AU Gay Fanfic (Krystian Wang of Now United)

Chapter 20: Justice to an Old Song

During one of the non-broadcasting days, Hafiz brought Krystian to an empty dance studio to do their long-overdue couple workout session. The choreographer then checked on the latest songs available, as he tended to do, and began playing them on his laptop after downloading them to be recompressed via his iTunes. Once they were done with their warm-ups, the couple proceeded to refresh their memories on the choreographies of the songs that Hafiz had selected in a queued playlist. At one point, he deliberately switched to a classic Exo-M song, titled History, to catch his fiancé off guard. When it began playing, Krys yelped, "Hubby!!!! That's Exo-M isn't it?" Hafiz smirked & nodded as he replied, "Yes, my love. I figured we could dance to some legendary KPop and CPop songs alongside the more recent ones, just to mix things up a little bit. You never know if they might throw this your way." Krys smiled while adding on, "Never hurts to be prepared, am I right?", to which Hafiz responded with a nod.

As the couple danced to the choreography move for move, some of the other trainees happened to walk past & took a peek from outside. One of them even placed his ears against the door & then remarked in surprise, "Are they dancing to Exo-M!?" Another replied, "Judging by the steps, you're probably right. But why?" Just then, the song ended & Hafiz turned to see a group of people outside the studio; he told Krys to stay put as he immediately chased them down & due to his natural speed, he caught up with them very quickly. The group of trainees were panting as Hafiz asked angrily, without breaking a sweat, "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU GUYS DOING OUTSIDE THE STUDIO?! DON'T YOU KNOW THE MEANING OF PRIVACY AT ALL!?" One of the trainees managed to recover first and replied, "We are so, so sorry, judge Hafiz. We just happened to be walking by when I saw you dancing with Krystian inside; we promise to leave you two alone next time, starting now." As the other trainees got back up, they all bowed down apologetically. Hafiz nodded, "Apology accepted, boys. But... Spread the word to the others as well: if they happen to see me with Krystian in a dance studio doing our thing, they are to carry on like they didn't see anything at all. Understood?" "Yes, judge Hafiz. We're sorry once again." "Run along, boys." The group thanked Hafiz before scurrying off to do other things; he then made his way back to the studio, only to see Krystian dancing to Chung Ha's Bicycle.

The choreographer facepalmed, "Baby vampire.... You HAD to switch to THAT horny song of ours, didn't you? Naughty boy.." Krys gasped as he stopped in his tracks & quickly hid his blushing face behind his hands, "Sorry, hubby. You were taking a bit too long to return, so I switched to this song for a while. To be fair, though, I'm getting somewhat horny from our sweating out." Hafiz giggled, "Ay-yai-yai!! Babyyyy... Gggrrrr..." The couple promptly proceeded with some quick cool-downs before cleaning up the studio & headed back to Hafiz's room for a much-needed lovemaking session. As had been the case previously, Hafiz had a thing for licking his fiancé, while they were both still sweaty, as part of their foreplay. Eventually, the couple fell asleep naked without taking a shower until the next morning.

While Hafiz helped his fiancé prepare for the results of the first voting period, Now United were still having their bootcamp in California & working on a new song aside from continuing their search for a new member to join the NU family. At one point, Bailey sneakily decided to surprise Krystian with a Zoom call without informing the others, "Hey Krys! How's it hanging?!" Krys yelped as he was getting dressed in his room, "Bailey!! You scared me!" "Sorry, pal. Just dropped by to say we miss you." "Same here. Anyway, I'm anxious to find out the results of the first voting period; Fiz managed to rally our Uniters to vote for me. Well, I gotta get going. See ya!" "Take care, buddy, and best of luck. Send my regards to Fiz when you see him, bye." "I will, bye." Later that day, tears were shed as it was revealed that some of Krystian's former group mates from previous performances got eliminated from the show. Krys consoled them as best he could; in return, they congratulated him for being top ranked overall. Hafiz also went to hug & comfort the trainees who got eliminated while wishing them well in their future endeavors, before he searched for his fiancé amidst the remaining crowd. Upon seeing him, Hafiz quickly ran & grabbed Krys's waist while kissing his neck, "Congratulations, my love. You're top rank overall." Krys chuckled, "Hubby, that tickles a bit. Hehehe. Thank you, by the way. I couldn't have done it without you. I love you." Hafiz turned Krys to face him for a kiss in front of the other trainees, "And I you, my baby vampire." The surrounding crowd merely smiled & cheered for the happy couple.

The remaining trainees were then once again split into groups of five and, for their next performances, every pair of groups had to dance to the same song they were provided with. As luck would have it, Krystian's new group got Exo-M's History; he giggled as he told the others, one of whom was fellow favorite Jun Liu, "Hafiz would literally knock your heads off if you told him you weren't familiar with this classic song from Exo. Not to worry, though, I know the choreography by heart BUT we're gonna tweak a few steps just a little bit. What do you think?" Jun Liu paused momentarily before replying, "Sounds good; new twist to an old song? I'm game. How about the rest?" The remaining 3 nodded in agreement; Krys smiled, "Okay then, let's get started." Hafiz knew better than to interrupt his fiancé while the latter was busy practising with his new group mates so he left the building for a run around the premises wearing a tank top; as he passed by the studio windows, one of the younger trainees paused what he had been doing & told his group mates, "That's judge Hafiz isn't it? I didn't know he has at least one tattoo on his arm." His group leader then chimed in, "Even if he has more than one, it's not our place to judge or condemn him for his ink. For most people nowadays, tattoos are merely body art and another way of self-expression. Now come on, back to work."

As it turned out, Hafiz had completely forgotten that it was Lisa's birthday when he decided on his run so as soon as he went back into the building, he got his ears pinched by the Vocal Mentor who nagged at him about it. Hafiz panicked & immediately went to take a quick shower before giving the birthday girl a video call, "Hey, Lisa!! I'm so sorry for forgetting about your birthday being today; it honestly slipped my mind." "Aaaawwwww, it's okay, Hafiz. At least you remembered; so do you have anything for me to, you know, make it up to me?" Hafiz cleared his throat and sang her a birthday song which made her smile, "The trainees gave me a few surprises earlier today, as well as birthday songs, but your version is better than theirs. Hands down." Hafiz yelped & hid his blushing face behind his hands, "Um, gee, thanks." Lisa laughed at his reaction, "You and Krystian ARE indeed made for each other. He tends to react like that too. Well, thanks for remembering." "Sure thing, birthday girl. Enjoy your special day. Later!"

Later that week, it was time for the groups to perform the songs they'd been given beforehand; Hafiz waited anxiously for the History group pairing to show up and when they finally did, he cheered enthusiastically for both groups but more so for Team B aka his fiancé's group. After they were done, both groups from the History pairing were called up to the stage as Hafiz made his opening comments, "First off, both groups did extremely well vocally!! You guys did the song justice! I'm certain that, if EXO were watching this right now, they'd be very proud. Even their former members, Luhan, Kris and Tao, all of whom I'm sure y'all are familiar with through their respective solo music, would be smiling with pride too. I'm saying this as a longtime Exo-L who's been following them since pre-debut; that aside, I gotta say that your respective methods of using props to fit the theme of the song were brilliant. However, Team A, your choreography wasn't as on point, as I would have hoped, in terms of synchronization. Work on improving that, and you're good to go. As for Team B, on the other hand, I noticed that you guys tweaked some of the steps but managed to stick to the original choreography as much as possible. Major points for creativity and improvisation. Grade B for Team A, Grade A for Team B. I know it sounds weird, but it is what it is; nonetheless, well done, guys!!" The other judges, and even Dance Mentor Lisa, didn't have much to say aside from agreeing with Hafiz.

After the broadcast was over, Hafiz went backstage to find Krystian still talking with his group mates. "You're getting better at improvising classic choreographies, my love. I'm proud of you," Hafiz told Krys as he hugged the latter from behind, shocking the latter slightly, "Hubby! You startled me there, but thank you. I couldn't have been where I am now in this show if not for you." Jun Liu smiled at the couple's sweet interaction before he chimed in, "Sorry to interfere, but we'll be heading back to our rooms to rest for the night. You two carry on, goodnight." The couple smirked at each other before Krys dragged Hafiz back to his room to spend yet another intimate night together; by this point, it was no longer a secret.