Luhan can tell Yifan is hurting and wants to help.

“It doesn’t hurt.”

“But it looks like it does.”

“I’m fine, Luhan. Drop it.”

“But Yifan-”

“Drop it.” Yifan gets up and moves to the other side of the practice room, letting one of the others strike up a conversation with him.

Luhan frowns. He ses the small winces Yifan makes when he thinks no one is looking, hears the muttered curses in Chinese whenever Yifan turns too quickly, and can almost physically feel the pain the elder is in.

But Yifan’s too stubborn to admit it. It’s not a surprise, not really, but it’s frustrating all the same.

Luhan makes sure Yifan sits next to him in the van that night.

It’s late, maybe one or two in the morning, and everyone is tired, falling asleep almost immediately after sitting down. Luhan rests his head on Yifan’s shoulder, noting when the co-leader tenses up.

“Is this alright?”

“It’s fine. Sleep.”

Luhan closes his eyes but he doesn’t fall asleep, only times his breathes in harmony with Yifan’s.

It’s a few minutes later, when he can feel sleep coming for him, that Yifan starts to card his fingers through Luhan’s hair.

“I’m...really fine.” It’s quiet, only for Luhan to hear, and in Chinese and Luhan smiles slightly at the words of his native language.

But he doesn’t say anything, still pretending to be asleep and let Yifan believe he has nothing to worry about.

Yet.

“Where are you going?”

Yifan freezes, looking over his shoulder to see Luhan standing in the doorway of the kitchen, a blanket around his shoulders.

“Schedule,” he says by way of an explanation but Luhan only squints his eyes and yawns.

“This late? For what?”

“Don’t worry about it, Luhan. You should go back to bed.”

“But Yifan…” Luhan yawns again and Yifan sighs. He helps Luhan get back in bed, pulling the covers over him. Luhan is still half-asleep and only hums when Yifan ruffles his hair.

“Sleep well,” he whispers before he quietly closes the door to the bedroom and walks out of their dorm.

“Are you sure you’re not hurting?”

“I told you, I’m fine.” Yifan’s getting annoyed now; why is Luhan so observant? Or rather, why is he not better at hiding the pain?

“Are you tired? You can take a rest, it’s okay, we understand-”

“Luhan. It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

There’s a few minutes of silence and Luhan is pouting because Yifan tells him everything and he hates that he’s hiding something.

It’s not just speculation. Luhan knows for a fact that there is something wrong with Yifan, whether it be he’s sick or injured or something, something is wrong. And Yifan won’t tell him anything.

“You know you can tell me anything, right?”

They look at each other a few more moments. Luhan can practically see the cogs in Yifan’s brain working, deciding what to share and what to keep hidden.

“I know. And I will. Just..give me time, Luhan.”

It’s not much but it’s a start and Luhan nods. “Sure.”

He knows Yifan leaves late at night, catching him sneaking out twice more. Despite what Yifan thinks, Luhan had been awake enough that one time to know that the elder had left as soon as he saw Luhan to bed. It’s worrying, honestly, but Yifan promises he’ll tell with more time and Luhan waits.

He doesn’t wait for much longer before Yifan brings it up.

“You’re seeing a chiropractor?”

Yifan wrinkles his nose. “Don’t say it like that.”

“I’m not saying it like it’s a bad thing, I’m just...surprised.” And Luhan is. He knew that somewhere Yifan was hurting- the consternation bubbling up inside him had been sure of that- but he didn’t think of back problems. Although now, he supposes it makes perfect sense.

“Why? Because it only happens to older people?”

“You’re not old, Yifan. And I’m older than you anyway.”

Yifan looks away and Luhan knows he has to tread carefully here. Yifan will either shut down or blow up and Luhan doesn’t want to deal with either, to be

honest.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” he starts out slowly, pushing down the feelings of wanting to ask why Yifan didn’t tell him earlier. “You’re hurt and you’re getting help for it. That’s good.”

“But I shouldn’t be like this in the first place, I shouldn’t be so easily injured, I should-”

“Yifan.”

A sigh.

“Yifan, listen to me. You don’t have to hide this from us, from me. We all have our own problems too, no one’s going to judge you for it. And the fact you’re taking care of yourself, you’re putting your health first...it’s great.”

“Why?” Yifan’s not looking at him but Luhan can tell he’s getting through.

“Because you spend so much time on us, on me, that we worry you don’t take care of yourself enough. And I’m happy you are. Yifan, if this gets serious-”

“It’s not. Not yet. I just….” Yifan pauses, looking at his hands. “I need to rest for a little bit. I don’t want to, because of our comeback-”

“Don’t worry about that too much.” Luhan reaches across the table and takes one of Yifan’s hands. He had always been more into skinship than the elder but Yifan doesn’t pull away.

“We’ll work something out. It’ll be fine.” Luhan smiles and Yifan finds it in himself to believe.

Well this was a pretty long wait, wasn't it?

I'm really sorry about that; I do love this story but it has kinda been pushed to the back of my mind. And this is the first week of exams so I'm actually dying and that doesn't help at all. I hope this fluffy/angsty chapter made up for the wait- who doesn't love a little bit of krishan?

I really need someone to remind me to update this tbh. ^^