To Jongin, Qiuyue is no longer ice queen but melting snow.

It began with a lot of heavy breathing and fast beating of hearts. Jongin’s shoulder shook as Qiuyue muffled her laugh in it and it sent pleasant vibrations across his collarbone. They were both sweaty after their performance at the showcase. It was a post performance high that he was used to but for Qiuyue it was her first time and she couldn’t stop grinning.

“That was amazing” she said, catching her breathe. “I know” he shared her smile. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to slow her wildly beating heart down. But she couldn’t stop a grin from breaking out. Jongin grinned at her cute attempt before leaning in and kissing her. She gasped and pushed him away because they weren’t the only ones in the green room behind the stage. He leaned in again only to be firmly pushed away.

He pouted and buried his neck in her shoulder, planting butterfly kisses on her collarbone. He knew it would make her go weak in her knees. “Jongin!” she exclaimed indignantly. He knew that he had her swaying when the protests stopped and her fingers curled up against the fabric of his t-shirt. He pushed her hair away, taking time to caress her collarbone and she whimpered in complaint. They shouldn’t be doing this but he didn’t want to stop.

“Both of you should be booked for public indecency someday” Lin commented and they jumped apart. “Look at the time. Dad will be waiting for me. I should go” Qiuyue mumbled before running off to get her things. Lin gave Jongin a look and he ruffled his hair. She sounded more like Qiuyue’s bodyguard than her best friend at times. And she had the most inconvenient timings ever.

Qiuyue waved shyly before Lin pulled her away and he responded with one of his own. Once out of her field of vision, he proceeded to groan and hit the nearest wall with his head. The adrenaline was getting to his head.

“Can you stop ing your girlfriend with your eyes just for a second like Jesus ing Christ Jongin” Sehun complained, jabbing the straw into his banana milk carton. “I am not ing her with my eyes” he protested. Jongin had been staring, yes. He had been thinking about the kissing after the showcase, yes. But he had not been ing her with his eyes, no thank you very much.

“The poor girl is dying under your glare. Tone it down you rabbit” Sehun pointed out. “I did nothing to tone it down!” Jongin protested. He snuck a glance at Qiuyue as if he hadn’t been openly staring in that direction before. Her cheeks were pink and she refused to meet his eyes. She snuck a glance and when their eyes met, she turned red and concentrated on her food instead of him, stuffing with rice. He looked away, his cheeks tinted pink too. So maybe he had been fantasizing but he liked to think he was discrete about it.

“Hey” Qiuyue said, looking up from her bag. Her bottle is half out as she unsuccessfully attempts to shove it into her bag. She has a lot of extra junk in her bag today and no space to keep her stuff. “Hi. Need help with that?” Jongin asked. Qiuyue shook her head and kept trying to adjust it unsuccessfully till he stepped in to help her. It turned out that there was enough space but the bottle kept getting stuck because she was pushing it against the fabric separating the two parts in the wrong way.

“Thanks” she said, feeling a little stupid now. “No problems. Are you done with practice?” he asked her. “Yeah. You?” she asked him. “Cut it short. Need to study for a test tomorrow” he told her. “Oh...” she trailed off. They stood around awkwardly, not knowing what to do next. “I’ll walk you home?” he offered. “It’s okay. Get home and study for that test” she said, turning down his offer. He was about to protest when she tiptoed and kissed him on his cheek. “Good luck with it” she wished him before walking away. Jongin smiled as he touched his cheek. There was no way he was concentrating on that stupid test now.

“Jongin?” Qiuyue said surprised when he turned up at her locker. “Hi” he said casually, receiving a dirty glare from Lin. “You can go ahead if you want” Qiuyue told her, trying to get rid of the awkward tension. “Don’t skip class for funny business” she warned before leaving. “Awkward” Qiuyue said, clearing . “Yeah...” he trailed off, leaning against the neighbouring lockers.

“So, what’s up?” she asked him, taking her books and shutting the locker. “Well, I was kind of hoping to ask you something” he told her. “Shoot” she replied. “So the duet was fun” he started awkwardly. She nodded as well. “And I was wondering if you were up for more of them? I’ve had dance partners but mostly guys so we’ve only done hip hop before. It would be nice to do different dancing for a change” he finished.

“I’ve never done duets before. The one with you was the first” she confessed. “I know and it’s okay. You can learn as we go along” he told her honestly. “Okay. I’m game. When do you want to start?” she asked. “Anytime that’s okay with you. Today after school?” he asked. “Same studio? I get there earlier so I’ll text you” she told him. “Great. It’s a date” then he said with a wide smile. He stole a kiss before leaving since his class was the other way. He looked back to see her hitting her head with a book and laughed.

“So which song do you want to dance to?” she asked him. “I was thinking of something slow this time. Something that allows us to emote more through the dance” he explained. She nodded. He was more serious when it came to dancing and she found that incredibly attractive. But she had to keep her head in the game.

“The sound system isn’t working” Jongin said with a frown, pulling her back to reality. He pushed buttons and even checked the connections. “Maybe it’s a song I know and we won’t need to play it on the speakers” she suggested. “Do you listen to Ne-yo?” he asked her. She shook her head. “That’s absurd! He has awesome music!” he told her. She blinked and he shook his head. He unplugged his iPod and pulled her down to the floor to sit together.

He plugged in the earphones and put one in her ear. He put the other one in his ear and pressed play. It started with a dialogue and she looked at him confused. He closed his eyes and gestured to listen. She followed suit and paid attention. The dialogue built up a story that had her absorbed. When the lyrics began it made more sense in context. It had her going “oh” and Jongin smiled.

Her head started bobbing to the beat. Jongin felt warm when he saw that she was beginning to enjoy the music. To be honest, he didn’t think it would ever come to this. Two months ago, he was convinced that she didn’t care about him at all. Ice queen. He chuckled at his own words. How had he missed all of this? She was not ice. She couldn’t be ice at all. Not with all that passion for dancing hidden underneath.

Qiuyue saw Jongin smiling and frowned. The song had beats but it was a sad song. Was there something she was missing. He raised an eyebrow at her and she shook her head. “Another one?” he asked her. “Okay” she agreed. The next one was more jazzy and smooth. It seemed like a love song. Jongin began to hum along and she could tell he had done it many times before. The lyrics were blush worthy alright.

Qiuyue found herself staring at Jongin’s lips when Neyo sang about kisses. The last time they had kissed was when she had walked up to him by his locker. They almost had after the showcase if Lin hadn’t interrupted them. And every time after had been on cheeks or forehead. She blushed and cleared . That was not the line of thought she wanted to adopt tonight.

“I like this one. Let’s go with this one” she told him, when the song ended. “Part of the List is my favourite” he told her. “I can see why” she agreed. “It’s all smooth and jazzy so the moves will go smooth too and basically a whole lot of ribbon smooth yes” she finished dumbly. Jongin looked at her and laughed. “Oh yeah. Glad to know me being articulate is highly amusing” she huffed. “Highly” he said putting an arm around her. It was easier since they had been sitting facing opposite directions. She pouted and glared but he just leaned in and kissed her on the corner of her lips.

“Let’s dance?” he asked pulling away. “Yeah” she said, feeling oddly disappointed.

“So what other music do you listen to?” Jongin asked her as they walked down the road to her house. “Lots of bubblegum pop but just to keep up with what’s popular” Qiuyue replied. “So what do you like to listen to?” he probed. “Old English classics. Nothing beats Stevie Wonder just calling to say he loves you or Cole Porter just getting up and suggesting that you fall in love with him” she said, a rare twinkle in her eye and a spring in her step.

“So you would be the kind of girl to spend Sunday mornings by the piano, making up tunes along with the music from the gramophone” Jongin teased. “I wish!” she said, laughing at her own antics. “How did dance even come about then?” he asked curiously. “I saw groups perform on all those music shows on TV and I really, really wanted to try it myself. Mom encouraged it and I ended up liking what I did so I continued. Though I still need a lot of practice” she told him modestly.

“What about you?” “Well, when I was four, my parents made me try a lot of different things to see what I liked so that I could get into it early. Among all the things, ballet stuck. And when I was twelve I saw a group of street performers in the park and decided to try hip hop. Don’t really remember how jazz started but it did and I started exploring all the styles I possibly could” he told her. “That’s amazing. And much more inspiring than my stupid idol crush story” she said with a pout. “Hey, no dissing the stories. We wouldn’t be here otherwise” he reminded her. She rolled her eyes and shrugged but let him go on anyways.

“You are so different from what I imagined you would be” he told her. “What did you think I was like?” she asked, stopping in her tracks. She wanted to know but also didn’t want to know. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you” he told her. “Okay. Then what am I like now?” she asked curiously. “No clue. Still learning about you” he said walking ahead. “What an evasive answer” Qiuyue said, following him.

“What about me?” he asked her. “Oh, you were scary. My first impression of you was a bad boy type” she told him. “Oh really?” “Yeah! You were scary. You were y and you knew it and you seemed like the type to be aggressively affectionate. Actually mostly just aggressive. Now you are a puppy” she told him honestly. “You are the puppy one!” he argued. “We’re both puppies then!” she concluded.

“What a tragedy then” he laughed. “Totally” she agreed. “That’s my place” she said, looking at the house three doors down. “Do you want to come in for coffee or tea or whatever you like?” she asked hopefully. “Maybe next time” he promised. “Okay” she agreed. He saluted her and turned around before turning back. “Qiuyue?” he called out. “Yeah?” she said, stopping and turning around. He leaned in and kissed her properly.

“Oh”

“Yeah”

A/N - I have no excuse for how lousy this turned out to be