Alice grabs you hand and looks at you with stars in his eyes. His gaze is gleaming, he's looking at you like you are his everything, and in some twisted way, you are slowly becoming so.
Alice latches onto your hand and throws his arms around you, practically squealing in excitement.
"That was beautiful!" Alice says, cheerily, beaming wide. "I can't believe I haven't seen you around."
You raise an eyebrow at him. "We go to the same school, so that seems rather unlikely."
"Oh, no!" He says, waving his hands rather quickly to clarify his mistake. "I meant in the entertainment industry!"
You tilt your head, raising an eyebrow at the rose-tinted boy.
"I'm part of an idol group," he says, sheepishly rubbing the nape of his neck. "It's called 'WONDERLAND', and there were 4 of us! Funnily enough, even though Alice was my stage name, it's my actual name as well!"
Alice brings a hand up to cover his mouth and giggles softly. He pushes a stray strand out of his face and behind his ears, before extending a pristine gloved hand to you, both his eyes fixed on you.
You look at his hand, then back at his face. "You refer to your group in a past tense."
"Ah," Alice says, rubbing the nape of his neck sheepishly, his smile never faltering. "We broke up this summer, but it's cool now, we're all continuing to pursue the things we love!"
"Isn't that right," Alice giggles cheerily, turning to Rantaro and poking his cheek. "Ran-chan here was such a good back-up dancer, too!"
Rantaro's right eye twitches, almost imperceptibly. But he grins, throwing his head back in a laugh.
"I was better than all of you losers put together," Rantaro says, pushing a stray stand of hair behind his ear. "Though, one thing I probably can't top is Alice in that fluffy Lolita dress!"
Alice's entire body goes stock-still. You're not even sure he's breathing. What's kind of impressive, but mostly creepy, is the fact that he's still smiling.
"Heh," Rantaro chuckled, side-eyeing you. "Got him good, right?"
You don't particularly care for his feeble attempt at distracting you from the topic at hand, so you push forward with the question you were going to ask. Though, not without safely storing away the information that Alice had worn a frilly Lolita-style dress before.
"You were an idol," you say, staring fixedly at Rantaro. "In Alice's group, nonetheless."
Rantaro's face pales before he admits defeat with a huge sigh. He averts his rapidly flushing face from your gaze, and waves his hands frantically to correct any negative image that might have been created.
"Listen, it was-"
"Interesting," you say, cutting him off, after all, you still had to finish your sentence. "But I'm...impressed."
Rantaro's eyes fly wide open, he jumps, surprised.
"Oh," he says, blushing furiously. "Really?"
"In a sense," you say, placing a hand on your cheek. "Alice is a rather renowned figure in the entertainment industry, from what I've gathered, and he doesn't seem to be particularly fond of badly done work."
"I-" Rantaro stutters. "Uh, that's pretty neat."
You hear a chuckle from backstage and turn to see Kaito, his slender fingers stifling his laughter. Akira face seems as angry as ever, but there's a glimmer of amusement that flickers in his eyes.
"In any case," Alice says, pouting slightly. "We've disbanded to pursue more...personal goals."
Kaito continues to giggle, and you see Akira's eyes shift slightly in Rantaro's direction.
"You four seem to be particularly familiar with each other," you say, coming to a conclusion. "Would it be wrong to then assume that the four of you are indeed the boy group 'WONDERLAND'?"
"Absolutely!" Alice chimes in, slinging an arm over your shoulder. "Gosh! You're so smart!"
"Don't patronise me," you say, glaring at the smaller boy, who only looks back at you with wide, innocent eyes.
"Kaito here was the White Rabbit, which is pretty obvious!" Alice says, completely ignoring your earlier statement. "I mean, he's super defenceless and a total scaredy-cat! Akira here is the Red Queen, because of his oh-so-famous temper and his fiery passion for blood! And Rantaro-"
"Alice," Rantaro says, fixing the grinning boy in place with an angry glare. "That's quite enough, don't you think?"
You turn to Rantaro, confusion in your gaze. "Is there something wrong?"
Alice, a smirk on his face, turns to face Rantaro as well. "Yes, is there something wrong, Mad Hatter?"
"Dammit!" Rantaro yells, visibly angry. "You know how much I hate that name!"
"Oh, but," Alice says calmly, maintaining his innocent facade. "The fans simply loved just how crazily obsessive you were, just how passionately...intense."
The word rolls off Alice's tongue smoothly, seeming fragile and delicate, but they held a sharp edge to them. An angry tension begins to form in the room, a taut string between the two boys.
"You might," Rantaro speaks, words dripping with venom. "Want to shut your mouth now?"
"Are you perhaps," Alice quips back, lightning fast. "Are you perhaps not a fan of the truth?"
"I'm not a fan of people who don't mind their own damn business," Rantaro hisses through gritted teeth, cracking his knuckles.
"And I'm not a fan of mentally unstable maniacs," Alice says, pouting. "But we work together anyways."
Rantaro's fury grows larger by the second, but Alice remains unfazed by the looming threat above him. In fact, the slight quirk of his mouth seems to suggest that he is, in fact, enjoying it. He leans against his director's table, examining his neatly varnished nails with mind concern, as if he's not pleased by their baby pink colour. Rantaro, already furious at the slander, despises this lack of acknowledgement. His fists are clenched tight, his shoulders raised. He looks ready to swing.
He practically growls, and this is the moment you know you have to step in. Sighing, you lament at the lack of entertainment, but press a hand against Rantaro's chest to prevent him from moving forward. He freezes at the touch, but melts into it, latching on to your hand and holding it close to him. It's quite clingy behaviour, but not really uncommon from Rantaro.
"Well," you say, sighing. "I've got to go take care of my stray, and unless there's something important we need to do for the play, we'd best be off."
"Your," Alice says, scrunching his nose up as if the word disgusts him. "Your...what now?"
"This clingy nuisance," you say, ruffling Rantaro's hair.
"Ah," Alice says, narrowing his eyes at the boy attached to you. "I see."
Rantaro smirks at Alice, who simply raises an eyebrow at him. He pouts, then pulls his eyelid at sticks his tongue out at the boy, who waves him off.
"How sweet!" Kaito chirrups, clasping Shia hands together. "You two must be such good friends!"
"Yes," you say. "I've known him since...forever, actually."
"Oh, wow," Kaito says, thoughtfully. "You have to let me borrow her sometimes, though. I have some things I just know she would love."
Akira silently nods in what you assume is assent.
Rantaro narrows his eyes at the boy and frowns at him before decisively shaking his head. You chuckle and roll your eyes at him.
The act seemed elementary, natural, to you, but it made a world of difference to the four boys. It was a sound that captivated their hearts and crowded their minds. It was something to lavish and cherish and possess.
It was something to love...obsessively.
Author's Note/Question: they're all hiding secrets that are going to be unveiled soon enough. rantaro's insane 'stage personality' is going to be a key component of...something. for now, who do you think is hiding the biggest secret? any guesses as to what it is?