STRAIGHTIES - a Stray Kids × Ateez fanfic

ACT 3

The practice room was filled with the sound of grunts and heavy panting as Hongjoong struggled to perfect a dance routine he'd found on the internet. He had been told many times how he ought to become a better dancer if he wanted others to view him as an all-rounder, so now he practiced even harder than his trainee days. He was only in charge of rapping at the moment, and his perfectionist self wouldn't allow him to settle for nothing else than earning that ace title.

The door suddenly opened with a loud creak and Hongjoong stopped in his tracks, the music still playing. Felix, one of the dancers from Stray Kids, hurriedly made his way to the corner of the room and picked up a duffel bag.

"Sorry for the interruption. I'm just going to grab my stuff and leave."

His voice was deeper than the ocean, but his eyes exuded kindness. Joong watched him as he swiftly shoved some creased clothes in the bag and scanned the place thoroughly, making sure he didn't forget anything behind. When he finished, he gave him a warm smile and turned to the door.

But, milliseconds before touching the knob, he reluctantly turned again to face Hongjoong, who had gone back to practicing.

"Excuse me"

"Yeah?"

Hongjoong looked at him curiously, trying to catch his breath.

"I've been watching you through the door for quite some time. Not to sound rude, and I mean absolutely no offence here, but...do you need help?"

"Me? Oh...it's ok. I'm just fooling around, that's all" Hongjoong said, visibly flustered.

"Are you sure? 'Cause it definitely looks like you aren't." Felix laughed and took a step forward, placing his bag on the floor. "Look, I'm the lead dancer in my group. I'm just going to show you how to be more precise with your moves. Are you alright with that?" he said expectantly with his arms stretched out.

Hongjoong thought about it for a minute and decided that it wasn't bad to get some help from an actual dancer. He didn't want his members to help him, anyway. Too much pride.

"...ok, why not?"

"Cool"

Felix came next to him and bowed all the way down.

"My name is Felix and I am 19."

"And my name is Hongjoong. But you don't have to bow."

"Aren't you like, older than me? I've been taught that's what we do here."

"I don't really tend to get caught up in formalities. So" he said, pointing at his phone screen. "This is the dance routine. What am I doing wrong?"

The two boys danced for hours and hours on end. Eventually, Hongjoong had managed to perfect his dance skills, all thanks to the immense talent of his coworker. Never in his life had he seen someone being so fierce despite their charming looks, and Felix sure was both a dancing machine and a literal cutie, which made Joong a tiny bit worried about breaking the promise he had made with himself. A promise that Yunho had broken, too.