ADOR U! ... nishimura riki

% . . . 3²

Hanni entered the room in search of her lost keychain and obliged to watch your performance. She pulled up the file, playing the music and filling the room with its rhythmic beats.

Fumbling into position you begin with the hook, niki gracing the center with his presence and you follow along not long after, giving him a light push on his shoulder. You execute the jump and swipe your hand away, popping your head on command of your arm, creating an image of stairs with your hands topping each other, in sync with niki from the hours of practice you both spent, cooped up in the mirrored room.

The chorus progresses and you slide to niki, making eye contact and grin at him. His immediate response was to copy your smile and vibe in the gap of moves. You turn with arms open and point to your reflection, and bump into niki in the process.

Hanni beamed at you two as the verse continued and jay park took the backseat for a while. Niki trudged to you in accordance with the beats, your back facing him. Now came the difficult part for niki, to maintain eye contact with you in close proximity got both of you nervous, even during practice. This time it'd be different, though.

Hanni smiled upon noting his hesitation. You weren't one to lose, and you sure were on the track to making niki one flustered mess, placing your hand on his shoulder and flicking your head up to him, musing a smirk. It was most definitely much closer than before and hanni chuckled a bit with a cough.

Your gaze contained a hint of mischievousness and the boy was officially caught off guard. You put a hand to the nape of his neck, standing straight while your hand made it up his cheek, giving a small smack, causing niki to tilt his head away from you and prepare for the second chorus with a light jump.

The door panned open and minji peered through, watching as you both swayed through the routine, coming to a close and struck a pose with your finger on niki's chin making him face the audience with a pout.

Hanni clapped and cheered while minji remained at the door with no readable expression. "that was great, and yn, you don't really seem all that nervous anymore,"

You reply with a small thank you, "it's all because i rivaled her into being confident," niki said with triumph and you scowled, "yeah and you were the one who got nervous this time," you fire back, raising brows at him, having reached your goal on flustering him.

"one suggestion but could you both stand closer, there's distance between you both in the first verse," hanni suggests, and you nod, whipping back to niki with a knowing look.

Minji ambles her way into the room with a smile, "could i talk to you for a moment," she inquires, motioning to you. You comply and leave the space with hanni and minji, leaving niki in the room by himself. You stroll down the hallway in the hours of late afternoon, slow breeze fanning your sweat ridden self.

You reach the vending machine and lean on the wall for support as minji whisks two cans of soda, hanni having continued down the hall after letting minji know she'd be going home for the day.

She hands you a can, slanting on the wall herself, before managing to begin, "i wanted to apologize, i shouldn't have taken it out on you that day," she pauses, popping the can of soda open, "i was just saddened that we didn't get in and the confusion caused, i am truly happy you were selected along with niki, your little minor inconvenience."

"major inconvenience," you correct with a giggle, minij well-knowing that you'd approved of her apology.

"he moved up the ranks?!" minji gasps, "how so?

"i'd say he moreover claimed the title himself by being a menace to my hearts wellbeing," you reply, sipping on the canned soda, earning yourself a nudge from

minji, "looks like someone has decided on an answer,"
"more or less,"

"and when do you plan on spilling the beans to him"
"it's like the grey area between friends and something more. Though i do plan on telling him 2 days from now, after our performance at the competition,"
She gives you the eyes, ogling, "after you claim the first place, i see," minji teases, in seriousness. All while you were unknown to the fact that he'd asked out on part of completing his silly dare, yet here you were, on the verge of letting him be your silly boy.