(This is kind of like a continuation from the previous Chenmin story, “Come here. Let me fix it.”)

(Also, there are mentions of anorexia. If you genuinely suffer from this, I apologize if I didn't portray this condition well. I would be willing to accept criticism or pointers. Because of the anorexia mentioned, I will give this a TRIGGER WARNING. I'm not sure of the rules on that, so I'll just place my warning here.)

Minseok sighed. His weight hadn’t returned to normal. After returning to school from his long break, teachers have noticed that the boy had become weaker and much lighter. He wasn’t as strong or fast like he used to be in gym class. He wasn’t as quick to answer as he’d be in his other classes. He just wasn’t himself. Ever since his ex-boyfriend came to his house, the words and insults he told him would gradually cut at Minseok.

Ugly.

.

Fatass.

The words rung loud and clear in his head resulting in him to lose his spirit and even his motivation to do anything. He didn’t realize that it would hurt so much. He was doing good. He was happy. But when Gunho cheated on him and insulted him, he just couldn’t find it in himself to just say, “ this guy.” So, when he would see Gunho in the hallways, the words would come back to haunt him. The image of him and that skinny girl would come back to haunt him. The fact that he wasn’t skinny enough for Gunho haunted him.

Added on to the fact that he was already depressed about his break up with Gunho, Minseok started slipping back into his old habits to make up for his “weight gain.” He began to count his calories. His brain made his body believe that he needed to throw out excess weight. He would eat as little as possible and would avoid eating something heavy. And when he exercises, he would it increase his workout regimen to the point of collapse.

In the morning, he pretended to wake up late so as not to arouse suspicion from his mom when he only took a slice of buttered toast for breakfast, which he found himself chucking into the neighbor’s garbage can. During lunch, he stayed behind in the classroom and pretended to catch up on assignments.

The entire day, Minseok has been avoiding his friends, especially Jongdae. The boy worried too much and would be beyond so if he found out that Minseok was starting to lose his self-esteem again. When the end of school finally arrived, Minseok knew that he couldn’t keep this up for long.

And he was right to think so.

“Minnie-hyung! Wait up!” He heard his friend, Baekhyun, call out to him. Minseok stuttered in his steps.

 “Hey, Baek, Yeol. What’s up?” Minseok said as he turned around to greet the hyper one and equally-as-hyper boyfriend, Chanyeol.

“We were just going to ask if you want to go with us to Jongdae’s. It’s his turn to host the get-together. He was excited when you returned to school, so he’s been trying to make sure this one was all to your liking,” Chanyeol said with the brightest smile. Minseok would have to have no heart to say no especially to Chanyeol’s bright and hopeful smile and Jongdae’s invitation and hard work.

“What if I said no?” Minseok said. His tone sounded serious, but his teasing smirk told the boys otherwise. The couple looked at each other with the straightest look before turning back to Minseok.

“Then, we’d kidnap you,” the two said at the same time. Minseok rolled his eyes at the two. His stomach growled loud, startling the duo.

“Oh gosh, hyung. Did you eat anything today?” Baekhyun asked. Minseok could feel the heat crawl up his cheeks and his heart rate start to increase.

“Yeah, I had a light breakfast, but I had a decent sized lunch. Must’ve burned all the calories off during PE,” He explained, laughing sheepishly in embarrassment. The slightly denser than most couple laughed at the comment and just took Minseok with them to Jongdae’s.

When Minseok, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol arrived at Jongdae’s, Minseok felt his stomach and his brain having a civil war. His mouth watered at the thought of indulging his sweet tooth with the scones, cookies, and coffee cake that accompanied Jongdae’s coffee bar and his stomach agreed because it just wanted to indulge. His eyes, on the other hand, saw the calories each slice, piece, or even a cup of everything would give him and his brain agreed.

Jongdae was ecstatic when he saw Minseok come through the door. He was quick on his feet to go over and talk to him. He stuttered in his steps, however, when he saw the slight paleness in Minseok’s face. He began to worry when he began to think back to when Minseok first started to develop his anorexic tendencies.

“Minseok-hyung!” Minseok snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the zealous call of his friend, Jongdae. Minseok thought that Jongdae was the ceasefire he was looking for. The younger bound up to Minseok and picked him up in a tight hug.

“Y-Yah! Jongdae-yah! Put me down!” Minseok said. The fondness for the younger shone clear in his eyes as he found himself laughing at Jongdae’s action. Jongdae, while lifting Minseok up for that split second, could hear the constant rumbling in Minseok’s stomach and feel the decrease in weight from when he last held him about a week ago. Jongdae quickly pulls off a bright smile before setting down his hyung.

‘I can’t call him out, and I can’t make a big deal out of this. He’ll just refuse, and we’ll end up arguing, which will probably just make things worse. He’s probably doing this because of Gunho and the skinny he’s banging. . . I need to chill and not jump the gun. I’ll just observe him for now,’ Jongdae thought, and that’s what he did. Throughout the party, Jongdae kept an eye on Minseok. He watched Minseok eye the table of pastries and the coffee bar before shaking his head and avoiding it. He would see Minseok take a bite of food offered to him before spitting it out and dumping it in a nearby trash bag. He would do the same with the drinks and pour them down the drain. To make sure he wasn’t just overexaggerating Minseok’s actions, he made sure to prepare a plate with Minseok’s favorite pastries and prepare Minseok a cup of coffee just the way he’d like it. He handed the plate and drink to Minseok and chatted with him for a bit before pretending to attend to some sort of damage that he blamed Chanyeol for. When he looked over at Minseok, he saw him place the pastries back on the trays and set the drink down somewhere else without having taken a sip.

Jongdae frowned at this discovery. Minseok was probably feeling insecure about his weight again, and he needs to find a way to reverse his thoughts without overwhelming or pissing off the elder. When the boys gathered in the living room to start playing video games, Jongdae sat beside Minseok and handed him a fresh cup of coffee and placed a plate of his favorite pastries on his lap.

“J-Jongdae-yah, I-I can’t. . .” Minseok’s voice trailed off when he sees the younger place an empty plate on his own lap before taking each pastry from Minseok’s plate and ripping them in half and placed the slightly smaller pieces onto Minseok’s plate. He then takes the cup of coffee he handed the older and pours half of it into the empty cup he had in hand before handing the cup back to Minseok.

“You can have half,” Jongdae said to Minseok before turning to watch the battle between Zero Suit Samus (Jongin), Palutena (Joonmyeon), Pokémon Trainer (Chanyeol), and Joker (Sehun) taking place on the screen in front of him. Minseok stared at the younger in awe when he realized the younger must have figured out that he was starting to relapse. A smile formed on his lips and his eyes glistened with unshed tears when he took a bite of the quiche, chewed, and swallowed. He buried his face into Jongdae’s shoulder and let out shaky breaths.

“It tastes good,” Minseok’s voice was small, and he was sure that his words were drowned out by the sound of the fierce competition going on. He was proven wrong when Jongdae leaned his head on his and whispered, “And you’re more than good just the way you are.”