Chapter 5 – An Issue?

“Hyung?” Hyuk calls as he enters the apartment. “N-hyung?!”

From what he can see the dorm is empty. Did N have a schedule today? He didn’t know.

“Hyung?” he calls one more time just to make sure, kicking his shoes off messily.

Leo, who had been working in his room, pops his head out the door and stares at Hyuk. “Is something wrong?”

Hyuk is surprised to see Leo. He could have sworn that Leo had a schedule today. Did he get Leo and N’s schedules mixed up? Hyuk debates with himself whether or not he should just tell Leo about what’s bothering him. He wants to talk to someone. N is his first choice, Ravi his second.

“Hyukie?” Leo asks, coming out of the bedroom entirely.

Hyuk decides. “Can I talk to you about something?”

Leo looks surprised but nods, motioning for Hyuk to sit on the couch. He grabs them both a glass of water and joins him.

“It’s about the movie I’m in,” Hyuk starts.

“Did something happen?” Leo asks softly.

“N-no… well, yes… but–” Hyuk cuts himself off. “I’ll start from the start.”

He takes a moment of sorting out what he wants to say and Leo waits patiently. “Okay, you know how I haven’t told you anything about the movie at all? It’s because the director told us not to. He said there is a big twist at the end and he wants it to be a surprise for everybody.”

Hyuk takes a breath and Leo urges him to continue.

“Before filming started and the casting was still taking place, we got asked if we were willing to play gay characters, and we all said we were. We knew what the twist was going to be because of that.”

Leo nods, not quite sure where this is going but already certain he won’t like the end result.

“Anyway, we found out how the movie ends today and I’m really nervous!”

“Why?”

Once again Hyuk takes a deep breath. “I have to kiss a guy, hyung!”

Leo’s a little surprised. The movie that Hyuk is in is supposed to be a mainstream movie. A romantic comedy girls will force their boyfriends to. If that is the way the movie ends then a lot of people are going to be unhappy to have it shoved in their face.

“Is it…” Leo thinks of how to phrase his question before continuing. “Does it make a joke out of the kiss?”

“No! It’s super dramatic and well done and cute! But I don’t know how to kiss a guy! I’ve barely kissed any girls!” Hyuk cries.

“You’re so dramatic, Hyuk, maybe you should be in dramas instead of movies,” a sleepy voice says.

The two members look up and see Ravi. His hair is a complete and total mess, and he’s only wearing pyjama bottoms.

“I didn’t know you were here, Ravi-hyung!” Hyuk practically shouts.

Ravi grins and attempts to fix his hair with his fingers. “I was asleep, but you’re so loud you woke me up. I also figured it was time to rescue Leo-hyung.”

Leo glares at the younger member, only slightly offended that Ravi thought he needed ‘rescuing’ from the maknae. Despite that, he scoots down the couch so there is room for Ravi to sit between him and Hyuk.

Ravi grins and sits down, patting Leo on the head. “You’re cute, hyung.”

Leo stubbornly looks away. “Stop saying that.”

Hyuk raises his eyebrows at the exchange but grins. “Help me, Ravi-hyung. What do I do?”

Ravi eyes the maknae and pats Leo on the knee in a sort of comforting gesture. Leo didn’t even realise he needed any sort of comforting until then.

“Why is it an issue that you need to kiss a guy?” Ravi asks.

Both Hyuk and Leo look surprised by the question, though probably for different reasons.

“I-I don’t know?” Hyuk responds, frowning. “Is it not an issue?”

“No, it isn’t,” Ravi answers. His hand has stopped patting Leo and now instead is just sitting there.

“But–”

“Does it disgust you?” Ravi asks suddenly, cutting him off.

“No!” Hyuk replies, looking mildly offended.

Leo can’t help the little sigh that escapes his lips. On some level he’d really been scared that Hyuk was super anti-gay. But just because Hyuk accepted it from a distance didn’t mean that he’d be alright with one of the members of his group being gay.

“Then it shouldn’t be a problem,” Ravi said simply. “Go to work, kiss the other guy, take it seriously like you would with a girl, ace the interviews on the topic, and become a good example.”

“You’re making it sound really easy, but it isn’t,” Hyuk muttered. “Also, what do you mean interviews?’

“Two of the characters end up being gay, you think there won’t be interviews?”

“There are four gay characters.”

Leo and Ravi blink at Hyuk. “Four?” they ask at the same time.

“My character is with this girl throughout the movie and then at the end both of us end up with our best friends. So four.”

“Ah.”

“I can’t wait to see how they go about that,” Ravi grins.

“It’s cute,” Hyuk defends.

Ravi laughs. “Are you still nervous?”

“Yes. I-I don’t want people to just me and make assumptions because of this movie.”

Next to Ravi, Leo freezes. Ravi senses it immediately and laces his fingers with Leo’s. “If it really comes down to that, and I doubt it will, you can remind everybody that it is just a movie. You’re portraying a character, not acting as yourself.”

“You’re right,” Hyuk sighs. He sinks down in the couch, cradling his glass of water. He’d pretty much finished it. “I’ll just have to take things as they come.”

“That’s a good idea.”

“I should go shower. Thanks for talking, hyungs.”

Hyuk gets up, puts his glass in the sink and heads to the bathroom.

Ravi leans back in the couch and puts his head on Leo’s shoulder. “Does it bother you?”

“A little.”

“Hyuk’s more open minded about this than I thought he would be.”

“Mm.”

“I’m really looking forward to his movie now.”

“I don’t think the reception will be good.”

“I think a lot more people are a lot more open minded than you think.”

“You’re a little too optimistic about things like this,” Leo sighs.

Ravi holds back his comment about Leo being pessimistic and instead squeezes Leo’s hand. They sit for a while, staring at the TV that wasn’t even .

“We have the variety show tomorrow, right? I really hope it goes well,” Ravi announces out of nowhere.

“You have another schedule right after it, don’t you?” Leo asks.

“Yeah, I’ll leave as soon as we finish.”

“Mm.”

They lapse back into silence and Ravi flicks on the TV, searching for something to watch before settling on the news. They hear Hyuk drop something in the shower and cursing but still remain sitting together.

“Thanks,” Leo says suddenly when the shower shuts off.

“What for?” Ravi asks, taking his head off Leo’s shoulder so he can look at him.

Leo’s cheeks are tinged a light pink and there is a tiny smile on his lips. He shrugs. “Everything?”

Ravi reaches up and runs his fingers through Leo’s hair. “Cute.”

“Stop that,” Leo grumbles, cheeks flaming.