Dancing King

Chapter 12

Sorry for that last chapter oof. Again I don't plan much ahead of time lol. I just write whatever comes to mind and tweak things as I go.

...

Yixing's POV

...

I lay in the middle of the wooden floor my chest heaving after having done so much exercise in such a short amount of time. My uniform jacket, tie, and vest were carelessly tossed aside somewhere. I'd flipped on one of the spotlights so I could see myself put one foot in front of the other. My phone sat on the table with the sound equipment, hooked up to the Bluetooth and still playing cheery music in the background, though most of it went in one ear and out the other right now. I dug my nails into the wood, praying this feeling of falling weightlessly into the abyss would pass.

All this over a damn boy.

I told myself there was a reason I didn't crush on anyone. I knew it would never end well. But I'd let my walls crumble little by little yesterday, foolishly believing that maybe this was different. There was no way Junmyeon would hurt me, right? Ha. The joke was on me. I dared believe someone could actually like me. So my walls slammed back up as quickly as they'd fallen. No way. If it wasn't him then it was no one. I wouldn't put myself through this. Not again.

"Hmm." I didn't even look up as a second voice filtered through the dark. Let one one of them catch me down here. I really didn't care right now. "What's wrong Xing?" Hoseok sat beside me, and when I did finally bring myself to look, I caught Jimin messing with the equipment, turning the music down. "I just had this feeling," he continued. "I knew someone was down here. What happened?"

"Nothing Hoseok," I said wearily, scrubbing my sweaty face with one hand, letting it fall limp to my side after the fact. "Nothing I can't handle anyway. But what brings you and Jimin here? Shouldn't you guys be at home studying?" Hoseok shrugged, looking about as serious as I'd ever seen him. Jimin joined us shortly after, also sitting on one side of me.

"Maybe," Hoseok replied at last. "I'm not sure if I'd be able to concentrate today. Something just doesn't feel right. You know what I mean?" Yes Hoseok. I did. Though I doubted you meant the same things I did. He ran his fingers over the wood, scuffed up and worn from nearly seven years of use. "A part of me doesn't want to give this up. What if we didn't leave? We could continue to run it. Our fan base would never have to picture this place without its founders." Jimin, usually a happy, sunshiney boy, was very subdued as Hoseok talked, picking at an imaginary thread on his pants. I sighed.

"We have to trust that Taeyong, Ten, Jisung, and Yugyeom will take care of it," I said gently, even if the idea pained me too. This was our baby. We built it from the ground up to be what it was today. "And whoever else we recruit after break." I turned to Hoseok, finally rising to a sitting position. "Any new applicants?"

"A few," he admitted, pulling a folded piece of paper from his pocket. He skimmed it quickly. "Ji Changmin, who I'd never heard of until he approached Taeyong talking about it. Apparently he really likes girl group dances and is really good at them. Kwon Soonyoung, who has apparently choreographed some dances of his own, so that makes me curious. His little brother Lee Chan, who's an eighth year but he shows promise already. Hwang Hyunjin. He's a ninth year, but like Chan he shows promise already. He's one of the few who does cover videos, and his small fanbase eats it up."

"It's gonna feel a bit unreal," I said softly. "So many new faces so quickly. Are they all going to pass?" Hoseok pursed his lips.

"I don't know," he answered. "I want them to. It would be great to have our numbers swell like that. But at the same time I'm hesitant to introduce so many new people at once. Maybe some of the younger ones can wait until next year, when..." He paused for a split second. "When Ten or Taeyong possibly take over."