Fire (4)

If Mi Yong was to be honest, Park Joon-woo disappointed him.

The expectations he had of this team were shattered the moment their average rank was revealed, '34'... The number still haunted Mi Yong's dreams. And when the 2nd highest rank member admitted to struggling with dance, his shatter world was somehow crushed into smaller and smaller pieces. 

But when they began to learn the 'Fire' choreography, Park Joon-woo's case wasn't as bad as it had been discussed. In fact, as Mi Yong watched him go over the moves with expectations set to the basement floor, he realized Park Joon-woo had memorized the movements after just two demonstrations. 

This surprised Mi Yong and he too, fumbled at the realization. But he had been thrown right back into reality when Joon-woo's body seemed to move stiffly along. It was as if the kid had a brain too skilled for his body. 

Still, despite Joon-woo being one of the younger contestants on the show, the instructor seemed to show no mercy, constantly pointing out flaws that were sure, obvious, but they were obvious in the eyes of Joon-woo too. And the thought couldn't help but cross his mind, how could someone who couldn't dance well be ranked 13th? As even the 27th place nagging at his side was better. 

Mi Yong shrugged, walking into the practice room for the second day of preparation for their demonstration of 'Fire'. He expected to be first, he always was first in the practice room while in Winner. He was the first to wake, the last to leave, and the one who always walked into a night-set dorm, quietly shutting doors to avoid waking his sleeping bandmates.

But when he walked into the practice room his team had been designated, Park Joon-woo was there. Park Joon-woo stood, 'Fire' playing from his phone, face already wet with sweat and his hair tied back into a short ponytail. Besides Joon-woo was Contestant Reggie Lee, who Mi Yong only vaguely remembered. 

As Joon-woo did what he knew, Reggie was correcting him in areas, giving him pointers and even doing a demonstration in the short time Mi Yong had watched them. 

But what was most surprising, was the improvement in Joon-woo's motions. His movement seemed cleaner, as if rigorously swept over and brushed off in shine. He seemed to be a bit faster too, now keeping up with the fast-beat chorus. 

Of course, he still faltered. Mi Yong caught a few mistakes in Joon-woo's movement as he watched. And he continued to, until Reggie spotted Mi Yong's figure from the mirror. Quickly he turned, getting Joon-woo's attention.

Joon-woo's short figure, looked up at Reggie, and quickly shooed him away. With a slightly red face he looked at Mi Yong, "Good afternoon, Hyung…" He greeted with a small bow. 

Reggie sent Joon-woo a small wave as he exited their practice room, but Joon-woo didn't reply. Instead he was too busy chanting apologies about Reggie's appearance to Mi Yong. 

"I'm very sorry that he was in here… He was just–" Joon-woo went to explain in a short bow, but Mi Yong raised his hand as if to silence Joon-woo.

"It's fine. He was helping you, right?" Mi Yong asked, waving the younger off. 

Joon-woo's mouth went agape, "Yes. He was helping me…"

Mi Yong smiled, "That's nice of him."

Joon-woo quickly nodded, "Y-yes! Reggie-Hyung is very nice."

Mi Yong smiled at that, as Reggie was ranked 39th, making it so Mi Yong paid no mind to him. But after seeing his almost spot on demonstration for Joon-woo, he looked at the practice room door Reggie had just left through with a raised eyebrow. 

"Hmm. Is he a good dancer?" Mi Yong asked, a bit curious as both he and Joon-woo had seemed to be close. 

Joon-woo nodded, avoiding eye contact, "Yes. He dances very well."

"But he's ranked 39th?" Mi Yong curiously brought up, Joon-woo's face darkening a bit. 

He nodded, "Reggie Hyung has a hard time with his voice…" Joon-woo explained. 

Mi Yong nodded, still unsure about Joon-woo's and Reggie's rank gap. He looked Joon-woo over. 

Joon-woo was young and had looks to prove it. In fact, when Mi Yong first saw him he thought a student had broken in. But despite his youth, Joon-woo had a face that would be swooned over in every which way. Maybe that got him a bit of a rank advantage? 

"Joon-woo." Mi Yong called, watching Joon-woo set up to practice the dance again. Joon-woo turned back to Mi Yong, face sparkling as if an angel. "Jesus…" Mi Yong muttered, a bit flustered.

Joon-woo stood, the beginning of 'Fire' playing from his phone, which Mi Yong judged as quite old. He looked at Mi Yong confused, almost frightened. 

"Can you sing well?" Mi Yong asked, thoughts crossing his mind. 

Joon-woo tilted his head, a bit surprised by the question, "Uhh… I think I sing well." He replied, as if a bit unsure.

Mi Yong pursed and licked his lips. Maybe Park Joon-woo was someone to keep around.

–+–

Joon-woo sighed and collapsed onto the practice room floor. They group had just gone over their 90 seconds of 'Fire' to perform and they had done it… Well. In fact the amount of times Joon-woo was yelled at was halved compared to yesterday. 

'Progress.' Joon-woo thought.

But still his movements weren't perfect. He was still stiff and a bit robotic. He still froze between movement transitions. And most importantly, the instructor still wasn't happy with his performance. He planned to stay late again, as he wanted to be at least half decent for when they went up on stage and performed for all contestants and trainers to see. 

Mi Yong had become odd, though. He had sent blank glances at Joon-woo's ways ever since their conversation just a few hours before. If you could even call that a conversation. All Joon-woo did was reply to Mi Yong's questions with four-word answers, awkwardly too. He still cursed himself for being so shy in front of Mi Yong. 

But could he help it? Mi Yong was what every contestant wanted to be. A height not too tall or too short, a face that caught glances in the street even with a mask, and skills to back it up. Mi Yong was what Ha-rin would probably want in a man. 

He shrugged, chugging a water bottle of its contents. He frowned when he realized that he had finished it all, and as he went to place it down, a body was suddenly in his way.

Joon-woo looked to his right, back against the mirror, to find Mi Yong. Ranked first contestant, Mi Yong, next to him as if they were buddies. Joon-woo's eyes widened. 

"Are you doing anything after practice?" Mi Yong asked, a causal tone laced over his voice. 

Joon-woo's head faced the other way, but his eyes looked at Mi Yong. "Ah– I plan to stay late and practice." He explained, scratching his cheek.

Mi Yong tilted his head, "You're gonna stay and practice here? What about your company?" He asked, genuinely curious, as these practice rooms were ratty and small. Perhaps Joon-woo was from a smaller, poorer company compared to Mi Yong's?

Joon-woo looked away with a frown, "My company, Hyung… They recently went bankrupt." He carefully chose his words, trying to avoid any eye contact that came his way at the reply. 

Suddenly, the other contestants of Team One looked his way, a bit surprised at his answer. Mi Yong looked at him with pity, realizing that the whole practice room had overheard Joon-woo's answer.

"Ahh, Sunrise Entertainment?" Mi Yong asked. He saw something about the small company, but he hadn't realized that they had any remaining trainees. 

Joon-woo smiled sadly, "Yeah." 

"I'm sorry about that…" Mi Yong said with a frown.

Joon-woo noticing the now darker atmosphere in the room, panicked, "No it's okay! They were struggling for a bit anyway, it was for the better." He lied, as he didn't have a single memory about that place. Where it was, who worked there, any plans or staff or other trainees. It was all foreign to him. 

Mi Yong suddenly thought, "Wait, so you are currently getting paid by any company?" He whispered the question, now concerned, as Joon-woo was old enough to still be a student. 

Joon-woo stopped breathing for a moment. The cameras were rolling, so he had to choose his words carefully. He didn't want to play the pity card, as it had already been set to play. He hated pity and hated how both Ha-rin and Joon-woo were made of it. 

Joon-woo faked a small smile, "Don't worry Hyung, I can sustain myself." He said, begging the pity to leave Mi Yong's eyes. He looked around, to see his words had driven away the curiosity of the other contestants of Team One. He sighed in relief. 

Mi Yong still looked at him though, as if more interested than he already was. Joon-woo wanted to shift away, he wanted to avoid Mi Yong and his stupid pretty idol eyes. He wanted to, but the camera blinked red behind him. 

But luckily, just as Mi Yong went to reply, the Instructor called from his seat. "Let's go again!" 

Joon-woo was grateful, watching as Mi Yong got set up in the front of their formation and Joon-woo, the back.