let me love you ✶ girl groups

fire burning (on the dance floor) • lalisa manoban

prompt: a Lisa one shot where the reader is Blackpink's choreographer and a well-known dancer in the Kpop industry. full credit to glosssoo on AO3

pairing: lalisa manoban x male reader.

genre: angst

word count: 1960

"Lisa is getting on my last fucking nerve," you breathed into the phone, exasperated.

You didn't know who else to call and vent to, so you called your mother, someone you were sure wouldn't try to sell your insight to the nearest celebrity gossip website. You could see the headlines already, "Blackpink's Lisa Difficult to Work With???", "Blackpink's Lisa a Diva???". You had worked in the industry long enough to know the story would be skewed into something that was very far from the truth, so you didn't take your chances venting to just anyone and everyone. You'd learned that lesson the hard way long ago.

You were asked to choreograph for YG's girl group, Blackpink, for their upcoming show and you jumped on the opportunity as fast as possible. You had quite the portfolio, choreographing for almost every group and soloist in kpop at that moment, but you saw the opportunity to grow into a global market by choreographing for the biggest kpop girl group in the world and you couldn't say no.

You couldn't say no, but that didn't mean it was easy work. You've been working with the girls on group dances for almost a week now, and it was going well, except for the fact Lisa won't let you do your job. It's always "what if we do this instead?" or, "I think that move looks too awkward for us," or, "I think it would be better if we didn't do that." Which is fine! You've learned to work with many different groups and you always wanted to make sure their input was incorporated into the final product. Collaboration and creativity were the beacons of why you do what you do. They're artists too after all, but it was getting excessive, the dances didn't even look like what you originally choreographed. You were starting to wonder why YG even hired you when they had Lisa. You've had a lot of time to watch her this week, and you knew she was talented, she could do this herself. You admired the way she moved, smooth like the softest of waterfalls, and you envied her just slightly knowing that although you were good at what you did, you would never be THAT good.

While you acknowledged the talent, you were still annoyed. It was starting to feel like this was all a waste of time to you and you knew the other members could sense the tension between the two of you in the way Lisa only looked to them for validation when she spoke about changing the choreo and how you tried ignoring her as time went on. You could tell that they sensed it in the way they awkwardly agreed with one or the other, almost like they were trying to please both of their divorced parents.

"I'm just so tired of this. I mean, doesn't she know who I am?" You knew you sounded too arrogant for your own good, but you also knew you were one of Korea's best dancers and choreographers. You didn't get that label from doing shitty work. After a few more minutes, your mom talked you off the ledge, telling you that you were being stubborn and to calm down and not get too cocky, and you knew she was right. Nothing good would come of this internalized superiority complex you had going on. Besides, you started your solo work with Lisa tomorrow, and you needed to be calm, cool, and collected in order to not blow up on her during practice.

–

You were fiddling with the stereo system when she walked in, not turning to acknowledge her presence, too focused on getting the technology to work.

"Hey," She said casually, dropping her bag at the back without making eye contact, and you responded in the same way. Great, this was going to be a long day.

You showed her the choreography for the song first, which she looked apprehensive about but didn't voice it. You helped her get the moves just right, helping position her body in a way that would look best on stage. Neither of you said much, but the air was hot and stiff the closer you got to her, your fingers tingling at every point they touched her skin. Your touch lingered just a little bit too long each time, wanting to savor the way this felt. There was some weird string tied between the two of you, straining, taut, threatening to snap at any moment. You didn't think much of it, focusing on getting this practice over with. She picked the dance up quickly, almost getting the whole routine down in one go before speaking up.