Slow, Baby

Tara had to look away before she choked on her ramen, putting down her chopsticks and letting it out with the rest of the guys. Yura was practically crying, her hand covering her mouth as she burst out laughing, patting the back of Yukwon as he took a deep breath in. He was wearing a thick layer of snail secretion all over his face along with bright red lipstick and one of Yura’s silky pink bras. If he hadn’t begged beforehand, he would’ve worn equally silky pink panties.

“Omo, does that mask make you look a little constipated, hyung?” P.O pointed out, all of them laughing even harder, Minhyuk rolling back as he covered his face.

“Mm, the slime is so sexy.” Zico moaned as Tara covered her face, Jaehyo busting out a louder laughter than before. “Take it off, you bad boy!” Kyung choked on his drink as both Tara and Taeil quickly started to smack his back.

“Yah!” Yura clapped, taking a sip of cocktail. “Don’t make fun of him just yet, this isn’t over.” She grabbed the remote to her stereo, clicking until “Abracadabra” started playing on the speakers. “Dance, puppet.”

Yukwon groaned as the boys cheered, raising up their chopsticks. “You’re gonna pay for this, Yura-yah.” He scowled at her before he started dancing, the boys clapping their hands.

The blonde raised up her cup. “But oppa, I’m sure we both know threats don’t work against me.”

Tara snorted out a chuckle before taking a sip of her own drink. They had been at this for an hour now, betting against each other, playing games and creating dares. It had started off as simple things, such as Kyung going out to the balcony, screaming out his full name and calling himself a babo. But as the night passed on they had resorted to more embarrassing things.

She glanced at Zico, her eyes going from the rainbow eyeshadow to the string that crept out of his pants. That was a thong Yura would never get back. She then went to Minhyuk who, although looked normal then, you would’ve never guessed had just gone streaking out the hall. Even she had received a very light but extremely embarrassing punishment of giving the most awkward lap dance to cute and quiet Taeil, who kept a poker face through it all. She felt like dying, but hey. Tara raised up her cup as they clinked them together. The care slowly started to fade away through every sip.

“Okay, okay,” Yura chuckled. “You may sit.” He sat next to her, quickly wrapping his arms around her shoulders and snuggling his cheek against hers, smearing her with the face mask. “Yah!” She stuck out her tongue, rubbing it with the palm of her hand. “It’s okay, the mask was meant for me to use anyway.” Tara passed her a napkin.

“Anyway,” Zico put his fists out. “Who’s ready for this?”

They all put their own fists out, taking a deep breath in. “Everyone remembers the rule for Jero now right? We’ll start out from the last loser, I mean, loser,” P.O snorted. “and we’ll make our way around. Yukwonnie will call out a number between zero and eighteen, and if that number is how many thumbs are raised, he wins and is out. We’ll keep at this until it’s just one against one. The first winner will get to choose the losers penalty.” The blonde looked at each of them, as they nodded one by one. “‘Kay, here we go.”

“Fourteen!” Yukwon called, their eyes counting quickly, lowering them again as they realized it was twelve.

Yura went next. “Six!”

It was nine.

“Seventeen.”

Tara’s furrowed her eyebrows. Eleven. No luck.

“Twelve!” P.O called. “Hah! I’m out.”

The circle tightened a bit. Now it was zero to sixteen.

“Thirteen.” Kyung went.

Fifteen.

Zico’s turn. “Zero!”

He grinned when no one lifted their thumbs, standing up and rubbing Taeil’s back.

Zero to fourteen.

“Five!”

Fourteen.

Jaehyo licked his lips. “Eight!”

“Four.” Minhyuk nodded in approval as four thumbs were lifted, standing up as we pulled the circle closer.

Zero to twelve.

Back to Yukwon.

“Eleven.”

Three.

“Twelve.”

One. Yura frowned.

“Three.” Tara smiled. She was out. Kyung’s eyes followed her to the couch before he was brought back into the game.

Zero to ten.

“Two.”

Kyung pouted. Seven.

“Six.”

Two.

“Nine.”

Seven.

“Five!” Yukwon grinned a sunny smile as he blew a kiss at Yura, who greeted him with her middle finger, watching him stand up and sit back on the couch next to the other guys.

Zero to eight.

Jaehyo, Yura, Kyung, and Taeil were left.

“Six.”

Two. Yura bit her bottom lip.

“Zero.” Kyung jumped up. “Yes!”

Zero to six.

“Five.”

Three.

“Two.”

One.

“Two.” Yura cussed when only one thumb was lifting, Zico strutting over and sitting behind her, humming ‘Under Pressure’. She elbowed him.

“Three.”

Four.

“One.” Jaehyo let out a huge sigh of relief as he crawled away, leaving on Taeil and Yura as the final contenders.

Zero to four.

“Oh boy,” Yura plastered on a smile, Taeil smiling back. “Two.”

“One.”

“Four.”

“Four.”

“Two!”

“Zero!”

“One! YEAH!” Taeil slammed his hands down and raised up his fists in victory, as Yura cried out as she rolled around the floor.

Tara laughed, walking over and rubbing her back while the guys high-fived Taeil, who was grinning from ear to ear.

“The queen has fallen from her throne.” Zico put his fist against his mouth as if he was blowing on a trumpet. “All hail King Taeil-ssi!”

They went down on all fours and bowed over and over, as Yura stood up, sniffling as she held onto Tara. “I hate you all.”

They picked up their drinks and cheered, Kyung pulling Tara just as Yukwon pulled Yura, taking them apart. “No, Tara-unnie, protect me the boys are being mean!”

Kyung held onto Tara’s arms before she could move. “Nope, Tara-noona is staying with me. It’s time for your punishment.”

Yukwon sat her down, holding onto her waist while Jaehyo and Minhyuk held onto her arms and legs just in case she tried to kick or punch. It wouldn’t be a first. P.O walked in front of her, smiling down and giving an evil laugh. “What shall I make our dear, Yura-yah do?”

“Just remember that I might be drunk, but not enough for me to forget.” Yura growled. “Whatever you do, I promise,” Her tone lowered. “I will make you pay.”

P.O stared down at her for a couple of seconds, before tapping his chin. “Zico-hyung cover her mouth. Her voice is too distracting.”

“What?! Oh for Jesus’s sa-,” Her voice was muffled by Zico’s palm, her eyebrows furrowing together, as the shy boy turned to his maknae.

“Ew, she’s licking me!” He moaned.

“Wait! Let me think.” P.O cried out, pacing a bit as he took a sip of his juice. “Ah. Got it.” He turned towards Tara. “I’m going to need you to help me.”



“I’m going to kill them.”

“I have to ask. How do they even know you have that outfit?”

Yura turned to look at her patting down the ruffles of her long skirt, fixing the top part. “Anime Con. They went as One Piece characters and they wanted me to go as Nami.” She groaned. “I swore I would only wear this once.”

Tara passed her the holden bracelets as she slipped them on, fixing the long, light pink vest over the dark blue bathing suit top. “Hand me the wig.” She did as she was told, giving the orange, short haired wig to Yura, who fixed it on top of her blonde hair.

“By the way, I’m sorry I didn’t ask, but how’d it go with Kyung?”

Tara pushed up her glasses. “Okay I guess. I mean, we talked a bit.”

“What about?”

“Well, you at first.”

Yura scoffed. “Me?”

“I wanted to know how you guys met.” She started tapping her foot. “You lost your grandmother’s ring and they helped you out.”

“Yup.” Yura smiled, stretching out her hand to show her the ring. “They really helped me out. I felt like I owed them. That’s how the whole, ‘you can come over to my apartment and sleep’ thing started.”

“I see.”

Yura sat back down on the bed. “What else? Give me more details.”

“He called me cute.”

“Did he ask if you had a boyfriend?”

“No actually... he said he wasn’t going to either.” Tara bit her bottom lip.

They heard a knock on the door. “Is Nami ready or what?”

“Yeah, yeah, give me a minute, almost done.” Yura called back. “Anyway,” She raised her eyebrows. “That’s a surprise. Even when I first met him he asked me that.”

“He said that he wants to take it slow.”

Yura snorted, standing up. “Slow? Man Tara, you sure are something. Been here for a day and already driving the boys wild.”

Tara grinned. “Whatever! Besides what about you?”

“What about me?”

“You and Yukwon?” The brunette raised her eyebrows. “Do I even have to point it out?”

“What?” She shook her head. “No, no. Trust me, we’re just close friends.”

“Close friends aren’t even as close as you two are.”

“We just know each other, okay? He was the one who first offered me a helping hand when I got here. We have things in common. That doesn’t mean I like him.”

“Fine. But it’s pretty obvious he likes you.”

“He does not.”

“But you like him.”

“Do not.”

“But you do.”

“Shaddup.”

“Is that a yes?”

“That’s a-,” She paused, looking towards the door, and sighing. “Wait.” She lifted up her fist, banging it as a couple of yelps burst from the other side of the door. “Continuing on.”

“How’d you even-,” Tara sighed. “You amaze me.”

Yura opened the door, leaning against the side. “Get an earful, or should we speak louder?”

“But if it isn’t Nami!” P.O stepped in, as she stuck out her tongue. “Ready?”

“You still haven’t told me what I’m going to do.”

“Well, you’re missing an essential thing.”

Zico walked over towards them, uncapping a black magic marker. “Are you ready for the Zico?”

She closed her eyes. “Bring it.”

Tara felt a tap against her shoulder, her head turning as she smiled at Kyung who extended her cup of ramen towards her. “Here. In case you wanted more.”

“Thank you,” She looked down, pressing her lips against the rim and taking a sip of the broth. He smiled, picking up his noodles with his chopsticks and slurping them up.

“There you go!” Zico turned her towards everyone, as they burst out laughing, Yura scrunching up his nose as she walked towards the closest mirror.

He had doodled a thick mustache on her face, her mouth letting out a heavy sigh. “Sexy. What’s next?”

“Next is the fun part.” Jaehyo opened the door as P.O directed her out, pointing out into the hall.

“We want you to knock on every door of this floor. If a girl opens you have to start dancing, “Tell Them”. If a boy opens you have to ask, ‘Oppa, can I tell you a secret?’ with a very cute voice. If they shut the door, you go to the next. But if they say yes, you have to say, ‘I’m genie for you, boy’ and start dancing to “Tell Me Your Wish”.”

“Aw for God’s sakes!” She moaned. “Fine.”

“You are strangely calm. You know this is only fun if you’re embarrassed.” The maknae pouted, shoving her out.

“Not my fault you almost cried when we had you call Dara-unnie.” She laughed. “How is it you never assumed that I had her number even though I work for YGE?”

“Shut it, and go dance. Hyungs get the camera.” P.O snapped his fingers.



“BUBBLE BUBBLE BUBBLE POP, BUBBLE BUBBLE POP POP,” Zico popped his bubble with his hips as he sang into the microphone, screaming the words in.

Tara moaned with the rest of the guys, taking a gulp of her cocktail. Jaehyo should take bar tending as a profession if singing doesn’t work out for him. “Yah, Tara-noona, do you know where the other microphone is? We want to do duets. And by duets we mean everyone but Zico-yah.”

She frowned as her eyes met Kyung’s shaking her head. “It might be in Yura’s room. Let me go check.”

As far as Tara knew, Yura and Yukwon were in the restroom, washing off theirs faces, him from the green mask and her from the marker. There were two bathrooms in the house, one in Tara’s room and and one in Yura’s room, both small and comfortable enough for them to use.

She felt it was better to not bother them, so as she snuck inside she was quick to press a finger against her lips, making sure to let Kyung know that if he was going to follow, he better stay quiet.

“You know, I had never seen such a face on an ahjusshi before.” Kyung perked up his head as soon as he heard voices, getting down on all fours and sneaking next to the slightly open, bathroom door, peaking through. Tara sighed, lowering herself next to him, and mouthing a, ‘what the hell are you doing?’

He grinned, pressing his finger against his lips and pointing inside, moving a little to let Tara spy next to him, their cheeks pressing against each others.

Tara could see Yura laugh as she watched Yukwon wash his face, scrubbing the mask off. “But seriously. Though, I think the best part was when those two boys opened the door. Every wet dream they will ever have from now on will include you dressed as Nami.”

“I think I saw their little buddies winking at me when I started doing the leg flick actually,” She added, covering her face. “God, I will never be able to go out of my apartment ever again.”

Yukwon wiped his face against a blue, fuzzy towel. “At least we’ll be able to re-live your wonderful interpretation of “Tell Them” forever.” He moved over towards where she was, giving her room to stand and walk towards the sink, first splashing some water against her skin and quickly grabbing her facial scrub and brushing it against her cheeks and nose.

“Honestly, I think I danced to “Tell Me” pretty well until the lady shut the door on my face.” Yura smiled at him before washing off the soap.

“I thought so as well actually.” He placed his hand against her cheek. “Sit, you still have some black on you.”

She groaned, sitting back on the Hello Kitty covered toilet seat. Yukwon dipped a small wash towel into the water, patting it against the top of her upper lip, softly brushing it over and over. “You know, you can stop wearing my bra now.” They both burst out laughing, Yukwon placing his head against her shoulder as she unhooked it from the back, letting it fall to the floor.

Yura’s hands didn’t slide off his skin though, instead they glided upwards, tracing his shoulders until they cupped his face, her nose smashing against his red hair. She could feel his breath against her earlobe, his wet cheek rubbing against her own. “I thought you didn’t like me.”

“I don’t.” She murmured.

“Then?” He moved away, bending down and placing his forearms on her thighs, giving her a pout.

Yura leaned down, pressing her forehead against his own. “Do you have to ask?”

“I drank four beers, and like five cups of that yogurt cocktail Jaehyo-hyung likes to make.” They chuckled. “I need to ask.”

“I don’t like you because you know very well I’ve been in love with you for months. And I don’t like you because even though you love me back, you’re too airheaded to make a move.” She hissed. “Babo.”
“I don’t like you either.” He whispered back. “I don’t like how close Zico-yah and you are. I don’t like the fact that if I ask you out, and we start going out, we might have to hide our relationship. I don’t like that I love you. So, sorry okay,” he pressed his lips against her cheek. “I’m sorry.”

“You missed.” The blonde smashed her lips against his, one hand cupping her jaw while the other pulled her up from the seat, her arms locking around his neck.

Tara couldn’t help grin from ear to ear, turning over and smiling at the equally excited Kyung. He raised a finger as she pressed her own against it, quietly high-fiving with each other as they kept on watching for a couple more seconds, their mouths slowly gaping at how quickly the scene was turning steamy.

Yukwon’s fingertips trailed down Yura’s spine, spinning around and slamming her against the wall, his hands rummaging around her thighs as he lifted her up with ease, her legs wrapping around his waist as his teeth lightly bit into her neck, her breath letting out an airy moan.

The brunette had watched enough. She tackled Kyung down to the ground, yanking him by the arm all the way out the door. Before they could explain what was going on, they were quickly cut off by the scene before them, Kyung’s head shaking on and on.

The rest of the boys were dead asleep, bodies either on each other’s body parts or on pieces of the couch, gentle snores echoing through the room. Tara let out a short smile. It was cute. “Should we wake them up or what?”

“Is it okay if we don’t?” He asked, his head turning to look at her.

“Yeah, it’s fine I’m sure. Yura shouldn’t mind.”

He agreed with her, as they both walked over into a small closet where the blankets were kept, carrying them over to where they were and covering them two by two, being careful not to wake them up or step on leftover ramen, cocktail, or beer cups before slipping out into the balcony, shutting the glass door behind them.

Tara took a deep breath in, holding it and letting it out. “Well,” She glanced at him. “Now what?”

“Now we chat.” He smiled. “I had been hoping we got a second chance of being alone together before the night ended.”

“Oh really?” She leaned against the white stone, her eyes looking over the city.

“Really.” He stood next to her, his eyes searching for stars. “Really... you know, I found you very interesting since I first saw you.”

She glanced down at her hands. “How come?”

“Well, first of all, you glow.” Kyung covered his face his hands. “Aigo~ now I’m embarrassed. What I meant was that, you kind of... I don’t know, it was just like you, agh!” He raked his hair back. “I don’t even,” he looked at her. “am I making any sense?”

Tara swayed on her heels. “Kind of, sort of.”

“Okay, okay, good.” He sighed. “I just-,”

“Before you continue,” she interrupted. “what did you mean when you said ‘take it slow’ with me?”

“I thought you didn’t want to know.” He gave a surprised grin.

“Changed my mind.” She shrugged, tapping her hands against the concrete. She was too fidgety for her own good. “May I know?”

“Sure.” He opened his mouth to speak. “It adds to what I want to say actually.”

Tara looked back out.

“You’re special.” He paused. “You’re... you glow. You’re cute, and funny, and I like hanging out with you. It feels right. And I like that feeling. And I want to ask you out.”

Tara felt all the blood in her body rush to her face.

“But I don’t want to scare you away.” He moaned. “I know I come off as a little strong, but that’s only because I really like you. Even if it’s just been a day. It means more because it’s just been a day right? It means that you’re incredibly amazing. It means,” He looked anywhere but at her, shifting from side to side. “it means that it was love at first sight.”

Silence wrapped around them like a veil as he stared down at his feet, her eyes going from building to building, trying to imagine herself anywhere but there. She wanted to respond something back. Something cute enough to go with the equally warm mood. Tara wanted to embrace him and tell him that she felt the same way. That even since she saw him in the hallway she had felt a strange buzz in her stomach, something she hadn’t felt before. Even if it had just been a day.

But she had nothing. Zero. Nada. As soon as she heard the word ‘love’, her mind had shut down, packed it’s bags, and bought the first ticket to Acapulco. She could cry.

“Well,” He glanced at her a couple times before pulling them away. “This is when you say something back.”

She opened her mouth to speak. Nothing but air came out.

“Okay, I guess I get it,” He pinched his own cheeks. “I came out a bit too strong. Ugh, I just... wanted you to know that. I don’t know, maybe it’s all the soju. I’ll go back to my apartment if you like, I don’t want to bother you no further.”

She grabbed onto his sleeve before he could walk off, his eyes connecting with hers as her head firmly shook. “Don’t... go.”

He slowly nodded, leaning back against the concrete. Tara fiddled with the end of her blouse. “I’m leaving in three months. When I first came here, I thought it would be an adventure. That I would meet a lot of great people and half fun with one of my closest friends. But,” She furrowed her eyebrows. “When I met you...” She dug her nails into her arm. “I don’t know. There was... kind of like a buzz? And when we started talking and stuff, and I got to know you better and all this and I just...”

Kyung slipped his hand around hers, squeezing it. “I get it.” He smiled. “I do.”

Tara exhaled a gentle, ‘yeah’.

He stepped closer, bumping his head against hers, giving her a sweet smile. “Then let’s take it slow.”

“Slow?” Tara laughed. “Yura and Yukwon slow?”

He shook his head, chuckling. “They are the exception because they’ve been sexually frustrated for each other since they met, so I give them the benefit of the doubt. But we,” He bent down and kissed her cheek. “We will go slow. At a pace we both feel comfortable in. Three months is a lot of time.” He furrowed his eyebrows. “I mean, if you want.”

She kissed his cheek back. “Yeah. I want.”

They held onto each other for a second, his arms slipping under her own, wrapping around her back as her cheek nuzzled against his chest, her hands threading through his hair. Her eyes slowly started to close.

He made it so easy.

He made her feel so safe.

‘Slow, huh?’