my eyes, breath, body want you

she had been in an uncharacteristically kind and encouraging mood, apparently. sikyung was a surprisingly good dancer, to her credit, but she didn’t help people. she produced music for people when she was forced to, but that was a lot different than going out of her way to lend a hand. and of course, the one time she tries to be nice, it blows up in her face. 

sighing deeply and trying not to scowl too hard, she rolled her eyes. “dude, i’ve gone over this like six times. at this point, if you’re not going to get it you’re not going to get it,” she grumbled. maybe that was mean, and maybe he’d get it with a better teacher, but she didn’t really want to waste her time dancing anymore. “yeah, maybe. why’d you ask me anyway? i have literally two songs i dance on.”

taebin can’t help but wince at her sharp tongue, running a hand through his hair again, nervously. he had been trying to get help from wherever he could, not even thinking about the kind of idols that were in the company. he hadn't really met most of them anyway, since he was only a trainee and they were much busier than he was. “but i have to get it..” he says meekly, blinking a few times at her, a small pout on his lips. “they won’t debut me if i don’t get it...” he sighs softly. “sorry, i should have thought about that, i guess. i’m still unfamiliar with most of the idols here, i’m still pretty new..”

––––––「   “   honestly, you might have a point there,   ”   dahyung laughed, letting the boy take as long a break as he needed before they ran through the choreography again. she didn’t mind however long they took to go over it, part of dani was just thankful that for once, she didn’t have anywhere else in the company’s building that she needed to be.   “    i’d be surprised that i still remember how to do it after two years but they make us practice it so many times that it could probably be a decade since i debuted and i’d still could do it.   ”    dani couldn’t help but pick up on how seriously he locked eyes with himself in the mirror before them, seemingly out of sheer determination to get the moves right again.   “    don’t apologize,    ”    she insisted, wanting to somehow instill it in the boy that he shouldn’t be sorry to want to improve,   “    no one comes in to being a trainee already knowing how to do everything right, it’s good that you want to practice.   ”   」

taebin can’t help but mess with his hair, the fluffy strands sticking to his face and neck from the sweat and heat from the two of them practicing for a while. “so you mean to say that when i debut, i’ll still remember how to do these basics?” he laughs softly. “that’s good for us trainees, i guess. no shortage of people to help us when they actually feel like we exist for once.” he takes another long drink of water. “i want to debut.” he says sincerely, brown eyes blinking. “and the only thing i can do, the best thing that i can do, to make that happen is to practice my ass off until they decide that i’m worth of being in a group. as it is, there’s already two groups set to debut, and i’m in neither of them. so it’ll probably be a few years at least...”

          the  defeat  in  the  younger  boy’s  voice  really  pulls  at  jaein’s  heartstrings  ,  his  soft  spot  for  anyone  in  distress  always  got  him  in  trouble  .  his  weakness  to  never  give  up  on  people  also  did  ,  but  he  was  sure  the  boy  in  front  of  him  was  completely  harmless  .  “  hey  ,  don’t  put  yourself  down  like  that  ,  you’re  doing  the  best  that  you  can  ,  ”  an  instinct  to  protect  the  young  boy  buzzes  through  his  veins  ,  “  skills  like  that  take  time  to  get  down  &  you’ll  never  be  perfect  ,  no  one  will  ,  but  you  practicing  as  hard  as  you  are  is  the  first  step  !  plus  ,  some  of  these  kids  can’t  sing  like  you  do  ,  everyone  has  their  strengths  &  weaknesses  .  ”  jaein  was  doing  his  best  to  sound  reassuring  ,  but  maybe  he  was  being  a  little  preachy  ,  seeing  the  trainees  down  always  made  his  heart  jolt  .  “  c’mon  ,  i  don’t  mind  the  embarrassment  !  i’ve  done  far  worse  before  ,  a  little  dancing  won’t  do  me  any  harm  .  ”

taebin isn’t usually this down on himself, but the weight on his shoulders of being the least talented at dance trainee was beginning to show, and he was exhausted. “i suppose that’s true... i’ve only been a trainee for six months.. and i didn’t know how to dance at all before that.” he ruffles his messy hair, big eyes blinking at jaein. he can’t help but chuckle at the enthusiasm, smiling a little bit. “i do sing well, yeah. and this face,” he motions to himself. “pretty unparalleled!” he giggles a little bit. “okay! show me what you’ve got then! i wanna see you dance.”

ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴛᴀᴇᴍɪɴ ᴀɢʀᴇᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ʜᴇʟᴘ, ʜᴇ ᴅɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ɪᴛ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʙᴇ ᴛʜɪꜱ ꜰʀᴜꜱᴛʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ. his eyes turn to the mirror before him to look at the other, breathing out with some frustration before shaking his head “ —— i promised i would help, didn’t i ? we can do it, c'mon. ” and yet, he wasn’t sure. he wanted to help, but there were only just so many steps he could repeat the same way “ —— just … look at me. let your body flow, you’re being to stiff.

maybe it was the fact that it was TAEMIN that was teaching him, but taebin couldn’t help but feel like he was making a million more mistakes than usual. he can see the frustration written all over the other’s face, and it makes what little confidence he still had fall a little bit. “i’m trying, really.” he focuses on taemin with determined eyes, lips set in a hard line. “i’m just not a dance trainee and i guess that they keep forgetting that. the other trainees are fed up with me asking all the time, but i want to debut too!”

     HANBIN NODS HIS HEAD, of course he knows the struggles of not being able to pay attention. “ hey don’t worry about it. it takes time. i didn’t get it, either. “ he promises and he runs his fingers through his hair and he smiles softly, reassuring him that it is in fact actually okay. “ he then looks at him again and he nods. “ you will do well, it just takes time. “ he says and he rubs his hands on his pants and he shakes his head. “ we can ask the choreographer if you want, but i can help as much as i can. “ 

taebin is honestly so grateful to have the seniors in the company that he does. most of them have helped him at some point or another over the last six months, since taebin is sure he’s spent more time in the practice room than in his own dorm bed at the moment. “I'm just a slow learner i suppose.” he sighs softly, drinking some more water before situating himself in front of the mirror again. “i probably annoy the choreographer more than i should. and the dance trainer. and all the main dancers of the senior groups. and the dance orientated trainees.” he shrugs sheepishly, a light blush on his cheeks. he’s really trying very hard to get his bearings here, and learning to dance from scratch is proving itself to be a harder task that he had thought. 

//* xᴀɴ ꜱʜʀᴜɢɢᴇᴅ, ᴍɪꜱᴄʜɪᴇꜰ twinkling in his eyes as usual. “ i dunno, you’d be surprised how many staff members still don’t remember anything about me and i’m already debuted. i can still pretend i don’t know what they’re saying and it works, like… a fifth of the time. which isn’t a bad ratio if i do say so myself!! worth a shot is all i’m sayin’. ” he lowered himself back down to the floor, although this time he sat up straight, back against the wall to make sure he was out of the way. “ well, it’s nice to meet you, taebin!! you can use the room if you wanna, i’m done practicing for now. i am avoiding having to meet with our manager, though, so i might just chill here with you for a bit. if that’s cool with you…? ”

“you’re so lucky you’ve debuted though...” taebin looks at him with big eyes, a soft pout on his lips. “i don’t know if they even think i’m gonna get good enough to debut...” he huffs softly, setting his water bottle down and crossing over to plug in his phone. “okay... just don’t laugh at my dancing... i’m still working on it.” a dark red blush creeps up his neck at the idea of someone watching him dance. he clears his throat and looks through the songs on his phone before picking an easygoing song, sea by mxs. “seriously, don’t judge me.”

when he finally stops stalking, sydney could only shake her head as rosy lips slowly curl into a fond smile. “god, you’re so cute.” she says, eyes still on the trainee. “do you want to take a break for five minutes? we can go over it again after that.” she was once a trainee too, so she gets how pressuring it could be for them to do well, knowing that they’re competing with other trainees who are also eager to debut. “you’re doing just fine, kid. practice makes perfect, right? i’m sure you’ll get better if you keep on practicing.” sydney never has to struggle with dancing, as that’s the only thing she’s good at when she first came here. dancing is a huge part of her life, she loves it, and that’s why she’s more than happy to help taebin with his dancing at the moment.

his cheeks turn red at the compliment, ducking his head so she can’t see his ears turning red. “a break sounds good.” he flops down onto the floor, leaning his head against the wall slightly, closing his eyes. he blindly reaches for his water bottle before taking another big swig of it. he opens his eyes when sydney keeps talking, blinking a few times. “i’m just so new to it. i never danced before coming to solar, and i’ve only been a trainee for like six months now, and i dunno... all the other dance trainees have been here for so long, and i was scouted for visuals... i mean i can sing, but it’s just hard to keep up with the dance bit. if i could just get that part down, maybe they’ll debut me.”

––––––「  dani couldn’t help but break into a smile, however soft, at the boy’s continued apologies.   “   it’s okay, really,   ”   she reassured him, walking back over to restart the music from the same point they had last walked through.   “   i’m surprised they haven’t stopped making trainees learn this, it was old even when i had to do it.   ”   dahyoung could remember when she first started dancing, and it felt like she would never be able to follow in her sisters footsteps because she was too busy tripping over her own – but in this boy’s case, it seemed to her like he had a million more times the pressure riding on his shoulders.   “   you’re so close to getting it. i think you’re just moving one count before the music, okay ?   ”   」

taebin laughs softly, shaking out his black hair, a few strands still sticking to his face from the sweat. “i suppose they figured that the training system worked, so they just kept it the same. at least that’s what i assume. maybe the trainers are just lazy and don’t want to teach new practice choreo.” he shrugs lightly, taking a drink from his water bottle. “am i? i don’t feel like it... all the other trainees are much better at dancing than i am...” he nods with the criticism, dark eyes set on watching himself in the mirror. “again, i’m really sorry that i’m making you go over this so many times. i just really want to debut... but i’m still pretty new to dancing..”

          jaein  was  usually  just  a  bystander  ,  he  watched  the  way  others  treated  the  trainees  &  his  kind  heart  ached  for  the  small  babies  .  most  of  the  time  he  couldn’t  push  himself  to  say  anything  ,  the  fear  of  his  job  being  on  the  line  ,  one  his  mother  had  bought  his  way  into  ,  not  wanting  to  run  the  risk  of  losing  it  &  disappointing  not  only  the  girls  ,  but  his  mother  .  however  now  ,  passing  by  the  sweet  little  thing  ,  jaein  couldn’t  not  say  something  .  “  hi  ,  angel  ,  ”  he  coos  softly  ,  walking  towards  him  like  he  was  a  wounded  animal  ,  “  from  what  i  saw  you  were  doing  amazing  ,  way  better  than  i  could  do  ,  ”  leaning  down  to  whisper  the  last  part  ,  “  or  anyone  else  if  i’m  being  honest  .  ”  jaein  smiles  gently  ,  “  i  don’t  know  what  i  can  do  to  help  ,  but  i  can  always  stay  for  moral  support  ?  or  you  can  even  teach  me  a  couple  moves  &  i’ll  try  them  for  myself  ,  you’ll  surely  get  a  laugh  at  how  i  have  two  left  feet  .  ”

taebin startles at the voice, whipping around to face the stylist, sighing softly. “i’m really not doing that great.” he watches the person he was practicing with take the moment of distraction to bolt out of the room, a frown forming on his face. was he really that bad? he turns his attention back to jaein, black hair sticking to his forehead slightly. “you don’t need to embarrass yourself for me hyung....” he ruffles his messy hair, a few strands falling out of place from the sweat. “i got scouted because of my visuals, and i can sing a little bit, that’s pretty much it i suppose. dance just isn’t my strong suit... at this rate they’ll never put me in a group.”

//* xᴀɴ ʀᴀɪꜱᴇᴅ ᴀɴ eyebrow in the boy’s direction, the corners of his lips quirking up slightly at the awkward energy he gave off. ah, he reminded him of himself when he was a trainee— except for the fact that xan could barely speak korean when he first started training, so his life was awkward merely for the constant miscommunication. “ words of wisdom— there are no rules as long as you don’t get caught doing something stupid. and if you do get caught? act like you don’t speak korean, works every time. ” the rapper picked himself up from the floor, struggling against his sore muscles. still, he pushed through until he was upright enough to reach for his phone and turn off the music. “ that’s me!! in the flesh— although i prefer sir alexander, ” the breathy laugh which punctuated the sentence implied otherwise. “ you’re fairly new, yeah? what’s your name? ”

taebin blinks at him, before a short laugh leaves his lips. “i think they know that i speak korean already though. you got a little bit lucky in that you could use that. i’ve never left korea, so they already know i’m fluent.” he rummages around in his backpack for his water bottle, taking it out and gulping down a mouthful. his head tilts when xan says his lofty nickname, before giggling softly. “yeah... i’ve only been here six months, so i’m still pretty new i guess. i’m taebin!” he smiles brightly, still feeling a little awkward and out of place. 

˗ˏˋ  ( kang minhee. seventeen. cismale. he/him. ) byun taebin is a ‘01liner + has been a trainee at so!ar entertainment for six months. their speciality is vocal. they are known by their family to be sweet, funny + hardworking but they can also be insecure, meek + quiet. i hope that they can make it in this industry. [ penned by dabin, 21, pst, she/her ]

ignore the fact that i’m posting this again i screwed something up the first time lmao