The bell rang out indicating the beginning of lunch. Baekhyun grabbed his physics books and stuffed them into his bag, letting his calculator and pencil case topple in afterwards. He shoved his bag onto his shoulder and rushed to the lunch hall to meet with the others. They would have lunch and 1 more hour after that to make themselves entirely prepared before they were set to perform. Baekhyun had none of the other five in his physics lesson so waited for no one and hurried out of his class. As he sped through the double doors, into the babble of hungry teens, he noticed that Kai and Sehun were already sat at their regular table. He wove through the masses and plonked himself down next to the maknae.

“Hey guys.” He said with a smile. His greeting was met by grunts and muffled hellos as the two boys continued to scarf down their food. Baekhyun laughed at the unseemly sight before pulling out his own lunch and doing this same thing, shovelling his food into his mouth.

Only a few minutes later Chanyeol, Kyungsoo and Suho showed up, panting a little as they sat down. Baekhyun saw a smudge of green on Chanyeol’s cheek and guessed that they had just had art which took place on the other side of the campus. That would explain the heavy breathing thought Baekhyun. Chanyeol, being a very skilled eater was able to shove his food into his mouth at double time one handed while the other hand rested snugly around Baekhyun’s waist. Baekhyun smiled to himself. As he swallowed his last bite of food he slid closer to Chanyeol and wrapped his own slim arms around the younger’s waist. At this Chanyeol squeezed Baekhyun’s waist lightly but continued to eat his mammoth sized portion. Only once all six boys were finished and gripping their full bellies did they talk to each other.

“So we’ve got…” Suho glanced at his watch, “An hour and a half before we have to perform right?” The five boys nodded back. Baekhyun felt butterflies flutter in his stomach and wasn’t sure if it was nerves or if he had eaten too quickly.

“Shall we practice it once over and then we can get ready?” Suho asked.

“Ne hyung, good idea. Let’s leave now.” Kai bounded up from his seat, pulling Kyungsoo up from beside him. Baekhyun groaned at Kai’s energy after having eaten so much so fast.

“Roll me to the dance studio, would you Channie?” Baekhyun looked up at Chanyeol with his cheeks puffed up and his eyes squeezed shut. “I have become a blob.” He mumbled through his puffed lips.

“I won’t roll you.” Chanyeol said through deep, coarse laughter. Baekhyun stuck out his tongue and sighed getting up from the table to follow the others who were already making their way out of the room. Suddenly the air whooshed out from underneath him and he was soaring high above the ground. The only thing stopping him from falling hard onto the floor were Chanyeol’s warm arms wrapped around his delicate body. He felt warmth surge through him in delight. “I’ll do one better.” Said Chanyeol bounding after the others. Baekhyun felt his cheeks become darker as he felt the eyes of hundreds of other students following the two of them. His embarrassment disappeared as Chanyeol hurtled past their teammates, spinning and jumping through the hallways, drawing out cries of laughter and enchantment from the older. Baekhyun felt as though he was truly flying, air blowing through his hair, feet kicking happily in the emptiness. All too soon for his liking he was forced to return to the ground.

“Thank you Channie.” Baekhyun said with a smile as he tried to flatten his wayward hair.

“Anything for my blob.” Chanyeol replied, stilling Baekhyun’s fluttering hands with his own and twining their fingers together.

“It’s perfect!” Kyungsoo cried as they finished their run through. It had gone brilliantly. No one had crashed into another in confusion, no one had to be prompted when it was their line and most importantly, they looked fantastic while they moved. Baekhyun grinned happily at the others.

“I think we really have a shot.” He said hopefully.

“Yeah.” Suho agreed, “It just depends on what the other group have done.” Suho scratched his head in worry.

“Lighten up hyung. We’ll do great, don’t worry.” Suho said, slapping Suho reassuringly on the shoulder. Suho gave an appreciative smile but continued to frown. Baekhyun guessed that as their leader he felt that it would be his fault if they lost. If they did lose then Baekhyun would have to make damn sure that he knew that that wasn’t the case.  

“Right, let’s primp up!” Kyungsoo busted out, throwing his arms wide in excitement. Baekhyun himself began to flap up and down on the spot with a wide grin.

“You guys go sit down in the chairs, Kyung-ah, come with me.” Baekhyun said. The four other boys looked over to the side of the room to see that at some point, they had no idea when, six chairs had been set up facing the mirror lined wall. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo had put them there earlier at the same time they stashed their make-up supplies in the changing rooms. Baekhyun reached out and grabbed Kyungsoo’s hand, pulling him with him to the changing rooms. Kyungsoo looked over his shoulder and yelled, “Sit!” Baekhyun heard grumbles but the sound of chairs scraping on wood told him that they had done what they had been told. Kyungsoo could be quite the umma when he wanted too and controlling his kids was never a problem he had.

As they walked into the dark room at the back of the dance studio Baekhyun flicked on the light. The bare bulb illuminated the rows of lockers and the wooden benches running through the middle. The door leading off again into the showers showed nothing but darkness. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo practically ran over to the far side of the room, stretching up onto their tip toes and scrabbling around on top of one of the lockers.

“Damn.” Kyungsoo breathed, “It’s too high.” Baekhyun grumbled and tapped his lip in thought.

“Hold out your hands and give me a leg up.” Baekhyun said. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes but locked his fingers together anyway, holding them down at knee level so that Baekhyun could use them to retrieve their ‘little’ collection. Baekhyun put his foot into Kyungsoo’s hands, testing the strength, before using his arms to help hoist himself up. Kyungsoo grunted under the pressure but only seconds later Baekhyun was back on the ground, holding two boxes, each the size of a very large shoebox. Baekhyun grinned and Kyungsoo took his own box off of Baekhyun before the two of them returned to the room of mirrors.

As they walked in Kai looked over his shoulder at them. His eyes got wide and his mouth fell slack, hanging open dramatically.

“How in hell can two guys have so much make up?!” Kai asked in shock. At his question Chanyeol and Sehun turned around with equally awed expressions while Suho just sighed, knowing of his two best friends’ addiction. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo just looked at each other with knowing smiles before setting their equipment down on the floor.

“Right.” Said Baekhyun in a business like tone. “Suho hyung, could you go get my bag over there? It has all of my hair products in it.” Suho rolled his eyes again but got up with a smile. “I’ll start on Channie…” Baekhyun started before Kyungsoo cut him off.

“No Baek, you start on Kai and I’ll do Chanyeol. Otherwise we’ll get distracted.” Kyungsoo told Baekhyun. Baekhyun pouted but nodded, moving to kneel in front of Kai and start delving into his bag.

“Suho and Sehun, just wait patiently ne?” He said as he began to cleanse Kai’s face. “Tch Kai, stop moving.” Baekhyun was forced to reprimand Kai as he flinched away from the cold wipes. Suho sat back down in the chair beside Kai’s and began taking bottle after bottle and clips after clips out of the bag, laying them out by order of use on the floor. He had known Baekhyun and Kyungsoo long enough to know how they liked things and Baekhyun grinned appreciatively at him as he saw the products organised so neatly.

After 30 minutes of hard work and patience, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo were finally finished with everyone’s makeup and hair. He and Kyungsoo stood back and admired their handiwork. Baekhyun loved what Kyungsoo had done with Chanyeol’s hair; it was swept into small pony tails at the back, wavy where it was loose and quaffed up at the front to create the illusion of more volume than there really was. That coupled with its natural fiery colour made it look like roaring flames atop his head. Baekhyun was especially pleased with how he had done Sehun’s eyes; he had lined them with thick black in such a way that drew all attention to them with their stark contrast to his milky, pale skin. Kai glanced at his watch and his mouth formed a perfect O shape. “Guys we only have 15 minutes until we have to be there. Let’s go get dressed.” The all agreed and nodded as they rushed through to the changing rooms to complete their transformations.

15 minutes later they were stood backstage in the dark. Baekhyun felt alive and was buzzing with anticipation. The other group had just been called on stage and were introducing themselves. He slid his arms around Chanyeol’s waist and tucked his head into the taller’s chest, careful about not smearing his makeup.

“You ready? You got everything?” Chanyeol whispered into his ear. Baekhyun started nodding automatically before he suddenly stopped. His heart thudded loud in his ears. , he thought. He had left his microphone in their dance studio. His eyes shot wide open and he unwound himself hastily from Chanyeol’s arms, panic etched into his features.

“What? What is it Baek?” Chanyeol asked, his voice oozing with concern at his boyfriend’s sudden change in expression.

“I…I left something in the studio. I’ll be right back.” He started to move away from Chanyeol but felt Chanyeol move with him. He turned and placed a palm to Chanyeol’s chest. “Stay here Channie, I’ll be back in a moment.”

“But…” Chanyeol pouted.

“No buts.” Baekhyun smiles reassuringly at his boyfriend. “I’ll be quicker this way.” Without another word he slid from his boyfriend’s grasp. The last thing he heard before he rushed out into the hall way was the first note being played of the other team’s song. He looked at his watch as he began to run full pelt towards the dance studio. He had about 4 minutes, 5 max, until they would go on. His heart pounded as he sprinted down the empty corridor, his breaths coming out more and more laboured the further he got. He spun into the dance studio and glanced frantically around the room. He spotted his microphone headset resting on his makeup bag. He skidded over to it and wrapped it securely in his hands. Looking back to his wrist he saw that one minute had gone. His heart thumped around in his ribcage. He could make it back in time. He had time.

He ran from the room at an impressive speed, eyes focussed straight ahead as he moved quickly through the hallways. A dull pain hit his foot as it crashed into the base of a locker, stubbing his toes painfully. He cried out, expecting the pain to end there, but it didn’t. He pitched forward, his foot still wrapped around the locker base as he fell, unable to balance himself. As he slid through the air there was a deafening pop followed by a hollow crunch. He in a gasp as his eyes brimmed with moisture. His hands managed to cushion his fall and he rolled over onto his back before pushing himself up into a sitting position. Pain shot up through his leg from his ankle and when he looked at the offending limb he was distraught to see his left foot sticking out at an unnatural angle. His head was pounding and his vision blurry as he reached slowly for his ankle. He brushed his fingertips over the now rapidly swelling area, having to bite down on his lip hard to stop the ear splitting scream he could feel bubbling in his chest. He had never felt pain like this; this was on a whole new level of unbearable. It felt like he had climbed onto the roof of the empire state building of pain only to find another flight of stairs, ascending into the sky.

He looked at his watch trying to breathe through the pain.

2 minutes remaining.

He took a deep breath and shifted himself so that he was leaning his back against the locker. He couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped him as he moved his ankle. He gritted his teeth.

1 minute 40 seconds remaining. 

He felt around his ankle, biting down hard on the collar of his jacket to stop him hurting himself as tears spilled from his eyes. He felt around and could feel that there was a large lump protruding from his ankle. The lump was his bone where is had been tugged roughly out of place. It was not only dislocated but twisted. He needed to try and push it back in. That was all he could do for now.

1 minute 30 seconds remaining.

He gripped his leg more securely, trying to ignore the pain that was eating away at the edges of his feinting threshold. He took a few deep breathes, bracing his ankle with his other leg before pushing. The loud, grating crack and squelch of moving bone was clearly audible and, had he not been in more pain than he could even comprehend, then he would have been throwing up violently at the vile sounds. His head rolled back onto his shoulders, sweat beading on his forehead as he tried to regulate his breathing.

1 minute 10 seconds remaining.

His leg felt as though it had been shoved into burning coals and plunged into ice cold water simultaneously. Shocked with electricity and burned with hot metal. Hacked at with a saw and then being drenched with alcohol. It was so much more than he could bear, and yet there he was, bearing the pain. He pushed up onto his right leg, screaming at the pain that shot through his leg, distorting his face with anguish. No one could hear him scream. They were all in the main hall listening to the music. He was alone.

1 minute remaining.

The show must go on.