A DATE IN JAPAN

(This one isn't based on any music, I think it was written for Secret Santa or some other writing event on AFF - if you remember this story, tell me what event I wrote it for, please ^^)

We were standing close to each other with our hands hidden behind us when another one was thrown at the table and both of us cringed. Then another one, and another -  oh my god they even managed to capture that?  I couldn’t believe my eyes. MyungSoo was looking at his feet and I felt guilty.

“What are we supposed to do with THIS?” we heard an angry voice; Jesus we were doomed for sure but then MyungSoo threw as if nothing happened:

“Consider it fan service” and we both grinned trying hard not to burst out laughing. I felt his hand touching mine and suddenly I got the feeling that there are no obstacles that we wouldn’t be able to overcome now.

flashback

 I was looking out of the plane window waiting for the moment when the rubber wheels finally hit the asphalt ground.  The land could already be seen from the plane window, but it seems that we won’t reach it in less than 20 minutes for sure; I sighed and supported my chin in my hand when I felt MyungSoo snuggling onto my arm in his sleep. I smiled and lowered down my arm and he did the same with his head; what a persistent bastard I thought and lowered my arm even more and then he opened his eyes. He shook his head and looked around with an absent stare; his hair all ruffled, his mouth open wide and… was that drool in the corner of his lips?

“Eeeww MyungSoo” I pushed him away and he wiped off his mouth with his sleeve “What? Are we there yet?”

“In just a couple of minutes”

“Oh that’s great, my body is all soared, the seat is so uncomfortable and I can’t feel my feet, I need to rest in the hotel bed.”

Hearing that, Jongie tucked his head in between our seats:

“I just want to inform you guys that I have no intention of sharing rooms with MyungSoo again” he seized MyungSoo with a disgusted stare.

“What? What? What did I do again?”

“Not much really, oh wait, actually, it’s just your dirty body and your dirty mind MyungSoo… I want to stay away from it even for a while and, since I cannot do so while we are in Korea, I’m going to take the chance while we’re in Japan”

“Don’t worry Soo, I like your dirty mind…however your body is a serious problem” I tried to keep a straight face but in the end couldn’t hold a grin in.

“What, what you want form my perfect body?” MyungSoo threw a fake tantrum and crossed his arms

“Perfect body my ” Jongie snapped

“The problem is that it’s just too perfect” I noticed and Jong looked at me as if he was going to puke in an instant but MyungSoo purposefully ignored him and up to me to irritate Jongie a bit more:

“Thank you Yeollie, you are my true friend, not like some other people”

“Fine, then why don’t you two marry huh? MyungSoo, nobody would nag you and you Yeollie, you could enjoy MyungSoo’s perfect body which stinks of sweat.”

“Jongie come on, do I really smell that bad?” MyungSoo raised his arm to smell his armpit and immediately moved his face away as if he felt some radioactive fumes “Ok, I may smell a bit..”

“A bit?!” Jongie rolled his eyes

“Ok a lot, a lot, are you happy now?  It’s all because of SungKyu who had to spend too much time in the bathroom and the other toilet was unavailable because the rappers were cleaning it as a punishment”

“Don’t worry MyungSoo, I don’t mind your smell” I interrupted eagerly not being sure whether, at this moment,  I was stating a fact or maybe was just trying to piss off Jongie a little bit more; it was fun to see him getting all serious about our jokes but it was also a fact that I kind of like MyungSoo’s smell.

“I’m done guys” Jongie turned around covering his ears with his hands and me and MyungSoo shrugged our arms.

“I’ll buy him his favourite Japanese sweets later and he’ll be okay” MyungSoo crossed his arms and sat as comfortably as the airplane seat allowed him to, he made a face like a husband who knows exactly how to appease his resentful wife.

“AND I’LL BUY YOU A SOAP” we giggled after hearing Jongie’s angry voice coming from the seat in front of us.

.

.

We arrived at the hotel and received our tomorrow’s schedule. It was quite ok, we have to wake up early but then we can catch up on our sleep while we move from one place to another in a bus. Jongie announced that he’s going to take his beauty sleep because he wanted to look good for his fans in Japan but I didn’t feel like sleeping at all so I left his room and went to mine, which I shared with MyungSoo.

“Yo, yo watcha doin’?” I opened the door without knocking and was hoping to see MyungSoo jumping up in surprise, being all confused because he had been watching but no, nothing like that. I looked around the room and heard him singing in the bathroom – was he taking a shower? I grinned. Well that was cute. With all his aversion to water, MyungSoo always reminded me of a cat; but now he was taking a shower without anyone nagging him about it. It was even weirder if you consider the fact that I told him earlier that  I didn’t mind the smell.

Dark clothes, clapter, his superficial quietness and the faint smell of sweat mixed with his cologne were things that made MyungSoo who he really was;  I liked the smell - only he smelled this way. It was as original as his character and his beauty. I smiled at myself;  thinking of him always made me feel warm inside. Carried away by my thoughts and with a blissful smile on my face I didn’t notice him leaving the bathroom and so I flinched surprised at his words:

 “How long were you here?”

“I don’t know I just came in, why?” I grinned “Yah, what were you plotting again?”

“N-nothing I was just singing…” he flushed as if it was something bad to sing while taking a shower.

“I know, it’s good that you were singing Soo, otherwise I’d think that you were doing some weird stuff” I grinned and looked at him as he, without a word , walked towards the bed to pick his clothes from the suitcase; was that a little pout on his face?

“Are you going somewhere?”  I only saw him nodding his head in confirmation.

“Where are you going?” I wanted to ask him if I could go with him but he was faster.

“Out, you going with me?” He wasn’t looking at me at all so he couldn’t have seen an enormous grin that appeared on my face, god, I wanted to go out so badly, my gums always betrayed me.

“Sure” I picked up a hoodie and sunglasses from my bag “Whenever you’re ready”  I lay down on my bed and observed him getting ready.

.

.

We secretly walked past the hall and headed towards the exit . Nobody seemed to notice us, we smiled at how easy it was but then, as soon as we passed the revolving door,  millions of camera flashes almost blinded us, so we immediately got back inside, well, we actually fell inside after MyungSoo tripped and fell on me.

“What the…? What was that?” I was holding my chest trying to calm down my racing heart, well the flashes did surprise me but the reason of my racing heart was this kid, MyungSoo, who was now crawling off me. 

“I thought fansites didn’t know which hotel we are staying in” he helped me stand up and took his time dusting my clothes off;  I didn’t interrupt him as I enjoyed that little skinship he gave me; it was kind of cute. It’s a real blessing that he likes skinship and he initiates it himself as I was afraid to do so for fear of my feelings for him getting accidentally revealed through that one day.

“We need to think of a plan” I looked around the hall, my eyes stopped on the food-delivering trolleys and next second I heard MyungSoo’s voice: “No way SungYeol , don’t even think about it” as he grabbed my arm pulling me away from the only idea that appeared in my head.

“Soo, but I wanna go out”

“Let’s ask Jongie for help”

“How?”

“Like…” he frowned trying to think of a plan “… we could ask him to go jogging and the fans would chase after him and then we’d have our chance to sneak out”  he seemed so fond of his little scheme which was so lame; I really pitied his brain right then. The food trolleys was so much better idea.

“Well, MyungSoo, I’m afraid that you forgot about  one major problem”

“What kind of problem?” Dear God was he really that stupid? I had to pull him down to earth:

“Jongie won’t agree to that. Ever.”

We both sighed feeling totally down when we saw Jongie going through the hall dressed in a tracksuit and with a bottle of water in his hand.

“Jongie?!”

He stopped and waved at us “Hi guys”

“Didn’t you tell me that you were going to sleep?”

“Yeah, but you know I changed my mind, a bit of fresh air would do me good, won’t it?”
“Yes, yes!”

“Yeah Jongie, fresh air works best for fatigued skin” Both of us started praising his idea to go out – was that a dream? Such a coincidence!!!

We waited until the fans run after Jongie and took our chance to sneak out unnoticed. We got into a taxi. Getting into the city was just a matter of minutes now.

.

.

We started by just casually walking around the streets and admiring the city; it felt great to be able to chill out and keep our minds away from what awaited us tomorrow. We took the opportunity to walk comfortably and relax before people start recognising us; even though we experienced such situations countless times before, it can still be a bit uncomfortable sometimes when the crowd follows you wherever you go.

We took some photos in the photo booth and before accepting the pictures to print, we decorated our faces a bit, well it was more like MyungSoo decorating mine that is; I let him do it first after hearing his complaining that I am always doing  everything first (which is so not true, but still I let him do it first); so he drew a pair of horns and a moustache on my face which  made me super-angry because that was what I was planning to draw on his face, but I still didn’t lose my spirit as he passed me the stylus and started his bickering:

“Come on Yeollie, no matter what you draw on my face it’d still look good”  he brushed  his hair with his fingers making a badass face which all made me give him a you-are-so-pathetic look. However I was only pretending; what he said was really true -  he was so hot that all my insides were melting whenever he got closer to me. I focused my attention on the panel and started drawing.

“let’s see if you are so pretty….dueji Soo”  I smirked as I drew a big pig nose in the middle of his face and quickly pressed the print button laughing like crazy. 

“Yah, yah!” He was about to hit me but I run away screaming: “Infinite’s dueji Soo! Hahaahahaha”

He rushed after me and I guess we must have attracted people’s attention because some of them started covering their mouths and pointing their fingers at us. I stopped and waited for duejisoo to catch up on me, then grabbed his hand and pulled him right into the narrow street of the city.

“Wait Yeol, what’s happening?” he couldn’t catch his breath.

“People started staring because of the new member in our group” I grinned and started “dueji-“  but he pretended that he’s going to hit me so I cut in the middle and just observed his bright smiling face and that lovely dimple  in silence.  We stared at each other just like that, smiling and trying to catch our breath after the short run. Finally dueji- I mean MyungSoo started:

“Well, we would attract attention sooner or later anyway; you know, two Korean hotties in the middle of the street,  who would refuse to look at us?”

“Jongie” I answered and started laughing like crazy, oh my god I had to hit the wall a few times with my hand,  it seemed so funny I almost cried.

“I love you”

“I know, I love you too” I answered through laugh and sat down, trying to catch my breath; I always told him I loved him, I guess he always took it in a brotherly or friendly way and I didn’t have enough courage to explain to him that it means something more.

“Sungyeol”

I looked at MyungSoo, he was staring at me all the time “What?”

“I think you didn’t get it”

“Get what?” I asked and watched him moving closer and squatting down so that our faces were on the same level now. He embraced my face with his hands and … he kissed me just like that. Well that was unexpected.

When he broke the kiss, leaving me totally dumbfounded, he repeated again “I love you”.  

My eyes were going back and forth from his lips to his eyes,  I didn’t know what to say, I mean I knew exactly what to say but I guess I was just shocked. He was about to stand up when I grabbed his hand “MyungSoo…” he pulled me up and both of us were standing now, looking at each other’s faces “I MyungSoo too love you MyungSoo love you” my tongue was refusing to cooperate but my heart felt so light after revealing how I felt about him.

It seems that my answer didn’t surprise him at all, it’s as if he had known about everything since long ago; he just wore on his smile and hugged me without saying a word. I, in turn, circled my arms around his waist and breathed in his scent .“MyungSoo.. you took a shower not long ago but you still smell like sweat” I noticed.

“Thought you like it?”

“I said I didn’t mind it, not that I liked it”

“Well, the clothes I chosen may not have been the most fresh ones” he answered innocently and I punched his arm playfully happy to give him a first lecture as his boyfriend:

“Now, that you have a boyfriend, you should pay more attention to such things” I smiled.

“A b-boyfreind?” there was a hint of surprise in his voice but then he just hugged me tighter “Ok Yeollie, everything for my boyfriend”

.

.

We went to eat something at the street stall, joking about us and telling each other stories about how we developed our crushes towards each other. I fed MyungSoo with my food and he fed me with his; we forgot about the fact that there could be some people observing us; but it was no surprise that the whole world around us didn’t exist at that moment. It all felt so wonderful, so different  to be able to openly show my affection towards my Soo. His smile seemed different too, I knew now what kind of smile it was – so full of affection and love – he smiled at me like this countless times before but I was just oblivious and didn’t notice that. How come I also didn’t notice the subtle sparks in his eyes when he looked at me? It was so obvious now. I must have been blind not being able to see all that.

At that moment I was  living the dream which I previously thought  had no chances of coming true.

Now I hoped it could last forever.

.

.

Having finished our meal we strolled slowly, hand in hand until we reached the street and called a taxi. In the backseat we still held each other’s hands tightly, smiling at each other with no apparent reason -  we must have looked like idiots but isn’t that the way that people who are in love look like?

.

.

“Thanks for the best date ever” he whispered into my ear and I whispered him back: “It wouldn’t have been possible if you hadn’t took the first step, Soo”

“I’m just happy that you feel the same about me, that you return my feelings”

“Come on, who wouldn’t fall for infinite’s visual?” I joked and he didn’t even try to hide how proud he felt as he his lips and put on his trademark smile  which made my heart melt. He turned off the lights and hugged me one last time whispering “For me, you are infinite’s real visual.”

We decided it would be better to sleep separately  – tomorrow’s schedule is waiting for us and we can’t afford to pull  an all-nighter, in the end we are here for our inspirits not on holiday.  Just a few more nights  wouldn’t make a difference now, would they? However sleeping was difficult, even in the dark I saw the light coming from the window reflecting in his eyes, which meant that he couldn’t sleep and was looking at me too.

“MyungSoo go to sleep”

“How can you be so close but so far away at the same time? I miss you”

It made me grin  “How cheesy can you be Soo?”

“I’m just saying the truth”

“Aigo I can’t sleep because of you! “ I threw one of my pillows at his bed.

“Then, think about things we can do after the promotions end”

“MyungSoo!!!!!!!!! Now I won’t be able to sleep for sure!!!!” I almost shouted; how could he give me such food for thoughts at this moment? “And what about you?”

“What about me?”

“You know, will you think about the things we can do after the promotions end?”

“I don’t have to”

“Why?”

“Because I was doing so for the past years, I’ve got everything fully planned with the smallest details. Now, sleep well Yeollie”

I turned to the side and closed my eyes. I tried hard to fall asleep but the joy that was building up in my chest wouldn’t let me; it was only when I heard MyungSoo’s steady breathing when I felt drowsy.

.

.

.

Next morning the manager marched up into our room and woke us up. We thought it was time to get ready to start our schedule but he locked the door instead and took a brown envelope from under his jacket. He took a pile of pictures out of it and started throwing them on the table one by one.

We were standing close to each other with our hands hidden behind us when another one was thrown on the table and both of us cringed. Then another one, and another – oh my god they even managed to capture that?  I couldn’t believe my eyes. MyungSoo was looking at his feet and I felt guilty.

“What are we supposed to do with THIS?” we heard an angry voice; Jesus we were doomed for sure but then MyungSoo threw as if nothing happened:

“Consider it fanservice” and we both grinned trying hard not to burst out laughing. I felt his hand touching mine and suddenly I got the feeling that there are no obstacles that we wouldn’t be able to overcome now.