double dealing - nct, chensung

⇄ 11 ⇄

"and... great one guys. okay we'll keep practicing for a while. let's just have a quick break." the choreographer announced, allowing the seven members of nct dream to breathe for a second and drink refreshing water.

they were training hard for their new album, glitch mode, which was supposed to be released at the end of march. they only had two months and a half left to train, which was a short period of time.

"oh god... this choreo is so hard..." donghyuck whined, leaning against the wall while taking sips of water.

"we've done harder." jisung shrugged.

"shut up you dancer. no everyone has the talent you have." donghyuck pointed an accusing finger at his groupmate, making the other six boys laugh – well, actually five, because chenle was standing further away, in front of the mirror.

jisung looked at his friend for a while, smiling when he saw the boy revising a certain part of the choreography over and over again. but after a few tries, jisung noticed that chenle's neutral expression had been replaced by a frown, and that this one soon morphed into sadness when he failed to do the moves correctly.

just as he was about to step in to help, chenle ran out of the practice room. jisung followed him immediately until both of them were in the bathrooms.

"chenle, hey, what's happening?" jisung asked worriedly.

the chinese male turned around, facing jisung before gluing his face to the taller's chest and sobbing loudly.

"i-i'll n-never m-make i-it..." chenle mumbled, his voice muffled by jisung's broad chest. "i-it's t-too hard..."

jisung – who had been frozen since chenle jumped onto him – allowed his hands to wrap slowly around chenle's body, rubbing a comforting hand on his nape while holding him close.

"shh, don't cry, chenle..." he whispered. "what nonsense are you saying?"

"i-i c-can't d-dance..." the older continued crying loudly, his fists gripping on jisung's shirt.

"of course, you can chenle, you're amazing at dancing." jisung replied immediately, meaning each of his words.

"i-i c-can't d-do the c-choreography..." chenle protested. "a-and the c-comeback is i-in two months..."

jisung sighed, holding chenle tighter against him, hoping that the embrace would help him calm down. "hey, chenle, don't be so harsh on yourself. you know the choreography..."

"n-not t-that p-part..." he shook his head against jisung's chest, his tears leaving wet lines on the other's shirt, but jisung couldn't care less.

"chenle, look at me."

the chinese male shook his head again, keeping his face hidden in jisung's chest. but the younger boy was stronger, and he was the one to step back, cupping chenle's cheeks with his hands and tilting his head upwards to that they were looking at each other.

he found it heart-breaking to stare into chenle's teary eyes.

now, it wasn't the first time he stared at crying orbs. jisung had had to deal with people pleading for their life dozens of times. he had shoot crying people way too much for his own liking. and neither time had he wanted to wipe their tears away and reassure them that nothing bad would happen. he was always indifferent to their sadness, he always had, and he would always be. but it was different for chenle.

his eyes were so deep and the rivers of tears that had just escaped from there had made them so shiny... they weren't looking at jisung with the usual pity or fear the others had. they were looking up to him, as if jisung would be the one that would save him from this hell, and god, jisung wanted to be the one to save him right now. he would to anything to make it possible...