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THE CLOCK in the bottom corner of the monitor had already ticked past two in the morning, but to Woojin, time seemed to have frozen on the same twelve-bar sequence. He'd reached the point where he couldn't even tell if the track actually sounded good anymore or if his ears had simply gone numb after hours of wearing his headphones, listening to the same beat on loop. His back ached, his neck was stiff, and that all-too-familiar migraine was beginning to creep in.
He just wanted that transition to make sense. But nothing seemed to click tonight.
With a frustrated shove, he pushed his chair back from the desk and tipped his head backwards, running his fingers through his hair as he let out a heavy sigh towards the studio's dark ceiling. He needed to stop staring at that screen before he completely lost the plot.
Truth be told, he should've gone to bed, but he simply wasn't tired. Woojin knew that by the time morning rolled around, he'd look like an absolute zombie at rehearsal, but right now that was the least of his worries.
The other members had probably gone back to the dorm and turned in ages ago. He remembered telling them he'd only stay another fifteen minutes to double-check a few details-fifteen minutes that had somehow turned into three straight hours in front of the monitor.
He stretched his arms above his head, wincing as his joints protested after being stuck in the same position for hours.
He simply expected too much of himself-everything had to be perfect, and carrying all that pressure on his own was exhausting. Realising he wasn't getting anywhere by forcing it, he saved the project, shut the laptop, and picked up his phone from the desk.
The moment he did, he noticed just how suffocating the silence in the studio felt.
The bright glow of the freshly unlocked screen lit up part of the dark room, making his eyes sting for a second. Almost absent-mindedly, he scrolled through social media, pausing on random photos of celebrities, red carpets, and fashion events. He found himself wondering if the group would ever reach the point where they'd be invited to places like that. It still felt a long way off, but it was the sort of goal that always found its way into his thoughts during the early hours of the morning.
He closed the tab, flicked over to his messaging app to check if anyone from the company or the dorm had sent him anything and, seeing it was completely quiet, decided to have a look at what the Shotties had been saying about them.
So he opened Twitter, tapped the search bar, and typed in the group's name.
The app immediately brought up LNGSHOT official account, displaying the engagement numbers from their latest comeback along with the tweets pinned by the label's staff. He didn't linger there for long before scrolling past the official updates and making his way down to the fan accounts.
He turned his phone's volume down to almost silent before pressing play on the first video that came up. It was an edit set to some background track, stitched together with different moments of the group. A quiet chuckle escaped him as he shook his head.
He scrolled a little further and stopped on a photo of Louis asleep in the back seat of the van during promotions, his mouth hanging slightly open. The fan's caption called him a "giant baby". Woojin smiled to himself, quietly mumbling, "Yeah... they're not wrong" to the empty studio.
Just below it, another clip popped up that made him laugh properly. It was from that stay quiet game, showing Ohyul smacking him hard after he'd broken the no-noise rule. The Shottie who'd posted it had captioned it, "Love is such a beautiful thing." Woojin shook his head, remembering how much his head had genuinely hurt that day, but seeing the fans so fond of those silly little moments filled his chest with warmth. It was exactly the kind of harmless distraction he needed to clear his head from the music.
Content, he pulled down on the screen to refresh the search feed one more time, figuring he'd look through just a few more posts before locking his phone and finally trying to get some sleep.
But the timeline refreshed on its own.
A tweet with thousands of likes stopped his thumb mid-scroll. The english text above the attached file was blunt, and the video underneath wiped the smile clean off Woojin's face, his stomach dropping instantly.
The clip began playing automatically in the feed. It was a short recording from back when he was still just a trainee, juggling school and the old practice room. The footage was awful-pixelated, grainy, and sloppily cropped-but the black T-shirt he was wearing in that old studio was unmistakable.
Woojin felt his heartbeat spike in an instant. His fingers froze against the glass of his phone.
He'd thought the whole thing had finally died down, that the fandom had moved on from the mess at the beginning of the year. But there it was, undeniable proof that the internet never truly forgot anything. Beneath the video, the replies multiplied by the second, refreshing with new comments in english that he could translate in his head with painful ease.
@* nah bc the whole group gonna get dragged over this and it's literally pre-debut??
@* pls someone save the other members 😭
@* y'all... it's Jay Park company 💀 do u seriously expect anything to happen?
There were outright threats, accounts with other idols as their profile pictures demanding the quartet disband because of him, and people flat-out saying he'd ruin everything Ohyul, Ryul, and Louis had worked so hard for before the group even made it through their first year together. The sheer absurdity of watching complete strangers pour out so much vicious, unprovoked hatred towards him over a mistake he'd made years ago-when he was still a minor-left his throat painfully dry.
The stress and guilt quickly began to show physically. His hands turned cold, his knuckles whitened from gripping the edges of his phone so tightly, and his chest seemed to lock up, making the air in the dark studio feel impossibly thin.
The thought that he might be destroying his best friends' dream crushed him from the inside out.
Woojin tried to look away from the screen, but his eyes felt glued to the words forming those cruel sentences. Every fresh scroll revealed another account, another hashtag, another thread picking apart a mistake from years ago as though he'd committed an unforgivable crime yesterday.
He squeezed his eyes shut and let the phone fall face-down against his thigh, pressing the heels of his hands firmly into his eyelids in a desperate attempt to stop his thoughts from spiralling. But the studio seemed to shrink around him. He stayed there, motionless in the darkness, focused only on forcing enough air into his lungs while his chest remained painfully tight, as though a rope were slowly being pulled tighter around his ribs. At some point, he completely lost track of how long he'd been sitting there, alone with the weight of his own anguish.
That was when the soft click of the door unlocking shattered the silence in the studio.
The sudden sound made him jolt in his chair, his heart pounding even harder from the fright. His reflexes instantly kicked into overdrive, and, with his mind clouded by exhaustion, he whipped around towards the entrance.
Through the dimly lit hallway, all he could make out at first was the unmistakably tall silhouette framed by the open doorway. Woojin held his breath, his body tense and instinctively on guard, until a quiet, sleepy, "Hyung?" drifted into the room.
The familiar, drowsy voice made his shoulders loosen almost immediately. It was Louis.
The door clicked shut a moment later, sealing the two of them away from the rest of the silent building. Louis wandered over to the mixing desk at an unhurried pace, absent-mindedly holding a half-empty bottle of Gatorade he'd probably grabbed from the fridge.
— What're you still doing here? — Louis asked.
He didn't sound annoyed-just confused-as he took another sip of the bright-coloured drink, watching the older boy through the darkness.
Woojin swallowed hard, unsure what to say straight away. His fingers tightened around his phone against the fabric of his trousers, instinctively trying to hide it.
— Uh... I was just about to head off — he muttered, forcing a casual tone that failed miserably thanks to the rasp in his voice. He reached over and fiddled with one of the knobs on the powered-off mixing desk, anything to avoid meeting Louis eyes. — Just saving the new track project so I don't lose everything I worked on today.
Louis didn't buy the excuse for a second, but he couldn't be bothered arguing after such a long day. Instead, he took another couple of long strides forward, closing the distance between them, and leaned his hip against the edge of the wooden desk beside Woojin's swivel chair.
— Ohyul hyung said he'd keep track of the fifteen minutes you promised you'd stay and come drag you back to the dorm as soon as they were up, — he remarked, folding his arms as he looked at Woojin through the dim light. — Guess he fell asleep first, though.
— Lucky me, — Woojin muttered.
Louis uncrossed his arms and leaned in a little closer, narrowing his eyes as he studied him in the darkness of the studio.
— Aren't you exhausted from sitting there staring at that screen for so long, hyung? — he asked, his voice softening with a concern he wasn't trying to hide. — You're gonna make yourself sick if you keep this up. C'mon, let's head back to the dorm.
Woojin looked at him, his chest tightening in a different way this time. Louis worried far too much-especially when it came to him. But in Woojin's mind, it felt wrong. He was the oldest one there. He was the one who should've been taking responsibility, looking after everyone, making sure the youngest member of the group was getting enough rest before rehearsals-not the other way around.
— I'm alright, Lou. I'm just not tired. — Woojin tried to shut the conversation down, his voice coming out firmer than he'd intended as he attempted to regain control of the situation.
Louis didn't answer. He simply lifted a hand to his face, rubbing at his eyes before letting out a long yawn. He looked utterly exhausted, his heavy eyelids making it obvious he should've been in bed hours ago.
— You should head back to the dorm. — Woojin insisted, giving a subtle nod towards the door. — Go on ahead. I'll be right behind you. Promise.
Louis lowered his hand and fixed those sleep-heavy eyes on Woojin with quiet determination.
— Nope. — he replied, folding his arms again as he settled more comfortably against the edge of the desk. — I'm not leaving until we go back together.
Woojin rolled his eyes and shook his head, letting out a sigh that was half frustration, half surrender. He already knew arguing with the maknae once he'd made up his mind was a complete waste of time.
Finally giving in, Woojin moved to slip his phone into his pocket and call it a night. But exhaustion had caught up with him. As he lifted the phone off his thigh, it slipped from his cold, trembling fingers. He instinctively tried to catch it, only to knock it further away instead. The phone skidded across the smooth studio floor before coming to a stop right between Louis's feet, the screen facing up and glowing brightly in the darkness.
Woojin immediately lunged forward, desperate to grab it before Louis looked.
But Louis was quicker.
He crouched down with ease, his tall frame blocking what little light the phone cast as his long fingers wrapped around it.
— You dropped it, hyung... — Louis began, sounding completely casual as he picked it up to hand it back.
As he straightened, though, his eyes landed on the small text still refreshing on the open timeline.
He froze.
— Hm... what's this?
Woojin's heart lurched painfully against his ribs. He reached out instinctively, panic catching in his throat before he could even speak.
— Louis, give it back. It's nothing. — his voice came out far louder and shakier than he'd meant in the silence.
Louis didn't move.
Ignoring Woojin's outstretched hand, he lifted the phone slightly closer to his face. As his eyes scanned the notifications, every trace of sleep vanished from his expression.
The bluish glow reflected in his eyes while he read the vicious replies beneath the old trainee video, dozens upon dozens of accounts attacking Woojin and demanding the group's disbandment.
The moment Woojin saw Louis's expression change, panic surged through him.
He lunged forward, trying to snatch the phone away at any cost, but Louis's height and longer reach made it impossible.
— No. — Louis murmured.
He simply shifted the phone behind his back, completely out of Woojin's reach before the older man could catch another glimpse of the screen. With one firm click of his thumb, he locked it and tossed it carelessly onto the desk.
Woojin slowly lowered his hand, his fingers still trembling as he sank back into the swivel chair. He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling like the stress building inside his head was about to split it open.
— Why were you looking at that, hyung? — Louis asked quietly.
His voice had dropped into something low, serious, and deeply worried. He stepped closer until his knees were almost brushing Woojin's, leaving him nowhere to hide.
— Why do you keep doing this to yourself?
Woojin let out a slow breath, resting his elbows on his knees. He was far too exhausted to pretend anymore.
— I just wanted to see what the Shotties were saying. Then... videos like that just started showing up out of nowhere.
Louis frowned, genuine irritation flashing across his face in the dim studio.
— People are awful. — he said flatly, shaking his head with his arms folded. — I seriously don't get why they'd dig all this back up just to spread hate.
Woojin gave a small shrug without lifting his head.
— I don't care what they say about me. — he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper. — As long as it doesn't affect the group... I'm fine with it.
Deep down, though, even he knew that wasn't entirely true.
It did affect him.
Maybe only a little, but reading those cruel words left a bitter knot sitting in the back of his throat, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself otherwise.
Louis stepped even closer, refusing to look away.
— You don't have to carry all of this on your own, hyung.
Woojin swallowed hard, his chest tightening at the words.
Unsure how to respond to that kind of closeness, he pushed himself out of the swivel chair, absent-mindedly straightening his jacket as though it would somehow steady him.
— I'm fine. — he lied again, forcing a casual tone as he walked around the mixing desk. — C'mon... let's head back, yeah?
He made for the door with quick strides, wanting nothing more than to leave the conversation behind.
But just as he reached it, Louis's hand closed around his wrist, stopping him in his tracks.
Before Woojin could protest, Louis gently pulled him back and wrapped both arms around him.
His long arms settled firmly around Woojin's shoulders, holding him close against his chest. Being noticeably shorter than the maknae, Woojin naturally ended up tucked just beneath the curve of Louis's neck, his face hidden against his chest.
For a few moments, his whole body stayed rigid.
Then, little by little, the tension melted away in the darkness of the studio, and he finally let himself lean into the embrace, allowing his weight to rest against Louis.
They remained like that for several long seconds, motionless beside the door.
Eventually, Louis slowly loosened his arms.
But he didn't step away.
Instead, his hands slid from Woojin's shoulders to either side of the older man's neck, his thumbs resting lightly along the line of his jaw as he gently held him there.
Woojin could feel the warmth of Louis's breath brushing softly across his face, and suddenly the silence filling the studio carried an entirely different weight.
Every trace of Louis's exhaustion seemed to have disappeared in an instant, replaced by the unwavering focus in his eyes as he looked at the older man.
Woojin noticed the change immediately, his skin prickling beneath Louis's touch. Swallowing hard, he finally broke the silence, his voice barely more than a whisper in the small space between them.
— Is something wrong?
Louis didn't answer straight away.
He simply held Woojin's gaze for another moment, letting the question hang between them as his thumb subtly drifted upwards, gently brushing the edge of his hyung's cheek.
— Nothing. — Louis replied at last, his voice just as quiet as Woojin's, barely above a whisper.
But the truth was, there was something strange weighing heavily in his chest-a sudden, unfamiliar feeling that had caught him completely off guard.
Looking at Woojin standing so close, his eyes still slightly red from the stress and his lips parted ever so slightly in surprise at the touch, something shifted inside Louis's mind.
The way Woojin seemed so small in his arms, so vulnerable... and the closeness between them suddenly drew Louis's attention to the shape of the older man's lips in a way he'd never noticed before.
— Louis?
Woojin's uncertain voice cut through the heavy silence before Louis could even process what he was about to do.
Hearing his own name made the maknae blink, as though he'd just been pulled out of a deep trance. His thumb, now only millimetres away from brushing against his hyung's lips, froze in mid-air.
Reality hit him all at once.
His chest rose and fell with a heavier breath as the full weight of what he'd almost done crashed into him.
— Sorry. — Louis murmured, giving a small shake of his head and forcing a faint, awkward smile in an attempt to hide the frantic pounding of his heart. — Think I'm just knackered.
Woojin simply nodded, his heart still pounding against his ribs.
In silence, they gathered their things, switched off the last of the monitors, and left the studio, locking the door behind them.
The corridor was completely deserted, bathed in soft, dim light. They walked side by side towards the dorms without a word. After a while, Louis slowed his pace slightly, breaking the quiet.
— Hey, hyung... — he said softly, keeping his eyes fixed on the hallway ahead, both hands tucked into the pockets of his oversized jacket. — You know you can always count on me, yeah?
Woojin slowed for the briefest moment, glancing sideways at the maknae's profile before the first genuine smile of the entire night found its way onto his face.
Without saying anything, he slipped one hand out of his pocket and reached for Louis's free hand at his side. His fingers brushed against it hesitantly before gently wrapping around the larger hand, giving it a light squeeze as they resumed walking through the dark corridor.
Louis looked surprised for a split second.
Then he squeezed back, firmly threading his fingers through Woojin's.
— I know, Lou. Thanks. — Woojin replied quietly, feeling the warmth of Louis's hand finally wash away the last traces of the night's stress.
And for the first time that long morning, the silence around them no longer felt suffocating.