Seoul Zoo, Sunday morning…

            Kyuhyun opened the map and began to look over the different exhibits when Ryeowook snatched it out of his hands and quickly looked it over until he found what he was looking for and grabbed Kyuhyun’s arm and drug him, practically running, down the Dolphin Path.

            “Are we in a hurry?” Kyuhyun asked.  “We have all day!”

            “I want to see the giraffes!”

            “Are they feeding them or something?”

            “No, I just want to see them right away,” Ryeowook insisted.

            Kyuhyun gave him a bewildered look, but kept his comments to himself and let his boyfriend drag him up the path.  Thankfully the zebras and giraffes were one of the first exhibits in the zoo and they didn’t have to go far to see them.  Ryeowook stopped to watch the giraffes, which were munching on some food. 

            “Ah, look Kyu!  Aren’t they cute?”

            Kyuhyun shrugged his shoulders.  “Sure.  But why do you like them better than other animals?”

            Ryeowook looked up at him.  “I don’t know.  I guess I’ve always liked their colors and spots, their long necks, their fuzzy tails.  They’re tall and graceful.”

            “Is it because you’re short?” Kyuhyun asked, smiling down at his petite boyfriend.

            Ryeowook smacked him in the chest.  “I’ll have you know, I’ve always liked them.  Even when I was young!”

            “You were probably the shortest of your classmates back then, too!”

            “Shut up,” he grumbled, digging his cell phone out of his pocket and holding it up to take some pictures of the giraffes. 

            Kyuhyun adjusted the baseball cap on his head and looked around.  No one appeared to be staring at him.  He’d noticed that he was rarely ever recognized anymore outside of his hometown.  In the area where he lived, people knew that they may potentially see him there, so when they did see him, they were in no doubt of it.  In the city, either no one recognized him or, if they did, they assumed that they were wrong.  Only if he was hanging out with one of his famous friends did he ever seem to get hounded anymore in Seoul, which was a good thing.  It was a refreshing change to be able to go on a date with his boyfriend and not get followed by people or have people take pictures of you.

            If he ever did decide to return to singing, he’d have to go back to being cautious again, and he wasn’t sure if he was ready to return to that life.  He missed singing, but he also missed his freedom to live his life as he wanted.  Why was it impossible to have everything?  Ryeowook clearly enjoyed being able to go have fun together without crazy fangirls swarming around them.  And then there was the little hiccup about pretending he wasn’t gay.  How would Ryeowook feel about him telling the press that he was single? 

            “Here,” Ryeowook said, handing Kyuhyun his phone, “take a picture of me with the giraffes behind me!”

            Kyuhyun waved Ryeowook over more to the right so he’d be in the middle of the giraffes more and crouched down a little and took a picture.  Then he took another one, just in case.  When he was finished, he handed the phone back to Ryeowook.

            “Now come here and we’ll take one together.”

            “Really?” asked Kyuhyun, sighing heavily.

            “This is our first date!  Of course there has to be pictures of us together.  Especially in front of the giraffes,” he pointed out, grabbing Kyuhyun’s hand and dragging him over.  Kyuhyun rolled his eyes, pretending to feel inconvenienced, and wrapped his arm around Ryeowook.  Kyuhyun leaned his head against Ryeowook’s and smiled as his boyfriend lifted the phone up and held up a peace sign.  He snapped the picture and then looked it over.  “Ah!  This is so cute!”

            Kyuhyun ruffled his hair, and grabbed the map back from under his arm and opened it back up again.  “Where are we going next?”

            “Can’t we keep watching the giraffes for a while?”

            Kyuhyun furrowed his brows.  “Exactly how long did you want to stand here and watch them eat?  Why don’t we come back here on our way out and see if they’re doing something else?” he suggested.  “There’s a whole bunch of other animals to see too, like elephants and .”

            Ryeowook looked at the map as well.  “We could see the kangaroos.”

            “We should have enough time to see everything,” Kyuhyun said, heading up the path to the next exhibit.  The hippos and rhinos are coming up next, then the elephants, we might as well keep going this way and then go down a different path once we’re done,” he said, folding up the map and sticking it into his back pocket. 

            “What’s your favorite animal, Kyuhyun?” Ryeowook asked.

            Kyuhyun shrugged his shoulders.  “I haven’t really thought about it.”

            “How do you not have a favorite animal?” Ryeowook asked, bumping into him roughly.

            Kyuhyun laughed.  “Sorry to disappoint you.”

            “What about your favorite color?”

            “Depends on what it is I’m trying to decide on a color for.  I like black cars, but I buy a lot of navy colored clothes.  Probably blue.  What’s yours?”

            “Purple,” Ryeowook answered, looking up the path and suddenly grasping Kyuhyun’s arm.  “Oh look!  Cotton candy!”

            “Oh no,” Kyuhyun quietly mumbled.

            “Let’s get some.”

            “Baby, I’ve begun to notice that you get kind of hyper off of sugar,” he pointed out.  “And we just ate breakfast a little while ago and you ate pancakes with about half a bottle of maple syrup on it and a cup of fruit and orange juice, which is probably why you feel the need to run from one exhibit to another.  Do you really think cotton candy is a good idea?”

            “I’ll just eat a little now and save the rest for later.”

            The funny thing is, Kyuhyun completely bought into this and got the bag of cotton candy, and then watched nervously as Ryeowook ate three-fourths of the bag before stopping.  For the next three hours, Ryeowook exhaustedly drug him around from one animal exhibit to the next, until Kyuhyun was ready to collapse, and finally all the sugar must have worked itself out of his system and they were able to sit down to watch the dolphin show so Kyuhyun could rest up for a short while.  Then they walked around the botanical gardens while they were there, with Ryeowook insisting that Kyuhyun take pictures of him with the flowers.  And secretly Kyuhyun did think his boyfriend was irresistibly cute and couldn’t wait to fawn over the pics when Ryeowook wasn’t around to watch him doing it.

            Finally, later in the afternoon, they headed to the gift shop and Kyuhyun promised him that he would buy him whatever he wanted—provided that it fit in the car—and he let Ryeowook shop as he looked over some books on evolution.  The next thing he knew, Ryeowook came shuffling over with an armful of giraffe plushies.  He even had one hanging by its tail in his mouth and Kyuhyun pulled it out in order to talk to him.

            “They need a support group for people like you.”

            “I can still have them, can’t I?” Ryeowook asked.

            “Yes…but they’re not going in my room.  You’re leaving them downstairs.”

            Ryeowook stuck out his bottom lip.  “What about if I officially move in up there?”

            Kyuhyun shook his head.  “We’re going to have to find some other place for these.  I’ll make you a toy room or something.”

            “But what if I want to cuddle up to one at night?”

            “That’s what I’m for!  You don’t want me getting jealous of a stuffed animal, do you?” he asked.

            “Fine,” Ryeowook agreed, dragging his animals over to the register and dumping them all on the counter.  Kyuhyun pulled out his wallet and the sales clerk began to ring out their purchase when Ryeowook ran off.

            “Where are you going?” Kyuhyun called after him.

            “There’s a poster I want to!”

            Kyuhyun shook his head and then spotted a giraffe pen in a bin by the counter and tossed one of them into the pile as well.  Ryeowook rushed back with his poster and the girl rang up their purchase and placed it into several bags, then Kyuhyun helped Ryeowook carry it all out. 

            “Thank you, Kyuhyun!”

            “You’re welcome,” he said, stuffing the bags into the back of his car.  “Where would you like to go now?  Should we get something non-sugary to eat?”

            Ryeowook gave him a sheepish look.  “Probably, I am kind of hungry.  I think you