"Stop! Stop."

Everyone's arms freeze mid position, falling to their sides. The room's filled with soft panting and downcast eyes, dark, worn out expressions and the thick smell of sweat. The air is heavy, suffocating, and the members didn't have to look at each other to know they were all getting ready for the leader's scornful words.

Hanbin let out an angry sigh, running his hand through his damp hair, frustration clear in the creases by his eyes.

"Why can't you just get this right? It's not that ing hard!"

He's fuming when his head snaps up from the ground, gaze shooting straight to the left of the room, eyes burning with pools of rage and face flushed with anger and exhaustion. Anyone could feel the stream of imaginary heat shooting out in the direction of the leader's glare. Any sane person wouldn't dare walk near it, and would shuffle away in fear if they got too close. But in the end, some unfortunate person always stands at the recording end of this burning gaze. This time, it's Jung Chanwoo. A normal person might cower away, running out the dreadful room to huddle up into a ball and cry at how everything was unfair, how they were doing their best already, but the members are all used to it, Chanwoo's used to it, so he only keeps his head down, the usual light in his round eyes shrinking away with shame. Hanbin closes his eyes, breaking his piercing glare and taking a deep breath. Everyone feels as if they can breathe a little better.

"Look, you have to.. uh, be softer, this is an elegant dance, stop putting so much energy into your moves, you look too angular." Hanbin speaks quietly now, but only a fool wouldn't hear the anger suppressed in the back of his throat. "Again."

Chanwoo mumbles a quiet reply of acknowledgment as he and the rest of them get back into their positions. He feels a small hand on his shoulder, and turns to see Jinhwan giving him a small, forced, but still encouraging smile, and he's grateful. So he only nods, pushing back a little smile in return before facing the mirror again, taking a deep breath.

~

Practice doesn't even go on for 20 more minutes before it stops again, and hanbin is only a few meters in front of Chanwoo, using that quiet voice that only comes out when he's beyond frustrated.

"Stop. You, do it yourself."

Chanwoo feels his cheeks burn with humiliation when he's left to do the move alone, but he it up, trying to forget about the 6 pairs of eyes on his every move. He tries his best to the move like how he's seen the others do, moving his arms a little slower, softer. He sees himself in the mirror, and honestly, he thinks he's done pretty well, but the expression on the leader's face erases any trace of pride he had.

"Again." Chanwoo takes a deep breath, doing the part of the dance again, trying to find obvious flaws in his moves and fixing them.

"Again." And he does it. Again. And again. And again. And again.

Until Hanbin couldn't take it anymore.

"Are you even trying? This isn't a ing game, you know? Can't you see everyone here is tired? We've been practicing the same ing move for the past hour! It's almost midnight and we can't get this one part done. I don't know what I even expected from you." His voice steadily grows into a yell, and Chanwoo can't help but flinch back a little. Jinhwan quickly tries to intercept, seeing this spiral out of control in a few seconds, but he doesn't get to Hanbin in time.

Chanwoo tries to choke out an answer. "I-I'm sorr-"

"Everyone leave." Everyone is frozen in shock, not sure of what to do. Hanbin looks around, unhappy that everyone is stuck in their placez when he clearly told them to do otherwise. He raises his voice. "Did you not hear me? I said, everyone leave. You," His finger snaps to the maknae, glaring directly at him, "stay here and don't even think of coming back to the dorms until you can do it right."

Hanbin throws the door open, storming out of the room. Unwillingly, the rest of the members follow slowly out the door one by one. Chanwoo is too ashamed to look up, but catches them in the corner of his eyes. They don't look like they were angry with him, their expressions are almost sad. Do they pity him? He thinks. He wants to laugh. He wouldn't blame them, he's pretty damn pathetic. He looks up when he feels an arm go around his shoulder, turning to see Yunhyeong's kind expression next to him. He's smiling, but he can see the exhaustion clear in his features, and the guilt only piles on.

"Hanbinnie is always like that, don't feel too down, mm? Come back soon, okay? Don't practice for too long." He speaks in his usual soft, friendly tone, but it does little to ease Chanwoo's guilt, he forces a tight smile back anyway, nodding and watching as Yunhyeong leaves as well after one last pat on his shoulder.

When he's finally alone, he slumps onto the floor, letting out a pathetic sigh, feeling useless. He is so absorbed in his self-loathing that he doesn't realise someone calling his name, jumping away in surprise with an unnatracitve yelp when he feels a hand grab his arm. He looks up to see Donghyuk, and the situation makes him laugh a little, genuinely. Donghyuk helps him up, smiling as well.

"Donghyuk-ah, you haven't left yet?" Chanwoo says, weirdly feeling a lot more comfortable than before.

Donghyuk shakes his head, waving his arm dismissively. "Nah, I have some parts I don't remember so well too."

Chanwoo smiles gratefully at