chapter seven;
dilemma solving
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"Alright, let's sort this out now and make some permanent arrangements," Renjun suggested, leaning against the extended handle of his suitcase and appearing somewhat bored. "Where will Mark sleep?"

"Well, there is one double room and then five singles," Jaemin held up the collection of keys. "I'm assuming Jisung was supposed to share with his mother, but we can utilise that now."

"I'm not sharing with anyone," the youngest folded his arms defiantly. "Y'all are weird."

"I'd have to agree," Mark murmured. "It's not particularly fair asking any of us to share a room when we don't know each other very well. Isn't there a second option?"

"Mhm, hooking up with another tourist around here and sharing their bed for the night," their driver wriggled his eyebrows. "Who's shameless enough, hm?"

"That's so dumb," Renjun scoffed, looking to Chenle skeptically, then to Jeno, eventually intaking everyone's expressions and body language before sighing softly. "How about this; we rotate the shared room every time we reach a new hotel. First night can be..." he lifted his finger to point randomly at Chenle, and then at Jaemin. "You two?"

"Ew, no. I'll get raped," Chenle poked his tongue out at the blonde briefly, watching the older dramatically clutch his chest and gasp.

"The fuck? I'm no rapist, young man. And it wouldn't be you if I had targets!"

"Let's decide on permanent partners to solve this argument from reoccurring every time," Jeno suggested. "I personally don't mind sharing with Jaemin, even though he's a bit odd."

"Marry me, Jeno-"

"Please close your mouth before I eat my words," the older Korean rolled his eyes. "I guess you two get a along alright," he motioned to Jisung and Chenle. "I saw you on the bus this afternoon, drinking water together?"

"I mean....." Chenle murmured, "I guess so. If you're okay with it, that is," he eyed the youngest carefully.

"Yeah, whatever. You're not as bad as the rest..."

"Great," Jeno cutely grinned with that stunning eye-smile of his. "Then....wait, Donghyuck and Mark don't get along."

"We do," Mark frowned. "Sort of."

"He threw your phone in a pond..."

"It's all in the past," the accused male waved his hand dismissively. "We'll share, it's fine."

"Then..." they all glanced at the odd one out, "Renjun? What do we do with you?"

"Well, I suppose I could rotate with a pair?" The Chinese adult suggested. "Perhaps you and Jaemin? I mean, someone has to dilute our lunatic of a driver, right?"

"I'll find a compliment in there somewhere," Jaemin winked. "And that sounds like a logical idea. So," he clapped his hands together irritatingly. "Who's first?"

"Um, I guess Mark and I?" Hyuck gently raised his hand. "I don't mind."

"Awesome! It's settled," Jisung groaned now that it was all over. "I'm going to sleep, so bye-"

"What about dinner?" Jeno enquired.

"Ugh!"

• • •

Mark arose at some criminalistic hour like eleven in the morning. He was laying flat on his stomach, cheeks resting on his folded arms upon the pillow, and body completely bare. The sheets were tugged over to rest along his mid-back, and the treacherous rays of sun streaming through the unshielded window tickled his pale, clear skin. More heat would be built up as the day approached twelve in the afternoon, but he'd worry about that later.

For now, he had another problem.

"Wakey, wakey, Sunshine," Donghyuck chirped happily, stark naked across the room while pulling some clothes on in front of his suitcase, which was open on his made bed. "You've been comatose, Dude."

"I'm sorry....what?"

"I mean, I wouldn't blame you. Last night was wild, and we only came back to our room at sometime near midnight. Maybe one a.m, actually."

The older furrowed his brows worriedly, having next to no memories about the previous evening activities and hoping like hell he didn't do something utterly stupid. What was for dinner? Did they hang out more? Was there alcohol? As he shifted to get a start on the day, a killer headache stabbed his temples, forcing him to close his eyes with the agony. Then, to add to his distress, his lower back was excruciating...like someone had crushed his hips.

"No....." he whispered hoarsely, heart beginning to race with severe anxiety as he looked back at Donghyuck who was now half dressed.....the top half. He had yet to cover his assets, and that 'thing' that men took great pride in felt like it was staring him in the face, like a massive 'fuck you' since his memories were muddled. He genuinely hoped that wasn't a literal phrase. "Oh my God, what did we do?"

"Hm?" The blonde tilted his head. "Like, last night? I suppose there's no fun in keeping you in the dark. That 'Japanese lemonade' Jaemin convinced you to drink was literally just lemon cider. It was flat out alcoholic and yes, maybe we all had a bit of a laugh at how you and Jisung got pissed drunk together."

"Fuck's sake," the ravenette groaned, once again trying to sit up and cringing at the burn of his muscles, everywhere. "What else? Please tell me my pain right now isn't from getting fucked while drunk?"

"Aaaw, it was fun," Hyuck pouted, winking mischievous and giggling.

"Oh Holy Mother! No, no, no, no-"

"I'm messing with you, Mark. It was a joke," the younger rolled his eyes playfully. "I had to bring you up here last night, but I dropped you down the first flight of stairs. Somehow I feel like taking it up the ass would've hurt less."

The young adult was stunned to silence. He couldn't think, he couldn't speak, he couldn't compute. Obviously last night had been one massive adventure at his expense, and he couldn't even recall a single minute of it. Half of him wanted to drop his face back into the plush pillow he was clutching and sob it off...the other half wanted to strangle Jaemin for lying to him. Of course Japanese lemonade wasn't a thing. Lemonade was goddamn lemonade no matter how you cut the lemons!

"You should get up, Man," Donghyuck yawned and proceeded to zip up his case. "I've had my shower and I'm all dressed and ready to go. Apparently we're scheduled to depart after breakfast, and I wouldn't mind betting the others are already down there."

"Oh, right. I'll take an hour or so. If there's loud music in the bathroom and supposedly louder sobbing, don't break the door down."

"Please don't take an hour...."

"I was joking," Mark threw the other's words back at him, then got up with a severe amount of agony. It showed on his face as well. The blonde nodded faintly with a soft smirk, turning to leave and trying not to giggle at all the shit that went down the previous evening. As he reached for the knob, he spoke over his shoulder.

"If you need me I'll be down at the reception desk chatting up Shotaro."

"Ugh, you and your obsession with Japanese men. What's wrong with Koreans?"

"Is that an invite?"

"Did it have your name on it?"

Hyuck snickered cutely before blowing him a silly kiss and exiting the warm space. The halls were alive with tourists of all kinds; Japanese, Koreans, Thais, Americans, Hispanics, Africans and so many more. It was so amazing to see such a culturally diverse collection of people in one space.

He skipped with cute liveliness towards the lift, allowing it to take him to the ground floor while he tried out his Japanese on some pretty sound people. Everyone was so approachable, or perhaps he was just invading their bubbles and they had no choice. Either way, Donghyuck felt like he was on top of the world.

When his eyes caught Osaki Shotaro at the reception desk again this morning, quite literally as soon as the doors sucked open, he bounded over like a lost puppy and turned on his charm. "Ohayou, Shotaro-kun! Watashi no koto ga koishikattadesu ka?" (Good morning, Shotaro. Did you miss me?)

"Oh, hey Donghyuck. Did you sleep well?"

"You didn't answer my question, Mister," he wriggled his eyebrows. "I also hope we weren't too much of a bother last night."

The younger chuckled softly, nodding politely and passing a sweet to the guest. "It was amusing, to say the least. We don't usually deal with five men skinny dipping in the public pool. I also requested for more of these sweets since you liked them so much."

Aaaw, he's so cute! "Thank you~" Hyuck sang, opening the small wrapper and popping the piece of confectionary into his mouth. His intoxicatingly affectionate personality and extremely friendly manners were hard not to like, and he took pride in that. He only wished it'd work on a certain tour partner.

Eh, Mark will come around.

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