Cliché

Chapter Twenty: Photoshoot

Author's Notes:

This chapter is what gay panic looks like.

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Last Chapter

"Oh" Leon's face grew cold at that. Nick knew by now that it was never a good sign. Then the kouhai's expression turned into smug confidence "That's not the impression I got in the trip when you asked me if you were attrac–"

Two hands desperately covered Leon's mouth before he could finish his sentence.

—

Nick was looking at him with widened eyes, a pleading expression. His pupils seemed to shake when he brought his face closer and whispered "W-what the fuck are you saying out loud?" His whole face was bright red as he stammered.

Leon smiled behind the hands, finding his senpai's reaction adorable "So you do remember" He whispered back, gently pulling away the palms with his own hand.

Nick, who thought his eyes might jump out of the sockets, felt so embarrassed that the red on his face just deepened more.

And just like that, in this pose, with Leon confidently smiling at him while holding his hands and Nick's cute shy expression, the first camera flash went off, startling both of them.

"No, no, keep going" Star said excitedly, looking at the viewfinder "That's just perfect"

"Senpai!" Both of them cried out. They were caught by surprise, pointedly forgetting where they were for a second.

Star just shrugged, motioning for them to keep talking. She was not sorry in the slightest. As long as she could get good pictures they could fight for the whole day for all that she cared. Her way of conducting this kind of stuff always made the members a bit nervous, but nobody said anything as it always ended up working out.

Not knowing how to react, Nick settled for pulling away his hands and looking the other side. Really, the humiliations he had to go through with this boy seemed to be endless. Leon on the other side, calmed down. He decided to have fun with the situation since he couldn't just walk away.

"How dare you say I can't flirt after that night" Leon whispered close to the elder's ear so no one else could hear. He was leaning towards the elder with his arm propped on the backrest of the sofa.

Nick felt shivers but refused to let it show, turning his face to whisper back "I'm pretty sure I did the flirting" Then he regretted it right after.

"So you DID want to flirt with me. I can't believe you remembered it all this time." The lopsided confident grin that was playing on his lips was unbearably annoying to Nick, who - once again - could not keep a straight face.

"Shut up! Go away!" Nick said out loud in an embarrassed fit. He weakly pushed Leon away from him "You also pretended not to remember, I can't believe how shameless you are, how can you even–"

The second-year was never able to finish his sentence because Leon shoved a pocky right into his mouth. Startled, the older boy picked the sweet out of his mouth, looking at it as if it was a creature that would bite him.

"Where did this come from?!" He questioned. The stupid snack was bringing back a traumatizing memory.

Leon didn't answer, just pointed, a relaxed grin still on his mouth. The direction his finger was pointing to was the center table, it seemed like one of the props had been a pocky box all this time. Nick felt the urge to kick it away, but held back, not wanting to destroy the scenario.