It’s been only two weeks since Kyuhyun had been admitted to the hospital and already he was trying to get up on his own two feet. Hobbling down the hospital hallway, Kyuhyun was clutching tightly onto his walker. His knuckles were white as his pale face and fragile body. Pain and frustration were running though his veins. Only managing to walk a few meters, Kyuhyun quickly collapsed to the ceramic tile floor, holding on to the walker as his main support. Huffing in exasperation, Kyuhyun tried to get back up, only to fall back down again. A nurse soon helped him up, immediately bring a wheelchair over.

“Kyuhyun-sshi, do not overwork yourself. You just received surgery and your lungs are still very unstable, please go back to your room.” She said worried, but Kyuhyun being the resilient nineteen-year old that he was, gritted his teeth as he painfully got back on his feet.

“No, I have to get back on that stage…” he replied as he battled through the intense pain, taking more baby steps further down the hall. The nurse shook her head sadly as she forced him to sit in the wheelchair as she pushed him towards his room.

“I’m sorry Kyuhyun-sshi, but it’s the doctor’s orders. You need rest.” Kyuhyun gave up and wordlessly nodded as a single tear fled his eyes.

It was the dead of night and Kyuhyun couldn’t go to sleep. All he was thinking of was getting back on that stage with his hyungs and relieve some of their stress and worries. He may be the evil and snarky maknae, but deep inside he truly cares and respects every single one of his hyungs. Staring up at the ceiling, the loud repeating beeping noises were certainly not helping Kyuhyun go to sleep anytime soon.

“Screw this,” Kyuhyun muttered as he slowly got up on his feet. Wincing at every step, he grabbed his walker as he made his way towards the door. Just shy of reaching it, his legs gave way and he tumbled towards the all too familiar tile floors. The pain in his abdomen steadily increases. Clenching his chest tightly, Kyuhyun tried to reach for the help button. But to no avail. Pain was now excruciating. Damn it… Everything hurts. Buckling over in pain, Kyuhyun was now huddled in a ball. Suddenly footsteps draw closer to his room. With a sudden swing of the door, Donghae appeared. Terror was plastered on his face as he saw Kyuhyun curled up on the floor, cringing.

“Kyu! What happened?!” Donghae exclaimed frantically as he immediately pressed the help button.

Through the pain, Kyuhyun managed to spit the words, “Hurts… pain… won’t go away.”

Nurses soon rushed in once they heard the help button and got Kyuhyun back onto his bed, giving him pain killers through his IV. Checking his stats, it seemed that he was indeed overexerting too much, which caused his system to shut down temporarily because of the sudden overdrive.

Once again on his bed, Kyuhyun let out a small sigh as he clenched his bed sheets. Next to him was Donghae who gently placed his hand over Kyuhyun’s.

“That wasn’t very smart Kyuhyun and you know it.” Donghae said with a slight scolding.

“Shut up…” Kyuhyun whined.

“Why did you do that? You know that it takes more than just two weeks to recover from what you went through!” Donghae said as his voice went up an octave or two.

However Kyuhyun spat back, “Because I don’t want you guys to worry about me!”

Immediately, Donghae’s eyes lightened up a bit as he leaned forward, giving Kyuhyun a small peck on the cheek and held his hand.

“Oh Kyu… you don’t have to do that. What would make us not worry is for you to heal at a steady rate. We don’t want you to push yourself to the limit just so you can heal faster. If we have to wait… we will, so will all of our fans. They will wait for you. So just breathe, and take it step by step.” Silently, Kyuhyun tightened the grip on Donghae’s hand as tears fell down his cheeks.

A few months later, Kyuhyun found himself in the Music Bank waiting room, just a few minutes away from going back on that stage. To his right was Donghae, smiling brightly at him. Extending his hand, Kyuhyun gladly accepted it as they made the trek up those steps and back into the limelight. And right before they went on stage, Kyuhyun kissed Donghae full on the lips.

“Thank you Donghae… thanks for helping me breathe, for being my oxygen.” Donghae could only smile as they hands intertwined together. With a deep breath, they stepped on stage and soon breathed in the air of love.