The other group was good. Their music was upbeat and would be great to dance to, but luckily they couldn’t see if their dance lived up to the song. If they could they might have psyched themselves out even more. There was barely a minute left of the song when they noticed Baekhyun’s absence.

“Ya, where’s Baekhyun?” Kai whispered to the other boys. They all looked around and called quietly for him but to no avail.

“He left his microphone in the studio and went to get it, but….” Chanyeol frowned glancing repeatedly at the door. “He should be back by now.”

“Should we go look for him?” Suho asked, concerned, “We don’t have much time.” As he said that the last resounding note of their competitor’s song rang out. The silence was fleeting before the audience erupted into cheers. The five boys’ eyes became wide.

“I’ll go fi…” Chanyeol’s deep voice was cut off as the door to the backstage popped open and a voice cut through the babble of worry.

“I’m here, sorry I cut it a bit fine.” Baekhyun was stood in the doorway with a smile.

Baekhyun pasted a smile onto his face and adjusted his hunched posture. He had to grit his teeth against the pain, trying to keep his expression neutral. He pushed open the door and spoke quietly into the room where the five others were huddled in a circle talking.

“I’m here, sorry I cut it a bit fine.” The boys looked up at him and their faces split into grins of relief as they beckoned Baekhyun over to them. Baekhyun smiled as convincingly as he could as he drew a deep breath through his lips. Grinding his teeth together once he shifted his injured left leg forwards, forced to transfer all of his weight onto the practically pulverised ankle in order to not arise suspicion. He knew that if any of them knew, not just Chanyeol but any of them, then they wouldn’t let him do it. In that case their team would have to forfeit the competition and Baekhyun just couldn’t be the reason why his closest friends had to give up on their dreams. But he wouldn’t only do it for them; he’d also do it for himself. He had worked so hard, and he never knew when an opportunity like this would come around again so he’d be damned if he was going to miss it.

He put his left leg onto the ground and lifted his right, walking forward. What felt like a powerful electric current shot up his left leg, seeming to cause his ankle to fester and burn as it happened. He clenched his jaw tight shut as he held in his hiss of pain. He reached the five boys after a few seconds but it felt more like an hour as the harsh throbbing in his ankle got steadily worse. Even though his discomfort was doubling by the second he was also finding himself becoming better at hiding his anguish.

“Baek you look a little pale, are you alright?” Chanyeol asked as he wrapped an arm around Baekhyun’s waist. The slight tug of his body towards Chanyeol’s pulled roughly on his leg and he had to bite down on his tongue to stop his cry of pain. He tasted blood in his mouth and could only nod in reply, afraid that if he opened his mouth that he would start screaming and never stop. Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrow in concern but let it drop, keeping his arm firmly around Baekhyun as he turned to the others.

“So everyone ready?” Asked Suho with a nervous smile.

“ yeah!” Kai exclaimed with a grin. Sehun nodded happily and put his hand into the centre of their small huddle. Suho’s hand followed, and then Kai’s and Kyungsoo’s were added. Chanyeol gripped Baekhyun’s hand and put theirs in together until there was a pile of hands between the six boys.

“One, two, three…” Counted Suho. “Fighting!” They all yelled out together, rising their hands into the air as one. For a moment Baekhyun forgot about the pain, the warmth of friendships, both old and new, wrapping him in a thick and comfortable blanket of happiness. As their arms fell back to their sides a voice could be heard from the stage.

“Thank you, that was CKRIP with their song juvenile. Now we have EXO with…” There was a pause and the sound of rustling paper. “…MAMA!”

There were a couple of reassuring slaps on shoulders and thumbs up exchanged between the boys as they started to file out onto the stage, Suho leading them out. Baekhyun drew in a deep breath, sweat already beading on his forehead from the strain of remaining standing. He shuffled along at the back of the line, trying to ignore the vibrating feeling of bone grating on bone coming from within his leg. After a few seconds of torturous walking he was stood in line with the other boys on the stage, the bright lights glaring into his eyes, so intense he was sure he would get retinal damage if he looked at them for too long. Being stood still he was able to shift his weight mostly onto his right foot without being too noticeable. He almost let out a sigh of relief as his pain dimmed ever so slightly. The six boys dipped their heads into a perfectly synchronised bow while simultaneously saying, “Annyeoghasseyo, EXO imnida!”

They walked to the centre back of the stage and kneeled to the ground in their routine formation. Baekhyun was forced to bite hard on his already bleeding and abused tongue as his ankle screamed in protest at the action. He knew that if this hurt then he really didn’t want to be able to feel anything when he had to stand up again and dance. The lights dimmed around them and the music started. He could do this, he could do this. He tried telling himself over and over again as he in breath after breath, never managing to quite satisfy his need for air. Kai moved his arms dramatically in the air and he felt his body follow without any thought, as though he had been set onto autopilot so that his brain was free to focus on the agonising pain that was ripping at his ankle. Every little jump, every sweep of his foot, every gentle kicking motion ripped at the very foundations of his sanity. He had never felt such a pain as this and hoped that he never would again. The time before his parts grew shorter and shorter. When his time came he opened his mouth and out came the most beautiful and powerful voice you had ever heard. The audience were not to know that the pain and intensity in his voice was not just good acting, it was real pain. It was real emotion.

Two and a half minutes in and he could feel his worst nightmare drawing nearer. In the scream part, the footwork was so intricate and fast. 5 seconds. He couldn’t do this, it would hurt too much, he couldn’t. 4 seconds. He really couldn’t bear that much pain. 3 seconds. He could do it, he would do it. 2 seconds. He gritted his teeth, he would do it for the others, they deserved that much from him. 1 second. For me he said to himself as he spun and turned and twisted his legs in time to the music. He caught the sob that threatened to pull free from his throat as he clenched his fists against the white hot pokers that where lashing against his leg. They jumped, something tore within him and a tear slid down his cheek as he sang out the words, “MAMA!” With such emotion that the audience drew in a collective breath.

The song ended. Baekhyun’s vision blurred and clouded as the audience became a mass of shifting colour. The claps and cheers rang out hollowly in his ears, the sound muffled as his senses slipped. He pushed himself down into a bow proceeding to stumble off the stage after Chanyeol. Just a few seconds and he wouldn’t have to pretend anymore. The dim lighting of backstage had only hugged itself around him for a matter of seconds before he felt air whooshing past his sweaty body as he pitched forward towards Chanyeol. Baekhyun thudded against Chanyeol’s shoulder as he plummeted towards the ground. Warm arms encircled him only a second before his face became as worse for wear as his massacred leg. He looked up into the charcoal and caramel eyes of his love. His entire body felt as though it had been stuffed with cotton wool as his senses blurred and his limbs went numb. His leg was still a throbbing pain but was becoming dulled as he slipped from consciousness.

“Channie it hurts…” He whimpered, not able to raise his voice any louder than a course whisper. Chanyeol’s face was etched with worry, eyes wide with fear.

“What?” He asked frantically, “What hurts Hyunnie?”

“Channie my…m-my l-leg…” His voice faded off, his mouth still moving in the shape of what he wanted to say but no words were coming out. Blackness swarmed in from the edge of his vision. The last thing he heard before he was engulfed in the painless darkness was three words, “I love you.”