a/n: i'm sorry for the wait. job happened; as usual, linked words will bring you to a photo/video of what's being described/happening

Hakyeon did his best to ignore the unimpressed stare Hongbin was sending his way as he directed a confused Sanghyuk toward the brooding best friend.

“So,” Taekwoon began with a warm smile directed at the two newcomers. “Which one of you would like to dance for us first?” He was seated in a folding chair off to the side with his legs crossed and Sanghyuk was immediately reminded of when he first saw Taekwoon at the group audition. This audition was a completely different case when it came to the importance of his future, but Sanghyuk couldn’t help but feel like a nervous wreck all over again due to the familiarity of it all.

Hongbin chewed on the inside of his cheek and averted his eyes to the right. He focused on their reflections in the mirror, glancing from boy to boy until he got to Jaehwan, the other having been watching Hongbin in the mirror as well. He quickly turned his head to look away and was caught in Sanghyuk’s stare. His best friend’s gaze seemed a bit unfocused, but he was able to convey his thoughts to Hongbin regardless.

You go first, his eyes pleaded.

No way, you go, Hongbin answered silently with a miniscule shake of his head and furrowed eyebrows.

A throat being cleared from somewhere else in the studio startled the both of them and they quickly looked away from one another.

Hakyeon strode forward after a few awkward moments of silence when neither freshman volunteered to go first.

“Shall I break the awkward ice? Or should I say, melt it with a hot presentation?” He proposed with an alluring smile that had Sanghyuk nearly “melting” in place. Jaehwan and Wonshik looked up from where they were stood beside the sound system and rolled their eyes when they saw the older dancer removing his shoes and Taekwoon watched from over the top of his phone with a knowing smile. Hongbin stood motionless beside the entrance to the studio and studied Sanghyuk’s face but forced himself to look away when Sanghyuk’s cheeks began to darken with shades of pink as the younger watched Hakyeon lace up a pair of stiletto ankle boots. Even though Sanghyuk would swear otherwise, Hongbin could tell that his best friend was falling for Hakyeon at an alarming rate and he knew that he would have to get used to it eventually, but now was too soon.

Jaehwan pressed play and whistles on the track filled the studio while Wonshik pulled up two more folding chairs, and despite the bored looks that the two had shared before, they were now the ones whistling and hollering praises at the way Hakyeon fluidly moved his body in time with the music.

At first Hakyeon just walked around the studio with a languid sway to his hips and made eye contact with each boy in the room with every turn of his head. He looked to Taekwoon first: his longtime best friend sat almost emotionless, having been used to this behavior and grown a bit tired of Hakyeon’s hot performances over time, but he smirked mischievously in knowing what was to come. Wonshik sent the dancer a racy glance of his own and popped his hips in time with the click of Hakyeon’s heels on the wooden floorboards until he turned again, this time looking directly at Hongbin. The younger boy had been stand offish and stiff ever since Hakyeon entered the studio and he wanted nothing more than for him to just loosen up, though Hakyeon knew there was nothing he could personally do in order to make that happen. He dropped the act and smiled warmly at Hongbin for a brief moment before continuing to strut around. Jaehwan had already been anticipating his turn when Hakyeon’s eyes found his, and the younger mirrored Hakyeon with a few steps forward, swaying his hips a couple of times and blowing a kiss before turning back around to sit in the metal folding chair.

Hakyeon retreated to the middle of the studio as the song reached the end of the first pre-hook, and looked to the remaining boy, making eye contact and holding it while his knees bent and he slowly lowered the bottom half of his body until his was just over a foot above the floor.

wiggle, wiggle, wiggle~

Hakyeon winked at him with a smirk during the split second of silence in the music before it picked back up and didn’t break eye contact as he bounced his on the way back up. He purposefully saved Sanghyuk for last, curious as to how his new dance partner would react to this side of him. During school hours the older would remain professional, but this was after hours, which meant all of Hakyeon’s normal professional tendencies were no longer necessary, and he intended on taking advantage of every moment.

Hakyeon pulled his bottom lip between his teeth, silently revelling in the way it caused Sanghyuk’s eyes to zero in on his mouth. The elder was fully aware of Sanghyuk’s eyes on him after that. They seemed to be filled with desire as they followed the length of each body roll, and if the hard bob of his Adam’s apple was anything to go by, Hakyeon would say that the younger was rather enjoying his performance.

Sanghyuk was beyond mesmerized. He didn’t know what he expected when he saw Hakyeon taking out a pair of two or three inch heeled boots, but it definitely was not this. His dancing partner had him captivated from the moment the music had started and all he’d done was simply strut around the room. Maybe it was the sinful way his hips moved, or the intimidating click of the heels, but Hakyeon commanded the undivided attention of every single pair of eyes in the room with his dancing and Sanghyuk wouldn’t be surprised if people from outside the studio stopped to watch.

He wanted to look away, to look around the room and see how everyone else was reacting to such a… show. And he especially wanted to avert his eyes when Hakyeon’s sensual gaze was on him… which ended up being about seventy-five percent of the entire dance.

Such a performance was much more than just that, it was an all out experience for everyone watching. While the dance itself was indeed suggestive and borderline inappropriate at some parts, Hakyeon held such an air of confidence and gracefulness so that it was not distasteful in the slightest. Though it was without a doubt one of the hottest things Sanghyuk has ever witnessed in terms of dance. Was this really the same guy that Sanghyuk had accidentally spied on while he practiced ballet the night before school started?

The dance had ended and the studio was filled with applause and whistles courtesy of Thing 1 and Thing 2, as Sanghyuk had come to nickname Jaehwan and Wonshik in his head.

“You're drooling.” Came a whisper to Sanghyuk's left, effectively jolting him from his thoughts.

“Was not!” He hissed back at Taekwoon with a glare. The elder simply shrugged with an unbelieving “sure, sure” as he walked back to his chair.

Sanghyuk wanted to argue further that he definitely was not drooling in any form or fashion, but the argument left him when Taekwoon walked passed his chair and over to where Hakyeon’s dance bag sat on the floor. He reached into the bag, first taking out the pair of shoes Hakyeon had arrived in, and then dug around the bag until he withdrew a water bottle and a sweat towel.

“Woonieeee,” Sanghyuk heard Hakyeon softly coo at his friend. “I’m not even sweaty.” He argued with a few light giggles and accepted the water bottle, instantly uncapping it and taking a few sips while Taekwoon used the towel to lightly pat around Hakyeon’s forehead and temples.

A weird feeling stirred inside Sanghyuk as he watched the pair. It was some sort of emotion akin to how he felt when he’d seen Kai all up in Hakyeon’s personal space, but not quite as severe.

Sanghyuk, completely lost in his curiosity, failed to notice his best friend who had been watching his reaction to what looked like more than just a friendly exchange. Hongbin had already been reassured of the two elder students’ nonexistent relationship, but from the way Hyuk’s head had cocked to the side in wonder with confusion written in bold across his face, he had the feeling that the younger was reading farther into the exchange than necessary.

Hakyeon took another swig from the bottle, cheeks puffed out in a manner that had a single word tugging at the back of Sanghyuk’s mind. He shoved the thought away as quickly as it had surfaced. There was no way a twenty-something year old man could be so‒

Adorable, Sanghyuk’s mind betrayed him when Hakyeon turned to look at him with his cheeks still full of water. Hyuk knew that he’d already considered the other cute earlier on from the way Hakyeon cheered around the dance studio when he agreed to be his dance partner, but what he did just now… Sanghyuk quickly looked away as the elder began to approach.

Hongbin, on the other hand, watched on with interest as he found the entire situation almost as entertaining as some of the dramas he used to watch. He figured that later, or whenever he and Sanghyuk were back on talking terms, he would definitely use this moment to tease the other. He could see the younger struggling against his own thoughts when Hakyeon turned to them with his cheeks still full of water. Sanghyuk visibly went rigid when the older dancer smiled warmly, still with the puffed cheeks. A light shade of pink sat high on Sanghyuk’s cheekbones when he quickly looked away from an approaching Hakyeon and looked directly into Hongbin’s amused expression.

They stared at each other for one, maybe two seconds. Hongbin’s eyes glanced at the younger’s cheeks and he took note of their now deepened color.

“Hopeless.” He scoffed under his breath and rolled his eyes when Sanghyuk sent him a questioning look.

“So, which one of you would like to go next?” Sanghyuk wanted to jump at the sound of a slightly winded Hakyeon that came from directly behind him.

“Tell you what, I’ll take a turn real quick while you two decide who’s going to dance first‒” Wonshik began to reason with the two freshmen, neither boy really keen on being the follow up to Hakyeon’s performance.

“Or they could just dance together.” Taekwoon suggested.

Both Hongbin and Sanghyuk’s heads snapped up to look at Taekwoon, then to each other, both gazes full of uncertainty.

“Ooooh!!” A squeal rang out in the studio and Sanghyuk instantly recognized it as Hakyeon’s. “That’s a fantastic idea! You guys have been best friends for ages, you MUST have some sort of duet prepared, right?”

Of course they did. Hongbin and Sanghyuk had always known that their time with their old dance company would come to an end at some point, and when it did they wanted to make sure they left with a bang. Neither boy accepted solos or group dance offers when their final shot at Nationals came around. Instead, they both went directly to the head of the dance company and suggested that she give them permission to choreograph and perform their own duet for the competition.

They were almost instantly confirmed for the Nationals lineup and their teachers agreed not to interfere with song choice or the choreography process. The two of them were granted free reign over the entire performance, something that was unheard of in almost all dance companies.

The dance was physically demanding; it required lifts and jumps of all sorts on both of their parts, but at the same time the theatricality of it made it emotionally challenging as well.

How fitting, Sanghyuk thought to himself as he mulled over the idea of dancing the duet. The emotional contemporary piece entailed a story of betrayal between two friends which hit just a little too close to home with the two of them still not having cleared the air between them. Sanghyuk was all for doing the duet; he knew performing it would showcase them both well enough so that the others would have a good idea of their skills. The uncertainty that held him back from accepting the suggestion was due to the fact that he had no clue how Hongbin would feel about it.

He glanced over to his friend to attempt to read his thoughts or at least have a clue of what the other was thinking, but Hongbin’s head was bowed as he stared at the floor. Sanghyuk shrugged as he looked back to Wonshik who nodded in understanding before speaking again.

“Hmm, I’ll give you a couple more minutes to think it over, then.” Wonshik smiled and went to take his place in the middle of the room, stripping away his jacket as he went. He tossed the piece of clothing toward Jaehwan who was already standing at the sound system looking through a list of songs.