hold me ♡ minsung

08. y'all homesick?

♡

SEPTEMBER 16

    The more you spend surrounded by people, the less alone you'll feel. That's what Minho thought. Sounded obvious. It was wrong.

   Days went by, and Minho gave it his best shot to settle into his new schedule.  According to their varied schedules and class times, different sets within their new, eight-person friend group would sit together for breakfast, but they always sat at the same, big table. Whether it was just Hyunjin, Jisung, and Jeongin, or everyone at once, some of them were always there at the same time as Minho, gradually waking up as they filled their bellies. They tended to all be there at the same time for lunch and dinner, though.

  Chan actually seemed well-rested for a bit, but within the first few days, he'd already gotten himself back to hardly sleeping, because he'd gotten himself two on-campus jobs. He quickly returned to looking like a zombie until he chugged a mug of black coffee each morning.

   Increasingly, Minho found himself in 2Chan's room, because everyone kept deciding to hang out after classes and homework were finished for the day.

   Spread over the 2Chan room, mostly in bunches, the boys had been slowly chatting about class work and how they had been liking college life so far. But some things were bothering Minho. Jisung was asking if anyone wanted to give him a head massage, while Hyunjin asked if he could squeeze onto one of the beds with Seungmin and drape his legs over his lap, and that had been after Jeongin politely refused Seungmin's offer to take the very same spot. Listening both of which gave Minho second-hand embarrassment.

     Luckily, their conversations weren't about anything too touchy, otherwise Minho wouldn't have been able to stand it, even though he wasn't answering any of the questions floating around the room. Changbin had asked if he was the only one struggling to keep the shower pouring out warm water, and Felix was wondering if anyone else was bothered by the way only half of the chairs in some of the classrooms had armrests.

     It was just the normal, comfortable chitchat until..

   "Is anyone homesick?" Seungmin looked, a little nervously, around the room, seeming to be wondering if it was just him.

    Jeongin looked a little uneasy in his spot on the floor across the room from Minho, but he said nothing and just kept eating his lollipop, mouth closed.

   "I am," Jisung admitted, casually and easily. "I really miss my mom. Me and Felix cried together on like.. the third night here."

    Minho was a little taken aback, looking down at the floor while he listened. It didn't really feel like something he should be hearing.

   "I only cried because you were crying," Felix chuckled.

   Jisung just shrugged, leaning into Felix and letting him pat his head.

   Minho wondered how he admitted that so shamelessly. In high school, most of them would've been mercilessly teased for saying that kind of thing. But they were all adults now. It seemed they'd gotten past the stage where they felt the need to make fun of their peers day in, day out.

   Though, come to think of it, even with their limited contact in school, from what he did see of him, Minho seemed to remember Jisung always being that way: never caring about the possibility of being teased. He just said things. He wasn't scared.

   How different they were, Jisung and Minho.

   "I am a little bit, too," Chan added. "But definitely not as much as last year. I think it's better when you have a nicer room. And a nicer roommate." He nudged Changbin fondly.