foxtrot!au

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this is part 1 :)

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Younghyun looked at the dance competition board with wide eyes. "WHaT the FuCK?!!!"

Now this may have been a very strong protest to what the board detailed on his behalf, but the fourteen-year-old boy would argue that his language was appropriate in this particular situation. He had been paired together with the most annoying person in their studio, as far as he could see... And that was, of course, Kim Wonpil. How had they gone from being rivals to being partners, you may ask... Well, their dance instructor had long ago noticed the rift between two of her most advanced dancers and had jumped at the opportunity to bring them closer together when a space opened up in the same-sex foxtrot category that was going on in the newly-established PJH competition overseas. And, of course, neither of the boys who had been signed up for this event knew about the situation until it was too late for them to retract their names from the list of competitors. It was now mandatory for them to go. Otherwise... They would both be kicked out of the studio.

And so, Younghyun groaned and cursed his nosy dance teacher in his mind. God dammit, Minjin-sansaeng... You just had to fucking go there, didn't you?!

A week of (un)successfully avoiding the younger brunette from his studio passed before Younghyun's coach held them both behind after their separate practices ended on Friday. "We're testing the tides today, boys," she assertively told them. "Let's see how well you can work together before I introduce the actual routine to you." Her lips twitched in annoyance when the two boys scowled at each other with furious glares.

This will take a lot of work, won't it? Minjin thought to herself.

She was on point with her prediction. Nobody would have expected otherwise. The boys bickered as soon as she asked them to get in foxtrot position.

"I'm taking over the guy role!"

"No – I am!"

The coach massaged the area between her eyebrows in frustration. "Boys! You're both BOYS! Now stop bickering and get in proper position!!"

The bickering pair immediately shut up, but they still glared at each other and flinched away from one another's reaching hands.

"Yugh..." Minjin walked over to them and assisted them in placing their arms and positioning their feet properly. "See?! That wasn't so hard, now, was it?"

Both boys would say otherwise if their opinion actually mattered to their bossy coach. Unfortunately, the world did not have as much mercy as they wished for. They simply settled for both shuffling backwards away from one another while their coach was looking the other way.

"Let's get started." Soft saxophone music streamed through the studio room when Minjin pressed the play button on the stereo, and the smooth sounds of the brassy wind instrument began to push off the mirror walls surrounding the trio. Soon enough, the dancers were asked to practice some elementary moves, their coach's instructions accented with two sharp claps. "One, two, three; one, two, three..."

The boys' feet clashed almost immediately, and both harshly tripped. They had turned their faces so far away from each other that they could barely control the spans of their footfalls... And Wonpil was now awkwardly splayed out in Younghyun's arms, shaking in livid rage.

"Stop!" Their coach paused the music and stopped snapping to the beat.

Wonpil was looking into Younghyun's disgustingly perfect eyes, counting all the specks of anger he could find. He couldn't look away, or else the pot of boiling rage dancing in his chest would tip over and he would do something immensely stupid that would get him suspended from the studio... And he couldn't have that happen, now, could he? The older boy soon sent him a sickeningly sweet smile, complete with exaggerated eye crescents, and, tauntingly – "You're really good at dancing, Wonpil-ssi... Teach me sometime?"

Wonpil scowled and finally allowed himself to look away. "Cut the crap, Younghyun-ssi. Teasing is for babies."

As he harshly pulled away from the older boy, who was failing at holding back his amused chuckles, Minjin turned around with a flourish of her skirt.

"Now, now~" The dance coach clapped her hands in an authoritative gesture of Just get over it already you nitwits, and she danced her fingertips over the rim of her spaghetti-strap top in unwavering frustration. "There's too much space between you two. You know that I don't tolerate unresolved tension between pairs... As much as I do not tolerate unnecessary distance!!" She clacked her way over to the groaning boys in her clickity-clackity metal-bottomed dance shoes until she was close enough to forcefully push them closer together. "You must be close enough for merely a hand's-width space between the tips of your ears! I've taught you this countless times in other lessons; how have you still not processed this yet?!!"

Younghyun and Wonpil both turned to look at each other, immediately scowling once more as soon as their gazes locked together. As their authoritative coach grasped the older boy's hand to raise it as a guideline for their proximity, Wonpil licked his lips in rage and bit the inside of his cheek so as not to storm out in a frenzy of hatred and impatience. The younger boy's hand tightened around the one he was now holding once more, and he tried his best to sink his nails into the elder's fingers. Younghyun's eyes visibly squinted in dual anger and pain, and he gritted his teeth to hold back the groan of discomfort settling in his throat along with the burning sensation filling it up and rising to his flaring nostrils. Then his foot was stealthily easing its way to Wonpil's shoe and his heel was pressing in on the soft material of the brunette's toes. The shorter boy's yelp was not so easily stifled, and the coach ended up letting them take a rest with an exasperated, "You fight like two cocks in an Argentinian courtyard!" to top it all off.

Boy, was this going to be a long day...

Fifteen minutes later, the pair was standing in the middle of the dance floor once again. The dancers had cooled down a bit and were now a tinge more willing to hold one another's hands and arms without killing each other. The scowls still decorated their faces, but now they were at least able to stay in one another's presence and concentrate on working together. Brian positioned himself properly, following his dance teacher's instructions, and raised his arms at a 90 degree angle for Wonpil to use as a guideline (since he was slightly shorter in stature and would have to be lifted in the chest area a little by Younghyun's higher-set arms). The brunette had the encasing role in setting his arms overtop the multicolor-haired boy's, allowing his partner to take control of the motions in their upper bodies, and, in turn, he would have control over their lower bodies, leading the motions of their legs and the swinging of their hips. In other words, their coach had split their roles perfectly in half, leaving the twirling and rolling to Younghyun and assigning the calculating and reaching to Wonpil. In her eyes, it was a perfect match. In theirs, it was fair enough to get them through the day. Just barely... Just barely.

They eyed each other up as the smooth practice music eased through the room for the second time that day, and then the real work began. How would they agree to fluid motions without battling each other like battering rams?! Their faces turned opposite ways, their noses wrinkling in dual distaste and contemplation.

"One, two, three; one, two three; ready, breathe, dance!" their coach's unique counting began, and Younghyun positioned his feet so one of them was between Wonpil's legs, then leaned to the left. The brunette's mind clicked into motion, his experience telling him that Younghyun = left means Wonpil = right, so his feet turned just so, and he swept the older boy backwards with the help of their almost interlocked legs. The fourteen year old couldn't help but allow his mouth to lift a tinge at one corner, and his head raised a bit higher so he could hide the satisfied glint in his eye from his rival-turned-partner. Their pairing was unconventional in so many ways... Yet the way their bodies lead one another in the fashion they were most suited for and were most experienced in felt so right. It was as if Wonpil was the Earth and its gravity, spinning the Luna-like Younghyun around while the moon shifted his tides and determined the mood of the planet's nights. Each role was important... Not just important, in fact – they were essential. They were essential to each other in this dance, even though they were only testing their skills at the moment and had not yet experienced the sensation of the routine Minjin had arranged for them. As the music began to fade away, Younghyun decided to do something slightly risky and let go of Wonpil's hand, their other arms which were still connected sliding against one another's until they were just barely connected by the fingertips. Wonpil allowed his foot to step outward in a wide, swooping arch, and then he was spinning Younghyun inwards and into his chest, breathing in the air that came in with the swoosh, all tinged in the light odor of sweat and lemons. Their palms slid up each others' arms once more as they got back in their initial position, and they carefully slid out one leg each and tilted their heads opposite ways, as if both were seeking the sun but couldn't agree on the direction it was facing.

Then there was silence.

Then one clap.

Then two.

And then a long chain of applause was heard from their instructor, and the boys were leaping apart in embarrassment, not being able to acknowledge that they had just been bonding (?!!could they even call it that?!) through their beloved medium of dance.

"That was... Boys, that went beyond my expectations! Come here on Monday, just like you did today, and I'll get you started on the routine. Oh, hyung will absolutely love this..." Minjin happily clapped her hands together before turning off the speakers and twirling herself out of the room in a giddy dance. Younghyun and Wonpil looked at each other in confusion, then remembered that they were supposed to hate each other, and their looks became ones of apprehension and disgust.

The boys were standing by their lockers, which were conveniently placed straight across from each other, when Wonpil groaned. "My toes hurt," he whined out, reaching down to take off his shoes. A sudden cramp seized his foot, and Younghyun turned around just as the smaller boy let out a frantic yelp while falling.

The fourteen year old luckily broke the thirteen year old's fall, catching him in a position similar to the foxtrot one they had been practicing not five minutes ago. "Woah, there... You want to break yourself just to get away from me or what?"

The brunette's returning scowl dripped with a poisonous wrath, however. "I'd never stake my life just to get away from you. So don't even think about relaxing. If you do something to mess this up, Younghyun-ssi... I won't hesitate to make your life miserable."

The older boy growled and pulled the younger boy close enough for their foreheads to be touching. "Our dance styles may be compatible, but the same doesn't go for our personalities. So you'd better take care of yourself and stay in shape before our competition. We have to work together if we want to survive each other." The boy swiveled sideways until Wonpil's back hit the lockers quite harshly, and the younger boy released a gasp of pain and disbelief. "In other words... Take my hand." Younghyun's teasing smirk was back on his face and he gripped the brunette's hand for a few seconds, slipping something from his own palm into Wonpil's. And then he was pulling back and closing his locker and strutting off with a small trail of whistles threading behind him like bread crumbs.

Wonpil's palm soon grew warm from holding the fluorescent pink post-it note detailing a certain rival's phone number... As did his cheeks.