Jooheon heaves oxygen into his burning lungs. He glares at his own reflection, wiping at his face with his own shirt. Not that it does much good, mind you. More than anything, the action just helps him feel better.

“You don’t have to perfect it tonight, Jooheonney,” Hyunwoo says from behind him. The older releases a sigh as he takes a much-needed break. The two have been working on the choreography from their comeback for the past few hours. The others had gone back to the dorm forever ago, but Jooheon had insisted on staying behind. He hadn’t been content with how far he’d gotten on the routine. Hyunwoo had stayed with him, offering to help.

But, they’ve been at it so long now that Hyunwoo knows there’s no way Jooheon can get to the point he wants to with it tonight. He’s basically just been practicing the same mistakes over and over, and despite knowing that it’s wrong, it’s all muscle memory now. This’ll have to wait until tomorrow for Jooheon to even attempt at making any more progress.

“I just want to get the timing of my jump right,” Jooheon grumbles. He sighs, finally regaining some control of his heartbeat. He turns to Hyunwoo, giving him that one wide-eyed stare that he knows works every time. “Hyung, please?” he asks, poking out his bottom lip for good measure. “Just one more run-through?” Hyunwoo releases a defeated breath, and Jooheon can’t help but chuckle in victory.

The older goes to restart the song, and Jooheon gets into position. He nods his head to the beat, muttering the lyrics under his breath. He starts out the routine strong, as he’s gotten down the beginning perfectly. He moves and slides around the floor, and Hyunwoo can’t help but smile in appreciation at the sight.

Though many may not take notice, Jooheon has always been a decent dancer, and the older absolutely loves watching him practice. The way his body moves… it’s enough to drive Hyunwoo very close to an edge he doesn’t want to fall over. But, with the more time he spends with the younger, it’s getting harder and harder to resist.

A pained yelp shakes Hyunwoo from his thoughts. His eyes widen at seeing Jooheon sitting on the floor, hugging his left leg close to his chest. He stands and closes the distance between them in a single step, and kneels next to his dongsaeng.

“What is it?” he asks softly, eyes examining the younger’s leg. Jooheon chews on his lower lip as he gingerly stretches out his limb for his hyung to look at.

“I landed weird,” Jooheon mutters, his voice a bit tense. “I think I sprained my ankle.” Hyunwoo hums under his breath, gingerly taking the younger’s foot into his hands and applying pressure against his ankle. Jooheon in a sharp breath, and Hyunwoo gently sets his foot down. It’s definitely his ankle.

He slowly begins feeling further up the younger man’s leg, gently pulling it closer to himself in the process. Jooheon watches, becoming incredibly flustered as the older goes.

“Does it hurt here?” Hyunwoo goes on. “What about here?” He presses with varying pressures onto different parts of his leg, eventually coming up to Jooheon’s thigh. The rapper’s leg is now practically draped over his hyung’s leg. Red blazes against his pale cheeks, and he’s just glad he was already kind of blushing to begin with because of practice, or else Hyunwoo would definitely begin to ask him even more questions.

“N-No, hyung!” Jooheon stutters out. “It’s j-just my ankle…” Hyunwoo hums, and gently puts his dongsaeng’s leg down.

The older can’t help but sigh in aggravation at himself. He should’ve been paying more attention, shouldn’t have lost himself in his thoughts, as always. Maybe if he’d have been more watchful, he could’ve somehow kept his Jooheonney from getting hurt.

“You can’t practice like this,” is all he says. He stands and holds out a hand, which the younger quietly takes. Hyunwoo slowly pulls him up, so as to keep him from getting any more hurt. He walks away only long enough to gather his things, and returns to Jooheon’s side a moment later to lean forward in a prompting manner. Jooheon blushes a little, his mind going fifty different directions all at once.

“Get up on my back,” Hyunwoo tells him. “I’m not letting you walk back to the dorm like that, it could only make it worse.” Jooheon hesitates a moment, mentally chastising himself for the routes he’d silently taken, and then carefully climbs onto his hyung’s broad back. He wraps his arms around Hyunwoo’s neck to stay steady, and Hyunwoo’s hands come up to grip onto his thighs as he straightens up. Jooheon buries his face against Hyunwoo’s damp shirt, grateful that the older can’t see his blush.

 

Both are silent on their walk back to the dorm. The weather has begun to cool down, marking the slow yet inevitable approach of winter, and Jooheon finds himself clinging even tighter to his hyung to fight off the cold. Hyunwoo has always been a sort of natural heater, his body giving off more warmth than any of the other members. It makes him quite the exceptional cuddle buddy, to say the least, and very useful in moments like these.

Unbeknownst to Jooheon, his movements only worsen the blush flaring up against the older man’s tan skin.

 

They reach the dorm with relative speed. Hyunwoo pauses only to take his own shoes off and put them into the shoe rack, as Kihyun had taken it upon himself yet again that morning to nag them all about how they’ve stopped doing such, and makes his way to his room. The other members watch him confusedly from the sectional, and Jooheon can only avoid their gazes as he’s taken away.

Kihyun quickly stands to follow, with Minhyuk close behind.

“What happened?” Kihyun asks. He crosses his arms across his chest as Hyunwoo sets Jooheon into his own bed and takes off the younger’s shoes, quirking up an eyebrow in concern. Minhyuk leans against his same-age friend with a pout, wondering as well just what could’ve happened to their adorable dongsaeng.

“I sprained my ankle practicing,” Jooheon grunts out as Hyunwoo sets his leg down on a few pillows he’s stacked. He looks over to Hyunwoo as the older moves through the room, obviously looking for something. “Hyung, I’m okay. You don’t need to do anything. Just so long as I stay off it for a few days I’ll be fine.”

“Kihyunnie, where’s the gauze?” Hyunwoo asks, blatantly ignoring his dongsaeng. “I need to wrap Jooheonney’s ankle up.”

“Hyung, please—”

“I’ll go get it,” Kihyun tells Hyunwoo, and quickly turns on his heel to search for it.

“I’ll go get you guys some food!” Minhyuk offers, and practically bounces from the room to do so. Hyunwoo hums at the both of them in acknowledgment, and takes a seat beside his own bed. Jooheon sighs in exasperation, rolling his eyes at his hyungs. Honestly, sometimes it’s as if they forget who the maknae is out of him and Changkyun…

“Make sure to keep it elevated,” Kihyun instructs as he returns only a moment later. He hands Hyunwoo the roll of gauze, flashing him a supportive smile as he turns to leave once more. Hyunwoo begins to call after him, but the sound catches in his throat. He glances back over at Jooheon, a question in his mind unwilling to come out.

He’s never had to take care of another person on his own before, much less one that’s injured. Just what is he supposed to do? Wait on him hand and foot? He doesn’t particularly mind the notion. But, he also doesn’t want to seem so overbearing. What if he annoys him? What if they get into a fight because of that? What if—?

“Food~!” Minhyuk announces in a singsong tone, entering the room with two heaping plates of jjajangmyeon in his hands. He hands over the plates, and then leaves without giving Hyunwoo a chance to ask for help.

The leader shuffles hesitantly in his stance before walking over and silently giving Jooheon one of the plates. The rapper takes it, thanking his hyung. Hyunwoo figures he should wrap up Jooheon’s ankle, and moves over to do so. Jooheon watches him with wide eyes, his heart pounding at having his hyung so close.

“Hyung,” Jooheon mutters around his mouthful of noodles, “I meant it when I said you didn’t have to help me. You’ve done enough already, carrying me around and all. I swear, it doesn’t hurt as much as before.”

“This happened because I didn’t put my foot down and make you stop sooner,” Hyunwoo states simply. “I’m not going to let you make it worse because of your pride.” He then pauses, hesitating a moment before gathering his courage to look into his dongsaeng’s eyes as he adds, “Let your hyung take care of you, Jooheonney.”

Jooheon presses his lips together, but doesn’t say anything else. How can he when Hyunwoo looks at him with such earnest? He can only give the older a small nod and continue eating.

Hyunwoo nods to himself and sits fully on the floor to begin eating, humming at the delicious food. God, despite all of Kihyun’s shortcomings, he sure does know how to cook.

 

Hours later, Hyunwoo watches Jooheon sleep, smiling to himself at the adorably complacent expression on his dongsaeng’s face. He knows he should be feeling tired right about now, but he’s too concerned for the younger’s wellbeing to even try and sleep. He glances over at the ice pack he’d gotten for the other a little while ago, and realizes the majority of the ice has now melted.

He stands with a long breath and quietly drifts out of the room. The living room is now only a shadow, all the others having gone to bed hours ago. He shuffles through the dorm to the kitchen, and makes another plastic baggy of ice. He then returns to his own room and replaces the bag of melting water with the new bag.

Jooheon rustles about in his sleep at the sudden cold on his ankle. He heaves a deep breath and smacks his lips, a slight snore pouring from his mouth once more.

“Thank… you…… hyung…”

Hyunwoo chuckles under his breath, his heart beating a bit faster at the whisper of gratitude. He moves back to sitting beside the head of the bed, staring at Jooheon once more. He reaches out to brush a stray hair out of his face. The light touch brings a smile to the rapper’s face, and Hyunwoo can’t help but smile himself.

“You’re welcome, my Jooheonney~”