A Moment In Time | Stray Kids x Reader | Oneshots

☁️Hwang Hyunjin - Shut Up and Dance

Continuous stomping resonated through the hallway where you scuttled along. Your footsteps made their way through as quietly as they could, although you didn't particularly know why; it wasn't like anyone would be able to detect them through the pounding beats reverberating in the walls - at 2 am no less.

Still, you hugged your hoodie closer and quickened your pace, until you finally reached the end of the hall, the source of the music just on the other side of the door. And something else - someone else: Hyunjin, whose eyes you caught in the reflection of the mirror as you entered.

He paused mid-choreography, sweat trickling down his temples in rapid succession, dampening the wooden floors. His usually silken blond hair clung to his forehead and neck as he smoothed it out and replaced his cap.

"(Y/N)?" His voice perked up in enthusiasm, before he cleared his throat. "What are you doing here so late at night?"

"I should be asking you the same thing." You pulled a wry smile as he went over to turn off the music. The sudden drop into silence made you lower your voice subconsciously, so that it came out in a worried whisper. "Why haven't you come home yet?"

"I have a performance at music core tomorrow. I told you, didn't I?" He said in pants, finishing off the remaining drops of his water bottle. "And I'm still not prepared."

It only took a moment of you examining his exhausted state - how his chest heaved too quickly, how his sore arms tried to dab away unrelenting sweat drops from his face - for your eyes to soften, and for your arms to open in invitation. "Hyunjin... come here."

Without another passing word, he crashed into your embrace, making stagger backwards to keep balance. His arms snaked around your waist. His chin rested in the crook of your neck where some stray drops dribbled onto your shoulder, but you didn't mind. You simply hugged him tighter, taking the time to rub circles on his back.

"Let's sit, ok?"

Carefully, without letting any more space come between you, you led him into a corner of the studio, sat him down and laid his head on your shoulder. You cupped his hands in yours, opening up his palms so your thumbs could trace tender motions.

You knew him. You knew what sort of things were going on in his head, and you hoped that somehow your caressing touches would be enough to alleviate some of that, to quieten it down if just a little bit, so that he would be there to tell you: "What's going through your mind?"

His breathing was shallow, heart pounding in his chest as a result of countless hours of hard work. "I'm just... tired."

You furrowed your brows. A sigh escaped through your nose. "You work so hard, babe. You know I'm proud of you, right?"

He answered with the ghost of a smile. It wasn't like him not to say much when you asked, so at times like this, you learned it was best to let some time pass leisurely. You hummed to the melody of a song tucked away in your memory as your fingers stroked through his golden locks.

That time passed from moments to minutes, but how many exactly you didn't know, for it was the kind time couldn't count in such a scene.

Until eventually, his weight shifted off of your body as he began to stand up. "I should practice some more."

You raced after him, conjuring up an idea that got you to beat him to the laptop. While he was trying to make out what you were up to, your fingers flew across the keyboard and hit enter. A new melody filled the practice room that left Hyunjin raising an eyebrow at you.

"What's the cheesy slow song for?" He chuckled lightly, fixing a hand to his waist.

"This-" In one swift motion, you grabbed him by the arm, led him onto the floor and repositioned his hands so that one laid on your hip and the other was clasped between yours. Then you hung your other arm loosely around his neck as you guided him into the movements.

"Oh, what, you're teaching me how to dance now?" He scoffed, but looked down to try and pick up on how your feet were moving.

"It's a slow dance, Hyunjin. You probably haven't done those too often." You caught the way his eyes were focusing on each of your steps and tilted your head down to get a better look at them. "Now follow my lead."

He warily eyed how awkwardly your feet were moving, fearing they would trip him over at any moment. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Don't worry. I took dance in elementary school," you said with an air of confidence, and not a second later did you find yourself stumbling over yourself, stopping short of the hard wooden floors only by Hyunjin's hold on your waist.

But before he could utter anything out his lips that were currently curved in a smirk, you uttered an "It's been a while" and coughed into your fist.

He responded with a skeptical hum, raising his eyebrows at you. "A while, huh?"

"Just shut up and dance. And keep your eyes on me this time, ok?"

And that he did. He was fixated on you, at the way loose strands of hair fell out of your messy ponytail yet still managed to frame your face perfectly, at the way your shoulders rose and shifted to keep with the beat, and at the way your tongue was stuck out slightly trying to keep focus. It was a cute habit of yours he liked to simply staring at, but this time, it made another desire rise in his chest.

Just as you thought you were finally getting into the rhythm of the excruciatingly foreign slow song, you got distracted. And by what? Hyunjin leaning forward, missing your lips - or so you thought - but then catching contact with the delicate skin of your neck.

Goosebumps travelled in waves across your body. Heat rose to your cheeks so suddenly you worried your heart may just erupt. His plump lips morphed into the shape of a butterfly, gently but effectively imprinting their marks along your collarbone. Light but suggestive, sloppy but not lazy. They drove you insane until all other senses left your body, making you halt right in your tracks.

"Hey.. Why'd you stop? I was just getting into the beat of it." Oh the audacity he had to smirk against your skin. There was no way he didn't know how enticing his murmurs sounded to your red-hot ears.

"Uh- umm-" Words fail to climb out your throat, not when his lips were still lingering at the base, threatening to trail upwards at a moment's notice. But thankfully (or not), he detached from your neck all too soon, straightening back into a dancing position, as if to say 'we'll finish this off later.'

"Shh, just dance," said Hyunjin with the slightest hint of mockery.

And you were swept away again, this time he was leading, into a rhythm that didn't keep up with the song played at all. But it felt right, because you knew he led with the beat drumming in his heart, the one that now matched the pace of yours.

He leaned forward again, to press your foreheads together. "I'm so lucky to have you, (Y/N). Thank you for coming... I'll-
I'll continue to work hard so you can be as proud of me as I am of you."

Your eyes fluttered shut all on their own, for they knew they didn't need to see to know he was speaking with the sincerest intentions. You leaned in closer, just so that your eyelashes could meet in the gentlest of butterfly kisses, and you smiled. " Hyunjin... I'm always going to be proud of you."

Just like that, you two spent the rest of the night in an aimless dance, fueled by the song of two harmonized heartbeats.