1
You absently tapped your foot as you leaned against the wall of the dance studio, honestly feeling nervous.After tossing and turning all night, you’d finally just given in and gotten out of bed. As a result, you’d been ready for hours. It made sense for you to be nervous though, this was the biggest job your little company had ever been booked for and you didn’t want to mess it up.
As the founder and sole member of your company, Aesthetics of Motion, you had managed to marry your two great loves into one comprehensive service. An aesthetician by trade, you were a skilled masseuse and knew everything there was to know about skin care, beauty rituals, etc. You could also dance your ass off and could teach others to do the same. These two combined to form your service line, and you’d been booked to work with the incredibly famous group, EXO.
Per SM Entertainment, the parent company that was responsible for EXO, the group had an album release in a few months and you’d been hired to help them learn the new choreography and take care of them behind the scenes, making sure they looked and danced their best for the music videos, public appearances, and other promotional things that would be happening leading up to, and after their album dropped.
You sighed, ruminating on how lucky you were to have been hired for this, and how much you needed to be successful. If you pulled this off for such a big-name group, your name would officially be out there, and you could write your own ticket. It hadn’t always been easy, and you knew your service line was unorthodox, but it allowed you to undercut your competition because it was cheaper to hire you to provide both services than to hire separate companies to do one or the other, which you suspected played a large part in SM’s decision to hire you for this.
You were a professional to the core and didn’t anticipate any trouble keeping your cool while working with the very attractive members, but you were also a huge fan…huge. In fact, one of the most enticing perks of this contract was that you automatically got to be behind the scenes and backstage with the members, which was over-the-top amazing for all kinds of reasons. As a result, you were excited and nervous, trying hard to achieve your normal level of focus as you waited.
You decided it might not be a bad idea to run through the new choreo yourself before the guys got here, just to refresh yourself and hopefully make it easier to break down. You started the movements, gliding around, popping and locking your joints, pleased with the effect as you watched yourself in the mirror. This was going to look amazing on stage- all you had to do was help the guys learn it and perform it correctly.
You heard the door to the studio squeak open behind you and stopped what you were doing, turning to see the members of EXO troop in, laughing and talking like any normal group of guys. They all wore casual athletic gear exactly like you’d seen in their dance practice videos and you gave yourself a fangirl moment, smiling at them as they filed in, and the door closed behind them. That out of the way, it was time to get to work.
You cracked your knuckles and stepped forward, smiling at the group, getting smiles from Baekhyun, Chen, DO, and Xiumin, and clearing your throat loudly to get the attention of the knot of men who were intently discussing something they were watching on Suho’s phone. They all looked up when they heard you, and you could see that the little group consisted of Suho, Chanyeol and Sehun. Chanyeol and Sehun gave you a little wave, but Suho was still watching the phone.
“Is this you?” he asked, holding out his phone, looking back between it and you. You walked closer and nodded affirmation to him, laughing softly when he gave you an impressed look. “You’re good” he complimented you and you smiled at him, registering the murmurs of approval from the other members as he passed the phone around.
“Thank you” you said, really meaning it. “That’s old though, you added. I was only about 20 when I did that one” you added, laughing softly as you remembered shooting the dance video they had just been watching. It had been back when you were still really struggling to get any kind of work, so you’d done a series of promotional dance videos and put them out on social media, figuring that showing off what you could do would help you get work. It had…mostly. That was 5 years ago, and you still did them occasionally. You liked to dance, and you were good at it, so why not put it out there?
“You ready to start?” you asked the group, smiling around the room, your brow furrowing as you realized someone was missing. “Where’s Kai?”
Just as you said that the door squeaked open and Kai sauntered in, fist bumping Sehun and Chanyeol, and offering you a smile and a once over that you chose to ignore, as he took his place along the wall with the others. You cleared your throat, shaking off your nerves as you addressed the group.
“Hi everyone. I’m Y/n, and I’m here to help you learn the new choreography for your stages and videos” you said, getting focused as you stepped into business mode. “I’ll also be taking care of your skin and helping you unwind when you need it. I wrote my number on the wall there,” you said, pointing to the bulletin board in the corner by the door, “so feel free to call me if I can help you with anything” you said, turning your head sharply when you heard murmuring from the Sehun/Chanyeol/Suho group again, realizing that Kai had now joined in.
You huffed out a long-suffering sigh, clapping your hands obnoxiously, startling them into looking at you. “Can we please focus, gentlemen?” you asked, shaking your head when Suho gave you a sheepish look and put the phone away. Sehun was looking at you…differently. You couldn’t read him yet. On the other hand, it was very easy to see what Kai was thinking, and you would have laughed outright at his silly flirting if you hadn’t been low-key irritated that they weren’t listening to you.
“Alright” you said, pleased to see you had everyone’s attention now. You hadn’t anticipated having this much trouble wrangling these guys. “Let’s start with a little follow the leader. I’m going to do the moves, but slowed down and broken into pieces, and you can all just follow me” you said. “If you need me to back up or repeat something, let me know. We’ll start with the parts where everyone is doing the same thing, then I’ll take you each aside and we can focus on your individual pieces. We’ll just rinse and repeat this routine unless you request something else sooner. When we start nailing it consistently, we can add everyone together and I’ll have you start doing complete run throughs without separating. Sound good?” you asked, getting nods and murmurs of assent from the group.
You started the first steps, watching in the mirror as the members picked it up quickly, mimicking your movements. You were impressed but not surprised. They were all super talented and you were pleased to confirm your suspicion that once you got their attention, they focused on the task at hand beautifully, making your job a whole lot easier.
You ran through the group parts a couple of times and then started walking among the members, adjusting form, and giving little tweaks as you watched them dance.
“Chanyeol, I need you to lock your joints a little bit more when you do that move” you said, showing him what you meant. “It should look like you come to a dead stop, and then jerk back into motion” you said, pleased when he took your advice and you immediately saw the improvement you wanted. “Sharp!” you praised him, enjoying the best part about this job- helping people improve. The killer smile he flashed your way wasn’t a bad bonus either.
“Sehun” you called, trotting over to him when he didn’t respond, clearly in the zone, doing that sexy brooding thing he did so wall as he watched himself in the mirror. You said his name again, putting your palm on his chest gently to stop him and get his attention after he didn’t respond again. He hadn’t even noticed your approach, and you felt bad for startling him. He looked down at your hand and then into your face, and just stood there for a beat. He kind of looked you over in an appraising way, and you had to control your inner fangirl as he gave you a slow grin that would have had most girls squealing. You swallowed your own stupidity and grinned up at him, stepping back now that you had his attention.
“What’s up, boss lady?” he teased, making you laugh a little bit and shake your head. He was even more attractive up close…
“I’m not exactly your boss…more like a friend or a trainer” you said, grinning up at him. “I really like the way you were just doing that move but try to put a little more sway into it and dip lower before you come up” you said, again demonstrating what you wanted to see from him like you’d done Chanyeol.
He licked his lips a little and you silently screamed, dying a little inside at just how fucking good looking this guy really was. “Can you do that again?” he asked, bringing you back out of your…whatever that was…and you nodded, showing him how the move should look. He nodded and grinned, doing exactly what you had just done, looking to you for confirmation that it was good. “Perfect” you said happily, giving him the thumbs up and turning your attention now to Baekhyun before your insides melted from the heat of his…hotness.
“Great job!” you enthused to Baekhyun, laughing softly when he smiled at you amid jeers from the other members and continued to absolutely nail the choreo. “Your poor fans are going to die!” you teased, earning laughter from the group and a big smile from Baekhyun as he continued to dance.
“How about me, honey?” Kai called from behind you, throwing you a wink when you turned to him. He smiled at you as he went into a body-roll that would have been incredibly sexy if it weren’t for the fact that he’d blatantly hit on you in class and called you “honey”. You wanted to have a friendly, playful kind of casual vibe with the members, but this wasn’t professional, and you needed to draw a line somewhere.
You walked up to him and smiled, “Looks great, sugar bear” you teased, calling him the most disgustingly sweet pet name you could think of on short notice, laughing when he lost his step, clearly not expecting you to be giving it back to him like that, “but there aren’t any body-rolls in this choreo, and I’m not your honey” you purred, earning laughter and catcalls from the rest of the group.
You felt eyes on you and turned to see that Sehun was drilling you with his gaze, looking thoughtful and something else you couldn’t figure out. You furrowed your brows and walked back over to him. “You ok?” you asked, wondering what was up. You didn’t really know anyone well enough to know what was going on in their heads yet. You had trouble focusing when Sehun looked at you, too, which was something you were going to have to work on if you would be spending so much time with him as part of your job.
“Good job with Kai” he said quietly, giving you an admiring look that had you turning to the side, a smile on your face. It was all you could do not to blush down at the floor like a teenager. “You’re probably used to handling stuff like that though, right?” he said, and you got an involuntary rush from his small compliment, watching him go back to the moves he was trying to learn without another word, grinning now like something was super entertaining. You moved on, feeling like he must be making fun of you somehow, but you couldn’t see anything you’d said or done that was funny or cute…or anything. You were literally just running around giving dance tips.
You were pleased with the group’s progress and spent the rest of the day working with the individuals on their breakaway pieces. You showed Chen different ways that he could appear to be moving more than he really was so that it would be easier to keep a steady voice while he was hitting his amazing high-notes. You helped Suho with a problem he was having twisting his knee and showed him another way to do it and get the same effect. Chanyeol didn’t need much, but he joked and talked with you like a person rather than a teacher, and you really liked that. It made things more comfortable and less formal, allowing you to work better together. Xiumin was another natural that didn’t need help, so you just showed him what to do and praised him for doing it well.
“Y/n?” you heard from behind you, knowing Sehun’s voice before you turned to him.
“What’s up?” you asked, walking over to where he was leaning on the wall, looking like a Dior add for sportswear.
“You do massage, too, right?” he asked, and you nodded and smiled. “I’m not really sure what I did to my shoulder, but it’s been bothering me since I woke up this morning. Can you make time for me later?” he asked, looking kind of sheepish, like you might say no to doing your job.
“Of course! We’re about done here, so just text me after you get out of the shower or whatever” you said, really liking the warm quality of his eyes as you looked at him. He nodded in a friendly way and started to turn, but you stopped him.
“Which one is it?” you asked, gently pressing into the muscles of the arm he held out in response, massaging up his shoulder carefully, pulling back a little when he flinched as you reached his back. “I’m sorry” you said, giving him a soft look. “You have a monster knot in your back right there where the pain is. The good news is it’s not an injury... I can definitely help you” you said, confident that you really could.
“I’ll call you” he said, absently licking his lower lip as he grinned at you.
You knew it was something he did unconsciously. You knew he didn’t mean for it to be sexy. You repeated that mantra in your head a few times and took some deep breaths internally, sending him what you hoped was a friendly smile rather than an embarrassed grimace, and clapped your hands to get the groups attention again, deciding you’d had enough for right now- he was grinning at you again and it was sexy, but also made you want to punch him a little bit…he was clearly making fun of you.
“Ok guys, great job today!” you enthused. “Let’s do it again tomorrow. Let me know if you need anything in the meantime” you added, returning smiles and little bows as the members thanked you and headed out.
“See you later, puddin pop” Kai called, smiling big when you laughed and shook your head waving him off. Sehun huffed out a breath and sent you a wave as he followed him out, leaving you to wonder what the dynamics between you and the group would eventually settle into.
Sehun called you right after you’d finished dinner in your little room in the training center where you were all staying. “Hey, Y/n” he greeted, his deep voice sounding nice in your ears. “Is now an ok time?” he asked.
“Now’s perfect. Meet me in the spa room please” you said, a smile in your voice.
“Should I bring anything?” he asked.
“Just yourself” you asserted, low-key loving the little chuckle he gave you.
“See you soon” he said quietly.
You gathered your things and headed to the spa room, smiling to see that Sehun was already there waiting for you…sitting on the massage table with his shirt off…. you turned away to collect yourself when he smiled over at you, reminding yourself it was extremely unprofessional to be attracted to your clients. He was hot, but he was here to get help from you, and besides, you could visually devour him once you were behind him, and he couldn’t see you. You smiled and shook your head as you walked over to him at the thought.
“Did I miss something?” he asked, grinning at you amusedly.
Your eyes widened for a split second, and you mentally cursed yourself for walking around smiling to yourself like a dumbass. You put your stuff down and walked over to Sehun, who gave you a friendly look as he tested the arm that was bothering him, wincing slightly. You made a sympathetic sound.
“Poor guy” you said. “Lay down for me” you directed, and he complied, stretching out on his stomach, leaving you to drool over his sexy, toned back as you stood at the side of the table. You shook yourself for what felt like the 86th time today and warmed some massage oil in your hands, gently rubbing it on his shoulders and back as you got ready to work on him, enjoying touching him far more than you should. “Is this ok?” you asked, hating how the appreciative groan he gave you made your whole body tingle as he nodded his head, relaxing into the table a little as you worked on him. You moved from his lower back, and then up his spine, applying gentle pressure to his upper back and shoulder, working your way into where he was having pain, trying to relax his muscles as you went.
You found the knot you’d felt earlier and started gently kneading it with your hands while you massaged the area around it. Sehun let out a deep breath, and you were gratified to see him relaxing. “Feels good?” you checked on him, inwardly screaming when he grinned over his shoulder at you, effortlessly sexy.
“You’re good with your hands” he commented, and you laughed softly.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing” you said quietly, inwardly smacking yourself for being an idiot.
“So that thing with Kai earlier…he does that to pretty females we deal with when he’s between girlfriends” Sehun said quietly, letting out a low sigh of appreciation as you applied pressure to his muscles. “You handled it well” he continued, “It was kind of fun to watch his bullshit backfire on him” he praised you, his words bringing a smile to your face as you worked the knot out of his shoulder.
“I have no idea why he would even be attracted to me. It’s not like I was prancing around in spandex or something. I was literally in the least attractive outfit I own because it’s comfortable to dance in” you laughed, shaking your head when he chuckled.
“I thought you looked good” he said, shrugging his shoulders a little bit. “You can dance, too, and that’s a turn on” he said quietly, bringing you up short and causing your breath to catch a little bit as you struggled to keep your composure.
“Thank you” you murmured, kind of embarrassed by his compliment. “You’re a really nice guy” you threw out, cringing in the next second as you realized how stupid you sounded.
He chuckled, “I try to be nice to everybody, but it’s fun to compliment you and watch you freak out about it” he said, laughing outright when you gasped and stepped back, bursting into laughter when he sat up and smiled at you, pleased with having embarrassed you.
“Well, at least you’re smoother than Kai is” you teased, smiling down at the floor, honestly not knowing what to do with yourself. This was super embarrassing, but also kind of thrilling, and overwhelming. This was Oh Sehun, for fuck sake…and he was flirting with you. It felt completely different than when Kai had been hitting on you earlier. You liked it much more. Too much.
“Am I?” he asked, raising his eyebrows at you in a teasing way and bringing you back out of your thoughts.
“Um…are you what?” you asked, giving him a blank look that caused him to chuckle softly as he looked you over, his gaze and the closeness of his body making you more than a little hot. You couldn’t help it. You could smell his cologne or shower gel or something…it smelled amazing.
“Am I smoother than Kai?” he repeated, tilting his head a little bit, his eyes warm and playful.
“Yes. Kai isn’t smooth. He just coasts on good looks” you said without thinking, wanting to sink into the floor when he laughed at you again, seeming to be loving embarrassing the hell out of you.
“So, you don’t think I’m as good looking as Kai?” he teased, loving how flustered he was making you.
“No! That’s not what I’m saying at all” you choked out, still laughing as you pushed his shoulder, feeling immediately bad when he flinched and grasped his arm in pain. “Oh shit! I’m so sorry” you gasped out, stepping into his space to inspect him for damages.
“It was the other shoulder” he said quietly and then burst into laughter at the blank look on your face as his words registered. Before you could react or step back out of his space, he reached out and pulled you up against his chest, kissing you gently, giving you space to push him off if you wanted to, then seeming pleased when you kissed him back. His kisses were just…perfect…. just firm enough to have your whole body responding to him. It was downright mortifying how quickly you got turned on and shaky as he ran a hand up into your hair, controlling the kiss as he deepened it a little, your lips moving together naturally as he wrapped his other arm around your waist.
“Sehun! Jesus…how am I supposed to work like this?” you said to the ceiling, trying to regain your composure and be the adult woman you chronologically were as you pulled away from him. You really didn’t want to, but you did.
“Everybody needs a break once in a while. You work hard, I can help you relax in your downtime” he murmured, looking down into your face for a beat before he kissed you again, causing your brain to completely short circuit as you kissed him back, your arms going up around his neck this time, his tongue exploring your mouth as he made a pleased sound when you gently carded your fingers through his hair.
You broke the kiss as your brain came back online and he grinned down at you, still holding you against him, both of you breathing a little harder. “This is…we can’t do this” you said quietly, your voice breathy and turned on.
“Why not?” he asked, looking down into your eyes, his gaze wandering back to your lips and down your neck in a way that should have been a felony. You opened your mouth to stutter out all the very valid reasons this was bad, but he was suddenly kissing you again, and you couldn’t find it within you to stop him. He was just…sexy…and warm…you deepened the kiss again, loving his lips and that intoxicating smell he carried with him in your nose as you melted into his toned body.
He slid his palms down your back to your ass and gripped it appreciatively in his big hands and that’s what snapped you back to reality. You disengaged and pulled away from him completely this time, shaking and turned on, but also not about to fuck Oh Sehun of EXO on a massage table…or against the wall…or on the floor…you mentally shook yourself.
You looked up at him and he was just looking at you, his eyes hot and amused as he drank you in, that sexy grin he’d been giving you all day on his handsome face. “That was fun...why’d you stop?” he asked quietly. “I was having a good time…weren’t you?” he added, looking like he wanted to pull you in again, but was restraining himself.
“Sehun…” you sighed out, looking for words through the fog of Sehun-induced lust. He chuckled and licked his damn lips again as you said his name and that did nothing to help you focus. You blew out a deep, cleansing breath “We can’t do this” you said quietly, giving him a level look. “I’m your trainer and I’m supposed to help you relax and take care of you…there should be boundaries between us…” you blew out a deep breath, searching for words.
“I was pretty relaxed a minute ago, and you were definitely taking care of me” he teased, and all you could do was just…laugh. He was a completely sexy, completely irritating, completely loveable goof.
You switched tactics as your mind cleared a little more, “I’ll get fired if anyone finds out” you said, “and I really need this job to go well. This is my whole future” you added, looking into his eyes.
“Ok” he said, shaking his head and smiling at you in a knowing way. “But nobody is going to know” he added, clearly still convinced that you were going to hook up at some point.
“How’s your arm?” you asked, desperately searching for a topic change, and honestly wondering if your massage helped. Getting back to business would help you stop thinking about the way his body had felt against you…eventually…right?
He smiled big and rotated his shoulder, looking much more comfortable, and certainly pleased with himself. “You were great” he said quietly, grinning at you as he threw on his shirt and walked out, leaving you to wonder if he meant the kiss or the massage…
