𝐎𝐍𝐄
"Mind if I practice with you?" Iseul leans against the door frame, peering inside the almost empty practice room, a mirrored wall reflecting everything back. She sees the panting boy, resting his hands on his knees, half bent down and winded from the intensity of the set of movements he had kept repeating over and over again.
His head snaps up, recognizing the voice belonging to the sole female around and he awkwardly smiles, nodding his head in a polite greeting. The show had already been filming for the past three days and he had not once spoken to her directly. "Of course."
"Thanks." She casually strides forward, dressed in a comfortable-looking red t-shirt and black sweatpants. "You're such a great dancer," She starts, giving him a lopsided smile while fishing out a band from her pocket.
Niki feels taken aback at the remark, taking the compliment abashed, "Thank you. I think you are amazing too." He ends the sentence with honorifics, making her lightly frown. "You don't have to call me that, it feels very awkward."
He blinks, feeling a surge of something other than the wave of shyness he usually felt near the older female. "Can I call you noona?" he feels like slapping himself as soon as the words leave his mouth, courage crumbling down into nothing once again when he realizes exactly who he is speaking with.
"Now that is better!" She beams, much to his surprise. It takes him off guard when she reaches forward with a closed fist and he stares blankly at it. Iseul raises her brows in curiosity, "It's a fist bump. You know what that is, right? Or is this something from my generation?" She sighs in dismay, "I am getting old, huh?"
"No! Sorry. I was a little tired, so it didn't click in my brain for a moment there." Niki spouts hurriedly, bumping his own, admittedly larger fist against hers that was left hanging in the air.
Iseul snickers, "Don't worry. I was just playing around."
"Were you dancing to Kick It?" she walks over to the speakers, and scans the video playing on the large iPad. Niki nods, "Do you know the moves to the dance break?" He ties the laces of his sneakers tighter, having the strings come loose from all of the jerky movements he had done.
"Have I been living under a rock? Of course, I know it. Come on, care for a round?" She pulls back the video, stopping around the bridge of the energetic piece right before the small dance break. Niki hops onto his two nimble feet, suddenly gaining the energy for the next minute.
"One, two, three, four!" She counts the last four beats right as the drop happens and then, it happens.
Everything falls int place and suddenly, it was just the two of you against the whole building, limbs frantically moving around the space as precise as sniped bullets, jerking left and right exactly when it needed it, spinning around to spontaneously change formations as if cued and pre-planned.
This was dancing with Nishimura Riki, it came to you as easy as breathing did.
You glanced at the boy lying down on the floor with a bright grin that contrasted the starless night seen through the large glass windows of the i-land, his muscles positively drained of power, chest rising up and down. "That was so much fun." Niki breathes out, winded after the non-stop dancing they had done for the past hour.
Song after song, the two had spent more than sixty minutes, battling it out in the studio. "That was the most fun I had in a long time." He speaks clearly, leaning his palms on the cold floor, a few droplets of sweat running down from his temples. "We'll have more of these when we make it to the end and debut in a group." Iseul extends a hand at the boy on the ground, a pretty confident expression on her pretty face putting his worries at ease.
"How are you so sure that I can make it till the end like you?" he asks, wrapping his fingers tightly around hers, before she pulls him up with surprising strength compared to her thinner stature, the callouses under her palm grazing against his softer ones. "I bet my front two teeth that you will make it int the top eight, trust me. I have something like a sixth sense for these kinds of things. Also, they would want someone of your skill in dancing for sure. When you improve on other aspects until the show ends, you will be too god for them to not pick."
Feeling the flutter in his chest brought by her words, Niki couldn't help but let out a breathless laugh, not knowing what else to do. Looking at the open palm facing him, he brings his hand for a high-five. "Now, like this." Iseul brings her other arm in, "Don't just stare like that, we are making our very own handshake. Exciting, no?"
Niki giggles, "Oh, okay."
Soon enough, you had your very own, very complex, thirty-second personalized handshake. "Now, we are friends." She affectionately ruffles his hair, a force of habit, she hadn't even noticed until later.
Niki looks taken aback, though far from complaining, trying to suppress the big grin that rose on his lips, "You can come to me when you need to talk to someone, m'kay?" Niki nods, heart warming up incredibly fast over the older female. "Okay, noona."
"Sleep tight." She bids him a goodbye, disappearing into the hallway and Niki has to stop himself from letting out the biggest whoop, fanboying over what had just happened.
𝐓𝐖𝐎
"Riki!" She jumps at him, the flashing lights around them inducing quite a bit of adrenaline. Niki had made it in, he was going to debut in the final line-up. "Riki, you made it! I told you, didn't I?" The younger braces himself for the incoming bulldozer of a woman.
"You did!" He laughs, still in disbelief and tightly squeezes Iseul back, since she had taken the liberty to knock the air out of him. "Thank you for believing in me, noona." He whispers, the tears threatening to spill from his eyes while burying his face in the crook of her neck, bending down lightly.
The rest of the boys smiled affectionately at the display, "Now, go. You have to give a small speech, kiddo." He sniffles, a choked whine leaving his lips, "I'm not a kid." Iseul nods unconvinced. "Sure, and my name is Kim Taeyeon."
Iseul didn't lose her front two teeth at all, not that she had expected to.
𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄
"I am beat." Iseul plops down on the cold ground, muscles feeling like jelly from the over-work she had put on her body. It had been a long time since she had seen balance beams and she was out of shape.
Well, not "out of shape" out of shape, but enough to struggle with a burning sensation in her arms and abs, since dancing was a completely different thing compared to full on gymnastics. She had missed it all so much.
Her palms were red and she had managed to make them bleed a little from the way the bars pulled and tugged against her skin, just like old times. "And that is entirely your fault, noona." Niki peers down at her.
"Hush, tone down the sass and help this girl up." She makes a grabby motion and Niki rolls his eyes, "Fine, climb up." He crouches down with his back turned at her. Iseul nods, satisfied, "I knew that all the hardships I went through while raising you would eventually pay off."
"Very funny, noona." He grunts when Iseul completely hangs her entire body weight on his back abruptly, making his lose his balance for a small moment before catching himself. "You asked for it. You have to take what you dish."
Niki lets out an exaggerated groan while standing back up with Iseul on his back, arms loosely resting on his shoulders and legs wrapped around his torso like a clingy koala. "Hey! I am not that heavy, am I?" She asks, feigning offense, playing along with him.
"No, you're not nearly heavy, have you not been taking care of yourself?" he breaks the playful atmosphere, masking his worry with an annoyed tone. He adjusts his hold on her and Iseul wraps her arms around his neck loosely instead of just letting them hang at her sides.
"If it makes you feel better, I feel completely healthy." She lowly mutters, suddenly feeling small and vulnerable. "You look like you shrunk down in half, noona." Niki frowns, turning his head slightly to the side to look at the female resting her chin on his right shoulder.
"Just until promotions are over." She gives him a promise, though he still is not convinced. "I'll make sure of it myself." He huffs, "You really can't be left to yourself, can you?"
"Shut up, kid. I will tell Seung that you have been disrespecting me again." Iseul pinches his cheek teasingly, making him jostle her around all of a sudden, almost sending her flying off of his back, not that he would have ever let go, but she didn't have to know that.
"Okay, fine. Just take us home safely before we both go down." Niki calms down, letting her rest he cheek on his shoulder again. "Don't fall asleep on me." He chastises her, but it was already too late. She had passed out, light puffs of air hitting his neck and he sighs.
This time, it was the youngest's turn to baby the older female.
𝐅𝐀𝐙𝐈𝐓
Nishimura Riki found a home away from home with Do Iseul and even though he might complain about her to the cameras recording their times spent together, everybody knew it like the back of their hands, that Riki would not trade her for anything in the world.
❥ so... yeah basically riki has been adopted by iseul wbk she is whipped for her son tyvm :') maybe it's because he reminds her of hyunwoo, or maybe not. if i have a son i want to be that mom that goes "THAT'S MY KID EVERYONE LOOK THAT CHILD IS MINE HAH LOOK AT HIM GO WHOOP WHOOP—"
riki is definitely a tsundere lmao he admires iseul a whole ton but ya know... he just has a difficult time expressing it verbally :( note that most of the time they will speak japanese with each other because iseul wants him to still have a piece of home around him :(((