(for no particular reason)
Taeyong fluff // 2.7k words
arden's note: long story short, we all wanna dance with Taeyong. And yes, this is about make a wish. it is extremely outdated, but I think it turned out cute so here you go! hope you enjoy it!
You held the final pose as the music came to an end, heavy breaths filling the practice room.
“Ok, ladies, that’s a wrap for today.” the choreographer announced, satisfied with the progress you had made for the day. “Thank you for your work!” Sighs followed, the girls around you catching their breaths, thankful that practice was finally over. “Make sure to get a good night of sleep and I’ll see you tomorrow!”
Soon after, your group’s leader grabbed the few dramatic members who exaggeratedly laid down on the ground and leaded all of you to bow to the choreographer to thank her for her work.
As usual, the members then scattered across the studio, some rushing to gather their stuff and leave as quickly as they could, others deciding to practice a little more by the mirror and other opting to chat on the sofa near the door. You, however, grabbed your water bottle and walked towards the choreographer.
“You’re staying today?” Eunseo’s voice stopped you on your tracks. Looking at your same age member and closest friend, you noticed she already had her puff jacket and beanie on, bag slung on her shoulder. Yeah, she was definitely on the ‘get off of work asap’ category.
“Yeah, I need to get this down…” you explained, hesitating as her disappointed pout intensified, upset that you wouldn’t share the car ride home. But there still were a few minutes left until the next group’s practice session, and with your debut right around the corner, you figured you could use any second to better your performance, whether it be dance or vocals.
“Ok, but don’t push yourself too far.” she warned, aware of how hard you had been working the last month. “I’ll see you at the dorm!” She waved, leaving the studio.
Now standing in the centre of the room, the choreographer showed you the move for the billionth time, trying to explain it the best she could in a way that would finally click in your head. You were beginning to think you were either really stupid or the choreographers who had come up with this specific move had conspired against you and manifested the downfall of your yet non-existent idol career.
After a while of practicing, the clock on the wall read 6 PM.
You smooth your shirt down and made your hair look a bit more presentable since the other group would be arriving anytime from now. Nonetheless, you kept on repeating the same section of the choreography over and over again as the choreographer gave you some directions.
It wasn’t easy being a trainee, everyday was repetitive and exhausting, but now, with your debut date finally nearing, you could finally see the end of the tunnel. You just had to work a little bit-
A loud group of people was suddenly heard approaching the studio. You hoped that they were just passing by, to give you a bit more time, but soon, much to your dismay, the door opened.
“Oh, the rookies are here!” a male voice exclaimed softly. It wasn’t necessarily one you knew by heart, but not entirely strange either, its vague familiarity catching you off guard and distracting you from the detailed explanation the choreographer was so kindly giving you. Bless her heart for being so patient with you.
Scanning the practice room through the mirror in front of you, you watched as the group of men that entered the room quickly turned on their professional personas upon realizing there were other people in the studio, greeting the girls who were still excitedly chatting on the sofa.
This was your cue to leave. The next group had arrived, and you didn’t mean to bother their practice. Maybe if it were Aespa you'd stay in your little corner and train the choreo for a little longer, as you were great friends with the girls. But that certainly wasn’t the case.
You had obviously been in the presence of NCT before, you’d been a trainee at the company for 2 years after all. You’d seen a few of their live performances, passed by them on the hallways and even greeted a couple of members on the elevator when you were going to the recording studio.
Except, this time was different. This time there were many of them, up close, and it wasn’t a 1-minute interaction you could swiftly breeze through. Plus, you were pretty sure the voice you had heard belonged to Lee Taeyong, THE Lee Taeyong, and right now you didn’t have Eunseo by your side to hold your hand as you freaked out.
Needless to say, sweating on the same floor as NCT was a terrifying thought and you needed to get out of there fast.
"Do you get it now, Y/N?" the choreographer’s voice snapped you out of your thoughts. "The trick is all on the shoulders. Use your shoulders, not your arms." She looked at you expectantly.
"Oh- that actually makes a lot more sense..." your voice trailed as you nodded frantically, hoping she would catch on to your sudden rush to go home.
"Ok. Then let's try it one last time from the top." she ordered.
"What-" A mix of confusion and embarrassment was written all over your face as she quickly walked towards the computer to play the same song for the nth time this afternoon.
Oh, you swear to God you're fine hahaha- you're just about to practice your debut stage in front of your seniors, everything is super chill.
Not only that but in front of NCT, the group that made you want to be an idol.
Nervously looking around the room, you realised all members of your group were now gone, the only people left being the group of men standing by the door, chatting with each other. You silently prayed that they were way too distracted in their conversations to pay you any mind.
But as the music starts every inhibition seemed to vanish, both your mind and body locking into the rhythm. The choreography flowed through you like it was second nature, limbs moving without you even having to spare a thought about it. Suddenly there was no one else in the studio, no eyes looking at you. Just you and your reflection. And, well… your choreographer, who had luckily spared you the shame of dancing all by yourself.
As the choreo came to an end, you honestly felt like it went pretty well. You hit every move cleanly and were able to do the damned step at the right timing, although you felt like it still needed a little bit of work.
Claps immediately erupted from behind you, some of the men even shouting encouraging praises. This made your confident demeanour do a whole 180, tensing up and shyly bowing to them as deeply as you could to express your gratitude. They found endearing how the fierce look in your eyes was quickly replaced by a flustered state, red spreading across your face and ears. They could definitely relate to the way you felt in that moment, having gone through the same emotions when they were trainees and performed for their seniors for the first time.
"Damn, you got even better, Y/N!" Shotaro approached to give you a side hug, making you smile. It meant a lot coming from him. Not only had you two grown close while training together, but you were both also debuting at the same time. You couldn’t help but think how much more pressure he must have felt, debuting in an already established and successful group. Proud was an understatement when you saw the light in his eyes.
As NCT waited for the final member to arrive, Shotaro was kind enough to make small talk with you, catching up on everything you hadn’t had the opportunity to chat about in the last few weeks, due to mismatched schedules.
After the last member entered the studio, and after a lot of teasing over his lateness, they started warming up, joking around occasionally.
For such a successful group they sure joked around a lot during practice. As you made your way to the corner of the studio towards your bag, you analysed the group of men through the mirror. Maybe they weren’t that intimidating after all. They’d already seen you dance, what was there to be afraid of? It couldn't be that different from being in the studio with Aespa. Plus, having been in the industry for so long, they’d probably not even care that much about your presence.
And so, you decided to stay for a little while longer.
You walked to the corner where your bag was to drink some water.
Grabbing your water bottle and crouching down to relax for a bit, you finally came to your senses, daze from the fever dream you swore you were living calming down. Only then you noticed that it wasn’t a fixed unit, but a completely random combination of members. I guess NCT U is having a comeback soon…
You found yourself curiously checking out the choreography, admiring their work. You’d deny it was just a rehearsal if you didn’t know any better. And the damn song was really catchy, bound to top the charts.
An hour had flown by. The dance move was now coming naturally to you and the whistle of the song that had been playing in loop in the background was now stuck in your head.
“Ok, boys, 15-minute break!” the choreographer announced, followed by sighs and groans of relieve.
Much like your group would during intervals, the members dispersed through the practice room, some staying to chat or just sit in silence and others leaving to go to the bathroom or get something to eat.
You saw the reflection of a body in the distance trying to mimic yours and as it became clearer-
It was Taeyong, THE Lee Taeyong.
When your eyes locked through the mirror, you freezed in place, quickly turning around towards his direction with an embarrassed smile on your face, bowing awkwardly as he approached you.
"Damn… I thought you were just overthinking but turns out that move is actually hard.” He scratched his head, ever so humble, something you wouldn’t expect from one of the biggest idols of the company, and maybe of the whole industry.
And that’s how you found yourself next to THE Lee Taeyong trying to teach him your own debut coreo without panicking or at least trying not to. It was rather astonishing, but not at all surprising, how quick he caught up with the moves. It was also embarassing how, with only 5 minutes of practice, he was already doing a better job than you.
"How do you even get it to move like that?" he asked genuinely, eyebrows furrowed, as if he wasn’t already nailing the move. Damn perfectionist.
"Well- it's all in the shoulders..." you tried to explain, not really all that convinced with your own statement.
"She told you that didn't she?" He pointed to the choreographer, already well acquainted with her, to which you nodded shyly, earning a laugh from him.
Now that you had finished teaching him the section of your choreo, an awkward tension filled the air. However, Taeyong was set on avoiding the silence between the both of you, not wanting to make you uncomfortable. "Well, thanks for giving me another headache, now I have 2 different moves to practice."
"Wha- Which move are you stuck on?" your voice raised a bit in disbelief, truly confused as to what he could possibly be struggling with. You had been eyeing him specifically (for no particular reason) andhe was near perfect.
Your sudden change in tone and shock on your face served as a compliment to him, as if you truly thought that he could do no wrong. It was his turn to shy away.
"The main one...” he muttered. “I just think I could do it better..." He showed you the move as he eyed himself in the mirror, monitoring every curve and angle of his body. He quickly confirmed your suspicions; he was already doing it perfectly indeed.
As if on instinct, you tried it out yourself. The choreography was really cool and you already knew that sooner or later you'd learn it from beginning to end. But, as usual, you had, unfortunately, underestimated the difficulty of the move.
Damn… head isolations were definitely not your strongest suit...
"Yup. It’s harder than it looks but once you get the hang of it, it gets easier." he encouraged, chuckling softly at your attempt, as he could relate to the struggle.
"Well, now we both have 2 headaches." your voice trailing as it got awkward once again.
And great... now Taeyong can’t possibly find anything else to say. Damn him for being awkward. All he wanted was to support rookies and fellow colleagues.
And damn you for being so starstruck that you couldn’t even look him properly in the eyes. You never expected Taeyong to approach you and much less hold a full-on conversation.
Damn both of you for being two introverts who are desperately making an effort to get to know each other but get overly timid to even try to make small talk.
"Break’s over, gotta steal Taeyong from you." Jaemin suddenly appeared out of nowhere, like a knight in shining armour, here to save both of you for embarrassing yourselves even further. Throwing his arm over Taeyong’s shoulders, Jaemin munched on the cookies he had just bought on the hall's vending machine.
His casual tone took you aback, you two had never talked before, in fact, you didn’t even recall ever crossing him before. But there was no point questioning it. Probably something between both of you being around the same age and him trying to make you more comfortable.
Upon your stunned silence he just smiled. "You want one?" He extended the arm that held the snack’s bag in your direction, offering you a cookie.
"Ahmn- yeah, sure." You gladly took it. You were slowly getting hungry, close to 5 hours on the studio. “Thank you.” You bowed politely, not wanting to be overly casual to the point of coming off disrespectful.
"You should really go home and get some rest. You've already got that move down perfectly, to be honest." Taeyong advised earnestly while taking one cookie for himself. He had been in your position, and quite frankly, still also found himself doing it years into his career. He knew that perfectionism was an addiction and that one of the greatest things one could learn was knowing when to stop and be satisfied with what they had achieved.
Jaemin laughed at his words. "You already had it an hour ago! I'm convinced you just wanted to stay here to watch us!”
"I wasn’t-" you hesitated, his teasing making you blush.
"Of course you weren’t…” He winked, a damned smile spreading across his face as he saw your face turn red. “Now let's go, hyung." He grabbed the oldest by the shoulder and guided him back to the group.
“See you around, Y/N!” Taeyong said as he was dragged by Jaemin to resume their practice.
For a minute you could feel all the tension in your body drop, finally feeling like you could breathe. Was this even real? Had you really just danced with your favourite idol of all time? The one that had inspired you to take your love for dancing more seriously? To audition and follow your dream of being in a group? It had been nothing less than a privilege. And not only that but he had been so nice. And… wait-
How did he even know your name?
But dear Y/N, the real question was… how could he not?
As with any other rookies, Taeyong had had his eyes set on your group for a while. It was like him to always pay attention to the new talents and future company colleagues, so, he couldn’t deny that he had peaked once or twice into the practice room, curious about what your debut song and choreography would be like. And he would be a fool not to notice you. You, who stood out between the members by miles, with sharp dance skills and mesmerizing charisma. If he didn't know better, he wouldn't have believed you were a rookie, your 2 years of hard work definitely showing. Once he caught your name, in a random conversation he overheard between managers on the hall, he made sure to remember it, as he was certain you would be one of the aces of the next kpop generation. Solely because of that (and for no other particular reason).