#ficsforfriends

"Ok guys, that's a wrap for today. Good job Rocky you've really caught on fast!" praised the boys' dance instructor, Dae Hyun. To this, the younger bowed his head slightly and beamed, despite his panting and sweating from the rigorous dance they now had to learn in time for their next new comeback.

"Alright, you all are free to go for today. Remember, morning practice tomorrow at 8. We won't practice tomorrow night though. You guys are doing good for the most part, you all deserve a break.

A small eruption of claps and whoops from the boys echoed throughout the small practice room. As the boys all exited the room one by one, eventually only Jin Jin and Dae Hyun were left.

"Ah, Jin Jin can I speak to you for a moment?" asked the instructor nonchalantly as he gathered his stuff into his duffel bag.

"Uhm, yeah sure what's up?" Jin Jin replied in the same calm manner, but deep inside he was nervous.

"Are you having trouble with the dance? You seem kind of slow doing it and you looked very confused while doing the step sequence in the middle of it." began Dae Hyun, looking up at Jin Jin with quizzical eyes.

"Well he noticed..." thought the worried boy, looking down at his shoes as he dragged the tip of his converse across the floor in a sense to distract himself from the true answer; yes.

"Well, um, yeah it's a bit complicated..." was the only answer Jin Jin could manage, feeling quite embarrassed and rather nervous.

"Don't worry about it, I'll talk to MJ. He has almost the same part as you, maybe he can tutor you..." proposed the man in thought, as he finished packing his things and slinging his bag onto his back.

"Well, I'll head off now. I can talk to him later. When you get back to the dooms practice it a bit more too. You'll get better, and don't think about it too much." he continued, heading out the door slowly.

"Uh, yeah, sure just let me know when," said Jin Jin, looking up to see the elder nodding in acknowledgement as he shut the door, leaving him alone in the stuffy room.

                           ~ The Next Day After Practice ~

"Ah, MJ and Jin Jin, can I talk you both for a moment?" inquired Dae Hyun, catching the two boys before they walked out. A cheerful "yes, of course" came from the unsuspecting MJ, while a  mumbled "sure" came from Jin Jin, who knew exactly what the instructor wanted to talk about.

"So MJ, can ask a favor of you? I've already talked to Jin Jin about this and I want to know if you'd be up to help him with the routine we're working on? He's having a little trouble..." were Dae Hyun's words, which caused Jin Jin to blush and look down, feeling quite embarrassed at their instructor's blunt words.

"Oh of course I'll help you!" exclaimed MJ as he turned to Jin Jin, giving him a big smile as an attempt to make Jin Jin feel less awkward.

"Great! After practices, you guys can stay here for 30 minutes to an hour, however long you need, and just work on the parts you need to."

"Will do!" came the cheerful response of MJ, flashing a thumbs-up at the older man.

"Well, you boys can start practicing tomorrow, or today if you'd like, but don't stay too long, you all have vocal practice in an hour and a half..." said Dae Hyun as he headed out the door, waving in parting at the boys.

Both boys waved a "goodbye" back as MJ turned to Jin Jin.

"Well, do you wanna practice a bit today? We can for a few minutes." inquired the older to the two, smiling.

"Uhm, sure we can..." trailed off Jin Jin, still looking at the ground.

"Alright, let's get to it!"

The boys spent the next half hour practicing the dance routine, and after awhile Jin Jin actually started enjoying himself.

"Hey, this isn't so bad, at least I get to spend it with my best friend.." thought Jin Jin as they finished up with their short practice.

"Good job Jin Jin!" complimented MJ as he wiped his sweat with a small hand towel in his bag. "You ready to go back to the dorms?"

"Yeah sure let's go.." answered Jin Jin, following suit and gathering his stuff.

"Oh yeah and uh, MJ?" began Jin Jin again, sounding quite nervous, "Can you not tell anyone about this? I'm kind of embarrassed that I'm the only one having trouble with this routine."

"Of course I wouldn't tell them. It's nothing they have to worry about. Don't worry about it.." answered MJ, smiling and walking over to give Jin Jin a reassuring hug. He wrapped his arms lightly around the other boy, who was frozen. He could do nothing but stand there lifeless as the older boy hugged him. And although he did not move, he felt a great appreciation for the other, a nice warming sensation that spread through him, as nothing more than he could describe as an amazing *platonic* love.

                                       ~ At the Dorms ~

MJ and Jin Jin attempted to sneak back into the dorms without letting any of the others know. They could work from there as to why they didn't come back with everyone else.

"I get shower first!" Jin Jin whispered as he sprinted down the hall on his tip toes, almost falling over.

Since he knew he was beat, MJ only decided to head to the shared room of four of the boys, in hopes no one was there.

Luckily for him, everyone seemed to either be out, or in a different part of the dorm. He sighed as he entered the empty room, relaxing his muscles and dropping his bag onto the floor. He let out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding in a quiet sigh.

"Oh hi MJ!" Sanha said cheerily as he entered the room, distractedly looking for something.

"Hi.." he returned nervously, hoping the maknae wouldn't ask any questions related to his whereabouts.

Sanha quickly rushed around the room, looking for some item as he groaned and sighed after checking places that apparently did not contain the missing object.

"Ah, Sanha, what are you looking for?" inquired the older boy.

"My.... ahhhh here it is!" he happily cheered, jumping up from the ground and holding up a small minion toy.

MJ could not resist to laugh at Sanha. In al of his feet he had been looking for a nothing more than a toy!

"What...? I've been looking for it for awhile. It is very important to me." Sanha stated, pouting and hugging the toy to his chest.

"It's nothing, just that THAT is what you were making such a fuss about?" questioned MJ, still chuckling at the younger.

"Like I said, it's important!" he whined, starting to storm out the room, stomping his feet like a small child. "Oh, and the others were worried about where you and Jin Jin were." he began, stopping in the door. "They thought you had done died or something. Where'd you go?" he asked curiously, tilting his head to one side as he fiddled with the small tog in his hand.

"Oh, uhm, we just got, held back?" he said, hoping the younger bought it and didn't ask more questions.

Being more concerned with the toy in his hands, the maknae just shrugged his shoulders and muttered an "ok" as he turned to head to his new destination somewhere else in the dorm, probably to show off his lost and now found toy.

Only moments later did Jin Jin enter the room, with fresh clothes and wet hair. He entered quietly and shut the door carefully as not to draw attention to him or MJ.

"Did anyone ask you any questions about where we were?" Jin Jin asked nervously with wide eyes.

"Well, Sanha came in looking for his little minion toy, and he said something along the lines of the guys were worried about us and thought we were dead or something. He asked where we had been, but I only said we got held back. He didn't question it any further... but we need to make up things to tell them."

Jin Jin shook his head up and down in agreeance. "Maybe we can tell them that we... oh I've got it! We're volunteering at the animal shelter. They'd get that." he suddenly spouted, looking quiet accomplished with his lie.

"Oh man that's good. But what about when we have night practices. They will be smart enough to know we aren't volunteering that late. And we can't even be out that late..." he trailed off, deep in thought himself.

"We can make up something like we've gone to eat or walk home or something. This is only for a little while anyways. A few weeks. We can do it!" Jin Jin said, determination in his eyes and a small smile tugging at his lips.

MJ nodded and smiled back. They would most definitely pull this off.

                                             ~ ~ ~

For two weeks, both boys were able to make up things to tell the others, simple excuses every day, and as far as they knew, no one was suspicious. They were actually pulling off the whole thing really well contrary to what they thought would end up happening, like the others finding out and picking fun at Jin Jin. But so far, all was good.

                                             ~ ~ ~

Morning practice for all of the boys had just ended. The bland round clock on the wall of the small conference room had the time as 9:08. Jin Jin gently set down his cup of water on the marbled counter beside of the snack machine with options only like tasteless, crumbly crackers and off-brand candies.

Among the other people in the room included Moonbin, who was carelessly scrolling through his phone, and Eunwoo, who sat right beside Moonbin, looking on with him and smiling at whatever had become of interest to the two boys.

Jin Jin stretched out where he stood and yawned, quite tired from all of the practicing he had been doing the last two weeks. After quickly gulping down the rest of the water in his paper cup, he dropped the cup in the trash can and walked out, sure everyone else was out of the practice room by now.

He walked in the room to find MJ going over the other routine they had just learned, executing everything perfectly. Ever since they boys had been spending all of the extra time after practices every day, they had grown indescribably close, almost like brothers. When Jin Jin saw MJ, happiness radiated throughout him. Everything about MJ, especially his smile, made Jin Jin absolutely ecstatic. That was how a great friendship was supposed to feel, right?

"So which parts were the hardest today?" asked MJ, stopping his practicing to walk over to Jin Jin. With all of the practicing the boys had been doing, they had developed a quick and working system; instead of retracting everything, they only focused on the harder parts and put them together at the end.

"Well I was having trouble going from this.." Jin Jin demonstrated to the best of his ability, "to this." he also demonstrated.

A buck of back and forth demonstrating went back and forth between the boys, and most of the words shared were "this way" and "yes" or "no", which went on for the whole time until Jin Jin was successful and could do the dance without any mistakes.

Both boys sat down on the floor afterwards, panting slightly and resting before leaving.

"You're definitely getting a lot better," complimented MJ, making Jin Jin blush.

"I hope so, we don't want all of this time to go to waste," Jin Jin joked, chuckling slightly and looking over at MJ.

"Well, any time spent with you isn't wasted.." MJ said quietly, realizing what he said after he said it, causing his eyes to widen but forcing himself to stay calm and act like he meant to say it.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," MJ replied, attempting to sound confident.

"I like spending time with you too," Jin Jin also admitted, still blushing and smiling.

For a few seconds of semi-awkward silence, the boys just smiled at each other and the ground, before they were interrupted by the harsh buzz of Jin Jin's phone.

After reading the text, he looked up with an exasperated sigh, and dropped his phone to his lap.

"Rocky and Sanha want me to go out to eat with them right after practice ends tonight. Is it ok if I'm a little late. I'll eat fast, but I can only eat SO fast.." he laughed.

"Yeah of course, don't worry about rushing. I'll be here," MJ assured with a smile while he motioned to the room.

"Thank you so much, plus this will also erase any suspicions they have." Jin Jin concluded as he stood up. "Also, we should probably head to our next practice, or we might be late.." Jin Jin added, starting to worry.

"Oh, OH! Gosh you're right! Let's go!" MJ agreed, jumping up and running out the door with Jin Jin.

                                   ~ After Dinner ~

"The food was amazing, thank you guys for inviting me!" Jin Jin said, expressing his gratitude as he waved a "goodbye" to the other boys who were headed in the opposite direction.

"Anytime!" replied Rocky, waving back and turning around to talk with Sanha on their way to the dorms.

Sighing and relieving all of the built up tension Jin Jin had over dinner, caused by his fear they would question his whereabouts, he decided he would send MJ a quick text to let him know he was on his way to the studio.

As he walked through the almost deserted street, he soon arrived at Fantagio and quickly headed up to the floor where MJ would be, waiting on him.

Only thinking about how MJ had been so patient with him and had taken so much time from doing his own things made Jin Jin's heart swell with joy. How was he so lucky to have such an amazing best friend?

When he finally arrived at their practice room, he quietly slipped in the door and set his things down as to not disturb or scare MJ. When Jin Jin turned around, the sight he was greeted with was unexpected yet angelic.

MJ was ever so gracefully leaping across the floor and spinning, while jumping up and performing such amazing acts of talent he was sure not even some of the best ballerinas and gymnasts could accomplish. MJ had his eyes shut as he swirled in turns on his toes, which were covered with the softest looking pink satin ballet flats. He had not heard Jin Jin's awestruck "ah's" and "oh's" as he had earbuds in.

For a few more minutes MJ did this, never opening his eyes, leaping back and forth across the floor as his song continued to play, until is slowly came to an end, where he finished elegantly and beautifully. He released the tension from his body as he opened his eyes, only to be greeted with Jin Jin who was frozen in place with his mouth wide open.

Finally coming to, Jin Jin began to slowly clap for MJ's extraordinary performance only while MJ began to panic. No one knew he did ballet. Not one person, not even his mom. But now he had slipped up and Jin Jin knew.

"Oh.. oh no no no you were NOT supposed to see that..." MJ anxiously said, pushing his sweaty brown locks stuck to his forehead backwards. He spun on his toes around with his back to Jin Jin and began pacing back and forth.

"Why are you worried, that is amazing! Everyone deserves to know. You're even better at spins than Rocky!" Jin Jin gushed.

In an instant MJ quickly whirled around and shouted "NO!" loud enough to scare Jin Jin.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be so loud, I just, no one can know about this. No one, except you now, knows I can do ballet. And I don't want anyone to know." MJ began to explain, scratching the back of his neck.

"Why not though, it's such an amazing talent, and everyone would be so awestruck..?" Jin Jin asked, quite curious as to why the older boy didn't want to show anyone else his talent.

"Well, I've done ballet forever. I used to take dance classes at an old studio in my hometown. My dance instructor said she had seen real potential in me. She offered to teach me after her regular classes for free. I gladly accepted. One day though a few of the girls who also took classes there saw me coming in. They waited outside and looked through the windows, in at me doing ballet. The took a video of me doing it and showed everyone at school. I didn't know this until the next day when my friend told me and showed me the video he had received where they had sent it to almost everyone in school. Everyone made fun of me for months after that. Every time the jocks would run into me they would always tease me. But I was ok, I could deal with words. Until of course, it escalated past that. One day coming out from the dance studio they all met me outside and chased me down the street, until they caught me. They beat me and kicked me. They even broke my leg, saying "it was for the best because now I couldn't dance." I had to stop going to dance classes. After that I never really went back. I practiced at home by myself. I couldn't let something like this happen again. One day though, to my relief, my dad got a much better job and we had to move closer to Seoul. At my new school no one knew. And I had kept it that way. Of course later I went to auditions here. When we were told we were the new group and not just trainees anymore, I usually stayed here after practices and worked on whatever I wanted to. Now I had a safe place to practice without people ever finding out. Not even Dae Hyun seonsaeng knows. That's how well of a secret I've kept it. But now you know..." MJ said, finishing his depressing story, which once again left Jin Jin without words and agape.

"I... I didn't know I'm so sorry!" Jin Jin exclaimed, shuffling over to give MJ a big, unexpected hug.

"It's fine.. no one knows, but I have something to ask of you.." MJ began shakily.

Jin Jin hummed in response as to tell MJ to continue, still holding him tightly in a hug.

"Can you keep this a secret too, from all the others, and really any one else?"

"I won't tell them. It's nothing they have to worry about.." Jin Jin said, slightly releasing MJ to look at his face and smiling, as he used exact response MJ had used when he had asked for him to not tell the others of their tutoring.

MJ sighed in relief and smiled also, pulling Jin Jin back in for another hug.

Eventually the boys released each other and agreed to make the most out of the small window of time they had left before they had to leave to return to the dorms. It was only a little awkward but soon MJ got over it. He only could hope though that Jin Jin would hold up his promise and not slip up, as Jin Jin was quite often known as the one to accidentally tell secrets and reveal too much. As worried as he was, he trusted Jin Jin. But that was all he could do. Trust.

                                             ~ ~ ~

It was the day before their comeback would be released and they would do their first comeback stage, since their last album of course.

Practice was rigorous as every boy was highly concerned about making their performance the best it could be. It was also the last day MJ and Jin Jin would have to practice with each other.

Each boy was on pins and needles, especially Jin Jin. He had greatly improved since his work with MJ every day. Of course tomorrow he knew he would have to prove it.

As evening practice was wrapped up and each boy left after being complimented on their work by Dae Hyun, once again, only MJ and Jin Jin were left in the room.

"I think we should take it easy today. We don't want to be tired before tomorrow. Is their anything you want to go over?" MJ asked.

"Not particularly, we can run through things a few times. I think I've gotten it all, thanks to you," Jin Jin said, looking over and smiling at the now beaming MJ.

"You're welcome," MJ answered shyly. "I really liked helping you. You are my best friend." MJ admitted, now making Jin Jin blush slightly but also beam as his best friend's words.

A few seconds of silence passed while the boys smiled awkwardly down at the floor before MJ decided to start their last practice.

The boys practiced lightly for close to an hour before they both agreed they should head home and rest up before their big day.

Both boys waked home side by side in comfortable silence, only enjoying the simplicity of the other's presence.

                                     ~ The Big Day ~

The boys were all spiked up as they waited calmly behind the stage, waiting to go out. A nervous electricity hung in the air as the boys all calmed themselves down and mentally prepared for their stage. Of course they had done this many times before, but still, every stage gave them all butterflies as the anticipated the crowd's reaction to their new album.

Only an hour before had their music video been uploaded while they were all preparing and readying themselves for this moment.

Although the boys could not hear what the MC was saying, they did hear the sharp cheer of the large crowd, a crowd that was cheering for them.

In an instant the boys were rushed onto the stage where they began to assemble into formation. The music began playing and each boy sung and dances his heart out. It all went by in a blur for Jin Jin, as he heavily concentrated on how to do his moves exactly like MJ had taught him. He didn't even remember his rap part.

When the music stopped playing did Jin Jin finally snap out of his performing daze as he released the tension he had built up. The crowd cheered loudly for them all, shouting their names over and over and clapping so loudly the whole room only sounded like a continuous roar.

The boys all exited the stage, running to the crowded backstage area where many other groups congratulated them all on an exemplary performance.

The boys all made their way back to their dressing room where they could all change and watch the rest of the performances in peace and quiet. After changing, the boys all collapsed in a heap on the large sofa in the room that was positioned right across from a huge flatscreen TV which was streaming the stage and performances live.

As the boys were all enraptured with the TV, they did not notice Jin Jin who quietly snuck out to get some fresh air and calm his nerves. He had been so worried about this performance for so long, yet he absolutely killed it. As he paced the empty hall he sighed heavily. Now that he had the comeback stage out of the way, things would calm down a bit. They would promote a bit but things seemed calm from here on out. Expect for one thing. Jin Jin's growing feelings for MJ.

These feelings could only be mistaken right? Or perhaps just misdirected. He had always been close to MJ and had loved him, but it was only a brotherly love, or so he thought. For the longest time he had repressed these feelings, thinking he was silly for even considering liking MJ in any other way that as a band mate and brother. But he did consider it. Many times. It just wasn't something he could get out of his mind.

Once again he decided to push his feelings back and "deal" with them later, what he really meant he would start to think about them, get scared, and repress them again.

Jin Jin turned around to go back to the room before any else noticed he was absent, by at the same time running into MJ, who had somehow snuck up behind him.

"Oh ah hi MJ, what are.. what are you doing out here?" Jin Jin said, nervously stuttering.

"Well I had noticed you had left and I was just coming to make sure you were alright... you're performance was amazing by the way, and you really killed your rap." complimented MJ, completely switching subjects.

"Thanks.." Jin Jin said, smiling genuinely as he continued. "I wouldn't have been able to do it without your help."

"You're welcome. I'd help you anytime." MJ said as he pulled the other boy into a hug, surprising Jin Jin.

While they held each other in a tight hug in the completely empty hallway, Jin Jin felt at ease. At that moment he decided even if he couldn't be MJ's "lover" in a sense, he was ok with only being best friends, as long as he always got to hug him.

After a few quiet moments, MJ finally pulled back a bit so he could see Jin Jin's face.

"Thank you for being such an amazing friend.." MJ said.

MJ slowly leaned forward to press his lips softly to Jin Jin's, where he lingered for a few second before pulling back to see the others face once again.

Jin Jin was frozen in place. He could t believe that had just happened. Or was he dreaming? He reached up to touch his fingers to his slightly open mouth he was sure was just kissed by MJ. He slowly reached out to gently cup MJ's cheeks in his own hands. He slowly leaned forward as MJ had done, and replicated the same kiss as MJ had.

This was real. 100% real.

A small smile lifted MJ's mouth.