Jake's POV

Everything was going well, perfect actually. Until it wasn't. We were on stage at an award show, in front of all of the best KPOP groups in the industry and many very influential people. We were performing 'Fever' and we were rocking it, the moves were sharp, our voices were stable and then I messed it up. I slipped during one of my moves and stumbled, causing Ni-ki to have to quickly help me out which made him slightly late for his next bit. We recovered quickly and it would've been hard to it was someone that wasn't in our group but I could tell and so could the other's, given the looks I received from them checking up on me. My breathing quicken and my heart was racing, but not in the good way. I felt my eyes well up but I held the tears back as we continued. As we finished the dance and did our ending poses, I felt a hand placed gently on the small of my back and I discretely turned my head to meet Sunghoon's eyes. I could see the worry in them and how nervous he looked but that just made me feel worse. I struggled to keep the tears at bay and I could tell he noticed as he slipped his hand into mine and squeezed it gently. I didn't squeeze back, to busy running that moment over and over in my head. I could've just made the group look bad in front of so many important people and made them not want us back here to perform. The minute we bowed and got off stage, I let the tears fall.

"Jake, hey Jake it's ok," Sunghoon said quickly as he wrapped his arms around me. Usually I'm all for hugs but right now his arms are making me feel suffocated and I could feel the panic creeping up on me. I tried to get away from him but he held me tighter as the other's all rushed over.

"It's ok Hyung, it was fine. No one will have even noticed and you were amazing with everything ese," Ni-ki said quickly as he walked over.

"What happened," Jay asked.

"He slipped during the choreo but I think there might've been something on the stage," Ni-ki replied.

"It's ok Jake, everyone make's mistakes," Heeseung said as he ruffled my hair. Every touch they gave me, made me feel worse and worse, it felt like my skill was crawling and itchy.

"H-hoonie. L-let go please," I asked quickly. He looked confused and didn't move his arms.

"Are you ok," he asked gently.

"I said let go," I yelled, shoving him as hard as I could so I wouldn't feel suffocated. My eyes went wide as I realised what I just did and everyone was looking at me with wide eyes. It didn't help, if anything I felt more suffocated. Everyone was frozen and quiet for a couple of seconds before it got too much and I ran. I heard them yell out at me to stop but I just kept running, dodging down halls until I finally got to one that was empty. My breathing was shaky and my vision was blurring so I quickly ducked into the first empty room I saw and fell to the floor, sobs finally ripping from my throat. My chest tightened and my throat constricted as I choked out sobs, everything hurt. My mind kept playing over that one moment and I imagined the reactions of the of everyone who were watching, imagining the disappointed looks on everyone's faces. I felt something sharp jab into my palms and I blinked quickly, looking down and barely making out the images of my fists clenched together before my vision blurred again. I started seeing black dots in the edges of my vision and I got worried. I need to try and calm down, I'm far too worked up right now. I tried to get my breathing back to normal but it wasn't working I felt the sudden urge to close my eyes and fall asleep when something was suddenly placed into my hands. I was so surprised that I held my breath and stopped crying. I blinked the tears away from my eyes and looked down to see a dog plushie in my hands. I was confused and sniffled slight as I gently ran my hands over the plushie and squeezed it gently. It was soft and comfortable so I quickly pulled it to my chest and hugged it close to me as the tears fell again, only this time I wasn't hysterical, I was just crying silently as I shoved my face into the plushie and let all my sadness out. I don't know why but it helped me calm down, I was still upset but my breathing was slowly settling down and my chest wasn't as tight. I brought my knees to my chest and squished the plushie in between them. After just sitting there for about 5 minutes, the tears finally stopped. I was still really upset and frustrated about what happened but it seemed that I had no tears left to cry.

"Do you want a hug." I jumped in surprise as the soft voice broke my thoughts and I turned my head with wide eyes to see two people sitting about 3 meters away from me and looking at me with gentle eyes. I immediately recognized the iconic duo, Nomin, Jeno and Jaemin from NCT. Oh, my, god!

"I uh, um." I cursed myself as I stuttered in front of them but I was in absolute awe of the older boys sitting in front to me, not to mention how embarrassed I was. They just saw me crying like a baby and they know doubt saw me stuff up the dance, god they must think I'm some stupid cry-baby who can't even do basic dance.

"Come here." I sniffled and looked up, not even realising I had started crying again. Jeno was holding his arms open from where he was sitting, an invitation for me to receive a hug. I hesitated. Part of me wants to because I mean, it's Jeno, the Jeno and plus, before I didn't want a hug because I felt suffocated but right now all I wanted was some comfort and a hug sounds pretty good. The other part of me was feeling too embarrassed to even think about it. I was silent for about 10 seconds but Jeno just sat there with his arms open and an encouraging smile, waiting for me to make a decision. I think it was the fact that he was just waiting for me and not rushing my decision that helped me decide. I slowly shuffled over to him, the plushie still in my arms and let him pull me into a side hug. A couple of seconds later, another pair of arms wrapped around my waist and a head was rested on my shoulder, meaning I was wrapped up in a hug from both sides. My heart started beating slightly quicker except this time it was because I couldn't believe this was happening, not because I was panicking. We sat there for a couple of minutes, me getting some comfort and them just quietly giving it to me.

"Wanna tell us what made you so upset," Jaemin asked as we pulled apart after a little while. Jeno still kept his arm around my waist and Jaemin was running his hand through my hair slowly. I was surprised at how comfortable I was feeling around them, they really do make everyone feel happy and safe.

"Not really," I replied quietly. I don't even know why they're being so nice to me, I mean they probably don't even know who I am.

"Come on Jake, you were really upset and you can talk to us," Jeno said encouragingly. Ok, so they do know my name?

"You know my name," I said slowly.

"Well obviously, you're my favourite member from Enhypen. I love watching you perform," Jeno said with a grin. My heart skipped a beat as he said that. He likes watching me perform?

"Yeah, same here. You were great earlier by the way," Jaemin added.

"I was," I asked slowly.

"Are you kidding? You were amazing. Those moves you and the boys did on the stage were great," Jeno said as Jaemin nodded quickly. I grinned at their praise but then I remembered what happened and my fell.

"Uh, uh, what was that," Jeno asked quickly as he shuffled over a bit so he was facing me properly.

"What was what," I asked slowly.

"You were smiling and then you went sad," he said.

"Oh it's nothing don't worry about it. Shouldn't you be out there sitting down with the rest of your group," I asked them.

"Nah, we actually came here because it was a bit too loud and Jaemin needed a break from it. Taeyong told us to just come back here and settle down for a bit. He said he'll let us know if we're needed," Jeno told me.

"And it's obviously isn't nothing. You can talk to us Jake, we're here for you," Jaemin said gently.

"But why? I'm not from your group, I'm not even from your company," I pointed out.

"That doesn't matter. You're an idol and you're a good person. We want to help you and plus, there isn't really much for us to do. So spill the tea sis." I chuckled at Jeno's attempt at an Aussie accent but it made me feel better.

"I slipped," I said with a sigh and their eyes immediately widened. Here it goes.

"Oh my god, are you hurt," Jaemin asked quickly as he started looking all over me.

"What, no," I said confused.

"Oh, but you slipped," Jaemin replied.

"No, not like that. I just, I slipped on stage during the routine which cause Ni-ki and I to be off time and I made us look like fools," I said sadly as I looked down to the floor. I heard a muffled snort and then some laughter and I was shocked. Sure I knew it was bad but I didn't expect them to laugh at me, I thought they were being nice?

"It's not funny," I said frowning as I looked up at Jeno. He immediately slapped a hand over his mouth and stopped laughing.

"I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you. But first of all, when did you slip," he asked me.

"During the last chorus," I replied with a frown.

"Yeah, nope. I didn't see it at all so it obviously wasn't bad," Jeno said shaking his head.

"I didn't see it either so that means it definitely wasn't bad. If two trained dancers can't notice it, then it wasn't bad," Jaemin added. Their words did comfort me because they are great dancers but I still knew that it was bad.

"Let me show you something Jake," Jaemin said as he pulled his phone out. He was doing something on it for a minute or two before he turned it around and I noticed that he had a video pulled up. The minute Jeno saw it, I saw him groan and I was surprised to see his face go bright red.

"What's this," I asked them.

"This is video from a show we did back in 2018, I want you to watch it," Jaemin said.

"Just don't laugh at me," Jeno said quietly.

"Hey, you laughed at him," Jaemin said.

"I wasn't exactly laughing at him, more so laughing because it was ridiculous that he could ever think he didn't do well," Jeno replied with a pout. I smiled and blushed at his words.

"Anyway, just watch this. Jaemin's right, it might make you feel better," Jeno added as he pressed play. I sighed and started paying attention to the video that began playing. I gasped as about 5 seconds in, Park Jisung slipped and fell down really hard during the performance.

"Oh my god, was he ok," I asked as I quickly paused the video.

"Oh yeah, we all ended up just fine, only a couple of bruises," Jeno replied with a shrug.

"All," I asked slowly.

"Just keep watching," Jaemin said as he pressed play again. I continued to watch and my eyes were wide the whole time as I watched NCT members continue to slip and fall over on stage. I winced when Jeno took a particularly hard fall and it looked like he hit his head. I rubbed my hand over his knee and he chuckled slightly, ruffling my hair. Once the 3 and a half minute video was done, Jaemin put his phone away and turned to face me.

Jaemin's POV

After showing Jake the video of us all slipping and tripping on stage, I hoped he would be cheered up more. I put my phone away and turned to face him. I couldn't really tell what he was feeling as I don't know him well enough and he wasn't showing much emotion.

"Did you see that," Jeno asked him.

"Um yeah but I don't really get what the point of showing me was though," Jake replied slowly.

"The point was to show you that slipping or falling over doesn't matter. No one cares. They'll either laugh about it or be worried that you might be hurt and make sure you're ok," I told him.

"Yeah but you guys fell over because of the conditions of the stage, I just slipped because. Well I don't even know why I slipped," he said with a sigh as he looked back down. It saddened me to see the poor kid looking so sad. I know exactly what he's going through though, he's a rookie idol who is questioning his abilities and is worried about making his group fail. You'd be surprised by how many idols have gone through something like that, even Jeno and I had thoughts like that back when we first debuted.

"First of all, it doesn't really make a difference and second of all I'm pretty sure the stage here is a bit off. I almost tripped over twice during our performance earlier," I told him. That wasn't a lie, I actually did almost trip a few times but I'm not sure if it was because I wasn't feeling great or the stage wasn't in the best condition.

"Really? But I didn't even notice it," he said in surprise.

"That's because I covered it up well, just like you did," I replied firmly.

"You really didn't notice me slip," he asked quietly and I perked up a little, hearing the hope in his voice.

"Nope, not at all. I only know you slipped because you just told me," Jeno replied quickly. Jeno and I stayed quiet as Jake seemed to process our words and he was thinking hard.

"I was scared you know," he said quietly as he shuffled closer to Jeno and rested his head on his shoulder while slipping his hand into mine. I smiled slightly and squeezed the youngers hand in mine lightly. It seems to me like skinship helps comforting him, much like many or the younger one's from the Dream team.

"How come," Jeno asked him.

"We're a really new group and not every knows much about us. This is the first award show that we've been invited to perform at so people are going to be judging us and that performance is what they'll always think back to when they think of Enhypen. When I slipped on stage and made Ni-ki late, I panicked I guess. I just felt so bad, like I let the team down and like a, a-."

"Like a failure," I said gently. He turned to look at me and I could see the confusion on his face.

"What you've got is a classic case of RIA, Rookie Idol Atychiphobia," I told him with a small smile. If anything, that made him look even more confused so I turned to Jeno for him to explain.

"Atychiphobia is basically like a fear of failure. Us and the rest of Dream decided that we'd use the term RIA or Rookie Idol Atychiphobia when we're talking about new idols who get really stressed and are worried about not doing performing well enough for their group, of failing," Jeno explained.

"Wait, so this has happened to other people," Jake asked as he perked up a little.

"A lot of idols go through it when they first debut and want to do well. Both Jeno and I went through it back when we first debuted with NCT," I told him.

"So what I'm feeling is normal," he asked slowly as he bit his lip.

"Completely. But what you need to know is that it may be normal but that doesn't mean you just keep it to yourself. The only reason I managed to get through my bit of RIA was by confiding in my band and letting them help me. Keeping stuff like that to yourself can do some serious harm," I said firmly, trying to push the point forward.

"Like you running into here alone without telling your leader or Hyungs where you are, that was really silly. If Jaemin and I weren't here, you could've gotten hurt. I know that if we didn't intervene you would've been to worked up to calm down and you would've passed out. Then no one would have known where you were and there would've been a mass panic and you would've been vulnerable and alone and anything could've happened. And look at your palms," Jeno said. I watched as Jake furrowed his eyebrows and lifted his hands up, finally noticing the crescent shaped indents on his hands that were coated in dry blood.

"Did I do that," he asked, his eyes wide.

"Yeah, you were squeezing your hands really tight before we gave you the plushie," I said, patting the toy on the head.

"Oh, well I'm sorry about that and I'm sorry for bothering you," he said quickly.

"There's no need to be sorry Jake, we're happy to help," Jeno replied with a shrug. It was silent for a few seconds before Jake's eyes suddenly went wide and he gasped. He jumped up quickly and started searching his pockets, causing Jeno and I to also stand quickly.

"Oh no, the boys are going to be so worried. I just shoved Sunghoon and ran off crying and I've been gone fo-."

"It's ok Jake, we messaged Jaehyun to tell Jungkook to let Jungwon know that you were safe and would join them when you could," Jeno told him with a small chuckle. I smiled at Jake's cuteness as he let out a big sigh and relaxed completely, leaning against me so much that I had to quickly wrap my arm around his waist to make sure he wouldn't fall. I quickly dug my fingers into his side softly, making him burst out laughing and try to get away from me. Jeno caught on quickly and joined in, tickling his stomach. Pretty soon the whole room was filled with laughter as we ended up in a heap on the floor just giggling. I always love hearing Jeno's laugh so that made me happy but I was so glad to hear Jake happy and laughing rather than crying and sobbing.

"How're you feeling now Jakey," I asked gently. I cooed internally when I saw his cheeks go bright at the nickname. Oh well, it's a cute nickname.

"I'm feeling a lot better. You guys really helped me. Thank you Sunbaenim's," he said bowing down.

"Please tell me you didn't just do that," Jeno groaned as he quickly grabbed Jake's shoulder and pulled him back up.

"Do what," Jake asked in confusion.

"Call us Sunbaenim. Friends don't use Sunbaenim, they use Hyung," Jeno said rolling his eyes.

"H-hyung? W-we're friends," Jake asked slowly.

"Duh, of course. We don't just spend time with any random people," I told him gently.

"But you guys are like 2 years older than me and you're not even in the same company as me." Aw, he's literally so adorable.

"He's so cute, can we keep him," I quickly asked Jeno in Chinese. Considering the fact that we have quite a few Chinese members in our team and Lucas has been trying to teach everyone Chinese, Jeno and I have learnt a thing or two but we don't really speak it in public much.

"No Jaemin, we can't keep him," Jeno replied rolling his eyes.

"It doesn't matter how old we are Jake, and years isn't even that long," Jeno said, quickly switching back to Korean.

"What were you guys just talking about," he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, Nana said he wants to keep you but I told him it's probably not a good idea. I think the rest of Enhypen would miss you," Jeno said, making both Jake and I go bright red.

"Oh, uh nice," he said looking down and fiddling his fingers. My phone buzzed so I pulled it out of my pocket and checked my messages. It was from Taeyong.

Taeyong: Hey Nana, is Jake still with you and Jeno?

Me: Yeah we're with him right now. Why?

Taeyong: Enhypen are sitting next to us and I'm talking to Jungwon and Sunghoon. The poor kids are worried sick, they said he ran off crying

Me: I thought they were told that he was fine and with us

Taeyong: Yeah they were but there still worried which is understandable

Me: We're all good now so we'll be back there soon

Taeyong: Ok good

"I think we should head back now. Taeyong Hyung just messaged and said Enhypen is sitting with us and are still slightly worried about Jake," I said slowly. They both nodded quickly.

"But before we go, we need to clean up those palms," I said as I quickly pulled out the emergency first aid kit. It didn't take me long to disinfect his palms and wrap them up gently in bandages. As I fixed up his sleeves to cover his hands more and make it less-noticeable, Jeno and Jake exchanged numbers and seemed pretty happy about it.

"Alright new besties let's go," I said, rolling my eyes at how excited they both were. I slipped my hand into Jake's right one at the same time Jeno slipped his into his left one and that's how we walked down the halls and crept into the main hall. We walked quickly and quietly, ducking down low so we wouldn't be in anyone's way and we wouldn't get caught on any camera's. When we got to our row, the boys sniggered as we walked past and I ended up slapping Chenle and Jisung's legs as I walked past to get them to shut up. There was two chairs between Taeyong and Sunghoon from Enhypen and another on the other side of Tae. Jeno took the single seat while I took the one on the other side of Tae and Jake next to me.

Jake's POV

The minute I sat down next Sunghoon, he turned to me and his eyes went wide.

"Can I please hug you? I really need to hug you," he said quickly, his shoulders tense. I immediately leant over to him and wrapped him up into a hug. He immediately relaxed in my grip and he sighed gently. I felt him place a gently kiss on the side of my neck apprehensively and I smiled brightly.

"It's ok Hoonie, you don't need to be worried. I'm sorry about my outburst earlier, I just needed to have some alone time for a bit," I said quietly.

"I understand. We all feel like that sometimes," he said softly as we pulled apart.

"I'm really sorry for pushing you though Hoon, I shouldn't have done that," I apologized.

"It's fine Jake. I'm just happy you're safe," he said with a small smile as he grabbed my hand. The smile immediately slipped from his face when he noticed that bandages on my hands. I waited for him to say anything but he just massaged both of my hands gently through the bandages, an understanding look on his face.

"I'm so glad Jeno and Jaemin were there but if you ever need space like that, let me know and I'll sit in the room with you, so I can keep an eye on you and make sure you don't accidentally hurt yourself alright," he said softly. I just nodded and wrapped my arms around his arm and placed my head on his shoulder.

"This ok," I asked quietly.

"Of course. In fact keep it there, it's comfy," he replied resting his head on top of mine softly. Another hand was slipped into my right one and I looked to the right slightly to see Jaemin giving me a small smile. I smiled back and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. Earlier today I was the most scared I think I've ever been in my life but now, now I've got two new friends and everything's turned out just fine. I know the boys will probably be hanging off me for a bit and following me around to make sure I'm ok but I can live with that. After all, I do love them to the moon and back.

A/N

This was requested by @Anna and I hope it's what you wanted and you enjoyed it.

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