groupie

-twenty-one-

—18+—

Chan furrows his brow as he messes with the tempo of a song, his frustrations growing the longer it takes to make it sound right. He's spent over an hour on one song and he's not getting anywhere. He jumps as he feels a knee in his upper back.

"Shit." He leans forward and reaches back to rub at the spot.

A soft chuckle leaves his lips as he shifts to see EunChae's sleeping form. She'd fallen asleep in his lap nearly two hours ago. He held her the first hour, but his arms and legs started to go numb, so he shifted her off of him and laid her down. She woke up, but he managed to quickly get her back to sleep.

Chan's eyes shift to EunChae's phone as it starts to vibrate. He leans forward to steal a glimpse at who it is. He's not trying to invade on her privacy—he's just worried it may be someone she needs to answer. If her manager calls, she can't miss it.

JinnieJinnie

Chan hesitates. Does he wake her up so she can answer or does he just let it go? If it was something important—MinHo would call—right? MinHo's the leader. He's the one who handles most things—at least the important things.

His call goes to voicemail. Not even a minute later and a ton of texts start to roll in. He glances over at EunChae, unsure of what to do. He knows her passcode—unless she changed it on him—maybe he could just check to make sure nothing is wrong. Maybe something happened to MinHo.

"Love?" Chan mumbles, still unsure with his decision to wake her.

EunChae groans softly, tugging his blanket further up around her before tightening her hold on his sweatshirt. She hadn't had her stuffed animal, so he gave it to her in hopes of helping her rest better. Her face has been buried in it since.

"Love—" He sighs, deciding against waking her. He'll just check to make sure everything is alright. He won't answer him—just verify that no one is hurt or anything serious.

JinnieJinnie: are you alive?

JinnieJinnie: are you with that asshole?

JinnieJinnie: don't let him take advantage of you, Chae. He's no good.

JinnieJinnie: he's playing you up and he's just gonna drop you again when it gets hard.

JinnieJinnie: then we'll have to pick up the pieces.

Chan swallows hard, his heart dropping. Do they really think he's that awful? Sure—he pushed her away—but that's only because he thought it was what was best for her. He suffered. He was suffering in hopes of easing her suffering. Isn't that a selfless act? Shouldn't they be grateful he didn't force her into difficult situations because he was greedy?

His eyes fall on her as her face twists in discomfort. A soft whimper leaves her parted lips, making him toss her phone aside. The messages don't matter—she matters.

"Shh—love—it's alright—I'm right here." Chan whispers softly, delicately smoothing her hair down. He trails his fingertips over her cheeks in hopes of soothing her a bit.

"Hm—Channie—hold me." EunChae reaches out for him, trying to pull him closer.

"Okay, princess." Chan shifts so he can delicately pull her down into his lap. She immediately wraps her legs around his waist and rests her head on his shoulder.

"You okay?" Chan asks softly, running his fingers through her hair.

"No." EunChae mumbles, clinging to Chan with everything she has.