#backup dancer!reader

pairing. bad bunny (benito) x mexican-american!reader

wc. 1.4k | My Masterlist

notes. this is a little different from what I normally do as well! I combined these two asks here and here (and I kid you not these requests came in like two minutes in from another)!! I tried to be as respectful as possible, and as y'all know I am more than open to any feedback! Love y'all <3 tags. bad bunny x gn!reader, mexican-american!reader, backup dancer!reader, Karol G mention, light angst, but a lot of fluff :)

You worked hard for everything you did, and it showed in all of your achievements. 

You were the first of your family’s generation to graduate from college, and you did it with a study in dance. For those five years, you worked your way through at a shitty little diner and auditioned for shows when you could, scraping everything together; every little piece of money you could.  

It took so much blood, sweat, and tears, but you made it. After years of auditions, you had finally landed the biggest gig of your career, and your absolute dream: dancing for Karol G. It was fun, it was energetic, it was crazy! And it was so much better than you could’ve ever imagined. 

Dancing had always made you feel so free, and getting to do it with one of your favorite artists was just the cherry on top of everything. 

Everyone was so incredibly welcoming too; all of the crew immediately started to treat you like family. You got to spend tons of time with many of the dancers, and Carolina herself, who were all so genuinely supportive of each other. 

Although you were having the time of your life, your mother had always told you that “all that glitters is not gold”, and that was quite true with the tour. 

Sometimes you felt like you were having quite the identity crisis - imposter syndrome. It wasn’t anyone around you but yourself that made you feel any of these insecurities. You’d felt them for the majority of your life, especially with working your way to the top, you became much of a perfectionist for yourself. 

For you, life always seemed to feel like a see-saw, never truly feeling like you belonged anywhere, no matter how hard you tried. Being born with both Mexican and American heritage, you’d always tended to struggle with knowing exactly who you were. With the tour, it was only starting to feel worse. 

Some days, you didn’t feel like enough, especially around one of the biggest Latin music stars in the world. You’d been rejected countless times in the past; casting agents would tell you you were giving off too much of one side of your heritage at any given time. Prideful for one side one day, but not the other the next. Too much one way, and not enough of the other… in a large, diverse group of other Latinx people, you never felt like you ever got the balance right. 

Benito helped you put everything into perspective. 

The two of you met at the Billboard Latin Music Awards. It was a big night for you as you were performing for the live broadcast for millions of people across the globe. It was the first time you were being put on television, and that felt insane. You hadn’t meant to, but the thought of it all really sent you into a state of shock.

You knew your family would be watching at home and suddenly felt a lot riding on you. It had taken you years of hard work to make this career, and what if you messed it all up by falling or messing up the choreography in front of millions? Or a wardrobe malfunction… The weight of generations, who had worked so hard for you to have this wonderful life, was starting to fall onto your shoulders.

On stage, everything luckily went fine. There were no falls or messes or malfunctions. You’d practically turned off your mind and went on autopilot, smiling through the tsunami of doubt crashing through you. 

As soon as you were done, however, you were rushing off into the wings to gasp for air. To others, it looked like you were just exhausted from the intense routine, but inside, you were crumpling in on yourself.

Benito, having been waiting in the wings for his own performance, had been watching you. You had all but captivated him on the stage; one of the most beautiful and talented people he’d ever seen. When you ran off the stage, he noticed you’d split off to breathe from the rest of the group and took the few seconds of opportunity he had.

He jogged over to you - despite the protest of his manager to get back in places - nearly shocking you even more. With a small smirk, he wordlessly held out his water bottle to you, having only taken a sip or two out of it himself. Although you furrowed your brows at him in confusion, he urged you to take it and drink. When you did, you slowly started to catch your breath and the smile never left his face. 

He placed a hand on the middle of your back, breathing, “Que increíble eres…” 

Before you could say anything, he was being whisked back to his spot by a hoard of managers and people, but not before he gave you a small wink.

After the awards ceremony, Karol G’s crew decided to go to the after-party, and you’d felt much more calm, but could still feel your insecurities getting the better of you. Putting on a smile, you’d changed out of your performance outfit into something more presentable for the occasion and had decided to mingle for a while. 

Somewhere in the crowd, you and Benito met again. He was starting to occupy your mind just as much as the insecurities since he’d handed you the water bottle, but it was much more welcome. When he came up to properly say hello to you, you couldn’t help but smile wide at him.

“Eso fue un gesto muy dulce,” you said.

Benito bit his lip, giving you another wink, “No fue nada.”

The two of you began to talk in private corners around the party, mainly about each other’s performances. You’d only caught the beginning of his, but he quite literally gushed at you about yours. Your body began to heat up from all of the compliments, feeling like your cheeks would be scorching if you touched them.

Even after all of the praise, the conversation between the two of you never stopped. For the both of you, it felt really easy to talk to each other. 

Very quickly, you found out that the two of you grew up very similarly - the both of you had worked incredibly hard to get to where you were - sacrificing so much for yourselves and your families just to make things better for them, and wondering if you were still enough in both communities. Telling him your insecurities came out more naturally than you thought they would, because he felt much of the same.

“Una no puede existir sin la otra.” He’d said, “Sin ambas partes, no serías tú.”

You kissed him harder than you’d ever kissed anyone before. And he made you forget all of your insecurities. 

Every touch, every lick, and every movement of his hips against yours made your brain rewire. He would whisper about your eyes, your hair, your skin, your body… he wanted you to know that you were concocted of all of the best parts of your heritage. Especially having you underneath him, he strived to make you forget about any weight other than the one from his own body.

There was something tender too, like a sort of understanding you had yet to share with anyone else but him. 

The next morning, the two of you were still curled up in his hotel bed, your arms wrapped tightly around each other’s waists. You both had a busy day ahead of you, but neither of you made any attempts to get up. With his fingers, he lightly caressed your side. 

“Nunca olvides lo mucho que vales. Estás justo donde tienes que estar.”

You couldn’t help the small smile that grew, gently kissing him on the lips.