Pirouettes&Flips

>>fifteen<<

"Is Haechan alright?" Mark asked when they were walking to the studio to meet with the others on the second day of regionals. He was going to join the studio's dancers on the way to make things easier for himself.

"As far as I know, yes. Why'd you ask?"

"I don't know, he seems more quite than usual"

"He seems normal to me" Jeno answered the older, shrugging his shoulder. He wasn't expecting Jaemin's plan to work this fast, if he had to be honest. It wasn't anything big, as his friend it was normal for Mark to get curious of the way Haechan was acting, still it made Jeno wonder if it would actually work in the way of liking the other.

"He is less... clingy I guess"

"You haven't seen him for three years except that one week you were here, maybe you remember him much more clingy than he really was?" Jeno wasn't exactly lying. It might not have been full truth as well but still Haechan has matured one way or another.

"Maybe" Mark shrugged his shoulders and decided to trust the word of his younger friend.

Jeno straightened the hair accessory that was attached to his hair with hair clips which felt like needles on his scalp. He couldn't exactly say that he was happy with his costume but he didn't think anyone was so he couldn't complain. Maybe except Haechan who seemed way too happy turning around Jaemin with his frilled arm pieces.

"Haechan do one more turn and I will not hesitate to cut them off and stuff them straight into your butthole"

"Hmm, I'm not sure how that would look on the stage, although I do appreciate the thought thanks" Jaemin took him into a chokehold, ignoring the unnecessarily heavy belt he was wearing. How Jaemin managed to dance with it, even do some pirouettes with it, was a mystery for everyone. Even Mr. Ten has thought about changing it but seeing how smooth Jaemin could still move with it he has waived the idea.

Renjun didn't have anything so extreme going on with his costume other than the odd colors it was in. None of the dancers in their team could be possibly connected with each other through these costumes. Their routine however was serving for this exact deal, showing how they could come together no matter how different they are.

As they left their stool and head to the wings of the stage just like they have done yesterday Jeno could feel his heart thumping in his ears. He has never been this anxious about competitions through his entire dancing career, not even when he was eleven and doing his first solo ever. All of it has changed ever since the last years nationals competition when he stumbled on the stage. It wasn't the first time he has stumbled on the stage, fuck it, he has fallen straight onto his butt during their recital when he was in sixth grade yet still he never had this feeling until yesterday. During rehearsals he was focused on the routine, how the team was improving and didn't have the chance to doubt himself. He knew this doubt was deeper than just a simple stumble on stage, much deeper but he avoided to acknowledge it.

He took himself out of his thoughts when they arrived at the wings and all his teammates looked at him waiting for a pep talk and one last cheer before they went on stage. It has been their ritual for years now. Jeno used to be one of them, looking expectedly to the dance captain until last season when their former dance captain has graduated and Jeno was chosen to be the next one.

Twelve hands became one in the center of the dancer circle and after a short pep talk they silently cheered their studios name throwing their hands up. Hearing their routine number and studio name at the same time they made their way to the stage, Jeno was glad to be able to hide the slight shakiness of his hand.

Twelve dancers were splattered through the stage and it seemed as if they weren't connected to each other at all. When the music started to fill the place every limb started to move on their own, still not showing any similarity to another. Their stage had two pieces of prompts on, both of them being the same height platforms placed on two sides of the stage.