Chapter 2: 2121 words

    It was large amounts of pain that woke Wonwoo up the next morning. Looks like his small trip  yesterday with Mingyu had overdone it. Either that, or the fact that he didn't sleep as much as normal. He was too busy stressing about whether he should let Mingyu tell his friends or just go to the stupid support group. Either way, he would be forced to include more people in to the collateral damage that is his disease. Maybe some of the kids in that support group had the dangerous thing called hope, Wonwoo didn't want to ruin that. He didn't want them to help carry his burden. He didn't want anyone to mourn him. 

    But Wonwoo's stressings went away when they drowned him in pain meds and his world became dark again, open to the night terrors the meds typically caused. 

    When he awoke, Wonwoo could hear yelling, or lecturing to be more specific. Dr. Yoon, Wonwoo's favorite doctor, was griping Mingyu out for pushing Wonwoo too hard outside his room. Wonwoo felt very smug knowing the tall was getting punished, but he also felt sorry for the guy. In the end, he was trying to help. Based off of a doctor's perspective, he had done better than any other intern Wonwoo had encountered. He was obviously back again. 

    Wonwoo slowly opened his eyes as Mingyu walked through the door. Mingyu's hair was styled up again and he looked very angry; he looked liked the Mingyu Wonwoo had seen at school. As he was observing Mingyu and considering the rumors revolving around him, he was assaulted by light. Mingyu had, very aggressively, opened the curtains that blocked the windows before sitting down next to Wonwoo's bed to pout. Wonwoo sat up, visibly startling Mingyu who obviously did not notice that Wonwoo was awake. Wonwoo let the smug side of his debate take over and smirked at Mingyu, "Ha ha, you got in trouble" 

    Mingyu looked shocked rather than angry at Wonwoo displaying actual emotions. "You shouldn't be so smug, but I do want to see a smile from you more often." Mingyu winked at this and immediately Wonwoo's smirk fell, "Plus, it may have had some positive effects, I've heard you've managed to keep food down all last night and this morning!" 

    Wonwoo rolled his eyes, "I haven't eaten yet this morning, Mingyu. And I was in a lot of pain very early this morning, so I say no more walks" 

    Mingyu considered this for a moment, "Fine, fine.... Your doctor said we can only take walks if you say you want to, so we won't be doing anymore walks. But, we will still have lots of fun trust me!" That's when Wonwoo noticed the small plastic bag that Mingyu was carrying. "I brought lots of games to play! So what, are you a Jenga person, a cards person, a dominos person?" 

    The older just rolled his eyes and looked away. He'd agreed with his mom to not run the new intern off, he never promised he'd "play" with the man. 

    Mingyu just smiled bigger at Wonwoo's actions, "Okay! We will try them all then! Try to resist it and I'll just defy Dr. Yoon and drag you out of that bed again!" Mingyu smiled at his own actions as he pulled out a Jenga game, "Oh! Speaking of which, what's it going to be? Support group or school friends?" 

    Wonwoo groaned, he was hoping the overgrown child had forgotten about their "deal" (aka Mingyu blackmailing Wonwoo). "This is so unethical." Mingyu just smiled and made a 'go on' gesture with his hands, over dramatic and big like everything else he does. "But.... I choose the support group. But you can't force me to speak to any of them. You can't make me make friends." 

    Mingyu rolled his eyes, "I wouldn't need to force you to make friends if you'd just fill your friends in on what's going on. Gosh... You don't know how much I would kill to have that many friends who truly care about me." 

    Wonwoo scoffed, his eyes darkening as he looked Mingyu directly in the eyes, "Don't pretend to know me."

    "I'll stop pretending once you let me in" Mingyu said in a contradicting  childish singsongy voice. 

    "Don't bet on it." Wonwoo shot back with equal fire and then with less harshness and confidence, "The odds are never in my favor..." And maybe in that split second, Wonwoo's walls did come down. Maybe he was trying so hard to keep them up and to let no one, especially Mingyu, in that he let a small bit of his cards show. And Mingyu noticed and retreated, easing them back into Jenga, but never being quite as cheerful as before. 

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    Wonwoo's lack of nutrition and strength making his hands extremely shaky, Jenga turned out to be a terrible idea. They tried several rounds that would ultimately last a few minutes before Wonwoo would inevitably knock it down. Wonwoo thought it was frustrating and pointless, but Mingyu agreed to close the blinds if Wonwoo con