In which pandas are at the top of the food-chain

“Oh… My… God... You won’t believe what happened to me!” Luhan said fast as he stormed through the door and into the too familiar room by now. Baekhyun, who was on his laptop—because Jongin had played nice and had brought it to him the previous night—looked up at him with wide eyes and an open mouth, the door hitting the wall and bouncing back closed from the force Luhan used on it.

“What happened to your hair?!” Baekhyun shrieked a little too loudly.

“Oh… that…” Luhan mumbled to himself, through his red hair. “You really won’t believe what happened!”

“What?” The younger asked fully interested. Luhan looked like he would burst any time now.

“So, remember the stripper lessons I had the past days?” Baekhyun nodded reluctantly and Luhan groaned at himself as he plopped in his usual chair, suddenly tired of everything. “Today I had my first test in front of the club owner who judged me.”

“Was he entertained?” Baekhyun asked with curiosity because if Luhan started with that, it was bound to be a good gossip story.

“Oh hell he was!” Luhan nodded his head quickly. “So, it all began when I went to the club at four sharp…”

~~

The past days all of Luhan’s anxiety about the place had died out almost entirely. He marched into the building with confident steps and he slowly made his way down the staircase, finding a different form than usual by the stage. Feeling a little surprised, his pace slowed down a bit. “Where’s Yixing?” Luhan asked and Minseok shrugged.

“Today I will give you some tips because Kris decided to check up on your progress,” Even if he said it so simply, Luhan could feel his body tense and he froze in place, foot mid-air. “Don’t worry, he’ll be here in a couple hours so we have time to work it out. He’s not that strict anyways.”

Luhan still felt at a loss but willed himself to move closer to the elder. Minseok often came to watch him at the end of his training because it just so happened that it overlapped with the time he had to come here, so Luhan was pretty used to his presence. The lack of Yixing, though, made him uneasy. And the fact that he had just been told that Kris would be here to judge him did not calm his nerves the slightest.

“Come on, leave your stuff and come on. We have a couple stuff to go through,” Minseok said as he climbed up on the stage and Luhan sighed at himself. At least if someone had told him the previous night, he would have prepared himself mentally by today. He placed his bag by the stage, climbing up just like the other. He expected him to show him a couple more y dance moves but, his hopes died out when Minseok headed for the pole planted in the middle. “I will teach you a couple easy ones just so you give a variety to Kris and he just lets you off the hook. Hopefully, from tomorrow on we’ll be working together.”

“I hope so too,” I guess. Luhan followed the elder’s lead, both taking turns around the pole when Minseok insisted he repeated what he showed him. Luhan wouldn’t lie, Minseok proved to be a better teacher than Yixing and he actually went with a pace which neither was too fast nor too slow for him. Luhan would treat the other some coffee as thanks. Though, enjoying the lesson had also a downside; the time passed quicker than Luhan expected and two tall blondes appeared at the bottom of the staircase when he was hanging from the pole with one leg wrapped around it and the other stretched out slightly—Minseok had insisted he strengthened his arms as well.

“I see you’re working well,” Kris said with a smirk and Minseok smiled widely as if he was proud of his well-done job.

“Go into your office and drink some coffee, we’ll be ready by then,” Somehow the ‘we’ instead of ‘he’ made Luhan calmer.

Kris nodded his head, walking off and the other blonde, Tao, trailed after him closely. Luhan gazed at Minseok with wide eyes, the nervousness still there. “What now?”

“Don’t worry!” Minseok patted his shoulder, a wide smile on his face. “Even if you do half of the things I showed you he’ll be satisfied. He might seem strict but in fact, he’s pretty easy-going,” Luhan nodded his head at the elder’s voice, eyeing the pole as if it was some kind of foe which he would have to cooperate with in the end—which in a sense, was true. “Let’s go drink some water and we’ll come back,” Minseok guided him to the backstage, it being Luhan’s second time there, where he offered him a small water bottle. “Everything’s going to be fine so don’t worry about it. Just try to not fall and get injured.”

Great, now Luhan was worried about that too. The dirty blonde eyed the bottle in his hands, slowly screwing off the lead and taking a sip from it. He didn’t want to feel sick later with all that moving either so he tried to satisfy his thirst with just little. “What happens if he thinks I’m not good enough? Will he fire me?”

“Of course not, silly!” Minseok chuckled lightly. “You’ll just get a couple more days to practice and then he’ll judge you again. No big deal.”

“What if I still am no good?”

Minseok rolled his eyes, hitting the other’s head lightly. “Stop worrying! You’ll do fine!”

Luhan pouted slightly as he rubbed the back of his head, grimacing a bit when it hurt a little. “I will try my best.”

“You should.”

~~

“I’m glad you’re making good friends out of es. Jongin’s a good influence to you,” Baekhyun snorted and Luhan eyed him.

“Minseok’s pretty nice, for your information. And he dances very well too.”

“Still,” Baekhyun snorted a laugh “a e.”

Luhan rolled his eyes at the other’s immaturity. “Anyways, so ten minutes later we went back on stage and…”

~~

Luhan could smile by the time he and Minseok had to leave the backstage. The elder had somehow pumped his confidence and had made most of his nervousness leave him and if Luhan could be honest with himself, he felt pretty sure of what he was doing. Until he stepped back on stage, that is.

In front of the stage were placed three seats; at the left sat the manager, at the right sat Tao and in the middle no other than Kris. Feeling his fingers tremble at the sudden pairs of eyes falling on him, Luhan tried to move backwards into backstage only to be shoved ahead by Minseok. He gulped audibly, making his way towards the edge of the stage, eyeing the three who stared back—okay, Tao was glaring again.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Kris said, clasping his hands in front of his face as his elbows were propped on the arms of the chair he was in.

“Oh, no. Don’t tell him that or we’ll never opening for tonight,” Minseok shook his head, tugging Luhan’s sleeve when he sensed the other searching for an escape. “He’s a bit nervous but he’s ready.”

Kris nodded his head, raising his hand up and snapping his fingers. Almost immediately music started playing loudly over their heads and although Luhan didn’t know the singer or artist or band or whoever, the low beat only meant one thing; sensual song. Oh right, it was a club anyways. Minseok let go of him, walking to stand at one end of the stage to both give Luhan enough space and observe him from afar.

Gulping once more, Luhan closed his eyes in attempt to concentrate in the low, slow beat. He could remember Yixing’s dance movements and a lot of tips that Minseok showed him just the previous hours and he could feel his confidence come back slowly to the levels Minseok had pumped it on. Opening his eyes with sudden determination, he decided to just get over with it.

In seconds he turned into the best student of Yixing’s, slowly following the flow of the younger’s body and move just like he had told him; like a wave. Legs walking slowly and hands grabbing teasingly on the pole, Luhan felt steadier than before. He pulled his body close to the pole, making a wave just against it yet not touching it, making Minseok shriek in excitement because it was something he had told him to do. Absorbed in the music, he moved by memory of Minseok’s dancing and even before he could finish all of the moves, the music stopped suddenly and he was left hanging on the pole like a koala in the middle of a nice pose Minseok had instructed.

K