Trope: Enemies to Lovers (my first request from my lovely friend Haley!)
⚠️ Very light mentions of bullying, not touched on heavily!
"This can't be happening."
"I...wish I could tell you otherwise."
I stood there staring at my dance partner, Mingi, who was laid out in a dingy infirmary bed with a brand new accessory: an ankle brace. Just thirty minutes prior, I had gotten a call from the nurse who runs our university's infirmary and was informed a friend of mine needed my help. All she had told me was that I was needed urgently and left me with no details, other than he wasn't in good shape. So naturally, I up and left work, frantically telling my boss I had to go attend to a hurt friend, and drove like I was auditioning for Fast & the Furious all the way back to campus and ran to the infirmary building. I had expected maybe a fellow classmate or one of my girlfriends, but definitely not Mingi of all people.
"Y/n, I'm so sorry but please don't be mad at me," Mingi pleaded as I ran my eyes over the brace.
"I'll decide if I'm mad once you tell me how bad it is."
"Allow me to do the honors," rang out the voice of the head nurse as she strolled into the room, almost as if on cue, "Mr. Song here thought he'd be cute and during his theater rehearsal earlier, he attempted to...what did you call it again? Oh that's right, parkour. Anyways, he attempted to jump over a larger stage prop and caught his ankle on it instead, twisting it and resulting in a very bad sprain. I'm demanding bed rest for the next week at LEAST, but two weeks is preferred for a near full recovery. That bruise is a nasty one and will need care."
Mingi shifted in the bed either from painful discomfort or from how harsh my glare was, trying to burn holes into his skull with my eyes alone. I took a step towards him and his eyes darted up to me, hoping for a sympathetic look but were met with anger and a firm smack upside the back of his head.
"Have I not been hurt enough today?! I said I'm sorry!!" He cried out, attempted to shield his head and face from any further attacks.
"Sorry doesn't make you recover faster, Mingi. You know the competition is literally this weekend, why would you even THINK about jeopardizing this for us?!"
"I was just goofing around!! Blame Yunho, he forced me to do it!" He exclaimed. When he caught my raised eyebrow and doubtful eyes, he backtracked quickly and said, "Okay, fine he obviously didn't force me. He dared me to do it and I didn't think twice about getting hurt. Please believe me when I tell you I'm sorry."
He looked genuinely apologetic and even disappointed in himself, but not nearly as disappointed as I was in his carelessness. I sighed deeply and ran a shaky hand through my hair before responding.
"I know Mingi, I know. I doubt you wanted this to happen," I started to say as I took a step closer to his bed. He reached out and grabbed my hand to try and offer me some comfort and reassurance, despite him being the one who was hurt rather than me. "I'm sorry you got hurt."
"So where do we go from here?" Mingi asked with a small smile, trying to lighten the mood while he brushed his thumb over my knuckles.
"For starters, let's get you back to your dorm and into your own bed. I'll worry about the competition afterwards." He nodded in response and let go of my hand as he attempted to sit himself up on the bed and swing his legs out awkwardly over the edge. The nurse who had been bustling around and checking on another patient of hers now came over with some paperwork and a small prescription bottle.
"Will you be taking him from here?" She asked, continuing once I nodded. "Okay, here's some general care procedures, nothing you can't Google really. Make sure to keep it elevated and ice it often to help reduce the swelling, it'll help the bruise too. Try to stay off of it as much as possible and take these only as needed."
"What are those?" Mingi asked as she handed me the pill bottle.
"Ibuprofen 600mg, just slightly stronger than your over the counter stuff," she answered quickly before finishing, "for obvious reasons, don't drink while taking those. Rest well enough and you may not need a full two week bed rest. Now Mr. Song, do us all a favor and make sure if I have to see you in here again, it's not because you decided to continue this parkour crap as a hobby. Okay?" Mingi flushed slightly with embarrassment and nodded in agreement before thanking her for her time.
The infirmary building wasn't too far from the parking lot, but still required a small walk unfortunately for us. I attempted to help Mingi hobble to my car the best I could and after an awkward 15 minutes or so, we finally arrived. I shuttled him into the vehicle and dashed to the other side, eager to get him back to his dorm. Getting him there would be much easier since the dorms had much closer parking lots and the elevators were right at the entrance of his building. I've only been in his dorm building a few times; most times to come collect Mingi for our practices and once to come find out why I had been stood up for a date, only to find the guy already had a different kind of date happening in his bed. Thankfully, navigating the halls was easy and I knew where he roomed so together, we got him upstairs and at his door. While he fumbled for his keys, I heard a door in the distance open and shut but thought nothing of it. It wasn't until the individual that left the room was approaching our direction that I finally looked up and saw Hyunjin.
Hyunjin and I have known each other for a long time, a bit over 20 years or so to be exact. We met when we were extremely young through our local dance program, both of us having started our dancing careers extremely early in life. What started off as an innocent toddler friendship quickly turned into a hostile warzone thanks to quite a few factors in our lives. The dance world was notoriously competitive and if you weren't the best, you were behind. While I'm grateful to my parents for always encouraging my happiness throughout my dance journey, that's not the standard parental role for most participants. Some parents can be harsh and downright cruel to their children, pushing them to only know victories and never allowing them to be humbled by a loss or not being the top student for once. Hyunjin's parents were part of that stigma and like a match to gasoline, ignited a toxicity within him that he only seemed to aim at me. By the time we got to middle school, it had turned into a form of minor bullying that even though I did my best to keep cool, would still sometimes get under my skin and make me upset. He had matured somewhat by high school and settled for ignoring my existence most of the time, but would always try to one up me as much as possible. Our shared dance classes outside of school were tense and no longer something I enjoyed. I eventually stopped going and danced with a club at my high school, letting him have his victory of chasing me away at the expense of sparing my mental health and simply being able to enjoy dancing again.
Little did I know we had applied to the same university and we both were accepted into the Dance program, making our first semester a living hell. We've done well to avoid each other since and coincidentally kept our schedules separate, even participating in different competitions and events from each other. I had heard he'd won a couple of awards our first year but I gave it no thought, having already won some of my own while enrolled.
I truly didn't think the next time I saw him would be in the men's dorms on campus, let alone with me herding a wounded Mingi into his dorm room, but here we were. Hyunjin gave me one of his oh so familiar glares that hasn't changed since he was four. While I scoffed in reply, he turned his head to Mingi and quickly noticed the obnoxious ankle brace on my brute of a dance partner. His glare suddenly became less vicious and more worried as he studied Mingi trying to hop his way through the door.
"Mingi, what happened??" He tried asking as I ushered him through the door, nearly pushing him at this point.
"Hey dude, I'm alr-"
"Don't worry about it, Hwang, it doesn't concern you," I spat out before slamming the door shut. I huffed out a frustrated breath and turned around to set my bag down on Mingi's desk. Mingi simply stood there, balancing himself on one foot as he eyed me with disbelief. He raised a single eyebrow at me and I waved him off towards the bed.
"You good?" He questioned carefully.
"Yep. Never better. Now lay down while I grab your ice pack. You got any extra pillows?" I quickly asked while I headed for the miniature freezer he and his roommate shared.
"Not me, but take Hongjoong's since he won't be back for a couple of weeks anyways," Mingi replied as he climbed into bed, "I'll just make sure to wash them before he returns."
"R.I.P. Hongjoong's pillows," I teased as I yanked them off his roommate's bed and along with the ice pack, brought them over to my patient. He cooperated in lifting his ankle up for me while I elevated it for him and allowed me to take the brace off, revealing the ace bandage wrapped snugly underneath. Purple splotches bloomed from under the bandage, displaying traces of the bruising the nurse had mentioned earlier. It truly did look painful and it made me feel guilty for how upset I was at Mingi. He just doesn't understand how important this upcoming competition is to me, not that I've really told him either, so I can't fault him. While encased in my thoughts, I tenderly placed the ice pack over the risen ankle, causing him to let out a small hiss through his teeth at the chill, despite the bandage preventing contact on his skin.
"Damn, that's cold," he whined.
"No shit, Mingi, it's an ICE pack. The keyword is ice," I taunted the poor guy. "It'll help the swelling like the nurse said."
"Fine, my ankle looks like it ate another ankle, so anything helps I guess," he partially joked, settling back into his mattress. "So what are you gonna do now?"
"Well I was thinking I'd go back to my own dorm and change, grab some more pillows and maybe food for us, that way I can keep an eye on you for tonight."
"That's great and all, but I meant for the competition, y/n," he clarified. I blinked at him for a moment, unsure what to truly do.
"That's a problem I'll face tomorrow since there's nothing I can do about it right now," I reasoned, "but I'm hoping I can talk to the rules committee and see if they'll let me run it solo or maybe try to grab someone from class who can learn quickly. Beyond that, I really don't know."
"Is dropping out and waiting for the next competition not an option?" He asked. I wasted no time in shaking my head in response. "How come?"
"This one's just..." I rolled my tongue around in my mouth while I thought of a word that suited the situation and finally settled on one, "... important."
"Uh HUH...I take it you don't wanna talk about it?" He guessed.
"Not right now, at least," I confirmed. "Let me run back to my dorm and I'll be back quick, okay?" He yawned in agreement and I grabbed my bag, heading to the door. "Oh, before I forget. You know I have to tell Seonghwa about this, right?"
Mingi's eyes widened in horror, realizing how upset they'd be after hearing how badly he hurt himself.
"No you don't," he argued, whining when I smirked at him. "I thought you were my friend!" I gripped my bag and dipped out of the room before he could throw anything in my direction, doing my best to return as quickly as possible.
NEXT DAY
I was pacing in front of the office of one of the dance professors who was heading the rules committee for the upcoming weekend's competition. I needed to report my dance partner's injury so they could expect to not see him in class for a couple of weeks, but I also needed to fight for my chance to remain a contestant. They were in their office as this was their posted office hours, but I instead kept looping around the hallway, hesitant to go in. My hands felt nearly numb from how many times I'd wrung them or squeezed them in an attempt to calm my nerves. Eventually growing a pair, I muttered a quiet, fuck it, to myself and gripped the knob on the door, turning it and pulling it open before I could stop myself.
Once I was inside the office, I found Mr. Lee at his desk, tapping away on his laptop and humming to himself. When he heard the door shut behind me, he glanced up and shot me a friendly smile, making me feel just slightly less apprehensive.
"Ah, miss y/n, please come in. Have a seat," he suggested, motioning to the chairs in front of his desk. "How can I help you today?"
"Hi Mr. Lee, I have to talk to you about a couple of things if you have some time for me," I nervously confessed.
"Of course! What's up?"
"Well, it's about Mingi, sir. He unfortunately got hurt and sprained his ankle pretty bad. He won't be able to attend both your Hip Hop class and your Intro to Choreography class," I informed him.
"Well that's no fun, the poor kid. I'll make sure not to dock him any points for his absence, so I appreciate you showing up to inform me," he said as he picked up a pen and pad of sticky notes, quickly jotting down the two classes he'd be missing, as well as the duration. "Correct me if I'm wrong though, isn't he registered as your dance partner for this weekend? I'm assuming that's the other thing you wanted to talk about."
I shifted around in my chair, unsure about how to plead my case without blurting out pure babble and sounding like a whiny child. After a moment of silence from myself as I wondered on how to approach the conversation, Mr. Lee tutted once he understood my predicament and sighed slowly.
"Y/n, don't get me wrong, you are incredibly talented and easily one of my top students, no qualms about it. And while I have a feeling I know what you're going to ask, I need to mention that the rules clearly state you HAVE to have a partner since it is a duo's bracket for the ASE competition."
His words were to the point and direct, but his eyes were sympathetic to my troubles. I sighed, disappointed that I couldn't even fight for myself before being shot down and quickly thanked him for his time before hurriedly getting up from my chair. Before I could exit the office, he called for my attention as I cracked the door open.
"Tell you what, y/n, if you can procure another dance partner by this time tomorrow, you can remain a competitor. Now please keep in mind, this would only give you two or three days to rehearse and practice, assuming you started today, so be prepared for a heavy workload if you want to stay in the competition, alright?" My eyes lit up mildly at having even a sliver of a chance at remaining a contestant, and I nodded fervently. "Alright, so we agree. If I don't hear from you by this time tomorrow, I will remove you off the docket for Saturday's competition. Try not to stress too much over it, okay? There's always next year, too."
"Thank you sir, but there won't be a 'next year' if I don't win this competition.." I sadly told him. "I'm having trouble being able to afford my stay here and the prize money would be able to cover the next year or two so I can get my degree."
"Y/n, I had no idea you were struggling financially. Have you applied for any grants or scholarships?" He asked as he stood up from his desk and circled around it, approaching me carefully, as if I'd break down at any moment.
"I did but most were already granted or I missed the deadline. I got a job last year to help but the tuition increase made it difficult to save."
He nodded in silence, pondered as he took in my words. His expression was unreadable, but he appeared lost in his thoughts. Not really knowing what to say or do, I shrugged my shoulders at him in a 'it is what it is' manner.
"Do your best to find a replacement for Mingi for now and in the meantime, I'll see if I can look into any other available options for tuition assistance y/n," he reassured me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Don't lose hope, okay?"
My eyes glossed over, touched at the support he was attempting to offer me. I wasn't expecting such a reaction and it made me slightly emotional, though I held it in. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but it was still a genuine and seemingly kind offer. I bowed my head and quickly stepped out of the office, closing the door shut behind me as I did so and pressing my back to it, the cool metal blooming through my tank top and across my skin. Then the panic began to sink in.
I had to find a replacement ASAP. How do I even begin to figure this shit out?
Suddenly, someone coughed from the right side of me and my head snapped up, making eye contact with none other than Hyunjin. He was standing there with his gym bag loosely held by the strap in his hand and he donned his practice clothing still. His black baggy sweats appeared ruffled and his white tee-shirt could probably be peeled off of him from how much it was clinging to his chest with sweat. He ran a hand through his shaggy locks, trying to pull the sweat laced strands out of his eyes as he looked me over. He didn't seem to be glaring as he usually did though, something in his gaze seemed much softer, curious even.
I eventually snapped out of my trance and stepped away from the door, readjusting my own bag into my back and taking my leave in the opposite direction, even if it meant I circled the building to get back to my car.
"So did I hear that correctly?"
I turned around and looked at him, trying my best to display an annoyed grimace across my face but the stress and panic of not being sure of what my next step was consumed and exhausted me, instead flashing a tired glare at him.
"You heard nothing, so mind your business, Hwang," I icily retorted. Before I could spin back around and march off, he took a small step towards me and continued talking.
"Who's going to be your partner if Mingi can't dance?" He quickly quizzed me.
"Did you not hear me tell you to mind your business?" I rolled my eyes at him. "I'll figure it out."
I didn't give him the chance to approach any further and I turned on my heel, walking as fast as I could away from the situation at hand.
I needed to find a new dance partner and I didn't have time for stupid childhood rivalry.
NEXT DAY
"You're absolutely sure you can't just drop this one and compete in the next?"
Mingi and I were having lunch together before I had to go report to Mr. Lee about my disappointing hunt for a partner. He sprawled out across his bed with his ankle elevated and the ice pack firmly wrapped around it with my help. His lap was carefully holding a container filled with ramen from his favorite takeout place; I had stopped on my way over to surprise him with lunch.
"I already told you that's really not an option," I reminded him before I slurped a noodle into my mouth, finishing it before continuing, "but I guess I don't really have a choice if I have no one to compete with."
"I'm really sorry, this is all my fault y/n. I feel like an ass," Mingi apologized again, sulking as he looked down at his food.
"If we weren't friends, I'd be agreeing with you," I joked, trying to lighten the mood. He quickly looked up and smirked at me before grabbing one of the plushies off his bed and chucking it at me, thankfully not destroying either of our lunches. I tossed it back to him and we both giggled. "But really, don't feel like an ass. Accidents happen and I'm not upset with you."
He hummed in response and resumed playing with his chopsticks for a moment.
"When do you have to go meet him again?"
"In about...shit, 30 minutes. I lost track of time!" I exclaimed after checking my phone and quickly shoving it back into my pocket. I packaged up my leftovers and stuck them in his mini fridge so he could enjoy them later as I feared I wouldn't have any form of an appetite. While I shoved my shoes on, he gave me encouraging words and reassurement before I bolted out the door and down the hallway.
I made it to the building and quickly got myself to Mr. Lee's office, approaching the door and knocking anxiously. A voice from inside shouted something along the lines of needing a minute or they'd be right with me, so I sat down in the chairs across from his office door and waited. Not being able to sit still, I bounced my leg that was crossed over the other, my phone flipping nervously around in the palm of my hand.
As smart as the rational part of my brain was and despite me knowing I was showing up empty handed, I had silently pleaded to any god that listened to me that Mr. Lee might show me a smidge of mercy and allow me to simply perform solo or even give me the rest of the day to hunt someone down. My efforts yesterday were fruitless, seeing as how everyone from my classes either had a partner and was scheduled to compete themselves or simply held no interest in the competition. There were still a few more students I could have asked but wasn't able to reach them at the time or simply didn't see them on campus.
The door began to creak open slowly and I jolted up from my seat, only to be met with an extremely furious and pouty student. It took me a moment to register who it was, not recognizing the rage across his face for a split second.
"Ni-ki??" I asked with concern that soon shifted into fear when his eyes narrowed in on me and glared. He exhaled through his nose aggressively and gripped the strap across his shoulder tighter before scoffing and storming off down the hall, stomping slightly. He was gone in an instant, but not before Mr. Lee came barreling out of his office and shouting after him down the empty hallway, receiving only an echo in response.
"Well that could have gone better, I'd say," he speculated, running a hand through his hair and down the back of his neck. As he began to turn around to submerge back into his office, he noticed me standing there looking bewildered. "Ah, miss y/n, good timing. Please, come in." He gestured towards the door, ushering me into his office once again.
"Is everything okay, Mr. Lee?" I tentatively questioned, taking timid steps towards the entrance.
"I suppose we'll find out shortly," he mused and motioned more urgently for me to come in. I took a few more steps and breached the doorframe, hearing the door click shut behind us. It wasn't until I took another step or two into the office that I even became aware that another person was seated in front of the professor's desk, a thick hood veiling their identity. Mr. Lee moved back to his seat behind the desk, not seeming to notice my uneasiness. "Anyways, where were we? Y/n, don't be a stranger, have a seat."
My body obeyed and moved to take the free seat next to the anonymous individual who reluctantly raised their head to greet me.
Hyunjin.
"Why are you here?" I spat, forgetting to even attempt filtering myself in front of the professor. Hyunjin simply chuckled at my words, keeping up his own appearance for Mr. Lee who was unamused by my own reaction.
"Y/n, that's no way to talk to a fellow peer. Especially one who's here to help you," Mr. Lee reprimanded me. I blinked back at him, utterly confused.
"Him...help? Me?" My voice crept up an octave with each word I said. How the fuck was Hwang going to help me? "How? What do you mean help?"
"He has graciously volunteered to be your partner for this weekend's dance competition," said, as if it were matter-of-fact, "he said he heard you were in need of one and his partner and him had a...falling out, if you will."
I stared at Hyunjin, who remained still and simply smiled at me. My mind was a whirlwind of chaos, not being able to comprehend what was happening. Every cell in my body, every single atom in my being was screaming that this was a fucking TRAP. Hyunjin's voice ripped me from the maze that was my brain before I could spiral further.
"It'll be like old times!" He cheerfully chimed, his smile growing wider. It seemed almost fake how he was talking to me.
"Old...times?" I managed to mutter, mostly to myself.
"Exactly! Don't you wanna dance with Jinnie again?" He batted his eyelashes at me as he asked me that. My brow furrowed in even further disbelief and maybe some slight repulsion, but he continued nonetheless. "C'mon, remember when you used to call me that?"
"I used to call you a lot of things, so guess I forgot," I sarcastically replied, but it wasn't a lie. I definitely called him a lot of things: dumbass, douchebag, good for nothing, bully, I mean you name it. The list went on and on.
"So," Mr. Lee cleared his throat before continuing, "I'm absolutely on board with this. It gives you both a solution to your current predicaments, plus two of my finest students competing together? I see victory just around the corner. So I'd suggest you both start practicing as soon as you step out of this office." He stood up from his desk, grinning from ear to ear at the thought of his two prized students winning the duos bracket. "Make me proud and remember, I can't be biased so don't expect the win handed to you."
"Of course professor, thank you," Hyunjin stood up and bowed his head to the man before nudging myself, who was still in complete and utter shock. "Y/n, let's go get started."
"Uh...yeah. Thanks Mr. Lee," I parroted his gratitude and followed suit. Once we were out of the office and the door shut behind us, I spun a little too fast to glare at my new 'partner' and placed a quick hand on the wall to steady myself. I didn't miss, though, that Hyunjin had also seen my unbalanced move and jerked as if he was motioning to catch me just in case too, but remained where he stood when he saw my palm smack the wall.
"So uh-"
"What the actual FUCK just happened?!" I snapped at him, finally releasing the chaos that swirled in my brain. "What was ANY of that in there? Old times? Out with it Jinnie," I mocked the nickname, venom dripping from every syllable of it. Hyunjin didn't even bat an eye at my outburst surprisingly, rather he held eye contact and just shoved his hands in the pockets of his sweats.
"It needed to be convincing."
"Excuse me?!"
Before he could explain, we heard the professor's voice through the other side of the door as he was probably getting ready to leave for the day. Hyunjin grabbed the bunched up fabric of the windbreaker sleeve I had pushed up to my elbow and gently tugged me away. I begrudgingly followed him, though a small fraction of my resolve was curious and wanted to find out more. I had spent such a long time building up a defensive front when it came to his assaults, both verbal and psychological, that I wasn't exactly sure what my next move was.
We approached the end of the hallway and he showed me into one of the dance studios that were used primarily for classes but remained available to students even between lessons. The door swiftly shut behind us and once we were alone, he resumed before I could berate him any further.
"Listen. I went to him to offer to be your partner and since he's never seen us work together or talk even-"
"For obvious reasons," I interrupted.
"Yes, now let me finish," he shushed me, pleading for cooperation. "Anyways, he wasn't sure it was a good idea and was on the fence about allowing it. I told him we've known each other since we were kids and that seemed to convince him, so I may have tried to oversell it back there," he admitted.
"This doesn't make any sense. Why the hell do you even wanna help me, though? You literally hate me, always have, even when we were kids."
"I never said that," he protested and I rolled my eyes at him.
"Okay, well ignoring your blatant lie, that doesn't mean I don't hate you."
"And ignoring YOUR blatant lie, I say we meet back here in an hour and spend the night practicing. We can use your choreography you had with Mingi if you want, otherwise we gotta make new shit."
"It's not a lie," I scoffed at him, crossing my arms and looking up at him, "I DO hate you."
"Sure you do," he sarcastically said. That shouldn't have made me feel anything besides anger for having the audacity to say I was lying to him, but instead my heart felt a weird pang when he said that. Was he right? No, he couldn't be. He's not that smart and this is quite literally how we grew up; hating each other. But something feels off now inside of me and I can't quite place it, and it makes my resolve unsure. "So be here in an hour and we'll begin."
"Wait," I stopped him as he started to step past me, "is this why Ni-ki was upset back there? Did you actually have a fight with him or did you dump him just to help me out?"
"What answer do you wanna hear? Because you won't believe me if I tell you the truth," he stated before continuing past me, walking out of the dance room.
There's no way...he didn't do this for me. He wouldn't...right? I thought to myself before leaving to change into practice clothes. It was gonna be a long night.
3 hours later
Things were going surprisingly well, much better than I had anticipated. We ultimately decided to keep the choreography Mingi and I had worked on since our piece had more foundation and story rather than simple hip-hop moves, not knocking Hyunjin and Ni-ki's work. The air in the room was thick with perspiration, our lungs heaving for air once we took a small break. Despite what I had believed was a mutual hatred for each other growing up, I had dismissed the fact that Hyunjin had always been a hard worker and was extremely persistent, always analyzing for nearly perfection with every move.
He sat not far to the side of me gulping down the remaining water in his bottle, exhaling dramatically as if he had waterboarded himself with it. Something in the dramatic nature of how he acted had a tiny chuckle emerge from my mouth, against my own volition. He side eyed me for a split second, checking to see if his ears had lied to him before he stood up and made his way to the door.
"Where are you going?" I questioned him, surprising myself at how quick I was to care. He shook his empty water bottle at me before tossing it swiftly into a nearby trash can.
"Out of water, gonna go grab another bottle," he panted, still trying to stabilize his breathing from the intense dance rehearsal along with his attempt at drowning himself when he chugged his bottle. My body took over and without thinking, I dug into my gym bag and yanked out the backup hydro flask I had brought in case I ran out myself. Thankfully, I had been nursing mine, wanting to avoid any stomach cramps from chugging water too quickly, so the insulated canteen hadn't been touched yet. Not wanting to hurdle the heavy bottle at him, I motioned for him to come back and take the drink. He sauntered back over and took the (your favorite color) hydro flask out of my hands and sipped graciously. He let out a satisfied sigh after consuming the refreshment, eyeing the bottle.
"See? I knew you didn't hate me. Also nice to see your favorite color hasn't changed," he sheepishly smirked at me. I sat there on the floor next to my bag blinking up at him.
"You...you remember my favorite color?" He nodded in response, offering me a sweet smile. "Huh...okay. And FYI, I just didn't want you wasting my time by running off to screw around when we need to be rehearsing!" I folded my arms and huffed, doing my best to hold a solid defense against what he had said. Of course I hated him...I think.
He rolled his eyes while giggling and set the flask down, reaching a hand out to help me up off the floor before saying, "Let's not waste anymore time then, upsy daisy!" When his fingers folded towards his palm in the grabby hand motion, a small smile tugged at the corners of my mouth and I accepted the gesture, standing myself back up with his help.
We continued our treacherous practice, focusing solely on moves and marking, rather than the choreography as a whole. Once we had the basics down, we'd move onto the story behind it all and try to sell our emotions for the piece; but tonight was too soon. That would be tomorrow's focus. I silently regretted agreeing to Mingi's pleas for a sappy lyrical hip hop number but he had been right in insisting we needed to switch it up from our normal hard hitting and jam packed numbers to win the judges over. When this was going to be with him, it wasn't a huge deal but with the changes in my plans, it now is, in fact, a huge deal.
After another hour or so, we agreed to call it and resume tomorrow evening after his last couple of courses. Walking away from practice tonight, we bid each other hesitantly pleasant goodnights and went our separate ways. This wasn't the solution I had expected or wanted 24 hours ago, but I had no solutions then, so I figured it's best to bite my tongue and ride it out. He was doing his best to get along with me, so I could push our childhood rivalry to the side and be friendly as well.
The next day flew by incredibly fast thanks to the Friday afternoon rush at work. I eventually found myself warming up and starting practice a bit early to kill some time, Hyunjin joining not long after I started. He marched into the room and set his stuff down, making small talk with me about if I had a good day and such. The conversation flowed naturally and we soon picked up from where we left off the previous evening, only the energy in the room felt much more charged and less tense. We rehearsed all the basic choreo together once again before discussing details about the story behind the dance, leaving me feeling surprisingly shy.
"I just wanna make sure I understand," Hyunjin expressed, "so can you explain it just once more? I'm sorry."
"That's okay, I'll go over it again," I reassured him. "It's about two lovers who are trying to find ways to hold onto each other through the turmoil of their lives and the relationship. They battle with the feelings of 'maybe this wasn't meant to be' versus 'if we keep hanging on, this can work'." The look on his face remained the same as before, if not even more puzzled. I could tell he was trying to submerge himself into the character, but he didn't seem sure about what he was doing.
"Is there an example you can show me, maybe? Like a movie couple or a music video even?" He asked with a hint of desperation. I racked my brain for one before something brilliant clicked.
"I've got it! Take us for example," I began and his head turned so fast in my direction, I swore his neck would have snapped, but I continued quickly, "once upon a time long ago when you actually knew what it was like to be tiny, we actually started off as friends if you remember at all. But shit happened that came between us and the relationship we did have ended up being toxic and hostile. Imagine though; pretend we didn't let it get to us and despite all the criticism from our parents and the overly aggressive world of competition, we continued to try and nurture our relationship. There's two ways it could have gone: first, we could have given up and decided if it was meant to be, we'd come back to each other and second, we could have clung on for dear life and hoped it would have been enough. That's what this piece is about, if that makes sense at all."
I finally looked at him since starting my explanation and his eyes were wide but soft, as if he was realizing so many things all at once. Guess I explained it well that time, I thought to myself. He sat in the same spot observing me for a moment before picking himself up off the floor and humming to himself in satisfaction. While I got myself back up and situated, he began our song, "Rough Waters" by Travis McCoy and Jason Mraz and we immediately fell into the now familiar routine, doing our best to show our roles through our dancing.
One of the major parts of the choreography that Mingi and I had banked on landing us major points was during one of the final moments of the song, I'd run into his arms and he'd catch me as we kissed like we never should have let go of each other. I begrudgingly explained this to Hyunjin when we first went over the blocking of the routine and he never once even flinched or seemed bothered, but I had brushed it off as thinking he probably assumed we wouldn't do it and so I didn't expect us to touch on that again until he brought it up.
"So this is the part when you jump into my arms, right?" he casually asked as we neared the end of the song. I warily looked at him and nodded as I hunched over and tried to regain my breath. He nodded back, mostly to himself, and played the song again from a bit before the aforementioned move. "Let's try it, full out."
We got into place and began dancing, moving further away from each other with each step. Once we hit opposite sides of the stage, the last chorus began to approach. So I turned and started my run at Hyunjin, crossing the dance floor quickly. As I tossed myself at him, he quickly grabbed me and pulled me closer to his body, my legs wrapping around his waist just as we had gone over. His large hands were flat against my back, holding me close, while my own had looped around his neck and we clung to each other like we hadn't seen each other in forever. My heart was frantically beating against the inside of my chest and I wondered if he could feel it with how crazy it was going.
I hate him though, why am I freaking out? Don't I hate him...?
We began to pull away from each other but neither of us let go. We stood there in the middle of the dance studio just gazing at each other. I could faintly see his chest rising and falling underneath me as I propped my hands onto his shoulders. Our faces were much closer than either of us realized and our breath mingled in the space between us. His eyes darted around, taking in every feature of my face before resting on my lips and my heart rate sped up.
There's no fucking way...I...I hate him...I thought I did...maybe..I don't?
My brain went fuzzy when he started to lean closer, my own face angling towards his and he wasted no time in closing the gap between us. Sparks flew through my entire body, jolting out from my lips and surging to every single part of me as he kissed me. His soft lips were on mine and I inhaled into the kiss as if he were newfound oxygen I so desperately needed. He wasn't rough with how he kissed me, it was gentle and exploratory, moving through uncharted territory. At some point, my hands had moved from his shoulders and drug themselves to the sides of his face, cupping his cheeks as I kissed him back with newly discovered passion. My lips danced with his, creating their own rhythm of delicious friction and as suddenly as it started, it stopped. We each pulled back, out of breath, and I dropped my forehead to meet his.
"I told you...you don't hate me," he panted quietly with a small smirk.
"Shut up," I threatened him. My cheeks were burning and I could feel the redness bloom throughout my face.
"Make me."