2. Rest Night

TWO

They all decideto turn in and have an early night after they're finished eating. Although they had seemed fine at dinner, Kiki and Xiao Yu seem exhausted and drained. Xiao Yu is in a bad mood, and even Kiki—the center of their visual line, Bae Ki—seems stiffer and more taciturn than usual.

Their maknae, Miyong, is a fountain of energy as usual. He goes to his room to game and probably stream for the rest of the night, as evidenced by the quiet electronic sounds snaking under the door to his room every now and then. Mouse helps Charis to put the hot pot away and pile the dishes in the sink for the cleaning aunty to take care of in the morning, and Kim Joon leaves them after a quiet farewell.

On the way back to his room, Charis runs into Soohyun in the halls that still aren't quite familiar to him yet. The floor is carpeted with a plush, low-pile grey carpet underfoot. It feels soft and nicely squishy underneath Charis' socks. Charis doesn't wonder if Soohyun was waiting for him. He's only lightly relieved to see him, blowing off a soft breath.

Everything about Charis is so gentle. Even that small hint of frustrated exasperation is so subtle, detectable only by those who know him very well.

"You're tired, too," Soohyun says. He's always very considerate of his members, including Charis.

His voice is rich and soothing. They speak in low voices, although Charis couldn't say why that is when everyone has already gone back to their own business.

Charis shakes his head. "I had a day off today. What happened?"

They both know what he means, that Charis is asking about earlier.

Soohyun blows out a breath of his own. He folds his arms and looks upward, leaning to the side until his shoulder rests against the wall. He looks at Charis, maybe trying to decide how much he should say.

"Some national purists went after Xiao Yu."

"Oh no."

"Yeah." Soohyun nods grimly. "It wasn't too bad. They said the usual stuff. It was just really bad timing. You already know that Kiki's been going through some stuff lately, too."

He does know. There have been nasty rumors circulating about Bae Ki online—that he slept his way into the group, that the only reason he's famous is because of the hidden business of the idol industry. Of all of them, Xiao Yu is the closest to Kiki. It's no secret that Xiao Yu has been more on edge than usual lately, and that his temper—fierce and fiery anyway—hasn't been good lately.

"Did he say anything?"

Soohyun shakes his head. "No, you know him. He might be a hothead, but he knows what he should and shouldn't say. He cares so much about Fairytale. He just bottled it up, and I could tell it was eating at him."

Charis lets out a rare curse, and it makes the corner of Soohyun's mouth hook up surreptitiously.

Charis really is such a comfort to him, even if he probably doesn't know it. Soohyun thinks back to that afternoon, how hard it had been to watch the hurt in Mingyu's eyes as people had hurled abuse at him, needling his sore spots. The dancer had kept it all in, and only Soohyun and Kiki, standing so close to him, had been able to see the way he had trembled. They had done their best to comfort him, falling into place without being asked. Soohyun had hooked a hand around his neck, drawing him in close and leading him into K dorm and past the security, where the crazy fans definitely wouldn't be able to get in, and Kiki had stepped in front of them, shielding Xiao Yu from view so effortlessly, it seemed like it was just an accident.

"Yeah, it was a bad time," Soohyun agrees quietly.

"Are you okay?" Charis asks, looking up at Soohyun from beneath his pale fringe. The lightness of his features and complexion really makes his dark eyes stand out, and something in the vicinity of Soohyun's heart goes soft at the fact that Charis is asking about him.

"Of course I am, Pocky," he says, using an old and silly nickname for Charis, one that he and Mouse both share.

"Lean on us a little more when you need to," Charis insists. "You don't have to carry everything alone."

"I know," Soohyun reassures him.

Charis is a little skeptical. It feels like he's being brushed off—he knows Soohyun well enough by now, has gotten to know his style over the past year, to know that Soohyun will continue trying to carry things by himself so as not to burden them.

Still, it's not as though Charis can force him, and it's not as though he'd want to.

"You'd better," Charis says lightly, and knocks Soohyun gently on the temple with his knuckles.

S Dorm is so much bigger than the place where they'd been living in a quieter section of bustling Seoul called K Dorm. Back then, the seven of them had squeezed into three small rooms. They'd even had to use bunk beds. Charis is still getting used to having a room all to himself. He'd spent so long sharing with Mouse and Miyong that it's still strange to be greeted with such silence when he closes the door to his room. It's not unwelcome, though. Charis flops backward onto his bed, letting the firm mattress support his weight.

He stretches out his arms and looks at the ceiling. It's two different heights. There's a part that slopes right above his head, the textured white ceiling forming a little alcove where he can feel safe. His bed is clean and freshly washed, and he snuggles his face into his fluffy pillow for a little while, sighing out all of the day's exhaustion and momentarily curling in on himself, tucking his long legs in toward his chest. He closes his eyes and stays like that for a little while, just feeling himself breathe, inhaling and exhaling until he can feel the worst of the tension draining from him.

Then, after a little while, he reaches over and grabs his headphones off the nightstand and plugs them into his phone. He scrolls through his music playing app for a little while with his thumb, navigating to the right playlist. Then he puts on the music and lets it play, lying on his back with his eyes closed, letting the soothing melodies just wash over him.

Charis was born Lee Kyong and only adopted the name Charis a little while after their group had debuted. They'd debuted as Fairytale, the group of shining, glittering princes like something out of a dream. They all have themes, and Charis is the ice prince. It matches well with his striking, cold looks and his reserved nature. Anyone who knows him would be able to tell you that Charis is gentle and in fact very caring, but the way he's careful with his words and less expressive with his face makes it easy to assume instead that he might be cold or even stuck-up.

In that way, the ice prince moniker suits him well.

Charis must have drifted off while he was listening to his songs. When he wakes up, the sound in his headphones are quiet, and the lights have been switched off in his room. It's not completely dark, but the light isn't stark enough to hurt his eyes. The fairy lights strung up on one side of the room provide gentle illumination, their twinkling white light giving off a sense of comfort and peace.

Charis stretches a little bit. He'd fallen asleep without even taking off his clothes or washing his face. Blinking blearily for a little while, he grabs a makeup wipe off the side table and yawns as he rubs it over his skin. He balls it up and tosses it into the small wastebasket, yawning again as he curls back up in his bed.

Charis might be able to sleep tonight, but Bae Ki is unable to. Bae Ki, the beauty prince of Fairytale, known to his friends and fans as Kiki. Kiki is their visual center, with shocking good looks so perfect that sometimes in pictures it looks like he might not even be real. That's made it hard for him to make friends over the years. Even during his days in the training center, other trainees mostly kept away from him because they felt threatened by the competition he represented.

Bae Ki stands near the window, feeling the cold winter air from outside radiate off the glass. It isn't snowing yet, but it will be soon. Just standing here makes Kiki feel cold, in more ways than one. He'd gone upstairs to the third floor where it's quiet and empty. There's nothing up here but a dance studio and practice rooms. Everyone is on the second floor, so Kiki had come to be alone. He stands at the window just in front of the carpeted stairwell. This side of the building faces a park, and it's dark and quiet late at night.

The trainees at the company, the fans—it'd been easy enough for people to find his weak spot, of course. Just call him a flower vase—good to look at, outstanding on the outside, but with nothing inside. No-talent, good-for-nothing.

A light rain starts up, and the muted light from beyond the window, mottled with raindrops, makes Kiki's elegant profile look especially serious and solemn.

"What's the matter?" Xiao Yu asks, stepping up behind him.

Xiao Yu, Han Mingyu, the principal dancer of their group. Unlike Kiki, Xiao Yu has real talent.

"Nothing," Kiki says, putting on a smile that dimples one side of his mouth.

Xiao Yu looks over his face, unimpressed.

"Don't give me that. What's really the matter?"

"Can't get anything past you," Kiki says.

He doesn't have the long hair that either Mouse or Charis have, no long, flowing locks. His hair is almost to his shoulders, pulled halfway back in a stubby little ponytail that reveals the most of his clear features, his long, catlike eyes and pointed features.

"I'm just thinking about the past, nothing important. Besides, you're the one who got hurt today. I should be saying that to you."

"Bah." Xiao Yu immediately waves it off. "That's just garbage. I don't pay attention to that, so why should you?"

Kiki shrugs. "Garbage can still hurt."

Xiao Yu's eyes are particularly fierce. Some of the fans don't like his looks. They say he lags behind in visuals, but Kiki has never thought so. Xiao Yu's eyes are a pretty hazel color, sharp and set beneath sword-straight brows. There's a strength and brashness to his features that Kiki has always liked.

He likes Xiao Yu's face a lot, and he can tell that right now, Xiao Yu is worried about him, those brows knotted together as he absorbs what Kiki had said.

Is that what had happened? Had more garbage hurt Kiki?

Xiao Yu isn't good at comforting people. He never really has been. He's a lot like Kiki in a lot of ways—they both spent a lot of time alone when they were younger, and they still usually feel alone now. Xiao Yu had put people off with his personality and fierce looks. People were afraid of him and didn't like to come closer. He had expected the same out of Kiki when he first saw him. Kiki was so delicate and pretty, he looked like a fairy.

But that first day at the company, Kiki, who'd already been a trainee for six months at that point, walked straight across the cafeteria and sat down next to Xiao Yu.

"Hi," he said, sticking out his hand. "My name is Bae Ki."

Mingyu's Korean was still shaky at that point, and he wasn't sure how he should address this beautiful senior. He's sure he had a really stupid expression on his face. He probably called him shixiong.

"I'm Han Mingyu."

But Bae Ki-hyung wasn't mad about it, and they became fast, if unlikely, friends. It's unbearably lucky that they both debuted together in the same group. Mingyu will always feel protective of Kiki about it.

Xiao Yu isn't good at comforting people, but he tries his best. He tries clumsily, for Kiki.

He says, slowly, "…if you can't avoid thinking about the trash that people say, then come find me. I'll help you. Or if I can't, then I'll just sit there with you. Like you did for me."

Bae Ki smiles that half-dimpled smile. His mouth stays closed, but it reaches his eyes, which curve into gentle crescents. He reaches out and takes Mingyu's hand and squeezes it. "Thank you for being there for me. Do you want to watch the city with me for a while? I don't want to go back to my room yet."

Xiao Yu nods.

Bae Ki doesn't let go of Mingyu's hand, and they lapse into a comfortable kind of silence in the upstairs loft, watching the little cars disappear behind the rows of trees far below.