v.

Chanyeol didn’t play hard-to-get for too long. He turned up at one of Baekhyun’s classes barely a week later, hurrying through the door just as it was about to start.

“Look who’s here!” Baekhyun said, beaming at him. “I was wondering if you might show up again.”

Chanyeol bent over with his hands resting on his thighs, trying to catch his breath. “Did you expect me not to…?”

Baekhyun shook his head. “I just didn't know if you were still interested, that’s all.”

“Well, I am.” Chanyeol thought about the last time they saw each other, and noted that the cane was absent. “I’m glad to see you’re looking a bit better.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” Baekhyun said, with a casual wave of his hand. “I was pretty tired earlier, actually… but seeing you walk through the door must have perked me right up again.” As more and more people began to arrive, he clapped his hands and said, “alright everybody, let’s warm up!”

They warmed up first, once again dancing like birds flapping their wings, following each other in a circle, and then shadow-dancing in a diagonal line across the room. Baekhyun just stood there and watched them all with his thumb between his teeth, smiling occasionally. The wedding band was back again today. He put his fingers in his mouth a lot, Chanyeol noticed. His thumb had a large mole just beneath the nail bed, which Chanyeol found beautiful — perhaps unsurprisingly, since to him, everything about Baekhyun was beautiful. His mouth seemed like it always needed to be doing something, and it was hard for Chanyeol to concentrate on the task at hand because he kept getting distracted by Baekhyun's oral activities; at one point he stopped too quickly and the people behind all bumped into him, nearly resulting in a domino situation — a little embarrassing, but he recovered quickly.

This time Baekhyun paired Chanyeol up with Dara, another single student who’d just joined the class that day. She smiled when Baekhyun introduced them, and Chanyeol smiled back at her, trying not to look a little disappointed that he wouldn’t get to dance with Baekhyun that night. Dara seemed pleasant, a pretty older woman who was learning to dance “for exercise”, she said. When she asked Chanyeol why he was there, he smiled and said, “same”, but his eyes were always seeking out Baekhyun, and if he wasn’t so preoccupied all the time, he would have wondered if she noticed.

Baekhyun remained seated at the front of the room for much of the lesson. He still seemed a little more lethargic than usual, and Chanyeol wondered if he wasn’t feeling well. Other than that, he was as enthusiastic as ever, yelling out commands from where he sat — often just repetitions of body parts and numbers, like “heel toe toe toe toe, heel toe toe!” and “one, two, three, rise!”, punctuating every sentence with a constant loud clapping of his hands. His instructions were mostly dancey-sounding things that Chanyeol didn’t always understand, things like:

“I want to see everybody standing up nice and straight! You too, Chanyeol and Yifan… don’t think you can get away with slouching just because you’re taller than the rest of us.”

“Keep your frames! I don't want to see any sloppy arms! I want to see strong, beautiful frames all the time — and strong does not mean stiff!”

“Mark, keep your fingers closed! Also, you’re the one leading, not Krystal! And don’t gawk at her like a stunned mullet, look at her like she’s the most beautiful thing in the world — she is anyway, aren’t you darling?”

“If you’re getting confused, repeat the step sequence to yourself: quick, quick, slow!”

“And promenade!”

Eventually Baekhyun got up and stood at the edge of the floor, focusing his attention on individual couples as they danced. “Don’t forget to look your partner in the eyes,” he said. “Look at him or her like it's the last time you're ever going to see each other. In ballroom dancing, expression and attitude are very important… keep that in mind at all times.” At one point he walked over to Chanyeol and Dara with his hands behind his back, watched them in silence for a moment, and then held up a hand to stop them.

“Lean on your front foot,” he said in a quiet voice, demonstrating this for them. “Put all your body weight on your front foot, then go to the back. Front to back. Can you do that for me?”

Chanyeol did his best to copy what Baekhyun was doing; Baekhyun just looked down at his feet, nodding to himself with an unreadable expression. “Good,” he murmured at last, “very good. The first step is crucial… remember that. Don’t hesitate.” He looked up then and put a hand on Chanyeol’s arm, lifting it up gently so that it was straighter. Something about Baekhyun’s touch — how gentle it was, and yet how it still held so much power over him — made Chanyeol’s heart pound like mad, and he started to feel weak. His knees buckled and he swayed a little.

“Woah,” Baekhyun said, reaching out to hold him still. His arms were strong, and it took every ounce of Chanyeol’s crumbling resolve to keep from falling into them. “Easy does it.”

“I’m sorry. I think I just need to sit down for a second.” The words came out a mumbled mess, and Chanyeol fell to his knees and sat there, bewildered, straining to keep his eyes open. It felt like every force in the universe was trying to pull him forward towards the floor. The sound of footsteps all around him gradually slowed to a halt, but he barely noticed.

Baekhyun kneeled down next to him, gently rubbing his arm — which was comforting, but didn’t help with the whole staying awake part. “Chanyeol, are you feeling okay?” He sounded worried.

“I’m fine,” Chanyeol said. He was starting to feel better; if he was lucky, maybe he wouldn’t actually pass out this time. “I thought I was going to faint for a minute, that’s all.”

“Hmm… you’d better come with me. Everyone else, keep doing what you were doing.” Baekhyun helped Chanyeol stand, and then he said to Dara, “I’m sorry, Dara… just have a quick break for a moment, if you don’t mind — go get some water. I’ll make sure Chanyeol’s okay, and then I’ll come and dance with you instead.”

Baekhyun led Chanyeol by the hand over to the row of chairs against the wall and helped him sit down. “Are you alright? Do you want something to drink?”

Chanyeol shook his head, leaning back on the chair with his eyes closed. “I’m fine. I might just sit here for a while.”

“Okay. You rest, and if you need anything at all, just give me a yell.” Baekhyun walked away —reluctantly, it seemed — looking back over his shoulder at Chanyeol more than once. Chanyeol watched him dance with Dara for a little while, and then he closed his eyes for a moment, the temptation too strong to resist. It felt like barely a minute passed before a hand appeared on his shoulder, gently shaking him awake.

“Hey sleepy-head,” a voice whispered. “Wakey wakey..”

Chanyeol opened his eyes, blinking at the red blurry thing hovering over him. “Hmm..?”

When his vision cleared, he saw it was Baekhyun standing in front of him, smiling as usual, his eyes like happy little crescent moons. “You fell asleep,” he said; he had the kind of amused expression people get when they see something adorable. “Naww. You must have been very tired.”

“How long was I asleep for..?” Chanyeol asked, rubbing his eyes.

“A while? I don’t know exactly… but everyone left about ten minutes ago. I almost didn’t have the heart to wake you, but I don’t think you’d have thanked me for leaving you here overnight.” Baekhyun looked around, shielded one side of his mouth with his hand and whispered, “I once saw a rat as big as a puppy in the studio kitchen.”

“Oh, okay. Gross.” Chanyeol scrunched his nose up at the thought. He was embarrassed that he’d fallen asleep, but Baekhyun seemed to think he was just a bit worn out, and he could live with that. He stood up, slowly, so his head wouldn’t spin. “Sorry for falling asleep on you..”

Baekhyun shook his head. “Don’t be… it’s perfectly fine. I’m pretty tired myself right now, so I get it. Are you feeling alright?”

Chanyeol nodded. “I feel a lot better,” he said, and it was true. “I think maybe I was just sleep-deprived, or something.” Also true.

Baekhyun looked at him with a soft but neutral expression. “Well, I’m glad to hear it,” he said, smiling. “Take care of yourself, okay? You only have one body… gotta look after it the best you can.”

“Can I walk you home?” Chanyeol asked, before he could stop himself. “Or… to wherever you need to go… to your car or whatever…” He trailed off into awkward silence, and Baekhyun looked surprised at first, but then he just laughed.

“That'd be a very short walk,” he said. He bit his lip when he smiled again. “I only live down the road.”

“Oh.” Chanyeol smiled shyly, feeling a bit foolish for asking. “Well, that’s okay. Never mind.”

Baekhyun looked at him for a moment, standing there with his gym bag over his shoulder. “Are you hungry, Chanyeol?” he asked, out of nowhere. Chanyeol hadn’t really thought about it until now, but his stomach was growling; it was past 8 o’clock, and he hadn’t eaten since midday.

“Yeah, I guess,” he said. “A bit.”

“I know you’re probably really tired and all, but I was going to go grab a bite at that fried chicken place across the road, if you want to join me.” Baekhyun turned away from Chanyeol and started fixing his hair in the mirrored wall. “Up to you.” He smiled at his reflection. “You can even roll me home afterwards, if you like.”

“Sure,” Chanyeol said. The reply came without hesitation, even though he was ready to fall asleep in the first place he fell. He looked at his watch to check the time, feigning nonchalance, but his heart was pounding at a million miles a min