beeswaxing
Summary: "We've been together for a long time now and are used to each other. We have grown to naturally avoid acting or talking in a way that we know the other member doesn't like. Our trust in each other is even beyond that of family relationships."
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The rest of the practice goes off without a hitch, but the atmosphere is tense after Changmin's quiet disappointment with Yunho and their longtime stage director and friend, Sam-san. The environment is easygoing as always, the dancers and band members joking around in between taking their rehearsal seriously, but there is an obvious aura of unhappiness surrounding the younger half of Tohoshinki.
The silence in the van, while normal, this time feels uncomfortable to Yunho. While Sam-san had apologized to Changmin, he has not. It is not a purposeful oversight on his part, but rather his need to stay on track with the rehearsals and his constant battle to hide the pain his injury is giving him has caused it to slip his mind.
Not that it is any excuse of course, but Yunho truly did not mean to forget.
The most telling sign of Changmin's displeasure is the fact that he had slammed the van door shut in Yunho's face after he'd gotten in, and hopped into the front seat of the van. Even if Yunho had wanted to apologize, the opportunity was taken from him by his clearly still upset dongsaeng.
He had reached out to place his hand on Changmin's shoulder in the short seconds when their driver slash manager was preoccupied with watching out for oncoming traffic as he eased onto the highway, but the younger man had pulled away immediately with a quiet, unhappy huff. The maknae hunches forward in his seat, trying to stay as inconspicuously out of reach, and the rest of the ride proceeds in awkward silence.
If their manager noticed anything, he did not comment.
The man knows better anyway.
Changmin can calm Yunho relatively easily, for no matter how angry the leader gets over anyone or anything, he will never keep his anger for very long in the face of his Changmin.
But Changmin will only be calmed when he is good and ready to be calmed, and the man can really hold a grudge.
The leader of Tohoshinki does not push it, leaving Changmin to his thoughts. While normally unwilling to let a matter such as this go without exchanging a few words to work it out, he knows better than to push the younger man before he is ready to speak. He knows Changmin needs to work things out in his own mind first before being confronted, and he is more than willing to give him the space necessary for this.
Well, that's the altruistic reason.
The slightly more selfish reason is that Yunho is so exhausted he doesn't think he is up for a fight with Changmin anyway. His ankle is paining him greatly, and all he wants to do is shower and go to sleep because that is pretty much the only part of his day that he does not feel the dull persistent throb of his injury. Each step today had been more torturous than usual, trying to dance without the ankle support for the first time, the insistent twinges had caused more than a couple of sharp intakes of breath during the rehearsal. He doubts anyone has noticed though, and for that he is grateful. He is frustrated enough as it is without being fussed over unnecessarily. As he has mentioned to his doctors, trainers, and the support staff when they had first started practice, he knows his own body.
"Move."
Yunho is pulled from his reverie by a low growl, and he looks up. "What?"
"We're here, and you're practically sitting on my laptop. Did it look like a cushion to you? Move, please."
