The unshed tears were glistening in his wide eyes, teeth tormenting an already abused lip and face flushed with embarrassment. The pretty brunette boy blinked back the tears and Mark saw him rip away from the comforting arms of his group mates and rush out of the room. His group members were left standing there looking at each other helplessly before the boys from team B joined them. Mark really couldn’t explain what made him do it, but before he realised it his feet were carrying him out of the room.

            “Mark, wait.” A strong arm grabbed at his elbow and suddenly Jackson was next to him. “Where are you going?” Mark rolled his eyes at him and pulled his arm away.

            “I’m just going to the toilet Jackson.”

            “Alright, I’ll come with you then.” Jackson’s eyes were telling him that it was useless to lie, so Mark just sighed and left the practice room.

As expected when they reached the doors of the restroom muffled sobbing noises could be heard coming from the inside. The two boys glanced at each other before slowly opening the door and stepping into the room.

Jinwoo was standing by the sink, back bend and face buried in his hands. He must have not heard the door open because he didn’t turn to acknowledge their existence. With cautious steps Mark stepped closer.

            “Jinwoo-ssi?” He broke the silence with a soft tone, but the older boy still flinched violently and turned to face them with puffy eyes. Mark heard Jackson next to him wince at the pathetic sight and felt like whacking him over the head.

Jinwoo wiped at his face and tried to hide the obvious fact that he had been crying. The oldest boy bowed before them in greeting and forced a smile on his face.

            “I’m sorry for occupying the restroom for so long. I’ll leave now.” Mark’s eyes widened and he stepped in front of the brunette effectively blocking his way.

            “No it’s ok, I- we actually came here to talk to you.” Jinwoo’s already wide eyes widened even more. Since Mark wasn’t the best with words Jackson thankfully stepped in when he saw his friend’s struggle.

            “It really wasn’t so bad, you know? Forgetting the lyrics that can happen to anyone! I can imagine how nervous you must have been, I mean for us this is just a friendly battle but for you guys it’s quite serious.” Jinwoo nodded and dropped his gaze to the floor.

            “It is important,” he started and his mellow voice broke as new sobs were threatening to wreck his body again. “It’s so very important and yet I manage to mess everything up.”

Before Jinwoo could break down Mark had reached him and enveloped the other in a hug. It wasn’t usually like him to hug people he didn’t know, but he somehow felt connected to the older boy. He knew a bit about how the other felt and he knew that it wasn’t easy to be surrounded by talented people and having to work ten times as hard to do as well as them.

Jackson stood there awkwardly for a moment before he joined the two boys and wrapped his arms around both of them. For a moment it was completely silent then Jackson had to ruin it by snorting. Mark frowned at him and pinched the broader boy, making him let go of Jinwoo who in turn also stepped back from him.

            “Sorry.” The Hong Kong native said and indeed had the decency to look sheepish. “It’s just that it’s a bit weird for three people to be hugging in a public restroom.” Jinwoo and Mark flushed a bit at the realisation before the oldest boy also let out a short laugh.

            “Thank you.” Jinwoo said with a sweet smile in his soothing voice and Mark found himself smiling back effortlessly while Jackson looked between the two of them.

            “Can you guys stop? I’m feeling out of place here between pretty face one and pretty face two. And I swear I can see flowers appear around you two.” Mark rolled his eyes while Jinwoo just grinned at Jackson.

            “Jinwoo-hyung, there you are!” Seungyoon entered the restroom with a worried face and immediately went over to his teammate. Jinwoo smiled reassuringly and the younger boy ran a hand through his mused hair.

Jackson grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the restroom just before the other members of team A entered, all of them flocking around their oldest member to check if he was ok.

            “It really isn’t easy on them. Right now it looks like team B has a better chance to win.” Jackson commented once they were out of earshot, his warm fingers still tightly wrapped around Mark’s.

            “I don’t know,” The other said after a moment and turned to grin at Jackson. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”