chapter six;
lost in translation
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The seven boys all herded into the lobby of the hotel, eyes scanning the vast expanse of Japanese themed relics, antique decorations, pretty paintings that seemed old. It was all very retro, to say the least, but the mahogany furniture and paper sliding doors across the way were very much new and looked after. Various families who were also staying here wandered about with ease, some heading into the dining hall which had its delicate door slid open permanently.

"It's beautiful," Renjun smiled, pulling his suitcase to a stand-still and sliding the handle back down into its hidden rest. "So authentic."

"Yeah..." Mark agreed, "I always stay in western styled places with state-of-the-art sort of themes....but this is really nice."

"Okay, while you guys drool over the interior, I'm gonna go and talk to that guy at the reception desk. Wait here," Jaemin chirped, leaving his case with Jeno for safety reasons.

"Ah, hang on. You don't know a word of Japanese," Hyuck complained. "And that said boy is hot as fuck. Let me do it."

"And risk waiting hours for you to flirt and get the point across? I don't think so."

"Jeno, you do it," Mark nudged the placid and perfectly laid back male. Though the ravenette didn't seem all too pressed to check them in, instead sliding both his and Jaemin's cases to Chenle.

"Actually, I've needed to go to the toilet for awhile. I drank a lot of water before we left the gardens. Let Jaemin."

"Thank you," the blonde winked, booping Donghyuck's nose like the immature tease he was and slowly heading up to the counter. Jeno went off to look for the bathroom, and the others all fell silent to watch this interaction take place. Nervousness was an understatement for how they appeared.

Jaemin flirtatiously leaned against the wooden desk and eyed the boy up carefully, noting the pretty white yukata he had on with cherry blossoms along the hems. "Konichiwa! Anata no namae wa nandesuka, kawaii otokonoko?"

"Holy fuck, he's speaking fucking Japanese!" Renjun slapped his forehead with terror. "Shit! Hyuck, translate for us please."

"Um, he said 'hello, what's your name, cute boy?'"

"We're fucked," Mark sighed, unable to watch this play out while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Ah, Shotaro," the receptionist responded with an innocent, dimpled smile. "Don'na goyoudeshou ka? (How can I help you?)"

"Okay, Shotaro," Jaemin then started to continue, running off on a rant in Japanese, most of which Donghyuck couldn't even understand. After all, the Korean's knowledge of the language was minimal, and mostly conversational since he learned it from watching television. He too was confused while Renjun was simply eyeing the reactions carefully.

"I wonder if he actually speaks it, and he's just smarter than he lets on," Chenle narrowed his eyes. It sure seemed that way the more animated and confident Jaemin got. Hyuck became quite jealous now that Shotaro had laughed like an angel. Their driver was just a huge flirt as well, and he was teasing him!

Eventually the brunette behind the desk nodded in understanding and dropped down to start looking for what were probably the keys and WiFi details. The blonde leaning casually looked over his shoulder to his group and winked knowingly. "See guys, I got this."

"You could've told us you spoke Japanese," Jisung glowered. "Rather than being lazy and using Hyuck and Jeno."

"Oh, I don't," the older assured him with a raised hand, "I don't know what most of what I said means."

Jeno returned quietly and rejoined the five with their cases before listening intently to the conversation. "What do you mean 'you don't know most of what you just said'?" The youngest insisted. "What the fuck have you done?"

"Oh sweet Jisung, I don't mean to pollute your mind, but I suppose I might as well explain my brilliant linguistic skills," the blonde smirked knowingly. "So one night my internet was really shit, right?"

".....Where is this going?" Renjun asked.

"Shhhh, so my internet was crap, okay? I was watching this Japanese cartoon-"

"An anime," Donghyuck corrected.

"A hentai, yes. And basically this guy was checking into a love hotel, but the stupid video kept glitching and freezing. So I had to drag the bar back over and over to get it to stream correctly. I had to have listened to that stupid check-in dialogue a hundred times, eventually having it memorised by accident."

"You're fucking kidding me!" Donghyuck shrieked, unintentionally drawing the attention of everyone around them. "You used a dialogue from a stupid hentai to check us into this goddamn hotel?!"

The boys couldn't believe what they were hearing, particularly Jeno who had walked in at a bad time. Luckily, before they could attack their terrible guide, Shotaro popped back up from below the desk with the room keys for the TTN tour, as well as a pretty, Japanese box. "Here you are," he giggled cutely, in perfect Korean.

"You're shitting me," Renjun rubbed his face from utter embarrassment. "The kid speaks our language?!"

"A little," Shotaro beamed. "I can understand the basics. And Jaemin is entertaining."

"He knows his bloody name now," Mark tried not to lose it. "Why does this feel like a defeat on our behalf yet a win for Jaemin?"

"Wait, wait, wait," Chenle halted the conversation with his hand up. "What's in the box?"

"Oh," the blonde at the counter tilted his head, "Lemme check." He pulled the intricate lid up and peered inside, eyes widening when he found various sizes of condoms. "Oh...."

"Jesus," Jisung whined, "What have you done, now?"

"I mean, maybe somewhere in that dialogue I asked for these? I dunno, probably."

Shotaro tilted his head like an adorable lost puppy, "Have I mistaken?"

"We're not a collective relationship," Jeno promised, about to apologise profusely for the misunderstanding, though finding himself interrupted.

"It's all good, Cutey," their driver chuckled. "Thanks for the help, and a gold star for effort." He then turned to look at the group again, "Though before these go away, what sizes are you, Renjun and Jeno?"

"Jaemin!" The pair hissed.

"Joking," the younger raised his hands in mock surrender with a laugh before leaning once again against the dark wood and whispering to Shotaro. "Yeah, so not kidding. But thanks, Kiddo. See you in the morning."

"Of course," the younger bowed politely. "Please ask if you have any enquiries."

"Will do. Goodnight!"

"Oyasuminasai."

With that Jaemin bundled the pile of keys into his hands and walked over to their little team. "Let's go."

"I want the bedroom farthest away from yours," Renjun huffed while getting his suitcase ready for the lift.

"And I'll share that bedroom," Jeno joked, though earned an eyebrow wriggle from the strangest member of their seven.

"God, I just want to sleep and forget today ever happened," Mark complained and proceeded to lead the way towards the metal doors that opened and closed, always filled with people. "And hopefully never wake up."

"Love the positivity."

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I'm back~
Thank you for your patience, dudes, and I'm as happy as ever to pick up where I left off.

Now, I personally feel like this chapter was just a whole other level of dumb, so thank God my brain got that out of its system in a crack-fic.

Thanks again for waiting, Lilies, and I love you lots!

-lily