“Seungri! You’re off again!” yelled Jiyong. Everyone was tired and frustrated, and they were all ready to go home and rest after a long day of practicing dance routines at the studio.

                “I’m sorry, Hyung,” mumbled Seungri, unable to look the older man in the eye. He’d been off all day and kept forgetting the steps to the dance. Seungri felt as though he’d danced worse than Seunghyun-hyung on a bad day and was near tears, but knew crying would only make things worse for him.

                “‘Sorry’ doesn’t cut it!” Jiyong snapped angrily. “Seungri, you-”

                “Jiyong.” Youngbae’s voice was calm but firm. Jiyong scowled, but stopped his harsh tirade practically before it began with just one word from his best friend.  Jiyong shot one more annoyed glare at Seungri over his shoulder as he left the studio, slamming the door behind him. Seungri sighed as his hyungs silently followed their leader out of the room, and he was left alone. He was grateful for Youngbae-hyung. Youngbae was always there for him, looking out for him. The young man sighed, wishing he knew the dance as well as Youngbae, whose dancing seemed as smooth and natural as breathing. Seungri exhaled slowly, knowing he was expected to have the dance down by tomorrow.

             The young man reluctantly turned towards the sound system, and selected the appropriate song. He turned the volume all the way up, as though by drowning out all other sounds he could also drown out all of his problems and forget that he needed to, had to, fulfill his leader's high expectations. He began to dance, thinking through the steps in his mind as he moved his body. Seungri hesitated, desperately trying to picture the next movement in the choreography, but he was couldn't remember it. With this failure, he felt all of his hope for succeeding vanish, and his misery returned in full force, beating him down. He sank to the ground, as though he were a marionette whose strings had been cut. The unhappy young man sat on the cold floor of the dance studio with his head in his hands, consumed by his discouragement, despair, and hopelessness. 

                The blaring music cut off abruptly, and there was silence. Surprised, Seungri looked up and saw Youngbae standing before him. He was horrified that his favorite hyung was seeing him at his weakest. Self-consciously, Seungri wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and willed his voice to be steady as he addressed Youngbae. “Youngbae-hyung… how long have you been here?” Seungri silently cursed himself when he heard the tremors in his voice.

                “A while,” Youngbae answered. Seungri looked up at the older man with tears still glistening in his eyes despite his attempt to hide them. “Oh,” murmured Seungri, disconsolately. He stared at the floor. “I'm sorry, Hyung. I’ll know the dance by practice tomorrow.”

                Youngbae felt a tug on his heartstrings and a stab at his heart as he looked at his teary eyed dongsaeng. The younger man tried so hard to be the best, to measure up to everyone’s expectations. Sometimes the group’s maknae tried too hard. “Come on, let’s get to work on this, or you won’t get any sleep, and then what use is all this work when you're too tired to show off tomorrow?" Youngbae said the words lightly, topping them off with a wink as he extended a hand to Seungri, hoping the levity would help the younger man.

                Seungri took the proffered hand, and Youngbae gave a tug, perhaps harder than he’d meant it to be. Seungri found himself falling into the slightly shorter man’s hard chest. He felt his face heat up, grateful for the studio’s dim lighting. Seungri shook his head slightly, backing away a bit. It was stupid to blush, right? He guessed it was because he was embarrassing himself, falling over onto his hyung.

                “I’m sorry, Youngbae-hyung,” the younger of the two muttered, looking at his feet. “And thank you. I don’t mean to trouble you or anything…”

                Youngbae chuckled. His maknae was so cute. Wait, cute? He brushed the thought off, after all, it was late and he was short on sleep. “I volunteered, Maknae. Don’t worry about it. Let’s run through the routine once together and figure out exactly what we need to work on.” The faux-hawked man smiled genuinely, making his eyes crinkle up. 

                 Seungri smiled back at Youngbae, determination and thankfulness evident in his eyes. "Thanks, Youngbae-hyung. You're always around when I need you." 
                 Youngbae grinned. "Don't worry Seungri. I'll be there. Now let's get to work!"