Chapter 21

Traveling to Malaysia was the same as usual. They went to Incheon airport, pretended to be uninterested in the cameras that greeted them, waited for their flight and landed a few hours later in the sweltering dry heat of Kuala Lumpur.

On the way there Ricky sat with Chunji, Niel with Changjo and C.A.P with L.Joe. Very little was said on the way as they were each engrossed in their own things, whether it be sleeping, reading or a handheld game.

Upon landing they got into their van and headed to the hotel. After distributing keycards, the six went over to the elevators and Chunji pressed the up button.

“Ok so we have three room and 3 key cards,” L.Joe said. “I guess each of you maknaes have to pick one of us.”

“Dibs on C.A.P. hyung!” Niel said, plastering himself at C.A.P’s side.

L.Joe just chuckled, and then looked at Changjo and Ricky, tossing his fringe out from his eyes.

“I choose….” Changjo began but the elevator doors opened and everyone grabbed their bag and went in.

“Can’t Changjo and I share a room?” Ricky asked, speaking up.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to share with either Chunji or L.Joe, but it would be really advantageous to his plans if he were to be able to stay with Changjo for the weekend. Being in separate rooms would give him less time to spend with the maknae and express his feelings.

“What’s wrong with one of us?” L.Joe teased in reply to Ricky’s question.

C.A.P rolled his eyes and pressed the button of the floor.

“Stop being mean and let the kids room together,” C.A.P said. “You and Chanhee like to be together anyway.”

“No,” L.Joe pouted, looking up at C.A.P. “I want to room with you, hyung!”

C.A.P just laughed and lightly punched L.Joe.

The doors opened on their floor and the boys got off the elevator. L.Joe passed Ricky his keycard.

“I guess you can have my room then. Ok, we only have like a few minutes. Don’t be late,” he said.

“Yes, hyung,” Ricky said.

Ricky looked down at his key card and saw the room number was in the opposite side of the floor as their hyungs so he tapped Changjo and gestured in the correct direction.

They silently walked to their room and Ricky opened the door and allowed Changjo to enter first. Changjo switched on the light and let his backpack slide to the floor before turning to Ricky who was closing the door behind him.

“So… we’re alone,” Changjo said, smirking a bit at the visual maknae.

Ricky paused in his tracks, watching Changjo who smirked back at him in the room’s low light.

“W,wait what?” Ricky stuttered.

“It was a joke,” Changjo deadpanned turning away from Ricky and claiming the bed nearest the window as his by sitting on it.

“I knew that!” Ricky said, a bit stunned, but laughing nonetheless. He went over the second bed and put his bag on it.

“Psh, anyway thanks for offering to room with me. I kind of didn’t want to room with Byunghyun or Chanhee today.”

“Why not?” Ricky asked, genuinely curious.

“Just because,” Changjo shrugged.

Ricky gulped, “Oh.”

They sat in a brief awkward silence. Ricky contemplated his next move. The reason he wanted to room with Changjo after all was because he liked him, in addition to the fact that Ricky just liked rooming with the maknae in general. Ricky decided to just say it.

“Uhm Jonghyun… about yesterday--”

Changjo scoffed, rolling his eyes and looking away.

“What?” Ricky said, not understanding Changjo’s reaction.

“Why are you even doing this?” Changjo asked.

“Doing what? I’m telling you how I feel,” Ricky replied.

“Really now?” Changjo asked.

Ricky nodded and stood up and crossed the room to sit beside Changjo on the other bed. The mattress dipped a bit causing Ricky to lean closer to Changjo and their arms touched. Ricky felt a slight tingle run through him and pulled his arm away, rubbing it a bit.

“Yeah, I like you. That’s partly why I asked if we could room together and not with the hyungs. I wanted to be able to tell you properly.”

“Oh,” Changjo said. “So what makes you think you like me now, huh?”

“There’s really no reason to think I don’t like you,” Ricky replied.

Changjo quirked his brow.

“No, like really I’m stupid. You know I’m stupid,” Ricky said, tongue getting tied. “But really I like you and the reason I’ve been running away from it so much is because I like you so much I’m afraid. I don’t know what it means or where we’re supposed to go but what if we mess up our friendship or anything like that.”

“You’re thinking too much,” Changjo said.

“Huh?”

Ricky’s brow furrowed when suddenly there was a knock on the door causing the two to jump up.

“It’s me,” they heard Chunji from the other side.

“Coming!” Ricky said, he hopped up and opened the door. “Hey, hyung. What’s up?”

“Byunghyun and I are about to go get dinner. Did you want to come?”

Ricky looked back into the room and saw Changjo coming up behind him.

“What’s up?” he asked.

Chunji explained again.

“Ok, yeah that sounds good. I’m really hungry,” Changjo said.

Changjo and Ricky grabbed the stuff they would need to go out.

Chunji rolled his eyes, “This is exactly why you two aren’t supposed to be rooming together. So irresponsible. What would you do if I didn’t come asking you guys to come eat with us.”

Ricky laughed as he followed Chunji down the hall.

“Hyung! There is no way that Jonghyun and I would forget a meal. You should know that by now!” Ricky replied happily.

They made it to the elevator and Chunji pushed the button to go down. When the elevator arrived on the floor, Chunji pressed the ground floor button. None of them said a single word on the way down but Ricky was surprised by the feeling of the back of Changjo’s hand brush against his. He looked down just as Changjo’s index finger curled around his own. Ricky blushed and looked up at Changjo and the other merely smiled at him as the elevator dinged signaling they arrived at the first floor.

“We’re here,” Chunji said, walking to L.Joe and manager who were already waiting.

“What? Manager’s coming too?” Ricky protested.

“What? I can’t have you all running around a foreign country by yourselves without a legal adult,” Siho replied.

“Byunghun and Chanhee are adults!” Changjo supplied but Manager just shook his head.

“Are Daniel and Minsoo not coming?” L.Joe asked, looking over at Chunji.

“They didn’t answer when I knocked so maybe they went to sleep?” Chunji suggested.

“Or maybe they went out by themselves!” Ricky said.

He was ignored as everyone headed out of the lobby and Ricky sighed and followed behind them. He was happy to get food anyway even if Niel wasn’t going to come with him. Plus it was just good that Niel wasn’t there because he and Changjo were full out walking through the lobby hand in hand. It felt nice having Changjo’s hand in his and if Niel were there the vocalist was bound to say something.

Even though it was definitely not the first time they’d held hands but this time Ricky felt like there had been a change in the meaning.

As they trailed behind the others, Ricky looked up at Changjo and then gestured down at their hands.

“You like me too, right?” Changjo smiled. “So I assume this is ok?”

Ricky giggled, yes giggled, and he would have regretted it if not for the way Changjo seemed to like it so much.

“It’s more than ok,” Ricky beamed.

Changjo squeezed Ricky’s hand and pulled them forward to quicken their pace and neither of them could stop smiling.

Even though there was nothing really official as he and Changjo had yet to really talk about it, Ricky felt a lot better. He felt like maybe he and Changjo were finally getting somewhere, although where would have to be left until after they got back from dinner..

After just that brief conversation in the hotel room though, Ricky felt energized and looked forward to whatever may happen next. As they walked along the street Ricky basically bounced along while keeping Changjo’s hand clutched in his.

Ricky’s stomach was alive with excitement.

What did the evening hold for hem when they returned? Would they become officially boyfriends? The term seemed so weird to Ricky. He hadn’t even been interested in getting a girlfriend so of course the thought of a boyfriend hadn’t occurred to him before. But now that it had, Ricky really wanted it. He had no doubts about it any longer.

“Jonghyun…” Ricky squeezed Changjo’s hand tightly. “I wasn’t lying when I said it…,you know.”

Changjo was silent for a while and Ricky was almost expecting to not receive any answer but finally the reply came.

“I know.”

--to be continued--

AN - THIS IS THE WORST CHAPTER! I HAVE SO MANY THINGS PLANNED!  But nothing I planned would fricking come out! I know what's supposed to happen but the words won't come out onto the page and I am so frustrated. so here have this crap!

i'm so sorry.

question though: should this story stay having no ? When I first wrote this story I vowed that if there were it wouldn't be NAP only because I wanted to keep NAP's relationship itself as the focus rather than the . I thought would detract from their story! That said I wasn't against the thought of actual between say a side pairing (*cough*changrick*cough*) but I was just wondering if the readers of this fic prefer no in general. Not to say Changrick would be ting up all over the place! they won't. haha

I had to uplaod this because it's been so long and i'm going to be away this entire weekend so that would mean even more time with no update and I hate that. :( so yeah. sorry ;~;

i'm in a really bad mood, stressed from exams and this chapter ;~; sorry! BYE!