/cleans dust off chapter/

In which Luhan dances a little too well

Luhan had spent the whole day at the hospital, gossiping with Baekhyun for hours. If there was something that had kept them together the past years, it would be their mutual thirst for gossip both of them constantly had. It was more of a hobby by now and both enjoyed sharing little secrets they were not supposed to share, or know, for the matter.

However, somehow along those lines was how Luhan had met Jongin. Baekhyun’s big mouth would keep on and on about this mysterious brunet who basically did anything Luhan wanted to do but was afraid, and soon enough, the curiosity won him over and he had asked the younger to meet him to that so interesting person. And when Luhan had first seen him, his interest only grew more because the younger was one hell of a good-looking man.

Even two years later, Baekhyun still takes pride about how his gossiping had helped someone and someone meet and fall in love and such. Though, Luhan would disagree there because it was more along the lines of ‘like’ than ‘love’ but he wasn’t one to break the younger’s hopes either.And till this day, Luhan and Baekhyun would still enjoy full days of information sharing like old grandmas without anything to do in their hands.

“When do you have to be there?” Baekhyun asked after hours of gossiping and once he noticed that, in fact, it was almost time for Luhan to leave.

Luhan glanced at his watch and sighed. “Soon, unfortunately.”

“I wish I could be there to cheer you on your first night,” Baekhyun mumbled with a pout and Luhan rolled his eyes.

“It’s not like I need it that much. Jongin’s coming though.” The smile Luhan showed made Baekhyun eye him closely.

“Why that glow?” he asked with curiosity and Luhan grinned wider.

“Sehun might tag along!” the elder beamed and Baekhyun felt the need to face-palm himself.

“You’re seriously just begging for troubles. He’s not even legal and you’re almost twenty—“

“Atatata!” Luhan shrieked, placing a finger to his lips to shush him. “I don’t even want to hear that excuse.”

“It’s not an excuse; it’s a fact,” Baekhyun deadpanned but Luhan was not paying attention to him anymore. He watched the elder stand from his chair, grab the purple messenger bag from the ground where he had placed it when he came in the morning, and head for the door.

“Now, I have to go. Sehun will probably come around and I don’t want to be anything but fabulous,” Luhan said with perfect flip of his red hair—which were already a lighter shade due to Luhan spending two hours with his head under the pouring hot water in his shower, which somehow had washed away some of the brightness—and exited the room with the door shutting with force.

And Baekhyun shook his head, wishing for Sehun to not follow Jongin. That guy was of a bad influence anyway.

**

The backstage had become hard to walk through as different kinds of stuff were littering the floor, and Luhan did not appreciate it at all after he was made to swim his way from the staircase to the backstage and at the same time avoiding men who thought he was a good enough target for their flirting practice. Now, Luhan had to walk over tons and tons of scattered things ranging from stage outfits to random bags and even a guitar among everything else. Seriously, if Luhan had to go through this every night, he would just climb on the stage from the front, not carrying about random customers taking a glimpse of his . He’d take anything than spending half hour to find his way otherwise.

“Luhan! You’re finally here!” Minseok exclaimed, half jogging to him over the stuff on the floor and from the way he avoided every single thing and was still standing on his feet, Luhan guessed he already worked far too long in this profession. Or was disorganized for the biggest part of his life. “I brought your outfit here because I kind of expected you to be late.” He tugged him by the arm to one far corner, presenting him the shirt which was shiny white with no wrinkle across the cloth. “Also!” Minseok exclaimed, grabbing a piece of cloth and presenting it to him. “Look at these, aren’t they beautiful?” The cloth in Minseok’s hands was a small size of short shorts, black leather from what Luhan could make out while undressing himself. “They just arrived today, talk about luck!”

Luhan shuddered at the memory of Kris saying that he could just as well perform with underwear if the shorts did not arrive on time. He thanked God for that. “They’re nice,” He mumbled as he pulled the white shirt over his small frame when Minseok shook his head in disapproval, shoving the shorts into his face.

“It’s real leather! Touch it! Only this piece costs a hundred.”

Luhan didn’t even want to wonder how much money Kris had if only this cost so much. Though, as much as he liked it, he didn’t like the fact that the other was still shoving it into his face. He pushed his hand away, nodding. “It’s nice, beautiful.”

“I know!” Minseok admired it some more until Luhan took it from his hands because frankly, he needed to put it on. “Alright, you’re ready. Yixing’s at the front already but I waited for you so I owe Yixing a performance.” The elder sighed. “Damn it.”

“Thank you for waiting for me though.” Luhan said with a small smile. “Tell Yixing that you don’t owe him anything. Technically it’s me who owes him.”

“You’re right, I’ll tell him that,” Minseok smiled and patted his shoulder and Luhan was sure it was not the answer he should have gotten. “I will get to rest longer,” Minseok shrieked in happiness and before Luhan asked him about what kind of performance Minseok actually owed Yixing, his cell phone rang.

Looking through his pants’ pockets, Luhan retrieved it and he answered it right when Minseok walked off with his interest landing on the coffee machine placed on the table against the wall. “Yes?”

“Luhan?”

“Jongin?”

“Yeah, where are you?” Luhan scowled a little at the other. He was sure the loud music reached him, why would he ask?

“At the strip club, backstage.” Luhan replied and Jongin hummed—it was pretty quiet on the other line, Luhan wondered aimlessly where he was. “I’m performing soon.”

“How long do you have left?”

Luhan glanced at Minseok by the coffee machine, catching his attention and asking him. “In ten minutes,” Luhan replied into the phone and Jongin hummed thoughtfully.

“Alright, I’ll be there soon.”

The younger hung up and Luhan stared at the screen a little lost. He didn’t like the ‘I’ instead of ‘we’ or ‘Sehun and I’. Groaning at his misfortune, he pushed the device back in its place and he bit on his lip. Well, he didn’t need to try that hard since Sehun wouldn’t be there on his first night. Maybe he would come around when Luhan would have picked up a couple more awesome moves. Yes. Luhan smirked at the thought. Once he got more tips from Minseok and learned his way around the pole, Sehun would ask for mercy from him.

The door opened wide and in came the tall brunet whom Minseok looked at from his coffee. “Er… No one’s allowed in here.”

“I’m Jongin, I’m allowed everywhere,” he replied and before the elder could retort about the rules of the club, Jongin smirked at him. “Ask Kris if in doubt.” That seemed to calm down the elder a bit as he sipped at his coffee again without asking further. Jongin paced towards the red-haired, a playful smirk on his lips. “You’re going out with a half open shirt?”

Luhan glanced down at himself, shrugging his thin shoulders. “Yeah.” He grabbed on the shirt and raised it just a bit. “And with leather shorts.” Jongin eyed him closely and he couldn’t but his lips because damn, when those milky white legs were his, they were filled with numerous red marks. “But pretty much, yeah.”

Jongin’s eyes shot up just in time as to not be caught staring when Luhan glanced back at him. “It’s alright, I guess. The other dancer is pretty much half-.”

Luhan grimaced a little. “Yeah, I know.”

“Anyways, I came here to cheer you up,” Jongin said as he hugged the elder, easily wrapping his arms around the thin form. “It’s your first night after all and I came to watch if whatever you learned has any effect.”

“You are a e, you get aroused by a stare,” Luhan pointed out and Jongin chuckled, pulling back and blowing air into his ear, making the elder shriek, clasp a hand over the spot and step back.

“And you with a single blow,” Jongin retorted and the red-haired glared at him.

“Shut up.”

“Luhan, we have to go,” came Minseok’s voice as he rushed past him and Luhan glanced at Jongin with wide eyes.

“You’ll do fine, I’ll be staring at you from afar for the moment.” Jongin smirked his usual smirk and leaned down, kissing just the side of Luhan’s lips and walking off.

“Luhan!” Minseok whined, returning to grab the younger’s arm and pull him along because poor him was frozen into place. “Pull yourself together,” Minseok hissed a