PLEASE READ (IMPORTANT): Okay, so I honestly have 0 ideas as to why I'm writing this fic. I don't even really like this show all that much (but I've seem every episode? Can't stop won't stop I guess) and I sure don't ship this ship (okay.. maybe a lil) but yet here I am! I have another story I really should be working on but... Idk, I don have any excuses.
Firstly, this story has not been edited. I wrote it out, and am now posting it. I've changed scenes, added scenes, changed dialogue, and added dialogue. So, in short, it isn't exactly the same as the actual show. This is a fanFICTION, after all. Also, characters are most likely OOC. But I refrained from making them swear since they don't on the show. This was a huge struggle, btw.
I don't know how many chapters there will be (At the least - 2, at the most - 5). But, yeah. Let's get this show on the road!
DISCLAIMER: "I Hate You" by TooBusyBeingAnAwkoTaco is a purely a work of fanfiction. She does not own 'The Next Step' or any of their characters.
"I hate you when you're gone I hate you turn me on, I hate the way I need you when I don't know where you are. I love it even more, when I find you on the floor. I know you think you hate me, but I will always hate you more." - I Hate You, Sick Puppies.
All his life, Eldon knew he was different from everyone else. Maybe it was because, at age 4, he pestered his parents to let him join dance classes, whereas all the other little boys he went to school with were beginning to practice soccer or T-ball. Or maybe it was because he developed a crush on Emily, one of his best friends, and even after he realized he didn't actually like her, he still kept up the act to fit in. He already got made fun of at school for being passionate about dance, and he didn't need to be teased about not liking any girls either.
Scratch that; Eldon didn't want to be teased about not liking girls at all.
During the time he had a crush on Emily, there were countless nights where he stayed up, questioning himself and what he felt. Why did he act so obsessive over a girl who didn't so much as look at him? Why was he so attached to her?
Eventually, he came to understanding that he was simply in denial of what he really liked. And that was boys.
Instantly labelling himself a freak, Eldon kept this a secret. It practically ate him alive from the inside out. In order to maintain his straight-guy-persona, he decided to pretend he had a crush on Emily, as if nothing happened.
But then Emily suddenly had a change of heart and gave him a chance. Eldon felt guilty, but went out with her anyways, because he wanted to make Emily happy, and because he didn't want people to question him. Why did Eldon turn Emily down, the girl he's liked for years? Is there something he isn't telling us?
This situation left him as a mess during the nights. Eldon began experiencing feelings he'd never felt before: self-hatred, anxiousness, and confusion being the main three. He knew he had to put an end to all of that, so he came up with one of the stupidest plans in the history of dating.
He confessed to Emily that he had stronger feelings for Michelle.
Of course, Eldon felt even more horrible than before. He'd broken Emily's heart. He acted so selfishly and rudely, it wasn't like him. It was the fear inside him, causing him to not think properly. However, Emily got over it quickly and everything was okay. Until Michelle admitted she returned Eldon's so-called feelings.
As if his life was repeating itself, Eldon strung Michelle along just to make her happy, and to seem normal to his peers. Don't get him wrong — he didn't enjoy toying with her emotions. He just thought that that was what he needed to do.
And when him and Michelle split up, it was almost as if Eldon had stepped into a light of pure freedom. Every weight he'd been agonizingly carrying had been lifted, and he understood how to be happy again. Dance made him happy, and the troubles of being 'normal' did not.
Flash forward a few months, and Eldon was being faced with decisions beyond his own comprehension.
"I still can't believe you have to go up against Daniel in half an hour," James said, scoffing a bit after this words. "Have you spoken to him since he left the Next Step?"
Eldon shook his head, grasping onto his water bottle firmly. "Didn't want to bother him over in Expert Land."
"Ouch, throwing shade already, man? Wait for the competition to start!" West exclaimed, laughing and receiving a high-five from James. "Seriously, though, don't talk to him. I tried to be nice and he ended up acting like a huge jerk."
"Yeah, bro, steer clear of him. He'll try to mess with your head before you go on stage." James said. He clapped a hand on Eldon's shoulder and gave an attempt at a supportive smile.
Eldon nodded and stood up, mumbling some excuse about heading backstage to prepare. He passed most of his fellow teammates as he went, he accepted all the "Good luck"s and the "Break a leg"s as he went. He was extremely proud to be apart of a team with such genuine and helpful people on it. Eldon was truly blessed.
He made it backstage and entered his dressing room. Miss Kate was waiting out near the stage, watching the other competitors as they danced. Eldon closed the door and spotted his costume hanging up on a hook beside the mirror. He took off his purple track jacket and his sky blue t-shirt, leaving him shirtless. He glanced over at the mirror, noticing how toned and muscled his pale body way. Eldon chuckled quietly to himself, remembering all the kids who picked on him for being so scrawny in elementary school. If only they could see him now.
Eldon was so busy silently admiring his reflection, he almost didn't hear someone knock on his door. Before his could grab a shirt, the door was opened and Daniel of all people poked his head in.
"Sorry for interrupting.." Daniel said, his smirk almost melting off. His breathing hitched and Eldon frowned, knotting his eyebrows in confusion. Daniel, realizing Eldon noticed this, shook his head and coughed awkwardly. "I-I just wanted to say good luck. Everybody knows you'll need it."
Eldon picked up his costume and scoffed. "Maybe don't act so cocky. It really doesn't suit you."
"I'm not being cocky; I'm confident. There's a difference." Daniel stated, fully entering the room and folding his arms across his chest.
Eldon could only stare at what Daniel was wearing; faded grey jeans, a tight black tank top, and a leather jacket. Not only did the cockiness not suit him, his attire didn't either. When did he exchange his loose, baggy sweats and sweaters, for tight, black leather? Daniel's changed, drastically, and it definitely wasn't for the better.
He recalled what his friends had said, about not talking to Daniel. However, he pushed those thoughts away and focused on what was happened in the now. Daniel was being rude, and he wanted to set him in his place.
"Just because you're confident, or whatever you call it, doesn't mean you can act like a jerk." Eldon said, walking over in front of him.
"Just because you can't handle the pressure, doesn't mean you can act like a jerk." Daniel retorted, taking a step closer. Eldon didn't move, although he was extremely appalled.
"Me? A jerk? Are you even hearing yourself right now?" He exploded. "Ever since you left the Next Step for this dumb SuperStar dance team, you turned into this rude, sarcastic slimeball."
"Slimeball? Oh, how mature of you," Daniel scoffed. "And SuperStar isn't dumb. To be honest, it's better than the Next Step probably ever will be."
"Well —"
Interrupting Eldon, the door opened and Chris was found outside. He sighed irriatatedly. "Daniel, I specifically told you not to come over here. C'mon, you're on in five."
Sparing one last, cruel look at Eldon, Daniel exited the dressing room. Once he was gone, Eldon took a couple deep breaths to calm his racing heart. Never had he ever been a part of something so intense. He wiped the non-existent sweat off of his forehead and got changed.
After they announced that Eldon won the Male Solo competition round, he felt downright ecstatic. So many emotions ran through his my mind, and electricity flowed in his veins. He felt alive.
He bowed, a huge grin spread across his face. Eldon turned to go backstage, but Daniel harshly slammed into his shoulder. Being fed up with his antics, Eldon grabbed Daniel's wrist and tugged him back. "You did a good job," Eldon murmured, barely audible over the audience, who were still applauding and cheering. "However, you should really learn not to be so cocky next time."
Daniel sneered and was about to spit out a snarky comment, but stopped himself. He didn't know what came over him, but he just.. He didn't care anymore. "Thanks. You were amazing. It sucks, though, to lose to you twice in a row."
Eldon smiled, relief flooding his body. This, Daniel not being mean, it was progress. Eldon was more than happy to see this side of him again. "I guess you'll have to practice more, and we can do this again sometime."
"You're on," Daniel said, grinning widely. Eldon let go of his arm and they walked away in seperate directions. "You're still my rival, though."
"Of course." Eldon called over his shoulder.
The other dancers from the Next Step engulfed him in hugs. They all congratulated him and Eldon knew that this is where he belonged.
A couple weeks later, Eldon sat agitatedly in the café below his dance studio. Kate and Lucien had just announced that the Next Step dancers and the Elite dancers would be competing against each other for spots on the Internationals team. Eldon thought the idea itself was completely absurd, and immediately fled the room. He knew they probably started the competition already and had to face the facts; he would not be getting a spot on that team.
That thought, however, was much worse than the one about competing. He wanted to go to Internationals more than anything. More than he wanted to drink clean water, or inhale fresh air. He needed this.
Biting his lips and second guessing himself, Eldon left the coffee shop and began to make his way back upstairs.
He stopped when he got to the hallway in front of the door to Studio A. What if they already started, and refused to let him participate because of how he acted? That was worse case scenario, obviously, but Eldon had a tendency to think of the worst.
"So we meet again."
Eldon spun around at lightning speed at the sound of that voice. His voice. Daniel's voice. There he stood, tight black shorts, tight black tank, and a white sweater. The sweater was different, and caused Eldon to frown. That was until he saw the swirly letters of the word Elite written on the front.
"You're with Elite now? What happened to Julliard?" Eldon said, shocked, and also a bit hurt. He'd betrayed the Next Step, once again.
"I blew the audition. I knew that attending that school would most likely prevent me from dancing against you again, and I didn't want that to happen." Daniel admitted.
"And you joined Elite?" Eldon said incredulously. "You do realize that if we both end up on the Internationals team, we'll have to dance together, and not against each other, right?"
"Maybe it wouldn't be so bad."
Eldon, feeling rage course through his chest, pushed Daniel against the wall. Daniel let out a puff of breath, clearly winded and more so confused. Eldon didn't care, though. "What's your deal? You've got to have some sort of ulterior motive. You hate everyone here at the Next Step. Are you going to sabotage them today or something?"
"No ulterior motives," Daniel gasped, straining for air. Eldon held him pressed against the wall, gripping fistfuls of the cursed Elite sweater. "No sabotage. I'm not like that."
"Like hell you're not." Eldon said, laughing and shaking his head to himself.
"Well you're not like this. Let me go." Daniel ordered. "If you don't, I'll punch you."
"Yeah, right. I doubt you have the guts to do something—"
Whack! Eldon felt Daniel's fist collide with his left cheekbone, and immense pain exploded on his face. He tasted blood in his mouth. He pushed away the tears in his eyes and noticed that Daniel had split his knuckles open, and they were bleeding.
"Don't test me," Daniel said through gritted teeth. "Now let me go."
"Why don't you act more mature?" Eldon snapped. "You can't live your life terrorizing and hurting people."
Again, Daniel's fist smashed against Eldon's face. His jaw this time. The crack was almost cringe-worthy. Eldon turned his head and spat blood onto the floor. He saw even more red on Daniel's hand and felt blood on his cheek.
"It's only you, you clueless loser," Daniel hissed. "I only hurt you."
"Why? Because you're jealous of me? Well, you should also learn to grow up and get over it—"
"No," Daniel interrupting in a low tone, that made Eldon's eyes widen. He grabbed onto Eldon's shirt and tugged him dangerously close. They locked eyes and the stare down was intense. "No, you idiot. I was jealous of you for all of five minutes. Now.. You just.. You infuriate me. You drive me absolutely insane and I can't think straight because of you. But... It's like I'm obsessed. Obsessed with the feeling of hatred and rage that envelopes my body when I think if you. Obsessed with being near you, and being angry with you. Obsessed with you, in general. I can't.. I can't get you out of my head and I hate it."
Daniel looked down, embarrassed, and loosened his grip on Eldon's shirt. A tear or two cascaded down his cheeks and the only thing Eldon could register was how rapidly his heart was beating.
"Daniel.."
"Let me go, Eldon.." Daniel mumbled, in a mad tone, albeit he was very quiet.
"Daniel..."
Daniel looked up, his brown eyes glisten with tears. "Eldon, pl—"
Not thinking twice, Eldon smashed his lips against Daniel's. This. This is what they wanted, what they actually needed. Daniel let out a relieved sort of laugh and wrapped his arms around Eldon's neck, closing any gaps between them. Eldon bit down hard on Daniel's lip, as a sort of payback for the punching.
The biting drew blood, and the kiss only heated up more than before. Daniel pulled him closer, kissing him hard, hard enough for their teeth to knock together once or twice. It was harsh and rude and oh so full of rage, that kiss.
Eldon moved his hands from Daniel's sweater and instead pushed against his hips, receiving a gasp from the brunet-haired boy. It was like music to Eldon's ears.
Once air was too scarce to continue on, they pulled away from each other, breathing heavily.
A short couple seconds later, Eldon raised his fist and punched Daniel as hard as he could on the nose.
Daniel collapsed to the ground. "Oh my God! What the hell was that for?!" He exclaimed, clutching his nose. Blood dripped through his fingers and onto the floor.
"It's not fair that my face is bruised and cut and bleeding, while yours looks fine. Think of it as.. Being even." Eldon remarked, holding out a hand for Daniel. The latter accepted it and pulled himself up.
"I guess we should go in there." Daniel said, casting a sideways glance at Eldon.
"I guess so."
"I still hate you, though, just so we're clear."
"And I still hate you, too."
Eldon and Daniel walked into Studio A side-by-side. Even though he was in pain and should've been nervous, he was more thrilled and happy than anything else. Which was strange, but he guessed Daniel just had that effect on him.
As soon as they entered, everybody in the room turned to look at them. From what it seemed, they hadn't started the competition yet, which was a huge relief. Then Eldon remembered what had happened in the hallway.
They were both flushed with swollen lips from that kiss, but Daniel's bottom lip was cut open and bleeding. Daniel also had bruises on his nose, which was still spurting blood. He did his best to cover it, but it was no use; the blood was flowing between his fingers. Eldon, on the other hand, must've had bruises all over his jaw and cheek, and he knew that his cheek had been bleeding before, but he didn't know what it looked liked then.
Kate's eyes widened incredibly large, as did everyone else's. "What happened?!" She said, rushing over.
Lucien walked over as well, folding his arms across his chest. "It's obvious they had a fight. Who started it?"
Eldon and Daniel both remained silent. They didn't know what the consequences of that fight would be, but neither of them wanted to get into the most trouble.
Kate sighed. "You know what? It doesn't matter. Come into my office and we'll clean you up. Lucien, go ahead and start the competition."
The two boys followed their instructor into her office and she made them sit down on chairs. Kate frantically looked through drawers. "Just so you know, you're not getting away with this. Both of you will be punished."
"We can still compete for spots on the Internationals team, right?" Daniel asked, in a hopefully tone. He didn't want to have joined Elite for nothing.
Kate rubbed her forehead tiredly, clearly overthinking. "I guess so. But, we'll talk about it later." She found her first-aid kit and immediately opened it up.
Eldon and Daniel let her clean up their cuts with antiseptic. Once they were all done, Kate studied their faces intently. "Nothing's broken, right?"
They both nodded.
"Okay, that's good. Eldon, you're probably going to have a nasty black eye for awhile. But, to stop some of the swelling, I'm going to head down to the coffee shop to get some ice for the two of you. Wait here." Kate left the office and it was just Daniel and Eldon alone.
Or, alone as you could be in an office where all the walls were just windows looking out to the studio. They knew well enough that people were watching them. Daniel turned his head slightly to see what was going on. "Lucien picked Hunter's name first. Now Hunter has to pick his opponent."
Eldon remained silent, unsure of what to say.
"Nobody's really focused on what he's doing, though," Daniel continued. "Everyone's looking at us. Whispering and pointing. Kind of rude, to be honest."
"You're one to talk," Eldon said, looking anywhere except in his direction. "Hypocrite."
"Do you need to be punched again?" Daniel asked. His voice was laced with anger, like it had been before. Eldon began to think maybe he was serious. Daniel had said that he enjoyed fighting with Eldon, but he thought maybe the kiss changed that. Clearly, it didn't.
"Maybe you need to be punched again. Calm down and take a joke." The blonde boy said, none too nicely. He almost didn't see Daniel curl his hand into a fist and take a swing before it was too late. Luckily, Eldon had quick reflexes and caught his wrist before his hand had a chance to make contact with his face again.
"You irritate me," was all Daniel said, reclaiming his hand and holding it at his side.
"Same here." Eldon responded.
It went quiet after that. Eventually, Eldon turned around to see what was happening in the studio. To his surprise, everyone was gone and the room was empty. "Did you catch who's name Hunter picked from the hat?"
"No, I was too busy plotting to knock your lights out to notice. My bad." Daniel muttered under his breath. Eldon rolled his eyes and leaned his chin on his hand.
An hour later, Eldon sat among his fellow Next Step dancers, holding a bag of ice to his cheek. Nobody was talking to him, and it was very awkward to sit with them. He spared a look across the room, where Daniel was standing with the Elite dancers. Daniel had ice on his nose, but even over the bag, Eldon was able to make eye contact with him. Daniel narrowed his eyes and immediately gazed away.
Eldon sighed in annoyance and leaned against the wall just as Hunter entered Studio A. Trailing behind him was one of the few male dancers from Elite.
"Wait, who'd Hunter pick?" Eldon asked, to James, who sat beside him.
"Originally, it had been you," James confessed, folding his arms across his chest. Eldon was shocked. "But you were too busy picking fights with Mr SuperStar over there, so we had him pick again. His name is Max or something."
"Oh." Eldon uttered. He didn't know what else to say.
Max began dancing, but Eldon couldn't seem to pay attention. Plus, James kept their conversation going. "What was that about anyways?"
"Nothing," The contemporary dancer said. James raised an eyebrow. "Okay, fine. It wasn't nothing. Daniel just came out from nowhere, I said some things... Um. He punched me twice, and then —"
He cut himself off, a lump forming in his throat. No, no. He couldn't tell anybody about their kiss because this is what he always feared; confrontation and rejection. Eldon didn't need to be questioned and made fun of.
Eldon coughed and continued, "— then I punched him in the nose."
"What, that's it? Damn." James whistled, placing his hands behind his head. "Didn't think you had the nerve to punch someone, though."
"Daniel is just that big of a jerk," Eldon said, grinning at his hands.
James let out a loud, obnoxious laugh and clapped Eldon on the shoulder. Everybody turned to stare at him, but Max never faltered during his solo. Never.
The breakdancer cleared his throat awkwardly, and, smiling one last time at Eldon, focused on the dance.
Both Max and Hunter finished up their routines and they were pretty even. However, Max ended up getting the most votes, and Hunter was officially off the team. Another point towards Elite was scored.
Hunter tried hard to mask his emotions, but he was really upset. He ended up leaving the studio right away.
Lucien, who was smiling like a maniac, lifted up the pink hat. "Max, come on over and pick out the next name."
Max stepped over and picked out a random piece of paper. Everybody was on edge as he unfolded it and read aloud what it said, "Eldon."
People cheered and clapped supportingly. Eldon stood up but Miss Kate held up her hands. "Wait, wait; are you feeling good enough to dance? I only want you to participate at your absolute best."
"Oh, yeah, I'm totally fine. Don't worry about it," Eldon said, walking over to where Lucien held up the hat. "Besides," he muttered. "Daniel can't punch that hard anyways."
Most of the Next Step dancers let out a chorus of "Oo~h"s and "Bur~n"s. Eldon bit his lip to keep from grinning and glanced over at Daniel. The brunet was breathing heavily, clearly trying to calm down his raging nerves.
Eldon dished out a paper and unfolded it. After reading the name on the paper, his heart dropped. He looked up, made eye contact with everyone in the room, but stopped at Daniel's eyes. He gulped. "Daniel."
Woo, okay, there's chapter one! Once again, this isn't edited. Also, I KNOW the whole thing is awful and weird, so please don't remind me. NO FLAMES! DIDN'T LIKE IT? DON'T REVIEW. HOWEVER, FEEDBACK AND POLITE CRITICISM ARE WELCOME.
Idk when the next chapter will be up! Sorry. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter (if ANYONE decides to read this. I'll be okay if only one person reads it actually ahaha).
- Emily