The smell of lacquered wood and a stagnant humid air slowly crawled across your skin as you and your best friend, Taeyang headed back to the largest practice room in the building. Trotting ahead of you a few steps, he twisted one of the handles on the double doors and pulled it open for you.

“After you“ He smiled as you stepped through the door with a smile playing on your lips.

“Thanks” You smiled and looked around the room slowly to see your backup dancers huddled close to the mirrors while his dance crew was standing on the other side of the room, huddled near one of the speakers.

Taeyang gently placed a hand on your hip as he moved closely behind you, placing both of your bags down on the floor, you sat on the floor as you changed from your street shoes to your dancing pair. Your fingers moved the cotton laces into the knot that you had learned so long ago, whispers came from your group as you looked up hearing your name among their hushed tones.

“Dance hard, we are going to kill it” Taeyang had already changed shoes and stood in front of you, holding out both of his hands to help you up. Nodding slowly, you slid your hands into his as the heads turned and watched as Taeyang pulled you up to your feet effortlessly.

“Is something up?” He questioned, seeing you slightly distracted

“N-No I just have a lot on my mind” You told him gently, shaking your head to solidify your answer.

“Okay… but remember just do your thing” Taeyang brushed his fingers against your arm as he gave you a soft and comforting smile. Fighting a little to keep your emotions buried, you heard some of the guys clap to get everyone together to start for the day.

“We are all going to be dancing a collaboration in the upcoming Mixed Tape Tour” The head choreographer introduced, “Artists from YG, Woollim, Jellyfish, American Solo artists and a few other companies are going to be on this tour, performing their latest and greatest hits so we have to make sure to show everyone off well.”

With that he started showing all of you the choreography for the dance, learning step by step then segment by segment. The hours wore on as the light in the sky rose to it’s peak and then slowly descended until the moon was in it’s peak. Sweat rolled down the side of your face as you lifted the collar of your shirt up and wiped away the sweat before you were called to run through it again.

Sweat glistened off of the toned bodies in the room while the music pulsated through the speakers, eventually the independent bodies started to move as one after hours and hours of practice.

“Alright, everyone did great today, make sure that you don’t rest too much tomorrow during your vocal day and we will meet back here the day after tomorrow” The choreographer smiled and chatted with a few of the dancers before making his leave.

Running over little sections of the dance in front of the mirror alone, you glanced over and saw Taeyang catching up with some of his friends that just happened to be dancing with him for the tour. Watching them chat and laugh caused a little smile to curl onto your lips as you got back into position and ran through some troubled spots again. Getting it perfect a few times, you rested your hands on your hips while your chest sharply heaved up and down with heavy labored breaths.

“Hey” You heard behind you, causing you to turn your head to see who it was, “I was wondering if I could hang out with the guys. I know I promised we would hang out…”

“No, you should go and have fun, you haven’t seen them for a while” You smiled at Taeyang as you watched his face light up happily.

“Thank you! You are the best!” He gave you a quick hug before trotting back to his bag and lifting it over his shoulder. The guys moved out of the room slowly after that as the girls changed their shoes before moving their thumbs across their screens on their phones.

Working on a few more problem spots in the choreography, you ran your fingers through your hair as you tried to catch your breath, feeling your legs ache underneath you.

“That was really good” One of your backup dancers told you as she walked behind you.

“Thanks, is there something I should change?” You questioned knowing she had more experience at dancing than you did.

“Hrmmmm, you know…. you could try and keep your weight on your toes rather than your heels, that would help with several moves” She tapped her painted nail against her lip.

“Or you could put your mind more into the dance and focus” Another girl commented from her spot on the floor, looking at her reflection in the mirror, you your lips, watching her before shifting your eyes to a few of the girls that walked up behind you.

“What is that supposed to mean?” You spun on your heels as you faced them, resting one of your hands on your hip.

”You know what that means” Another girl snapped

“ _______ and Taeyang sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G” Yet another girl sang as you glared at her.

“We aren’t kissing” You clarified

“Really? It sure seems like you are, maybe tomorrow he will propose” The girl next to you sang as her arms folded across her chest.

“We aren’t a couple, we are just good friends” You tried to explain

“Oh yeah…. sure” Sarcasm dripped from her words as you felt your bottom lip quiver as the girls stood up and slowly surrounded you.

“You need to leave him alone” A girl threatened as she pushed you, tripping over someone’s foot you plummeted to the ground as you caught yourself and tried to ease the fall to the hardwood.

After that everything became a blur, the pain, the words, the laughter, everything happened so quickly before it stopped and the clicking of their heels sounded their exit as the final close of the door echoed through the studio.

Pushing yourself up off of the hardwood floor, you stumbled to your feet, bearing all of your weight on one leg while the other one folded up off of the floor to try and ease the pain. Biting your lip, you slowly hopped your way over to your bag and fumbled around for your phone. Finding it dead, you knocked your head back and steadied your hand against the wall.

Gathering up your things, you placed the bag over your shoulder and turned off the light to the room before letting the door close. Limping through the halls, out the lobby and across the parking lot. A desperate sigh left your lips once you fell into the drivers seat.

Slowly pulling the seat belt over you, you your car and used your good leg, your right one, to drive you home. Pulling into the condo community you lived in, you parked in your normal place. A smile lightly pulled onto your lips as your eyes found the windows that you called home. Warm colored light illuminated through the curtains as you grabbed your things and stepped out of your car, slowly making it to the front door.

Knowing Taeyang was home, you sighed softly and slipped your key into the slit in the door handle. Opening it up, you tried to mask your limp as you shuffled your bag to the floor and slipped off of your shoes.

“I made dinner” He called from the kitchen, taking some food off of the stove.

“Thanks, but I am not that hungry” You told him carefully limping over to the couch, trying to keep your balance on objects along the way.

“You sure you aren’t hungry?” He asks loading up a plate for himself, knowing you are usually starving after a day long practice, or any practice for that matter.

“I’m sure, I will eat in a little bit” You sighed once you hit the couch, lifting your legs up, you rested them against the coffee table in front of you as your head knocked back against the pillows and a exhausted sigh escaped your lips.

The dip in the couch next to you alerted you that Taeyang was sitting in the cushion next to you. The smell of his food found it’s way over to you as your stomach growled loudly and hungrily.

“I think your stomach disagrees with you” He says poking your stomach playfully as you don’t move, you move your leg slightly as his eyes move down to your badly bruised ankle. “What did you do?!”

“Hrmmm?” You asked opening your eyes as he quickly set his food down on the opposite side of the table and lifted your leg gently to slide a pillow underneath it.

“Stay here” He told you as he handed you his plate “Eat up, you need it” He gave you a warm smile before trotting off to the bathroom.

Lifting a little bite of food to your lips, you hummed at the flavors bursting to life in your mouth as you leaned your head back more and took bite after bite.

“What happened?” Taeyang asked, kneeling beside your leg as he carefully moved it so that your foot was resting against his thigh.

“Just girl stuff…” You told him plainly with a slight shrug of your shoulders.

“This isn’t what happens once a month, is it?” He kept his eyes down, teasing you a little.

“The backup dancers didn’t like us hanging out together, looking like we were dating” You told him as you watched his fingers skillfully brush over your skin then carefully cool your ankle before wrapping it securely and icing it a bit longer.

“Didn’t you fight back?” He asked, lifting his eyes up to yours

“I tried….” You whispered, slipping another bite of food into your mouth.

“Just keep changing the ice and you should be ready to go tomorrow, just be careful.” He got up and pressed his hand into the back of the couch as he kissed your forehead sweetly before heading to the kitchen for another plate of food, seeing his plate that rested in your hands about gone.

“You know, this means that we aren’t going to be leaving each others anytime soon” He smiled, taking his spot next to you again before he the tv to one of your favorite movies.

“I guess they are going to have to deal with it” You hummed softly, resting your head against his shoulder as the two of you finished dinner while the movie continued to play.

When the plates were gone and stacked lazily on the coffee table, the two of you moved into each others arms as your back was against his chest and your injured ankle was propped up on the top of the back cushions of the couch. A blanket was tangled between your bodies, his arms wrapped around your stomach as your hands laid over top of his.

The strong steady breaths caused his chest to rise and fall while the constant thumps of his heart resonated through his chest. Your eyes slowly closed as your body relaxed against his as the night wore on.