Changkyun didn’t have much time to ponder on what feelings he may or may not have for Jooheon. Album promotions came to an end but preparations for their tour immediately followed meaning no one had much time for anything at all, never mind for focussing on their feelings.

And this lack of free time seemed to help Hyunwoo, at least at first. He had practices and rehearsals to focus on which meant he had less time to think about his break-up. And he was soon back to his normal workaholic self, pushing everyone to do their best and working far too hard to be healthy, but the harder he worked the happier he seemed so who was Changkyun to judge?

This new happy Hyunwoo stuck around for a couple of weeks and Changkyun thought that meant he’d gotten over what had happened. And then he started to get quiet again. Really quiet. Quiet to the point where you were lucky if you got a one-word answer out of him at times. If you weren’t so lucky you got nothing at all because when he wasn’t grunting one-word answers at people he seemed totally out of it. He was so distracted by whatever was bothering him that half the time you may as well be talking to yourself. And it was starting to affect his work too. Changkyun didn’t think he’d ever seen him miss so many notes or fluff so many dance steps before. He was usually such a perfectionist; it wasn’t like him to make so many mistakes.

And that wasn’t the only worrying thing about his behaviour. When Hyunwoo had started acting weird again Changkyun had started watching him carefully. And he’d noticed a few things. Hyunwoo didn’t just seem distracted he seemed tired, something that surely wasn’t helped by the fact he hadn’t been eating properly. None of them were eating amazingly well to be fair, when they were busy regular meals always tended to fall by the wayside. But when they did get the chance to sit and eat though they always made up for it. And Hyunwoo did sit and eat with them when they got the chance. It was just that if you actually watched him you’d find him picking at his food when he'd usually be inhaling it like the rest of them.

Then there were the rare moments of free time they did get. What a tired or ill person should do with their free time was sleep or at least that's what Changkyun woudl do. But Hyunwoo didn’t rest in his free time, no, when they had spare time they never saw him because he was always in the gym. And while going to the gym was very Hyunwoo, Changkyun couldn’t help thinking that it was only going to make him feel worse.

And then there was his mood. Being tired all the time was making him irritable. On the rare occasions that someone managed to get more than a word or two out of him it was only because he was snapping at them. And it was usually over the smallest of things; leaving their socks on the couch, putting empty milk cartons back in the fridge, talking too loudly in the van. He didn’t usually get so worked up over things that small, it was strange.

He really wasn’t acting himself at all and Changkyun was starting to worry. Maybe it wasn’t just the break-up that was getting to him. Maybe it had just been a trigger. He knew tiredness, lack of appetite and mood swings could all be signs of depression. He'd voiced these thoughts to Jooheon hoping he might have some idea of how they could help.

Jooheon had admitted that he was worried too. But he didn’t know what to do about it either. “If we say something he’s just going to get defensive.” He’d pointed out. “And we can’t help him if he won’t let us.”

Changkyun supposed he was right. Two words that could sum up Hyunwoo’s attitude lately were ‘moody’ and ‘defensive’ and the latter was something he could see him becoming if he brought up the change in his behaviour. Maybe he should just leave it for a while, see if things got better on their own.

But that was easier said than done. It was now the first day of their tour and Hyunwoo’s mood hadn’t improved. He’d been unapproachably sullen all day. He hadn’t said a word to anyone the entire journey to the venue bringing the atmosphere in the van right down. Meaning that by the time they arrived he wasn’t the only one who was acting moody and sullen.

And as they started to get ready for that evening, staff dragging them from place to place, wardrobe to make-up to sound check then back to make-up again, as people went through the set list the sound and the lighting with them, Hyunwoo listened, occasionally adding a leader like comment but there was very little enthusiasm there. And that was putting a dampener on everyone else’s mood. It was the first day of the biggest tour they’d ever embarked on, they were supposed to be excited but it was hard to be excited when they were tiptoeing around Hyunwoo trying to keep from doing something that would make him snap and yell. Snapping and yelling was something he’d being doing a lot of lately and no one much liked being on the receiving end of that.

They were on stage, going through one of many rehearsals and they were all being incredibly serious about it when things started to go down hill. Or further down hill than they had gone already. No one was messing around, no one was being too loud but somehow Kihyun ended up in the wrong position mid-track. Wonho was the first to notice and he waved his hand at him, trying to get him to move before someone else cottoned on to the fact he was in the wrong place.

And then Hyunwoo spotted him.

He stopped, his eyes narrowing. “If you could work out the difference between right and left before tonight that would be great.” He said as the music stopped.

It wasn’t the worst thing Hyunwoo had said to someone over the last few days but after hours of trying to keep him happy with nothing to show for it, it was no wonder that it was Kihyun’s turn to snap. And he properly snapped. “Says the guy who keeps ing up every two seconds.” He bit out, levelling a glare at their leader.

For five seconds or so there was silence. It was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. Then Hyunwoo, clearly shocked was opening his mouth to reply. “Excuse me?” he asked slowly, struggling to process what he’d just heard.

“If you weren’t making mistakes left, right and centre maybe I’d be more inclined to listen to you.” Kihyun clarified, still glowering. “But you've been blundering your way thorugh rehearsals for weeks so you have no right to say anything never mind the right to act like an when someone else gets something wrong.”

“Right,” Hyunwoo said, his voice still quiet.

At this point Changkyun noticed one of their managers approaching and he looked none too happy. But before anyone had a chance to intervene Hyunwoo was talking again.

“Right.” He repeated, a little louder this time. “You’re right. I’ve been letting everyone down. I may as well not be here, I'm just screwing everything up.” And with that he turned his back on Kihyun and strode from the stage.

For what seemed like an eternity no one moved. They’'d seen Hyunwoo lose his temper before, they’d seen him get frustrated and snap but Changkyun didn’t think he’d ever seen him walk away from a situation the way he just had.

Minhyuk was the first to get over the shock and move to follow him but he only managed to go a couple of steps before their manager was barking at him to stay put. Then that same manager was pointing at Kihyun. “You,” he demanded, sounding furious, “come here.”

“What about…” Kihyun started to say but he was quickly cut off.

“I’ll be dealing with him later.” Their manager assured him, knowing what he’d been about to ask and then he was pulling Kihyun off to the side.

As he started berating Kihyun for being ‘a disrespectful little brat’ (their manager’s words not Changkyun’s) Changkyun took a look around. Every still seemed pretty shell-shocked, none of them had moved a muscle. He decided that if Minhyuk couldn’t and no one else was going to he should probably check up on Hyunwoo. He’d seemed pretty upset. So with that thought in mind he walked over to another of their managers, feigning nonchalance. He cleared his throat and their manager visibly jumped. He’d been so caught up in watching the drama unfolding with Kihyun that he apparently hadn’t seen or heard him approach.

“Um… hyung…” Changkyun said, deciding not to bring up the fact he’d just scared him half to death. “… can I go use the bathroom?”

His manager looked at him for a second, eyebrows creased in confusion. Seemingly that hadn’t been what he’d expecting to hear. “Okay,” he said at last, eyes  flickering back to what was happening with Kihyun at the other side of the stage, “but be quick about it.”

Changkyun nodded is thanks and darted away before he could change his mind.

It didn’t take him long to track down Hyunwoo. He hadn’t gone far, he’d stopped halfway down the corridor and was leaning against the wall, running a hand through his hair, shoulders tense, eyes downcast.

“Hyung…” Changkyun said gently as he stopped in front of him. He didn’t want to startle him the way he'd done their manager. He'd had a bad enough day already as it was, he didn't want to cause him a near heart attack too/

 Thankfully Hyunwoo didn't seem overly surprised when he looked up to find him standing there. "Sent to fetch me?” He asked, sounding resigned.

Changkyun shook his head. “They’re too busy with Kihyun right now. They’ll probably send someone to find you after that. I just wanted to see if you were okay.”

“Oh,” Hyunwoo said. And then he went back to looking at the floor.

Changkyun wasn’t sure how to best continue. He didn’t want to push it, he wanted to know what was bothering his hyung but he didn’t want him to feel like it was an inquisition. Pressuring him when he was clearly already stressed wasn’t going to help.

But it turned out Changkyun didn’t have to say anything because Hyunwoo was soon talking again. “He’s right.” He mumbled, shaking his head slightly. “That’s the thing. I couldn’t argue with him because what he said was true.”

“You mean Kihyun hyung?” Changkyun prompted when he went quiet. He was pretty sure he meant Kihyun but he figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

“Yes, Kihyun.” Hyunwoo confirmed, lifting his head again so he could look him in the eye. “He’s right, I’ve been making too many mistakes and I’m sorry.”

He looked so sad about it that Changkyun kind of wanted to hug him. But Hyunwoo, unlike Jooheon, wasn’t a big fan of skinship so he refrained. Instead he awkwardly patted his shoulder and told him he didn’t have to be sorry.

“Thanks.” Hyunwoo said, gracing him with a wry smile. “But I do. I’ve been feeling tired and run down lately. And I’ve had a lot on my mind.” He admitted grudgingly. “The album, the tour... other things. But that’s no excuse. I shouldn’t be letting those things bother me and I shouldn’t be taking it out on other people if they do. I’m your leader. I’m supposed to be seting you a good example. I shouldn't be so unprofessional.”

“Yes…” Changkyun said slowly because he did have a point. He was being a little hard on himself though. But then that was very Hyunwoo he supposed. “But before everything else you’re human.” He pointed out, trying to make him feel better. “You can’t be perfect all of the time. You’re allowed to make mistakes.”

It took a while for a Hyunwoo to reply and Changkyun thought for a second that he’d said something terribly wrong. But then Hyunwoo was saying “Thank you,” in such a grateful and sincere tone of voice that he wanted to hug him again. Again he managed to hold back, but only just. “You’re a good person.” Hyunwoo added, his smile genuine this time. “Has anyone ever told you that?”

Changkyun shrugged, face going red at the compliment. He’d only said what anyone else would have. Hyunwoo was their leader but that didn’t mean he wasn’t allowed an off day just like everyone else.

“I’ll try harder not let things get to me the way they have been, I promise.” Hyunwoo continued. “We need to work hard and we need to work together if we want this tour to be a success.”

Changkyun got the feeling that this promise was more for Hyunwoo’s own benefit than for his, that he was trying to force himself to feel positive about things. “I know you will.” He said anyway. He wasn’t naïve enough to think that was going to be the end of it though. Hyunwoo’s off day had been more like an off week (or two), he couldn’t see things getting better overnight. “But if you’re ever having a bad day and you need to talk or anything… well I’m here.” He offered, hoping that would help at least a little.

“Thanks.” Hyunwoo said for a second time and it was his turn to look embarrassed, his cheeks colouring as he scuffed the floor with one foot.

“Right now though I need to go to the bathroom.” Changkyun informed him, trying to get rid of the awkwardness in the air. “That’s where I told everyone I was going, if I get found out here talking to you I’ll be in trouble.”

“Go then.” Hyunwoo told him.

And Changkyun went. He hoped their manager wouldn’t be too hard him he thought as he left him standing by the wall where he’d found him. Hyunwoo had had a hard enough time lately as it was. He deserved a bit of a break.

~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

A/N: Here you go guys. So many subscribers now! It's insane.

As always thanks for reading. And let me know what you think about this so far. I love hearing everyone's opinions.