[ONESHOT] Mr. Thick Glasses & Mr. Superstar -- Part 2.
Title: Mr. Thick Glasses & Mr. Superstar.
Group: U-Kiss
Pairing: Eli/Alexander.
Rating: PG-13.
Warning: College!AU, bad English, lame plot and even lamer title.
Summary: Alexander is a nerd. Eli is the popular boy. They become roomates.
N/A: O-ha. Second part! LOOK AT MY COUNTERRRR. Using a random pic just because.
“I’ve already said I’m sorry,” Eli whined while they walked across the campus, two or three days after the incident. Alexander shot him a cold glare.
“I know you did, but you’re not forgiven,” he said, obviously annoyed. “This all is completely your fault.”
It was, indeed. Because of Eli, who had tried to harass Alexander sexually and ended up causing a major incident in their bathroom, the hostelling department had fallen on them like the fist of an angry god. Both of them were condemned to being voluntaries in the first event in need for staff that they had on their list, which ended up being a fashion design project developed by one of Eli’s friends. Of course, when telling Eli the reason why the glass door was fallen in the next morning, Alexander suppressed the part regarding sexual harassment and told instead a very funny story about Eli playing Tarzan with the door and ending up making a mess.
“But I didn’t mean it!” Eli tried again, pouting. Alexander looked away.
“Just work well today and everything will be fine,” Alexander said simply, not looking a single time at Eli. The younger guy got bugged and put a hand on Alexander’s shoulder to stop him, succeeding.
“What happened?” he asked, sounding a bit worried. “I know you’re mad, but something else is bothering you. What is it?”
Alexander hesitated. What to say? Tell the truth, that he was disturbed by that night’s happening and even more disturbed by the way his skin seemed to not have forgotten how Eli’s lips felt like? That would be the end of him. He felt nervous just by thinking about spilling it all out.
“You’re blushing,” Eli commented, eyeing him suspiciously. Alexander immediately covered his cheeks with his hands.
“It’s nothing, Eli, I’m sorry,” he said quickly, turning around. “Uhm, let’s do a great job together, okay? Let’s go!”
“Hyung,” Eli called, trying to catch up when Alexander suddenly resumed his walking. “Is it a girl?”
Alexander halted so abruptly that he almost fell on the floor and Eli almost bumped on his back.
“It’s not,” he promptly brushed off, pushing his glasses up his nose. “By the way, I met your ex that day.”
“Jinhee?” Eli exclaimed. “I mean, Jinhee noona? She went talk to you?”
“She did,” Alexander answered. “She’s very charming. I heard a couple of stories about you being a ladies’ man in high school.”
“Oh God,” Eli chuckled awkwardly, making Alexander raise an eyebrow at him. “Please let’s forget about this. Let’s go.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” said Alexander while turning to face Eli again, suddenly full of bravery. He pushed his glasses up again. “About this kind of thing. Your ex-girlfriends and all.”
Eli looked away for a moment, brushing his bangs away from his eyes. It had this cool aura, Alexander had always felt it, but why did he feel that pinch on his heart now?
“And how about you?” Eli threw back, eyeing him fiercely. “You never talked to me about your love life.”
“Well, there’s not much to tell,” retorted Alexander, a bit embarrassed. “I never had a girlfriend. I never even had a kiss.”
Silence fell on them for a moment. Alexander became even more embarrassed when he noticed that Eli was holding back what seemed to be a laugh.
“You never had a kiss?” Eli asked. It was definitely a laugh, it was almost escaping.
“Are you making fun of me?” Alexander showed his annoyance, pushing the glasses up his nose once again.
“No, I’m not, but it’s kind of funny,” Eli covered his mouth with his hand, looking away again. Alexander felt like an idiot. “Because, like, I’m younger than you-“
“I hate you!!” Alexander squealed, laughing while hitting Eli on the chest. How dared him? Now Eli was also laughing openly and they began to walk again, the atmosphere sensibly eased.
They still walked for some time, chatting lightly just like they always did around each other; it was as if that night had never happened, except for that biting small feeling on the pit of Alexander’s stomach which he was ignoring. Soon, they arrived at the building they were supposed to be at, and were received by Eli’s friend Chaerim.
“Kyoungjae!” she shouted mockingly, for some reason, high-fiveing Eli cheerfully.
“Hi there, Chaerim,” he greeted. “This is Alexander hyung. We came here to help.”
“Hi,” Alexander waved timidly, smiling charmingly. She smiled back, but took off her shades and gave Alexander a scrutinizing look from head to toe.
“You’re some good material, aren’t you, Alexander orabeoni?” she commented with a sly smile, putting her shades back on. Alexander’s cheeks were tainted light pink and he looked down, embarrassed. “You’ll be perfect for us. You two, by the way.”
“What do you need us for?” Eli asked while entering the building beside the girl. Feeling lost, Alexander followed them. “Carry stuff around?”
“Nu-uh,” Chaerim shook her head, smiling secretively. “Your job here is a bit more important. It’s not hard to do this kind of thing, and there’s no high expectations going on anyway, so just relax.”
“Yeah, but what is it?” Eli pushed it, trying to get some information from the girl. She just chuckled at him.
“Well, it’s a fashion show,” she pointed out. “Do you know what people need the most in fashion shows, Eli? Hint: it’s not clothes.”
Eli looked back at Alexander with a questioning look. Regarding the older guy, one could say he was having a bad guess…
“Models?” he tried, attracting Chaerim’s attention. She smiled at him.
“Good. You’re not just about the looks, I see,” the girl wiggled her eyebrows at him, making him blush again. “Two will make our boys’ timing way better. So, do you know how to catwalk?”
Eli was staring at her in sheer disbelief.
“But-“
“No buts,” she cut him, stopping in front of a door. “Bad boys who break bathrooms for fun around the dorm have no rights to contest. Now please get in, Dara will adjust the clothes on you. When Jiyong arrive he’ll get all the guys and explain how it will be, so let’s just wait a bit.”
And, with that, Chaerim shoved them inside a room, exchanged some words with a girl sporting a weird hairstyle and left them to said girl, who introduced herself as Sandara and made them change into uncountable different outfits, all of them sharing the same palette.
“Have you ever thought about being a model, Alexander sshi?” Dara had asked him while measuring his waist and giving a coat for him to try out behind one of the improvised changing booths. “You have a great figure for modeling.”
“Thank you,” he said timidly, smiling while pushing his glasses up his nose unconsciously. Sandara seemed to have noticed the gesture and looked at him with a playful smile.
“Do you have lenses?” she asked, searching for something in the clothes’ rack.
“I do,” he nodded. “But they’re in my bedroom.”
“Can you call someone to pick them up for you?” she asked, taking his glasses off delicately. Alexander couldn’t help but remember of that night and blush profusely at the memory. “You look gorgeous without the glasses. Maybe colored lenses…”
And shoved the rest of the outfit on his arms, turning to the desk while searching for something else. Already going to the changing booth, Alexander felt watched, so he looked at the only person in the room who could possibly be looking at him; Eli. The latter, however, was just looking blankly in his general direction and not exactly at him, so he just went to the booth anyway.
The trying session continued until the arrival of a short, funny looking guy who introduced himself as being ‘GD’. Along with Chaerim and Sandara, the guy discussed about the outfits for a long time, long time during which Alexander and Eli remained on a corner of the room just standing silently beside each other. It was comfortable, being like that; it was as if nothing needed to be said.
Then, after fifteen minutes or so, Chaerim called the other models and they all discussed it together. Apparently, Eli and Alexander would have to go only once to the stage, thus using just one outfit; with that, all the other guys would go twice and the timing could be exact. They got carefully instructed about the moment to go up stage, the speed of the steps, etcetera etcetera.
“I never imagined a fashion show could be so full o work,” Eli commented when everyone was gone, both of them having some time to kill before the preparation time start. Alexander just nodded, having the cellphone glued to his ear.
“Hello, Kevin?” he said when the boy answered to his call. “Kevin, can you please get my lenses in my bedroom and bring them to building six in the north-east wing? Yeah, I know-no, it’s a long story. Just come, I tell you later. Bye.”
Eli was looking at him with raised eyebrows when he hang up, which made him stare back questioningly. The younger smiled with the corners of his mouth.
“I think I never saw you without your glasses,” Eli commented, and Alexander’s face fell. He suddenly didn’t feel like doing any of that anymore.
“Well, there’s always a first time,” he joked bitterly, pushing his glasses up his nose.
Kevin arrived soon, nose redder than normally; apparently, he had caught a cold, so his nose was all congested and itching. Chaerim fell in love with him immediately, pinching his cheeks with crushing strength and calling him ‘marshmallow’, even getting him some medicine to open his respiratory ways. Kevin had become very much flustered at these attention displays, and was still red on the face when he got a chance to actually hand over the lenses to Alexander.
“Thank you, marshmallow,” Alexander mocked, making Kevin blush deepen and Chaerim smile slyly.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Kevin pulled his sleeve, demanding an explanation.
“See, my gorgeous looks were finally recognized and I was casted as a model for today’s show,” he joked, making a pose but laughing at Kevin’s ‘eeeeew’. “Joking, story is deeper than that, I tell you later. Will you watch it?”
“Of course I’ll watch it,” Kevin clicked his tongue. “Will I miss a chance to see you making a fool of yourself?”
“Ah, Eli will feature too,” added Alexander, seeing the guy coming out of the room where they were previously. Having his attention attracted by the mention of his name, Eli turned his head to them and smiled when he spotted Kevin.
“Hello, Kevin,” he said, waving. Kevin waved back. “Are you going to be a model too?”
“No, no,” Kevin quickly brushed off. “I just came to give hyung the lenses. I shouldn’t stay here for long, I’ll be on the way.”
“Of course not!” Chaerim interfered, putting her hands on her hips. “You can stay backstage till it hits five. Maybe you should help your friend to loosen up a bit, orabeoni seems tense since he got here.”
Alexander scratched the back of his head embarrassedly, earning recognizing look from Kevin.
“Okay then,” he said, rubbing his nose. Chaerim pinched his cheeks lovingly.
“Come then. Orabeoni needs to get his hair done,” and she smile to Alexander. “Turn left, third room at your right. Say to the girl there that you’re number eight.”
Not having any options but to comply, Alexander bowed and went to the indicated room, Kevin following him closely. There, they found an improvised beauty saloon set up and three or four people doing other guy’s hair, all of them chatting and relaxed. Only one girl was free, so Alexander went to her and told what Chaerim had said.
“Oh, I see,” the girl smiled gently at him. “I’m Bom. Please sit here and let me take care of everything.”
Alexander did as he was told, Kevin sitting on a near chair to watch the whole process. The girl mixed a lot of oils and creams and pulled and coated his hair with quick gestures, as if she had done that for all her life. After a while, she clipped his hair in multiple points and covered with a plastic cap, telling him to stay unmoving for some minutes and going away with the promise that she would be back in some minutes; it was the space Alexander needed to, a bit anxiously, spill out to Kevin the whole story behind his casting in the show, the uncensored version. The boy’s chin fell when Alexander reached the part when Eli tried to kiss him, and he went pale when the older told him about the kiss on his neck.
“Oh. My. Gosh,” Kevin mumbled, facing Alexander, who was blushed and a bit saddened. “I knew it.”
“You knew what?” Alexander frowned inquisitively at his friend, who was currently spraying the medicine Cherim had given him into his nostrils.
“He likes you!” Kevin whispered excitedly, smiling widely in victory. “I saw it since the first time we met, but I thought I was seeing things. I was right after all…”
“What??” he shot an incredulous look at him. “Kevin-“
“I’m being serious,” Kevin nodded firmly. “I saw it with my own eyes. He keeps looking at you all the time as if he was admiring you, and I can’t explain exactly why, but it’s with different eyes. He also laughs without any reason sometimes when you say something, haven’t you noticed?”
“It’s not it, Kevin,” Alexander said, a bit confused. “It can’t be!”
“Of course it can! He tried to kiss you, for God’s sake,” Kevin hissed.
“He was drunk!” Alexander threw back, caught in a spiral of conflicting thoughts - Eli, liking him?
“That’s exactly the point,” retorted Kevin, adjusting his glasses smartly. “A drunken person acts honestly, isn’t it so? Even if you don’t believe it, just do one plus one. I’m pretty sure he likes you,” Kevin smirked. “You’re blushing.”
“I’m not!!” Alexander squealed, covering his cheeks with his hands. “Stop joking about this kind of thing, Kevin.”
“Okay, okay,” Kevin raised his hands in rendition, laughing. “I’ll go back to the dorms for now, I still have a paper to finish before coming back here and watching the show. And, just saying,” he got up, lowering his head a bit. “I can’t know exactly if Eli hyung likes you, but I know for sure that you like him.”
And he went away, exactly at the same time when Bom came back.
“Is your head hurting? You’re making a strange face,” she asked, a bit concerned. Alexander hated how he seemed to be living a series of déjà vus these days.
“No, it’s okay,” he shook his head, looking away embarrassedly while she just nodded and began taking the cap and the clips off.
As he tried to look at something else and distract himself, he found Eli standing near the door, talking to a guy who was probably going to style his hair and was now browsing for something inside a bag. He looked at Eli discreetly, searching for answers, but at the same time Eli also turned to him and their eyes met. After a brief moment, Eli smiled sheepishly and gave a small wave, earning an equal response from Alexander - whose heart was actually beating fast, like a caged bird trying to escape.
He wanted to forget that all, he wanted everything to go back in time just it was before they even met… did he, really? As Bom washed his hair, he thought about Eli’s silly smile, Eli’s concentrated face when he didn’t get something, Eli’s funny faces when he wanted to ask Alexander something, Eli’s serene face when he was sleeping… and also the warmth of Eli’s hand on his when the guy wanted to pull him to some food store, the sound of Eli’s laugh when he did something funny… when did he become so addicted to all that?
Was it true, then? Did he really like Eli?
The question sounded rhetoric in his mind.
He tried not to think about it anymore when the clock finally hit five PM; it was the signal for them to begin getting ready. He went to get his outfit with a towel around his head, which made Sandara laugh and mock him while giving him the clothes and instructing him about who he had to talk to about make-up and accessories. Things began getting a bit frantic from there, full of running up and down hallways to get this or that and dressing inside a bathroom so full that it felt like a club. When he finally got ready - make-up done, hair done, outfit on, lenses on, glasses being taken care of by Bom - he was told to wait somewhere near the door to the stage, in order to get mentally ready to go up there. He just entered some room and began walking in circles, nervousness hitting his stomach and head filled with different things.
One of the things that filled his head entered the room looking down, stopping on his tracks when he noticed that the room was already occupied, and Alexander could take a look on him with the outfit on.
He was wearing pitch black blazer over an equally black shirt, all put in contrast with a golden tie. His pants were also back, and all the pieces valorized the strong points of his body; broad shoulders, elegant figure, even his height. Topping it off, his hair had been carefully styled to the side and his only make-up was a bit of eyeliner around his small eyes, making them look even sharper than usual. Alexander was breathless. Jesus, he knew that Eli was good-looking, but nobody ever warned him that the boy could be stunning.
“Oh my God, Eli,” he chuckled, covering his mouth, feeling his cheeks warm up. “You’re looking so good!”
Eli didn’t answer. In fact, now that Alexander wasn’t paying so much attention to his looks anymore, Eli was staring intensely at him, frozen like a doll.
“Eli?” he called, waving his hand in front of the boy’s
“You didn’t look like this last time I saw you,” Eli said vaguely, still staring at Alexander, absorbing each detail. “Is this even a shirt??”
Alexander laughed. He himself was wearing a top that barely reached the middle of his stomach and only covered the front of his stomach, being tied on his back by three straps only and thus exposing his back and hips. His colors were black and copper, though.
“Of course I’m not the same. I’m without my glasses and my hair is actually decent,” Alexander pointed out, making a pose. Eli gave a small laugh, reaching forward and putting his hands on Alexander’s waist.
“You’re really so thin,” Eli commented, squeezing his waist and making Alexander squeal. “Your waist is even curvy!”
“It’s my attractive point,” Alexander said, unconsciously licking his lips. Eli released them with a small chuckle and looking up, flicking Alexander’s forehead all of sudden. “Ouch! What was that for??”
“Come, I think it’s better to get in the backstage already,” Eli said, pulling Alexander by the hand. “We don’t want Chaerim to think we’re running away.”
And, for that moment, despise still being confused and lost, Alexander felt happy.
-x-
“You really know how to catwalk, don’t you?” Alexander mocked, nudging Eli’s ribs unceremoniously while laughing in a loud voice.
“And you looked so serious!” Eli threw back, punching Alexander’s stomach softly, having an arm around his shoulder. “I thought you were going to kill someone!”
The show had been a success. Even being amateurs, both Alexander and Eli had done fairly good, and even Kevin had to admit that no, Alexander had not made a fool of himself. There was a small commemoration right after the end of all that, which counted with a series of funny happenings, and now Alexander and Eli were going back to their room, feeling hyper and accomplished.
“But telling the truth, I was really cold,” Alexander confessed, waving the hem of his sweater to indicate that he was talking about the top. “The backstage was warm, but it was a bit chilled up there.”
“Well, no surprises. You had more skin showing than fabric on that,” Eli stated, running a hand through his hair. “But the clothes were really cool. Chaerim and Jiyong sshi are really good with fashion.”
“Yeah, I think that too,” Alexander nodded, getting his keys from inside his pockets and pushing his glasses up his nose. “That was tiring, but quite fun… in the end, we weren’t even punished for breaking the bathroom.”
“Remember we still had to pay,” Eli pointed out, for once not jumping on the bed when entering the room. Alexander chuckled.
“But it could have been worse!” he added, raising a finger. “In the end, all you had to do, being the one to blame for all this, was wear some clothes and walk like a pimp.”
“Hey, if it makes you happier, it was not that easy to find an outfit for me,” while taking off his shoes, Eli felt the need to announce. “The first ones I tried were too tight. I thought I was going to rip something and turn Chaerim into a raging beast.”
“Hm, I see,” Alexander said with teasing eyes, leaving his keys on the bedside table and putting a hand on Eli’s chest. “All these muscles can rip off a shirt?”
“Of course they can,” Eli answered with a cocky smile, and both of them laughed, although Alexander was feeling a bit funny inside.
“Tsc, so full of yourself,” Alexander joked, flicking Eli’s forehead and making the boy’s face contort in pain with a strangled ‘ouch!’. “Do you know what you deserve?”
“A big and warm hug?” Eli said in his silly voice, smiling like a child while opening his arms. Alexander laughed even louder, having to hold his glasses on his face to avoid them from falling.
“No,” Alexander answered devilishly. “A TICKLING SESSION!”
And began tickling Eli with all his might, making Eli cackle and plead for mercy. Alexander, however, knew no mercy, and only stopped poking his sides when his arms began to feel tired, at a time when Eli was already completely breathless and Alexander was on top of him, having him lay down on the bed.
“Will you ever be full of yourself again, Kim Elison?” Alexander asked in a commanding tone, wriggling his fingers with an evil smile on his lips.
“No! I’ll be forever loyal and good,” Eli said, still a bit out of breath.
“Hm, good,” Alexander gave him a superior smirk. “Will you devote yourself to king Alexander forever?”
“What??” Eli laughed. Then, in a surprising move, he tackled Alexander off the bed and pinned him against the floor, tickling him for revenge.
“Stooooop!” Alexander pleaded among laughter.
“Who’s on top now, huh?” Eli provoked, making an all-mighty pose.
“Well, technically, you,” Alexander said, clicking his tongue. “But your luck is going to change!”
And he grabbed Eli’s shoulders, trying to roll him over. However, Eli was prepared this time, thus resulting in a mess of tangled limbs, shrieks and chaotic rolling on the floor, which came to an end when they hit the side of Alexander’s bed and stopped to breathe, Eli still being the one on the top. They stayed that way for a long moment, trying to calm their respirations down, and eventually they faced each other, not so playful anymore but contemplative, peaceful. Alexander could recall that night, that agitated night when he was also cornered that way, but tried to forget about that, afraid that Eli would feel his heartbeat go faster.
“You know, you don’t look much different without your glasses,” Eli said, fixing the accessory on Alexander’s face, since it had gotten crooked during their battle. “I mean, you do, but it’s still the same in a way.”
Alexander’s efforts went to waste when he felt his heartbeat accelerating. The same words… so maybe… could it be? It couldn’t…
“You’ve said that to me before,” Alexander commented, feeling a bit tired. Eli frowned.
“Have I?” he asked, making Alexander feel even more tired.
“Yeah, you just don’t remember,” answered the older, smiling sweetly and pinching Eli’s nose lightly.
Another moment passed, and they didn’t move; just stayed like that, looking into each other’s eyes, having spent a lot of energy on rolling madly on the floor.
“So, hyung,” Eli began in a small voice, softly. “When was your first love?”
“Huh?” Alexander looked at him with surprised eyes, chuckling. “Why are you suddenly asking this?”
“You’re the one who complained about not talking about love life and all,” reasonable enough, Eli pointed out with a victorious smile. “When was it then?”
“Middle school,” Alexander sighed. “It was a girl from my class. She liked to read and was good at math.”
“And what happened?” Eli insisted on the subject, shifting his weight so he wouldn’t cut Alexander’s blood circulation.
“I confessed to her and she rejected me,” Alexander made a face. “But I don’t blame her. I wasn’t a good looking kid.”
“Hyung, what are you talking about?” Eli chuckled, pulling one of Alexander’s ears playfully. “That’s not a reason to reject someone!”
“In extreme cases, like mine, it is,” he disagreed, laughing. “And how about you? When was it?”
“Middle school too,” he answered. “We dated for a month and a half, if I remember well.”
“See?” Alexander made a face. “No girl would reject a handsome guy like you.”
“I think you were just too shy to talk to them and they ended up not knowing you enough,” Eli retorted.
“No, I’m telling you!” Alexander hit Eli’s thigh. “I mean, I’m not the kind of guy girls like.”
“Hyung,” Eli raised an eyebrow at him. Alexander laughed.
“I’m serious!” insisted Alexander. “I’m not attractive, a girl would just suddenly lose courage if she was going to kiss me. Don’t think I don’t know this, I just…”
He trailed off when he suddenly saw that Eli was moving. And, before he could do something, before he could even say something, Eli’s lips were on his, kissing him, finally kissing him.
Alexander’s eyes went as wide as possibly, his heart beating too fast, his cheeks feeling too warm. Eli was actually kissing him, for real, and he could feel those soft and plump lips on his, oh my, his heart was going to jump off his chest. It almost did, yes, when Eli tilted his head and licked Alexander lips by ways of asking for an entrance, but suddenly he stopped and everything stopped with him. Eli opened his eyes wide, as if waking up from a trance, and in one fleeting second he was off Alexander and running out through the door, closing it soundly behind him.
Alexander needed a few seconds to understand what exactly had happened. First, they were talking about school crushes, then Eli kissed him, and now he had run away. Alexander touched his sensitized lips, a strange excitement on the pit of his stomach; it had been his first kiss, it had been with Eli and it had felt so good - but why did Eli run away? Did he really like Alexander like Kevin had said? He remembered Kevin’s words; ‘he keeps looking at you all the time as if he was admiring you’… was it possible that Eli really did that?
‘Just change back to high school when I didn’t want to kiss you all the time’.
Alexander covered his face with his hands, torn between giggling and shouting from the top of his lungs. If Eli really liked him… and why would he kiss him if he didn’t? Alexander decided that he was going to make all things clear between them, and it had to be that night.
Alexander was going to ambush him.
He changed into his sleeping clothes, turned off the lights and laid down, pretending to be sleeping but actually waiting. He waited, waited patiently staring to the dark space where he knew the door would be, too excited to feel sleepy, glasses still on. He waited for a long time until the door was briefly opened and the missing habitant of the bedroom came back, being careful to not make any noise when closing the door. Ah, barely did he know a thing. Silently, Alexander raised himself from the bad, taking advantage of Eli’s not-adapted-to-the-dark-yet sight to sneak near him and hug him from behind, obviously startling him.
“Don’t think you can run away from me like that,” Alexander whispered menacingly against Eli’s ear, holding him firmly, but letting his hand search the bedside lamp blindly and turn it on.
“Y-you’re awake,” stated Eli, staring at his close face with wide eyes. Having a hand almost on his chest, Alexander could feel Eli’s heart beating ultra fast, and he was happy to see he wasn’t the only one who felt that kind of thing.
“I am. And you owe me an explanation,” Alexander went straight to the point, watching Eli gulp.
“Hyung, I’m sorry,” Eli said, voice a bit shaky. Alexander let him go, just standing there and putting his hands on his hips. “I didn’t want to-“
“Kiss me?” Alexander completed, looking at him with piercing eyes. He was about to add something, but decided to shut up and wait for Eli’s answer instead.
“No,” much to his surprise, Eli was firm in saying that one word. “It’s not kissing you that I’m sorry for.”
Alexander’s heart skipped a beat when he raised his head, eyes meeting and sending sparks up his spine. He gave a step forward, practically pressing his chest against Eli’s.
“Then do it again,” he commanded, raising his head and closing his eyes, licking his lips unintentionally.
Luckily, it didn’t take one second for him to feel those amazingly soft lips on his again, stealing all his breath and making him feel light, ethereal. The kiss was much more firm this time, and, when Eli licked his lips, he parted them a bit hesitantly, wanting to feel more of that, almost fainting when he felt Eli’s tongue press against his - that felt so good, he was trembling, his hands were sweating, he couldn’t breathe - and the kiss was suddenly parted, Eli looking at him attentively.
“Wh-hy did you stop?” Alexander asked in a thin, strangled voice.
“You’re falling,” Eli commented in a low, affectionate voice. “I thought you were out of breath.”
Alexander blinked, finally noticing what Eli was talking about; his weight was entirely supported on Eli’s arm around his waist, as if he was really fainting. His face became redder than humanly possible as he got back on his feet, burying his face on the crook of Eli’s neck as the other caressed his hair, chuckling softly.
“That’s not funny,” Alexander muttered, drowned in Eli’s warmth and sniffing his scent, feeling home. “You stole my first kiss and ran away. Are you a burglar?”
“Well, you were talking about girls not being able to like you because of this and that and yadda yadda,” Eli mimicked, making a face. Alexander hit his shoulder weakly. “I just wanted to prove you wrong.”
“Eli, you’re not a girl,” informed Alexander, smiling, raising his head to look into Eli’s eyes. Both of them giggled, looking like two idiots for being so close and laughing about nothing, but the door was closed and they were alone together, so it was okay.
Together. Everything was okay.
Group: U-Kiss
Pairing: Eli/Alexander.
Rating: PG-13.
Warning: College!AU, bad English, lame plot and even lamer title.
Summary: Alexander is a nerd. Eli is the popular boy. They become roomates.
N/A: O-ha. Second part! LOOK AT MY COUNTERRRR. Using a random pic just because.
“I’ve already said I’m sorry,” Eli whined while they walked across the campus, two or three days after the incident. Alexander shot him a cold glare.
“I know you did, but you’re not forgiven,” he said, obviously annoyed. “This all is completely your fault.”
It was, indeed. Because of Eli, who had tried to harass Alexander sexually and ended up causing a major incident in their bathroom, the hostelling department had fallen on them like the fist of an angry god. Both of them were condemned to being voluntaries in the first event in need for staff that they had on their list, which ended up being a fashion design project developed by one of Eli’s friends. Of course, when telling Eli the reason why the glass door was fallen in the next morning, Alexander suppressed the part regarding sexual harassment and told instead a very funny story about Eli playing Tarzan with the door and ending up making a mess.
“But I didn’t mean it!” Eli tried again, pouting. Alexander looked away.
“Just work well today and everything will be fine,” Alexander said simply, not looking a single time at Eli. The younger guy got bugged and put a hand on Alexander’s shoulder to stop him, succeeding.
“What happened?” he asked, sounding a bit worried. “I know you’re mad, but something else is bothering you. What is it?”
Alexander hesitated. What to say? Tell the truth, that he was disturbed by that night’s happening and even more disturbed by the way his skin seemed to not have forgotten how Eli’s lips felt like? That would be the end of him. He felt nervous just by thinking about spilling it all out.
“You’re blushing,” Eli commented, eyeing him suspiciously. Alexander immediately covered his cheeks with his hands.
“It’s nothing, Eli, I’m sorry,” he said quickly, turning around. “Uhm, let’s do a great job together, okay? Let’s go!”
“Hyung,” Eli called, trying to catch up when Alexander suddenly resumed his walking. “Is it a girl?”
Alexander halted so abruptly that he almost fell on the floor and Eli almost bumped on his back.
“It’s not,” he promptly brushed off, pushing his glasses up his nose. “By the way, I met your ex that day.”
“Jinhee?” Eli exclaimed. “I mean, Jinhee noona? She went talk to you?”
“She did,” Alexander answered. “She’s very charming. I heard a couple of stories about you being a ladies’ man in high school.”
“Oh God,” Eli chuckled awkwardly, making Alexander raise an eyebrow at him. “Please let’s forget about this. Let’s go.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” said Alexander while turning to face Eli again, suddenly full of bravery. He pushed his glasses up again. “About this kind of thing. Your ex-girlfriends and all.”
Eli looked away for a moment, brushing his bangs away from his eyes. It had this cool aura, Alexander had always felt it, but why did he feel that pinch on his heart now?
“And how about you?” Eli threw back, eyeing him fiercely. “You never talked to me about your love life.”
“Well, there’s not much to tell,” retorted Alexander, a bit embarrassed. “I never had a girlfriend. I never even had a kiss.”
Silence fell on them for a moment. Alexander became even more embarrassed when he noticed that Eli was holding back what seemed to be a laugh.
“You never had a kiss?” Eli asked. It was definitely a laugh, it was almost escaping.
“Are you making fun of me?” Alexander showed his annoyance, pushing the glasses up his nose once again.
“No, I’m not, but it’s kind of funny,” Eli covered his mouth with his hand, looking away again. Alexander felt like an idiot. “Because, like, I’m younger than you-“
“I hate you!!” Alexander squealed, laughing while hitting Eli on the chest. How dared him? Now Eli was also laughing openly and they began to walk again, the atmosphere sensibly eased.
They still walked for some time, chatting lightly just like they always did around each other; it was as if that night had never happened, except for that biting small feeling on the pit of Alexander’s stomach which he was ignoring. Soon, they arrived at the building they were supposed to be at, and were received by Eli’s friend Chaerim.
“Kyoungjae!” she shouted mockingly, for some reason, high-fiveing Eli cheerfully.
“Hi there, Chaerim,” he greeted. “This is Alexander hyung. We came here to help.”
“Hi,” Alexander waved timidly, smiling charmingly. She smiled back, but took off her shades and gave Alexander a scrutinizing look from head to toe.
“You’re some good material, aren’t you, Alexander orabeoni?” she commented with a sly smile, putting her shades back on. Alexander’s cheeks were tainted light pink and he looked down, embarrassed. “You’ll be perfect for us. You two, by the way.”
“What do you need us for?” Eli asked while entering the building beside the girl. Feeling lost, Alexander followed them. “Carry stuff around?”
“Nu-uh,” Chaerim shook her head, smiling secretively. “Your job here is a bit more important. It’s not hard to do this kind of thing, and there’s no high expectations going on anyway, so just relax.”
“Yeah, but what is it?” Eli pushed it, trying to get some information from the girl. She just chuckled at him.
“Well, it’s a fashion show,” she pointed out. “Do you know what people need the most in fashion shows, Eli? Hint: it’s not clothes.”
Eli looked back at Alexander with a questioning look. Regarding the older guy, one could say he was having a bad guess…
“Models?” he tried, attracting Chaerim’s attention. She smiled at him.
“Good. You’re not just about the looks, I see,” the girl wiggled her eyebrows at him, making him blush again. “Two will make our boys’ timing way better. So, do you know how to catwalk?”
Eli was staring at her in sheer disbelief.
“But-“
“No buts,” she cut him, stopping in front of a door. “Bad boys who break bathrooms for fun around the dorm have no rights to contest. Now please get in, Dara will adjust the clothes on you. When Jiyong arrive he’ll get all the guys and explain how it will be, so let’s just wait a bit.”
And, with that, Chaerim shoved them inside a room, exchanged some words with a girl sporting a weird hairstyle and left them to said girl, who introduced herself as Sandara and made them change into uncountable different outfits, all of them sharing the same palette.
“Have you ever thought about being a model, Alexander sshi?” Dara had asked him while measuring his waist and giving a coat for him to try out behind one of the improvised changing booths. “You have a great figure for modeling.”
“Thank you,” he said timidly, smiling while pushing his glasses up his nose unconsciously. Sandara seemed to have noticed the gesture and looked at him with a playful smile.
“Do you have lenses?” she asked, searching for something in the clothes’ rack.
“I do,” he nodded. “But they’re in my bedroom.”
“Can you call someone to pick them up for you?” she asked, taking his glasses off delicately. Alexander couldn’t help but remember of that night and blush profusely at the memory. “You look gorgeous without the glasses. Maybe colored lenses…”
And shoved the rest of the outfit on his arms, turning to the desk while searching for something else. Already going to the changing booth, Alexander felt watched, so he looked at the only person in the room who could possibly be looking at him; Eli. The latter, however, was just looking blankly in his general direction and not exactly at him, so he just went to the booth anyway.
The trying session continued until the arrival of a short, funny looking guy who introduced himself as being ‘GD’. Along with Chaerim and Sandara, the guy discussed about the outfits for a long time, long time during which Alexander and Eli remained on a corner of the room just standing silently beside each other. It was comfortable, being like that; it was as if nothing needed to be said.
Then, after fifteen minutes or so, Chaerim called the other models and they all discussed it together. Apparently, Eli and Alexander would have to go only once to the stage, thus using just one outfit; with that, all the other guys would go twice and the timing could be exact. They got carefully instructed about the moment to go up stage, the speed of the steps, etcetera etcetera.
“I never imagined a fashion show could be so full o work,” Eli commented when everyone was gone, both of them having some time to kill before the preparation time start. Alexander just nodded, having the cellphone glued to his ear.
“Hello, Kevin?” he said when the boy answered to his call. “Kevin, can you please get my lenses in my bedroom and bring them to building six in the north-east wing? Yeah, I know-no, it’s a long story. Just come, I tell you later. Bye.”
Eli was looking at him with raised eyebrows when he hang up, which made him stare back questioningly. The younger smiled with the corners of his mouth.
“I think I never saw you without your glasses,” Eli commented, and Alexander’s face fell. He suddenly didn’t feel like doing any of that anymore.
“Well, there’s always a first time,” he joked bitterly, pushing his glasses up his nose.
Kevin arrived soon, nose redder than normally; apparently, he had caught a cold, so his nose was all congested and itching. Chaerim fell in love with him immediately, pinching his cheeks with crushing strength and calling him ‘marshmallow’, even getting him some medicine to open his respiratory ways. Kevin had become very much flustered at these attention displays, and was still red on the face when he got a chance to actually hand over the lenses to Alexander.
“Thank you, marshmallow,” Alexander mocked, making Kevin blush deepen and Chaerim smile slyly.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Kevin pulled his sleeve, demanding an explanation.
“See, my gorgeous looks were finally recognized and I was casted as a model for today’s show,” he joked, making a pose but laughing at Kevin’s ‘eeeeew’. “Joking, story is deeper than that, I tell you later. Will you watch it?”
“Of course I’ll watch it,” Kevin clicked his tongue. “Will I miss a chance to see you making a fool of yourself?”
“Ah, Eli will feature too,” added Alexander, seeing the guy coming out of the room where they were previously. Having his attention attracted by the mention of his name, Eli turned his head to them and smiled when he spotted Kevin.
“Hello, Kevin,” he said, waving. Kevin waved back. “Are you going to be a model too?”
“No, no,” Kevin quickly brushed off. “I just came to give hyung the lenses. I shouldn’t stay here for long, I’ll be on the way.”
“Of course not!” Chaerim interfered, putting her hands on her hips. “You can stay backstage till it hits five. Maybe you should help your friend to loosen up a bit, orabeoni seems tense since he got here.”
Alexander scratched the back of his head embarrassedly, earning recognizing look from Kevin.
“Okay then,” he said, rubbing his nose. Chaerim pinched his cheeks lovingly.
“Come then. Orabeoni needs to get his hair done,” and she smile to Alexander. “Turn left, third room at your right. Say to the girl there that you’re number eight.”
Not having any options but to comply, Alexander bowed and went to the indicated room, Kevin following him closely. There, they found an improvised beauty saloon set up and three or four people doing other guy’s hair, all of them chatting and relaxed. Only one girl was free, so Alexander went to her and told what Chaerim had said.
“Oh, I see,” the girl smiled gently at him. “I’m Bom. Please sit here and let me take care of everything.”
Alexander did as he was told, Kevin sitting on a near chair to watch the whole process. The girl mixed a lot of oils and creams and pulled and coated his hair with quick gestures, as if she had done that for all her life. After a while, she clipped his hair in multiple points and covered with a plastic cap, telling him to stay unmoving for some minutes and going away with the promise that she would be back in some minutes; it was the space Alexander needed to, a bit anxiously, spill out to Kevin the whole story behind his casting in the show, the uncensored version. The boy’s chin fell when Alexander reached the part when Eli tried to kiss him, and he went pale when the older told him about the kiss on his neck.
“Oh. My. Gosh,” Kevin mumbled, facing Alexander, who was blushed and a bit saddened. “I knew it.”
“You knew what?” Alexander frowned inquisitively at his friend, who was currently spraying the medicine Cherim had given him into his nostrils.
“He likes you!” Kevin whispered excitedly, smiling widely in victory. “I saw it since the first time we met, but I thought I was seeing things. I was right after all…”
“What??” he shot an incredulous look at him. “Kevin-“
“I’m being serious,” Kevin nodded firmly. “I saw it with my own eyes. He keeps looking at you all the time as if he was admiring you, and I can’t explain exactly why, but it’s with different eyes. He also laughs without any reason sometimes when you say something, haven’t you noticed?”
“It’s not it, Kevin,” Alexander said, a bit confused. “It can’t be!”
“Of course it can! He tried to kiss you, for God’s sake,” Kevin hissed.
“He was drunk!” Alexander threw back, caught in a spiral of conflicting thoughts - Eli, liking him?
“That’s exactly the point,” retorted Kevin, adjusting his glasses smartly. “A drunken person acts honestly, isn’t it so? Even if you don’t believe it, just do one plus one. I’m pretty sure he likes you,” Kevin smirked. “You’re blushing.”
“I’m not!!” Alexander squealed, covering his cheeks with his hands. “Stop joking about this kind of thing, Kevin.”
“Okay, okay,” Kevin raised his hands in rendition, laughing. “I’ll go back to the dorms for now, I still have a paper to finish before coming back here and watching the show. And, just saying,” he got up, lowering his head a bit. “I can’t know exactly if Eli hyung likes you, but I know for sure that you like him.”
And he went away, exactly at the same time when Bom came back.
“Is your head hurting? You’re making a strange face,” she asked, a bit concerned. Alexander hated how he seemed to be living a series of déjà vus these days.
“No, it’s okay,” he shook his head, looking away embarrassedly while she just nodded and began taking the cap and the clips off.
As he tried to look at something else and distract himself, he found Eli standing near the door, talking to a guy who was probably going to style his hair and was now browsing for something inside a bag. He looked at Eli discreetly, searching for answers, but at the same time Eli also turned to him and their eyes met. After a brief moment, Eli smiled sheepishly and gave a small wave, earning an equal response from Alexander - whose heart was actually beating fast, like a caged bird trying to escape.
He wanted to forget that all, he wanted everything to go back in time just it was before they even met… did he, really? As Bom washed his hair, he thought about Eli’s silly smile, Eli’s concentrated face when he didn’t get something, Eli’s funny faces when he wanted to ask Alexander something, Eli’s serene face when he was sleeping… and also the warmth of Eli’s hand on his when the guy wanted to pull him to some food store, the sound of Eli’s laugh when he did something funny… when did he become so addicted to all that?
Was it true, then? Did he really like Eli?
The question sounded rhetoric in his mind.
He tried not to think about it anymore when the clock finally hit five PM; it was the signal for them to begin getting ready. He went to get his outfit with a towel around his head, which made Sandara laugh and mock him while giving him the clothes and instructing him about who he had to talk to about make-up and accessories. Things began getting a bit frantic from there, full of running up and down hallways to get this or that and dressing inside a bathroom so full that it felt like a club. When he finally got ready - make-up done, hair done, outfit on, lenses on, glasses being taken care of by Bom - he was told to wait somewhere near the door to the stage, in order to get mentally ready to go up there. He just entered some room and began walking in circles, nervousness hitting his stomach and head filled with different things.
One of the things that filled his head entered the room looking down, stopping on his tracks when he noticed that the room was already occupied, and Alexander could take a look on him with the outfit on.
He was wearing pitch black blazer over an equally black shirt, all put in contrast with a golden tie. His pants were also back, and all the pieces valorized the strong points of his body; broad shoulders, elegant figure, even his height. Topping it off, his hair had been carefully styled to the side and his only make-up was a bit of eyeliner around his small eyes, making them look even sharper than usual. Alexander was breathless. Jesus, he knew that Eli was good-looking, but nobody ever warned him that the boy could be stunning.
“Oh my God, Eli,” he chuckled, covering his mouth, feeling his cheeks warm up. “You’re looking so good!”
Eli didn’t answer. In fact, now that Alexander wasn’t paying so much attention to his looks anymore, Eli was staring intensely at him, frozen like a doll.
“Eli?” he called, waving his hand in front of the boy’s
“You didn’t look like this last time I saw you,” Eli said vaguely, still staring at Alexander, absorbing each detail. “Is this even a shirt??”
Alexander laughed. He himself was wearing a top that barely reached the middle of his stomach and only covered the front of his stomach, being tied on his back by three straps only and thus exposing his back and hips. His colors were black and copper, though.
“Of course I’m not the same. I’m without my glasses and my hair is actually decent,” Alexander pointed out, making a pose. Eli gave a small laugh, reaching forward and putting his hands on Alexander’s waist.
“You’re really so thin,” Eli commented, squeezing his waist and making Alexander squeal. “Your waist is even curvy!”
“It’s my attractive point,” Alexander said, unconsciously licking his lips. Eli released them with a small chuckle and looking up, flicking Alexander’s forehead all of sudden. “Ouch! What was that for??”
“Come, I think it’s better to get in the backstage already,” Eli said, pulling Alexander by the hand. “We don’t want Chaerim to think we’re running away.”
And, for that moment, despise still being confused and lost, Alexander felt happy.
-x-
“You really know how to catwalk, don’t you?” Alexander mocked, nudging Eli’s ribs unceremoniously while laughing in a loud voice.
“And you looked so serious!” Eli threw back, punching Alexander’s stomach softly, having an arm around his shoulder. “I thought you were going to kill someone!”
The show had been a success. Even being amateurs, both Alexander and Eli had done fairly good, and even Kevin had to admit that no, Alexander had not made a fool of himself. There was a small commemoration right after the end of all that, which counted with a series of funny happenings, and now Alexander and Eli were going back to their room, feeling hyper and accomplished.
“But telling the truth, I was really cold,” Alexander confessed, waving the hem of his sweater to indicate that he was talking about the top. “The backstage was warm, but it was a bit chilled up there.”
“Well, no surprises. You had more skin showing than fabric on that,” Eli stated, running a hand through his hair. “But the clothes were really cool. Chaerim and Jiyong sshi are really good with fashion.”
“Yeah, I think that too,” Alexander nodded, getting his keys from inside his pockets and pushing his glasses up his nose. “That was tiring, but quite fun… in the end, we weren’t even punished for breaking the bathroom.”
“Remember we still had to pay,” Eli pointed out, for once not jumping on the bed when entering the room. Alexander chuckled.
“But it could have been worse!” he added, raising a finger. “In the end, all you had to do, being the one to blame for all this, was wear some clothes and walk like a pimp.”
“Hey, if it makes you happier, it was not that easy to find an outfit for me,” while taking off his shoes, Eli felt the need to announce. “The first ones I tried were too tight. I thought I was going to rip something and turn Chaerim into a raging beast.”
“Hm, I see,” Alexander said with teasing eyes, leaving his keys on the bedside table and putting a hand on Eli’s chest. “All these muscles can rip off a shirt?”
“Of course they can,” Eli answered with a cocky smile, and both of them laughed, although Alexander was feeling a bit funny inside.
“Tsc, so full of yourself,” Alexander joked, flicking Eli’s forehead and making the boy’s face contort in pain with a strangled ‘ouch!’. “Do you know what you deserve?”
“A big and warm hug?” Eli said in his silly voice, smiling like a child while opening his arms. Alexander laughed even louder, having to hold his glasses on his face to avoid them from falling.
“No,” Alexander answered devilishly. “A TICKLING SESSION!”
And began tickling Eli with all his might, making Eli cackle and plead for mercy. Alexander, however, knew no mercy, and only stopped poking his sides when his arms began to feel tired, at a time when Eli was already completely breathless and Alexander was on top of him, having him lay down on the bed.
“Will you ever be full of yourself again, Kim Elison?” Alexander asked in a commanding tone, wriggling his fingers with an evil smile on his lips.
“No! I’ll be forever loyal and good,” Eli said, still a bit out of breath.
“Hm, good,” Alexander gave him a superior smirk. “Will you devote yourself to king Alexander forever?”
“What??” Eli laughed. Then, in a surprising move, he tackled Alexander off the bed and pinned him against the floor, tickling him for revenge.
“Stooooop!” Alexander pleaded among laughter.
“Who’s on top now, huh?” Eli provoked, making an all-mighty pose.
“Well, technically, you,” Alexander said, clicking his tongue. “But your luck is going to change!”
And he grabbed Eli’s shoulders, trying to roll him over. However, Eli was prepared this time, thus resulting in a mess of tangled limbs, shrieks and chaotic rolling on the floor, which came to an end when they hit the side of Alexander’s bed and stopped to breathe, Eli still being the one on the top. They stayed that way for a long moment, trying to calm their respirations down, and eventually they faced each other, not so playful anymore but contemplative, peaceful. Alexander could recall that night, that agitated night when he was also cornered that way, but tried to forget about that, afraid that Eli would feel his heartbeat go faster.
“You know, you don’t look much different without your glasses,” Eli said, fixing the accessory on Alexander’s face, since it had gotten crooked during their battle. “I mean, you do, but it’s still the same in a way.”
Alexander’s efforts went to waste when he felt his heartbeat accelerating. The same words… so maybe… could it be? It couldn’t…
“You’ve said that to me before,” Alexander commented, feeling a bit tired. Eli frowned.
“Have I?” he asked, making Alexander feel even more tired.
“Yeah, you just don’t remember,” answered the older, smiling sweetly and pinching Eli’s nose lightly.
Another moment passed, and they didn’t move; just stayed like that, looking into each other’s eyes, having spent a lot of energy on rolling madly on the floor.
“So, hyung,” Eli began in a small voice, softly. “When was your first love?”
“Huh?” Alexander looked at him with surprised eyes, chuckling. “Why are you suddenly asking this?”
“You’re the one who complained about not talking about love life and all,” reasonable enough, Eli pointed out with a victorious smile. “When was it then?”
“Middle school,” Alexander sighed. “It was a girl from my class. She liked to read and was good at math.”
“And what happened?” Eli insisted on the subject, shifting his weight so he wouldn’t cut Alexander’s blood circulation.
“I confessed to her and she rejected me,” Alexander made a face. “But I don’t blame her. I wasn’t a good looking kid.”
“Hyung, what are you talking about?” Eli chuckled, pulling one of Alexander’s ears playfully. “That’s not a reason to reject someone!”
“In extreme cases, like mine, it is,” he disagreed, laughing. “And how about you? When was it?”
“Middle school too,” he answered. “We dated for a month and a half, if I remember well.”
“See?” Alexander made a face. “No girl would reject a handsome guy like you.”
“I think you were just too shy to talk to them and they ended up not knowing you enough,” Eli retorted.
“No, I’m telling you!” Alexander hit Eli’s thigh. “I mean, I’m not the kind of guy girls like.”
“Hyung,” Eli raised an eyebrow at him. Alexander laughed.
“I’m serious!” insisted Alexander. “I’m not attractive, a girl would just suddenly lose courage if she was going to kiss me. Don’t think I don’t know this, I just…”
He trailed off when he suddenly saw that Eli was moving. And, before he could do something, before he could even say something, Eli’s lips were on his, kissing him, finally kissing him.
Alexander’s eyes went as wide as possibly, his heart beating too fast, his cheeks feeling too warm. Eli was actually kissing him, for real, and he could feel those soft and plump lips on his, oh my, his heart was going to jump off his chest. It almost did, yes, when Eli tilted his head and licked Alexander lips by ways of asking for an entrance, but suddenly he stopped and everything stopped with him. Eli opened his eyes wide, as if waking up from a trance, and in one fleeting second he was off Alexander and running out through the door, closing it soundly behind him.
Alexander needed a few seconds to understand what exactly had happened. First, they were talking about school crushes, then Eli kissed him, and now he had run away. Alexander touched his sensitized lips, a strange excitement on the pit of his stomach; it had been his first kiss, it had been with Eli and it had felt so good - but why did Eli run away? Did he really like Alexander like Kevin had said? He remembered Kevin’s words; ‘he keeps looking at you all the time as if he was admiring you’… was it possible that Eli really did that?
‘Just change back to high school when I didn’t want to kiss you all the time’.
Alexander covered his face with his hands, torn between giggling and shouting from the top of his lungs. If Eli really liked him… and why would he kiss him if he didn’t? Alexander decided that he was going to make all things clear between them, and it had to be that night.
Alexander was going to ambush him.
He changed into his sleeping clothes, turned off the lights and laid down, pretending to be sleeping but actually waiting. He waited, waited patiently staring to the dark space where he knew the door would be, too excited to feel sleepy, glasses still on. He waited for a long time until the door was briefly opened and the missing habitant of the bedroom came back, being careful to not make any noise when closing the door. Ah, barely did he know a thing. Silently, Alexander raised himself from the bad, taking advantage of Eli’s not-adapted-to-the-dark-yet sight to sneak near him and hug him from behind, obviously startling him.
“Don’t think you can run away from me like that,” Alexander whispered menacingly against Eli’s ear, holding him firmly, but letting his hand search the bedside lamp blindly and turn it on.
“Y-you’re awake,” stated Eli, staring at his close face with wide eyes. Having a hand almost on his chest, Alexander could feel Eli’s heart beating ultra fast, and he was happy to see he wasn’t the only one who felt that kind of thing.
“I am. And you owe me an explanation,” Alexander went straight to the point, watching Eli gulp.
“Hyung, I’m sorry,” Eli said, voice a bit shaky. Alexander let him go, just standing there and putting his hands on his hips. “I didn’t want to-“
“Kiss me?” Alexander completed, looking at him with piercing eyes. He was about to add something, but decided to shut up and wait for Eli’s answer instead.
“No,” much to his surprise, Eli was firm in saying that one word. “It’s not kissing you that I’m sorry for.”
Alexander’s heart skipped a beat when he raised his head, eyes meeting and sending sparks up his spine. He gave a step forward, practically pressing his chest against Eli’s.
“Then do it again,” he commanded, raising his head and closing his eyes, licking his lips unintentionally.
Luckily, it didn’t take one second for him to feel those amazingly soft lips on his again, stealing all his breath and making him feel light, ethereal. The kiss was much more firm this time, and, when Eli licked his lips, he parted them a bit hesitantly, wanting to feel more of that, almost fainting when he felt Eli’s tongue press against his - that felt so good, he was trembling, his hands were sweating, he couldn’t breathe - and the kiss was suddenly parted, Eli looking at him attentively.
“Wh-hy did you stop?” Alexander asked in a thin, strangled voice.
“You’re falling,” Eli commented in a low, affectionate voice. “I thought you were out of breath.”
Alexander blinked, finally noticing what Eli was talking about; his weight was entirely supported on Eli’s arm around his waist, as if he was really fainting. His face became redder than humanly possible as he got back on his feet, burying his face on the crook of Eli’s neck as the other caressed his hair, chuckling softly.
“That’s not funny,” Alexander muttered, drowned in Eli’s warmth and sniffing his scent, feeling home. “You stole my first kiss and ran away. Are you a burglar?”
“Well, you were talking about girls not being able to like you because of this and that and yadda yadda,” Eli mimicked, making a face. Alexander hit his shoulder weakly. “I just wanted to prove you wrong.”
“Eli, you’re not a girl,” informed Alexander, smiling, raising his head to look into Eli’s eyes. Both of them giggled, looking like two idiots for being so close and laughing about nothing, but the door was closed and they were alone together, so it was okay.
Together. Everything was okay.