“We’re talking now,” I said looking at Mingyu. “I can’t keep dealing with this Mingyu.” I closed the door locking it so we would have privacy from everyone else. Once our promotions for Very Nice were over we were given some down time. Everyone needed to think about what to do next for our next comeback. That wasn’t going to come over night. I was glad for the short period of down time but I needed Mingyu and I to be okay before I could really enjoy anything.

“Fine hyung,” Mingyu sighed. He sat up on his bed so I could sit down next to him. “What is it?” I turned to face him as he kept his eyes down on the ground. Had it really become so awkward that he didn’t even want to look at me? It was just another dagger stabbed into my feelings.

There was so much that I wanted to tell him, that I wanted to talk about. He was one of the first members I’d met last year who I’d grown close to. We were in a group together and we couldn’t act this awkward on broadcasts or in private. It wasn’t going to work and sooner or later everyone was going to pick up on the awkwardness. That was only going to lead to more questions and those questions were going to expose the truth. The truth wasn’t ready to come out yet.

“Us,” I said finally forming some thoughts into actual words. “I’m tired of us avoiding each other. You won’t talk to my anymore after I told you the truth about Joshua and I. You told me you didn’t care that I was gay.” I took a shaky breath feeling my eyes b with tears. My worst fears were being voiced and it hurt me a lot. “But the way you’re acting is like telling me you really aren’t okay with me being gay.”

I wiped the tears falling down my cheeks as he sat there motionless. That day we’d went to the Han River and filmed Adore U there was one of my favorite memories. That day was the day Mingyu and Joshua became the first members aside from Jeonghan who knew I was gay. They’d both told me they were okay with it. So why was Mingyu avoiding me now that he knew I was dating Joshua?

Mingyu didn’t say anything and I didn’t know what else to say. I kept crying, as my tears didn’t stop. He finally looked up seeing all the tears falling down my face. That struck something in him; soon I felt his strong arms around me holding me tightly. His hug only made me start crying even more as he rubbed my back. I was vulnerable and he was seeing every piece of it.

“I don’t care that you’re gay,” Mingyu said as he still held me close to him. “I said that last year and it’s still true. I don’t look at you as gay hyung. I look at you as you. You’re that cool guy from LA that’s Jeonghan’s cousin who became our fourteenth member. You’re that guy who can sing really well who I’ve grown really close to. I would never hate you because of who you were.”

“Then why did you avoid me?” I asked looking at him as I wiped at the wetness around my eyes.

“I just needed to think about things,” he answered as he gently brushed his thumb across my face to wipe away some tears. “You telling me you and Joshua hyung were dating was a huge shock to me. I mean I knew you two were close but I had no idea you were that close. It just took me off guard. But I’m okay now. I just was scared to talk to you about it.

“I didn’t know if you were ready to talk about it. I mean I was the one to storm off of the rooftop when you told me. I was just scared to talk about it so I kept my distance. I’m sorry for taking so long to talk to you about these things.”

“I’m sorry for everything too,” I said as my lips formed a small smile. He smiled back at me showing his slightly crooked teeth. “I don’t want to lose you as a friend.”

“And you won’t hyung,” he said ruffling my hair. “Don’t worry Skyler hyung.” I nodded my head doing one more wipe of my eyes. I was sure I looked like a mess but I was glad we’d talked things out and were on good ground again.

Mingyu smiled at me some more as we left his and Wonwoo’s bedroom to find everyone else. I sat down next to Joshua with Mingyu right next to me. Jeonghan and Wonwoo seemed to notice the change in atmosphere shooting me some curious glances. I just smiled at them hopefully letting them know that everything was okay again. They seemed to understand.

“Since we have some free time why don’t we do something fun?” Seungcheol asked once everyone was gathered together in the living room. “Woozi is still working on what our next song will be but we can still have some fun.”

“That’s a good idea!” Seungkwan exclaimed nodding his head. “I want to go to the theme park. I haven’t been in a while and want to go again.” Once Seungkwan had put that idea out in the open everyone exploded into a happy buzz about going to the amusement park. The whole time I’d been in Korea I hadn’t even gone to any of the theme parks here. It was long overdue.

“Okay it’s settled,” Seungcheol said after we’d all quieted back down. “Let’s go to Lotte World tomorrow as the start of your free period before our next comeback!” We all nodded our heads riding the wave of excitement about going to Lotte World the next day.

After dinner Jeonghan, Joshua, Mingyu, Wonwoo and I sat down around the balcony in Joshua and mine’s room. Now that everything was okay I just wanted to hangout with the people I was closest too. Not that I didn’t love the other members, because I truly did I had made more bonds with these four.

“I’m excited to be going to Lotte World tomorrow,” Wonwoo said with a happy smile on his face. His health problems were finally solved and he was able to promote with us for the next comeback. Anyone could tell that he was happier now and I was happy for him.

“Me too,” Mingyu said leaning against him. “We should get animal headbands as soon as we get inside the theme park.” Jeonghan nodded his head as he told us about the rides he wanted to go on.

I found myself smiling, with a warm feeling inside of me. Joshua and I held hands and we didn’t have to hide it around them. It made me feel really good.

“Okay!” Mingyu exclaimed raising his hand in the air. He looked right over at Joshua and I. “When are you going to tell everyone else that you’re dating? I think it’s about time.”

“I agree with Gyu,” Jeonghan said nodding his head. “It’s been months since you started dating. And I told you before that no one is going to mind so there’s nothing to be scared of. We’d all support you both.” I turned to look at Joshua who looked like he wanted to shrink into the darkness of the night.

“I don’t know,” Joshua answered looking down at the ground. I squeezed his hand in a reassuring manner as he took a deep breath. “I want to tell everyone but I’m still afraid what they might think. I’m scared what my parent’s would think. They probably wouldn’t approve of it.”

“But you’re happy right?” Jeonghan asked looking over at him. “Ever since you started dating Skyler you two have been happier and always flowing with good energy. And shouldn’t your parents be happy for you if you’re happy?”

“That’s true,” Joshua said giving us all a small smile. “I will think about telling my parents first. And if that all goes well and they accept it then we can think about telling the others.”

I nodded my head as I wrapped my arm around him as he leaned into my arm, resting his head on my shoulder. Wonwoo smiled as he watched the two of us with a hunger in his eyes. I felt bad for him that Mingyu didn’t realize how much Wonwoo liked him. He didn’t have to say it out loud, everything he did around Mingyu made it clear he had feelings for his friend. But Mingyu was just so oblivious to Wonwoo’s feelings.

********

The next day we woke up to eat a big breakfast. The more we ate right now the more time we could dedicate to going on rides when we got to the theme park. All the conversation at the table was all about what rides to go on first and what food to eat at the theme park.

After doing all the dishes we piled into the vans for the managers to drive us to Lotte World. Once we got our tickets we entered the park looking like a bunch of excited kids let loose in a theme park.

“Mingyu wants to get animal headbands before we do anything else,” Wonwoo announced to everyone. “So that’s first!” He turned to lead us all to the nearest gift shop as we looked for the animal headbands.

“Here they are!” Jun exclaimed motioning us over to a part of the store. “There’s a lot to choose from.”

“Whoa so cute,” Dino said as he picked up a headband with kitty ears on it. “I like it.” We all began looking through the different choices deciding on our headbands.

“Skyler hyung get these ones,” Mingyu said placing a pair of brown teddy bear ears on top of my head. “They fit you well.” He placed a pair of kitty ears on top of his head, which were very fitting with his pointy canine teeth and everything.

“They look cute on you Skyler,” Joshua said with a smile on his face. I turned to see what everyone else was picking. Seungcheol and Woozi both had on pink bunny ears, Jeonghan had some white kitty ears on. Everyone looked really cute with their headbands on.

“Joshua here,” Mingyu said handing him a matching headband with brown teddy bear ears for him to wear. “So you’ll be matching.” Joshua smiled taking the headband putting the headband on looking at himself in the mirror. He looked the cutest out of all of us and I wasn’t going to deny that if anyone asked me.

Once we finished choosing our headbands and paying for them we left to finally start going on rides. I’d never been to Lotte World before so everything seemed brand new to me. There were so many rides to chose from and I wanted to ride all of them.

“Skyler you should pick first since you’ve never been here before,” Seungcheol said with a smile on his face. I looked at the map a little bit more closely before choosing a ride that resembled a pirate ship.

Following the map we made our way to the pirate ship ride seeing it rocking back and forth on its path. It wasn’t extreme enough to go upside down but if you sat on the edge you were going to go pretty high and get butterflies in your stomach. That’s the exact seat that I wanted to sit at.

“I want to sit right in the back on the boat,” I said pointing to the back seats as we got in line for the ride. Since we’d gotten to Lotte World so early there weren’t that many people. And we’d chosen to go on a weekday, which meant the majority of citizens in Seoul were either at school or at work.

“That part goes up so high though,” Seokmin said looking up at the boat. “Do we all have to sit on the backseats?”

“Of course not,” I answered with an evil smirk on my face. “The seats for the little kids are in the middle.” Seokmin nudged me, as it finally became our turn to get on the ride. I got on the ride marching straight to the last row of seats. Joshua took a deep breath before sliding into the seat next to me accompanied by Wonwoo and Mingyu.

“You guys are crazy!” Seokmin yelled from his seat near the middle. I stuck my tongue out at him as everyone else filled the seats.

Once we were all secured into the ride it slowly began to rock back and forth on the track. The more it kept rocking back and forth the higher we were getting and I was starting to feel butterflies in my stomach, bringing a smile onto my face.

“I so hate you for this!” Joshua yelled as the boat reached its target height. I turned to shoot him a wide grin as he held onto my hand tightly. The feeling of this ride was amazing and I was having a blast and it was only the first ride.

After the pirate ship ride we all just took turns choosing which rides to go one. Some of us chose slow and peaceful rides while others wanted to be daring and go on the crazy looking roller coasters. I wasn’t saying no to any of the rides so I went on every single one that we got in line for.

“Why do you want to go on this thing?” Joshua asked as he looked up at the roller coaster we were in line for. “This looks even scarier than the first roller coaster we went on.” He lightly touched my arm, as he looked afraid of the ride. The screams that we could hear weren’t helping either.

“It’ll be all right,” I said wrapping my arm around him. “I’ll protect you from the big scary roller coaster.” Joshua just rolled his eyes as he moved closer into my arm.

“You two I swear,” Jeonghan said from behind us. “But I’m choosing my turn for us to go to the food court so we can finally eat. I’m getting really hungry.” I nodded my head thankful that one of us was using some common sense to think about re-filling our stomachs.

Finally when it was Jeonghan’s turn he led us all over to the food court for us to eat a late lunch. When we got there we split up to go get whatever our heart’s desired. The food court was huge and I didn’t know what I wanted to eat. If I had the money I would’ve bought one of everything I wanted.

“How am I supposed to choose what I want to eat?” I asked turning to look to Mingyu and Wonwoo. Joshua and Jeonghan had already run off to some food stall. “There’s too much to choose from.”

“Meat is a good way to go,” Mingyu said flashing his pointy canine teeth at me. “I’m getting the cheeseburger with bacon.” Mingyu headed to the burger stand to order his food leaving Wonwoo and me still to decide.

“Want to just share two things?” Wonwoo asked turning to me. I nodded my head as we finally decided to get food from a Thai food place. I ordered the chicken pad thai while Womwoo ordered the pork pineapple fried rice. Once we got our food we joined everyone else at the table they had claimed.

“Yours looks good,” I said looking at Joshua’s teriyaki chicken rice bowl. Joshua picked up a piece of the chicken holding it up for me as I ate it off of his chopsticks. He then opened his mouth, as I fed him a bite of the chicken pad thai.

“Who gets to decide what we do after we eat?” Seungkwan asked with a mouth full of food. Seokmin shot him a look as Seungkwan covered his mouth to finish chewing. Junhui raised his hand signaling it was his turn.

“I want to go to the games section,” Junhui answered. “That can give us time to process our lunch.” It sounded like a smart idea. Someone was definitely going to get sick if we went on a ride right after stuffing our faces.

Lunch went by pretty quickly since we all wanted to go and play games. When everyone was done eating we made our way over to the game section. The big stuffed animals caught by eye immediately as they hung above our heads. Of course they were for the ring toss, which was the hardest carnival game in existence. Joshua’s eyes immediately got glued the huge fluffy rabbit.

Everyone dispersed to go off and play different games as Joshua immediately put down money for a bucket of rings for the ring toss game. According to the rules it was going to take two rings landing on bottles to win one of the big stuffed animals. I shook my head as I stood beside him as he began to aim and throw rings at the bottles. Ring toss was way harder than it looked.

Pretty soon the bucket of rings was gone and Joshua was left with no prize. He looked down into the empty bucket with a sad look in his eyes. I felt bad that he didn’t even get the small prize.

“Better luck next time,” the worker said taking the bucket away. I patted Joshua on the back trying to comfort him. He smiled lightly at me letting out a sigh.

“Screw it,” I said taking out some money. After buying another bucket of rings I picked the first one up aiming it at the rings. All the bottles were so close together and the necks were so skinny it made it hard to aim. It was mostly just luck if you wanted the grand prizes.

Joshua chanted beside me as I threw the first ring at the bottles. It bounced right off landing on the floor. I felt his hands grip onto my shoulders as I began throwing more rings hoping one of them would make it.

“I only have two left,” I said picking up the last two rings. “Here goes nothing.” I held the first ring up in front of me aiming before throwing it. The ring clattered onto the bottles making it around one of the necks.

“You did one!” Joshua exclaimed bouncing up and down. “You can do it Skyler!” I aimed the last ring saying a silent prayer that I would make it. Throwing the ring we both watched with wide eyes as it landed on the bottles falling down onto one of the bottles.

“Congrats!” the worker cheered. “You’ve won the big prize!” Joshua and I broke into smiles as I looked up at the prizes. I knew right away that the bunny was coming home with us.

“I’ll take the bunny please,” I said pointing up to it. The worker grabbed a tool taking off the giant rabbit handing it over to me. “Here.” I held the rabbit out for Joshua as he took it into his arms.

“Are you sure?” I nodded my head as Joshua buried his face into the soft fur of the stuffed animal. I smiled happy that he was happy as we walked over to a bench. Everyone was still absorbed up in their own games.

Joshua set the rabbit down onto the bench before wrapping his arms around me tightly. I smiled at him as he smiled back at me. After we hugged we sat down on the bench to wait for the others. His hand found mine as our fingers laced perfectly together. Joshua’s head found my shoulder as the two of sat their peacefully on the bench.

Click.

Sorry for the long delay on a new chapter!! But anyways the ending, you can interpret that how you want. The drama is going to heat up since I am looking to finish the story. I know how I want it to end I just need to write it out to my liking. 

Thank you for reading and I will see you with the next chapter~ 

alsk20