Seonghwa X Y/n Seonghwa X You - Tumblr Posts
Exhaustion
Requested: [yes]
Prompt: “You won’t take care of yourself so I will” + “Stop worrying about you? Stop worrying about you?! I can barely stop thinking of you!” [with ATEEZ Seonghwa]
Prompt List: [100 followers event]
Warnings: angst. fluffy ending. mentions of not eating food. mentions of fainting.
Pairing: idol!Seonghwa x gn!idol!reader
Word Count: 2791
A/N: Reposted because of a glitch lol
Tumblr is based on a system of reblogs, not likes. Please reblog my work
What happens when you faint backstage after an exhausting year
You stumbled as you walked down the steps after your collaboration stage with The Boyz’s Sunwoo. Your manager’s arm around your waist broke your fall, and soon you found yourself being carried to your group’s dressing room. You tried to catch your breath, gasping air as you tried to stop the ringing in your ears. You should have listened to your body and acted upon the warning signs. But you had ignored it all, overestimating yourself. It wasn’t your fault, though; you had been swamped with schedules in 2022: two comebacks, two world tours, performing at music shows around the world, filming a drama, and releasing your solo album. It seemed that all of it was catching up to you now.
You had just arrived from LA after your last concert and, after a dress change, arrived straight at the awards ceremony. You felt a pang of irritation, wondering why your body couldn’t have held on for a bit longer. Today’s show was the last award show you were supposed to attend before you’d finally get a break from everything. You just hoped you’d last through the two performances you were supposed to do with your group and that fans wouldn’t notice anything amiss. Or at least they’d chalk it up to exhaustion and be lenient. The haze had been terrifying. You’d never felt this way, the feeling of your body not responding to you. You’d heard of it from your friends in the industry, but you were always careful not to reach the point of breakdown. Alas, here you were. The sad part was that you only had ten minutes to change into your performance outfit, fix your makeup, and catch your breath before going back up on stage.
When the haze cleared from your head, you saw your members, Hyunmi and Mina, along with two of your managers and your group’s paramedic looking at you with worry. You noticed that everyone was slightly further away from you except for the paramedic, who was still checking up on you.
“Will you be able to perform?” Mina asked you, grabbing an icepack and pressing it against the back of your neck. The cold helped you to get some feeling back into your aching muscles. It only got better once the paramedic started massaging your shoulders.
“I’m sorry, guys,” You whispered softly, but they heard it loud and clear. You really should have taken it a bit easy. But with your schedule packed up, you’d been getting less than four hours of sleep every day and having very light lunches. You sometimes skipped dinner altogether when you had to perform since dancing on a full stomach made you queasy. You usually ate after shows, but with you being so tired, you would crash into your bed even before you could even think of ordering dinner. The jetlag and adjusting to different time zones in such a short period didn’t help either, and you were sure at this point the last time you slept was sometime more than 24 hours ago. This wasn’t all, though, the added stress of your best friend ignoring you was probably what finally did it.
You and Seonghwa had known each other since you moved to Seoul as trainees. He had bumped into you in the subway one day. Both of you had been trying to understand the confusing network, trying to figure out which train you were supposed to board to reach your dorms. With two brains working on the puzzle, you figured it out quickly. Surprisingly, both of you were going the same way as your dorms were within a radius of 500 meters from each other. It was just a cherry on top when you realized you both were from Gyeongsang, and a friendship bloomed between both of you. You’d been good friends for six years now, with your friendship being one of the most well-known and loved idol friendships in the industry. But for some reason, Seonghwa had been ignoring you for the past week, and you had no clue why. He did not respond to your texts or calls, and when you texted Hongjoong, he told you to give him some time to figure stuff out. Then finally, when you saw him before going to perform with Sunwoo, he just turned his back on you, acting as if he hadn’t seen you. Ignoring the tears prickling your eyes, you had simply walked away with a heavy heart.
“Four minutes,” your manager’s voice rang in the dressing room, and everyone sprung to action. She then turned to you, “You sure you can perform?”
You nodded, “Yeah, I’m sure. It’s just two dances, anyways. I’ll be okay.”
“Okay then. Let’s get you into your outfit,” your manager smiled encouragingly at you. “Take it easy, though.”
You nodded, allowing the stylists to dress you up, wipe off your sweat, and touch up your makeup and hair. By the time you were ready, you were happy to note that the black spots that had been dancing in front of you had disappeared, and the lights didn’t hurt your eyes anymore. Your members were close as you walked through the hallways, knowing that you wouldn’t back out of performing even if they begged you not to. So, they stayed close by, scrutinizing your movements to make sure you would be okay.
As you stood on standby, stylists still hovered around you, making final adjustments while the paramedic stayed close. You knew there was a chance that your condition could worsen, but you hoped that you would hold out for eight more minutes since you were feeling okay. Just two dances. You could make it through the performances.
“If you feel worse at any point, I want you to go back. You hear me, Y/N eonnie?” Hyunmi put both her hands on your shoulders and gazed into your eyes seriously. As the youngest and with you being the leader, she never really used this sort of tone with you. But you knew she was worried, so you let it go with a smile and nod.
“Hyunmi is right, Y/N,” Mina quipped, resting her forehead against your shoulder. “You may be our leader, but your health is more important to us and our fans too.”
“I’m fine, I promise,” you smiled, hoping they’d believe you. You sounded convincing enough, after all. From the corner of your eye, you saw the members of ATEEZ, they had just finished their performance, and your members’ words had caught their attention. You also noticed half of the members frowning at Seonghwa while the rest looked at you in worry. Seonghwa, too was watching you intently, a frown marring his features. He looked like he wanted to say something, but at that moment, you were called on stage, so with your group chant, the three of you walked onto the stage amidst the applause and screams of your fans.
You knew the eight minutes were going to test you badly, but you didn’t realize it would be this hard. You managed to keep up with your members, going harder than usual because you knew if you stopped now, your body would shut down. You gave your all to the two dances, and when you finally bowed and leaned into Mina as you descended the stairs, you couldn’t help but mentally pat yourself on your back. But now that the adrenaline was fading, the dark spots were back with full force, and the world seemed to be spinning around you.
Hyunmi encouraged you to keep going, but you suddenly didn’t have it in you anymore. You crouched down, realizing that your body was close to shutting down. You felt hot and sticky, and the choker around your neck wasn’t helping; you were sure you were covered in cold sweat. You took deep breaths, hoping it would help clear the queasy feeling and give you enough energy to make it to your dressing room, but nothing was helping.
“Y/N,” you heard someone call you, as if from far away. You could recognize that voice anywhere, it was your best friend, and you were a bit surprised that he was there. It took all you had to lift your head up when you felt him crouch next to you, holding you carefully to stop you from falling face-first onto the floor. Through your blurry gaze, you were just barely able to see his face and his concerned expression. He turned to someone, barking out orders to get some oxygen and water for you. If you had been alright, you’d probably have been more surprised since you’d never heard him speak in such a sharp tone. You had seen him scold his members once or twice, but his tone right now was enough to give you shivers.
“Oppa?” you managed to whisper, causing him to look back at you, his expression melting into in softer one.
“Hey, stay with me, okay? Just take deep breaths. Can you can do that for me, sweetheart?” There was the Seonghwa you knew and loved, the endearing, sweet man who would look out for you even when you told him to take care of himself first. This was probably one of the few traits of his that had made you fall for him. Though, you never really said anything, not wanting to mess up your friendship. He didn’t like you that way, and even if he did, there was no way you could be with him. You were idols, after all.
You tried to nod when you realized he was still waiting for an answer from you, but having him so close was probably the last straw. You felt safe and cared for around him, which perhaps made your body finally shut down. The last thing you felt was Seonghwa’s arms shifting to accommodate you and lifting you from the ground.
Seonghwa was on edge. When he heard your members ask you to take it slow, he could see you were a bit pale. Your eyes weren’t as bright as they usually were before a performance and the way the paramedic was hovering around you caused his heart to fall. He wanted to ask you what was wrong, but by the time he could, you were on stage.
“Seonghwa?” Hongjoong nodded towards the exit, signaling him to move, but he shook his head.
“I’ll stay. Y/N didn’t look good. I don’t think I’ll be able to sit until I see her come back after performing,” his eyes were trained on the screen, watching through the camera that was following you. You looked okay, but you were putting in more effort than usual. Even though it looked really good, he could tell that you were using your last bit of energy to finish this performance. From his own experience, he knew that you’d crash after you came backstage, and he wanted to be there to help.
He knew you had been extremely busy and that he had just added to your stress because he was jealous that you and Sunwoo were going to do a special collaboration for the award show. He knew the two of you didn’t have any say in this, and he knew he was being petty. But he was just a guy in love, and everything got out of hand when someone told him that the younger idol had a massive crush on you. The two of you were the same age, so maybe Sunwoo would appeal more to you than he did, even if he was just three years older than you.
Hongjoong decided to stay with his friend, knowing that he would appreciate some support. He spotted your company’s staff also watching the performance intently, expecting the worst. They knew you could go down at any moment, and all of them were praying you could hold out until they were in a situation to help you. Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief when the three of you bowed, and the lights went out.
Seonghwa’s heart nearly stopped beating when he saw how pale you were, you weren’t looking good, and as the adrenaline dissipated, the worse you seemed to look. He had rushed to you when you sunk to your knees and couldn’t help but watch helplessly as you finally succumbed to your body’s needs. Heart beating fast, the boy carried you to your dressing room, allowing the paramedics to take you. He watched nervously, hands trembling as he watched them do their best to revive you. He, your members, and Hongjoong stood to the side, not getting in the way as they gave you oxygen and used icepacks to cool you down.
“Shouldn’t we call an ambulance?” Seonghwa voiced out, but his heart soared when he heard your feeble protest. He stepped forward a bit, watching as your eyes fluttered before opening fully.
You allowed yourself to be helped into a sitting position, you were still dizzy, but it was much better than before. Someone had pressed an energy drink to your lips, and you took small sips, eyes not leaving Seonghwa’s figure who was walking toward you.
Everyone parted to let him through, and when he crouched down, the paramedic murmured a don’t stress her out before leaving the two of you alone in the room.
“How are you feeling?” He whispered softly. You saw his fingers twitch as if he was trying to stop himself from reaching for you.
“Fine,” you replied, tone matching his. But you could tell from the way his brows furrowed even further that he didn’t believe you at all. You sighed, “Hwa, stop worrying about me. I’m b—”
“Stop worrying about you?” Seonghwa parroted incredulously. “Stop worrying about you?! I can barely stop thinking of you!” He stopped short, eyes widening, when he realized what he had said to you. He had basically just confessed to you in the heat of the moment.
You gasped at his words, “W-what?”
He sighed, running his hands through his styled strands of hair and not meeting your eyes as he settled down on the couch next to you. “I’m sorry, I… For acting like an idiot for the past week. Ever since I heard that Sunwoo would do a collab stage with you, I couldn’t stop being jealous. I mean… he has a crush on you, and I heard he was going to make a move on you after the show today. And I just—” Seoghwa sighed, cutting himself off and looking at you with teary eyes. “I never said anything because I didn’t want to destroy our friendship. But I was scared that you’d finally slip away from me. Sunwoo is amazing, he’s younger and so much bette—”
“I’d like to stop you right there,” you brushed out the strands of hair that had fallen over his forehead, effectively shutting him up. You giggled, causing the corner of his lips to lift up as well. “We’re both big idiots, honestly. All this mess could have been avoided if we’d come clean about our feelings.”
“You mean…?”
“That I like you too? Yeah,” you remarked, grasping his warmer hand in yours.
“I’ll hold off asking you out until I can take you out on a proper date, but I think we should get you back home so I can monitor you as you rest,” Seonghwa stated with a smile.
“But…” You started but quickly shut up when he narrowed his eyes at you.
“I know you won’t take care of yourself, so I will,” he teased, earning an eye roll from you. “In all seriousness, I’m part of the reason that you almost collapsed on stage.”
You shrugged, taking his hand when he stood up. Though when you stumbled a bit, he wrapped his arms around you. Seonghwa pursed his lips and bent down a little, wrapping one arm around your knees, the other coming around your back to steady you as he carried you bridal style. A squeak of surprise burst from your lips, and you placed your arms around his shoulders.
“What are you doing?” you hissed, surprised by his sudden move. You glanced at your members, who shrugged, while Hongjoong gave you a cheeky wink, and your staff looked away respectfully.
“Let me do this, please,” he whispered, placing a chaste kiss on your forehead, which made your heart flutter pleasantly.
“Hwa—”
He shushed you softly, “What kind of a soon-to-be-boyfriend would I be if I cannot even take care of you?”
You blushed, hiding your face in the crook of his neck, when you heard Hongjoong and Mina’s laugh from behind you. This man was going to give you a heart attack one day.