Chapter Text
The students had all piled up into the auditorium that morning following their teacher’s email the night prior. Fanning out around the room to sit on the various rows, they all chatted among themselves excitedly. This was their first class back from the summer vacation and they were all intrigued as to why they’ve been called here instead of their regular studio. Something was definitely different this semester.
There were about fifteen of them.
Fifteen of what their school had considered the best after a long process of auditions and examinations. They had demonstrated through hard work that all could sing, dance and perform at the high level the school required, and one day could potentially make a bright living out of it.
Among those fifteen however, three shone brighter than the rest.
The Golden Trio.
These three students had demonstrated a level of talent and dedication since their first year that made the others pale in comparison.
It put a target on their back, making them as hated as they were admired by the students. Everyone knew who they were, considered almost royalty and introduced as such to the fresh and naive first years.
With jealousy came loneliness, and the three had quickly stuck together when it became apparent that no one else would. They quickly became the best of friends, hanging out outside of school and studio hours.
There was no competition between them as others thought there would be. They all excelled in different areas and were extremely supportive of each other, offering help when one of them was struggling with a particular part. They had become close-knitted and decided to work together instead of against each other.
“ Maybe there was an issue with the main studio? Like last year when a pipe broke and flooded half the basement?”
The performing arts, although a tough program to get into and one of the best offered in the country, was not one recognized very much outside of the artistic community and would often get snubbed by the school for funds. Their building per say wasn’t bad, but definitely not new and was in need of some work in many areas.
“Please no, I don’t have time for that, I have two dance routines to work on for next week already! I need the studio! I’ll dance in a foot of water if I have to!”
“ Your head is barely gonna be above- ARK!”
Keonhee choked on his words while the petite blonde lunged forward over two seats, trying to choke the taller boy while the last member of their trio laughed and dodged the arms flailing around.
Hwanwoong was the dancer of the group.
The way his body moved and responded to the beats was praised by all teachers. He was made an example more often than not for his lines and how much emotion he put in every movement. His facial expressions when dancing were a pure joy to watch, and something he’d mastered and pride himself on. He could be found at the studio almost every night, working on new choreographies and ways to improve the ones he already knew. He was never truly satisfied with his performances, and that is what separated him from the lot. As many would be content with simply knowing the moves, Hwanwoong pushed himself further making sure every muscle and digit was exactly where he wanted it to be.
He may not be the tallest, short even by dancer’s standards, and that had been something he’d been mocked on in the first few classes. But the fire burning inside of him made up for those missing inches as he never felt a step behind.Instead, he pushed to become a front-runner in every dance class, leaving everyone who’d doubted and laughed at him struggling to catch up.
Keonhee was the performer.
He was charismatic. He could sing, he could dance and he could do anything you ask him to with a wink and a smile. But what he really excelled at was performing. The way he came alive once on stage and channelled this incomparable energy was admired by everyone. He was told he was born to be under the spotlight and no one could disagree with that. The way he recited lines and imbued each word with the right emotion had earned him many of the main roles in each production their program had put together. Words came easily to him and he rarely was ever made speechless.
On top of being talented, he was tall, handsome and incredibly kind. He could be considered overly dramatic, and his two friends wouldn’t hesitate to call him a crybaby daily, which had most people finding him too troublesome to be around. He was loud and whiny on good days, having other students roll their eyes at his attics.
What they failed to see was his golden heart. Keonhee, although complaining the whole time, never hesitated to buy drinks and food for his friends when they had been practicing for what felt like days. He never hesitated to reach out when one was feeling down and offer the comfort needed. He constantly nagged and worried when the two others pushed beyond their limits, being the voice of reason to tell them to take a breather.
Seoho was the last member of their little ragtag trio.
An oddball with the voice of an angel.
His journey hadn’t been as smooth as the other two. First applying as a dancer, He ended up nailing the singing audition and awe-ing every member of the committee present. The boy in simple terms, lacked the confidence his two friends had in their abilities even though he possibly had the most potential.
Introverted, but with an interesting and brilliant mind, his shyness was often misunderstood as an aloof attitude, leading the other students to stay clear of him. He stuttered constantly in normal circumstances, avoided eye contact at all cost, and had a tendency to laugh nervously when put as the unwanted centre of attention.
Everyone’s first thought when first meeting him was how could this man be one of the top students of the department? Someone so reserved couldn’t possibly be a star in the making.
On stage however, he transformed and became a completely different person.
The boy now oozed confidence and charisma, an alluring aura surrounding him. He nailed every single one of his notes and moved around fluidly, dazzling everyone and even making people who knew him forget how clumsy and nervous he actually was.
Eyes were glued to him like a moth to a flame, mesmerized by his being.
When he performed he was the sole center of attention.
“ Hello, Hello sorry for being late! Settle down please!”
They stopped their bickering when their teacher walked up on stage with a man they didn’t know, standing side by side as they waited for the students to stop talking and turned their attention their way.
She smiled as she glanced over the room, before turning to the man next to her.
“ First of all, I would like to introduce you to Mr. Kang who is the director for the performing arts program at our sister university. We have been in communication for the last week and we’ve come up with a wonderful project for our and their students.”
The trio looked between each other, unsure exactly where this was all going. Murmurs were heard around the room, expressing the same confusion.
They knew of their sister school program, some of them in this class having applied there and being refused. It was a university renowned for their art programs, especially theatre work, and many alumni had or were having wonderful careers after graduation.
“This year will be exciting and different! You will have only one project this term! You will all be putting together from start to finish a full performance of Romeo and Juliet, the musical”
The murmurs turned into gasps and shouts as everyone enthusiastically processed what their teacher had said.
“ Alright, Alright! I know you’re all excited, but please listen! This will be a big project! You will work in collaboration with Mr. Kang’s students to have everything up and running by the end of the term! We are giving you some bases, but you will write your own lyrics and dialogues, come up with your own choreographies and visuals.”
She lifted her hand to shush them before they could get excited again.
“ However. HOWEVER! The list of roles has been decided and there are obviously more of you than there are roles, so not everyone will be performing. Some of you will work on decors, on the dances, on the lyrics etcetera… This will be a team project! Mr. Kang and I will be judging your teamwork, so you will need to all work as a cohesive unit with the other students! Am I being clear?”
They all nodded, the excitement having died down a bit at the prospect of not performing and showing what they were capable of. It was something they were used to among themselves, but now having to share and be outshone by strangers seemed different somehow.
Who were these people coming over to steal their roles?
“ Good. I think you’re ready to meet your new friends then!”
At that, the doors to the auditorium opened and a small group trickled down the main alley until they were motioned to step onto the stage by their teacher.
There were twelve of them standing in line, looking over at the students sitting in the audience, their gaze mirroring what they could probably see with their own eyes.
They were all sizing each other up.
“For today, we will let you familiarize yourself with each other, you’ll need to become comfortable to work together! So consider today a team building exercise! The classes will alternate between here and their campus, we will send a full schedule later on today when Mr. Kang and I have all the details written down.”
She clapped her hands and gave them a big smile.
“Please be welcoming and we will see you next class!”
Her and Mr.Kang stepped off the stage, walking further away to keep an eye on everyone while they settled down to discuss the details of the schedule.
After that, everyone was a bit awkward as the new students didn’t know if they should stay on stage while the others weren’t sure if they should join them up there, everyone half getting up and glancing at each other.
In the end, Keonhee, the social butterfly that he was, ended up getting up and making his way to the stage, motioning for the two others to join him. This seemed to set the rest of the class into motion as everyone made their way up slowly.
“ Hello, Welcome!”
The tall boy smiled brightly as he glanced around the small group, eyes catching on a few faces as he went, but stopping on one person in particular.
There was a blonde boy standing a bit further away that got his attention. With his arms crossed over his chest, he looked the right amount of bored with his natural pouty expression, the make up on his eyes impeccable. He was alone compared to everyone else in the group who had started to huddle around.
“ Hi!”
Keonhee gave his best smile as he looked at the other boy, whose eyes quickly did an up and down on him before settling on his face.
Definitely sassy, he liked that.
His expression shifted however as he gave him a small smile, waving his hand that was half hidden inside his big purple sweater.
“Hi.”
“ I’m Keonhee, nice to meet you!”
The boy opened his mouth to speak, but his eyes shifted and caught something behind him. Before Keonhee could ask, another man had joined them, stopping next to his classmate.
He was a little bit taller than the blonde boy, but definitely broader as the muscle shifts under his thin long sleeve shirt, bringing a hand up to run through his short hair. The look he gave Keonhee was guarded and unsure, but not hostile.
“ I’m Dongju, and this is Geonhak. Don’t let the appearance fool you, he’s a big softy.”
Dongju said that as he leaned closer and patted harshly the other’s chest, smiling playfully at him while Geonhak only sighed, dropping his arm around the blonde’s thin shoulders.
“Why do you need to introduce me like that…”
It surprised Keonhee when he heard how deep his voice was.
Hwanwoong suddenly popped up next to him with a big smile on, dragging a reluctant orange haired boy along with him. Seoho glanced at the two new students before shifting so he was standing a bit behind Keonhee, trying to disappear from view and the attention.
“ Hello new people! I’m Hwanwoong!”
They exchanged greetings again with the smaller boy before he couldn’t hold himself back, stepping closer.
“ Alright tell me what’s your specialty? Whose to watch out for, I want to know the gossip! We can trade information. I’m not below blackmail."
Hwanwoong stage whispered the last part as he leaned forward, ignoring the scandalized gasp coming from the tallboy next to him.
Dongju only laughed however, moving so he could hook arms with the blonde rainbow haired boy.
“ I like him! I think we'll be great friends!"
Geonhak watched them silently and could already see the chaos that would ensue from this meeting. He could tell he would end up the victim and butt end of the jokes, Dongju being renowned for his teasing and the other boy they just met gave him the same energy.
Deciding for the moment to simply accept his fate, he went back to the initial question with a sigh.
“ I dance, sing and rap, but I mainly write. I love doing scripts and lyrics.”
The blonde smiled proudly at him, pointing to himself.
“ I sing and dance too, but I really love doing makeup and costumes! That’s what I want to be in charge of this production!”
“ That’s cool! I’m a dancer mainly, I sing too but I really love doing choreographies and performing!”
He pointed to Keonhee, winking at him.
“ This tall asparagus is our great acteur! Best performer in our group, don’t let his appearance fool you!”
“ What’s that even supposed to mean??”
“Oh! You need to meet Ravn then!”
“Who-“
Dongju excitedly unhooked his arms from Hwanwoong, looking around the room until he found who he was looking for, starting to shout while the trio stood next to him confused.
“Ravn! RAVN!! KIM YOUNGJO!”
At the shout of his full name, a tall brunette turned around startled, stopping the conversation he was having with a fairly large group of people gathered around him.
Eyes traveling around the room, he finally noticed the blond waving him over and excused himself with a charming smile to the assembly around him before strutting his way over, charisma oozing out of him.
Keonhee knew right away this was the one to look out for.
His rival.
He was handsome for sure, warm brown eyes framed by his perfectly styled hair. His mouth was drawn into an attractive smile, smooth looking skin stretching out down his long neck and under the loose t-shirt he was wearing, exposing the tip of a collarbone. He simply screamed heartthrob.
Keonhee hated him already.
This Ravn’s guy eyes glanced over them before quickly doing a double take over Keonhee’s shoulder, mouth falling slack from his smile into a small “o” shape.
The boy hiding behind everyone looked up when he felt eyes on him, freezing like a deer in headlight. Keonhee was sure he didn’t imagine the soft gasp that left Seoho’s mouth as he clutched to his phone with nervous fingers.
Keonhee moved to the side, so the orange haired boy was in full view, observing the weird exchange that was happening. He glanced at Hwanwoong who looked back at him with arched eyebrows going almost all the way up to his hairline.
“ Hi, I’m Youngjo…”
The brunette hadn’t moved his gaze away, focusing solely on the other boy, the rest of them vanishing to the background as if unimportant.
Keonhee would be offended by that if he wasn't focused on watching the tip of the Seoho’s ears turn an alarming shade of red as he jerk a hand up in a shaky wave.
“ H-Hey, I’m… I’m Seoho…”
Well, Keonhee thought as he exchanged another look with Hwanwoong, This semester was definitely going to be interesting.