KOOK POV:

I glower at the screen, watching as the points steadily and constantly wrack up, bonuses, perfects, combos, points after points adding to her already high score, adding that much more distance between what I knew for certain was a very painful gap and reach to her first-place position from my second...maybe even third now.

The upbeat, pop tune of the song that she so effortlessly moves her feet to, even spinning and adding elaborate moves for has me temporarily distracted from my defeat. Taken by the way her face is radiant with joy, with such satisfaction and giddiness that my scowl slips off my face, taken in by her infectious enthusiasm and joy. Unable to stay frustrated for long.

I'd take her smiles and laughter, I'd take in the way her face glowing with radiance and the way her eyes slid from the screen to meet me, sight focused on her and solely her, the arcade's noise and low bustle melting away to where our eyes meet, to where her lips curve up in a smile.

Sweet satisfaction and smugness.

I start, head snapping back to the screen but it's too late. The music of the song stops playing and she stops moving, turning to face me as I face the screen and the high score comes to illuminate the screen, bright and triumphant

That damned letter. One single letter that determines her victory and my loss.

S.

"How's that Jungkookie?" she asks, the nickname slipping past her tongue, smile growing wider at the way my lips twitch and smile threatens to appear despite myself, stepping off the game machine to move towards me.

My hands move to slide along her waist, brushing across loose billowy fabric before I'm tugging her close, sighing loudly even as the grin stretches across my face.

"I suppose it was a very well played performance. You get ten points for enthusiasm." I say, resignedly admitting it, as if it was tugged out of my mouth to say those words.

Her eyes shine with amusement, soft deep pools of warmth, coaxing and inviting.

"And what about performance?" she asks, fingers trailing distractingly over my shoulders down my chest, head cocked as she looks at me.

"Performance...performance I'll have to see." I manage to get out, so distracted by the way she's looking at me.

And now she sighs.

A long, drawn out sound that has her lips parting slightly, echoing my own.

"Ahh such a shame. I'll have to put on a better show then. To get those ten points." She says simply, leaning away but her lips curve with mischief, her eyes flicker with something silent and promising, something so entirely different to the conversation we're having.

Something that makes my eyes trail over her and my hands tighten on her waist.

"Now come on Jungkookie! I thought someone promised a trip to the diner if they lost?" she asks.

I smile, leaning in to peck her lips. Wanting to leave my lips to linger on them, to leave the print of them onto hers but slowly move away, move away before the taste of them become addicting, become so enticing that I can't let go.

A kiss because she's won.

A kiss because I can't get enough of her, of her heady presence with her giddy, infectious laughter and shining expressive eyes.

A kiss because it was those same lips that had remained firmly shut, had been unable to speak and then those same lips that had spoken so softly, so sweetly and enticingly- words winding around my heart and tugging me close. And those same lips that were now just as expressive as her eyes, curved up with laughter, stretched wide with elation and right now parted in a sigh. Her lips were one of the things that gave her away.

And right now her lips were curved as she smiled as she leans back to press a kiss onto my lips, hand sliding down to meet my hand.

"Diner?" she asks.

I smile, heart fit to burst.

"Diner." I echo.

-----

"I can't wait to see what you and Jiminie hyung decide to do for your duet!" I say excitedly, stirring my straw through the thick milkshake, watching as (Y/N)'s lips close around hers, leaning forward towards the large glass she'd wanted to share.

She'd shyly confessed it had been a wish of hers, eyes unable to focus on mine but her small yet such endearing request couldn't be denied and the way her shyness had melted away to happiness, had made her quickly lean in to peck my cheek, eyes soft and yet alight with giddiness.

But it felt like I'd signed up for my downfall, signed up for a heady distraction with the way her lips closed around the straw, eyes on me even as her face was crinkled with satisfaction, a happy hum at the taste. And yet when I lean in to close my lips around my straw, I see her eyes minutely widen, see them flicker to look at me, noses brushing, both our heads bent towards the same shared glass. I feel the tug between us become stronger, feel that closeness when our eyes meet and I find something flash across her eyes, see her lips part in surprise at the closeness as she moves back, watches me instead.

"I can't wait either. Considering that it's such an old song, has such history to it, it'll be interesting to put a modern touch to it." She says, a fire burning in her eyes, passion and emotion as she speaks.

It's alluring to see her eyes be consumed with that passion, those same eyes that lost themselves to the passion and emotion when she danced.

It was what made her such a phenomenal dancer.

"You've chosen one of the most sensational pieces in music and dance history to bring back to life." I say, curious and both intrigued by her choice.

Her head ducks down, hands fidgeting with the plate that she pushes towards me, gesturing for me to eat.

"Are you trying to add pressure Jungkookie? Why are you putting such a massive label over it?" she asks, brows raised slightly.

I chew the fries, contemplating whether to swipe the shake to dip it into.

Hmmm...better not.

"What do you mean? The song is one of the most stunning pieces to survive history. It survived because it's such a beautiful song." I clarify, lips quirking.

Because how else would she know the song? Why else would she be burdened if it wasn't for the great legacy that the song and it's first performance was associated with.

They were after all choosing a song, a performance piece that was inscribed into history as hauntingly beautiful, originally performed by such a dancer that any others that followed hadn't ever been able to match the standard, hadn't ever been able to perform to that level.

They weren't just challenging and pushing themselves as dancers, which was why we competed, but also they were setting the bar high to the rest of the competition, they were marking themselves out as strong fierce contenders by taking on such a song.

It made me feel such strong pride for them, heart soaring with the thought already put into the performance and I knew with certainty that the performance Jimin hyung and (Y/N) created would be sensational.

And to be there for their practice, to see the duet slowly form and begin to take place was to be part of the magic, part of the whole performance coming together bit by bit.

And besides, I was dying to see what (Y/N)'s contemporary style was like, wanted to see the chemistry form and sizzle between the two of them.

I wanted a glimpse into the trust and strength the two of them needed to put into each other as dancers and I wanted to see where they began the dance from to what it would end up as on that competitor's stage.

"Do you have to put it like that? If there's no recordings of the first performance, given how long ago it was, how can you say it's a legacy?" she says, eyes inquisitive but shoulders drooped, as if caving and slumping under the burden.

I couldn't have that. My hands reach over the small distance to grip her shoulders, squeezing and massaging.

"You've got this (Y/N). Ignore the legacy. Ignore the past. Blow them away with just you." I say firmly.

She gives a small laugh.

"Okay!" she nods with a smile, even if her eyes show she's still deep in thought. Still turning things over in her head.

"So (Y/N)...ready to blow me away?" I ask with a smile.

Met with a bright firm nod, with a posture that straightens up.

"Ready!"

(Y/N) POV:

I don't mean to do anything by halves. Living for so long has taught me to treat each moment as precious and each moment as fleeting and just as easily lost as it could be gained.

So I have no intention to even practice by halves. Even with Jungkookie's comforting weight pressed against my side, arm draped over my shoulders and his voice excited as it reaches my ear, doesn't stop the nervous thrum of my heart as we step into the practice room, Jimin standing inside already with Tae beside him, the two of them bent towards the speakers in the corner.

They turn as we enter, faces splitting into smiles, conversation cutting off.

"You're early." Jimin remarks lightly, strands of hair falling around his face, peering at me through them, lips parting as he takes in the two of us.

"You're earlier. Did you drag Tae out?" I ask, watching Tae's face turn radiant as he beams at me, watch him bound over and spin me away from Jungkookie as he scoops me into a hug, happily humming as he tucks his head over mine.

"Nope! I wanted to come see our girl. Both to see you dance and because I wanted to give you something." He says, voice low and his chest reverberating with his words, brushing against me with a deep timbre. I fight the urge to lean in and press myself close and lean back instead, yearning for his warmth against me, and look up, finding excitement pool in his eyes as he beams down at me.

"What is it?" I ask.

He smiles, leaning down, head tilted closely to mine, the tip of his nose brushing against my jaw as he moves to whisper into my ear.

"I'll give it to you after dance practice. I'm more excited to see you dance." He confesses, breath hot as it grazes my ear, his lips following, brushing across the curve of my ear, down towards my neck.

"Promise." he whispers before pressing his lips there.

My breath hitches when his lips linger, when his nose brushes across my jaw as he moves away.

Tease. First Jungkookie. Now Tae.

But before I can step away and out of his arms, they tighten to draw me back close.

And the grin he gives is sweet and joyous, so different to the way he'd been affecting me mere moments ago, heart thudding loudly at the elation in it.

"I like hearing you call me Tae." He confides softly, demeanour changing suddenly as if a switch has been flicked, pecking the tip of my nose before spinning me back around so I can see the other two.

See Jimin approach me with a smile on his face and eyes hard and steely.

In the mindset of a dancer, of a performer, of my duet partner.

"Ready to start angel?" he asks softly, words only heard by me as we move towards the centre of the studio.

"Ready." I say, voice steady even if my body is alight with nerves, with jitters. A mixture of adrenaline and anxiousness to dance to this song again. To be the dancer for it again.

And as we begin to warm up there's only one thought in my mind.

Can I live up to the legacy I created?

Can I once again become the black swan?

-----

We pause, turning to face each other, my lips stretched wide as I see him, see the way his grin is equally radiant, equally as exhilarated. We don't need words to communicate. That yes. This is it. This is one of the moves we have to add in to the performance. I can see the same giddiness and readiness in his eyes too, can see it in the way that the first count of eight fits perfectly and now we know which move to use to create the transition, to keep it flowing.

"Angel how do you feel about incorporating elements of the original performance? About modernising it?" Jimin asks, skin glowing lightly with a sheen of sweat, hair hastily pushed away from his face as his plump lips part to take gulps of air. Eyes burning with intensity as they meet mine.

The original performance.

The one that hadn't originally been created as a duet. Had been a solo for the first season of performances, for the first solid chunk of years before a male dancer had been introduced into the narration. Had become an accurate way to express that longing and need between the two figures of the story.

But back then I didn't have anyone like Jimin, hadn't had anyone I'd trusted to share that raw part of me with. And now. Now it works. Now I do.

Already by having him as my duet partner is the beginnings of reworking the performance, of giving the agonies, the pains and the beauties of the song lyrics a physical form. Crafting it into Jimin.

"I'd love to." I reply, voice slightly breathy and light, heart still racing with adrenaline, with the rush of dopamine as I find my body responding to the music, find it trying to operate on muscle memory once more. Find myself having to hold back from giving it my all, from performing it exactly I remembered, exactly as I had created.

Slow steps. Baby steps.

He pauses the music and turns towards Tae and Jungkookie who are sitting on one end of the studio with their backs to the wall, eyes raptly watching us and it's like the moment the music is cut, the trance-like state is snapped and the two of them are leaning forward, eyes bright and faces shifting out of the blankness.

"Go Jiminie! Go (Y/N)!" Tae cheers, fists pumping in the air, smile boxy and bright as he supports us from the side-lines. Moving energetically from beside Jungkookie who cheers us on but there's an assessing look in his eyes. He's watching contemplatively, observationally- head cocked as if he's thinking about something.

"Something wrong Jungkookie?" I ask, hand darting out to grab the bottles Tae throws and passing one to Jimin.

He doesn't answer as I drink, taking long deep draws of water, startled when the feeling of a towel against my neck has me turning to see Jimin dabbing at my skin, eyes crinkling when he feels my gaze on his. My hand moves to the towel, an attempt to take it from him but he just passes me his bottle, using his now vacant hand to turn me towards him, hand still gently towelling my neck, along my jaw and down to my collarbones, fingers lightly skimming across skin.

"No nothing wrong...it's just. I can't quite place something." He murmurs.

And then steps forward, moving closer and closer until he's standing beside us.

"There's something about your form." He muses.

I tilt my head.

"Is there something bad about it?" I ask, concerned if it's not coming across strong and controlled from the early process of it. It couldn't be weak and sloppy.

I owed more than sloppiness to the dance, to this legacy that I'd created.

"No no! Nothing wrong with it, both your forms are perfect. There's just something I can't quite place my finger on it." He murmurs.

And then he's tilting his head, eyes still slightly confused and intense.

"It looks good to me! Keep going darling!" Tae cheers, looking perfectly content from where he's leaning against the wall, happy and excited.

I laugh at the encouraging fist he makes towards the two of us.

"Hmm...well never mind. I'm sure it's nothing anyways, what are you thinking for one of the next transitions?" Jungkook asks, brows scrunched in thought.

But it's Jimin who beats me to it. Jimin who speaks next.

"Well I was hoping we could use influence from one of the earliest performances recorded. I looked at the old document records for the very first performance of Black Swan and I think it would be amazing if we added those elements in. If we try to recreate the very first performance, it'll give us that edge, it'll be perfect." He says passionately, eyes flaring up with that burning, consuming passion. For dance, for the art of performing.

It's inspiring and moving to see that familiar gaze in another pair of eyes, to see that passion reach out to draw me in, to coax my own to burn brighter and stronger.

"You want to include technical ballet too?" I add with surprise.

Met with surprise in return. From him. From Jungkookie.

I blink. Surprised quickly fading away to alarm and hesitance. Was I not meant to know? Was I meant to feign ignorance?

But I'd been the one to suggest the song...so was I meant to be unaware of its origin?

And then.

Silence. For a few long moments that stretch out like eons.

"How did you know that? Are you a fan too?" Jimin asks.

I slowly nod. Feeling hesitant for some reason, skin prickling with anxiousness, with a sudden tightness that makes my body feel tight and constrained, too hot all of a sudden.

And then "Why didn't you say? I love the old ballets! I even studied them for a course and wrote pieces on them." Jimin says, enthusiasm in his voice and infectious exuberance.

His words sink in.

I hadn't realised Jimin had studied professional dance.

Had danced not only for passion but had pursued it too as a profession.

"You're a professional dancer? You've studied it too?" I ask with awe and amazement colouring my voice, making it louder.

He nods. A quick energetic movement that has the strands of hair bouncing around his face, has them falling forward. My hand goes out to push the strands away, moving to skim across the heated skin of the side of his cheeks to sift through his hair.

"You're full of surprises." I say softly.

He smiles, tilting his head into my touch as well as pressing heated, plump slightly wet lips to the side of my wrist.

Heated soft plushness that lingers there even as his hand comes to grip at it, eyes trawling over me.

"You're the one full of surprises. You're the pro who'd been hiding in plain sight! Ahhhh...I'll thank Hobi hyung for years to come for discovering your talent when you tried to." He says, lips quirked with deeper meaning.

"Thank him?" I echo.

And it's as if the atmosphere becomes stifling. Thicker and headier as Jungkookie presses close and Jimin's lips brush upwards, still holding my wrist. Becomes dangerously electric when another figure joins the impromptu huddle, when a deep voice joins the small, amused puffs of breath.

"We have a certain way of thanking each other." is all Tae says, but the dark pools of brown his eyes become, that flicker enticingly and with silent unspoken meaning, depths dark and inviting.

And all of a sudden it becomes harder to draw in air, becomes a dizzying rush of heat that brushes across me as I'm caged in from all three ends.

And as I find myself pressed close to each of them, in a deliciously distracting way I can't even begin to wonder how on earth dance practice ended up like this.

And if this was to be the case for each dance practice, then it seemed impossible for me to remember the moves, to perform them.

Not when the very people I was dancing with, dancing to were the biggest distractions.

(THERE YOU GO! HOPEFULLY, A GOOD PROMISING END TO THIS CHAPTER WHICH GIVES HINTS OF WHAT'S TO COME! LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF IT, WHAT YOU'RE MAKING OF THEIR INTERACTIONS AND YES!! BLACK SWAN IS THE SONG THEY'LL BE PERFORMING A DUET OF SO I'M EXCITED!! FOR ALL THAT YOU GOT IT- YAY CONGRATS! FOR ALL THAT YOU DIDN'T NOT TO WORRY- WE STILL HAVE A DANCE GROUP SONG TO GUESS SO LET ME KNOW WHAT SORT OF SONG YOU THINK WOULD FIT THEM BEST! AHHHH! JUST SO SO EXCITED TO WRITE THESE UPCOMING CHAPTERS...REALLY REALLY HOPE I DO OUR CHATS JUSTICE MY LOVE Midiiplier ! KEEP SAFE AND TAKE CARE LOVES!)

QUESTION...SOMETHING SOMEONE HAS SAID THAT MADE YOU STOP AND THINK?

Mine is...my friend recently texted me saying she loved me, that life was too short and sudden to go without letting me know, without expressing those words. And that she wanted to be the cool aunt to my kids and me to hers- it made me wish and pray for that long future together with them. And she made me really think and realise life is too fleeting, too sudden where anything can happen to not live it fully and without telling the people in your life what they mean to you. So it made me emotional and now I'm dying to give her a big hug.

Borahae! 💜💜💜

PurpleQueenie <3