Dance Studio - 34B

Taeyong tried not to cringe as he looked back and forth between his schedule and the room before him. According to the so called "schedule" he was thirty minutes late to his first Intermediate dance session. He knew he should have been rushing in at the moment, head bowed down before the instructor, but he had spotted Hansol's face among one of the students in the room and if he was being honest, he wasn't ready to face him. Last nights conversation was still fresh in his mind and he still felt exposed and vulnerable on so many different levels. Hansol had brought up sides of him that he had wanted to keep hidden forever, sides that even BTS rarely saw, and sides that rose butterflies in his stomach even now. Taeyong slowly released a restless sigh as he leaned against he wall s he watched the group of boys repeat the same choreography they had been practicing for the past 20 minutes. 

Taeyongs eyes flittered from one to the other in a continuous movement as he watched them dance as effortlessly as he did. It wasn't until the song had ended  that he noticed the irritation on the instructors face as he glanced back and forth from the clock to the group before him. Another minute passed and the coach began tapping his hand against his pocket with impatience. Another minute, and even the students caught onto the foul mood of their instructor.  

Drawing his eyes away from the group, he noticed a younger orange haired boy flinch as the man opened his mouth to take his anger out on one of them. Narrowing his eyes, Taeyong chose that moment to open the door of the practice room and quietly walk in as his hands hang leisurely by his sides.

"How many times are you GOING TO KEEP MAKING THE SAME MISTAKE?-" Taeyong frowned as his eyes closed in the trembling boy standing in Hansol's shadow. With his hands tightly clenched at his sides and his breath coming out in pants, Taeyong could tell the the brown haired was on the brink of a panic attack. 

'Is this what Kyungsoo was talking about?' Was this what SM was under its fake image and false pretenses, just a hell hole for everyone?"

"What did you say?!" Taeyong's eyes snapped up towards the instructor as he felt 10 pairs of eyes zero in on him, including the frightened eyes of one of the youngest there.

'Ah, I must have spoken aloud.'

"Did I stutter?" Taeyong asked as he cocked his head to the side as stood right across from the professor, ""SM, under its fake makeup and false eyelashes, uses all the cheap and dirty tricks in the book."

"Kim Taeyong, showing up at last, huh? Before you run your mouth, are you even aware that your 30 minutes late to your first class? Exactly what kind of impression are you trying to leave on others?" 

"Was it not obvious? My concept is not giving a to what the expectations of your company are, I'm here to dance, that's it. Do you think any of the students here are going to learn anything from you constantly threatening and overworking them?" Taeyong watched as the instructor before him, if you could even call him that, released a fake laugh as his hands clenched at his sides.

"I'm glad you catch on quickly to the workings of our industry, however, I don't appreciate being mocked so openly by you." he said as he walked up towards Taeyong and placed a hand on his shoulder, making sure to squeeze his shoulder tightly "especially since you're a nobody here."

"Well, you know what they say, it takes one to know one, right?" Taeyong said as he immediately shrugged off the other's hand with a smirk. Glancing towards the other students, Taeyong couldn't help but begin to dread the next hour as he caught the eyes of Tae, Ten, and Hansol who were all staring at him in annoyance and warning.

Taeyong's attention was captured yet again as the instructor began laughing at him mockingly before moving even closer to Taeyong until there was nothing but a few inches separating their faces. Taeyong could practically smell the arrogance coming off of the older man as he fought of the need to sneeze. Just as Taeyong opened his mouth to cause even more trouble for himself, he felt a hand yank him back a couple of steps before another hand wrapped itself around his neck from behind. Casting his eyes to the side,