#extraep2

one. two. three. 

you’re up.

lights up and he’s on that stage again, the week of practice let him perfect the moves his body now knows as a second language, limbs moving to the beat in the steps that they’ve made together. his group. he knows the song. he knows the dance. and he knows how to execute it in a perfect fashion as he keeps up with the rest.

he can note that this time around, the stage goes better than his last. he’s gaining back the passion he’d lost. gaining back his voice. gaining back and excitement he’d lost, but the dancing, the support and the comments brought him back up to his highest points. they brought him back to life in some ways and it let him learn back the language of dance like he’d been waiting for.

and now he’s half way through, keeping up effortlessly and eyeing the crowd slightly before his focus goes back on how to move his body. he doesn’t falter this time, the dance is one he’s good at and he uses this time to prove to others why he’s considered among the best dancers, even if he’s taking part with equally great dancers in this show.

this is a chance to prove himself though, to prove that he’s as good as those around him say he is, to prove that he’s not just another hyped up idol and that he actually is a dancer. that he can actually do something. 

and so he goes for it now. he puts his all into. all of the moves with equal power and control as he maintains time with the others and with the song, makes sure he’s neither to fast or slow, and that he’s in perfect time like he needs to be. 

then the lights are down and his breathing is harsh against the blood pounding in his ears to his heartbeat. but he’s grinning because how could he not be when he’s completely another dance, and hell, he feels great about this. he feels proud of himself. proud of his team and what they’ve accomplished. but still, the elimination and competition part of it all still weighs down heavily on his shoulders now.

this week was definitely easier; possibly because of the fact that she was nowhere near as nervous as she was previously. but the team had practiced really hard this week, and she was grateful she was in bong ki's team again. and she had practiced until she physically couldn't anymore, dragging herself from the practice room the day before.

eva was basically bouncing around backstage, waiting for their team to go on and possibly annoying the rest of her team. she had checked, double checked and then triple checked that her flashlight had batteries in and was working correctly, because god knows what she'd do if it broke.

eva was grateful that they'd gone with a prison concept, as opposed to the school uniform she thought they'd originally go with. she was like 99% certain she wouldn't be able to do this routine in a blazer and a skirt. these uniforms were much better, much cooler.

and so eva was pretty confident about this performance, she was pretty sure that she could pull this stage off. because, well, it's not like she's a bad dancer or anything so she should be able to do this well.

...

the stage has started, their faces appearing up on the screen behind them, their mugshots. and then out came the flashlights. this was definitely where eva belonged. every second she was on stage she felt her confidence grow, and she lived and breathed for the crowd cheering. and so she put everything she had into the dance.

the stage was going well and the pulled off all the moves rather gracefully, but that was only to be expected when you have 18 years dancing experience. the rest of her team seemed to pull it off too and she was immensely proud of her group as the song came to a close.

TITLE: EXTRA ep. 2 THEME: Uniform CONCEPT: Football REFERENCE: [ x ] WORD COUNT: 573

Minjae's shoulders had never looked so broad.

The trainee took notice of this as he examined himself in a nearby mirror, failing to suppress an amused snort. He might have been wearing the uniform, but he looked absolutely nothing like the American atheletes that he saw every now and then on the internet. Pushing those thoughts aside, he mentally ran through his group's choreography as a stylist tended to his makeup ( it was still so foriegn to him, sitting in a chair while someone else fixes him up ).

One would think that after already filming an episode, the boy would be a little more comfortable about everything, but that was far from the truth. Any chance of him feeling even remotely at ease had been wiped clean with a single word.

Elimination.

Just thinking about it made his hands feel clammy, and he rubbed his palms nervously against his pants. If he had felt pressured at all for the first episode, that feeling had only multiplied for the second. He didn't want to be eliminated. He didn't want any of his teammates to be eliminated ( he didn't want anyone on the other team to get eliminated either, but the show wouldn't quite work out that way ). He had to do well. He couldn't hold the team back. He had to be perfect.

This was a dangerous mindset for Minjae to be in. It was this same mindset that had resulted in him being hospitalized after the Prism Branch's summer concert, as well as several other small fainting spells that he did his best to keep secret. He could easily get ahead of himself, push himself past his limit until he was exhausted and couldn't physically go on. The stress could get to him, the weight crushing him into the ground as it had so many times before. He could break

But he didn't.

It wouldn't be entirely accurate to say that he had changed his ways. While he had learned his lesson ( after being scolded by someone he looked up to so greatly ), he still found it difficult to find a point to just stop and rest --- especially when he didn't feel that he'd made enough progress ( as he often did ). However, he didn't want a repeat of the summer concert, and he absolutely refused to make things harder on his teammates by passing out before or, worse, during the performance. Though he still practiced often on his own, being a part of a group made it a lot easier for him to take breaks, be it to eat meals with his teammates or just sitting around discussing each others' visions.

Come the day of the performance, Minjae felt well-rested and completely energized. One less thing to worry about as he stepped onto the stage.

This week's choreography wasn't particularly difficult, and focused more on complimenting their song choice as well as the concept that they had decided to go with. The hard part lied in taking such choreography and executing it in a way which would impress the audience. Fortunately, appealing to the audience was something that Lee Minjae happened to excel at whether he was aware or not.

Everything seemed to go smoothly from the trainee's perspective. He hadn't caught any major mistakes, nor had he made any himself. As he stepped backstage, however, he couldn't help feeling a bit... Light. It was a feeling he quickly recognized, nothing too extreme, but just enough for him to be aware of how tired his body was. Locating a chair, he sat down. A staff member offered him a bottle of water, which he accepted gratefully. Laying his head down, he listened to the commotion around him --- the show's hosts giving their scripted thoughts on their performances, staff members speaking amongst one another, someone asking if he was feeling alright ( to which he responded with a dismissive wave of his hand and a reassuring smile ).