a/n: please read the author's note at the end~ ^^ 
ps. this chapter is in 3rd pov (i'll talk about that in the a/n)
enjoy~!

Hongbin was the first one to arrive at the designated rehearsal studio, nearly half an hour early, but the boy couldn't wait any longer. He had spent almost all of his free time between dinner and now pacing the length of his dorm room and wondering himself crazy about what kind of audition process this would be and if anything he had prepared would be good enough to meet the group's standards. All of them, aside from Hakyeon, had seen his audition solo… and that was his freshest piece.

He ceased his pacing and decided that stretching might help lower his ever-growing stress levels.

Jaehwan reassured Hongbin multiple times throughout the days leading up to this that it would be a painless process and that Taekwoon was apparently so dead set on both Sanghyuk and himself joining them that they didn't bother looking out for any other students to audition. Hongbin hadn’t known what to make of that news… Where it was nice that Taekwoon and the others thought so highly of him and his skills, it also meant that the expectations would be high and it left no room for error.

Lastly, he wondered how Sanghyuk was taking all of this in. Hongbin knew that the other wasn’t particularly fond of competitive dancing. He recalled the countless times he had to step in between Sanghyuk and their dance instructors in the past when National competitions came around. Sanghyuk was their studio’s dark horse, but it was like pulling teeth to get him to agree to dance even one solo in the advanced senior division. Hongbin was the feature in most of their group numbers, thanks to Sanghyuk’s reluctance, though he could never really count it as a win when the rest of the group was usually made up of girls. The only time Sanghyuk would readily agree to a competition performance of any sort was when a duet consisting of both Hongbin and Sanghyuk was proposed, and now that Hongbin thought about it, Sanghyuk never turned down a single opportunity for the two of them to dance together. Hongbin had always thought it was just a friendship thing and he didn’t dare let his mind think any further of it, that would do his heart no good since he knew of the other’s feelings... or lack thereof.

“Bin-ah.” Taekwoon's soft voice momentarily brought Hongbin out of his thoughts before throwing him right back in just by Taekwoon's very presence. After confiding in his sister over the weekend she gave him lots of advice on how to officially get over Sanghyuk, her parting advice -paired with a wink- being the one that stood out the most, “The most effective way to get over someone is by getting under someone else.” A phrase Hongbin found absolutely repulsive, but he would definitely be lying if he said Taekwoon’s face -along with a couple of other new faces he’d recently met- didn’t come to mind when he thought about her ‘advice.’

Never in a million years would you be able to get with that, Lee Hongbin.

“T-Taekwoon-hyung! I didn't notice that you had come in.” Hongbin stuttered out and cursed his mouth a thousand times before he cleared his throat to continue. “I was just stretching and.. thinking.”

“Thinking about what? We’re both a bit early, mind if I join you?” The older asked, amusement alight in his eyes. He was bent over so that his face was nearly leveled with Hongbin’s and his hands placed on either of his hips. It made Hongbin feel crowded and flustered and he could feel the heat rising in his cheeks due to the close proximity. Hongbin had only seen him a handful of times on campus, thanks to their conflicting schedules, but he had never seen the other out of his dance attire. It was really unfair, or at least Hongbin thought it was unfair, that someone could pull off look as simple as a pair of denim joggers and plain black tank. The look was obviously put together with intentions of comfort rather than style, but Hongbin supposed that some people were just born to look good in anything.

“No, of course not!” The younger boy spoke a little too enthusiastically and his words were nearly a shout, the echo bouncing from wall to wall in the otherwise empty studio. Smooth one, Hongbin. “I was thinking about the audition process.” He said in a much calmer manner and continued stretching while Taekwoon sat on the floor right in front of him. Hongbin felt like he could finally breathe again, but it was still unnerving how Taekwoon continued to watch him.

“Nervous?” Hongbin froze his movements mid-stretch and slowly stood back up from the awkward squat he’d bent down into. He decided that now was a good time as any to join Taekwoon on the floor in order to avoid any other sort of awkward positions.

“That obvious, huh?” He spoke coolly, trying his best to put up a confident front that he knew would fool absolutely no one.

Taekwoon chuckled quietly and Hongbin decided that he’d never heard a prettier sound in his life.

“You remind me a lot of how Sanghyuk was when he walked into the group auditions.” Taekwoon explained. “The two of you must take after each other, having been friends as long as you have. Now that I know him better though, Sanghyuk does not really seem that much of the nervous type when it comes to performing under any circumstance.” He finished, eyebrows furrowed in thought. The Sanghyuk he observed in the group audition was far from the Sanghyuk that performed at the party the night before the semester kicked off.

Hongbin recalled the moments leading up to when Sanghyuk went into the audition and how he held onto Hongbin’s pinky like his life depended on it before reluctantly letting go. At the time Hongbin had similar thoughts to Taekwoon’s; Sanghyuk didn’t get nervous. But now… now Hongbin completely understood. Sanghyuk probably felt that his whole future and friendship depended on how the audition went and it made Hongbin feel dreadful that all he could offer to his friend in the moment was a measly thumbs up through the window.

Sanghyuk had gone through all of that by himself. For him.

Sure, Hongbin was there for him every second of the way when Sanghyuk asked him to be, but it tore Hongbin apart knowing that he could have done so much more.

“That audition… was really, really important to him.” Hongbin explained vaguely, staring down at the cold tile floor for a long moment before looking up at Taekwoon. Heat rose to Hongbin’s cheeks when he realized that the other had been watching him silently as he fought with his thoughts of the past. “But he must have done well enough.” A smile stretched across his features as he remembered the look on his best friend’s face when he received the acceptance letter along with the scholarship, “He really deserves that scholarship... more than anyone I know.”

Taekwoon gave him a look. “A little biased, don’t you think?”

Hongbin pursed his lips in thought and nodded, “Hmm.. I guess I am, huh?”

“I understand you, though. I’m the same way when it comes to Hakyeon.” The older said, looking past Hongbin in a daze, remembering... “I hadn’t heard from that idiot  in over a year when he randomly showed up on my doorstep and asked me to audition for the Academy with him.” Taekwoon reminisced with a faint smile. “If it weren’t for him I’d probably be holed up in my room studying for an exam in a course required for some miserable major like economics or law. It’s because of him that I get to pursue my dream.”

Hongbin wondered if he had the same look across his own face when talking about Sanghyuk that Taekwoon had whilst talking about Hakyeon. It was a look of extreme fondness and adoration, and it made Hongbin wonder...

“Are the two of you… a thing?” He chanced. It couldn’t hurt to ask, he reasoned to himself.

“Me and Hakyeon?” Taekwoon bit his lip in attempt to keep himself from laughing out loud at Hongbin’s ridiculous question. “No, no, there’s nothing like that going on between us! Hakyeon and I have just been friends since I can remember. He’s like a little brother to me, even though he’s older… But I really admire him and owe a lot to him.”

“He sounds…” Hongbin paused for a moment and thought about all of the rude things he said about Hakyeon the day he fought with Sanghyuk. “He sounds like a really great guy.” He finished through gritted teeth. He found it difficult to meet Taekwoon’s eyes, knowing exactly how he sounded just then.

“You make it sound like him being a great guy is the worst thing ever.” Taekwoon pressed on. He knew the other had no ill intentions in the way he spoke about Hakyeon, but he couldn’t help but to be curious of what kind of impression his friend had made on him that made him this way.

“Sorry.. it’s really not that I think that way. I just want to make sure Sanghyuk won’t get his heart broken if he ends up falling for him. He’s my best friend.” His nails dug into his palms at the realization; of course that was the only thing going through his mind when he’d spotted the two fooling around during the 'private lesson', but saying it out loud was… different. Hongbin knew the pang he felt in his chest at his own words would only be the beginning of his pain if this inkling of a suspicion developed into something more.

Yet… I want to protect his heart, even if that means letting my own get hurt in the process...

“And Hakyeon is my best friend. Who’s to say that Sanghyuk won’t break his heart?” Taekwoon argued back good-naturedly.

Hongbin’s cheeks darkened by a few shades as he sputtered over his words, “H-he would never! Sanghyuk is a bit awkward, and he doesn’t know how to express his feelings very well, but he’s the best person I know!”

“Hakyeon could melt ice caps in Antarctica with his charms and would let a blade of grass know how his day is going.” Taekwoon cocked his head to the side thoughtfully and smiled brightly at the scarlet boy sitting across from him. “They pretty much sound like a match made in heaven, don’t you think?”

The two of them, a flustered Hongbin and a meddlesome Taekwoon, were so caught up in their fruitless bantering that they completely missed the sound of footsteps entering the room.

“Who’s a match made in heaven?” A loud voice resonated through the rehearsal studio, cutting off Hongbin’s non-existent answer in the process. He was grateful, if anything, because the more he thought about it, the more the odd couple seemed to suit each other… But he wasn’t ready to admit such a thing. Not yet.

“No one.”

“Hakyeon-ah and Sanghyukkie.”

Hongbin and Taekwoon answered the curious student simultaneously. Hongbin felt uneasy speaking so freely about his friend behind the other’s back, but Taekwoon seemed to have no problem letting others in on their gossip.

“YEEEEEES!” Jaehwan bounced up and down in place beside the two early birds. “Those two are so into each other and it’s killing me!”

Wonshik approached the three of them with a fond smile and joined the stretching party, “Good luck trying to get either of them to admit such a thing. Both of them are stubborn and clueless.”

“Nah, I think Hakyeon-hyung will make it obvious.”

“Yeah, but he’ll have to realize it himself, first. When I say he’s clueless, I mean that he’s entirely clueless of his own feelings almost one hundred percent of the time.”

The three of them looked to the silent observer with a stoic expression. None of them had known Sanghyuk long enough to add any sort of details about him to their gossip, and really, who else would know more about him than his best friend?

Hongbin shifted his weight from foot to foot and fought the temptation to bite at his nails, a nervous habit that he absolutely detested.

“Sanghyuk,” He started slowly, trying to find the right words. He felt stupid for not being able to answer them confidently, but Sanghyuk was not one to willingly talk about his feelings. Hongbin remembered the countless times he stayed up just talking with him about some crush of his own, but not once throughout their entire friendship had it ever been the other way around. There were instances when Hongbin would catch his best friend staring at someone for a moment too long for it  to be considered a harmless glance, in which case Hongbin would attempt to about finally liking someone, just for Sanghyuk to sternly let him know why he was wrong in thinking such things.

“Sanghyukkie is the kind of person who will go to his grave denying he has any sort of special feelings for someone.”

He compared all those glances from back then to the way he’d caught Sanghyuk looking at Hakyeon… Was there even a comparison to be made? There was no doubting the interest in his eyes or the fond tone masked with fake annoyance when Sanghyuk used to complain nonstop about the other. Hongbin felt foolish for not being able to notice it sooner.

Taekwoon hummed in response as he studied Hongbin, the other had his head bowed as if he’d found something completely captivating about the floor. The way he talked about Sanghyuk made Taekwoon wonder… just what was the relationship like and if Hongbin’s feelings for Sanghyuk ran deeper than just best friends.

“Sounds like this is going to require some team effort,” Wonshik smirked, something that looked so out of place on someone Hongbin had come to think of as relatively normal. Well, normal compared to‒

“Count me in!” Jaehwan’s excited shriek caused Hongbin to jump. He sighed with his eyes closed for a moment before looking to the last person who he thought, hoped, to be sane.

“I already have a few ideas in mind,” Taekwoon’s grin looked downright… evil. Hongbin covered his face with his hands and groaned; what had he just gotten himself into?

°°°

The aforementioned duo in question took their time walking up the stairs to the third floor of the dance annex.

They met by chance when Sanghyuk was walking out of his dorm room and into the hallway and Hakyeon had just come down from his own dorm. The two of them shared a nervous greeting, both minds preoccupied with the same worried thoughts, and made their way out of the dormitory and towards the annex without a word. Sanghyuk always walked a couple of steps ahead of the older once they reached a set of doors and opened them to let Hakyeon through first, following in behind him quickly. Sanghyuk found that it was worth the microscopic smiles Hakyeon would sport for a few seconds before his face would set back into a worried frown.

It pained Sanghyuk to see anything but the bright smile he was used to on the other’s face, but he was in the same boat, his own mouth set into a thin line and his eyebrows permanently furrowed.

Sanghyuk pulled on Hakyeon’s sleeve when they neared the designated studio, this would be their last chance to talk about things before plans were set into motion. Once they walked inside that studio there would be absolutely no way of knowing how things played out until hours later. Though, there was always the chance that things would go the opposite of how they were planned, which would probably result in their audition process being rudely interrupted.

Hakyeon looked to where the younger boy’s fingers still held onto the sleeve of his loose sweater before looking up to his face, eyes full of question and concern.

“Wh- What about Kai..?” Sanghyuk mumbled meekly.

Hakyeon nodded in understanding before flashing Sanghyuk a comforting smile. He wanted to do more, he wanted to be able to reassure Sanghyuk that he had absolutely nothing to worry about. But he couldn’t do anything other than offer a warm smile and hope for the best.

“You trust Sungjae, right?”

“I don’t think we have any choice but to trust him in this sort of situation.” Sanghyuk sighed and finally let go of the older’s sleeve. He found himself wanting to take Hakyeon’s hand in his and‒ What? Sanghyuk mentally shook the thought out of his head. What was wrong with him?

“Well, I trust him.” Hakyeon sighed and tilted his head back against the wall and Sanghyuk found himself briefly distracted by the way the older’s bangs neatly parted and  fell away to reveal his forehead. “I don’t know what he plans on doing, but he seemed pretty sure of himself when he said he had a plan.”

They stood in silence once more. A silence that lasted for about fifteen seconds before an outburst of laughter came from the door right beside them. They looked to each other, matching amused expressions, just as the door opened up.

“Oh, they’re out here!” Jaehwan called back into the studio before looking back and forth between the two with a mischievous smirk. “If you lovebirds are done having your chat, we’d like to get started!”

Only then did it register to either boy just how closely they were standing to each other. They quickly put a distance between themselves, respective blushes creeping into each of their faces.

“I swear to God…” Jaehwan watched the two of them and cursed under his breath; their work was definitely cut out for them. It wasn’t going to be easy, but damn, it was going to be fun. The second-hand embarrassment he began to feel just from watching them had Jaehwan rolling his eyes. He walked around them until he was able to begin pushing them from behind and into the rehearsal studio, laughing off their protests and something along the lines of being able to walk in without his help.

He was about to step foot inside himself when he heard a door at the end of the hallway creak open, followed by numerous pairs of footsteps. Jaehwan only lingered outside of their studio long enough to make sure he didn’t recognize any of the students turning into another studio. He could have sworn they were the only students who reserved a room on the third floor this late in the evening.

He shrugged to himself in and quickly followed the other two inside, pulling the door handle with him so that it shut by itself once he let go.

a/n: Ahh, it has been a while, no? I suppose I owe an explanation of sorts, but it was just school got to me and blahblah, life, yanno? Anywho, I apologize for the lack of update in this story, but I've posted a couple of other stories since and I never stop writing, so don't worry! I'm not ignoring this story ^^

About Bécarre Pt. 2-3: Hmm, this was supposed to lead into the dances, but I wanted to give you guys an update for the week of Hakyeon and Hyuk's birthdays, plus I'm working on another two Chasang one shots that I also want to post and it was going to be impossible to finish Pt. 2 in time so I've split it up. So now there might be a Pt.4 to Bécarre, but I promise the next parts will NOT take months. *pinky promises you all*

About the switch to 3rd POV: If you read my other works, you'll notice that I mainly write in 3rd POV. Basically it was getting to difficult to continue in 1st POV and be able to describe the dances how I wanted to. I hope you guys don't mind the switch! Please let me know your thoughts!

Extra: How are you guys enjoying the story? I'm sorry it's a bit slow atm, I have so much planned so I hope you guys stick around. ^^ Thanks for reading! Comments are always appreciated~ I'll see you all soon with new stories and new updates!