Kyuhyun lay face down on the bed, sighing deeply. The day had been long, and the new choreography was hard to learn. He heard soft footsteps approaching, and smiled as he felt Zhoumi's hands gently massage his back. Zhoumi wasn't tired from dancing, because he hadn't been practicing with the group. It hurt Kyu's heart to know that the older boy wasn't accepted.

He knew how it felt to be hurt and left out, and it pained him to know that Zhoumi and Henry were going through the same hardships that he had faced.

 

Kyu stood up to face the taller man, who looked worriedly at Kyuhyun, anxious that he might have hurt the younger boy.

"You should be practicing with us Mi, you're part of the group too!" He felt the anger rise in him as he said the words aloud, and tiny tears appeared in his eyes.

Zhoumi just looked at him with a sad expression. "Thank you Kyuhyun. That means a lot to me."

He reached out to hug the younger boy, and to hold him close against his chest. He wasn't just saying that to make Kyu feel better, he honestly treasured every kind word that came his way. Kyu nuzzled tighter, knowing that the kind boy had heard too many harsh words, and insults that no one deserved.

 

The haters had hurt him, and Kyu was worried for his friend. Worried that he was losing his smile. Normally, Zhoumi was a sunshine presence in the dorm, his smile lighting up the room when the others came back from practice. He always created a happy atmosphere. But, recently, he had taken to sitting quietly in his room until dinner. Everyone had noticed, but no one wanted to say anything, not wanting to intrude on problems that the boy might not want to talk about. 

Kyuhyun had seen him before, sitting in his room just staring at the wall whilst tears appeared in his eyes. He had gone into the room and hugged Mi, but the older boy hadn't told him what was wrong. He had just hugged back and cried softly.

 

Henry was also growing more quiet. Instead of bouncing around and playing with Donghae, he was practicing his violin more, and sitting quietly on the sofa. It would take a while for him to respond to questions, to break through his thoughts. Donghae would sit with him and talk to him about everything, but the younger boy would just nod quietly.

 

Leeteuk was worried, he knew that the silence was their way of slowly separating themselves from the group, their way of staying away from the haters.

But he didn't want that. He wanted them to feel as though they deserved the spaces in the group that they had worked so hard to get.

So he started to ask for more activities for them, for more Super Junior M variety shows. The two boys came alive on the shows, talking and laughing, their smiles bright. But when the show was over, they would retreat again, go back to their rooms and sit there.

 

Kyuhyun leaned closer and hugged Zhoumi even tighter, rubbing his back gently. "Please talk to me Zhoumi. You can't suffer alone, please let us help you. If you tell me what's wrong then maybe I can help to fix it."

The taller boy sat down on Kyuhyun's bed and slowly raised his eyes. Eyes that were full of pain and unshed tears. 

Zhoumi looked at Kyu, and then rolled back his sleeve carefully to reveal a large purple bruise on his arm. Kyuhyun gasped, and Mi quickly covered it again.

"Please don't say anything to the others Kyu!"

Kyuhyun shook his head. "We have to, you've been hurt! When did it happen?"

"I'm not telling you. Not if you're going to say about it to the other members.."

Kyuhyun sat next to Mi, and squeezed his hand comfortingly. "Okay, I promise I won't tell the others. Please tell me what happened Mi. Who did it?"

 

When Zhoumi told him, he already knew who was responsible. He just didn't want to believe that their fans could do something so terrible. That some of them wanted the group to be 13 so badly that they would hurt Zhoumi. 

When he learned that one of them had hit Mi as he was walking out of SM, it made Kyuhyun feel sick to his stomach. He held Zhoumi tenderly, careful to avoid hurting him further.

"Is that the only bruise?" His voice was gentle, not forcing Mi to answer.

The taller boy shook his head, and showed Kyu a large fading mark on his ankle, from where someone had tripped him up on purpose.

 

Kyuhyun rubbed his back gently, and squeezed his shoulder to comfort him.

"Do you cry a lot about it?" he asked quietly.

"No. If I started crying then I would never stop..." Zhoumi bit his lip to stop the tears from falling, and Kyu just sat with him quietly.

"If you want to cry then you should. It's good to cry, it makes you feel better afterwards. Don't cry alone though, come and cry to me. I don't mind if you wake me up, just come and lie next to me and I'll always listen to you."

Zhoumi raised his head at the soft sweet words, and rubbed his eye gently, letting a few tears fall as he did so. Kyuhyun wiped the tears away with the pad of his thumb, carefully drying the smooth skin.

"Really? You would be okay with me bothering you and crying on you?"

"Yes, it would be perfectly okay for you to do that. I don't want you to be alone Mi, hurting all by yourself. I've felt what you're feeling now, and having Ryeowook as a shoulder to cry on helped a lot. I want to help you Mi, to help you both. Everyone needs someone to cry to."

 

Zhoumi couldn't hold back his tears as he heard the lovely words. Reaching out for Kyu, he felt the boy embrace him and hug him tight. His tears were brushed away as they fell endlessly, and soft comforts were whispered in his ear as Kyu patted his back warmly.

"You'll be okay Zhoumi, we're all here for you. Cry all you need to, I'm right here for you."

 

After a while the sobs started to slow, but Kyuhyun still didn't stop rubbing his back comfortingly and whispering gentle words to the older boy. "Let me care for you Zhoumi, please come to me when you're hurt."

The taller boy hesitated, but then nodded shyly. "Thank you Kyuhyun." His voice was broken, but Kyu knew that the sobs were over. 

"Do you feel better now?" he asked, squeezing his hand gently.

Zhoumi nodded gratefully, and rubbed his arm where the bruise was still forming. Kyu took over, rolling the sleeve up and tenderly the purple mark. Looking at the bruise made his heart hurt, and he pressed a soft kiss to the mark, desperate to stop his pain.

 

He knew that the real bruises were emotional, that the boy's self-esteem was as damaged as his body. And, pressing a kiss to the boy's lips, he was determined to heal him.