[WARNING] There are no explicit scenes, but there are ual allusions!

Wonwoo was in the middle of writing an extended research paper due that night when Mingyu put his arms around Wonwoo from behind and started kissing his jaw.

“Not now, Mingyu,” Wonwoo said as he suppressed the shiver that Mingyu’s breath on his neck was inciting in him. They’ve been together for well over a year now, and so one would think that Wonwoo would be used to Mingyu’s sensual advances, but Wonwoo was still as shy as ever, and Mingyu loved it.

“Busy?” Mingyu moped.

“I really have to finish this paper,” Wonwoo replied, “I’m sorry. I promise, as soon as I submit it…”

“Okay…” Mingyu said, removing his hands from Wonwoo’s chest.

It had been forever since they had time to be together. Their schedules were extremely incompatible: whenever one was free, the other had class. Mingyu also had full-day internships in the weekend, and Wonwoo was working a part-time job during the nights. It was thus nearly impossible to see him. By happenstance, Mingyu got a day off, but unfortunately, Wonwoo had way too much work to even think about time with Mingyu.

It’s been like that for many months now. Neither had much time for the other, only being able to catch up at night right before bed when the both of them were too tired to really invest in the other. Wonwoo hated it. He wished both of them could have just a day for each other. Just one day without stress, without work, committed to only the two of them. That, however, seemed like a distant dream that would never come true.

-

It was 11:48 PM. Wonwoo had finally finished the paper, all with twelve minutes to spare. He knew exactly what he wanted to do with those twelve minutes. He turned from his desk excitedly, just barely starting to enunciate: “Mingyu, I’m done!” when he saw that Mingyu had dozed off to asleep.

Wonwoo sighed, feeling frustrated. Tomorrow morning, Mingyu would be off to class before Wonwoo could even wake up, and they would not see each other the whole day until Wonwoo gets back from his job that night.

Wonwoo got into his pajamas and debated with himself as to whether or not he should wake Mingyu up to pray, as Mingyu had clearly fallen asleep without meaning to. Mingyu always hated falling asleep without praying, and had asked Wonwoo to always wake him up if that ever happened.

He climbed into the bed beside Mingyu, shaking him lightly.

“Mingyu, wake up. You forgot to pray.”

Mingyu made a small sound of acknowledgement, but didn’t move. Wonwoo leaned into to kiss his boyfriend’s cheek when he felt Mingyu’s arms tighten around him.

“Are you done with your paper?” Mingyu asked tiredly as Wonwoo cuddled into Mingyu’s warm chest.

“Yeah I’m done for the night, but you’re not. Go pray and then sleep,” Wonwoo told him.

“Okay,” Mingyu replied sleepily. He kissed Wonwoo’s forehead and released him to climb out of bed. He tiredly trudged towards his prayer statue and sat in his usual position in front of it.

Namu Amita Bul. Namu Amita Bul. Namu Amita Bul.

No matter how ridiculous this ritual was to Wonwoo, he could not deny how much comfort he felt when he heard it. Mingyu repeated it every night, and so it was like a constant reminder of Mingyu’s presence in his life, even if things were not going very well for them this semester. Mingyu’s praying voice reminded Wonwoo that even though their relationship was not flourishing as it should be, nothing really changed: Mingyu was still reciting the exact same prayer; Wonwoo still heard it every night; they still spent their nights together; they were still together.

Namu Amita Bul. Namu Amita Bul. Namu Amita Bul.

When Mingyu was done, he turned off the lights and climbed into bed beside Wonwoo before kissing his cheek softly. “Thank you for waking me,” he told Wonwoo.

“No problem,” Wonwoo replied.

There was no reply from Mingyu after that, and just as Wonwoo was about to conclude that Mingyu already drifted back to sleep, Mingyu called out to Wonwoo softly. “Wonwoo…”

“Hm?”

“Let’s go on vacation together this summer. Just me and you.”

Wonwoo smiled. It was dream of his to go on vacation with Mingyu, and he was happy to hear that Mingyu thought of it too. But it wasn’t possible. “Go to sleep Mingyu. You’re tired.”

“I’m serious,” Mingyu insisted. “We can go somewhere no one knows us, where we can hold hands in public and do stuff without worrying about all the repercussions. Plus, we need to make up all the time we lost this semester.”

“I would love that more than anything, but you know I can’t afford a vacation,” Wonwoo replied.

“We’ll talk about this tomorrow,” Mingyu replied tiredly as he pulled Wonwoo closer and drifted off to sleep.

-

They didn’t have time to talk about it tomorrow, but they did eventually talk about it two weeks later when Mingyu got to come home early from his internship again.

“No, Mingyu. I’m not going to let you pay for a vacation for me,” Wonwoo said when Mingyu offered.

“I’m not paying for a vacation for you. I’m paying for a vacation with you. There’s a huge difference.”

“No, there isn’t.”

“Wonwoo, come on. Think of it like this: I’m paying for myself, because I want that experience of being with you. It’s worth the money for me, honestly. Please let me pay for you, please.”

“I hate accepting money from people. You know that,” Wonwoo moaned.

“But you’re not accepting money! If anything, you’re accepting a job. I’m paying you a vacation in exchange for your company. Come on! For me? Please…”

It took a lot more pleases on Mingyu’s part (plus a few other things) to finally get Wonwoo to relent. Wonwoo had wanted it too; a vacation with Mingyu was something he had definitely craved. That deep-rooted internal desire, in addition to Mingyu’s earnest pleas and cute pouts, finally prevailed on him, and he agreed to accept Mingyu’s offer to pay.

However, he did have one condition: “You will not spend much. We’ll get the cheapest of everythin…”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Mingyu beamed as he launched himself against Wonwoo and pulled him in for a tight embrace.

-

Japan. That was the only destination to which Wonwoo would agree. Everything else was too expensive. Mingyu complained (for he had really wanted to go to Jordan after Jin had raved on about how wonderful it was), but Wonwoo insisted.

And so Japan it was.

Mingyu bought the hotel and flight tickets a few weeks in advance, and they were set for a vacation immediately after their last exam of the year.

The rest of the semester passed drudgingly, each and every day dragging by slowly. With every day, Wonwoo anticipated the vacation more. It would be nice to let go of all the stress of the semester, to stop worrying about work and papers and readings and grades and just spend time with Mingyu.

He still could not help but feel bad about it though. As much as he’d dreamed of it, Wonwoo hated depending on Mingyu financially. He felt indebted to him, like he had to pay him back somehow.

It bothered him to the core. The more he thought about it, the more unsettled and anxious he felt. Mingyu was offering everything to him now, so Wonwoo dreaded that there will come a day when Wonwoo’s difficult financial situation would be a burden to Mingyu. He was already riding off Mingyu’s scholarship and staying in his dorm, and Wonwoo had done so little to repay him.

Wonwoo dreaded the day when Mingyu would finally come to feel the liability of being in a relationship with someone like him. When Mingyu would stop wanting to be in this relationship because of that financial liability that Wonwoo was so clearly imposing.

What could he give Mingyu in return though? He didn’t have money. He couldn’t buy Mingyu the same gifts that Mingyu got him. The mattress. The watch Wonwoo now wore all the time. The leather shoes that Wonwoo was too afraid of wearing because he didn’t want to dirty them. And now, this vacation.

Wonwoo wished dearly that he could have money so that he could at least come close to paying Mingyu back for everything. But he didn’t have money, and all he could do was hang on to Mingyu for as long as it would take him to realize the financial drain that Wonwoo had been.

-

The moment Wonwoo finished his last exam, he rushed back to his dorm, even forgetting to say goodbye to Jin for the summer. There was blissful smile on his face; finally, it was over. All the stress of the semester had come to an end, and now, for a week, he had Mingyu all to himself.

The flight to Japan was a great start. They had a long conversation about random things: about Jihoon (i.e. Sena’s newest crush), about Nayoung and Seokmin’s some relationship, about how Vernon and Jin lasted so much longer than either of them had initially expected, which led Wonwoo to say that their own relationship lasted much longer than he had ever expected. It had been well over a year now, almost two.

“I didn’t expect it either,” Mingyu admitted. “I didn’t even expect to be with a girl for so long let alone a boy.”

“I didn’t expect to be with anyone ever,” Wonwoo admitted. “I’m really glad I have you.”

“I know you are,” Mingyu replied with a smile.

But that wasn’t exactly the reply that Wonwoo wanted from Mingyu. He wanted Mingyu to say something like “I’m glad I have you too.”

He’s not glad he has me. Why would he be glad to have someone who’s living off his money…

-

Wonwoo was so angry when he saw the hotel that Mingyu had booked for them.

When the bellboys finished transporting their luggage to their room and were gone, Wonwoo’s neck snapped towards Mingyu and he frowned.

“What the hell, Mingyu,” Wonwoo spat. “We had an agreement!”

“Relax,” Mingyu laughed, amused at Wonwoo’s outburst.

“My condition was that you don’t spend a lot of money. And what did you do? You spent a lot of money. I didn’t want you to book a five-star hotel…”

“This is the cheapest five-star hotel in Japan though...”

“Mingyu, I swear I’m going to…” Mingyu interrupted Wonwoo’s rant when he grabbed Wonwoo’s collar and crashed their lips together. Wonwoo resisted at first, wanting to finish chastising Mingyu for spending so much money, but eventually he melted into Mingyu’s lips and kissed him back..

Many minutes of tangled bodies and locked lips ensued. In the interval in which these lips had to part so that Mingyu and Wonwoo could catch their breaths, Wonwoo managed to mutter a breathless: “I hate you.”

“No you don’t,” Mingyu smiled through his heavy breathing as he caressed his lover’s face and looked into Wonwoo’s eyes.

“I could never hate you,” Wonwoo said, eyes not leaving Mingyu’s.

Hands on Wonwoo’s chin, Mingyu brought their lips together again, this time softly, sending shivers through Wonwoo’s body. As much as Wonwoo loved their violent make-out sessions, these soft kisses and gentle caresses were so much more precious.

It was a wonderful night for the two of them; after being deprived of one another for so long the previous semester, they finally satisfied their longing that night, a night about nothing but each other and rekindling the relationship that had been dying.

Just was Wonwoo was about to drift off to sleep in Mingyu’s arms, he remembered something.

“Mingyu,” Wonwoo whispered shaking his lover softly. “Mingyu, wake up.”

“Huh?” Mingyu awoke tiredly.

“You forgot to pray.”

“Oh… I did,” Mingyu said.

“Go pray.”

“I don’t feel like it.”

“Mingyu, you have to.”

Wonwoo could see a hint of a smile on Mingyu’s face. “You’re encouraging me to pray?”

“Go pray,” Wonwoo insisted firmly again.

“I’m up, I’m up,” Mingyu said lethargically, getting up from bed and going to his luggage to get his prayer beads.

Namu Amita Bul. Namu Amita Bul. Namu Amita Bul.

-

On the first day, they went to see Shinto temples and shrines.

Wonwoo planned to pay for the entry, but when they arrived at the front desk and Wonwoo saw the prices, he realized he didn’t even have enough for one ticket let alone two. And so when Mingyu paid for the entrance tickets, that uncomfortable feeling resurfaced in Wonwoo.

He felt like such a burden.

It was even worse this time because Wonwoo knew that Mingyu was not the least bit interested in Shinto temples, and they were only going because Wonwoo wanted to. Mingyu was spending money for Wonwoo’s sake again, and it made him so uneasy.

As they walked into the temple, Wonwoo’s uneasiness was quickly replaced with a curiosity at his surroundings. Wonwoo had learned about the Shinto religion in his classes, and so he was very much interested in seeing the temples and shrines that he had only read about before. And indeed, he was fascinated by them.

“You’re so strange, you know,” Mingyu said as he watched Wonwoo’s fascination with the temple. “It’s like you hate religions, but you love them at the same time,” Mingyu laughed.

“Shintoism is very interesting by the way,” Wonwoo said, “if you had learned about it, you’d be fascinated too.”

“Teach me then.”

“The original story is that there was a God named Izanagi and a Goddess named Izanami. They created the main island of Japan first and lived there and decided to wed. The Goddess Izanami first initiated with Izanagi, and the result of that was a deformed child. They consulted higher deities about their bad luck, who told them that their child is deformed because it was the wife who initiated, and that it should be the husband instead. And so they did it again, correctly, and thus the islands of Japan were born.”

“That’s kinda funny,” Mingyu concluded.

“Wait, there’s more to the story. Izanami died giving birth, and Izanagi was devastated. He followed her to the underworld, where he heard her voice but didn’t see her. She made him promise to not look at her and keep his back turned, but he disobeyed and saw that she had a rotten body filled with maggots. And so Izanagi didn’t want her anymore, and decided to return to the land of the living without her. She tried to force him to stay with her forever, but he escaped, and blocked the entrance to the underworld with a boulder, thus creating a separation between the world of the living and the world of the dead.”

As Wonwoo recited the myth, something about it resonated with him in ways it hadn’t before. In some erse way, he felt like Izanami, and Mingyu was Izanagi. Eventually, Mingyu will see the maggots on Wonwoo’s character and will want to escape from him. And Wonwoo would try to desperately cling to Mingyu the way Izanami did to Izanagi, only to be blocked from him indefinitely…

When they arrived at the main shrine of the temple, Wonwoo stood in front of it for a silent moment. He felt Mingyu’s shoulder bump into his, and when Wonwoo turned to look at Mingyu, he felt overwhelmed by some indescribable force.

The feeling was not uncomfortable by any means, just foreign. It felt like something was possessing his every limb. As Wonwoo watched Mingyu’s curious face inspecting the shrine, the feeling grew stronger and stronger.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to harness whatever it was that was suddenly engulfing him. I love him so much. I love him so much. I don’t ever want to lose him. Please, don’t ever let me lose him.

That feeling contained both love and fear, and it shook him to the core.

“Are you… praying?” Mingyu asked, curiously surprised.

It was only when Mingyu asked it that Wonwoo realized that that was kind of what he was doing.

“No, of course not,” Wonwoo denied, and he shook the feeling away and turned his back from the shrine.

“Are you okay?” Mingyu asked Wonwoo with concern.

Wonwoo wasn’t actually okay. As the sensation was starting to fade away, what remained of it was the daunting and scary prospect of losing Mingyu forever.

“I’m okay,” Wonwoo said quickly. “Really, I’m okay.”

-

“No, Mingyu. I do NOT want to go to a gay bar,” Wonwoo insisted.

“Come on. We can do whatever we want there.”

“No.”

Wonwoo was never good with bars; he hated them actually. He didn’t like loud music, nor did he like random strangers socializing with him. He never went to gay bars in Korea because the whole thing intimidated him, and now Mingyu wants him to go to one in Japan. No way.

Plus, bars in general were expensive and he didn’t want Mingyu paying for anything else anymore.

“Mingyu, please don’t force me to go. Please. You know how much I hate socializing.”

Mingyu pouted sadly, visibly disappointed. “Fine,” Mingyu said, “we’ll do something else then.”

And so it started again. There Mingyu was, compromising himself for Wonwoo. As he always does. Wonwoo felt like such burden once again, something that Mingyu would eventually want to dispose of. The prospect scared him, made him feel hollow and tense.

Just as Mingyu started suggesting other things they could do that night, Wonwoo interrupted him: “okay, let’s go to a gay bar.”

Mingyu had been compromising himself for Wonwoo’s sake this entire trip. Time for Wonwoo to endure some things for Mingyu’s.

-

It was just as Wonwoo expected. Lots of gay people. Strange costumes. Loud music. Drinking. Dancing. Random guys flirting with both him and Mingyu. Mingyu seemed to thrive off this new environment, but Wonwoo wished he were a tortoise who could recoil into his shell for the rest of the night.

They ordered drinks (which were expensive, as expected) and sat in one of the stools in the corner farthest away from the music.

“I’m not comfortable here,” Wonwoo admitted.

“I like it,” Mingyu said, watching everyone with fascination. “I’ve never seen so many gay people in my life.”

“Me neither,” Wonwoo replied.

A handsome young man approached them and began to speak in Japanese, clearly flirting with Wonwoo. Wonwoo was flustered, causing Mingyu to burst out laughing.

The man held out his hand to Wonwoo, realizing that they didn’t speak Japanese, “dance?” he asked in English.

Just as Wonwoo was about to refuse, Mingyu began to encourage him. “Go dance with him,” Mingyu said to Wonwoo with a mischievous grin. “Seriously, go!” Mingyu beckoned and pushed Wonwoo towards the guy. Wonwoo couldn’t really think properly in the moment. Flustered and overwhelmed, he just took the guy’s hand and was pulled to the dance floor.

It really was not his place. He didn’t know what he doing, and he felt quite ridiculous as he tried to dance. He felt like he was embarrassing himself and the guy we he was with, so no more than 30 seconds into it, he bowed and apologized to his partner before returning to where Mingyu was. Mingyu was laughing.

“I’d like to see you try,” Wonwoo said, extremely embarrassed.

“I will,” Mingyu accepted the challenge and made his way towards the same guy.

Wonwoo only watched for a minute before he turned his face back to his drink. Mingyu adapted very well. He danced as if he’d been there a thousand times before, and the guy he was dancing with seemed extremely pleased.

Why was Mingyu so… flawless? Wonwoo could embarrass himself on the dance floor, but Mingyu was able to get up and do it with such effortless ease. It hit him then just how much better Mingyu was in every aspect of life. Mingyu was more intelligent, more sociable, more wealthy, kinder, happier, more lovable, more adaptable… more everything.

Wonwoo felt so flawed in the face of someone like Mingyu. Mingyu was going to move on from him sooner or later. There was no way someone like him could ever catch up to someone like Mingyu.

He didn’t realize how much he was drinking until he felt how unsteadily he held his glass. He didn’t really care though. Somehow, drinking made it a lot more bearable to think about how Mingyu will eventually stop burdening himself with Wonwoo and move on to someone better.

He was too intoxicated to really care when Mingyu pulled him up on the dance floor again. He danced with Mingyu in his drunken state, making a fool of himself, but being too drunk to really care.

He was twirling and laughing hysterically when Mingyu pulled him in and kissed his alcohol-tasting lips. “I love you so much,” Mingyu said to the drunken Wonwoo when he pulled away from the kiss.

“Really?” Wonwoo slurred, “are you sure you love me that much?”

“Of course I do.”

“You’re gonna change your mind about that soon,” Wonwoo replied. “You’re not going to love me anymore, and you’re going to leave me.”

Mingyu laughed, “you’re cute when you’re drunk, Wonwoo.”

Mingyu didn’t understand that Wonwoo words were not just the nonsensical ramblings of a drunkard; they were the most honest expression of the current state of Wonwoo’s heart.

-

The feeling got worse and worse every day. Wonwoo ran out of money three days into the trip, and so Mingyu had to spend for the both of them. Every time Mingyu took out his wallet, it felt like part of Mingyu’s love for Wonwoo was being chipped off into oblivion.

On the fifth night of their trip, they went to the beach. It was empty and dark outside, their only source of light being the dim lamps and the moonlight. The laid down on the sand side by side, the waves crashing against their feet, their fingers intertwined.

“Hey Wonwoo,” Mingyu called out softly.

“Hmm?”

“Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“What do you mean?”

“I think you know what I mean,” Mingyu said, holding his head up with hand and turning to face Wonwoo. “I was hoping you’d tell me yourself, which is why I didn’t bring it up until now. But I feel like whatever it is, it’s bothering you a lot, and you won’t tell me until I make you.”

Wonwoo took a deep breath, uncertain of what to tell Mingyu. After a few seconds of contemplation, he decided to just come out with the truth: “I just feel so substandard compared to you sometimes,” Wonwoo admitted. “I’m sorry I can’t pay for anything, or be sociable at bars. I’m sorry for not being the perfect companion to you as you are to me. I’m always afraid that I won’t be able to repay you for everything you’ve done for me, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately...”

Mingyu let out a sigh of relief at Wonwoo’s words and took a handful of sand and flicked it on Wonwoo’s body playfully, “you are an idiot, and I love you.”

Wonwoo blushed slightly, but still didn’t like how lightly Mingyu was taking this given that it was his heart’s greatest affliction.

“And it’s funny how you think you’re substandard to me when the opposite is actually true,” Mingyu said, “Just because I have more money and I talk more doesn’t make me better than you.”

“I’ve been living off your money for over a year now…”

“Wonwoo, we’ve been over this. I want to live with you; I want to share things with you. And I don’t understand why you’re so concerned over my money when I’ve given you so much more than that. I’ve given you my entire being actually. You have my heart, my body, my love, my concern, and my trust all in addition to my money. Maybe you should apologize for taking those other things before you apologize for taking my money,” Mingyu laughed.

Wonwoo fell silent. He was so touched with what Mingyu was saying and felt like anything he could possibly say would fall short in conveying what he actually wanted.

“I wholeheartedly choose to share everything I have with you, including my money, so don’t worry about it anymore, okay?” Mingyu said softly, reaching out to lightly rub off the sand on Wonwoo’s cheek.

Wonwoo nodded his head, still at a loss for words. Mingyu then took Wonwoo’s hand and brought it to his lips, kissing it gently as he held eye contact with his dazzled lover.

“You know how you always wake me up to pray whenever I forget? Why do you do it? To you, praying is ridiculous, and even more than that, it's part of religion, which has given you depression and anxiety in the past. But despite all of that, you still wake me up to pray because you know how much it means to me. Little things you do like that make me feel things I’ve never felt for anyone. Honestly, I think I’m unworthy of you sometimes, and I always ask myself what I did to deserve you. I didn't even begin to consider you felt that way about me.”

“You’re just being modest now…”

“I’m not. Trust me Wonwoo, I sincerely believe that you’re a much better person than I am,” Mingyu said as he intertwined their fingers. “You have a bigger heart than me; it’s clear from the amount of love you give to everyone in your life: to your parents, to your two brothers, to Jin, Seokmin, Sena, and finally, to me. You think I’m sociable, but I don’t have profound relationships with people like you do. I barely talk to my parents, and you are literally the only truly close friend I have. You on the other, still talk to your parents and love them despite all they put you through, and you have three other very close friends. I was always jealous of that quality of yours, you know?”

“I … I don’t know what to say,” Wonwoo managed through his surprise.

“Let me do the talking then: we’re both different people, and so we’re both flawed in different ways. I’m not perfect, so don’t ever think that I am. And I’m not seeking a perfect lover in you either. We’re here to learn from each other. I learned to open up and say cheesy heartfelt things to you every once in a while, and I want you to learn to overcome that troublesome self-consciousness of yours. Don’t ever sell yourself short again, especially in comparison to me.”

Everything that Mingyu said responded to the burning concern that Wonwoo had been feeling lately. All it took was two minutes of Mingyu’s reassurance to erase the pessimism that had been painfully welling in in his heart.

Wonwoo didn’t have the word to express what he wanted to say to Mingyu in the moment. Their fingers remained intertwined as they laid their and faced each other, barely making out each other’s features under the dim lamplight.

Wonwoo then removed his hands from Mingyu’s and sat upright, shifting to sit on Mingyu’s pelvis, straddling him.

Mingyu lifted himself with his elbows before Wonwoo leaned forward to take Mingyu’s lips. Wonwoo’s arms rested against Mingyu’s shoulders as he worked his lips against Mingyu’s gracefully, attempting to express everything he didn’t have the words to say out loud.

Mingyu remained submissive as he accepted the kiss, until he lifted his back from the ground completely and Wonwoo slid onto Mingyu’s lap. Mingyu then wrapped his arms around Wonwoo’s waist, taking control of their lips.

If it were any other time, Wonwoo would have cut the kiss short in fear of the few people passing by. They were two boys kissing in a public space after all. But somehow, none of that mattered for either of them in the moment.

The waves moved forward, crashing against their entangled bodies. It didn’t really stop them though. They were too invested in each other to actually care that they were getting wet in more ways than one.

-

“I can’t believe we just did that,” Mingyu said, dumbstruck as the two of them walked back, hand in hand and completely soaked and covered in sand.

Wonwoo smiled and bit his lower lip. He couldn’t believe they did it either.

“I can’t believe you’re the one who made it happen. If we had gotten caught, I would have totally blamed you by the way,” Mingyu said, laughing.

Wonwoo covered his face, extremely embarrassed about what happened, but he laughed along with Mingyu nonetheless. That must have been the riskiest thing he’d ever done his entire life, but he didn’t regret it at all.

“You know what I don’t understand? You have never initiated anything like that even when we’re alone, but now you did when we’re in public? So I’m just wondering now: who are you and what have you done with my Wonwoo?” Mingyu continued teasing and laughing.

“How much jail time do you think we would we have gotten if we were caught?” Mingyu asked as his laughter died out.

“We probably would have had to pay some huge fine, and I would have contently allowed you to pay it for both of us without feeling like a worthless piece of like I usually do whenever you pay,” Wonwoo replied.

“Good,” Mingyu replied, looking towards Wonwoo with a loving smile on his face, “I’m glad we sorted that problem out.”

They walked silently, hand in hand, doing nothing but admiring the moon and the perfect night they were now spending with one another.

For many minutes, that’s exactly how it felt: perfect. The world was in order, and both of them were as happy as they had ever been. However, such moments don’t last very long…

They arrived at the train station, ready to take the final train back to the area of their hotel and call it a night. But when Mingyu reached into his pocket to find their rechargeable card to pay for their entry into the train station, his eyes widened.

“.”

“What?” Wonwoo asked.

“I don’t have the card; we can’t go in.”

“Wait… what?”

“I think I lost it when we were at the beach.”

“Mingyu!”

“What! I wasn’t exactly paying attention to my pockets back there. I blame you,” Mingyu said and still managed to throw Wonwoo a mischievous smirk.

“Alright, whatever. We’ll just buy new tickets,” Wonwoo said as he turned towards the ticket machines.

“Uh… about that…” Mingyu cut in, scratching the back of his neck, “I kinda didn’t bring my wallet… I thought we were just going the beach and going back; I didn’t think we’d need it.”

Wonwoo rubbed his forehead, feeling slightly stressed out as he considered their options. After thinking for a while, he only came up with one solution: “alright fine. We’ll take a taxi. When we arrive at the hotel, you run up to your room and get the money to pay the driver.”

That seemed like a great idea. They stood at the taxi stand outside the train station, and as they were waiting, they realized that there was only one problem: neither of them remembered the name of the hotel (it was some fancy French name that was hard to spell and pronounce, and so none of them even bothered learning it). When Wonwoo excitedly realized that the name of the hotel would be written on the keycard to their room, Mingyu embarrassedly announced that he lost that card at the beach too.

They rushed back to the beach to try to find either of the cards. They searched for a good hour, but to no avail.

No phone. No money. No way to get back. No idea what the name of their hotel was…

“I think we should just spend the night on this beach. Tomorrow we can be beg on the streets for train ticket money,” Mingyu suggested jokingly.

Although the two of them had been stressed and anxious when they first realized the dilemma they were facing, the anxiety faded away very quickly. Wonwoo was surprised with himself by how at ease he was about this. All he could think of was how funny of a story it would be to tell Jin, Sena and Seokmin when they got back (except he would probably leave out the part about why exactly Mingyu lost the cards in the first place).

“I think I know what’s happening,” Wonwoo told Mingyu with a restrained grin on his face as he took a seat the in same area they had made love earlier that night.

“What?” Mingyu asked, taking a seat on the sand beside Wonwoo.

“Remember the story of Izanagi and Izanami?”

“The Japanese Gods who bred the islands of Japan?”

“Yes. Remember the part when Izanami initiated with Izanagi, and bad luck ensued and they had deformed children? Well, I think that’s what’s happening here. The Gods are cursing us because I, Izanami, initiated with you, Izanagi.”

Mingyu narrowed his eyes, amused by how Wonwoo used the theological allegory to apply to their situation. His face then lighted up as he eyed Wonwoo naughtily: “so you’re telling me that the only way to reserve this bad luck is if I, Izanagi, initiate with you, Izanami?”

“I didn’t say that,” Wonwoo claimed, his cheeks turning red with embarrassment.

“That’s what happened in the story though,” Mingyu noted with a smirk. “The only way for us to reverse the curse and get back to the hotel is for us to do it again.”

“I’m not going to do anything like that in public again,” Wonwoo insisted.

“Fine. You don’t have to do anything,” Mingyu said, taking Wonwoo’s chin in his fingers and bringing their lips together. Wonwoo accepted the kiss after his eyes darted to see that the vicinity was still void of people.

When the kiss deepened, Wonwoo fell back into the sand, Mingyu’s hands on either side of Wonwoo’s head as he worked his lips against Wonwoo’s.

A few seconds in, Wonwoo felt Mingyu’s lips curve into a smile, which gradually turned into a laugh. Mingyu lifted himself and broke the kiss as he let himself burst into a fit of laughter.

“What?” Wonwoo asked, raising himself from the ground to see what Mingyu found so funny. Mingyu was now holding his abdomen as he laughed harder than Wonwoo had ever seen from him.

Mingyu tried to open his mouth to speak, but he couldn’t stop laughing and so no words came out. Wonwoo smiled at the sight of Mingyu laughing like that.

He waited a few more seconds until Mingyu calmed down, and when he was able to enunciate words, he asked: “do you believe in God now?” Mingyu pointed with his finger to an area in the ground.

There, where Mingyu’s hands had been, was the edge of a card that had been covered by sand.

Wonwoo’s jaw dropped as he picked up the card and recognized that it was their train card. He joined Mingyu in the laughter. It was a crazy coincidence, one that was just so laughable.

It took a good 60 seconds for their laughter to die out.

“So the curse really was lifted when Izanagi initiated. Amazing,” Mingyu said, taking the card from Wonwoo’s hand and inspecting it as if it were imbued with divinity. “Do you think we should appease the Japanese deities and continue what we were doing?” Mingyu smirked, inching closer to Wonwoo.

Wonwoo put his hand on Mingyu chest and pushed him away, “no, I think we should appease the Japanese law and not continue what we doing, which we had never been doing anyways, by the way!”

“Fine. But if we experience bad luck within the next few minutes, I’m blaming you!”

They both lied on their backs on the sand, side by side, looking at the night sky. They had the widest smiles on their faces, and were exuding of happiness, and Wonwoo even felt that this was probably the happiest he had ever been his entire life.

“Should we head back?” asked Mingyu.

“The train station already closed,” Wonwoo said, glancing at his watch. “Let’s spend the night here and go back in the morning.”

Mingyu yawned and turned to his side to face Wonwoo, “that’s sounds like a plan.”

“Pray before you fall asleep,” Wonwoo reminded him.

Mingyu smiled and planted a kiss on Wonwoo’s cheek. “I love you,” he said when he pulled away.

Wonwoo blushed, but it was way too dark for Mingyu to notice.

Mingyu sat up cross-legged and faced the sea.

Namu Amita Bul. Namu Amita Bul. Namu Amita Bul.

A/N: surprise! I hope you liked it :)

Okay this is the last chapter for this spin-off! (thanks to mikinikino for the vacation idea ^^)

Anyways im sorry I haven’t been writing lately. I’ve been busy with other things, but I’m definitely gonna write consistently again from now on. Thank you for your continued support for the That Stupid List saga, and thank you to those who are planning to join me in my next fic too :)

(BTW I'M PLANNING AN EXCLUSIVELY MEANIE FIC TO WRITE SOON)

See you very soon!