Wonwoo didn’t know how it came to be. Neither did he know why. But one day, as he was simply watching all the trainees partly practicing and mostly fooling around, it hit him. He felt his heartbeat quickening and his face heat up. He squeezed his eyes shut, as he was in denial of what his body was telling him.

He knew what this was; he knew what those reactions were implying. But why? Why now? Why…with him? It just didn’t seem to make sense to him. Admiration. Hadn’t he settled on admiration? And even kind of thrown that overboard with time? Wasn’t it just friendly affection?

“Wonwoo?” Mingyu asked, his hand still held out to the elder, who was sat on the floor of the practice room, “You okay?”

He shook his head shortly to get out of his daze, “I’m fine. What did you say?”

“You wanted me to help you with the choreography, right?” Mingyu smiled. Wonwoo melted inside.

“Yes, yes of course,” he said after a short break, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants before accepting the younger’s hand to help him up.

What was happening here? Wonwoo was so absent minded, his look focused on Mingyu’s backside and imitating the steps he was slowly leading him though. He tried to follow as well, as he could, but his mind was running so fast, trying to comprehend what was going on with him.

Was this dorky tall boy supposed to be his first actual crush? Crush...maybe Wonwoo could live with that. Crush. Everyone has crushes. And they leave your mind faster than you even realize. He nodded; Mingyu would be his crush then, if that’s how his unconscious wanted him to see the younger.

“Please Wonwoo, concentrate,” Mingyu turned to face him mid-movement; “I’m not doing this for me. I know the choreography.”

“Yes, I…I’ll do m...my best,” Wonwoo stammered brainlessly, feeling guilty and his face flush red again.

Why am I so shy when I'm beside you?

But before they were able to start over with the choreography, one of the staff members, who had taken care of a lot of schedules for the trainees already, entered the room with another boy. Wonwoo knew the short staff member quite well, as he was his vocal trainer. The trainees immediately halted their practice and greeted the two.

“Kids! Please sit down in a circle for a moment, it’s important,” their vocal trainer said.

The new trainee looked a little clueless at first but as he saw, what the others were up to, he sat down in the biggest gap between them, while Seungcheol went to get the missing trainees from the other two rooms they were allowed to use during free rehearsal.

Once they all gathered, the staff member folded his hands in his lap, “You know me already, but just to make sure and for our new arrival: I’m Youngmin and from now I will be main person in charge of you all. I’ll take care of your social media concerns under the name of Doogi PD.”

He stopped for what was probably supposed to be a dramatic pause, “Why, you may ask. Well, our CEO decided to officially introduce all of you to the public though a program called 17TV. You do know already, we want to have a band with seventeen members, right?”

“Yes,” the trainees all said in unison with a mix of doubt and excitement.

“Good,” Youngmin smiled, “You’re supposed to gain interest and even fans, maybe, before your official debut. It will basically just be your free rehearsal time and…maybe a few games; we’re still working on the exact concept. We plan to air the show online one to two times a week starting from the new year.”

The trainees’ shoulders dropped a little.

“I know it’s only October, but believe me, time runs fast,” the newly named Doogi nodded to himself, “What else…oh!”

He motioned towards their new member, “That’s Mingming. He’s from China and not very good at Korean yet. Please take care of him well, since he might become a member of Seventeen as well.”

While the others quickly bowed to Mingming, Doogi nervously stared at his fingers and didn’t lift his gaze, when he started speaking again, “You heard me say might, right?”

He shortly waited for an undefined response from the trainees, before he continued, “Basically, you all just might become members of Seventeen. Being on 17TV will not automatically confirm you as a member.”

It was silent and Doogi looked up into the many faces of the boys, all showing a certain degree of disappointment on them, “I’m sorry. But the fact that CEO wants to do this program, I think, shows that he has trust in your skills. So continue working hard and continue improving like you have until now and you will surely make it.”

The young man smiled once more to cheer them on before getting up, “Now back to practice.”

None of the boys dared moving, or even making any sound at first. They all just looked at each other with a mix of confusion, defeat and happiness.

Junhui was the first to speak up, properly introducing himself to Mingming in Mandarin. The other boys then also welcomed their new member, either trying to speak Chinese with all their might or very slowly in simple Korean or English.

Once Wonwoo was done with his introduction, he sat back down in his corner of the room, blankly staring into space. He wasn’t too sure about the idea of the broadcast. It was cruel to make possible members known and gain fans, when after all they would be cut from Seventeen. Not only to the fans, but mainly to the trainees. You would be all excited about the attention and to then be dropped ruthlessly…no. The only good thing would be that it was incredibly unlikely that he would gain either of those. He was such a boring person and neither incredibly talented nor good looking. Saying goodbye to him for some reason wouldn’t be very painful for anyone but himself and maybe Mingyu.

Thinking of him, he was just done introducing himself to Mingming and went over to Wonwoo, sitting down next to him.

“Why do you look so worried?” the younger asked and Wonwoo’s heartbeart, he had just thought would cause him to faint because of its low frequency, now made him fear getting a .

“I’m just thinking about this stupid broadcast,” Wonwoo replied, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Why stupid? I like the idea. I could help us have a more successful debut,” Mingyu smiled.

“Who says we’re even going to debut?” Wonwoo asked.

“I do.”

Wonwoo gave him an annoyed look and tried his best to control his jumping heart, “Who are you to say that?”

“I’m your friend. Isn’t that enough?”

The elder sighed, “Of course.”

“I hear a certain sarcasm in your voice,” Mingyu grinned.

First of all, Wonwoo was tired of trying to convince the younger, that he himself wasn’t as great, as Mingyu always thought he was.  And secondly, “friend”. While his mind wanted to embrace this title, his body seemed to bristle at the sound of it.

“How does the saying go again? The wiser head gives in?” He attempted loosening the mood by teasing the younger.

“I think so,” Mingyu nodded, not offended a bit and pulled up the corners of his mouth ever so slightly, “Then give in to me teaching you the steps now, so we’re on the safe side.”

Wonwoo’s inside fluttered at the first words of that sentence. Give in to me…dear god.

He blinked furiously; trying to withstand the younger’s charms. “Thank you,” he brought forward and pushed himself up. Exercise would surely clear his mind.

But it didn’t help. It didn’t help at all, being forced to take note of the younger’s slightest shift of weight and the angles in which he bent his knees. Even though Wonwoo tried his best, his body just wouldn’t follow the orders his mind was giving him and he kept on messing up the steps. It was to the point at which he held his arms so awkwardly, that Mingyu stepped behind him to correct the angles himself. Wonwoo just stared straight ahead, hoping the other wouldn’t notice his racing pulse, as he was touching his wrists.

“You think you got it now?” Mingyu asked then.

“I…hope so,” Wonwoo guessed. Though he knew he couldn’t have remembered anything other than the younger’s way of moving and the feeling of his skin against his own.

“Have some confidence in yourself. It will make the dance look ten times better,” Mingyu encouraged him, as he walked over to the stereo, “Ready?”

He the music without waiting for a reply. Wonwoo really tried his hardest but it still wouldn’t work. His brain was elsewhere.

Mingyu put the music on pause and ran a hand through his hair, sighing in frustration.

When you sigh, my, my inside just flies; Butterflies.

Wonwoo cursed himself for the tickling feeling in his stomach. Even more for disappointing the younger and having put the hard job of teaching on his, oh so wonderfully broad shoulders.

“I guess there’s no point in continuing practice today,” Mingyu slouched against the wall.

“I’m sorry,” Wonwoo apologized, sitting down with him.

“It’s fine. Really,” Mingyu forced a smile, “Considering the last weeks, we’re doing incredibly well.”

“We are.”

The two had barely slept for a month, studying in the living room of their dorm most of the night. Wonwoo was trying to help Mingyu, so he would get good results when graduating middle school and had to do a lot himself to stay on track. Since the end of summer vacation, he skipped more often, wanting to improve his performing skills and still being used to the higher number of practice hours. His first grades had dropped accordingly, so he tried hard to earn his place of third in his year again. No matter how often Mingyu told him to lay low, not having to graduate from anywhere at this exact moment, he still found pride in his title. It was like a certification of his intelligence.

They just sat there and Wonwoo picked up watching the other trainees mess about again. No matter the noise, his eyelids got heavy after a while, but before his eyes fell shut, he felt a light pressure against his shoulder. He turned his head a little to see Mingyu leaning against him. The younger’s eyes were closed, his chest slowly rising and falling as he slept peacefully. Wonwoo smiled lightly, shifting a little, so they would both be more comfortable. He noticed, how Mingyu’s lips parted slightly, as he was dowsing and after the younger barely altered his position, he lightly hugged Wonwoo’s arm. He was overcome with a serene feeling and as their breaths harmonized, his eyelids turned heavy again.

I'd have never been aware, but as it is I'll dream of him tonight.

AN: And so I ran out of previously written chapters right in the week before my exams start. Wheee! Of course this doesn't mean it will end here. I was just super lazy last week and didn't do . This could mean less frequent updates though, so don't be disappointed if there is no chapter next Tuesday. 

About this chapter: I hope you like it, because I like it a lot. Well I liked all of the chapters I wrote for this story until now. Of course they all have their boring parts, in which situations have to be told (well apart from the foreword and the last chapter, which are my favourites until now), so we can progress in time, but I hope you are as satisfied with the relationship and portraying of Wonwoo and Mingyu as I am, because I think I've gotten better at that.

Thank you for reading^^