Junghan felt his chest tighten and he blindly reached out for something, anything. He was shaking and he hurt and he needed his Seungcheol. He would never know that he was crying Seungcheol's name, because he couldn't hear it. There was nothing reaching his ears as he lay in the broken stage lift. The floor had given away during the performance, and he'd dropped straight down into the pit. Normally the lifts were never this deep, but this one having been broken had been positioned a good fifteen feet below the stage and paneling had been laid above it. It should have been fine, but Junghan must have hit the paneling just hard enough to go straight through the floor. He hit his head on the stage as he went down, and felt his ankle twist at an awful angle before there was just pain shooting up his leg and the tears come and it hurt to breathe.

It took them twenty minutes to get him back out, and by then he was nearly positive that his ankle needed to be cut off. There was so much blood and part of a bone poking out, there must have been something at the bottom of the lift that he hit. He still can't hear.

Seungcheol rode with him in the ambulance, and Junghan could see his lips moving and he was trying to get Junghan to respond, but the angel could only wonder why was there no sound? There should be sound. Seungcheol was one of the noisiest members when he was anxious, and this was a great time for anxiety. 

The doctors ran tests. His ankle was easy to set, it was a clean break. They saw the blood running down from the back of his head, and wrote to him that they thought he had a concussion. The hearing loss is temporary, they write. It'll come back soon.

Three days later Junghan gets the feeling it won't. He began to look into the language of hands. Sign Language, the language of the disabled. Junghan looked at the webpage and blinked, he wasn't disabled. He may just be lacking a sense now, but sound has never made him who he is.

It hits him then, as he looked at the webpage. His career was over. No one wanted a singer that can't hear the pitch, know the volume of his voice. How can he dance without hearing the beat?

He cried himself to sleep that night.

He was released from the hospital shortly after, with a heavy note to stay off his ankle. He was to be monitored, and the hospital needed to be notified if he regained his ability to hear. Junghan hoped it happened, but he knew that the tests that were run show a heavy amount of trauma caused by hitting the stage floor. He never would have thought one fall would change so much. One hit to the head and he was forced into an isolation he never once thought could exist.

The band is given a break to stay with him, and he reveled in being treated like a prince. They let him sleep in peace, but once the door was shut he took his phone out and pulled up videos. He began to sign.

Wonwoo was the first to catch him two days later. He was in bed, freshly showered and swaddled in blankets aside from his hands. He was absorbed in the video and didn't notice Wonwoo until the other reached out and paused the video. Junghan looked up, curious and also afraid. Wonwoo was gentle though, and got a pen and wrote on a napkin. 

'Do you think you need to learn this?'

The fierce look Junghan gave him was enough of an answer.

The next day, there was a stack of books at his bedside table about signing. The members are all staring at him as he takes the pile and he breaks the ice by asking them if they're all okay. They're creepy kids, but Junghan loves them to death. He hated that he couldn't hear their voices when they all jump to answer him.

It took a month for his ankle to heal enough to walk on, and another of working hard at the therapy to be able to move it right. Junghan spent so much time learning how to sign, but to 's surprise he also learned how to move to the beat of music. His moves become sharper, because he no longer relied on words. Instead, its a series of beats that he follows. While unable to sing, he can still dance. 

Pledis tried to release him from his contract. A deaf performer? It had never been done before, they say. It can't be done. Junghan cried, expecting to pack his bags, when his family stood up for him. The members stand tall, they fight for him to stay. Junghan never hugged them harder when they win the argument against the CEO.

He had a month to learn to sing again, dancing alone wasn't enough. He and Jihoon spent hours upon hours trying. Learning how to sing was hard when you can't hear the tone, but Jihoon was patient. Jihoon was never angry with him when he messed up. Junghan feels the butterflies in his belly when Jihoon hugged him after finally getting it right.

The deaf community was something Junghan had never heard of. When he has his first comeback stage with the members, there are banners and signs all throughout the audience with his name on them. He was a symbol for something great to them, that being deaf is not a disability. A challenge, yes. A disability? Junghan doesn't consider it one. He lets them know that, as he sang his part he signs it fluidly to the audience. This was his language, the language of hands and facial expressions. As the crowd roared in what he hoped was happiness, he looked back at the members. He choked back tears when he sees Junhui and Wonwoo step forward and begin to sign to the crowd as well. Then Minghao and Vernon. Jihoon and Seungkwan. Seungcheol motions for the rest to move forward, and Junghan let the tears follow when it hit him that twelve other boys slaved away to learn yet another language. For him.

That very same week, Junghan got another two stack of books from the library and set them down in front of the members. Spoken and signed Mandarin. Junhui and Minghao have never hugged him tighter.