”Hyung?” Taemin looked over.

”Mm?” Minho hummed, his head leaned back comfortably.

”Did I fall and bump my head? Or are we actually on a plane to LA?” Taemin grinned.

Taemin had chosen Minho to come with him on his trip. It wasn’t favoritism or anything, it was just that it was easier to choose him. He was always chill and respectful to everyone, and very adaptable. He was just the type of person you’d want to take on a trip. Besides, Kibum had his rehearsal that weekend and Jongin would be a better help there than Minho.

Minho chuckled in response, snuggling into his neck pillow. “It’s happening, baby.”

”Ugh, this feels like a crazy dream.” Taemin rested his head back in the headrest as well. In all of Taemin’s wildest dreams, he couldn’t imagine this. Dancing on television. He was so happy.

It was a nice setup: They arrived in LA to check in on Friday night, then film on Saturday morning, then Taemin and Minho had the entire day to explore the city before they flew back the next morning. Since taping ended at 10AM, it gave the couple plenty of time to see some sights, try some local cuisine, and get souvenirs for their friends.

As Taemin got his stage makeup done, he was really starting to feel the nerves. He couldn’t sit still in the chair, often apologizing to the artist. She didn’t mind, she was used to it.

”Minnie-ah,” Minho called from the chair beside him, noticing the combination of his silence and his knee bobbing up and down. “Relax.”

Just that was enough to pull Taemin out of his whirlpool of negative thoughts and back to reality. He looked up through the reflection to see Minho, already staring, smiling supportively.

”It’s only an interview and a dance. You’ll do great, just be yourself.” Minho affirmed gently.

Taemin nodded with a soft smile and took a breath. Minho was right. Taemin already knew the dance like the back of his hand. How much trouble could a short interview be? All he had to do was get up and do it.

A crew member found Taemin and signaled to him that his segment was up next. He swallowed, stood and headed towards the main stage, stealing a last glance back at Minho smiling brightly with his thumbs in the air.

Taemin stood offstage, wiggling his fingers and toes to shake off any lingering nervousness. His outfit wasn’t really anything fancy because he knew he would have to dance. He wore all black—t-shirt, ripped skinny jeans, vans—his only pop of color, an acid washed and oversized light blue jean jacket, the right side of which was covered in buttons. The most prominent button on the article was one that wrote “2J CAFE” in big letters with a coffee cup symbol. Taemin liked the button because he figured he it could help his hyungs promote their business in a less obvious way than wearing a full 2J tracksuit.

Taemin turned his head, hearing a countdown. He took a deep breath in and exhaled, as he heard his intro from onstage.

”And our next guest has been dancing into our hearts with his amazing moves. Let’s welcome Taemin Lee, the Dancing Machine!”

Taemin, on cue, walked out onto the stage almost instantly deafened by the sound of the audience’s screams. Jeez, he knew he had fans but to see a bunch of them piled up to the ceiling cheering his name was overwhelming in the least. He still kept his composure, waving at them with his everpresent cutie smile planted on his face.

He gave Ellen a soft hug before sitting on the chair across from her. “Hi Ellen! I am a huge fan.” He spoke in English. He’d been practicing that.

”Ah! As am I.” Ellen smiled, clearly impressed. She picked up an iPad from the coffee table. “Now, my producers have given me this app and they say if I talk into it, it... translates... my... sentences.” She said into it, the device spewing out Korean translation.

”Heol!*” Taemin exclaimed in Korean, his lips in a perfect ‘o’ as he looked around, surprised that an application like that existed. He thought there would be an actual person there translating.

Ellen and the audience laughed at his reaction. “Here, try it.” She spoke into it before handing him his own iPad over to him.

”Annyeonghaseyo, Lee Taemin imnida!” He spoke a little shyly into it, the voice producing a smooth sounding, “Hello, I am Taemin Lee!”

”Wahh,” he giggled in amazement before continuing to speak. “Thank you for having me, Ellen, I’m very glad to be here.” He bowed his head shortly.

She amusedly bowed her head in return. “It’s wonderful to have you here. Now, we’ve all seen the video and we love it. How did Dancing Machine come to be?”

”Yes, it’s a funny story. It wasn’t planned at all. I am a dance major at my college in Korea. I had to come up with a dance to perform for my finals and so I created this one that you see in the video!” He gestured to the screen behind them that had a freeze frame of Taemin’s video, giving the tablet time to speak his translation.

”Unfortunately, at the time, I didn’t like the dance at all. I thought I could do better. I wanted to actually delete this video so I would have the space on my phone to make a new video. But my... my friend told me I should upload it just in case I wanted to go back to it. So we uploaded it and it blew up overnight.” He finished, nodding. He felt weird about calling Minho his friend but... this was international TV. He didn’t want to be met with hate so soon. He had family who would be watching, some who didn’t know he was gay.

”Wow, so you almost deleted this video?”

Taemin nodded.

”Good thing for his friend, huh?” She asked the audience, who in turn just cheered again.

“So, the popularity started with the dancing, but when people got a closer look, it switc