Ryeowook didn't know what to say to the torn maknae, he himself being just as confused as Kyuhyun was. All he could do - all he knew how to do, was pull Kyuhyun into another quick hug before helping him up and leading him to the bathroom to clean his wound. Ryeowook stayed silent as he carefully treated and dressed the cut, his mind spinning.

He bit his lip, setting a fixed stare on the bandages. He couldn't meet Kyuhyun's gaze. It broke his heart to see his best friend looking so tortured, so utterly confused. He had known that Kyuhyun hadn't been in the best condition recently. He'd learned from the other members what they'd seen that day on the freeway, and some time later, Sungmin let the others know that Kyuhyun had been having nightmares. Ryeowook hadn't thought much of it at the time, but now he knew that Kyuhyun's condition was much worse than he and the others originally thought.

He himself felt utterly useless. He should have known that Kyuhyun had been having a hard time. What kind of best friend was he that he couldn't help Kyuhyun when he so obviously needed it? Putting a band-aid on the other man and sending him to bed was seriously all he could do? It was ridiculous.

He shuffled with a broken, dejected gait as Ryeowook escorted him back to his room. "Get some rest, alright, Kyu?" Ryeowook said tiredly, exhaustion creeping into his tone. "We have to be up in a couple of hours for practice."

Kyuhyun nodded, shuffling into the room. Ryeowook thought he was going to close it without saying goodnight, and was already turning to leave for his own room when Kyuhyun turned around, gripping the door tightly.

"Wookie, I..."

"Yes?"

"I-I'm sorry. About... all this. I'm so, so sorry."

Ryeowook bit his lip. He was suddenly glad that there were no lights on in the hallway. He didn't want Kyuhyun to see the sudden rush of tears that flooded his eyes.

"Don't be."

"Alright, stop!"

The catchy, upbeat song that filled one of the many practice rooms in the SM company building was suddenly cut off, and the room was plunged into silence, other than the tired gasps of the members. They had been running through that certain set for forty-five minutes now at the choreographer's request, but he still wasn't satisfied.

He stood in front of the mirror, arms crossed across his chest, silently glaring at the eleven young men before him. On the end of the formation, Kyuhyun averted his gaze, too ashamed to meet the choreographer's - or anyone else's - eyes. He knew that he was the reason they'd stopped the music. If only he hadn't stumbled on that previous set...

The choreographer beat down on the other members first, mercilessly throwing out comments and criticisms. Each member would quickly nod their head and mutter a quick apology. Finally, he came to Kyuhyun.

"Kyuhyun-ssi..." the choreographer began. His eyes were flaming. "I don't know what's wrong with you today. You're usually so on top of it, even if you are a little slow, but today you're all over the place! Your dancing is dirty, your movements are floppy, you have no expression, there's too many to list! Get your act together, Kyuhyun-ssi, or we'll have to call this practice off until you do."

"Yes, sir," Kyuhyun whispered softly. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head again and then walked away to discuss something with Eunhyuk. Donghae sidled up to Kyuhyun, who had his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. "Ya, Kyu, what's up? You seem distracted, and tired."

"I'm fine..." Kyuhyun muttered. He had a hard time getting back to sleep after Ryeowook sent him off, afraid that he might sleepwalk again.

Donghae frowned, then, with a teasing smirk, "Old age finally catching up to you?"

Kyuhyun took his hands off his knees to throw a half-hearted glare at Donghae. "Like it ran over you years ago, hyung? I don't think so," he snapped back, putting extra emphasis on the title.

"I'm still a nimble, handsome, charming young man!"

"If you were nimble, you would dance on stage lightly, like Eunhyuk-ssi, but you dance like you're going to break the stage. Careful, you might damage your knee cartilage, hyung."

"Yah, you brat!" Donghae gave him a signature fishy-pout. He appeared unhappy, but he was actually glad to know that Kyuhyun still his usual sharp-tongued fire, as little as it was. The choreographer called for them to get into position again, and he affectionately mussed the younger's hair before returning to his spot in the formation.

Kyuhyun took a deep breath as Eunhyuk counted off, then threw himself into his dance. He focused all his attention on synchronizing his movements with the others, making sure that they were exact to the last finger. He couldn't burden his hyungs anymore than he already had. They had wasted so much time already...

Suddenly, a dance move came up where they had to turn. As Kyuhyun spun around, he saw something on the wall. It looked like a giant spider, practically a foot long, with hairy legs and protruding pincers. It scuttled across the wall so fast that Kyuhyun wasn't even sure he had actually seen it, but it was enough to grab his attention for a moment, and a moment was all a disaster needed.

Kyuhyun tripped over himself, long legs tangling beneath him. He knocked into Kangin, startling the bulky man and knocking him over. With a sigh, the choreographer called for the music to be stopped yet again.

"Aish, get off me, maknae!" Kangin snarled, harshly pushing the other man away from him. Kyuhyun stumbled to get back on his feet, face red, muttering a torrent of apologies. The other members had a dull look on their faces, half from tiredness; Kyuhyun didn't want to think about what the other half meant.

The choreographer massaged his temples, sighing once more. He looked up and stared directly at Kyuhyun, disappointment lining his features. Kyuhyun felt guilt wash over him. The choreographer then looked away and addressed a group as a whole.

"I don't think I need to be here any longer. You all know what you have to work on, and until then, you're staying here until you get it right."

He glared at them with a look of finality, expression saying that it would not be discussed any further, then turned and walked out of the room. The members bowed ninety degrees in synchronization, and Kyuhyun bowed a full ninety-five.

Leeteuk looked at his watch and called for a short break. The members groaned in relief and walked to the side of the room, grabbing waters and towels. Kyuhyun started after him, but Leeteuk stopped him, shaking his head. He pointed to the mirror and said one word. "Practice."

Kyuhyun's heart sunk. He was just as tired as the other members, didn't he deserve a break too? Why was Jungsu-hyung being so mean to him? Kyuhyun held his tongue, biting back a protest, and nodded in resignation. He walked dejectedly over to the mirror and began to go over the moves they learned, face burning. He tried hard to ignore the glances of pity the members gave him, but they were being so obvious...

"You're doing that move wrong."

Kyuhyun looked up with a frown. Eunhyuk quietly joined him and patiently began to go over the moves with him. Kyuhyun looked at him gratefully. He knew that their dancing machine was probably more tired than the rest, since he pushed himself to perfect the moves more than anybody, but he sacrificed resting time to help him out. Kyuhyun pushed the image of the hairy creature as far away from his mind as he could to concentrate on the moves. It was the least he could do for his hyung.

An hour and a half later, the eleven idols tiredly stumbled back into their dorm. After many, many repetitions, they had finally performed to Leeteuk's satisfaction, and he quickly ended the rehearsal. They all dozed on the car ride back to the dorm, Kyuhyun mercifully having no nightmares. Some of the other members immediately headed to the kitchen for some food, but Kyuhyun was too tired to eat. All he wanted to do was go back to sleep, and he started heading for his room.

"Kyuhyun-ah."

Kyuhyun looked up. Leeteuk was facing him, his arms crossed against his chest. He was leaning against the doorframe to his own room, and he jerked his head, motioning the maknae inside.

"A word, please."

Kyuhyun nodded miserably and followed Leeteuk in, head ducked in shame.

"Sit."

Kyuhyun dropped onto the bed beside Leeteuk, folding his hands and placing them on his lap. His head was still lowered, and he prepared himself for the verbal lashing by the leader. To his surprise, he found his hands suddenly taken in between the leader's, and he looked up, shocked, at Leeteuk's sad face.

"Maknae-ah... I don't know what to do."

Kyuhyun gulped. "I-I'm sorry Teukie-hyung, I promise I'll work harder next ti-"

"Be quiet when I'm talking." Kyuhyun immediately closed his mouth. "That wasn't what I meant. When I first took on the position of leader, I had only two duties. One was to keep the group together. And the other is to take care of my dongsaengs, whatever they needed. I swore to myself that I would do whatever was in my power to complete those two duties...

"But then, Hangeng left us after the lawsuit, and then Kibum left us to pursue acting..." Leeteuk gulped, then continued in a bitter tone. "So that means I already failed one duty. And right now, I'm failing the other too."

"Hyung..."

"I care about you, Kyuhyun, you know that right? We all care about you. If you have a problem, we want to help you however we can. And we want you to tell us whenever you have a problem."

Leeteuk's grip tightened. "Kyuhyun, don't you trust us?"

Kyuhyun's mouth dropped open. "Hyung, of course I do!"

"Then why don't you tell us if you're having a hard time? Why don't you tell us anything? You've always kept quiet about everything. You didn't say anything when Heechul got into an accident, or when the fans didn't accept you for a while, or even after our own accident..."

Kyuhyun flinched at the mention of the car crash. He didn't like thinking about it, period. A small, bitterly sad smile slipped onto Leeteuk's face.

"When our maknae doesn't tell us anything about what he's feeling... it makes me feel like a terrible leader."

Kyuhyun shook his head vehemently. "Teukie-hyung, no! You're a great leader. It's just-" He took a look at Leeteuk's teary, hopeful face and changed his mind. "...It's nothing."

The leader's face dropped once more. "See, Kyuhyun. That's exactly what I'm talking about. You always look like you have something on your mind, something that's worrying you, but you never say it. Do I have to beg you every time to say what's on your mind?"

Again, Kyuhyun shook his head, feeling guilty, but still he didn't say anything.

"You've been so tired lately too... Don't try to hide it from me, I can see it on your face. Me, being the leader, and I can't figure out what's troubling my maknae." Leeteuk let out a small chuckle. 

"I'm a failure as a leader and a hyung."

At his words, Kyuhyun grabbed Leeteuk's hand and squeezed it to show his sincerity. "Teukie-hyung, don't say that! You're not a failure at either; I couldn't ask for a better leader." Kyuhyun noticed Leeteuk's eyes growing watery and spoke quickly to get all he had to say out before the older man started crying, "It's just that everybody else is already tired and they all have worries of their own. I just don't want to become another burden to them..."

Leeteuk shook his head. "Remember this, Kyu-ah: you will never be a burden to your hyungs, never. Understand me?"

Kyuhyun nodded, getting teary himself. "I understand."

Leeteuk squeezed Kyuhyun's hand tightly, and he reciprocrated the affectionate gesture. "Hyung?"

"Yes, Kyu"

"I'm sorry I made you frustrated..."

The older man sniffled and smiled, gripping Kyuhyun's hand tightly. "Now how can I get mad at you when you're like that? Just promise me you never hide anything from us, and you'll tell us whenever something's wrong, 'kay?"

Kyuhyun bit his lip, thinking back to the previous night. Something had obviously been very wrong lately, but despite Leeteuk's words, Kyuhyun couldn't bring himself to tell them. He didn't think they would believe him, and why would they? How could they believe something so... unbelievable? How could he tell him that he'd been having someone else's dreams?

I say this from personal experience, Kyuhyun's episode with the spider in the practice room isn't made up.

Several times before, I saw a gigantic rat running across my dining room table. It was only just for a moment, and then it'd disappear when I look again.

I searched it up, and I think it had something to do with getting too little sleep, so your brain starts making stuff up.

I was all alone too, so it was super scary >< 

And so today's lesson, kids: don't sleep too late! ^^

On that happy note, enjoy the sentimental kyuteuk and please leave comments!