One month and a half later

Jaebum was running towards the dance building with all his might. Teacher Boa was announcing which teams were allowed to choose which dancer of the 1Million studio they would dance with. Jaebum had woken up late because Jackson had woken him up during the night because he had forgotten his key. Five minutes later, Jaebum finally arrived, stopping for a bit to even his breath out. He entered and went to sit besides Yugyeom, greeting BamBam while passing through.

“Where were you, hyung?” Yugyeom asked.

“I woke up late because of Jackson. She hasn’t arrived already, right?”

“Nope, we’re still waiting. Do you think we’ll have to show how much of the choreography we’ve already come up with?” Yugyeom said, getting nervous.

“I don’t think so. She’ll probably ask how much we’ve already worked. However, if she does ask us to show a bit of our choreo, it won’t be a problem, right? We’re the best!” Jaebum said, trying to cheer the younger up.

“I guess…” Yugyeom said, still unsure. Jaebum took him by the shoulders and pulled him closer to reassure him.

The, teacher Boa entered, everyone quieting done at once.

“Hello everyone! So, as I told you in the mail I sent you yesterday, you’ll have the right to choose with which dancer you’re going to work with, if you want to. I know some of you guys are already done with half of the choreography so I got a list prepared with all the dancers of the 1Million studio. You can just write your name down beside the dancer’s name you want. Each dancer is allowed to coach up to two teams.”

Everyone looked at each other, chatting a bit before Boa raised a hand, making everyone quiet down again.

“I’ll call the teams I know are already halfway done now so they can choose first.” She looked at a sheet of paper she had in her hand. “Right. BamBam and Momo, Jongin and Taemin and Jaebum and Yugyeom. Get up and go write your names on the list I have here.” Teacher Boa.

Jaebum and Yugyeom got up, confused about how teacher Boa knew they were already halfway done. After the first day, she never went to see them again. They walked up to her and she smiled at them.

“Park Jimin told me that you told Jeon Jungkook that you were halfway done last week. Now choose your dancer.” She simply said, winking at them and handing them the list of dancers.

The boys took the list and a pen, looking over the names on the list. Both Yoo Junsun and Austin Pak were on the list, each boy’s favourite dancer. Yugyeom looked Jaebum, unsure of what to do when Jaebum smiled and took the pen from Yugyeom’s hand, writing their names next to Austin Pak before going out of the room.

“Why did you do that? You should have chosen Yoo Junsun!” Yugyeom complained.

“But I knew that you wanted to work with Austin Pak. I can work with Yoo Junsun later.” Jaebum said, flashing his eye-smile. Yugyeom smiled back and he hugged his hyung.

It’s been one month that Yugyeom’s been suffering day by day. Being so close to Jaebum after opening his heart to him was harder than what he had imagined. Every evening when he went back to the dorms, he lied in his bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering if this was real life until Jungkook called him for dinner.

Jaebum was just so sweet and caring and cute and adorable and just all Yugyeom could wish for. He didn’t know how he got so lucky to meet someone like him.

“Thank you so much, hyung.” His voice so soft Jaebum almost didn’t hear it.

“No need to thank me. And you’re the leader anyway.” He replied, detaching himself from the younger. “Now, we better be prepared for the first practice! We’ll need to talk with Austin and his dancers to see what we can improve or need to change.”

“Oh my god, stop saying I’m the leader.” Yugyeom complained, Jaebum winking at him once more. “But, yeah, you’re right. Maybe we should go over the choreo once right now? Just to make sure? In the mail teacher Boa sent us she said that the practices could begin whenever.”

“Okay, let’s go.” Jaebum said, taking Yugyeom's hand and leading the way to their practice room.

Yugyeom would be lying if he said his heart didn’t pick up the pace once Jaebum took his hand but, this time, he didn’t try to ignore how fast his heart was beating. He wanted to savour this moment. The feel of Jaebum’s hand all over his own, it was warming up his whole body. When they entered the practice room and Jaebum let go of his hand, he was a bit disappointed and felt cold all of a sudden. But he looked over at Jaebum and his body warmed up again.

“Okay, let’s warm up.” The older said and Yugyeom nodded, smiling lightly.

They put some music on and started a dance battle. They’ve been warming up like that the past month, Jungkook and Jimin sometimes showing up to spend some time with them. Yugyeom was partly thankful. Partly because, thanks to them, he was less awkward with Jaebum but he also wanted to be alone with the older. He noticed that he was the possessive kind of guy. Jimin had a habit of touching Jaebum’s hair and legs for whatever reason and Yugyeom caught himself (more like Jungkook caught him) glaring at him more than once. The younger smiled to himself at the memory but kept on dancing, focusing on his movements.

As the second song was ending, the door to the practice room opened, revealing five unknown guys. Jaebum quickly stopped the music and went to stand beside Yugyeom, curious as to why were those guys entering.

“Hello, who are you?” Yugyeom asked, as confused as Jaebum.

Then, a sixth guy entered behind the others and came to the front.

“Hi. I’m Austin Pak.” He introduced himself.

Yugyeom looked at him, his mouth slightly opened, not believing his eyes. Jaebum elbowed him on the sides, making him bow.

“Excuse my friend, he’s a bit awkward.” Jaebum apologized.

Yugyeom felt a pang in his chest when he heard Jaebum say ‘friend’ but he ignored it, realising that he didn’t have the right to feel this way. They were friends even if he wanted to be more.

“I’m sorry.” He said, looking at Austin.

“It’s okay. So, I heard that you chose me. What are your names?” Austin asked, smiling warmly.

“I’m Jaebum.”

“And I’m Yugyeom.”

“Cool. Let me introduce my team. I mean, a part of my team. They will be helping you to perfect your dance, just as I will too.”

“Thank you so much.” Yugyeom said, bowing down once again.

Austin got closer, smiling joyfully.

“Hey, it’s my job. No worries.” He said, tapping Yugyeom on the back.

Jaebum almost wanted to scoff when he saw Yugyeom blush. Almost. Austin Pak was still here to help them, he should stay respectful.

“Well, should we show you what we already have?” Yugyeom asked, as shy as ever. Jaebum wanted to kiss him and hit him at the same time. Why was he acting so unlike himself around that dancer? It made him slightly jealous.

“Of course! We’ll sit down and just face the mirror, dance as if we weren’t here.” Austin said, ushering his dancers to the little couch and sitting down with them.

Yugyeom got closer to Jaebum, seeking some kind of comfort.

“Hyung.” He began.

“Don’t stress, Yugyeom. We’ll do well.” Jaebum said before going to the centre of the room, facing the mirror.

Yugyeom stood frozen in place for a short second, shocked by how coldly Jaebum talked to him. He brushed it away and went to stand behind him. He tried to make eye contact through the mirror and just as he lost hope, Jaebum looked at him and winked. Yugyeom suddenly felt determined to show Austin Pak and his crew what they were made of.

The music started and they danced, slipping in their own world, making eye contact from time to time. As they danced, they didn’t care about how Austin Pak would react, about what he would think of their choreography. All they cared about was that they were dancing, together. But they had to stop at some point and just after they did, Yugyeom ran to pause the music too. The two students waited, facing the professional dancers, their chests heaving due to the lack of air in their lungs. The dancers got up and began to applaud.

“Are you really students?” a dancer asked.

“Yes. Was it that bad?” Yugyeom asked, uncomfortable.

“Bad? Are you kidding? It was so cool!” the dancer answered and others nodded, agreeing with his words.

“There are some things that could be fixed but it’s great. Better than when I began to choreograph, that’s for sure.” Austin stated, a big smile on his face.

“Don’t say that, oh my gosh.” Yugyeom muttered, giggling.

Jaebum stopped himself before rolling his eyes and got closer to Austin.

“You said there were things to be fixed. Can you tell us more?” he asked in a neutral tone.

“I won’t just tell you more, I’ll help you fix them. First of all, the move at the beginning of the first verse. Instead of just grabbing his shoulder like this-” he showed the gesture on Jaebum “- and staying still while he only moves his arm, I think it would be cool to like make him tilt to the side.” Seeing that Jaebum wasn’t getting it, he grabbed a dancer and made him lean on his side, catching hold on his hand so he won’t fall.

Jaebum nodded when he understood.

“Like this move Michael Jackson did, right? The anti-gravity lean.” He said.

“Kinda. But we’ll hold him back. Should we try it?” Austin asked, walking towards Yugyeom.

“Yeah, okay. Do I just stand here?” Yugyeom asked, unsure of what to do.

“Yeah. Guys, come on. Jaebum, grab his shoulder like you did and we’ll do the rest.” Austin said and Jaebum did as he was told. The other dancers came, grabbed Yugyeom's legs and waist and made him lean forward.

“Great!” Austin exclaimed, clapping his hand once. “Now, let’s try it with the music, shall we?”

“Wait, shouldn’t we rehearse without the music first to see the fluidity of it all?” Jaebum asked, taken aback.

“I don’t think so.”

“I agree with Jaebum hyung. Let’s try without the music first and then we’ll see.” Yugyeom said and Austin stared at him for a second before nodding.

“Okay. If you’re more comfortable this way.” He said and went to sit back on the couch.

Yugyeom and Jaebum danced from the beginning without the music, trying to include the dancers in a subtle way. One of the dancers had an idea so they tried it a few times as they hummed the song to get the timing right and when they succeeded, they immediately tried it with the music.

“Okay, let’s try with the music now.” Yugyeom said and a dancer went to play the music.

They practiced the same move half an hour until they were totally satisfied with the outcome. It was exhausting but they wanted to make it perfect. The boys were touched to see that the dancers were as invested as they were. They sometimes made minor mistakes and wanted to try it back from the beginning.

When they finally got everything right, they all applauded each other for the hard work, turning to Austin.

“Are you done?” he asked and everyone nodded. “Okay, let me see it again from the beginning.” He said and the boys nodded, getting to dance right away.

They stopped the music right after the chorus, waiting for Austin’s comments.

“It’s great but it lacks some impact. I think that if we have the guys dancing with you all the time at least until the end of the chorus it would be cool. What do you think?” he asked, a smirk on his lips.

“I think it could be great but it will take everyone a lot of time to learn the choreography.” Yugyeom said, looking at the dancers.

“It’s okay, it’s our job anyway! We’re here to help you, guys!” one dancer said, smiling brightly at Yugyeom and Jaebum.

“Well…” Yugyeom began, looking at Jaebum.

“I don’t see any problem.” Jaebum said, smiling lightly to Yugyeom.

“Okay, then it’s set.” Austin said, clapping his hands when his phone rang. He took it out and looked at the screen. “I need to take this call so start without me, I’ll come back when I can.” He said and left the room.

Yugyeom and Jaebum looked at each other and turned to the dancers, smiling.

“Let’s get on with it, then? We need to teach you everything perfectly.” Jaebum said, Yugyeom eagerly nodding as the crew cheered.