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There were many adjustments that had to be made during a concert tour.
For one thing, everyone had to constantly be on their toes as they travelled from one country to the other, one hotel to the other, one concert venue to the other, and so on and so forth. Then there was the whole rooming situation in which, for the sake of fairness, the members would constantly rotate on who would be sharing hotel rooms with each other during their stop in this place then that place. And finally, the members’ appetites typically had to adjust to the kinds of food that were available in the country they were visiting, though this was something more pleasant than not.
The adjustment that Wonwoo believed took the most toll on him, however, was having to adapt to the ever-changing time zones in the midst of fulfilling schedules. One moment he can be getting ready for bed just a little past midnight and the next he’s back under the sunlight of the day before. Adjusting to back-to-back time zone changes has definitely gotten quicker and better over time, but there were still those few moments when Wonwoo genuinely wished that the whole world lived in one set time.
Like right now, when Wonwoo found himself wide awake at almost two-thirty in the morning inside the bedroom of one of the fancier hotels that the group was staying in for the next couple of days. He was drained of all his physical energy given the concert that just ended a few hours earlier, but his mind was still racing a mile a minute with thoughts of both everything and nothing.
After tossing and turning in bed for the nth time in the past twenty minutes, Wonwoo stopped trying to make himself fall asleep and sat up in slight distress. He briefly looked around the room and saw that there was still a trace of light seeping through the barely open bathroom door and into the dark bedroom, and Wonwoo figured that Mingyu was still getting ready for bed.
“Mingyu?” Wonwoo called out.
The faint sound of the running faucet stopped before a familiar voice filled the air.
“Babe?” Mingyu called in return.
“Are you almost done?”
“Yeah, I just need to put some moisturizer on,” Mingyu replied. “Why?”
“I can’t sleep,” Wonwoo said, and they both knew that was code word for ‘I want cuddle and talk with you until I fall asleep.’
Wonwoo heard Mingyu laugh softly at the implication before the younger replied, “I’ll be done in a minute.”
“I’ll be counting down the seconds,” Wonwoo jokingly said as he leaned over to the nightstand and turned the lampshade back on to brighten the room just a bit. “60… 59…. 58.... 57….”
“--56… 55…. 54…” Mingyu lightheartedly joined Wonwoo’s countdown when he finished using the bathroom and started to make his way over to the older’s bed. It’s been awhile since Mingyu and Wonwoo roomed together, let alone had a room to themselves, so to hell with sleeping on two separate full-sized beds during this trip.
Once Mingyu was close enough to the bed, he wasted no time in playfully throwing himself on top of Wonwoo. Wonwoo made a face and groaned in discomfort at the sudden feeling of Mingyu’s slightly heavier body pressed against him. But because Mingyu has, for years, been the perfect pillow to hug, Wonwoo let himself bear the weight of his boyfriend and wrapped his arms around Mingyu’s waist.
Mingyu, amused by Wonwoo’s acceptance but also aware that he could probably suffocate him if he stayed on top of him for any longer, planted a quick kiss on Wonwoo’s soft cheek before rolling out of the comical position and joining the older under the thin white bedsheet. Wonwoo then scooted over to Mingyu’s side and rested an arm over the younger’s torso, which led to a cozy exchange of body warmth between the two of them.
“You MC’d with Jisoo-hyung and Hansol really well today,” Wonwoo said, tilting his head up a bit so that Mingyu’s face can be in his line of sight.
“Thank you,” Mingyu replied, gently running his fingers through Wonwoo’s soft brown hair, which was nothing short of soothing for the older boy. The plethora of clustered thoughts in Wonwoo’s mind slowly began to clear up at the fond gesture. “I slipped on some lines, so I didn’t think I’d hear that from anyone.”
“Making mistakes is part of the learning process, babe,” Wonwoo said. He knew how hard Mingyu could be on himself, so the least he could do was provide some reassurance during those moments. “You can’t grow without finding where your room for growth is.”
“You always know what to say to make me feel better,” Mingyu said with a soft but appreciative smile, and his words warmed Wonwoo’s heart because he could only wish to be as great of a support system to Mingyu as the latter’s been for him all these years.
From the time Wonwoo started his journey as a trainee to this very moment, Mingyu has always been around to cheer him on during his highs and to cheer him up during his lows. He was the first friend who Wonwoo came out as bisexual to, who held Wonwoo close and promised over and over again in the midst of Wonwoo’s muffled sobs that his sexuality didn’t make him less of the person he was. He was the one who hyped up Wonwoo’s first finished song lyrics even more than Wonwoo himself, which helped Wonwoo feel a greater sense of pride for a creation that he was too shy to share with others at the time.
Mingyu was the one who one day told Wonwoo that the latter wrote like he was truly in love, oblivious to the fact that he was the muse who made it so easy for Wonwoo to pour his heart out on the pages of what used to be a blank notebook. And when Wonwoo gathered the courage to confess how deeply he had fallen for Mingyu, Mingyu was the one who made Wonwoo’s heart race a mile a minute after saying that he felt the same way.
“Are you sleepy?” Wonwoo asked after a few seconds of comfortable silence, using his thumb to caress the patch of skin beneath Mingyu’s eye.
Like most members, Mingyu’s eyebags have been very prominent lately and were the clear indicators of lacking too many hours of sleep in exchange for back-to-back work. But, despite his eyebags, Mingyu’s dark brown eyes continued to sparkle.
“Just a little,” Mingyu replied, most likely downplaying how tired he was.
“You should go to sleep now,” Wonwoo said, resting his head on Mingyu’s chest once again. “We have another long day ahead of us later.”
Mingyu simply shrugged off Wonwoo’s suggestion.
“I’ll wait for you to fall asleep first,” Mingyu said, and what made Wonwoo feel guilty was how genuine his words were. Classic Mingyu, always putting others before himself. He half-jokingly added, “We both know how antsy you get when you can’t sleep while everyone around you is knocked out.”
When Wonwoo looked up at Mingyu, the latter lightheartedly raised his eyebrows as if he were challenging him to say otherwise.
“I’m sorry for keeping you up, then,” Wonwoo settled for an apology because what Mingyu said was true and denying it would be a waste of time.
Mingyu chuckled and briefly pushed back Wonwoo’s bangs so that he can plant a gentle kiss on his forehead. Wonwoo immediately felt those pesky but wonderful butterflies flutter in his stomach.
“It’s okay,” Mingyu responded. “Talking with you isn’t a burden.”
What Mingyu said made Wonwoo’s mind wander back to when the two of them were sixteen and seventeen years old respectively. That was around the time when their feelings for each other began to grow into something more after two years of being just friends. Wonwoo and Mingyu would come up with all sorts of excuses that would let them stay with each other and talk for hours on end. In retrospect, all the times that they thought they were being sly and subtle about their crushes on each other were actually the moments when their feelings were the most obvious, which was why they became some of Wonwoo’s favorite memories.
“Hey, remember when we used to lie to Seungcheol-hyung about staying behind to practice some more for our 17tv performances but really to just go to the nearby convenience store and eat?” Wonwoo suddenly asked, which made Mingyu laugh.
“Yeah, I never lied to Seungcheol-hyung before you came along,” Mingyu replied, and Wonwoo chuckled. “You were literally the worst influence.”
“It was my teenage rebellion phase,” Wonwoo jokingly reasoned. “I needed some thrill in my life.”
“Well, you definitely brought some thrill into my life,” Mingyu lightheartedly said. “It came in the form of nearly dropping dead each time I thought Seungcheol-hyung saw past our lies.”
“All jokes aside, though,” Mingyu went on after their shared laughter subsided, “I would probably still be the kid who was afraid of trying new things if we never met.”
“And I’d probably still be the kid who only thought about his own feelings,” Wonwoo replied. Hugging Mingyu just a bit tighter, Wonwoo added, “I’m glad that being together has helped us become better versions of ourselves.”
“I’m glad, too,” Mingyu agreed, lowering the hand that was on Wonwoo’s hair so that it can instead rest on the dip of Wonwoo’s lower back. Kissing the top of Wonwoo’s head, Mingyu softly said, “I love you.”
Those were easily the three words that Wonwoo never got tired of hearing, of saying, of feeling.
“I love you, too,” Wonwoo responded, not having to think twice before letting the sincere words slip out of his mouth.
When their eyes locked once again, neither of them resisted the urge to meet halfway for a kiss. Mingyu sighed contentedly as their kiss got deeper and more intimate, which felt reminiscent of when they were tucked under the thick covers of Mingyu’s lower bunk at the middle of the night and were making out for the first time all those years ago. Wonwoo cracked a tiny smile against the younger’s lips at the memory before he cupped Mingyu’s cheek to pull the latter closer to him.
A few minutes and a million kisses later, the two boys pulled away from each other’s lips (albeit reluctantly) to catch their breaths and keep themselves from going any further that night. They only had a few hours left to get some rest before starting their back-to-back schedules, so some sacrifices had to be made.
“Let’s pick up where we left off tomorrow night,” Mingyu suggested before stealing one more kiss from Wonwoo, who very much welcomed it.
“Or we can pick up where we left off during a random downtime later, if you're in the mood for another thrill,” Wonwoo playfully replied as he teasingly gilded his hand down Mingyu’s torso before stopping on top of the waistband of the younger’s sweats.
“I thought our restroom quickies were a thing of the past,” Mingyu jokingly responded, the corner of his lips curving upward as Wonwoo went on to leave a scattered trace of light kisses on his jawline down to his neck.
“I like to think of it as an oldie but goodie,” Wonwoo lightheartedly said after he finished leaving his aimless kisses. “So?”
“Just tell me when,” Mingyu replied, and Wonwoo laughed softly.
“Oh, I will,” Wonwoo said before turning to lay on his side. Almost instinctively, Mingyu followed Wonwoo’s movement and rolled over to hug the older from the back.
Wonwoo felt significantly more relaxed now than earlier on as his mind strayed away from hyperactive thoughts and eased into thoughts about how lucky he was to be in a healthy and loving relationship with Mingyu, who he spent much of his formative years laughing, crying, and growing with. As a tired yawn escaped his lips, Wonwoo pressed his back closer against Mingyu’s chest, to which Mingyu squeezed the older just a bit tighter in his embrace.
Nestling his chin on the curve of Wonwoo’s neck, Mingyu asked, “Getting sleepy?”
Wonwoo nodded and said, “I finally am.”
Mingyu chuckled.
“That’s good.”
“Goodnight,” Wonwoo said, resting his arm over Mingyu’s. “Thank you for staying up with me.”
“Of course, babe,” Mingyu replied. “Goodnight.”
After just about a minute or so, Wonwoo felt Mingyu’s body go limp on him as the latter fell into his well-deserved slumber. How quickly Mingyu fell asleep made Wonwoo feel a little worse about keeping the other up but also feel even more appreciative of how much his boyfriend does for him.
And as Wonwoo began to doze off just a few seconds later, he was comforted with the thought that, in the midst of ever-changing time zones, Mingyu and he have been and will always be there for each other every second of the day.