“Jongin!! Its time to leaaaaaaaaaave!” Sehun smiled as he entered the ward and ran over to Jongin who sat on the bed lazily, “Hey go get changed.”

“I’m lazy~” Jongin whined as he reached out to tug on Sehun’s arm as he pulled him over to sit down with him, “It’s been a week since the surgery; damn time goes by quickly.” Jongin felt relieved for awhile, given that the talk with the doctor a night before revealed that he was recovering at an appalling rate. It was expected that he would be able to return to dance gradually after about five months. A month less than the prior expectation was enough to make him happy as he remained in high spirits throughout the night, speaking to Sehun without sleeping much. However, he had to take some time and couldn’t jump to his own fast dynamic choreographies immediately as it would tear the wound really quickly.

“And the next few five months will go by quickly so you can have all the freedom in the dance room. And I’ll hide in the shadows and fade into the background so I don’t disturb you~” Sehun teased as he began to inch away from Jongin.

“Eh is this how you’re going to treat a patient who just got well!” Jongin laughed as he hit Sehun lightly on the arm and pulled him back quickly into an embrace, “And just so you know, you’ll be dancing with me; so no background for you.”

“Hey hey I was called over just to be a light bulb again?” Yixing’s voice rang out from the door as they looked up to see Yixing standing there in his usual white tee with sweatpants, his purple sweater and his purple headphones strung over his neck. He smiled as he stood there, his feet tapping the ground softly as he brought emphasis to his new pair of hightops. Walking over, he raised a bag up as he stared at Jongin teasingly, “Guess what this amazing bag contains.”

“I have no idea.” Jongin shook his head as he smiled at Yixing. He was used to this little trick his best friend pulled. Since young, if he ever missed any dance lessons for an extended period of time, Yixing would come and welcome him back with a gift, which would always be dance shoes or sneakers.

He remembered the first time he was sick and spent a long time away from the dance studio in elementary school – Yixing came over to his house at night and snuck in because of how his parents never liked having visitors – especially not if it was Jongin’s friends. He remembered waking up to soft knocking on his window as he peered up to see young Yixing crouching on the window ledge, his backpack weighing him down significantly.

“Yixing what are you even…”

“Shush. It’s 11 at night dude, your parents will wake up. It’s been awhile so I brought you a little present which you shall bring along for your next practice session because I expect you here on that day. Take care now!” Yixing whispered as he opened his bag and passed Jongin a box before leaving through the window before he could react. Instinctively, Jongin ran towards the window to watch Yixing leap stealthily from the window ledge to the walls surrounding the detatched house as he hopped down to the main road and ran off, his silhouette against the dim moonlight. Smiling, he walked back to the bed as he sat down and opened the lid of the box to reveal a pair of blue and neon green hightops as he pulled them out from the packaging  to reveal a letter on the bottom of the box. It had been a light green piece of paper with scrawny handwriting all over it. He chuckled at Yixing’s Korean handwriting as he nodded.

“Thank you.” He whispered as he hid the box in the cabinet as he went under covers and slept for the night.

Jongin opened the lid of the box to reveal a pair of rather similar navy blue and neon green shoes as he looked up at Yixing for a few moments before burrowing into the paper packaging to find another green letter, the handwriting much prettier and well written today. Jongin smiled as he looked back at Yixing and got up to wrap his arms around him, “Thank you.” Yixing smiled in response as he returned the hug and pat his back quietly. Sehun smiled at the sight as he got back to helping Jongin pack his bags before leaving with them. As they walked down the corridors, Sehun couldn’t help but smile – it was a relief that the first phase of the arduous period had gone by and perhaps given how Jongin was determined that he would get better as soon as possible, he wouldn’t have to worry excessively about keeping Jongin from succumbing to his desires and rushing down the street to the dance studio. Thinking in that manner made it feel as though Jongin was a small six year old child. Sehun chuckled as he gained odd stares from Jongin and Yixing.

“Woah why’s someone happier than me. I should be the happiest for today.” Jongi