The first month is a nightmare. 

Despite having started his career as a SM trainee with the best intentions ever, Jongin had found himself trapped in a down going spiral that could smash him on the floor any time. 

He had to arrive at the building at 8AM and start the day off with a hour of running around the nearest park. Then he would start dance classes and it would be a crescendo of fatigue and teachers' reproaches, until the short lunch time, and then classes again until 7PM. 

Although SM staff has kept the promise of letting him go home earlier than others, practically receiving a student treatment, it still didn't feel enough. He missed Yeonsu and besides, he also had work in week-ends.

Yet, he was okay with it. He was used to fatigue and hard-work after all. The real problem Jongin found himself to be facing, were the other trainees.

As time passed, Jongin could feel the stress and the hatred of others burden on his shoulder, and he had to keep his profile low to ignore all the staring, all the whispering. He focused on dancing, on giving all he has to give, because that's the only way he could stay true to himself. But for how much he focused and worked hard during practice, the atmosphere would be cloudy and the burden too heavy to bear.

People got to know his name quickly; Kim Jongin, the boy who, a week after his entrance,  had already been assigned to the advanced dance class, personally recognized by non other than Lee Soo Man himself. People could train for years and still not have a chance to dream about such an achievement, and yet Jongin was there already, covered with compliments and graced with a handsome face and bursting charisma as well.

As days passed it was no longer about staring or gossip. It started to be envy, envy that was devouring the other trainees and led them to ignore him like he was disease. The myth of the impenetrable Kim Jongin was created, and every day Jongin was forced to bare with people's uncontrollable hatred. It made him want to punch every wall he came across, but he resisted. He knew who he was, that was enough. He would just ignore, dance, and go home. Yeonsu would wait for him and Yeonsu wanted him to be happy.

He didn't have time for ridiculous teenagers.

One day though, as he is passing by the changing room at the third floor, he overhears two boys talking from inside their shower cabs. 

"He's a pretty face, that's all. I really can't understand how people can call him Black Pearl?" one began.

"He's the finest example of how talent can be won by prettiness."

"And he's Chinese, too. Dumb as hell. Let's hope he'll just fly back to his homeland."

"He's dull," Jongin heard them laughing "He can't even understand what teachers tell him."

"If he ever go back to China, I hope he takes dancing king Kim Jongin away with him."

They laughed again, a mean sound to Jongin's ears.

"Luhan would be willing to do it, I've heard he has a crush on him." 

"I had no doubts, that little homo." 

Frozen on his spot as the two kept on going, Jongin felt his blood boil for the first time since he had gotten there. And the worst part was that it was not the only accident. It was everywhere, every time Jongin could hear people's talking, he heard something mean.

He bit his lips hard, throwing a death glare towards the two cabs and having to thank god being a father had taught him to keep his calm. He decided the two were not worth is anger enough, so he simply took their clothes and throw them out the changing room's windows, only saving two empty bags and the boy's phones. 

He didn't hear the two s screaming as they got out, but rumors later said it was a memorable moment.

Revenge was sweet.

--

Most of times, when Jongin was done dancing, he would think of Luhan. He always remembers the words he has overheard between Luhan and his teacher and he gets saddened by the thought that Luhan has been facing such means words behind his back and in his face as well, for years now. Despite him being bright and adorable, some untalented trainees would just not care, bullying him because he was Chinese, because he was too beautiful, because he had been too lucky being casted on street while doing nothing but some shopping.

People knew how to be mean, and Jongin felt sad he was not getting any chance to give the blond boy some support. They still haven't had a simple chance to meet until now.

Luhan too busy working hard not to break down, Jongin too busy being a trainee and a father.

He is now resting his back on the wall of the practice room, where they are even having lunch, the teacher has informed them, and his train of thoughts about Luhan stops when he sees two legs positioning in front if him. He looks up, curious, and meets the newest member of their class, a seventeen-years-old, slim boy named Sehun. 

"Hello there, Asia's next big thing." 

Jongin frowns but doesn't react at the ironic nickname. Sehun's tone is calm, almost bored, he could not feel any harm in it so he just stares as the boy sits besides him and sighs heavily, not caring at all about the fact that Jongin never asked him to join. 

"It's really tiring here." Sehun says at one point and Jongin raises an eyebrow "Previous class was boring, but here? Exhaustive."

Jongin observes as the boy fans himself with his hand, a mummified expression on the quite handsome, old-looking face. He immediately gives Jongin the vibe of being someone strong and well conscious of his talent. Indeed, the boy was talented, Jongin observed during their dance routines.

"You are famous, you know? I am happy to meet you, rumors were right about your awesomeness." 

Jongin stares at the boy's unfocused, wonder weather he should thank him or not, and only suppresses a laughter eventually. What a strange guy he was. At least, he had been the first to approach Jongin since he got into SM, and Jongin felt thankful the boy seemed to be sincerely impressed by him, and not envious at all.

"I am Sehun," the boy introduces himself after five minutes of random monologue, and Jongin reaches out to the hand Sehun is offering him "Nice to meet you." 

"Jongin." he only says and Sehun nods.

"Liuhan-hyung talks about you a lot, you know?"

Jongin raises an eyebrow, quite sure the boy has just mispronounced Luhan's name.

"You mean Luhan." 

"No, Liuhan," the boy insist and Jongin smirks "You are mispronouncing his name."

"No, you are."

Sehun turns to him with a frowned expression "Hyung smiles every time I call him-"

"Because you call him wrong." Jongin cuts him off before starting to eat his lunch lazily. Sehun makes a face, as he is thinking hard.

"My grades in Chinese are horrible, so probably you are right."

Jongin simply nods and eats, looking stealthily at the other as he starts eating as well.

It's the first time Jongin shares his lunch time with someone and although Sehun appears to be the biggest freak Jongin has ever met, it pleases him. They quietly chat about random things, both with unimpressed expressions on their faces, and Jongin sighs every time he tries to deepen the Luhan topic and Sehun would just interrupt him with feelingless statement like -You should treat me to bubble tea since you're my hyung- or -Your dance is badass, but I like your hair better. What shampoo do you use?- 

He makes Jongin want to face-palm forever, but also to look forwards to their practice time together. And when Jongin finds out Sehun has been friend with Luhan for three years already, he makes a mental note to make Sehun spill out the more he can about the angelic boy, and why not also arranging a meeting.

--

Sehun doesn't really do his best to help Jongin though, and as a week passes, the older boy finds himself to be quite pissed. 

The younger has understood there was some silent bottom-hearted interest between Jongin and Luhan because really, Luhan tortures him with questions about Jongin also and he has gotten tired already of being the spokesperson of their dramatic long-distance acquaintance. If he could do something to stop this painful job, he would.

"What?" he shrugs while looking at a feelingless Jongin "We went out last night but you were busy." 

Jongin tries to ignore him. "How is him anyway?"

The younger boy snorts loudly. 

"If you are so interested, why don't you just ask him?" 

"Our timing are completely different, Sehun, like you don't know it." Jongin exclaims and does nothing to hide his annoyance.

Sehun shrugs. "It's just that I don't understand why do you have to go home so early. Luhan-hyung practice until midnight at least, by his own. If you could stay, you could help him out. He always gabbles about how much he would like to dance with you." he rolls his eyes "So annoying."

Jongin looks at the younger-he had finally managed to make him learn the correct pronunciation to Luhan's name, as the Chinese boy was too nice to bother- with incredulous eyes and suddenly feeling a little guilty. The image of Luhan being severely scolded the day he entered SM pops up into his mind, together with the mean rumors getting worse and worse every day.

Sehun always told him Luhan was doing just fine, and that he was probably only a bit tired, but the last revelation makes Jongin feel bad for him. Probably Luhan knew about the gossip about him as well, probably he was just doing more than he actually could to overcome them. 

He decides that he can forgive Sehun for being such a bad friend, and calls home to inform he is not coming over for dinner.

"Oppa has to work a little bit more, Yeonsu. Are you okay with that?" 

He hears the girl's cute nodding through his phone. "As long as oppa works hard, It will be fine."

He smiles. "I love you."

"I love you, too. Don't stress too much!" Yeonsu sends him three little kisses and Jongin answers back with a simple shy one. He promises to buy something delicious for breakfast, and hangs up. 

Quite nervous and quite wondering if it was rude of him to just show up when Luhan was practicing without a proper invitation, Jongin walks towards the room Sehun has told him he would find the boy in.

The door is closed when he arrives but the loud music playing easily reaches Jongin's ears. He enters quietly, sneaking his head inside to see if Luhan was actually there for real. He smiles bitterly when he sees the boy dancing alone in the big room, his clothes completely wet.

He observes quietly, not wanting to disturb or scare the boy, and carefully follows his movements. Luhan is good, actually. He is not that much of crispy dancer but he is definitely not average either. His expression is charismatic,  his movements minimalistic but clear, Jongin could see something in it. Luhan had talent wanting to burst out from a shy, insecure body.  

The older boy stops the music at one point, collapsing on the floor and making Jongin's body react quickly, alarmed. He  runs to Luhan and quickly puts a finger on the latter's mouth as he is about to scream for the fright. Luhan's eyes widen a bit at his sight and Jongin only removes his finger when the boy blushes and calms down.

"Sorry, I scared you." 

His soft whisper makes Luhan blush even more. He is painting, sweaty, sitting down on the floor awkwardly and he feels extremely embarrassed. He shakes his head and stares as Jongin sits down besides him.

"What are you doing here, Jongin?" he asks shyly as soon as his breath lets him "We haven't seen each other for so long."

"Yeah. It's been hard to adjust to.. this."

Luhan sends him a comprehensive look. "Are you having a hard time?"

"I'm just fine, don't worry." Jongin reassures, then he eyes the other attentively "What about you?" 

"Going just fine. " Luhan smiles mildly "I never expected my permanence here to be easy anyway." 

They stare at each other for a few seconds and Jongin has to force himself not to wrap an arm around the boy's shoulders as he notices the melancholy in his eyes. 

Then suddenly Luhan's eyes widen "Were you watching me dancing, by any chance?" 

"Yeah," Jongins admits without hesitation and doesn't miss Luhan's expression going numb at that. He smilingly helps the boy to get up "Actually, there are few things I'd like to tell you about it." 

How such confident words could slip out of his mouth, he doesn't know, but he is glad they did, because he enjoys the pink on Luhan's cheeks and because he knows he really can help somehow, and he wouldn't have his shyness blocking him. 

The older boy shakes his head rhetorically. Jongin smiles while massaging Luhan's shoulders. 

"I wish I had more time to dance with you." he admits, quite in a soft whisper, and a few seconds pass before Luhan reacts and coughs lightly, turning around to face their reflections in the mirror. He avoids Jongin's eyes.

"Actually, I have never seen you dancing, yet." 

"Right so?" Jongin giggles "Shell we make up for it now?"

Luhan tries to meet his eyes, smiling shyly. He steps aside then and chooses a song from the room's stereo, leaving Jongin in the centre to concentrate. When the music starts, the younger boy closes his eyes before starting dancing, the music filling his head and body completely.

Luhan stops and stares, following Jongin's fluid and beautiful movements with his jaw dropping. He is just too mesmerized to care. 

Jongin dances with his soul, Luhan thinks, something that was so hard to find. His love for dancing could be read easily on his handsome, focused face. It was a pleasure to watch him. Luhan could have stared at him dancing forever, actually.

Now he understands why Jongin got so easily recognized by the company's big names. 

He was born to be a performer. 

When Jongin finishes his demonstration, Luhan finds himself too trapped to even clap. He simply observes as Jongin walks towards him with a satisfied yet shy expression on his face. It was like looking at two different person; the boy who could kill you with his charisma, and the boy who could kill you with his cuteness.

"I never got such a cold reaction to my dancing," the younger jokes at his petrified body "Luckily enough you are expressive."

Luhan immediately shakes his head and stutters "You are amazing, Jongin, it's just that.. I got.. mesmerized." 

Jongin chuckles and Luhan later laughs at his own statement in embarrassment. 

"You are a great dancer, too, Luhan. I think you only need to kick off your insecurity, at least when you dance. That's the basic." 

Jongin invites him to get closer with a finger and when Luhan follows, he positions himself behind his back, a hand posing on Luhan's cheek.

"For example, your eyes.. when you practice, look at their reflection in the mirror, ask yourself: is this what I want to do?"  

Jongin feels Luhan stiffen at his touches, but ignores. "If the answer is positive, then you should never let anything or anyone stop you. You will start loving yourself when you dance, if you are able to see how much you enjoy it. Other people will never count enough as you do."

Luhan listens quietly and lifts his head up to the slightly taller boy afterwards. Jongin follows and their eyes meet, closer than they have ever been.

Jongin whispers, "Will you show me how much you love dancing then?" 

Shivering, Luhan nods. 

They spend almost two hours and a half there, dancing, Jongin corrects Luhan gently, smiling and blushing every time they would touch.

Jongin, the best teacher Luhan could ever have; an almost strange who, with no particular reasons to him, believed in him and made him believe in himself too. It felt like a turning point for him, a new positive inspiration to relay on. 

They head out the building at around 10.30PM, welcomed by fresh air and the flashing lights of the beautiful night sight of Seoul. 

Luhan reaches out for his arm as they walk towards the bus stop, making Jongin tilt his head curiously.

"Thank you." Luhan simply says.

Jongin enjoys the happy feeling growing inside him at the sight of the grateful, shining and insecure look the boy sends him. Shaking his head, he pokes the boy's shoulder jokingly. "I did nothing special. You did all by yourself."

"You did. You stayed over at least three hours more than you would usually do, for me. I feel honestly thankful, Jongin." 

Smiling a little, Jongin shrugs. "Maybe you can do something for me in return?" he bravely asks and curiosity sparks in Luhan's eyes. 

"Yes?" 

Jongin takes advantage of the situation and spills the words out despite his insecureness "Come out for an ice-cream with Yeonsu and me." 

He can easily notice Luhan's facial features melting at his absurd offer, and this makes his stomach writhe. 

Luhan gasps something, red in the face, and he intervenes quickly while passing a hand in his hair "She still remembers you, you know. That drawing to thank you.. she really did it."

"She did?" Luhan's eyes get wide "Really?" 

Embarrassed, Jongin nods. "So, I thought that maybe-"

"I'd love to." Luhan cuts him off and offers a bright smile.

"Really?"

He nods with enthusiasm and once again, Jongin's brave part takes advantage of the situation, although in his mind his brave part was much cooler than the mess he is being.

"Let's exchange numbers, then. I will call you."

The older boy quickly nods and Jongin observes him opening his hands and mimicking to give him his phone, blinking innocently. He was so cute.

"Text me, and I'll save your number." 

"I will." 

Luhan returns the phone and excuses himself right after, making sure to remind Jongin to be careful on his way back home. 

"Thank you again." 

Jongin smiles, happily, and watches as Luhan walks away at his opposite direction.

The next morning Luhan finds a text on his phone as soon as we wakes up, revealing a photo sent by an unknown number. He opens it quickly, curious, and sees the cute baby he remembers being Jongin's younger sister posing at the camera-the pink bracelet still gracing her little wrist- with a paper in hands, portraying a drawing of a little boy with wings and blonde hair. Luhan Oppa, thank you so much was written messily and cutely on the bottom in childish handwriting. Another short text lies below, and Luhan smiles, his heart racing so fast as he reads it through.

Good morning, Luhan.

A/N

Hello Everyone~<3

I'm sorry for my late update but my Internet connection is completely dead ugh.. Anyway, here is the third chapter! 

Jongin finds it a bit hard to adjust to the trainee's life but.. Luhan and Sehun try to help :)

I hope you'll like it! <3