To Put On An Act [bxb]

Chapter 3 - dress rehearsal

Alex had sent the most sketchy looking address to Youngbin, and there was still, or rather, once again, a painful suspicion that maybe all of this had just been a trick, a way to humiliate Youngbin, and once he'd arrive at the 'café' Alex had invited him to, he'd either get mocked, beaten up, or straight up murdered.

Or, and this might've been a farfetched idea, Alex hadn't lied to him at all and the two were about to have a nice afternoon together. Perhaps Youngbin just had to put a little bit of faith into Alex, who really had been nothing but nice to him for some reason. But it was honestly hard to do so.

Youngbin had never been treated this nicely by anyone, really. Except for Kaya, but Kaya didn't count. She was usually nice to everyone, and also Youngbin's best friend since literally always.

Kaya had taught Youngbin plenty of things over the course of the last 8 years. She knew every little thing about him, she'd seen him at his happiest and at his lowest points, she'd seen him during his meltdowns and his panic attacks. She knew how to treat him better than anyone.

Kaya taught him what it's like to be genuinely loved and listened to. And she was the one to help him hammer into his head that not everyone's brains worked like Youngbin's. She was the one to help him understand that people lie, say things when they mean something else, use weird ways to express themselves.

Communication had never been Youngbin's strongest point, there were many things he just couldn't understand, and most people weren't willing to explain it to him. 'That's just how it is', 'It's just a thing people say', most people would answer like this when Youngbin tried to actually understand others. Nobody actually had the patience to explain the unspoken rules to him. Or maybe, they didn't know how to.

Except for Kaya. She'd always helped him understand the world, played the translator when others seemed to speak a language completely unknown to Youngbin. He learned how to behave thanks to her. He learned that not everyone could be trusted. Which was- helpful, usually, but at the same time made him unbearably paranoid.

Because now, Youngbin had to assume that the whole world was against him, which, usually, it was. It made it hard to accept compliments, which it already was on its own, it was hard to talk to others because every word coming from out of their mouth could've been some abstract way to mock him. And, yes, it often was.

So who was to say that Alex wasn't doing the same right now? He didn't seem like he was, but Youngbin couldn't be sure. He never could. And yet he was 4 minutes away from their meeting spot, a café he had never heard of, that had no reviews on Google, that was somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

No way to run, if things went wrong. Unless he turned around now, that is. But he wasn't doing that. Youngbin had already put too much effort and time into not only physically getting here, but also into calculating all kinds of conversations in his head. And, most importantly, he wasn't a coward. Well, not today at least. He'd take the risk.

Youngbin's steps fastened as he looked up from his phone that dictated the way he had to go to the meeting point. Google Maps said it was just 2 more minutes. Which could probably be translated into about 40 seconds. Keeping his head up, Youngbin read each of the withered signs and rundown storefronts he passed.

Neverland. That was the name of the café. Sounded cute, and yet, strangely, Youngbin had never even heard of it. Alex said it was run by a few friends of his, which was hard to imagine. Youngbin had seen Alex' friends, and none of them looked like the owner of a cafè with such a whimsical name.

So maybe it was a lie aft-

"Youngbin! It's here!"

Ah. There he was. Alex, in the same leather jacket as always, with his arms crossed, as always, leaned against a wall, smiling. Still smiling. Youngbin tried to smile back, straightening his back as he let his phone disappear in the pockets of his pants.