honey

at the gesture, he looked around the practice room they were currently standing in. “uh no, i was just poking around the place, getting a lay of the land. the dead looking body in this room just happened to catch my attention.” as he assumed it would for everyone else. it was very impossible to walk past a room you suddenly got curious about. 

the question about his identity was very well warranted, he’d almost forgotten he was a new trainee and not many people would actually know who he was. “the body collector. bring out your dead,” he instead responded, raising a brow slightly at his own joke, “but you can just call me jordan. most people do, body collector hasn’t really caught on.” 

“most certainly,” he agrees. he hadn’t, actually, written any type of will, but he needs to jump on the play. this is lee seungjoon we’re talking about. “one must always be prepared.”

seungjoon rolls his shoulders back to try and get anything working. he had already danced, sang, and most certainly warmed up more than once since the start of the day. no matter how much you do it, everything always ends up tired. “body collector, huh? well, this is the only body that i have right now.” he points at himself, obviously. the good news are that he isn’t actually dead and he also isn’t hiding any other bodies for the other to worry about.

he stands up, placing the camera off to the side and dusting himself off as seungjoon continues to critique his dance moves, and he has to say, as blunt as his comments are, it’s probably the most accurate he’s heard anyone describe his lack of talent in the skill. “it’s just because i haven’t committed it to muscle memory yet!” he says, jokingly trying to defend himself, but part of it is also true. he owes a lot to muscle memory when it comes to dancing. but he does need more practice and guidance, so he nods his head, eyes on seungjoon when he suggests it. “show me how it’s done, then.”

his eyes widen when chanyeol starts to laugh, but soon he’s laughing along with it. “why? why are you laughing?” and it’s clear why. he had found it funny... big score. “i’m being serious~,” he says in a mocking, whiny voice. seungjoon listen as the other tries to make up some form of excuse. instead of taking it, he gives chanyeol an unamused look and stands up. “pay attention to the master!”

“okay, you can say it,” he says, finally speaking after a few moments’ silence. he’s already bad enough with silences as it is when he’s always so talkative, but when there’s an unspoken comment hanging in the air between them, it just seems so much worse. “i look like an octopus flailing its limbs around.” which is a feat, considering he only has four limbs, and an octopus has eight. “you know what, that’s an insult to octopuses. they are very intelligent creatures, and would probably be able to dance better than that if they were taught the choreography.”

“i agree,” he starts, “you don’t look like an octopus at all.” this whole dancer seungjoon thing hadn’t started too long ago, but the man is quick to put himself on a pedestal. not that his confidence is anywhere near that high. he just rolls on that fake-it-till-you-make vibes until... well, he makes it. “octopuses maybe look silly but they’re just very flexible. you’re just impressively stiff.”

he looks down at jinwook with a smile. no matter how rainy it was, the other always had a warm personality that can make anyone happy. “i do take people’s hands sometimes.” he smiles at his own joke this time and follows his friend towards the barn. he accepts the towel and starts cleaning up whatever he sees that may be dirty.

“i was just telling assa that you were— whoa!” just as he reaches the fence, jinwook’s foot catches in a hidden rabbit hole. he flails and lands on his hands and knees, sending a splash of mud in seungjoon’s direction. “i’m so sorry!” jinwook yelps. it takes an extra minute for him to get off the ground, between his laughter and the wet ground. the mud is fresh and heavy, clinging to his overalls in clumps. when he stands, he wipes off when he can and quickly opens the gate. “please come in, i’ll—” jinwook glances over the state of their clothing and finds a sheepish smile, his cheeks flushing. “i can get you a towel right away!”

it’s raining and he’s driving, and all he can really think about is how he’ll get his feet dirty and then right back into the car. this is why you should just never wash your car. what’s the point of it? when you live in a town like this, it’d never look sparkling new, even under a rain like that. what takes the frown off his face from having to slowly maneuver his way into the farm is spotting jinwook there to welcome him.

he liked to think he had a more or less decent layout of the whole place in his head by now. he knew how to get to the cafeteria, the bathrooms, the main practice rooms and of course where the ceo’s office was (not that he wanted to really be hanging around there for any reason). but there were still some places he wasn’t all too familiar with, some practice rooms he hadn’t stepped a foot in yet. which was now he was taking the time to go and actually check them out and see if he could find something interesting. not that he was expecting to, they were just some practice rooms and no doubt would be like all the others he had been in. 

mostly he was correct, besides the fact one of them seemed to contain a dead looking body. 

pushing open the door, he was somewhat relieved that the body wasn’t actually dead, though was still giving the guy a rather strange look as he stood up, face mostly covered by his hood. “if you’re plan is to scare people off, you’re doing a rather good job at that,” he just responded pretty idly, stepping more into the room and letting the door close behind him. “you know, i was just checking you weren’t actually dead or something.”

he looks at the boy up and down and then rolls back his shoulders. no one important. he doesn’t really know everyone who is important, and his thoughts aren’t trying to be rude, but the kid couldn’t be anything more than someone like him. “well, i’m nearly there, i think.”

with one hand through his hair, the hood falls back down, and seungjoon grunts. wishing for some peace doesn’t always mean you’ll get it. and he feels bad for this random kid. he’s usually very energetic and welcoming, but who wouldn’t be tired after a long week of non-stop training? “what about you? do you want to dance?”

     heejin doesn’t necessarily hate the smug expression that crosses his features almost immediately after she’s spoken, but she does definitely has to restrain herself from reaching over and giving his arm a solid pinch. “don’t think i’m saying you’re bad, i just—” she stumbles over her words a bit. despite the playful quips they always threw at one another, heejin never actually wanted to make him feel bad or hurt him. “—i’ve never really seen you dance before, so i didn’t know if you were good or not, that’s all.”

     watching him move about so dramatically where he’s sat next to her, heejin watches in horror as one of his arms come incredibly close to bumping into her bowl of rice, an arm shooting out as soon as he’s out of range to move it over to a safer spot on the table. “watch it,” she hisses between his words, eyes finding his form again. “i guess they’re really pushing you guys, then. i’ve got no moves that are super eye-catching or out there, so i mainly just have to worry about my expressions when i’m center.”

     with a brow raised, heejin regards the older man with a blank look. “cute? i wouldn’t go that far, but you do something look like you’ve got your head in the clouds. put that brain of yours to use and do you’re best, mister i never failed anything.”

it’s hard for him not to laugh. it’s because he’s already laughed enough, probably, and she sounds so serious talking like this. seungjoon’s mission for the time is to chew and try not to choke while heejin calls herself a young woman.

“well, it’s not like i’ve seen you dance a lot either, heejin. there is nothing to be ashamed about, but there’s a lot to be disappointed with. you’re missing a show!” he nods along with his last statement. “we should, like, hold a dance-off some time. but i don’t think you will because you know i’m going to win. so i’ll save you the time thinking about that.”

when she’s not trying to sell herself and returns to a bratty attitude, seungjoon doesn’t want to laugh at her anymore. it’s when heejin turns on her annoying little sister mode and he’s already had enough of that during his lifetime. “i didn’t do anything—” the man manages to squeeze in between his speech after she complains. he still takes her turn to chew some more, this time with his arms close to his sides.

     “my day definitely isn’t boring anytime you’re around…so i guess you could say i missed you.” she’ll give him that, a brow raised as she gives in a leveled look, hoping to mask that conceding grin she wants to give.

     his revelation, however, wipes any trace of fondness she’d managed to grow right out of the window, mouth agape, brows furrowed deeply. “you’re center for two dance breaks? you, seungjoon?” it would be complete news to her, but….was seungjoon really that good of a dancer? in comparison to her, who’s center parts were a little scattered and on the shorter side given her lack of experience with dance in comparison to the other girls, knowing he was technically better than her was a shock. well, at least it showed her he was seemingly holding his own to be acknowledged like this.

     “maybe they’re putting you to the test— give you showy parts to see if you can handle them in the future,” she quips, another bite of rice being shoved into her mouth. “is you’re routine, like, intense?”

“wow, that’s a much bigger confession than i had expected from you, heejin.” her days are boring without him? how old does she think she is to try being poetic? she should be saying things like you’re totally pog, not cringe. “well, i guess you brighten my day too, or however you want it to be.”

once she reacts to his set of news, seungjoon simply nods with a cocky look on his face. that’s right. feed him what he wants. and while the younger girl starts on with her own set of arguments, the man takes the moment to chew on some more food. it’s not as good as the one back in trc, but he’ll take it. “don’t act that surprised.” at some point, it’d end up hurting his feelings. but it doesn’t yet. this is much more amusing than anything else.

“intense?” he exclaims, rather loudly, and with food in his mouth. “wow, heejin, you have no idea.” he swallows and—still holding onto his chopsticks—starts gesticulating. “i have to do like tricks and, if some choreographies use the entire stage, then this one is just one step away from climbing the walls, even. it’s not like bigstar had such tough choreographies, right?” he wouldn’t know. “and maybe you’re right, but i’m not going to fail any tests. i did very well in school, you know?”