Between Footsteps| p.jm

TWENTY-FOUR| -.. . ... .. .-. .

It was already time for your and Jimin's second performance. 

You were fine. Really, you were. 19 was gone, but things were moving on and you were doing your best to keep your head up. You made a promise and a commitment, so it didn't matter that you had taken a period of time to mourn. You were still going to uphold your end and see the whole mess through to it.

 You thought you were ready and had spent a whole day mentally preparing yourself, but unfortunately your dream from the night before had shaken you up a bit, and now you could barely recall why. 

All you could remember was that your dream wasn't the usual feeling of drowning, but had been some hazy recollection that involved driving. You couldn't remember very well and had to assume it was caused by nerves and thoughts of Jimin, who's connection to you apparently involved a car accident.

You tried to shake the shivers coating your spine caused by the dream away completely regardless of the new visions you were experiencing. Right then, although maybe in the past you would have given the rare presence of dreams more thought, you had more important things to worry about.

Like the fact that you would be on stage with Jimin in 10 minutes.

You watched the rush of people scrambling about in the back trying to get ready while you fidgeted in your discomfort. The ringmaster commanded a few shadows in a harsh tone to help out due to the shortness of workers while different tiers worked their positions.

You coughed when a silver worker ran past and threw more powders against your face as if you didn't have enough already. She was gone quickly and you waved the dust out of the air to see Jimin also getting last minute preparations done on the other side of the stage behind the first curtain. 

He was looking at you out of the corner of his eye from the distance while make up artists tried to part his black strands exactly right against his forehead. He looked away the moment you met his eyes, and you couldn't help but notice that maybe the workers had overdone it with the blush. His face was really pink.

It wasn't your place to judge however, so you shrugged off the observation while noting that like usual, Jimin looked beyond stunning and ready to be basked in the stage lights. 

You breathed out once more and moved closer to the curtain to lightly peek from behind it. You saw the currently empty stage and people bustling about trying to get to their seats in excitement. You were about to entertain these people, and most likely for the last time.

You hadn't told Jimin yet, but you saw no reason to continue dancing with him. It wasn't that you didn't like it... per say... but it was a lot of work, and now, it was a lot of work for nothing. In fact, you didn't even plan on collecting your memory that was supposed to come from the current dance. It meant nothing to you these days. 

You hoped your friend would understand, and you still planned on spending time with him even without the excuses of practicing. In fact, you wanted to spend as much time with him as possible, even maybe more than before. You just held guilt that he wouldn't continue to receive the deal you were against, but he might still yearn for.

A warmth touched your heart when you observed that 25 and 52, who usually hated the show, were sitting on the tops of the bleachers just as they had last time with 19. Your throat tightened in remembrance of those times, but a happiness still lingered in the memory.

Lost in your thoughts, you hadn't even noticed someone behind you until you felt a hand on your shoulder. 

The touch was cold, and you jumped in fear while quickly drawing away from the curtain to whirl around and face whoever had startled you in such a way. Your heart had been hammering, but it lessened slightly when you recognized the form in front of you.