Kai had never expected the weight of those late-night business deals to be transferred to his fragile shoulders, shoulders that were meant for dancing, not for signing away deals in blood and ink.

            But it had.

            And everything had gone wrong.

The bruises that cover Sehun’s body eventually begin to fade.

Sehun is more than relieved as the pain that always crawls over his skin whenever he moves begins to lessen, until it’s barely noticeable.

Yixing says it’s a miracle that Sehun managed to get better in less than three weeks, especially since, “you’ve basically been living with Kai,” he adds, winking at Sehun over his straw as the three of them sit in a coffee shop Yixing likes to come to.

This earns Yixing a swift kick under the table from Sehun, who grins smugly into his tea when Yixing almost knocks over his soup, yelping in pain.

It is now only two weeks until their first dance battle.

“Okay guys. This is it. Our first dance battle.”

            Sehun has never seen Yixing thrive with this much energy, with restless movements, the tapping of fingers on the top of the table, the constant movement of his eyes as he takes in the competition all around them.

            He’s practically thrumming with uncontrolled excitement.

            Kai is as well, but he’s a little different, more contained, like the quiet before a storm, his nerves evident in the clenching of a jaw, the slow blink of his eyes, fingers wrapped around the circle of Sehun’s wrist because Sehun keeps feeling the jump in Kai’s pulse against his skin. Or maybe that’s his own pulse he’s feeling.

            Sehun is something else entirely.

            He’s not sure if he feels like throwing up or running away more. It’s a little difficult to determine when his stomach keeps dropping down to his feet.

            Everything is loud, loud, loud. Noise is crackling over every surface, through every wall, growling through the floor. You practically have to shout to be heard.

            Yixing had met Sehun and Kai at Kai’s apartment two hours earlier, shoving clothes into Kai’s arms as he bustled through the door, talking a mile a minute, like a miniature whirlwind of bright eyes and dimples, clearly just as much thrilled as he was edgy for the dance battle.

            And even though the three of them had been practicing every free moment for the past two weeks, Sehun could still feel nerves choke him, especially when he was alone in the bathroom trying to pull on the clothes Yixing had picked out for him. They were almost the same as the ones he had worn to the night club, but this time, he’s wearing black harem pants and a white tank with a design in blue and gold all over it, a layer of eyeliner sticky against his skin, courtesy of Yixing after he had cornered him in a corner of Kai’s kitchen wielding the eyeliner pen like a weapon.

            And now here they are, in what looks like an old boxing facility, dusty mats in the corners, the center of the room cleared and ready to be used.

And even though Sehun’s sure someone must have used bleach to clean the floor, he can still detect a lingering scent of sweat and rubber, and there are hooks still hanging from the ceiling that is coated in peeling white paint from where the punching bags must have once hung.

            However, other than those few details, the entire place has been completely reformed so that anyone walking in would never have guessed that the space was ever used for boxing. 

            Neon lights coat everyone in a fluorescent glow that makes teeth look whiter, glinting through the shadows like wolves looking for prey. Bass is thumping through the walls from the speakers that have been set up near the front of the large room, a DJ and the host of this dance battle seated comfortably behind them, chatting while they wait for the clock to hit nine.

            Dancers mill around everywhere, strips of skin showing between pants that hang off of hipbones and thin shirts with dipping necklines, faces shadowed under large hoods, sneakers squeaking against the floor as teams practice last-minute spins and flips.

            Sehun has been studying different groups, watching the little snips of routine that he feels like he could pick up with a little bit of work, that Kai and Yixing could pick up in seconds.

So far, the competition looks tough, but beatable.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter