23. Variety Games

TWENTY-THREE

After the first stage,they're given a break from performing. No one was sent home in the first round. It was more of an exhibition to showcase their talents.

In fact, no one is going to be sent home until the finals. In the meantime, they'll have the opportunity to vie for first place. The thinking is that if no one is secure in their position, everyone will work their hardest until the end.

Charis thinks it's kind of pleasant. It means they'll get to see their friends for longer. It also means that B-Love isn't going to be sent home right away.

They stand in the middle of a bright, sunny field. The snow has cleared up and is no longer clinging to the ground, although there are wet, slushy spots. The grass below has gone brown from the cold.

In the middle of the field are cones with helium balloons dancing from them at the end of long, white ribbons. White folding tables topped with different items that can't quite be seen from a distance are also set up at regular intervals.

Mouse stands in the sun with one hand cocked on his hip, the other shielding his eyes.

"Is this actually going to be graded?" Miyong asks.

They're used to playing variety games and contests for little prizes and food items, but they've never done this kind of actual competition before. Miyong is nervous as he looks out at the other players congregated in different spots along the edges of the field. They're wearing colorful ribbons tied around their foreheads, with silver backings. When the cold wind stirs, the trailing ends of the ribbons fan out behind their heads like the tails of shooting stars.

"Don't worry," Kim Joon says to him. "Just have fun and do your best."

Xiao Yu stretches, doing side lunges to loosen up his legs and hips.

The sky up above is muddy and overcast. Although it's not snowing, the brittle cold of winter lingers in the air. On the borders of the field, out on the long side where it brackets a small forest, tall, black trees stretch their spindly, bare limbs toward the sky.

The rest of them follow suit, bending left to right to stretch out their sides, jogging lightly in place to get the blood flowing and to warm their bodies.

Charis can't feel his nose, which has gone numb in the cold. Although they're all wearing long pants and jackets, they're dressed relatively lightly for the winter. All signs point to the anticipation of them working up a sweat.

Revolution is off to the side, and one of the members strikes up a conversation with Soohyun while they wait. Charis turns his head to the side, momentarily curious, but he can't make out what they're saying. The dull winter wind whips the words away and into the air as soon as they're spoken.

He doesn't have time to wonder about it. His attention is soon called away by Mouse.

Mouse is frowning across the field at First Love, who seem none the worse for the wear. Charis follows Mouse's gaze to them, then looks back at Mouse's face, his own expression creasing slightly at what he sees.

He reaches out and puts a hand on Mouse's arm, and Mouse doesn't startle. It takes a second, but he moves his gaze over to Pocky.

"You doing okay?" Charis asks.

"Yeah," Mouse says. "Of course."

Across the field, Ttalgi puts his hand up and shields his face from the light. It's early in the morning, and the world is still cold. The glare of the rising winter sun shines directly in their faces, stinging-bright for how cold it is. First Love stands in the colorful uniforms they were given for this portion of the games.

"This is stupid," Bo says.

His ears prick under his neatly cut hair. He can hear the dull chatter of the other teams around them, despite the blustery winter wind. Even hearing sounds 50 meters away is no big deal.

Jewel slants a glance at him. "So let's hurry up and win."

Hyori grins, sharpish, his pointed canine teeth showing as he says, "Yeah."

The camera crew are poised at various points around the field, along with stationary tripods, to catch the action. They're off for the time being. Bo can tell because he can't hear their telltale, high-pitched whine, something like a dog whistle. Owing to his particular kind of magic, Ttalgi can tell, too. Probably. Bo isn't about to ask.

While the cameras are off, the Gleam crew takes care of various minutia. Their designated handlers come up to each team to explain the rules of the day—no rough physical contact, and if any of them need to stop for any reason, they can raise their hands or call out for one of the referees who will be monitoring the games.

The woman explaining the rules to Fairytale is dressed better than them—or at least more suitably for the weather. While they're in thin athletic gear that makes them shiver in the cold, she's bundled up. Her jacket looks thick and downy, and Miyong's eyes are instantly filled with a longing envy. Its faux fur-trimmed hood puffs up behind her hair, caught in a sensible ponytail at the base of her neck, and the end of the ponytail tucks into a tartan scarf that's wrapped securely around her neck to protect her throat and keep it warm.

The whole setup reminds Charis of school athletic festivals, only populated by a bunch of swan-like fairies instead of chubby-cheeked middle school kids.

She seems nice enough. Charis can't tell how old the Gleam noona is through the scarf and thick winter clothes. Older than them, probably, but maybe not too much older. She seems nice; it's not her fault that Charis can't focus. His attention keeps being pulled away. He looks curiously at First Love on the other side of the field. They don't seem much different than any of the other idols here. It's a little surreal, seeing them in person, standing on the other side of them on this muddy field, when he knows them as people on the other side of a screen.

It's different than seeing the idols he went through training with, or the ones he doesn't know, who only started their activities around the same time that Fairytale did.

"I'm sorry it's so cold," the tv-show noona says. "The weather forecast predicted it would be warmer today. We'll have hot drinks for you after this take is over. Does anyone need any blankets? I could maybe get you some while we're waiting to begin."

"It's okay, noona," Miyong says earnestly. "We might not look it, but we're a little tough."

That earns a startled, charmed laugh out of her. In a lot of ways, Miyong is their secret weapon. He might not always look it, but he can be devastatingly charming when he wants to be. People don't always see it coming out of the innocent, fresh-faced little maknae of the group.

They finish running through the preliminaries, making sure everyone understands the rules. Charis assumes that across the field, at each of the five clusters where they're all gathered together, the other groups get the same treatment.

Then the cameras switch on, and they start recording.

The announcer steps into the middle of the field. His starry suit jacket has been replaced with something more suitable for an athletic event, now that they're no longer in the night sky-like dome of the main arena. Today, he's wearing a suit jacket in a soft, subtle gradient of yellow and pink, almost white. From a distance, it reminds Charis very much of the dawn sunrise that they'd unfortunately been awake to witness. He switches on the handheld microphone in his hand and starts talking into it.

"The name of the game—" the announcer says in a rich, personable voice "—is a relay race!"

Charis could have guessed that much from the things in the center of the field. He can imagine the kinds of cutesy graphic pop-ups that will populate the screen on the actual broadcast. He shifts subtly from foot to foot as he waits to hear the rest of the game explanation, trying to work out the morning stiffness in his legs.

They run three-legged races between the cones, being careful not to jostle the balloons from their loosely-tied moorings and let them go free. They carry a raw egg between their knees, carefully maneuvering it between them as they run frantically back and forth across the field, decked out in half the items on the table, which turned out to be party hats and large, silly sunglasses, feather boas and other assorted costume items.

The last game of the day has them passing small candy-coated chocolates using plastic spoons stuck in their mouths.

"C'mon! C'mon!" Kiki, Soohyun, and Miyong cheer from the end of the line.

Charis accepts the pass from Kiki, holding his spoon firmly between his lips and keeping his head as steady and unmoving as he can. From this close up, Charis can smell Kiki's perfume and the lightly sweet, artificial scent of his face powder. The dimples at the corners of his eyes, cut like fierce notches, are especially pretty close up. Kiki really is just about perfect-looking in every way.

At this point in time, that perfection is getting a little lively. They've long since warmed up, and he's sweating a little from the exertion. His face is fixed in a fierce expression as he tilts his head and twitches his mouth to one side. The red and green candies stick to the spoon's plastic surface, refusing to move. They stick a little longer. Kiki tilts his head still more, and everyone watching holds their breath…

Charis stays perfectly still, and at last, the candies in Kiki's spoon slide free. They patter onto Charis' spoon, and Charis turns around carefully.

Mouse is playing around with the spoon in his mouth, but when he sees Charis ready to give him the pass, he turns serious.

Charis doesn't know what happens. It only happens for a second, but it's like time stops.

Mouse is just a little taller than he is, and it's not like Charis doesn't know what he looks like. He's seen Mouse thousands of times before. They used to live together. He's seen Mouse's face in rain and shine, slack and lazy with sleep, pursed and red with a fever.

Objectively, it's not even as though Mouse is as good-looking as Kiki, and that's not Charis being mean; that's just the honest truth.

But something happens in that winter air, with the chill stinging his face and fingers and the trees and grass all dormant and brown around them. Charis' eyes snag on Mouse's, and it's like something catches. Like a click of something falling into place or a match starting to burn.

Mouse's long eyelashes are so voluptuous and sleek, his nose slim and long, and the freckles in his eyes seem in that moment to be so vivid to Charis. Charis sucks in a breath involuntarily, which is bad news for someone with a spoon in their mouth—silver or, as the case may be: plastic.

Charis is so busy staring at Mouse's face, getting lost in his eyes, that for a moment he doesn't even know what's happened. He accidentally tilts his head too far. The candies are slippery, and two of them go careening over the border, onto the dry brushed grass beyond.

Some music starts up—imperfect—loud through the speakers used to broadcast sound outside. It's one of their songs, the single off their last comeback, and Charis has to do a penalty dance for dropping the candies.

He takes a deep breath, spoon still lodged in his mouth, and does it like he's doing one of their own dance challenges. His arms crank out the perfect rhythms, at the exact right angles. His members laugh and jeer, heckling him goodnaturedly.

When he's done, his blood feels warm. He breathes out hard through his nose and makes the pass perfectly to Mouse on the second try. Mouse accepts it gracefully and then is off like a shot. Charis' leggy friend turns around, passing the remaining candies quickly to Xiao Yu, who puts his athleticism to good use. He runs with the spoon in his mouth to the finish line while the rest of them whoop and cheer.

They end up getting third place.

Now that they're freed from their responsibilities, Charis takes the opportunity to look around a little more. He sees that B-Love and 4QY have already finished.

It isn't a complicated game, but First Love seems to be having a bad time. Their teamwork is—in a word—poor. They may flow together well onstage, but in this arena of silly children's games, they can't seem to coordinate. They're having a frustrating time at the other end of the field, with Jewel barking at Bo and Bo barking back.

Over on their end, Charis' attention is unceremoniously dragged back to the present moment. Miyong whoops aloud, jumping into the air and swinging himself off of Soohyun's shoulders. Soohyun laughs goodnaturedly, and Xiao Yu grins and celebrates noisily with him. They've all been cooped up lately. Now that they have the chance to run around and blow off some steam, they take full advantage. The members sling their arms over each other's shoulders and laugh and joke together. Everyone is in high spirits.

They high-five, slapping their hands together. The sound rings out in the low, flat field.

Once they settle down:

"I hope we get tteokbokki," Mouse says with his hands tucked under his armpits, stamping his feet in place to keep himself warm.

Joonie automatically starts stripping off his outer jacket to give it to Miyong, and about three people stop him simultaneously, including Miyong.

"I don't want you to freeze to death, Joonie-hyung," Miyong says, sweetly earnestly. He reaches forward and zips Kim Joon's jacket back up himself.

Joon huffs, full of helpless exasperation. "You guys. I can take care of myself. If I'm offering my jacket, I won't freeze."

No one is moved.

Those hot drinks that the tv-show noona had promised them materialize, and they're much happier with their fingers wrapped around warm, steaming paper cups. Charis is startled to find that the white paper cup contains hot cider, and the surprise must show on his face, because his expression makes Soohyun laugh a little.

"Good, right?"

"Mm," Charis agrees.

He still doesn't feel as easy around Soohyun as he used to. He feels bad for it. Nothing really has changed, except for Charis himself.

Charis peers down through the opening in the cup and swirls it lightly, wrapping both hands around it to bring it back to his mouth for another cautious sip. It's hot enough to burn him if he drinks it too fast, but he's only grateful for the heat. It burns a visceral line of warmth down his throat and into his stomach, and he sighs out loud at how good the feeling is.

None of them are upset at being handed the sugary drinks right now. The tart, sugary sweetness perks them up and enlivens their spirits, bringing back some of what was lost to the exertion in the cold.

Mouse comes to stand beside him, so close that his shoulder bumps friendlily against Charis' at one point.

They wait politely around until the final two teams finish. At that point, the dawn-cloaked announcer steps up to talk into his handheld microphone again.

By the time the announcement comes, Joon has successfully managed to strip off his outer jacket at some point without anyone noticing—he can be sneaky that way—and the garment still carrying traces of Joon's body heat is nestled around Miyong's cold shoulders. Miyong himself is torn—he doesn't want Joonie-hyung to be cold, but as soon as the jacket is layered onto him, he shudders with palpable relief.

"So warm…" he murmurs, digging his fingers into the lapels and pulling it more snugly around himself.

Joon watches beneath his lashes with an expression that looks smugly pleased, if you were to know him well enough.

Soohyun takes a look at Joon and laughs. Joon seems to know what he's thinking and gives back a wry grin. Underneath the pastel-colored, Gleam-issue jacket, Joon has on another jacket that looks very similar. No wonder his frame had looked just a little bulkier than usual below it.

"I told you I'd be fine," he says stubbornly, his eyes dancing as he quietly laughs at them.

And then for the announcement?—

The announcer's dulcet, smooth tones fill the field, barreled out through the speakers. "Congratulations to all of you for doing so well in the preliminary games!"

Wait—preliminary games? Charis mouths it to Joon, who's standing next to him, but the cameras are rolling, and none of them have the chance to do more than idly begin to wonder. Joon can only quickly shrug his shoulders helplessly.

The announcement continues as the presenter says, "In first and second place, B-Love and 4QY. In third and fourth place, Fairytale and First Love. These will be the teams going on to the next round of the games. Congratulations! 4QY and B-Love, you will be the pink team, and First Love and Fairytale, you will be the white team. Your team captains will brief you on the rest after we relocate."

Which means that Revolution, who came in last place, won't get to participate at all. To the side, Johnny and Milla swear.

"What,"Mouse mutters under his breath.

Even Charis frowns.

The rest of their team looks over at them, surprised at the sudden acid in his voice.

"Jeez, what did the First Love guys do to Charis-hyung and Mouse-hyung?" Miyong murmurs under his breath to Joonie-hyung, whose brow creases, but he just shakes his head.

Soohyun looks at them with a thoughtful expression, considering.