Sandeul sighed heavily. He idly picked up a stuffed duck plush. A faint smile grew on his face, a present from Baro, 4 months after joining the company. His eyes drifted to gifts from the other members, but nothing left a deeper impression than the slightly worn duck.

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“Hey Sandeul” Baro panted “wait up”

They had just finished their first segment of training and were allowed to go home for a week. Sandeul spun around, shocked to see Baro had chased him all the way from the practice rooms.

“Baro?” Sandeul questioned. Why was this guy following him?

“You left this” he explained while holding out a bag with his training shoes and long forgotten lunch.

“AHH! My shoes!” Sandeul exclaimed excitedly snatching the bag and pulling it apart. His face soon turned into one of confusion however, as he noticed a yellow soft toy at the bottom of the bag. “Huh?” he said before pulling said item from the bag.

“Ahh about that” Baro put his hand behind his head and chuckled nervously “I was passing a shop and thought of you, no wait, that sounds weird, um I think that it represents you so it can be a lucky mascot, I already have a squirrel persona so….” He trailed off, not knowing how he got so tongue tied.

“It’s really cute” Sandeul squealed hugging the toy close to him. “Thanks for this Baro, I owe you one! For the duck and bringing my bags!” he spoke happily, for the gift was a complete surprise, and he never usually got given presents.

“I’ll buy you a meal when we get back to training! You can text me if you want” Sandeul babbled, eyes like crescents and looking rather excited.

“o-okay then” Baro smiled. He never knew Sandeul was this excitable. In training he was a very serious singer, only a few times had he seen his relaxed self.

“Well I gotta get going! I don’t want to miss my train. And thanks again! You are a real lifesaver” Sandeul smiled before bounding off around the corner.

It was 3 days later, when Baro plucked up the courage to text Sandeul. He didn’t know why he was anxious. Maybe it was because he really wanted to befriend the strange boy, or for other reasons he hadn’t quite figured out himself yet.

From:Baro

To:Dullie

Hey J I got around to texting you! I am hungry now though ㅠㅠI still remember your promise of buying me a meal ㅋ ㅋ ㅋ

From: Dullie

To:Baro

Yah! Don’t mention that so soon  I’m really bored here ~ My parents are a bit smothering! I might leave a day early to return, funnily enough I miss practice

From:Baro

To:Dullie

Same! My parents are making me clean the house OTL! Mind If I join you back at the studio?

From:Duckie

To:Baro

Not at all! I’ll look forward to it! 6pm Friday next to the stairs if you are late I will pull off your tail ;-)

From:Baro

To:Duckie

Fine! But if you even touch my tail I will tape your beak shut  See you soon

Before he knew it he was saying goodbye to his parents. ‘Stay safe and eat well Baro’ his mother cooed, passing him his bags at the door. ‘I will mum’ mumbled Baro as he awkwardly hugged her and walked towards the train station. After not-so successfully navigating the train station and nearly missing his train, he finally relaxes. He managed to bag a spot on the line that goes directly to Seoul. No changes. Perfect for sleep, he thinks drowsily to himself, as he feels the train roll smoothly out of the platform. He slips his headphones over his unruly black hair; on reflection he really should have worn a cap today. The sound of 9 girls fills his head, as he drifts off to sleep.

‘Excuse me… EXCUSE ME~’ Baro jerks his head up to see an angry ticket collector tapping his foot impatiently. ‘I.. Umm have it here somewhere’ Baro stutters, reaching a hand into his back pocket and fishing out a bunch of sweet wrappers and loose change. Finally, he spots the ticket. The collector just tuts as he stamps it then continues down the aisle. ‘Some people’ Baro mutters under his breath and is just about to slip his headphones back on when he hears a familiar voice drifting down the aisle.

Baro snaps his head around to the direction of the noise to spot a few disgruntled passengers and 1 oblivious duck singing his heart out without a care in the world. Baro stretches quickly, then hastily makes his way towards Sandeul, while feeling like it was appropriate to apologise to the people around who looked less than impressed. Baro jerked the headphones off Sandeul before grabbing him roughly from his seat and barging down the aisle, towards his own seat.

Sandeul was more than shocked. He was confused, disorientated, but more importantly his heart was in his throat because he realised Baro’s grip had slipped down to his hand, and he was effectively leading him down the aisle.

“wh…whats going on?” Sandeul breathed after being pushed into the seat next to Baro. “You were singing out loud, and annoying everyone” Baro explained, and as Sandeul’s face turned red from the realisation, Baro burst out into laughter.

“You should have seen their faces though” said Baro through breathy gasps in between fits of laughter. “One woman, I thought she would pop a vein, but I really don’t see whats so bad, your singing was pretty good though you could work on the high notes...”

“YAH!” Sandeul hit Baro on the arm “While I’m happy you said my singing was decent, who made you an expert huh? I though you were a rapper. People only become rappers when they realise that they can’t sing” Sandeul smirked at Baro before he protested back. “I am not a bad singer, I just like rap better because it’s cooler.”

“Whatever you don’t know anything” Sandeul retorted white sticking his tongue out playfully. They continued to bicker for almost half an hour, before they heard an announcer speak, turning everyone’s attention to the trains PA system.

‘Ladies and gentleman we will be arriving in Seoul shortly. Please ensure you have all your belongings with you as you get ready to leave. Thank you”.

Sandeul looked panicked “But all my stuff is still in my seat” he flustered, madly flapping his arms until he hit the ground with a thud.

“Then get going” Baro teased, collecting his own stuff and getting ready to leave the train. Sandeul managed to scramble back to his original seat and grab all his stuff, before apologising to the other passengers and leaving the stuffy train.

As he stepped out of the carriage, the big station atmosphere hit him, and he walked to the wall to wait for Baro to exit the train. Except he didn’t get off. At least Sandeul didn’t see him. By now Sandeul was getting nervous. He fidgeted with his backpack for a while before his eyes went wide, as he saw the train slowly rolling out of the station. His heartbeat quickened and he ran after the train, shouting incoherencies. Everyone around stopped and stared, as Baro walked out of the station shop. He looked in their direction and saw Sandeul trying to outrun a train. His mouth fell open, not knowing what was up with the strange duck.

When the train had gone, Sandeul put his hands on his knees panting. “What a stupid squirrel, to not get off the train. AISHH” he breathed hard, running his hands through his hair before feeling a pat on the back. As he spun around his face morphed into one of confusion.

“But you never left the train…” he trailed off, red in the face for the second time today.

“Correction” Baro said fatter of factly “you never SAW me get off the train. I was just at the shop you pabo.”

“oh” was all Sandeul could mutter, before hastily grabbing his stuff and walking towards the station exit and leaving his reputation in tatters.

A/N