When Jihoon had woken up the next morning in his studio, he momentarily forgot how he had gotten there and he felt himself panic just a little bit until the memory finally hit him.

Just as he was about to get up, he felt the warm material of something draped over his back.

He slowly removed it and it barely took him a second to realize who the jacket belonged to. The familiar jacket that he had worn countless times and, though he would hate to admit, was one of his favourites of the owner's.

"Hoshi," he mumbled softly, infuriated that the boy had been in his studio the night before while he had been asleep.

His eyes darted around the desk before landing on the untouched pages of the new song he had been working on and he let out a sigh of relief when he was sure that the blonde boy hadn't touched it or basically anything else in the studio.

Another sigh escaped his slightly parted lips as he sat up and found that majority of the pain he had felt the previous day was gone. Only a dull ache remained and he was almost one hundred per cent positive that it was due to the position he had been in as he slept in his chair. However, he could ignore it quite easily as he was already used to it having fallen asleep in the same chair in the same studio countless times.

"Feeling better?" the voice asked from behind in what he swore was a knowing tone.

Frowning, Jihoon didn't bother turning in his seat as he questioned the person's presence. It was someone who was hardly in the studio unless he was invited so that their unit could practice a song or when the person asked for permission so that he could practice some things by himself. The person also happened to be someone who somehow managed to stay a regular victim of Woozi's guitar.

"Woozi~" the person said in a sing-song voice before continuing, "A little bird told me that you were in quite the amount of pain yesterday. So my question to you is, why didn't you tell us?" Seokmin asked, trying and failing to sound like some kind of bad guy which only earned a glare on the other's part as he turned in the chair and faced Seokmin. He may have been a victim a lot, but Jihoon still had a lot of respect for the guy and he often found it rude to have your back face someone while they spoke.

"DK, what are you even saying?" Jihoon asked as he stared at the younger boy.

DK sighed as he slowly made his way over to Jihoon and took the seat beside him, smiling (not his usual smile, but the one he often gave in serious situations and also the one that was rarely ever seen) as he told the smaller boy.

"Seungcheol had told us that you were in a lot of pain the morning and after that practice, it had worsened quite a bit. But you seem better now."

As Jihoon stared at him, he tried to figure out how Seungcheol had found out in the first place. However, only one name seemed to come to mind.

"Why didn't you just tell us? We're a team, aren't we?"

Jihoon sighed softly, more to himself than in response to what DK had said. He knew DK wouldn't understand. He knew none of them would. That was why he never planned on telling any of them.

So instead, Jihoon found himself asking, "Why do you care DK?"

The younger proceeded to turn and face him after having looked at the desk he as seated at. It was a desk Jihoon rarely allowed people to sit by as he sat in the main seat.

"I already told you, Jihoon," he said in reply and even though he didn't do the action, you could practically hear the way his eyes would have rolled when he said that. And even so, he continued (and finished off), "We're a team."

"You sound just like Hoshi. And its Woozi," he snapped, glaring at the boy who looked taken aback. He added another bit, muttering, "I meant, why do you suddenly care? You never did before. So why now?"

DK suppressed a smile and soon frowned at these words.

"Ji- Woozi," DK corrected himself quickly, "I've always cared."

"Sure you did."

"You're adorable, you know that?"

"I will get my guitar, DK," the boy informed him rather bluntly, eyes narrowing on the boy before him who had dared to call him adorable; something the group knew Jihoon did not like. He felt like it didn't suit him and that he was very far off from that. But for some reason, everyone thought otherwise. And most of the time, Jihoon swore it was his height. He knew it was his height.

"Okay, okay, I didn't mean to. I swear I didn't mean it, Woozi," DK said, raising his hands in front of him in mock surrender or protection- something he didn't even know himself.

"Nobody should be swearing, or even thinking about it," Jisoo's voice echoed through the near silence that had appeared after DK had spoken his words.

Both boys turned to look at the new arrival, both of them seeming displeased or upset with his presence. And only then did it occur to him that maybe he'd entered at the wrong moment and he'd interrupted something very important.

"Knock before you enter, Joshua," Jihoon asked irritably despite the fact that it was only ten in the morning.

It was odd to be in his studio at this time seeing as they tended to have practice around this time.

And suddenly, it clicked as to why he had found it weird that Seokmin and Jisoo were in the room. He turned his attention to them once again as he asked, "Did I miss practice or something?"

The two glanced at each other, frowning deeply. It hadn't occurred to them that maybe S.Coups hadn't informed the smaller boy about today. Considering the fact that Jihoon hardly ever forgot things, they knew their guess was correct.

"Practice was cancelled," Jisoo began, but he was immediately interrupted by Jihoon who looked shocked at the information he was receiving.

"Why? S.Coups never cancels practice."

Jisoo glanced at Seokmin as if to say that it was his turn to talk, not that the other minded.

"Well, he thought that since you were in pain and everyone else looked like they would collapse if we practiced today, we could use a day off. And he already spoke with the manager so everything is settled."

Jihoon stared at them. He couldn't figure out why S.Coups would do something like that.

Shaking his head to rid of the thought, he realized that they did indeed need a break; all of them aside from him. He felt that the current state he was in, he needed to practice more even if it were alone. He didn't want to have the rest of the members give up their day off to practice with him. So finally, he settled on the idea of not telling them at all.

When he stood up, he gained their attention.

"I'll be taking my leave now," the boy said, walking past the other two wordlessly, hands at his sides and his posture straight as he continued to walk. He didn't want them to see how badly he just wanted to slump and relax. He didn't want them to notice that he was too tired and in too much pain to move.

By the time Jisoo stepped forward to stop the smaller, he was already long gone out the door.

Jihoon was walking down the long, dark corridor in the direction of the practice room. He was frowning as he thought about who had informed S.Coups of his previous state. So many times, one name would pop into his head, but he wanted to so badly believe that maybe he was wrong and it was someone completely different.

When he arrived at the practice room did it hit him.

Hoshi.

It was the only explanation as he was the only one that Jihoon had opened up to. He was the only boy that Jihoon had allowed to see and hear how he was truly feeling. He was the boy Jihoon had let past his high walls.

He was upset. He felt betrayed for a reason he could not fathom.

He had been afraid that something like this would occur. Mentally, he made a side not to go and speak to the blonde and to not open up to him anytime soon if this would continue.

As he opened the practice room door, he froze.

What he hadn't been expecting (something he really should have, but due to his tiredness and lack of self-awareness in that moment) was to see the blonde headed fool in there.

The boy's back was to him, however, it was the hair that gave him away.

Jihoon stood and watched the choreography with great interest. He noticed the slight changes the boy made ad as he finished the dance, without even taking a breather, he went to the starting position and started the dance from the beginning.

It was when his head turned to the side that he noticed the lip movements; the boy saying something.

When Soonyoung made the smallest of mistakes, he would softly scold himself by saying, "No mistakes. It must be perfect!" and slapping his cheeks with both hands as if to slap the 'perfectness' into him somehow. Not that he could slap something that didn't exist into himself.

It was the first time Jihoon realized that maybe he wasn't the only one pushing himself to perfection. That maybe he wasn't the only one to push himself to the brink of exhaustion.

So Jihoon did the unexpected.

He took a small step forward until he was fully inside the practice room. He called out to Hoshi.

And he complimented the blonde.