Rise of a Star - a Minsung Story

Chapter 12

"I'm afraid we can't do that. The filming team is at your dorm almost every week and no trace of Minho still living with you can be seen on TV. That would ruin the concept and would go against our contracts. Besides, where should he go with all his belongings every week?", the person responsible for the dormitories crushed Jisung's hopes the next day. "B-But I need him", Jisung pleaded, and the woman sighed. "We can't make excuses just because you suffer from trauma. If it's that bad you shouldn't have become a trainee in the first place", she explained and Jisung bit his lip. He knew he was risking his good trainee image with pleading so much, but he desperately wanted to spend more time with Minho. "Can't he at least be allowed to sleep over? So he still lives at his new dorm, but is allowed to spend the night at ours?", the boy brought up his last idea. If that didn't work, he wouldn't know what to do anymore. A deep sigh left the woman's mouth as she started typing away on her computer. "Fine. But just until the next person gets eliminated. Once Felix is also out, we can't make further excuses. I'll write you a short note, so he knows it's official", the woman didn't even notice how she had just given away the result of the next elimination on their program. Jisung's mouth hung wide agape, but he quickly shut it and thanked her, before taking the note and leaving.

Had he just heard that correctly? Felix would get eliminated during the next evaluation? But why, why would they do such a thing? They were both official group members and had appeared in Stray Kids' first music video. How could they eliminate two people?

The boy's thoughts were running wild and he didn't understand anything. With his mind confused and anxious, he walked back to his dorm where everyone else including Minho was patiently waiting for him.

"You're back! What did they say?", Jeongin asked excitedly, hopping around on Chan's lap, making the other groan in pain. Jisung handed them the paper, not saying a word, and crawled into his boyfriend's lap, hiding his face in his chest. Minho's long well-defined arms snaked around the other's fragile body and he placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. Changbin snatched the paper from Jeongin and read it out loud.

"It's not what we wanted, but at least he can stay over whenever he wants", the short male said, a concert frown present on his face. "Do you mind telling me what got you so upset?", Minho calmy said into Jisung's ear. "I know what is going to happen during the next evaluation", Jisung whispered, too quiet for anyone except Minho to understand him. The older of the two narrowed his eyes and forced his boyfriend to look at him. "And judging from the tears on your very adorable face, someone else is getting eliminated?", Minho asked, and everyone's eyes widened in shock. That was the last thing they had expected to happen. Especially since all of them were hoping the eliminations weren't that scripted. But it turned out they were. Jisung choked out a sob, his body starting to shake as he felt himself regress into his younger headspace. He hadn't properly slipped in weeks, always too busy or pressured to do so. He didn't like his little self a lot, especially not because he always felt like regressing was wasting time he could have spent cuddling with Minho. Not that he couldn't do that as a child, but it felt different from being big.

"I-I don' wanna s-say bye t-to Lixie", the young boy cried out, barely able to say a full sentence. Minho swayed him from side to side in a soothing manner, and it didn't take the young boy very long to stop crying. He was exhausted from his long day and crying only made it worse.

When Minho and Jisung left to go to bed together, Felix' mask broke, and the first betraying tears rolled down his cheeks. Changbin immediately pulled the young Australian into his embrace and stroked his head gently. The others left to give the two some privacy, but Felix' sobs only grew louder. "Shh, it's okay, baby. Come on, take some deep breaths with me, okay?", Changbin tried to calm the younger down, and Felix tried to control his breathing, only to start wailing even worse than before. The older boy gave up on trying to calm him down and picked Felix up bridal style to carry him into their shared bedroom. Changbin grabbed a large shirt from his closet and changed Felix into it, helping him get ready for bed. The freckled boy was still quietly sobbing to himself, but he instantly complied when Changbin started changing him. The older of the two grew worried his boyfriend would make himself sick with crying so much, but he really didn't know how to calm him down anymore.