Chapter Text
Kyungsoo finds himself looking at the lunch options in the cafeteria and sighing, he should probably start packing his own food just to avoid this. It’s either cardboard pizza or questionable-looking meatloaf... Kyungsoo picks the pizza and pays before leaving to find his friends.
Kyungsoo’s class lets out a little late so they’re probably all sitting already. It doesn’t take too long to find the table his friends are seated at, they’re almost always in the left back corner anyway. Looks like all of them are already there, Baekhyun, Yixing, Minseok and Jongdae, it’s a bit of a strange mix but they all get along really well.
“Hey guys” Kyungsoo says before sitting down at the table.
“Hey Soo” Jongdae smiles “how are you here after me? I’m the one with a broken foot.”
“Mr. Lee didn’t let us leave until he finished the lesson” Kyungsoo sighs.
“That sucks” Baekhyun sighs “but back to what I was saying, we need some kind of advantage if we want to win the dance semi-finals.”
“Can’t you just practice really well and do your best?” Kyungsoo asks before trying the pizza and it is unfortunately as tough to chew as it looks.
“Oh Kyungsoo, so naive to the world of competitive dance” Baekhyun shakes his head slightly “it’s about more than being good at dance.”
“But Yixing does need to work on his timing for the ending pose” Minseok points out.
“I know” Yixing sighs “I don’t know why it’s so hard for me.”
“It’s ok, you’ll get it, we still have like a month” Minseok responds.
“You never know, we might change the end pose” Baekhyun shrugs “Minseok did you find out who is going to be judging?”
“Not yet” Minseok responds.
“Damn” Baekhyun frowns “it would really help us stand out if we knew who we were catering to.”
“Don’t you guys talk about this enough during practice? You know not everyone at this table is on the dance team” Kyungsoo mumbles before taking a bite of pizza.
“No we practice during dance practice, we keep our mastermind scheming for when we aren’t allowed to book a practice space” Baekhyun responds.
“Mastermind scheming?” Jongdae laughs “you make it sound like you’re going to do some kind of dance heist or spy mission.”
“Oh my god Jongdae... that’s brilliant!” Baekhyun exclaims.
“What was? I was making fun of you” Jongdae says with a confused expression.
“We need to spy on the other teams! Well really the only threat is Eastview... so we need to spy on them” Baekhyun answers.
“Could we be disqualified for that?” Yixing asks.
“We wouldn’t copy their choreography, we would just change ours a bit so we’re more different than theirs and really stand out” Baekhyun smiles... almost evilly “completely allowed... pretty sure plus if was someone who wasn’t on the dance team doing the spying, they couldn’t get mad at us.”
Kyungsoo goes to take another bite of his pizza before he notices Baekhyun, Yixing and Minseok are all staring at him.
“What?” Kyungsoo asks.
“If we need a spy who isn’t on the dance team...” Baekhyun explains.
“Not it, make it Jongdae” Kyungsoo counters.
“He can barely walk right now” Minseok points out.
“Don’t you have other friends?” Kyungsoo asks.
“You know we don’t” Yixing laughs.
“Fine... what do you want me to do?” Kyungsoo sighs knowing he doesn’t really have a choice, it’s either agree now or put up with Baekhyun annoying him until he does, he’d rather skip that part.
“I’m so glad you asked Agent Do” Baekhyun smirks.
They spent the rest of their lunch break devising the plan. So far they don’t have much to work with but Kyungsoo is supposed to go to Eastview after school and hope the dance team is practicing. If they aren’t he can still look for clues, Kyungsoo doesn't know what kind of clues Baekhyun thinks there will be but he agrees anyway.
If they are practicing, Kyungsoo is meant to walk in and try to watch. If they ask him why, he’s supposed to say he’s homeschooled but is hoping he could join the team anyway. When they obviously say no because the competition is too soon, he asks for lessons so he can join next time. If anything else happens, Kyungsoo needs to improvise. Kyungsoo desperately hopes the school is just locked and he can’t do any of this.
Soon enough, school ends and Kyungsoo runs to catch the public bus that will drop him off at their rival high school which conveniently isn’t too far away, also conveniently Eastview lets out half an hour after their school so by the time Kyungsoo walks up to the school, people are just starting to walk out.
Kyungsoo goes through one of the open doors and walks around looking for wherever the dance team might practice in this school. He has no idea where that might be but if the layout is anything like his school, it might be near the gym... but where is the gym...
After wandering around for a while, he talks to a janitor who gives him instructions and Kyungsoo is very thankful. He follows the instructions until he’s in front of a glass door that seems to lead to a dance/theatre practice room. He opens the door and is a little surprised to only see one guy in the middle of the room stretching his leg while holding it in place with his arm.
The guy is probably a fair amount taller than Kyungsoo and looks about his age too. He’s wearing baggy black pants and a black tank top with a sweater tied around his waist. Nothing too special but it does look like he’s ready to start dancing soon so Kyungsoo is pretty sure he’s going to be able to talk to this guy for help. They lock eyes and Kyungsoo notices he has full lips like Kyungsoo only this guy’s lips are a slightly different shape-
“Uh... can I help you?” the guy says putting the leg he was stretching back on the ground.
“I... was looking for the dance team?” Kyungsoo says, a little unsure.
“Well I’m the captain of the dance team” the guy responds “so what are you here for?”
“Uhh... I want to join the dance team” Kyungsoo lies.
The guy looks Kyungsoo up and down before raising an eyebrow and Kyungsoo gets nervous just with that look.
“I don’t think I’ve seen you around” the guy answers.
“No, you haven’t, I’m homeschooled” Kyungsoo explains exactly like he was told to “but I wanted to experience some of the aspects of high school so I was hoping I could maybe join your dance team anyway?”
“Well... you can’t officially be on the team for competitions but maybe you can join us for practice” the guy responds “do you have your audition ready?”
“Audition?” Kyungsoo asks, he was expecting the guy to just say no, not ask for Kyungsoo to audition.
“If you want to be on the team you need to audition” the guy chuckles lightly.
“Uh... I was hoping you guys would teach me” Kyungsoo responds.
“You’ll learn with us but everyone needs to audition to see if you’re good enough to make it on the team” the guy explains “what dance experience do you have?”
“Uh well I did tap for a few years” Kyungsoo says, he’s not lying he did do tap for a bit.
“Let’s see it” the guy smiles.
“Now? I don’t have my tap shoes” Kyungsoo responds, neglecting to explain those shoes definitely don’t fit anymore anyway.
“I can still see your feet move” the guy shrugs “so go on... sorry what’s your name?”
“Kyungsoo” Kyungsoo answers.
“I’m Jongin” Jongin smiles “whenever you’re ready, show me what you’ve got.”
“Ok” Kyungsoo mumbles even though this absolutely was not part of the plan.
Kyungsoo pulls his phone out and tries to remember one of the songs he used while learning tap routines. He finally remembers one and types it into his phone before starting the song. He takes a deep breath and hopes his muscle memory can take over. Luckily he does remember a decent amount of it and what he doesn’t know he fills in with random moves he knows, Jongin won’t know he’s just making stuff up... hopefully. By the end of the song, Kyungsoo is sort of proud of his performance. It should at least sell his lie well enough, right?
“How did I do?” Kyungsoo asks.
“Well I don’t know much about tap so I can’t really say but I can see some of the skills you’ve developed and they will be useful for the type of dance we do here” Jongin responds.
“What kind is that?” Kyungsoo asks, knowing Baekhyun will want that information.
“A mix of a few styles honestly, not tap but some hip hop, some modern dance, some jazz and ballet” Jongin explains.
“Ballet?” Kyungsoo asks, feeling like that doesn’t match the other styles but then again, he doesn’t know much.
“Yeah I was a ballerino growing up and I do a lot of the choreographing around here so it gets mixed in sometimes” Jongin smiles “so since you can’t compete with us... maybe we can work out a bit of a compromise.”
“What kind of compromise?” Kyungsoo asks.
“I can teach you a little more of the style we do here and maybe by next year I’ll find a loophole so you can perform with us” Jongin offers.
“You’ll teach me... like lessons?” Kyungsoo asks.
“Yeah, I guess but a bit more casual than that” Jongin nods.
“Ok... yeah” Kyungsoo nods.
“Let’s start now then” Jongin smiles.
“Really?” Kyungsoo asks, a little surprised since he wasn’t expecting this to go down this way at all.
“Yeah, I’ll teach you some basic moves that we use a lot in dance” Jongin says before standing in front of Kyungsoo but a bit to his right facing the mirror so Kyungsoo can see his reflection clearly “stand with your feet shoulder length apart like I am.”
“Ok” Kyungsoo says before mimicking that.
Jongin seems really serious about this whole thing because he spends the next hour coaching Kyungsoo through some basic dance moves, a few of which Kyungsoo did learn in tap but most of it is new and Kyungsoo has a bit of difficulty keeping up. Jongin is very patient and encouraging though and even if Kyungsoo never actually wanted to learn how to dance, this... isn’t so bad.
“You did great for your first time” Jongin smiles as he grabs his water bottle “although it’s not really your first time since you did tap, some of those skills definitely translate over.”
“Not as many as I’d like” Kyungsoo chuckles before running his hand through his slightly sweaty hair.
“Give it some time, you’ll do great” Jongin says sincerely “oh and could I get your number or Instagram or something?”
“My Instagram?” Kyungsoo asks.
“Or just whatever so I can text you about another lesson” Jongin responds.
“Oh” Kyungsoo pauses for a moment.
He wants to avoid exposing himself as someone who goes to Westview so he has to think about this carefully, he doesn’t have anything on his Instagram that ties him to his school. He barely has any photos posted, just one of his dogs, one of a sunset, and some pictures from his family trip to Europe... but he does follow his friends on Instagram so maybe better safe than sorry.
“I can give you my number” Kyungsoo says before walking over and holding his hand out expectantly.
“Oh” Jongin says as he gets the memo.
Jongin takes out his phone and creates a contact with only Kyungsoo’s first name and then hands the phone to Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo takes it and enters in his number. He has half a mind to write in his last name too but just in case Jongin can find him on social media using that information, he decides not to.
“Thanks” Jongin smiles.
“I’m the one who should be thanking you, you’re going to put in all the time and effort into teaching me” Kyungsoo responds.
“You’ll put in the time and effort into learning” Jongin responds “it’s nice to work with someone who takes it seriously so honestly, no need to thank me, just text me back to plan another one of these things.”
“I’ll do that” Kyungsoo nods “bye Jongin, see you next time.”
“Bye” Jongin waves.
Kyungsoo walks out of the school and he leaves to go home. On his way home he gives Baekhyun an update about how Jongin believes him and is teaching him dance, to say Baekhyun is happy is an understatement.
Kyungsoo’s parents are a little upset that Kyungsoo is home late but he just tells them he was at school late practicing for his singing recital and they let it go. Kyungsoo probably should have actually practiced for that but he has an annoying friend using him as a pawn for a plan that shouldn’t involve Kyungsoo in the first place.
~=+•+=~
“Kyungsoo” Jongdae smiles before walking up to his friend “want to walk to music together?”
“Sure” Kyungsoo nods before grabbing his binder for music class “do you need any help with that?”
“No I can walk on my own but I’ll just need you to go a little slower” Jongdae says happily “but thanks for asking.”
“I’m here to help if I can” Kyungsoo responds as he starts walking, slower than usual for Jongdae’s sake “that’s what friends are for after all.”
“Yeah, I’d do the same for you” Jongdae nods “anyway, I desperately hope this is just a practice period, I might have been neglecting my afterschool practice.”
“You and me both” Kyungsoo chuckles “I should have done it last night but I was busy doing Baekhyun’s plan.”
“Oh yeah right, how did that go?” Jongdae asks.
“Well I met the dance team captain and he’s not putting me on the team but he is going to train me so I can join next year” Kyungsoo explains.
“That sounds perfect for Baekhyun” Jongdae chuckles.
“The only thing is he hasn’t texted me” Kyungsoo says “he was supposed to text me to plan our next meeting but he hasn’t yet.”
“You don’t have his number?” Jongdae asks.
“No I just gave him mine... that was kind of dumb huh?” Kyungsoo asks.
“Eh I’m sure it’s fine, he’ll text soon, why bother saying he would if he didn’t mean it” Jongdae says casually “he could have just asked you to leave.”
“That’s a good point” Kyungsoo nods.
Once they are in the class, they are both upset to find out it will not be a full period of practicing. Instead, they have to go over some music history that they will be tested on by the end of the year. It’s by far Kyungsoo’s least favourite part of music class. He took this class to sing and learn guitar, not for history, he had the option to take history, he didn’t do it.
They were promised practice time only if they got through all the material and people had way too many questions so that seems out of reach. Kyungsoo sighs to himself when the bell rings and he knows the chance of practice is gone. At least the class is over so he can stop learning about things that happened to composers he has little interest in.
It is also lunch break so Kyungsoo puts his stuff away, and waits in line at the cafeteria before sitting down with his friends. Naturally Jongdae is already there, Minseok is too but Baekhyun and Yixing aren’t there yet.
“How was your class?” Kyungsoo asks Minseok.
“I liked it but I like history” Minseok responds.
“Ew, we had to learn history too” Jongdae grimaces.
“Really? Why?” Minseok asks.
“Music history is part of the music curriculum for some reason” Kyungsoo grumbles before poking his cafeteria mac and cheese.
“I’d love that, a combination of two things I enjoy” Minseok smiles.
“Well me and Kyungsoo wanted to practice for the recital so not as nice for us” Jongdae explains.
“Oh yeah, when is that?” Minseok asks.
“The 27th” Kyungsoo answers.
“In 3 days?” Minseok asks, surprised.
“No next month” Jongdae responds.
“Oh it’s the week after the dance semi-final, I’m probably free if I’m allowed in the audience” Minseok smiles.
“Of course you’re allowed” Jongdae says happily “anyone from school is allowed, parents and friends too.”
“Then I’ll be there” Minseok says before stabbing his salad with a fork.
“Be at what?” Baekhyun says sitting down at the table, Yixing joins as well.
“Kyungsoo and Jongdae have a singing recital on the 27th of next month” Minseok explains.
“Ooo fun” Baekhyun smiles.
“Good luck with that guys, you’ll do great” Yixing says happily.
“Thanks, Yixing but we really need more time to practice” Jongdae chuckles “they keep trying to teach us in class instead of letting us practice.”
“Oh man, it sucks when school tries to teach you things, what are they thinking?” Baekhyun says sarcastically with a smirk.
“I also have some idiot making me spend a lot of my free time talking to the captain of Eastview’s dance team” Kyungsoo says before staring at Baekhyun.
“Yeah, but it’s working!” Baekhyun responds “he’s going to teach you, it’s a perfect way for you to ask about their choreography.”
“Well, it doesn’t help me with the recital” Kyungsoo answers.
“You’ll be fantastic no matter what, don’t act like it’s not easy for you” Baekhyun chuckles “we’ve all heard you.”
“It’s easy when I practice” Kyungsoo frowns.
“Kyungsoo’s not kidding, they gave us some complicated songs” Jongdae adds.
“Aren’t you the guy who said he didn’t want to sing rock because it was too easy and came too naturally ” Baekhyun chuckles.
“I like a challenge” Jongdae chuckles.
They continue to talk about random topics while they eat and Kyungsoo is glad the conversation moved on from his mission with Jongin because it’s not something he likes thinking about too much. Although once all his slightly overcooked mac and cheese is all gone, he gets a text from an unknown number. Kyungsoo pulls out his phone and looks at the message.
“Who’s texting you, we’re all here” Baekhyun chuckles.
“I think it’s Jongin” Kyungsoo says as he reads the message “he’s asking when I’m free.”
“Tell him every single day after 2:30” Baekhyun says excitedly.
“No, I have other things to do” Kyungsoo responds “plus that would make me seem like I’m way too eager to make a friend, I don’t want to sound like a loser.”
“I don’t think he’d think that” Minseok says comfortingly.
“He might” Jongdae shrugs.
“I’m trying to be nice” Minseok laughs.
“Yeah but I mean... who’s always free after school?” Jongdae asks.
“You” Minseok says, raising an eyebrow.
“Not true, I do things, you just don’t know about it, my life is a mystery” Jongdae chuckles.
“What? Do you have a secret girlfriend you’re going out with?” Minseok asks with a playful smile.
“You two stop, we need to get Kyungsoo to reply to Jongin” Baekhyun interrupts.
“Tell him you’re free most days so Jongin can suggest a time” Yixing helpfully offers.
“Yeah, I like that one” Kyungsoo nods before typing that into his phone.
Kyungsoo was hoping for a response later when he’s already home but Jongin replies almost instantly, he probably also has lunch right now.
“Well, what does it say?” Baekhyun asks.
“Ugh” Kyungsoo sighs “he says he’s free today after school if I’m available.”
“Yes!” Baekhyun smiles.
“Maybe I’m busy” Kyungsoo responds.
“Are you?” Minseok asks.
“No...” Kyungsoo says quietly.
“So tell him yes!” Baekhyun exclaims.
“You’re going to owe me” Kyungsoo grumbles.
“Name your price” Baekhyun says.
“A thousand dollars” Kyungsoo says quickly.
“Name a better price” Baekhyun chuckles.
“Buy my lunch every day that I have to go dance with Jongin” Kyungsoo says more seriously.
“You drive a hard bargain but I accept” Baekhyun nods.
“I told him I’ll meet him in the same spot” Kyungsoo says, putting his phone away before the bell rings letting them know they need to prepare for class.
~=+•+=~
When Kyungsoo walks into the dance room for the second time in his life, Jongin is already stretching and Kyungsoo almost feels a little weird walking in but he knows Jongin invited him.
“Is it always just you?” Kyungsoo asks.
“Yeah my teammates usually just want to go home, I prefer to dance a bit to let off some steam after school” Jongin explains “more fun with someone else here though.”
“Really? I would have thought I was a bother” Kyugnsoo responds.
“You? No” Jongin scoffs “the idiots in the school who say shit just because I like dance, they’re the bother. You’re lucky you don’t deal with that being homeschooled and all.”
“Yeah” Kyungsoo responds, feeling a little weird since that’s a lie and he has been harassed a few times at school for random reasons but especially because he likes to sing.
“Sorry to bring the mood down” Jongin says before taking a deep breath “let’s get to dancing! Do you remember the stretches?”
“Uh, I think so” Kyungsoo nods.
“If you don’t, I can help you a bit” Jongin responds.
“There was... the arm thing” Kyungsoo says before bringing his right arm across his chest and holding it in place with his left arm.
“Yeah perfect” Jongin smiles.
Kyungsoo goes through all of the simple stretches he remembers but naturally, after a bit, Jongin has to demonstrate some of the more complicated ones he’s forgotten. Kyungsoo copies him to the best of his ability but Jongin does gently guide him into some of the positions and Kyungsoo is not used to someone acting that way with him. It’s odd... but not bad, his friends are never really gentle with him and he doesn’t mind but this is ok too.
“This time do you want to start learning a choreography?” Jongin asks “you did well with the basic steps last time and I don’t want to bore you into not coming back.”
“It wasn’t boring” Kyungsoo responds.
“You don’t have to lie, basic steps are always boring” Jongin chuckles.
“I guess... it wasn’t as exciting as I would expect from dance” Kyungsoo says.
“Yeah so let’s do something exciting now then” Jongin says raising his eyebrows slightly.
Jongin walks over to his phone and seems to look through it for a while, occasionally playing little snippets of songs out loud before turning it off when he decides against it.
“Ok I think this song will work” Jongin finally concludes “it’s not the easiest but I have confidence you’ll be able to learn it, plus it’s one of the only choreographies we do that can turn into a duet and I think it would be fun for me to do it with you once you’ve learned it well enough.”
“Duet?” Kyungsoo asks, a little concerned about that, it sounds kind of... intimate.
“Well I just mean it’ll look good with two people instead of the minimum of six we usually have” Jongin explains “we can’t do the start of this song because it does need that many people but we can do the pre-chorus and chorus, that’s the most fun part anyway.”
“Do you usually dance with six people?” Kyungsoo asks, knowing Baekhyun will want that information.
“Our team this year is eight but generally the choreographies we do are for between six and ten people yeah” Jongin explains “I do some solo stuff too but that’s not for the school team.”
“Do you compete outside of the school competitions?” Kyungsoo asks.
“I have yeah” Jongin smiles “are you thinking we could do a real duet at one of those competitions since you aren’t enrolled here?”
“I- no-” Kyungsoo stutters “I was just uh... curious.”
“Alright, competition is still intimidating to you, I get it” Jongin chuckles “let’s start out slow though... literally, I’ll teach you the dance steps at like half speed and we’ll do it faster next time.”
“Ok” Kyungsoo nods.
“So normally for this song, you’d walk into your position before starting the chorus but we can worry about that later” Jongin explains “I need you to stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart.”
“Like this?” Kyungsoo asks about getting into the same position Jongin is in.
“Yup, perfect, first step is easy right?” Jongin smiles “next bring your left arm up toward your head.”
Jongin illustrates the move, his fist is closed and his arm almost looks like it’s blocking his head, kind of on an angle and not fully extended, there’s a bend in his arm. Kyungsoo tries to copy that and Jongin nods.
“Great so the next part is pretty quick when we’re doing it at full speed but you're going to bring that hand down and pretend to hit a drum with your fist” Jongin says before showing the move, he hits directly between his legs, a bit in front where the imaginary drum would be.
“I can do that” Kyungsoo nods, copying the move.
“Perfect, that’s the arm part for that move” Jongin explains “you also want to hop super slightly but when you land, your legs are going to be further apart so you can make a 90-degree angle with your legs.”
“Can you show me what you mean?” Kyungsoo asks.
“Of course” Jongin nods before pulling his hand up back towards his head, when he drops it, he also moves both legs out at once and when he lands he pushes his knees out so they make the 90-degree angle he was describing.
“Uh, I can try” Kyungsoo says looking at what he just saw.
Kyungsoo tries to replicate the move but when he hops slightly and lands, he doesn’t quite drop down correctly and his knees aren’t where they’re meant to be.
“Almost” Jongin agrees “if you don’t mind, I can try to put you in the right position.”
“... sure” Kyungsoo says even though that sounds a bit weird to him.
Jongin moves from beside Kyungsoo to in front of him. The first thing he does is put his hands on Kyungsoo’s shoulders and pushes slightly, Kyungsoo lets him push him down and he can feel the stretch in his legs. Next Jongin looks down at Kyungsoo’s feet.
“You need to rotate your feet out so your toes are pointed out” Jongin explains so Kyungsoo does that and his knees follow the movement so they’re more open the way Jongin’s were “perfect.”
“This feels... weird” Kyungsoo says “I feel exposed.”
“Well dance is all about showing your body, that’s just kind of how it is” Jongin says “but you’ve got this pose right now.”
“Can I stop? It hurts” Kyungsoo grunts as he holds the strenuous pose.
“Oh! Yeah, you can stop” Jongin nods.
“Ugh” Kyungsoo sighs as he pulls his legs back into a normal pose.
“Maybe try holding that for longer every day because you will need to hold it during the dance” Jongin says “it shouldn’t take your body too long to adjust to it if you practice enough.”
“I hope you’re right” Kyungsoo says before rubbing his thighs slightly “that move did not exist in tap.”
“I guess that makes sense” Jongin smiles “ok for the next move you’ll need to pull that arm right back up to your head but at a 90-degree angle this time, like you’re blocking the sun so you can see sort of... except with your arm instead of your hand.”
“So like this?” Kyungsoo says with his leg arm across his forehead.
“Yup perfect” Jongin nods “I know you don’t want to do the leg part right now but you’ll hold it while you do a wave with your torso, start with pushing your chest out and then let the wave go down, by the end, your chest should be back in and your abs are pushed out.”
“Bold of you to assume I have abs” Kyungsoo grumbles.
“Everyone has abs, not all of them are visible but you still have them” Jongin responds.
“Well that’s good to know, I can brag about having abs only to be a big disappointment when I pull my shirt off” Kyungsoo jokes.
“Bold of you to assume it would be a disappointment regardless” Jongin laughs and Kyungsoo is taken back by the joke a bit... he’s not sure he knows what Jongin means “anyway, let’s practice that move without the leg part for now.”
They slowly go over every single move in the chorus together and it takes a while but time flies when you’re hyper-focused on not looking like an idiot in front of a real dancer. Thankfully, Jongin spares Kyungsoo and says they’ve learned enough for the day. Kyungsoo's legs are really burning right now.
“You did great” Jongin says with a small smile before grabbing his water bottle.
“Yeah thanks” Kyungsoo says before wishing he brought a water bottle too.
“Do you want to see the choreography with the music?” Jongin asks.
“Oh sure” Kyungsoo nods, it might be useful to see what he’s meant to do when there’s actually music.
“Ok but keep in mind, I’m doing my part which isn’t always the center so some parts might look weird” Jongin says before putting his water bottle down.
“Right” Kyungsoo says before sitting on the ground near the mirrors, he thought Jongin was just going to show him the video but this works too.
Jongin hands Kyungsoo his phone with the song ready to be played and then walks back to the middle of the dance area.
“You can start it whenever” Jongin says before getting into what Kyungsoo assumes is the starting position, he has his head down, legs shoulder width apart and hands in front of his hips.
Kyungsoo hits play and is immediately surprised the second Jongin moves on the very first beat, his move is so precise and quick it makes Kyungsoo worried he’ll ever be able to move that well. Kyungsoo knows what Jongin means when he said he doesn’t always have the center role though. After the first few moves he sort of walks in a small circle, it’s perfectly on beat but doesn’t look particularly special. Kyungsoo’s sure with the other dancers it would make more sense though.
Not too long after though, Jongin seems to walk into the middle and he makes direct eye contact with Kyungsoo which feels a bit weird, Jongin’s stare is so dramatic Kyungsoo feels like he’s boring through Kyungsoo’s skull. Then Jongin’s moves go right back to the crisp and quick moves Kyungsoo saw at the start and it looks... impressive to say the least.
Finally, the part Kyungsoo learned comes up and Kyungsoo is baffled at how it looks when Jongin does it at full speed. Kyungsoo doesn’t know why but Jongin has gone right back to staring at Kyungsoo intensely in a way Kyungsoo didn’t know Jongin was capable of. It feels weird, that’s all Kyungsoo can say about it, it just feels odd to have him stare at him like that, especially when he’s doing this dance.
Kyungsoo has only just realized that the dance Jongin has decided to teach him is sort of... thirst trappy. The way Jongin was describing the moves with imagining hitting a drum or blocking your eyes from the sun made it all seem very tame but without the explanation and just watching it, it gives a very different impression.
Kyungsoo continues to watch and he notices just how many body rolls there are, not to mention that Jongin keeps sweeping his hands across his chest and legs. It’s not always the moves themselves but the way Jongin does them... Kyungsoo’s just glad he doesn’t have to do most of this since it’s not in the chorus.
Eventually, it gets to the end of the song but where Kyungsoo would have expected the same choreo as the chorus again, instead Jongin slides onto the ground. Kyungsoo feels like he shouldn’t be looking at this anymore, it’s not that bad but the way Jongin runs his hand down his chest- it feels like something girls in his grade would watch on Tiktok but it would be weird for Kyungsoo. Thankfully it ends and so does the song so Kyungsoo doesn’t have to think about this anymore.
“Wow that was... unbelievable” Kyungsoo says when Jongin stops holding the ending pose.
“Thanks, it was a lot of practice” Jongin says while catching his breath “it got us into the semi-finals though.”
“Yeah, I can see why” Kyungsoo nods before handing Jongin his phone back.
“If you’re worried about doing it, we’re really only going to learn the chorus and starting out at half speed makes it so much easier” Jongin explains.
“I hope so” Kyungsoo chuckles “but I should head home.”
“Oh-” Jongin pauses “I won’t keep you, this isn’t a real class.”
“Was there more we were going to do?” Kyungsoo asks.
“Not dancing I just thought we might talk for a bit but it is kind of late, my mom will want me home too” Jongin says as he checks the time on his phone.
“There’s always next time” Kyungsoo says before picking up his backpack.
“Yeah, there is” Jongin smiles softly and Kyungsoo’s not sure why he’s that happy about it but these lessons are fun... not that he would admit that to Baekhyun.