-

A little scuffle between two. It was normal in such stressful conditions, arguments always arising from the inability to solve a problem within the timeframe they were given. And always the same damn fight that repeated because of the changing venues. A dispute that began from the beginning of their careers and continued to occur simply because of the variables that they could never control.

And they were all perfectionists, idols that genuinely yearned for the ability to provide the best of experiences. And so, the panic settled within them, the fear ballooning in their throats, transforming quickly into rage. But with their soulmate there it was so much better.

They were no longer a team of testosterone charged men suffering through nerves, because in their midst was an angel.

"You've got to leave in two counts," was JieMi's remarked, feet tapping the ground. Ezra had heard those words a thousand times. But he supposed the problem laid in the routine, and the two continuously struggled with the timing of the piece. "I've got to wait for you to leave before I can. And I'm left stranded on stage when you take way too long."

"With this new venue, I can't really tell," was Hikaru's response as he paced the room, panic sizzling in his throat. Ezra could see it boiling down in his features, his hands flinging through the dance moves. They'd made a quick decision to go for a different routine and Hikaru just wasn't the most confident dancer. "Truly, I'm running as fast as I can, and I'm trying my very best to make it on time."

There was a sting of annoyance in his voice, a bite of anger. The irritation came from the way JieMi sat, seemed so dismissive and rude with a waved hand and a dig of roughness in his attitude. With just fifteen minutes to show time, Ezra would never mention a change to the fucking plan. The audacity of JieMi made him scoff, running a tongue across drying lips.

He understood Hikaru's anger, but he had better things to worry about. Ezra fiddled jerking at his clothes as he tried to get comfortable, a loose thread lodged in one of the buttons. Behind him Sieon was doing squats to see if his pants would rip, MinJae staring up his fly and fiddling with his dick. And Oliver was just as preoccupied with his teeth.

"Well, your best is not enough," was JieMi's jab. "Because it's ruining my moves. I have to leave the stage, and I can't because you're too slow."

"I'm leaving on beat; I have to leave on the beat," the slap of his palms echoed, tensions rising in his voice. "And I did. Because Sieon's is in front of me. And he's blocking my path. There is no going any faster, I am already doing everything I can."

"You did it yesterday!" JieMi was standing now, and oh God Ezra did not have the time to deal with this shit. His eyes slid towards them, teeth testing the give of his bottom lip. "You could do it during rehearsals."

"That's because we didn't give our all during rehearsals. I wasn't on the floor trying to get up after a roll."

The bickering continued, their voices spiking. And Ezra resisted the urge to snap at them to shut the fuck up, his own mind spinning through the changes that they had to make. His gaze slid to Amber's, now in Casper's body and penning down her new formation. Instead of arguing like children, they should really be quiet for her, allowing her mind to run through the new steps in peace.

He didn't know how the fuck did she do it. And his eyes drew to the paper, winced at the scribbles and the floor plans. The lyrics penned into the paper, her feet were shifting through footwork, mumbling names.

Staff had new cues just for her which they would relay through her in-ears, blast out warnings for her to move. But aside from that all she had was the two hours of dance practice beforehand. If she were lucky, she'd have the entire day, but that was about it. It was a roulette of possibilities, and there was no telling who she would have to substitute for the day.

With the level of difficulty and stress, Ezra would liken it to cramming for an exam she'd never ever studied for ten minutes before the paper. Then scoring a perfect hundred. Ezra shuddered at the thought, but Amber had assured them that their bodies seemed to remember much more than they think. And it was easier for her when she could listen to her muscles, the same way they all knew how to breastfeed the baby the moment they'd slipped into Amber's body.

Ezra begged to differ.

"As I said I'm running as fast as I can!" Hikaru's voice rose an octave, grew icy with his displeasure. He was trembling, and the stress seemed to radiate, spewing from him in angry waves. "I can't go any faster. For the love of God—"

Ezra cleared his throat, let out a cough. "Guys—"

"You could in the past," JieMi spat, eyes so dark they tore. "I'm telling you please just be a little quicker, and now you're overreacting and being pissed off—"

"Hey," MinJae began to speak, seemed a little disturbed. "This is getting out of hand."

"I'm not mad," Hikaru hissed, the snarl vibrating in his voice, eyes narrowing as they both stood, grew closer as if fists were just about to be raised. "You're asking for things I cannot do—" JieMi drew closer, seemed on the verge of breaking.

"Bro," Oliver stood, arms on JieMi. "Come on—"

"Oh yeah?" JieMi's voice was almost a roar but filled with whispery distress. "I'm just asking for you to try. It's not a fucking order—"

"JieMi," Ezra snapped. God fucking damn it, were they babies or what? This wasn't the first time they'd done a show.

"Please," Sieon spoke out seemed a little horrified, his eyes widening. "There's only a couple of minutes left—"

"Look just," JieMi sighed, tongue to his lip. He stepped back, edged towards a corner with his eyes trained on Hikaru. "Do your best. That's all I wanted to say—"

The explosion was overdue, because Hikaru grew red, cheeks boiling with heat, veins running down the sides of his neck. "We've only got ten minutes left and I'm telling you I can't because of the tempo, I'd look like an amateur. I'm not—"

"I know!" JieMi snarled, "I was just—"

"Boys."

One word from their soulmate deep in her papers, sent the two straight to silence. The entire room paused. The others shifting on their feet as the two stared, seemed caught as if they had their hands deep in a cookie jar.

And Ezra watched pleased as she slipped into her own body, careful with the chains and the rings on Casper's hands, adjusting the clips and the buttons. She shot them a look, dirty and pissed and he smirked at the jerky flinches from the two. He hoped that Casper hadn't been breastfeeding the kid, because if he had Rue would be getting a mouthful of man tits with this switch. Rumiko would absolutely hate that.

"Come here," she called to them. Oh, it was about to go down. They could piss each other off but no one wanted to go against the soulmate. A smirk grew on Ezra's lips and MinJae slapped his ass with a scowl and a whispered 'don't get off over their suffering' in his ear.

"I'm sorry JieMi," Hikaru mumbled, snapped out of his daze with a quick nod towards JieMi. Obviously, he wanted to diffuse the fire before they got whipped. "I wasn't serious enough about it. I understand you wanted me to try—"

JieMi swallowed thickly. "Well, I-I'm sorry Hikaru I—"

"You've said it yourselves ten minutes to solve it, come here," she nodded to them. "I've got it on my notes." Her eyes snapped to them; a brow raised. And they crawled over like puppies. A second scowl had them cowering even closer, shoulders touching as they peered over her head. "How about this."

Ezra moved to look too, stared at the amazingly detailed set that she had sketched out.

"You'd go on this beat and cut the running move into one sweeping motion. And you take this route." Her pen scratched across the paper, the ink bright red. "JieMi will start moving on the count of eight." She began to sing, twisting out pretty notes from Casper's usually cracked voice. Then paused at the end, hands gesturing for a darkened screen and a rising platform for the next item. "Okay?"

"But it would change things," was Hikaru's stubborn reply. "I just—"

"Karu, you're not being nice. JieMi's not trying to fuck with you. He just wants you to try your best to help him because he's struggling," she sighed, taking their hands. Ezra bit back a snicker, noting how the two looked exactly like kicked puppies. "And JieMi, Hikaru's not able to help you because that would mean he'd be sacrificing his own steps."

"But—"

"I've been in your bodies. I've done those moves. I know exactly what both of you are talking about. And when I'm in Hikaru's body I've been prioritising the tempo but going lower—Yes, I changed the moves. It worked I ran it over with MinJae and Liv." The two nodded with MinJae laughing.

"She's doing it the way I do it," he pointed out. "With her whole ass."

"With too much sass," Oliver supplied.

"But it's sexy," MinJae pouted.

"And in JieMi's body," she stood, bringing her body through the routine. "I leap across the stage instead of leaving it the way the dance wants you to. And I know, it's not perfect. But I just needed to do it to make it look like it's intentional. Would that work?" She spun through her phone pulled out a video within a matter of seconds. "Look here, this is the moment."

"I guess it would work," Hikaru grouched, seemed a little defeated as he glanced up from the screen.

"Yeah, I wasn't trying to pick a fight Karu," was JieMi's prickly response, voice a little wet, avoiding each other. "I just wanted to remind you to be a little faster. It came out wrong. I'm sorry."

"But you were so rude to me—"

"Come on baby," was Amber's pointed look towards Hikaru. "Not now, please." And he seemed to sober up. Wetness in his eyes, it was easy to cry when Amber gave them those looks. God, he'd received it himself, a begging sort of disappointment that was worst than Casper's anger or Oliver's glances when he'd fucked up a step.

"Sorry, yeah, alright I'll do that."