Mingyu’s back meets a cold locker with a shove.

          He certainly never thought that this would be where he’d end up today. The lock pad is digging into his shoulder, but he’s too scared to move from his vulnerable spot. Jun didn’t come off as the type to spark a fight.

          “You two, out.” He gestures to two high school seniors, motioning them to leave and they scurry without hesitation. Jun probably gets mad very rarely; maybe he’s a force to fear.

          “Whoa, whoa, hey man. We’re trying to break up a fight, not start one.” Mingyu puts his hands up. He doesn’t want to fight Jun. He doesn’t want to fight anyone, especially not in his old gym locker room. Jun backs up, putting a good three feet of space between them, but no more, no less. The air is stiff and stale. The door closed behind the two teenagers echoes in the now-empty space, the soft bass from another dance studio reverberates against the back wall, and everything is still.

          “You can’t be serious.” Despite the light, endearing accent that finds pockets in Jun’s speech, his voice is a lot deeper than it was earlier. More serious, more accusatory, “Minghao worked so hard to get here and you’re just going to ruin it for him?”

          “No!” Mingyu objects immediately, rescinding his initial fire when Jun expression darkens, “He’s hurt. You know he’s hurt.”

          “You have no more business with him. He said he’s getting better-”

          “Does it look like he’s getting better?!” Mingyu doesn’t know where his anger is bubbling up from. A fraction of it is protective, a fraction of it is frustrated. How could his teammates not see him hurting? Mingyu caught it within the first ten minutes he was in the studio, it was plain to see. Were they just to captivated by the lure of competition to realize the damage being done? It doesn’t matter to Mingyu. A friend should come first—before any sort of trophy.

          “My best friend has no reason to lie to me.”

          “My patient has no reason to lie to me.” The black-haired man folds a fist, drawing his fingers in with a particular, dominoed grace. His formerly sleepy-looking eyes are now filled with mixed feelings and agitation. It’s possible that Mingyu’s ruining a lot more than Minghao’s shot at Finals; ruining more than junior year. But he can’t stop there. He has to make it clear for Minghao’s sake, “He’s hurt and this is making it worse. If he doesn’t stop now, he could be doing some permanent damage and never be able to fully recover. You know what that means, don’t you?”

          Jun is quiet, calculating words, his and Mingyu’s and then his eyes drop to the floor, “He won’t be able to dance anymore.” The realization is so quiet, Mingyu’s almost worried that he heard wrong. He really wants to make it clear that his intent isn’t to sabotage whatever dream Minghao has, but to just prolong it a little longer so that he can heal and achieve that dream in full a while later. He wants to make sure that Jun knows they’re on the same team, but the black-haired man sounds defeated and sad. There’s clearly something left unsaid, something deep-seated and perplexing that will need a few nights of thought, but Mingyu doesn’t have time to worry that much about how Jun feels. He knows Jun is important to Minghao—just like Soonyoung and the rest of the team are important to Minghao—and even though Mingyu may be the least significant person in the room to Minghao, he’s determined to put punctuation to the situation for Minghao.

          “Are you really going to let him continue like this and lead him to give up what he loves forever or are you going to make him take a break and recover?”

          Jun unfolds his fist and runs a tired hand through his hair before giving a deep sigh, mumbling something that dissolves in the air before it reaches anyone’s ears.

          Mingyu knows his answer.

          More than he is happy that he got his message through to Jun—the most influential person in coolly persuading Minghao to rest easy—he’s happy that he didn’t have to fight. Oh, lord, that would have been so scary if he had to fight with Jun. He’s pretty sure Jun could kick his in no time flat with the way he moves and with how strong he is. He looks rather thin on the surface. At a glance, maybe the same as Wonwoo, but he also carries a surprising amount of strength. The way Jun moves also says he has some experience in martial arts, so Mingyu really dodged a bullet there. Whew. Sweet relief. He’ll have to start counting his blessings.

          Opening the door to the locker room for him is Jun’s way of saying he understands that Mingyu did what he did. He would have done the same had he known how serious Minghao’s condition was, Mingyu can tell. They both have Minghao’s best interest in mind. Mingyu probably won’t admit that Jun’s aggression caught him off guard. After all, wasn’t it Mingyu who was accused of placing false aggressions on him? The murmurs in the hallways had led Mingyu to believe Jun was the softest, kindest, most reasonable person at the studio, but he supposes that Minghao can give people ulterior motives to stray from their common characters. He’s no different.

          However, their walk back to the A3 studio isn’t as amiable as Mingyu would have liked.

          They don’t talk and Jun doesn’t even spare him half a glance. Thankfully, he’s stopped by Yixing who motions him over for a chat, leaving Mingyu to walk the rest of the way alone. When he rounds the corner, he’s surprised to see the hallway empty of onlookers. However, it’s the room that some of these people have migrated to. A sharp-eyed man with burning red hair is holding Soonyoung down on his by his collar. His jaw is locked so tightly, his dimples are showing through. Soonyoung’s sitting with his legs outspread and Wonwoo nursing his bloody nose. Blondie Soonyoung is avoiding eye contact and pushing his boyfriend’s hands away. Opposite to them, a tall, broad man is standing above Minghao, running a hand through his bleached-yellow hair—he looks to have taken Jun’s place, physically creating a blockage between the two—while another man with ash-grey hair and thin limbs offers him a tissue. Looks like the two exchanged blows and not the good kind.

          Wonwoo sees Mingyu enter and comes over to him, leaving the circle of people and the instructors who are trying to calm down the situation, “I tried, but they’re fast.”

          “You’re off the team.”

          The words are so sudden that all that follows is silence. They settle into the floor boards and brush up against the walls.

          “I’m not off the ing team, Soon, you can’t do that.” Soonyoung brushes off the red head and comes over to squat next to Minghao, getting into his face again.

          His rage has dissolved which is the only piece of good news they’re afforded, “I will literally walk out into that hallway and tell Yixing and he will put you out of a contest and a job, so cool it with the aggression.” Mingyu wants to say the same to him. Minghao wasn’t the           one who was hostile first and at this point it doesn’t seem like he’s going to be the last.

          “I’m still competing.”

          Abruptly and unexpectedly, Soonyoung stands up and turns to Mingyu. Under his gaze, Mingyu freezes up. This kind of stare is unfamiliar and the polar opposite of the very bright and carefree Soonyoung he had met not too long ago who smiled with his eyes in crescents and let Wonwoo play with his hair. He wishes that Soonyoung would just drop the acid in his words and revert back to mischief like his boyfriend would have, but his intonations are so serious, “If Mingyu gives me the okay by the end of the month, then sure.”

          “That’s not fair. It’s not like I can afford more sessions- Are you telling me you’d rather rework the entire choreography to fit five people instead of six just so I can’t compete-” Mingyu has a feeling that if Minghao makes Soonyoung say why he’s cutting him off, he won’t get very far. Evidently, Soonyoung seems like the type to punch you in the face before he can say how much he loves you. And if Soonyoung could get into a literal fist-fight with Minghao and if Jun was willing to shed his soft exterior to square up Mingyu for wronging Minghao, then, goddammit, Mingyu could do something for Minghao as well.

          “I’ll meet with you after work. Everyday. For free. No catch.”

          “No.”

          Mingyu doesn’t expect to be met with opposition for his very kind and open offer to give PT sessions to Minghao on the fly for the next month without charge. Hell, that’s a better deal than he’d ever given anyone ever, his parents and grandparents included. For someone who can’t afford to be picky regarding his options, Minghao’s sure making it more difficult than it has to be.

          Before Mingyu can even counter, Minghao clarifies his words, “I’m not going to live indebted to you.” He looks around at the room of friends and foes that stands still, “Especially not for something like this.”

          The door opens again.

          In the peripheral of his vision, he can see Jun roll his eyes and shake his head before grabbing his bag and waving everyone off; hitting the door again before it even has a chance to shut from him entering the room. Tonight’s been a long night for everyone. Jihoon, who is apparently carpooling with the lanky, model-esque dancer, quickly tags along, grabbing the straps of Jun’s bag to tell him to slow his stride. Chan and Vernon follow in succession; Vernon ruffling Minghao’s hair with a rough hand with exasperation before shouting his goodbyes and clarifying when the next meeting is.

          “As much as I’d like to stay and fight with you some more, I’ve got an 8am tomorrow.” Mingyu’s just glad that most of the aggression has dropped from Soonyoung’s voice. It’s level now; steady and calm with only the slightest infliction of annoyance and wit, maybe a little intrigue, “You should take Mingyu up on the offer. It’s not that I don’t want to be on stage with you- I want that more than most things, but you’re just not…” Soonyoung seems to lose his words in a train of thought, opening and closing his mouth a couple times before biting his lips and staring at his friend. Minghao meets eyes with him, also grasping at nothing. If Mingyu didn’t know better, he’d think that Soonyoung is standing on the edge of tears. The blonde waits for the room to clear up a bit more, it’s obvious that he wants to say something that should only be heard between them.

          Wonwoo gives Mingyu the cue. They follow the other instructors out into the hallway where most of them disperse to go home. The two PT’s stay behind, waiting with their backs to the glass wall. He’s fine giving Minghao and Soonyoung their space; they’re close and having such stressful and serious news dropped a month before a career-breaking competition can put strain on any sort of relationship. He picks now to dwell a bit on his choice of words with Jun. He’s one of Minghao’s closest friends, if not his best friend, but Mingyu still had to go and pull the professional-card out of his and wave it in the air. It’s not like that’s a new thing. That’s how he usually convinces people to listen to his advice, but showing Jun a hand where he threatened the honesty in his friendship with Minghao was a little low. He’d never do that under normal circumstances, but he was in a fight or flight position. He came to the studio to check up on a patient, not be punched in the face and ruin friendships.

          Mingyu still has his bag of cookies sitting next to him at his feet; he somehow doubts that they’ll be consumed tonight. Wonwoo is quiet, seeming a little embarrassed by Soonyoung’s behavior.

          “He’s not usually like that.”

          “I know.”

          Wonwoo sighs and glances over his shoulder into the room, then looks back down at his hands, fiddling with his promise ring, “This competition is just really important to him, to them. The prize money is good and there’s a short-term contract deal that follows it where they’ll promote with several name-brand companies. The exposure is ridiculous for them as individuals and for the studio.” His voice is so low and soft that it almost sounds like he’s whispering, “I don’t want to speak for Soonyoung or try and justify his behavior, but that’s why they’re so pressed. Soon and Hao fight sometimes. They’re just push and push and push and sometimes communication and compromise get put to the side. With the team not at their best- well, Soon’s been working on not bringing that stuff home with him, but I guess it’s building up at work instead.” He faces Mingyu after noticing that the serious talk has the other a little uncomfortable in this unfamiliar setting. He sits up straight with an abrupt snap and forces a cheesy, toothy smile to surface that becomes genuine after a second or two. He speaks in a pattern akin to a mother bribing her toddler, “I promise if you saw Minghao and Soonyoung under normal circumstances, you’d be more jealous than this.”

          Mingyu laughs.

          Wonwoo laughs.

          And from somewhere behind the glass, they can hear Minghao and Soonyoung laugh as well.

          And the laughter stops immediately thereafter.

          Wonwoo and Mingyu turn around to see why, but Soonyoung’s just patting a very disgruntled Minghao on the shoulder. He cups his face in his hands and shakes his head for him. Minghao shrugs the hands off and frowns. After giving him a friendly shove, he beams his signature smile and gathers his bag before walking out the door with a little more pep in his step, “Let’s go home, Woo.”

          “Uh,” Wonwoo looks between the three, maybe addressing Mingyu verbally feels a little too stuffy right now, but he does nod and smile at him, “are we taking separate cars or-”

          “Yep.” Soonyoung doesn’t wait for Wonwoo to catch up and takes long steps out of the hallway. Before Wonwoo catches on to the plot or plan, his boyfriend is already halfway into the lobby.

          There’s some sort of surprise on Wonwoo’s face and it quickly settles in as deviance and joy, “See you at work tomorrow.” He grips Mingyu firmly by the shoulder and shakes him quickly.

          “Okay?” Mingyu looks at Wonwoo’s hand until he lets go, then follows his hand up his arm and to his face. He narrows his eyes, “See you tomorrow?”

          Aside from Jeonghan returning to the clinic tomorrow there’s nothing suspiciously different on the schedule. Things will return as they were with more people on staff which is fine because there’s been an influx of new patients recently (baby boomers, you know). Wonwoo’s acting weird and not for any good reason. Even as he walks backwards after Soonyoung, directing both his pointer fingers at Mingyu and then pointing towards the studio, he’s still got a sly grin on his face. Even as he rounds the corner and leaves, Mingyu can still feel him smirking. It’s then that Mingyu realizes that the studio is empty aside from a couple on-going classes in the back.

          The hallway is barren and all that’s left is Minghao.

          Minghao and Mingyu.

          And all the other people in the lobby and the other studios, but they don’t matter.