chapter eight;
a day at the market
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"Nobody get lost," Renjun essentially ordered once the group departed the bus once again. The muggy, Japanese air had their fringes clinging to their foreheads, their clothes latching around their figures uncomfortably and their throats as dry as the Sahara desert. But the whole point of a holiday was to let loose and have fun, so forgetting the percentage of the excursion that wasn't pleasant was what they did.

"We aren't sticking together in one clump though, are we?" Jisung arched his brow quizzically while eyeing each of the boys up. "Please tell me we aren't."

"Look," Jeno yawned against the heat of the sun whilst digging around his bag for a brochure, "It says this section of the tour is for exploring culture at one's own pace....so there's no need for a guide."

"Oh. Awesome," Donghyuck took it from his hands and scanned the text imprinted on the baby-blue paper. "It seems we have a restaurant thingy booked at the hotel, though. So at six o'clock this evening we all have to be..." he flipped the page around to show the others before jabbing his finger at the Japanese title, "Here."

"Easy," Chenle chirped. "We all have hours to wander around this part of Kyoto and adventure. Should we pick a time to meet up at the bus?"

"Well, five o'clock feels logical if we're going to get to that place comfortably," Jaemin hummed. "Also, we should all exchange phone numbers...for contact."

"No spamming," Jisung held up his screen disinterestedly, waiting for everyone to take down his contact before doing likewise for the others. Unfortunately, Mark was still without a phone, and that was a major issue when in a foreign country.

"Oh, right," Hyuck murmured apologetically. "If you don't mind hanging out with me for an hour or so, you can pick out a phone and I'll pay for it. I owe you as much."

"Don't businessmen have 'work phones' and 'personal phones'?" Renjun air-quoted the terms. "My father used to when he had an office job."

"My company phone stayed in Korea as it was far too valuable to potentially lose. So my personal one was the unlucky sod to get tossed into a pond with koi fish."

"The emphasis begs to invite yet another apology," Donghyuck poked Mark's strong shoulder softly, "So sorry again."

"Yeah, it's fine."

"Let's not dwell on dumb stuff like that," Jisung prevented the conversation from going on any longer. "Shall we head out?"

"In pairs or what?" Jaemin gushed quickly, "Like, we seriously can't be getting lost in Japan."

"I don't mind tagging along with someone who speaks the language," Renjun suggested, sending a very obvious look in Jeno's direction. The raven-haired boy nodded cutely as if he didn't mind at all when in actual fact he wasn't even paying much attention.

"Five o'clock, guys. Don't be late," Chenle warned once more before everyone threw their final waves and broke off into natural partnerships. The heat of the sun was stress-inducing, but freely shopping was a simple pleasure that didn't require much anxiety.

"Oh look," the oldest Chinese male chuckled as he walked alongside Jeno, "We have a tag-along." He was rather obviously referring to the seemingly distracted Jaemin a few metres behind them, gazing off at random things and probably tailing the pair due to subconscious trust, rather than decision.

"Jaemin?" The taller of the two called, waving over the blonde who suddenly perked up at his name. People bustled past them, knocking them against each other and yelling in Japanese which made it sound ten times angrier than it needed to be. The youngest promptly dashed over to them and clung to the ravenette like a lost child.

"I didn't even notice I was alone..."

"Idiot," Renjun scoffed softly, pretty amused all the same as he watched them begin their travels again. There were stalls filled to the brim with cheap gimmicks that enticed more children than wise adults. The brunette, however, had the eye of an artist and absolutely adored anything remotely gaudy. Silly little bracelets here and there attracted him, as well as fans, stationary and other wasteful items.

As Renjun realised he'd fallen a little bit behind his small group, he panicked a little and started picking up his pace to reach them once more. His heart swelled with even more heat, it seemed, as exercise made an unwelcome appearance. "Guys!" He called, holding onto his bag tighter when their backs suddenly became covered by more native people. Shit, I should've paid more attention.

His legs bucked up enough energy to bring him into a small jog before he immediately felt the typically chilling sensation of someone grabbing at him. Usually a person would shriek or panic...but not this well-trained and reflexive man.

"Renjunnie?" He could hear Jaemin call out, though it was merely white noise as he gripped the hand on his shoulder - which had clearly been attempting to remove his bag - and gave it one hard tug over his arm, flipping the culprit over his lithe frame and onto the floor. Without even needing to think about it, he lowered his foot onto the man's chest and pressed down harshly to keep him there, still yanking the limb and causing a lot of pained yelping.

"Try me, Dickhead. You think I'd fall for some dumb mugger's trap?"

The said attacker whimpered, rather pathetic really and probably not accustomed to 'push-backs' when breaking the law. Renjun scrunched his nose up disgustedly and dropped the arm while removing his foot from the body. "I hope you learned something today, Mister."

As he proceeded to continue walking onwards, he couldn't help but notice the crowd that had accumulated to watch the incident with intrigue. The small adult felt like crawling into a hole with all this attention....but it did reveal the two males he'd lost not even ten minutes prior.

"You badass!" Jaemin cooed, frolicking over like a carefree fairy and wrapping his arms unceremoniously around his little friend's body. "Remind me never to cross you."

"I shall pull out that reminder right now," Renjun raised his brow quizzically while worming out of his grip. "You act so familiar, and you just left me with an opportunity to twist your arm around and dislocate it. Think twice before touching me; that's the rule."

"But you wouldn't~" the blonde sang....and maybe the older couldn't have disagreed.

"That was really cool," Jeno hummed, tugging their hyperactive bus driver back before the oldest really did mangle his arm into oblivion. "Did you learn that sort of thing in the army?"

"Psh, no. I took various martial arts classes as a child all the way through to my late teens. I have the necessary certificates and training to become a teacher if I so wish to be."

The younger swallowed hard, nodding cutely with that adorable eye-smile though inwardly freaking out. The collection of boys aboard the TTN were mad, he believed. Yet not necessarily in a bad way. More so an interesting and exciting way.

"I think it's hot," Jaemin admitted, winking like the flirt he was before getting a light kick to his shin from Renjun. "Ow."

"The element of surprise is what matters," the shortest explained. "Don't tell the others, alright? I try to keep these hobbies as much of a secret as I can, or else people will be able to predict me."

So cool, the pair facing him both thought simultaneously, nodding their heads enthusiastically like puppies before allowing themselves to be dragged through the marketplace by their new friend.

Jaemin had the dorkiest smile on his face as he watched Renjun's back though, and Jeno's heart was less obviously pounding as he viewed the same thing.

"It's warm out," the youngest murmured to the ravenette softly. "Right?"

"Oh yeah," he uttered in return, using it as a lame excuse. "Really hot out."

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Hey guys,
I'm really sorry that this is a bit late.

Making excuses is stupid, so I will try to be quicker with the next one. I suppose I wasn't in it for this chapter 🤷‍♀️

I know it was rushed, though at least norenmim have had a bit of a chance~

Thanks for reading,
-lily