#for a very very loose definition of close up but 'first/last decent solo shot that doesn't have someone else's face in it'

[elloras]

First Close Up // Last Close Up

[saturnwritings]

freeze your brain

—after a disheartening start to the evening leads you to hide under a table at a party, a chance encounter with kenma leads you to have one of the best nights of your life. | based on a pov by a cosplayer on tiktok (@/sea.kaninchen)

pairing(s): kenma x reader, past/brief daishou x reader 

word count: 3993

warnings: cheating, hints to sexual themes (only briefly)

a/n: i think i should mention that I DONT HATE DAISHOU!!! i think hes a complex and interesting character and ppl shit on him a lot but i did need a villain for this so im sorry for being basic he doesnt deserve this 😪also i was honestly really excited to do this?? like tiktok cosplayers’ povs are not bad i love cosplayers its just straight tiktok’s povs im sorry 😔 

9:32pm.

You let out a sigh as you glance at your phone for what seemed like the thousandth time that night, the numbers moving slow, in almost a mocking way. The blinding, multi-colored lights dancing around the room kind of made your eyes spin, and the air around you made you wonder if it was possible to describe air as ‘sticky’ and what… questionable ways it could get to that state. There were bodies moving all around the room, most likely all around the house, doing a multitude of things: dancing, talking, loitering.

You had been coerced by your friends, as well as your boyfriend, Daishou, to come to this party, with promises of letting loose and free food. As reluctant as you were, your boyfriend had assured you that he would personally make sure you had a good time; said boyfriend was nowhere to be seen.

As you leaned against the wall, you raised your phone screen to your face as you mindlessly scrolled through various social media feeds and such, trying to pass the time. Ultimately, there’s only so much you can do constantly refreshing pages. On top of that, it might have just been your imagination but people seemed to stop and sneak looks at you, probably wondering why you were staying by yourself in a corner for so long.

Putting your phone away, you decided to approach some of Daishou’s friends - after all, the least he could do was to hang out with you at the party he kind of forced you to go to. Taking a quick look around the room, your eyes landed on a group of boys hanging out on the couches, you recognized them as your boyfriend’s friends. You greeted them as best as you could over the loud music, almost pounding your eardrums.

“I was just wondering, have you seen Daishou anywhere?” As soon as you mentioned his name, that atmosphere within the group grew tense. They all seemed to avoid eye-contact and some even started fidgeting. Suddenly, one of the boys spoke up.

“I- uhm, I think I saw him go upstairs?” He was met with pointed looks from the rest. Confused, you thanked them nonetheless and located the stairs.

Maneuvering your way through the many bodies on the stairs, you start searching through the many rooms of the house as you think to yourself: Who’s house is this? Why are there so many rooms? You must’ve looked through the first 4 rooms of the hallway (bathroom, storage closet, bedroom, bedroom) before reaching another door.

When you opened the door, thankful it wasn’t locked, you immediately saw two figures in a bed in the middle of the room. Upon closer inspection, you saw that they were very much not having a nap together but instead moving in tandem. You were about to exit before they could see you when one of the figures, a girl, locked eyes with you. She immediately fumbled and pushed the other figure, a boy, off of her and drew the sheets to cover herself. Feeling awkward and frozen in place, you started to spew out apologies. 

“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry, I, uhm,” you hands out in a defensive motion “I didn’t mean to walk in! I was just…” You trailed off when the boy turned around and you got a good look of his face. It was then when you had realized it was your boyfriend in a bed with his ex-girlfriend, Mika. 

“Suguru…” Your face morphed into a disheartened expression, “You’re…” you couldn’t finish your sentence though, your eyes frantically shifting between Daishou and Mika, who you had just realized the identity of, in confusion as you opened your mouth to say something, but the words lay stuck in your throat. Fat tears welled up in your eyes, eventually falling down your cheeks, but you had yet to move. 

“y/n! It’s not what you think!” Your boyfriend started as he moved off of the bed and towards you, fumbling for an explanation, but his lack of clothes told you everything. No matter what excuse he came up with, the intentions were clear. 

You choked up and you pushed him away. “Save it! We’re through!” Your voice wavered as you turned and ran out the door, covering your mouth with your hands in an attempt to stifle your crying. Unfortunately, you moved to hide in the bathroom to gather your thoughts, gripping the door handle and pushing when you realized it was locked. 

You looked around for something, you weren’t really quite sure what, but you knew you needed to be away from your boyfriend (ex-boyfriend, you reminded yourself) no matter what. In the heat of the moment, you stumbled your way downstairs and into the dining room. It was completely empty, which came as a surprise, but you realized it was probably because the living room was big enough for everyone to do what they wanted and the food was spread out in the kitchen and living room. 

You managed to take a second to catch a break. You were about to take your phone out to call an Uber when you heard Daishou calling your name. In a moment of panic, your eyes landed on the dining table in the middle of the room. Swiftly, and with less gravitas than you’d like to admit, you crawled under the table, thanking the lords above that it was covered in a table cloth that reached the floor. An interesting style choice? Sure, but you were thankful nonetheless.

Holding your breath, you heard your name being called before you heard footsteps leave the room. So there you were, crying under a table at a party. You could still hear the loud techno and pop music from the other room, albeit muffled, and let it drown out your sorrows. 

You thought of calling an Uber now, but you figured it would be smart to take the time to let your thoughts regroup so you at least stopped crying hysterically. 

***

“Please, Kenma?!” Kuroo pouted as he clasped his hands together, “C’mon, it’s not gonna be that bad, it’ll be really fun!” Kenma sighed. He looked down at his paused game of MonHun and took note of the time.

3:51pm.

It was nearing 4pm and Kenma still had yet to clear this level. “I already told you, I don’t wanna go,” Kenma started, “I don’t like parties.” That had Kuroo bouncing and flailing around.

“But Terushima always throws the best parties, they’re fun for everyone!” Kenma grunted in response, he had started playing his game again, Kuroo narrowed his eyes and pouted even harder. “Pleeease?! Everyone’s gonna be there, it’s gonna be great! But it won’t be fun without you,” Kuroo pleaded. Kenma scoffed at that, he considered agreeing just so shut Kuroo up, but he wanted to know what he was getting into first.

“Who’s gonna be there?” Kenma asked, not looking up from his PSP.

“Everyone!” Kenma thought it was almost comical how Kuroo immediately perked up. Kenma shot him an incredulous look. “Uhm, okay, so I know Bo’s gonna be there, which means Akaashi’s gonna be there… You can hang out with him!” Kenma hummed, only partially listening, “No, you’re right, you’re right! What was I thinking? Obviously Akaashi’s gonna hang out with Bokuto, which means I’m gonna have to third wheel!” He tuned Kuroo out as he went on.

Just as Kenma had lost another round, Kuroo seemed to have finished his rant about being a third-wheel and the dynamics between Bokuto and Akaashi.

“Um, well, I mean pretty much all of the Volleyball teams are gonna be there, Terushima really wants this to be epic! Uhm, other than that… Oh! Isn’t there that girl? I forgot her name but she’s dating… Daishou…” Kuroo shudders, Kenma hummed in response. “She’s in your class isn’t she? What’s her name, you can hang out with her!” 

“y/n.” Kenma offered, still not looking up from his game. 

“Yeah, that’s it! Ugh, she’s kinda strange… like, Daishou? Really? Last time I saw him, he was wearing that ugly sweater…” Kenma tuned him out once again. 

While Kenma continued his game, he subconsciously pondered on your relationship. You guys had never really been close, save for the occasional group and partner projects you guys did together, as was expected, you were in the same class after all. If Kenma was being honest, the only time he paid you any mind was when Kuroo brought up how Daishou was most definitely blackmailing you into dating him or something or the sort.

Fed up with Kuroo’s whining, Kenma spoke up after another round lost. “Kuro, I’ll go to the party,” Kuroo’s eyes widened as he gasped, sporting a surprised smile, Kenma continued, “But if I get bored or stressed, I’m leaving.” 

Kuroo nodded.

***

Needless to say, Kenma wasn’t having a good time. While he did enjoy seeing his friend, Hinata, again, the loud and, quite frankly, annoying music was starting to hurt his ears and the food provided was decent at best, meaning fast food pizza and about a million different bags of chips.

“Kenma! C’mon, get over here! We’re playing beer pong, I need a partner!” Kenma sighed as he heard Kuroo call out to him. From where he was leaning against a wall, he could see Kuroo, Bokuto and Miya Atsumu setting up red solo cups on a table. 

This had been happening all night, Kenma minding his own business, occasionally engaging in conversation with Hinata or Akaashi if they crossed paths, with Kuroo swooping in to try to get him to play some sort of party game with him. The first was Just Dance, which Kenma avoided by saying he was hungry, next came truth or dare, Kenma used the bathroom excuse on that one, and so on and so forth. The cycle continued, Kuroo hunting down Kenma and Kenma finding any way he could escape. 

That led Kenma to this moment: leaning against a wall in the kitchen playing on his PSP, with Kuroo struggling to maneuver around everyone to get to him. Kenma checks the digital clock on his PSP. 

9:46pm.

That seemed like a good time to leave, Kenma thought. As he was pocketing his PSP to get ready to make a dash for it, Kenma panicked for a moment, realizing that to get to the front door, he would have to pass by Kuroo and the beer pong table. Contemplating for a moment, he concluded that he would much rather wait it out and leave a bit later than have to explain why he was leaving. 

When Kenma came to his senses, he realized Kuroo was even closer to him than he thought. Scanning for options, he ran the only direction he could, through the arch connecting the kitchen with the dining room. 

In a moment of desperation, he ducked under the table cloth.

***

You checked yourself again in your phone camera. Thankfully, you had calmed down and stopped crying hysterically, and were only left with the occasional sniffle. Unfortunately, the redness was still very much present, as were the tears when you thought too hard about Daishou. Despite all the nasty things other people, especially in your school, would say about him, he was a kind person, passionate about many things and was very caring towards you: always cheering you up and lending an ear when you needed to vent. 

I guess he just… really liked Mika, then, huh, you thought to yourself as you hugged your knees close to your chest.

Deep in your thoughts, you hadn’t noticed the frantic footsteps making their way towards you. You only realized something was off when the table cloth rustled and was lifted open, only for someone to slip in and under the table with you.

The boy seemed to be catching his breath when you made a startled noise of surprise. Hearing it, the boy snapped his head up to meet your stare. You were both just staring at each other with wide eyes, after a moment you both started fumbling out uhms and i’s, glancing around to avoid eye contact. 

After accidentally looking up at each other at the same time, you realized who the boy was.

“Wait… Kenma?” He blinked.

“y/n?” He responded with a tilt of his head, “Uhm, I’m sorry, I was just… trying to get away from someone…” You shifted in your spot, casting your eyes away in embarrassment hoping he wouldn’t see your red face and stray tears. “What about you?”

“Hm?” Your eyes widened in confusion.

“Why are you, uh,” he paused awkwardly and gestured around vaguely, “What’re you doing under a table?” You didn’t really know how to respond to that.

“Uhm… well,” you felt tears welling up in your eyes again, “I-” a sob wracked through your body. Completely overwhelmed with emotions, you burst into tears. Kenma’s eyes shifted frantically before he regained his composure, he had never really been good and expressing emotions or helping others with theirs.

Kenma thought to himself: What would Kuro do in this situation? Sure, Kenma had gotten upset lots of times, and Kuroo always knew how to help. He realized that one thing that Kuroo did was ask him if he wanted to talk about what was going on - of course, Kenma never did, but for some strange, unknown reason, it made him feel just the tiniest bit better. In the back of his mind, Kenma thought that it made him feel better because it told him there was someone who cared about him.

“Do you, uh, wanna talk about it? Maybe?” He winced at his awkward delivery, his hands fidgeting.

“Is that,” you sniffled, “is that okay?” Kenma tried his best to give a reassuring smile, he was sure it came off as strained.

“Yeah, sure.”

You told Kenma about your relationship with Daishou; how it started, all the ups and downs, and finally how it ended. How you kept having chance encounters: at school when you were out shopping and even late one night at a public library - that was the night he asked you out for the first time, and you couldn’t have been more smitten. 

During your relationship, he was so kind and considerate to you, and he never failed to make you laugh. You told Kenma how he even said that despite going to different schools, there was no one else he'd rather be that: that apparently didn’t stop him from hooking up with another girl.

After you went silent, Kenma found that you were finished. Despite only thinking of you as ‘that other girl in his class that was dating a volleyball player Kuroo hated’ until recently, seeing you cry and pour your heart out gave him a strange, internal attachment to you.

“Do you wanna get out of here?” Kenma asked suddenly, turning to you and planting a hand on the floor, learning towards you ever so slightly. You blinked.

“What?” Surprised by his own outburst, Kenma decided to roll with it.

“There’s an arcade a few blocks down… sometimes when I get upset, I go there and it always cheers me up?” To be perfectly honest, Kenma wasn’t really expecting you to say yes. He expected you to brush him off, say you were feeling better and ready to go home. 

Kenma himself didn’t know why he asked, he usually didn’t really like spended excess time with people he didn’t know that well, but subconsciously, there was a part of him that wanted to help.

“Oh, uhm, yeah! Sure, why not?” You metally cursed yourself for your stuttering, it was bad enough you were info-dumping and completely oversharing, you didn’t want Kenma to think you were that weak. You sniffled again, realization dawning on you.

“We gotta find a way out of here first, thought.” You said. Kenma cringed. 

***

Long story short, you and Kenma managed to escape the table without anyone seeing you. You were extremely thankful, as it would have been very awkward if someone saw the two of you crawling out from under a table. 

Getting outside was another thing, thought. Kuroo and the beer pong table were still very much blocking the way out, and there was always the risk of bumping into Daishou again. After a bit of asking around, you found out that there was a backdoor in the kitchen, so you and Kenma were able to make your escape. 

Now you were playing away to your hearts’ content to some random racing game at an arcade. You both were playing side-by-side, versing each other. To no one’s surprise, Kenma was beating you. Deep down, though, Kenma was a little impressed you were able to keep up with him so well, being a religious player of Mario Kart himself and all. 

You both fleeted from game to game, playing almost every game available from shooting games to claw machines to even a Space Invaders-esque game. You had managed to earn a good amount of tickets, all thanks to Kenma’s membership card and the loose tokens he found in his wallet.

Eventually, you had played until the arcade was empty and one of the employees came up to you to tell you they were closed. They did mention that you could still buy some prizes if you wanted to, to which Kenma turned to you.

“Do you want to?” 

Over the time you had spent playing games together, you had gotten to know Kenma better than just ‘the quiet boy in your class’ in between passing conversations and empty, teasing threats, some of your favorites had been: I will steal your kneecaps and If you play with that character you don’t deserve rights.

“Yeah, sure!” You replied, a genuine smile crossed your face. 

In the end, you had gotten a keychain with a mini funko character on it and Kenma settled on a cute sticker that, with much encouragement from you, he stuck on the case of his PSP.

After exiting the arcade, Kenma took a moment to glance over at you. The empty street illuminated by semi-faulty lampposts, and he found it showed your face more clearly than all the neon lights of the arcade. Your tears dried up, although there were still hints of red in splotches on your face. 

As he watched you talk excitedly about your new keychain, he couldn’t help but feel a strange way, an unfamiliar feeling he had never felt before. It was warm in a way, something akin to stepping home for the first time after being away for so long. It was weird, in all the years he had known you, or been partnered up with you for whatever, he had never thought of you as anything other than a random classmate. However, after everything you had both gone through together that night, something new was forming.

Little did Kenma know, you were thinking the same. You noticed the little things about him; you thought back to how his nose would scrunch when he would mess up in a game or you would surpass him in something, or how his eyes lit up and almost sparkled ever so slightly when he was picking out stickers. Now that you were outside, you could see how his dyed hair swayed gently in the crisp November wind, or how his eyes would somewhat crinkle as he laughed when you made a joke.

After a few moments of silence, you spoke up. 

“Hey, so, I didn’t really get to eat at the party… Do you maybe wanna get something to eat nearby?” You asked, turning your head to Kenma. Realizing how that sounded like you were asking him on a date, you quickly stuttered out “Of course, you don’t have to! We can just get a small snack or, or maybe we don’t have to get anything!” You laughed awkwardly as Kenma showed no obvious emotions, however his eyes were slightly widened and his cheeks growing more red, but you chalked that up to the colder weather and surprise. 

Kenma suddenly remembered how he didn’t get a chance to eat as well, but in all the games you guys were playing, he didn’t get a chance to feel hungry. Realizing he had not responded, he quickly thought of a place to get food, his mind immediately wandering to 7/11.

“Oh yeah, sure. There’s a 7/11 down the street, if you want?” He said, and you were off.

***

Sitting in the 7/11 with Kenma under the fluorescent lights was oddly comforting. You were happily eating your warm soba noodles (topped with tempura) as Kenma ate his apple pastry (having already eaten half of an egg salad sandwich and wrapping the rest for later) as you engaged in mindless conversation, Kenma periodically pulling out his PSP to either play or check on things. 

During some random conversation about a new game Kenma was playing, you noticed him occasionally glancing behind you. Eventually, you looked behind you to see what looked like a newly installed slushie machine, touchscreen and all. Realizing Kenma wouldn’t speak up about it, you decided to take charge.

“Do you wanna get slushies?” You said with a grin. Kenma looked surprised for a second before lightly laughing.

“Sure.”

Over the machine, you tapped the screen to get a strawberry lemonade slushie, while Kenma opted for cherry one.

Slushies didn’t exactly pair well with warm soba, but tonight was apparently a night full of surprise, what with finding out about your boyfriend (ex, you reminded yourself), not to mention these spontaneous adventures with a random boy who was, you thought, not so random anymore.

“Wanna have a competition?” Kenma’s voice interrupted your train of thought, “Let’s see who can drink theirs the fastest.” You grinned.

“You’re on!”

After Kenma counted down, you both tried to down your slushie. Halfway through, though, you had to stop.

“Ah! Brainfreeze!” You exclaimed, clutching your head with one hand. Kenma also stopped drinking and laughed, “My head feels so numb, argh!” You hummed. “At least now I won’t think of Daishou anymore… My brain feels like it’s pounding like, like it’s having a rave or something!” It was getting late, meaning you were dangerously close to your stage of drowsiness that caused you to infodump like crazy. Kenma’s smile dropped every so slightly. 

“Hey, uhm,” he looked as though he was looking for the right words to say, “I’m really sorry about what happened, uh,” he scratched the back of his head nervously, “Sorry, I’m not great at… feelings… but, if you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here.” 

You blinked for a second before smiling. 

“Thanks, Kenma.”

As you were finishing up the rest of your slushie, you turned to Kenma.

“Hey, uhm, I know this is pretty random but do you want to be my partner for the project we’re doing in science?” Kenma looked up from his PSP and stared at you, as if trying to remember what you were talking about, “The one about incomplete dominance and sex-linked traits? The teacher said you had to find a partner of the opposite gender so you could create a ‘hypothetical baby’, which, honestly, I find kinda dumb… Like, if the baby’s just hypothetical, then you could partner up with anyone, right? It’s not just me that feels that way?” 

Kenma remembered what project you were talking about, but he really enjoyed when you would continue on these rants. Being one to not talk that much, he liked how you were able to fill in the silence, although the times when you would be eating and he would be playing in silence were not as awkward as he thought, they weren’t awkward at all. 

“So… Do you want to pair up?” Kenma flushed, realizing he was mindlessly listening to you talk.

“Oh, uhm, yeah, sure.” You beamed.

bonus: you did your project on incomplete dominance and sex-linked traits and learned about the wonders of co-dominance in blood types. also kuroo was very worried about kenma leaving and thought he got kidnapped by a van that said ‘free games’ but it was all cool when he learnt kenma left with a girl ;)

[95liners3rdmember]

Worth It

Story Summary: After working hard for so many years, y/n finds herself finds herself accepting a once in a lifetime opportunity. Her rose colored lenses just might shatter when she’s thrown into the life of working for idols. 

Pairing: Park Jimin x Choreographer reader

Warnings: Future warning will appear but for now it’s pretty safe

Chapter 1: First Meeting

Word Count: 10.8k

Rating: T (for now)

My eyes soak in the new scenery with a mixture of excitement and nervousness as my hands gripping at my bag thrown over my shoulder. I’ve spent the past four years prepping for this big move. Three years of intense studying, countless sleepless night researching, and beyond exhausting training. In my chest my heart pounds loudly as my feet stop at the threshold of the large building. My lungs suck in a shaky breath as I walk through the glass door.

A small smile graces my lips as I’m greeted by an older woman standing in the large lobby. Our greeting is short as she hands me a key card explaining that it will give me access to the building whenever I want and it’s the only way to get into some of the rooms throughout the building. We take a short elevator ride up to the second floor where she takes me to a decent sized office that already has all the works set up. She informs me that this will be mine and I can do whatever I want with it. Setting my bag down, I follow her back into the hallway.

“I was told by Bang-shi that your requests went through. All of the members are waiting in the third practice room, they’ve already ran through their daily routine. It’s almost time for them to leave so it looks like your plane landed just in time. Oh and also only Namjoon knows of the arrangements.” Her voice is soft and sweet as we stop in front of a large door. I can hear my heart pounding in my chest, it almost drowns her out.

“Thank you.” Bowing politely, my hand reaches out to grab ahold of the door knob and I take in one last shaky breath. It’s now or never. Twisting my wrist slowly the door opens and I see all seven members huddled together on the ground breathing heavily. My nerves are shot as six pairs of dark chocolate eyes lock onto me with confusion clear on their face. Tucking a piece of hair behind my ear, my eyes look over to Namjoon in desperation calling out for help.

“Y/n! I never thought you would make it.” He practically jumps up from his spot on the floor to come greet me. My small frame is engulfed by his large one in a tight hug. I can’t help but to return the greeting. It’s been a few years since we’ve seen each other in person and it feels good to see my dear friend.

Unwrapping from each other I take a step back to smile up at him, “It’s good to see you Namjoon. There was a six hour delay in L.A. so I guess my one day trip turned into two.”

“That’s terrible. We know all about long flights, hopefully you won’t have another one for a while so you can recover.” He’s always so sincere when we talk, it’s one of the many reasons why I value him as a close friend. I rock on the balls of my feet to look around him to the other members that are sitting completely still and quiet. Observing their leader hug a complete stranger, well to them anyways.

“Oh, yeah I guess I should introduce you all. Everyone this is Y/n, Y/n this is BTS.” Of course I knew who all of them are, almost everyone in the world has heard of BTS. Internally I’m a blushing mess, ever since they’ve debuted I’ve been a fan. They are all so talented and so dedicated to their music and fans. It was always a dream to work with them. And now I get that opportunity. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I wave at them with a large smile spreading on my lips.

“Hi everyone! Like Namjoon said I’m Y/n and from here on out I’ll be the new head choreographer and lead dance instructor for BTS.” Even through my nerves the words come out clear with no mispronunciations, Namjoon beams a huge smile at me, the pride written all over his face. Thank goodness he was one of my main tutors over the years.

Slowly the other rise from their spots on the floor and make their way over to us. Jungkook is the first person to reach us with a clear confused expression, “Really? You don’t look old enough to be our dance instructor.”

He’s instantly reprimanded by Namjoon and Jin with a smack on the back of the head. Honestly I’ll take that as a compliment because right now I must look like a complete mess.

“I thought I raised you better than that. You never ask a lady their age or assume it. Especially someone you just met.” Jin scolds as he extends a hand out to shake mine. I place my hand in his lightly and gently squeeze, muttering a nice to meet you as the others form around us.

“Shame Kookie, you do realize you’re a baby yourself. But yes, she’s old enough and she’s very talented when it comes to choreography and dance. She was worth bringing all the way from America too.” Namjoon defends me as he jabs my ribs playfully at the last comment. A slight heat rises on my cheeks and I shift on my feet slightly trying to distract myself. Another hand reaches out towards me and my face turns into fire as I see the owner, Park Jimin. I can’t help but fangirl mentally, after all Jimin is an amazing dancer! Maybe there are a few things he can teach me after the important stuff is out of the way.

“Nice to meet you.” Jimin’s eyes close into half crescents as I shake his hand, thankfully he doesn’t see the deep blush that sets in as I set my hand into his.

“It’s nice to meet you as well.” Thank goodness I didn’t stutter. When he releases my hand I shove them into the pocket of my hoodie and smile at the others. It all seems so formal, I mean after all I’m going to be working with them almost everyday for at least two years.

“We still have a few minutes left of practice time, is there anything you want to do Y/n?” Taehyung asks with a strange curiosity, almost like he wants to evaluate the abilities that Namjoon just stated. I can’t help but smirk a little at the idea of showing off to them. But first I want to watch them run through a song or two just to get a feel of their styles. Watching them on stage and on a screen is definitely different than in person.

“Will you guys run through a song or two? Your choice of course.” I add in the last part sweetly, the last thing I want for them to think is that I’m going to work them to death.

Jungkook’s eyes widen as soon as the words leave my mouth and he runs off towards the stereo system, phone in hand. Jimin and Hoseok light up as well and run after the maknae muttering which songs they want to do. Yoongi groans about wanting to go sleep but manages to walk over to the stereo with the others, leaving Namjoon and I alone.

The breath I had been holding in comes out as a heavy sigh and I feel some of the tension leave my body. Turning on my heels I look around the room to realize it’s huge, one of the biggest practice studios I’ve ever been in. My inner dancer can’t wait to have it all to myself so I can let loose and create.

“Don’t be so nervous. They are going to love you.” Namjoon teases as he pats the top of my head. I can’t help but roll my eyes, it’s a gesture he’s been doing ever since we met all those years ago in L.A. He’s barely older than me but he uses that to his advantage.

“Easier said than done. You and I have known each other for years now, but I’m just now really meeting the others. I have a lot to live up to considering you guys are so popular and talented. The last thing I want is to disappoint all of you.” All the fears that have been festering in my mind for the past two days just come spilling out and I can’t help but feel silly for saying them. I guess it takes Namjoon for a spin as well considering he’s looking down at me like I grew another head and two more arms.

“You still underestimate yourself. There’s a reason why I wanted you here over everyone else. Everything will work out just fine.” He’s always so optimistic and it’s contagious.

“I guess you’re right.” Shrugging my shoulders, I fiddle with the ring on my finger in the pocket of my hoodie. A nervous tick I picked up in high school.

“Of course I am. Have you heard the new songs I sent over?” He manages to ask just before the others call out his name. His eyes stay on mine as he walks backwards waiting on my answer, a shit eating grin taking over. Of course I’ve already listened to them, he knows that. But he really wants to know if I started on the dance. Of course I have, there’s only three songs left to do and that’s all the solo songs.

“If you can make it through the next 15 minutes I’ll show you afterwards.” Shaking my head at the dimpled filled smile, I lean against the mirrored wall as they get into position for their first choice. ‘I Need U’ starts to fill the silent room and I have to keep myself from dancing along. It’s like fighting against my programming, difficult and almost impossible. Somehow I manage but I let a huge, wholehearted smile break out on my face as I watch in pure wonderment.

They end in their finishing mark and heaving breathing fills the silent space. I understand all too well the exhaustion dancing takes on your body. It a matter of ten seconds they change positions and ‘Baepsae’ comes blasting through the speakers. At this point it’s like they are trying to get me to dance. This song is so upbeat and fun to move along to, I can’t help but bop my head along with the rhythm. Maybe I could do a song with them after this one now that I’m itching to dance. When it comes towards the end, Hoseok takes the middle and starts dancing like a mad man. I can’t help the laugh that escapes my lips at his childish antics.

“That was amazing. Just as I expected from BTS.” The smile never leaves my lips as I walk over to the group of panting boys. They all smile at my compliment, looks like I made a good impression. Jimin and Taehyung whisper quietly to each other, which makes me quirk a brow up in curiosity but it instantly falls as I’m bombarded by questions from Jungkook and Hoseok. The questions range from asking how long I’ve been dancing to when I learned Korean. I can’t help but blink quickly as I try to keep up with everything that’s being said.

“Calm down you two. Can’t you see that you’re confusing her by asking so much at once. Plus I have a simple answer to all of this.” Right now I want to hug Jin for making the whirlwind of muddled words stop but I also want to hide because who knows what he’s going to suggest.

“Which is?” The question comes out soft as I hear Namjoon silently laugh beside me. Oh no, this can’t be good. Jin’s smile almost reminds me of the cheshire cat’s. I gulp as he takes in a deep breath.

“We can all go out for dinner tonight! After we see you dance though. I’ve very curious to see your abilities after RM spoke so highly of you.” What a slick move. Note to self, be cautious around Kim Seokjin. But it solves the problem of me wanting to dance with them. Dinner will be a struggle though since my plane got delayed my luggage didn’t make it with me. It won’t be here until tomorrow so I only have a change of workout clothes and a few toiletries.

“I don’t mind dancing but dinner may be a problem. My luggage didn’t arrive with me so I really don’t have anything to wear out.” I silently pray that this will get me off the hook of going to eat with them. It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s actually the opposite, but my nerves won’t let me be much fun in a social setting right now.

“I can lend you something to wear.” Jungkook is quick to volunteer as is Taehyung, they almost crash into each other as they jump up with arms raised as if to ask the teacher a question. Their enthusiasm makes me want to go now, it also makes my stomach churn. I can’t believe that they want to get to know me instantly. I guess I worried about them not liking me for no reason.

Almost as if Namjoon can pick up on the inner dialogue I’m having, an arm draps itself over my shoulder and pulls me into his side.

“You can borrow something from me. Now what song do you want to dance to?” There’s an underlying question in his words that I pick up on and I can’t help but smirk. I bring my hand from my pocket and tap against my chin as I run through a list of songs.

“How about ‘Fire’?” Yoongi suggests with a slight gummy smile. It’s no secret it’s one of their favorite songs to dance to. I try to hide the evil grin that threatens to take over. I look up at Namjoon who has the same expression as I do.

“Sounds good to me. But who’s spot will I take since it’s really only for seven?”

“You can have mine! I really want to see you dance. Do you mind if I record it?” Jungkook bounces like a bunny around us. How could I say no to that face?

“That seems a little difficult.” Jin’s comment only makes my grin widen. Turning I shrug off the heavy hoodie, good thing I wore a tank top underneath that thing. I toss it back towards the mirrors and notice Namjoon shaking his head in humor. If they only knew….

“Sure, I’ll take your spot Jungkook. Can we hurry though? I have something I want to show all of you.” I say as sweetly as I can. They seem to understand that I have a dance to show them because the next thing I know is being wrangled into Jungkook’s spot. Jimin shoots me a smile, too cute, as I double check my spot.

As the music starts, I see Jungkook whip out his phone and start recording. A wide smile takes over my expression as I move along with the beat, hitting every mark and move with precision. My heart thumps in my chest with excitement as I let my body do what it’s always done best. As we move around I can feel their eyes on me, Jimin and Hoseok have even stopped lip syncing because they have a look of sheer awe. It’s strange but it seems that I’ve somewhat proved to them I’m capable of doing the job.

The music shifts to right before the signature move and I can’t help but replace my smile with a large smirk as I make eye contact with Jimin. This is one of my favorite moves, it’s complex and it shows true skill because of how many steps go into one single move. As expected I hit every move perfectly and the music winds down causing the room to go quiet. In front of us Jungkook’s jaw is dropped in awe as he ends the recording.

“Whoa.” It’s the only word that the shocked boy can think of as we all broke apart to join him Namjoon and my eyes meet and I can’t help the smirk I wear. Reaching down I grab my discarded hoodie and smile up at all of them.

“How can you do that dance just as perfectly as us, if not more?” Hoseok asks with a twisted expression. Shrugging my shoulders I make my way to the doorway, Namjoon laughing right behind me. He takes the lead and opens the door for me as we share a big laugh together.

I turn to look at the other six confused boys and smirk at them,“Because I made it.”

Walking through the threshold I can hear the screams of confusion as the statement sinks in. Namjoon bumps his elbow against me as our laughter is released. I guess it’s going to be hard to hide some things from them.

I manage to find my way back to my office with the help of Namjoon. Without a second thought I plop down into the plush office chair and dig through my bag for my laptop. I can’t lie, I’m exhausted. Trying to sleep on the plane was useless because my nerves were shot for plenty of reason but the main two were I hate flying and I was meeting BTS.

Namjoon waits in the threshold of the door for the other members as I log into my computer to see that I’ve missed a few video calls from my sister. Crap. I totally forgot to call her. The ringer on my laptop goes off making me jump up in my chair. Clicking the answer button I take in a deep breath.

“You didn’t call me!” My sister’s voice echoes through the room and I put my hands up defensively.

“Sorry! My plan got delayed so I was late getting here. I rushed from the airport here.” My own voice sounds foreign. I can’t help the light accent in my voice as I speak my first language. From the door way I can see the others starting to file into the room. Namjoon and Yoongi notice my confession, both sport the same worried look as I look up at them.

“That explains why you look so exhausted. Have you met them yet?” Namjoon smirks and decides to answer my question for me.

“Hi Nikole!” He waves enthusiastically. My younger sister’s face turns bright red as she waves back. It’s no secret to me that she’s harbored a crush on the idol for quite some time, Namjoon thinks it’s just fun to tease her but he’s completely oblivious to the crush.

“Oh hey Namjoon! It’s good to see you again.” I tuck my bottom lip between my teeth to contain the laughter that’s forming in my gut. She seems so flustered it’s beyond hilarious. Nikole’s eyes glare at me through the screen as a light huff vibrates through the speakers.

“Yeah we just got done doing a few run throughs. I was just about to show them what I worked on back at home.” My back falls back into the chair with a soft thud. I watch over the screen as the remaining members walk into my office. Jimin and Hoseok are talking quietly with each other as their eyes look at me with a strange gleam.

“You look like you need sleep. Have you eaten anything yet? Have you even been by your new place yet?” Of course she would be mother hen right now.

“No and no Nikole. Why are you acting like the big sister here?” Hushed whispers start to fill the room around me as Taehyung and Jungkook make their way over to observe the screen. Instantly my sister’s face turns five shades redder and she frantically waves, it’s no secret that she’s a huge BTS fan.

“As you can tell we were in the middle of something so how about I call you back later? It must be later at home, get some sleep.”

“Don’t worry Nikole, the boy and I are going to make sure she eats plenty.” Namjoon has an evil smirk gracing his lips as he makes the bold statement. Looks like there’s no getting out of this one.

“Good! She’s had me and our grandmother worried sick for two days now….Y/n just make sure you take care of yourself.” The tone in her voice shifts into a more serious and somber one. I knew that this move would be tough on everyone close to me but I didn’t think it would be this rough on her.

“I promise. Now you get some sleep, you have class in the morning.”

“Yes mother. Bye love!” She waves enthusiastically as she blows a kiss to the screen, I act like I caught it as I ended the call. Instead of acknowledging the boys around me I immediately start to connect my laptop to the large television hanging on the wall.

“She seems worried.” Jimin’s soft voice catches my attention. All I can bring myself to do is nod slightly at his comment.

“We’ve always been close and now that I’ve moved halfway around the world she’s a little anxious. She’s the sister that keeps me grounded and focused…..” Clicking on the video I swivel the chair with a large smile on my face, “ Speaking of focused, everyone watch the screen. This is what we will be learning Monday.”

All of our eyes lock onto the large screen as their new song ‘Fake Love’ boomed in the background. This one took a lot more work than I originally thought, there are still a few things that I want to tinker with as well. I know that they won’t have a problem learning the moves, I just worry that it won’t be to their liking.

Flicking my eyes from the screen, I look around to see that they are engrossed with the screen. Jimin and Jungkook look surprisingly excited at what they’re watching, Hoseok is dancing in his chair with the beat and I try to stifle a laugh. It looks like my hard work has somewhat paid off, now all I have to do is teach them and make it look seamless.

As the song ends, the screen cuts black and I quickly move to stop the video. I don’t want them to see what else I’ve made until later. Plus I want to hear their honest opinions before I show them too, just in case I need to change anything.

“So what do you guys think?” In an instant seven sets of eyes cut over to me and my breath catches in my throat. Could it be that bad? In my chest my heart starts to thud loudly and I grip onto my hoodie tightly.

“Why can’t we start today?” Hoseok whines as he practically jumps from the chair. Taehyung shares the same excitement as they rush over to the computer.

“Honestly we could but I think everyone is a little exhausted.” I know I am. All I want right now is a scalding hot shower, food and sleep. Hopefully and preferably in that order.

Jungkook gives me the biggest doe eyes I’ve ever seen in my life as he pouts at my answer. How could someone ever say no to that face? Just as I open my mouth to suggest going through the dance one time Namjoon and Yoongi cut in.

“Y/n still needs to get back to her apartment and we all need to get cleaned up for dinner.” Leave it to Namjoon to come to my rescue. Oh wait!

“Speaking of apartment, do you have keys for me?” Namjoon nods slowly as he pulls out an envelope from the top desk drawer. Inside are two silver house keys, but they aren’t the same which is weird, and a car fob. Awesome I’m not going to be stranded waiting on ride. I’ll have to thank Bang-shi whenever I personally meet him.

“Wait...what? Why did you know where y/n’s keys where?” Jin questions. Right now I really don’t want to go through the long history of Namjoon and I’s friendship.

“It was part of my agreement. BitHit is providing housing and transportation as long as I’m working for them.” They should understand that well enough considering BigHit did it for them in the beginning.

“She’s actually staying on the floor above our dorm.” There’s a glimmer in all of their eyes. They really aren’t known for personal space so I can only imagine what plots are running wild in those crazy minds. Namjoon warned before I came over that they might pop up whenever they feel like it.

“Should we head out? I want to start unpacking my stuff tonight. Oh after dinner I mean.”

“Are you going to need some help?” Jin asked nicely with a soft smile. I know he’s only offering because it’s the nice thing to do. But I don’t want to bother them with something so miniscule as unpacking boxes, so I shake my head no.

“I think I can handle a few boxes. Thank you though.” I smile softly as I pack away my laptop into the bag I brought in. My eyes catch sight of my phone that I just hazardly threw into the bag at the airport. Hopefully it isn’t dead because I can only imagine how many times my sister has called.

“How about some company instead?” Jimin offers next, his head cocked to the side with a wide smile spread on his lips. No wonder these boys are hardly ever told no, I mean seriously they are too cute to say no to.

“If you want you can hangout. It’s not going to be much fun though.” A shrugs off my comment and I take that as he’s going to come either way. He energetically nods at the offer and bounces on his toes. I mean seriously how can someone be so adorable? Giggling I roll my eyes and throw my bag over my shoulder.

“Namjoon will you ride with me that way I know where to go?” I could use the GPS on my phone but I would really like a few minutes alone with my friend. All the nerves are starting to get the better of me and my anxieties are starting to take over.

He give me a dimple filled smile and simply nods, but yet none of us move. It’s like we don’t know how to continue. There’s a certain tension in the air, it’s almost suffocating.

“Well then let’s head out. I don’t know about all of you but I’m starving and tired.” Yoongi speaks up as he walks out of the room. Thankfully this gets everyone else moving. Looks like Yoongi has an act for reading the situation in the room better than anyone else.

I walk out of the office last as I shut the door and make sure it’s locked. Namjoon and I walk slowly behind the others as I suck in a deep breath. My hand clenches my phone tightly as my chest starts to constrict, my mind still trying to process what just happened in the past hour. The walk to the parking lot is too quiet but it’s almost soothing.

“They seem more excited than I originally thought they would be.” Namjoon breaks the silence which I’m grateful for but I don’t know how to respond. I actually thought they would be upset that I was going to be working for them. After all, compared to them I’m a nobody.

“That’s good I guess….” There’s no confidence in my voice as we make our way over to car. The key in my pocket feels like lead as I reach for it. Fishing out the fob, the black car beeps as I unlock the doors.

“What’s wrong y/n?” Shrugging my shoulders I open the back door to gently place my bag in the floorboard before jumping into the driver’s seat. Namjoon plops down and watches me carefully as I start the car. We sit like this for a moment before a large sigh leaves my body as I slump back into the seat.

“I guess I’m just worried that they aren’t going to actually like me. I know they really aren’t supposed to but I’m going to be working with you all for a while.” The words come out like a waterfall as I rub my eyes with the heel of my palm. There are too many factors and situations running through my brain for me to be able to function properly. Also I’m sleep deprived and starving, which doesn’t help anything.

“Last time I checked you’re a huge nerd like us, you love what you do and what we do, you are one of the kindest people I’ve ever met which is saying a lot. And you put everything into what you love. I think you’re just overthinking.” Why is it that Namjoon knows exactly what to say at the exact moment? My body relaxes further into the seat but I jump when a large truck honks their horn at us, Jin is waving enthusiastically at us and so is everyone else in the truck. Behind them Jungkook waves from his car. Namjoon waves at them before they take off.

“Like I said, you’re overthinking.” Nodding slightly, I sit back up and put the car into drive and try to follow behind the other two vehicles. Namjoon fiddles with the radio and soft music fills the space. A yawn echoes through the car which makes Namjoon look at me worriedly.

“Are you sure you’ll be able to make it through dinner?” Honestly I’m not but the others looked so excited. And it will be a good way to get to know them all.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll just crash after dinner and wake up early tomorrow.” It wouldn’t be the first time that I’ve gone this long without sleep.

“I’m glad you said that because I don’t think Jungkookie will let you off that easily. He looked really excited to watch you dance. Actually they all did, you really impressed the dance line for sure.” For some reason a sigh of relief washes over me and a smile cracks on my face. I quickly move my arm out and tap his arm lightly.

“So you haven’t told them anything about me?” I know it sounds strange to say it that way but we made an agreement before I signed with BigHit. None of the members should know that Namjoon and I have been friends since they debuted. It makes it easier on my end, because honestly I know a lot about them and I’ve followed them since their debut.

“I only mentioned something to Yoongi just because he knew something was up with me. I didn’t say too much honestly.” I bite my bottom lip as I turn the wheel, Namjoon points to a large building and I can only guess that this is where I’ll be staying for the next few years.

“It’s not like they won’t figure it out. I mean after all you seemed super nervous when you came into the practice room.” He teases me as I pull into a parking spot next to Jin’s truck.

“Of course I was! I mean seriously Namjoon, I’ve wanted this job since the first time you offered it.” I huff out as I turn off the car and unbuckle. My body twists so I can look at him directly.

“I’m just glad you accepted the offer this time. I honestly never thought that you would sign….especially after the incident.” I tense at his words and drop the smile from my lips. That’s something I really don’t want to bring up now, even more so with the six other members watching the exchange in the car.

“Yeah, yeah. We can talk more about that later. We have an audience.” Making my escape, I grab my bag from the backseat and wave to the members that stuck around.

“Come on, I’ll give you a sneak peek of our dorm so we can get you something to wear for tonight. Then I’ll show you to your apartment.” He wiggles his brows at the sneak peek part and starts to walk ahead of me. The others have already started to migrate into the building.

I’m really thankful to have a friends like Namjoon. I never thought that we would be as close as we are now. Some would call it dumb luck when I ran into them at their American debut in L.A. I literally ran into Namjoon after the event and we just clicked when we started talking. We exchanged numbers and kept in contact for the most part, then over the years he would call me when part of their choreo gave him trouble.That’s when he threw out the idea of me coming to work for them. At first it wasn’t an option but I did consult for ‘Fire’ and when the offer came around for a second time I knew that I couldn’t say no. After I signed the two year contract, Namjoon immediately called and we talked for hours. I voiced some of my concerns which he tried to solve, but honestly I’ll have to get over them myself.

“Earth to y/n, you coming?” Blinking a few times I realize that I zoned out in the elevator. A blush creeps on my cheeks as I follow behind him quickly. He opens the front door and I’m honestly surprised at how quiet the dorm is considering seven people live in it.

“How can it be this quiet?”

“Everyone must be taking showers and getting ready. Come on, my room is this way.” We walk down a long hallway and he unlocks the door to his room. Immediately he goes to the closet to pull out a large grey sweater.

“I know it’s not as warm as you’re used to at home, so hopefully this will help.”

“It will, thank you.”

The material looks plush and soft, like my favorite blanket back home. As soon as I grab the sweater from him I’m instantly wanting to wrap myself in the softness. My lips turn into a wide smile.

“Okay then, let’s get you to your own room so you can clean up.” He motions for the door and I can’t help but follow. A new type of excitement bubbles in my stomach as we begin to sneak out of the dorm. Different type of music now fills the enormous space, everything from a smooth jazz style to rap.

“See, it’s hardly ever quiet in here for long.” I can sense the sarcasm in Namjoon’s voice as we exit through the front door. Entering the elevator we go up one floor and he walks me to the second door, he wiggles his brows as I fish out the keys. Sucking in a deep breath, I twist the key in the knob and slowly open the door.

My eyes scan around to see all of the boxes cluttering the space, it was a pain to pack them all up and I even had help now it’ll be just me. I can’t help the small groan that vibrates from my chest as I peel off my shoes. The apartment is spacious with furniture already occupying the space, which is strange because I thought I was going to have to furnish it myself.

“I made a deal with Band PD so you would already have furniture.” Namjoon chuckles behind me and I just shake my head at him. He’s always full of surprises.

“Thank you. Again.” It feels slightly like home, even with my stuff being packed away.

“It’s no big deal. I’ll leave you to get ready, one of us will come get you.” Nodding at him, I wave goodbye as he excuses himself. My feet carry me into the kitchen that’s open to the living room, bar stools line the island as the only place for eating which is fine considering it’s going to be only me here. Continuing my personal tour, I go down the small hallways and open both doors. One is full of boxes and a small desk, good I’ll have somewhere to work from home. The other room is my bedroom, that’s already set up and ready to go.

Tossing my bag on the bed, I plop down and fall backwards. A groan leaves my lips as I relax into the plush bed. I’d give anything just to fall asleep right now but it’s a luxury that I can’t have right now. Because in no time one of the members will be coming to get me for dinner.

Rolling off the mattress, I make my way over to a box that’s marked ‘bedroom tech’. Yes! Ripping the tape off I look for my large speaker and laugh in triumphum as I pull out the pink device. A new wave of energy courses through my body as I open up my bag to pull out my black leggings, Converse and toiletry bag. The clear bag gets tucked under my arm as I unlock my phone to sync the speaker. Music starts to take over the silence as I walk into my bathroom.

A few towels are laid out for me and a small sticky note is hanging onto the mirror. Reaching for the shower handle, I start the water trying to get it as warm as possible as my eyes scan the note.

‘I’m glad to be working with my good friend. -Namjoon ‘

I’ll have to repay him for being so thoughtful, maybe I can get him a new figure for his studio. Setting the devices on the counter I strip off the stiff clothes and jump into the shower.

Rushing from the shower, I quickly tug on the set of clothes I laid out. Well all except the sweater Namjoon is letting me borrow. The last thing I want is for my makeup to ruin it. My spirit is lifted after the refreshing shower, looks like I just needed to wash away the past few days. My eyes scan over my face in the mirror, some of my color has returned and my eyes seem to shine slightly more.

Reaching for my phone I click on my KPop playlist, mostly composed of BTS songs to be honest, and start to dry my hair. It seems Namjoon took everything into consideration for when I landed. He knows I can be a workaholic and knew I wouldn’t come straight here after landing. So he must’ve taken the liberty of digging through my boxes for a hair dryer, another reason why I’ll have to find him a few new figures. After feeling the cool chill when I landed it’s a very welcomed gesture. Even in early November it’s colder here than it gets at home. The last thing I want is to get sick my first week here.

Once my hair is finished I start parting the top portion into two sections for an easy space bun hairdo. Nikole would have a field day laughing at me and my time management but right now I don’t care. The remaining pieces of hair cascade down my back and curl gently at the ends. Moving onto my makeup, I just apply light foundation and mascara. Nothing too crazy, nothing that will cause me to stand out. Topping it off I brush my teeth and smile in the mirror. Not too bad for someone who hasn’t slept properly.

Walking back into my bedroom, I take my time pulling on Namjoon’s sweater. Carefully stretching it so no foundation will smear on the grey material. Since he’s so much taller than me the hem of the shirt lands about mid thigh but overall it fits nicely. Taking one last glance in the mirror I hear someone knock on my front door. The sound surprises me for a second before I dance my way to answer it. I’m expecting Namjoon to come as I open the door quickly.

I was wrong.

My dancing seizes as I’m met with a bright, confused smile from Jimin. The look alone makes my stomach flutter and my throat tighten a little. Great. For a moment neither of us move, I can’t stop my eyes from scanning over him. He’s changed into a denim button up with black jeans. A simple outfit that he makes looks way more stylish than it should.

Shaking my head to break myself out of the thought, I look back at him to see that he’s taking in my appearance too. All of the sudden I feel small under his gaze, which it ironic considering he isn’t that much larger than me. His head cocks to the side and I muster a small smile as my stomach turns into knots.

“Namjoon sent me to get you. The rest of the guys are downstairs in the lobby.” He says sweetly but his eyes are still studying me. I bounce on the balls of my feet and heat rises to my cheeks. The intro for ‘Blood, Sweat and Tears’ echoes through the apartment and Jimin’s eyes look past me for the source of the music. My cheeks burn even more as I turn slightly away from him.

“Sorry. I’ll be right back.” I mutter before taking off back in the direction of my room. Pulling on my Converse, pink hooded jacket I shove my phone and keys safely in my purse. Double checking everything as I return back to Jimin, he’s fiddling with something in his hand. How did I not notice that before?

“Jin and Suga hyung thought it would be best for you to wear this.” His hand extends out to offer me a white face mask. Cocking my head to the side slightly I take the mask and hold it loosely in my hand. When I was getting ready to move over I knew that this was a commonly worn item. I guess it makes sense for me to wear one while I’m out with them. Hide our identity, try to blend in scenario.

“Thank you Jimin. We should get going so we don’t have to keep them waiting.” He nods and leads the way from the apartment to the elevator, once the doors close on us I feel strange. For some reason I feel on edge and anxious around Jimin the most and I just met them. Sure I’ve secretly admired him for years now. It’s no secret that his dancing skills are amazing and I personally can’t wait to have the one on one time with him. Maybe he can teach me a few new skills like his interpretive style. I’ve always struggled with it and he does it so well.

The dinging of the door pulls me from my thoughts as he leads the way. Nervously my hands fiddle with the mask trying to focus on anything but the large mob of men waiting for us. Jungkook and Taehyung are the first to notice our arrival.

“About time! Hurry and put your mask on so we can go.” Jungkook chants as he pulls along some of the other members. He’s so full of energy even after an exhausting day of practice, it’s almost contagious. Almost. My legs act on their own as I gravitate towards Namjoon, towards my personal safety net. I’m trying not to be completely awkward but I’m not sure how to start conversations with them. I watch as the boys cover their faces with either a mask or a thick scarf, I follow suit. The straps tug against the back of my earrings as I settle them in place. It feels so strange to have my face covered and breathing is difficult but I’m sure after a while I’ll get used to it.

“Why are you being so shy with them?” Namjoon’s deep muffled voice fills my ears as we follow at the back of the group down the busy street. Nudging against him my eyes watch the youngest member pick at the oldest as they walk. They all seem so relaxed and carefree with each other and I wonder if they will ever be like that with me.

“Part of me thinks that the only reason why we are having this dinner is because it’s the polite thing to do.” I whisper behind the mask hoping it covers my burning cheeks. It’s a reasonable thought though. After all I never really expected to make friends with any of them except Namjoon. My eyes shift down to my feet as I stare at the concrete below me. So many fears, both rational and irrational run through my mind. Probably from lack of sleep and food. But they really won’t go away until the tension around all of us vanished. Which could be a while.

“Overthinking again.” He teases before calling out to Yoongi. For a split second I can see that he’s debating on if he should turn or not but eventually he does. He stops in his tracks so we can catch up. The other half of the group is a good distance in front of us.

“You seem very quiet y/n. From what RM has said about you I figured you’d be a little more lively.” I have to stop my jaw from dropping to the ground completely, I’m suddenly very thankful for the mask.

“What has he said about me?” Shooting a dagger filled look at Namjoon, I feel my ears start to turn red in embarrassment. What on earth could he have told Yoongi?

“Basically you’re the female version of us is the short answer.” His answer almost stops me in my tracks. There’s no way I’m that similar to them.

“What do you mean by that?” My voice almost cracks as I try to regain my composure.

“You work hard on every project you have, he described you as a kind and sweet person but you aren’t afraid to stand up for what’s right or others. RM also mentioned that you’ll fit in perfectly with us. I haven’t known you long but if RM thinks that highly of you then it must be true.”

My mind gets clouded by the stream of compliments coming from Yoongi. For some reason my eyes water, for just a second, and I blink quickly. It’s nice to know what Namjoon really thinks of me. Smiling behind the mask I tilt my head to the side almost childlike.

“That means a lot honestly. I was afraid that you all wouldn’t like me or that you were only being nice because it’s the polite thing to do.”

It seems it’s his turn to feel embarrassed or uncomfortable because the tips of his ears turn a pale pink. All he responds with is a simple nod as we’re ushered into a restaurant, seems the rest of the boys have already made their way into a closed off room. I’m actually surprised that they weren’t noticed in the streets.

Taking off the mask, I stuff it into the pocket of my jacket as my arm is tugged at. Hoseok looks up at me with a wide smile while I’m being pulled down to sit directly beside him. First I’m stunned that he just willingly wants me to sit beside him. Looking around I see that the three youngest are sitting across from us. Jimin’s lips twist up into a small smile and my stomach flutters at the sight. How can one simple smile make me feel relaxed yet on edge at the same time?

Yoongi plops down beside me while taking off his mask. Jin and Namjoon sit at the head of the large table both bringing up a beer bottle to their lips. So alcohol will be involved tonight….fantastic.

I’m passed a bottle and the giver has a huge smile on his face. Hoseok nudges my arm as he brings his own bottle up. Looks like there’s no getting out of this tonight, maybe I can pace myself and only drink one.

The table around me erupts into multiple conversations, the one that catches is the almost argument that’s being had across me. Literally. Yoongi and Hoseok are leaning towards each other which means they are squishing me. They are going back and forth over which anime or manga series is better, Dragon Ball or One Piece.

“You agree with me right y/n, Dragon Ball is better because at least they can wrap up a story.” Turning my head side to side, evaluating the group around me I shrug my shoulders. Nervously I find my eyes wandering over to Namjoon pleading for help but it looks like I’m being fed to the wolves. Might as well blow my cover now.

“Actually in my opinion Naruto is one the best.” Jaws drop around the table as I bring up my beer bottle. Maybe I can blame my reddening cheeks on the alcohol. I want to sink into the floor and hide under the table with all of the looks I’m getting right now.

“I told you, she’s a nerd.” Namjoon’s voice booms out as he looks at Yoongi with a dimple smile while everyone starts laughing. Huffing a little at his comment I continue to take nervous sips, almost drinking it dry. I guess a second one won’t hurt.

The laughter dies down and Yoongi begins to cook the meat that was brought out just seconds ago. And there’s so much. I know that these boys are always active but I never imagined they would be able to clear out this amount in one sitting. Under the table my phone vibrates and a notification from Bang-ssi pops up. He wants to see all of the video’s I made before moving, thankfully I finished almost all of them. Quickly responding that I will show him Monday morning during our brief meeting, I lock my phone and gaze back up to the younger boys. Jungkook is whispering in both Jimin and Taehyung ears while stealing glances in my direction. No doubt they are curious about something but too torn on whether to ask or not.

Before I had a chance to speak, Yoongi grabs my plate to place food on it. My brows furrow together. Why did he served me first?

“You didn’t have to serve me first Yoongi oppa. I know that you all must be starving.” I try to sound as polite as possible, hiding my confusion. A gummy smile is sent my way and I can’t help but smile back. For someone that tries to act all tough he sure is a sweetheart.

“You’re our guest tonight. Plus ladies first.” Accepting the plate, I look back over to the trio. Yoongi may have served me first but I’ll wait until the others all have food. Which means I have time to interrogate them.

“Jungkook, Jimin, Taehyung, what were you all whispering about?” There’s a smirk forming on my lips as I lean forward slightly. Beside me I hear Hoseok cough from my sudden boldness and I can see Namjoon smirking from the corner of my eye. He knows better than anyone that I can be a force to be reckoned with.

“Will you answer my question if I ask you?” Jungkook has a slight cockiness in his tone. The alcohol giving the boy a little more confidence. He leans forward and rests his chin on his closed fist. His eyes narrow in on me as he gauges my answer.

“Sure.” I say before bringing the new bottle to my lips. One of my brows raises as I wait for him to speak.

“How old are you?” The question causes the two eldest to stop talking with each other and makes them look over in terror. I have to contain a laugh as I cough slightly almost choking on the drink. Placing the bottle down so I don’t spill it everywhere, I swallow and suck in a deep breath.

“I thought I raised you better than that!” Jin yells at the boy. A streak of red across his face from annoyance and embarrassment.

“Don’t act innocent Jin hyung. You are just as curious as us.” Jungkook throws back at him, which makes the strip of red darken. I can’t contain myself as I start laughing. My stomach hurts from how hard the chuckles come out. Wiping a tear from my eye, I straighten myself up and smile over at them.

“I’m 23. I was born in ‘95.” I say sweetly which causes Taehyung and Jimin to smile widely and high five each other. Muttering something about another there being another ‘95 member. I can see the wheels turning in Jungkook’s head as he phrases the next sentence gently and carefully.

“So you’re my noona?” I let the word process in my mind before nodding slowly. Everyone, even myself, burst into laughter and the tension that hung around all of us almost vanishes. Hoseok nudges me while laughing, which makes me lean into him and laugh even harder. For the first time since meeting them I feel welcomed.

“Here’s the bigger question, what’s the exact date?” Jimin asks as he leans over the table. His face looks serious but his eyes give him away. He’s enjoying this little interrogation just as much as everyone else.

“I’m older than both you and Taehyung. My birth month is January.” Smirking I lean back from the table so Yoongi can continue to serve the others. Once all of their plates are filled, we start to eat. More questions are asked throughout the majority of the meal. Mostly by Jimin and Hoseok.

“Where are you from?”

“A southern state in America.”

“How long have you been dancing?”

“My whole life.”

The basic questions. With each wave of questions, they get more personal and I feel us all getting closer and closer to actually forming a friendship. Maybe it will make it easier teaching them the new moves. Oh!

“Jungkook I almost forgot, could I watch the video you recorded real quick?” He nods quickly as he pulls out his phone from under the table. Loading the video I reach out to take the device. Hoseok leans over and places him chin on my shoulder to watch also. This would’ve made me flinch but with the small amount of alcohol in my system and the relaxed atmosphere it just makes me smile.

As the music starts I scrunch my nose at the way I looked. Completely unprofessional and sloppy, but my dancing was amazing after sitting still for so long. But as I watch I notice that there are a few eyes that are glued on me the entire time. From behind I see that Jimin and Hoseok watch me closely. But it’s more Jimin than anyone, I feel my face start to burn as the song ends. In my ear I can hear Hoseok chuckle before removing himself from his perch. Handing the phone back to its owner I silently finish off the remaining beer, guess I’m drinking more than I thought.

My phone starts buzzing loudly and I look down in horror. My sister is calling me again. Looking around at the others to make sure I’m not being rude, they all motion for me to answer. Taking in a deep breath I slide the answer icon.

“Hey Nikole.”

“I didn’t think you’d still be awake.”

“I could say the same for you. Isn’t it like 6 in the morning there?”

“I have an exam today so I figured I’d get up early. But what are you doing now? Are you unpacking?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then what in the world are you doing?”

“I’m at dinner right now.”

“No way. Are you at dinner with BTS?!”

“I’ll tell you later, right now I’m being very rude. I hope you do well on your exam and I’ll text you when I’m back in my room.”

“I’ll hold you to that. You better call Nat too, she’s been waiting. Love you bye.”

“Love you bye.”

Hanging up the phone, I stuff it in the pocket of my jacket. All eyes are on me again and I roll my eyes slightly. Of course my youngest sister would be waiting. I guess I’ll call her when I get back to my room. Taehyung catches my attention, his eyes are wide with a huge smile plastered on his face.

“Can you teach me English?” I’m deadpanned by the question. I never thought that someone would ask me that. But it makes sense for me to teach them, I don’t see the harm in it either.

“Ah...sure, I guess. On off days I can. Well except for tomorrow.”

“Why not tomorrow?” He sounds almost disappointed and a small pout forms on his lips. No wonder people have a hard time telling these boys no.

“I need to unpack. But since I don’t have any sleep clothes because my luggage didn’t arrive with me I might just start tonight. In all honesty I may just end up playing games all night.” Shrugging my shoulders I take the bottle that Jimin offers me, I can’t bring myself I look at him without my cheeks heating up. I can’t stop thinking about how closely he was watching me earlier.

“Do you still want some company?” Jimin offers and I shrug my shoulders again as I manage to look at him. My stomach flutters and flips at the smile he has. I really need to get myself together if I’m going to be any use to them as a choreographer.

“After a full day you must be tired. I’ll be fine. Promise.” My voice almost fails me as I say the opposite of what I mean. Every fiber of my being wants someone to be there, I’m dreading being alone. It was nice earlier but it was only temporary. It would be nice to get to know them too. After all they are going to be the only ones I know here.

“I could let you borrow some Noona. Plus I heard video games so I’m in.” Shifting my gaze over to the youngest he has a wide smile on his lips. Back home we really don’t have nicknames like “oppa” or “noona” so I don’t really know how to feel but my heart squeezes at the endearing way he says it.

“Sounds like a plan then.” I say lightly as I finish the food on my plate. We’ve all been pacing ourselves to draw out the get together but around the table I can see that some of the boys look like they’re about to pass out into their food, mainly Yoongi.

“I guess it’s time to get going before Suga passes out on the food.” Namjoon and Jin agree with Hoseok as they move to pull out their wallets. Reaching for my own I see seven sets of eyes widen as if I had two heads and three arms. I can’t help but furrow my brows together.

“Why are you all looking at me like that?”

“Because we invited you to dinner, so we should be the one to pay.” Jin says bluntly.

“That’s very nice of you Seokjin but I can’t ask for you to pay for my part. It’s only fair if I pay for my own.”

“I’d listen to her Jin, she can be very hard headed when it comes to this.” Glaring my eyes over to Namjoon, I place my card down over the ticket that was placed in front of me. If they think money is an issue then they are terribly wrong. BigHit was more than generous when signing my contract. Not only am I getting paid weekly, they also gave me a large bonus for signing on with them. Guess it comes with being one of the “best young choreographers” in the industry. Even though a few companies say that about me I can’t really see it. I just do this to have fun.

Once all of our cards are returned I sign my name quickly. The curved loops of my name look so foreign compared to the others around me. It will take me a while to learn how to sign my name in Korean so for now I’ll have to stick to cursive.

Leaving the small restaurant the weight on my chest feels slightly lighter as my mask returns to cover my face. As we walk back to the dorms we all joke and I feel like I’m slowly being accepted into the elite group that is BTS. It’s nice to see them interacting without a camera recording every small detail. They seem like ordinary people with no cares except for what’s going on in the here and now. It’s really refreshing to see them this way. Any need for sleep has vanished from my body as I look forward to having some company for a little while longer. The front doors of the building come into view and I breathe heavily under the mask. Fishing out my key, we divide into two different groups since the elevator can’t really hold all of us. I’m left standing with Jungkook, Jimin and Taehyung.

It feels cramped in the tight space with them, they all have too much natural energy. Unfortunately it’s contagious as I find myself bouncing on the balls of my feet. The elevator stops on their floor and Jungkook looks over at me with a wide smile saying he will be right up. Nodding with an equally bright smile I wave goodbye as the doors close so I can rise up one more floor. My feet carry my body to the safety of my apartment. A heavy sigh leaves my lips as I dial Natalie’s number, ripping off my mask.

“It’s about time you called me! I was so worried.” My chest tightens at the worry in her voice. Tears threaten to prick at my eyes as I lean against the counter top.

“I’m sorry, I’ve been busy.” I lean over to remove my shoes and throw them carelessly beside the couch.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard that before. Anyways, how is BTS?”

“Fine I guess. I really won’t get to spend much time with them until next week. Anyways what are you up to?”

“Nikole and I are driving into school.” In the background I can hear Nikole singing along to the song on the radio and Natalie shushes her loudly in my ear.

“How was dinner with seven of the most talented men in the world?” Even from this far away I can see her face, tongue sticking out as her head cocks to the side.

“It was nice. Definitely an icebreaker. Jungkook and Jimin, I think, are going to come over here in a little to keep me company while I unpack.” I flop back on the couch and let my legs hang over the armrest. My body tenses and then relaxes at the feeling. Tonight I’m going to sleep so well.

“Is that really a good idea? I mean afterall you just met them.” Natalie sounds worried and I find myself sitting up and rubbing my cheek lightly as a heavy sigh passes through my lips. She’s right. It’s not a matter of just meeting them, it’s a matter of I’m their choreographer and dance instructor. I shouldn’t be getting too close with them.

“Nat, they are the only people I know. I’m glad that they even offered. After all the next few years will be boring if I don’t hangout with anyone at all.” There’s a pounding on the front door that causes me to jump from my spot. There is no way Jungkook is already here.

“I know. All I’m saying is be careful, the last thing you want is to ruin this chance. Especially after you waited so long.” Nikole scolds me through the phone, typical.

“I know….” As I open the door my jaw drops to the floor. I was only expecting to see Jungkook and possibly Jimin. But once again I’m wrong.

“Nikole, Nat I’ve got to go. Good luck on your exams and send me pictures.” Clicking the phone without waiting for a response I stare at the large group of men, all wearing pajamas or comfortable clothes. Hoseok is holding a bag, it’s contents completely unknown, while both Jungkook and Yoongi are holding spare clothes.

“We all decided to come help!” Namjoon booms in the hallway, a shit eating grin exposing those hard to resist dimples.

It’s going to be a long night.

[amuseoffyre]

Crossing Paths - 879-1020 - The Arrangement

Well, we all knew this one was coming, didn’t we? :) Only it took a lot more scenes, years and places than I originally intended. Biggest dang chapter of the whole fic.

879 – Burgundy

“Why is it,” Crowley said as they squelched across the courtyard, rain bouncing off their helmets, “that every time we meet like this, it’s pouring?”

Aziraphale had been wondering the same think. It was unseasonably chilly in Burgundy and water was dripping down the back of his neck. “Neither rain, nor storm, nor gloom of night can stay these messengers about their duty.”

Crowley’s squelches stopped. “Where’d you dig up that bollocks?” he demanded.

Aziraphale made a face at him. “Well, we are messengers.”

“We’re drowned rats, that’s what we are.” The demon shuddered, his mail rattling. “Don’t see why both of us have to be here as well.”

“Don’t start on that again,” Aziraphale trudged on, his leather boots doing little to keep out the mud and water.

“It’s true though, isn’t it?” Crowley squished after him. “I mean, it’s not like we don’t know we can do both. Remember Lindis–”

Aziraphale spun around, then grabbed at the demon’s arm to steady himself when his foot skidded in the mud. “That,” he said, straightening up, “was a one-time exception.”

“Fine,” the demon sighed. “Just a suggestion.”

Aziraphale made a face at him. “Fiend.” He turned sharply and continued across the courtyard.

“Yeah, yeah,” Crowley grumbled gloomily, plodding after him.

894 – Baroli

 “At least it’s warm this time?”

Aziraphale wrapped his arms around his middle and stepped more pointedly back beneath the thatched roof of the mud-and-stick house. It was warm, but the rain was battering the ground with a vengeance. “It wasn’t raining last time we ran into each other.”

“That’s cos we weren’t on the job,” Crowley pointed out, shaking out the colourful swirl of fabric he had wrapped around himself. It reminded Aziraphale of a toga, only stitched with bright patterns. His hair was longer again and loose to his waist, decorated with beads and jewels like the women of the village there were currently in. He was even wearing a gleaming stud in his nose. “Having a drink together doesn’t count.”

“Semantics,” the angel muttered. “Why are you here?”

“Erm…”

Aziraphale glanced at him. The demon almost looked embarrassed. “What is it?”

“A chicken.”

“I beg your pardon?”

Crowley rubbed at his forehead. “I’m here,” he said, as if every word was being dragged out of him, “to tempt a boy to steal a chicken.”

“A chicken.” Aziraphale cleared his throat. “I see.”

Crowley glared at him, daring him to laugh. “You know what the job’s like,” he said sullenly. “It’s not all topple-the-empire.” He narrowed his eyes at Aziraphale. “Why are you here?”

“A touch of inspiration for the foundation of a temple or two,” Aziraphale said serenely. “Unlike your job.”

It was, he thought, very immature of Crowley to blow a raspberry in response.

 902 – Mercia

“Oho! How the tables have turned!”

Aziraphale shot a glare over his shoulder. “This isn’t what it looks like.”

“I dunno.” The demon was perched on the wall that surrounded the small courtyard. “Looks to me like you’re involved in… fowl play.” He grinned even more widely when the angel groaned. “Need a hand, angel?”

Aziraphale made a face. “I can manage quite well on my own,” he said, making a sharp gesture to freeze the errant goose where it was. “The silly woman refused to listen to me unless I fetched her goose.” He straightened up with the bird tucked under his arm. He frowned. “What on earth are you dressed as?”

Crowley glanced down at himself and the rags and tatters he was wearing. “Village idiot, I think. Or mystic prophet,” he said. “Hard to tell these days. Cushy number, though. Just have to stand in the town square and make ominous proclamations at people who go by. Funny how easy they are to wind up, humans.”

Aziraphale, knee-deep in animal and bird matter, an angrily-pecking goose under his arm, grimaced. “Why do you always get the easy jobs?”

Crowley laughed, crossing one knee over the other. “S’because we’re known for it, aren’t we? Sloth. We’re lazy so we make the job as easy as possible. Why’d’you think they like the one-on-one treatment so much downstairs? Show up once a week per person, boom, temptation accomplished.”

It certainly did sound much simpler and far less time-consuming. And on top of that, that’s all Crowley was doing and he was still cancelling out every carefully-planned blessing and miracle Aziraphale created. It hardly seemed fair. And Crowley had suggested they stay at home once in a while and there was that rather nice little villa in Londinium–

He shook himself, annoyed.

“Stop that!”

“Stop what?” The demon raised his eyebrows.

“Tempting me.”

Crowley looked bewildered. “I’m not.”

“Of course you are,” Aziraphale said tetchily. “Why else would you make it sound so easy?”

“You’ve lost me, angel.”

Aziraphale narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Hm.”

 917 – Priesca

“Now I’m not saying I’m considering your suggestion…”

“What suggestion was that?” Crowley inquired, snapping his fingers to crack the support leg of one of the ladders propped against the wall above them.

Aziraphale delicately side-stepped as there was a yell from above and the ladder started to tip. A shower of masonry crashed down some yards away. On the ground, a red-faced human rushed over from one of the tables that lined the edge of the building site, rage roiling off him like steam.

“The… ah…” He paused, considering the situation, then moved his hand, a puff of air catching the falling builder and setting him on his feet on the ground. A sussuration of gasps passed through the crowd, most of whom hastily crossed themselves, and even the furious architect’s anger briefly waned. “That,” Aziraphale clarified.

“What? You undoing all my…” Crowley paused, considering him. “Oh. That suggestion.”

“We can’t be sure they wouldn’t know.”

Crowley snorted, flicking his finger towards the half-constructed wall above them. A fresh shower of masonry fragments rained down, reminding the architect of his outrage. “D’you honestly think they have time to quality control every little thing? No one cares.”

“I care.”

“And all angels on high are like you, are they?” Crowley waved a hand dismissively. “Nah. They’re all just ticking the boxes. Make the numbers and knock off for the day. Sooner the better as well.”

Aziraphale glanced at the focus of his particular task. The man’s hands were badly bruised and it looked like at least one bone broken from scrabbling at the wall as he fell. A curl of Aziraphale’s fingers and a whisper of a blessing and the bones slid back into alignment, the bruises fading under the awed eyes of his fellows.

“Oi!” The demon nudged him. “Don’t overdo it. There’s only so much cathedral I can drop before my guy’ll take it as an act of God and give you the credit as well.”

Aziraphale had the grace to blush. So fine was the line between a miracle and damnation. “Sorry.”

Crowley snorted. “Right.”

 978 – On the shores of Lake Chad

The pebble bounced off a rock and landed neatly on the tree branch above the surface of the shimmering lake.

“You cheated.”

Crowley glanced up at the mildly reproachful voice. “Well, yeah.” He held up a pebble to the angel. “Want to give it a go.”

Aziraphale turned the pebble over in his hands. “Actually…” He faltered, frowning, squinting against the bright sunlight. “Er…”

Crowley sprawled down onto his back, lacing his fingers behind his head. His braid made for a decent pillow against the short, prickly grass. “Spit it out, angel. You didn’t come all this way to get tongue-tied.” He yawned, closing his eyes against the day. “S’not like I don’t have better things to do.”

“Ididatemptation.”

Crowley’s eyes slammed open. “You did what?”

The angel’s face was scarlet. “I-I-I thought I ought to test the hypothesis! I mean, what you said! About them not checking!” His hands were rapidly spinning the pebble so much that it was little more than a blur between his fingers. “And-and-and I thought…well, I thought if I did one and balanced it out with an extra miracle, then no one would mind and so… well… um…”

Crowley stared up at him. “You?” He rolled onto his side and propped himself up on his elbow, trying to wrap his head around the fact that Aziraphale hadn’t just done it, but had done it after considering Crowley’s advice. “Aziraphale. Guardian of the Eastern Gate? A Cherubim of the Heavenly Choir?”

The angel pursed his lips testily. “Don’t rub it in, all right?”

Crowley shoved himself up to sit. “Details.”

“I– what?”

“Details.” He snapped his fingers impatiently. “Come on. What did you do? Who did you tempt?”

Aziraphale stammered out a couple of words, fidgeting with the pebble.

“Oh for Hell’s sake,” Crowley groaned. Another click of his fingers and there was a cushion on the ground beside him as well as a decent-sized jar of a local brew and two cups. “Sit down, angel. Try not to look like you’re about to spontaneously combust.”

Aziraphale sagged down gratefully.

It took almost half the jar before the angel finally dropped the pebble.

“So…?” Crowley prompted.

“It–” The angel cleared his throat. “I thought I would do something small. Just in case, you know.”

“Yeah.” Crowley propped his arms on his upraised knees, watching him, unblinking.

“I prompted a young woman to… to steal something.” Aziraphale’s cheeks were definitely getting redder.

“Yeah?” Crowley couldn’t help the grin plastered all over his face. Aziraphale looked guilty as sin, but God, it was a good look on him. “What did she steal?”

If he was blushing before, Aziraphale went nearly scarlet. “N’apple.”

Crowley gawped at him. An apple. His first full-blown solo temptation and he made a woman steal a bloody apple. But of course he’d do that. He’d been there. He’d seen it. One small apple…

And he’d seen what happened after.

Crowley’s insides twisted suddenly. Aziraphale didn’t know if he was going to walk away from it, if his Heavenly superiors would bring down their wrath on him, and when he chose to risk a sin, when he dared to risk a temptation, he chose the same thing Crowley had been marked by for the rest of his existence.

“I– it– I thought it was… appropriate…” The angel sounded even more flustered. “I mean, not that it’s ever quite appropriate, but as… how was it you put it? A first offence?”

Crowley knew he should probably say something, but it felt like all his words were gone.

Every time he thought the bloody angel couldn’t surprise him anymore, Aziraphale went and turned his already chaotic world on its head again.

It took him a couple of mouthfuls from his cup before his throat would open enough to let him croak out. “No trouble since?”

Aziraphale shook his head, looking relieved. “I waited for ten years, just to be sure.”

Crowley promptly sprayed beer all over himself. “TEN YEARS!?”

The angel recoiled, offended. “There’s no need to shout.”

“But you-you-you tempt someone!” Crowley sputtered, outraged. “You! An angel! And you wait ten sodding years to tell me?!”

Aziraphale’s lips pursed. “Well, if I’d known you would make such a fuss…”

“Angel!” Crowley wailed.

The angel’s expression softened. “I had to be sure, you see,” he said quickly. “I mean, you haven’t seen how long they take with paperwork upstairs. I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure. I thought it might worry you.”

And there was that feeling of the world being turned upside down again.

Crowley snatched up the jug of beer and refilled his cup, taking three quick gulps. “D’you think…” He hesitated, wondering if it was a bit too soon to ask. But he’d never been very good at the virtues, especially not the patience rubbish. “D’you think you would do it again?”

Aziraphale looked down into his cup, a frown furrowing his brow. “I don’t know.”

Well, Crowley thought as he leaned over and refilled Aziraphale’s cup, it wasn’t a no this time.

 1020 – Southwark

“I don’t know why you keep coming back here.”

Aziraphale glanced across the table at his companion. Crowley was slouched in the chair as if he had barely a bone in his body. He had foregone his glasses. It was dark enough for them to be unnecessary. “This inn?”

“This whole area.” Crowley waved vaguely at the shuttered windows that hid the river and the city beyond it. “You could set up house anywhere and you choose the one city that has ‘burn me down and pillage me’ as a welcome mat.”

“I like it.”

“Yeah, I get that. I don’t get why.”

The angel shrugged, toying with his wooden cup. “Don’t you ever find somewhere that feels like…” He frowned, trying to find a human term for what he felt about London. “It’s not… Heaven, by any means, but it feels… right. Almost like it could be home.”

The demon arched an eyebrow. “Somewhere full of fire and screaming raiders and it feels like home? You should swing by Hell sometime. You’d get on…” One side of his mouth jerked up. “Like a house on fire.”

Aziraphale tried to school his expression into exasperation instead of fond amusement. “Surely you know what I mean, though? Don’t you have anywhere that you feel… comfortable? Safe?”

Crowley stared across the table at him for a few seconds, then finally blinked and looked away. “I think I know what you mean, yeah.” He wrinkled his nose. “Still don’t know why you feel that way about this fire hazard.”

“Let’s just agree to disagree about it,” Aziraphale said.

“Story of our life, eh, angel?” Crowley smiled crookedly at him. “So… if we’re not here to talk about your awful choice of neighbourhoods, why did you want to meet?”

Aziraphale turned his cup between his fingers. “I’ve been… thinking a little bit lately.”

“That’s not exactly news.” Crowley sat up, reaching for the pitcher to refill his cup.

“About your… suggestion.” He said the words carefully, watching the demon’s face.

Crowley’s expression didn’t change, not right away, then he sat back. “My suggestion?”

“Perhaps we–” Lord, it was harder to give voice to the words than he’d expected, even though it made a ridiculous amount of sense. “We could… arrange something.” The demon was staring at him, as if he could see right through him. “I-I mean, I would be trusting you a great deal to hold up your side, if I– if we do have an agreement.”

“And I’d have to trust you,” Crowley’s voice was mild. “Goes both way.”

“Yes, but I’m an angel. Of course I’m trustworthy.”

The demon raised his eyebrow again. “If you say so…” He leaned forward, propping both forearms on the table, almost oppressively close if it had been anyone else. “What do you have in mind?”

Aziraphale’s mouth was dry, but this was definitely the right decision, given the circumstances. It would waste much less power and energy, rushing about cancelling Crowley’s temptations, which in turn would mean he could be of more use, even if it did require a literal deal with a devil.

“The work must be done,” he said as firmly as he could. “We divide the duties where we can. If we are both to go to one place, then it would save us both time and energy if only one went, wouldn’t it?”

The demon’s lips were twitching. “If I didn’t know better, I would say you were trying to avoid crossing paths with me.”

Aziraphale huffed indignantly. “Oh, don’t be absurd. If I wanted to do that, I could.”

Crowley’s smirk turned into that familiar wicked grin. “So you don’t want to?”

The angel flapped a hand, flustered. “We’re getting off the topic!”

“Ah. Yes.” The demon inclined his head, his cropped hair sliding against his shoulder. “This new… arrangement.” He propped his elbow on the table, then cupped his chin in his hand. “I do blessings and you do temptations? And we both trust each other to maintain equilibrium?”

Aziraphale nodded, then frowned at the demon. “If I find out you’ve been messing me around and that this was all a ruse, I’ll–”

“Oh, for Hell’s sake, angel,” Crowley sighed. “I’d welcome the break as much as you.” He sat up again and offered his hand. “Will you trust me?”

Aziraphale looked from Crowley to his hand.

Five thousand years they had known one another. Five thousand mortal years of waiting for the proverbial knife in the back, but it had never come. Instead, there had been too many drinks, rather a lot of conversation and even some unexpected laughter.

Though some part of him was still screaming that Crowley was the enemy and a demon, a greater – and more sensible and pragmatic – part chose to ignore it. He reached over the table and slipped his hand into the demon’s grasp. “I’ll trust you.”

And when Crowley smiled at him, it was bright as sunlight. “Good.”

[atroopofechoesband-blog]

Throwback Song Party:  Broadway Ghost

Due to a variety of health- and geography-related issues, we haven’t been very active recently. But we’re still best friends, and we’re still super proud of the music we’ve made together.  To keep the fires burning, we’ve started a monthly series in which we dig into our catalog to tell the story of a song from our past.  This month: Broadway Ghost, the second-shortest song we’ve ever released.  One of the deeper cuts from our 2015 album The Longest Year on Record, Broadway Ghost is contemplative and airy, but packs an explosive finish.  

The Writing Process:  

Pete:  Broadway Ghost actually started out as a solo guitar song Nick was writing.  Before I moved to Toronto, we used to live together in a funky little house on the west side of Providence.  One night, I heard him strumming the basic chord structure down the hall somewhere, and was immediately captivated. The thing is, Nick is almost never working on just one project at a time, and is often in a couple of bands simultaneously. So I heard this happening, thought it was awesome, and in about ten seconds became obsessed with playing on it. I ran downstairs to see if we could use it before anyone else had a chance to jump on it or before it got filed away for some non-Troop of Echoes purpose. Total song-embryo poaching.  I tried to be cool about it, like “do you think this is maybe something we could work on, if you don’t have other plans for it?”  He was like “Yeah, sure.” Nice.

I think Nick had most of the harmonic architecture in place before the rest of us did much with it. It had a pretty strong identity from the beginning, even if some things developed as we went. The rest of us got to work trying to figure out what we could bring to it, and that kept evolving right through the recording session itself.

I tried to write a sax part for the beginning of the song; I kept bringing them to Nick and he justly pointed out that they weren’t sounding right. As a group we decided the sax parts I was writing had too much stuff going on, so we kept cutting material until the opening part was just one-note-played-at-a-time. By this time it had become kind of the modus operandi of the album anyway, and almost became like a dare between each of us, like “see how much you can cut and get away with it.” “Fuck it! It doesn’t even have to be a real melodic line! Just play two notes per measure!” The sax part developed more later, but all I had at first was that beginning part. So the idea of playing “honk” *wait* “honk” *wait* seemed really silly at that point.

But as things took shape, Broadway Ghost started to become pretty magical.  This one is a personal favorite of mine because the guitar sounds are so evocative. It sounds nocturnal and roving and mysterious to me.

Dan: In addition to the guitar parts, Nick also wrote some super rich trumpet harmonies for Broadway Ghost, which ended up playing a huge role in shaping the mood of the song.  We were incredibly lucky to have Doug Woolverton record the trumpet parts for the album, and he absolutely killed it.  He really understood what we were going for, and actually had a few ideas of how to maximize his harmonies.  

Nick: Yeah, so the majority of the trumpet arrangement was worked out beforehand. After we recorded an early demo of Broadway Ghost, I dubbed the harmonies on guitar with a volume pedal to mimic trumpet swells. When Doug came to lay down his tracks, he had some great ideas for all of his parts, including adding a high harmony line to the end section that makes for a great climactic moment.  

Doug Woolverton killing it in studio.  

The Recording Process:

Pete:  As we started the TLYOR sessions, I had a framework sax part in place, but the rhythmic delivery wasn’t solidified.  Dan, Nick, and Harry had laid down the bass, guitar, and drums for the album over the previous few months, and once they were finished up I came back from Toronto for a week for a marathon saxophone session.  By the time we got to Broadway Ghost, we had been tracking sax parts nonstop for a number of (very long) days, and I needed a break from the grind. So we took most of the day off, set up the studio so it could be kind of like a gallery space, invited some friends over and lit the room with a bunch of Christmas lights. We recorded that whole sax session in near-darkness just hanging out with everyone and it was beautiful. 

We got a few decent takes, and there was one that I thought felt better than the one that made the record.  But everyone else disagreed with me, and Graham (our recording engineer) didn’t even let me listen to the alternate take. He was like “nope, that’s the one.” Executive decision. That was the best vibes and the most fun I’ve had in a recording studio.  

Harry: That was totally Graham’s recording style, he liked working with first takes and complete playthroughs, instead of lots of fixes, overdubs, and piece-work.  It definitely helped the album retain a super “live” feel.  

Pete:  In terms of the saxophone approach, I wanted to do something kind of loose and breathy. Tenor sax can end up sounding more like a brass instrument than a woodwind sometimes, and I wanted to see if a tone closer to Dexter Gordon’s or Coleman Hawkins’ could work in the context of this band. I was not comfortable with it. It was a stretch. 

Dan:  From what I remember of the saxophone tracking for this song, we kept feeding Pete whisky and telling him to “keep it g r e a s y.”  I think it worked.  

Pete keepin’ it G R E A S Y.  

Harry:  I was totally prepared to leave Broadway Ghost bass-free. But that obviously didn’t end up happening.  I was away when most of the recording for this track happened, but apparently Dan had a tiny, minor, near-silent drum part he wanted to put down. A few days later, Graham made me sit in the chair and listen to the track with the drums absolutely cranked (which, from the reports I heard, took something like 20 takes to get right?). Graham pressed play and when I heard Dan’s drum part, I *heard* my part note-for-note in my head. That’s only happened twice to me.

Dan:  Yeah, recording the drums was a pain in the ass.  Originally the song was just supposed to be guitar and sax.  As it was kicking around, I had the idea of having a quiet, almost imperceptible drum part come in near the end of the song, basically sounding like someone was air-drumming to the song half a mile away.  We tried recording the drum part with a single room mic out in the hallway, but it sounded really off.  The balance of the kit wasn’t coming through well, the toms got swallowed up, and it made all the fills sound super janky and disruptive.  Graham had the idea to flip the switch on the drum part, turning on ALL the mics and cranking it up to 11 in the mix.  One take later, we knew we had it.  I think this is a really interesting example of what can happen to a song in the studio.  99% of the “musical content” of the song was completely written going into the session, but it didn’t really find it’s identity until that last 1% was figured out.  Messing with the dynamics of the drum/bass parts as we recorded really put the finishing touches on the song and gave it this kind of badass blast of power to cap the whole thing off.  

Pete:  I think the dynamics of this song almost defied the mastering process. It’s very quiet and then VERY LOUD and it took us a few rounds of revision to get it. I hope Carl Saff (our mastering engineer) wasn’t cursing us from his lab in Chicago over this.  

“Broadway Ghost” live at AS220, recorded by our main man Freddie Ross, who also shot the cover art for The Longest Year on Record. 

Trivia, or, What You Never Knew You Needed to Know About This Obscure Song Written and Recorded by A Troop of Echoes:  

Harry:  Continuing our tradition of ripping off and repurposing little nuggets from entirely unrelated bands, the bass part is inspired by "Ceres Walk” off of the soundtrack to “The American Astronaut."

Dan:  Also Freddie shot a sweet video of us playing this at our album release show at AS220.  Pete drops the mic.  Then we have to start the song over.  Rad As Hell.  (see above)

Nick, nailing takes 1-4 of Broadway Ghost.  Dude is a machine.  A machine that has learned to love.    

Critical Reception

Pete:  At shows before the album was recorded, we included Broadway Ghost a few times, just to try it out. I remember kind of getting a ‘meh’ reception at the time, but we knew that we were still working on it and were moving towards something, so I think we were ok with it. Immediately after recording, once we had the explosive outro in place, it killed at every show we played it at.  

Dan:  Broadway Ghost earned a few mentions on some of the blogs and magazines that wrote us up over the years.  Here are a few of the highlights:

A Closer Listen:  “The finest moments include the drum chorale that closes the opening track; the light explosion at the end of “Broadway Ghost”; and the finale of the title track, which is where the singers finally come in.  The more dynamic contrast, the better.” 

The New Fury:  “The shorter songs on the album, “Kerosene” and “Broadway Ghost” could be easily looked over since they seem only to be breaks from the craziness that A Troop of Echoes brings to the table on their album, but these songs have just as much thought put into them as the longer ones...“Broadway Ghost”, however, is much softer, and the ambient guitar chords in the background support a low and slow saxophone. This song also features a very soothing trumpet that accompanies the sax, and the song goes from slow jazz to rock in a second. The trumpet screams with power, then drops out, which leads into the title track of the album.”

Credits:   Nick Cooper - Guitar Pete Gilli - Tenor Saxophone Harrison Hartley - Surprise Bass Guitar Dan Moriarty - Surprise Drums Doug Woolverton - Trumpet Choir Graham Mellor - Recording Engineer Andrew Schneider - Mixing Engineer/Molar-Going Carl Saff - Mastering Engineer