One late night practice had Kyungsoo coming home to the blinding darkness of their shared dorm. He shrugged, as it’s nothing but an ordinary, the members should probably be asleep by now. Kyungsoo toed his shoes off then padded his way down to his room, stopping midway abruptly just to make sure he really saw what he think he saw: A sticky note with “! ;)” written in glow in the dark marker taped together with a white envelope on the edge of television. He raised his eyebrow in confusion as he pulled them and mulled over the possibilities. Waiting for the tv to load, he plopped himself back on the couch, trying to stifle a yawn. This probably one of Chanyeol’s pranks but he turned the tv on anyway. Curiosity kills the cat, but he reasoned whatever kills it won’t kill him. First, he’s not a cat. Second, he’d kill Chanyeol first if something happened to him after watching whatever this is.

“Hello, dude! Whassuuppp?” The tv showed one particular Kim Junmyeon, all smiles, being his embarrassing self while struggling with his cute broken English.

He ran his hands down his face upon this. Hyung, please don’t. If you think the leader’s ridiculous aegyos would stop once the red light’s off, you’re wrong. All 11 of them had to bear every single minute dying from secondhand embarrassment and tonight, especially, was Kyungsoo’s solitary distress with no one to share.

“Happy early birthday, Kyungsoo-ah,” On screen Junmyeon smiled fondly, hands waving so eagerly.

His mouth formed a big “O” as he came to understand what was happening.

On screen Junmyeon reached out of the screen, plucking a paper what’s seemed to be a script, scrunching his face for a moment and grumbled, “English is so hard though,” in korean. “Ah.. Ah!” Junmyeon cleared his throat then continued talking in English (more like reading the script, mind you. Yifan hyung’s probably.)

“Remember our promise to go to New York together?” Junmyeon grinned; eyes flickered down to his script in concentration, proceeding in Korean instead after a thoughtful seconds of nope I really cant do this. “I bought us tickets and all. It’s in the envelope, take a look!”

Kyungsoo absentmindedly reached out for the envelope right next to him while his eyes still plastered to the screen. He ripped the envelope partly in caution partly in bubbling anticipation. True to his words, Junmyeon really bought them pair of airplane tickets, ICN – JFK and couple others of hotels and whatnots. Kyungsoo stared dumbfounded, tickets to Junmyeon back to tickets then Junmyeon again.

“New York, here we come!” On screen Junmyeon shrieked, this time in English.

That’s just exactly how he and Junmyeon end up wandering the random paths of Central Park on rented tandem bicycle in late January, although the usual bright green hilly terrain still covered in thin layer of morning dews and the cold breeze runs mercilessly against their thick-coated bodies.

Faint melody of acoustic from street musician wafts through the air as they pedal along the Strawberry Fields, then stopping by at the Bow Bridge because to quote Junmyeon, “It’s beautiful here, I want to take a selca!” but deep, deep down in Kyungsoo’s heart he knows his hyung can’t take it anymore. So much for bicycling, they just went on for half an hour.

Eventually they make it to walk further down the road by feet, going in and out trying the food vendors along the bridge. Kyungsoo has cup of hot chocolate in one hand to share and gross looking but taste heavenly hotdog in the other, while Junmyeon busies himself with his large pretzel and ham sandwich, that one too is to share.

“Last one to arrive at the opposite end is the loser!” Junmyeon says all the sudden and starts to run, startling Kyungsoo out of his reverie. It takes him good seconds to churn what Junmyeon’s doing then he scowls. You did not. He knows he’s at disadvantage what’s with holding food and all, but he runs anyway tailing the other a few steps behind.

“Hyung, this isn’t fair!”

Junmyeon laughs when Kyungsoo manages to grab his hand after they arrived at the other side, sticking his tongue out at him. "I win!"

He pouts, looking at Junmyeon square in the eyes for a moment before suddenly biting him on the arm.

“Yah!” Of all the things for him to do, Junmyeon had not been anticipating that Kyungsoo would bite him. He doesn’t know whether to glare or laugh at the moment, but is decided for him when Kyungsoo started laughing. It is infectious and soon laughing with each other because the situation is so stupid that they can’t possibly react in any other way. Finally they calm down and Junmyeon looked up at him. “You’re so abusive, I’m leaving you."

Kyungsoo grins. “No you wouldn’t.”

The next morning is a bit of a late rise than the boys had experienced ever, taking in indulgence of no schedules and no whining maknaes to get them breakfast ready. Kyungsoo wakes up at ten and takes a quick shower before going in to get Junmyeon up. As usual, he is a very hard person to wake, so Kyungsoo goes out to have a late breakfast for himself, leaving the older to try and wake up a little on his own before he goes back in to attempt getting him out of bed. Once he had the take away food he goes back to their room, where Junmyeon still lying where Kyungsoo had left him. He jumps on the bed next to Junmyeon and starts shaking him. "Come on, get up you old man!"

Junmyeon groans and rolls away from Kyungsoo, who shakes him again. "Come on, gramps! We’ve got plenty in hands for today!" He grinned as Junmyeon mumbles something incoherent into his pillow, which is probably a plea for Kyungsoo to shut up and let him sleep.

Kyungsoo leans over and pinches him on the cheek. “I will throw you off the bed if you don’t get up in three. Don’t make me do it.”

Luckily for Junmyeon, he is finally up, hurriedly sitting at the edge of the bed and dashing to the bathroom. He still looks a little sleep-addled though and is having trouble walking. Kyungsoo laughs. Soon they finished getting ready to leave, heading out to the Empire State Building. The walk along the fifth avenue mostly spent with Kyungsoo teasing Junmyeon about how long he took to wake up in the mornings and window shopping, planning to buy gifts for the members back home. The day isn’t supposed to be terribly busy, which is quite rare these days in New York so the boys enjoy the light days when they have them.

The city view from the 102^nd floor is breathtaking. To his (not really) surprise, Junmyeon bought them the express pass so they won’t get in the line for hours, so here they are, enjoying their little sightseeing from the observation deck. He’s busy playing with his telescope trying to spot the places they’ve visited the past days while Junmyeon decides to wander along the rail. There are quite a few people around but luckily most of them seem absorbed in their own worlds and don’t pay much attention to them, much to their relieve.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DO KYUNGSOO!!” Junmyeon screams to the air with hands cupping his mouth. He turns his head to Kyungsoo, grinning so wide, making the other visitors parrot his movement.

To Junmyeon’s antics, people start to sing “Happy Birthday” and saunter over Kyungsoo, earning the birthday boy endless pats in the shoulder, brohugs, and congratulations.

Kyungsoo looks down at the floor, suddenly feels too self-conscious and embarrassed for making a scene.

“What was that for?” Kyungsoo grits his teeth when the flash mob is over and they go down. He can still feel his cheeks flush, which makes the other laugh even more. He knows Junmyeon’s teasing him, maybe even making fun of him a little. It is nice because it is all playful in nature and he really appreciate the gesture, but that won’t stop Kyungsoo from glaring at him.

Junmyeon just smiles, offering his hands to link their arms together. “Because I’m proud of you and I wanted the world to know it.”

“Stop embarrassing me, Hyung.” He is trying to pout in between the laughter starting to erupt but failing miserably. He slides his arm, intertwining with Junmyeon’s, can’t help but break into a slightly goofy looking grin, buoyed by the older’s words.

Junmyeon only hums in response.

For three days well spent in the city that never sleeps, they’ve been going around restlessly playing tourist and they are now having one destination before they’re going to depart later tonight. The few things the boys bought with them are packed in Junmyeon’s extra suitcase.

They are now cramped with hundreds of people bustling going back and forth in the Grand Central Terminal. This is his dream to be standing in the middle of New York's illustrious past, ever since he watched Madagascar and The Avengers. They receive a few weird looks when one is looking so star struck over his surroundings (Kyungsoo) and the other giggling like crazy out of the blue (Junmyeon).

Kyungsoo smiles conspiratorially. He did a little observation back when they were still at the hotel. He nudges Junmyeon on the side who is too immersed in taking (hundreds) selca.

“Hyung,” he says, “You go stand over there,” Kyungsoo points to the farthest spot to their left.

He tilts his head in question.

The wide-eyed boy puts his arms on the older’s shoulder and just pushes him to move forward. “Go!”

When Junmyeon’s arrived at the pointed spot, Kyungsoo narrows his eyes. This should do, he thinks as he jogs a little farther than where he was standing.

He clears his throat and leans his face closer to the wall.

“Thank you, Junmyeon hyung.” He whispers, crossing his fingers for this to work as the article said. Then he stands up straighter, checking if Junmyeon at the other side hears him just fine.

He beams when he spots his hyung sputters in mixed confusion and surprise, eyes wandering around to find the source. Yep, definitely working, he grins. “I love you.” he whispers again. A very deep blush flowers upon Junmyeon’s cheeks, rushing to color his face.

Kyungsoo is settled comfortbly in his seat, eyes fluttering closed seconds to actually dozing off when he hears Junmyeon says, “I love you too, Kyungsoo.” when they’re up in the air on their way back to Seoul.