Toweling some of the sweat from his hair, Andy practicallyfroze in place at the backhanded compliment. He shook off his shock and tried to play it cool. “What do you mean?”
Leo snorted. “Come on, Sacramento. That whole thing about how we don’t choose our labels or whatever? That was a masterclass in avoidance.”
“Avoidance?” Andy frowned. “I thought it was a good answer.”
“It wasn’t an answer at all.” Leo tossed his water bottle into the trash bin with a loud bang. “I mean, I know you can’t exactly just shit talk Min Jae during a live stream, but you could’ve at least thrown him a little shade. The ice king sure deserves it.”
Andy quietly grumbled. It wasn’t Leo’s fault that he didn’t know what really happened. He only knew the official lie and, as Andy’s friend, was naturally being supportive of him. “It’s no big deal, Leo. Seriously.”
Leo shook his head. “No, it is a big deal. I mean, unless one of you straight up murders someone on camera, you’re gonna be in the Final Eight and debut. Which means you’ll have to work together for at least as long as the contract term. Do you really want that with the way things are between you two?”
Yes, Andy wanted to say. Desperately. Even if it meant having to hide their relationship from the prying eyes of the public and producers the whole time. He’d never connected with someone like he had with Min Jae. The only reason he wasn’t constantly thinking about Min Jae was all the time he’d put into developing theItty Bittystage. Even then, Min Jae haunted his thoughts half the time. And here was a friend doing exactly what a friend was expected to do, having his back against a supposed rival. And it only made Andy angrier.
Andy pushed his growing rage down, covering it with a grin that was second nature. “I appreciate your support, Leo. Really. But I’m just not thinking about it all that much. Not with everything we’ve got going on for the final mission. Maybe you should spend some more time thinking about that, too, instead ofconstantly dogging a guy just cuz you don’t like what he says about me.”
Leo sharply inhaled as his eyebrows shot up. “Oh, really?” He shook his head, his jaw tight as the verbal shot hit home. Andy instantly regretted it, not realizing how harsh he’d sounded until it was too late. “Okay, Sacramento, point taken,” Leo continued, tossing his towel in the laundry bin with an audible thump. “You won’t hear another word about it from me.”
Andy waited as Leo walked off, leaving him alone in the practice room to stew in the bucket of verbal fuckups he’d made that day. Leo wasn’t the problem, but he’d been caught in Andy’s angry crossfire anyway. Andy wasn’t the problem, either. He’d only been trying his best to deal with a completely unwanted conflict. Ultimately, Director Choi was the problem. Andy had wanted none of that asshole’s stupid ploy to manipulate the Hyun Woo situation in the show’s favor, but he couldn’t deny that it had worked. He’d hardly thought of Hyun Woo once since he’d returned from break. He doubted the Dream Makers thought of the guy at all.
Leo showed no obvious signs of anger or irritation toward Andy when he called the team back to finish the day’s rehearsal. But the clues were there if you knew where to look. No more casual shoulder slaps or back pats. No more calling him Sacramento, only Andy. For better or worse, their easy camaraderie had definitely cooled.
Once they were finished, Andy begged off from joining the team for dinner, claiming he was still full from lunch and would get a snack later if he was hungry. No one pressed him about it, least of all Leo. But Leo was soon the farthest thing from Andy’s mind as he carefully prowled the Sky Village corridors, taking a roundabout way to eventually end up at the bathroom that had become his secret rendezvous spot with Min Jae. He gave it even odds that Min Jae would actually turn up. They had no other place to privately communicate after arranging the meeting thenight before, and a lot had happened that day. To his surprise, Min Jae was actually there waiting for him. To his even greater surprise, Min Jae was pissed.
“What the hell was all that bromance or rivalry shit about?”
Andy sighed, slumping back against the locked door as he prepared to repeat the same argument he’d just had with Leo. Had he really fucked things up that much? “You, too, huh?”
Min Jae frowned, momentarily taken aback. Maybe he’d expected Andy to put up more of a fight. “What do you mean?”
Andy shrugged. “I thought I answered that question well this morning, considering they ambushed us with it. But nobody seems to like what I said.” He looked up, meeting Min Jae’s gaze. “Did I really get it that wrong?”
Min Jae echoed Andy’s earlier sigh. “It’s not that you were wrong. If anything, you were too right. You should know by now that you can’t play word games like that, not with everything that’s at stake for us. Choi wants us to be rivals. You should’ve just told those girls that’s what we are. What you said leaves too much room for interpretation.”
“Like you said?”
Min Jae nodded. “Yes.”
Andy huffed, pushing off the door to approach the sink, resting his hands on the cool porcelain as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. Hearing the same argument from both sides wasn’t exactly encouraging. He had a lifetime of learning how to charm his way out of any trouble, a skill he’d frequently used in his meteoric rise to the top of the Dream Boy ranks. A skill he thought he’d used well during the fan meet. Why did everyone else think he was wrong?
“But, I’m not you,” Andy finally said, too frustrated to be ashamed of his almost whiny tone. “I can’t just shut off that part of my brain. It would be different if I didn’t like you, but I do. If I didn’t care about you, I’d talk shit about you all day long. But I do care about you.”
A long beat, filled only by the sound of their almost synchronized breathing. They fit together in so many wonderful ways, but their fundamentally different views of the world were hard to ignore.
Min Jae broke first, stepping up behind Andy to rest his hands on Andy’s shoulders. “I care about you, too. But we’re so close to the end. That’s why it’s so important for us to get this right. We’ll still have to be careful once we debut, but things will be different after that. We can go back to the way things were, letting the fans have their bromance and ship us all they want.”
Back to the way things were. Meaning their uneasy truce built on the backs of the amazing chemistry that had led theirForeverDream Team to victory. Not to their weekend away with Min Jae’s grandmother where they’d finally confessed their feelings to each other. Where they’d finally and fully seen and experienced one another. Would that be so bad?
For a moment, Andy considered the idea that his feelings for Min Jae might not be a good thing. He’d come to Dream Boy Project with a singular goal. Debuting was everything he’d ever wanted. He’d spent years–the last half of his adolescence and his entire adult life–working his ass off to get there. He’d always been sure it’s what he was meant to do. And his success, immediately becoming someone to watch and going on to sitting in the top two ever since, was proof that he was probably right.
Andy had never planned to meet anyone like Min Jae, let alone fall for him. But, he had. Now he was stuck in the middle, his lifelong goal pressing on him from one side, his feelings for Min Jae from the other, and he had no idea what to do. He could choreograph an entire stage in just an afternoon. He could hit the high notes, flashing a disarming grin as he charmed the masses. But he had exactly zero experience navigating a relationship.You’ve always been good at that, his mother’s words floated up from memory.You’ve never really needed anyone else.Except, now he did.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” Andy eventually replied.
“You can,” Min Jae assured him. “You were born to be an idol.”
Andy sighed. “No, not that.” He pushed off the sink, turned to face Min Jae, immediately getting lost in his lovely, dark eyes. He knew he could stare into them forever if he had the chance. But it felt increasingly obvious that his feelings came with a price. He slipped his hands around Min Jae’s waist, pulling him close. “I mean this. You and I. I’ve never done anything like this and don’t have the first clue about what I’m doing except fucking things up.”
Min Jae frowned. “You’re not fucking things up, Andy. I mean, today wasn’t ideal, but it’s–”
