Twister (chapter 7)
Fandom: U-KISS
Pairing: Elvin
Genre: Slash, Romance
Rating: Mostly NC-17
Summary: They start a competition in which neither of them is allowed to give up. The goal is simple: one of them must make the other fall in love with him in a limited period of time.
Disclaimer: I am no way, shape or form affiliated with the named group or any of the characters presented. No copyright infringement intended.
December 3rd. 9:52 AM.
Kevin was lying wide awake in bed, while the rest of the members were sleeping. Which wasn’t something particularly surprising, since he had been awake for the past three hours or more, trying to squeeze the last drop of juice his brain could offer in order to come up with an idea for his own task.
Running out of solutions didn’t define him. He had always known how to maneuver the state of affairs to his advantage and somehow always managed to shift the degree of reality so that things turned for the better. When their game began he hadn’t been worried at all about tasks, not even one bit, because he was idea man. And he had known that even without the experience, he still would have conducted something.
But now, blank. Blank multiplied by zero. Equation with zero components and no solutions. Nothing.
It wasn’t frustrating as it was worrisome. He’d have to face his partner in mischief in a couple of moments and reveal his mind full of cobwebs. They should have also made a rule for this sort of position in the beginning. What was worse, Eli seemed to have plenty of inspiration and more was on its way, which made Kevin feel dumb in a twisted kind of approach.
And because bad never arrives alone, there was one more aspect Kevin dreaded to even think about.
He was beginning to feel like he was going to lose the bet in the end. Not for the lack of ideas -which he prayed to be just temporary- but because he was starting to have feelings for Eli. Of course he had always had them, dating back to their short trainee days, but not like this. He had wanted to be with Eli in the past as well, but not so expressively sexual. He had always been the type to crave for affection, the cute and lame kind, not secretly humping while the members are out. And now he couldn’t even come up with proper schemes anymore thanks to his stupid feelings that were dodging their way in his previously unbreakable world.
He knew what he was supposed to propose next, even if they have never really established a pattern to follow. But judging by their preceding assignments, it wasn’t hard to guess what Eli was expecting. Problem was, Kevin wasn’t sure he wanted to play like that from that point on. Sure the smutty games were great, and even surer he had enjoyed every bit of it, but he was beginning to want more.
Kissing didn’t sound bad at all. Neither did hugging or simply holding hands while watching TV. But what if Eli would consider him dull after that? He wouldn’t know, since they weren’t allowed to complain during the undertakings, nor refuse them. Hence he had no way of finding out.
Kevin took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. Overthinking tired the living hell out of him. He let out a sigh, grabbed a sweatshirt from the floor and got out of the room. He greeted Kiseop on his way to the other end of the hall, received a lazy head gesture in reply and locked himself in the bathroom a few seconds later.
The mirror appeared to be saying ‘Good morning and screw you’ as he examined his own reflection. The shadows under his eyes only emphasized how much of a sleepless night he had, which only underlined the stress he was under. All coffees and energizers in the world couldn’t have woken him up in that moment, Kevin realized, as he splashed a generous amount of water on his face and squished out a bob of toothpaste on his brush.
Messy hair would have to stay messy all day, he agreed, as combing required too much effort. He turned away from the mirror -too useless to look at, anyway- and swept his feet across the floor and out of the bathroom. He crashed on one of the stools in the kitchen, hoping that Kiseop would offer to make breakfast for him, as hunger was beginning to make its presence noticed.
‘Drained of energy this morning?’ his older member asked, analyzing him up and down.
‘Yeah.’ Kevin replied with a hoarse voice.
‘Food?’ Kiseop offered, temptingly holding a slice of bread with peanut butter and jelly.
‘Yeah.’ He repeated, this time even more weary. It was like every syllable added to his sappy being.
‘You know, this American food of yours is not that bad. I could get used to it.’
‘Yeah.’
Kiseop exhaled and let his arms fall sloppily.
‘Kev, come on, I’m trying here. Give me something.’
‘Sorry. Just not feeling like talking.’
‘How much did you sleep last night?’
‘I don’t know, two, maybe three hours.’
‘What’s on your mind? Why couldn’t you sleep?’
Kevin looked at him for an instant, then refocused on his bread. It was typical of Kiseop to ask questions like this, but not so insistent.
‘Um, I don’t know, just stuff. You know, the group, the rehearsing and such.’
‘I see.’ Kiseop tried again. ‘It didn’t have anything to do with Eli?’
The chewed food he was about to swallow made a grinding halt in his throat and Kevin chocked. He almost spit everything out, but quickly regained his composure and managed to swallow in the end. His eyes had become teary.
‘Eli?’ he asked, before taking a sip of water. ‘What do you mean?’
He wasn’t feeling particularly nervous, but didn’t have a good feeling about it either.
‘I was just saying.’ Kiseop shrugged. ‘I noticed you two have spent a lot of time with each other recently and…’
‘And what?’
‘No, no, I’m not implying anything.’ He raised his hands in defense. ‘I thought that maybe you had a fight or something.’
‘Oh.’ Kevin slightly furrowed his brows. ‘No, it’s not him, it’s… I don’t know. But we’ve always been good friends, it’s not like now we’re isolating from the rest of you or anything.’
‘Actually.’ His friend began. Kevin waited for him to add to that, but he didn’t look he was about to.
‘Kiseop.’ Kevin prompted.
‘I was going to say that you kind of have been isolating yourselves from us, but maybe it’s just me.’
It felt like a hit in the face.
‘Could you develop that sentence a bit?’ Kevin pleaded, trying at the same time to think of a way out of their conversation. He was feeling cornered.
‘Well, I was talking to Soohyun the other day and he also agreed that something was a bit off with you guys. Not in a bad way’ -he rapidly added, seeing Kevin’s sulk- ‘but more like, we’re not sure what’s going on.’
‘Nothing’s going on, Kiseop.’ Kevin tried to sound as convincing and surprised as possible. ‘Heck, I didn’t even realize you talked behind our backs.’
‘We weren’t!’ Kiseop replied with an apologetic look. ‘Really, no one is-’
‘I mean, the least you could do is confront me and tell to my face when something is bothering you, right? It’s how we agreed to work from the very beginning.’
‘Kev, nobody was trying to talk behind your back. In fact, no one is. Just-’
‘Oh wait, I forgot, you weren’t here in the beginning.’ Kevin ended the discussion, knowing that later on he would feel like a jerk for practically stabbing Kiseop like that. He got up and entered his room like a tornado, smashed the door closed and landed on the bed.
The tiredness had gone away and it had been replaced with worry in a flash. How could have he been so dull and not even bother to think about how the others might interpret their sudden closure? He was always cautious with his personal belongings, his attire, his hair, his way of speaking and acting - everything. So how come he had been ignoring something of this proportions all along?
And since Soohyun had never been the type to keep things to himself and himself alone, surely he must have brought it out to their other members, as well. Kevin almost cringed at the mere thought of someone finding out.
He waited a few minutes until there were no more sounds outside his door, and tiptoed to Eli’s room.
Of course he was sound asleep, since not even a tornado mating with a hurricane could wake him up. Kevin pulled the curtains aside, cracked the window open and humped on the bed. His lover instantly opened his eyes at the downpour of freezing air.
‘Christ, Kevin, what gives.’ Eli kicked him aside and covered himself all the way up to his forehead.
‘We need to talk now.’ He closed the window, but didn’t touch the curtains.
‘About.’ He heard his muffled voice from under the sheets.
‘About this. About what we’re doing.’
Eli looked at him, understanding from his tone of voice that it was probably more serious than his late sleep and stood up, yoga style.
‘I’m listening. But could you please close those fuckers, I’m turning blind here as we speak.’
Kevin closed the curtains and sat on the bed again. He then tried to reproduce his and Kiseop’s earlier conversation as detailed as he could remember, not forgetting to leave his own mark at the end by telling Eli his concerns and asking for a solution.
The older kept quiet for a second, before formulating an answer.
‘You’re joking, right?’ he questioned. ‘I mean, from what you’re saying, I think we hardly have any reason to fear.’
‘Have you been listening to what I’ve been telling you?’ Kevin rose. ‘They suspect something, you moron! And of course they wouldn’t tell us that to our face directly.’
‘Open your eyes!’ Eli also raised his voice by a notch. ‘We haven’t been spending that much time with them recently, it’s only natural that they think we’re upset at them or something. They’re just curious as to why we haven’t been part of the group that much.’
‘So you’re not concerned at all with this, is that what you’re saying? We should just go on with it until someone does find out?’
‘I can’t believe you.’ Eli glared. ‘You want to quit? After all of this, you just give up because you’re too afraid?’
‘I never said I want to quit.’
‘Really now? Well shit, that’s pretty much what I’m getting here. That you’d rather live a lie and not be with me, even though you desperately want to. And all of this because you’re a goddamn coward.’
‘Desperately?’ Kevin sneered. ‘Wake the fuck up, Eli, you’re not some sort of god I’d die without. Stop acting so shitty, you’re only making a fool out of yourself.’
‘Fine.’ The older fumigated through his nose. ‘Then get the fuck out, if that’s what you think of me.’
‘You don’t have to tell me twice, I was on my way already.’ Kevin exited the room and didn’t stop to look back.
**
Just as Eli walked into the practice room, arm in arm with Soohyun, both of them filling up the place with laughter, Kevin turned towards the mirror and watched their reflection, while pretending to bend down and make a tighter nod to his shoelaces. His poor excuse of a pretense wasn’t awfully helpful, though, since for how long could someone tie one half-an-inch-thick shoelace? He gave up and headed for the water bottle placed in the corner.
It was almost empty by now, as he had to constantly drink from it every three minutes to keep himself busy. He wasn’t in the mood for talking with anyone, and although his bladder was about to explode, he kept drinking from the transparent plastic container like it had honey inside, and not contaminated, sink water.
More laughter was beginning to make itself heard, as Kevin prayed for the choreographer to arrive faster. He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, which planted him back into reality and made him turn.
‘You okay?’ Alexander looked at him with concern.
Kevin smiled. His motherly group mate was always the type to act like this.
‘Fine.’ Kevin answered, surprised at how fake it sounded. He used to be better at that.
‘Fine.’ Alexander repeated. ‘Fine… Listen, did you have a fight with Eli?’
The younger looked at him the same way he had stared at Kiseop a few hours before. Was it really that obvious?
‘What makes you say that?’ Kevin asked back, unsure about how he could never get mad at Alexander, no matter how pushy he could sometimes be.
‘It’s kind of out there. You know, floating in the air. He entered the room a few moments ago and he didn’t come straight at you. He always does. And you didn’t really look at him, either. Well, through the mirror, but that doesn’t count.’
‘Jesus, now you’re following my every move?’ Kevin tried to smile, but the fact that it was forced was so obvious, he simply gave up.
‘Nothing like that.’ Alexander sat down, legs crossed, and Kevin did the same. ‘Just that I got so used to this… ritual I guess, that I couldn’t help not notice.’
‘Ritual?’
‘Yeah, ya’ know, Eli walks in, you’re there, Eli immediately goes by your side. It’s always been like this, if I think about it.’ He looked down for an instant, as if trying to scoop through his memories to attest, then looked back at Kevin. ‘Even Dongho noticed, and we all know he never notices anything that’s happening around him. And here’s a mind-blowing fact.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Even Kiseop.’
Kevin laughed loudly, for the first time that day. From the corner of his eye, he saw Eli throwing him a quick glance, but promptly refocused his attention on Alexander.
‘Yeah, well, Kiseop. We talked earlier about the same thing. He noticed it even before you did. Beat that.’
‘That’s even more mind-blowing.’ Alexander grinned. ‘Dude deserves a prize.’
‘Sure does.’
‘So there is something going on between the two of you?’ the older asked.
Kevin looked at him, looked at his own sneakers and back up at him.
‘We’re going through this thing right now, but I guess it’ll pass. It has to, right?’
‘Of course it will. It’s just that you two never fight. Like, ever. What was it about, anyway?’
‘Oh, you know. Just stuff.’
‘Right.’ Alexander nodded, eyeing him suspiciously. ‘So there are no reasons to worry, that’s what you’re saying. Because all of this will be over by tomorrow and the band won’t be affected.’
‘Why would we be affected? It’s not like you guys will also start fighting because of us. You have nothing to do with it.’
‘True, but in case history hasn’t taught you anything, people always take sides when it comes to stuff like this.’
‘You’re talking as if there’s a war at stake.’ Kevin laughed once more. ‘Look, I can’t guarantee we’ll have kissed and made up by tomorrow, but you guys won’t be affected in any way. We’ll solve this our own way, somehow. And if anything, I know you and Kibum will be on my side.’
Alexander smiled.
‘Maybe Kiseop, as well. Soohyun will always stick with Eli, and Dongho simply doesn’t care. It’s not like we’ll start organizing in separate camps and come up with secret missions to destroy the enemy.’
‘I guess. But yeah, Dongho can be the referee.’
They started laughing again, just as the choreographer walked in and made them occupy their places.
**
He was supposed to be sleeping already, it was passed midnight. They had to get up at ass o’clock the following morning and spend the entire day in the recording studio.
Kevin sighed and turned on his side, facing the wall. He couldn’t get the conversation he had had with Alexander out of his head. What if the older was right and the others would indeed take sides? They probably weren’t that shallow, but if circumstances required it, maybe they would be capable of it. And what if that was cause their disbandment and later on…
Kevin mentally slapped himself. There he went with the what ifs again. He was being stupid, there have been fights within the group before and no one even dared to make teams and split their support.
He let out another breath and turned on the other way, then remained still, just in time to hear the door handle being genteelly maneuvered. He immediately shut his eyes closed, albeit there was no reason to it, since the room was pitch black. Footsteps that Kevin immediately recognized made their was to his bed, then halted.
Eli kneeled by the edge of the bed, came in closer -holding his breath the entire time, Kevin noticed- and paused. Well that was kind of lame, the younger thought. At least do something more interesting while here.
Minutes passed, during which Eli didn’t dare to move another muscle. It was as if he was waiting for something to happen out of the blue; like if he had enough patience, some unexpected thing would materialize in front of him. But obviously Kevin wouldn’t -and couldn’t- simply comply to Eli’s inactivity, since he wanted to see just how far the other would go.
Not far enough, apparently, much to the younger’s displease. Eli got up in the next second and walked out with the same silence he had walked in.
And then a very vivid state of awakeness washed over Kevin once more.
Pairing: Elvin
Genre: Slash, Romance
Rating: Mostly NC-17
Summary: They start a competition in which neither of them is allowed to give up. The goal is simple: one of them must make the other fall in love with him in a limited period of time.
Disclaimer: I am no way, shape or form affiliated with the named group or any of the characters presented. No copyright infringement intended.
December 3rd. 9:52 AM.
Kevin was lying wide awake in bed, while the rest of the members were sleeping. Which wasn’t something particularly surprising, since he had been awake for the past three hours or more, trying to squeeze the last drop of juice his brain could offer in order to come up with an idea for his own task.
Running out of solutions didn’t define him. He had always known how to maneuver the state of affairs to his advantage and somehow always managed to shift the degree of reality so that things turned for the better. When their game began he hadn’t been worried at all about tasks, not even one bit, because he was idea man. And he had known that even without the experience, he still would have conducted something.
But now, blank. Blank multiplied by zero. Equation with zero components and no solutions. Nothing.
It wasn’t frustrating as it was worrisome. He’d have to face his partner in mischief in a couple of moments and reveal his mind full of cobwebs. They should have also made a rule for this sort of position in the beginning. What was worse, Eli seemed to have plenty of inspiration and more was on its way, which made Kevin feel dumb in a twisted kind of approach.
And because bad never arrives alone, there was one more aspect Kevin dreaded to even think about.
He was beginning to feel like he was going to lose the bet in the end. Not for the lack of ideas -which he prayed to be just temporary- but because he was starting to have feelings for Eli. Of course he had always had them, dating back to their short trainee days, but not like this. He had wanted to be with Eli in the past as well, but not so expressively sexual. He had always been the type to crave for affection, the cute and lame kind, not secretly humping while the members are out. And now he couldn’t even come up with proper schemes anymore thanks to his stupid feelings that were dodging their way in his previously unbreakable world.
He knew what he was supposed to propose next, even if they have never really established a pattern to follow. But judging by their preceding assignments, it wasn’t hard to guess what Eli was expecting. Problem was, Kevin wasn’t sure he wanted to play like that from that point on. Sure the smutty games were great, and even surer he had enjoyed every bit of it, but he was beginning to want more.
Kissing didn’t sound bad at all. Neither did hugging or simply holding hands while watching TV. But what if Eli would consider him dull after that? He wouldn’t know, since they weren’t allowed to complain during the undertakings, nor refuse them. Hence he had no way of finding out.
Kevin took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. Overthinking tired the living hell out of him. He let out a sigh, grabbed a sweatshirt from the floor and got out of the room. He greeted Kiseop on his way to the other end of the hall, received a lazy head gesture in reply and locked himself in the bathroom a few seconds later.
The mirror appeared to be saying ‘Good morning and screw you’ as he examined his own reflection. The shadows under his eyes only emphasized how much of a sleepless night he had, which only underlined the stress he was under. All coffees and energizers in the world couldn’t have woken him up in that moment, Kevin realized, as he splashed a generous amount of water on his face and squished out a bob of toothpaste on his brush.
Messy hair would have to stay messy all day, he agreed, as combing required too much effort. He turned away from the mirror -too useless to look at, anyway- and swept his feet across the floor and out of the bathroom. He crashed on one of the stools in the kitchen, hoping that Kiseop would offer to make breakfast for him, as hunger was beginning to make its presence noticed.
‘Drained of energy this morning?’ his older member asked, analyzing him up and down.
‘Yeah.’ Kevin replied with a hoarse voice.
‘Food?’ Kiseop offered, temptingly holding a slice of bread with peanut butter and jelly.
‘Yeah.’ He repeated, this time even more weary. It was like every syllable added to his sappy being.
‘You know, this American food of yours is not that bad. I could get used to it.’
‘Yeah.’
Kiseop exhaled and let his arms fall sloppily.
‘Kev, come on, I’m trying here. Give me something.’
‘Sorry. Just not feeling like talking.’
‘How much did you sleep last night?’
‘I don’t know, two, maybe three hours.’
‘What’s on your mind? Why couldn’t you sleep?’
Kevin looked at him for an instant, then refocused on his bread. It was typical of Kiseop to ask questions like this, but not so insistent.
‘Um, I don’t know, just stuff. You know, the group, the rehearsing and such.’
‘I see.’ Kiseop tried again. ‘It didn’t have anything to do with Eli?’
The chewed food he was about to swallow made a grinding halt in his throat and Kevin chocked. He almost spit everything out, but quickly regained his composure and managed to swallow in the end. His eyes had become teary.
‘Eli?’ he asked, before taking a sip of water. ‘What do you mean?’
He wasn’t feeling particularly nervous, but didn’t have a good feeling about it either.
‘I was just saying.’ Kiseop shrugged. ‘I noticed you two have spent a lot of time with each other recently and…’
‘And what?’
‘No, no, I’m not implying anything.’ He raised his hands in defense. ‘I thought that maybe you had a fight or something.’
‘Oh.’ Kevin slightly furrowed his brows. ‘No, it’s not him, it’s… I don’t know. But we’ve always been good friends, it’s not like now we’re isolating from the rest of you or anything.’
‘Actually.’ His friend began. Kevin waited for him to add to that, but he didn’t look he was about to.
‘Kiseop.’ Kevin prompted.
‘I was going to say that you kind of have been isolating yourselves from us, but maybe it’s just me.’
It felt like a hit in the face.
‘Could you develop that sentence a bit?’ Kevin pleaded, trying at the same time to think of a way out of their conversation. He was feeling cornered.
‘Well, I was talking to Soohyun the other day and he also agreed that something was a bit off with you guys. Not in a bad way’ -he rapidly added, seeing Kevin’s sulk- ‘but more like, we’re not sure what’s going on.’
‘Nothing’s going on, Kiseop.’ Kevin tried to sound as convincing and surprised as possible. ‘Heck, I didn’t even realize you talked behind our backs.’
‘We weren’t!’ Kiseop replied with an apologetic look. ‘Really, no one is-’
‘I mean, the least you could do is confront me and tell to my face when something is bothering you, right? It’s how we agreed to work from the very beginning.’
‘Kev, nobody was trying to talk behind your back. In fact, no one is. Just-’
‘Oh wait, I forgot, you weren’t here in the beginning.’ Kevin ended the discussion, knowing that later on he would feel like a jerk for practically stabbing Kiseop like that. He got up and entered his room like a tornado, smashed the door closed and landed on the bed.
The tiredness had gone away and it had been replaced with worry in a flash. How could have he been so dull and not even bother to think about how the others might interpret their sudden closure? He was always cautious with his personal belongings, his attire, his hair, his way of speaking and acting - everything. So how come he had been ignoring something of this proportions all along?
And since Soohyun had never been the type to keep things to himself and himself alone, surely he must have brought it out to their other members, as well. Kevin almost cringed at the mere thought of someone finding out.
He waited a few minutes until there were no more sounds outside his door, and tiptoed to Eli’s room.
Of course he was sound asleep, since not even a tornado mating with a hurricane could wake him up. Kevin pulled the curtains aside, cracked the window open and humped on the bed. His lover instantly opened his eyes at the downpour of freezing air.
‘Christ, Kevin, what gives.’ Eli kicked him aside and covered himself all the way up to his forehead.
‘We need to talk now.’ He closed the window, but didn’t touch the curtains.
‘About.’ He heard his muffled voice from under the sheets.
‘About this. About what we’re doing.’
Eli looked at him, understanding from his tone of voice that it was probably more serious than his late sleep and stood up, yoga style.
‘I’m listening. But could you please close those fuckers, I’m turning blind here as we speak.’
Kevin closed the curtains and sat on the bed again. He then tried to reproduce his and Kiseop’s earlier conversation as detailed as he could remember, not forgetting to leave his own mark at the end by telling Eli his concerns and asking for a solution.
The older kept quiet for a second, before formulating an answer.
‘You’re joking, right?’ he questioned. ‘I mean, from what you’re saying, I think we hardly have any reason to fear.’
‘Have you been listening to what I’ve been telling you?’ Kevin rose. ‘They suspect something, you moron! And of course they wouldn’t tell us that to our face directly.’
‘Open your eyes!’ Eli also raised his voice by a notch. ‘We haven’t been spending that much time with them recently, it’s only natural that they think we’re upset at them or something. They’re just curious as to why we haven’t been part of the group that much.’
‘So you’re not concerned at all with this, is that what you’re saying? We should just go on with it until someone does find out?’
‘I can’t believe you.’ Eli glared. ‘You want to quit? After all of this, you just give up because you’re too afraid?’
‘I never said I want to quit.’
‘Really now? Well shit, that’s pretty much what I’m getting here. That you’d rather live a lie and not be with me, even though you desperately want to. And all of this because you’re a goddamn coward.’
‘Desperately?’ Kevin sneered. ‘Wake the fuck up, Eli, you’re not some sort of god I’d die without. Stop acting so shitty, you’re only making a fool out of yourself.’
‘Fine.’ The older fumigated through his nose. ‘Then get the fuck out, if that’s what you think of me.’
‘You don’t have to tell me twice, I was on my way already.’ Kevin exited the room and didn’t stop to look back.
**
Just as Eli walked into the practice room, arm in arm with Soohyun, both of them filling up the place with laughter, Kevin turned towards the mirror and watched their reflection, while pretending to bend down and make a tighter nod to his shoelaces. His poor excuse of a pretense wasn’t awfully helpful, though, since for how long could someone tie one half-an-inch-thick shoelace? He gave up and headed for the water bottle placed in the corner.
It was almost empty by now, as he had to constantly drink from it every three minutes to keep himself busy. He wasn’t in the mood for talking with anyone, and although his bladder was about to explode, he kept drinking from the transparent plastic container like it had honey inside, and not contaminated, sink water.
More laughter was beginning to make itself heard, as Kevin prayed for the choreographer to arrive faster. He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, which planted him back into reality and made him turn.
‘You okay?’ Alexander looked at him with concern.
Kevin smiled. His motherly group mate was always the type to act like this.
‘Fine.’ Kevin answered, surprised at how fake it sounded. He used to be better at that.
‘Fine.’ Alexander repeated. ‘Fine… Listen, did you have a fight with Eli?’
The younger looked at him the same way he had stared at Kiseop a few hours before. Was it really that obvious?
‘What makes you say that?’ Kevin asked back, unsure about how he could never get mad at Alexander, no matter how pushy he could sometimes be.
‘It’s kind of out there. You know, floating in the air. He entered the room a few moments ago and he didn’t come straight at you. He always does. And you didn’t really look at him, either. Well, through the mirror, but that doesn’t count.’
‘Jesus, now you’re following my every move?’ Kevin tried to smile, but the fact that it was forced was so obvious, he simply gave up.
‘Nothing like that.’ Alexander sat down, legs crossed, and Kevin did the same. ‘Just that I got so used to this… ritual I guess, that I couldn’t help not notice.’
‘Ritual?’
‘Yeah, ya’ know, Eli walks in, you’re there, Eli immediately goes by your side. It’s always been like this, if I think about it.’ He looked down for an instant, as if trying to scoop through his memories to attest, then looked back at Kevin. ‘Even Dongho noticed, and we all know he never notices anything that’s happening around him. And here’s a mind-blowing fact.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Even Kiseop.’
Kevin laughed loudly, for the first time that day. From the corner of his eye, he saw Eli throwing him a quick glance, but promptly refocused his attention on Alexander.
‘Yeah, well, Kiseop. We talked earlier about the same thing. He noticed it even before you did. Beat that.’
‘That’s even more mind-blowing.’ Alexander grinned. ‘Dude deserves a prize.’
‘Sure does.’
‘So there is something going on between the two of you?’ the older asked.
Kevin looked at him, looked at his own sneakers and back up at him.
‘We’re going through this thing right now, but I guess it’ll pass. It has to, right?’
‘Of course it will. It’s just that you two never fight. Like, ever. What was it about, anyway?’
‘Oh, you know. Just stuff.’
‘Right.’ Alexander nodded, eyeing him suspiciously. ‘So there are no reasons to worry, that’s what you’re saying. Because all of this will be over by tomorrow and the band won’t be affected.’
‘Why would we be affected? It’s not like you guys will also start fighting because of us. You have nothing to do with it.’
‘True, but in case history hasn’t taught you anything, people always take sides when it comes to stuff like this.’
‘You’re talking as if there’s a war at stake.’ Kevin laughed once more. ‘Look, I can’t guarantee we’ll have kissed and made up by tomorrow, but you guys won’t be affected in any way. We’ll solve this our own way, somehow. And if anything, I know you and Kibum will be on my side.’
Alexander smiled.
‘Maybe Kiseop, as well. Soohyun will always stick with Eli, and Dongho simply doesn’t care. It’s not like we’ll start organizing in separate camps and come up with secret missions to destroy the enemy.’
‘I guess. But yeah, Dongho can be the referee.’
They started laughing again, just as the choreographer walked in and made them occupy their places.
**
He was supposed to be sleeping already, it was passed midnight. They had to get up at ass o’clock the following morning and spend the entire day in the recording studio.
Kevin sighed and turned on his side, facing the wall. He couldn’t get the conversation he had had with Alexander out of his head. What if the older was right and the others would indeed take sides? They probably weren’t that shallow, but if circumstances required it, maybe they would be capable of it. And what if that was cause their disbandment and later on…
Kevin mentally slapped himself. There he went with the what ifs again. He was being stupid, there have been fights within the group before and no one even dared to make teams and split their support.
He let out another breath and turned on the other way, then remained still, just in time to hear the door handle being genteelly maneuvered. He immediately shut his eyes closed, albeit there was no reason to it, since the room was pitch black. Footsteps that Kevin immediately recognized made their was to his bed, then halted.
Eli kneeled by the edge of the bed, came in closer -holding his breath the entire time, Kevin noticed- and paused. Well that was kind of lame, the younger thought. At least do something more interesting while here.
Minutes passed, during which Eli didn’t dare to move another muscle. It was as if he was waiting for something to happen out of the blue; like if he had enough patience, some unexpected thing would materialize in front of him. But obviously Kevin wouldn’t -and couldn’t- simply comply to Eli’s inactivity, since he wanted to see just how far the other would go.
Not far enough, apparently, much to the younger’s displease. Eli got up in the next second and walked out with the same silence he had walked in.
And then a very vivid state of awakeness washed over Kevin once more.