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Another day, another photoshoot. But this one was different. This time, Seventeen was split up to take unit photos.
Each unit had markings and patterns painted on their skin in different colors. The hip-hop unit had black markings, the vocal unit had white markings, and the performance unit had neon markings. Along with the markings, they each got different backdrops. Hip-hop gets an all white background, vocal gets an all black one, and performance will be in a room with almost complete darkness. Their neon marks were made with fluorescent paint, glowing in the black light that will be lighting up the room they’re in.
“Alright,” Seungcheol said, patting Soonyoung and Jihoon on the shoulder. “From now on, you two are in charge of your units. Make sure everyone behaves for the shoot.”
“You know you don’t have to give us this talk every time,” Jihoon said. “These always go by easily.”
“Aw, leave him alone, Ji,” Soonyoung said before the leader could get a chance to pout. “You know he worries that someone will burn the building down if he isn’t constantly watching the boys.”
“I do not!” Seungcheol whined. “I just don’t want anything bad to happen while I’m not there.”
Jihoon nudged Soonyoung. “He doesn’t trust us.”
“Of course I trust you!” gasped Seungcheol. “That’s not what I meant!”
“Calm down, Cheol,” Soonyoung laughed. “And, Ji, leave him alone. He’s stressed enough as it is.”
Seungcheol wrapped his arms around the dancer. “You’re so sweet, Soonie! You should just be the group’s leader.”
Soonyoung laughed. “What? Where did that come from?”
Seungcheol didn’t say anything, he just nuzzled his face against Soonyoung’s. Soonyoung couldn’t do anything but laugh and try to wriggle away since Seungcheol had his arms pinned in the hug. Jihoon rolled his eyes at the affection.
“Alright, let’s go,” Jihoon said. “We don’t want to make this take longer than it needs to.”
They split ways, the three leaders going to their units. Soonyoung chatted with the other three dancers before they were called over, a manager telling them that their room was ready. Along with their body markings, the props in the room would also be fluorescent. They entered the room when the normal lights were still on so they could see the strange shaped props painted in splatters of the same neon paint that the performance unit was painted with.
Chan’s eyes shone. “This looks so cool!”
“We have the best concept,” Junhui said.
“Definitely,” Minghao agreed.
Soonyoung clapped. “Alright, boys! The photographer will be here soon, let’s look around and find our favorite spots.”
They walked around, looking at the props from different angles. They took turns to pose in crazy ways just to get a laugh out of the others. They had a few more minutes of goofing around until a man with a camera stepped into the large room and closed the door.
Soonyoung called the rest over and they bowed to the older man, thanking him for his time. He flashed a dashing smile and the boys felt at ease. They wouldn’t feel that way for long.
The normal lights were shut off and the paint started to glow. Everything was normal during the first few photos. Soonyoung could hear Minghao and Chan arguing about something in whispers, but a look from him got them to calm down.
Once they got their first break, Minghao rushed over to Soonyoung, Chan close on his heels.
“Tell Chan to stop touching my butt,” demanded Minghao.
Soonyoung almost choked on his water. “What?”
“I’m not!” Chan exclaimed. “I swear it!”
“I feel it every time the photographer starts walking away!” Minghao said. “You put your hand on the back of my thigh and run it up to my butt. I let it go the first few times, but this is enough. Just stop.”
“I am not touching your butt,” Chan said seriously.
Soonyoung was trying hard to hold back his laugh. This conversation was ridiculous. Before Soonyoung could say anything, Junhui joined them and said something that made them all pause.
“Is anyone else getting creep-vibes from the photographer?”
Soonyoung turned to him with a calculated look. “What do you mean?”
“I guess none of you guys can see it.” Junhui turned to Minghao. “I thought you’d be able to feel it. He keeps getting super close to you when he walks past.”
A chill creeps down Soonyoung’s spine. He lowered his voice as he spoke next. “Minghao, has the photographer been touching you?”
Something flashed across Minghao’s face as he slowly turned to Chan. “It actually wasn’t you?”
Chan shook his head, his eyes wide due to the new information. “I swear it wasn’t.”
“Wait, what?” Junhui said. “He’s been touching you? I thought he was just getting close every time he walked away to find a new angle.”
Minghao shifted on his feet. “I thought it was Channie just messing around…”
“Alright, boys!” the photographer called out. “Let’s keep going!”
The four of them glanced at each other. Soonyoung could see that they all had uncomfortable looks on their faces. He couldn’t blame them, but he also knew that they needed to take these photos. He was also nervous that Seungcheol would be disappointed if he wasn’t able to handle this on his own and keep the photoshoot on track.
“Be right there!” Soonyoung called back before turning to the other members to whisper, “I’ll handle it, don’t worry.”
From then on, Soonyoung was able to keep himself between the photographer and his members. Sure, he felt the photographer touch him quite a lot, but it was worth it when he realized that it meant he wasn’t touching the others.
Halfway through the shoot, the photographer got bolder.
“Chan,” he said, approaching the youngest, “I think the shot will look better if you position yourself like this.”
Before the others could say anything, the photographer grabbed Chan’s waist and twisted his body. Chan sucked in a little breath and stayed stiff when the photographer’s touch lingered.
“What about me?” Soonyoung blurted quickly, trying to get his attention away from the maknae. “How should I stand?”
The photographer was quick to move over to him. He shifted Soonyoung’s shoulders and placed his hand on the dancer’s lower back, pushing it forward slightly.
“If you stand this way,” the photographer said, “the fans will be able to see how flexible your back is.”
He ran his hand from the bottom of Soonyoung’s shoulder blades, following the curve of his spine, to the base of his back – a little too close to his ass for comfort, but Soonyoung didn’t say anything about it.
As the shoot was getting closer to ending, it seemed like the photographer had caught on to what Soonyoung was doing. He was finding more and more ways to excuse his touches on the members. He would constantly try to fix some part of one of their outfits, but Soonyoung would butt in and say that he could do it, making the excuse that the photographer’s hands must be full with the camera. He even tried to fix-up their painted markings multiple times since there were a few little cans of the fluorescent paints to touch up the markings if anything got smudged.
One of these moments went like this:
“Junhui,” the photographer said, “your belt is crooked. Let me fix it for you.”
Just as his hand reached towards the dancer, Soonyoung jumped in between them and straightened Junhui’s belt quickly. He spun around and flashed the photographer a bright smile.
“All good!” he said, making sure his body was still between the two.
The photographer narrowed his eyes and frowned for a second before fixing his expression into a neutral one – but Soonyoung had seen it.
And another moment:
“Minghao!” called the photographer. He had a can of neon blue paint in his hand and a paintbrush in the other. “I noticed that some of your paint is smeared. Let me fix it for you.”
Minghao was wearing a short shirt, not exactly a croptop, but whenever he lifted his arms high enough, some of his stomach would show. Which was what happened when the photographer grabbed one of Minghao’s wrists and lifted it above his head. Minghao froze, shocked by the bold touch and unable to think of a way to get out of it.
Soonyoung immediately burst into action. He didn’t fully think about what he was doing, so what happened didn’t go great. Soonyoung pretended to stumble and bumped into the photographer to make him take a step backward. Unfortunately, the man’s heel hit one of the props and he fully fell down, the paint falling out of his hand and splashing on the front of his shirt.
Even though he was a creep, Soonyoung felt a stab of guilt.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” he was quick to apologize. “I didn’t mean to–”
“It’s fine,” the photographer said with a tight smile. “I’ll worry about this later. Let’s just finish the photoshoot.”
After that, there weren’t many more touches. Mostly just swift slips of the photographer’s hand, and they were mostly on Soonyoung as he continued to get in the way of the photographer’s advances.
At the end of the shoot, the photographer left quickly, not even caring to hear the members thank him for his time. Once he was gone, all of them gave a sigh of relief.
“What the fuck?” Chan hissed. “Why did he do that?”
Minghao rubbed the maknae’s back. “I don’t know, Channie.”
“Soonyoung,” Junhui said, “are you okay?”
They all turned to him.
Soonyoung blinked. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
They all shifted closer, looking like they were about to say something else, but Soonyoung didn’t want to hear it. He felt gross. He wanted to take a shower, he needed to scrub his skin to get the feeling of the photographer’s hands off him.
“I’ll go see if the others are done,” Soonyoung said quickly, flashing a fake smile. “You guys should wash the paint off. There’s some water buckets and rags over in that corner.”
He rushed out of the room before the other dancers could say anything else. As he was on his way to the others, he ran into the photographer again – actually ran into him. The blue paint on his shirt hadn’t fully dried and some of it rubbed off on Soonyoung’s outfit as their bodies collided.
“Sorry,” Soonyoung said quickly. Despite not liking the photographer, he didn’t want to be disrespectful to someone who worked for their company.
Before Soonyoung could take a step back, an arm snaked around his waist and the photographer pulled him closer. Soonyoung tensed and leaned his head back, trying to stay as far away from the man as he could.
“You made some trouble for me in there,” the photographer said.
Soonyoung frowned. “You were making my members uncomfortable.”
“No need to spill paint all over me.”
“I didn’t mean for that to happen,” Soonyoung said quietly. “Could you please let go of me now?”
“You owe me for ruining my clothes.” Without any warning he pulled Soonyoung closer and stuck his face in the dancer’s neck, inhaling deeply.
“What are you doing?” Soonyoung gasped, fighting to get away from the man.
“You smell good.”
Soonyoung fought harder. He pushed against the photographer’s shoulders, desperate to get away from the creepy man, but not wanting to make a scene. He could feel the hot breath on his neck and it made him shudder in disgust. One of the photographer’s hands started sliding down, resting on Soonyoung’s ass as he continued to struggle to get the man away from him.
Finally – finally – the man let Soonyoung go and the dancer was quick to walk away from him, heading to where he knew the other leaders would be. He was trying to calm his breathing, so he wouldn’t alarm the others. He turned a corner and could see them; Seungcheol and Jihoon were talking a few feet away from the rest of the members.
Soonyoung sped up his pace until he was right next to the other leaders.
“Guys!” he called as he got closer. “You won’t believe what happened–”
“You’re right,” Seungcheol said, “we can’t believe what you’ve been doing.”
Soonyoung paused. “What I’ve been doing?” he asked, his voice breaking.
“I can’t believe you spilled paint on your photographer,” said Jihoon, shaking his head.
“What? No, I only did that because–”
“Because you were bored?” Seungcheol interrupted. “He already told us. You were messing around the whole shoot. He told us how you kept getting in his way and wouldn’t let him help the others with poses.”
“But he was–”
Seungcheol held his hand up, silencing the dancer. “I don’t want to hear it. Your photographer was patient enough to not complain about you until the shoot was done.”
“Complain about me?” Soonyoung scoffed before he could stop himself. He was starting to get hysterical; after all he’s been put through, his members think it was his fault?
“Just drop it, Soonyoung,” Jeonghan chimed in from a few feet away. “We all know about how unprofessional you were, so don’t try to defend yourself.”
Soonyoung’s jaw dropped.
“I– I can’t believe–” He let out a meek laugh and shook his head. “Whatever. I’m going to wait in the car. The others should be back soon.”
He walked out before anyone could say anything else. He headed for the parking lot. When he got outside, he realized he forgot to put his jacket back on and shivered from the biting cold. He wrapped his arms around himself and headed for their cars, sniffling as his nose started running. He convinced himself that it was because of the cold and not his overwhelming emotions.
Just as he got to the car, he realized his mistake: he didn’t have any keys.
He groaned loudly. “Really? I can’t have anything good right now? Nothing can go right?”
He smacked the car with an open palm and slid down to sit with his back against one of the car’s tires. He folded his knees up and held them tightly, trying to stay warm. He didn’t know how long it would take for the others to get out there, so he decided to distract himself. He tried to think of something other than his feelings at the moment. Dancing, tigers, his dog – anything!
A minute had passed – or maybe ten – when the rest of the group got to the cars. Seungcheol was quick to have the other dancers sit in his car, leaving the other members to decide who was going in which car.
In the end, Soonyoung was in a car with Jeonghan, Wonwoo, and Hansol. That was fine. Jeonghan was already mad at him and the other two were usually silent in the car. Soonyoung didn’t feel like talking to any of them anyway.
Just as he assumed, the ride was quiet. Hansol had put headphones on quickly to avoid the obvious tension. Wonwoo looked out the window the whole ride, an excuse to get out of any conversations. Soonyoung noticed that Jeonghan kept glancing at him, but would quickly look away.
Soonyoung decided to just close his eyes. He was hugging himself since he still didn’t have his jacket. He tried to ignore the feeling of the dried paint cracking on his skin.
⋆˚°. ఇ ◝‿◜ ఇ .°˚⋆
Seungcheol’s car was quiet as well, but not for the same reason.
When Seungcheol had guided the other dancers away from Soonyoung, Chan had asked what was going on when they all got comfortable in Seungcheol’s car.
“Listen,” Seungcheol said, “I heard what you had to deal with during the shoot. I’m sorry he was acting so unprofessional.”
“It’s okay,” Minghao said. “It’s not like anything too bad happened.”
Junhui was quick to add, “Yeah, Soonie–”
“It’s alright,” Seungcheol interrupted. “You don’t have to talk about it, we all know how he acted. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
They all nodded and stayed quiet after that.
A few minutes into the ride, Chan leaned over to Minghao and whispered, “Do you think Soonie is okay?”
Minghao whispered back, “I don’t know. We can talk more in the dorms.”
Chan nodded. “I don’t like how much he brushed off what happened.”
Minghao agreed and they fell back into silence.
When they got to the dorms, Chan jumped out of the car and headed towards the one that Soonyoung was in. Before he could reach it, he saw the performance leader get out and immediately head for the dorms. He wanted to follow, but felt someone grab his sleeve.
It was Wonwoo. “Just give him some time to himself. He was quiet the whole ride.”
Chan frowned but nodded. He went into the dorms along with everyone else. Once they got inside, they could hear the shower.
They all gathered in the living room.
“I can’t believe he rushed in here to get first shower,” Seungkwan said, rolling his eyes.
The dancers shared a look, but decided not to say anything about it. They didn’t understand why Seungkwan would say that, and why the rest of the group seemed to be annoyed with Soonyoung as well. The dancers were confused. Hadn’t Seungcheol been on their side in the car? He had talked about how he knew what they had to deal with during the shoot, so why were they all suddenly against Soonyoung? He went through all that too.
After a stretch of time, Chan couldn’t take the lingering silence anymore and quietly said, “I feel bad for Soonyoung.”
“Why?” Seungcheol scoffed.
Chan shot him a look that could’ve been mistaken for a glare. “He had to go through so much during the shoot.” He bit his tongue to stop himself from saying the “obviously” that he wanted to add at the end of his sentence.
“What are you talking about?” Mingyu asked.
“Don’t you mean he put you through so much?” questioned Seokmin.
Immediately, the performance unit – minus the leader – grew ridged and glared daggers at the other members. They didn’t hesitate to defend their unit leader. It was the least they could do for how much he sacrificed for them during the photo shoot.
“What are you talking about?” Chan shot back.
“Soonie didn’t put us through anything,” snapped Minghao.
“Yeah,” Junhui agreed, “he saved us from going through worse.”
The rest of the members gave each other confused looks. It was obvious that they had no idea why the three boys were blowing up at them.
“But your photographer told us what happened,” Seungcheol tried to reason.
“Did you hear our side of the story?” asked Junhui.
“You weren’t there when we talked to Soonyoung.”
“Did you hear Soonyoung’s side of the story?” asked Minghao.
“Well, no, I–”
“You didn’t let him explain?” Chan asked, exasperated.
Silence.
“I can’t believe you guys,” Junhui said.
Minghao took his time to glare at all the guilty looking members.
“What happened?” Jisoo asked meekly.
“The photographer was being a creep,” Chan said flatly.
That got everyone’s attention. They all froze, then half of them rushed to the dancers, checking over their bodies like they were looking for proof. The other half stayed where they were, frozen from the news.
Chan yanked his arm away from Jeonghan. “You should be checking on Soonie, not us.”
Minghao removed his own arm from Mingyu’s hold. “He stopped that man from touching us more than he already had. Comfort Soonyoung, he had it worse.”
Junhui moved away from Jisoo. “He stopped the photographer from touching us by letting himself take the brunt of it. He butted in anytime that guy was making us uncomfortable.”
“Soonyoung even made him spill paint on himself to get him away from me,” Minghao said.
“So that’s how he got paint on his clothes,” Hansol muttered.
Chan chuckled darkly. “Serves him right. He deserved to get a whole bucket of paint dumped on his head.”
“No, I mean Soonie,” Hansol said. “He had some paint on the front of his shirt.”
The dancers paused.
“No he didn’t,” Minghao said. “I had a front row seat to the paint spilling. It only got on the photographer’s clothes.”
Seungcheol shook his head. “No, when he came to see us after the shoot, he had some paint smudged on his shirt.”
Junhui’s eyes widened. “Did he run into him again when no one was around?”
“Do you think he did something to Soonie?” Jeonghan asked.
“Of course he did!” Seokmin exclaimed, throwing his hands up. “No one was around to witness it, why would he not?” He groaned. “Why didn’t we listen to him? Why did we believe the photographer?”
“The paint was just on the front of Soonie’s shirt, right?” Seungcheol said, trying to bargain. “Maybe he just hugged him?”
“Even that’s weird,” Mingyu pointed out.
“I’m sure he did more than hug Soonie,” hissed Chan.
“We should check on him,” Jeonghan said, moving in the direction of the bathroom, but Jihoon grabbed his arm.
“We should let him shower,” he said, his voice tight. “Don’t rush him. We can wait out here and comfort him when he’s done.”
Jeonghan looked reluctant, but eventually nodded.
With that, the rest of them got comfortable in the living room, sitting on the couches or the floor. Except Seungcheol and Jihoon. They were too busy pacing the room to sit or even stay still.
Eventually, the shower turned off and they heard footsteps getting closer. They watched as Soonyoung went to the kitchen to grab a snack. He froze like a deer in headlights when he noticed all of them staring at him. A drop of water dripped from his hair. He was fully clothed, but his hair was still wet and he had a hair towel around his neck.
“Soonie, come here,” Seungcheol said seriously.
Soonyoung swallowed and moved toward the living room. As he got closer, everyone could see how red his eyes were. He had been crying.
Jeonghan couldn’t take it. He rushed forward and wrapped his arms around Soonyoung.
Before he could get an apology out, Soonyoung was thrashing out of his hold. Jeonghan was quick to let him go and Soonyoung leaped backward, crashing into a wall as he did. He was breathing heavily and his legs were bent slightly, tensed to run away. He was holding the ends of the towel tightly, pulling it so the fabric was securely against the sides of his neck.
The action had made Jeonghan take a step back too. He looked like someone had smacked him. None of the members had ever tried to get away from his hugs, especially to this extent.
“What did he do to you?” Jeonghan murmured.
Soonyoung looked around. His eyes were wide with panic as he took in how all the members were staring at him with concern. They probably thought he was going crazy.
Chan moved toward him slowly. “Hyung?”
It took a second for Soonyoung to respond. He blinked a few times before looking at the maknae. He seemed to realize what he had done and was quick to straighten himself.
“Sorry.” He turned to Jeonghan. “Sorry, hyung. I just… I’m fine.”
“No, you aren’t,” said Seungcheol.
Oh, right, Soonyoung thought. They still think it was my fault.
He bowed to the leader, eyes burning as he stared at his feet. “I’m sorry about the photo shoot, Seungcheol-hyung. I’ll be better in the future. I won’t be unprofessional–”
“Soonyoung, stop,” Seungcheol practically begged. “We didn’t know– I didn’t know– You didn’t do anything wrong! It was my fault for accusing you of something that wasn’t confirmed. I am so so sorry.”
“We all are,” Jeonghan said gently. “We should’ve listened to you before we assumed anything was fact.”
Soonyoung looked at them, clearly confused. “You don’t think it was my fault?”
“We told them what happened,” Minghao said, crossing his arms. “Because these idiots couldn’t find the time to hear you out themselves.”
Junhui moved to his side and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, comforting him in a subtle way. Minghao leaned into the hold.
“So you know,” is all Soonyoung said. His gaze fell again, eyes on the floor. “Sorry I couldn’t do more.”
Everyone immediately started shouting over each other, telling Soonyoung how nothing was his fault and he had no reason to be apologizing. This just made him shrink against the wall more. Chan was the only one who seemed to notice. He moved to stand in front of Soonyoung so everyone would notice him as he stuck his arms out.
“Everyone, shut up!” the maknae demanded. “He doesn’t need all of you yelling at him right now. I know it’s good yelling, but it’s still yelling.” He turned so he was facing his unit leader and his back was to everyone else. “Hyung, there’s nothing for you to be sorry about. You stuck yourself between us and the photographer so many times. You didn’t have to do that, but you did. Why would you apologize for keeping us safe?”
Soonyoung’s head shot up. “I’m not apologizing for keeping you guys safe! I’m apologizing for not stopping him completely and immediately.”
“Why didn’t you?” Chan asked – not accusing, just curious.
Soonyoung hesitated. He looked over the maknae’s shoulder and locked eyes with Seungcheol. He tensed and quickly looked away.
“Don’t worry about anyone else,” Chan said. “You’re just talking to me.”
Soonyoung inhaled shakily and finally said, “I didn’t want to be a disappointment. I was trusted to take care of you guys, I didn’t want to run to Cheol the second something went wrong. I was selfish.”
“You weren’t selfish,” Jihoon spoke up. “It’s a lot of pressure to be trusted to be the leader. I know we’ve taken care of the members before, but it doesn’t change the stressful feelings that come with that responsibility.”
“I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like you had to deal with everything on your own,” Seungcheol apologized. “You know you can always come to me if you need help, right? I’ll never turn you away, and I won’t make you feel bad about needing help.”
Chan stopped himself from rolling his eyes. His hyungs were taking his spotlight – how rude. “Soonie, you did a great job blocking him from messing with us. There were a few times that he got to touch us, but you were always there quickly to stop him. He touched you a lot more than he did any of us. You shouldn’t feel sorry for doing the best that you could.”
It seemed like Soonyoung was finally starting to let their words sink in as he nodded his head and didn’t argue back. Chan led him over to the couch and lowered him down. Jeonghan followed behind them at a small distance.
Once Soonyoung was settled, Jeonghan gently said, “Your hair is still wet. Can I dry it for you?”
A second passed before Soonyoung nodded. Relieved, Jeonghan sat next to Soonyoung and took the towel from around the dancer’s neck–
Then slapped a hand over his mouth to stifle a gasp.
All eyes were on Jeonghan, then they saw where he was looking, and all eyes went to Soonyoung’s neck. The side that was close to Jeonghan was rubbed raw. The skin was bright red, scratched until it was almost bleeding.
“Soonie,” Jeonghan choked out, “what happened?”
Seungcheol rushed towards him and kneeled. He held Soonyoung’s head gently as he tilted it to get a better look at the abused skin. Soonyoung was sitting like a statue. His eyes were squeezed shut and his jaw was clenched.
“Did he do this?” Seungcheol asked. He could feel his rage bubbling up and it was hard to control as he snapped, “Soonyoung, did he do this?”
The dancer flinched and shook his head, eyes still closed. “I did,” he practically whispered.
“What?” Seungcheol demanded.
Chan was quick to react. He grabbed the leader’s hands and took them off of Soonyoung’s face before shoving the eldest away. Seungcheol fell backward and landed on his butt, looking a bit shocked.
“Cheol, cool it,” Chan said coldly.
Everyone watched in awe as the maknae acted this way toward the leader. No one was scared for him – they all knew Seungcheol wouldn’t be mad – but to see Chan standing against the leader so boldly was surprising.
“What did he do?” Jeonghan asked quietly.
“Does this have to do with the paint on your shirt?” Hansol suddenly asked.
Soonyoung nodded.
“What did he do?” repeated Jeonghan, louder this time.
“He hugged me,” Soonyoung explained. “That’s how the paint got onto my shirt.”
“What about your neck?” Jeonghan asked gently.
At this, Soonyoung hesitated. He would have to tell everyone what happened eventually, but it made his gut twist to think about. In the shower, he kept remembering what it felt like to have the photographer holding him tightly, constricting his movements. How close his face had been to Soonyoung’s neck. The way his neck was damp after the photographer had been done with him, breathing so closely that it was like the man had licked him. Soonyoung shuddered at the thought. In the moment, he truly thought the man had wanted to bite his neck. The way he was so close and stayed that way for so long – too long.
“Soonie?” Jeonghan tried again.
Soonyoung cracked his eyes open and looked in the singer’s direction. He was looking at Soonyoung with concern. He was still holding the towel, clutching it tightly. He looked like he wanted to comfort Soonyoung, but didn’t know how.
“Can you dry my hair while I talk about it?” Soonyoung asked, scooting closer.
“Of course!” Jeonghan was quick to reply. He put the towel over the dancer’s head, letting him close his eyes as he spoke.
“I’m going to tell you guys everything that happened,” Soonyoung said. “Starting with the actual photoshoot.” He heard some of the members settle while he started talking, getting comfortable while they listened. “Junnie was the first one to realize that there was something off about the photographer. Hao was the first one to feel the photographer.” There was some noise of shuffling after those words. “He thought it was Channie, but Jun told us that it was the photographer because he kept getting close every time Hao felt the touching.”
Seungcheol cleared his throat, making Soonyoung pause.
“Where?” the leader asked. “Where did he touch you, Minghao?”
Soonyoung cracked open an eye, looking at Minghao. He didn’t want to speak for the other dancer if he was prepared to tell his own story.
Minghao shrugged and looked away. “My butt.” He said it casually, but everyone could see how uncomfortable he was while talking about it.
Junhui tightened his hold around the younger boy, and Mingyu moved closer to the Chinese duo, grabbing Minghao’s hand and rubbing it soothingly. Some other members scooted closer to be able to give him some comforting touches and assuring words.
“So,” Soonyoung continued, “after we found out that it was the photographer, I tried to keep him away from the boys. Anytime he started doing something, I would try to stop him or get in the way or distract him somehow.”
“He did great,” Chan spoke up. “The photographer grabbed my hips to move me to a new pose, but Soonie was quick to distract him. He called the creep away from me and then he went over to touch Soonie. He moved his hand down his back and touched his ass.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” Soonyoung muttered. “He stopped at my lower back.”
“Very low lower back,” snipped Chan.
“He still touched you though,” Soonyoung said. “I wasn’t able to stop him.”
“He didn’t touch me,” Junhui added. “You stopped him before he could do anything extreme to me.”
“What did he try to do to you?” Seungkwan asked.
“He was about to fix my belt.”
“Your belt?” asked Wonwoo, his flat tone covering his anger.
Junhui nodded. “He said it was crooked and was about to fix it himself, but Soonie butted in and got to me before he could.” He turned to Soonyoung. “You stopped him from messing with me at all. You succeeded in protecting me. You protected all of us, even if you won’t see it yourself.”
Soonyoung just shrugged.
“When did you spill the paint on him?” Jisoo suddenly asked.
“I didn’t mean to do that,” Soonyoung said.
“Doesn’t mean he didn’t deserve it,” muttered Chan.
“It happened when he touched me,” Minghao said, grabbing everyone’s attention.
“Again?” Mingyu hissed, squeezing the dancer’s hand.
Minghao shook his head. “It wasn’t that bad.”
Mingyu didn’t look convinced. He wanted to ask Minghao more, to make sure he was okay – but he knew that they had to comfort Soonyoung, so he would wait. For the time being, he kept his hand tight around the other’s, refusing to let him out of his hold. Minghao didn’t complain.
“The reason he had the paint in his hands in the first place was because he was about to put some more on me,” Minghao said. “He said some of my markings had been smeared and he grabbed my wrist to– I don’t know… get to where the paint had been smeared?”
Junhui rolled his eyes. “You’re downplaying again. The photographer grabbed his wrist and pulled his arm above his head. Hao was wearing a short shirt, so his waist was revealed a bit. I was behind Hao, so I could see the photographer as his eyes traveled down his body.” Junhui grimaced, remembering the face the photographer had made a split second before Soonyoung had bumped into him. “He looked like he wanted to pounce on Hao.”
Everyone looked at Minghao. The dancer opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say. He shut his mouth and looked away.
“This isn’t what’s important,” he muttered. “You guys are supposed to be listening to Soonie. Don’t worry about this.”
The air was tense. They all knew that they were supposed to be worried for Soonyoung, but as they learned the full story, they couldn’t help but worry for the rest of the performance unit, too. Yes, Soonyoung was harassed the most, but that didn’t mean that nothing happened to the other three dancers.
“We aren’t ignoring this,” Seungcheol finally said. “We’ll talk with all of you, but I agree that we’re hearing out Soonie right now.” He turned back to the performance unit leader. “Have we covered everything that happened during the shoot?”
Soonyoung nodded; Chan shook his head.
“Channie?” the leader questioned.
Chan looked down at his clenched fists. “It’s nothing. It’s just… there were more quick touches.”
“We can talk about it more later,” Junhui offered. “But yes, Cheol, those were the worst moments.”
“So, you got the paint on your shirt because he hugged you,” Seungcheol recapped. “What did he do to your neck?”
Soonyoung was grateful that Jeonghan was still drying his hair with the towel. The fabric allowed Soonyoung’s eyes to be shielded from the other members. It felt easier to be able to talk about all this without having to see all the eyes that were on him.
“It happened while he hugged me–”
“Can we not say hug?” Chan cut Soonyoung off harshly. “A hug should be a nice, comforting embrace. What he did wasn’t a hug; he grabbed you, hyung.”
There were words of agreement from the rest of the group, so Soonyoung started again, changing his wording.
“It happened while he grabbed me,” he said. “He held onto me for a long time. Longer than what I was comfortable with. And then he started moving his hand down my back and… his hand went lower than when he was positioning me during the shoot. Then he, um, he had his face close to my neck and he… he sniffed me? It sounds stupid, I know. I’m sorry. It’s not that big of a deal. I’m just overreacting–”
“No,” Seungcheol stressed. “Soonie, you have nothing to apologize for and you are not overreacting. I’m sorry that we didn’t listen to you earlier and I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to help you. You shouldn’t have had to go through that – none of you should’ve.”
“Did he do anything else?” Jihoon asked. “Did he–” His voice cracked so he cleared his throat before trying again. “Did he kiss or lick your neck?”
Soonyoung shook his head. “He was just sniffing and breathing on it. It felt damp once I got away with him. I, uh, I scratched at the spot in the shower because I could still feel his breath on me. I didn’t realize how hard I was scratching until my neck started to burn. I didn’t mean to hurt myself. I’m sorry.”
“You need to stop apologizing,” Jeonghan said. “It’s okay to act irrationally after going through that and then being ignored by us. I’m sure you were sad and scared. I’m sorry that we made you feel that way.”
Soonyoung just shrugged. “It’s over now. Can’t change the past.”
“We can make your present a little better,” Seungcheol suggested. “Let’s all stay here for a while. You boys can do whatever you want, but just stay here so we can be together.”
They all agreed to that. The members spread around the room to get comfortable; some sitting on the couches, some laying on the floor. Seungkwan ran to the kitchen with Hansol, and they came back with their arms full of snacks. They handed them out to the other members before settling on one of the couches together.
⋆˚°. ఇ ◝‿◜ ఇ .°˚⋆
After a while of sitting around, Junhui excused himself. Seungcheol and Jeonghan shared a look and nodded. They also excused themselves and followed after the boy. He had gone to his room, but had left the door open a crack.
“Junnie?” Jeonghan called, knocking on the door while he pushed it open.
He was sitting on the edge of his bed, his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped together. He was bouncing his leg and glaring at the ground. When he heard his hyung, his leg stopped and his face softened.
“What’s up?” Junhui asked.
“That’s what we were wondering,” said Seungcheol. “Can we come in?”
Junhui nodded.
They sat down on either side of him.
“What’s going on in there?” Jeonghan asked, pointing at Junhui’s head.
“He didn’t touch me.”
Seungcheol and Jeonghan shared a look.
“You’re mad that the photographer didn’t touch you?” Seungcheol asked.
A thousand emotions flashed over Junhui’s face. “Yes– No– I mean–”
“Breathe,” Jeonghan said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay. Take your time. Gather your thoughts. We’ll wait.”
Seungcheol nodded to show his agreement.
“Okay,” said Junhui. He sighed and closed his eyes, trying to get his thoughts and words together. “Okay. I’m not mad that I wasn’t touched. I’m mad that the others were.”
“Go on,” Seungcheol encouraged when Junhui paused to see if he was making sense.
“I was the oldest,” Junhui continued, “but I couldn’t do anything. Soonie was so fast. Everytime the photographer approached one of us, Soonie was there to be a barrier. But that’s not fair! It was all on Soonie to protect us, and that meant that he got the brunt of it. I was so useless. I just stood there. I didn’t know what to do. Nothing major happened to me, but I’m the oldest. I should’ve had more responsibility, right? But I didn’t. I put everything on Soonie and I couldn’t even help him.” Junhui sniffed, wiping his eyes. He hadn’t even realized that he’d started crying. “I’m pathetic.”
“You are not pathetic,” Jeonghan said, wrapping his arms around the younger. “And you were not useless. You were confused and scared. I’m sure Soonyoung was too, but he’s too hard on himself to realize when he’s feeling bad emotions. He just focuses on making sure no one else feels those emotions.”
“Soonie is a special breed,” Seungcheol agreed. “Minghao and Chan were in the same situation as you. Do you think that they were being useless and pathetic?”
“No!” Junhui said. “But it’s not the same for me. I wasn’t touched and I was the oldest. Why did I get the best results of what happened? It's not fair that everyone else got touched and I couldn’t even stop the guy. I just stood there.”
“Alright, reverse it then,” Jeonghan said. “If you were in Soonie’s position and he was in yours, would you think that he was useless for not knowing what to do in an unusual situation?”
“Of course not, but I’m older–”
“Enough about your age,” scolded Seungcheol. “You are five days older than Soonie. And besides, when have we ever cared about how we’re treated in our age order?”
Jeonghan laughed. “Yeah, we baby the oldest and constantly make the maknae’s life a living hell. That’s just how we work. Age order has nothing on us anymore.”
Then sat for a moment in silence. They could hear the members in the main room. There were some voices bickering that sounded like Soonyoung, Seokmin, and Seungkwan. It was lighthearted.
“I still feel bad,” Junhui said.
“You’re allowed to feel bad,” said Jeonghan. “You’re not allowed to blame yourself or call yourself useless and pathetic.”
Seungcheol nodded. “All of you are allowed to feel stuff about what happened–”
“Wise words,” Jeonghan butted in.
“Be quiet,” Seungcheol snapped before looking back at Junhui. “I’m sorry that you all had to be around that man for so long. I wish Soonie would’ve gotten me earlier, but I can’t blame him for wanting to handle it himself. Besides that, you four shouldn’t have had to deal with the photographer for as long as you had to. I wish I could’ve been there to help you guys.”
Junhui nodded; he agreed, but he had no words left.
“Do you want us to stay back here with you for a bit?” Jeonghan asked.
“I’d like that,” Junhui said.
“Then here we stay,” Seungcheol said.
He looped his arms around both of them and pulled them backward to lay on the bed so they didn’t have to sit up anymore. Jeonghan wrapped his arms around Junhui too, giving him a firm squeeze.
⋆˚°. ఇ ◝‿◜ ఇ .°˚⋆
It was Hansol who noticed that something was wrong with Chan. Well, still wrong. While Soonyoung was back to smiling and joking with Seokmin and Seungkwan, Chan was sitting off to the side. He was staring at the ground and chewing his lip. His arms were crossed and he kept glancing around the room before looking back down and blinking his eyes rapidly.
After a few moments of watching him, Hansol saw Chan sniff and wipe his eyes quickly. The maknae looked around, worried that someone would see him with tears in his eyes. When his eyes locked on Hansol’s, Chan froze.
Hansol nodded his head towards the hallway, an invitation to go to his room. Chan nodded and stood up. Hansol followed the maknae as he headed for Hansol’s room.
As they passed, Soonyoung looked up, about to ask what they were up to, but noticed the tears in the youngest’s eyes. He hesitated and the two youngest members walked past in a controlled rush.
“Boo, Seok,” Soonyoung said, getting their attention.
The two stopped teasing each other, looking towards Soonyoung. When they saw him looking serious, their faces changed to be the same too.
“What’s wrong?” Seokmin asked.
Soonyoung nodded towards the two youngest members as they left the main room. Seokmin and Seungkwan were able to see a tear drip down the maknae’s face just before he ducked into Hansol’s room, Hansol right behind him.
“He’s crying.” Seungkwan went to stand, but paused, looking back at Soonyoung.
Seokmin looked to be in a similar predicament. He wanted to check on Hansol and Chan, but he didn’t want to leave Soonyoung.
“Go,” said Soonyoung, seeing their hesitation. “Cheol was going to check on the others but,” he looked around, not seeing the leader and noticing a couple other members were missing, “I think he’s busy. Channie looks like he needs someone right now.”
“He has Hansol,” Seokmin said.
“He’ll need more than one person,” said Soonyoung.
Seungkwan’s brows were furrowed as he looked between Soonyoung and Hansol’s closed door. “Are you sure you’re fine?”
Soonyoung nodded. “I’ve been comforted. Now it’s time for the other members of my unit. Go help Sollie with our baby.”
Seokmin and Seungkwan seemed more comfortable walking away from him. Although, as they approached the bedroom door, they hesitated again, looking back and seeing Soonyoung alone on the coach. Their worries were quickly washed away when Junhui rushed past them, coming from farther down the hallway, and basically jumped on Soonyoung, snuggling him as he settled on the couch. Soonyoung was quick to return the hug, grinning as he held Junhui tightly.
Reassured by what they saw, Seokmin and Seungkwan turned back to the closed door.
“Should we knock?” Seokmin asked.
Seungkwan shrugged. “Since when do I knock?”
He pushed the door open without a warning, giving him and Seokmin a clear view of their maknae crying in Hansol’s arms. It was worse than they thought.
The two rushed inside, closing the door behind them gently, not wanting to alert the other members.
Busy wiping his eyes, Chan didn’t see them enter. When his hands dropped and he saw two new people in the room, his eyes widened. He sniffed and cleared his throat, lowering his head.
“I didn’t know you guys were here,” Chan said, his voice rough and small.
They made their way over to the maknae. Seokmin sat on Chan’s other side, sharing a look with Hansol who was rubbing Chan’s back. Seungkwan dropped to kneel on the floor in front of Chan, bending to look at his face. Chan had his hands clenched together in his lap. Seungkwan put one of his hands on Chan’s and brought the other to hold his face, using his thumb to get rid of some of the tears dripping down Chan’s cheek.
“Chan-ah,” Seungkwan cooed, watching as Chan’s lip trembled as he fought to stop his crying. “Let it out, baby.”
“I don’t want to.”
Seokmin looked to Hansol, hoping he would have some answers, but all he got was a shrug.
“Why don’t you want to?” Seokmin asked Chan.
“I’m fine now,” he said. “I shouldn’t still be crying.”
“It’s okay to be sad–” Hansol started.
“I’m not sad!” Chan huffed. “I’m mad. I’m pissed!”
The other three stayed silent, letting Chan release his emotions through words.
“I hate that I’m still mad about this!” said Chan. “But how can I not still be mad? There were so many touches. He wasn’t even trying to disguise them. He would graze past us and fully put a hand on our waist or thigh or ass. Why does he get to do that? Why does he think that’s okay? What does he get from messing with us? Did he just want to bother us? Because he did a great job of that. Obviously he did– I’m still fucking crying because of him!”
Seungkwan could feel Chan’s hand shaking and when he looked down, he saw that the youngest was digging his nails into his hands. Acting quickly, Seungkwan smoothed out Chan’s hands, keeping his fingers straight.
“Don’t do that,” Seungkwan said gently, squeezing his hands.
“Channie, it’s okay to still be upset about what happened,” Seokmin said.
“I don’t want to be.”
“I know you don’t,” said Seokmin. “None of us do.”
“How do you want to distract yourself?” Hansol asked.
Chan looked over at him. “Distract myself?”
“Well,” Hansol said, “you don’t want to think about him, so I thought that there might be something you’d like to distract yourself with.”
Chan hesitated, looking down at his hands being held by Seungkwan. “I– I don’t know… I can’t stop replaying everything that happened. And I hate it!” He took his hands from Seungkwan and pressed them into his face. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Well, first, you’re going to stop doing that,” said Seungkwan, grabbing his hands again and pulling them away from his face.
Chan let out a wet breath and leaned his head over to drop his forehead onto Seokmin’s shoulder. “I don’t know what to do,” he said again, his voice weaker.
“You don’t have to do anything,” Seokmin said. He brought his hand up to rub the maknae’s head. “Why do you think that you have to do something?”
“Because I didn’t before,” Chan said. “When the photographer touched me I just froze. I didn’t do anything, and Soonyoung had to do everything on his own because I couldn’t do anything… I should’ve done something.”
“There was nothing that you could’ve done,” Hansol said. “You guys were all thrown off by that man’s behavior. It’s not your fault that you didn’t know how to react.”
“But Soonyoung–”
“We’re not talking about Soonie right now,” Seungkwan said.
“But he–”
“He’s okay now,” said Seokmin. “He’s out there in the living room snuggling with Jun as we speak. He got comforted, and he’ll continue to get comforted. So don’t worry about Soonyoung right now. Right now, we’re here for you.”
Chan didn’t know what to say. Keeping his forehead against Seokmin’s shoulder, he shook his head.
“You know it’s okay to want comfort, too, right?” Seungkwan said. “I know that everyone in your unit had a bad time, but that doesn’t mean that you didn’t. You deserve just as much comfort as everyone else. You know that, right?”
Chan just shook his head again. There were more tears falling from his eyes, landing on Seokmin’s sleeve.
“I think he’s done talking for tonight,” said Hansol. “Channie, do you want us to stay in here for the rest of the night with you? You can just nod or shake your head.”
Chan glanced up, looking at Hansol before turning his eyes towards the door.
“Don’t worry,” Hansol said. “We can text the others to let them know that we won’t be joining them until tomorrow. They won’t mind, I promise.”
Chan looked back at Hansol, waited a moment, then nodded.
In an instant, the other three members were on the move. Hansol went to his closet to grab more blankets. Seokmin guided Chan to lay back on the bed, moving his head from his shoulder to rest on the pillow. Seungkwan pulled his phone out to text Seungcheol to let him know what was happening, then he locked the door, ensuring that they would be left alone for the night.
They all huddled on the bed, making sure that their maknae was secure between them. Chan let out a soft sigh, relieved. His hyungs squeezed him tighter. Chan was the first to fall asleep; the other three followed shortly, falling asleep to the relaxed breathing of their baby.
⋆˚°. ఇ ◝‿◜ ఇ .°˚⋆
After a while, everyone in the living room felt better. There was talking and laughing as the conversations picked up and carried on. There were a few people, though, who weren’t joining in on any conversations.
Wonwoo was one of the people who were silent. He was watching the room, and he noticed that there were a few others who were quiet as well. One person he focused on the most was Minghao.
Minghao had started trying to talk with the other members, but Wonwoo had noticed that he had gone quiet a while ago, and now he was just staring at his hands, which were being held by Mingyu. Mingyu was gently rubbing and squeezing Minghao’s hands, trying to comfort him.
Wonwoo saw that Mingyu was also quiet. He had stayed quiet since Soonyoung stopped talking. He never left Minghao’s side, keeping his arm pressed against Minghao’s, his hand holding the younger’s hands. The final member that Wonwoo noticed being quiet was Jisoo. He was near Mingyu and Minghao, but he hung back a little, looking between the two. It seemed like he wanted to say something to them, but didn’t know how to start.
Wonwoo had been keeping an eye on everyone else too. So, he had seen when Junhui had left and when Seungcheol and Jeonghan followed after him. He saw that right before they came back that Hansol took Chan away, and Seokmin and Seungkwan joined them moments later. He noticed that they never came back, but Seungcheol had glanced at his phone, typed something fast, then leaned over and told something to Jeonghan. Jeonghan nodded and looked at Hansol’s closed door. He went to stand, but Seungcheol stopped him, saying something else that Wonwo couldn’t hear.
Having seen all this play out, Wonwoo came to the conclusion that everyone in the performance unit – save for Soonyoung – had been given a mini chat, except for Minghao. With Jisoo and Mingyu being distracted with looking at Minghao the whole time, they were the only other members who hadn’t gone off with one of the performance unit members. Wonwoo thought that this was perfect for him to have them join him to talk with Minghao.
While the others in the room were distracted by something that Soonyoung was saying, Wonwoo stood up and made his way over to Minghao. Wonwoo grabbed his hands, in turn, grabbing Mingyu’s hand also. He pulled the two up and off the coach. With a pointed look at Jisoo, Wonwoo pulled the other two with him towards his room. He heard Jisoo follow them.
Seungcheol watched as the four walked out of the room and let out a relieved sigh. Now, he knew that every member of the performance unit was getting the comfort that they deserve.
In Wonwoo’s room, Minghao was led to the bed. Wonwoo and Mingyu sat on either side of him. Jisoo closed the door behind him, then joined the other three on the bed, next to Wonwoo.
“Minghao,” Wonwoo started gently, but stopped when he saw the younger’s face.
His eyes were glassy and his shoulders were tense. As he blinked, a tear fell from his eye, landing on his hands that were clutched in his lap. Minghao moved his arm quickly to wipe away the wetness from his eyes. He sniffed and wouldn’t look at anyone, keeping his gaze low.
“Hao.” Mingyu’s voice was soft, like the brush of a feather.
As more tears gathered in his eyes, Minghao brought both of his hands up, covered by his sleeves, and kept them there. The fabric absorbed the tears before they got the chance to fall.
“I don’t want to cry about this,” Minghao said. His voice was shaky.
Mingyu reached up and took Minghao’s hands from his face. His eyes were still wet and without the sleeves there, tears fell down his face freely. Wonwoo had scooted impossibly closer, an arm wrapped around Minghao’s waist. Jisoo reached over Wonwoo and gave Minghao’s thigh a few squeezes, and left his hand there to rest.
“Why not?” Jisoo asked. “You know that you’re allowed to cry about anything, okay? No matter what. If you have emotions about something, you’re always allowed to cry.”
Minghao shook his head. “I should be used to this.”
The room felt colder.
“What?” said Wonwoo. “Why would you be used to that?”
“Has someone else done something to you?” Mingyu asked.
Minghao shook his head again. “No. I just… I’m an idol. I’m used to people making comments about my body. I’ve seen videos made about me and I’ve seen what people say on the internet. Not everything is good, and some of the good things don’t sound comforting. I’m getting so worked up about this, but it’s not as bad as what some people have said they want to do to me.” His voice broke. He looked around at the three. “I don’t like what he did.” And then he broke. Strong sobs shook his body as he cried openly.
Wonwoo was quick to wrap Minghao into his arms, holding him securely. Minghao tucked his face into Wonwoo’s shoulder. Jisoo moved his hand from Minghao’s leg to his head, combing through his hair and brushing strands away from his face. Mingyu squeezed Minghao’s hands which were holding Mingyu’s like a stress toy – not that he was going to complain.
“This isn’t normal,” Jisoo said. “You shouldn’t feel like this is something that you should feel fine about. How some people talk about us is messed up beyond belief. People feel too comfortable with what they say about us because some of them don’t think of us as actual people. That’s obviously so wrong. We are people. And we deserve to be treated as such.”
Wonwoo agreed. “Just because we’re idols doesn’t mean that we deserve to be treated like this. And it isn’t right for you to compare things that you see online to what happened to you today. This man was touching you. You’re allowed to feel uncomfortable about this. Just because you’re an idol doesn’t mean that people are allowed to touch you.”
“It doesn’t even matter that this guy was working with you,” Mingyu said. “Taking photos of you for his job doesn’t mean that he gets to put his hands on you. He could’ve just told you how to stand. There was no need to touch you. And he didn’t always touch you just to get a pose. You told us that he kept touching you as he walked past. You thinking that it was Chan touching you shows that you were accepting towards the idea of a friend touching you, not a stranger that you’re working with. Even with that, you were getting annoyed with the thought of Chan touching you so much. Getting mad, then discovering that it was worse than you thought is a very valid reason for being uncomfortable. None of you should’ve had to deal with that guy, and we’ll do our best to make sure something like this never happens again.”
Minghao started to speak, but his sobs wouldn’t let him get any words out. The others comforted him, letting him know that he didn’t have to say anything.
Time passed and Minghao’s sobs got calmer and quieter. After a while, they were all sitting in silence. The only noise was a faint sniffle from Minghao every few minutes.
“Thank you,” Minghao said quietly. His sobs had made his throat raw and his voice scratchy.
“Of course, Hao,” Mingyu said. “You can always tell any of us how you feel.”
“And you can always cry whenever you want or need to,” said Jisoo.
Minghao sniffed and nodded in acknowledgment. Then, he yawned.
“Are you tired?” Wonwoo asked.
Minghao nodded again.
“We can stay back here,” Jisoo said. “I’m sure some others are already asleep out in the living room.”
“And in their beds,” Wonwoo said, thinking back to the maknaes who had departed and didn’t come back to sit with the others.
“I can text Cheol to let him know,” Mingyu said, already getting his phone from his pocket. He typed a message quickly, then put his phone on the table next to the bed, screen down.
“Thank you,” Minghao said again.
The others helped rest him on the bed comfortably. They surrounded him on the bed. Mingyu had his arm under Minghao’s head, his bicep a makeshift pillow. Wonwoo and Jisoo were behind him, wrapping their arms around him as a makeshift blanket. There were pillows and blankets on the bed, but they wanted to do anything that they could to make Minghao feel surrounded with love. They needed him to know that he was safe now, enclosed by people who would always be there for him.
Exhausted from everything that had happened, Minghao fell asleep quickly. The other three fell asleep soon after.
⋆˚°. ఇ ◝‿◜ ఇ .°˚⋆
The second message that Seungcheol got that night wasn’t a surprise. Most of his boys were already in bed and asleep. The handful that were still in the living room were fading fast.
Seungcheol looked around at the members he could see. Soonyoung was on the couch, sandwiched between Junhui and Jihoon. Jeonghan was sitting next to Seungcheol, practically falling asleep as he leaned against the leader.
Jihoon was sitting next to the armrest on the couch. He was letting Soonyoung lay his head on his lap. Jihoon even had a hand resting on his head, playing with the dancer’s hair. Soonyoung had his arms wrapped around Junhui, who was laying on his chest, hugging him tightly.
Seungcheol had noticed that the three of them had been yawning for a while now, but none of them were surrendering to sleep. They were talking quietly, a conversation that was soft and lighthearted.
Jeonghan had been adding to it for a while, but he’d grown quiet as he nestled into Seungcheol’s side.
“We should go to sleep,” Seungcheol said, interrupting when the conversation was at a lull.
“I’m too comfy here,” Soonyoung said.
“I agree,” said Junhui.
Jeonghan hummed his agreement.
“I’m not,” Jihoon said, stretching his arms above his head. “I’d rather sleep in a bed than sitting on the couch.”
With a few grumbles, everyone got up, ready to head to bed. As they started towards the bedrooms, Junhui and Soonyoung hesitated. They were still sitting on the couch together. Jeonghan noticed.
“You guys okay?” he asked.
They didn’t say anything.
“Do you want someone to sleep with so you aren’t alone tonight?” Seungcheol asked.
They both nodded.
“The five of us aren’t going to fit on one bed,” said Jihoon.
“We can take Junnie,” Jeonghan said, gesturing to himself and Seungcheol.
Jihoon nodded and helped Soonyoung up from the couch.
They all said good night and went to their separate rooms.
⋆˚°. ఇ ◝‿◜ ఇ .°˚⋆
“Are you okay?” Jihoon asked as he settled in the bed next to Soonyoung.
Soonyoung sighed and looked at the ceiling. “As okay as I can be.”
Jihoon hesitated. “I’m sorry we didn’t listen to you.”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s really not.”
Soonyoung shrugged. “We’ll learn from this. It’ll be fine.”
Jihoon scooted closer to Soonyoung. He placed an arm over Soonyoung’s middle. Soonyoung glanced over at him. Jihoon was staring back.
“Tell us if this happens again,” Jihoon said. “If something like this ever happens again, you have to tell us. Tell Cheol. Tell me. Okay?”
Soonyoung was about to assure the younger that he was fine and of course he’ll tell someone if it happens again, but then he really looked at Jihoon’s face. Jihoon didn’t want him to assure him. He didn’t want a discussion. He just wanted Soonyoung to agree. Jihoon’s tired eyes were coated with concern.
So, Soonyoung just said, “Okay.”
Jihoon nodded, then closed his eyes. “Okay.”
Soonyoung smiled at him and moved closer. He shut his eyes as well and let out a relieved sigh. He was glad to be reminded of how much his group cared. How loving his friends were.
Thanks to all of them, Soonyoung was able to go to sleep with a smile resting on his lips.