TOUR MOMS

Interlude

**this out-of-place short chapter is for fun because I don't feel like writing the story in chronological order**

Allison's pov

In a city she'd never been to in a hotel she never could've considered staying in, Allison found herself in Hoseok's room. As far as she knew, the other boys were in their own rooms, taking dinner or getting ready for bed. She didn't know what happened to Melissa or Laney, and she couldn't quite remember how she ended up in Hobi's room. But she didn't mind. She was finding herself in his company more often than not these days.

They made (mostly) easy conversation over their meal, which one of the managers had dropped off for Hoseok earlier. Music played from his laptop on the desk, causing the man to frequently break into random dances mid-conversation. Allison watched each one with growing amusement.

"You never stop dancing, do you?" she asked, laughing into her spoonful of rice.

A small wave rippled through Hoseok's arms as he gave her a silly look, answering her question.

It's cute, she almost said out loud. She felt a blush creeping up just at the thought of saying such a thing.

"I always have to be one hundred percent, yaknow?" Hoseok started swaying along to the next song.

"You should teach me how to dance sometime," Allison said. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't been itching to propose this for a while now. Every time she watched him practice a move or demonstrate one for another member, she felt an overwhelming urge to have him teach her. But instead of ever asking, she usually just scolded them all for working too hard. That was her job.

Hoseok seemed to consider the question, tilting his head slightly. "I could if you wanted me to...but I won't go easy on you. I'm a stern teacher, even on newbies."

Allison laughed at his threat. "I'm a fast learner," she promised.

"I've seen you dance before."

"Impossible, I've never lifted a foot to a song in my life."

Hoseok rolled his eyes playfully. "You and the girls dance along to our choreo all the time when you think no one is paying attention to you."

Allison's mouth dropped open. There were so many times when they stood in corners, knowing they weren't needed for a bit, where they would mess around, truly thinking no one was looking at them. What all had Hoseok seen? They were quite a dramatic mess when they were alone together.

"That's...mortifying," Allison decided.

"It's cute."

Allison shoveled more rice into her mouth.

After a pause, Hoseok broke into a smile. "You wanna start after we finish eating?"

"Tonight?" Allison asked, surprised by his enthusiasm.

"Yeah, tonight!"

"Well..." Allison thought about it. She wanted to say yes, of course, but it was getting late and they had a schedule tomorrow. But he looked so excited at the thought, and Allison didn't want to ruin whatever was happening right now. "Okay, yes, I do! But! We can't go for too long because you, sir, need to go to bed soon." Allison pointed a mock stern finger at him.

He nodded solemnly. "Yes, mom," he joked.

Allison's stomach flipped unpleasantly at the name. It was fine when other members called her that, but for some reason this felt wrong. Allison pushed away the thought, because wherever her brain was going was not where it needed to be.

She just smiled in response, internally devastated to find she had no more rice to distract herself with.

Hoseok's room was big enough for both of them to have ample space to dance, and they had a nice view of their top halves in the bathroom mirror.

"What song do you want to start with?" Hoseok asked, focus seeping into his demeanor.

Save Me popped into her head immediately. "Whatever you want to teach me," she said instead.

Hobi fiddled on his phone for a few minutes before the opening notes of Save Me started pouring out of the speaker.

"You read my mind," Allison gasped.

It started off slightly awkward, but soon they found their stride. Hoseok was concise, his movements fluid and his instruction impeccable. It was intimidating at first, but Allison shook off the nerves. She asked for this, and he looked like he was having fun.

As the lesson progressed, Hoseok became increasingly goofy, as if he was realizing the stakes weren't that high, and that this was for fun. He grew playful and talkative. He started teasing Allison whereas before he'd kept criticisms professional.

"What was that!" Hobi spoke through laughter, pointing at Allison's hands.

She threw them up in defeat. "I'm too focused on my feet, how am I supposed to control my hands too?"

"Look, the hands should be the easiest part, they just—" Hoseok demonstrated the hand motions, "you shouldn't even have to think about it!"

Allison huffed and tried again.

"That's better," Hoseok laughed.

After she had the chorus down, Hobi moved on to other parts of the song.

"How do you not get sick of the songs after hearing them so much?" She loved this song, but she thought that if she heard that "geu soneul naemireojwo save me save me" ever again, it would be too soon.

"Actually, I tend to tune it out after a while. I focus on the beat count. If I focus on the music rather than the words, it's easier to stand." Hoseok seemed to consider something for a moment. "That, and I just tell myself that once practice is over, I won't have to listen to the song again until the next practice." They both laughed.

Before she knew it, over an hour had passed.

"Oh wow, it's already almost one!" Allison cried when she checked her phone. She'd gotten several texts and three calls from Melissa and Laney without noticing.

Hoseok paused the song, barely breathing hard where Allison was nearly panting from exertion.

"Time for bed?" Hoseok asked knowingly. Allison gave him an I-have-to shrug.

"Thanks for this." Allison made eye contact with herself in the mirror, psyching herself up. "This was so much fun, you're a great teacher."

Hobi put himself in her line of sight. "I had fun too, we should keep doing this!"

Allison hesitated. "I don't want you—"

"Working too hard, I know. Listen! This is good for me too! It's relaxing, it's refreshing, and it's good for me to keep up on these dances. I could start teaching you older choreos for my own benefit. We never know when we'll be performing an older song again you know."

She didn't need too much convincing, which she kind of hated. She sighed. "Okay, okay, you got me. But promise to never push yourself too hard for this. I will only do this when its benefitting you." She tried to sound firm, but underneath she was bubbling in excitement.

"Definitely," he winked. Allison huffed.

"Go to bed! Good night!" Allison collected her things and sped-walked to the door, not making any more eye contact.

"See you in the morning," he called from the bed.

Allison let the door fall closed behind her and then leaned back against it. What am I doing? she wondered.