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He nibbled on a protein bar while he waited for the other members to finish up with their photoshoots. They had been working all day and had missed lunch. They had been provided with protein bars because they wouldn’t be getting a break longer than 5 minutes for another 5 hours.
There wouldn’t be many breaks either. This was Chanyeol’s first break since they’d started 4 hours before. He nibbled at his food and had to resist the urge to scrunch up his nose in disgust. The package said that the bar was strawberry flavoured, but to him it was tasteless.
He didn’t know why, but it was very rare that he found something he could taste properly. There wasn’t anything wrong with his taste buds. It’s just that one minute they work just fine, and then the next all he can taste is saliva. He hadn’t told anyone about it. There was no point.
He ate when and what he needed to. He definitely didn’t enjoy the process, but all he can feel is the sludge that food becomes after chewing, you can’t really blame him. There are some foods that he does like to eat. They’re normally very spicy foods, and they don’t get to eat them that often.
Most of the members can’t stand the incredibly spicy foods, but when they did get to eat it Chanyeol ate the most out of all the other members. It was one of the times that he did actually eat. Most of the time, he ate very little. The other members - too focused on shoving their own food down their throats - never really noticed.
Sometimes, Suho or Baekhyun would question him, “are you sure you don’t want more Chanyeol?” one of them would ask in an overly caring voice. Chanyeol merely smiled and said “I’m just not hungry, I’ll get something to eat later” that answer always seemed to satisfy them long enough for them to finish their meal.
He simply made a habit of getting up in the middle of the night for a ‘midnight snack’. He didn’t actually eat of course; he had no appetite. It cut down on his already small hours of sleep, but he did it to keep Suho’s peace of mind.
Suho and Baekhyun soon stopped bothering him and just automatically assumed that he would raid the dorm’s kitchen later that night if he was hungry. When he first joined EXO, he used to eat a lot more. But he only ate a fraction of that now.
He may appear to eat twice as much - to get his energy up - but later he would make up for it by eating next to nothing every other meal. Unfortunately, he along with the rest of EXO (mainly Xiumin) dieted quite frequently.
They did have to keep their figures slim and muscular after all. He did lose weight considerably faster than most other members though. With his already pitiful eating habits and the added healthy (but still very limited) diet that they were all on, he didn’t eat all that much at all.
He knew that it was bad, knew that the harsh schedules and life of an idol demanded that he eat well. It was just so much easier to not eat to keep his skinny frame. So what if his ribs were a bit more prominent than before. It wasn’t like he was anorexic, so there was no problem.
He was fine, just naturally skinnier. He made sure he stayed hydrated as well. Couldn’t have him fainting in the middle of dance practice. It would draw attention to things that the others had previously overlooked. Like how little he actually ate.
He felt sick. There was a low aching in his stomach, it turned him off his food. “You should finish that protein bar, you idols are too skinny as it is,” one of the many cameramen said to him. He smiled brightly at the cameraman as he put away the half-eaten protein bar.
“It’s ok, I’m not hungry”