It was Friday morning. At the end of the day the evaluations would be posted and the soloists decided. The day Lay would tell them the decision for the soloists in his first showcase.

Every dancer was on edge as they waited in the practice room, all sixteen of them. Sehun sat in a chair next to the stereo, people watching. It was something he’d grown accustomed to since being here. Though they were all a family they all divided into cliques—niches where they were more comfortable. Sehun was able to fit himself into every niche, though sometimes he didn’t mind sitting back and watching.

The first to catch Sehun’s eye were the two who were right next to him. Leo and Ken. The three had spoken slightly while entering, but then Ken seemed to focus in on Leo. The sullen boy was definitely the quietest of the 16, even when put against Kai.
Sehun thought that that seemed to bothered Ken. 
His solution? To consistently try to make Leo talk, laugh, smile, anything really. By any means as well.
But Sehun thought that that seemed to annoy Leo.

Many death threats came from the solemn boy’s lips, but that just made Ken smile more and put his arm around Leo, who in turn shrugged it off and made a motion like he was going to slap Ken. He never did, though the threat was still there as Ken flinched back.

Sehun smiled at the two and then looked at everyone else, wondering if they were at all worried about the list that was to be posted no more than five hours from now. Five grueling hours of terrible practice where no one will be able to focus. Sehun’s eyes first fell on the twins who were practicing hard, trying to get the steps down.

Daeryong and Soryong were in front of the mirrors, going through each section of the practiced choreography and trying to perfect it. They were almost always together, though their connection wasn’t as on tune as some would think. They paused nearly every minute and nagged one another before continuing again. And then stopping. And nagging. And starting again.
It was an endless cycle that drove everyone nuts, but the group knew that they were better off with the twins. They were amazing dancers.

In one corner was BamBam and Jackson, having a hushed conversation that involved a lot of hand gestures—they smiled sometimes but their expressions went from content to happy and then to anger repeatedly. No one knew what they were talking about, but Jackson tried to make BamBam laugh after every sour face and he was succeeding with the task.

Then there was CNU, Baro, B-Bomb and Ukwon in the middle of the practice room. They were talking idly, a nervous tension around them about the list. CNU kept drumming his fingers on the wood floor, biting his lip. This made Ukwon snap at him a little at him from his spot on the floor with his head on B-Bomb’s stomach, the two laying back. The noise was almost insufferable to the blond.

Baro just rolled his eyes with a smile and went on to his phone game, tapping furiously at the screen.

At the very back where the four female dancers, CL, Minzy, Gayoon and Sohyun.

The four were presumably gossiping, maybe not, though. Sehun was never sure with the four. One minute they’d act like girls, but then the next they turned into some sort of tomboy, badasses maybe. It was rather perplexing to him but he didn’t let himself linger on it too much—his eye’s soon found Kai.

He was standing alone next to the window, looking out. He had a snap back pulled on his head, hiding his eyes from the rest of them, his shoulders hunched and looking miniscule amongst all of them.

He looked trapped, Sehun thought. He looked like he wanted to get out. But Sehun didn’t think that that was what Kai wanted. His question still wasn’t answered by the brunette, “What are you doing here anyways?” It was a question that Sehun desperately wanted answered, if for nothing more than to figure out who the older dancer was. Kai was like a puzzle that he couldn’t solve and he’d spent every night that week trying to figure him out. But he always hit a wall.

“I deserve this.” The words that Kai spoke weren’t with pride, like he was getting a small fortune, but with disgrace. He said it like he needed a punishment.
That’s what really intrigued Sehun.
What could Kai have possibly done to make the boy punish himself? To make himself miserable?
There was nothing he could figure out without talking to Kai. Sehun knew that if he tried to speak a word to him it would be no use, he’d probably just walk away. Kai had no interest in Sehun, he had no interest in any of them.

“Sehun?” The blond blinked a couple times and then looked back to see Ken strung over Leo, the victim looking a mix between being in pain and murderous.

“Sorry?”

Ken laughed at what he thought was Sehun's aloofness and repeated himself. He was asking Sehun if he thought Leo would make a good model. Sehun squinted at the two, not sure what Ken was getting at. He looked at Leo closely and smiled at the look on his face. It wasn’t in pain anymore--definitely murderous.

Leo was a guy full of charisma, the bad boy type… though inside he had to be sweet and fluffy. He had to be. There’s no way a person could be hard and cold all the time, especially with Ken hanging around. Sehun thought that was the same with Kai. He just needed someone who could get through to him.

“What do you think?” Sehun turned the question to Ken in hope of surviving the deathly glare Leo was sending him.

“Of course he could be!” Ken looked to Leo and patted his cheek once, twice, three times. “I mean, look at that face? And the hair?” Ken put his fingers through Leo’s black waves for emphasis, making Sehun stand slightly, he may need to pry Leo off of Ken next, if he did anything worse. “And the body!”

Oh no.

Ken went to lift up Leo’s shirt but he sprang into action, pulling the younger off of him and motioning like he was going to strangle him.

Sehun grabbed ahold of Leo and pulled him back, laughing a little, “Woah, woah, woah!”

The funny thing about it, though, was that no one in the room reacted. For the two of them this was normal. To Ken is was all one big game of trying to get a reaction out of Leo, and for the older… Sehun didn’t really know. There were moments when he saw Leo give Ken a shy smile, or maybe not pull away as hard when Ken was trying to hold his hand. It was the small things that Sehun caught that made the two of them seem perfect in a dysfunctional way.

Ken was laughing though there was a little fear in his eyes, as always. He knew that Leo would never hurt him, or at least, he hoped not, but the fact that he always came close was enough to put the younger on edge a little.

“Oh, you know I love you, Teakwoon!” Ken used Leo’s real name and hugged his hyung, of which Sehun was still holding back, lucky for him. When Ken pulled back there was a small, extremely small, smile on Leo’s face and he shook his head lightly. Sehun took this as a good sign and let go of the boy, shaking his head as well.

“Crazy.” Sehun muttered to himself, allowing a chuckle to leave his throat, “Crazy, crazy.” He scratched the back of his head and turned slightly out of instinct. He caught Kai staring at him, but only for a moment before the older looked back towards the window. “…Crazy…” Sehun repeated, this time more absentmindedly. He took a step towards Kai to approach him, but the door to the practice room opened with its usual creak.

Lay entered with a small smile on his face, clad in a t-shirt and sweats. “Morning, morning.” Lay said, moving in between Leo, Ken, and Sehun to the stereo. Those in the center stood up and the groups spread about moved into the center, awaiting directions.

“You’re all stretched and warmed up, yes?” He plugged his phone into the stereo and hit a few buttons before the song they’ve been rehearsing came on.

Shocked with the suddenness of having the song played everyone moved into position quickly, Sehun accidentally bumping into Kai’s shoulder as he rushed for the middle. Kai shoved back hard and Sehun stumbled a couple feet, earning a cluck of the tongue by Lay. Sehun wasn’t able to look back and glare at Kai with Lay’s eyes on him so he stared straight ahead, finding the rhythm of the song and picking up on the choreography.

They continued through the song in silence, the beat rocking the room and Lay pacing around them, watching each one. It was a scary feeling, but that just made Sehun dance harder, count better, and flow smoother. He did everything he could to show Lay that although he slipped up earlier in the week, he deserved the solo and he would work as hard as he could to earn it.

They went on with practice, Lay going over techniques and critiquing those that needed it, praising those who deserved it. After a few hours Lay left to take a phone call and called for a half-hour break.

Daeryong returned to the mirror and continued practicing, his brother sitting on the ground in front of him and leaning against the reflective surface.

“Yah! He said we can take a break.” Soryong looked impatiently at Daeryong, but he kept dancing, ignoring his dongsaeng. “Yah!”

“Do you think they’ll ever stop arguing?” Jackson laid on the ground in the middle of the room and Sehun laughed a little. They did seem to bicker a lot.

“You share a dorm with them,” Baro sat down as well, beads of sweat falling down his face his face. “So tell me, do they really argue every minute of every day?”

Jackson rolled his eyes as he gazed at the two, Soryong nagging Daeryong about the placement of his fingers. “Yes.” 

“I’m surprised they haven’t killed each other yet.” Sehun added, looking at the two.

They looked the same in almost every way, but they did everything differently. In the aspect of dance, Soryong moved with grace whereas Daeryong was more precise, more of a popper. Sehun brought this up to Jackson and he nodded vigorously, slightly banging his head on the ground. He seemed immovable from his spot on the floor, his arms and legs splayed out wide and his eyes towards the ceiling.

Baro nodded as well, though with less fervor, “They dance differently, definitely.” He said before Jackson started adding, lifting his hands into the air for emphasis as he spoke.

“Everything is different. They eat differently, sleep differently, talk differently, dress—”

“Hyung! You watch them dress?” BamBam had plopped down next Jackson and slapped his hand against the elder’s stomach. Jackson flinched and rolled onto his side, away from the Thai boy, and groaned.

“Don’t you?” He rolled back over to face BamBam and winked, a cheesy grin on his face. Quick recovery from the faux abuse.

“No?” But then BamBam stopped, thinking about it. “Maybe once. But it’s not like I tried to!” Sehun silently excused himself from the discussion, seeing that it was going somewhere bad and went over to the piano in the corner.

He sat down on the dark wood bench and let his fingers drift across the keys. He really didn’t know how to play, but he wished he could. Singing and dancing was all he was good at.

Besides being cute.

He grinned a little at his stupidity and leaned back from the piano, letting his muscles relax. That was a thing all of his friends at school made fun of him for, playfully, though. He displayed aegyo a little too often. Nobody really minded, though. It was all good fun. He mostly did aegyo when he was hungry, always asking for one of his hyungs to buy him a meal, or better yet, bubble tea. He groaned inwardly.

How long it had been since he’s had bubble tea? It was his absolute favorite thing in the world, but he was on a dancer’s diet. No sugar, no carbs, no nothing. His stomach growled in protest with the thought of choco bubble tea but he silently shushed it. Then he made a deal with himself.

“If I get a solo…” He started, absentmindedly pressing random keys on the piano, “…Then I’ll treat myself to some bubble tea.” He smiled at the proposition and nodded. Yes. That’s what he’ll do. He’d have deserved it, after all.

“Bubble tea, huh?” Sehun jumped a little and hit a few keys of the piano roughly, turning to see Kai behind him.

“Uuh, um, eh. Yeah.” He stuttered over his words and then turned away, shocked by the fact that Kai was talking to him. Talking to anyone, really. Why? He turned back, slowly and met the dancer’s dark eyes as he stood silently. Some emotions flashed across the elders eyes before he shook his head and walked off, leaving Sehun more than a little confused.

“Oh-kay…” He muttered. He was about to turn back around when he saw Jackson walking towards him, showing the same look of concern.

“Did he just talk to you?” He asked, his eyes wide.

“I… think so…” Sehun was going to continue, saying that it wasn’t hostile, which was different, but was caught off guard by the silhouette of a water bottle flying through the air.

The dancers’ eyes widened as the bottle flew and then hit Kai straight in the back of the head, the loose cap popping off and drenching him in water.

Laughter exploded from the other side of the room and Sehun looked to see B-Bomb grinning widely next to Ukwon, Daeryong and Soryong. Ukwon had one hand covering his mouth as he stared in horror, though Soryong was laughing loudly with Daeryong who was patting B-Bomb on the back.

Ukwon looked shocked beyond belief and started approaching Kai, pulling his small towel from around his shoulders. “Way to go, Minhyuk.” Ukwon used B-Bomb’s real name and shook his head at his friend as he approached the sodden dancer.

“Ew! Wet dog!” CL shrieked, the other girls cackling with her with the exception of Minzy who just looked at little sad.

“Get that thing out of here!” Gayoon yelled between laughs, plugging her nose and waving her hand to ward of the ‘wet dog smell’.

Ukwon just approached Kai, who was standing scarily still, and tried handing him the towel. Kai remained motionless and BamBam approached with his towel as well, taking the initiative and trying to wipe Kai off himself. He barely got a hand on Kai before he spun quickly, shoving the sixteen year-old away. BamBam slipped on the water that was on the ground and landed hard on his back, a yell coming from him before he started wheezing, the wind knocked out of him.

“.” Jackson swore and moved to get his friend while Ukwon stared at Kai in disbelief.

“He was just trying—” Ukwon took a step towards Kai but he shoved him as well.

“Stay away from me!” He yelled before turning around and leaving the practice room, a small trail of water left in his wake.

“Freak!” Sohyun yelled after him, but a glare from Leo caught her off.

The reason why nobody really liked Kai was because this was how he acted towards them. He never accepted help, even when he needed it, and ignored them constantly.
Only a few of the dancers were actually rude to him like B-Bomb, the twins, and the girls.
But others—namely Ukwon and BamBam, have tried to talk sense into him, tried to incorporate him into the family.
And then there were others like Leo and Ken, CNU and Baro, who didn’t really care what he did, but would stand up for him if others are being incessantly rude, like Sohyun.

Sehun didn’t know where he fit into the divisions of the dancers. He knew he wasn’t with B-Bomb and the twins, but when distinguishing between the other two… He wasn’t sure if he cared what Kai did or not. He knew that what B-Bomb did was wrong, and the comments made by the girls were unnecessary, but he wasn’t sure if he actually wanted to be friends with Kai or not.

If Kai left the conservatory tomorrow morning, would Sehun care?

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2813 Words