Cliché

Chapter Five: Effort

Author's Notes:

Moonie best girl.

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Last chapter:

Leon felt his head twirl, his hand coming up his mouth as he ran to the nearest bush he could find where people wouldn't see him and he vomited pure bile from his empty stomach.

.

Back at the entrance, John, Nick and Moonie stood there as they saw Leon vanish from their sigh.

A loud slap sounded right after as Moonie landed her hand on the back of Nick's head. "You really never know when to stop!!"

"Ow! Damn it Moon, that hurt!" Nick yelled.

"It was supposed to hurt you dimwit." She answered coldly. "Couldn't you see the boy was feeling sick? Have some limits, will you?" She bit out her words, making them sound worse than if she was screaming.

"I thought it was an act!" Nick whined "I thought he was trying to mess with me!"

"By making his own skin turn green? Are you blind?" The girl snared. "Go fix this!"

"But I–"

"Now" Her voice growing colder and colder "I'm saying this as the club president, not your friend."

"... alright" Nick ruffled his own hair.

.

Leon did not know if he had the face to go back. He was embarrassed from running away and he didn't feel any better after vomiting his stomach out. God, that was pathetic, he thought as he leaned on a tree, eyes closed as he tried to even his breath. Was there even a point in going back knowing Nick would just fail him? Despite himself, he let out a pitiful laugh.

"Have you finally gone mad?" The older boy was in front of him, arms crossed, when Leon's eyes popped open.

"Urgh" The first-year scrunched up his nose "Can you go away? I don't have enough energy to deal with you right now" He looked away.

Nick didn't answer him immediately, he just stopped to really see what was going on. And he saw.

He saw the dark circles under Leon's eyes. He saw the boy's pale skin gleaming from cold sweat. He saw the slight tremble in his hands from low blood pressure. He saw the pink tint on his ears that were peeking from under the half bun Leon's hair was in. But that's not all he saw.

He saw the whole last week that Leon had been practicing until late at night. He knew of course, he had been there to mess with him. But what Leon didn't know was that Nick had been in the building every single night, waiting until the trio went home.

He followed them from afar together with Moon, the third year girl, who was both his friend and the club president, to make sure they got to the dorm safely. They were their seniors after all. It was also a secret tradition from the club to keep an eye out for the hard workers from the shadows.

As creepy as it sounds, hard workers show themselves better when practicing. Lots of them didn't do great at auditions, but performed beautifully on the stage with everyone else. The club needed people like that, a performance was not made from just the main character after all. So the club kept observing them quietly. Moon had also done the same for Nick when he was a first year.

And as much as it hurt Nick's pride to admit even to himself, he was sympathetic to Leon's efforts. He even found himself excited to see the younger boy's audition.

Inhaling and exhaling deeply, Nick reached down his pockets and took out two bottles, one smaller than the other, pushing them right into Leon's line of sight. "Hm" He murmured. The boy was surprised but he did not move to grab the bottles. "They are for you."