Changmin was already sleeping by the time Yunho returned to their room. Yunho briefly considered waking him up to tell him that maybe they'll still be Olympic champions together, but then changed his mind and decided to go to bed instead.

The next morning, Yunho awoke to Changmin's alarm, as usual. He stayed in bed for a little while longer, because Changmin would usually wash up first and then tap on his arm to wake him up and tell him it's time to get ready, but this time, Changmin came straight out of the bathroom and got dressed for the day. He finished packing his gym bag while Yunho watched, then started making his bed.

Yunho sat up, remembering that Changmin seemed upset last night after he told him that he wanted to go to college, and spoke quietly.

"Hey…" began Yunho. "I'm… still here."

Changmin glanced at him, but just gave a curt nod and finished making his bed.

Yunho hesitated. "Maybe we'll still be Olympic champions together."

Changmin nodded again, without looking at him this time. "Maybe."

Changmin didn't give Yunho another look as he left the room.

Changmin didn't speak to Yunho for the entire day of training – in fact, he ignored him completely, as if he didn't exist at all.

He looked to be focused only on his training. He spoke to no one else except when he absolutely had to, and he disappeared into their room right after eating supper. He was already lying in bed with his back to the rest of the room when Yunho came into the room between supper and having to finish his extra workout.

Yunho took a short rest too, just lying in bed and willing himself not to fall asleep, and then he finally got himself up again. In all that time, Changmin hadn't moved, so Yunho assumed that he'd fallen asleep and he turned out the lights before picking up his bag again and leaving the room to complete his workout.

Yunho was halfway to the track when he realized that he'd forgotten his towels in his room. He swore under his breath, and after briefly considering just doing the run without towels, he decided that he needed them and turned around again to trudge back to his room.

Just as he arrived and was about to turn the handle, he heard Changmin's voice from the other side of the door.

"What? No way. Seriously?"

Yunho stopped. Who was he talking to?

"…But you're like, seventeen! How?"

It seemed like Changmin was on the phone. Yunho put his hand on the handle to walk in, but then Changmin said the next words.

"Oh my God, congrats. How's the new home? I assume it's good, since you're letting them adopt you."

Yunho froze as Changmin evidently listened to whatever the person on the other end of the line was saying.

"Wow. That's… That's really amazing. I'm really happy for you."

Yunho heard Changmin chuckle.

"Not as exciting as yours, obviously. I mean… I called my social worker for the first time in like… a year and a half last night. Just to ask her if she can help me find my parents again."

Yunho swallowed and gripped the handle tighter.

"No, no. I gave up on getting adopted years ago, when I went into the group home. I'm talking about my birth ones."

Changmin paused.

"I don't know what's gonna happen, but I don't have my hopes up too high. She's tried before, and she couldn't find them. Plus, she said it's gonna be hard for her to do anything for me now, since I left the system."

Changmin paused again.

"Maybe, but I'm turning 18 in a couple of months, and then I'll be out of the system for good."

Yunho heard a sigh.

"I miss you, man," said Changmin with a dry, forced chuckle. "It ing here."

And between those words and the next, the chuckle had turned into sobs.

"I never should have come here."

Yunho let go of the door handle, and decided that he didn't need his towel for the night.

Yunho tried making conversation with Changmin for days afterwards, but Changmin continued to ignore him. Yunho didn't really understand why it was that Changmin was so upset at him, but he thought that Changmin would come around – even when his mother called him that weekend, asking, "Yunho, is Changmin okay?"

Yunho glanced at Changmin, who was playing on his phone with his earbuds in on his bed.

Yunho hesitated. "…Yeah, he's okay. Why?"

"He hasn't been answering our texts or our calls. We were just worried."

Yunho had assured his parents that Changmin was fine and that there was nothing to worry about.

But with Changmin barely speaking to him no matter what Yunho said to him, there were definite changes.

With Changmin disappearing somewhere for meals and doing his stretching and workouts away from Yunho, he ate and trained with his other friends. Most of Yunho's older teammates like Soonil and Hojoon had started to get closer to him again.

There was immediately a palpable distance between Yunho and Changmin. Yunho tried to talk to Changmin about what was going on every night, but Changmin only came back to the room after Yunho had gone for his extra training, and was already in bed by the time Yunho was back.

It went on for weeks. Within that time, Yunho became one of the B-listers chosen to compete against Germany for a Friendlies meet the month after. Obviously, Changmin wasn't going, because he was too good to be wasting his time on such a small meet.

Changmin didn't give Yunho either congratulations or words of comfort for being selected for the meet.

"Are you going to say anything?" said Yunho to the ceiling that night.

Changmin didn't reply.

 If he was being honest, Yunho was cut up over having to compete at the Friendlies meet, but maybe it was a chance for him to prove that he didn't belong in the pool of B-listers.

Yunho started becoming much more meticulous about everything, from training to eating to sleeping. This may as well be his last chance to do anything great in competitive swimming – if he botched this meet, he could kiss his Olympic chances goodbye for good and might as well actually enroll into college.

With Changmin and Yunho both so entirely focused on themselves, there was even less time to talk; Yunho was the one getting up earlier in the mornings to do a more proper stretch before the jog, and although he poked Changmin awake the first few days, Changmin was up before Yunho got the chance to do that. Yunho filled every night with extra strength training too, which Changmin didn't join him for.

Yunho had fallen back into a competitive rhythm when their coach dropped the bomb on the entire team after their evening swim one day – they would every other week from now on until the Olympics sleeping on the wooden floor of the gym that the basketball team used, to prepare for the uncomfortable sleeping conditions that they might face at the Olympic Village.

"," muttered Soonil, shaking his head as they were dismissed. "Unbelievable. And to think that only like, seven of us, maybe, are actually going to the Olympics. As if our actual beds aren't uncomfortable enough."

Yunho grunted, annoyed – he wanted to be well-rested for the Friendlies meet. He was letting out a sigh when he heard Changmin's voice a bit in the distance.

"Coach – Coach."

He turned his head to see that Changmin had jogged up to catch up to the coach as he was about to leave. "Yes, Shim."

Changmin ploughed on.

"I'd rather not sleep on the floor," said Changmin stiffly.

"Excuse me?"

"I don't sleep on the floor, Coach."

"You're going to do what you're told, princess."

The coach turned to leave again, and Changmin followed him outside, saying desperately, "Wait, Coach. It's not like that."

Apparently Changmin didn't win his argument against the coach, because he showed up in the gym with his pillow and blankets that night along with the rest of the team, looking stiff and extremely unhappy.

Yunho was already situated in the blankets next to Hojoon, but when Changmin came into the gym and chose a deserted corner, Yunho gathered up his things and placed himself next to Changmin. "Are you all right?" he asked quietly.

Changmin nodded curtly. "I'm fine. Go to sleep."

Yunho watched Changmin reluctantly slip under the blankets and shift uncomfortably, but then he was so exhausted from his day of training that he fell asleep nearly as soon as he closed his eyes, regardless of the fact that he was on the floor.