Taekwoon does not like this vacation.

We knew that he wasn't going to before they ever even took one. Hakyeon had showed him the pictures of the island on the internet, going on excitedly about how beautiful the beaches are. It did look pretty in the pictures, but all Taekwoon could really see was how crowded it also looked. Tons of crowds, along with noises and heat. He wasn't looking forward to it at all, no matter how many times Hakyeon promised him it wasn't as bad as he was making it out to be.

It is, starting with this terrible sunblock that Hakyeon is forcing him to put on before they go out to the hotel pool. "Sunburns hurt, Taekwoonie," Hakyeon is saying as he rubs the cream on Taekwoon's back.

They can't hurt as much as this though. Taekwoon whines, though he hates to. He feels like he's ruining the vacation if he acts out too much. He's already ruined going to the beach-- he can't handle sand getting all over him and being so close to something as vast and open as the ocean makes him shaky, so Hakyeon's parents went without them. The two of them are going to the pool instead. If Taekwoon survives this sunblock mess.

"Done!" Hakyeon says, giving Taekwoon a pat on the back. "Now for your face."

Taekwoon shakes his head. "No." He steps back a few times, away from the other.

Hakyeon sighs, giving up. "Fine, but you're going to burn," he warns, but Taekwoon doesn't really care. Just as long as he doesn't have to go through anymore sunblock.

Hakyeon is now focusing on putting it on himself, and Taekwoon takes this time to go look out the huge bay window of their hotel room. He can see the beach from here. The people on it looks like ants from their floor, but the ocean itself still looks huge. It's enough to make him feel kind of nervous right there. He imagines a tsunami, the tallest one ever, coming through and wrecking everything in its path. Him included. That's another odd fear of his, eventhough Google told him that tsunamis are uncommon in this part of the world.

His thoughts are soon interrupted by Hakyeon. "Can you do my back?" he asks, and Taekwoon takes the sunblock bottle. Putting sunblock on someone else is so much more fun than receiving it yourself. He likes how it feels between his fingers. He thinks he uses too much of it though, but Hakyeon tells him he did a good job.

-

The pool isn't as crowded as the beach is, though there are still a lot of people there. None of those people are like them though-- they're all speaking English, and Taekwoon doesn't like it. He can't understand it at all, which is scary. In fact, a lot of people on this vacation speak English. Hakyeon had told him they should practice, but Taekwoon already has a hard enough time speaking his own language. Why bother with another one?

Hakyeon has gotten quite good at it though, and can introduce himself. He does so every chance he gets, eager to show off what he's learned. Taekwoon doesn't like it very much when he does though. He likes to know what Hakyeon is saying.

People also give them looks when they speak Korean. It's hard for him to understand that they think it's as weird for them to talk Korean as he does with them and English. Languages are just too much. The more he thinks about it, the more anxious he gets. He's getting distracted from the pool now. He likes swimming, but not so much when there's so many strange people around.

He swims to the cement steps that descends into the pool and sits. He's still half submerged in water and flicks at with his finger, making little ripples. He counts them as he does, and is at one hundred eighty three when Hakyeon comes over to check on him.

"Are you okay?" he asks, and Taekwoon nods because if he says no he'll ruin coming to the pool like he did with the beach. Hakyeon sits down next to him. "Is it too loud? Too crowded? We can always come back later." Taekwoon shakes his head this time. He wants Hakyeon to enjoy the pool, even if he himself isn't. He read in a magazine on the plane ride there that sometimes you have to do things you don't want to in relationships, in order to keep it afloat. Though Hakyeon did tell him to ignore anymore love advice he comes upon.

-

Taekwoon is more than glad when they settles into their hotel room for the day. He and Hakyeon has their own room together, while Hakyeon's parents has one next door. Their room came with two small beds side by side, but Hakyeon pushed them together to make one big bed. Taekwoon lays on his side now, flipping through television channels. Even the TV here speaks English, and it's annoying.

He eventually finds Toy Story playing on the Disney Channel, deciding to just watch that as best as he can on mute. Watching this movie always reminds him of his first and only vacation (until now, that is) when he was a child. It was before he started school and met Hakyeon. His parents took him and his sisters to Disneyland, though he doesn't remember much. The only memory he has is meeting Woody near the teacups ride; he even has a picture.

Taekwoon can also remember his parents telling him that the next time they went back, he couldn't go because he was too much trouble. Sure enough, they returned a few ye