✔︎𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 || 𝐋𝐞𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐨

1. a place of peace

The lights, the loud music, the cheers from the crowd, it was like a totally different world. It felt ethereal, even his body didn't feel real, the way his arms were moving so quickly, following the loud beat of the music, but he wasn't actually moving his body. The muscular memory was the only thing able to make him move from one side to the other of the stage, after all, he had repeated that same dance over and over for who knows how many times. He felt his face and neck sweating and his body burning under that overly uncomfortable stage outfit he was wearing. He felt his feet hurting in his shoes... why did he always have to wear something so uncomfortable while dancing?

He was looking straight at that crowd full of people. Actually, he wasn't looking, he couldn't see anything with all those lights pointing at his face, but he was pretending to do so. His eyes left the crowd for a moment, as they set on his teammates. They were all in the same state he was, covered in sweat, breath short, probably some of them were just as uncomfortable as him. They looked like robots: he couldn't help but think that they looked like puppets that had to do the same damn things every time they went on stage, just to please those people who paid hundreds of dollars to be there.

He quickly went to the center of the stage: it was his turn. His eyes looked up to the crowd and his mouth opened as a few notes left his body, following the rhythm of the base that was playing. His voice went through the mic he was wearing, and echoed in the stadium, as the crowd started cheering again. He remembered there was a time when he would feel in some sort of way when he sang in front of other people, happy, thrilled, even scared. But now his voice felt empty, as if it didn't belong to him anymore. It was just something that other people needed, not him.

And time passed just like that: him dancing and singing, looking at the crowd and the other boys on the stage. But he didn't really feel anything. It was like he was in another universe, a universe he didn't like at all. He just wanted it to be over. He just wanted to close his eyes and sleep. And eventually, that moment came.

Finally, he, along with his teammates, still dancing, reached the center of the stage. Everyone was screaming in excitement as the eight of them stopped in front of the crowd. And then, they all raised their hands, making the final pose of the dance, signaling that the song and the concert were over.

Everyone was screaming, they were still thrilled, but at the same time sad as they realized that their little show was over. He, on the other hand, didn't feel any emotion as he looked through all those people. His breath was still short, his chest was going up and down at a fast speed as some more drops of sweat kept running down his neck.

But finally, the light went off, leaving him and the others in the dark. He kept still for a few seconds, waiting for all to come to an end. Then, he lowered his arms as he kept breathing heavily, moving a few steps back and looking at his feet. While attempting to catch his breath again, he sighed in relief at the thought that he finally did it, he finished the tour, no more concerts for a while, no more of all of that. But even with that thought in mind, he could feel anything. Just anything. He felt empty.

The screams that were surrounding him just a few seconds before were long gone, and so were the thousands of people who were covering the stadium. He looked around, realizing that even his teammates were long gone, he was completely alone, just like everyone had disappeared in the blink of an eye. It was just him.

He kept looking around, the silence that surrounded him was too loud, he should have liked it, since he hated all the noise he had to hear every time he had to exhibit, but that was just too much. Then, after a while, he moved his feet toward the very end of the stage. He looked at those seats that just a moment before were full and shiny. He didn't know why now they were empty and dark, but he didn't care. He just wanted to close his eyes and fall asleep.