A WEEK AFTER DEBUT
R.O.A.R DORMS
19:34PM KST

the bus ride back from the arirang building was so silent that you could hear a pin drop. so silent that you could hear the people's whispers from outside. so silent that you could hear everyone's nervous breathing. of course they had a great time at the filming of after school club, it was an amazing introduction for them to idol life, and for the world to know them more. but mincheol didn't have his happy mask on like usual. he didn't tell the group a joke. he didn't tell the group about his pet hamster scratching him again. he didn't even greet them. mincheol just glared at them, and plugged a pair of earphones into his laptop as he answered several emails.

it was odd as to how silent everyone was being, especially for how rowdy they were when they first moved in. they were all settled in now, everything of theirs all placed in places to satisfy them. but, the silence made their stomaches swirl with anxiety in such a familiar and homely atmosphere. woojin could see his manager's hands curl into a fist, his nails digging into his palm so much that the cat thought it would pierce through and draw blood. luckily, it wasn't until they entered the dorm that mincheol let lose on them all, meaning no one else could hear the racket going on.

"i can't flipping believe you lot!" mincheol had them all lined up in front of the sofas, as he paced up and down like an army leader. "you think idol business is simply answering questions and people pass over your mistakes? well, it isn't! i could be sacked for this!"

"it's alright hyung," jinwoo tried to comfort mincheol, reaching out his hand to pat his shoulder. only for it to be smacked away, though.

"it's not alright, actually! netizens pick up on every word you guys say, and they can so easily turn it against you. they collect up this evidence and spill it out to their audiences when you need positive outlooks most and then BAM!" he smacked his fist against his palm, "your career is flat dead. you all understand?" the other members nod their head, "you obviously didn't understand before though, did you jinwoo? in fact, you're the whole reason why i'm complaining!"

"hyung, he's only a kid-" min tried to defend the maknae, but the manager cut him short.

"well, it's time for him to be learning, is it not?"

"aren't you being too harsh, manager? it's our first variety show, we were bound to do something wrong." K.J asked,

"well then something's gone wrong with your 'intense training', because you haven't learnt about tv personality and the fact that you guys need to be more careful with your speech. you wear hats and wigs and hoodies for a reason. we wrap your tails around your torso for a reason. we make make up artists and stylists feel fear with police threats if they spill your secret for a reason. it's all to protect you, so be more damn careful." he twirled the taser in his hand as the members apologised, and he pushed the stray hairs out of his face. "and oli," the american boy looked up at his name being called, fear-struck. "not once did i see you correct the members. it's your responsibility to make sure the members' identities don't get revealed to the public, alright?" the cheetah nodded in response, guilt swirling in his stomach. "now that promotions are close to finishing, i'm going to give you a break tonight, but we have to get to the mnet building for midday tomorrow." he looked at the maknae, "jinwoo, can i talk to you in your dorm room please?"

the bunny nodded his head, his ears flopping down as he followed mincheol towards the dorm room, the boys hearing the door slam shut in anger.

"oh god, jinny." K.J was stressing the most out of all the members, his heart thumping as the fear of his best friend's wellbeing was dashing around his head.

"he'll be okay, seongjin." min tried reassure the younger, while the monkey resisted the urge to run and help.

"it's true though," daeyoung broke the small awkward silence, placing himself down on the armchair and crossing his arms. his orange tail curled around his side, and he tilted his head to the side as his eyebrows were raised. "he did get himself into this mess in the first place. if he had kept his mouth shut, then maybe he-"

a high-pitched scream came from the dorm room, and seongjin was a millisecond away from running in to save the maknae. however, he was held back by oli, who just sighed and guided seongjin back to the sofa. "it's no good if we barge in there, he'll just moan at us more. let him have his rage, and by the morning he'll be as happy as ever."

"it's better one hurt than seven, if i'm honest." woojin admitted, "as much as i hate to say it."

"how about we just watch some tv? will that cheer you up?" oli grinned at seongjin, who gave a weak smile in return. then, oli turned on disney channel and the six boys watched a particularly funny episode of 'the suite life of zach and cody' with fear ridden in their stomaches. the majority of the boys let out a few laughs, but seongjin couldn't get the thought of what his best friend was going through in the other room.

---

it was now one in the morning, and seongjin was still sitting on the sofa. the bright lights of the television burned his eyes, yet he still unconsciously stared at them. noticing the time, he let out a quiet huff, and pushed his fatigued self up from the couch and waddled in the kitchen, his tail uncurling behind him. he picked up a banana with his tail, and then was about to walk out when he came up with an idea. alongside the fact that the only way he could get into his room was for sleep, he could go and see jinwoo if he brought him some food. he missed dinner, which mincheol bought for the group straight after, so it was seem fair to get him something to nibble on into the morning hours. he found a carrot. it was ripe and bright, the orange skin illuminated by the artificial lighting. he held it in one hand, as he unpeeled the banana in his tail and took a large bite.

he could hear oli snoring from his room, and then the impact of a pillow to his face, thrown by minseo. he could hear absolutely nothing from daeyoung's room, but a bright light peaked from under the door crack, making seongjin wonder if he was on his laptop again. woojin and yochanan were asleep as well, and no sounds were erupting from their section of the dorm. although, somewhat muffled whimpers could be heard coming from his own dorm, which troubled seongjin. taking another bite of his banana, he jogged up to his door, and used his elbow and back to open the piece of wood on hinges to reveal the rooms. posters of various male and female kpop idols covered the walls of half of the dorm, leaving the colour unidentifiable, and the other half was painted in a light grey. the room had some sort of split personality, one half colourful and bright, and the other half dark and mysterious. however, the boy was huddled in his bright corner didn't match the mood. knees to his chest, ears flopping over his face, small sobs escaping his mouth, seongjin was so close to sacrificing his banana in order to help the bunny.

"jinwoo! are you alright?" he placed himself down on the bed, and his hand found its way to the younger boy's chin, lifting it up to see the boy's not-so-innocent face. two scars were marked on his pale cheek, and were rimmed with concealer in an effort to hide them. dark circles lined up underneath his eyes, which were bloodshot and teary. but, the collar was still steaming, smoke being released from both sides of the metal. scorch marks were left in its place, and were as hot as the sun. "stop crying jinny~" he cooed, wiping the tears from his eyes. "was this mincheol? what else did he do?"

"just this..." he mumbled out, "but that's not why i'm crying, seongjin."

"then why are you crying? what did he do?" the monkey had embraced the bunny in a hug, patting his back as he sobbed more and spoke.

"it's what he said to me," the maknae braced himself, taking a few shaky breaths before speaking again. "he can do much worse..." and that's when seongjin released something: idol life was not all that it lived up to be; in fact, it was worse than hell.

•
okay, it's just gonna be them getting hurt, nothing more serious than that
also i cry over seongwoo's friendship
also also sorry that it's shorter than the first chapter
also also also yes, this will have quite big time skips in order to show you their debut and how their developing and stuff, so i might move some chapters around lol
(these chapters tend to focus on people's characters that have been active and i haven't recently focused on; so, although some characters have been active, this was to focus on seongjin and jinwoo. but soon i'll document the 1975 concert, and there's also a trip planned ;D)