You flopped onto your back, taking deep, slow breaths as you tried to control your heartbeat. You closed your eyes and allowed your arms to spread at your sides, the coolness of the wooden floor seeping through your thin layer of clothing.

“Come on, get up,” you felt a foot nudge your side, “We only went through the routine twice.”

“Give me a few minutes,” you mumbled and blindly attempted to swatted the foot.

You jolted and your eyes flew open when a towel landed on your face, the white cotton obstructing your vision.

You slowly removed the towel from your face as you pushed yourself into a sitting position, ignoring the laughs coming from the boy who was now sitting beside you.

“We were only practicing for half an hour and you’re already tired,” Hoya laughed and took a swig of water from his bottle, “And you call yourself a main dancer?”

You rolled your eyes before chucking the towel back at Hoya, which he caught with ease.

“Hey, I’m still a rookie, you know,” you mumbled as you rested an elbow on your thigh and leaned your cheek into your palm, “I’m sorry if I get tired, Hoya sunbaenim,” you finished with begrudging sarcasm. 

“It’s okay, hoobae, you’re working hard,” he patted your head with a teasing smile.

You grimaced and shooed his hand away before swiping his water bottle and taking a long gulp.

“Still stealing drinks from me I see,” Hoya narrowed his eye and watched the remains of his water disappear down your throat, “I guess some things never change.”  

“Still glaring at me when I steal your drinks. ‘I guess some things never change’,” you laughed and continued drinking.

You pulled the empty bottle away from your lips and tossed it towards both of your duffle bags that were resting against the wall.

“And plus,” you continued with a sweet smile, “think of this as payment for all the halves of my cupcakes I used to give you during lunch in elementary school.”

“Hey, at least I would always let you keep the side with the most frosting,” Hoya said as he threw the towel around his neck and laid down with a sigh. 

“Um, no you didn’t,” you glanced around with room in confusion, “I always had to pry it away from your little pudgy hands.”

Hoya lifted his head off of the floor to give you a glare, “My hands were not pudgy.”

“Yeah they were,” you nodded, repressing a smile that was starting to take over your face, “You had little pudgy hands to go along with your little pudgy stomach,” you cooed.

Your mind flew back to the time before he was Infinite’s Hoya, before he was an idol, before he was famous. When he was just Lee Howon, the boy with the glasses who sat in the third row in homeroom, the boy who always had the best comebacks and snarky remarks, the boy who was your best friend.

“Okay, okay, fine,” Hoya’s voice pulled you back to the present, “I was a little … bigger back then. But not anymore.”

Your face flushed and Hoya smirked as he lifted his shirt, revealing his well-toned abs, a result of hours of dance practice and weight training.

You cleared your throat and adverted your eyes to another part of the dance studio, “I guess some things about you have changed since your debut.”

Hoya’s smirk slipped off his face as he glanced up at you. He pushed his shirt back down and rolled onto his side, watching you as you played with laces on your shoes.

His eyes silently scanned over you, taking in the subtle chances that occurred during you time as a trainee and your own debut.

“I could say the same about you,” he said softly as he absentmindedly threaded his fingers through the end of your ponytail.

Your hair was now cut, styled, and dyed a lighter brown, the rims of your eyes slightly stained from the constant layers of eyeliner your stylists applied everyday, and your were slightly thinner from training and stress.

But in Hoya’s eyes, you were still beautiful. He always thought you were and he would continue to think the same till the end of time.

You turned your head and felt your heart skip a beat when you saw Hoya gazing up at you with adoring eyes.

You blinked a few times, quickly looking at the clock that was hanging on the wall in an attempt to hide your blush.

“Oh look, it’s almost midnight,” you swallowed and awkwardly cleared your throat, “We better get back to rehearsal if we ever want to get out of here. Out stage is in a few days too.”

You jumped to your feet and briskly walked over to the stereo with your head lowered towards the floor.

Hoya tried to stifle his laugh as he watched your fumble with the stereo. He lazily stood up, threw the towel to the side, and stood in the middle of the room, facing the giant wall of mirrors.

When the intro to the song started to play, you flitted over to Hoya’s side. You got in position and face the wall opposite of the mirrors, placing your left hand lightly on his right shoulder.

Hoya glanced over at you and gave you a heart-fluttering smile that you couldn’t help but return.

The both of you took a deep breath and let the music take over your bodies as the bass dropped.