⋆˚࿔ can we dance?
─── heesun : that’s all i have to say, so baby can we dance?
PAIRING ﹕lee heeseung x kim sunoo
word count﹕3.5k
warnings: member x member , college au, fluff, alcohol / drinking, heejaywonki are in a band, strangers to lovers.
༯ SYNOPSIS: sophomore year of university was supposed to be simple. play gigs with his band, pass his classes, and avoid embarrassing himself. heeseung forgets all of that the moment he spots a blond stranger dancing in the front row of one of his shows. or, in which heeseung falls in love at first sight and spends the rest of the night trying to work up the courage to ask sunoo to dance.
now playing ♬⋆.˚﹕can we dance - the vamps
The bass hit before sunoo even reached the front door. cars lined the street for blocks, all for the first party of the school year. the second he walked in a waft of cheap beer and someone's overwhelmingly sweet perfume hit him all at once.
before he knew it, a red plastic cup had been shoved into sunoo's hand. when he got it? no clue, he'd only been inside the house for about 30 seconds. he grimaced at the smell of whatever was just handed to him and immediately set it down onto the nearest surface.
you see, kim sunoo wasn't the type of person to attend college parties. he hated loud music, drunk frat boys who didn't seem to understand the concept of the word no, and the smell of sweat lingering in every corner of the house, he hated college night life in general.
yet, he found himself here anyway. all because his best friend jungwon, just so happened to be playing here tonight with his band.
sunoo made his way through the swarm of freshmen dancing by the front door before pushing his way onto the back porch, where jungwon had told him he'd be.
"sunoo, you're here!" jungwon made his way over from what looked like a makeshift bar before leading him towards the small group of people setting up equipment near the back fence.
truth be told sunoo had never actually met any of jungwon's bandmates. sure he's seen videos of them performing and occasionally overheard them practicing in jungwon's room but he'd never spoken to any of them in person.
one of them—a broad shouldered guy with the sharpest jawline sunoo's ever seen seemed to in the middle of a phone call.
"heeseung" the man ran his hands over his face before letting out a long sigh. "where the hell are you? our set starts in 20 minutes and you're not here." he started pacing, phone still pressed to his ear, his voice growing more anxious with every passing second.
"don't start with that 'I'm almost here' bullshit. you told me that 30 minutes ago" the man pinched the bridge of his nose before cutting the other person off.
"you know what? just let me know if you're coming or not so we can figure out who's singing tonight"
"still isn't here yet?" jungwon asked
the sharp jawed man shook his head. "said traffic's horrible right now" the man let out another sigh before he noticed the unfamiliar face standing just behind jungwon.
"and this is?"
"oh right" jungwon stepped aside, "this is sunoo, my best friend"
sunoo offered the man a sheepish smile. "it's nice to meet you...uh..."
"jay" he chuckled "and it's nice to meet you too, I've heard a lot about you" jay shot jungwon a knowing glance as sunoo looked between both of them with a raised eyebrow.
"so this is sunoo?" a deep voice called from behind jay.
sunoo turned towards the voice, only to find another tall, black haired guy walking over carrying a case of beer in one hand and a box full of assorted liquor in the other.
"I'm ni-ki" he set the boxes down on the makeshift bar before lifting his hand in a small wave. "nice to finally meet you, jungwon over here has told us a lot about you"
sunoo turned to jungwon who was rubbing the back of his neck.
"that's the second person to tell me that in the past five minutes jungwon" sunoo spoke, narrowing his eyes.
jungwon cleared his throat, mumbling something about the wind before turning back to jay. "still no sign of heeseung?"
jay looked at his phone for what had to be the hundredth time before shaking his head.
"nothing"
"we're supposed to be on in 15 minutes" ni-ki muttered, still focused on setting up the drinks for the bar. "kinda hard to have a band without the lead singer"
jungwon took a deep breath "we'll figure something out"
and as if on cue jay's phone buzzed and his shoulders visibly relaxed. "he's 8 minutes away"
jungwon clapped his hands together in relief before he turned to sunoo, who was completely zoned out staring at a tree.
"sunoo” jungwon nudged sunoo’s shoulder. “come on, I’ll show you where I want you to stand”
sunoo blinked in confusion, looking around him before turning back to face him. “this is a backyard jungwon...where else would I stand?”
"well..” jungwon paused before steering sunoo towards the stage, which was really just a wooden pergola that had their equipment on it. "I want you in the front, and people are going to start coming out soon so...just stand there"
and before sunoo could even protest being left alone, jungwon had already turned and was helping jay fix his leather jacket.
"here" a voice called out from behind him.
sunoo turned to find ni-ki holding out a red plastic cup filled with a yellow-colored drink.
sunoo shook his head "I'm okay, i'm not much of a drinker"
"I know" ni-ki chuckled. "jungwon told us you're a lightweight"
sunoo simply stared at him. "..does jungwon tell you people everything about me?"
ni-ki shrugged, "I mean I know about that time you fell face first into the punch bowl at prom, so..."
sunoo buried his face in his hands.
"I'm going to kill jungwon"
ni-ki laughed and before sunoo could refuse again, he gently pressed the cup into his hand.
"cmon, I made this one just for you. it's not that strong"
sunoo hesitantly took a sip and his eyebrows lifted in surprise
"..it's actually really good"
ni-ki placed a hand over his heart, looking genuinely offended.
"I'm offended you thought it would be bad in the first place"
"you're dramatic" sunoo laughed. "what's in this anyway?"
ni-ki shrugged. "I'm not telling you"
"as much as I'd love to keep talking, ..jay will kill me if I don't start going on stage" he started backing away.
"see you around sunoo" he paused before turning back "oh and enjoy the show"
"I'll try" sunoo smiled to himself before glancing around the backyard.
just a few minutes ago, it had been practically empty. save for jungwon, the others and himself. now, people were brushing past him from every direction, all trying to get closer to the pergola. every empty space had been filled, people stood shoulder to shoulder and conversations blended together until they became mere background noise.
the smell of cheap beer lingered through the fresh fall air, as more and more students pushed toward the front of the stage. Someone pushed through the crowd and bumped into sunoo so hard, a small splash of his drink landed on the grass below him.
"shit! my bad!" the apology came out almost breathlessly.
before sunoo could even get a good look at the guy, he was already weaving through the crowd toward the pergola, a guitar case slung over one shoulder.
"I'm here, I'm here" heeseung ran a hand through his messy maroon hair as he caught his breath
"heeseung! took you long enough we're about to start!" jay shouted over the crowd.
heeseung smiled sheepishly in apology before plugging his guitar in and adjusting the microphone in front of him.
the members exchanged one final glance before jay counted them in.
the first chord rang through the packed backyard, the crowd erupting into cheers. jungwon tightened his grip around his drumsticks before bringing them down against the snare, sweat already clinging to the strands of his hair as he focused on the beat.
a smile slid onto sunoo's face and before he knew it, he found himself getting lost in the sound of the music. the drink in his hand was long forgotten but the effects of the alcohol were starting to set in.
heeseung's voice carried effortlessly over the crowd as he moved across the small stage like he'd been born for it, feeding off the audience's energy. The panicked college boy who'd ran through the backyard just minutes earlier was completely gone, now in his place stood a performer who knew exactly how to get the crowd screaming.
heeseung squatted near the edge of the stage, pointing his microphone toward the sea of students in front of him. his eyes swept across the crowd until they landed on someone. near the front stood a blond haired guy, dancing like he didn't have a care in the world.
heeseung's breath caught and for a second too long, the music faded into the background. He was captivated by the stranger, by the flush in his cheeks, the strands of blond hair sticking to his forehead, and the fox like smile that refused to leave his face.
as if sensing someone's gaze. sunoo looked up. his movements stilled for a moment as his eyes met heeseung's.
a quiet laugh escaped him before he offered the singer a small, almost shy smile. Then, the final chorus echoed through the backyard, and he turned back toward the stage, clapping along with everyone else.
the crowd erupted into cheers as the final chord echoed through the backyard. The members bowed before jungwon stepped up to the microphone.
"thank you guys so much!" jungwon smiled. "this was enha, enjoy the rest of your night!"
heeseung barely heard a word of it. He was too busy searching the crowd for any sign of that blond haired guy, but he was already gone.
"well.." jungwon clapped his hands together as he made his way toward the makeshift bar. "we did it"
jay let out a tired laugh while ni-ki reached into a cooler for a bottle of water.
"heeseung only missed what, like five cues?" jungwon teased as he twisted the cap off the bottle.
"don't forget showing up almost an hour late!" ni-ki added to which heeseung responded by smacking his arm.
"I'd call that a success." jungwon nodded proudly.
"shut up" heeseung muttered, rolling his eyes.
jungwon only laughed before glancing around the backyard.
"where's sunoo..?"
jay shrugged. "last I saw, taki dragged him back inside"
"of course he did.." jungwon sighed.
"...sunoo?" heeseung repeated, looking at jungwon with a raised brow as he took a sip from his water bottle, leaning against one of the wooden posts supporting the pergola. "your friend?"
jungwon looked over. "yeah, he actually came. I thought he was gonna cancel on me if I'm being honest " a smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
"he was in the front row dancing like an actual idiot the entire set"
"man I hope taki took a video" ni-ki laughed as he sat down next to jungwon.
heeseung's expression stilled. "blond hair..?"
jungwon raised an eyebrow "...yeah?"
heeseung nodded to himself before glancing at the grass, unable to stop the smile creeping onto his face.
"yeah" he murmured. "I noticed him."
jay slowly looked over at jungwon with one eyebrow raised.
jungwon met his gaze.
"yeah..okay..."
ni-ki cleared his throat, clearly trying—and failing to not laugh.
"let's go get a drink." he threw his arm over heeseung's shoulder. "the fuck are we standing around for?"
heeseung immediately nodded. "yeah, let's go I need a drink."
⋆˚꩜｡
by the time heeseung and the others had come inside the house, the party had reached its peak. every room of the house was packed full of people. someone was downing shot after shot, another was drunk calling their ex, and in the far corner was a random couple eating each other's faces.
the kitchen floor was sticky beneath heeseung's feet. he couldn't remember how many drinks he'd had in the last half hour, but it was definitely enough to excuse how stupid he's been acting. you'd think alcohol would make him more confident to find the blond stranger from earlier, but if anything it made him more nervous.
he hasn't seen the blond guy since the performance, he kept telling himself that he'd go talk to him after one more drink, but 5 shots and 2 beers later, he still hadn't budged from the kitchen.
eventually jay found him standing in the kitchen, red cup in hand, his ears flushed pink from the amount of alcohol he'd had in the last hour.
"yo heeseung, slow down." jay stepped close enough to pluck the drink out of his hand. "you're gonna give yourself liver failure at this point"
"do you think he'd say yes if I asked him to dance?"
jay followed heeseung's line of sight and spotted sunoo laughing with taki before slowly looking back at heeseung.
"you've got to be kidding me."
heeseung stayed quiet.
"you've seriously been getting drunk because you're scared of asking jungwon's friend to dance?"
heeseung didn't deny it. "he's scary"
jay pinched the bridge of his nose as he let out a deep sigh. "just go ask man, the worst thing he could say is no."
heeseung turned to look at jay with a frown "exactly, what if he says no?"
jay pursed his lips in a flat line "well...then he says no? you won't know until you try"
"right.." heeseung reached for the cup in jay's hand.
"..heeseung."
"shut up" he finished what was left before placing it on the countertop behind him.
"im doing it." heeseung took one last deep breath, there was no backing out now.
he started walking toward sunoo before he could change his mind.
the music was much louder in the living room, heeseung could feel the bass with every step closer he took. he weaved through various dancing bodies and he was only a few steps away from sunoo when someone called for him.
a dark haired guy he vaguely recognized from a biology project as soobin threw an arm around his shoulder. "yoooo heeseung, i loved your performance"
heeseung's nervous smile was instantly wiped off his face as he watched sunoo walk off toward the kitchen and he couldn't do anything but watch as soobin went on and on about how heeseung performed so well.
"ah..thank you" heeseung spoke as he ran his hands through his hair in defeat.
"seriously man you looked so cool" soobin complimented as he reached over into a cooler and handed heeseung a beer.
"you haven't played beer pong yet, have you?" soobin grabbed heeseung's hand and brought him over to one of the tables set up with little red cups filled with beer. "not a party if lee heeseung isn't losing at beer pong"
heeseung wasn't paying attention to a single thing soobin was saying, he didn't even know who he was playing against. heeseung was only focused on trying to see where sunoo could've gone, if he was back in the living room or if he was still in the kitchen.
"your turn"
soobin handed heeseung a small white pingpong ball and patted him on the back for good luck.
heeseung gave a tight smile to soobin and was ready to throw the ball into the other team's cup when sunoo passed by the table holding a red cup in one hand and a beer in the other.
heeseung's grip on the ball loosened and the ball slipped from his fingers, bounced off the edge of the table, and disappeared beneath someone's shoe.
his eyes never left sunoo's retreating figure.
"shit..sorry" heeseung blinked, glancing between the floor and soobin. "I, uh..I gotta go"
before soobin could ask what was wrong, heeseung had already disappeared into the crowd.
heeseung could see sunoo just ahead of him, he knew it was now or never so he pushed past the people blocking him and with all the courage he had built over the past two hours, he called for him.
"uhm..sunoo!"
sunoo paused, and turned around, a small smile appearing on his lips at the familiar face.
"hi, heeseung right? I don't think we've met yet"
"...yeah, yeah that's me" heeseung stammered out.
"I uhm..I saw you dancing earlier, it was nice"
heeseung immediately regretted his choice of words. "I mean—not nice, wait no, that sounds mean—I just..I liked it?"
sunoo let out a small laugh. "you saw that? jungwon said I looked like a fish out of water.."
heeseung frowned. "no you didn't, you looked.." heeseung paused as he searched for the right word. "..you looked so happy"
sunoo's smile softened as he took in heeseung's words and for a moment he didn't know what to say.
"thank you heeseung..that's really sweet" sunoo paused like he was contemplating something before continuing. "you looked really happy too, on stage I mean."
heeseung rubbed the back of his neck. "I was." a small laugh escaped him "..I enjoy performing"
sunoo smiled. "it shows"
"you know.." sunoo tilted his head. "you seemed a lot more confident on stage."
heeseung blinked in surprise. "really..?"
sunoo nodded, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "yeah" he laughed softly. "you're a lot more....shy in person."
"I don't usually get this nervous around people" he laughed awkwardly as his gaze dropped to the floor.
"you're nervous around me?" sunoo's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"..why?"
heeseung swallowed nervously, fiddling with his fingers. "I just don't want to leave a bad impression on you"
sunoo nodded with understanding. "if it makes you feel better.." sunoo started. "I don't think you being shy is a bad thing"
heeseung looked up and sheepishly smiled at sunoo.
"that's..good"
the conversations around them faded into the background until neither of them seemed to notice the crowded living room anymore.
"is there something you wanted to ask me heeseung?"
sunoo looked at heeseung with a shy glint in his eyes, and heeseung couldn't help but stare at the way the purple led lights shined down on sunoo's face.
"yes...actually" heeseung's heart was beating so loudly he was sure sunoo could hear it over the music.
he swallowed all his nerves as he took a couple steps forward.
"..can we dance?"
a soft blush spread across sunoo's cheeks.
"I'd love to"
he slipped his hand into heeseung's, leading them toward a quieter corner near the entrance to the kitchen.
it wasn't exactly private, but it gave them just enough space to dance without hitting someone.
out of the corner of his eye, heeseung spotted jay leaning against the kitchen counter, looking in between sunoo and him and giving him an exaggerated thumbs up.
heeseung rolled his eyes, unable to stop the smile creeping onto his face.
he glanced back at sunoo and hesitated for a just a second before carefully resting his hand just above sunoo's hip.
"I spent like two hours waiting for the right time to ask you" heeseung mumbled under his breath as they began swaying to the beat of the song.
they moved carefully, like they were still learning the patterns of each other's dance. heeseung's hand was practically hovering over sunoo's skin, too focused on not messing up, but in the end he still ended up stepping on sunoo's foot.
"I'm so sorry..." heeseung looked away. "I don't know what I'm doing."
sunoo laughed so suddenly that heeseung couldn't help laughing too.
"it's okay, I'm no better"
sunoo looked up at heeseung with a soft smile.
"besides.."
he stepped just a little closer, resting his arms loosely around heeseung's neck.
"in my eyes, you're a great dancer."
by the time they finally pulled apart, the house was half empty. someone was passed out on the couch, others were waiting for their ubers, and heeseung and sunoo? they didn't want this night to end.
heeseung reached over, pulled a water bottle out of the cooler and handed it to sunoo.
"I'm glad you came tonight"
sunoo took the water bottle from heeseung's hand, their fingers brushing for a second too long.
sunoo looked at the shy smile on heeseung's face and nodded.
"yeah, I am too.."
they stood next to each other in silence, the comfortable kind where just feeling each other's presence was more meaningful than any words could ever be.
but then jungwon peeked into the kitchen.
"sorry to interrupt but.." he swung his car keys. "we're leaving already sunoo"
sunoo turned to face jungwon. "give me five minutes, i'll meet you in the car"
jungwon nodded before disappearing toward the back door.
"guess tonight's over already, huh?" heeseung spoke, a sad smile on his face.
"unfortunately.." sunoo replied, looking up at heeseung.
"will I ever see you again?"
heeseung stayed quiet for a moment, before pushing himself off the counter and standing right in front of sunoo.
"..I hope so"
sunoo took in the man before him, messy maroon hair, black leather jacket that didn't quite match the shy smile on his face, and reached up to fix a strand that was stuck on his forehead.
"if you'd like..we could keep in contact?" heeseung's voice cracked nervously on the last word.
sunoo nodded. "I'd like that"
heeseung fumbled for his phone before holding it out in front of sunoo.
sunoo took it from his hands and entered in his number, saving his contact as, sunoo :) , and handing it back.
"I should get going..jungwon's not very patient.." sunoo chuckled as he began stepping toward the back door.
"oh yeah.." heeseung chuckled. "see you around?"
sunoo looked back one last time and nodded. "see you, heeseung." before turning to leave.
authors note: hi guys!! this is my tumblr debut #lwknervy!! im sorry if this sucks this is like my first time writing something like this but there's literally no heesun or like any mxm on here so yk what they say if u can't find u gotta write it, anyway enough from me I hope u liked thisss <3