Doki Doki Movie Club! - A SM AU Fanfiction!

26: Mysterious Behavior!

"Oh, jeez.. am I late again?"

I could hear Ethan ask that aloud as he walked into the small but cramped room of the club. It was another night at the movie club, and I had only just arrived, ready to start another meeting. Looking at him with a weak smile as I stood near the door, I only let out a small laugh. "No worries. I just walked in a few minutes ago, so I'm kinda late too.."

From another corner of the room, I could see Rick glancing our way while standing near a shelf. He then opened his mouth and inquired in his usual blank tone, "..were you practicing that poetry thing again, Ethan?"

"Heh.. yeah. Kinda." Ethan sheepishly chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "I got a little ahead of myself and didn't notice it was almost time to go to the club meeting til I finished writing, so.."

"...well, you seem like you're lasting a longer time practicing than I would have." Rick remarked, looking back at the shelf as his large arms began to shuffle with something that was within the interiors of it. Was he trying to cheer Ethan up or something..?

"Heh.. I doubt that. With how good you are at writing scripts, I'm sure you'd last writing poetry. Besides—I don't think I would have gotten this club the way it is now if it wasn't for all of you managing to last long enough despite being uncomfortable with some things." Ethan smiled. "So I'm sure you'd manage to last long enough with something like poetry. And I'm sure you guys will be able to push through the festival too."

Suddenly—from another side of the room, Kevin spoke, poking his head out from a corner he was in and grinning. "Y'know, I think I'm actually kind of.. excited for the festival now."

"..really?" Ethan arched a brow. "You seemed kinda down about it last night."

"Well, yeah.. its not really our part of the festival I'm talking about. I'll just be off work that night, so I basically don't have to do anything other than just chill.. unless you're counting what our club is gonna be doing and all." Kevin explained, scratching the back of his head as he glanced away.

I smiled, a little amused at him seeming actually kinda happy about the festival now. "Heheh.. you're starting to sound like Radford a little bit.."

With a soft smirk, Kevin then glanced over to Ethan and gently chuckled to himself. "Y'know, for the food—one of us should bring over some strawberries or something."

"Strawberries..?" Ethan uttered, puzzled.

"Yeah! Because, well.. y'know.. it—it just kinda looks like your hair a little. With the little leaves at the top and the red color of the berry and all.. it'd be funny if we dyed the leaves black or something too." Kevin awkwardly said in a light-hearted tone, grinning—but his tone slightly faltered as he slowly realized that the joke didn't make that much sense the more he thought about it.

Ethan furrowed his brows, frowning. "Hey, that's not how the—" He then faltered as if realizing something—and let out an awkward laugh while visibly sweating. "Ne—Nevermind.. let's just talk about the event for now. We kinda need to anyway."

Kevin raised a brow, but simply shrugged and gave a mild smirk. "Heheh.. alright. Not like your reactions are as fun as Radfords anyway.."

Upon hearing that name—it feels like something inside of me flickers in realization. Aloud, I utter to myself, "..where is Radford anyway..?" As I glance around the room in search of wherever he could have been, I quickly widen my eyes, and my realization seems to calm once I notice a familiar figure sitting quietly at the center table of the room.

Slowly, I approached Radford who appeared to just be peering down at the surface of the table in thought. He was frowning, and.. almost looked kinda anxious as beads of sweat visibly trickled down his face. I could see him lightly tapping his fingers against the table.