Kwon Soonyoung sorely blames their ex-dance club chairman Lee Jihoon for the mess he’s currently in. Glad that when he was voted out he left, good freaking riddance. Never been more delighted to see someone go, actually. Now that Jihoon doesn’t have to make the choreography (read: blatantly plagiarize choreography from others and pass it off as his own creative work), he goes right ahead and tells the school management that of course, they can put together a routine for Orientation Night. And by the time they hear of it they have exactly three days to put together an original routine. Key word: Original, because the school needs no more humiliation of plagiarized dance videos making its rounds on the Internet. Lee Jihoon is Kwon Soonyoung’s hated person number one in the world. No matter how good he is, whatever he puts out in three days isn’t going to be up to standard.   

But he isn’t the type to back down from a challenge, never has been. Now that the old leader is disposed of, the dance club can finally start restoring its completely ruined reputation. It’s just sad that the first performance is going to be something hastily thrown together.

At least it isn’t that bad. Junhui and Minghao were happy enough to come back to school because staying at home is boring. More like they’re happy to have an excuse to meet and make heart eyes at each other.  Vernon wasn’t. Hello, time he could spend with his cute girlfriend but no, he gets dragged to learn new choreography.

Anyway, the school’s rock band is performing right before them. Honestly, Soonyoung will never understand why the school even pays their club funds anymore. No hate towards the actually-just-a-Grade-3-guy keyboardist.  Yoon Jeonghan is a great guy (or girl, according to his fangirls who think he’s the prettiest girl ever).  No hate towards the guitarist who looks like his soul was right out of him either. Jeon Wonwoo likes puppies and wears his sweaters bunched over his wrist; the emo look is a front. No hate even to the drummer who drops his drumsticks. Kim Mingyu is just trying to protect Wonwoo from the legions of fangirls while fighting of his own. Wonwoo is exactly the type to foolishly go into the van when people offer him free ice cream. Which is pretty much he was even recruited into the rock band, anyway.

In summary, the rock band is a hot mess. They have three uselessly but immensely handsome members who really shouldn’t have joined the rock band. Maybe a coffee appreciation club. Basketball club. Heck, the art club. And then there’s the guy Kwon Soonyoung hates.

Lee Seokmin, the band’s irritating main vocalist. That annoyance really gets on his nerves. Not just because he’s the one who beats him in the Physics papers. Which hello, is not cool.  At least let him top one subject!

But that Seokmin, that punk, sings so well that all the (overwhelming) inadequacies of the band is hidden behind his booming voice and the new students goes crazy for it. Crazy for him and the band of handsome boys, even though for unknown reasons Seokmin stops receiving presents one week later while the rest get special thank-you cards from the Salvation Army for the numerous gifts they accumulate and donate. (See, he knows how to judge character.) 

He’s good to the point that you can overlook everything else and think the rock band is super cool. The noise is deafening, the mood of the crowd so high. 

In short, the dance club can’t beat it. And at this point they might as well forget about recruiting new members, with its currently ruined reputation and whatever mediocre stage they’re going to put on in two minutes time.

He can see the future, a miserable number of people trying to join the dance club this year. Might as well not hold auditions.
 

Jihoon is going to howl when he hears it.

They cheer right before the run onto the stage, trying to ignore their limited practice and how big the stage feels with the seniors and members who quit along with Jihoon. It’s the first time he’s felt so unsettled. There’s something gnawing at him, the knowledge that the juniors probably know. Probably wondering whether they have talent, whether they just plagiarized this once again.  

And when the stage curtains lift and the lights come on, he can feel it. The sharp gazes, silently judgmental. Even as he tries to throw it away with the movements of his arms and his legs, he knows it’s not enough. With four people on stage their mistakes and inadequacies are in plain sight. No matter how handsome the other members are, they don’t have enough to save themselves. It’s drowning, drowning, drowning. Even when Minghao starts b-boying, the crowd chatters away.

They’d be lucky to get even one new member, really.

“And let’s thank the dance club for their wonderful performance!” Seungkwan tries. Tries really hard actually, looking silly by himself being all excited to a hilariously uninterested crowd. He’s not even sure whether to laugh or cry, because Seungkwan has those puppy eyes trying to tell him he did well when he knows the truth. It obviously . It was clearly bad. Hell, they were more excited about the choir club that Seungkwan is in. Singing the school song. The bloody school song. Seungkwan is just the sweetest childhood friend ever trying to save him from everything once again. 

As a leader, he’s failed. Failed so utterly maybe everyone else should have quit the club. Failed so miserably maybe leaving Jihoon in charge was a better choice.

And he leaves the stage with his head down, ignoring Minghao clinging to him and trying to cheer him up. Not being comforted by Junhui patting his back and whispering that it’ll be fine. Even Vernon, who isn’t a fan of displaying affection to anyone but his girlfriend is ruffling his hair. The other performers move aside as they come in.

“I guess it’s not plagiarized. The dancing was just so bad. How can you perform something like that? Maybe you should just copy too.”

Something about it makes him lift his head and glare because hello, scolding him is one thing. Dragging the entire club down along with him is another issue.

And oh joy, look. It’s Lee Seokmin.

“What?” He lifts one manicured eyebrow high. “It’s the truth. You can’t say that your dance performance was better than my singing.”

“Seokmin- ” An exasperated Seungkwan comes in, trying and failing to muzzle his friend. Why they even became friends, that is a mystery Soonyoung has never solved. Seungkwan is a saint who spreads happiness and love and yet he and that devil Seokmin choose to be friends.

“Prove it wrong then. But you can’t.”

Forget it. He’s going to come back stronger than the bloody rock band. And rub it right in that Lee Seokmin’s face. Along with better Physics grades to boot.

“Watch me.”

Something about his anger erodes his sadness. He’s going to show that arrogant jerk what a talented group can do. Not one jerk surrounding himself with handsome guys.

Lee Seokmin smirks. Kwon Soonyoung really wishes his taekwondo instructors banned him from hurting others. What that guy needs right now is a nice firm kick to the face. Force that arrogance out of his system.

“Okay, okay. Group bow time. Let’s go.”

Seungkwan drags them both by one arm each, pulling them back on stage.

Even he can feel the simmering of a war starting right in the backstage of the school hall stage.  

a/n: this is planned to be longer than most of my works, hope ya'll enjoy it! it'll be quite a ride ^^