If I close my eyes
My memories
Will bring us back to that place
_____________________

The next few weeks were quite uneventful. NCT continued to work on their comeback as well as on their first performance together with Lei. He had held back last week and Taeyong thought that his threat was just to scare him, which definitely worked. He noticed that Lei behaved cold towards him and avoided him but otherwise nothing else happened between them, which made Taeyong really relieved. He was already quite stressed because of the comeback and all the appointments with SuperM anyways, so he definitely didn't need another stress factor. During the next weeks he and Jaehyun got much closer again and spent time together almost every day, and Taeyong slept at the younger one's place almost every night or the other way around. Right now they were back in the studio rehearsing the new choreographies together with their choreographer. They were all pretty tired and exhausted from the constant and long training but the date of the comeback was getting closer and closer and they all had to have mastered the choreographies by then. Lei had the most trouble with the dance steps, because he had to learn the new as well as the old steps and didn't had nearly as much experience as the others. Taeyong stood next to Jaehyun in the studio and handed him his water bottle as the younger one drank his empty when the choreographer called him and Lei to him. Confused Taeyong quickly handed the bottle to his friend before he ran to Lei and their choreographer. Lei didn't pay him a single glance. Maybe it was better that way. Better to be ignored than being punished with icy glances. Taeyong still thought that Lei had every right to hate him. He deserved it. He was mean to him and, as Lei told him, had made his high school time hell for him. "Lei, you still seem to have problems with the choreography." The choreographer first looked at Lei then at Taeyong. "Since you're the main dancer of the group and you know all the choreographies, I asked you to give Lei some private lessons, just to give him some assistance." As soon as the choreographer expressed his request, Taeyong's blood was frozen to ice. He couldn't imagine being alone with Lei at the studio. The older one wouldn't like that either, after all he hated him. But on the other hand Taeyongs could use the time to show Lei that he had changed and wasn't the same anymore as he was in their schooldays. Maybe he could try to make up for it with the older one and yes, maybe Lei would even start to forgive him. Enthusiastic about the idea Taeyong nodded slightly to the choreographer and looked shyly smiling at Lei, who had crossed his arms in front of his chest but also nodded slightly. "Okay great. I would always rent you the studio for an extra hour, so that you can stay here for a while after the normal training." The choreographer smiled contentedly before he ended the break to continue working on the choreographies. Taeyong ran back to his boyfriend, who immediately looked at him slightly questioningly. Taeyong briefly explained that he agreed to help Lei with the old choreographies after the official training before they both returned to training.

After the training the boys said goodbye to the two of them and Taeyong and Lei stayed alone in the studio. Taeyong clapped his hands slightly and connected his mobile phone to the jukebox. "Ok shall we start then?" Lei nodded slightly and both started to dance the steps of Simon Says. Taeyong watched Lei slightly and helped him every time he got mixed up with the steps. Overall the training went quite well and Taeyong was quite surprised that Lei listened to him very well and followed his steps. At the end of the hour both of them were even more sweaty than after the normal training, which is why Taeyong turned off the music and decided to end the training for today. Lei seemed to be quite happy about the idea, as he immediately grabbed his water bottle and drank it empty with big sips. Taeyong watched him shortly before he took a short breath. "Lei?" Called looked slightly questioning to the leader. "Can't we start over?" Taeyong wanted nothing more than to let his past rest. He didn't want a fight with Lei. The kid seemed totally cool and it would be great to be friends with him. Lei laughed slightly in response which confused Taeyong a bit. The older one put his bottle away, pulled the towel out of his pocket and threw it around his neck before he approached Taeyong. The latter watched him slightly, still confused by his laughter. Lei stopped directly in front of Taeyong and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the towel before he bent down slightly towards the younger one. Lei was almost a head taller than Taeyong. But it wasn't very difficult to be bigger than him. Taeyong was only 1.74m tall. Lei's gaze was quite intense and Taeyong slightly averted his gaze as he was absolutely not good at keeping eye contact. Lei laughed again slightly. "Sure, we can start over Taeyong." Instantly, Taeyong's gaze lay on Lei's again and he looked at him slightly surprised before a slight smile formed on his lips, which disappeared again the next moment when Lei grinned at him meanly. "Let's gladly start over again. But this time with swapped roles. This time I'm the one who'll make your life hell." Lei pushed Taeyong back, who was not prepared for this at all and thus stumbled and fell to the ground. Still frightened, he tried to catch himself with his hands and slightly bent over with his right hand, which immediately started to hurt. Frightened he breathed out and looked up at the older one with a frowned face, who only looked down at him with a mean smile. "What was that about?" Slowly Lei's behaviour was getting on his nerves. He understood that he probably deserved all this, but what else could Taeyong do? The two were together in a band where a fight between two members is absolutely unnecessary. Lei twisted his eyes. "You are and always will be the worst Taeyong. Stop trying. We will never be friends." Lei's voice resembled the hissing of a snake and he sparkled angrily at Taeyong. "Yes, I will grant your wish." He bent back down to him. "I'm Lei and from now on I'm your worst nightmare. So prepare yourself." With the words, he once again sparkled at Taeyong angrily before he grabbed his bag and left the studio, leaving a confused Taeyong behind once again. Slightly shocked by what just happened, Taeyong held his hand throbbing with pain and watched him slightly before he shakily exhaled. He hadn't even realized that he had held his breath. He didn't know how to feel. He thought he got closer to the boy through the training and to have laid down their feud a little, but now the opposite happened and Lei seemed to hate him even more than before.