✔ enhypen imagines

𝗻𝗶-𝗸𝗶: 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿

1004 words

"just run through it one more time, y/n."

"i can't, ni-ki! give me a damn second to breathe," y/n heaved, her head pounding, and her whole body sore from the hours of dance practice her teacher had assigned.

at least she had the best dancer in the class as her partner: ni-ki. he was merely a few days older than her, but she believed his and her dance experience was far greater than a few day gap. furthermore, ni-ki barely payed attention in class, usually spending the time pulling on the sleeves of the long shirts he wore, instead of doing anything else with his hands.

y/n respected him though, he always showed her kindness, and to her he was just as shy as she was, so she wouldn't hold him entirely to blame for not encouraging a friendship.

after today though, that might change. the pair had spent the better half of a day conversing, joking, and being unintentionally intimate with each other, with y/n tripping and squashing the older one a little too many times.

y/n was very worn out, both physically and emotionally, she wanted nothing more than just to curl up in her bed, go to sleep, and never wake up. she wasn't wishing for her life to end, but she did want a lot of time to rest.

however, ni-ki had other plans. he ran his hands through his jet black hair, the sweat combing it back and making his features more visible. y/n noticed his sharp jaw and sharp eyes, which only made her feel even more inferior to the boy: clearly he had impeccable genetics too.

y/n couldn't imagine the confidence she would have if she looked like him; if she looked like that.

alongside ni-ki winning in that department, he also was dancing and breathing just fine, something y/n was somewhat jealous of at this moment.

despite ni-ki's daunting appearance, he was a very empathetic person, and after a few minutes, he rushed over to care for y/n. holding her up by her waist and propping her frame against his, as her breathing slowed. there was a calming aura to him, one that seemed to dissolve the weight of the hard work they had endured.

"i think that's enough for today ni-ki," y/n said, fanning her face and breathing thoughtfully.

"you're telling me," ni-ki joked sarcastically, for he himself could see how exhausted y/n was.

he skated across the room to turn off the music, and pick up both his and her bags; his a black leather tote, hers a lilac backpack; escorting then to her, before slinging both on his left shoulder. with his other arm he held y/n, draping her left over his back, and effectively carrying her out of the room.

"ni-ki put me down," she protested upon exiting the room, "who knows what people will say if they see us, they'd tell everyone that we were together."

he simply shrugged, and put her down without any more fuss, giving her backpack to her and walking silently alongside her, in a comfortable silence. they carried on through the various corridors and double doors towards the exit of the building, so far not seeing anyone they knew.

they looked down the art corridor, and ni-ki pointed out a piece he had painted years ago, on a display board. it was a potato print picture. "they really showcased my best work, i'm still so proud of it."

y/n didn't want ni-ki to feel disheartened, so she withheld comments on it being perhaps not the most advanced artwork she had seen so far in just that corridor.

y/n noticed as they walked downstairs that ni-ki had his arm around her waist. she didn't know when that happened, but she wasn't complaining, his loose but firm grip made her lower back feel prickly, with the skin-to-skin contact.

as she looked up from her waist, she met eyes with a boy also in their dance class, her old crush, beomgyu. y/n thought that he was a gentle, loving soul, much like her, and would spend classes staring at him. that was before last winter, where he grew his hair out and dyed it black, and went into his 'emo phase' as y/n wrote in her diary at the time.

she saw beomgyu lose the bright sparkle in his eyes in favour of a more dark, salacious one. y/n was glad she wasn't alone right now to say the least.

she tried to look away from him, darting her eyes anywhere they could take her away from him, and when she looked down, she saw ni-ki's hands again, feeling embarrassed knowing that beomgyu would have seen them too. "at least he won't try it on with me now," she told ni-ki.

he smiled to himself, for he had seen the expression of confusion, anger, and sadness on beomgyu's face, and yet he didn't feel an ounce of shame. in fact, if anything ni-ki felt proud for turning him away from her, though it was also an overly protective and selfish move.

as they reached the front gates, y/n saw a small magpie fluttering between the trees, hopping from branch to branch. soon after, another one perched on a higher branch. "look! they're friends!"

ni-ki walked closer to the trees, and bent down in front, saluting up to the birds. y/n ran up to him and playfully smacked his arm, holding it between her hands. "why did you do that?"

"can't a guy just salute a couple of magpies in peace? what, have you never seen anyone do that before?"

"no.." y/n spoke, her voice faltering as if she was unsure if indeed she had seen someone do so, and just forgotten.

"it's just something you do when you see a magpie, or in this case, when you see two. you have much to learn y/n, i thought you were faultless before today, but let's just say your magpie knowledge parallels your knowledge of dancing, and flirting too."