When Luhan moped, he moped a lot.

            “Dude, you’re kinda pathetic right now.” Xiumin thoughtfully added, stealing a piece of radish kimchi from Luhan’s lunchbox. “You’re gonna pollute the whole place from all your sulking.” The four were at their usual spot in the school patio eating lunch on a Monday.

            Luhan sighed dejectedly and stared at the ground, not interested in his food. He hasn’t sulked this badly ever since his senior crush, Siwon, graduated without them ever having a conversation.

           Luhan sighed again. He had lost his appetite from the obscene amounts of moping and sulking he had been doing since the start of school, so he decided to give Xiumin his lunch.

            “It wouldn’t hurt to talk to him! It clearly looked like he wanted to be your friend from last weekend.” Tao insisted optimistically. Luhan smiled and thanked him. He always liked Tao for being a hopeful and upbeat person. It was one of the reasons why Kris confessed to him last summer.

           Luhan sig- “Dude, stop sighing.” Xiumin scolded as he forked another piece of Luhan’s food.

           “I, well... I just kinda- We haven’t talked at all since that day, y’know?” Luhan pouted. “I see him all the time during lunch and we kind of just wave at each other and that’s it.” Xiumin rolled his eyes.

           As the the two were chattering, Tao noticed a familiar figure approaching them, and tapped on Kris’ shoulder to notify him. “Hey, uh, guys I think Jongin is walking towards us right now,” Tao informed.

           “What?!” Luhan’s eyes widened and jerked his head to the direction where Tao was looking at. It was, indeed, Jongin walking towards them. Oh my . Luhan panicked. He finger-combed his hair to attempt to look decent. Xiumin noticed this and snorted.

           “Hey Jongin, what’s up?” Luhan greeted with a wide smile as Jongin walked up to them, attempting to appear friendly and approachable. He had a messenger bag strung on his left shoulder and was carrying what looked like a stack of tickets.

           “Hey guys, we’re having a dance showcase this Saturday.” Jongin proudly announced. “I’m one of the people in charge selling tickets!” He held out a sample ticket for them to see.

           “EXO Dance Showcase at the School Gym, Gates Open at 6:30 PM,” Kris indicated, his eyebrows shooting up in curiosity. “That means you’re part of the sub-group with Yixing. When did you join?”

           “I auditioned last summer and I was able to get in,” Jongin revealed. “Yixing-sunbae recommended me to audition after he saw me in one of my street dance classes for P.E. before school ended last year.”

           “Yixing’s my good friend and a really good dancer too. If he picked you, then that means you’re also really good.” Kris smiled with sincerity. Jongin slightly flustered at Kris’s compliment.

           “Hey Jongin, how much are the tickets?” Luhan inquired.

           “They’re only five dollars each, hyung!” Jongin grinned. “We’re also selling shirts if you want.”

           “Oh, nah it’s okay. Are you guys gonna buy tickets?” Luhan turned to his three friends and he had a desperate look on his eyes. He was pulling off a kicked puppy look and Xiumin narrowed his eyes, clearly unamused. 

           “Yeah, sure. I’ll buy one.” Xiumin sighed. Luhan quietly mouthed a thank you and Xiumin did a slight nod in reply.

           “Are you buying, you two?” Luhan asked.

           “Yeah, of course! I always go to these dance showcases anyway.” Kris handed money to Jongin and he received two tickets in return. “Plus, Tao loves these kinds of stuff.” Kris gave one ticket to his boyfriend and kept the other one in his wallet.

           “I’ll have one too, Jongin.” Luhan handed money to Jongin and got one ticket.

           “Alrighty, see you guys in the showcase!” Jongin smiled. The four of them waved at him and he jogged off.

           “Oh, and see you there too, Luhan-hyung!” Jongin shouted before entering one of the school buildings. Luhan blushed at this.

           “Dude, he totally wants to get in your pants.” Xiumin joked, causing Luhan to cough and blush even a deeper red.

           Luhan grabbed a pebble from the ground and threw it at Xiumin, aiming at his face. “He was just selling tickets!” Luhan defended in embarrassment.

           “You should congratulate him after the performance, Luhan!” Tao suggested. “It’s a perfect chance for you to talk to him.”  Kris nodded in support.

           “We’ll be rooting for you,” Kris assured with a supporting smile.

           “Yeah, rooting for you to get the D,” Xiumin cackled, and was rewarded with a smack to the head by Kris.

**

           It was an hour before the dance showcase began, and Luhan was currently in his room. His room was usually organized, but this time it was in a complete state of disarray. Clothes were piled on top of each other on the bed. Facial products and numerous kinds of hair wax were scattered all over the base of the sink.

           “God, I look like .” Luhan said to himself as he examined himself in the mirror. He was wearing a graphic shirt that had a cartoon image of a pug, and he paired it off with a pair of tight-fitting jeans and white canvas shoes. “No.” Luhan uttered with frowned and walked back to his closet. He wanted to go to the dance showcase because he really wanted to talk to Jongin.

           After a few minutes, he settled with a white v-neck, the same tight-fitting jeans, and a pair of white Nike’s. 

           He was styling his hair for the millionth time when his phone started ringing. He got his phone and looked at the caller ID. Xiumin. Luhan pressed the call button.

           “Hey Luhan we’re gonna pick you up in, like, ten to fifteen minutes.” Luhan could hear Kris and Tao talking in the background. 

           “I’m gonna vomit from the PDA these two are doing right now so please be ready when we’re there.” Xiumin begged. He could hear Kris uttering something with a greasy accent, and was that Tao giggling?

           “Condolences, man. Just text me when you guys are outside.” Luhan consoled and hung up.

           Luhan looked at himself in the mirror one more time before heading downstairs to grab a glass of water while waiting.

**

           The school was packed with people when the four arrived. Luhan recognized a few people from his class, but the rest were mostly students who were a year below them.

           When the four finally entered the high school gym, they saw rows of chairs lined up in front a big stage. A couple of microphones were situated at the front of the stage, and huge speakers could be seen scattered all over the gym. Audio equipment and a Macbook Pro could be seen at the side of stage. Yixing and the organizers were discussing something at the side of the stage.

           From afar, Luhan could see that Yixing was wearing what seemed like a black tank-top, a really thin grey cardigan, and really baggy patterned pants. He recalls it being called harem pants. Luhan wondered if the rest of the dance group were wearing the exact same thing.

           The lights in the gym started to dim and one of the organizers announced that the showcase was to begin in a few minutes. That was the cue for the four of them to find seats. Kris managed to find empty seats relatively close to the stage while also being far from the all the audio speakers. 

           As soon as they sat down, the lights closed completely and a drum beat started playing. Lots of people started to cheer. Names of people who were part of the dance group were being chanted loudly. Luhan could capture the outlines of human figures taking formation on top of the stage.

           Then, the all the lights suddenly opened. Spotlights hanging from the ceiling beamed at the dancers posing at the stage. The cheers grew wilder.

           Luhan spotted Yixing, Sehun, Jongdae, and a few others from his class. They were all forming a V shape. However, what caught his attention the most was that Jongin was in the center of the formation. His clothes fitted him nicely, too nicely Luhan added, and his bangs were almost covering his eyes, giving him a dramatic and mysterious look.

           The entire audience was shrieking wildly at this point. He could hear Kris and Tao cheering for Yixing and Xiumin cheering for his friend Jongdae, unaware that his voice was cracking. Jongin caught Luhan staring at him and gave him a wink. Luhan flustered and gave him a small fighting! hand gesture.

           The music began playing. It started off with soft, muffled synths which sounded oddly familiar to Luhan’s ears. The volume and treble started to slowly increase and Luhan could clearly hear the melody this time. It was “One More Time” by Daft Punk. When the crowd recognized what was playing, they began to go nuts. People from the back started standing up to grab a better view.

           The V formation by the dancers suddenly changed and they all starting doing intricate street dance movements. Of course, Luhan kept his eyes glued to Jongin the entire time. He was so full of energy and his moves were completely in sync with the entire group, and Oh my God he’s so hot, Luhan thought. Or maybe he said that out loud. He wasn’t aware by this point.

           The music suddenly changed to a House tune which Luhan recognized as one of  “We Got The World” by Icona Pop. The dancers quickly adjusted to the change in tempo and started clapping and pumping their fists, encouraging the crowd to cheer louder.

           And when the bass dropped, all the dancers including Jongin started dancing again. The music that was chosen was extremely catchy and had a party mood, not to mention also very loud. Everyone was singing along to the chorus, which further motivated the people on stage to dance with more energy. All four of them were loudly cheering and shouting. There was a student with a cute face and huge eyes across him holding a sign that had the name of Yixing. 

           Suddenly, the music stops. All the lights turn off except for a spotlight that was illuminating Jongin’s figure who was right in the center. 

           A different song begins to play, but it was of a slower tempo, and the melody definitely sounded a lot more sensual. Luhan found the tune awfully familiar.

           Oh God please don’t tell me this is the song, Luhan thought.

           Oh no please n-

           “Body Party” by Ciara began to play. Luhan’s ears started ringing out, and he started feeling a bit lightheaded. Probably from the second-hand embarrassment he was experiencing. The audience, too, recognized the song and the cheers started turning into catcalls. Shouts of encouragement to Jongin grew louder.

           Jongin started to gyrate his entire body to the song, slowly pulling off his jacket sensually to reveal his toned shoulders and triceps. Lots of girls and some guys were going ballistic over Jongin.

           Holy what the is going on. Luhan was losing it at this point. The entire gym suddenly felt hotter.

           Jongin kept dancing for half a minute and Luhan felt completely out of his mind seeing Jongin moving his body in such a sensual way. The audience probably felt the same way as Luhan too, because the cheers and catcalls were as loud as it were from the beginning.

           Fortunately, the song changed and became more upbeat. Jongin moved to the back and other dancers moved in front. For the rest of the performance, Luhan was completely distracted due to Jongin. Luckily, his three friends who sat beside him didn’t seem to notice.

           When the performance ended, everyone in the audience stood up to cheer for the amazing performance the dance group did. Jongin was now jumping up and down in excitement, for they managed to pull off the entire choreography flawlessly. As soon as Luhan got back to his senses, Yixing was passed on a mic and thanked everyone gratefully for going to their showcase. Jongin bowed to the audience numerous times before being ushered off the stage along with the other members.

A/N:

im doing a last redraft for the third chapter, then ill post it. gimme a few minutes if you may do so kindly. the real a/n will be next chapter *kickflips out of the author's note*