taekai where jongin went around giving free hugs to strangers ;;A;;
TAEKAI | pg (swearing) | college au, romance, humor, fluff | wc 1,600~
a/n: i may have gotten a tiny bit carried away and created a new dance au…..
After an extensive day of dance rehearsal for their upcoming showcase, all Taemin wants to do is take a long shower and call it day. He is sweaty and aching all over, long hair tied back to keep the wet tendrils from choking him, and he really misses being able to freestyle with his friends. His dance partner and best friend, Soojung, was just as exhausted as him and ready to get the showcase over with.
“I can’t imagine what it must be like to be a ballet major,” she groans tiredly as they leave practice together, the matching dance team duffle bag slung over her shoulder bumping against Taemin’s every so often. “They’ve always got one recital after another. At least we always get a variety.”
Taemin hums his agreement, although he wants to add on. “But they are amazingly talented, after all,” he mentions, retying the lose strands of his hair back into it a ponytail. “No matter what, their every show is amazing, especially the previous one. The ballet department’s principal dancer is something else.” Taemin remembers feeling shocked when he first saw the ballerino take center stage–it was so rare to see a male principal dancer in the ballet department, of all things. Yet, there he had been, covered in black feathers and golden glitter, standing beneath the spotlight in the final position of his révérence like the entire world was beneath his feet. And perhaps it was; Taemin couldn’t find his breath until long after the curtains had closed, wishing with every last inch of his being that he could get to know phenomenal dancer.
He feels Soojung nudge him with her elbow, breaking him out of his thoughts, and when he looks over she’s smirking playfully at him. “Yeah, I forgot it was love at first sight for you when you saw Kim Jongin on stage, wasn’t it?”
“I-It was not!” Taemin scoffs immediately, scandalized, but Soojung cackles at the heated flush that creeps up Taemin’s neck and turns his ears red, his body betraying his true feelings. So what if it was true? he thinks, making a face when Soojung keeps nudging him and jumping just out of her reach. He would never get a chance to talk to the principal dancer anyway because the ballet department had it’s own entire building and stage, completely separate from the regular performance arts one. He could never possibly–
“Hey, speaking of Kim Jongin, isn’t that him over there?” Soojung suddenly asks, eyes wide in surprise as she points just behind Taemin, in the direction of the ballet building next to the performance arts. Taemin turns around so fast he nearly gets whiplash, and sure enough he sees Kim Jongin laughing with a few others from the ballet department. It’s pretty late at night now, but even with the lights along the sidewalks and the ones on the building Taemin can make out the ‘FREE HUGS’ and the ‘DONATE TO THE BALLET TEAM’ signs all over the lawn. There is no one else outside this late but him and Soojung, and just as if the stars have aligned, one of the other dancers notice them.
“Hey!” she calls, hands cupped around her mouth so they can hear her. “You guys want any free hugs? We reached our goal but we still give the best hugs on campus!”
Taemin wants to scream when Jongin (and everyone else, for that matter) turns to look over at them, and his first reaction is to shake his head no; except that Soojung is always one step ahead of him, whether it was in dance or just life in general, and she screams back without a beat of hesitation, laughter in her voice: “Of course! Prove it!”
And just like that, none other than Kim Jongin and the other yelling girl come hurtling down the grassy lawn towards them; even the way that they run is elegant, and Taemin recognizes the girl as the soloist, Park Sunyoung, and he thinks he might faint. Literally the top stars of the ballet department are running towards them in the middle of the night, laughing at the top of their lungs, arms outstretched.
This is happening, Taemin screams internally the closer they get. This is actually happening! He jolts when Soojung smacks him with her hand, mouthing, ‘This is your chance you loser, don’t fuck up!’ He doesn’t get a chance to retaliate however because before he knows it he’s got an armful of Kim Jongin’s long limbs, the two of them toppling over immediately (because despite all the dancing, Taemin is a noodle, let’s be real) and landing on his huge duffle bad. Taemin can hear and feel Jongin’s breathless laughter in his ear, giggling and sounding like a child with his cheek pressed against Taemin’s neck and chin hooked over his shoulder. Already he’s so completely different from how Taemin imagined him, barely able to make a connection with the man who looked so devastatingly handsome on stage, and it makes him giggle as well.
It feels like forever before Jongin stops squeezing him so tightly, and when he pulls back his eyes are twinkling brighter than the stars just above his head, his mop of un-styled hair framing his face. “You give great hugs,” Jongin compliments suddenly, grinning wide, and he takes a piece of Taemin’s soul with him when he crawls off his body and stands up. He holds out his hand, palm warm as Taemin allows himself to be pulled to his feet. Taemin can’t seem to find his words, tongue glued to the roof of his mouth. “Lee Taemin, right? I remember seeing you during the modern dance showcase last semester,” Jongin continues when Taemin remains inept. “And, well, I’ve seen every other performance you were in as well. I’m kind of a big fan.”
The ballerino actually looks shy when he reveals this, rubbing the back of his neck as he continues to smile expectantly at the other man. Taemin, finally gathering what he can of his wits where he left them on the grass after they fell, blurts out, without completely thinking it through, “I like you!” Jongin looks just as startled by his words as Taemin is, brown eyes going wide, and Taemin wishes he could just melt into a puddle. He tries to redeem himself by continuing to talk, but of course he just keeps digging the hole deeper. “I-I mean–! I saw your previous performance! A-And I fell in love at first sight! I want to get to know you!”
But then, by the power of some mighty force watching over him, instead of being completely creeped out and never wanting anything to do with Taemin ever again, Jongin’s smile returns ten fold and he laughs, actually looking pleased. It’s dark out but Taemin is pretty sure Jongin is blushing, although not as hard as Taemin, who is probably redder than a tomato right now. “I want to get to know you too,” Jongin replies, and Taemin hears singing angels when Jongin pulls out his phone so they can exchange contact information. Taemin lets Jongin do the talking from that point on so he can stop making an idiot of himself, but he’s so excited that his hands shake when as he types his number into the other man’s phone. Taemin seriously hopes he didn’t put in any wrong information and he’s so worried that he doesn’t realize that Jongin is watching him until he finally hands his phone back.
“What is it?” Taemin asks, self consciously touching his lips in case he had some food stuck in his teeth. He’d never be able to live something like that down, but by the way Soojung is laughing hysterically at him from a few feet away (hand over her mouth to muffle the sound), it looks like Taemin won’t be able to live this entire encounter down to begin with.
“You’re cute,” Jongin says instead, and he reaches over and pinches Taemin’s nose lightly between his thumb and forefinger. If Taemin could blush any harder he could probably paint the world pink.
“You’re cute, too,” he responds because normally he hates being called any form of cute, but when Jongin does it he doesn’t really mind. But when he reaches to pinch Jongin’s nose as well, the other’s eyes glitter mischievously as he dances just out of Taemin’s reach.
“If you wanna try that, you’re gonna have to out-dance me!” he tells him, laughing playfully as he pirouettes several steps away. Whatever embarrassment or nervousness that had been weighing on Taemin’s chest up until this moment lifts almost instantaneously, and he finds himself laughing back incredulously. Every step of choreography he does towards Jongin, the other man twirls away just as much. Soojung and Sunyoung holler enthusiastically after them until they finally join in on the fun as well, until it seems like the entire performance arts department that had stayed up late practicing were now dancing around like school children after the ballet team.
Somewhere in the back of his mind Taemin thinks maybe they’re all a little too old to be dancing around campus, playing tag like they were in High School Musical or something. But when he thinks about Jongin’s number in his phone and how the ballerino keeps eagerly looking over his shoulder every second to check if the other dancer is still hot on his heels (he is), Taemin can’t seem to find it in himself to mind.
