For once, the smile he wore on his face was not forced. It had been a while, and maybe it was because he was wearing something different. Don't get him wrong, he adores all of the things he wears, each outfit was lovingly pieced together by himself but most of them were a tad too revealing at times. Even when all of his skin was covered, he sometimes felt so bare that he may as well have just worn something that showed everything instead. It was mostly because of the way other people looked at him, he had been so certain that no matter what he wore everyone would continue to ogle at him and his body. However, he seems to have been proved wrong, all the stares he's received so far have been nothing but confusion and double-takes. It felt invigorating. He's never felt so human before. He loved it so much and that smile on his face only grew more.
"It's no problem, Sung." Minho casually replied to Jisung who was walking along beside him. They were both on their way to the dance studio since, for this Wednesday only, they and the rest of the third and fourth years were given a half-day due to the high schoolers visiting and had plenty of time to hang out and fully get back to the whimsical swing of their push and pull friendship from before. "You'll get to talk to Hyunjin, he loves talking, despite what he says."
"Really? That's cool." Jisung said rather dismissively. Minho quirked an eyebrow at the low-level response, normally Jisung would be overjoyed to talk about Hyunjin since he admired him so much. It was to the point that they had joked about him having a crush on the older dancer a few times, not much though since it made him uncomfortable if it went on too long. Minho chose not to question it, not wanting to push the other too much. "Um, anyways. Hyung, does it mean I'll get to see you dance?"
"Probably, why? I thought you always wanted to watch Hyunjin dance?"
"I do but... I don't know, Hyunjin's amazing but I've been craving some Minho moves lately!" He giggled, becoming a bit more upbeat now which was to Minho's relief.
"Sure then," Minho said with a roll of his eyes. They were almost at the door to the dance studio now and so he reached into his pocket and grabbed his keys to unlock the door as they rounded the end of the hallway and faced the double doors. He fumbled the keys into the hole, wiggling it around a bit until it clicked. Once that sound met his ears, he reached to push down on the doorknob only to find it was stuck and wouldn't budge no matter the pressure he put on it. Was it already unlocked? Minho put his keys back in and tried again, this time opening the door with ease. Had a teacher been in without telling him? They normally told him though, he always got a heads up on when they were using it to help him schedule extra sessions with the dance team. How odd.
He pushed the door fully open, Jisung humming behind him and paying no attention to the panic that rushed over Minho. Instead of a teacher inside the studio, there was Seungmin. Seungmin was there, facing the mirror and in what seemed to be the ending pose to some dance he had been doing. Minho cleared his throat and walked into the room, already feeling the glare from Jisung's end directed at the panting third year. He knew this was going to be awkward but he had to push through he supposed.
"Seungmin... How'd you get in here?" He asked, trying not to let his nerves come out too heavily in the way he spoke. Seungmin shyly smiled at him, standing up straight and toying with the hem of the hoodie he was wearing. It took a second to click but that hoodie was the one that Minho gave him yesterday and he still looked so small and lovable. He had it paired with a cute fabric pink belt around his waist, showing off that gorgeous figure and matching pink knee high socks with some badass chained-up and belted platform boots. Minho wanted to cuddle Seungmin badly at the sight but held back, knowing it was a bad thought to have when Jisung was in the room with them. Hell, it was bad even talking to the third year with Jisung in the room, some kind of anger was sure to ensue.
"Oh... I asked Lisa if I could come in and practice some stuff." Seungmin coyly explained, looking up at Minho through his lightly mascara-coated eyelashes. Was he trying to make it so difficult on Minho's end? If Jisung wasn't in here, he supposes it would probably have been worse. "Sorry hyungie, am I not meant to be in here?"
Minho sighed, taking a glance at Jisung, seeing he had tensed up and was avoiding so much as looking in Seungmin's general direction. It was to be expected and Minho returned his attention to the boy wearing his hoodie. He was tempted to place a hand on Seungmin's shoulder but resisted, instead he opted for shoving both hands into his pockets.
"Not really but if Lisa lets you in, it's fine. She didn't tell me that was all, normally she does." He said with a shake of his head. "Anyway, I guess we can work on sorting your files now to add you to the team officially."
Seungmin nodded, sucking his lips into a thin line and becoming suddenly intrigued by the floor. He seemed to be acting awfully shy and actively avoiding any chances to look toward Minho or Jisung. To be honest, it was incredibly strange to be bearing witness to this kind of attitude from Seungmin, so used to seeing his normally more promiscuous side, especially when in front of other people. He tried to brush off the awkwardness caused by the third year's unusual actions, instead choosing to just guide him to a desk nearby to the door where Minho kept spare forms and all other bits and bobs for the team inside the bottom drawer. Technically this desk belonged to the teachers who frequently taught here but they had allowed him to use the bottom drawer for anything relevant to the dance team that he might need to keep a good hold of.
With a sigh, Minho crouched down and pulled out a blank file he had to fill in whenever he added someone to the dance team about a week after assessing their audition. He also took out a document he had already filled in about Seungmin's audition, he had done it the tonight of Seungmin's audition while the dance was still fresh in his mind and he had his notes. Placing these papers onto a random table students would use, Minho pulled up three chairs for them all, gesturing for them to take a seat each, sitting down and patting the chair beside him for Jisung, in particular, to plop down beside him. If he paid more attention to Jisung in small things like this then maybe he wouldn't be too angry or annoyed later. Seungmin sat on the only empty chair opposite them both, chewing on his glossy pink lower lip.
"Okay, so, first off I guess I should read off the soul-signing shit to you..." Minho huffed, sliding the paper that needed to be filled in closer so he could read off the terms and conditions to Seungmin. There wasn't actually anything important or of any concern written, just the basic expectations of the team and the only reason he had to read these out was to apparently get the students used to a setting later in life after graduation where this type of thing would happen a lot. Despite how annoying it got at times, it was quite nice that they had at least thought about their students a bit more beyond their education. He read it out, monotonously after holding back a smile from hearing Seungmin's tiny giggle at the first thing he said. "So, in short, all you need to do to be a part of the team is show up at least for our Thursday practices and work hard on your dancing, show me you have the ability to improve and competitions are a whole separate ordeal so don't worry about that yet."
"What days are practices again...?" Seungmin meekly asked, eyes darting between Jisung, Minho and the piece of paper. He really was nervous and it was so bizarre still. Minho didn't think it was right, starting to feel he should step in and do something about it soon.
"Every day really, except Saturday or Sunday. Don't worry about it though, show up and if the door's unlocked, I'm probably inside." Minho casually explained, sliding the paper across the table to face Seungmin, ready for him to sign and fill in. "It's Thursday tomorrow, so after all your lessons, drop by. At around 4, everyone'll be there and I'll introduce you, and help you get started with how we do things, okay?"
"Okay hyung... How many people are in the team...?"
"Uhh... about 30 of us in total. Most of us are fourth years though, we'll be going at the end of this year and I have to start looking for someone good to take over for me when I leave." Minho said.
"That's... that's a lot of people... all at once, in here?"
"Seungmin, are you feeling okay?" He finally dropped the question, himself now becoming worried at the sheer amount of nerves from the younger. It was rubbing him in the wrong way completely and he felt almost compelled to do something about it, especially now. "I know it's a lot but we don't tend to dance all at once, a lot of them lounge around this bit. They're all super nice too, you've met Hyunjin and he was nice, remember?"
The younger nodded, taking a few deep breaths and making heavy eye contact with the table. Minho wasn't satisfied with that, it was so painfully clear that he was still so uncomfortable and unnerved right now and that was the last thing Minho wanted to see. Seungmin had been so happy and bubbly when they walked home together last night, holding his hand and swaying it back and forth like a naive child. He had kept commenting about the hoodie and how much he loved it, how much he was thankful for Minho being there and of course made many crude comments that were typical of him in a joyful mood like then. Although not the biggest fan of dirty talk and unsavoury humour, Minho suddenly became a world-class connoisseur of it whenever Seungmin was the one delivering it. He just had a way of making it sound more palatable for Minho. He made him feel comfortable so it was only fair to do the same in return.
"Jisung, could you step out for a moment?" Minho awkwardly asked the squirrelly boy beside him, receiving a poignant glare that he quite frankly had expected. He turned to face his best friend head-on, subtly grabbing hold of his cute hands under the table, out of Seungmin's view. "Just for a little, I'll get the door for you to come back in, okay? It's just Seung-"
"Fine, hyung," Jisung said, rigid and flashing a rude glare towards Seungmin as he got up from his chair and left the studio, letting the door swing and slam shut behind him.
"... Why does he hate me so much?" Seungmin whispered, finally finding the confidence to look Minho in the eye again, now that Jisung had left the room. It seems Minho's instincts had been correct, of course, it was that squirrelly boy who was causing this amount of unrest for Seungmin. After all, who wouldn't feel worried or nervous when someone was practically burning holes right through you?
"I don't know." Minho sighed. "All of my friends hate you, I don't know why. I'm so sorry, are you feeling okay though?"
"So much better now hyung." Seungmin softly giggled, bringing comfort to Minho who could now relax in his chair after seeing the third year smile again. They sat quietly for a few moments, simply looking at each other for no particular reason with sparkling eyes. If anyone were to walk in, they'd think they were intruding on something but Minho knew better and shook himself out of the trance he shared with the bubblegum boy. He almost could've hated how entrancing those eyes were, such a deep dark chocolate colour frosted with a bitter exterior to protect the gooey caramel interior. Almost a perfect mirror reflection for the boy himself, so sweet and precious deep down but that beautiful side was hidden away by tough layers of his icy persona that made him seem like nothing other than a sensual being separate from the qualms of human nature. A far cry from what Minho knew. From what they both knew. It was a mystery as to why he was so reluctant to let himself go, free himself from this cage he's stuffed his adorable, loving self into. Minho could only look on and hope dearly that he'd be able to see Seungmin find the key to that cage and crawl out someday because he knew he would gladly wait outside for as long as needed to help him stagger back into the world he's been absent from.
"Ah, I'm glad... Anyway, if you're down just fill this in with all the basic stuff. Then sign your name on this one afterwards to basically say that you've read it and understand constructive criticism that." Minho briefly explained, pushing the blank document towards Seungmin and passing him a pen from his pocket to fill it in. The third year smiled and took the pen, uncapping it and cutely beginning to subconsciously chew on the lid as he read through the page to see what he needed to write. Considering this was only a mostly student-run dance team, there wasn't a whole lot to fill out aside from the expected name, age, and gender aspects that were probably common in all other documents and whatever else. Seungmin quickly scribbled in his details, answering the short questions and signing his signature at the bottom with an adorable heart before setting the page to the side and taking up the other one. It was the page that Minho had filled in about the audition, most of its contents detailed the dance done and criticised the execution, theming, timing and concept as well as the use of the basic elements of dance. Seungmin seemed to read it so intently, soaking up every compliment Minho had left him in written form as well as every complaint. He spent a while reading it and then read it a couple more times before smiling and signing it off too with another heart by his name.
"All done, hyung!" Seungmin beamed, pushing the papers back to the fourth year who gladly took them and gathered them together into a little stack. He reached to take his pen back too, Seungmin handing it over with no complaint. The smile was still on his lips, oddly dreamy looking in nature. Had Minho been too kind with his words on that audition paper? Because it was starting to appear as though that may be the truth. "I'm happy my audition was that good... I wish I did a different dance though..."
"Oh, don't worry about it, everyone says that." Minho chuckled as he got to his feet to stand by the teacher's desk where a stapler was and he picked it up to use on Seungmin's two documents, stapling them together. He opened the drawer and filed away the paper before heading back to his seat in front of Seungmin. "Hyunjin and, oh especially Johnny, regret their auditions. Hell, I regret mine even. It's alright. There's plenty of time to prove yourself now that you're in though."
"What dance did you do?"
"I did like an interpretative dance to an OST... It was so bad. I should've just listened to Felix and did a dance cover of a Twice song or something." He laughed, avoiding Seungmin's eyes as his neck began to burn from embarrassment at the memories that came running back to his mind. It was honestly a miracle that he got into the team with that, thankfully Eric had been open-minded and let him in any way where he got to display his much stronger talents in contemporary, hip-hop and more modern styles of dance.
"... I wish I did a less sexy dance," Seungmin whispered, locking his gaze on the table. "I don't really um... I would've liked to do something like a cover to Twice and yeah..."
Quite simply, Minho nodded, not wanting to say something to unsettle the third year who was still stumbling through his words. He didn't want to admit something and Minho didn't want to seem like he was pressuring him into saying it, so he simply tapped the table a little in tune to a song that probably didn't even exist. Silence took over the atmosphere around them again but it felt comfortable until Minho got up again and Seungmin's eyes darted to follow his movement like a sweet little puppy watching where his owner was going. It was so cute but Minho wouldn't mention it, it might come across as weird. Best not to. Instead, he strode over to the door and carefully opened it up to bring Jisung back in now that the important stuff had been sorted and hopefully Seungmin would run along to where ever he needed to be. He smirked at the sight he opened to; a shy squirrel talking to the towering giant that was Hwang Hyunjin in direct comparison. Jisung had the look of someone completely and utterly starstruck as he looked up at the University's heart-throb number one of the dance team.
"Sungie, you can come back in and Hwang, stop seducing my best friend." Minho teased, grabbing Jisung by the arm and ending up having to drag the boy into the dance studio himself since the other was simply too frozen up to do so himself. They all wandered back inside, Seungmin biting his lower lip at the new additions.
"Seducing? Ugh, the blasphemy you come out with hyung." Hyunjin jokingly scoffed with a roll of his eyes before jumping onto a plush sofa in the far corner.
"What are you doing here anyway?" Minho asked out of curiosity as he dropped Jisung off on the sofa opposite the one Hyunjin was fully occupying with the whole length of his lanky body. He sat down beside the squirrel and looked over to his teammate for an answer only for his question to be ignored.
"Oh, what's your cute boyfriend doing here?" Hyunjin randomly popped out as he lifted his head slightly and took notice of an awkward Seungmin sitting at the same desk on the other end of the room. A heavy sigh left Minho's lips at that and Jisung scoffed with an ugly frown that didn't suit him one bit. "Yikes, you're both acting like I started talking about Jinyoung, calm down you drama queens."
Minho rolled his eyes and turned to look over at Seungmin, locking eyes with the stare of puppy-like nervousness that the third year was sending his way. He looked like an outcast, left alone but too scared to make a movement to change that and it made Minho's heart do something weird that he quickly brushed off as nothing but guilt.
"Seungmin, come join us." He smiled, beckoning the other over, hoping that his welcoming expression would ease him into coming over as it did with his cats at home. The third year nodded meekly and carefully got up, being quiet with each move he made before walking over. He rested a sweet sweater paw on the back of the sofa Minho was sitting on, too shy to sit down anywhere for some reason. Minho took it upon himself and patted the empty part of the sofa next to himself, gesturing for him to come and sit down which he did with much visible apprehension in his eyes. "That's Hyunjin over there, you guys met already but he's someone we all want to forget about so I'll just remind you."
"Ah! Hyung!" Hyunjin cried out, placing both hands dramatically onto his chest. "My heart! I can feel it stopping from your cruel words...! Oh, the pain!"
The dramatic scene made Seungmin giggle quietly into his hand.
"Hey... Minho hyung, why's your boyfriend so quiet?" Hyunjin pouted, sensing something off with Seungmin as he sat up more on the sofa and rested his chin in his hand. "Seungmin, is he abusing you? I knew it! He threatens to put me in the air fryer all the time, goodness, come here, I'll take better care of you, baby!"
"Hey! Shut up!" Minho laughed, kicking the taller's leg. Hyunjin pulled a feigned face of utter pain as he pulled up his leg into his chest and put his fist into his mouth, pretending to be in agony.
"Ah! What a horrible boyfriend!" Hyunjin continued after taking his fist from his mouth to talk. "Come sit with me Seungmin, we should go to the police before he really does put me in the air fryer! I'm too beautiful to be cooked!"
"20 minutes Hwang, 180 degrees if you don't shut up." Minho chuckled, rolling his eyes at the scene but letting it continue. It was cute seeing Seungmin so flustered and confused about what to do. He reached and placed a comforting hand on the third year's knee and gave it a quick squeeze to let him know it was okay and all jokes just in case it wasn't going through. Hyunjin did have an admittedly unique way of making others laugh and he was pretty good at it since even Jisung was happily chuckling along despite how hard he was trying not to.
"See! He's doing it again, oh my God, how can you stand for this Seungmin? Knock some sense into your man or I will." Hyunjin huffed. "Actually... I'll get someone else to do that but my threat still stands."
After the soft chuckling had passed over from Hyunjin's dramatic tendencies, Minho sighed and let Seungmin shuffle a bit closer as he wrapped an arm lazily over the third year's shoulders. Jisung scooted closer too after seeing the other do so and huffed, stuffing his face into Minho's chest. It was a bit of an awkward position, to say the least.
"Woah, hyung's getting all the men I see."
"Aish, Hwang..." Minho huffed. "It's not like that, anyway why are you here? You never answered the first time."
"Oh, I wanted to practice something simple to loosen up today." Hyunjin plainly answered. He was back to the nonchalant attitude he normally had outside of his drama queen mentality which he constantly denied having. It was rather hilarious to be honest, the way that he would overreact to things but then proceed to call everyone around him the dramatic one when in reality he was the one freaking out. To be fair, the facial expressions he pulled and outbursts he came out with were incredibly funny to everyone else in the dance team and downright endearing to Minho who almost saw him as a sibling of sorts. A brother from another mother kind of deal he supposes. "What about your boy toys over there?"
"Oh my God Hyunjin... Seungmin's here because I helped him sign the stuff to join the team."
"I wanted to see Minho hyung dance but... Seungmin's paperwork came first." Jisung replied, tensing against Minho as he mentioned the third year and tried not to sound, well, bitchy about it for lack of a better word.
"Eee! I get to see Seungmin at dance practice!" Hyunjin gleefully squealed, jumping up from the sofa and running over to the other three, crouching in front of Seungmin. He pinched the third year's cheeks and cooed. "Ah! Such a cutie!"
Hyunjin flopped onto the sofa beside Seungmin and cuddled up to him, hugging his arm tightly in a way that was oh-so Hyunjin-like. It unsettled Seungmin slightly who leaned into Minho a bit more out of discomfort, he wasn't at all used to the touchy-feely nature of Hyunjin who normally was very affectionate with everyone he took a liking to. Even with Minho, believe it or not, the ferret-like man would try and nab a few cuddles and hand-holding sessions which were quite happily returned most of the time. Whenever the tall man wanted hugs, he was particularly sweet in his approach or he was at least when trying to coax them out of Minho and often was tired or sleepy when he tucked himself into Minho's arms. It was the same with when he cuddled with Moonbyul, except she normally didn't return it as much as Minho did, she would go as far as a quick squeeze and then stroke his hair for a while until he got bored. Hyunjin's cuddliness was well known throughout the whole of the dance and it was very unlikely that any team member had gone any longer than a week without a cuddle or two from him. It gained him a very cute and fitting nickname, simply just 'cuddle bug' which he would refer to himself as sometimes when he really, really wanted some extra skinship.
Seungmin was definitely going to have a lot of warming up to do.
"Wait! Seungmin, that's Minho hyung's hoodie! Oh my gosh! You guys really are dating!"
~🍬~