08: the auditions for seoul arts have arrived!





 

the auditions for seoul arts had finally arrived and seungkwan was nervous. nervous was an understatement, he was literally pale with worry. what if he forgot the lyrics to his song? what if he messed up and made a fool of himself?

he had heard stories of people introducing themselves and the judges deciding they didn't want to even hear them perform. what if that happened to him? he couldn't imagine going home and telling soonyoung and hansol that he had been rejected after introducing himself. god, that would be embarrassing.

the room was filled with hundreds of teens — half of them were looking at lyrics on their phones, the other half on paper. every single one of them looked pale with worry and seungkwan was a bit relieved to know he wasn't the only one. a boy who had his back to him dropped his phone and seungkwan winced, seeing the screen was smashed.

the boy, on the other hand, didn't seek notice and immediately want back to reading his lyrics. seungkwan didn't know how he did it, if that was him he'd probably have burst into tears.

a man entered the room, causing everyone to become silent. he was holding a clipboard and wearing a jacket with the seoul arts logo on the right corner. he began calling out names and seungkwan jumped when he heard "boo, seungkwan".

he quickly rushed forward with the rest of those whose names were called, including the boy who had dropped his phone. as seungkwan got closer he began to realise that he knew this boy — the cropped brown hair, the pink lips.

oh my god, it was hansol.

before he could say anything the boy began walking forwards very quickly as if he was trying to get as far away from him as possible. this is infuriated seungkwan and he began walking at a faster pace to catch with him.

bloody hell does he have fast legs, seungkwan thought as he already began to lose breath. but he eventually caught up with and grabbed his shirt in an attempt to make him stop.

"hansol," he hissed. "would you like to explain what you're doing here?"

hansol didn't say a word and was more focused on trying to get him to let go of his shirt but seungkwan's fingers were not budging and neither was he.

"hansol. i'm not mad at you." he finally let go, making hansol fall forwards. "just wish you would've told me. i mean i am your boyfriend."

hansol avoided his gaze and seungkwan sighed. he was beyond confused as to why hansol wouldn't have told him they were auditioning for the same school. he would've helped him, they could've rehearsed together! he was hurt that hansol obviously hadn't trusted him enough to tell him.

but there wasn't time to be hurt as they walked into a large room. in the middle there was a table and four chairs. in each chair was a member of the faculty, they all looked expectantly at the group in front of them.

seungkwan bit his lip, he wanted to turn back now. but he couldn't as the man who bought them there shut the doors behind them and they all fell back into a line. foolishly, and mainly due to chasing hansol, seungkwan was at the front with hansol next to him.

they called him forward, everyone else in the room fixing their eyes on him.

"hi, i'm boo seungkwan." his palms were so sweaty. "and today i'll be singing i will always love you by whitney houston."

the judges nodded and seungkwan smiled before launching into a rendition of his mother's favourite song. he had heard this song a million times, his mother didn't love it — she lived and breathed this song. she hummed it in the shower, sang it while she was making his lunch, put it on in the cafe they used to own back in jeju.

when he finished the judges nodded and asked him to stand at the back of line. he nodded, biting his lip. they hadn't clapped, had he failed? but as he watched the rest of the group perform he realised they did this for everyone.

soon he was back at the front of the line and the judges dismissed the group. the man who had bought them there was leading them back and seungkwan felt someone tugging on his shirt.

"what?" he snapped.

hansol blinked, before looking down at his shoes.

"i know you're upset with me for not telling you but honestly i didn't even know myself." hansol got out, hoping seungkwan would believe him. "my parents and yoojung signed me up behind my back as a kind of joke."

"okay." seungkwan nodded, it was a plausible story. "it still gave you no right to ignore me like that! that really hurt hansol."

the man, seungkwan had noticed, was not leading them back to the hall they had first entered but outside. as they walked past classrooms seungkwan peered into one and saw the boy he had seen at hansol's rap battle; the boy with the cropped hair and the lollipop, the one jeonghan hadn't liked. they caught each other's gaze and the boy winked making seungkwan roll his eyes and speed up.

"did you know that guy?" hansol asked, still trying to make conversation. "why did he wink at you? doesn't he know you're taken? ing weirdo."

seungkwan laughed to himself, jealous hansol was cute. "no i don't know him, i met him at that rap battle you did. he's a stranger to me."

"ah, okay." hansol nodded, his mouth set in a firm line. "anyways, do you forgive me?"

"no." seungkwan's answer was immediate. "you shouldn't have ignored me like that. i would've never done that to you."

the doors opened and they stepped out into the outside. soonyoung and yoojung were waiting for them and began to cheer the minute they saw them.

"how'd it go?" soonyoung asked, frowning as he noticed something up.

"can we just go home?" he mumbled, feeling hansol's stare on him.

"yeah, sure!" soonyoung kisses yoojung goodbye, mumbling something in her ear before wrapping his arm around seungkwan's shoulder.

hansol watched them go, his heart heavy wondering how he would make this up to him.