original

u.to99

pose as a friend                      work as a spy

Starbucks. Literally the most basic coffee place ever. Céleste rates it a 4.5/10, yet here she was. If only someone didn’t cancel out on her last second and leave her stranded, but alas. Or so she says as she rants on her phone to Jiyoung (Jiyoung knows better). 

Rant still not over—it’s been a while to be honest—Céleste continued with her incessant chatter, other people’s stares be damned. She finally had the energy to go out again, and they just straight up cancel out on her after she’d been waiting ten minutes. The audacity. And with that, she concluded the FaceTime.

Slouching over her table, Céleste looks up to see this man staring at her. She stares back. Well, a girl’s gotta somehow assert her dominance. Plus, she isn’t half bad at staring contests anyways. That doesn’t work out too well and next thing she knows, the guy spilled his coffee all over his table. At least she’s not the only uncoordinated one around here. Sighing, Céleste took out some spare napkins in her bag and tossed them over. “Catch!” 

expecting to be met with laughter or, who knows, maybe muffled mumbling at his expense, yuto is taken aback when a pack of napkins flies his way, only just barely managing to catch it mid air before it hits him in the head. he is confused and still dazzled enough to not understand what is going on, but the sudden appearance of help manages to halt the oncoming anxiety - at least for now.

“th...thank you...” he mumbles in a low mutter that he’s not sure she can actually hear over the noise otherwise present in the cafe. it calms him down cleaning up his mess (as well as taking a couple deep breaths) and soon enough he is left with one massive lump of wet paper tissues instead. his way back from the litter bin brings him past the woman’s table, and he offers her the remaining tissues in the pack.

one could think that walking his dog after returning from training past midnight would be a headache, but no matter how exhausted he is, it’s something the trainee enjoys doing and something that the dog deserves even if he’s pretty sure that his father stops by to walk him in the middle of the day. however, his eyes feel heavy and he doesn’t have much energy left to keep up with the golden retriever, so he just lets gamja take the lead and tries his best not to trip like a fool. maybe they should let him skip the morning workouts considering this was his daily exercise, but in the end he didn’t mind all that much. 

everything happens in a blink of an eye, but the leash escapes from his hand before he can do anything to stop it, which results in gamja running free. despite the panic he feels inside, seunghun doesn’t waste time and runs after the dog, but gladly something catches his attention and he stops at the empty playground. actually, not empty. when he stops to breathe, he notices someone else is there next to the dog. “oh i’m sorry-” he says a little out of breath. holding the leash again, he looks up and bows apologetically at the man. “i’m sorry! he ran away, but he’s friendly. are you okay, right?” he asks just in case.

not long after the dog has made its appearance, a baffled boy appears to claim it. slightly unfortunate, yuto thinks, as he was already prepared to give hanako a friend at the shelter, but as expected you don’t really see stray dogs running around seoul often. it is way more likely that it belongs to someone, that someone being the one who is now excusing himself on the dog’s behalf. yuto leans over to cuddle the dog, rubbing its head in between the ears, a soft smile present on his visage.

you know what i deserve?

@yutoxrk

the moment may have passed for the dessert challenge, yet it had remained on chaewon’s list of choreo to tackle. she may not be the most knowledgeable about idols, but everyone knows chi chi’s a-zi is a queen, especially in the dance world. thankfully, one of her dance colleagues was still up to learning the dance with her.

“this song makes me hungry,” chaewon complains, dropping onto her butt after a run-through of the intro. chocolate candy fruit, honey butter waffle and… it makes her want to pig out on sugar, and she has brought some sweet snacks for the occasion: a plate of assorted cookies from siyeon’s bakery, much better than the ones chaewon scorched to oblivion not so long ago.

she scoots across the floor to grab her backpack and digs out the plate, then holds it up in the air like a trophy. “surprise!” she yells, eyes scrunched tight as she smiles. it’s partly a balm for her own sugar cravings, and partly a token of appreciation to the guy for partnering up with her. plus maybe a dash of flirtation, because she can never resist. “want a cookie, yuto oppa? there’s like ten different flavors.”

the song having played on repeat a couple of times now, it is no wonder that the younger of the two starts complaining the way she does. yuto himself can’t help but cock his head and offer a slightly wry smile of amusement. granted he doesn’t really share the sentiment having a kind of weird relationship with food compared to others, but he can definitely see where she is coming from. 

“what are you doing?” he asks curiously as she lets the song play on without any gesturing towards continuing the choreography, but soon enough she reveals her intentions and pulls out her prize. yuto chuckles a bit, but freezes up once he sees the box of mixed cookies. he can’t exactly explain why, but never has he been able to eat any food that has touched another edible item, and he catches himself hesitating. the best course of action, the normal one would be to accept, but he just can’t. glance turning away to hide the anxiety rising in his expression, he shakes his head. “no thanks, i’m on a diet,” he lies.

o: leg day

Baekho doesn’t live at the gym nearly as much as he did when he was younger, or even during his service. Other parts of his life have taken priority since he moved back to Seoul, like constantly working on his singing and his networking, and looking for every opportunity to put himself out in the spotlight to try and catch the attention of someone with the power to put a contract in his hands.

But that’s not to say he doesn’t still spend a lot of time at the gym. He makes sure to go weekly, usually multiple times a week, and while his focus has almost always been his arms and chest, he makes sure to spread his workout out and to give other parts of his body attention, as well. Cardio has always been something he pays careful attention to, and his stamina as well, and it’s why he always makes sure to start his visit to the gym with a warm up on either a treadmill or an exercise bike.

It’s a bike, today, with one earphone in place and his phone tucked into a holder attached to the handle bars and a towel draped over the interface of the machine. He’s sitting up with his hands on his legs, and it makes it easy to turn his head and flash a grin when he hears a familiar voice.

“Yuyu,” Baekho chimes, reaching for the towel to wipe his face, his legs never stopping. “I only just started. If you’re quick enough, you might even catch up.”

yuto’s eyebrows arch into a slight frown at the nickname, as he is never sure how to respond to such familiarity. he doesn’t mind per say, but the thought of calling someone with a nickname back is completely ludicrous to him, and he could never even begin to imagine what to call others beside their names, their honorific or maybe some nickname they went by with everyone. ‘yuyu’ is no such thing, not something he is called by the majority of his social circle and honestly something he would feel very awkward being called by anyone else. it sounds cute, and yuto isn’t particularly cute if you are to ask him. so maybe that falls on the user and not on him.

either way he mounts the bike after cleaning it thoroughly, shooting a glance towards the other’s counter as if to double check whether he is telling the truth about his having only just begun. it is true that the number isn’t unreasonably high, but somehow it still seems like a lot for an ‘only just started’. yuto can’t help the scoff that leaves him.

“maybe i will if i pedal with double my usual speed!” he yelps, partly meant as a joking comment, but it isn’t entirely untrue. part of him is tempted to see if he can actually catch up today, but the logical voice of reasoning within him says that he should pace himself lest he want to collapse from overexertion. he doesn’t really want to worry the other or bring unnecessary trouble to the part timer at the desk who probably just wants a peaceful afternoon of maintaining the people walking in and out and cleaning the machines every so often. 

✧performance anxiety

Nothing is more freeing for Soleil than performing on the streets of Hongdae. They love the thrill of being on stage for competitions, and they love being in a studio piecing choreography together, and they love teaching pieces to the rest of their crew, but none of them help them feel as at home as they feel dancing on mats laid out on concrete to an audience who just happened to be passing by.

There’s a big crowd, tonight, one they expected. There’s been a few competitions in the university circuit, and they’ve always done well as a crew, and it always works to muster up some more curious faces wanting to see what they’re capable of as individuals outside of the strict time limits of the competitive stage.

There’s always questions after, as well, fielded mostly by their more outgoing members. Oberon, Puck, Priest; all the more sociable faces of the crew more than happy to show off a little more or give advice or hand out flyers to advertise the crew’s various social media and upcoming events.

Usually it means Soleil can escape and busy themself with beginning to pack things away. Usually. There’s no escaping it today, and no one else to toss the questioning off to (especially with the way Dokkaebi just smiles their direction and pointedly turns away). There’s no chance to sigh, either, however. Not when they realise the way the stranger is talking.

(There’s something far too familiar in that pace and tone.)

Soleil doesn’t respond immediately. They tug down their facemask to take a sip from the bottle they have in their grip, and it’s only once the bottle is closed and the facemask is covering their mouth again that they finally speak.

“That… would depend.” Their tone is simple and calm and quiet. An antithesis of their twin’s they can hear over the crowd. “What… do you need help with?”

one thing he supposes is great is the fact that he is not immediately turned away. he isn’t sure what he has been expecting, but somehow being given the light of day was not part of it. but somehow the way the other seems to talk just as hesitantly as he himself does calms yuto down even though it’s still nerve wrecking to ask a stranger for a favour. in fact he still thinks it might be better to just excuse himself and run away like the coward he is. but he doesn’t. at least not yet.

“i’m... kind of a dancer as well...” yuto starts, eyes locked at the other’s shoulder and fingers fiddling uncomfortably with the hem of his sleeves. he can feel the anxiety rising and tries to remember all the tips and tricks he has amassed throughout the years of therapy: feet solidly on the ground and deep breaths, the last thing he wants to do is start to hyperventilate in the middle of the street. it’s okay. he still got this.

forcing his glance upwards to focus somewhere on the bridge of the stranger’s nose (’try to have eye contact when you talk to people, yuto, it’s impolite otherwise’) he continues. “watching you all today kind of... well, inspired me in a way i guess... but i also feel like i’m lacking something. like big time...” another deep breath follows as he gathers courage to ask his unreasonable request.

jisung blinks in surprise at the blunt response he receives from the other, but it takes mere seconds before a smile returns to his face. it isn’t the first time someone deems him weird and he doubts it will be the last. the artist is a bit of an odd one, even he himself can admit to that, but he thinks that every creative mind is a little strange, so it’s hard to take it as an insult—at least, nowadays it is. when he was younger, he struggled with the fact he didn’t fit in anywhere, but since then he’s learned to embrace his oddities and he’s found himself to be a lot happier.

“isn’t she?” he responds when the boy tells him his hedgehog is cute, and his smile grows even wider. “i wanted to get a dog, but we’re not allowed to keep any pets in our apartment—or at least no dogs. that’s all i remember of what my brother told me.” jisung chuckles. he’s sure the other passenger isn’t interested in which pets they’re allowed to have, but he has a tendency to spill a little too much sometimes. usually they’re harmless facts, like today, but he’s let things slip that have gotten him into trouble before and he’s trying to be better about, well, keeping his mouth shut, if only to prove to his brother that he does have a filter, after all. (he doesn’t.) he turns his attention to the boy next to him again, eyes flicking up from his phone screen, “do you have any pets?”

somehow the explanation makes sense, although most people will probably end up getting a cat or maybe a hamster or something when they can’t have dogs. hence, the stranger is still deemed as “weird” in yuto’s mind, and is not doing himself any favours of changing that. it doesn’t look like he cares either or is affected by it in the slightest, which, yuto supposes, is a good thing. he doesn’t often know whenever he says something offensive, and in hindsight “you’re weird” could be perceived as such. only a bit. he is stating the truth after all, so there’s no reason to be offended by anything.

yuto & hanako

“even though she’s so cute, no one wants to adopt her because she’s too old.                                                              somehow i just can’t leave her alone... i shouldn’t get attached to a shelter dog, but...

【裕斗】ELECTを踊ってみた【オリジナル振付】

“why don’t you try upload some of your stuff once, yuto? who knows, you might even be able to get yourself a fanbase!”

he doesn’t want a fanbase though. he doesn’t want people to actually see his stuff and react to it, maybe even judge him. people speaking negatively about his skills and his passion is what he fears the most, because every time he films himself dancing he sees it bright as day: all the little mistakes, all the missteps, the arm that is supposed to be elsewhere. but even then, what he lacks most, what he has always lacked most, is passion.

.with autumn approaching

starter for @yutoxrk !

she’s somewhat sad that the weather’s changing, the days getting shorter and the winds just that little bit more biting. as much as she loves autumn, and halloween, and the excitement leading up to christmas, she can’t help but miss the long days and bright sun of the summer months. having grown up in england she didn’t get too much of the sun, so living in south korea now, where the summer’s are long and hot makes her really appreciate it. 

it’s definitely cafe weather now, she thinks to herself as she walks along beside yuto, who she’d met up with to go and have a chat and a coffee in this pleasant little place she’d found only a few weeks back. she’d been meaning to visit it again, but hadn’t had the chance until now. it’s much better bringing a friend along to try out nice new cafes anyway. “oh, there it is!” she exclaims with a smile, pointing out the cafe ahead of them. “i’m desperate to get my hands on a nice big cappuccino- oh, or a hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows! or is that too wintery? or since halloween is coming up do you think they have anything pumpkin flavoured?” she rambles, as she hurries her footsteps in the direction of the cafe. 

pushing the door open she steps inside and holds it open for yuto to follow her. it’s the perfect temperature inside, and the warm lighting and plants scattered around the place makes it feel as though the summer hasn’t yet left them. “where do you want to sit?” she asks her friend, peering up at him, and then at all the tables dotted around the cafe. there are some little loveseat type couches by the front of the cafe, the natural light from outside bathing them in a pretty orange glow–they seem comfy, she thinks. 

one thing that has always been a standard for yuto’s friend circle, is that it consists of very few people. although he exchanges formalities with people in his daily life, only the fewest are people he actually considers friends. he barely knows how to make such relationships, barely knows what is required of such a bond, and thus rarely feels comfortable using the word about other people until they use it first. but yeojin has been calling him a friend for some time now, so he supposes it holds true. oftentimes she feels like the total opposite of yuto himself and he can’t help but wonder what she wants with someone like him, but every so often their shared interests shine through, making it so much easier to deal with her. she is at least one of the people at the shelter he likes the most, that much is for sure. even as she drags him out of his comfort zone to go to a cafe. then again the alternative is having lunch together, and he will much rather die than embarrass himself with his picky circumstances regarding food.

she talks a lot as she leads the way. yuto’s mind also turns to what he might order for himself, although he isn’t as vocal about it. he figures that unless she outright asks him a question that is obviously dedicated to him, everything else is just rhetorical babble he can refrain from taking a stance towards. and that direct question comes sooner rather than later, in fact, as soon as they enter the establishment. 

new hot debut

          ❝ 오프사이드 ❞

presenting main dancer « mizuguchi yuto » in new danceology 

train rides aren’t his favourite part of the day, but there is something fascinating about watching all kinds of different people get on and off the train—and maybe he’s weird for it, jisung doesn’t know, but the artist in him finds inspiration in the most mundane things. after a while he gets bored though, as he always does, and pulls out his phone instead. his camera roll is filled with pictures of thistle, and he reckons he’s taken more pictures of his hedgehog than anything else, including himself. he hasn’t posted on his instagram in a while and decides that now is the perfect time to find a good picture of his favourite, little model.

“it’s okay,” jisung responds when the guy next to him apologizes for bumping their shoulders together. it’s not a big deal; when there’s this many people stacked together in a train, there are bound to collisions between limbs, and quite frankly, the student has lost count of how many times it has happened to him. what comes as a pleasant surprise, however, is when the boy next to him starts talking again. “hedgehog?” jisung asks, and it only takes a second before his face lights up. he had moved on to checking his social media feeds, but when he realizes the subject of their conversation is his spiny companion, the corners of his mouth curl into a wide grin. “oh, you mean thistle?” as if that name means anything to the stranger beside him. “she’s my pet hedgehog—she’s the sweetest! would you like to see more pictures of her?” but before he gets an answer, he pulls up his gallery again and holds out his phone to the other.

expecting to be met with hostility and words of “why were you peeking?” or something of that kind, yuto is almost surprised when nothing of the sort leaves the stranger’s mouth. only interest and eager is to trace within the expression which confuses the dancer even further, for how could he not be upset at someone invading his privacy? it’s weird. and thus yuto immediately brands the other as weird without even knowing him properly. even weirder is it to have a pet hedgehog and he looks at the other with skepticism when shown a phone gallery that is indeed full of hedgehog pictures.

                                       sending a starter to @rksoleil

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ ——————————————————————— *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

yuto doesn’t like competing. he never has and probably never will. it’s the thought of getting evaluated that terrifies him, the fact that people will look at him with examining eyes and judge his every movement. and it’s a fear rooted in his childhood, back when he had only just begun dancing and his parents insisted on signing him up for competitions, where he naturally placed last due to nerves and inexperience. now he dances purely for his own enjoyment - or so he thinks, but any such sentiment is ruined when his teacher lets him know that he signed him up for a performance. yuto knows he can say no, wants to say no, but feels like it will be nothing but an inconvenience if he does so. and the last thing he wants to be is an inconvenience.

it is not as bad he supposes as if it had been a competition, but he has still avoided dancing in front of people throughout all these years. at least more than necessary. he’s not good at maintaining his expression and, if you were to ask him, doesn’t have any stage presence whatsoever. not that he has the most presence in general but that is another matter entirely.

thus he finds his feet taking him to the streets of hongdae. if there is any place he can find inspiration, surely this must be it. and inspiration he does find in the form of a dance crew surrounded by a crowd making it almost impossible for him to see what is going on. cursing himself for his small stature, yuto finds a staircase not too far away and uses that as his foothold as he tiptoes to get the perfect view over the crowd.