"You ready?"
Alex tightened his grip on the bag he held. "As ready as I'll probably ever be." His jaw might have dropped a little when Ara opened the door and he saw the size of the room. "Holy shit."
A couple laughs sounded from deeper in the room, and one of the members—Riot, or Mila—peeked around the corner with a smile on her warm brown face. She waved enthusiastically. "Hi!"
Alex managed an awkward wave back before he toed off his shoes on the mat that held several other pairs of shoes. Oh my god, I cannot believe this is actually happening. He followed Ara around the corner to a sitting room, where he was confronted with the entire group lounging on the three couches set up in a semicircle.
Mila was the only one standing, and she seemed to be charged with the same energy Ara had, bouncing on her toes like an athlete getting hyped for a big game. "Are you okay with hugs?" she asked, that beautiful smile still on her lips.
Alex had barely nodded once before she hugged him, her sweet perfume enveloping him as her arms did.
When she stepped back, she said, "Ara says you've been our fan since we debuted. I'm always so happy to meet someone who's been with us since the beginning!"
Alex's skin was tingling in every place it had met Mila's, his brain working overtime to process the fact that he had just been hugged by one of his idols. "Would it be weird if I said that I'm probably more excited to meet all of you?"
Laughs sounded around the room, but one drew Alex's attention. It was genuinely joyous but not overwhelmingly loud. When he traced it back to its source, he found himself locking eyes with the biggest person in the room. Minjae. And, damn, Ara had not been lying about him being hot. He was dressed in a black top that hugged his body in the most flattering way possible, and his dyed hair was a brighter blue than any of the pictures online had indicated. Even though he was clearly not wearing much makeup, his facecard was still lethal, dark eyes set in honeyed skin and a jawline sharp enough to put a knife to shame.
Alex realized he was staring and yanked his gaze away to Mikkel, who had held out his hand to him. He shook hands and then got a hug from Parishad, who actually blushed when he complimented her dark purple eyeliner and told her how he sometimes tried to replicate her makeup looks. He did not say he did it in the middle of the night when he was sure no one would walk in on him and judge, but he smiled as she shared one of her tricks for getting eyeliner to go on smoothly. And then he was facing Minjae, who had not yet gotten up from the couch.
Minjae pushed himself up slowly, like he was giving Alex time to tell him to sit back down. Holy shit, he was tall. And big. But he did not feel scary. He felt more like someone had shoved a small soul into a huge body, and that thought was comforting. "It's nice to finally meet you," he said, his voice like a caress over smooth skin. "Ara's been hyping you up ever since you met."
Alex did not know what his face did as that statement left those gorgeous lips. He could barely get out a sequence of words that made sense. "Do I live up to the hype?"
Minjae laughed softly, the sound reaching deep into Alex's bones. "I would say so."
Alex let out a dramatic exhale. "That's a relief," he replied, just to hear that gentle laugh again. What was he doing? He had had various crushes on each of the members here in the room, but his mind had never picked Minjae to fantasize about. Well, he would definitely be fantasizing about Minjae after this.
"I believe some pictures are in order?" Minjae motioned toward Lee Yunseok. "Mr. Lee can take them for you."
Alex tentatively handed over his phone to the man but grinned when the members gathered around him. Following their lead, he did a few different hand gestures. His heart nearly catapulted out of his body when Minjae suggested individual pictures as well. He got to stand with each member for a couple photos, and he had to fight the urge to hold his breath when it was him and Minjae in the frame.
Minjae glanced down at him with a simple smile that made color a bit more vibrant. "Selfies too?" he asked as Alex got his phone back. "You know, for the full experience."
Alex laughed, hoping his nervousness did not come through and handed his phone to Minjae, who held it up above their heads and took a couple pictures of them smiling together.
The other members made him laugh, with Parishad doing one where it looked like she had been caught sneaking a kiss onto Alex's cheek and Mila leaning on his shoulder like he was a wall and Lune initiating a staring contest and Ara making an exaggerated modeling face like those he had done in class that had Alex cracking up.
Then Alex got his phone back again, and they all sat down on the couches as Ara reached into Alex's bag and started distributing items to sign.
Somehow, probably due to Ara's scheming, Minjae ended up next to Alex. The idol grinned when Ara handed him a photocard of himself. "Front or back?" he asked as he uncapped a permanent marker.
"Back," Alex replied almost automatically. "Don't want you to ruin your pretty face." As soon as he said it, he realized what words had just come out of his mouth and started to blush.
But Minjae just laughed like he heard stuff like that all the time, flipped the photocard, and signed the back before he held out his hand to Ara for another thing to sign.
Alex felt himself slowly relax as the conversation made him smile and laugh. He was still very cognizant of Minjae sitting right next to him, but it felt less awkward and more friendly as the time passed.
When the other four members were all involved in a heated discussion about which of their cultures had the worst food, Minjae leaned even closer and spoke softly near Alex's ear. "I know Ara has your phone number, but is there any chance I could get it too?"
Alex blinked down at the signed album he was holding, hoping the others were too engaged in their conversation to notice. "Are you hitting on me?" he asked in reply, pitching his voice low like Minjae had.
Minjae gave a tiny shrug. "I mean, I've never wanted to date a fan, but there's something different about you. Something I think we'd enjoy exploring together."
That was some top-tier flirting, but there were so many issues with accepting it. The first being… "I'm fourteen," he said flatly.
"Ara told me you'd say that."
"When?"
"When you were taking selfies with the others."
"Of course he did," Alex muttered. "It's what I told him on the elevator up here."
"What if I said I'm still pretty much a baby when it comes to relationships?" Minjae pulled another album off the coffee table and signed it to give their conversation a cover. "You're a minor and there's a pretty decent age gap between us, and I want to respect that. But you're seriously gorgeous and you seem like a sweet person. Your laugh is one of the cutest things I've heard, and I'd really like to hear it more often." Damn, he had rizz. "Besides, it would be long-distance, so it'd feel more like we're international friends chatting or whatever."
Alex carefully put the album he held back into his bag since it had all the members' signatures on it. "Aren't there a whole bunch of stories and scandals about what happens when an idol dates their fan? And I haven't exactly dated either, but I know how easy it is for me to get hurt while the other person walks away without a scratch. So, sorry if I'm being really defensive about this."
Minjae did not even look bothered. "I can understand why. If you don't want to, that's fine."
The realization that the choice was his hit Alex hard in the gut. His choice, not his father's or that psych worker's or Minjae's. His. He carefully held out his hand for Minjae's phone, keeping it close to the coucb so the others did not see. "I'll give it to you. Just…be understanding if I freak out and close down for no apparent reason?"
Minjae slid his phone out of his pocket and into Alex's hand. It was already unlocked and open to the new contact page. That was some serious confidence.
Alex put his name and number into the page and saved it before handing the phone back, hoping he did not regret it.