Fluffy SKZ Oneshots EP.2🧸

Blood, sweat and tears🌡️🩹

Sickie: Seungmin
Caregivers: Stray Kids
TW: blood

No one’s POV.:

The fifth hour of their group dance practice was nearing its end and the members were absolutely drained. This was nothing new to them, schedules always got busy the closer they got to a comeback and they were just about to release a new album. Seungmin couldn’t recall the last time he had felt this exhausted but tried not to let it show. They were all tired, so he had no right to whine about it. Minho had pointed out his sluggish dance moves multiple times, so the younger did his best to pull himself together. Maybe if his mind hadn’t been so foggy with fatigue, he would’ve memorized the steps faster and could now focus on their clean execution but he doubted it. No matter how much he tried to focus, his limbs refused to comply.

It was humiliating really, how many times Seungmin had already lost his balance. Maybe if he had gotten more sleep, he wouldn’t be feeling so off kilter but there hadn’t been any time. His vision was already beginning to fray around the edges, when Minho called for a break. Not trusting himself to take another step without falling, Seungmin let himself sink to the ground. His head pounded when he shifted his position to lay down but sitting up took too much effort, so he’d rather bear the headache. “You good?”, Changbin asked softly as he took a seat next to his dongsaeng. Seungmin only hummed, the sound less certain than he had intended. Uncapping the younger’s water bottle, Changbin instructed: “Sit up and have some water.” Giving the rapper a long look, Seungmin then closed his eyes and draped his arm over them to block the bright ceiling lights. He had absolutely no energy left and he wasn’t even all that thirsty.

When Seungmin realized that Changbin was watching him, he muttered: “Thanks for the water but I don’t wanna move right now. I’ll have some later.” – “Headache?”, the rapper hummed sympathetically. Seeing no point in lying, Seungmin admitted: “Yeah. It felt like pressure all day but now it started to thump and I just really don’t feel like moving.” He let out a slow breath when Changbin ran his fingers through his sweat damp hair. “You look wiped. Are you sure you can continue dancing?”, the older worried, catching Chan and Minho’s attention. Growing uncomfortable with the amount of attention, Seungmin sighed: “Yeah, of course. I always get these headaches when I’m tired, so this is a given every time we have a comeback. No big deal, please just let me be tired in peace.”

Though that wasn’t necessarily a satisfying reply, the members couldn’t really argue. Each of them had their individual comeback struggles that they always had to endure when they released something new. It was simply something that came with the job and that they were willing to bear for the sake of their careers. “Alright, we’ll stop bugging you”, Chan chuckled, “You can always sit out for a round or two though, no judgement. I’d rather have you take more frequent breaks than anyone getting hurt, okay?” Seungmin gave a nod and could only barely refrain from rolling his eyes. He didn’t need any extra breaks.

Seungmin let Changbin pull him to his feet and held to hold onto the rapper’s shoulder for a moment as his ears rang. Worriedly steadying the younger, Changbin hummed: “Are you sure, you’re okay?” Seungmin nodded, blinking rapidly to get the dark spots to clear. “That was just a little too fast”, he muttered, straightening up as soon as the dizziness improved. His friends were skeptical but knew that there wasn’t much that’d stop Seungmin from practicing when he had made up his mind, so they hoped to just wait for him to throw in the towel.

Unsurprisingly, that didn’t happen, despite the increasing pressure behind his temples and the loud pulse in his ears. It got a little difficult for Seungmin to hear the music at times but he tried not to let it on. He struggled not to get emotional with how exhausted he was but eventually, he focused more on holding it together and not worrying his friends than on the dance steps. During a change of positions, Seungmin’s foot caught on Minho’s, causing him to trip. He had so much momentum that he slid across the practice room floor. For a moment, he was just numb with surprise, too startled to feel anything at all. His head was still pounding from the impact of his fall but slowly, his left arm started to burn and so did his knees.