Changkyun woke up with a bump on his head and bruises on his arms (both of which he discovered after bumping into the headboard and the wall in an attempt to stretch). He groaned at the pain and drowsily reached for an ice pack, which was now sitting in a puddle of water on the floor. The pack was no longer cold, but Changkyun still pressed it to a particularly uncomfortable bruise on his arm.

He only had about half a minute of peace after that, as the familiar alarm clock hobbled into the room. “Wake up. We have vocal training starting at 10, and it's 9:30.” Kihyun drew open the curtains, bringing a terrible stream of light into the room, and proceeded in shaking Jooheon's shoulder. “Get out of bed, or you won't have food. Same for you, Min—” The vocalist paused as he realized who was sleeping in Minhyuk's usual bed. His eyes trailed up to where the oldest boy was currently throwing the covers off his body.

“Changkyun fell out of bed, so we switched,” Minhyuk explained groggily.

“Ah...Get out of bed, Minhyuk.” He practically pulled the oldest down from the top bunk and ushered him through the door. He did the same to Jooheon.

That left Changkyun alone with Kihyun, who was leaning against the bedpost. “Should I go get ready?”

Kihyun ignored the question. “You fell out of bed? Did you have a nightmare?”

“I–I just fell,” Changkyun stuttered. He could feel his face heating up under Kihyun’s piercing gaze.

“But you had a nightmare.”

At that moment, Changkyun decided that he hated Kihyun for trying to be so sweet and caring all of a sudden. The boy hadn't been anything but rude towards Changkyun since the day they first met, and now he expected the youngest to open up to him?

Kihyun didn't wait long for a response. He only shrugged and said, “Wait there and I’ll get you a cold ice pack. The last thing we need is for you to get sore for practice.”

The youngest obeyed and sat still in bed. Kihyun soon entered the room again, carrying an ice pack neatly wrapped in a washcloth in one hand and a roll of paper towels in the other.

“Here. Did you fall on your arm?”

Changkyun nodded.

“Can I see if it's bruised really bad?”

“I'm fine.”

Kihyun knelt on the floor to clean up the puddle of water. It's definitely gonna make a stain, he thought, tearing off a sheet of paper towels. His hand traveled around and around in circles, attempting to soak up all of the water. Once the sheet was completely saturated, he pulled another. And another. And another. By then, The cleaning had been finished, but Kihyun wasn't done. He wanted to do something, but he just didn't know what.

So he pulled another paper towel and wiped the already dry floor.

“Kihyun…” Changkyun said timidly, leaning over the bed.

It startled Kihyun, to say the least. He yelped, hugging the paper towel roll to his chest. "Okay!" I am such a fool, he thought. "Is something wrong?"

"You've been drying that same spot for five minutes," the younger deadpans.

"Ah, I guess I was." Kihyun made no attempt to stand. Instead, he turned to face Changkyun on the bed. I need to do it at some point. "I'm going to tell you something really dumb. You probably won't believe me." He paused, taking in the confused look on Changkyun's face. A deep breath. "I don't like to see you hurt."

And there was the reaction that Kihyun had been expecting: wide eyes, yet a poker face that the youngest was so good at keeping.

"Really, I don't like to see you hurt, or anyone for that matter. I'm really—how do I put this?—motherly, I guess. I like to take care of people a lot. But when you came, it was different. Everyone hated that you joined.” Kihyun refused to meet Changkyun’s eyes. “Honestly, I was mad, too, but I thought would get over it. We were all just mad since our friend had just left, and we dropped one rapper earlier on. It was like you were replacing them.

“I figured everything would go back to normal after a few days, and you would be just like us, but it didn't really happen that way. Everyone stayed mad, so I had to stay mad, too. I didn't want to be the first one to go make friends. I don't think anyone really wanted to be the first one to make friends with you. We were scared of being judged by each other, I guess.”

Kihyun wanted to scream. Why was he even saying this? The poor kid had probably heard it all before; if not, he surely knew everything that Kihyun was saying. Why was it necessary to say it all again?

Apologize.

“I hate myself for everything I've said to you. I guess part of me thought that I could help in my own twisted, mean way. Maybe—I don't know. It's so ridiculous. Maybe if I said that your acne was flaring up, or you made a mistake in the studio, you would fix it. But it was all terrible. I shouldn't have bullied you.”

Changkyun played with the bedsheets, looking anywhere but at Kihyun. “It's okay, Kihyun.”

This kid. “I haven't even said that I was sorry, and you're already forgiving me?”

He was met with silence.

“I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry.”

“It's okay.”

Kihyun climbed onto the bed and sat across from Changkyun, their knees almost touching. “It's okay for me, now. I'm forgiven. I have nothing else to worry about.” He took a deep breath. “But I know it's not okay for you. You—you're hurt. Everywhere.”

“Kihyun—”

“No, I know what you're going to do. You're gonna say you're fine and that it's okay. I saw...yesterday.”

Changkyun turned away, hanging his feet off the edge of the bed. “Please don't bring that up.”

“Well, I have to. It—” Kihyun’s voice caught in his throat. “I can't believe it.”

“Yeah, well it's real.” There was a certain bite in the way that Changkyun snapped that startled Kihyun. “It happened. I chopped up my body because I couldn't deal with everyone’s insults any more. I needed my pain out of my heart and onto my body.”

The older reached a hand towards Changkyun’s arm. “I'm so sorry.”

“I said I forgive you. What else do you want me to say? You can't change what already happened.”

Kihyun grabbed Changkyun’s hand, causing the younger to flinch. “I was so freaking wrong. Everything I said was so wrong. You're a great dancer. You're not fat; actually, it's cute how you can see your tummy from behind your shirt when it's a little too tight, or you stretch and it just—” He shook his head. Don't scare him. “You're really handsome, too. Something about your eyes just melts hearts and your nose...and lips…”

Changkyun turned his head slightly to find Kihyun leaning into him, pink lips parted slightly. It was tempting; Changkyun hadn't kissed anyone in the longest time. Minhyuk didn't count. He needed someone’s lips on his own, someone who kissed him romantically. Even though he never thought of kissing guys, it would do.

However, Jooheon burst through the door before t