You clicked through yet another of One Million Dance Studio's duet videos, sighing. This wasn't really how you wanted to spend your Thursday night, but what could you do. You were entering a cover dance competition as a duo with your friend, Bank, and you had to choose something that piqued your interest or else you knew you wouldn't do well. You and Bank had been dancing together for a while in the same studio, with you originally being one of his first students. Although he was a few years older than you, you got along really well and had good chemistry in the studio. Through him you also ended up becoming extremely good friends with his younger sister, Baby, who went to your school. 

The dance had to be under two minutes, so you were browsing one million because you knew they had a plethora of short yet interesting choreos at your disposal. You looked at the playlist of duets, and a choreo by Lia Kim caught your eye- "We Don't Talk Anymore". Lia was one of your favourite choreographers, so you had high hopes this one would be the dance. As the music started you were drawn in by the slick and sharp movements of her and her partner, and you knew this was the one. You immediately texted Bank the link so he could watch it and make sure he liked it, even though you were sure he would. 

"I love it!! I'll mirror it and we can start on it Saturday x" was his reply, and you breathed a sigh of relief. 

Incidentally, you also got a text from Baby, that read "Hey!!!! I'm so sorry but I don't think I'll be able to sleep over tomorrow :(", earning a sigh from you. You'd been planning this sleepover for weeks, and you had to start rehearsals Saturday. 

"Awww, why?" You replied, secretly kind of pissed at her for cancelling so last minute. 

"Bambam's coming home for his break and the family's having dinner out to celebrate, but if you want to come to the cafe after school we can still hang out for a bit..." her text made your heart jump a little. Bambam's coming? 

You'd always had a crush on Baby's older brother, and you were pretty sure she knew. He wasn't really ever around lately, so you had very few chances to embarrass yourself in front of him. You supported got7 in all their comebacks- only because he was your friend's brother, of course. You hadn't seen him in a couple of years, always missing him when he came back to Thailand, so you kind of hoped if you saw him this time round you wouldn't harbour the same feelings for him. 

"I understand!! Sure I'll come to the cafe xx how long is he here for?" You pressed send after careful thought about whether that was too obvious. 

"A month!! All the other members are doing something or other so he's probably going to shoot an ad or something here on his break" 

That made you squeal a little in the privacy of your room. A whole month increased the likelihood of you seeing him hugely, and that both excited and terrified you. You replied to Baby one more time and then locked your phone, vowing to actually sleep before too many thoughts about a certain boy came flooding into your head. 

-

"He should be arriving soon, so he might be at the cafe when we get there, and if not we can probably just go to my house- God, it's been so long since I saw him!" Baby whispered, barely able to contain herself as you slowly inched your way through last period. Your cheeks were turning slightly pink, so you leaned your head on one of your hands to hide them from your friend, but the smirk on Baby's face told you you weren't doing a very good job. 

"Yeah, I haven't seen him in a couple of years, how's got7?" You tried to sound nonchalant, but Baby's growing smile once again indicated how badly you were doing. 

The sweet relief of the final bell sounded, and you walked Baby to her locker, nervousness growing in your stomach. You weren't even really sure why- you'd talked to him before, and he was nice, sweet, funny... 

stop! This was not the time to get hung up on Bambam. 

You slowly walked with Baby to the cafe, laughing about how hopeless your physics teacher was when you started to hear a loud collection of voices. As you walked on further, you could see the crowd of girls spilling out of B'chill, which definitely told you Bambam was there. 

"Quick, let's take the back entrance, but be quiet so they don't notice us," Baby whispered and led you round the cafe to the discreet back door. Once you'd locked the door behind you, you turned around to see a burst of bright red hair. Baby immediately dropped her backpack and ran, hooking herself onto the tall guy's back, eliciting a laugh from both of them. Surely... That couldn't be him? He, he was so smol and tiny when you last saw him, and you and Baby used to about how short he was- he couldn't have changed that much in so little time? 

As he turned around to hug Baby, your eyes locked and you immediately looked away. You didn't think you could fully look at this face without your jaw dropping. 

"Oh, my god, ____!" He called, opening his arms to you too. 

"It's been so long since I last saw you! You really haven't changed that much" he chuckled as you took up his offer of a hug, his long arms feeling secure around you as he rubbed your back. 

"Bambam!! I know I haven't, but you can't say the same! What happened to the tiny teenager I knew?" You replied, taking in his face fully. He had really grown into his features- his dark eyes cutely crinkling at the sides, his slightly tanned skin glowing and his lips, plump as ever, looking pink and-

"I guess he grew up a little!" 

He could say that again. You forced yourself to look back up at his eyes and prayed you weren't going as red as his hair. You let out a slight laugh and looked down, unable to hold his gaze for long.

The afternoon was spent making drinks and joking with Bambam and Baby, with him providing funny anecdotes to get you through the busy afternoon. You didn't even get a chance to properly say hello to Kochakorn, she was so swamped with customers. Once it hit 7pm, and the rush started to die down, Kochakorn told you three to go, and thanked you for all your help. You genuinely enjoyed working there, because you got to spend time with your friend while mixing drinks and decorating cakes- why wouldn't you love it? 

You once again used the back entrance, with Bambam putting a cap and mask on to stop himself being a literal red flag. Got7 were huge in Thailand, so with that hair and no "disguise" he would definitely be mobbed. You parted ways with the siblings and made your way home, your headphones in your ears all the way. You couldn't help feeling extremely happy, looking back at the day and how effortlessly you talked to Bambam- he was just like his siblings. 

Even your mum was questioning your oddly smiley disposition, and you just said you had a great day with your friends.

You collapsed on your bed, smiling into your pillow as you tossed off your shoes. When your phone vibrated, you lazily to your back to see who had messaged you.

"Ugh what have you done he won't stop asking about you" 

The text from Baby (saved as Bby💖) made your heart momentarily stop. He was asking about you? A lot? Was this good? Did he like you too? You replied with three question marks in order to prompt her to explain. 

"Bambam. He's been nonstop asking me and bank about you" 

You had no idea what to reply to that. Baby knew about your crush on him, so was definitely sending you the texts to try and start something. Before you could reply, you got another text from her, saying, "Is ur dance with Bank to we don't talk anymore??" 

This confused you, because why would she want to know? She was usually sick of hearing about dancing from Bank, so it was weird for her to ask you about it. 

"Yes..." 

"Okay ;)))))" - okay, this was ridiculous. She was being weird and cryptic and you didn't get it. 

"Winky faces?" You texted, once again in hope of getting an explanation... BUT SHE LEFT YOU ON READ. Well.

You proceeded to spend the evening restarting Boys Over Flowers because you were in the mood for something light and trashy. 

You don't know how you could possibly fall asleep during such a riveting drama, but you apparently did because next thing you knew you were being woken up by your loud alarm. While Firetruck by NCT127 was a great song for waking you up, when you fell asleep with your phone next to your head it was hardly the most pleasant alarm. You replied to all your snapchat streaks and started getting ready for your first practice with Bank in an hour. You threw on running shorts and a loose top, knowing that you were going to be sweating a lot, as pleasant as that was. You didn't bother with makeup, and decided on wearing your high tops. 

As you started your walk to the studio, you received yet another text from "Bby💖"- "enjoy practice today ;)))". You replied with question marks, but kind of knew she wouldn't tell you what was up. 

You pushed open the heavy glass door of BHouse studios, and made your way to practice room 4, where you promised to meet Bank. You could already hear "We Don't Talk Anymore" playing, and you smiled to yourself as you entered the room. That smile was promptly replaced with a shocked expression as you saw the burst of red hair bent over a laptop with Bank, watching the routine. What was he doing here? Dear Lord, was he going to watch you practice?

"____! You're here!" Bank exclaimed when he heard the door shut behind you, and Bambam turned around and gave you a warm smile. He was wearing jeans and a loose muscle tank, and you thanked god he wasn't a mind reader because DAMN. 

"Hi!! Are you ready to do this?" You asked, kind of avoiding the skinny, attractive elephant in the room. 

"See, about that, I was wondering if you'd be okay with doing the dance with Bambam? He's said he wants to do more dancing, and I feel like your chemistry would be really great together. What do you say?" 

How could you say no? More time spent with the guy you'd had a crush on for years, plus the chance to see what it'd be like to dance with him. 

"Yeah! Okay, sounds good." You remembered the text Baby sent you last night, and wondered if Bambam had specifically asked to dance with you. This all pointed to your feelings being reciprocated, but you couldn't really be sure. 

"Okay then, you kids have fun. Good luck with it, I'll come back to look at it in a couple of hours if you want." Bank said as he left the practice room, leaving you with his brother. 

"Uh, so what I usually like doing before I start learning a dance is just sitting down and watching it, to make sure I get a sense of the emotion and feeling behind it? If that's okay? I know you've just been watching it with Bank, but-"

"That's fine, seriously! Whatever helps you." Bambam reassured, kneeling down with you in front of the laptop. 

Wow. When you first watched it, you didn't realise how... Intimate the dance was. Your face started heating up watching the two dancers press up against each other, Lia Kim wrapping her arm around Bongyoung Park's neck. Once you'd watched the dance, you placed the laptop in front of the mirror and stretched slightly, Bambam doing the same. 

"Are you ready?" He asked, holding out a hand for you to high five. You gladly high fived him, and he chuckled, showing off his adorable crinkly smile again. Sigh. How could one guy be so adorable? 

Even as you got into the opening position you could tell this wasn't the best idea. You had to lay your head down on his lap, and to be honest you weren't too excited about the idea of being so near to his crotch. You could see this dance would probably end up eradicating some boundaries. 

"Hey, uh, I know this is kind of an intimate dance, and I'm really sorry if there's any awkwardness in the beginning of practice and whatever" you trailed off, looking up at him from your position near his legs. 

"Hey, it's fine, don't worry about it- I understand! I'm sure as we get more used to it we'll get better" was his comforting reply, so you nodded and lay your head down, literally worried of injuring his twigs of legs. 

You'd slowed the YouTube video down to 50%, and slowly and steadily getting used to the movements. The dance was short and sharp, meaning it was harder to get Lia Kim's feel right, and you wanted to make sure you were perfect, profusely apologising to Bambam whenever you wanted to rewind and start the dance from the very beginning. The next problem arose around the 15 second mark of the dance, when Bambam had to wrap an arm around your waist and support you as you stood up. 

"Bambam, I think I'm too heavy. I can just figure another way to get up-"

"You're not too heavy! Trust me!" 

You looked at him with uncertainty, because yes, his arms had muscle and looked incredible in that top but you weren't sure how well they'd actually support you, and you'd never had a concussion before and didn't think you wanted to experience one now. Bambam then turned you by your shoulders so you could look him in the eyes and said, "_____. Please. Trust me, I'm stronger than that tiny munchkin you knew a couple years ago! I can do it!" 

He sounded so desperate, you decided to say it and try the move. You got down into your side-kneeling position and swivelled your body, feeling Bambam's arm wrap around your waist firmly. You then kicked up with one leg, bringing your body up with the support of the strong arm around you. Once you were up you both breathed a sigh of relief. 

"To be honest, I didn't really know if I could do it," Bambam admitted, making your jaw drop as you slapped his arm. 

"And what if I had fallen?!" 

"I would've been very very very sorry. But hey!" He interjected before you could hit him again, "You didn't fall and we did it!" 

Not to mention the fact you kind of loved the feeling of Bambam's arm around your middle. 

By the time you hit the 40 second mark, it was already 12:30pm, and you and Bambam decided to go out for lunch, of course only after he'd armed himself with a mask, a hat and sunglasses. 

He took you to this adorable outdoor ramen restaurant, and you knew you had to take a picture of the scenery surrounding you as soon as you sat down. You pulled your phone out, and snapped pictures of the flowers and trees all around. Then, turning your phone towards Bambam, you let out a "Smile!", and he covered his face with a peace sign, smiling lazily. 

The way the sunlight hit him made him look adorable, and you giggled while checking the photos you took. However, what you didn't notice was Bambam snapping a picture of you, thinking you looked so cute grinning down at your phone. When you turned your attention back to him, he pretended to just be scrolling through his phone. 

~~~

By the time you got back to the studio, it was late and you two had eaten so much you didn't think you could ever dance again, let alone in that day (Bambam had, of course, paid for everything even though you'd fought your corner to split the bill). Not to mention it was also boiling, adding to your lethargic feeling. Once you entered the air-conditioned room again, you lay down and groaned. Bambam shortly joined you, saying, "I don't think we can manage any more today. Are you good to do tomorrow?" 

"Yeah, I think that's best." It wasn't like this was your ideal situation- your crush, seeing you sweaty, stuffed and lying on the floor of his brother's dance studio, but you couldn't help it. 

"Hey, I should probably get your number or snapchat or whatever so we can text about rehearsal times and stuff" Bambam offered casually, but it made your heart race. 

"Uh, yeah, sure! Can you just pass me your phone, I'm not about to move to get it" you chuckled, inputting your name and number into his contacts, as well as adding yourself on snapchat. 

"Start a streak with me!" He exclaimed after seeing you on the app. You nodded, sending him a snapchat of himself on the floor to start the streak off. 

"Well, if we're not gonna do any dancing, we should probably stop using Bank's studio" you sighed, reluctantly pushing yourself off the floor. 

"I'll walk you home!"  

"Bambam, it's fine you don't have to, I've walked home from here a billion times" 

"I know I don't have to, I want to!"

~~

The walk home was relatively quiet, but not awkward. You waved goodbye to Bambam when he dropped you off at your house, and again, couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day. 

"Did he ask Bank to dance with me?" You texted Baby as you flopped down onto your inviting bed. 

"......... maybe" was her reply. This made joy bloom in your chest, and you squealed slightly. You immediately called her, and as she picked up you couldn't help but notice her slightly hushed voice.

"What's up with you?"

"Bambam's gonna be home soon, I can't gossip for long" 

"Did he know what the dance was when he asked to dance with me?" 

"Of course he did, Bank showed him the dance you chose because he was really pumped, and as I said yesterday, he wouldn't shut up about you,"

This made you hesitate before breathing in deeply and gathering the courage to ask her, finally,

"Does he have a crush on me? Like, really?"

"Yes you idiot! Dear lord! How blind are you? Now. I feel uncomfortable saying this, because he is my brother... but, if that doesn't go for it I'm begging you to make the first move, okay?" At this point, you could hear gumiho start to bark in the background and you guessed Bambam had arrived. "Look, I have to go, but promise me if he doesn't do anything you'll make the first move?" 

"Fine, I promise"

"Good! Hey Bam! No one, just asking about homework..." Baby hung up, leaving you questioning how tomorrow would go.

-------

"Hey!" You called as you dumped your small bag onto the hard floor. 

"____! You ready to actually put work in today?" He laughed. You nodded and he set the laptop up.

You were proud of yourself- you barely blushed when Bambam had to grab your arm and hold as you moved around him, but when it came to 55 seconds in you knew you were in trouble. 

"Okay, um, so I just put my arm..." you trailed off, Bambam giggling as you awkwardly wrapped arm around his neck, his hand guiding you. You were too close to him- you could smell his cologne and you were literally getting dizzy from your heart beating so fast. Bambam tilted his head into the crook of your neck, you know, for the dance of course, and you could feel his breath. Dear lord you were LITERALLY going to die on the spot. 

When you pulled away to look at the next dance move, you found Bambam's hand still on your arm, and his doe brown eyes staring at you. And suddenly he was leaning in and you had no clue what to do, and you continued panicking until his soft lips finally met yours. 

You waited a second before moving your lips with his, still not believing what you were doing. You tangled a hand in his hair and almost got lost in the kiss... before the music still playing in the background brought you back into reality. Also, you were running out of breath. As you pulled back and stared up into his hesitant eyes, you decided to say " it".

And that's how you ended up making out with Bambam on the floor of his brother's dance studio. 

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that" Bambam laughed.

 At this point Bambam was on top of you, supporting his weight with one arm resting next to your head.

"You? You've been wanting to do this to me?" You asked. This was ridiculous. 

Bambam explained he's had a crush on you for a while, and you just laughed because this was like something from a cheesy teen movie. You then told him all about your embarrassing crush, and you two laughed together at how damn oblivious you could be. 

"D'you... want to... continue dancing?" You asked quietly between kisses, acutely aware that any number of people could walk into the practice room and catch you.

Bambam waited a second, letting his eyes flick down to your lips one last time before standing up, offering his hand to pull you up too. 

Surprisingly, you two managed to block in everything before lunch, and you two went up to Bank to beg him to get you takeaway from B'chill. Once he inevitably agreed to get it for you ("Only because you two have worked really hard"), you tried to discreetly text Baby telling her to call you later. 

You left the studio that afternoon exhausted yet ecstatic at the odd turn of events.  

------

In the week following, you and Bambam had finessed your duet to perfection. You, naturally, also forced him to teach you the footwork to "If You Do"- and you had to say, you two crushed it together. You'd also had lunch and dinner multiple times together, mostly inside for fear someone would find you on your "dates". Nevertheless, it still made you feel all warm inside when Bambam brings two pots of instant ramen to the studio one day, teaching you how to fold the foil lid to create a small drain so you wouldn't spill the soup all over yourself (this happened a lot). By the end of that week you had more photos of him on your phone that you did of yourself, because whether he was just scrolling through Instagram or actually posing, you thought him more beautiful than anyone else you'd seen. You'd take selfies with the snapchat couple filters and tears would well up from laughter at how they distorted his face, and he would video you, zooming in your face that didn't look much better than his. When Bank watched the two of you practice, he wore a smug expression, and afterwards praised himself for "knowing you'd have the right chemistry!". You didn't want to tell him that short but sweet make-out sessions between runs certainly helped that. 

Baby reacted a lot better than either of you expected- you decided to only tell her for now, to test the waters. 

"Finally! God! I was so sick of you two going in circles complaining about how one of you wouldn't like the other back and blah blah blah!" She exclaimed, hands thrown up in the air. Even gumiho seemed to bark in agreement. You instantly felt bad for your incessant damsel-like sighing after Bambam for the past few years, wondering if he'd done the same. 

The day before the competition was spent fiercely practicing with Bank watching to point out any mistakes or moments where you weren't perfectly in sync. You'd gone through two litres of water by lunch, but the adrenaline and nerves coursing through your veins kept your energy up. While you'd have expected Bambam to joke/mess around at least a little, he was as dedicated as you. He could see how much dancing (and, in turn, the competition) meant to you and wasn't about to ruin it. He even insisted on filming it and sending it to Yugyeom over KakaoTalk to get another opinion. By the end of the day you were exhausted and covered in sweat, but satisfied your dance was as good as it could be. You high fived Bambam as you finished your last run of the day, and once Bank had left the room, you two performed your secret handshake- made during moments of low concentration that had occurred during the week (it was a masterpiece including cha-cha-sliding and hip bumping). When Bambam tried to hug you, you squealed and jumped away.

"You're sweaty, I'm sweaty, this can't end well!" You protested, nimbly avoiding his outstretched arms while struggling not to let laughter take over you. Eventually he caught you by the waist and swung you around midair as you shrieked and giggled. When he put you down, you hugged him properly, wrapping your arms around his neck- a sort of "thank you". He didn't seem to mind how gross you were, rubbing your back and kissing the top of your head as you buried your face into the crook of his neck. 

 

You woke up the next day with butterflies already wreaking havoc in your stomach. You and Bambam had agreed on slightly coordinating outfits- he wore a black distressed jumper and some extremely torn jeans while you wore a distressed cropped black hoodie with some high waisted jeans, and matching nikes. You tied your hair up, put in some earrings and applied your makeup simple but sharp. Bambam said he would stop by to pick you up and that you two would drive to the venue together. You could hardly eat anything because of how uneasy you felt- you knew you were as prepared as you could be, but that didn't stop you feeling nervous. 

He pulled you in close to him and held your hand the whole car ride, rubbing in circles with his thumb. While this was adorable and slightly comforting, you still felt as though you could vomit when you reached the venue. You had only performed onstage a handful of times, and you'd only entered a competition once before, and that was by video submission. This was a whole other level. The only upside was it was relatively low-scale, so you could count there wouldn't be that many people there. Furthermore, your partner in crime had been onstage more times than you could count, and he was telling you not to be worried. 

In the waiting room you were told you'd be performing last, and Bambam tried to keep his head down so he wouldn't draw attention to himself. You couldn't bear talking to anyone, so you sat with your head down and your hands folded neatly in your lap, trying to take deep breaths as Bambam's hand rubbed your shoulder blades. 

When it finally came your turn to perform, Bambam gave your hand one last squeeze before crossing to the other side of the backstage area, getting ready to go up on the opposite side of the stage to you.

And then you were up, bowing to the judges and setting yourself up on Bambam's lap. You could clearly hear whispers of recognition at Bambam, and you could hear some girls screaming his name in hopes of recognition, but he stayed still until the music started up.

The dance was short anyways, but it felt like only a second that you were performing. You kicked up, finally showcasing the move that you two had done hundreds of times in the past week. You kept your moves short and sharp to best imitate Lia Kim, and it seemed as if your body danced without you needing to tell it to. When Bambam pulled you close, the cheers felt miles away, and you wrapped you arm around his neck, heart beating even faster (if that were possible). When Bambam's arm wrapped around your exposed midriff for the last time, you were reminded of how little of the dance you had left, and made even more of an effort to be on time and precise. 

And then it was over, and the crowd was cheering as you and Bambam bowed once more, and as you looked into the audience, you could see the faces of both Bambam's family and yours beaming up at you, applauding enthusiastically. 

You were only offstage for a minute, while the judges talked amongst themselves. 

"You were great up there! I'm so proud of you." Bambam whispered with his classic cute grin. You looked up at him and felt such a wave of adoration that you probably could've jumped him right there, but as you were aware of the consequences, you decided on hugging him instead. 

"Hey, hey! Slightly too tight, can't breathe" he giggled as you loosened your grip around his neck. You performed your handshake with him quickly, and then you were called back up along with the six other pairs for the prize-giving. You weren't as nervous for this part- you knew you'd done the best you could and you were confident you could say the same for Bambam. 

Third was given to two girls who had done a choreo to " Better Have My Money" not dissimilar to the Blackpink dance, and you knew you were screwed when second went to a couple that had choreographed a dance to "Love Me Right". You heard the amount of applause they got, and if they were that good and only got second, you had no chance. 

That's why you almost had a heart attack when your name was announced for first place. You turned to Bambam in shock, but he was only smiling widely down at you as you hugged him once more, jumping up and down slightly. You knew it probably meant nothing to Bambam, but it meant to much to you. 

Afterwards, your families complimented you and praised both of your skills, Bank undoubtedly crediting himself as the genius that put you two together. 

In front of them, Bambam kept his arm wrapped around your waist, a feeling that had become very familiar to you in the short space of time you were with him. 

And when you two were finally alone, you kissed him like you meant it.