Chapter Text
Whether habit or unconscious, the cap of the pen in his hand pressed meaningfully against his full lips.
Liam watched this scene in an unnervingly close-up view.
“Hey, you're too close.”
“Huh? Really? More importantly, I noticed something.”
Ignoring Liam's warning, Yuki lowered his gaze to the notes in his hand. Looking down at those thick, jet-black lashes, Liam felt irritation at Yuki's refusal to move away, despite his warning.
“First off, you're not my mentor. Your responsibility is strictly Isack and Arvid.”
“Huh? Yeah, but the team told me I can report anything I notice directly to you.”
Yuki remained unfazed. Moreover, he no longer had that “fire-stirring personality” like before; now he was beyond calm, almost detached. Thinking of the brutality of his previous season, Liam felt a chill.
Yuki had left his childhood far behind and matured rapidly.
Though two years older than Liam, he wasn't childish now, yet there was something twisted about Yuki. Drawn into a world that forced him to grow up too soon, he seemed to act out an overly childish persona as if to reject it. Yet at the same time, he possessed a self-destructive streak, seeking sexual encounters indiscriminately to numb his loneliness—that was the Yuki Liam knew.
Yuki was talking about something with a serious expression. The sound reached Liam, but he couldn't grasp the meaning. It slipped away.
Even as he spoke, Liam watched the cap of the pen in his hand occasionally push up against his thick lower lip, whether out of habit or not. He watched with a look of seeing something strange.
Liam recalled the Yuki of the past. Days spent indiscriminately inviting people to “sleep together” to escape loneliness, and literally ‘sleeping’ with anyone who took the bait.
Liam, once his roommate, was no exception to being invited. And he refused. Liam was a man who could say “No.” He didn't want to do that with the guy who was his roommate, his rival, his friend. So he flatly refused. Then Yuki had said this: “No? Then how about I do it with my hands and mouth? No good either?”...
“Hey, are you listening?”
Yuki's voice rose a notch, snapping Liam back to the present.
“No...”
“What the hell? I'm talking about something important, so listen properly.”
Saying this, Yuki pouted his lips. A childish expression.
“So tell Isaac about your important talk... Hey, don't take Isack to bed.”
Suddenly struck by a terrifying thought, Liam blurted out.
“What?”
“I told you not to do it with him. He's still a kid.”
Yuki raised one eyebrow, his expression puzzled. Then he spoke again.
“...The age difference between Isack and me is the same as the age difference between Pierre and me. You know what I was like when I was Isack's age, right?”
Suddenly, Liam gasped, feeling as if Yuki's eyes had turned the color of pitch-black darkness. He vaguely knew that when Yuki was Isack's age now, when he was teammates with Pierre, Pierre had publicly dated his girlfriend while maintaining a relationship with Yuki that could never be revealed. Yes, that was also when Yuki's “Let's Sleep Together Disease” had worsened.
Yuki narrowed his eyes and smiled. Was he smiling? Liam couldn't tell.
“Thanks for the warning. But I'm fine. I care about Isaac, you know.”
With that, Yuki walked away. Liam had no way to stop him. He just stared blankly after him as he disappeared into the distance with light steps.