"I'm s-sorry..." Dongwoo sniffled, burrying his face into Myungsoo's neck.

"Shh...don't cry," Myungsoo soothed, rubbing his boyfriend's back, all while taking care not to touch his injured arm.

"No one's blaming you," Woohyun added. "Don't listen to those staff members..."

But not even the reassurance of his boyfriend or band leader could stop Dongwoo from crying, nor could it relieve the physical pain of having burnt his arm.

For the duration of the drive back to their hotel, all of Dongwoo's band members tried to make him feel better about the botched performance, his accident and the cold, heartless scolding that he had received from their management team, as a result.

"You've ruined the image of the band...how unprofessional! Burning yourself and crying about it like a baby...You will have to issue an official apology to the public..."

Not once had any of the staff members bothered to ask if he was alright, and of course, his band mates, especially Myungsoo, would have been forbidden from showing any express concern for his well-being. In fact, from the staff's reactions, one would have thought that he had burned himself on purpose.

Sungyeol groaned as they approached the hotel, upon noticing that there were crowds of fans waiting for them at the entrance of the hotel, as there had been all day. It was certainly not an appropriate time for a public appearance, with Dongwoo in such awful condition.

Thinking quickly, Myungsoo removed his jacket, and gently helped Dongwoo put it on, to cover the nasty burn marks on his exposed skin. The public would undoubtedly be made known of the incident, eventually, but now was not the best of times to deal with such a situation.

Dongwoo hissed as the fabric of the jacket grazed over his raw and unattended injury. Mangement hadn't even bothered to at least look at his burn, let alone take measures to treat it.

Sungjong gave Dongwoo his sunglasses so that he could hide the fact that he had been crying, and Sunggyun put his on, so that suspiscion wouldn't be raised as to why Dongwoo was wearing sunglasses in the evening.

For Myungsoo, the walk from the vehicle to the hotel's lobby and ultimately to their hotel rooms, seemed to be the longest walk that he had ever taken. Just as someone who had gotten caught in a tangle of poison ivy longed to scratch at the resulting burning itch, Myungsoo felt the need to put his arm around Dongwoo's waist, but he knew that he couldn't, for fear of blowing the cover of their secret romance.

Both of them were fully aware that their relationship would not only be unacceptable to their staff, but also to the general public, and if their management had behaved in such a cruel manner when Dongwoo had burned himself, Myungsoo didn't want to imagine how much more harshly they would react upon discovering their relationship.

Everyone gave Dongwoo a comforting (and careful) hug before leaving him with Myungsoo and heading to their respective rooms.

As soon as he closed the door, Myungsoo wrapped his arms around a still sad-looking Dongwoo and gave him a long and loving kiss.

"Does it still hurt?" He asked, gently peeling his jacket from Dongwoo's shoulders, so that he might examine the burn.

Dongwoo nodded, not wanting to look at the angry red scorch marks lacing about his arm.

"Is it really bad?" He asked, in a soft voice, as he hadn't taken a proper look at it yet, himself.

"No," Myungsoo reassured. He was no doctor, but the burn didn't look dehabilitatingly bad. "It doesn't seem to be anything that we can't take care of, ourselves. But I still want to take you to the hospital tomorrow, just to be sure."

Dongwoo looked at his boyfriend, unhappily. He hated hospitals, but knew that a visit was inevitable, and was the appropriate thing to do, to assure his well-being. Besides, it wasn't likely that the staff was going to seek any medical attention for him, anyways...

"Don't worry- I'll be with you the whole time," Myungsoo smiled, kindly. "And it won't be anything bad, I promise."

Dongwoo nodded, still a little light-headed from the magnitude of his shocking and painful experience, as well as the fact that he had been crying for the entire drive to the hotel.

"You should take a cold shower," Myungsoo suggested. "And don't put soap on your arm, or you'll irritate the skin. I'm going to go out and get a few things, but I'll try to be back by the time you're done, okay?" He said, knowing that Dongwoo didn't take kindly to the thought of being alone in an unfamiliar hotel room.

"Okay," Dongwoo agreed. "But...please don't take too long..."

"I won't, I promise," Myungsoo smiled, and kissed his lover's forehead.

-----

True to his word, Myungsoo had returned by the time that Dongwoo had finished his shower. The cold water had indeed helped to soothe his burn, but a tank top was still the only type of shirt that he could wear, so as not to disrupt the sensitive flesh.

Myungsoo smiled broadly at his boyfriend, and Dongwoo was unable to stop himself from smiling back.

He let Myungsoo sit him down on the end of their bed, for further examination of his arm.

"I bought some aloe vera gel for your arm, but we should let it heal a little, first, before putting anything on it. And here," Myungsoo continued, handing Dongwoo a cold glass bottle of coconut water, his favorite drink. "You should keep yourself properly hydrated and-" he took out a plastic tray of ready-sliced fruit and berries. "Eat a lot of antioxidants to help your skin heal faster."

Dongwoo smiled at the effort that his boyfriend had taken into providing proper care for him, and as much as it had hurt, the unjustified scolding that he had received began to lose it's tight clench on his heart.

"How do you know all this?" Dongwoo asked, curious as to where Myungsoo's medical knowledge came from.

"Internet," Myungsoo smiled, pointing to his laptop, which rested on the room's corner desk.

Myungsoo pulled back the bed covers and motioned for Dongwoo to sit, with his back comfortably propped up with a stack of spongy foam pillows, and set the fruit tray on his lap.

"I also rented this from the hotel lobby..." Myungsoo grinned, holding up the DVD case of the latest horror film that Dongwoo had been wanting to see.

He set up the film, then joined his lover in bed, with his own plastic fork to help him work through the fruit and let Dongwoo use his chest as a makeshift pillow. The evening had indeed had a rough start, and the following day was not likely to be much better, as Dongwoo would have to publicly apologize and continue to face the wrath of the staff. But for one moment, at least, there was calm peace, as the two lovers enjoyed each others company. 

Thanks for reading! ^^

x Angela