Today was quite honestly one of Sehun's favorite days. He was no stranger to performing in front of absolute strangers, if he was honest- he thrived off of it. The way the crowd would slowly build, curiosity morphing into cheers and shouts of encouragement and everything would culminate as Jungkook's hat would find it's way from his head and into the hands of an innocent watcher and the money would pile in the bottom as their innocent 'victims' were selected from the onlookers. It was finally a Saturday, which meant they could perform with all of the members of their quaint little group and at whatever time (or times) of the day they preferred- and Sehun was currently anxiously awaiting their third (and final) performance for the day. Sunday meant two or three more performances and then arranging practices and performance times for the rest of the week- but that was tomorrow, and Sehun found himself edging into the crowd as he glanced at their performance spot.

Bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet in anticipation, Sehun glanced around him as Minseok grabbed Jungkook and Jimin. It was a completely scripted move. Everything was so carefully plotted out- it was dance, hints of comedic relief to keep the attention of the crowd and keep the money flowing, as well as acrobatic skills and audience interaction. He could almost see Minseok's grin as he shook his head at Jungkook's and Jimin's 'questioning' copy-cat of his movements even though his attention was still scanning those who had gathered around them. His eyes caught a shock of brilliant blond hair- so brilliant it was nearly white in color- and the striking face that accompanied it. Sehun's gaze lingered on the male for a few seconds longer as he watched the straight face the male had twitch slightly into an amused smile. Hearing the music start, Sehun snapped his attention back to the front in time to watch Taehyung stumble forward in his attempt to join in on the action; counting two eight counts as Taehyung 'learned' how to join in, Sehun finally pushed (ever so gracefully- yeah, right) through the first row of people and tapped Taehyung's shoulder with his own with a mumbled, "You're doing it wrong, stupid. They did this." Sehun flawlessly repeated the action Minseok had been 'teaching' the others before the music really started and all five of them started in their routine.

Their group lived for these moments. As the music intensified, they made scenes, little snippets that were enough to cause people to "Ooh" and "Aah." They popped, locked, hit points and allowed one another to steal focus with a flip, a round off, or even a complex move that leaves their audience in awe; not to mention the occasional moment of tutting and the way they swivel their hips or head to match a beat, letting each moment become punctuated with the music as it had been designed through hours upon hours of rigorous choreographing sessions after the two groups had joined forces six and a half months ago. Sehun's eyes once again scanned the audience as they hit their last section before they were to pull bystanders into the middle, Jungkook's hat having started its rounds two sections ago, Sehun's breath catches as his gaze lands on the mysterious blond male from before and he knows that the guy has something promising to him- what that is, Sehun isn't sure, but it's there; he knows it is. Tearing his gaze away to check his spotting, Sehun's body surges forward as his right palm presses into the cement and he flips over it- repeating the action- until he rounds his flips off at four and shoots the people nearest him with a knowing smirk just as Jimin breaks forward and does a front flip before dropping into a split. There's a break in the music and four of them surge forward as Minseok hangs back and explains what was about to happen- Sehun ignores his friend's words as he heads straight toward the blond from earlier. It only takes a moment as the male isn't too far back in the crowd, and Sehun instinctively knows that this guy won't turn him down despite how embarrassing this could be.

In a moment of mercy- or absolute curiosity, or quite possibly even insanity- Sehun removes his solid black beanie and slips it down onto the other's head before grabbing his hand and silently beckoning him to follow- which he does. According to the order that they had set up forever ago, Taehyung and Jungkook would start the dance battles off with their 'victims' encouraging their individuals to begin as Sehun and Jimin would set up their own 'victims' as they music picks up again, Sehun finds himself stepping back as Jimin's person does exactly as everyone they had pulled in before had done and makes a shy, but utter fool of themselves. Their moves hesitant, unsure, and barely even close to matching some sort of rhythm- let alone following the beat of the music. But then Sehun catches this spark in his guy's eye as he takes a position that Sehun didn't recognize- but knew that it had to stem from sort of dancing experience- before dancing in a way Sehun would never have expected to go with such street-favored music. There was an elegance in the guy's move that was stunning, and the male threw in spins that easily had the audience almost as awed as they had been during the entire performance (and Sehun was more than awed, but he wasn't sure he would ever knowingly admit that). It took Sehun some time to realize the way the male was pointing his toes, practically balancing on them despite his well-worn converse sneakers, and the fluidity that seemed to follow the male's every gesture had Sehun stunned. Even as the male's fluidity and very ballet-heavy movements started to adjust, Sehun couldn't tear his eyes away for a second. It seemed that this ballerina- or was it ballerino?- was a quick learner, if the fact that his very professional, very learned, movements kept their precision and utterly talented smoothness while edging from completely ballet into a morphed ballet and street combination. The street moves were completely simplistic, but they had come from the routine that Sehun and his friends had just completed- of that, there was no doubt in Sehun's mind.

As the music came to an end for this segment, the ballerino's foot landed gracefully on the asphalt before him where it had originally started, as his arms ended in position with one arched over his head, his fingers spread 'just so' in a gracefully taught position as the other was arched in a much similar manner but landing just below his stomach, both palms facing inward as his head was turned toward his raised arm and lowered slightly, his gaze landing higher though, right on Sehun- and Sehun returned it. Curiosity was running rampant through both of them- and both wanting to see more of what the other had beneath the practiced movements they had put on display. Sehun was vaguely aware of Minseok stepping in once again and taking hold of their audience's attention, but Sehun tuned him out as he moved toward the other dancer. The ballerino lowered his arm and returned to a more neutral position as he gave Sehun an almost shy smile- but how could someone who had just executed such a flawless performance at random possibly ever be as shy as this smile hinted? The blond reached up and removed the beanie from his head before placing it back on Sehun's head and muttering a very soft, "Thanks, but I liked it better on you."

This took Sehun by surprise, but the grin on his lips was anything but business as usual as he fiddled with the edge of the beanie unconsciously. "No problem, but I think I liked seeing you with it on, maybe we should get you one too." The suggestion was most definitely not a question, Sehun wanted to see this guy with a beanie again- wanted to see him again, period, in all honesty. "My name is Sehun, and... you were amazing."

The blond looked utterly stunned by the words that came from Sehun's lips, but Sehun didn't much care about that as much as he cared where this could go from here. "Jongin; my name is Jongin. Thanks, but I kind of want to learn more about what you were doing. Was that what they call... street dancing?" The words were drawn out as though Jongin wasn't sure he was right, but was very much hoping he was.

"Yeah, how about we work out a deal then? You like my style, and I like you, why don't we hang out after I get my cut?" The protests that tumbled from Jongin's lips instantaneously had Sehun laughing softly as the other male went on and on about it being too soon to date because they had literally just met, "I said hang out, Jongin. We won't start dating until you're sure I'm your type."

The blond dancer blanched at that before the words truly sunk in and he gave Sehun a look that screamed of curiosity, "How are you so sure that will happen?" That definitely was not disgust in the other's tone- which was a good sign already. "What if you'll never be my type?"

"Hey, my mother has always said a little positive thinking goes a long way; so maybe this time I'm hoping that works. Or I'm using faith, trust, and a little bit of pixie dust and maybe I'm just hoping that my dancing will intrigue you, but getting to know one another better will open up possibilities. If not, I'm okay with adding another friend to my arsenal, I've been meaning to knock Jimin further down on the list." It was a light hearted joke and a lame Disney reference (thank God for a younger sister who was obsessed with all things Disney), but all in all it had Jongin smiling as he agreed to hanging out afterwards.

So maybe why that was why it didn't bother Sehun when he went to grab his cut from Minseok and Jimin grabbed him in a headlock and yoinked his hat off to mess up his hair that Sehun wasn't bothered in the least, instead he glanced over at a Jongin who was laughing in unadulterated amusement; and Sehun just took it with purposely played up faces to get Jongin laughing harder. Jimin had heard his joke, but Sehun knew the other wasn't really mad even as he was pushed away with his beanie being shoved into his face- because as he pulled the beanie away to tug it back on he saw the smile Jimin shot him and he returned it before joining Jongin again- who would have thought that dancing on the street could pull a classically trained ballerino out into Sehun's spectrum of dance. Better yet, who knew that Sehun would ever find ballet (or was it the dancer himself?) interesting. One thing was sure, regardless of whether it was the dance or the dancer, Sehun wanted to learn more about both and only from one person- a brilliant blond named Jongin who dances like no one is watching but smiles like the slight movement of his lips was to be kept a secret from everyone else.

Author's Note:

So, I sat down with a bottle of cherry coke, B.I.G's "Hello" and "Are You Ready?" looping and a cup of marshmallows by my side and typed this out with scattered conversational interludes with my family (across the house) and my friends (via text) and typed this out in about two hours (breaks included). It is severly lacking description of things I was yearning to explain, but the general idea was all I seemed able to manage. But now that I'm finished it, I believe I deserve about twelve more mini marshmallows and then I can call it a night. Thanks for reading and commenting as you choose!

~L~

Word count:1,917

P.S.- I wasn't playing up my LJ... uselessness. I can barely navigate the post I found this request on on Exopromptmeme's group-thingy. hehe.