Love & Evil - nomin

Chapter five

A month passes by quickly. Jeno is exhausted by the time the day of the competition rolls around. He'd been up late the night before, and the night before that one, and the night before that one too. His muscles ache and he feels like he needs to drown himself in some caffeine. Jeno is nervous. He isn't able to sleep through the night at all. He goes through his morning with nerves swimming in his mind.

They take a van to the location. Jaemin is already waiting there when Jeno gets to the van, and when they get inside, Jeno feels the reassuring weight of Jaemin's hand on his thigh. The hand stays there the entire ride.

"Are you nervous?" Jaemin whispers. They haven't talked much, not yet. There's no need to.

Jeno hums. "Yes," He whispers back. "Are you?"

"Yeah," Jaemin sighs. He squeezes Jeno's thigh. Jeno reaches for Jaemin's free hand and he holds it tight. "Did you sleep well?"

Jeno thinks of lying at first, but he decides otherwise. "No," He says. "Did you?"

"No." Jaemin says quietly. Jeno squeezes his hand.

After a forty minute drive, Jeno's coach finally announces their arrival. Jeno swallows, and he's about to let the thoughts in his head flow freely, but Jaemin presses a kiss on his nose and squeezes his hand. Jeno feels his muscles relax.

They've worked hard for this. They practiced nearly every day for weeks for this competition. Jeno practiced the routine in his living room too, when the moon was already high in the sky, with socks on his feet instead of his skates. Jeno spent hours perfecting this to the best of his abilities. All that time to build up to this very moment.

The way to the changing rooms is a blur. Their coaches check them in and they get moved to a room. There's a long hallway with seemingly hundreds of doors on either side of it. Finally, their coaches stop in front of a door and Jeno and Jaemin go in together.

It's a small little changing room with a bench and a door to the showers. Jeno makes quick work of opening his bag and pulling out his outfit. They have matching outfits, Jeno in white and Jaemin in black. They are decorated with glitters and gems and feathers on the ends.

They'd found these weeks ago. When Jeno had first seen them, he'd immediately known that these outfits were the right ones.

After about 10 minutes, Jeno's coach walks in with a lady by his side. Jeno and Jaemin get their makeup done by this lady and are told they need to be on standby in 5 minutes. Jeno looks at Jaemin again, and Jaemin gives him a reassuring smile.

They are opposites in these outfits, Jaemin the dark and Jeno the light. Their makeup is equally sparkly. Jaemin looks pretty.

"You look beautiful." Jeno says when they are walking through the hallway again. Jaemin grabs his hand and squeezes. They are led to an open room, the room that leads towards the ice. Jeno doesn't let go of Jaemin's hand until the very last moment.

"On next, Jaemin Na and Jeno Lee with Love and Evil!" A voice calls out. A lady points them forward. Jeno takes a shaky breath. He turns around to see his coach and Jaemin's standing to the side. Jeno's coach gives him a thumbs up and a nod. "The judges are ready, let the performance begin!" The same voice calls out. Jeno feels like a little kid again.

Jaemin lets go of Jeno's hand when they skate across the ice. It's dark, they can't see the public very well, but the judges are in the spotlight. Jeno skates away from Jaemin and gets to his starting position. Spotlights focus on them. Jeno is blinded by it.

This is it. This is what could change their careers forever.

Jeno closes his eyes and the music starts. His body starts moving on its own accord. His arms stretch out in front of him and his fingers spread. He lets himself be led by the music.