(Platonic, romance if you squint very very hard and everything blurs together) Hoshi/Woozi, minor Jisoo/Jeonghan and Seungcheol/Jeonghan

 

~

 

It's 3am in the morning when Jihoon returns from his little production studio waving the backing track and vocal arrangements, and he wakes the entire dorm up in preparation for recording tomorrow. Soonyoung, who had slunk back from the dance studio just five minutes before Jihoon returned, quickly slides into the shower. By the time he's out, Jihoon has already explained the song and everybody's lines, and Soonyoung takes a copy of the backing track in a CD and a printout of lyrics while he's drying his hair.

 

Jisoo isn't really the smartest or sharpest in the bunch when it comes to mood, but he knows something's off when he sits down next to Soonyoung, who is staring at the paper with an empty gaze.

 

"Soonyoung?" Jisoo probes gently and that catches Jeonghan's attention. Soonyoung blinks out of his reverie, looking up at them with a small smile. "Something wrong?" Jeonghan tilts his head with a gentle smile and Soonyoung shakes his head, drops his gaze to the wooden floor and Jisoo knows something is seriously wrong.

 

Jisoo and Jeonghan look at each other over the top of Soonyoung's head and simultaneously bundles the younger male in a hug, making him sniffle out a laugh.

 

"I think I've got a total of three lines this time round," Soonyoung confesses to Jisoo later, nose buried in Jisoo's neck ,when the three of them are cuddling on the floor in bed. Jeonghan stiffens from Soonyoung's other side, his head resting against Soonyoung's shoulder blades and his fingers linking with Jisoo's around Soonyoung's waist as they sandwich the younger boy. Jisoo tightens his arms around Soonyoung, but he doesn't know what to say.

 

It's inevitable that things like that happen in a group as big as theirs, Jisoo knows. But Jisoo also knows that Jihoon knows that Soonyoung would love to sing, just a little bit more, not to shine on stage but because he really loves it. And he also knows that Soonyoung just wants to do well and impress Jihoon, because Soonyoung is always getting shouted at in the studio even though technically the two of them are the same age. Jeonghan knows it too, but the two vocalists can't really do much but wrap their arms tightly around the dancer. Jeonghan presses a soft kiss to the back of Soonyoung's ear and tells him to sleep, and the trio falls into a night of uneasy sleep.

 

~

 

The next day on, things escalate. Jisoo watches his younger brothers get into trouble in the studio and an irate Jihoon gets angrier. If normal angry Jihoon is a bull, stressed angry Jihoon is a child of satan on steroids. Jisoo wonders how Soonyoung is going to fare when he's the one that makes Jihoon the angriest, and he's slightly frightened by the thought. So he crowds into the recording studio, behind Jihoon and another of their vocal directors, under the excuse of helping out with vocal arrangement. Jihoon isn't rude or irrational, and he's admitted to Jisoo's excellent vocal direction before, so he lets Jisoo sit in without any complain. It helps that Jeonghan is smiling at Jihoon over Jisoo's shoulder when he asks and it's funny, because everybody loves Jeonghan as much as they're scared of him. Jeonghan's smile can be slightly scary, and so can his aegyo. He has Seungcheol wrapped around his little finger, and whoever pisses Jeonghan off (and Jisoo, by logical extension of the two of them being best friends) often finds themselves doing the house chores for the next few weeks.

 

Soonyoung slides into the recording booth with a bright grin on his face and Jisoo gives him a thumbs up from the studio side. Soonyoung laughs, and it's bright and loud from the speakers in the studio.

 

"Did you rehearse your parts?" Jihoon asks, not unkindly, and Soonyoung nods, beams at Jihoon. Jihoon indicates for him to start and Soonyoung only gets as far as the first few notes when Jihoon tells him to stop. Jihoon corrects his pitch, his emotions, and Soonyoung repeats. This happens a few times before Jihoon finally breaks, and he yells at Soonyoung so loudly that even Jisoo cringes.

 

Soonyoung stays very quiet, and Jisoo starts to worry, but Jihoon continues to ramble and Jisoo nudges Jihoon in time for Soonyoung to raise his head, the pair's eyes meeting for the first time since Jihoon started scolding Soonyoung. It breaks Jisoo's heart- Soonyoung looks so tired, exhaustion etched into his eyes and his face, his shoulders slumping, defeated, as he gathers up his score and exits the recording booth without another word. Their other vocal director stays wisely silent, and Jisoo sighs at Jihoon, who is frozen in his seat, conflicting emotions flashing across his face.

 

Jisoo probes for their vocal director to leave, signifying that this was probably the end of their work day, and he does. It leaves the two young idols in the studio, and Jisoo sighs, massaging his temples as he eyes the younger boy.

 

"Don't be so hard on him, Jihoonie," Jisoo murmurs, and Jihoon blinks at him, as though confused.

 

"Stop pushing Soonyoung so much. You're hitting his limits. You know how he wants to sing, but you barely give him any lines," Jisoo says gently, and Jihoon shakes his head, bleached blonde hair a messy mop.

 

"It's not like that, hyung," Jihoon mumbles, and Jisoo sees that he's tired too, he has the same lines of exhaustion that Soonyoung does, without the make-up that covers up all of these imperfections. "I know Soonyoung wants lines, but... he's already doing the choreo, I don't want him to take on so much. This time... I gave some of his lines to Junhui and Minghao. I don't want him working so hard, hyung," Jihoon blinks away the tears burning at the corners of his eyes and Jisoo's heart breaks again.

 

He wraps Jihoon in a hug, enveloping the small boy, and Jihoon sobs out a laugh into his shoulder before starting to cry in earnest.

 

Jisoo doesn't know how to fix this anymore.

 

~

 

The next day is nothing short of a nightmare. Soonyoung shuffles up to Jihoon in the middle of vocal warm-up, pale but determined, and asks if he can take more lines. Jisoo blinks at Jihoon and Soonyoung, breakfast curdling in his gut, as Jihoon snaps back a crisp "No" and goes back to his warming up.

 

"Why can't I?" Soonyoung's brows furrow and Jisoo can see tiredness in the set of his shoulders, frustration in the lines of his face.

 

"I said no, Soonyoung!" Last night's Jihoon is gone and stressed, tired Jihoon is in his place. Jisoo bites his lip and keeps his head down- this isn't his fight to interfere with, he isn't the one fighting for lines.

 

"But why?" Soonyoung persists and Jisoo feels a headache cropping up between his brows. He meets Jeonghan's eyes across the room and Jeonghan has his brows furrowed together, eyes concerned but cautious.

 

"No means no. Can you just listen to what I say for once?" Jihoon pinches the bridge of his nose like Soonyoung is giving him a headache, too, weariness seeping through his words, and Jisoo wonders if he should step in.

 

"If I beat Seokmin to a sing-off, will you let me take lines?" The way there's no pause in Soonyoung's words make Jisoo wonder if he'd rehearsed it. He probably did. Jisoo prays and hopes that Jihoon doesn't accept that challenge, but Jihoon doesn't hesitate.

 

"Fine! Fine, I will! If you can beat him, I'll let you take lines, just go away!" Jihoon roars and the entire room of the vocal and dance teams goes quiet except for Jihoon's harsh breathing. Jisoo inhales, sharply, and Seokmin's eyes are wide, like he didn't hear correctly. Jihoon stomps out of the room and Jisoo buries his face in his hands. They're never going to be able to fix this. They're just lucky that Seungcheol isn't here and neither are their directors, because he doesn't even know how much trouble they were going to get into for this.

 

~

 

Jisoo catches Jihoon outside the studio after glancing at Jeonghan- you take Soonyoung, I'll take Jihoon- because the two of them are the oldest and Seungcheol isn't around. Seungcheol's absence is a good thing- it means that this little spat won't be reported to the management, but it also means that they're on their own. Seungcheol is a good leader, but when he's lost, he goes by the books and tells the real adults responsible for them, which can potentially get them into trouble. Jisoo is quite confident that he and Jeonghan can settle this. Quite.

 

"Jihoonie, are you calm yet?" We have to go back soon. The two of them are sitting outside the convenience store in practice attire and bare faces, and Jisoo can almost hear their fans screaming with cameras clicking, and their management's harsh words. Jihoon knocks back the rest of his vitamin c drink and bumps his glass with Jisoo's. The glass clinks together, gently, and Jihoon looks so small, like any other teenager playing with glass bottles on the side of the street. That's a memory that was stolen from all of them, except maybe Minghao and Jisoo himself, because the rest of them have been in training so long, they can't seem to remember when being a teenager ended and being a trainee started.

 

Jihoon stands, and Jisoo takes that as their cue to go. Jihoon clutches at the hem of his shirt, fists tight, and Jisoo gets up, unfurls his hands gently. Even through the hem of the shirt, Jihoon's nails carve crescents into the skin of his palm.

 

"Can you join me again today in the studio?" Jihoon's voice is small and Jisoo smiles, steps back. He nods, and Jihoon relaxes visibly.

 

"Now let's get back, or Jeonghan might blow a fuse." Jisoo doesn't mention the challenge that Jihoon accepted- what's done is done, and Jihoon won't retract the challenge- if there is anything as important to Jihoon as his music, it's his pride. So Jisoo can only hope that Jeonghan has managed to calm Soonyoung down and persuaded him to forget about the challenge.

 

Obviously, it doesn't go as he hoped. Jihoon heads straight to the recording studio and fires a quick text for Chan to come in and start on his recording. Jeonghan messages Jisoo a heads up; Soonyoung isn't backing down, and Seokmin is still very confused but he's accepted the challenge as well.

 

Jisoo tries not to groan as Chan makes a mistake and is asked to start over again.

 

~

 

The next few days see Soonyoung working himself to death. Jihoon pointedly ignores everybody's glares and Seungcheol is still in the dark about this because none of them are stupid enough to even think about getting Seungcheol and the management involved. Soonyoung is coming back from the studio at 3am every day and waking up at 5 to go back, running on caffeine and protein-rich breakfast foods. Jisoo tries to keep his words to himself and just wraps Soonyoung sleepily in a hug whenever he does actually come to bed to sleep, but he always wakes up to find the spot next to him cold and empty. Jeonghan squishes Jihoon in his sleep and Jihoon grumbles under his breath about Jeonghan acting like an overbearing parent. But they all need their parents, and Jisoo just grins and wrestles Jihoon back into bed because for goodness' sake, Jihoonie, you've finished producing our album's backing tracks already, take a break!

 

Soonyoung declares himself ready to take on Seokmin a week after issuing the challenge. Nobody knows what song he's singing or how he practised, but he and the rest of the performance team are already wrapping up the choreo for their comeback song. Jisoo tries to ignore how hoarse Soonyoung sounds when he teaches them the choreo, how often he takes a back seat to rest and lets Chan and Junhui take over teaching.

 

Seokmin goes first and he sings one of the classics, a song that has a wide vocal range and a decent amount of vocal technique. It is almost perfect and shows off his voice in all the right places, and Jisoo feels his heart sinking into his stomach as mixed feelings turn his organs into a flip-flopping mess. He's glad that Seokmin has sung well, taken the challenge seriously, but Soonyoung is now very likely to lose. With all the work Soonyoung put in, he'd be devastated to lose, yet... Jihoon is right, Jisoo hates seeing Soonyoung so stressed and tired.

 

Soonyoung makes it through the first verse easily, and Jihoon's face softens at Soonyoung's obvious improvement in his vocals. Seungcheol blinks uncertainly at the side, because Seokmin singing was normal, but Soonyoung...?

 

"What's going...?" Seungcheol gets two words before Jeonghan shushes him with a finger on his lips, a pleading look on his face, and Seungcheol acquiesces uneasily.
Soonyoung gets as far as the second line of the next verse when the coughing starts and that sounds bad, that sounds very bad to Jisoo. Within seconds Soonyoung is a ball on the floor, hacking and coughing and shivering before either of them have a chance to react.

 

Seungcheol calls up management while Jisoo and Jeonghan try to get Soonyoung to stop coughing. Jihoon stands to a side, petrified, until Junhui takes him gently by the hand and that's when he realizes that the room has been cleared, Soonyoung, Jisoo and Seungcheol in the ambulance while the other eight are trooping out of the room to follow in a company bus. Jeonghan sits with him on the way there, fingers curled anxiously in the bus seats, and Jihoon tries not to think about how pale Soonyoung had looked, about how his worst fear has occurred by his own hands.

 

You are a complete idiot, Lee Jihoon.

 

~

 

"It's acute bronchitis. He has to rest, get a drip and he probably can't sing for the next week, much less exercise." Seungcheol crosses his arms and eyes Jihoon, who has his gaze on the hem of his shirt and is shifting rather uncomfortably. Before Seungcheol has a chance to question Jihoon, Jeonghan intercepts, dragging Seungcheol to a side to ask him about Soonyoung's condition in detail. Jisoo takes Jihoon by the hand and leads him to Soonyoung's room gently, carefully peeling Jihoon's hands away from his shirt.

 

"We've been here for two hours, he's awake now... talk to him, Jihoonie," Jisoo murmurs, patting Jihoon's shoulder gently.

 

There's no question of who won the competition, not when Soonyoung collapsed in the middle of it. Jihoon feels lost as Jisoo pulls back and smiles encouragingly at him before leaving, and Jihoon's facing the door anxiously.

 

He pulls the door open just a crack, slowly, and it sounds like another member has beaten him to speaking to Soonyoung. Seokmin's voice is distinct, loud and clear as he speaks to Soonyoung.

 

"I'm sorry I beat you, hyung. I know you wanted to win, but... you told me to do my best." Seokmin sounds sincerely apologetic, and Jihoon hears Soonyoung manage a soft laugh.

 

"S'okay, you sang well. I don't think I could've beaten you, anyway... it was just wishful thinking," Soonyoung's voice is horribly hoarse, but even worse is the exhaustion in his voice, and Jihoon bites his lip at the understanding that he's the one who caused this, made Soonyoung tired. Something thuds and hurts in his chest and Jihoon releases his hold on the door handle.

 

"Are you going to cut my places in front for the dance, cuz I won?" Seokmin's voice trembles and Jihoon blinks, wondering if Soonyoung will do anything of the sort.

 

"Huh? No, why? You're the main singer, of course you have to be in front!" Soonyoung sounds surprised and Jihoon breathes out a sigh of relief. Soonyoung is Soonyoung, after all.

 

"Thanks, hyung. It... it was nice, today. Being able to really sing, to practice for something." Jihoon closes the door again and stands to a side a few moments before Seokmin exits the room, looking happy and Jihoon tries to steady his breathing. He should get in there before Soonyoung falls back asleep from the medication.

 

"... Soonyoung." Jihoon lets himself in and closes the door behind him, breath catching at the sight of Soonyoung sprawled out on the bed, tucked in with a tube running up his arm.

 

Soonyoung's relatively happy expression falls and Jihoon tries to ignore his heart slipping into his stomach. He doesn't say anything and Jihoon sits down on the chair next to his bed, wincing internally at how broken Soonyoung looks, white against white on the hospital bed, eyes empty and hair messy on the pillow.

 

"I'm sorry, I don't... it's not that I don't want to give you lines," Jihoon starts, shifting and fingers drumming restlessly on Soonyoung's bed. He avoids Soonyoung's gaze, even though he can feel it burning on the top of his head, and continues softly.

 

"I'm just worried, you choreo for us already, what if you have to practise even more lines? Will you be too tired?" Jihoon laughs bitterly, swallowing down the sob that threatens to escape him. He's so, so tired, too.

 

"I'm sorry, I've been really hard on you." But I can't comfort you like Jisoo or Jeonghan can, I'm not good like that, I'm sorry. Jihoon really doesn't know how to say it, he expresses himself better through music than anything else, and now he just feels lost and small under Soonyoung's eyes, curling up on himself as he hugs his knees to his chest.

 

"... that's it?" Jihoon raises his head at Soonyoung's words and Soonyoung is grinning, the boy is grinning like an idiot, face split wide and eyes sparkling. "I thought you hated me or something," Soonyoung continues, and reaches over with a free hand to touch Jihoon's cheek, thumb smoothing over Jihoon's cheekbone, and Jihoon doesn't know whether to laugh or cry.

 

"I don't hate you," he chokes out, words tumbling over themselves, "I wanted to avoid this, you're tired, I'm tired. Your health, Soonyoung." Jihoon feels lighter, brighter than he has in ages, and Soonyoung beams as he takes Jihoon's hand, clasping it tightly, laughing as Jihoon's head drops onto the bed, mumbling about horrible misunderstandings and idiot Soonyoung.

 

"Okay. Okay, it's okay. Jihoonie, are you going to cry?" Soonyoung arches an unimpressed eyebrow and Jihoon blushes furiously, wiping at his eyes roughly with the back of his hand.

 

"Shut up, Soonyoung, go back to sleep." Jihoon grumbles and Soonyoung laughs again, eyelids already drooping at the sedatives pumping through his veins.

 

"I'll try to make it back to recording soon," Soonyoung promises softly as Jihoon pulls the blanket over him and puts the bed back down into a horizontal position, shifting the pillow to make it comfortable for him.

 

"Just rest, don't worry. We won't do anything without you, performance team leader." Jihoon pats Soonyoung's head and Soonyoung chuckles, nods.

 

~

 

Jihoon slips out of the room with a light heart and a huge smile on his face. Jeonghan and Jisoo are standing outside the room, slouched against the wall, and the two of them relax once they see Jihoon's face.

 

"I told Seungcheol what happened. I also made him promise not to tell management," Jeonghan smiles fondly and Jihoon nods. His heart is so light it feels like it might just jump out of his chest, and he beams at his hyungs.

 

He knows what to do now, and how to go about doing it.

 

~

 

Soonyoung returns to recording and Jihoon hands him a surprise; he gets to sing all the chorus lines of the hip hop unit's song, and the flabbergasted look on his face makes Jihoon laugh.

 

"You earned it. You got your lines." Jihoon grins, pats him on the back, and Soonyoung falls onto him with a wide grin and a warm hug.

 

After dance practice, Soonyoung drops his head down onto Jihoon's lap when they're all sprawled out on the dance floor, and Jeonghan and Jisoo laugh at them across the room. Jihoon buries his hand in Soonyoung's (now bleached) blonde hair, fingers running over his scalp, and laughs with them.

 

Soonyoung's smile looks like it can rival the sun's and Jihoon feels happier than he's been in a long, long time.

 

~

Total: 3433 words