Before the KBS building caught on fire, Hyukjae always thought that the worst pain he would ever come to feel would be if his family or his friends faced a sudden death. After he escaped the burning building with s he thought burning alive would cause the most amount of suffering.

It didn’t prepare him for the excruciating pain he would feel when he realized that he had left  one of s. Not just any member, but Donghae. 

Many arms gripped him tightly restraining him from running towards the burning building. He twisted and writhed against them, roughly shoving aside the arms that grabbed his midsection, pulling him back. 

“Donghae!!” Hyukjae screamed out his voice reverberating with pure agony.

The grip on his arms tightened as he kicked his feet in a desperate effort to escape his bonds. In front of him the firefighters stopped evacuating, moving away from the burning building. Why were they stopping?

“No!! Save Donghae!!” Hyukjae roared with all the strength he had feeling his throat burn at its impact.

But they didn’t. All the rescuers were simply moving away from the burning building. He struggled violently against the restraints, not understanding why they weren’t saving Donghae. Why they were leaving his Donghae in a burning building?

All logic and rationality had long left Hyukjae but his brain miraculously managed to register some of the words the faceless strangers who were holding him back were yelling at him.

“Building... explode...too dangerous...”

It took another few seconds for his mind to understand the words. As soon as he did, Hyukjae was fighting more than he had ever done in his life to get to Donghae. He was screaming and struggling with all his might, flailing against all the arms holding him down, uncaring of the thousands of cameras that were probably directed at his face.

He didn’t notice the tension rose among the security teams and Super Junior as all the members and the managers found themselves in a similar situation, restrained from running to their possible deaths. All Hyukjae felt was an overwhelming sense of guilt and disgust at himself. He had left Donghae behind. The excruciating pain in his heart intensified as Leeteuk, who was suddenly beside him, let out an inhumane screech of utter agony as he thrashed against arms that held the leader back.

Hyukjae frankly had never considered what he would do if he ever lost Donghae. Him living his life without Donghae had never even been an option. Where ever he went in life, he knew for sure that Donghae would be right by his side, in sickness and in health, they had promised each other years ago. Now faced with the sudden possibility of Donghae leaving him, Hyukjae realized that there would be no reason left for him to live. 

He let out another screech, repeating Donghae’s name over and over again, thrashing against his restraints. That’s when he saw a figure emerge from the building that was being reduced to ruble. 

A sapphire blue outfit that shined as bright as their sapphire blue ocean.

That was all it took to for Hyukjae to harshly elbow one arm that held him back, shaking free of his restraints, and sprinting towards the stumbling brunette like a madman, uncaring of the footsteps following him from behind or the danger he could face with every step he took towards the burning building.

All he cared about was having Donghae safe in his arms. 

•••

A week later: Knowing Brothers Filming

The Knowing Brothers cast members and Super Junior sat in their respective seats in the familiar classroom set.

“Everyone online wanted to know what happened during the fire at Music Bank.” Hodong said unsubtly.

Everyone laughed at his honest statement. 

“Our waiting room was actually in the furthest corners of the corridor and away from the emergency exit.” Leeteuk started. “As soon as the fire alarms started ringing we rushed outside to see the building already in flames.”

“The fire started in a waiting room in the middle of the corridor.” Soo geun nodded, repeating what had been said in the official police statement.

“It was Siwon who immediately went into action, ushering all the staff and managers out.” Leeteuk smiled softly.

Choi Siwon smiled back and just nodded humbly. 

“Actually I helped too.” Kyuhyun interrupted. “But no one notices me when Siwon’s in the front of the door showing big hand gestures. I don’t know why everyone just sees him when there’s some sort of danger.”

“It’s because he has a superhero mode.” Shindong retorted.

This caused another round of laughter on set, most of its occupants knowing what happened the previous time the lighting fell. Kyuhyun pretended to sulk, playfully glaring at Siwon.

“Anyway we were the last ones to escape.” Leeteuk said sombering up. “I managed to do a quick head count before we headed towards the exit. I didn’t realize that we had lost Donghae half way through until we were outside.”

Leeteuk glanced at Donghae his eyes filled with regret. The younger simply sent back a reassuring smile, which he hoped would comfort the leader.

“And Heechul Hyung was supposed to be in the MC waiting room.” Shindong stated. “We thoughts he would escape with them.”

Young Chul nodded trying to understand the situation.

“Before the fire alarms went off I went to find Heechul Hyung.” Donghae spoke up. “I just wanted to speak with him since he wasn’t performing with us that day. But then the fire alarms went off and everyone was panicking, so the both of us ended up running towards the SuJu waiting room. We arrived just as they were about to run towards the exit. Teuk Hyung saw me then I think. And me and Hyung just joined the members but we were in the back.”

“By that time smoke was filling up and there were flames everywhere.” Ryeowook said. “I thought the ceiling would collapse.”

The members nodded while the cast looked at them with mild horror.

•••

Ryeowook couldn’t breath.

He mildly registered Siwon’s iron tight grip on his wrist dragging him along the never ending corridors as fumes filled the air. He somehow managed to realize that Shindong was leading the way out of the flames with Leeteuk right behind him, occasionally yelling in encouragement which would lead into a coughing fit. 

Leeteuk ran alongside them, looking over his shoulder often, trying to see if everyone was intact, but with smoke filling up the narrow passage and his eyes stinging with the strain it was an useless effort.

Ryeowook barely noticed that Siwon was running with one hand firmly holding his and the other tightly gripping Yesung, who looked seconds away from passing out. He felt his lungs burn due to the lack of oxygen, while Siwon just barreled his way through the corridor, sweating dripping from his brows.

“Just a little further.” A voice rasped out from behind him.

Ryeowook recognized Hyukjae’s voice immediately. It was followed by a couple of grunts which were slightly distorted due to the smoke, but Ryeowook had no doubt that it belong to Kyuhyun. After all, Ryeowook had spent more than half of his life with the duo.

If he had looked back, he would have seen Hyukjae supporting most of Kyuhyun’s weight as they ran desperately in an attempt to escape the ever growing fire. 

But he didn’t look back. Not until they were all safely out of the building. Until Ryeowook was on the cement ground outside the KBS building, panting as his lungs screamed for oxygen. When he did turn around he saw Hyukjae bending down his handing on his knees completely out of breath as Kyuhyun groaned in the floor next to his feet.

Ryeowook was Hyukjae’s face light up in a gummy smile that he was famous for, his eyes twinkling with relief until he turned around. It was then utter terror decorated his face. Hyukjae glanced about frantically, panic seizing him quite visibly.

Ryeowook was still on the ground, breathing heaving with a pounding headache looking at Hyukjae with complete confusion as the latter start to shake. Fear began to rise up as he stared at the latter blankly.

“Donghae.” 

It was a panicked whisper that the older whimpered in distress that managed to cause Ryeowook heart to come to a painful pause.

He looked about him just as frantically, his vision failing him, causing him to be dizzy but he forced his eyes to open wider in hopes that he would glimpse familiar brunette locks somewhere among the group.

Ryeowook’s inability to breath, the headache that was completely destroying his mind and his muscles that seemed to burn with exhaustion were all forgotten when he realized that no, Donghae wasn’t with them.

•••

“While we were running I was in the back of the group.” Heechul said taking over the tale. “I was involved in an accident years ago, and my legs had never been in the best state after that but while we were running I could feel my legs giving up. I just kept ignoring the pain and tried to follow the others.”

Heechul looked up and glanced at his audience. The cast members looked at him with various degrees of pity and sympathy. As his friends they felt sorry for his struggles.

His fellow members however were different. Each of the Super Junior members gazed back at him with respect and pride. As his family they knew the strength it had taken him to overcome all his struggles.

“It was when we were about to take a sharp turn at the end of the corridor that I felt myself falling.” Heechul said with a soft smile adorning his face. “I fell and both my knees hit the ground pretty hard. I didn’t scream for help so the others didn’t see me when they took the turn in the corridor.”

He widened his smile in an futile attempt to rid the guilt that was painting the faces of the other members. 

“But somehow Donghae had seen me fall and he was hauling me back to my feet and practically dragging me along.” He said.

“I was holding onto Hyung’s sleeve when we were running. I felt him fall behind me.” Donghae interrupted. 

“And then when we finally took the turn the other members had already gone far ahead. We couldn’t even see anything because of the fumes.” Heechul continued.

“There were flames across the corridors and the structures seemed to be dismantling.” Donghae added softly.

“I managed to run a couple more steps till I felt my legs give up. Then Donghae was dragging me along while my legs went completely numb. And it hurt a lot too and I ended up telling him to save himself and comeback for me later.”

Heechul turned to Donghae who was sitting behind him and rested his hand on Donghae’s table. The latter reached out and squeezed his hand.

“But this brat just refused to give up and actually swore at me and yelled to get in his back so he could give me a piggyback ride.” Heechul said fondly.

They laughed at the exclamation. 

“Stubbornness is one of Donghae’s more endearing qualities.” Yesung said laughing.

“And being a brat is part of his job description.” Kyuhyun added snarkily.

Donghae glared at both of them playfully, while behind him Leeteuk was glancing at all of them with a pride that only a parent could feel when their children thrived.

“Anyway, I think I passed out soon after.” Heechul said guilt adorning his features. “Donghae had to find the way out of the fire by himself while carrying me. I was just a useless lump thy slowed him down.”

“That’s what he build all the muscles for Hyung.” Shindong said sparking another around of laughter. “He was training to be the next Kim Jong Kook anyway.”

“Hyung could audition for Hulk with those new muscles.” Kyuhyun said.

This distracted the cast members for a few seconds, no one but the SuJu members noticing Leeteuk bowing his head down in grief or Heechul hastily wiping away a few stray tears. 

But not even the Super Junior members noticed Hyukjae tense up completely at the image of Donghae stumbling in a burning building alone. 

Or so he thought until Donghae, who was sitting next to him, rested his hand upon his thigh, gently reassuring Hyukjae. Unknown the rest of them and the viewers Hyukjae rested his hand on top of Donghae’s under the table, interlocking their fingers, his thumb caressing the others palm almost reminding himself that Donghae was right here, with him, alive and safe.

Shindong and Kyuhyun, who realized that Heechul had composed himself directed the conversation back to him.

“That’s it really. The rest are just bits and pieces.” Heechul said vaguely. “I remember voices though. I think I regained consciousness for a few seconds when Siwon carried me. And then I woke up in the hospital.”

(A/N: Please let me know if this makes any sense... I had it all planned out in my head but now that I think about it I probably should have mentioned somewhere that this would alternate between the past and the present... Please let me know if you understand my style of writing... I'll try to make it better in the future.)