“I know a secret,” Kai confessed to Yixing the next day before dance rehearsal. “You can’t tell anyone.”

Yixing looked over at him suspiciously, “What are you talking about?”

“I found out some information yesterday,” Kai began stretching, trying to look normal just in case someone walked into the room. For the past day he had been debating whether he wanted to tell Yixing. Not that he didn’t trust the Chinese dancer, but he didn’t know if he was willing to give up what could have possibly been his ticket into becoming Beast’s back up dancer.

“What is it?” Yixing sat down next to him to stretch, too.

But before Kai could give up his new information, someone walked into the room. So he just smiled, “I’ll tell you later.”

“Why?” Yixing didn’t understand why Kai was being so weird about this. The dancer who just walked in was on the other side of the room. If the younger dancer just whispered, the guy across the room wouldn’t be able to hear him. “Just tell me now.”

“No, it’s a secret,” Kia shook his head and turned away from Yixing so he wouldn’t be tempted. “A secret isn’t very secretive if people can overhear it.”

Yixing just rolled his eyes, he didn’t need to know if Kai wasn’t going to say it.

In a few minutes, more dancers rolled in, one of them being Taemin. Ever since their fight, Kai and Tamin hadn’t spoken a single word to each other. Kai couldn’t believe how stubborn Taemin was being, after all they had been friends for years. But just because Kai made a new friend was a stupid reason for Taemin to not talk to him. If the older boy wanted to be friends again, he’d have to be first to talk. Kai was not going to give in because he felt it was just completely wrong how much Taemin disliked Yixing for no good reason.

For the entire practice, Kai couldn’t help but watch his ex-best friend. The older boy seemed to be exhausted, Kai could tell because all of his movements were a split second behind. It was like his head was elsewhere. But no matter how much he wanted to ask Taemin about it, Kai refused to be the first one to speak. Even during their break when Taemin nearly collapsed onto the floor, Kai just looked the other way.

Unfortunately for him, Yixing was the other way with questions. “What did you want to tell me earlier?”

Kai playfully rolled his eyes, “I thought I already told you it’s a secret? It wouldn’t stay very secretive if everyone could overhear me.”

“Can you at least tell me what it’s about?” Yixing had a tiny whine in his voice that Kai thought was just adorable.

“Nope,” The younger dancer smiled and stole Yixing’s water bottle, “But I’m gonna drink this.”

“Brat,” Yixing laughed and took the water back after Kai drank over half of it.

Soon, the choreographer came back and they were forced to complete the practice without another water break. So once it was over, all the dancers rushed to their water bottles before slowly leaving. They all left until Yixing and Kai were the only two remaining.

“Now do I get to know the secret?” Yixing asked, it had been bothering him all rehearsal. He had tripped multiple times when not paying attention to the choreographer because thousands of possibilities were floating through his head. The ones that made him trip most were ones of Kai confessing that he liked someone. He hoped that Kai wasn’t going to tell him he was dating Taemin.

However, that wasn’t Kai’s secret. “I don’t know,” The shorter one walked over to the door, “Is anyone in the hall?”

“Are you a spy?” Yixing guessed as he watched Kai lock the door. “Am I in danger?”

Kai laughed, his friend had a vivid imagination. “No, I’m not a spy. But if I was, now is when I’d have to kill you for finding out my secret. No, this secret is much bigger.”

Yixing stared at his friend in disbelief, “This secret is bigger than you going undercover and killing international threats?”

“Yeah. It’s about the upcoming auditions.” Kai sat down on the floor and patted the spot next to him.

The Chinese dancer sat down next to him, “Like you have what they’ll be looking for or-“

“What if I told you I could get us spots dancing for Beast before the audition even started?” Kai asked quietly.

“What?” Yixing was confused. “How would you get spots before the auditions?”

“My secret.” Kai stated plainly. “What if I knew a secret about one of the members that could bring the whole group’s image into the dumpster? This secret is so big that it could damage Beast’s reputation forev-“

Finally, it all clicked in Yixing’s mind. “Blackmail. You want to blackmail one of the members into using us as back up dancers?”

Kai froze up slightly, it sounded like a possibility when he thought of it in his head, but the way Yixing said it made it seem like he just suggested killing a baby. “It would assure us a spot and-“

“No!” Yixing rose to his feet angrily. “I can’t believe this! We’ve worked so hard choreographing the perfect routine for these auditions and you’re trying to tell me that after all of this you don’t think we’re good enough to get in? Is it just me? Are you confident that you’ll get in but afraid that I’m gonna get cut? I can’t believe you’d even think of blackmailing someone like this!”

“I never said you weren’t good enough!” Kai jumped up as well. “I would never think that, you know I think you’re an amazing dancer. But I’ve gone into competitions with some of these guys and they beat me by a landslide! It’s just making sure that we’ll be the ones who get on the team. Believe me, blackmail wasn’t the first thing on my mind when I found out that J-“

“No! Don’t finish that sentence.” Yixing cut him off, his voice going deadly quiet. “I don’t want to know what that secret it. I believe that if I deserve to get on that team I will, and if I don’t make the cut, that I just have to try harder next time. But either way, pass or fail, I will not result to blackmail to help me get to the top. I’ve fought too hard, and too long to fall to such a despicable level.”

Kai stood frozen, there was nothing he could do but watch Yixing leave.