The door swung open to reveal the delicate young looking Luhan looking at the two of you with innocent angel eyes.  His hair was a wild fluffly mess and he was still dressed in his blue and black striped pajamas indicating he had just woken up.  He tilted his head at the two of you "What happened? I heard screaming.."

"I was just practicing" Xiumin said.

"It's 6am .. you woke up the maknae, Sehun" he said frowning.  He went to the expresso machine sleepily basically hitting buttons at random to get it to make something that would taste like decent coffee.

"You guys should get up earlier like me anyway, you sleep the day away by getting up at noon" Xiumin said crossing his arms.

"Not everyone goes to bed early you know that.  Kai and Lay still haven't returned to the dorms, I'm a little worried about them." Luhan said wincing as he tasted the bitter coffee "sugar.. need.. sugar.."

"Where are Kai and Lay?" you asked concerned.  You had always wondered why Kai was never in the dorm in the evenings and always came back late to sleep.

"My guess.. the dance room" Xiumin said sighing. "I'll go check on them, you coming Lulu? Junsu?" he said getting up off the couch.  Luhan put down his coffee and mumbled "I'm going to get dressed.. I'll catch up with you guys.."  Xiumin nodded and walked out of the lounge with you trailing behind him.

"Why do they practice so late?" you asked.

"They actually start practice around 9 or 10pm after doing homework and stuff"

"And they stay out til the morning??"

"Usually on school nights they stay out til midnight or 1 but if theres no school they'll practice until they drop" he said sighing.

"Aish.. they work so hard.." you muttered.  Xiumin and you walked down the basement levels of the school and walked down the narrow hallway illuminated by dull lights.  There were no windows and you could hear no sounds from the upstairs, *must be soundproof* you thought.

"124, 125, 126, 127 ,..." he said looking at the numbers on the doors and occasionally peeking through the windows on the doors to see if they were there.

"ah .. Room 134" he said swinging open the door.  Immediately waves of loud pop electronic music came through barreling into your eardrums.

"YAH!! YOU GUYS GET SOME REST!!" Xiumin yelled at the two guys in the middle of the danceroom.  You recognized Kai and Lay but they looked awful.  The bags under Kai's eyes were dark and carved into his skin and Lay's hair was sticking up with sweat and they both were panting pretty heavily.  Although they both looked exhausted beyond belief their movements were still smooth and powerful. Kai's muscles strained as he flew across the dance floor effortlessly and Lay's graceful steps followed in a similar suit.  However Xiumin stopped the music player and they both flopped to floor panting.

"W-Why.. did y-you sto-" Kai started but Xiumin cut him off.

"You two, showers then bed.. NOW" he scolded them as if they were children staying up too late on a school night.  Lay was silence as he wobbled to stand up, Xiumin ran over to help him onto his feet.  You pulled Kai up and let him lean on your shoulder, your ribs screamed in protest but you grinted your teeth trying to ignore it as you followed Xiumin back to the doors.

"I'll take care of Lay, wake up Chanyeol and have him help you with Kai" Xiumin said as he dragged a exhausted and sickly looking Lay into his dorm.  One handed you managed to dig your key out of your pocket and unlock the door, luckily Chanyeol was already awake and sitting on his bed.  He leaped off when he saw Kai swaying on his feet.

"Bro.. you have to stop doing this all the time.." Chanyeol said pushing Kai onto his bed since he wasn't in any shape to be climbing the ladder to his top bunk.

"No.. shower first" Kais said pushing Chanyeol away and waddling over to the bathroom.  Chanyeol followed him trying to help by unbuckling his pants.

"shesh woman,... already stripping me down to my boxers huh..?" Kai said as he fumbled with the hem of his shirt trying to lift it over his head.

Chanyeol slapped him, "shut up, I'm trying to help"

"Ack!.. um... I'm going to.. uh.. check on Lay" you said leaving awkwardly as Chanyeol was working on Kai's clothes.  You hurried over to Lay, Tao and D.O's dorm, the door was unlocked and you walked in to hear a panicky D.O and a fussing Xiumin.

"What happen-" you stopped when you saw Lay on the floor.

"he just passed out!!" D.O said trying to shake him awake.  Xiumin and Tao managed to get him up on his mattress.  D.O ran over to the bathroom and put a wet washcloth on him. 

"Tao run down to the nurse's office to get noona!!" D.O shouted pushing the tall boy toward the door.  You could hear Tao as he clambered down the stairs, sprinting his way to the other side of the school.

"D.O.. stop yelling. I'm trying to sleep.."

All of you turned to face the figure laying on the bed.

"Lay? LAY!!??... you okay buddy? Don't die on me!!" D.O said shaking his shoulders in a frenzy.

"Stop.. st-stop. I'm fine.." Lay said swatting D.O away.

"You really have to give it rest sometimes" Xiumin said.

"I'll get you some water" you said walking away to the bathroom.  Lay took it gratefully and downed it in a few gulps.

"I'm going to sleep... and D.O .. I'M NOT DYING" Lay said rolling over on his side and drifting away to unconciousness.  Unfortunately at that moment Tao burst through the door with your aunt marching fast behind him.

"Why can't you guys stop hurting yourselves?" she said walking over to Lay who had buried himself under the blanket.

"Noona, I am fine.. please leave me alone.." Lay said yawning.  She ignored him and checked his temperature.

"You have a fever.. do you feel achy or sore anywhere?" she asked propping up the sleepy Lay in sitting position.

"A little.."

"Long nights, not enough food or sleep..that's it.. no more dancing for a week!" she said poking Lay's forehead.

"ow.. but .. but .. nooonaaaa" he whined.  She gave him a sharp glare and he stopped and nodded.

"get some rest." she said and left.

"Do you mind not staring at me..It's kind of hard to sleep when I'm being watched .." Lay said pulling the blanket over him.

okay.. not the best chapter.. it's a bit of a filler for what's going to happen next..