It was quiet except for the sounds of labored breathing and the regular beeping of the different machines attached to the patient lying on the bed. Chansung watched the green lines on the monitor, not really understanding what they meant, all he knew was that as long as the lines went up and down, his grandmother was going to be alright. His hands were tightly clenched on his lap, afraid to even hold his grandmother’s hand- afraid he might break her with how fragile she looked at that moment. A light mist poured out of the humidifier on top of the bed, and Chansung stared at the moisture that hung indefinitely there.

At the other side of the room, Junho sat quietly watching the monitors as well. A young girl had her arms folded on his lap, acting as a pillow for her head. Junho’s little sister, Hana, had fallen asleep a little while ago, before everybody else had arrived. His hand lay gently on her back, her hair, thinking how he was going to explain the situation to her.

Junsu stood at the other side of the room, leaning against the wall, hands inside his pocket. It was him who had made the call to the hospital and brought Chansung’s grandmother- their grandmother here. He, Junho, and Wooyoung were keeping the elder lady company while they discussed the next few routines they were planning when grandma collapsed while she was bringing them some snacks. Everything was just a blur after that.

Outside the room, Taecyeon and Jay were on the benches lining the corridor. Their conversation had taken a more serious tone with the way Taec’s eyes searched the floor for the answers they needed. He and Jay had been talking about what they could do to help out- Chansung’s grandmother was like family to the whole crew.

“There’s a schedule the night after tomorrow. Maybe we can get some money to help pay the bills from there,” Jay suggested, leaning his elbows on his knees. He had gotten the announcement for the underground dance-off, but they had decided not to participate.

“We don’t have a new routine,” Taec replied gravely.

“We can use a really old one, no one’s gonna remember that, ‘sides, I can freestyle somewhere in the middle... Gran’ needs us,” Jay added quietly.

Taec massaged his temples as he sighed. “What about practice? I have a few papers I need to get done, I’m already late by a few hours from deadline. I can’t fail this class, I can’t even get less than a 90 on the whole course if I plan to keep my scholarship.”

Hearing footsteps, both guys turned to see Nichkhun and Wooyoung walking towards them holding take-out food in plastic bags.

“We already called Renn-noona and Mai, so they should be here a little later, they said they’ll pass by after work, said they’ll see what they can do to help out too,” Wooyoung said as he sat down and pulled out the boxes of rice he and Nichkhun bought. The Thai passed the bags he was carrying over to Taec and silently disappeared into the hospital room.

Chansung felt a nudge on his arm, bringing him back to the present, and he looked up to see Nichkhun gesturing at the door, indicating that they should talk outside. Chansung’s eyes briefly flickered to his grandmother’s frail form, then to the little girl sleeping beside Junho, before nodding and pulling himself up. He felt a hand on his back as Junho joined him- he had moved his sister into a more comfortable sleeping position on the chair, his hoodie acting as her blanket.

Chansung met Jay’s eyes as soon as he was outside the room, and the eldest nodded at him to take a seat.

“We decided,” Jay said, meeting everyone’s eyes. “There’s a scheduled event the night after tomorrow, we can do an old routine for the meantime, I’ll text you guys with the place and time as soon as I get the confirmation we’re in. Let’s meet tomorrow to get the routine down.”

“Would that be enough time?” Nichkhun asked, handing out the rice-boxes. “Can’t we do one of the more recent ones?”

“I don’t think I can make it that night hyung,” Chansung said, keeping his eyes low. “Someone needs to watch over Gran’.”

“Hana too,” Junho added.

“But if we don’t go how are we gonna pay for Gran’s hospital bills?”

Chansung’s eyes flew up to meet Jay’s. “Hyung...”

“What? What did you think we were gonna dance for?” Jay replied with a smile.

Chansung’s face lit up as he smiled back, grateful his hyungs were there to help out. “Thanks...”

“Don’t thank us yet,” Wooyoung said grimly. “I work, remember? And I have a shift at Suka’s afterwards... If I get there early and skip my breaks, I might be able to come for the second half of practice...”

“I have to get my course work done first too, but I think I can make it to practice...” Taec muttered loud enough for the crew to hear.

“You’re not the only one with a job Wooyoung,” Junho said. “And I need to look after Hana too, now that Gran’s here.”

“Junsu, are you going to be busy too?” Nichkhun asked, looking over at the quiet Junsu who stood at the end of the bench the others were sitting on.

“Nah, I’m good for the rest of the day,” Junsu answered quietly.

“Right, so Jay, Junsu, and I are going to modify the routine while we wait for the rest of you-”

“You’re crew is screwed. Hey, that rhymes.”

All seven heads snapped towards the end of the corridor to see Renn and Mai approaching them. Renn had spoken first, announcing their presence. “Are you really going to be okay with a very recently slapped up routine?” Renn added as the two girls stopped in front of the group.

Mai nudged her friend lightly, giving her a look. “Are you sure you guys can put something together on such short notice? Especially since half of you won’t even be there on time, not to mention work and school and whatever else is going on in your lives.”

The boys looked at each other, the dark expression mirrored throughout the whole crew. Renn had been right, they were pretty much screwed.

“How is she?” Mai asked, interrupting the exchange and directing her question at them, or more specifically, Chansung.

“Gran’s fine. The doctors said she’ll need to stay here a few more nights so they can monitor her heart and blood levels... or something like that. She-”

“Oppa?”

The group turned to see Junho’s sister peaking out of the room, one hand on the handle, the other hand trying to rub the sleep from her eyes. Junho stood from his seat and picked her up, carrying her in his arms. “Go back to sleep, we’ll go home in a bit.”

She nodded before glancing around at the crowd of young adults standing in the corridor. “Chansung-oppa, Jay-oppa, Taec-oppa are here,” she commented sleepily. “And Renn-unni and Mai-unni...”

Junho turned to the others as he put a hand on the back of her head- she had already fallen back asleep on his shoulder. “We have to get home, Hana has school tomorrow. I’ll see you guys tomorrow night.”

“Yeah...it’s late, you guys should get home, I’ll stay with Gran’ here.” Chansung said, standing up. “Thanks again...”

“I can stay for a bit,” Junsu offered as he looked around. “Everyone here has either work or school, so you guys should head home.”

The others reluctantly nodded as Jay spoke up, “I’ll see you guys tomorrow night at the studio, make sure you check your texts. Let’s try not to screw up as much for the schedule. If you think about it, there’s a lot more on the line than just this...”

Author's Note:

Why hello there. We've finally updated. And yes, we have not forgotten about you, or this lovely fic. Continue on with the support, and we'll be sure to come up with chapters that will have you go WOAH. okay, maybe not WOAH but something really close.

PS. If you recognize some cameos, that's because there are certain roles that need to be fitted into that none of the applicants exactly fit into...you'll see what we mean when you've read through them. We'd like to also tell you that what we're aiming for is something as close to reality as possible, so every detail we've thought out thoroughly putting everything into order. So, yes. That includes true justified drama, and yes, the girls may or may not get together with their guys, *nudge nudge* We'll see. May the best dance crew win, and may the best girl win!