After Dusk || Im Changkyun

15. Practice

Chapter Fifteen

"Let's practice."
"Practice?"
Changkyun stared at you with completely horror, his pupils shaking rapidly. You rolled your eyes at him, sighing at the apprehensive man in front of you.
"It's a hug, Kyun. I'm not going to murder you."
You stepped forward only for him to take a large step back.
"I don't like hugs." He put his hands up at you in surrender, despite you still approaching him.
"Yes, so all the of the videos I've watched with you hugging your members have always been you not enjoying the hugs you give."
"You watched those?"
"Yeah, I used to listen to your music."
Changkyun stopped.
"You did?"
You nodded.
"I watched one of Minhyuk's dramas and I found your music." You simply shrugged. You didn't know why he seemed so shocked. Monsta X was big while they still promoted. They all got caught up in their acting careers, so it's been a while since they made a group comeback. Even a solo mixtape.
"So... you're a monbebe?" He grinned slightly, taking a step forward. You shook your head.
"I'm an NCTzen. A loyal predebut NCTzen that should be Yuta biased but is actually Renjun biased because he cool."
You twiddled your fingers around your shirt as you carefully shimmied backwards, trying not to walk into a wall.
"But." You started, trying to hide your smile,
"I did keep track of your comebacks, and I did listen to your albums, and if you check in the depths of my old apartment you'll probably find an album chilling there."
Changkyun broke out into a sweet smile at the sound of your words. You tilted your head slightly at him, you honestly didn't know why he seemed so giddy. But you sure as heck were about to take advantage of it.
"Hey, Daniel." You called softly, earning a gentle nod from him. He didn't even ask about you calling him by the nickname you have now coined. He was just grinning to himself.
"Can we practice now? So, you get used to it."
He nodded.
And then immediately snapped out of it. He shook his head furiously, his hair that was still down flew around his face.
"No. No, we can't. That was an accident. I can't believe you ju-"
He stopped speaking as soon as you wrapped your arms around him comfortably. For someone that was acceptably tall, he was very thin, so your short arms didn't struggle to go around him.
You giggled at Changkyun who was just awkwardly standing, staring down at you with his eyes widened.
"It's a hug, Changkyun. I'm not going to throw you."
"Like you could throw me." He snorted, raising an eyebrow at you, but his arms were still lying limply at his side. You simply did the same back.
"I pushed you on a metal cart. I bet I can pick you up."
"Touché."
You tugged on his shirt slightly. You let go of him for a bit only to hug him back again. He still didn't move.
"Can you throw away your cold demeanor for two seconds? The scene will look weird if y-"
And his warm arms were around you.
You giggled uncontrollably, nuzzling your face into his shirt while he rested his head in the crook of your neck.
Butterflies.
His hair tickled your slightly exposed shoulder and you could feel the corner of his lips just barely touching your nape.
Your heart was beating so fast, it was not normal.
"Is this good enough for you? Do we feel natural to you?" He whispered into your ear.
You swore that your legs just went limp.
"Yes, we do, Daniel."
You'd be lying if you said you weren't enjoying this.
Changkyun scoffed, but couldn't hide the corners of his lips that were slowly turning up while he looked at you.
"Are you ever going to stop calling me Daniel?"
"Are you ever going to stop calling me Eggo?"
"I guess I have my answer."
The two of you went silent for a while.
And for some reason, neither of you pulled away. You both just stood there. In each other's arms. You were just trying to hide your smile. You didn't know why you were enjoying being in his embrace so much.
But you loved it.
You opened your mouth to say something but you were caught off guard by a loud thud. You instinctively clutched onto Changkyun's shirt, holding onto him tighter. You could feel his face that was still resting in the crook of your neck lift up, making you look up to see Suhyun with her arms crossed and Jooheon standing, his jaw dropped as far as it could go and with his phone on the ground. You instantly let go of Changkyun, turning to look at the two with guilty smiles.
It was suddenly cold again.
"Are we intruding on something?" Suhyun asked, looking at the both of you and then back at Jooheon, who was still staring at the both of you with both a blank and shocked expression. You shook your hands at her, awkwardly laughing while you explained.
"Changkyun and I were just practicing." You said, but Suhyun was still eyeing you.
"We have a scene where we have to hug, and I thought it would be a good idea to practice so we look natural."
"Well you looked insanely natural. Congratulations." Suhyun did her jazz hands, a cheeky grin spreading onto her face.
Oh god.
She was about to do something.
"Come with me." She ordered softly, pointing at you and walking out the door. You followed shortly after, squeezing through the still frozen Jooheon who was still staring at Changkyun.
What was with him?
Suhyun grabbed you by the arm, dragging you across the house, past Yuta who didn't even ask and Jungwoo who was confused just as always. You were pulled into her room and pushed onto the bed roughly. You yelped as your body hit the plush mattress and you sprung up to look at the girl with the cheeky grin standing at the door.
"You like Changkyun."
"What?"
You quizzically stared at her as she plopped onto the bed next to you, sitting up straight.
"You."
She pointed at you and held up one finger.
"Like."
She drew a heart in the air with her other hand.
"Changkyun."
She held up another finger on her opposite hand, putting "You" and "Changkyun" next to each other.
"Suhyun, you're crazy. How could I ever like him?"
"I'm the one that's supposed to be asking that question."
You rolled your eyes at her, but she just tilted her head down so that her bangs would cover her eyes. You shook your head at her. She reminded you a lot of your- Nothing.
"So." Suhyun started,
"When did you start liking him?"
You choked on air.
"I don't like him!"
"Denying isn't helping. Just accept it."
At this point, you were seriously wondering.
Did you like Changkyun?
No. You couldn't. That was impossible. He's him. And you're you. There's no way you could like that cold, heartless, cold, did you say cold? Your point stood.
But, he was very nice to you and he does make you happy when yo-
No.
You needed to end the mental conflict that was going on between the two opinions in your head. But they kept on fighting and you honestly couldn't tell which one to agree with anymore.
Maybe you should call Taeyong. Or ask Yuta. Or maybe even call Doyoung, he's had a lot of girlfriends. And when you meant a lot, you meant two.
The entirety of NCT were raging singles that were in desperate need of a partner.
Other than Yuta and Sicheng of course.
Like that one time Johnny and Ten got drunk and cried the night away imagining what life would be like if they weren't single.
And then they made a marriage pact.
Five more years til Johnny hits thirty. He better find someone or he might end up as Johnny Leechaiyapornkul.
Or Ten Suh.
You didn't know how it worked and that was not the point of reflecting on that situation.
You should just call Doyoung.
You didn't notice Suhyun leaving but when you looked up she was gone. You dragged yourself into your own room, only to see Yuta sitting on your bed.
"What is it, Uyu?" You asked brightly, sitting down next to him.
"Nothing. Do I need a reason to talk to my best friend? Should I make one up?"  He put a finger to his temple, thinking until he looked like made something up.
"I came in here because there's a giant pterodactyl inside and I want my short, weak, totally dangerous third little sister, Peachy, to save me."
You playfully hit him on the shoulder, physically unable to stop your laughs. Yuta's humor was complete gold. He honestly should've became a comedian. He'd be the best one out there.
It was a stupid joke but you still loved it.
"You know I'm kidding." He assured, leaning his head back on the headboard of the bed.
"You look like you need advice."
"How did you know?"
"Because I'm me."
He smiled with satisfaction to himself.
You honestly couldn't believe him sometimes. But you knew very well that behind that confident and smiley person was a young boy that was more insecure about himself than anyone could ever expect.
"What do you need? I'm all ears."
You thought for a second. You could tell Yuta almost anything. You'd known him for seventeen years after all. And other than that one thing you were hiding, you knew you could tell him anything.
But why were you hesitating?
"It's weird."
"I'm weird. Just say it." He encouraged, his arm slipping around your shoulder, making you rest your head on his.
He always did this when he wanted you to say something.
It's something he'd picked up from your father.
"How did you know?" You started, earning a confused look from Yuta.
"How did you know that you liked Sicheng?"
A soft and tender smile spread across his face. He chuckled to himself for a second.
"I don't know when, but there was a time when I just started enjoying his presence more. I wanted to know more about him. He'd done so much for me, and I just knew. Your heart beats faster. You just see them differently. You notice the small things. You feel the small things. Why do you ask, Peachy?"
You lifted yourself from his shoulder and started playing around with your shirt.
He noticed.
"You like someone?" He exclaimed and you slapped a hand over his mouth, staring at the door to make sure that there was no one there.
There wasn't.
"I think so." You trailed off, putting a finger to your lips as you stared him down.
"Not a word. To anyone."
"Who is it?" He asked curiously. You side eyed him and he just shrugged with a cheeky smile on his face.
"It's Changkyun, isn't it?"
Your jaw dropped. Was it so obvious to everyone? Did you actually like him?
This was more of a shock to you than it was to anyone else. You'd had small crushes every now and then but that was when you were like fourteen. You hadn't really thought of anyone like that in awhile.
Well, apparently you were now.
"Well, he's going to have to get past me first."
"Yuta~" You whined at him. You swear to god he was so annoying sometimes. He gently patted you on the head, messing up your hair completely, making you swat his hands away.
"I can't believe you were going to call Doyoung. He wouldn't have answered. He's too busy spending every free second he has texting your manager. They've gotten awfully close."
You tilted your head slightly.
Doyoung and Saera?
A very handsome man with a very pretty woman. Both of them have the same personality too. Plus, they both seemed to be quite captivated by each other.
The idea of them was interesting.
Yuta reached into your drawer and pulled out your script from there. He sat up straight, adjusting himself so you were facing each other.
"Do you want to practice your lines?"
You nodded only to have something come to mind.
"How did you know I was going to call Doyoung?"
"Because I'm your best friend."