“That was perfect,” Sunggyu sighed contentedly. The crowd had dwindled to a few smoking teenage stragglers with colorful hairs. The night was balmy and rich with the fragrance of roasted coffee beans. “It’s perfect, isn’t it?” he repeated, a bit more wistfully, regretting the end of such a perfect experience.

There was no response.

Confident that something was wrong, he looked to his side, surprised to find Woohyun still standing beside him. If Woohyun was silent for more than 10 seconds, it could mean only one thing - that he was not actually there, he had taken off. The only other reason why Woohyun would be with him but be silent was if he had done something wrong.

Oh no, he muttered to himself. He had no idea what he had done wrong this time. When Woohyun had mentioned date night, he had thought that this was the perfect date – the two of them, watching Phantom of the Opera, in Broadway. In freaking Broadway!

“What’s wrong Woohyun?”

The expression on Woohyun’s face was tight, his lips pursed. He was looking at him with the viciousness of a puppy.

“Woohyunnie?” he tried again, dreading every second his boyfriend stayed silent. The longer Woohyun went without talking, the angrier he was.

“Please,” he begged.

“You-this- you call this a date?” Woohyun burst out, his lower lip trembling, baring his cute canines.

“What’s wrong with this date?” Sunggyu asked in disbelief. Woohyun loved musicals. And this was Broadway, for God’s sake.

“For starters, you seem to be more touched by the performance than me actually physically touching you at this exact moment.”

Sunggyu jumped as he suddenly became aware of Woohyun’s hand on his . He was never a fan of touching each other in public. Even though a mask covered the lower half of Sunggyu’s face, Woohyun was plainly recognizable with his hair and make-up done. Granted, not many people in New York knew who they were, but there could always be fans lurking at corners. Shaking off his boyfriend’s hand, he pulled him under the shadow of a pillar, so that people wouldn’t notice them.

“You know watching a musical at Broadway is my dream,” he whispered emphatically.

“I thought tonight was about us and not your dream.”

The World Tour was taking a toll on them, as colleagues, and as lovers. The jetlag, the unending plane flights, the unhealthy work schedule – none of it was helping. In the beginning they had been too excited to care about the work and the responsibility that came with a World Tour but now, with the last leg of their tour approaching, they felt imprisoned.

This night was supposed to be their date night; relief from performing, trying to keep their sanity together. It was maybe true that Sunggyu had chosen the musical more for his sake than Woohyun’s, but he had never thought the younger would hate it this much. They had even taken pictures and Woohyun had put them on SNS.

“Let’s go,” Sunggyu finally said.

“I want to go back to the hotel. I just want to sleep.” Woohyun crossed his arms across his chest with finality.

“Come on, just one more place and then we’re done, I promise.”

It took some coaxing but they finally started walking down the road, Woohyun looking anywhere but at Sunggyu while the leader consulted the map on his phone, making sure they were going the right way. The last thing he wanted to do was make Woohyun furious by getting them lost.

They had to navigate through the thick crowd of New Yorkers. Woohyun looked disgruntled. Finally, Sunggyu turned a corner and the familiarity of the place flooded him with relief. He had seen this place so many times, in movies, magazines, newspapers. Feeling victorious, he turned to look at Woohyun, whose mouth was agape.

“Time Square,” he whispered with awe. The square was bustling, loud music playing everywhere; not an inch of space unoccupied. He took Woohyun’s hand as they pushed through the crowd.

When he had regained consciousness, Woohyun whipped out his phone, taking selcas from every angle. Sunggyu watched him with fondness.

“Let me take one for you,” Sunggyu offered. His earlier rage at Sunggyu half-forgotten, he handed him his cellphone. After taking a few shots of Woohyun, Sunggyu walked right beside him and turned the phone, so that they were both in the frame of the camera. Woohyun looked at him inquisitively.

“It was your dream right, to come to Times Square with me?” Sunggyu said.

“To be exact, my dream was to-”

Pulling down his mask, Sunggyu tilted his head to the right and leaned in, capturing Woohyun’s lips. At the same time, he pressed the phone, ensuring the moment would become eternal.  

When they parted, Woohyun looked shocked.

“-kiss you in Times Square,” he finished weakly.

It was such a surprise for him because Sunggyu didn’t like public displays of affection. It was not in him to kiss Woohyun outside their apartments. And yet here, amongst a bustling crowd of thousands of people with lights shining down on them from all sides, he had fulfilled his dream.

“Why?” Woohyun asked.

“It’s not fair only my dream comes true,” he said softly, caressing Woohyun’s lips with his thumb.

Without another word, they interlocked fingers and stared up at the lights, the LED screens, the huge billboards.

“My next dream is for the two of us to be together forever,” Woohyun said, leaning his head on Sunggyu’s shoulder.

“Oh wow, for once your dream matches mine.”