Sicktember Day 8 - Aches and pains Fandom: ATEEZ Sickie: Yunho-mostly, but really all of them Caretaker: ATEEZ caring about each other Content: exhaustion, overexertion
“Okay,” Yunho says, clapping his hands together. They’d just finished their umpteenth run-through of a little concert set they were roped into. It’s promotions season, an album had released a week ago, and they were invited last-minute to perform their comeback set on a musical morning program. Filming begins tomorrow, which means today was all-day rehearsals.
Well, more like all afternoon. Yunho’s been finetuning their movements for the past five hours, taking individual time with each member to help them smooth out any odd moves. But after the fifth attempt at ironing out San’s footwork, he feels his back twinge. Watching San mimic the move, he stretches his back and ignores the twitch while he nods with approval. They’re done. Or rather, Yunho is done. His body aches almost to its core, and his limbs feel heavy.
“One more run?” Seonghwa asks, a little timid. His beanie has been abandoned, hair sweat-soaked. He’s got the moves down, but Yunho knows he just wants to prove it to himself. Yunho knows it’s just for personal reassurance, but he knows it wouldn’t hurt to do it again.
But when Wooyoung pouts, shoulders drooping, Yunho shakes his head.
“We’re meeting again in the morning. We should rest,” Yunho says. “I can still do a run-through with you though, hyung.”
That’s when Wooyoung shakes his head again, wiggling his arms. “It’s okay, Yunho-ya. Let’s do one more together.”
Yunho takes an extra moment to look at all of them, at a determination burning through all of their eyes despite the soreness in their bones, the exhaustion in their muscles, and they’re ready. So he nods. Turns on the camera.
“Last run for tonight. Make it count.”
The manager in the room with them hits play. They dance, as if they’re going to win the MAMA awards from their little dance room in KQ. The mirrors are a little fogged from the heat. There’s a musk of sweat and mixed colognes and soaps in the room. And they’re singing, just to be sure. Yunho doesn’t feel anything wrong; in game mode, he’s not thinking about anything but his next steps. Checking formations. Making sure everyone’s where they need to be. And it’s flawless.
When they stop, the manager turns off the camera. San and Yeosang both drop to their knees. Wooyoung rushes to his water bottle.
And that’s when Yunho feels his side throbbing in anger. Dehydration, hunger, overworking? Nothing some ibuprofen and dinner can’t fix. He sips his water as they monitor the playback, and their manager claps his hands, impressed with their last take.
Hongjoong grins to the group. He’s tired, Yunho can tell, wiping his hair with a white towel—or it was white, now streaked with various colors of hair dye that never fully washed out. But he gathers everyone’s attention, while Yunho starts the turn-off procedures. “Okay, everyone. We’ve got twelve hours. It’s… one now. We’re leaving at one in the afternoon to film. Rest, sleep, eat. And be in the lobby by 12:45.”
Recording saved. Camera turned off. Computer shutting down. Everyone grabs their bags and water bottles and towels, and Yunho watches them all leave before he flips off the lights. The manager closes the door, and they all split to head home. Yunho barely recalls his ride home, crammed in a car with five other members as the manager takes them home, while Seonghwa drives his dorm in his own vehicle. Goodbyes in the hall, and they split to their various dorms without much conversation or fanfare. Yeosang ends up in the kitchen finding a protein drink, and he hands a shake to Yunho and encourages him to drink it. Neither of them is particularly hungry, but the shake hits the spot for the tall dancer. He fills his water bottle from the fridge, then head to their separate rooms to sleep.
Yunho’s body feels like lead. He lets his brain turn off, working on autopilot as he takes a shower, brushes his teeth, and puts on all of his good skincare. He has to be camera ready, after all. Yunho doesn’t even remember to plug his phone into the charger as he falls into bed, the ibuprofen finally kicking in and lulling him to sleep.
He awakens to darkness, with his entire body throbbing in a way that felt almost unnatural. But Yunho understands what this pain is; he’s a dancer, after all. It’s overexertion, it’s exhaustion, it’s the determination to keep going forward. But it didn’t need him going at… whatever time it was. Grumbling, Yunho grabs his phone, using the flashlight to lead his path to the bathroom. He pulls out a bottle of painkillers, knocking two into his hand. Swallowing them with some sink water, Yunho trudges back to his room and just flops back into bed.
~*~
The smiles are earnest, if not a little forced. Yunho’s cheeks are a gentle rose, as are his ears, as Wooyoung and Seonghwa share a silly story of his mismatched shoes that morning. He holds a foot up in the interview to show his shiny boots, with a grin. “The stylists helped me this morning. Error corrected!”
The interviewer laughed. They were almost done, and while Hongjoong talks about how excited he was for the song to drop, Yunho does his best to focus on his leader. His back is twinging again. He doesn’t like the chairs they’re perched in, but he’s sitting with his hands on his knees to keep him from wiggling. But sitting so steadily makes the pain all the more apparent. His legs are sore. His knees are stiff. His shoulders are tense. His headache is creeping back.
And the smile stays on, for the next fifteen minutes of the interview. Teeth glistening of gentle laughter as they shake hands and drink water and move from the chairs and stretch. San pops his shoulder, and everyone looks over in surprise. Even the vocalist looks stunned, but he rolls his arm around and ensures there’s no pain, just a noise. Wooyoung leans into a manager’s side and asks to be carried, complains he feels weak like a newborn deer. Mingi laughs, and someone pushes Jongho over—and Wooyoung runs to hide behind Yunho. The smaller one’s hands land on his shoulders, and a jolt of knifesharp pain shoots down his spine. He tenses.
But Wooyoung, ever so observant, pauses in his teasing the youngest to look at him. “Yunho-ya? Are you… are you okay?”
Yunho nods, stiffly. He doesn’t answer more than a simple “yeah”. The smile stays plastered, but he feels Wooyoung’s hands loosen their grip and rub at his shoulders instead. But even the touch feels uncomfortable, his neck starting to ache. Everything just… hurts. Yunho moves around to push Wooyoung in Jongho’s direction, and as the two begin a silly game of roughhouse, he steps away under the guise of going to the bathroom, and he takes a moment to just breathe.
In, out. In, out. The ache in his back lessens, and he takes a breather. He’s… so tired.
Someone knocks. “Yunho-ya? Are you okay?”
It’s Seonghwa.
Yunho sighs. He can’t just lie to his hyung, but… he’s gonna try.
“I’m okay,” he says. He washes his hands, to at least keep up the façade, and heads back out. “Sorry, I’m okay now.”
“You look hurt…” Seonghwa says softly. “We’ll get you some painkillers at the dorm, okay?”
At the dorm? Yunho looks up and checks the clock—it’s only 5. He figured they’d have more dance practice, or a meeting, or something. They’re usually busy. Catching his confusion, Seonghwa grins. “We convinced manager-nim to let us take a break. Wooyoung’s ankle hurts and he’s walking funny now.”
He is? That was… new. Seonghwa just laughs and shakes his head, and Yunho gets it—Wooyoung is getting them out of dance practice by being his melodramatic, acting self. With a grin of his own, Yunho nods.
“Okay, hyung, let’s go back to the dorms.”
~*~
They all split to shower, but Seonghwa comes back to Yunho’s and Yeosang’s apartment, with Wooyoung in tow. Yeosang, already out of the shower, is in the middle of making microwave ramen when Wooyoung takes over, a bag of ingredients in his hands.
“Felt like a soup day,” he explains. He still lets Yeosang eat his ramen; he knows Yeosang will still eat his cooking, too.
Seonghwa offers to rub some pain balm on Yeosang, who accepts some for his calf that’s been twinging. That’s where Yunho finds them when he gets out of his shower, Yeosang sitting on the couch with his sweats tugged up to his knees, one foot glistening with cream, his other currently getting lathered up.
“Oh! Yunho-ya! Good shower?” Yeosang asks.
Yunho smiles. He just wants to lay down, to be honest, but the heat relaxed him enough. And he can already smell the aroma from the kitchen; he sees Wooyoung in the side chair, scrolling on his phone. That means dinner… he’ll stay up for dinner.
“Mhmm. I almost didn’t want to get out. I see why Mingi goes to the saunas so much.”
Seonghwa laughs at that. “He’s not wrong. But come sit! When I finish massaging Yeosang’s calf, I’ll rub some cream on your back, okay?”
That startles the dancer. He wants to ask ‘how did you know’, but he catches Wooyoung’s eye and sighs. There’s no getting past them.
“Okay, hyung.” He drops onto the couch next to Yeosang, and tugs off his sweatshirt. Yeosang leans into him and smiles, all tired but bright. Yunho can’t help but return it, arms wrapping around the younger member’s chest. He hugs him close, and listens idly as Wooyoung and Seonghwa talk about someone they spoke with at the interview earlier. The idle chatter winds Yunho down, and he almost falls asleep where he’s sitting. Jolting when Yeosang pats his cheek, the two trade spots, with Yunho sprawled across Seonghwa’s lap with his legs resting on Yeosang’s. Seonghwa tugs up his shirt and begins slathering on the pain-relieving cream, which has Yunho sighing in relief as he rubs it in evenly. With a sigh, Yunho melts. He needed this. He ends up falling asleep right there on his band members, and if Wooyoung took a photo to share with the group chat, that was for him to discover in the morning.
