Sweat was pouring down Jongin’s face before he let himself take a break. Luhan was right next to him, panting along with him. Their new choreography wasn’t necessarily hard, it was just that they had never worked with each other, and weren’t really familiar with each other’s styles. Where Jongin was sharp, Luhan was smooth. Where Jongin snapped, Luhan flowed.

            But the choreographer insisted that once they worked it out, the dance would be beautiful.

            Jongin hoped that it would be worth it. They were spending hours on this piece that was less than a minute long.

            Luhan was sitting against the wall, wiping his sweaty face with a towel when he called out to Jongin. It was just the two of them in the practice room.

            “Jongin-ah!”

            Jongin looked up to see Luhan gesturing for him to come closer. Jongin obliged, not really knowing why.

            “Are you okay?”

            “Yes, hyung. Why?”

            “Sehun told me about your back. I just wanted to make sure you didn’t hurt yourself.”

            Jongin gritted his teeth. It was hard to hate Luhan when he was like this.

            They were silent before, “You like Sehun, don’t you.”

            Jongin jerked away, surprised. He didn’t think he had been that obvious.

            “Why?”

            “You like him.” It wasn’t a question; it was a statement.

            “Again, why?”

            Luhan leaned his head against the wall. “Because I do too.”

            Jongin bit his lip, attempting to keep his temper.

            “Why are you telling me this?”

            “Because I don’t hate you, and I don’t want to hate you. And I was hoping that you feel the same way about me.”

            Jongin stared.

            “Also, Sehun would never consider either of us as actually relationship-worthy, and knowing that there’s someone else suffering with you makes it a little better.”

            “Why would Sehun never consider either of us as actually relationship-worthy?”

            Luhan rolled his eyes. “Have you talked to the kid? He’s so traditional when it comes to his views. He’s just one of those people.”

            They ended up staying at the practice room for another three hours, perfecting the choreography. By the end, they were perfectly in sync, Luhan’s smoothness evening out Jongin’s sharpness.

            Jongin had to admit, it had been worth it, and Luhan even waited to leave the practice room with him. They understood each other, and that went unsaid.

            Jongin spent the next couple of weeks learning the choreography for all of his teasers. Four days of that time was spent with Sehun. Just the two of them, in the practice room. Jongin had almost forgotten how intense Sehun was; how much energy he had. He could dance for hours straight and still be able to run a couple of miles.

            Jongin finally had to stop, but Sehun kept going. He watched as the younger practiced the steps again and again, the music pounding in his ears.

            By the time Sehun was tired, Jongin had almost fallen asleep, his head on a chair. Sehun shook him awake.

            “Hyung!”

            Jongin started. “What?”

            “You were asleep.”

            Jongin yawned and rubbed his eyes. “Well, I’m tired.”

            “Can we do another run through?”

            “Another one?”

            Sehun pouted. “Just one more.”

            Jongin groaned but got up. “Last one.”

            Sehun the music and Jongin let himself be carried away in the beat. He caught Sehun’s eye in the mirror, and the younger smiled a little. Jongin felt his own lips curve into a smile. They were perfectly synchronized, and Jongin felt better than he had in a while.

            He remembered why he danced.

            When the music stopped, Jongin wiped the sweat off of his forehead and leaned against the wall for support. He winced a little at his back, but it had barely been bothering him, probably due to the cream. Sehun barely looked tired; he was still up and energetic. Jongin wondered sometimes where he got all that energy.

            They ended up leaving not long after that; they shut off all the lights and locked the door after them. The clock told them that it was nearly midnight, but Sehun wanted to go get something to eat. Jongin rolled his eyes but let Sehun drag him to the nearest deli. They were almost the only customers; there was a couple sitting two tables down from them.

            After their waitress took their orders, Sehun excused himself to the bathroom, so Jongin pulled out his phone. He had a couple texts, but he didn’t pay attention to any of them except one. Luhan had texted him about fifteen minutes ago.

            Hey, why aren’t you guys home yet? Joonmyun’s worrying.

            Jongin quickly typed out: Sehun was hungry so we’re at the deli. Be home soon.

            Luhan’s reply came quicker than Jongin expected.

            K.

           Jongin rolled his eyes and put his phone on the table. Luhan knew how much he hated those one letter texts. Jongin supposed he deserved it; he was the one with Sehun after all.

            Sehun slid back into his seat and asked, “Did anyone call?”

            “Luhan wanted to know when we were coming home. Joonmyun hyung was worrying.”

            Sehun smiled. “Joonmyun hyung always worries.”

            “Well at least one of us should.”

            “True. Could you imagine how disorganized we would be without him?”

            “I don’t even want to think about it.”

            Sehun laughed, and the waitress was there with their sandwiches. They thanked her and she smiled at them before leaving.

            Sehun was eating, but Jongin just picked at his food.

            “What’s wrong, hyung?”

            Jongin looked up. “What? Oh. Nothing’s wrong.”

            “Li–“

            “I’m not lying.”
            Sehun obviously didn’t believe him. “Tell me.”

            “But there’s nothing to tell.”

            Sehun rolled his eyes. “You know, we don’t talk about girls a lot. Isn’t that what guys are supposed to talk about? Girls?”

            Jongin laughed; he couldn’t help it. Sehun looked so cute when he asked that question.

            “I’ve never really though about it.”

            “But we’re almost 18. We’re supposed to think about girls.”

            Jongin shrugged. “I guess we just got caught up with all the training.”

            Sehun was silent. Then, “Remember Soojung?”

            “Who?”

            “Krystal.”

            “Oh. Yeah, I remember her.”

            “I still can’t believe she debuted so early.”

            “Uh…yeah. Sure.”

            “I used to like her.”

            Jongin almost choked on his sandwich, but he managed to make it a cough.

            “Really?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Huh. You never told me.”

            Sehun looked confused. “I didn’t tell you because I thought you liked her too.”

            Jongin laughed. “Me? Soojung?”

            “Yeah. She used to be all over you.”

            “Um…no. She was not all over me.”

            “Well either way. She liked you.”

            Jongin shrugged. “Well, I didn’t like her.”

            “Why not? She’s pretty.”

            Because I like guys. “Because…I just didn’t like her. She’s not my type.”

            “What is your type them?”

            You. “I look at personalities more.”

            “What kind of personalities?”

            Oh, I don’t know. Maybe someone that acts like you and talks like you and thinks like you. “Someone that’s loyal. Someone that will be there for me.”

            “What about looks?”

            Someone that has your face and your body. “Tall, I guess.”

            Sehun rolled his eyes. “Wow, Jongin. Very specific.”

            “Well what about you?”

            “What about me?”

            “What’s your type?”

            Sehun hesitated, then, “Tall. Definitely tall. And older.”

            “Older?”

            “Yeah. I think it’ll be more comfortable.”

            “How much older?”

            “Up to five years, I guess.”

            Jongin swallowed, feeling it stick in his throat. “Oh. Okay.”

            Sehun looked at him a little strangely but didn’t say anything.

            Jongin didn’t know what would’ve happened if Joonmyun hadn’t chosen that moment to send them a text full of worry and caps.

            SEHUN. JONGIN. I’M GETTING WORRIED; GET HOME SOON, OKAY?

            Jongin sent back, Leaving now, sorry we’re so late.

            He dragged Sehun out of the deli before Joonmyun had a migraine.

            Their dorm was a little too far for them to walk, so they climbed in a taxi. The taxi driver looked at them a little suspiciously, because really, what would two tall, good looking boys be doing this late? But he didn’t ask any questions, and Jongin and Sehun were silent the whole trip.

            When they arrived at the dorm, they paid and thanked the driver before getting out of the taxi. They still were too afraid to ride the elevator at night, so they climbed the multiple flights of stairs up to their dorm.

            Nine of the other ten were still awake; Kyungsoo was missing. They were watching a movie in the living room. Except Joonmyun. He was pacing back and forth in the kitchen when Sehun and Jongin came in the door.

            “FINALLY. Why were you out so late?”

            Joonmyun looked so worried, Jongin felt a little bad. “Sorry, hyung. Sehun was hungry, so we went to the deli.”

            “Fine, but next time, make sure to call, okay?”

            Jongin nodded and asked, “Why is everyone up? It’s almost one.”

            Joonmyun rolled his eyes. “Kyungsoo’s sleeping, but that’s about it. Everyone else wanted to watch Titanic for whatever reason.”

            Jongin laughed and pulled Joonmyun to the living room.

            The first thing he noticed was that Sehun was sitting next to Luhan, who had his arm around the younger. Sehun’s head was on Luhan’s shoulder, and they were sitting against the couch. Jongin bit his lip but didn’t say anything, partly because he wouldn’t want Luhan to bother him when he was with Sehun.

            They started filming their teasers not long after that. Jongin had been told that his stage name would be ‘Kai’, and he wasn’t too sure how he felt about it yet. It was weird, definitely; he couldn’t get used to it.

            Sehun loved it.

            “What are you talking about, hyung? ‘Kai’ sounds so cool!”

            Jongin rolled his eyes and pushed him away, but inside, it made him feel better that Sehun liked his new name.

            He would repeat it to himself at night, softly.

            Kai. Kai Kai Kai.

            Jongin felt like he was two different people. ‘Jongin’ was the normal boy. ‘Kai’ was the star.

            Jongin wasn’t sure that he was ready to be ‘Kai’.

            The director called him in, and Jongin – now Kai – took a deep breath and stepped onto the set.

            Someone handed him a cane, and the stylist fixed his hair before setting the hat gently on top of it.

            “Good luck,” she whispered. “You’ll be great.”

            He was Jongin again, in a moment of weakness. He smiled and nodded at her and willed himself to be Kai, to be fearless.

            When the director gave him the cue, he was Kai. He was the hot new star that everyone would be talking about. That guy that all the guys wanted to be. The guy that everyone would see and say ‘That’s Kai. The dancer. Everyone knows him.’.

            The guy that could do anything.

            It was flawless. The director even applauded him as he walked off the set.

            “You were great!” he said, clapping him on the back. “I can’t wait to see how this turns out!”

            Kai smiled, one last Kai moment before becoming Jongin again. His manager merely nodded, but Jongin knew that he was proud.

            They drove back to the studio, where the 11 other guys were. When Jongin walked in, they all pounced on him, demanding details of the shooting of the teaser.

            “How did it go?”

            “Was it scary?”          

            “What’s the director like?”

            “Did you mess up?”

            “How many takes did you have to go through?”

            Jongin laughed and put his hands up. “It was fine, actually. The director isn’t bad, and no, it’s not scary. Well, if you mess up, he might be scary.”

            “How many takes did you have?” Tao was insistent in his question.

            “Just one.”

            Joonmyun’s eyebrows shot up. “Just one?”

            Jongin nodded.

            Wu Fan whistled. “Well, it is our Jongin.” Luhan laughed at this and slung and arm around Jongin’s shoulders. “Yeah, our Jongin is pretty much flawless, don’t you think?”

            Jongin hadn’t been expecting it from Luhan, but he just smiled and went with it.

            Sehun had been near the back the whole time, quietly. When Jongin came up to him later, the younger stayed silent.

            “Hey, Sehun! What’s wrong?”

            “Nothing.”

            “Then why are you so quiet? You’re never quiet.”

            “Oh, um. Nothing. Just…tired.”

            “You sure?”

            Sehun bit his lip, and said, “Okay, fine. I’m nervous about the shooting. What if I mess up?”

            “You won’t mess up.”

            “How do you know?”

            “I just do.”

            Sehun pushed Jongin away from him, but Jongin just laughed and put an arm around Sehun’s shoulders.

            “Want to run our duet again?”

            Sehun smiled and nodded, and Jongin felt that anything was worth it if it got Sehun to smile.

A/N: I finished this at 3AM this morning so if there are some weird typos I'M SORRY a;slkfja;skld

but the edit isn't that crappy

right?

right??

anyway. sorry it's taking me so long to update OTL

oh, and I changed my tumblr url. I'm sekaihans now :)

thanks for reading!!

I need to stop abusing exo reaction gifs