Kyungsoo walks into school on Monday morning with his friend, Tao, an international student from China. It's still early, much earlier than they need to be there to be on time for first period, but Tao has private tutoring in Korean every morning. Kyungsoo has taken to coming in to keep him company before his teacher gets there and then using the extra time to study. He wakes up early enough, anyway. They haven't known each other long, but since Chanyeol and Baekhyun graduated, Tao is one of his only friends at school, if not the only one he sees and talks to on a regular basis. In their school's competitive environment, having a genius IQ earns one more resentment than friendship. There are also so many students, he finds it difficult to match very many of the faces to their names and assumes it's the same for others. He suspects Tao is more grateful for his companionship than most, since he's still learning Korean and doesn't have that many friends yet himself. It's for these reasons that Kyungsoo feels comfortable enough to tell Tao about his Saturday night as he peruses the shelves of the library for the encyclopedia he needs to start his research paper.

Tao scans the area for roaming librarians before unwrapping a granola bar. "Why have I never seen you dance? You must be pretty good if Kim Jongin slash Kai the Dancing Machine says so."

"Do people actually call him the 'Dancing Machine?'" Kyungsoo confirms as he extracts one of the thick volumes from the shelf and starts leafing through it.

"Yes. Wow, sometimes it's like you're the foreigner instead of me," Tao teases. "Anyway, why haven't I seen you dance? Can I?"

Kyungsoo smiles and shrugs as he stuffs the book back in place and pulls out another one. "I'm really not that good, but just remind me next time you come over, I guess. I'm gonna photocopy this," he decides when he flips to a relevant section in the encyclopedia.

Tao stuffs his last bite of granola bar in his mouth and crumples the wrapper. "Okay, I better go now. I'll see you at lunch," he says as he slings his backpack over his shoulders. Kyungsoo nods to him as he walks out.

Two minutes later, Kyungsoo finds himself holding the detached lid of the copy machine in his hand and a voice behind him startles him almost enough to drop it, but he fumbles with it a bit and manages to keep his grip on it.

"Do you want some help with that?"

The deep voice is familiar and not one he would have chosen to hear at this particular moment. "Oh, um." He clears his throat unnecessarily. "That's okay, I got it," he says without turning around. He sets the sheet of metal and plastic back down on top of the machine in what he hopes is a confident manner, as if he knows how the hell to put it back correctly because clearly it was never meant to come off like that in the first place.

There's a soft chuckle. It's muffled and Kyungsoo possibly wasn't meant to hear it, but the library is quiet, almost empty and Kyungsoo's senses seem amplified by the sudden spike in his heartbeat.

"Are you sure?"

Kyungsoo stares at the copier. Was that how it looked before he accidentally disassembled it? He squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, bracing himself for the awkward conversation he knows is about to take place before he decides to turn around. "Um," is all that he manages once he makes eye contact with the owner of the voice. "Do you just…" Kyungsoo tries to laugh as he gestures vaguely towards the copy machine with the encyclopedia he's holding.

One side of the taller boy's mouth curves upward as he takes a couple steps forward, pressing down on the top of the copier so the lid clicks back into place. He taps the power button twice and the machine restarts. "I'm not sure how you managed to do that, but it should work now," Jongin says, a trace of amusement in his voice.

Kyungsoo smiles tightly. "Thanks." He pauses, waiting for Jongin to show surprise as he realizes that this bespectacled student who can't even work a copy machine is D.O. who he met the other night and when he doesn't, he slowly places the encyclopedia down and begins making his photocopies. Jongin leans against the wall, his head cocked to one side as he watches Kyungsoo turn the pages of the book and set them on the surface of the copier. It only lasts for a couple of seconds, but Kyungsoo feels his gaze on him the same way he feels the heat from the room's fluorescent lights. He fidgets, suddenly uncomfortable with being on display under the unforgiving brightness.

"I gotta get going," Jongin says as Kyungsoo hits the copy button for a new page. "See you around, um…"

"Kyungsoo."

Jongin offers another little half-smile that Kyungsoo only just glances up in time to see before he turns to leave.

Kyungsoo watches him go, his figure receding into the distance with a certain grace to his gait, his feet turned out slightly, the way a dancer walks. The door to the library closes behind Jongin and Kyungsoo hunts for a stapler behind the front desk.

*

"You're telling me you saw him at school today and he talked to you, and neither of you mentioned anything about the other night?" Chanyeol says incredulously later that day.

"I told you," Kyungsoo says, putting his phone on speaker and placing it beside him so he can open his laptop and begin typing his homework, "he didn't even realize who I was. I guess it's not that surprising, since I don't wear glasses when I dance and my hat was covering most of my face. Club lighting isn't exactly portrait quality, either."

"So why didn't you tell him?" Chanyeol presses.

Kyungsoo hesitates for a moment and all Chanyeol probably hears is the clack of his laptop keys as he starts on his lab report. "I don't know," he says finally. "It would have been weird…you know that the last time I introduced myself to someone first was approximately never."

"But...Kyungsoo." He imagines Chanyeol slapping a hand to his forehead.

"I should have, I know. But…" He stops typing. "Hey, I called Baekhyun's phone, didn't I? Can I talk to him?"

"I'm here," says Baekhyun's voice.

"Oh. I'm assuming you heard everything I just said, so…ok look, I know I should have told him, but when he didn't recognize me, I started to think…" Kyungsoo trails off and stares at the blinking cursor on his laptop screen as he considers what to say. "It's dumb," he says, waiting for one of his friends to prod him further, but neither does and the quiet display of patience spurs Kyungsoo on instead. "It's just…he has this image of me as D.O., the mysterious guy he chose to dance with, and…I don't know, no one's ever thought of me like that before. I don't want to do anything to change it. I don't want him to find out that I'm just…well…Do Kyungsoo."

"I see," Baekhyun says measuredly.

"The only thing is…I don't think hats and dim lighting are going to fool him forever, so I was sort of…hoping you'd help me," Kyungsoo says uncomfortably, pulling at a loose thread on his comforter.

"What are you…no, Kyungsoo, I am not going to help you deceive this poor kid."

"Don't think of it as deception, think of it as a kind of…social experiment," Kyungsoo cajoles.

"A social experiment," parrots Baekhyun.

"Yes. I bet you that someone like Kyungsoo would never have a chance with a guy like Jongin. But D.O., on the other hand…"

"Kyungsoo! I have never seen this side of you before! You are a conniving little--" Chanyeol cuts in, but is drowned out again by Baekhyun.

"I really don't know how I feel about this. It would be better if you would just talk to Jongin without creating some alter ego…and if you think he's that shallow, why are you so interested?"

Kyungsoo takes his lower lip between his teeth. He could see the logic in Baekhyun's argument, but he didn't view the situation in exactly the same way. The idea of escaping his normal life, becoming an extension of himself, and his reputation at school having no bearing on what Jongin would think of him, was tantalizing. "This is the only chance I've ever had to be seen as something more than the curve wrecker. And I don't think I can do it without you. Please, hyung. Please."

Baekhyun sighs heavily on the other end of the line and Kyungsoo isn't sure but he thinks he can hear Chanyeol chant-whispering "Do it, do it, do it!" in the background.

"Alright," Baekhyun says finally. "I still don't like it, but I think I can help you. Come over a couple hours early on Saturday and I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, I really--"

Baekhyun doesn't let him finish the sentence. "I'm only agreeing to this because--"

"Kai's hot!" Kyungsoo hears Chanyeol cut in.

"--because it's good to see you taking the initiative for once, even if the approach you're taking is rather…unscrupulous," Baekhyun finishes. "I have to say this, though. If he doesn't figure it out, you'll have to tell him eventually, or one of you is going to get hurt."

Kyungsoo is silent while he tries to mull this over, but he feels like his mind is already made up.

"Kyungsoo?" He can tell Baekhyun is asking for a promise.

"Yeah, okay fine," he settles on saying, and Baekhyun sighs in defeat.

*

The rest of the week goes by and Kyungsoo doesn't run into Jongin at school again except for catching sight of him a few times in the hallways. Saturday arrives faster than expected and Kyungsoo stares at his reflection before he leaves the house. He swaps his glasses for the contact lenses he almost never wears, despite his optometrist's recommendation, and examines his face in the mirror, beginning to feel doubtful that this could really work. Baekhyun grew up in a family of actors and had learned a lot about how to transform one's appearance through hair and makeup, but Kyungsoo is skeptical about it being enough to make him look completely unrecognizable. He would assume that there's only so much that makeup can change (and quite honestly, he isn't willing to wear much of it) and he wonders what can even be done with his short, choppy haircut to make it look different.

His questions are answered when he enters Baekhyun's bedroom.

"Okay, the shelf full of eyeliner is justifiable because you wear it, but why do you have stuff like this just lying around in your room?" Kyungsoo asks, pinching the dark chocolate brown wig gingerly between his fingers as he spins himself around in Baekhyun's desk chair.

Baekhyun shrugs. "I was in the drama club for a semester. Now hold still."

Kyungsoo slowly complies, planting his feet flat on the floor in front of him. Baekhyun tugs the wig on over his friend's head, eclipsing all of Kyungsoo's short, jagged black locks. He artfully tousles the bangs that now cover one of Kyungsoo's eyebrows. "Wow. You look really different already."

"Good, that means we can skip the eyeliner then!"

Kyungsoo moves to get up from the chair and Baekhyun says, "If you've had a change of heart and want Jongin to know who you are, then by all means--" He puts the cap back on a black pencil he had just picked up.

"No, no, okay, do your worst." Kyungsoo closes his eyes and straightens up in the chair, and he hears his friend uncap the eyeliner again with a pop. He fidgets with his hands while Baekhyun makes little across his lids with the tip of the pencil, occasionally smoothing a finger over his skin.

"Alright, let me take a look," Baekhyun says when Kyungsoo starts to feel numb from sitting still for so long. He opens his eyes and Baekhyun takes a few steps back, studying his handiwork. He nods once before pulling a little rectangular mirror from the shelf of his desk and handing it to Kyungsoo. "What do you think?"

Kyungsoo is not prepared for what he sees when he looks at himself. Rather than the thick circles of black outlining his eyes that he had expected, it's not so apparent that he's even wearing makeup at all. Instead, the liner elongates his round eyes, tugging at the corners slightly and creating a sultry expression. The whole effect stands in sharp contrast to how he looks hidden behind the thick-rimmed glasses he always wears to school. The glossy bangs of the wig frame his face and sharpen the angles of his forehead and jaw. Kyungsoo turns his face slowly from side to side and thinks that the person reflected in the mirror is almost…attractive?

"Wow. You're…really good at this," is all Kyungsoo can think of to say.

Baekhyun smirks, taking the mirror back. "We've all been trying to tell you for years. You're a good-looking guy, Kyungsoo, you just don't have the first clue what to do about it."

"Alright well if you think that's going to convince me to remodel my room into a beauty salon like yours, think again."

"Yah, watch yourself," Baekhyun warns as Chanyeol knocks on the open door. Baekhyun smiles at him and he enters the room fully.

That's when he looks properly at Kyungsoo sitting at the desk. "Whoa. Baekhyun, who's the Calvin Klein model and what is he doing in your bedroom? Do I have competition?"

Baekhyun doesn't reply to that. "Get dressed, we leave in five. In case you've forgotten, D.O. is making his second public appearance tonight and we're his ride.”

"I didn't forget!" Chanyeol ducks back out of the room and Baekhyun rummages through his desk drawer.

"Just one more thing. Put this on your lips," he says, holding out a new stick of lip balm to Kyungsoo. "They're your best feature."

Kyungsoo breaks the seal on the container, laughing. "God, I had no idea you were such a girl."

Baekhyun whacks him on the arm in response. "A simple 'thank you' would suffice."

Kyungsoo is still laughing as he smooths the product over his lips. "Thank you," he says sincerely.

"You're welcome. Now come on. You better put my work to good use."

Once Kyungsoo gets up from Baekhyun's chair and Chanyeol reappears, the three of them leave together, Kyungsoo's nerves returning almost as soon as they step outside. By the time they pull up to the club and are standing in line again, he feels on the verge of a panic attack. "I can't do this," he insists as the line moves. Chanyeol and Baekhyun take turns trying to reassure him, but nothing they say makes much headway, not even when they point out that the whole thing was his idea.

"I can't do this. Why did I think I could do this?" Kyungsoo repeats when they reach the entrance, but allows himself to be led inside anyway, the thumping of the bass dulling the intensity of his throbbing heartbeat. This time, the crowds and the sticky floor don't seem as horrifying as all his thoughts are occupied by the reason they're there. From the moment he steps inside, his vision is like a funnel, only searching for one specific dancer. They make a full lap around the dance floor without seeing Kai anywhere.

"Are we too early?" Baekhyun asks, and Kyungsoo checks the time on his phone and shows Baekhyun that it's already about 25 minutes past midnight.

"Maybe he's not coming," suggests Kyungsoo, admittedly starting to feel disappointed, no matter how much stress Jongin's return invitation had caused.

"Don't worry about it yet, maybe he likes to be fashionably late!" Chanyeol yells in response.

"I need a drink," Kyungsoo declares as a new song starts.

"We'll come with you," Baekhyun offers, except Chanyeol is already dancing a little ways away.

"It's okay, you guys dance," says Kyungsoo.

"I'll stay with you until Jongin shows up," Baekhyun insists.

"It's fine, I'll just be over here," Kyungsoo assures him and pulls away before Baekhyun can argue.

He plops himself down at an empty barstool and orders something simple. He can faintly make out his reflection in the shiny surface of the bar countertop and he registers how overwhelmingly pathetic it is that, even as D.O., his supposedly cooler counterpart, he managed to get stood up by the person who asked him to be there. He lifts his eyes back up as his drink arrives and a girl sits down at the barstool next to him, her long black hair swishing from side to side. "I'll have what he's having," she says to the bartender, glancing at Kyungsoo. The way she's looking him up and down makes Kyungsoo uncomfortable and he downs his drink faster than he wants to, staring straight ahead at the various bottles behind the bar.

"That's a very unique-looking ring."

Kyungsoo tunes out the girl's syrupy voice, not interested in overhearing her flirt with some rich guy who's probably 20 years older than her, until he feels a light touch on his right arm and he turns his head to find her still looking directly at him. He just gapes at her for a moment, never having expected to find himself in this kind of situation and it takes him a moment to process what it was that she actually said. "Oh, um…thanks…yeah, it's…" he looks down at the silver ring on his finger, borrowed from Baekhyun. It's in the shape of some kind of symbol that was supposed to represent…light, was it? He can't remember. Baekhyun even said he just bought it when he was in high school because it looked cool and was a good conversation starter. Kyungsoo thinks it might be working a little too well in that regard.

"Is it a couple ring?" the girl asks, drawing her hand back.

"No, I…uh…" Kyungsoo brings his glass back up to his lips to delay having to explain further.

"Are you here alone, then? Someone as cute as you?" She smiles sweetly and Kyungsoo only acknowledges somewhere in the back of his mind that she is what other guys would consider 'hot.'

"Um…I'm actually…sort of…." Kyungsoo can't decide how to finish the sentence and he ends up continuing to stammer unintelligibly.

"Sorry noona, but he's actually here to see me," a deep velvety voice says as the tall figure it belongs to emerges from the shadows. They both turn to look and Kyungsoo clutches his glass a little tighter as he takes in the sight of Jongin standing there looking down at them, trademark smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

The girl blinks in surprise. "Kai! I didn't know you'd be here tonight!"

Jongin settles onto the barstool adjacent to hers and smiles again, this time almost sheepishly. "Yeah, well, plans change…"

"Well then. I apologize for intruding. Are you at least going to introduce me to your Calvin Klein model friend?" she asks teasingly.

Jongin laughs and nods toward Kyungsoo, whose eyes widen a little. "This is D.O., from the dance battle last week."

Her lips form a small 'o' shape of revelation. "It's nice to meet you. I heard you were very good!"

Kyungsoo smiles. "Nice to meet you, too…"

"Mi-young. I'm an old friend of Kai's." She holds out her hand and Kyungsoo takes it politely. "I'll leave you two alone, then…you better be planning some kind of kickass dance collaboration." She gives them a small wave as she stands up to leave, taking her drink with her.

Jongin watches her cross the room and then looks back at Kyungsoo. "Not interested in girls?" he asks, as if confident that he already knows the answer.

Kyungsoo just shakes his head, angling his head down and feeling a blush spread over his cheeks.

Jongin shrugs. "Me neither," he says nonchalantly. "So. Feel like dancing?"

Kyungsoo lifts his eyes back up, smiling. "Always." He follows Jongin out onto the floor. Kyungsoo isn't sure if he feels more or less self-conscious when it's only Jongin watching him versus the whole room, but despite his looks and talent and status, Jongin smiles often and looks at Kyungsoo like he's his equal. The ual, assured dance moves are still there but this time it doesn't feel so much like he's watching Kai perform for everyone as much as he's just watching Jongin dance, and the appeal comes included. Different from how it was during the dance battle, with Kyungsoo trying to tailor his moves to mesh with Jongin's, he finds Jongin watching him a lot more, adding his own twists onto what Kyungsoo does.

They're dancing close enough for him to feel the heat of Jongin's body and the sudden touch of his hand on Kyungsoo's hip surprises him; it feels almost electric but he doesn't pull away. They gradually start to look more like the other people on the floor as they abandon their popping and combinations of steps in order to dance right up against each other, their hips separated by just a few centimeters. The song changes as Jongin's eyes meet his, an intensity in his expression that Kyungsoo has never seen directed at him and it makes him aware of every breath that he takes. He stops breathing altogether as he anticipates with only half-formed thoughts what Jongin's motives are when he leans in even closer. "Next Thursday?" he inquires into Kyungsoo's ear, his lips brushing against it and Kyungsoo thinks the world could have just flipped on its axis and he wouldn't have noticed. Jongin pulls back and searches Kyungsoo's face as he musters the coordination to nod shakily in response. The half-smile is back, decorating Jongin's face with an almost shy, boyish charm for a moment before he turns away and disappears into the crowd.