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//Minseok//

"I don't wanna. You can't make me." I pout, folding my arms and slumping in the back seat of the car.
"You have to though." Jongdae whines, tugging on my arm relentlessly. 
"No. I won't." 
If you're wondering what I'm making such a fuss about, then I'll tell you.
Jongdae's parents are taking us on holiday to Australia. I'm not complaining about that, of course not, but it's just... to go to Australia, you have to have a certain amount of jabs. And I just really, really don't like needles. 
Jongdae rocks back onto his heels, thinking quietly. "Minseok, please. You know you have to do this."
I whine and cover my face with my hands, rubbing at my cheeks. "Jongdae..." I say, my lip wobbling. I don't know why I'm so close to tears, I know it's babyish, but the other times I've had jabs, it's really hurt. Like, every time I've ever had one. I guess I've just had ty nurses doing it before, but... it makes me just really not want to have jabs this time around. Plus, we have to get like three or four jabs to go to Australia. 
Jongdae pulls my hands away from my face, linking our fingers and kissing them. "I know, I know you think it's gonna hurt. But it won't, honestly. I promise." he says, squeezing my fingers gently.
"You promise?" I say nervously, relenting.
Jongdae nods. "I promise. If you don't make a fuss too, I'll take you to that really nice posh coffee shop you saw in London that you want to go to." 
I roll my eyes, smiling in defeat. "Okay. I trust you. Also, I really want to go to that coffee shop. But only if you pay."
Jongdae grins widely, his eyes crinkling as he nods in agreement. He uses our linked hands to pull me out of the car slowly, and as I stumble out of the back seat he catches me with an arm around my waist. He kisses the side of my head and we walk slowly into the hospital. Jongdae's parents are waiting for us in the reception area, Mum smiling sympathetically. 
"You've come round?" She asks softly, rubbing my shoulder. "I understand. I was scared of them too." 
I nod. The nurse smiles at us, and gestures down the corridor to a smaller waiting area near to the place where they do the jabs. We walk down the corridor, and I get a familiar sense of deja vu as I remember visiting hospitals a lot when I was younger for various reasons. The tap of my shoes against the floor seemingly gets louder as we get closer, and I am overwhelmed by the fact that English hospitals smell the same as the ones in America. Or maybe it's just me. I'm not sure.
Another nurse gestures to us to sit down, and I'm quite nervous as we're sat directly opposite the door to the doctor's room. My leg won't stop jiggling up and down, and I bite my lip as Jongdae rests his hand on my knee and his head on my shoulder. 
I stare blankly at the clock on the wall in between the light brown doors opposite me, and it ticks ominously in time with my blinks. Jongdae taps his feet impatiently, fiddling with the threads on my jeans. 
Eventually, we're called through into the room, and a smiley man - perhaps in his mid forties - greets us. 
Jongdae makes me go first. "It's okay, really." 
The doctor agrees. "He's right, you know." 
As the doctor prepares the needles, I squeeze my eyes shut tight.
Stop overthinking, stop overthinking. There's nothing to be scared of really. Grow up. 
My mind flashes back to horrible memories of my father yanking my arm harshly to get me to cooperate, and hissing at me the consequences if I didn't shut up and stop making so much unnecessary fuss. 
My eyes well up, and my father's harsh voice keeps replaying in my mind. 
"Minseok... Minseok..." Jongdae's quiet voice calls me from my thoughts, and his hand holds onto mine comfortingly. "Relax. Honestly. I wouldn't ever let them do it if it was going to hurt." 
I open my eyes and lock them with Jongdae's. "You promise?"
He hooks his pinky finger around mine. "I promise." 
A part of me is still hesitant, but I trust Jongdae. "Okay," I breathe out. "I'm ready." 
My eyes don't leave Jongdae's as the doctor prepares the needle and ties a ribbon tight around my arm. I focus on timing my breaths with the movement of Jongdae's thumb on my palm. It's strangely comforting, yet I find the situation slightly ironic - I'm the eldest out of Jongdae and I, but he's still the one comforting me. 
I whimper slightly as the needle goes in without warning, but surprisingly all I feel is a slight prick. 
Jongdae squeezes my hand, smiling encouragingly. 
"Okay." the doctor applies the cotton and puts a plaster over it. "All done." 
I get up from the chair, gripping onto Jongdae as my legs are a little wobbly. 
It's Jongdae's turn now, and while he did nothing but keep his eyes on me whilst I had my jab done, I can't help but to stare at the blank white wall until my vision blurs. It makes me queasy to even just think about watching Jongdae. It's over in seconds, and Jongdae looks too comfortable for my liking as he cheerily says goodbye and shuts the door firmly behind us. I grip onto his arm for support as we find his parents, my arm throbbing wildly. 
"You okay? You look a bit grey." Jongdae chuckles. 
"I'm fine," I say, smiling weakly. "Just give me a second."
Jongdae nods and we leave the hospital, trailing after his parents. 
This better be worth it, I think to myself. If this turns out to be a ty holiday, I'm gonna be annoyed. The prospect of injections has played on my mind for weeks. 
Jongdae skips along beside me, singing something stupid about going home to pack his suitcase. His happy-go-lucky attitude takes my mind off of the numb pain in my arm, and as he grabs my hand to pull me along with him, I find his smile is contagious and although I can't skip, I certainly give it my best shot.

//Jongdae//

I don't think I've ever sweated so much in my entire life.
I've been in Australia now for a day and a bit, and it's practically the complete opposite of the weather in England - well, to be honest, there's no practically about it. England is the temperature of a freezer in comparison to this. 
I wipe my damp forehead, and turn the fan up a notch with a sigh. 
"I'm so hot, Min." I complain loudly. Minseok peers down at me (I'm lying on the floor) and laughs. "I know, baby, believe me." he says with a wink.
"Not like that, you idiot. And it's not funny." I whine, rolling over to jab Minseok in the ankle. 
"It's rather amusing, I must say." he muses, flicking through the magazines we found on the shelf in our room. 
I pout. 
The hotel is quite nice, apart from the sweltering heat, of course. You'd think, considering the amount of money my parents spent on booking rooms in a pretty fancy hotel, they'd have better air conditioning. But nope. I think I'm gonna have to spend all my money on a bigger fan and a huge box of ice cubes to sit in. 
There's a knock on the door. "Hey, you two," Mum calls. "Half an hour, okay? We're going out."
Our holiday this summer is a sort of tour - Mum decided there were too many places she wanted to visit to stay in one place, so consequently we're going to stay in three places. First here, in Alice Springs, then to a beach, then to Sydney. It's gonna be a really good experience, I think.
"Okay." Minseok calls back, and goes to his suitcase where it's open on the bed. 
"Does that mean we have to go outside?" I groan, rolling onto my stomach. 
"That is the general definition of going out, yes," Minseok deadpans, pulling out a pair of my underwear from his suitcase and throwing them at me. "Why is your underwear in my suitcase?" 
"Thought you'd appreciate it." I laugh, getting up off the floor and rubbing the pants on Minseok's face. They're clean, obviously, but Minseok shrieks and swats at me. 
"Jongdae!" he yells, but I can see he's laughing. He snatches them off me and pulls them down over my eyes. "Hmph."
"That's not where they're supposed to go, Minseeeeoooook."
"Oh really?" Minseok puts a hand on his hip and raises an eyebrow. "And where are they supposed to go, Mister?" 
I pull them off my head and lean in to Minseok's face, touching his nose with mine. "Your bedroom floor." I say, kissing him. 
Minseok pushes me away gently and snorts. "And that," he says teasingly, "is also your bedroom floor, seeing as we share a room, and that's where they live anyway apparently." he dismisses me, walking into our ensuit