[CONTENTID1]

thirty-nine: dance dance fight-volution

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[“I’m glad I amuse you.”]

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”Juyeon, you’re stepping on my feet again.”

”I’m sorry,” she muttered, ears burning and scowl growing.

Sumi scoffed at her. “I’m never dancing with you at this rate. You’ll break all my toes off first. From the start: one, two, three, four …”

Dancing lessons were absolutely brutal, and Juyeon hated them. So far, her hands were getting very embarrassingly sweaty, the song playing on repeat was steadily grating on her nerves, and she was certain she had callouses in places on her foot she didn’t know callouses could go.

But it was either this or tripping on her own two feet in front of everybody at the dance, and so, Juyeon had to do it. Besides, Sumi even begged Fear to let them use the therapy classroom after daily sessions and borrowed a chunky old CD player to help her practice.

”Look at your partner, not your feet,” Sumi snapped.

”But then I can’t see where I’m going,” Juyeon protested.

”I’m leading, just let me move and follow!”

”If I don’t look at my feet, I’ll step on your ―“

Case in point, she stumbled onto Sumi’s toes. Sighing heavily, she pulled away from her partner and dropped to the ground, wiping sweat off her forehead. “I can’t do this.”

”Don’t you ing bail on me now, date-mate,” Sumi said, sitting down beside her and jabbing her shoulder. “Not after all this time I already wasted on you.”

”I know, I know,” Juyeon groaned, massaging out the muscles in her calves. “But don’t you have to work on the History project with Sehun today?”

”Yeah, but you’re still hopeless and the dance is tomorrow,” Sumi said. “You really are getting it ― slowly ― and you’ve already mastered all the steps. You just need practice dancing with someone and you’ll be fine. I’ll cancel, it’s not a big deal.”

”Sumi, no, you can’t just cancel.” Every part of Juyeon cringed at the thought. “School is more important than this stupid dance. You should go.”

”You sure?”

”Just go, c’mon.”

”Yeah, but ―“

The door opened, and D.O walked in. He stopped, taking in the surroundings. His eyebrows raised at the CD player. “Sehun told me to find you. Is this where you two have been hiding for the past week?”

Sumi turned slowly to Juyeon, then back to D.O. Gears were very obviously turning in her head.

”Yeah, I’m going to meet him now,” she said, and there was a hint of mischief in her voice that Juyeon didn’t like. “D.O, can you cover for me?”

”Cover?” he repeated.

”Sumi, no ―“ Juyeon hissed, catching on immediately.

”Juyeon needs a dance partner. Cover for me while I go to Sehun.”

D.O didn’t blush (Juyeon didn’t think she’s ever seen him blush), but his eyes grew even wider and rounder until he was blinking owlishly at them. His whole body stilled, rooted to the ground.

”Okay? Not okay?” Sumi asked, cocking her head to one side and grinning wickedly. He gave her a pointed look, as if to say what are you trying to do, but stepped forward and shrugged off his jacket in a way that shouldn’t shouldn’t shouldn’t have looked as attractive as it did to Juyeon.

went dry.

”Thanks, D.O. I’ll be back in an hour.” Sumi allowed herself one hearty snigger at the sight of Juyeon’s terrified, furious expression before fleeing the scene.

”Let’s start from the beginning, then,” D.O said, standing in front of her and holding out a hand.

”You don’t have to,” Juyeon protested weakly, vainly trying to wipe sweat off her palms in a way that wasn’t obvious and failing miserably. “It’s fine, you really don’t ―“

D.O said nothing, but he still held out his hand. Juyeon hesitantly placed her hand in his.

He pulled her up with surprising strength, and before she even had time to react and regain her balance, he had settled them into proper place in one fluid move: one hand holding hers, the other placed on her hip. Her left hand had somehow gravitated immediately to his shoulder.

”I’m going to step on your feet,” she squeaked out, frown deepening in her embarrassment. The more embarrassed she tended to be, the more she scowled. It was a vicious cycle.

He didn’t answer, but then again, he didn’t need to. They barely started moving before her foot tripped, and she was staggering, breaking the rhythm of the dance. She twisted her body in order to avoid landing on his feet, and instead she found herself falling to the side.

If it was Sumi, she would have let her fall, just to teach her a lesson. But D.O caught her, and Juyeon ended up with her nose pressed into his shoulder, and she realized he smelled like freshly mowed grass and something rich and earthy and just very him and oh god she wanted to die.

D.O finally spoke, and he sounded highly amused. “I see you are a natural disaster when you dance.”

” you,” she snapped, but he was smiling at her, one of his heart-shaped smiles, and abruptly Juyeon completely forgot her anger. “Like I said, you don’t have to help,” she mumbled.

He didn’t answer that, but he said, “We’ll start from the top, then. I’ll count us in. One, two, three, four …”

It was a little better dancing with him, she had to admit. Sumi knew the steps, but it was clear that she was awkward in the male role and was more used to dancing the female’s steps. She was sharp with her turns and rigid, counting out loud for Juyeon.

D.O was … smooth. Graceful. He moved slow, but sure, and the warmth of his hand on her hip seemed to give Juyeon a grounding point so she didn’t feel like she’ll just spin away. She w