As the family's personal driver drove Soobin to the camp the next day, there was only one thing that he told himself.
Just... try to be nicer, and ask him if he wants to be friends. Even if I'm still confused as hell as to why I am acting like this.
Soobin arrived in front of the school building, bid his chauffeur goodbye and started walking inside. Just as he was going in, he spotted Taehyun, who also saw him and waved, approaching him a second later.
"Hey Soobin!"
"Hey. Feeling better?"
Taehyun laughed.
"Yes, I'm doing well, how about you?"
"Fine, thank you."
"What do you think we'll have first?"
"I think we have singing. Since we had dance class first yesterday."
"I'll probably have to catch up on a lot."
"Me too."
He only smiled.
"Then we'll learn it together."
Come on Soobin, just ask.
"Let's go!"
He was about to leave when...
"Taehyun."
... Soobin grabbed his thin wrist, keeping him from going any further.
His unexpected touch sent a wave of shock through Taehyun. The younger boy glanced up in surprise at the older, big eyes blinking rapidly out of habit.
"Yes?"
Soobin swallowed the small clog down his throat, and bit his lip, before mumbling.
"I uh... I was wondering if you'd like to be friends."
Damn. Did I just say that? I really said that just now did I?
Taehyun looked at Soobin with even more surprise in his eyes than him.
He wants to be friends too?! Oh my god!
The brunette looked at him for another moment, before showing a beaming smile.
"Of course! The more friends the merrier!"
Soobin gave a small smile.
"Yeah."
I'll see about that, whether or not that's true.
Taehyun only giggled and pulled his arm so the two of them would go inside, and once again, Soobin (strangely) did not mind.
—
Just as Soobin predicted, singing was first on the schedule. He of course knew who the singing instructor was from yesterday's events, but this was Taehyun's first introduction to Naerin, and he already really liked her.
"Morning everyone, today I'll be giving you your song texts for the songs which we'll be singing as a group."
Taehyun happily accepted the papers and read the heading of the first song.
"Hey look, we're doing Dancing Queen by Abba," he giddily said to Soobin while showing it to him.
Soobin looked up from his intensive note reading (despite having no idea what they meant)
"Huh? Oh, cool."
"Yeah! And... another one called Candy and... OHMYGOD Replay too!"
"You all will have at maximum three songs to which you'll dance and sing to. Sojung will teach the choreos to you," Naerin continued.
Dancing and singing at the same time? It's almost like being an idol!
"Time to do warm up sessions!"
"Hooray!"
Singing went by in a cinch and Group C had dancing afterwards. Soobin and Taehyun decided to head there a little earlier so they could check what they had missed.
In the room, Sojung was doing some warmup stretches when she spotted them.
"Oh hello you two. Taehyun, I hope you're doing better."
"Yes, thank you for asking."
"We'd like to know what we missed yesterday," Soobin said.
"Of course, gimme a moment."
Sojung fished her phone out of her pocket and typed in her passcode before scrolling through her photos.
"Here, we took a video of us doing the routine together, I also uploaded it onto the official YouTube channel of this program."
She handed her phone to the two males in front of her, who watched the first minute of the video.
"Wow, this seems pretty difficult," Taehyun said.
"The rest already learned the first part of the dance, so yeah, it'll be hard to catch up," Sojung admitted herself.
"Oh boy."
Surprisingly, Soobin was not the one panicking or bothered for once.
"My best friend is a dancer. He could teach it to us in our free time; he literally learns choreographies in ten minutes," he offered.
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Alright, that would be great; please do that."
Everyone else from their group came in, which meant the session would start soon. Taehyun glanced at Soobin.
"You never told me your friend can dance," he said.
"I mean, we haven't known each other for long," Soobin replied.
"Right."
An awkward silence filled the space.
Soobin innerly debated and contemplated whether or not they should go tonight, or wait until tomorrow.
I give up on wondering why I'm doing this for him, guess this is what you call being nice for no reason other than that.
"So... would you like to come over to his place so we can dance?"
Taehyun's eyes instantly lit up from excitement.
He's initiating a hangout?! I... he's really full of surprises today.
"Yes!! Of course I'd love to!"
Then I guess it's settled.
—
The rest of the day dragged on (at least in Soobin's eyes it did, Taehyun felt like time was flying by), until it was finally over at 4 pm.
After wrapping up, the two boys exited the building, with Taehyun bouncing up and down in excitement.
"What is it?" Soobin quietly chuckled.
He wouldn't admit it out loud, but Taehyun's current antics were... kinda cute to him.
"I'm just really thankful that you're letting me come with you! Otherwise I would be really behind on the choreo," he responded.
This kid... why is my heart assuring me he is trustworthy?
"Let's hope he's home right now."
"Tae?!"
The aforementioned turned around and waved back at someone.
"Over here Beom!"
A tall boy with a brown perm cut came walking over and quickly hugged Taehyun.
"Hey, how was your day?"
"It was good! How was your dental operation?"
"Pain. ful. But it's over now, and now you don't have an excuse to hit me," he cheekily grinned. "Haha."
Taehyun suddenly realized that he hadn't even introduced him to his new friend. So he did.
"Oh, by the way; Soobin, this is Beomgyu. Beom, this is Soobin."
Beomgyu waved his hand at me and I nodded my head.
"Pleased to meet you," he said.
"Me too."
Beomgyu shifted his attention to Taehyun.
"Mom's waiting in the car, we just came back from the doctor, so it worked out perfectly."
"Oh... that won't be necessary; I have something planned with Soobin."
"Oh? Well, enjoy your time then, and don't worry about me, okay?"
Taehyun knew exactly what Beomgyu meant by that.
Don't feel bad about us coming here.
"Okay."
"Bye!"
"Bye!"
Beomgyu waved before walking in the other direction. Taehyun waved back with a giddy smile until he was out of sight.
"Have you known him for a while?" Soobin suddenly asked.
"We've been friends since childhood."
"Ah ok. Should we go now?"
"Sure."
The two teens walked together to the same subway as a couple days before and waited for it to arrive. Taehyun had his arm wrapped around Soobin's arm again, but before he could ask why, he noticed how the crowd was pretty big.
Wouldn't be great if he gets lost, he thought.
Unfortunately, there were no empty seats, so they had to stand the entire train ride.
Thankfully, the train arrived quickly at the planned stop, and the two got off and onto the street close to where Hoseok lived in no time.
"So where does your friend live?" Taehyun asked.
"Not too far away from the subway. It should take us around five minutes."
"Okay."
Soobin continued walking to Hoseok's place, Taehyun's arm still linked to his, thus following him, until they arrived at his house door.
He then rang the bell, and cleared his throat.
"Can you please let go of my arm now?"
The crowds ceased a long time ago already.
"Oh sure, sorry."
Taehyun pulled his arm away, looking at the ground, a bit embarrassed.
Even though the lowering of the head was subtle, it kinda made Soobin feel bad. Yet he ignored the feeling and waited.
The door opened to reveal Hoseok with messy hair.
"Oh, hey Soobin! Who's he?"
"Hi. This is Taehyun. Taehyun, this is Hoseok."
Upon knowing and realizing that this little boy in front of him was Taehyun, Hoseok's cuteness meter broke.
How the hell is Soobin complaining about him; he's so freaking adorable!
"Pleased to meet you Hoseok," Taehyun bowed.
He's so polite as well! Soobin, what's there to even complain or worry about?!
Hoseok gave him a heart smile.
"Me too! What brings you here guys?"
"We missed the first part of the choreography because of the events yesterday. And I know you're really good at dancing, so I thought you could teach us the steps," Soobin explained.
"Of course! I'll just grab my keys and some water."
"Wait, why?"
"We're going to the studio silly!"
Taehyun glanced at him.
"Studio?"
Soobin shrugged.
"Yeah."
Hoseok quickly ran to the kitchen and filled up three water bottles, letting his mother know where he was going, before heading back to the front door and locking it.
"Let's go guys!"
Soobin and Hoseok were chatting with each other whereas Taehyun remained rather quiet on the way there.
He was observing them two.
They must've known each other for a long time, seeing how they're so close.
This was the first time Taehyun saw Soobin being so talkative, willingly too. He kept smiling and laughing on the way to the studio, which made him feel a little happy too.
As well as being a bit sad.
Was Beomgyu right with Soobin being an introvert who only likes being around people he's close to or comfortable with? Or am I just too persistent?
The three of them walked until they reached a building not too far away from Hoseok's house.
"This is where I take dance lessons. I have a key to the studio since I'm one of the top students," Hoseok said.
"Wait, really?!" Taehyun asked.
"Yep."
"How do you say that so casually?!"
Hoseok laughed.
"I dunno, maybe I should emphasize it more?"
"Please don't," Soobin said, a cheeky smile on his face.
I wish Soobin could act like this to me. Am I doing something wrong? Taehyun thought.
They walked into the studio and Hoseok turned all the lights on.
He took his hoodie off and so did Soobin. Taehyun only removed his collared shirt that he uses for extra coverage when it's chilly (trust him it already was in the evenings), because he only has that and a winter coat; no hoodie or anything.
Hoseok connected his phone to the loudspeaker and then went over to the two younger boys.
"Okay, do you guys have a video of the choreography?" he asked.
"Yes. It was apparently made by idol dance choreographers," Soobin replied.
"Wow! Those are kinda hard though."
"True, but I'm sure you can teach it to us."
Soobin played the video and Hoseok carefully studied every movement until Soobin paused it.
"I'll watch it again. You both should do some warmups before we start. You can also play some music if you'd like."
"Okay."
Soobin walked over to the connected phone and selected a song. Taehyun guessed he knew Hoseok's passcode.
They must really trust each other for them to know each others' passcodes.
An upbeat song began blasting through the speakers, perfect for warmups.
Taehyun did a few lunges, some sit-ups, and stretched his upper body. Soobin did the same, with a little bit more low effort (he was not the one for sports). This all took about ten minutes, and by that time, Hoseok was ready to teach them.
"Okay so, in the beginning, you're all standing in a line. When the song begins, the six behind have to start moving. One by one, they stop and stay in a position."
Hoseok demonstrated how Soobin and Taehyun had to move. Taehyun lightly moved his arms so they'd get used to the movement, whereas Soobin only really paid attention to his words and explanations.
"You both can do it after me if you want."
"Okay!"
Soobin and Taehyun stood behind Hoseok and continued watching him explain.
"Next, you have to push your body back upwards, but your legs need to fold inside and out, just as if electricity were flowing through them."
He demonstrated how, and this time, both of them followed along, wanting to catch up with the movements.
"Soobin, you're kinda stiff here. Try moving your hips a bit to elicit movement from them into your legs."
"Okay."
"Taehyun, you're doing pretty good!"
The brown haired boy smiled.
"Thank you."
For the next hour, Hoseok taught them the rest of the choreography. He explained it really well, and told the two where to pay attention. Taehyun especially already felt more confident while dancing.
"Okay, final time you guys need to practice!"
Soobin sighed in relief.
"Thank god."
"No complaining here. That's a dancer's life for ya."
Taehyun stifled a laugh and stood in the lineup.
"Five six seven eight!"
The song started playing, and Taehyun and Soobin did the dance as much as their bodies and minds could remember, from the locking to the popping to the floor traveling, to finally striking the final ending pose.
With that, Soobin and Taehyun finished up for the evening and fell down on the bench, out of breath.
"Good job you two! I'm sure your teacher will be surprised at how well you can dance now," Hoseok praised.
"It was all thanks to you. Thank you so much for your help," Taehyun bowed.
"My pleasure," Hoseok beamed. "If you ever need anything, you can always call me."
Fortunately, Hoseok didn't notice the insecurity in Taehyun's eyes when he mentioned 'call'.
The three headed outside, where the sky was turning dark and the wind cooler. Hoseok's phone suddenly buzzed and he fished it out of his pocket.
"Oh sh—oot."
"What is it?" Soobin asked.
"Jungkook kinda needs my help right now. His grandma set off the fire alarm by accident and it won't turn off."
"Really?"
"Don't judge her; she's getting old. I gotta go; see ya tomorrow Bin! Nice to meet you Taehyun!"
Hoseok waved goodbye before running off, leaving the two boys alone.
Taehyun felt a little chilly and lightly rubbed his arms with his hands. Soobin noticed.
"Are you cold?"
"Yeah. I kinda forgot to wear something warm today."
It was quiet for a moment. Taehyun then heard a soft rustle of clothing and a nudge on his shoulder.
"Here. Take it."
Soobin had his hoodie in his hand, offering it to Taehyun. The shorter one was surprised and hesitant.
"But... it's your hoodie. Won't you feel cold?"
Soobin smiled warmly.
"I'll be fine, don't worry. See you tomorrow."
With those words, Soobin left Taehyun alone with his hoodie.
—
A/N: cute cute. Sorry if I cut the chapter down a bit and made it come off as too rushed, but I'm like half asleep right now so 🫠
Thank you for reading todays update, hope you're enjoying it so far 🩷🤍✨