A/N:  So because I'm dedicating this fic to all my fellow gri shippers and VIP, I wanted to write about each country they visited. I have no idea where all of you readers are from, so I figured I'd just take the time to represent as many locations as I could. ^^

I apologize in advance if I messed up the languages! Please correct me if I did.

     After Singapore, Daesung and I headed back to Japan to continue our schedules only to fly out again a week later for Thailand. Busy, busy. October and November were packed with concerts in addition to our solo projects, and our original plans were to wrap up the tour in December before we had all those end-of-the-year award shows to attend. Those plans were soon changed though as we were notified of a final dome tour in Japan, as we made extra time to record Japanese versions of some of our solos.

     Youngbae and Jiyong's newest interest belonged to a gun toy that the American band members brought over which shot out little foam tubes with suction cups on them. Their earlier phase of the year involved skateboards, so at least this time there wouldn't be scars or scabs to look after.

     Of course now that they couldn't injure themselves with said toy, I was chosen as the new human target. Youngbae still held a grudge against me, obviously, and because Jiyong and Youngbae were inseperable friends, Jiyong did as his hyung did and teamed up against me, chasing me around backstage.

     I guess this was like my own time for self reflection, so I let my hyungs have at me. They wouldn't hurt me, after all. They couldn't. I was maknae, but I knew they still loved me.

"Raaaaarahhhh!"

     In Jiyong's typical growling manner, he chased me as I ran screaming down the hallways of the dressing rooms, dipping and curving around simple white walls covered in the occasional concert poster of local and world artists. Rehearsals were currently working with Daesung only to make sure his harness would work, so the other members were having a short break.

     As Jiyong chased me into a corner of the walls, behind me came Youngbae. They shot all their darts at once as I tried to block my face with my arms while laughing in between my whines. The suction cups were in no way strong enough to stick to me, so as the little foam darts fell to the ground, Jiyong swooped down to the tiled floors to pick up and reload his gun as Youngbae caught me into a headlock.

"Hajima! Hajima!" I yelled in my usual overly-dramatic volume, as Jiyong snickered, kneeling on the floor and aiming at my legs from below. Youngbae pulled tighter at my neck as I squinted my eyes shut and grimaced.

"Hmm. Nope," Youngbae replied simply as I tried to squirm out of his hold and pretend to gag.

"Your acting skills need work, maknae."

"Yah! Says the singer-!"

     Jiyong ran out of missles again and proceeded to wrap his arms around my legs from below to mess with my balance. I promptly fell over as Youngbae let me go. It was just in time, too, because a staff member was looking for the tiny-braided singer from a few doors down. Me falling over didn't even make him turn around. He just laughed as he ran up to a noona in the distance, never looking back. The hallways were clearing out again now that rehearsals were transitioning to working with a new member, and now Jiyong was smirking at me with his loaded gun back in his grip.

     I didn't realize that, upon tripping over to meet the ground, Jiyong had stayed on his knees and hovered over my fallen form, legs splayed out on the cold tiled floor. His toy gun was pointed right at my heart like this was some movie flick and Jiyong, as always, had claimed victory.

"Bang," Jiyong said with his winning smile, as he dropped his gun and draped himself over me, the both of us now laying on the floor.

A gut feeling told me I probably shouldn't complain as Jiyong dug his head into my right shoulder and lifted up my shirt a bit to poke at my stomach.

"Wow. So you really have let yourself go," he snickered, teeth biting at the collar of my shirt. His fingers found my ribs and squeezed them.

"I'm working on it," I sighed. "Aish, hyung, one night with Hwangssabu won't be enough and-"

His teeth made contact with skin above the shirt collar and bit down then as he continued to poke his little jabs into my belly. His shoulders shook in laughter.

"Of course one night isn't enough," he replied, sticking out his tongue into a smile, pressed at my neck now.

"Hyung," I whined, pursing my lips tight as he bit into my skin again, right above my collarbone. This was torture, whetever he was doing.

He craned his neck then to look at me, smiling into a lip bite.

"I've got a new assignment for you as leader," he started, digging a pinky into my belly button. I squirmed at the odd sensation.

"What, hyung?"

He looked over his shoulders, left and right, behind him, everywhere, before turning his gaze back to me. The halls were quiet again.

"Don't have Japan make you soft again," he laughed. "You've got an image to uphold, after all. Besides-"

He dipped down to kiss the corner of my mouth right before squatting and pulling himself up on his feet again to look down at me. I merely blinked as he extended out his hand from above to help pull me back to my feet.

'I have plans."

I finally reached out to take up his offer, but he swiftly pulled his arm up over his head right as I was about to grasp it.

"Yah!" I groaned. Hyung constantly found new games to play with me, didn't he? He would always be the most difficult hyung and I couldn't ever decide if I hated it or was thrilled at the challenge. But that was Jiyong. Ever-changing, teasing, experimenting. I thought back to the days when we called ourselves Tom and Jerry.

The staff were looking around for him next along with Seunghyun to rehearse their duo stages together. He quickly waved me off before promptly turning at the heels of his sneakers in the opposite direction. I was left on the floor, not sure what to do while waiting for my own run-through on stage, so I just sort of stayed there until my name was called. As soon as it occurred to me that hyung's red toy gun was still left on the floor, a noona passed by to pick it up. Why couldn't I ever win?

-----

After Thailand, I stayed in Korea for a few days until it was time to head out for Indonesia.

     On our six hour flight to Jakarta, I began to research a bit on my phone about things tourists could do there, something I was making a habit of doing for each place we visited. Language barriers couldn't be helped, and I found myself contantly asking for the hyung's help even with English. Bahasa Indonesia was next on my list, and all I could do was try to remember a few phrases. Jiyong would tease me for taking my fan service too seriously, but then again he had his own ways of hamming it up for fans, so I mocked him in return. But he was tired, so really I just let him sleep. Seunghyun, next to him, was studying a movie script and I wished he'd get more rest too. As for my own aisle on board our plane, Daesung kept me company. Youngbae sat with the manager behind us.

"Aku cinta padamu. Aku cinta padamu," I chanted softly in my seat.

"What're you saying, maknae?" Daesung asked.

"It means I love you," I smiled. "I have to remember it. You too, hyung,"

Daesung chuckled and pinched my cheek. 

"Aigoo. So cute. Okay I'll chant with you." he smiled.

     It didn't take long for Youngbae to lean forward from his seat behind us in curiosity, and together we were able to throw together a beat-box and rap to the words that were used in concert. I'd like to think the crowd enjoyed it.

     And of course one of the first things I did upon checking in to Ritz Carlton was change and find the hotel's complimentary exercise room. Hwangssabu and Youngbae joined along as Jiyong chose to laze around the pool. The tropical weather was so beautiful to take in through the glass windows in front of the treadmill, but I was determined to see through to whatever Jiyong's plan was that involved me spending more time with the trainer. So basically I shut up.

     Not that I got to see him much anyway. Upon ending our last concert in Jakarta, Jiyong took a separate car leaving the arena earlier than us because he had a plane to catch. Filming for Inkigayo in Seoul was the next day, and he was still promoting.

     About two hours after he left, I called him because I worried. Traffic around the stadium tended to be problematic. He was still in the airport, about to board.

"Yah," he barked on the receiver's end, but I could hear the teasing in his voice. "What do you want?" he laughed.

"Just being a considerate maknae, aish," I rolled my eyes, leaning my cell phone onto one shoulder as I undressed in my hotel room.  I was sharing a room with manager this time, but he was out with Seunghyun getting a drink at the bar.

"Im fine," he sighed. "Made it just in time for check-in with about twenty minutes to spare before boarding."

"Good," I smiled, switching the phone over to my other shoulder. "And traffic?"

"I think a fan saved me," he said simply, and then he was laughing quietly to himself upon thinking about it, muttering about crowds near the stadium's parking garage.

"Eh?"

"Anyway," he ignored me. "I'm in my seat now on board. I'm hanging up."

"Hyung!"

"What?" he groaned, annoyed.

"Hwaiting for tomorrow," I said quickly in one breath. "And, umm, you'll be in Narita after Inkigayo, right? I'll see you then."

"Yeah, till then. I expect a new photo from Ssabusshi soon. I want to see progress."

And then he hung up, and the manager came back from the bar to find me doing crunches on the carpet.

-------

Taiwan was next.

     Mandarin was at least a little more familiar to me, I had to admit, because of Japan's borrowing of kanji, but I still couldn't remember much. Somehow I had managed to get Tabi to remember "bao bei" and all of us of course knew "wo ai ni," so that was a start, at least.

     It seemed even Seunghyun now noticed that I was unusually still spending more time with our body trainer. He laughed along and told me to keep up my work ethic and I fired back and told him to join me. Seunghyun was my rival after all, right? In looks, our joke. To my surprise, he offered to work out with me. He didn't even change his clothes, and off we went, with him pushing me from behind to yet another hotel fitness room. We spent the first hour competing on the treadmills for most calories lost. He set a brisk pace with his long legs and I had no choice but to keep up. Losing to my hyungs, no matter what the task, was becoming a constant occurence that I wanted halted but would never get.

"My machine is broken! There's no way you're winning!" I whined as Seunghyun smirked and stuck out his tongue.

"You're forgetting my name is Top," he teased, but something flashed in his eyes and he suddenly looked more serious.

"Hyung?"

He let out a little huff of satisfaction before turning down the incline on his own machine and patting at his face and neck with a hand towel. Turning his head to me, his eyes narrowed in on my hands gripping the treadmill's bar handle.

"Yeh, maknae," he started, and he was already smiling again. "You really don't have to try so hard, you know."

"Hah?"

My face must have looked comical, as he bent over his head in his low rumble of laughter.

"Ji was just telling me the other day, no wait. Was it last week? That maknae was gaining back his baby fat. But I told him we don't age backwards and was so confused."

No, I understood, I told him.

"Do you take everything he says to heart?" he laughed, thick brows raised.

"Yah!" I pouted, pushing at his left arm. He pushed me back a little harder and I guess I deserved this too.

"Ji's not going to disown you or anything, maknae. He mentions you so many times when jokes come up."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course he won't. I'm maknae, and you all love me."

"Whoa. Isn't it too early in the day to already be talking like that?"

Never. I was loved, and Jiyong taught me that.

------

Two days later, we were in the Philippines.

     Yet again, Jiyong spent his downtime in the hotel's pool, this time accomanied by Youngbae and Daesung. I kept myself cooped up inside with our trainer again, though I heard Dara noona was going to show us around town after our concert later since this place was her specialty. I had something to look forward to.

     Tagalog was on my next list of languages to try, and "mahal kita" became my current chant. Saying I love you to the fans was always first, right? Saying it in Hangul or English was always an option, but I liked the little challenges.

     We had a nice dinner at a casual restaurant recommended by noona of course, and Jiyong ordered a large San Miguel. He took a selca with the huge beer glass before decidedly sharing it with all of us at our table. Testing our tolerance was always fun, I guess, but I made sure to hold back too.  We didn't have to fly out again until three days later, but I had messed up way too many times with alcohol. Jiyong became quite lax as the night progressed and told me to ease up. I just shrugged my shoulders and told him the sugars would go to straight to my gut and make me soft again. He threw his head back and laughed.

Cheeks flushed and still laughing, he threw his arms around me in a quick hug at our table. I looked down to hide my expression; I was probably looking dumb again.

When it was time to go back to our hotel, Jiyong grasped my hand under our table and let me hold on to it as we walked out to our ride. Our remaining days were fun and peaceful too, though it seemed our next place to visit was attacked with heavy rain.

----

     The plane ride to Malaysia was unnerving. The cabin shook and turbulence was strong. The landing was hard too, and there was no way to relax. Staff members bought us umbrellas and parkas at the airport.

     Even so, I still remembered to look up "saya cinta kamu." I probably should have looked up how to say something about the rain too, but my thoughts were preoccupied. We were going to have to perform outside to an audience that may not all be there because of the weather, but of course I was pleasantly surprised to see such a high turn-out of attendance anyway.

     Singing and dancing in the rain was a romantic notion, but the truth was that our stage costumes were getting wet not just with rain, but with mud and sweat. I heard we were going to have new costumes for the remaining leg of the tour and was beyond relieved.

     Perhaps performing in these conditions was like love; it certainly sounded romantic, but once you were actually in it, shivering in the autumn rain and sinking down into the soft earth, it was messy. But you just had to let the weather do as it wanted since it wasn't something you could control, so there you are, blindedy in love struggling in a mess of the emotional storms of your heart.

     Jiyong was still in a good mood, at least. Apparently Seunghyun had told Jiyong about our little competition in Taiwan and was still chuckling that I had lost to him.

"Hyung has a point though," he'd told me, smiling from ear to ear with the hood of his clear parka almost covering his eyes. We were rehearsing on stage, trying to get through our mic checks as quickly as possible.

"About what?"

"You don't have to always do as I say, you know. You're your own person, Seungriyah."

I pulled up my own hood as a rumble of thunder sounded from close by.

"I know, hyung. But when it comes to you, I need that control. I told you before, go ahead and be possessive. I'm yours, right?"

"Maknae," he sighed, dropping his shoulders as if at a loss.

"The things I do on my own you rarely approve of, that's why," I told him simply. "I mess up when you're not there."

"Seungriyah." He crossed his arms. "That's only when drinking or women is involved" A pause. "Or when its your time to talk in an interview, or when its your time to sing, or when you're at home searching the web, or..."

I kind of wanted to laugh.

"Hyung. I'm used to it."

His eyes narrowed on me as he pursed his lips.

"Hmm."

"What?" His gaze felt heavy, and suddenly I felt self-conscious.

"You've really changed, huh."

Oh.

I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Yeh, hyung."

     The strength of his gaze lightened up, and I found it easier to breathe. His expression. How do I say it? The corners of his lips pointed upwards and his chin wrinkled, something smug or prideful. He lowered his head and those brown eyes had turned a shade warmer as he extended an arm out towards me, a hand resting on my cheek. His thumb wiped away the droplets of rain water that moistened my face.

"This is how you really feel, Seungriyah?"

I nodded, placing my own hands on his extended forearm.

"I could say it in as many languages as I wanted, you know, hyung," I smiled.

He shook his head and lightly slapped my cheek.

"Yah. I don't need that," he laughed. "Aish, maknae, you're such a..."

"What?"

He kicked my shin, causing me to hunch over in reaction, which led him to wrap his arms around me in an embrace.

"Oww!"

He dug his chin into my shoulder and used my back as a drum, his hands against my shoulder blades in a mindless rhythm that rivaled the rain and then his breath tickled my ear as he sighed and moved his hands upwards to pinch the back of my neck.

"You're such an embarrassment," he laughed. "But you're mine."

-----

     Finally back in Korea, the five of us had a schedule on Anmyeon Island for a photoshoot and CF on the coast. We'd only be home for three days until it was time to set out again, so I cherished as much as the island as I could. The air was getting colder and crisper as November approached, but the sun was still bright and the sky was still its beautiful light blue.

     I was a little worried. The U.S. was our next stop, but Hurricane Sandy had showed up unnannounced. It probably wasn't likely that things would be fixed over there after we were done in California. Again, weather problems. It couldn't be helped.

     But for now, our short stay at home did enough wonders to get me excited again about the tour and all that awaited us. America, Peru, London, and a few final visits to Hong Kong and Japan was all that was left before it all ended back home in Seoul again. 

Our future seemed boundless. On to the next show.