Usually, Jongin would be relieved to know he had friends joining him in a situation like this, where he was trapped in an auditorium with no one to talk to and nothing to do while everyone waited for recital practice to start. Really, one would think that having his friends around would be a great thing, and most times, it was.

            Now, however, was not one of those times.

            “Oh my ing god, this is gold I tell you—gold!” Luhan was practically screaming between cackles. Of course he and Sehun had to be two of the other dancers performing in the recital. Of ing course. “How did even you manage to keep it together for five minutes to talk to him? Are you sure you didn’t start drooling or something—oh god you probably did didn’t you please tell me someone got it on video—”

            “Hyung!” Jongin snapped, barely able to keep his head up to glare at the other, embarrassment written all over his face right on top of his red cheeks.

            “Where is His Shrimpiness, anyway?” Sehun added, only raising an eyebrow in amusement when Jongin glared at him as well.

            “Don’t call him that!” he snapped, jumping as he felt a hand on his shoulder.

            “Don’t call who what?” A voice chirped up, and Jongin snapped his head to the side to see a familiar face leaning in from behind him.

            “Baekhyun sunbaenim!” The boy grinned as he heard his name, helping himself and taking a seat next to Jongin to join their little circle.

            “Drop it, just call me hyung—we’re gonna be spending a lot of time together, so might as well get comfortable,” he explained, leaning back in the cushioned auditorium seats as he did a once-over on Jongin with his eyes before reaching his hand to pat the top of his head. “Kai, right? You should keep your hair like this more often—it’s cuter.”

            “Oh,” was all Jongin could mutter when the older boy ruffled his hair fondly. As the poofy brown strands of hair flopped around gracelessly on his head, Jongin stopped himself from telling the upperclassman how the only reason he didn’t have his hair styled today was because he woke up late from a… particular dream and didn’t have time to do it. “Thanks, I guess… hyung.” Baekhyun’s grin grew.

            “I’ll let you in on a little secret,” he mock-whispered, even leaning in and glancing around as though to make sure no one else was listening, “Kyungsoo likes cute looks a lot more than he lets on. Like, a lot.”

            “Wh-what?! What are you talking ab—” Baekhyun just chuckled and ruffled his hair once more before pulling away, quickly cutting him off.

            “Oh don’t even try—I’m not nearly as oblivious as Soo is,” the older said shortly, his grin morphing into a somewhat sheepish smile. “…Plus, I may or may not have overheard a few of your conversations—hey, don’t look at me like that! If anything blame Luhan hyung for being so loud!”

            “Hey, hey, don’t bring me into this!” the Chinese student shot back half-heartedly, smirking at the exchange as Baekhyun rolled his eyes.

            “Please, you’ve been in this since day one.” Just as Jongin could let out a sigh of relief that Baekhyun’s sass was being directly to someone else, the older turned his gaze back onto him once more, a predatory glint in his eyes. “Don’t worry, Kai-yah, you’ve got an ally here. A little insider view and advice is nice, don’t ya think? Though really, when it comes to Kyungsoo’s type I’m not even sure myself. Hell, the only time I’ve ever seen him pine over anyone was that crush he had on Sailor Moon when we were both like eight.”

            “Wait, seriously?” Sehun questioned, suddenly perking up. “He’s never been with someone? Like, ever?” Baekhyun sighed and shook his head.

            “As I see it, he’s married to his work before even getting a job. Doesn’t help that people are too scared to confess to him and he’s as dense as a ing rock. Really, someone in middle school asked him out, and he straight up replied ‘but we already are outside?’ Like, who actually does that?”

            “You’re doing loads for my confidence right now, hyung,” Jongin muttered, bring his legs up and wrapping his arms around his knees with a pout. Baekhyun just laughed and pat his shoulder, completely disregarding his worries.

            “Don’t worry, Kai-yah, I’m sure you’ll be fine! He seems to like you well enough, at least. Since he didn't hate you right off the bat, you're probably fine ” Oh yeah, so comforting.

            “So, why isn’t Kyungsoo here?” Luhan asked, poking Baekhyun as he spoke. “Wasn’t he the one who proposed starting practice earlier than scheduled?”

            “He got delayed with Student Council stuff,” the other responded with a sigh and shake of the head. “Happens all the time, but he still insists that it won’t happen the next time. Complete bull, honestly, but can’t do much about that.”

            “You’re the Co-Pres of the Music department though, aren’t you hyung?” Sehun asked, and Jongin vaguely wondered when him and Luhan had become friends with Baekhyun, because they seemed surprisingly close to the man. “Can’t you do something?”

            “’Fraid not, Sehunnie. When we agreed to split the job, we split the roles too. Since Drama club’s activities tend to overlap so much with this club, Soo and I decided that he’d handle all the upfront stuff, like scheduling practices, proposing concerts, leading meetings, and like that. Meanwhile, I deal with all the behind-the-scenes, paperwork-y stuff, like managing finances, securing locations, and authorizing memberships. Usually it works out alright, but since the old Treasurer left, Soo and the rest of the Student Council’s been struggling with making sure everything works smoothly in the finances department until they find a replacement. His schedule should start clearing up soon, but since they barely managed to make it through this semester’s budget meeting a few weeks ago, they’re gonna have their noses down in regulations and paperwork for at least another week.” Sehun groaned, while Luhan just wolf-whistled.

            “So that means we gotta stay here and do nothing for even longer?” Sehun complained, and Baekhyun shot him an apologetic half-smile.

            “Sorry ‘bout that, guys. I’ll text him and see what’s going on, but you might as well start warming up,” as he said that, Baekhyun pushed himself up. “Worse comes to worst, we’ll just have to start practice without the tracks, since Soo has those.”

            “Ugh, fine.” Jongin cracked a grin at Sehun’s typical brooding-teenager act and waved as Baekhyun mouth another quick apology before leaving them, heading to another part of the room to find his phone and text Kyungsoo, no doubt. The trio were up just a few minutes later, somewhat awkwardly making their way up to the stage. It wasn’t like there was anywhere else in the room to go to stretch, but considering how practically no one else was on there right there, it felt more than a little weird being the only ones there, especially for Jongin. He’d never danced at the school before, and none of the classmates ever studied dancing with him, so really no one in the room besides Luhan and Sehun had seen him dance. Really, the only reason they had been able to watch was because they and Chanyeol had pressured him into doing it.

            It wasn’t that he thought he was bad or anything—having a dance instructor for a father both spark his interest in the sport and cemented his training. He’d been dancing for as long as he could remember, to the point where really, it’d have been tragic if he was awful at it. Still, dancing tended to be a more… personal experience for him. Once he got into the mood, at he could think of, all he felt, all he saw was just the dance. He could jokingly say that it was the only time he was ever that focused, but it wouldn’t take away from the fact that just dancing around others was… uncomfortable, to say the least.

            He started with stretching out his legs, pulling them back into flamingo stance one at a time as he already started feeling a few stares in his direction. Sighing, he tried to tell himself the people were staring at all three of them because they were the only ones to actually get up and do something. It made him feel a little better, but on the inside he knew at least some of the looks were directed to him. Trying his best to ignore them, he shifted, twisting and turning his back to help get rid of some of the stiffness it had from sitting down in class all day.

            Earlier, he’d been told that most of his practice for the next few days would be learning the steps and doing some soft run throughs, so he figured he wouldn’t need to worry about going super hard for warm-ups. Following Sehun’s lead, he started jogging in place, crossing his arms and pulling as he did so to help extend the muscles. Vaguely, he noted Baekhyun calling out to everyone, telling them practice would start in around five minutes and that Kyungsoo would be there soon.

            Ah, Kyungsoo…

            “Ah, you’re Kim Jongin, right?” He snapped his head up to see a boy around his age, possibly older, smiling over at him. When had he…?

            “Yixing!” Luhan screamed, and that was the only warning given before the doe-eyed boy was pouncing on the man. For his credit, the guy—Yixing—took the surprise attack in stride, barely even losing his footing while also hugging Luhan back.

            “Oof, a little lighter next time, okay?” Yixing teased lightly, patting the other man’s back as he let go slowly.

            “Jongin, Sehun, this is Yixing, an old friend of mine,” Luhan introduced, and Jongin gave a short bow and smile in greeting, still slightly confused. “He’ll be dancing with us for the performance. You guys probably haven’t seen him around much, though, because he barely does anything besides go to class and leave—assuming he’s actually school, that is.”

            “What do you mean?” Sehun questioned, and Jongin didn’t miss the younger his lips slightly. Yixing smiled wider, and dimples burrowed into his cheeks as he did so.

            “I’m a composer,” he clarified, his voice clear despite the accent and soft. “It takes a lot of time, between the consultations, actual composing, mixing, and so on. So, I made a deal with the Director that so long as I do all my work on time and earn the proper credits, I don’t have to actually be in school the whole time.”

            “He’s amazing!” Luhan cut in, practically beaming as he showed off his friend. “Seriously, he sings, dances, composes, and plays instruments like a pro! He even composed some of the pieces for this recital!”

            “Luhan!” Yixing exclaimed, seemingly embarrassed at the other’s praise. “Stop that, it’s really nothing much. I enjoy helping out for school events as much as I can—besides, I owe Jongdae a lot, there’s no way I could say no when he asked.” Sensing some familiarity, Jongin racked his brain for the name ‘Jongdae.’ Suddenly, it struck him—if he remembered correctly, Kim Jongdae was a year ahead of him, one of the main performers in the Music club and a close friend to Baekhyun and Kyungsoo.

            “I’m guessing he’s the one who convinced you to join the performance too?” Luhan questioned, chuckled as Yixing let out a resigned sigh and nodded. “Hey, no shame—he’s surprisingly good at emotional blackmail… Actually, speaking of which, where is our favorite dinosaur anyway?” and Jongin couldn’t help but snort a little at the nickname while Sehun raised an eyebrow in amused confusion.

            “Not really sure. He just said he was ‘busy,’ whatever that means.” Luhan huffed at the response.

            “He better show up! After all the fuss of getting this thing together, he can’t be missing practices—we only have a month and a half or so, after all!”

            “Slow down, hyung, you’re starting to sound like Baekhyun hyung,” Sehun snarked, rolling his eyes as the older just stuck his tongue out at him.

            “Better him than Kyungsoo to be honest—”

            “Speak of the devil and he shall appear,” Yixing cut in suddenly, and the trio turned to see Kyunsgoo finally making his way through the auditoriums double doors. What caught everyone’s attention—well, everyone except Jongin, who was still examining the way the school uniform blazer’s shoulder pads laid on the older man’s appreciatively— more than Kyungsoo’s entrance however was the figure trailing behind him. The new person was another male student, and was currently being dragged in by the ear by the VP himself.

            “Finally!” Jongin heard Baekhyun exclaim exasperatedly. “Oh, and you brought Jongdae with you—perfect, now I don’t have to go hunt him down!”

            Kyungsoo looked like he was about to put a bullet in either Baekhyun’s or his own head right then and there, but instead of attempting either, he just sighed, letting go of Jongdae and turning to look at the rest of the group.

            “Practice will begin now, please take your positions and warm up.”

----

            Practice went relatively smoothly, for all it was worth.

            It was a lot more rigorous than Jongin had expected, though he supposed it made sense—they had about a month and a half, give or take a few days, until the performance, and from what Jongin had heard, these productions were always large-scale to almost a ridiculous degree. Luckily, he didn’t have as difficult of a time, seeing as he couldn’t partake in most of the group activities and run-throughs because he was still learning the steps. Yixing had graciously agreed to teach him the moves, saying that he’d do some extra practice on his own time to make up for it.

            Really, Jongin didn’t quite understand how the older boy handled it all—being a professional composer, let alone a well-known and esteemed one, had to take up quite a bit of time. Add that plus academic responsibilities, club activities, and all the other things Yixing seemed to agree too, it was a full schedule plus some. Yet somehow, the older boy seemed completely fine with it, almost as though he’d be willing to do even more. Jongin was mostly sure that the boy came from a wealthy family as well, though he didn’t know the details, so there was no financial reason for him to work himself to the bone with his composing. Still, when asked about it, Yixing had just told him he did what he did because loved it and he enjoyed keeping himself busy.

            ‘Talk about cliché…’ Jongin had vaguely thought as he worked through the last piece of the group choreography. But when Yixing was grinning at him with a pride in his eyes that he’d only seen in doting parents, he couldn’t help but give a small smile back.

            “You’ve got it!” the upperclassman said gleefully, even clapping a little to himself. “Now, any style details you wanna make depend on you, and once we figure out who’s paired with who, I’ll show you the video for your particular song’s dance—a recently graduated upperclassman of ours put them together at the end of last year for us, so we’re all still in the process of learning it.”

            “Thanks, sunbae,” Jongin said with a quick bow. “By the way, what’s the deal with the pairs? Like, how and when do we…?” He wasn’t exactly sure how to phrase his question, but Yixing seemed to understand anyway.

            “Well, I’m not too sure, but if I had to guess, I’d say the pairs will be based off of style,” he explained. “Each of the four singers are singing a song suitable to their voice, so whichever dancer has a style that suits a particular song will pair up with the corresponding singer. Something like that?” Jongin hummed in understanding.

            “Do you know who you’re gonna be paired with, sunbae?”

            “Hm… if I had to guess, I’d say Baekhyun. Taeyeon’s style is a little softer than what I’m used to, and Kyungsoo’s doing a jazz-ballad sort of thing, which I’m not as into— Actually, scratch that,” Jongin raised an eyebrow at the sudden interruption. “I’ll probably be with Jongdae—he’s been wanting to pair up since he found out I was doing this.”

            ‘They must be close,’ Jongin thought as he nodded. Really, he wasn’t sure who he’d end up paired with, though the thought of pairing with Kyungsoo immediately had his heart racing. Sure, he doubted it’d happen—considering what Yixing had just told him, Sehun seemed like a pretty good choice over him—but just the thought of it brought a small flush to his cheeks. Kyungsoo, eyes shut, face calm as he held a microphone to his pink lips—Jongin wondered if they’d be soft—and sang with the serene confidence he always seemed to have. He’d never heard Kyungsoo sing before, but if what he’d heard through the gossiping whispers in the hallway was true, then he was sure that the man’s voice was magical.

            “We should join the group now,” Yixing’s suggestion broke Jongin out of his internal fawning, and he nodded, thankful that the older boy didn’t seem to notice how embarrassed he was.

            “Ah, you guys done?” Baekhyun asked as he noticed the pair coming over. “Good timing too, we were just about to discuss the details of the duo performances. Taeyeon-ah, hurry up-- ow!”

            “That’s Taeyeon noona, to you,” the girl snapped, rubbing at the knuckles that had just punched Baekhyun in the head as though she was getting dirt off of them. The action had Jongin chuckling a little, unintentionally bringing the attention to himself. He froze as Taeyeon’s eyes met his, and put as decent of a smile as he could in response to her welcoming one. “You’re Kai, right? I’ve heard a bit about you around the school—I’m Kim Taeyeon, a third year. It’s nice to meet you.”

            “L…Likewise, sunbaenim,” he responded slowly, bowing quickly, glancing around to notice the others had gathered as well.

            “Anyway, as I was saying,” Kyungsoo began, ever the model of pristine perfection, and Jongin had to hold himself back from sighing dreamily. “Is there anyone who already has an idea of who they want to work with—Jongdae put your goddamn hand down we already know—”

            “Yixing hyung!” the mentioned singer practically shouted as he ignored his friend. Yixing rolled his eyes, turning to Jongin to mouth a quick ‘I told you so’ before walking over to Jongdae.

            “Yes, yes, I’m here,” the Chinese boy said, slinging his arm over Jongdae as he stood next to him.

            “Anyone else?” Kyungsoo asked the group, and Baekhyun’s hand shot up.

            “In that case, I wanna be with Sehunnie!” he exclaimed cheerfully, and even Sehun looked surprised at that.

            “Uh… okay?” the youngest of the eight said hesitantly.

            “I look forward to working with you Sehunnie!” Baekhyun either was entirely oblivious to the other boy’s awkwardness, or just didn’t care. Kyungsoo just sighed at the debacle, and looked around once more.

            “So that leaves four of us,” he said simply, and Baekhyun was chirping up once again.

            “I have a suggestion!” Oh god, Jongin did not like the expression on the older boy’s face right then. That face was one he’d seen with his own friends enough—one of mischievous intent—and it was directed at him. “Soo, you should work with Kai!”

            “I second that!” Luhan added, and god Jongin just wanted to kill him right now—he should’ve know this would be a setup from the moment he found out that Baekhyun knew. “He’s done jazz before, you two will work together well!”

            “Hm… that’s fine with me,” Kyungsoo started, and a small glimmer of hope flickered in Jongin for all the wrong reasons, “but are you and Taeyeon sunbae okay with working together?”

            “Yup!” Luhan was quick to respond, so much so that Jongin couldn’t resist a little eye-roll.

            “I’m fine with it too,” Taeyeon said, and the sweetness of her voice was almost enough to lull Jongin into a false sense of security with his new predicament.

            “Alright, then it’s settled!” Baekhyun clapped his hands together as he spoke. “Me and Sehunnie, Luhan hyung and Taeyeon noona, Jongdae and Yixing hyung, and Kyungsoo and Kai!” At the mention of his name, the VP turned his head to his new partner with a slight smile.

            “Let’s work hard together, Jongin-ssi,” Kyungsoo said softly, and it took Jongin ages to snap out of his thoughts and mutter back a quick ‘yes, let’s.’

            God, he was so ed.

is every chapter of this fic gonna end with jongin be his terrible love life
probably lol

oh and sORRY FOR BEING LATE whoops im good at things also sorry for how dull this chapter may seem i think its p obvious this chapter was mainly just for intro-ing characters and developing the setting but i swear we'll get more actual kaisoo next chapter!! for now just enjoy jonginnie being a little fanboy i guess lol welp
if you're interested i also edited a little bit of the last chapter nothing much but just some small details to make this more pertinent for a korean high school before i was kinda unsure if i wanted to do american or korean hs so the details got a bit blurry and mixed into some hybrid of both but now i fixed it to make it a little clearer
one thing in particular to note is that in this fix ive done some age switching in the sense that ive kinda lumped together yrs bc exo's so goddamn massive it spans more than 3 yrs so it's basically: 1st yrs are 94 liners (sehun jongin zitao), 2nd yrs are 93 and 92 liners (kyungsoo chanyeol jongdae baekhyun), and 3rd yrs are 91 and 90 liners (yixing joonmyeon yifan luhan minseok)

i guess that's it? as for pairings i know it may seem like it but it's not gonna be laychen suchen will happen eventually idk about ing i may do it i may not uh what else baekyeol's gonna be a slow build and taoris will show up eventually and i already said more kaisoo will happen in the next chapter

that about wraps it up i think? aight bye guys see ya later let's pray im not late next week lol