A familiar building approaches as the car starts slowing down. Dawon reaches an arm around the younger as he tightens up a bit, ready to get out into the cold weather as the vehicle he is in comes to a full stop. He nudges the door to hold it open as his dongsaeng gets out of the car. He stumbles a bit as he shakily tries to stabilize himself after the long ride, leaning onto his hyung for support. The older puts his hand on the small of Taeyang’s back, leading the hobbling boy back into their dorm through the cold wind that is slapping their faces.

Sharp light meets the eyes of the boys as they open their door, piercing the dim of the hallway. As they enter the room, steps and rustling from all around the house gather, approaching towards them, alerted by the slam of the main door. Concerned eyes fall upon the younger as he gives an unnatural, tired smile, eyes aching from sleep and the white lamp in the ceiling. A curse can be heard from one of the members as a shorter male push some of the group from behind to rush toward the newly entered. He thumps into the chest of Taeyang as a huff can be heard from the older, who accidentally nudged his knee against Hwiyoung’s leg. He squeezes his eyes shut and lets the sting surge through his body, refusing to let it bother him as he hugs his dongsaeng back, tense shoulders relaxing into the younger’s arms. The other’s looks soften as they look at the concerned boy hugging his friend with tears burning the corners of his eyes.

He had been pacing around for a long time, as the scene from earlier had replayed in his head again and again. How his best friend’s limp body had just laid there while the others rushed towards him. He had just stood there. Eyes wide, unable to move. He should have been there first, by Taeyang’s side when it happened, but it all had just hit him right in his stomach, and there was no helping how sick he felt when the other members really had no clue what to do, and the leader was calling their manager for advice, hurriedly shouting concerned words with a slightly higher pitch than usual.

Taeyang leans on the younger’s shoulder as he tries to avoid the other’s gazes. The uncomfortable air around them feels heavier the longer the silence stays unbroken as no one knows what to say. One member steps forward from the half-circle surrounding the newly arrived in the doorway, barraged while still wearing their shoes. The red tint to his hair shines brighter as the fluorescent light passes through the strands. He breathes a huff through his nose as he gathers his worried expression into a furrowed brow, strictly scanning his dongsaeng. The cool blanket in the room keeps until Jaeyoon opens his mouth, and the temperature drops to negative.

“What were you thinking, being reckless like that? You are affecting the whole group.”

Pause, as everyone stops to process these words, before again, a slightly bothered statement from Chani breaks the protective shell of pity the members previously had for their main dancer; as they now feel they can pin this on him, push it away and refuse to deal with hurt like this, instead of wallowing in their own guilt, blaming their own actions, because why would they want that for themselves?

“What will happen to the showcase? We have to do it without you hyung. It will be harder for everyone.”

Chani elated a bit as he criticised his Hyung, unconsciously gritting words sailing out of his mouth like soap from a soap-dispenser.

This triggers a flurry of comments, members finally voicing their dissatisfaction with the current situation. They are remaining stationary, but flocking together, group mentality making all their actions seem less meaningful for them, but more impactful from the outside.

“We need to rearrange the choreography now”

Dripping sighs fall to the ground.

“I know you did it for the group, but you should have known better”

“It will be a lot harder for us members now”

An agreeing hum slips through the room

“This happened before, didn’t you learn anything”

Taeyang is just standing there, taking it all. Everything they are saying is true, he hasn’t improved one bit from before. He should have known better, his body, his own limits, what he is capable of doing. “But this isn’t my body’s fault. It should be able to handle it, as my mind is the what gave out. If I trained harder, my legs would be stronger, If I had stayed back a few hours more instead of slacking off like a lazy bastard, I would have been able to land that jump and keep going, instead of creating this hole that I am dragging everyone into.” He feels a bad taste in his mouth, growing, as he swallows dry, hand slowly digging itself into Hwiyoung’s shoulder. He feels disgusted. At himself, his weak body, the “disease” that is incapacitating his leg, making it more useless then it already is, for disappointing s, the kind members that were working hard, so hard, and he has got to burden them with his terrible, terrible, terrible…

The door clicks as it swings open, as a male carrying crutches takes a few steps into the cramped passage leading into the living room, taking a few seconds to take in the situation, as silence falls again between the members.

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Hi, i'm back. sorry for the late update, but i have been busy with school recently. I am rying to get some sort of struggle going, to make it more interesting, so please tell me how i did.