4 X 7 Dreams

Act 1, Scene 1

1 Year, 8 Months Ago

Krist doesn't know how he got here, in front of Singto's hotel room door. He's not sure how long he's been standing here either; he assumes long enough for a cleaning lady who'd been at the end of the hall when he arrived to manage to reach him. (Granted, she's only been going in the empty rooms. It is midnight, after all.)

"Are you going in?" she asks him, wiping her hands on a towel that had been hanging from the cart.

Krist startles, wide-eyed as he turns to her, before he realizes where he is and nods. "Yes," he ducks his head, "sorry."

He knocks on the door. "Ah, P'Sing? It's Krist."

Nothing. The cleaning lady looks at him with something akin to concern in her eyes.

Krist knocks again. "P'. It's N'Krist. Are you awake?"

The door opens. There, wearing a ratty t-shirt and sweatpants stands Singto, expression, excluding his tired eyes, blank as he looks back-and-forth between Krist and the cleaning lady.

"Room service," the woman says.

Singto shakes his head with a small thank you; he ushers Krist inside, the woman pushes her cart to the next room, and Singto closes the door with a soft click.

"What is it?" Singto asks, taking a seat on his bed.

Krist doesn't know if he should sit next to him or not, so he remains standing, albeit awkwardly, leaning slightly on the dresser. He licks his lips as his senior looks at him expectantly. "I," he begins, until he realizes he doesn't have an answer.

Why did he show up in front of Singto's room? To go over the script? No. He's got that down pat. To ask for money? No. He's not that pathetic. To talk?

Krist tenses.

No. Not that. Not with someone like Singto.

"I don't know," he admits. Inwardly, he curses himself. He wishes he were a quicker thinker. He could've at least tried to come up with something, said a lie. Better than this.

If asking for money is pathetic, this is just pitiful.

And Singto definitely takes pity on him when he asks, "Do you want anything to eat? I packed some snacks in my bag."

Krist nods. He thanks his senior for the food... and for the suggestion.

The snacks are kind of squished, but they're still good, and he and Singto go through the majority of one of the two snack bags Singto had packed. When they're finished, Singto turns on the TV. Krist moves out of the way. Singto points the remote and flips through a few channels.

"Is there even anything on?" Krist asks, finally deciding to take a seat next to the elder on the bed. "I thought they only show porn after midnight."

Singto looks at him before cracking a smile. "Cute," he says. He finds a movie and sets the remote down next to him. "No. There're some other things on."

"I can't tell if I'm glad or not," Krist says.

"Is your imagination not enough anymore?" Singto teases.

Krist shoves him. "I was just joking! You're taking it too far."

"My bad," the elder says. "Sorry." It's clear he doesn't mean it.

Krist laughs.

They scoot further up the bed until their backs hit the headboard, watching the movie with half-hearted interest. Eventually, Krist's eyelids begin to flutter, trying their best to stay open, and even Singto slips down the bed some, enough for Krist to shift until his head is resting atop the elder's.

No matter how hard they try to fight their exhaustion, they eventually fall asleep.

When Krist wakes up, it's still dark outside, but the sound of the city is growing louder again. The television is still on. The movie is different. Krist gets off the bed, careful not to disturb his sleeping senior. He can't help but study the elder for a solid minute, taking in the somewhat-crooked slope of his nose, his long lashes, thin lips. A soft breath escapes Krist's own lips. He shakes his head.

This is stupid. He's stupid.

Krist turns off the TV and leaves the room.

It's almost time to actually wake up, anyway.