my issue. That's enough for me." Jisung retorted weakly.

Perhaps his so-called friends were all scared of his illness? Minho deduced. He wasn't that at all surprised – he also wanted to go away immediately when he saw Jisung acting up.

Not to mention that he also got laughed at simply because of acrophobia. That wasn't important right now.

"I think you've might have mistaken my actions," He admitted, "I actually wanted to leave as soon as I see what's happening."

"But you didn't do that in the end, that's what I care. You also chose to come here when you can just ignore my request."

It's actually the nurse urging him to come, Minho thought, but he decided that Jisung would find other reasons anyway, so he remained quiet.

"Please – just – just one night. One night is all I ask." Jisung pled again, voice even more sincere than before. Minho sighed.

"I need to consult my parents first."

It was partly a lie. His parents didn't really care about who he brought home – his parents didn't care about anything Minho did. Hell, he doubted if they would even know if he just moved out without telling them. Still, they were his parents, and Minho had to tell them because it's more socially acceptable.

It only took 5 seconds for Minho to get a reply message from his mother, but he waiter for another minute before returning to Jisung.

"They approved. You can stay for the night, I guess."

They talked about a lot that night – well, maybe not a lot, but more than Minho expected for two people who had been strangers until merely a few hours before.

He learnt that Jisung's parents didn't care about his illness as well, that Jisung loved music so much that it started to give him pressure, that his parents didn't support his interest. In exchange, Minho admitted that his parents didn't really care about who was visiting, and offered Jisung to come stay by if circumstances got really terrible for the younger.

He didn't know why he made that offer. Perhaps it's because Jisung was genuinely a nice person to be with when he was at his normal state, or perhaps it's just because Minho was too lonely at home and yearned for some company.

Whatever drove Minho to invite Jisung didn't matter anymore, because now he didn't really care. Ever since that night, Jisung did go to Minho's place every once in a while, and this habit remained until now.