The music started. Most had been anticipating this part of the night since they got there- or before. For some, it was a chance to show off to your date with all the smooth moves you picked up. For others, who were only there to be with friends, it was time to goof off, maybe start a conga line, and enjoy the music, and for the last group, it was an opportunity to make a move on the lonely ones who hadn't been asked to accompany someone else.

   Taehyung knew he wasn't a part of that first 'some'. He'd come with two friends. Did that leave him in the second or third type of 'some's? His mind wandered as the first song played, peppy and inviting whoever would be brave enough to venture out onto the dance floor first. And while his mind wandered, so did his eyes. They skipped over the couples and groups grinning at each other as they began to dance, and instead settled on Jeongguk across the room, sitting on one of the fold-out chairs lined up against the wall creating a border for the dance floor. He wondered, could Jeongguk put him into that third group?

No, no, no. Bad mind. You're supposed to be having fun tonight, not obsessing over this annoying crush you can't get over! 

   He forced his eyes away and instead, brought them over to his friends. They were standing on the edge of the dance floor as it filled. Jimin was proudly wearing his flower crown and beaming as he bobbed his head and tapped his feet to the beat, and Sorah was standing beside him, watching. He left his seat to stand next to them.

    "Are we gonna dance or what?" Taehyung grinned. The two best friends spent the rest of the song trying to get Sorah to crack a smile as they danced together, a bit ridiculously, all in the name of getting the girl to break. Finally, as the song ended and Taehyung motioned for Jimin to come into his arms for a dramatic dip, Sorah laughed, turning her face away from the two and quietly laughing into her palm.

    "Hey, come on, you're laughing. Don't hide it!" He took hold of the hand that lay lax at her side to pull her onto the dance floor- she needed to learn to have some fun with them, and not worry about looking cold and collected all the time.  Bringing her out into the open, he grinned, and she smiled, yet played it off as an almost-pout.

    Taehyung was ready to go all-out, dancing with her, and with Jimin as well, and as he stopped in the middle of the dance floor, this time he caught the stare of a sitting boy on him. Jeongguk made undeniable eye contact, that stopped Taehyung in his tracks and made him swallow a lump in his throat. A second later, he broke it, and with his eyes cast downward, trained on the floor, he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked out of the gym. 

   It wasn't uncommon for the students to get hot during the night and want to cool off outside, so no one paid attention to Jeongguk leaving. No one except Taehyung. His curiosity and his crush were seeming to get the better of him as he completely dropped Sorah's hand and let his eyes follow the boy. 

   No, no, no. I shouldn't. I'm not gonna do it-

You know what? Forget it. I'm doing it.

   Distractedly, he guided Sorah's hand to Jimin's, and Jimin quickly took hold of it. Both of them stared at Taehyung quizzically, but Taehyung didn't explain himself and simply left the center of the room, leaving Jimin to shrug at Sorah and begin bluesing with her.

   Idiot  was the word repeating over and over in Taehyung's mind as he went against his better judgement and followed after Jeongguk. The door had been propped open to let in some cool night air, and Taehyung walked straight through into the partial darkness of the parking lot, straining his eyes to look around for the boy.

    And there he was, sitting in the grass, possibly dirtying his fancy pants, his chin placed on a forearm that rested on top of his knees, highlighting the adorable pout on his face. The childish pushing-out of his lower lip accompanied by his sad, droopy eyelids and eyebrows contrasted humorously with his sophisticated outfit and spiffy, combed hair.

    Taehyung approached quietly and crouched next to him, knocking Jeongguk out of his daze and clearly startling him, and causing him to fix his face, wiping off his sour expression while he fixed his posture. "Hi," Taehyung began. "Are you okay?"

   Jeongguk blinked slowly, taking in the words. "Oh- yeah, I'm good," he replied, a small, pleasant smiling taking over his face. It wasn't the same happy smile Taehyung had managed to catch a few glances of before. It was a smile he made, for the sake of being polite and keeping his troubles to himself.

    "You seemed upset. You helped me out when I was upset, so I thought I should return the favor, if I can."

    Jeongguk stopped to think again, opening and closing his mouth, hesitating. "I'm alright," he finally concluded.

    "Okay. D'you mind if I sit with you?"

    "No, go ahead." Jeongguk scooted to the side slightly, as if there was limited room. But they were on a patch of grass beside a parking lot, not a bench. So, that didn't really make sense.

Is he nervous??

   Taehyung knew there was something Jeongguk was itching to say, but was managing to keep quiet. He wondered, if he stayed by his side long enough, would he give in and say it? Two minutes ticked by and the song being played inside the doors ended and a new one began, a slightly slower song that could be heard faintly from where the two sat. Taehyung took to looking at the stars.

   The sky was clear and the stars were bright. The night sky was a painting. He wondered, as an occasional painter himself, how he would paint it. He'd coat the canvas in rich black, then add faint spirals and splotches of pale and deep blue, light purple, and white, then he'd finish it off with that method of flicking the bristles of a toothbrush to make the stars. The thought amused him. Oh, how he'd love to meet the brilliant painter who formed the galaxy that he and Jeongguk stared up at that night.

   To keep his wandering mind and eyes quiet and still , he busied himself by identifying all the constellations he recalled from that astronomy class.

Hydra... Ursa... Hercules.. Oh- is he gonna start talking?

   Jeongguk drew in a breath as if preparing to speak, so Taehyung turned his head to watch him. "I... I'm just really confused and I don't know what to do right now." He paused, hung his head, then continued. "I always thought that I only liked girls. Why do you make me feel so funny then?" A sweaty palm rubbed the back of his neck. "What I mean is.. I like you, I think. But you're dating Sorah."

    Taehyung's eyes blew up to twice their size and his lips parted slightly as he stared at Jeongguk. His heart simultaneously sang, thumped, and did a backflip. Taehyung didn't know that was possible. With that reaction, Jeongguk realized what he'd just said. "Oh- crap-" He gulped. "Sorry, I don't know why I said that. Could we just pretend I didn't?"

    "Jeongguk... Sorah and I aren't dating."

    "What? B-but the whole school says you are! And I see you guys hanging out a lot."

    "Well.. Sorah is pretending to be my girlfriend so my parents think I'm straight. That's all. I think Jimin's little brother started the rumors around school."

    "Really?" Jeongguk asked, disbelieving.

    "Really."

    "So you two don't like each other?"

    "I mean- I like her as a friend... I think she considers me a friend, too, but she's Sorah, so it's a bit difficult to tell if she enjoys your company." Taehyung chuckled. Jeongguk nodded knowingly, his lips twitching up in a bit of a real smile.

    "It looks like she's being friendly with you, in her own Sorah way of being friendly."

    "Yeah?"

    "Yeah," Jeongguk confirmed. A silence followed between them. The music had changed, from the pop-y, goofy songs like Dancing Queen to something suitable for waltzing. All of a sudden, Taehyung broke the silence.

    "Do you know how to waltz?"

    "Uh-huh."

    "Can you teach me?"

    "Sure," the boy's sweet voice answered as he stood. "Raise your arms like this." Jeongguk brought his arms up and positioned them in a way that made him look like a barbie doll with stiff arms stuck in angular positions.

   Taehyung smiled as he followed along. "Don't worry, it looks less weird when you're dancing with... someone else." Taehyung caught the slight note of fluster in his voice.

   "Now, just step like this, okay? One, two, three," Taehyung's feet moved in sync with Jeongguk's as they danced side-by-side. "Perfect. You got that really fast," he complimented, making Taehyung bite his lip in shyness.

   "Try doing that to the next song, while switching between moving backward and forward." Jeongguk stepped back and watched Taehyung danced by himself, unsure and a bit clunky at first, but as the song went on, he found his own sort of gracefulness to dance with. The steady rhythm of the song changed when a piano solo came in to end it. Taehyung wasn't quite sure if he should do something different, because it was a bit difficult to follow the same one-two-three pattern with the piano.

    Jeongguk picked up on it when Taehyung glanced over his shoulder at him, his eyes asking for instruction. "Just keep going like that. Usually, there'd be a couple of spins or a dip going on at this point." Taehyung did as he said until the song faded away. Instead of the next song beginning, the mic crackled again.

    "Okay, seniors, this is your moment. This will be the last song, so grab your date and get ready for a slow dance!"

    Both Taehyung and Jeongguk gulped, then looked at each other. While the rest of the seniors spent their night inside, experiencing their one and only Spring Fling, they'd spent the most important part of their night out in the parking lot, together.

   Well- truly, the most important part of the night was this moment: the last song. Without any more hesitation, Jeongguk extended an open hand to Taehyung while a piano began to play mellow notes. "Would you like to dance?"

   Perhaps he should've seen this coming- No, he definitely should've seen this coming. Jeongguk said he liked Taehyung. Jeongguk taught him to waltz. The last song was to begin. Had begun. But as the question, 'would you like to dance' was presented, it caught him unprepared and turned his cheeks strawberry red.

   Violins began to accompany the piano as Taehyung took the boy's invitation and placed his hand in his. His heart seemed like it couldn't pound any harder when Jeongguk's hand enveloped his, but it did when he gently led him into a spin that brought him in right against his chest. "Put your arm over mine," he guided.

   Taehyung's arm was draped over Jeongguk's, his hand coming to rest just below the boy's shoulder as Jeongguk raised their right arms together, his hand firmly gripping Taehyung's. They stepped together, just as Jeongguk had taught Taehyung to do. One, two, three, one, two, three, in time with the music and each other.

   Though Taehyung was totally inexperienced and imperfect, in Jeongguk's adoring eyes, he seemed to be the most graceful ballroom dancer he'd ever seen. The dance was gone two fast, and it seemed to be only a few sets of three steps and a spin before the end was near and Jeongguk pushed Taehyung into a slow spin, his guiding hand circling his waist. Before Taehyung could return to the normal he'd grown comfortable in, Jeongguk's hand took his and brought it to his neck, causing Taehyung's arm to naturally wrap around his shoulder.

   Oh, oh shoot, he's gonna dip me.

   Pulled in until their chests were touching and their faces close, Taehyung was bending over backward in Jeongguk's strong hold, his back arched beautifully around the boy's supporting arm. The music faded away and the two remained, each looking into the other's eyes as they breathed in sync.

   Jeongguk broke the stare and smoothly pulled them back up, reversing the spin he'd used to bring Taehyung in and ending the dance, softly letting go of his hand. "Thank you for the dance," he uttered.

   "Thank you for teaching me," Taehyung replied.

I want to tell him that I like him, too.

   But Taehyung's lips did not move, and the two parted. They each snuck back inside, without another word.

   The music was gone, but the man had returned to the microphone for one last announcement. "Thank you, seniors, for your dedication and hard work this year. Let's keep working hard until graduation! Congratulations, everyone!" Applause thundered throughout the gym.

   When Taehyung finally made his way back to Sorah and Jimin, they stared at him, unamused. 

   "Dude!" Jimin started. "Where did you go? I didn't see you at all after the first song!"

    "I just learned to waltz."

   Safe to say, Taehyung yelled into his pillow a lot when he got home that night. But it was happy yelling, this time.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

FINALLYYYY SOME TAEKOOK ACTIONNN

how we feelinnnnn