All the other girls couldn’t hold their tears as soon as they were as far away from the stage as possible. Sooyoung, however, stood off by the side on her own, arms folded over her chest tightly and lower lip caught harshly between her teeth. Glassy tears balanced in her big brown eyes, not daring to fall because she wasn’t going to cry.

Anything their manager or their sunbaes were saying to comfort and calm them couldn’t wash away the pain and humiliation of the black ocean they’d just experienced. Of having to smile, sing and dance while the entire audience remained silent, only breaking their silence every once in a while to chant another groups name.

Taeyeon’s face was buried in her hands as she sobbed heartbreakingly into Junsu’s chest, the latter helpless, as all he could do was hold onto her tightly and smooth hair hoping it would somehow ease the tears. What could any of them really say when some of the culprits were members of their own fan club Cassiopeia? Changmin was never good with crying girls, let alone girls in general and stood off to the side with Kyuhyun, looking at the floor not really sure what to do. Micky gently rubbed Hyoyeon’s back, as she hid her face in her hands facing the wall, only evidence of her weeping was her shaking shoulders.

Jessica had found herself the furthest corner of the room, curling into herself crying, not wanting anyone near her. Sunny was another one that held strong, a tear or two escaped her but otherwise remaining silent, trying to comfort Tiffany who had always been the softest of the girls as she cried into her lap. Yuri, Yoona and Seohyun hugged each other tightly, the youngest cocooned in between the former two.

Yunho eyes never left Sooyoung, wondering if she was going to break or forcibly keep it in like she was doing. How hard she was biting her lip was harsh enough to draw blood, fist clenched so tightly that her knuckles stood stark white against her skin. The tears remained balanced in her eyes, fixed on the opposing wall. It wasn’t something he wanted to see, her crying like the rest, it was heart breaking but it was scary to see her hold it in. That’s why he found himself moving toward her, and putting an arm round her shoulder –an action that caused her to tense further.

Sooyoung didn’t want to cry, because she was sure that when she began she wouldn’t stop. It would be loud, ugly, and angry and she wouldn’t stop. So many emotions pulsed through her but the most prominent was anger, hurt and worst of all defeat. She understood that in life there were people who would like her, love her, dislike and hate her, but did they really hate them that much to humiliate them in such a way? She could hear the others crying but couldn’t dare look at them, because that would mean breaking herself and she just couldn – An arm fell round her shoulders and Sooyoung felt her barely maintained dam threaten to break, and tensed but he remained firm.

He was met with only the slightest resistance as he pulled her to him, but her arms remained crossed tightly against her chest and body stiff as a rod. Even as he wrapped his arms around her slight frame, she forcibly remained wound not giving in.

It was warm, comforting and strong being in his arms that it practically begged her to let go and cry already. She was safe there from the anger and humiliation and defeat. When the first tear began to fall, she shut her eyes tightly –No, I’m not going to cry. But, all it took was his softly whispered words in her ear for Sooyoung to finally give in a cry.

“Oppa’s here,” It was a gentle urge to just cry, spoken like a secret, because him just holding her tighter hadn’t worked. The words seemed enough to soften her restraint, as her frame became malleable in his arms and slender arms fell loose against her side, face buried in his shoulder. It wasn’t as loud as he’d readied himself to hear, because that would have been too painful to bare –their cheerful little princess crying so harshly. The sound so low that it was easily muffled by the fabric and his shoulder, as her shoulders began to shake, tears soaking his shirt.

Jaejoong had stepped closer to the DBSK leader, finding himself at a loss of what to do. The other two, Yoochun and Junsu, were already occupied calming their hoobaes, and Changmin looked akin to a scared kicked puppy, avoiding watching anything around the room and reserved to fixing the floor with all the attention his mismatched eyes could offer, alongside an equally dazed Super Junior maknae.

So, the oldest of the Rising Gods of the East followed Yunho. It wasn’t a secret that the cheerful princess of SNSD held the softest spot, out of the nine, in Yunho’s heart, so it wasn’t really surprising that she was the one he had sort out to comfort. When he met his leader’s eyes, they told him all he needed to know, giving him a nod of understanding before he began gently smoothing the girl’s silken locks. Humming, My Little Princess, like a lullaby.

When her limp arms wrapped around his waist, Yunho instinctively held her tighter. But what seemed to be working quite a bit was Jaejoong’s soft hum, to which he thanked him with a small smile. He didn’t know whether his friend did it absentmindedly, or purposely to drown out the song that came floating in from the stage, but he was grateful, joining him as Jaejoong began singing softly.

A/N: When I heard that the ‘Black Ocean’ actually happened to the girls it was rather heartbreaking, especially after watching it and seeing them perform the song like nothing was wrong. Not to mention the fact that they had wanted to quit after it, but Yunho was one of the people that talk them out of giving up.

Title is inspired by My Little Princess by DBSK and Look After You by The Fray