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“Okay, we’ll take a five-minute break, and then we’ll practice again,” Wumuti said, and all of them let out a groan of relief at the order.
Chan flopped down onto the floor, resting against the cold mirror of the room and rubbing the towel over his sweaty face. He had danced before, hell, he had practiced dancing a lot before, but he’d never been this tired for just the rehearsal like this.
But, of course, that was to be expected when they were collaborating with XLOV. Now that the song was done, the only thing left was the dance, which was created by professional choreographers and carefully chosen by Wumuti, Rui, Lee Know, and Hyunjin. As a warning, Lee Know had told them this would be something they had never done before, and he had specifically clarified that this was something XLOV could do easily with their experience and would master the choreography in just a few days, while Stray Kids would need to work on it more with their techniques.
Chan just didn’t know it would be this hard. Christ, it was one thing to lift Wumuti up in the air—that part was easy, but to do a goddamn split at his big age was testing his bones. Dancing with XLOV meant it was all about elegance and flexibility, their movements were sophisticated, yet still alluring and incredibly precise.
Not to mention, it was impossible to master in a week, which was why Wumuti was this hard on them.
He glanced at Wumuti, who was standing at the corner of the room with Rui in front of her, discussing something that could only be related to their choreography based on their hand movements. Even with sweat beading down her temple and running down the line of her throat, Wumuti was still gorgeous.
And he understood why Wumuti wanted them to do this well. Their collaboration meant a great deal for both groups, and everything must be perfect, if not close to it. It made sense.
“Hyung, you gotta do something about this.”
Chan turned to Jisung, who was drenched in sweat and didn’t look anything like Wumuti when she sweat. He tugged at Chan’s arm, squeezing him tightly, his wet palm clinging to Chan’s skin.
“I’m gonna melt, hyung,” Jisung uttered. “This is worse than using the leg press.”
Chan snorted. “You sure?”
“I’m sure my body will be sore all over by tomorrow,” he said. “Can you do something about it?”
“What do you mean, do something about it?”
“He meant you should ask noona to cut us some slack, hyung,” Felix said from the side, slouching against the wall with the towel wrapped around his shoulder. His shirt was soaked on both the front and the back.
“God, I need to lie down on a bed right now,” Changbin muttered, running his hand over his damp hair. “Hyung, it’s been a whole day.”
“I mean, it’s our fault we haven’t mastered it yet,” Chan said with a shrug. “XLOV already nailed their parts pretty well.”
“But we’re dying, hyung!”
He grinned. “Don’t be dramatic, Han-ah. Innie and Seungmin look fine to me.”
“Innie only looks that happy because he wants to impress Haru,” Hyunjin mumbled, pointing at the two maknaes all huddled together in the corner of the room. “And Seungmin didn’t even dance for the last three hours.”
“Screw you, my legs hurt,” Seungmin said. “Muti noona told me to rest, so why shouldn’t I listen?”
“You’re just happy she favored you, Minnie.”
“I am, so?”
“I can’t believe I’m saying this.” Lee Know finally spoke up, removing the towel from his eyes as he looked over to them. “But they’re right, hyung, maybe we should go home. We may do better tomorrow after getting some rest.”
“See?”
Chan frowned and said, “I’m not sure what you want me to do about it. What do you want me to tell Muti? That we want to go home because we’re tired?”
“Yeah!”
“I can’t do that.”
“Come on, hyung,” Jisung said. “You’re Muti’s boyfriend, how can you not do that?”
He blinked, glancing over at Wumuti. Well, he was Wumuti’s boyfriend, yeah, but that was exactly why he couldn’t tell Wumuti that. Imagine telling those pretty doe eyes ‘no,’ he’d rather do a thousand push-ups than do such a thing.
“It’s because I am Muti’s boyfriend that I can’t do it.”
“You’re scared of Muti, aren’t you?” Lee Know asked.
“Fucking terrified,” Chan muttered, and Changbin and Felix let out a snort. “Fuck, she runs a tight ship.”
“I thought you knew this, hyung.”
“I’ve seen her at the recording studio, yeah, but I haven’t actually seen her here until today,” he said, and while Wumuti was a beautiful sight to behold in the practice studio, disobeying Wumuti was the last thing he wanted to do. “I don’t want to say anything that’d upset her.”
“You can do it, hyung, Muti always caves when it’s you or her members.”
“So why don’t you ask Hyun to do it?”
“Oh, no, Hyun’s scared of Muti, too.” Jisung flashed him a grin. “She can’t say that to Muti.”
“Neither can Rui,” Changbin pointed out. “Which is why you’re the perfect guy to tell Muti that.”
“Yeah! You don’t even have to say anything, just flash your big guns at her!” Jisung raised his eyebrows, patting Chan’s bicep with a bright grin. “Right? You know Muti likes them.”
“I don’t know, seems like it’s not gonna work.”
“Noona does love your biceps,” Hyunjin commented.
“Oh, you should do that thing,” Felix said. “You know, the thing where you flex your biceps.”
“Oh, yeah!” Jisung gasped. “You should do that, hyung.”
“What? That’s not a thing.”
“Of course it is,” Seungmin said. “If there’s a doorframe, you should lean on it, too. Show her your arms, hyung. Noona likes them.”
“Exactly, that’s what you should do, hyung!”
Chan pressed his lips together and scanned his eyes over the rest of his members. Besides Jeongin, who was still beaming at something Haru was saying, everyone else seemed dead tired. Well, Chan was exhausted, too, but he didn’t want to upset Wumuti in any way whatsoever. She seemed rather worried about their comeback, and Chan didn’t want to burden her any more than this.
On the other hand, Wumuti was exhausted, too.
Compared to his members’ exhaustion, which was shown more visibly on their faces, Wumuti’s signs of exhaustion were more subtle than that, but they were there regardless. Chan noticed the constant sweat dripping down her jawline and the little crease on her forehead from her furrowed eyebrows. Her shoulders were tense, and the way she dug her own fingertips into her arms was deep enough to redden her pale skin. So, maybe it wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world to call it a day now.
When Rui finally left Wumuti’s spot to sashay back into Changbin’s sweaty lap, Chan pushed himself up onto his feet. Hyunjin whistled at him, and Jisung clasped his hands together in appreciation. He gulped, rolling his shoulders and crossing the room in the slowest, most seductive stride he could do. He wondered if he looked like a sexy peacock right now.
Maybe just a dorky one.
He didn’t even know how he’d do it yet, but, hey, he did manage to woo Wumuti and get her to date him, so he must have some charms, right?
Even then, it was nerve-wracking to have Wumuti’s eyes fixed on him the entire walk there. As soon as Chan approached Wumuti, he lifted an arm up and leaned against the mirrored wall, his other hand on his hips as he cleared his throat.
“So,” Chan began. “Muti-ya.”
“Yes?” Wumuti raised her eyebrows, her gaze raking down his body, making Chan nervous. They had done more inappropriate things than this, why was he nervous about this?
“It’s ten thirty now,” he murmured, puffing his chest out and stretching his free arm in the air. Wumuti’s eyes cut to his movement briefly before zeroing back in on Chan’s face.
“I know. I checked the time, Chan.”
“Do you think maybe we could…I don’t know, go home and…” Chan said, licking his lower lip, and Wumuti scrunched up her cute nose, “maybe do something that’s also hard and wet, and—we might need to be flexible for it?”
Chan curled his arm and flexed his bicep in the most subtle way he could do, his stomach was rumbling uncomfortably. Wumuti looked at him, her lips pursed.
“What?” Wumuti said.
“You know, the thing, the activity that would…you see, make people sweat a lot other than dancing…”
“What are you saying, Chan? Do you want sex or do you want to go to the gym?” Wumuti deadpanned, her lips curling up to form a disappointed frown.
“No! No, I mean…you know.”
“And put those arms away, Chan, you’re distracting Seungmin,” Wumuti said, and Chan parted his lips in disbelief. “Everyone is practicing; if you want to work out at the gym, you can leave.”
“No, that’s not—okay, wait,” Chan said, dropping his arms to the side and taking Wumuti’s wrist in his hand. This wasn’t going to work. “Muti, wait. Do you think maybe we should call it a day?”
Wumuti tilted his head to the side and said, “What do you mean?”
“I—baby, it’s almost eleven at night, we’ve been at this for a day, and everyone is exhausted. They can barely catch their breath.”
Wumuti blinked at him, looking over Chan’s shoulder to gaze at the people sitting against the wall of the studio.
“Is everyone tired?” Wumuti asked aloud. “Should we go home?”
“What? Are you insane, noona? I could go on for four more hours!” Jisung exclaimed, and Chan’s mouth fell agape.
“Yeah! We aren’t tired at all, I mean, the choreography isn’t even that hard,” Changbin scoffed as Jeongin gave him an encouraging nod. Chan wasn’t sure whether Jeongin really meant it or not.
“Can we just end the break and go back to dancing now, please, noona?” Hyunjin chimed in. “I really can’t get enough of dancing.”
“Personally, I’d love to work on that split again.”
“Lino hyung is right, we should all work on that split,” Felix said, and Chan’s jaw went slack at the audacity of his members. “Don’t go around and spill lies to our noona, Chan hyung, we can do this all night.”
“What?” Chan squawked. “But you guys said—”
“I don’t know who told you we’re tired, hyung,” Jisung said, shaking his head. “We aren’t. In fact, I could go again now. Right, Seungmin?”
At that, Seungmin kept his eyes locked with Chan and gave them a slow nod as he said, “We’re never tired for our noona.”
Wumuti looked back at Chan, eyebrows knitting together, and Chan could only stammer for his words.
“But—they just said—they told me! Betrayal!” he said, pointing at the rest of his members, who remained looking innocent in front of Wumuti. Chan sighed, slouching his shoulders in disappointment. He turned to Wumuti and pulled her focus back to him. “Okay, baby, what if I just tell you I’m tired?”
“You are?” Wumuti said. “Is it because at your age, you get tired easily?”
Chan barked a laugh, tugging Wumuti closer to him and nodding his head. “Yeah, at my old age, baby, I was hoping I could come home, get some rest, and cuddle with my partner before my knees give out.”
Wumuti snorted. “Is that so?”
“Yeah, we can do it all over again tomorrow. I mean, come on, Muti, you’re tired, too; I know you are,” Chan said, brushing a stray lock of hair behind Wumuti’s ear. Wumuti avoided his eyes for a second as her gaze fell to the floor. He smiled and cradled her cheek. “Sometimes, it’s good to take a break.”
“Bold of you to say that,” Wumuti muttered, looking back at Chan with a slight frown. “Remember when you used to stay up all night to write music?”
“I know, but now that I have a partner, all I want is to stay up all night with them,” he said, and Wumuti rolled his eyes. “What do you say? Can we go home together now?”
To fully win Wumuti over, Chan cocked his head to the side and slid his hand down Wumuti’s arm to interlace their fingers together, rubbing his thumb over the back of Wumuti’s soft hand.
“I’ll drive you back to your dorm, we’ll take a shower together. You know, to save water,” he said, and Wumuti pressed her lips together to hold back a smile. “I’ll wash your hair, remove your makeup, and do your skincare routine for you while all you need to do is relax in my lap, hmm? Then we can go to sleep. How does that sound?”
Wumuti exhaled softly, deep brown eyes looking back at him through long lashes. After a few seconds, that piercing gaze softened.
“You’ll do all that for me?”
“And more. Anything you want me to do, I’ll do it.”
Finally, that made Wumuti smile. “You have to dry my hair, too.”
“Of course, Muti. That was a given.”
“And a shoulder rub. You’re good at that.”
“Baby, I’m gonna rub all over your body if you’d let me.”
Wumuti guffawed, shaking his head. “You’re crazy, Channie. A shoulder rub is fine.”
“You’re the crazy one if you think I’m not gonna jump at any chance to rub any part of you, Muti-ya.”
The smile stayed on Wumuti’s lips, stretching wider at his words. “You make a very convincing point.”
“I tried my best,” Chan said, pulling Wumuti closer and wrapping his arms around Wumuti’s body, nuzzling into the crook of Wumuti’s neck. “You smell good.”
“We’ve been dancing all day, and we’re both sweaty, Chan.”
“My point stands.”
Wumuti chuckled, finally winding her arms around Chan’s waist and leaning her weight against his. She rested her chin on Chan’s shoulder blade and looked over at the rest of the members on the other side of the room.
“Okay everyone, go home,” Wumuti said. “It’s been a long day. We should rest.”
Once Wumuti had given the final order, everyone’s faces lit up, and Jisung was the first one to stumble onto his feet.
“Really, noona?”
“Yeah,” Wumuti said, patting Chan’s back. “It’s not like this guy will let me do anything now. We’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Okay!” Jisung exclaimed, slapping his towel onto the floor and throwing his arms in the air. His entire face beamed with relief. “Woo! Let’s go, Hyunnie!”
“Bye, noona!” Jeongin said, tugging Haru out of the studio immediately, not even bothering to fetch his bag until Lee Know grabbed it for him.
“See you tomorrow!”
“We will be here super early for you!”
“Love you, noona!” Seungmin said, forming a heart with his hands as Wumuti chuckled. “You seriously are amazing!”
“Hey, I convinced Muti to let you guys go home,” Chan argued, and Seungmin made a face.
“Whatever, hyung, don’t discredit my noona. She made the final call.”
Chan heaved a sigh, and Wumuti laughed. “It’s nothing. Go home and rest, Minnie-ah.”
“You’re the best, Muti!” Changbin said, shooting Wumuti two thumbs-up before strutting out with Rui.
Everyone left, seemingly wanting to go home as soon as they could, and Wumuti realized he might have been a little too hard on them today. Maybe that was too much on the first day.
“We’ll be okay,” Chan said, and Wumuti stilled.
“What?”
“We’ll be okay. You weren’t too hard on us, Muti. Honestly, we might have been through a lot worse.”
Wumuti blinked, pulling back to stare at Chan’s face. “Did I say my thoughts out loud earlier or something?”
“No.” Chan grinned. “I just know what you’re thinking.”
“Is that it?”
“Yeah. You weren’t hard on us. We just aren’t used to this kind of technique before, and we need a bit of time to adjust,” Chan said. “But I promise we’ll do the best we can, and it’ll be perfect.”
“You think so?”
“Come on, Muti-ya, it’s us we’re talking about. Everyone put their minds into this, of course it’s going to be perfect.” He smiled, cradling Wumuti’s rosy cheeks. “For now, we need to rest first.”
“Okay,” Wumuti murmured, throwing her arms around Chan’s neck. “And just so you know, don’t do that again.”
“Do what?”
“Flex your biceps and think you’re gonna get away with it.” Chan stopped blinking, and Wumuti snorted. “Yeah, you think I didn’t notice you peacocking your way over to me like that? I thought you were doing some kind of weird mating dance that birds do.”
“Well…” Chan stammered. “It worked, right?”
Wumuti pursed her lips. It took her a while before she said, “It was a nice distraction.”
“So you liked it.”
“It was just a nice distraction, Chan.”
He grinned, leaning closer to Wumuti. “You liked it, right? You like my bulging biceps, huh?” he said, and Wumuti laughed.
“So I like my boyfriend’s arms, what’s wrong with that? Hyun and Rui like their boyfriends’ arms, too. Even Haru.” Wumuti pouted and slipped her hands down Chan’s upper arms. “And your biceps are impressive.”
“You love me,” Chan said, beaming at Wumuti.
“Channie, we’re dating.”
“I know,” he said smugly, caressing Wumuti’s jawline with his thumbs. “You love me and my biceps.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Wumuti said, smiling and squeezing her hands around Chan’s biceps. They felt incredibly nice to touch, and she wouldn’t admit this out loud to Chan, but they did manage to distract her fairly well. “Take me home?”
Chan broke into a smile, giving Wumuti a quick peck on her lips, nuzzling the tips of their noses together before he said, “Of course. Anything for you.”
The End