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"Sorry guys," the production assistant said. Xiaojun's chin dropped onto Yangyang's shoulder. "God, they can't be serious," Xiaojun groaned quietly. "I'm fucking exhausted." They had to re-record Come Back for the variety show they were filming today and Yangyang couldn't believe it. Having woken up at 7am to be ready on stage at 9am made his bones feel like jelly and now at almost 7pm the audience had already gone home but of course being an idol was a full time job. "Stop complaining," Ten said. "We had a two hour break in between and dinner just now." Yangyang heard Xiaojun swallow heavily behind him and felt him lean further into him so his face was hidden behind Yangyang. Yangyang knew that his beautiful features were probably distorted into a painful grimace. Xiaojun rarely defended himself when he thought that someone criticized him too harshly. He was someone who thought he needed a tough skin, someone who thought he had to be able to take it. Yangyang leaned his cheek on Xiaojun's hair. "Ten," he said quietly, trying to make him understand that Xiaojun wasn't just tired. "Not everyone can have your stamina." Xiaojun's hand was clinging to his arm when they walked out on stage, his thumb drawing grateful circles on the fabric of his shirt. "Are you going to be okay?" Yangyang asked after the first recording. Xiaojun gave him a curt nod and returned to his position, his eyes failing to hide the fatigue. They shot another three takes, Yangyang watching him sit down whenever the staff spoke for longer than ten seconds. Xiaojun was quiet when they got back to the green room. Yangyang took more time to get ready to go, wanting to wait for him after the others had left. He exchanged a nod with their manager who in turn sorted Winwin, Ten, Kun and one security guard into the first, Lucas, Hendery, another security guard and their PR agent into the second and the third security guard with Xiaojun and Yangyang into the third car. Yangyang looked at the security guard who would stay with them, pressing his lips together and pointing at the door. He understood and closed it behind the other members as soon as they had left. Yangyang turned around only to find Xiaojun fall against the wall and sink to the ground with a pained expression that he tried to hide with a poker face that was a bit too focused on the spot in front of him to be neutral. Yangyang rushed over to him, dropping to his knees next to him and wrapping his arms around his shoulders as Xiaojun broke down, the tears finally flowing freely and silent sobs making him shake. Yangyang wished he could take the pain away, even go through what Xiaojun was feeling just to make him feel better. There was a catch in his throat that made it impossible for Yangyang to speak for a few minutes. Something was horribly, horribly wrong. "I'm sorry," Xiaojun whispered, his voice breaking on the first word. "I...you weren't...supposed t-to see this." Yangyang held him tighter. He too wanted to cry but he had no tears. "Do you know what's wrong?" He asked. "Do you know how you can fix it?" It took Xiaojun two minutes to gain enough composure to be able to speak. He didn't lift his head. "There have been a few thing over the past couple of weeks, mainly the pressure," he said finally after clearing his throat. "Just small things that started piling up and I was just so exhausted today and I felt like Ten didn't take me seriously. That was the trigger." Yangyang sat down next to him, crossing his legs and guiding Xiaojun so he could lie down in his lap. He wrapped an arm around him, feeling Xiaojun's hand cling to his wrist and his heart underneath his palm as he stroked his hair with the other hand. "I don't want to talk to Ten about this," Xiaojun whispered when the sobs had gotten less violent and stopped eventually. "It's embarrassing." "He's probably going to talk to you first," Yangyang said. "I saw him look at you a few times when we got back here after the recording. There is no way the boys don't know that something is wrong." He bent his head and buried his face in the curve of Xiaojun's neck, his hand gripping onto his hair and massaging his scalp as Xiaojun intertwined their fingers in front of his chest. "Especially not Ten, especially not after what I said to him earlier today." They got up a few minutes later, Xiaojun trying to hide his face in embarrassment when Yangyang took his things from him to carry them. They hugged for another two minutes before hiding their faces in masks, Yangyang borrowing Xiaojun his snapback and wrapping his arm around Xiaojun's shoulders, his hands never leaving him until they got back to the dorm. The other boys tried not to look to concerned as they silently greeted them, watching Xiaojun pull Yangyang with him to their room. "I'm gonna deal with this tomorrow," he sighed as he sank onto Yangyang's bed, pulling out his phone. Yangyang avoided the concerned questions of his bandmates, telling them to quit making a big deal out of it when he came out of the bathroom in his boxers and a shirt. It was only 9am but Xiaojun was sleeping profoundly when he closed the door behind himself. He turned off the light and took away the phone that was lying on his chest, smiling at the wallpaper of the two of them in Guangzhou before he turned it off and placed it on the bedside table. He thought about waking him up so he could take off his stage outfit, but he knew that Xiaojun would probably be go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, so he tasked himself with laying out the sweatpants Xiaojun slept in before he climbed the ladder to the top bunk and texted replied to the texts the others had sent him, telling them to back off a bit and to stop giving Xiaojun too much attention. He heard him shift underneath him. A few minutes later he heard a quiet "Yangyang?" so he leaned over the railing and directed the light of the screen to his face. Xiaojun had lifted his head slightly, running a hand through his hair. "I should probably change," he whispered to himself. "Are the others still out there?" "They're not gonna bother you even if, but I don't think so," Yangyang reassured him and watched him leave for the bathroom. He turned on Xiaojun's bed light and climbed under the covers of his own bed. His eyes became tired so he locked his phone when it almost fell from his grip a few times. He was halfway gone when Xiaojun came back into the room, closed the door and turned off the lights, halfway gone when he felt a warm body settle behind him, a hand on his wrist and a chest pressing against his back, the even rhythm of warm breaths in his neck lulling him into a deep sleep.