"The jet lag's gettin to me," Donghae groaned, craning his neck on all directions as they walked out of the Bangkok terminal.
"It's not jet lag, we're only like 2 hours behind. It's just tour-itis," Jongwoon unzipped his jacket and slung it over his shoulder. The airports were always warmer than the planes.
Donghae looked over with a raised eyebrow, "Touritis?"
"Yeah. Y'know that slump you get into like halfway through the tour? Where you're tired all the time and everything just feels like a blur?"
Donghae blinked at him a couple times, shaking his head.
It'd slipped Jongwoon's mind that Donghae is basically a puppy with boundless energy, "Right," a hollow laugh escaped him, "You'll understand when you're older."
"I hate it when you do that, Hyung, we're only two years apart."
"Yeah yeah," brushing him off, he was quiet for a while since they had to focus on getting their bags from luggage claim, "How long do you think it's been? I think it was last tour we were here?"
"Yeah," they approached baggage claim, and Donghae did a full lap around the conveyer belt immediately, inspecting every back that went by.
Jongwoon watched and smiled wanly, "Your suitcase is covered in stickers with your own name on it. I don't think you'll miss it."
"Hey, there it is!"
After coming back with the bag, Jongwoon caught his attention with a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, are you doing anything tonight?"
"Sleeping?"
"Look, I wanna show you something. Meet me in the hotel lobby at 9:00pm, ok?"
Donghae didn't really know what to expect when he followed his Hyung's orders and met him in the hotel. Now, how Jongwoon managed to finesse the van keys from their manager was a mystery to him but he didn't want to ask about it. The car right was long and quiet, and he watched out the passenger window as the sun set across the Bangkok horizon and they drove away from the city.
Jongwoon put on some music to make up for the awkward silence, some old American rock band that was popular when they were kids. Donghae was pretty sure it was Nirvana.
Finally, they pulled onto a gravel road and Donghae could see the shimmer of water behind some trees, "Hyung, is this a lake?" He mumbled without really thinking.
"No, it's a water park."
They didn't exchange any more words until the car was parked and they were stepping out, "There's something I want to show you," the gravel crinkling under their shoes muddled into sand as the walked out into the beach-well not quite a beach, a lake with some sand thrown onto it.
The moonlight reflected off the water and the soft slushing of the waves was the only noise besides the crickets and cicadas, "Are we going swimming? I didn't bring a swimsuit-"
"God, no, you couldn't pay me to get into that water."
"They why?"
"Follow me," he grabbed Donghae's hand and pulled him across the shore, "You see these wood posts every few feet?"
"Yeah?" Donghae still hadn't connected the dots but he'd given up trying to guess or protest.
"There it is!" Jongwoon pointed at the one on the furthest end, probably two football fields away from where they'd parked, "Dohae, this is it!" He knelt down next to it, waiting for the younger man to crouch next to him. He got out his phone and put the flashlight on.
On the post, was a faded carving.
SuJu
The last men standing
YS
Underneath that was a little heart. Jongwoon ran his fingers over the lines, "It's so hard to read now."
"When did you make this?" Donghae asked, looking at him.
"Don't you remember? During our first super show in 2008, we came here for the first time. It was all of our first times so far away from home," Jongwoon's voice got whistful as he recalled the member, like he was telling a bedtime story, "Our flight got cancelled and we were stuck here an extra day."
"Oh yeah, I remember that!"
"Yeah, our managers told us to stay together but it was late and I was getting cabin fever in the hotel room. So I snagged the key to one of the vans and set off. I came here to clear my head."
Donghae sat on the ground, pulling his knees to his chest as he listened.
"Things were so scary back then," he continued, staring out at the water, "There were so many of us, and we and we all lived together. Kyu and Heechul were still recovering from their accidents. Everything was uncertain. I came here, and carved this into the post. Part of me knew we'd never give up. We'd never quit."
Smiling, Donghae put his arm around him, "Yeah, we've come a long way since then-"
"I miss it," Jongwoon's voice broke and Donghae almost thought he would cry, "I mean, of course, what you said. But I miss when I got to see you guys all the time, now we go months and months between even getting coffee or having schedules together."
"You know you can call me up any time and I'll be at your apartment door with takeaway within the hour, right?"
"That's usually the other way around though."
"Fuck off-"
By the time the two of them returned to the hotel, they were sea-stained and sandy in their boots. It was past 11:00. The thing about hotel lobbies, is that they are open 24 hours a day, so even in the dead of night, there's usually some people there.
Walking past the hotel bar, they spotted a familiar face, "Kyu?" Donghae called, walking right in and sliding into the barstool next to the maknae. Jongwoon did the same on the other side.
"Hey guys," he smiled, his cheeks flushed like he'd already seen the bottom of a bottle, "You excited for tomorrow? I haven't been here since before Covid," his words slur together and his eyes narrow at nothing.
"Sure, yeah. You ok, man? Maybe slow your roll on the shots," Jongwoon slowly pulls his glass away.
"Yeah yeah, I'm good. My hotel room had a plumping problem so they kicked me out and I have to room with Shindong and Heechul Hyung now."
"Doesn't Shin Hyung sleep naked? Have fun with that.." Donghae muttered, furrowing his eyebrows,
Nodding, Kyuhyun pulled his glass back towards him, holding it with both hands, "Yeah, and Heechul Hyung keeps trying to kiss me. I'm fucked."
"That sucks. You can always stay with me instead though."
Kyuhyun immediately got a concerned look on his face, "You're not gonna touch my philtrum while I'm asleep?" He asked.
With a grave tone, Jongwoon shrugged, "I can't promise that."
"Naked Shindong it is then."
To be continued..
