Work Text:
🦋
Everything was going so well in the concert, vocals were good, dance was sharp and synchronized, and then came Rizz.
The first few beats.. The split..
POP!
Rui let out a sound, not too loud but loud enough for the mic to catch it, for camera recordings to catch it, The crowd gasping but moving away from it.
“That’s probably not okay..!”
Rui thinks to herself..
And it obviously was not okay. She couldn’t move her ankle for a split second, it was shooting pain through her foot, but she couldn’t just stop mid dance, she didn’t want to. Rui doesn’t want to disappoint thousands of fans who made it to this concert, Rui didn’t want to worry her members.
So what does Rui do?—Hide the pain!
But Rui can’t hide it from everyone…
His ankle feels so wobbly and unstable. It's hard to move around. It hurts so much.
Once Rizz finally finishes, they start talking about the most random things. Muti brings up rehearsing this song and being stuck in the split
Rui isn’t paying attention, Rui is focusing on the screaming pain in their ankle. Leaning on the unaffected side and then suddenly—
Hyun comes next to her..
They had noticed the grimace on Rui’s face, the way they were walking and standing..
…!
Rui feels his hand on her waist, Rui looks up at him.
Hyun looks down at her and sees her tearing up..
They move away both their mics and hyun whispers in their ear, Fans think this is just the fan service that they craved. so they are screaming and Wumuti and Haru are looking at them like oh my gosh get a rooooommmm
“Rui, what’s wrong? Did you hurt yourself?” Hyun whispered.
And suddenly, everything is frozen. Rui’s eyes tear up even more.
“I just hurt my ankle, but it’s fine, I can suck it up till the end of the concert, it's almost over anyways..” Rui says, forcing a smile on their face.
“Rui.. if you keep dancing on it, it’s only going to get worse!
“But—”
Hyun gently leaves Rui’s side and goes to interrupt Wumuti
Without speaking into the mic, Hyun tells Wumuti that they are going to fix something and they will be back.
“Oh? Okay okay! Evols!! Hyun and Rui will be right back! They are just going to fix something!!”
Hyun walks back to Rui’s side as Wumuti continues talking, grabs their waist and carefully escorts them to the changing room. They make sure the mics are off before they start talking.
“Rui, can you walk? How bad does it hurt”
“It hurts a lot, but I can still kind of walk”
“Here, stop walking really quickly.”
They stop walking, Rui is wondering why Hyun said to stop walking until Hyun Picks her up bridal style..
“Hyun? I can walk! You don’t need to carry me!!”
Hyun ignored Rui’s commands and continued to walk towards the dressing room. The one thing Rui didn’t want to happen ends up happening. And that is worrying a member.
Hyun and Rui have dated for 5 months now, and surprisingly fans haven’t caught on. Maybe because Muti told them to have less fan service together so fans wouldn’t connect lines. All over Rui’s twitter was “omg lavenderz divorce” and how they are not seen together as often. But there are some fans who joke about them actually dating but only as a joke. And honestly, Rui felt kind of sad about not being able to make it public. Hyun and Rui love each other dearly, and they know fans would accept them and still love them the same. But the company would absolutely go for their throats.
But it's whatever, they can still love each other behind the scenes.
Hyun looks down at Rui and sees a faint smile on their face. However, there’s tears swelling up in her eyes.
Hyun’s grip tightens and pulls her closer to him in hopes to comfort her.
🐵
They finally reached the room, Rui still in Hyun's arms. Hyun walks towards the sofa and gently places Rui down. Rui winces as her ankle moves a bit. Rui's eyes start swelling with tears, Hyun both hears and sees this.
“Jagiya…”
Hyun mumbled, looking at Rui softly before speaking up again.
“Rui jagiya… can you tell me exactly what happened? So I know how to help you.”
“I- hic.. It got st- stuck during th- the split hic.. During r-rizz..and It just..popped bad..ly..” Rui choked out before crying a bit harder.
“Oh baby…here let me see, let me know if it hurts..”
While inspecting Rui’s face, Hyun gently reaches for her foot to take off their shoe and sock. Every little sound or face Rui made, Hyun stopped and asked Rui if she needed a break or if it was hurting too much. Despite the pain, Rui told him to continue. Once Hyun was finally able to take off both shoe and sock, he could immediately tell it was 100% sprained. It was swollen and starting to bruise, and since Rui had been dancing on it—it had only made it worse. Hyun hovered his hand over Rui’s ankle and looked at her for permission and Rui nodded for it to happen.
“Tell me where it hurts okay?” Hyun said to Rui before gently pressing around his ankle.
It was firm to the touch and incredibly warm. Hyun presses down closer to the swollen part and—
“Gah–!” Rui gasped out, shutting her eyes tightly.
“I’m sorry Jagiya!! But based off how your ankle is, I think you should rest and—”
“I don’t wanna rest!! I can still dance!! The concert is almost finished, I can push through it..!!” Rui cuts hyun off.
“Rui… I know you want to dance, yes the concert is almost over but if you keep pushing through the pain, it’s only going to get worse, making the recovery time longer.”
“But—”
“Shh.. it’s okay jagiya, its okay”
Hyun says to Rui softly, rubbing his back as he places a kiss where the tear fell.
Hyun slowly gets up and Rui reaches for his hand and holds on tightly.
“Hyun..? where are you going” Rui breathed out.
Rui didn’t want to be alone, she wanted someone by her side, she wanted Hyun by her side. Hyun can feel her hand trembling. He feels bad to leave her alone, even for just a few minutes.
Hyun gives Rui a peck on the lips, grabs her hand with both his hands, and brings it up to him.
“Don’t worry Rui, I’ll be back—I’m just gonna bring an ice pack and athletic tape, okay?” Hyun reassured Rui
Leaving a kiss on her hand, walking away. Before leaving the room he gives Rui a gentle and warm smile.
Time was passing so slowly for Rui, maybe it was the adrenaline. Rui couldn’t believe what was happening, She couldn’t believe she injured herself, She can’t bring herself to accept it.
She just wanted everything to return back to normal. She wanted to go back on stage and perform with her members, her friends.
“If only I was more careful, if only–”
Rui’s train of thought was interrupted by the door opening. Hyun was back! She was so happy, but behind Hyun was Wumuti and Haru. They looked worried. Well there goes hiding the injury from the members.
Wait, Wumuti and Haru?
“Wait, what about the concert?” Rui questioned
“Oh, no yeah don’t worry about it! Hyun told us what happened so we told evols to take this as a little water break and warm up their vocal chords!!”
Wumuti responded, trying to add a little bit of humor to cheer Rui up.
Did it help? Sort of? It brought a small smile to Rui’s face, but she couldn’t help but feel a tad bit guilty. Because of her, they paused the concert.
“Oh yeah! Here muti”
Hyun hands Wumuti the athletic tape, as well as pre-wrap for comfort. Wumti takes it from Hyun's hand and gently lifts Rui's ankle at a 90 degree angle. Carefully wrapping her ankle with pre-wrap.
To Rui, this all feels like a fever dream. The injury, the sudden pause in the concert to be taken care of.
Rui thinks they don’t deserve this, She thinks she's dragging everything behind because of her injury.
Wumuti can see this look on Rui, she looks really out of it, zoning out while her ankle is getting tied—shes frowning.
“Hey Rui, I asked them to put 2 chairs! One to sit on and the other to elevate your ankle!” Wumuti said with a gentle smile.
Muti really was a blessing to Rui. She was almost like a mother! She helped Rui out with things, gave love advice to both her and hyun, and even took care of her while sick. So when Muti suddenly said that to Rui, he couldn’t help but smile and shed a tear.
“Thank you Muti, really thank you.” Rui whispered
Wumuti places a kiss on Rui’s forehead as she and Hyun help her stand up. Haru goes to open the door for the 3 of them
“Rui unnie, we knew you would still want to perform, so hopefully being able to sing will cheer you up, even if it's just a little bit!”
“Thank you Haru, Thank you all of you!” Rui choked out, crying with a smile.
Rui was sad about the injury, but having her members caring for her like this, having her lover by her side
Maybe she could find herself to accept the injury and try her hardest to have a smooth recovery.
🩷💙