Qiang hurts his ankle
They were practicing hard. The last promotion for their debut was tomorrow and they all wanted it to be the best performance yet. They wanted it to go well, of course, but they also wanted it to leave people anticipating the next comeback and what they had planned for the future.
It had been a hard practice so far. They had run the same number over a dozen times by now and it was only noon. They'd only been there for two hours but Qiang felt like he had already been there a full 16 hours. They were all sweating and breathing heavily. "Take five and let's try again," Sangyeon called out in between breaths.
After they had caught their breaths, they were at it again. However, Qiang and Kevin hadn't put enough spacing in between them for one part and Qiang ended up tripping over Kevin's leg. They both fell to the ground with a loud thud. "Are you okay?" Kevin said, already turned and on his knees as Qiang just laid there, panting and staring at the ceiling.
He had twinged his ankle; he felt the pain shoot up his foot and leg the second he had tripped. It was throbbing right now, but he didn't think it was anything to worry about. "I'm okay, I'm okay," he said, rolling up on his knees. "Are you okay? You smacked your elbow pretty hard. Let me see it." Qiang grabbed Kevin's arm, inspecting it before Kevin pulled it away with a smile. "I'm fine, hyung."
Qiang pursed his lips together, but chose to believe him. "I'm watching you," he murmured and Kevin chuckled, helping Qiang to his feet. The second he placed his weight on his left foot, we bit down hard on his tongue. It was definitely twisted, maybe even sprained. It hurt a lot. He kept his composure though. He didn't want to worry anyone and he was sure if he just iced it tonight it would be good as new tomorrow.
Qiang danced through it for the next four hours, trying his best not to put too much pressure on his ankle. Though, that was hard. By the time Sangyeon had called for a break and for them all to go eat something, Qiang wasn't sure if he was going to be able to walk. "You guys go ahead, I'm just gonna lay here." Qiang said, pretending he was more tired than he actually was.
Younghoon chuckled and patted his head. "Cute. I'll bring you something back." He winked as he followed the other boys out and Qiang finally let the pain contort over his face. As gently as he could, he pulled his shoe off and his sock. He almost yelped in pain when his shoe came off. It wasn't compressed anymore.
His frowned at his swollen ankle. It was definitely larger than the other and it looked a little bruised. The top of his foot looked a little swollen too. He didn't think that was a good sign, but he still felt that once he iced it, it would be okay. He just needed to get through the next four hours before they could go home.
The next four hours were probably the roughest Qiang had ever faced in his music career. Trying to put his shoe back on before the boys came back was not an easy task and only caused more pain to travel throughout his foot and up his shin. By the time practice had ended and they were heading home, Qiang could barely hide his limp.
Not wanting to alarm anyone or have to sit out for tomorrow, he sucked it up. "C'mon, manager-nim said he's going to buy us something delicious," Younghoon chirped as he wrapped his arm around Qiang's waist. Qiang was grateful for the boy. He might not know he was hurt, but now Qiang could throw his arm over him and lean most of his weight on him.
Younghoon didn't question it, just dragging Qiang along with him. He was talking animatedly about how excited he was for food and sleep. Thankfully, their manager had the food delivered to their dorm so, Qiang didn't have to deal with the sitting in a restaurant with a throbbing ankle.
The tricky part was getting an ice pack without anyone noticing. His ankle felt worse than earlier and trying to put any amount of weight on it at the moment he was sure he would cry out in pain. However, he quietly limped his way to the kitchen and grabbed an ice pack. He wasn't sure how he had managed to get through it without someone noticing, but he did.
Back in bed, he sighed in relief when he felt the coolness on his ankle. "Aren't you going to shower?" Younghoon asked as he walked in, drying his hair with the towel. Qiang had his eyes closed and shook his head. "I washed up when we got home, but I'm too tired to shower. I will tomorrow." Younghoon cocked his head to the side. Qiang was probably the cleanest out of all of them. He usually took two showers a day.
Younghoon shrugged it off, thinking that maybe he was just really tired tonight and Qiang was grateful he didn't question it further. He fell asleep quickly with the hope that by tomorrow, his ankle was back to normal.
