Chapter 8 - How it started

                                    

                                          
Felix would be lying if he said his pulse was calm too. But unlike Hyunjin, he was able to pinpoint why it felt so strange as he ran his fingers over his bare toned back and placed the sport tape there. He wasn't happy that it was Hyunjin that he had such a reaction to, but he simply couldn't deny his attractiveness. For a moment, he let his mind run wild to different scenarios where Hyunjin wouldn't be the cold weirdo, but a friendly handsome guy who would turn around after the tape was applied, take Felix's face in his hands and press his full lips to his. Felix felt himself slowly blushing at the thought and quickly finished applying the tape.

It wasn't until Felix removed his hands from his back that Hyunjin breathed again. He attributed his uneasiness to the fact that he was generally not a person who liked physical contact, let alone from someone he barely knew. Even so, blood rushed to his ears and cheeks.
"Done." Felix declared when the brunette with the ponytail still didn't turn around."Um, thanks." Hyunjin nodded and pulled down his T-shirt, which was still slightly up in the back. He then silently walked over to the counter where audio was and decided to turn everything off. Felix waited for Hyunjin's verdict and returned down to earth himself."Perhaps it might be better to just discuss it verbally." Hyunjin said and finally looked at Felix, "Do you drink coffee?""Yeah, I do." Felix cleared his throat nervously.

***
At the coffee stand that Hyunjin frequented more than is healthy, he placed their order and realized that this was how he normally made up with Jisung after an argument. He pays for his coffee and then tolerates him flying around like a crazy squirrel.

"Leave it, I'll pay, next time it's your turn." Hyunjin beckoned Felix with his hand as he tried to get his wallet out of his bag. Felix studied the brunette inquisitively, he really didn't know what to think anymore. One day he offers him notes, then he hates him and now he's paying for his coffee and says there'll be a "next time". Felix would've liked to exhale in frustration again, instead he bit his lower lip out of habit and thus prevented himself from questioning Hyunjin.

Hyunjin handed a cup of coffee to the freckled silver haired guy, a gesture so simple, yet to Hyunjin it normally meant what he couldn't put into words – What happened, happened. Let's get along. Of course, such a smoke signal was not enough for Felix to cast aside his doubts."Thank you." Felix muttered and together with Hyunjin started walking aimlessly around the school grounds.

When our exchange student didn't rush anywhere for a class for once, he could finally see how beautiful it is here. Everything was so tidy and with no students who were probably still asleep, it was also extremely comforting. The only thing that could be heard was the distant hum of the road and the city, and the rustle of autumn-colored leaves on the trees at campus. Felix took a deep breath to take in the autumn air. The taller of the pair watched Felix and followed his gaze – even Hyunjin had to appreciate the beauty and calmness, he was so much in his head that he completely forgot that he was attending such a prestigious, beautiful academy.

"Let's sit over there." Hyunjin pointed to the bench by the trees that Felix was staring at. Not that he wanted to please him or anything.

"So what do I need to know about all of this?" Felix asked, finally getting to the reason why they were spending Saturday morning together. So far they haven't solved anything at all."Well – the final school celebration isn't something stupid. It is an event where all departments show their best. Naturally, a lot of important people come to this celebration. Showbiz people, CEOs of companies that a lot of people want to work for from there and so on. What you perform there can also really affect your final grades." Hyunjin reminded the importance of the ceremony not only to Felix, but also to himself, before continuing: "The fact that we can do something so important for the dance department is an incredible honor, but also a burden. They don't let us struggle alone, we'll still have consultations with teachers who'll guide us, but it's more or less a team effort of students. The fact that we are the main organizers this year means that we'll organize teams of people from all years, so that everyone will attend and at the same time we'll put together a choreography for them and for us and a selected group of people -those from the advanced class."

"Hyunjin, this is exactly what I was talking about. It feels like a big bite for me." Felix was completely overwhelmed. That's what Hyunjin could've thought, but unfortunately he knew that Minho wouldn't choose another organizer for him, and that Felix was his only choice, otherwise neither one would do it."Look, it's a lot, I won't lie. But there will be two of us, I already know how it goes from the previous year. You won't be alone. It will be fine once we schedule our work and... cooperate." Hyunjin gritted out the word cooperate and mentally cursed Minho again. He reassured Felix, but he had his own selfish interest in it, so that he too wouldn't lose his role. He couldn't do it all by himself.

"Ugh... well..." The silver haired boy puffed his cheeks as he had to take a deep breath, "Okay, so what do we have to do first?" he asked at last."First we should assemble the teams, choose the theme and the music." The brunette narrowed his eyes as he remembered his first days in the role of organizer a year before, "Last year it was a real mess, we focused a lot on the performance itself at the beginning, but then found out that we don't really have people for it, so I'd do it sooner." Hyunjin was getting into his element, drank some coffee and started making notes on his phone so he wouldn't forget anything. As Felix watched him name different names from all the years and took notes on what style of dance they were best at and so on, it dawned on him that Hyunjin really was the right one for this.

"Can I ask you a question?" Felix interrupted him from his thoughts. Hyunjin looked up from his phone to him questioningly."When did you decide you wanted to do this? I mean, dancing and all that?" The silver haired boy was interested, wildly gesturing with his hand as if "all that" lay between them. Hyunjin was surprised by this sudden question, but it wasn't anything he didn't know the answer to, he answered it every morning when he didn't feel like getting up."When I was still in elementary school, they kept casting me in school plays, even though I didn't want to. They said I had 'visuals' for it." The brunette did the air quotes, "Well, I always ended up being the one doing nothing, just standed there looking pretty. I hated it. It wasn't until one year that a new teacher got the idea that we could do a musical. It was the first time anyone gave me a proper role, I worked on that choreography every day to deserve that main role. That feeling I had after the performance, how proud my parents were of me and how proud I was of myself, the adrenaline, everything together convinced me that this is what I want to do." At the last sentence, Hyunjin smiled and Felix would've sworn it was the first time he had seen his smile. Felix's heart skipped a beat at that. Hyunjin should smile more often, maybe then he wouldn't be so afraid of him. He didn't expect Hyunjin to ask him the same thing, so he just started on his own.

"I can imagine that. It was the same with me. I mean - I was always more of a hyperactive child, I was always doing some performances at home for my parents and siblings, so I really pushed myself into the school ones. We did such a stupid thing back then, I was dressed as a cheetah, I had ears, whiskers, everything. I sang and danced this song and then had the exact same feeling you described. I thought it was fun and I'd like to perform professionally one day." Felix summed up his experience, and just like Hyunjin before, he smiled nostalgically.

Hyunjin might not want to ask him how he got into dancing, but he was strangely pleased that Felix told him. As they looked at each other in silence for a moment, smiles still on their faces, they realized one important thing. They can be as different as they want and they know it won't be easy, but they want to experience this feeling they described again and again. And the little discomfort is worth it.

"So? Shall we go for it? On Monday during the breaks, we're going to introduce ourselves to this list of people and offer them participation." Hyunjin asked with a new respect for this boy from Australia who voluntarily had his whiskers drawn on as a child."Mhm, that sounds good." Felix nodded. The cold morning weather was getting to them both, their coffee was running low and they knew it was time to go back to the dorm.

"Monday then, enjoy the weekend." Hyunjin said goodbye politely, throwing away the coffee cup."You too, and thank you for letting me work on this with you." Felix's face returned to a sincere and warm smile. His eyes were almost closed, his freckled nose crinkled and his hair bouncing merrily as he waved at Hyunjin and turned away. Hyunjin watched all these details on his face with unexpected relief, Mr. Sunshine can now smile again in his presence.