Before You

Eliminations

Felix bursts into the bathroom and ran to a stall, locking the door behind him before getting sick.

Jisung was not far behind and barged into the bathroom behind Felix, attempting to open the stall that the latter dissapeared into.

"Felix... you ok?" He could hear small sobs and a cough coming from the stall.

"What if they send me home Ji?" Felix slowly opened the stall and walked past Jisung to the sinks, taking a swig of water and rinsing out his mouth before washing his hands.

"You're not gonna be sent home" Jisung walked up to Felix and pulled him into a hug.

"My parents barely let me come here, I can't go back home. Not when I am this close" Felix began to sob and pulled away from the hug. He walked over to the door and slid down the wall next to it, pressing his head into his knees.

"Don't give up like that! You have no idea what's going to happen! Everyone got criticism, it doesn't mean you're going home." Jisung wrapped his arm around Felix who just sobbed into his knees.

*Back at the studio*

"Wow my performance was fine Hyunjin thanks for asking" Changbin responded with sarcasm, rolling his eyes in the process.

Hyunjin glared at him and was about to raise up his fist when Minho grabbed his wrist to stop him, giving him an angry look and mouthing 'not now'.

"Sorry Bin, but seriously where are they.... did they.... get sent home..?" Chan was on the verge of tears asking, Felix and Jisung wouldn't just leave like that.. would they?

Changbin rolled his eyes again and huffed. "No Felix ran off to the bathroom, he looked like he was going to be sick. Jisung went after him." Chan nodded and continued to ask Changbin and Seungmin about their performances. Hyunjin started to move away when Minho pulled him back.

"Where are you going?" He asked with a furrowed brow.

"Going to go check on Lix, now either come with or let me go" Hyunjin glared at Minho, a look that honestly scared him, not that he would ever admit it.

With some sass back Minho responded "ok ok we can go check on your boyfriend, calm you tits dude." As soon as he said it Minho regretted teasing Hyunjin because the look he gave got more intense, he could almost feel Hyunjin snarl at him.

"Shut up. Now lets go" Hyunjin didn't wait for Minho to process the words before dragging him out aggressively. They made their way to the bathroom and opened the door. Hyunjin's expression softened completely when he saw a tiny Felix scrunched up against the wall with Jisung wrapped around him. His body jolting to the sound of sobs.

Hyunjin immediately let go of Minho's wrist and sat on the floor next to Felix, placing his hand on Felix's back and rubbing it gently.

Felix looked up with a puffy face and saw Hyunjin's expression, causing more tears to fall. He threw himself onto Hyunjin and the latter just wrapped his arms around Felix.

Minho took a seat next to Jisung, who laid his head on Minho's shoulder and looked down at the ground. Minho wrapped his arm around Jisung's waist in an effort to comfort him, which thankfully worked.

No words were needed to be shared in that moment. Hyunjin simply held Felix and rubbed his back gently until the younger one calmed down.

"We should really head back... are you going to be ok?" Hyunjin eventually whispered, taking one of Felix's hands.

Felix jusy nodded into Hyunjin's shoulder and finally looked up to face him, a sad expression still painted on his face.

Hyunjin gave him a sympathetic smile and stood up, offering his hand out to help Felix up.

The 4 boys made their way back to the studio and immediately upon entering Chan came up to them, noticing Felix's puffy face, and immediately pulling him into a tight hug, almost suffocating Felix. Hyunjin was glad to hear the younger one giggle slightly at the tight embrace.

Chan was about to speak up to ask Felix what happened when he was faced with 3 warning looks from Hyunjin, Jisung and Minho to shut up. Chan understood and just continued the embrace until Felix pulled away.

It didn't take long of the boys waiting anxiously on the floor for the door to open and the 6 men who previously sat before them, to walk in and signal everyone to come over to them.

"We have all deliberated as a group, taking into consideration your strengths, general skills during rehearsals, the interviews, your potential for being an idol, and of course the performances of earlier today, and decided who will continue on to the next phase, and which 2 of you will be packing your bags today.

"Chan.... congratulations, you can continue to work on your skills and will get another chance to prove yourself."

"Changbin..  congratulations as well, you may go join Chan."

"Seungmin... you may also join Chan and Changbin, you will move on."

"Jeomgin... you have some learning to do, but you can continue that here, you move up"

"Minho.... you need to be able to focus and impliment the critques you have been given to reflect growth.... im sorry, but you will not be moving forward at this time."Minho's face dropped, and gasps could be heard from everyone else in the room. He hung his head down in shame and thanked the judges before walking toward his bag.

"Hyunjin... congratulations, you will be moving forward to continue in this competition." Hyunjin bowed to the men and made his way to the others who had passed onto the next level. He shared a heartbroken look with Minho, who just stared blankly ahead.

That just left Felix and the 2 other contestants. Felix was starting to get more nervous by the second. There was still 1 elimination to be made.

"Felix... you have great potential but your Korean and mannerisms are not up to par with what we need from you. I'm sorry, but you are eliminated from the competition. That means contestants 1 and 2, you can join the passing others over there." He pointed the 2 random contestants to join the others before excusing himself from the room.

Jisung immediately ran to Minho and pulled him into a tight hug, not wanting to see the older one go. Chan came up to Felix first, who was standing frozen in place, tears making their way down his cheeks.

"I'm so sorry Felix. I failed you. I should have helped more. I-" he was cut off by Felix sobbing into his chest.

"No I'm sorry." Felix simply stated, not elaborating further.

Felix pulled away from Chan and was faced with Hyunjin, who had processed the words from the judge and come be with Felix.

Once Felix finished the embrace with Chan, he went up to Hyunjin and was pulled into the tightest hug without cutting off air supply.

"I'm so sorry!" Felix sobbed into Hyunjin's shoulder.

"You have nothing to be sorry about" Hyunjin patted Felix's upper back while in the embrace.

"I should H-have tried h-harder. I let you all D-down." Felox stated, in between obvious and jolting sobs. Hyunjin just stood there with tears dropping from his eyes, still holding onto Felix.

"Shhh. Don't cry. Don't be sorry. It's ok" they both just cried, holding eachother.

"Felix... Minho.. I'm sorry but I'm going to have to escort you both out now." Felix and Minho sadly nodded at their former coach. They picked up their bags and followed him out of the room, both looking back at their friend group in tears and dropping their heads in shame.