Not Your Lover (2PARK✔️)

Step Eleven: Shoving

when it's chapter eleven, we listen to 11 by Number 1 (honest to god, i didn't particularly like this song that much until i heard them sing it live. so noice.)

.

Going home after shows isn't like I assumed it would be. Our group of dancers are sent ahead of the singers, a separate car parked outside of the backdoor with our hoods up and no fans to cheer us along.

The singers are ushered out the main entrance with their typical crowd, leaving almost a full hour after us. If Daehwi hadn't texted me the moment their van departed, I would have surely thought they were dead.

"Is this how it normally is?" I ask Euijin as we lounge about my room, the space still quite empty. I show him the text from Daehwi, surprised to see my friend's solemn nod. "Seriously?"

Euijin stretches out on my floor, arching his back to get comfortable as he thinks over his answer. "Well, I don't want to say that we're less important than our idols but-"

"But that's exactly what you're going to say," I finish, tossing my phone aside. "They get to be in the spotlight for all that extra time, shaking hands, signing papers-"

"Woojin, you shouldn't take something like that to heart." Euijin sits up now, peeking up at me over the edge of my small bed. None of us have mattresses, which I've gotten quite used to after living in the hotel for weeks, but with enough cushions against my base board, I can pretend it's a real bed.

"I don't know how you don't, honestly. Weren't we all training to debut at one point?" I clutch a pillow to my chest, the scent of fabric softener soothing me slightly. "I just don't think it's all that fair, seeing as we performed on that stage just as long, and made that performance so much better!"

Euijin's nose crinkles as he chuckles up at me, his broad smile ever present. "I've been a dancer for about half of my life," he says slowly, leaning back on his hands with something like nostalgia pressed into his expression. "I've only ever wanted to be a dancer. I went to school, of course, and I have some useless degree in engineering, but dancing is where my entire heart lives. Even if I have to stand in the back for a while, I'm still living my dream everyday."

He pats at the floor beneath him, sighing contently. "I get to live someplace safe, a roof over my head." He nods his head towards my open bedroom door, where we can hear Daewon and Kijung fighting over how many eggs should be used for omurice. "We get an allowance for our food, and sometimes we get to keep some of the stage clothes, if they're not gonna use them again."

I can agree with his points, but I can't exactly back them up. "I think just because we aren't singing, doesn't mean we aren't as important. I mean, you had some major screen time in the music video for 'Next Time'."

He grins even wider than usual, quirking his head to the side as if he doesn't find himself impressive. "Well, that's because the agency didn't want to have to pay any additional fees for an actor. They just gave me a small bonus on the usual checks I get for backing up."

Euijin's been debuted as a backup and solo dancer since before I even began training, though he refuses to take that step forward and make more of a career for himself. I want to open my mouth just to egg him on, but my phone chimes with a new text on the edge of my bed.

I don't glance at the screen as it lights up, but Euijin's eyes can't help but wander towards the new light in curiosity. "Uh, who's Babe, and why are they asking you to come over?"

I feel my stomach pitch up into my lungs as I snatch my phone up from it's fallen place, my cheeks flushing through. I groan as I read Jihoon's message, his contact name still the same from my last phone. You couldn't bother to fix that one little mistake-