chapter thirteen;
secrets: identified
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The members of the tour were all forced up out of bed a bit early. Mark had not only been rudely awoken by a small child hammering against his door and screaming for its parent, but had also been laughed at by Donghyuck who was his room neighbour. Chenle slept in regardless and had to have Renjun yell at him in Chinese like a disappointed mother in order to draw him from his dreams. And Jeno and Jaemin had somehow woken up in the same bed; clearly the latter's fault since he was the one misplaced.

All in all, it had been a somewhat eventful morning, and would soon be an even more interesting day. Breakfast was pretty normal — consisting of the typical rice and some eggs. The bus was parked where they left it and once again, Jaemin had to run spot checks to make sure he wasn't doing anything wrong.

"Ladies, where are we heading today?!" He hissed, starting up the engine once everyone was seated and comfortable. Jeno chose to stay up front in order to translate the signage, so Renjun perched in the spot behind him and desired to converse with them for the trip. Donghyuck had been quite passive throughout the early meal, and even more unusually peaceful when Mark offered to listen to music with him. Obviously he'd had a reality check about straight men and was back to dreaming about the potential of a future Japanese boy looking his way.

"We're supposed to sightsee in Hino. The Hill of Bloom or something," Jisung yelled above everyone's chatter, so the oldest Chinese took out the brochure they all should've had copies of, and proceeded to show Jeno the layout so he could then guide their crazy driver.

And so it began.

Chenle snuggled up in the very back as usual across from Jisung, legs stretched out over the other unoccupied seat and head resting against the window. He had his sunglasses on and one of Renjun's ice-packs on his forehead for some pleasant chilling. The vehicle shuddered as it started backing out of the carpark, its ugly appearance grabbing the attention of those around it. The young male wanted to pull the top window down and call 'yeah we have a pink and turquoise bus! Deal with it!' But he wasn't like that, so he simply rolled his eyes and continued to watch the scenery pass by. Eventually they left Koka for the time being (since they'd be returning for another night) and were met with townscapes ahead.

Chenle sighed dramatically and shuffled to get comfortable. It didn't work. So he moved again...and again...and again. The lumpy seats and stinky scents weren't helping him at all, not to even mention the thirty-eight degree heat of the day. "Fuck..." he grimaced, pulling at his shirt and allowing his head to lull forward and look at none other than Jisung again. He didn't seem quite so pissed off with the discomfort.

In fact...he was reading. Somehow, the environmental science student had never pinned the moody boy to be a reader, especially in this type of weather. His eyes were focused, brown hair a sticky mess yet somehow sexy. The ravenette sat up properly and continued to gaze absentmindedly, probably unaware he was even doing it. Interesting...

The bus jolted over a speed bump, and the adult was sent flying forward and gripping to the dusty fabric-covered seats for support. He grumbled distastefully under his breath as he removed his fingers from the material and clapped them together to rid himself of mites or whatever the hell he could think would live there. Though, he did notice something from this position.

Jisung had earphones in, which led Chenle to wonder what type of tunes he'd listen to. Rock? Pop? Emo? Should I approach him? I've been chatting to him lately...so would it be weird if I did?

In the end, he felt there was no time like the present, and there was now less than a month left for him to socialise with these people. He didn't want to part from them on the last day having finally befriended them three weeks in. That would be shit.

Let's go, he hyped himself up. Slowly sliding over the seats and stepping into the aisle, he awkwardly fixed his shorts and pulled them up since they were extremely uncomfortable, then prayed silently that he didn't smell awful. Jaemin, Renjun and Jeno could be seen at the front arguing...while smiling? Weird, but okay. And Donghyuck was sharing earphones with Mark in one of the seats quietly. I won't be judged if I get rejected, he decided.

So, cutely sneezing on dust beforehand, he plopped down beside the youngest on the tour and blinked expectantly. Half of him was expecting Jisung to tell him to fuck off, another half assuming they had gotten a bit closer since those times on the first day. "H-Hi?"

The brunette yawned and lazily glanced to the side, returning his sights to the comic in his hands before shrieking and shooting back to Chenle. His shoulder hit the window with his jumpy reflexes and with that he ripped the earphones out of his ears. "Holy shit, Dude. You scared me!"

"I'm sorry!" The ravenette gushed, though couldn't help but notice the cartoon boxes upon the page he was reading. They were very familiar...in a somewhat funny way. "Oh...is that—"

"Shh, no it's not," the brunette hissed, looking over to the front to make sure the others weren't paying them any attention. "It's, ahem, Attack on Titan." He slammed the pages closed and shoved it into his bag. "What did you come over for?"

"Woah woah woah, show me," the older ignored his question. "I wanna double check, 'cause that was not AoT."

"Chenle, please drop it."

"No...I read it too, so I'm actually sort of excited."

Jisung blinked. His whole expression went from petrified of being judged to hugely surprised. There was no way on this God given Earth that the nerdy boy beside him read this specific comic. "I think you're mistaken...."

"No, I'm not. I won't say the name of it if it bothers you so much...but I love the main character. He's a strong, independent man who manipulates shitheads that think he's a piece of ass. Honestly, my role model."

Crap, he really does read it. But it's so...sexual, Jisung thought, starting to relax into his place now that the other seemed so easy to talk to. Not only that...but nobody knew he liked these types of manhwas and mangas; they were secrets he'd be judged heavily for. "Then...when did you start reading these things? Volume four is pretty kinky, y'know?"

"Please, four isn't even a flame compared to the inferno that is volume seven."

"Fuck, I haven't gotten there yet! Has it really gotten as far as the internet says...?"

"Oh yeah," Chenle grinned excitedly, "Shit goes south, but there are about three new characters introduced and I live and die by the janitor."

"Oh, I know that guy!"

The pair then got incredibly animated over the series, pouring their hearts and souls into the conversation since they'd never been able to relate to any physical person about it before. Online friends were amazing...but there was something about having a person there to talk to and laugh with.

Jisung didn't want to admit it to his twenty-year-old anti-love self...but his heartstrings were getting tugged. Watching the older get worked up and exited over the same things as him...it made his head fuzzy.

Wait...is he kinky? Does he read these for that as well?

Guess he'd have to grow a pair and ask sometime.

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I know this took a while to update, but now we have some chensung moving. Once my schedule clears up after school, I'll make sure to devote more time to this story. Since it's a crackcfic with no real cliffhangers or plot line, I don't think it's too bad waiting for once a week.

Thank you so much for your patience, lovelies. I appreciate the support a lot, and ily all.

-lily