The next day was no different.
Daniel entered the dance studio like a walking serotonin boost, while Ben felt half dead thanks to a lethal combination of lectures, assignments, and the curse of a second language class.
Daniel looked fully charged and unnervingly bright. He wasted no time in showing Ben the edited version of the music and immediately wanted to start rehearsing again.
Most of the choreography was already set, but Daniel was still unhappy with the ending.
"You don't understand, Bennie. How you end a dance leaves a lasting impression. We need something unexpected."
Ben nodded weakly. They scrolled through more videos to find inspiration, but came away with nothing useful.
They gave up and returned to practice. Time blurred into repetition as Daniel kept running through the routine, determined to lodge every step into muscle and memory. After nearly three hours of torture and their ancestors' coming close to resurrection, everything was finally locked in except the ending sequence, which stubbornly refused to settle.
However, even after the relentless practice, Ben's expression still looked like he was having an allergic reaction to emotion. Daniel flushed through the more intimate lifts but pushed through on sheer perfectionism, and despite all of it, the dance still felt lifeless.
Daniel, unable to accept anything less than excellence, remained deeply dissatisfied with the choreography. By the time they stopped for a water break, the sun had already gone down.
Ben had barely taken a sip when Daniel bounded toward him with dangerous excitement sparkling in his eyes.
"Bennie, listen, how about we end the dance with a near kiss?"
Ben almost spat out his water. He stared at Daniel as if he had suggested skydiving without a parachute.
"A near kiss? Hyung—"
Daniel raised a hand with mock seriousness. "I know what you're going to say, but we have to be bold if we want this to stand out."
Ben opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He gritted his teeth and blurted, louder than intended, "Fine! But don't blame me if I slip and kiss you for real!"
Daniel's cheeks turned red. He scratched the back of his neck and said softly, "You won't."
Ben glared. "You seriously need to stop trusting people so much."
Daniel tilted his head and gave him an innocent grin that had no business being so disarming. "But I trust you."
Ben went blank for a second before groaning into his hands. This guy had no sense of danger. Sure, Ben would never do anything that could hurt him, but there were limits to his restraint.
Daniel set up his phone to record, and they went through the full routine with their newly added near-kiss ending. Daniel floated into Ben's arms, Ben wrapped an arm around his waist, placed a hand on his jaw, leaned close enough to feel breath against breath, and then… both of them flushed and stumbled apart.
Ben collapsed onto the floor. "This is impossible."
Daniel checked the recording and whined, "This won't do. We need desire, but instead we look like we're reluctantly sharing the custody of a dog."
He shoved the video at Ben's face. Ben groaned and covered his eyes. "We look like two mannequins who just discovered movement. There is no heat, no passion, no chemistry."
Daniel nodded solemnly before turning to Ben with a glint in his eyes that never ended well. Ben tensed immediately.
"Okay," Daniel said, planting his hands on the floor beside Ben and leaning forward with theatrical intensity, "hear me out, would it work if we actually kissed?"
Ben's brain, already singed from hours of contact and longing, simply crashed.
He slapped a hand over his eyes. "What? That is not... that is not how this works! We are not breaking a performance block with some fairytale kiss, hyung!"
Daniel blinked. "But it might work."
Ben rolled onto his side, defeated. "I don't want to kiss you just because you're trying to fix the choreo."
Daniel stayed leaning over Ben even after the refusal, arms braced on either side, close enough that Ben could see the faint tremble in his lashes. The position was… compromising. If they were in an actual relationship, Ben would have kissed him already.
But Daniel wasn't doing this because of feelings. He was doing it because he was desperate to find a spark for their performance. And kissing him like this would be taking advantage of Daniel's oblivious sincerity.
Ben curled slightly and laughed weakly. "Hyung, please move. My restraint is not endless."
Daniel did not move. Instead, acting on pure impulse, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to Ben's cheek.
Ben nearly flatlined.
"Oh, it's not that bad," Daniel said with the curiosity of someone discovering a new material. "Your skin is really smooth, Bennie. But I wonder if that helps with—WHOAA!"
Ben grabbed the front of Daniel's tank top with trembling hands and yanked him downward. Daniel toppled over him with a startled gasp, and Ben's arm instinctively locked around his waist.
"You," Ben said, voice rough with everything he'd been holding back, "have no idea what you are doing to me."
And before Daniel could react, Ben caught him by the back of the neck and pulled him down into a kiss.
Daniel went still, shock freezing him in place.
Ben's lips crashed into Daniel's with all the helpless longing he had tried so hard to bury. Daniel's lips were soft, tasting faintly of mint and coffee, and paired with the warm scent of vanilla and morning glory clinging to him, it made Ben crave more. Without thinking, his hand slid into Daniel's hair, fingers tangling as he drew him in. He tilted his head and caught Daniel's lower lip, worrying it slowly and insistently, urging his mouth to open with unrestrained need.
Daniel remained still, yet under Ben's relentless coaxing, his lips parted unconsciously.
Ben slipped past them and deepened the kiss with deliberate care, taking his time as he explored Daniel's mouth. The warmth and pliancy of it made something in Ben unravel. Daniel's breath stuttered, a faint tremor running through him that Ben felt through the press of their bodies. His other hand slid from Daniel's waist up his back, palm flattening as he drew him closer, erasing the last sliver of space between them.
Daniel stayed unresponsive. It wasn't until Ben's tongue brushed against his that Daniel finally snapped back to himself. In a rush of instinct, he pushed Ben away with surprising force.
Ben sat up, stunned.
Daniel looked like someone who had spontaneously combusted. His face was scarlet. His ears glowed. He clapped a hand over his mouth, eyes wide, as if trying to contain the shock of whatever just happened.
"You… really…" he sputtered from behind his hand. "You what?!"
Ben's chest was rising and falling sharply. His lips tingled. But before he could say anything, Daniel spun around and bolted out of the studio like a romcom heroine fleeing after her diary was read. The door slammed behind him, as if the building itself was shocked.
Ben stayed on the floor in a confused half-sitting sprawl, staring at the space Daniel had vanished from.
He touched his lips, which were still warm. The kiss looped in his mind like a cursed music video he couldn't stop replaying.
Oh no!
What had he just done?