Subtle Differences | Junhao oneshots

Perfect flaws Pt. 2

Junhui made the mistake of looking at the clock twice in a row in quick succession, sighing heavily when he realised there was still an hour left of lecture. Seated beside him, Cynthia had long since fallen asleep, sitting up straight and folding her arms to still make it look like she was awake and attentive. Being all the way in the back of the lecture halls served its purpose well. Not that the professor would know, since he was so busy droning about cadences and chord progressions to notice that half of the class had both physically and mentally shut down.

The blonde boy clicked into his message for the umpteenth time, checking once again that Minghao had indeed read his message. "God, you make your little crush so obvious." A voice from beside him made Junhui nearly jump out of his own skin. He whipped around to find Cynthia peeking through her drooping eyelids at him, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "I'm not making it obvious. I'm just insanely bored. Professor Williams couldn't have made lecture any more mundane." He complained. Cynthia nodded her agreement, smiling slyly at him. 

"So, you don't deny your crush then?" She chuckled, beaming at the flush on Junhui's face. "Just go back to sleep. Jesus." Junhui replied, his voice weaker than he wanted it to be. Cynthia winked at gim and went straight back to dozing off. The pianist huffed another breath, sitting up straighter to prevent himself from following Cynthia's fate. 

1 hour later  

"Finally!" Junhui all but jumped up from his seat as soon as Professor Williams announced that class was over. Cynthia's eyes shot wide open, and she stood up slowly, cracking her back like she hadn't moved in ages. Which wasn't entirely a lie. 

"What're you gonna do for the next few hours? We don't have any lectures for the day, right?" Junhui confirmed, following the crowd of students exiting the hall. 

"Nope, we're free! I'll probably work on that godforsaken essay for aural class. You're on your merry way to meet Minghao, aren't you? I can just see the excitement in your eyes." Cynthia laughed. Junhui flushed the tiniest bit, waving goodbye to Cynthia as he walked towards the dance faculty building. All through the five minute walk, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He had spent much of the previous night looking and relooking through the edited composition for Arabesque. What if he doesn't like my changes? Junhui put a hand to his chest to calm his irrational worries. 

"You'll be just fine..." The boy whispered to himself. Habitual self-assurance. Weird, but surprisingly helpful. He looked around him, realising that he had stepped into unfamiliar territory. It didn't take long for him to find Studio 5. Not because of the sign on the door, though. A familiar light melody of Debussy reached his ears, guiding him to where he currently was: standing in front of studio 5. Leaning in a little closer, he can hear soft thuds, which had to be no one except Xu Minghao. 

Junhui pushed the door open slowly, peering in to the brightly lit room. He had seen dance studios before, but somehow, they were all nothing compared to the one surrounding him. Huge, was one word to describe it. Magnificent was another. Ancient roman window designs that allowed huge amounts of natural lighting, a grand piano tucked away in the corner, and floor-to-ceiling mirrors. So many mirrors. In the center of the apartment-sized studio, was a familiar black haired boy doing consecutive leaps across the floor. A soft thud of feet against wood fell rhythmically between each beat of the piano piece. There was a thin sheen of sweat on his skin that stretched across toned muscles. Junhui was transfixed by Minghao's grace and flawlessness in his technique, no doubt the result of relentless training. 

"Hey..." Junhui noticed that his voice sounded small as it travelled through the room. Minghao stopped leaping long enough to briefly nod at the elder male. He glided over to the barre and lifted his leg up in the air, all of a sudden stretching. Junhui gave a more than awkward smile before making his way over to the grand piano. It was embellished beautifully with golden font that read 'Steinway & Sons'. He played a couple of scales in quickly, just to warm his fingers up. No way was he about to mess up in front of the other intimidating presence in the studio. He glanced over at the younger who had finished his preparation, and was now standing only a metre or so away. The room instantly felt 10 degrees warmer when Junhui felt the pair of dark eyes boring into him.