Work Text:
The members have just finished yet another performance of Aurora, it is mid July so everyone is backstage cooling down, drinking water, Seonghwa drying his armpits with a hairdryer.
Yeosang feels a bit light headed, the aurora choreography is difficult and his arm is aching. Feeling dizzy, he sits down grabbing a bottle of water and chugs the whole thing. His eyes are closed but he could sense someone sitting next to him and placing a hand on his shoulder.
“Yeosang-ah, are you okay? You don’t look to good”. He opens his eyes to meet Wooyoung’s
“I’m just feeling a bit hot, I’m ok, I’m going to take a shower when we get back”. Yeosang gives a strained smile to reassure his best friend but he knew Wooyoung wasn’t buying it. After knowing him for 5 years, they both knew when the other was lying or not and today was not an exception.
The drive back allows Yeosangs body to relax, but his mind never stopped working. Since debut, he had been keeping up with what social media had to say about ATEEZ, granted most people said wonderful things and their popularity grew tremendously in less than a year. But Yeosang soon realised that the more popular they became, the more hate they got, especially towards certain members.
He tried to not read the negative comments about him not ‘being a good dancer’ or ‘having plain vocals’ but he couldn’t help but agree with them, which made him read them all the time.
‘Yeosang is the most boring member of ATEEZ’
‘He’s only good for his looks, but he has no talent’
‘No wonder BigHit got rid of him’
You could say that this was motivation for Yeosang to prove them wrong, which started a viscous cycle of him practicing non stop, enhancing his vocal and dance skills and his entertainment skills.
Being in many interviews, the members did all the talking and the random dances and games leaving him the only member who did nothing. So, Yeosang constantly learnt new choreographies of different groups so he’d be prepared to act like an ‘idol’.
The other members had amazing skills they could show off, like Jongho who was super strong or Yunho with his impressions or even Wooyoung who could just sit there and do nothing, making everyone fall in love.
Everyone had noticed Yeosang suddenly working in the practice room till late and even in the dorms, it was obvious with the growing bags underneath his eyes and his sudden weakness in his movements. They had told him to rest but with the company scheduling event after event relentlessly, everyone became exhausted.
When they get back to the dorms, Yeosang goes to shower straight away, not bothering to lock the door, letting the steamy water hit him. The aches in his body became more prominent and his vision blurred slightly as his stomach rumbled, he had lost his appetite along all of this aswell.
He noticed small specks of red dropping onto his feet, being washed away by the water, reaching up to his nose, he realises that his nose is bleeding. The red tint on his hand became blurred until his vision went fully out of focus and Yeosangs muscles gave in and he collapsed.
It was Wooyoung’s turn for the shower and he notices that Yeosang is taking an awfully long time, which is unusual since his showers always lasted 15 minutes max.
It had been 45 minutes until Wooyoung decided to bang on the bathroom door.
“Yeosang-ah! What’s taking you so long there are others waiting you know!” After no response he knocks again.
“Yeosang?” No response.
Wooyoung twists the door handle to find that it was unlocked, Yeosang never leaves the door unlocked.
He finds Yeosang laying on the shower floor, the water pouring on him and a small puddle of blood.
“Oh my g-”. Wooyoung runs towards him, opening the shower door and steps in, grabbing Yeosangs pale face.
“Yeosang! Wake up, please, please!” Tears started streaming down his cheeks as he panics, shaking Yeosang’s limp body.
“HYUUUUUUNNNGGGGG” Wooyoung screams for anyone to help, “HELLPPPP MEEEEE” Wooyoung sobbs, hugging his best friend.
Hongjoong and Seonghwa run into the bathroom to see a fully clothed Wooyoung getting drenched as he cries holding a naked Yeosang. They both run to Wooyoung, asking what happened.
“ I don’t know , I just walked in to see him on the floor unconscious with a nosebleed, what do I do” Wooyoung clutches Yeosang tighter as he cries.
“Ok first, turn the shower off, you’ll catch a cold, now get Yeosang out of the shower and take him to your room” Wooyoung listens to everything Hongjoong tells him to do and carries Yeosang to their room.
“ What happened oh my-“ San walks past seeing both dripping, and Mingi and Yunho joins hearing all the commotion.
In Wooyoung and Yeosang’s shared room, all the members stand around Yeosang’s bed, where he lies, naked.
“Wooyoung, you know where he keeps his clothes, dress Yeosang” Seonghwa instructs. “Yunho, call an ambulance”
Once Yeosang was dressed, Wooyoung also changes since he was wet too.
“What’s wrong with Hyung?” Jongho says, frowning.
“He’s just fainted, hopefully nothing too serious”
San sits on the bed and holds Yeosang’s hand. “Yeosang, please wake up, you’re worrying us, this is not the kind of rest we told you to get”.
Just then the ambulance arrives and at lightning speed, Yeosang is taken to the hospital, Hongjoong going with him.
The dorm is silent and full of tension. Everyone, waiting for news on Yeosang, so they try to keep their minds occupied, Yunho and Mingi played video games, San, Seonghwa and Jongho did their own things but Wooyoung couldn’t stop worrying.
Two hours later, a call from Hongjoong comes and Wooyoung runs for the phone.
“Hyung! How is he? Is he awake? Wh-“ Wooyoung frantically searches for answers.
“Hey calm down, Yeosang is awake and alright now, the doctor said he’s overworked himself and that he needs a lot of rest which is why he fainted, and he can come home now”
Everyone was crowded around the phone and started cheering after hearing the news.
Once Yeosang arrived back he gets ambushed by the members, getting hugs and kisses, until Hongjoong drags them off Yeosang.
“Alright alright, let the guy sit” he says as he guides Yeosang to the sofa, getting attacked with hugs again.
“Guys I’m fine now don’t worry about me” Yeosang says.
“Don’t you dare say that Kang Yeosang, you worried us all to death, you don’t know how much I’m going to take care of you from now on” Wooyoung said angrily, only getting a giggle from Yeosang in return.
~
The next morning, Yeosang wakes up with an arm around his waist, clinging tightly to prevent him from moving. The arm is from behind so he can’t see who it was and the iron grip on his waist is not moving.
With most of his energy used up, Yeosang managed to turn around, already exhausted and was face to face with a sleeping Wooyoung.
Yeosang smiled, of course it’s Wooyoung, and cupped his cheek, gently rubbing their noses together, which must’ve woken him up because Wooyoung suddenly wraps his arms around him, making Yeosang wrap his around Wooyoung’s neck.
“How are you feeling?” He asked.
“Better, I feel better”
“What made you overwork yourself Yeosang?”
Yeosang sighs. Too many things, he doesn’t even know himself.
“I don’t know, I just feel like there’s nothing special about me, you know? I’m not a great singer, I’m a mediocre dancer, I’m not entertaining one bit, I don’t t think I’m fit to be an idol, I have not special talents, I sometimes think why did I do this to myself?” Yeosang confesses, playing with Wooyoung’s hair nervously.
“Oh Yeosang, I am so glad you decided to be an idol, I’m so glad I met you at bighit, if you didn’t, we wouldn’t be here right now, and this is the happiest I’ve been in my life. You make people happy Yeosang, our members all love you because of who you are, you’re extraordinary. Remember this. You are in ateez for a reason, because you’re exceptional, don’t ever downgrade your skills because we’ve all seen what you can do
Your voice sends me to heaven and back, it’s so deep and numbing I can’t even describe the feeling, I hope you become more comfortable in your voice because it’s truly amazing
And your dancing, I watch our performances and when I say your stage presence is hypnotising, I’m not lying, you are the lead dancer of ateez, don’t put yourself down
We love you Yeosangie, our atiny adore you, please don’t stress about this anymore, love yourself because that’s the most important thing”
Yeosang blinked. That is some speech, he feels like a big weight is being lifted off his mind.
“Thank you Wooyoungie, I really needed to hear that from someone, I’ll try harder to take care of myself from now on” and he meant it, of course all his worries weren’t gone in a second, some would take more time that others but he was now ready to overcome them.
“No problem, I just hate seeing you sad” Wooyoung says, pulling him into a crushing hug.
They stayed cuddling for a while until Wooyoung presses a kiss to Yeosang’s forehead. “Are you hungry? I’ll get you breakfast” he said, getting up from the bed.
“What? I’ll get it myself” Yeosang started to get up but Wooyoung pushes him back onto the bed, straddling his waist to prevent him from moving.
“You are not going anywhere, today you are staying in bed all day, with me ;)” Wooyoung holds Yeosang’s shoulders down and pecks his lips, smiling against them. “ I’m not risking anything with you getting out of bed, not after that stunt you pulled yesterday”. And with that, he runs off to the kitchen, leaving Yeosang confused but smiling.
Ten minutes later, Wooyoung returns with a bowl of hot soup, sits on the bed and shoves the spoon towards Yeosang.
“Say ahhh” Wooyoung pushes the spoon into Yeosang mouth.
“Hey I can feed myself you know” Yeosang pouts
“ I know but I like babying you” he says while shoving another spoonful of soup down Yeosang’s throat.
“AH-“ Yeosang pushes the soup away. “You burnt me! My tongue is burnt, it’s going to take ages to heal now” he frowns.
“Don’t be a baby, let me see” Yeosang pushes his tongue out to show him.
“I’ll kiss it better for you” and before Yeosang realised what he said, Wooyoung’s hands grab his neck and push him forward so their lips meet, his tongue running over Yeosang’s burnt one to soothe it, causing a quiet gasp to escape from him. Soup forgotten, Wooyoung grabs Yeosang’s legs so that he is now sitting on his lap, never breaking the kiss. With the new angle, Yeosang deepens the kiss, his tongue slightly hurting with the way Wooyoung’s was battling his but he pays no attention to it.
After some long minutes, Yeosang breaks the kiss, both breathing heavily against their lips due to the lack of oxygen.
“I’m still hungry you know, I only had two spoons of the soup” Yeosang says and they both giggle, the soup now cold.
Yeosang feels full and happy after a long time, with Wooyoung and his members, he is certain he’ll always put self care as a top priority, especially with the members taking care of each other.