NCT Imagines (Requests Open!)

Heart Beat (Jisung)

Jisung stared at the red flesh that had been rubbed raw on his knee and groaned as he tried to stand up.  Every joint in his body ached, but he couldn't complain.  He should feel happy that he was getting the opportunity to dance a solo in the intro of the upcoming awards show.  But this choreography was unlike anything he'd ever seen.  There were twists and turns, and his body felt like it couldn't keep up.  

I have to do this.  Everyone's counting on me.

But as he struggled to stand, a sharp pain flared in his knee, and his vision blurred.  However, he powered through and picked himself up, trying to keep dancing.  It was almost time for dinner, and the growl from his stomach almost overpowered the music blaring from the speakers.  

One... more... time... he encouraged himself as he replayed the song.  Pain flared through his legs, and it was getting harder to see straight.  It was just the sweat dripping into his eyes, right?  Jisung fell to the floor, panting hard.  There was no way he could continue practicing in this condition. 

The boy staggered to his feet and began walking down the hallway when he heard someone call out his name.  Jisung spun around and saw one of the managers waving at him with a foreign girl beside him.  

"Jisung, this is Y/N.  She'll be working with our song writers to create the lyrics for demo tracks.  I'm showing her around the building now, but I'll be bringing her by the dorm later to meet the others," the manager introduced you.

He looked the girl up and down.  You didn't seem much older than him and his brain tried to process the switch from Korean to English as the manager began speaking to you.  But it was just his luck that a cute girl would see him in this state.  His hair was messy, and he reeked of sweat.  But, if she was coming by the dorm later, Jisung definitely had a chance to redeem himself.

The rest of the boys gasped when they saw him walk through the front door.  

"Jisung, your knee!" Haechan pointed out.  

Sure enough, he had scraped up his knee pretty badly after having to collapse on it several times for the choreography.  But for some reason, he didn't feel the pain anymore.  After his shower, he ran some gel through his hair, making sure every hair fell exactly the way he wanted it to.  Instead of his usual loungewear, he wore jeans and a nice t-shirt with some rings.  Just thinking of seeing you again made his heart beat.

At dinner, the boys eyed him weirdly.  

"Jisungie, are you wearing cologne?" Renjun questioned as he sniffed the youngest's neck.

He laughed nervously.  "UmMmmmm, hyung, didn't you say you were dyeing your hair tomorrow for the comeback?"

Renjun nodded.  "They're doing a dark purple, but I don't know how to feel about it."

There was a knock at the front door, and Jeno ran to get it.  He came back to the dining table with you and the manager from earlier.  Once again, he introduced you to everyone, and you were left with the boys for a bit to get to know them and interact and make friends.  You tried to memorize their names.  It was relatively easy since each one of them had a different charm.  But you found your eyes being drawn to the shy boy in the corner.  Jisung was how the manager and the boys had introduced him to you.  But he hadn't said a word since you had arrived.

"I'm gonna go wash up," Jisung finally said, and you stopped him by pulling out a packet from your packet.

You tried to tell him it was ointment and band-aids for his knee in English, and you cursed at your broken Korean you were still trying to piece together.  You only knew a handful of words- I like you and I miss you.  I mean, all those were words you wouldn't mind using with Jisung, but you definitely needed to hit the textbooks.