Pas de Deux

o7

⊱ ✿ ⊰

The following morning, Chengrui is ripped from his slumber by the shrill beeping of his alarm going off. He groans, eyes still shut as he reaches his hand out towards his nightstand to snooze his phone but comes up empty-handed. With a sigh, he sits up, doubling over when a sharp pain in his head overtakes him.

"Fuck," he mutters, bringing a hand up to massage his temples. To make matters worse, his alarm was still going off, which wasn't helping his pounding headache. He rips the duvet off his body, shaking it around until his phone finally emerges from where it was buried within. He swipes the snooze button before collapsing back onto his pillows, exhausted after waking up. 

He rests his eyes for a few moments, very quickly becoming sleepy again. He's about to convince himself just to skip today's practice when his alarm goes off again. His eyes snap open, and he reaches for his phone again.

"Why the fuck would I set two alarms," he grumbles, knowing that he probably wouldn't have gotten out of bed with just the first one. He's still half-asleep as he gingerly slips out of bed, careful not to make any abrupt movements so his headache doesn't get any worse. He stretches out all his joints, sore from being unused in his sleep, hearing pops and cracks in his neck, waist, and back.

Now that I don't feel like I'm living in a 90-year-old grandpa's body anymore...

He goes back to his bedside drawer, rummaging through the top drawer for a painkiller until he finally finds a suspiciously light pill bottle. He feels a sense of impending doom before he even opens the little bottle, but he twists the cap off anyway and sees nothing but the bottom of the container. 

Could this day get any worse?

He tosses the empty bottle into the trash can near his bed and sighs, trying to figure out what to do next. His head felt like it was splitting in half, and he had less than an hour until he had to show up for practice. He runs his fingers through his hair in irritation once he realises that he's wasting more time by standing around and contemplating uselessly, causing his slightly messy bedhead to become messier. 

With a sigh, he picked out a shirt from his closet in case anyone was up and roaming the dormitories this early in the morning. He highly doubted that was the case, but just to be safe, he slipped it on anyway and made his way out into the hall. 

He knocks harshly on the door to the room next to his. When he's met with silence after knocking again a little louder, he furrows his brows. 

"Hey, wake the fuck up or else I'm coming in," he calls through the door at the lack of response. He's already considering busting the lock open when a few seconds later, he hears a muffled thud and some shuffling from within. The door finally creaks open a crack, revealing Lu Yichen wearing nothing but an old pair of shorts, and sporting incredibly messy hair that was sticking out in all directions.

"Rui, do you have any idea what time it is? What the fuck are you doing pounding on my door?" Yichen mumbles, clearly still half asleep as he pokes his head out into the hallway to meet a grumpy Chengrui. 

"Quit whining, you can go back to sleep in a minute," Chengrui replies, shoving the door open wider and pushing his way into Yichen's room. Yichen just hums halfheartedly as he closes the door back up, turning to face Chengrui who was scanning over his desk covered in various papers and assignments.

"What could you possibly be looking for at barely past nine in the morning?" Yichen says, yawning.

"An aspirin or something similar, my head hurts like a bitch after last night and I have to go meet that other bitch later," Chengrui explains, turning to look at Yichen once he comes up empty-handed after scouring the top of the desk.