At that point Ten had two options:

Stay there and risk being found by and embarrassing himself in front of someone older, or swallow his pride and call for help.

He didn't know which was worse.

Especially because he knew it would be Taeyong he’d have to call in order to avoid bigger drama, anyone else would absolutely flip.

Ten sighed and tried to reach for his phone without moving too much, but inevitably he had to and the small jolt sent prickling pain up his leg all the way to his hip.

He took a moment to calm down before dialling, he had to make sure he wouldn’t accidentally cry out while talking to Taeyong.

He lay down on his back, shutting his eyes and holding his breath while the phone beeped.

Taeyong picked up and greeted with a flat, “What?”

“Hey, hyung,” Ten said, hoping his voice didn’t sound very strained. He pulled the phone away and cursed, taking a deep breath. He opened his eyes and saw black and white dots before his vision cleared up. He pressed the phone back to his ear and repeated. “Hi. What’s up.”

There was a sigh on the other end. “Look, I don’t have much time. If you have something to say, say it and stop messing with me.”

“No, I actually have something to ask of you.”

“Hurry,” Taeyong said, tone even colder than before. He definitely expected to hear something else and now he was pissed.

“Can you come pick me up at the studio?”

“Why? I’m done picking you up just because you’re too lazy to walk—“

“It’s not that,” Ten interrupted, pressing the back of his hand to his forehead and closing his eyes again. “I can’t.”

“You can’t what?”

“I can’t walk.”

Silence. Ten glanced at his phone’s screen, it showed that the call was still in progress. “Hello...?”

There was noise of objects moving as well as footsteps from the other end before Taeyong spoke again, “What the hell did you do!?”

“I fell over! I didn’t expect to—“

“Well maybe the person who had a knee surgery should be a little bit more careful don’t you think!?”

“It wasn’t my fault! It happens, these things happen I didn’t mean to fall!”

There was more noise from the other end but no answer and Ten sniffled, already thinking about who else to call. His eyes were b with tears, not because of Taeyong but because of the pain in his knee.

He was about to hang up, when he heard, “I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Thanks—“ Ten wasn’t sure if Taeyong heard it because he hung up right as Ten said it.

He sighed and proceeded to scroll through instagram and twitter. He put on some music, sang along, anything to keep his mind off of the pain. He wasn’t moving though, so it made it way better than it could be.

Ten knew he couldn’t cry because Taeyong could walk in any second.

Just as it was starting to get unbearable, the door swung open and Ten could hear angry footsteps approaching. They were amplified as he was lying on the ground.

“Is it your knee or is it something new?”

Taeyong’s voice was much closer than Ten would have expected it to be. He opened his eyes and saw that Taeyong was kneeling by him.

“My knee.”

Taeyong rolled his eyes, although perhaps that wasn’t a reaction of annoyance, rather intense worry. “Seriously! You really have to be more careful! Was there no one who wanted to practice with you? I told you not to go alone, why don’t you ever listen!?”

“I’m sorry, okay?” Ten snapped. “You can yell at me on the way to the hospital too!”

This stirred Taeyong and he sighed, slipping one arm under Ten’s knees and the other under his back.

“Hold on,” Taeyong said and Ten gave a small nod.

He hadn’t expected – though he should have – the jolt to be so painful. He flinched and let out a pained yelp, clinging onto Taeyong.

“Sorry,” Taeyong mumbled, but he truly couldn’t have done any better. Bridal style was the least painful way to go, even though it had to hurt a little.

Taeyong carried Ten to the car, and placed him in the backseat so that he could put his leg up. Every tiny movement hurt, but he bit the inside of his cheek to keep quiet. It was just a while longer. The good thing was that he didn’t have to look at Taeyong from the backseat.

He was nearly lulled to sleep when the car came to a stop. Ten sat up and tried to wiggle out by himself, but it the attempts shot waves of pain up his leg.

 “Wait—Stop,” Taeyong said and picked Ten up again. The younger yelped, the next pained noise got caught in his throat. Maybe this time Taeyong was holding him more securely. Maybe this time he was whispering words of reassurance.

Ten had managed to – despite the pain – fall asleep in the waiting room. Soft nudges woke him up and he lifted his head off Taeyong’s shoulder.

“They’re calling for us, come on.”

 

It was quite devastating, really. Ten was put back into a cast and now needed crutches to move around. Just a few weeks, the doctor said. It could have been worse, she said.

“How could it have been worse?” Ten was muttering to himself, now in the front seat. To him it seemed bad enough to be the worst case scenario. Were it not, he’d be walking now.

And perhaps if he wasn’t so angry about the situation, about having gotten injured in the first place, about the surgery, about falling, about the cast; perhaps he wouldn’t have snapped. But he was, he was seconds away from losing it and Taeyong’s scoff came as a cherry on top.

“Okay, I’m done playing this game,” Ten said, raising his voice as much as he could without it cracking. “If I did something the other night that upset you, just tell me already! Because I don’t remember, okay? I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have gotten drunk, I shouldn’t have fallen today, I’m an idiot and I’m sorry but I won’t stand for you being pissed at me without even telling me why!”

Taeyong kept looking between Ten and the road, trying to comprehend what had just happened. He didn’t expect to get this type of reaction, then again, it wasn’t like Ten to just take the blame and apologize timidly. Taeyong should have expected him to demand an explanation.

But Taeyong didn’t reply then. He needed the time to calm down, to think about his response without making the situation worse. He didn’t want to fight with Ten when he was upset about other things.

Although he’d had an entire day to think it through, Taeyong just kept pushing the previous night away in favour of being angry. It had been childish and he knew now what he had to do.

Ten knew nothing of Taeyong’s thoughts, of course. He thought the elder was just ignoring him like he had been.

“Great. Yeah, that’s mature,” Ten mumbled.

He refused Taeyong’s help to get to their dorm. It hurt Taeyong to watch Ten struggle, but he was stubborn. He walked behind the younger, hands in his pockets,                                                making sure he doesn’t hurt himself.

Once inside, Taeyong said, “I’m not mad at you.” He was leaning against the doorframe, watching Ten drop on the bed and put the crutches against the wall.

He glared up at the elder. “Oh, now you wanna talk.”

Taeyong shrugged. “I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t want to talk to you while I was angry, I could have said something wrong. But I’m not mad at you, really. I guess I’m just a little hurt.”

“But why? Hyung, I really don’t remember.” Ten sighed and bowed his head. “I know I should have been careful, but now it’s done so you may as well tell me what I did.”

Taeyong averted his gaze and shrugged again. “You were just... Really friendly with Johnny. I shouldn’t even be upset about that, but I am. It’s stupid, I know, I just...”

Ten blinked in surprise. “Johnny?”

Taeyong nodded sharply.

Ten threw his head back and exhaled in realization. “So that’s why he approached me today...” He looked back at Taeyong, a little hesitant. “What did I even do?”

Taeyong pursed his lip and rubbed the back of his neck. “Kinda danced in his lap, I guess?”

“Oh God.” Ten buried his face in his hands in shame. He really hoped no one younger saw that. Hell, he hoped no one recorded it. He peeked at Taeyong through his fingers. “Was it at least a good ?”

Taeyong threw Ten an exhausted look.

The younger chuckled and shook his head. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Gosh... I don’t know why I did that...” He paused as something crossed his mind. “Hold on, why would that make you upset anyway?”

Taeyong stood up straight and balled his fists, even though they were still in his pockets. “It was – it was annoying to watch, right in front of me!”

And then it hit Ten why he’d had the idea for it in the first place. It was to make Taeyong jealous. He even got drunk because he knew he wouldn’t be able to do it sober. Ten was suddenly giggling; it seemed that it worked. At least he hoped it did.

“What? What’s so funny?” Taeyong asked gloomily.

“Maybe I should have just told you,” Ten mumbled to himself.

“Told me what?” Taeyong kept asking, now impatient.

Ten looked up, then immediately averted his gaze when he realized he wouldn’t be able to say it while meeting Taeyong’s eyes. “It’s just that... I did that – danced for Johnny – just to make you jealous...”

Taeyong froze.

Ten dared to lift his gaze. “Did it work...?”

“You little .”

Ten scooted away as Taeyong stepped forward. He was chuckling at how angry Taeyong seemed, but at the same time couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

“You’d be dead right now if you weren’t in a cast! Why would you do that to me? Why not just say you like me?” He paused. “You do like me, right?” He added hesitantly.

Ten nodded quickly. “You didn’t seem interested! You hardly noticed me lately, I... I didn’t know what to do to get your attention.”

“And you went with this plan? Seriously?”

Ten shrugged innocently.

Taeyong got on the bed and trapped him in a hug. “Stupid. Seriously, you’re so dumb.”

“You’re dumber,” Ten protested. He was trying to find the best position that would allow him to hug back without his leg hurting.

It ended with Taeyong hugging Ten from behind and resting his chin on top of the younger’s head.

“You can stop dancing for other people now,” Taeyong said.

Ten raised his eyebrows. “Even our fans? Ruthless.”

Taeyong tightened his grip on Ten’s waist. “You know what I mean.”

Ten chuckled and wiggled a little to get him to stop. “Yah, all clear. From now on only you get s.”

Taeyong was glad Ten couldn’t see him now because his entire face was red. “Shut up.”

Ten tried to turn around and have a look, but Taeyong kept him in place. “Would you like a , hyung?” Ten cooed.

“I said shut up, little demon.”

Ten chuckled and leaned back against the elder. “Don’t worry, you’ll get it sooner or later.”