Alien On This Earth

Close To You (I'm Gonna Stay)

Three meals a day and one snack. That's what the dietician recommended for Jisung. It was super easy, so easy he found it hard to actually intake that much. Sometimes he didn't have time for a snack, or just forgot that breakfast existed. But other times he watched Hyunjin on his intermittent fasting diet, or Changbin only eating protein shakes for breakfast and though the voice in his head was quiet, it became a constant during those times. Saying: you're fat, they're skinny. You know it, they know it. And while often he could bring the voice down to a near inaudible mumble, it never really went away. 

The weekend and most of the week went by really quickly. They had a flight on Wednesday to the Philippines for the AAA (Asia Artist Awards), but he spent the flight listening to the demo he'd made with Changbin and Chan for the beat Chan had created last week, so even that day didn't feel super long.

When they landed on Wednesday, they had the entire rest of the day to do anything. So, of course, they elected to do nothing. The eight boys stayed in the hotel. Changbin went to the gym and Han decided to go with him. He'd eaten a little heavier on the airplane so burning a few calories since they didn't have a dance practice today wasn't a bad idea. 

He found himself spotting Changbin on the bench, though his eyes wandered around the gym. It was pretty empty. There was one guy in the corner of the room on the treadmill and a girl in the other corner doing some weightlifting. Han found himself staring at her. 

I wonder if she has a boyfriend.

"Jisung." Changbin's breathy huff pulled Han from his thoughts, and he quickly reached down, pulling the bar up and onto the supports. The elder sat up, head hung, sweat dripping off his black hair. 

"Sorry, I wasn't focused." 

"I don't want to die, Jisung, please stop staring at older girls and make sure your hyung doesn't kill himself with a 200lbs weight." 

Han blushed. "Right. Yeah." 

Changbin glanced up at Han through his wet hair, a half-smile on his lips. "Do you want to try benching?" 

"Have you seen these arms?" Han laughed, flexing as best as he could - while some might say it was muscle, he knew what he was showing off was just fat. "I could probably bench a noodle and feel like I'd gotten in a full workout."

Changbin laughed brightly, running a hand through his hair to slick it back from his face. "What do you want to work on then?" 

Han pinched his lips together and zoned out at the mirrors on the wall across from them. "I wish we could practice, but I don't think our managers would want us spoiling choreography in the middle of a random gym." 

"Who's spoiling choreography in a random gym?" Han and Changbin glanced over to find Minho and Chan walking over to them. Both had black t-shirts on, and Chan was holding two water bottles and their keycards. 

"Changbin hyung."

"Hannie." 

They pointed at each other then started laughing. Han pretended to kick the older rapper and Changbin raised his fist like he'd punch him. Minho shook his head and muttered something about them being insane. 

"Are you guys still benching?" Chan asked, nodding towards the equipment that Changbin was still sitting on. 

Han shrugged. "Nah, I think Changbin hyung could bench the entire weight wrack already so there's really no point for him to stay. And I've determined that I have the strength of soggy slice of bread." 

Minho made a face and started laughing. 

Chan nodded, "Very descriptive. What were you going to work on then?"