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Every hallway looked the same, so Jaewon didn't really blame himself when he realized he was hopelessly lost in an unfamiliar building. Mayhem's first time at the Golden Disk Awards, and he had just stepped away for a minute to find the bathrooms so he could compose himself. Obviously he must've taken a wrong turn somewhere, and now he was seeing empty hallway after empty hallway- no familiar landmarks and even worse, no one to ask for directions. He honestly wasn't sure how long he had been wandering when he heard a familiar voice call out behind him.
"Wyld? Is that you?" Unfortunately, it didn't belong to anyone he was too fond of, but at least it was a familiar face. Jaewon turned around, startled to see that Minsung was there and even more so that he was speaking to Jaewon by choice. "Are you lost too?"
"Wh- I- Minsung? I… why are you here?"
Minsung stopped a few feet from Jaewon and frowned, getting defensive. "Are you questioning why Sa1nt was invited to the Golden Disk Awards? Like you think we're not good enough?"
Jaewon's eyes went wide at the accusational tone in his voice. "What- no! That's not what I meant, I just meant… why are you here? In this very location at this moment. Should you be with the rest of your members?"
The taller guy flushed in embarrassment. "Well- shouldn't you?"
Fair point.
Thankfully, Minsung glossed over Jaewon's momentary stupidity. "Have you managed to find anything that looks somewhat familiar at all?"
Jaewon shook his head, the chain earrings dangling from his ears clinking like wind chimes as he did. "No, sorry. I hope we can find our way back soon though, the others are probably getting worried."
"We should look together." Minsung suggested, then hurried to defend himself in response to the weird look that Jaewon gave him. "I just think that it would help to have more pairs of eyes looking at once."
"... There's not really much to look at." Jaewon mumbled, gesturing down the still-empty hallway. But then his hands shot up in surrender. "But hey, I'm not complaining. It's nice to see a friendly face."
Minsung nodded in agreement, roughly combing a hand through his blue and pink ombre hair, showing his level of stress. "Right. Lead the way, kid."
Jaewon made a face at the name, but didn't comment. Instead, he continued on the way he had been going before, through more deserted hallways. Minsung was complaining practically the entire time, but Jaewon did his best to ignore it as he carried on, and eventually they came to a set of elevators.
"Finally!" Minsung breathed, trudging over to the pair of buttons between the elevators. "If we head back downstairs to the main entrance we can probably find our way back, right?" Before even waiting for a response, he pushed the down button.
They were probably both relieved to be nearly free from this awkward situation as they both stood rigidly next to each other, waiting for the elevator to arrive. Jaewon had just cleared his throat to break the silence when the elevator dinged and the doors slid open, saving them both from the small talk. Maybe, just for once, the universe was actually on his side.
Relieved, they stepped into the elevator and pushed the button for the ground floor. And…that was when their luck ran out. The elevator shuddered and stopped abruptly mid-ride. Minsung had good enough reflexes to grab onto the rail as he stumbled so as to prevent him from falling over, but Jaewon being as clumsy as he is, tripped over his own feet as the elevator shook and landed on his butt on the floor.
"What the hell-" Minsung glanced around at the ceiling, eyes wide like a spooked deer. "What was that?"
"I think we stopped.." Jaewon commented, still on the floor. He wasn't sure why he blushed when Minsung offered a hand to help him up- or why he noticed how warm and soft his hand was, or the scent of Minsung's cologne lingering in the air between them.
"No…" Minsung quickly let go of Jaewon's hand once he was on his feet again to push the 'door open' button several times. "No, no, no! We can't be stuck in here!"
"Hey, calm down. It's not the worst situation we could be in, right? We still have the lights and probably a cell signal." Jaewon pulled his phone out of his pocket while he spoke, getting ready to call someone for help. Of course, he must've jinxed it, cause the lights flickered out at that moment, along with the cell signal. For a moment he just stood there in stunned silence, not sure what to do.
Meanwhile, Minsung was obviously caught in a panic. His eyes were wider than ever, and he was still spamming both the 'door open' and call buttons, desperately trying to get something to work. From where Jaewon was standing, it even looked like tears were forming in his eyes as he muttered to himself over and over that this couldn't be happening.
"Hey… hey! Minsung, hey, look at me." He grabbed the elder's wrist and forced him around so they were facing each other. Minsung was shaking- shivering, almost- and his breathing was erratic. Of course Jaewon knew what was happening; He was no stranger to panic attacks himself. But he did know that they vary from person to person, so it might not help Minsung to do what usually calmed him down. Still, he could try.
The panic was evident in Minsung's watery eyes, and he seemed to have trouble focusing. Though the light from his phone flashlight was all they had, Jaewon used it to light up their faces as he sank down to sit on the floor, bringing Minsung with him. Jaewon clasped their hands together, not minding the cold clamminess but rather trying to get Minsung to focus on him. "Deep breaths, okay? In… out… in… there you go." Making sure the elder was still following his instructions, Jaewon scooted closer and threw an arm around him and drew him in, sharing his body heat with Minsung. Again, he was no stranger to panic attacks, and this one was obviously accompanied by cold flashes, proven by the telltale shivering and chattering.
If it were any other time, being in this position probably would've been weird and very awkward, but right now it just… wasn't. Minsung needed the comfort, and Jaewon was happy to provide it. He even found himself stroking the other's pastel-coloured hair soothingly until he felt his breathing slow to normal.
"Sorry…" Minsung mumbled into Jaewon's chest. He didn't seem to be completely back to normal, though, for he didn't even try to pull away from the embrace. Instead, Minsung just sort of twiddled his fingers and messed with the rings decorating them.
"What are you sorry for?" Jaewon asked tenderly, fingers still threaded through Minsung's hair.
"I'm sorry I freaked out like that. And… thanks for calming me down."
"Of course, what are friends for?"
Minsung shifted so he could look up at Jaewon's face. "I… didn't think we were friends…"
"...Oh."
"I mean-" He pushed himself all the way off of Jaewon's chest so that they were just sitting next to each other, forcing Jaewon's hand away from his hair. "I didn't mean that I don't want to be friends, I just.. didn't think we were."
Jaewon glanced down at their other hands, which were still intertwined. "Okay, well…" Then he looked up to meet Minsung's pretty, dark eyes. "Let's be friends."
Minsung smiled genuinely, slowly leaning his head back down to rest on Jaewon's shoulder with a shuddering breath. "Yeah. Let's be friends."
Of course, that was the moment that the power decided to flicker back on, startling them both so that they immediately sat up, both pairs of eyes gazing around the chamber as the lights flicked on. A second later, the elevator resumed its trip to the ground floor. The two idols barely had time to untangle from each other and stumble to their feet before the doors slid open once again releasing them onto the main floor of the building.
From there, Jaewon and Minsung didn't really have time to chat, as they were practically sprinting back to the main hall where the awards were being presented. Luckily, Sa1nt and Mayhem were seated close to each other, so they could stick together to make their way back to their groups.
"Where have you been!?" Jaewon heard Kyunghun whisper to Minsung, who just shook his head in response and waved the question away. Instead, Minsung leaned back in his chair to reach Jaewon, who then leaned over as well to meet him halfway.
"Thanks again, by the way. I probably wouldn't have been able to get here in time without you, especially with the whole elevator fiasco. You're a good person, Wyld."
Jaewon smiled sadly. "..Call me Jaewon. We're friends now, aren't we?"
The only response he got was a small, proud smile from Minsung as they both returned to regular sitting positions. Minsoo, who sat right next to Jaewon, shot him a disapproving look regarding his interaction with Minsung.
"What was that all about? And where did you go?" Minsoo asked in a low voice.
Jaewon shook his head, grinning to himself. "Nothing."