✞* the distance between ╯
⊰ ◝ @rksungmin ⊱
maybe it’s because daniel knows. it’s a little funny: how it seems like he and sungmin understand each other so well without being particularly close. daniel understands sungmin, at least.
he understands the signs of something wrong during training: a little quieter, a little less focused, a little more scolding from the coaches and a little more resignation. sungmin just doesn’t seem like himself.
daniel knows because he’s been there many times; sometimes it feels like more often than not. he was there after woojin’s departure, and then kenta’s, a failed evaluation and now sungwoon’s enlistment. he feels like he’s finally emerging-- finally seeing the light of day again, but maybe life is always an equal exchange, and it’s at the cost of sungmin plunging into the darkness instead. no, surely they can both be happy at the same time, can’t they?
it’s after a dance lesson, difficult for both of them, that daniel approaches him. he catches him before he leaves the practice room. “hey, sungmin,” he begins, and then hesitates, second guessing himself for a moment. he already spoke up, so he might as well see it through. “is everything okay...? you just seem...a little down, i don’t know. you don’t have to talk about it if anything is wrong, just know that...” what? “i’m here to listen, if you ever need anything.”