"Hurry up and get out of the bathroom!" Youngjae shouted. "I need to shower!"
"Okay!" Daehyun yelled back. "Give me a second!"
Yongguk glanced over at Himchan sitting next to him and smiled. Everything was just as it normally was. While he and Himchan were already packed, showered, and ready to go, the other four were still running around, naturally waiting until the last minute to get everything done.
"I'll give them ten seconds before they need something," Yongguk said.
"I'll give them twenty," Himchan muttered.
"Why so long?" Yongguk asked, frowning.
"Because I want to be able to sit down," Himchan huffed. "It's always like this. Can't they even —"
Suddenly, a screech came from the bathroom.
"What are you doing?!" Youngjae was shouting. "That's my toothbrush!"
"What are you talking about?" Daehyun shouted back. "This is the blue one!"
"No it's not! It's teal!" Youngjae yelled.
"Well, excuse me for not being able to tell the difference between blue and off-blue!"
And somehow, at the same time, a similar yell came out of the bedroom.
"Jongup, that's my shirt! Don't wear it; you'll stretch it!" Zelo said.
"No, it isn't, Zelo," Jongup replied calmly. "It's from the left side of the closet. My clothes are on the left side."
"Which is my side as of last week!" Zelo said, his voice continually rising in volume while Jongup's voice was becoming quieter and quieter by comparison. "See, it has a mark on the tag! That means it's mine!"
"That's wrong, Zelo," Jongup said. "See, I caused this tear right here when I was practicing last week — "
"You mean when I was practicing last week!"
Himchan was practically breathing smoke now. With a smile disguised as a sigh, Yongguk patted Himchan on the back and leaned in close to him. "I'll take Zelo and Jongup if you take Daehyun and Youngjae."
With a curt nod, Himchan stood up and made his way toward the line of battle. Yongguk stood up as well and walked into the bedroom. The closet door was open, a hanger was on the floor, and Jongup held a shirt in his hand with a look of annoyance while Zelo sat on a nearby bed, arms folded and apparently sulking. "What's going on?" Yongguk asked calmly.
Zelo immediately launched into the accusations. "Yongguk-hyung, it's my shirt! He took it and if he wears it, he'll stretch it out!"
"Zelo, this has always been my side of the closet," Jongup said. "Yongguk-hyung, Zelo's wrong. This is my shirt and I need to finish packing."
Yongguk held up his hand to stop the flow of accusations, mainly to silence Zelo before he had a tantrum. "Last week we bought new clothes, remember? And because they were for our promotion that day, we had to hang them up to keep them nice. We had to make room in the closets and do some rearranging so our new clothes would fit, so a similar shirt or two might have been shuffled in with someone else's clothes accidentally. So, now, both of you are right."
Both Zelo and Jongup had on similar expressions of confusion, so Yongguk continued to clarify. "Zelo's correct; three days ago we had to put his clothes on the left side of the closet. See, there's the jacket he wore in our last music video," Yongguk pointed it out, and he could see that both of them were nodding.
"But what about my shirt . . . " Zelo began.
"This is Jongup's shirt, Zelo. The last time you wore your shirt, you took it off after practice and got a smudge of hair dye on the collar, remember?" Yongguk took the shirt from Jongup and turned the collar inside out. "No stain here. And if Jongup's shirt is accidentally hanging in your side of the closet, Zelo, that means your shirt is in Jongup's side."
Yongguk proved his point by walking over to the other side of the closet and flipping through Jongup's clothing before he came across an identical shirt which did, indeed, have a stain of red dye on the collar. He took the shirt off the hanger and handed it to a beaming Zelo.
"Thanks, hyung!" they both said, instant friends again now that the disagreement had been settled. Right away, Zelo put an arm around Jongup's shoulders and pushed him a few times. Jongup pushed back with a smile, then the two of them started right into dancing despite the fact that there was no music.
Yongguk chuckled and walked out of the bedroom at the exact same moment Himchan came out of the bathroom. Yongguk held out his fist to Himchan, and Himchan bumped it with his fist.
"Victory," Himchan sighed.
" 'B.A.P, fighting, ' " Yongguk snorted.
"If only they knew how true that saying actually was," Himchan groaned, falling down on the couch next to Yongguk for the third time that day.
"At least it'll only be a half-hour more of this," Yongguk said. "Then we'll have to be in the car and on our way to the airport even if we just stepped out of the shower."
"Wouldn't the fans love that," Himchan muttered.
"It's all right. They're almost packed," Yongguk said.
"Yeah," Himchan said. "Maybe now I can finally get some sleep — "
"Hey, why are Jongup's jeans in my dresser drawer?" Daehyun yelled.
Himchan let out an exasperated sigh, and Yongguk couldn't help laughing as he watched his friend get up to solve yet another case involving their team members' possessions.
Just then, Zelo and Jongup came out of the bedroom, each hauling large bags over their shoulders. "Hi, Yongguk-hyung," they panted, setting their bags in front of the couch Yongguk was lying on.
"Hey, Zelo, Jongup," Yongguk said. "You two got everything?"
Jongup nodded, and Zelo smiled. "Yup."
Yongguk's eyes narrowed. Zelo was infamous for always forgetting something during a trip. This couldn't be the time he actually remembered everything. "Really, Zelo? You got your clothes and shoes?"
"Uh-huh."
"A good set of tennis shoes and dancing shoes?"
"Yeah."
"Sunglasses and some sort of hat or hoodie?"
Zelo's smile widened. "Yes, hyung."
"How about your passport?"
At this, Zelo blanched. "Oh, no! I almost forgot that!" And with that, he ran back into the bedroom to get what he'd almost forgotten.
Yongguk settled back on the couch with a chuckle. Moments later, Daehyun and Youngjae, both carrying large bags and being ushered in by Himchan, walked into the living room. Then Zelo came running out of the bedroom, breathless and triumphantly gripping his passport in his hands.
"I'm here, hyungs," he panted.
Himchan glanced at Yongguk and Yongguk nodded. Then Himchan faced the group and recited the list of things they needed to take with them.
"Our manager will take care of our concert clothes as well as our makeup, so we don't need to worry about those things. Does everyone have clothes? Disguises? Toothbrushes and any other toiletries? Passports and phones? Two sets of shoes? Wallets?"
Everyone nodded. Then Himchan turned to Daehyun. "Snacks?"
Daehyun smiled and patted the front part of his bag that was bulging with what Yongguk knew to be food. At this, everyone laughed.
"Then let's go," Yongguk announced, getting up and leading the way outside to the car.
"To America!" they all shouted. "B.A.P!"
"All right, everyone. Out of the car!"
Yongguk groaned and opened his eyes, punching Himchan on the shoulder to wake him up.
"We at the airport?" he asked sleepily.
"That's right," Youngjae called from the backseat. "And so are the fans."
Jongup groaned. "Don't they ever sleep?"
"Do we?" Yongguk asked.
"Good point."
"All right, guys," Himchan announced. "Time to put disguises on!"
For the next few seconds, there were the sounds of rustling as everyone pulled up hoods, put on hats and sunglasses, and placed bandanas over their mouths and noses. They did this to disguise themselves so that they wouldn't get mobbed by fans, though it usually didn't help much since the fans seemed to know where they would be before they themselves even knew. Still, any help was a plus.
"I'm a little hungry," Daehyun said, cramming several pretzels into his mouth. "Does anyone want some snacks?"
"No, Daehyun," they all answered.
"Come on, we'd better get going," Yongguk said, opening the door of the car.
"Your idol has arrived," Himchan announced as he climbed out after Yongguk.
As the six of them got out, they were greeted by an upsurge of noise created by at least two hundred fans swarming around their car like bees. B.A.P raised their hands in greetings to the fans, but Yongguk and the others made sure to keep moving. If they stopped, they'd never make it to the airport in one piece. Pushing the doors to the airport open, they entered, and Yongguk was amazed at how many fans were inside the airport itself to greet them. The crowd rushed at them, all holding either cell phones or cameras to take pictures, and Yongguk was glad that several police officers had tagged along to keep them safe. As B.A.P continued to their flight, the fans followed like stalkers, shouting stupid questions and comments like,
"Are you single?"
"Can you take your shirt off?"
"Blow me a kiss!"
"Oh, he looked at me! He's so hot!"
The crowd surged forward once again as Himchan turned and winked at a nearby fan to increase their publicity. Yongguk glanced behind him to make sure the rest of his team was there, but he instinctively knew not to worry. During times like this when the fans were on the brink of going crazy, the six of them stuck together like a phalanx and didn't dare break stride. The four of them were there: Daehyun was still eating, Jongup wasn't looking anywhere but straight ahead, Zelo was walking in a focused yet somehow still carefree manner, and Youngjae was busy poking Daehyun in the back for no reason whatsoever.
Yongguk shot a smile at Himchan, and Himchan smiled back and rolled his eyes as the fans let out more screeches and screams. Fortunately the fans couldn't follow them through security, so after they'd made it past that mark, everyone relaxed. They read their tickets, found their flight, and sat down in the deserted lineup of chairs, sagging with exhaustion.
"Those fans are going to kill us one day," Himchan said.
"I nearly got crushed by a group of girls right as we were leaving. They were all shoving cameras in my face and telling me to 'smile,' " Youngjae said. "I haven't seen that many cameras since we first debuted."
Yongguk shuttered. "I'm just glad that we don't have to worry about being filmed by a cameraman on this trip. I hate cameras."
"Yeah, they'll save that for the concert," Jongup snorted.
"Where's Daehyun?" Himchan asked.
The whole group turned as they saw Daehyun running toward them, and they stiffened since they thought that he was being chased by fans. But seeing Daehyun wave at them calmed their fears, and when he sat down in a chair next to them, the group waited for an explanation.
"Where'd you go?" Himchan asked.
"Sorry," Daehyun said, scratching his neck. "But I was so hungry!" Seconds later, Daehyun reached into his carry-on bag and produced a doughnut. "Anyone want some? It's pretty good."
"So that's what you were doing," Yongguk said.
Youngjae pushed the food away. "How can you be hungry now? I just want to sleep."
"How can you not be hungry now?" Daehyun asked.
"Did anyone get any sleep before we left?" Jongup asked. "I know I didn't."
"I couldn't," Himchan growled.
"Neither could I," Zelo said brightly on the edge of his chair. "I was too excited!"
As everyone stretched and waited for their flight to be called, Yongguk made himself as comfortable as possible and closed his eyes. He was just starting to drift off to sleep when Himchan groaned next to him. Yongguk opened his eyes for a moment and saw Zelo in front of the nearly-sleeping Himchan. Zelo was busy tickling Himchan's nose with his finger, and moments later Himchan's eyes shot open and flashed.
"Don't, Zelo," he growled.
Zelo smiled warily and backed away, smart enough to know when his playfulness wasn't wanted. Yongguk smiled and closed his eyes again, humoring Zelo and allowing the youngest in the group to poke his face and annoyingly stroke his head before he finally pushed Zelo's hand away and made a move to bite Zelo's hand when it returned. Zelo laughed and moved on.
"Jongup-hyung," Zelo began. "Jongup-hyung."
"Hmm?" Jongup asked sleepily. "Hmm?" Then he groaned in a way that clearly stated that he preferred to keep sleeping.
"He's made it to Jongup," Yongguk whispered to Himchan.
"Jongup-hyung . . . "
"Five seconds," Himchan whispered back.
"Jongup-hyung. Jongup-hyungggg," Zelo sang.
"Three," Himchan muttered.
"Two," Yongguk said.
"One."
As if on cue, the entire seating arrangement lurched backward as Jongup shot up to face Zelo, his mouth set but his eyes glowing in playfulness. Zelo looked scared for a moment, then laughed as Jongup began chasing him down the hall. Zelo's weak apologies could be heard from where Yongguk was sitting, but Jongup would have none of it.
"Just don't kill him, Jongup," Himchan called out lamely after them.
"Yeah, he still needs to perform," Yongguk snorted.
Zelo's screeches became louder and louder until the group finally saw him running back toward them, sliding to a stop in front of their seats. He gasped, took a moment to catch his breath, then grinned at each of them in turn. "This is fun," he panted.
"Fun?" Jongup asked, running up behind Zelo and colliding with him to knock him down. "You need to apologize for waking me up!"
Zelo turned around to face Jongup, bowed, then looked up at Jongup with sorrowful eyes. "I'm sorry for waking you up, Jongup-hyung."
Jongup's frown quickly turned into a grin when he saw Zelo trying to appease him. Zelo started laughing, and Jongup followed suit. "Just don't do it again," Jongup joked, lightly punched Zelo's head.
"Now boarding flight 23, direct from Seoul, Korea to Los Angeles, California."
"That's us," Yongguk said.
"I don't understand why they need to announce the flight if we're the only ones on it. It was booked solely for us," Himchan said.
"I don't get it, either," Yongguk said.
"And I didn't get any sleep," Youngjae pouted.
"You'll be able to sleep on the plane," Daehyun said.
"Not with Zelo," Yongguk and Himchan said together.
Zelo, who was in the middle of dancing, paused and looked up. "Did you say something?"
With no more incidences, the six of them filed onto the plane and took their seats, giving one last wave to Korea before the plane took off ten minutes later.
"Bye, home," Daehyun said. "We'll see you soon."
"Yeah, we're on our way to America," Yongguk said. He glanced over at Himchan and punched him on the shoulder, then noticed that Jongup, sitting behind them, was looking exasperated, albeit good-naturedly. "What's wrong?"
"The one time I actually want to get up and get something from my carry-on, and . . . look!"
Yongguk looked and couldn't help smiling. Sitting next to Jongup was Zelo, and Zelo had fallen asleep against Jongup's knee so that it was impossible for Jongup to move without waking Zelo up.
"I guess he's getting back at you for chasing him," Youngjae said, turning around as well and looking at the scene behind them.
"Come on, that was his fault anyway," Jongup said. With a frown, Jongup turned to the
sleeping Zelo and held out a hand to slap him, but stopped just short and patted his head instead. "I can't stay mad at him," he sighed, settling back into his seat with a small smile. "He's just too cute."
"Too bad he knows it," Himchan said.
"Can you believe that he almost forgot his passport?" Yongguk said. "I had to remind him to
bring it."
"Good thing you did. We'd look pretty incomplete if we did the concert without him," Jongup said, still lightly patting Zelo's head.
"Besides, who could we count on keeping us up all night?" Youngjae said.
Everyone laughed, but quietly so as to not wake Zelo.
"How long is this flight supposed to take?" Daehyun asked.
"I don't know; I think they said seven or eight hours," Yongguk said. "Then we'll be in Los Angeles."
"I'll be stuck here for the next eight hours," Jongup said.
"Just pretend you're practicing locking," Himchan said. "If you work at it for the next eight hours, you'll be great by the time we land in America."
"And I'll have exhausted every muscle in my body and be unable to perform," Jongup said.
"Are you sure you guys don't want anything to eat or drink?" Daehyun asked, taking out a bag of chips and a can of soda and opening both.
"I'll have some soda," Jongup said.
Daehyun handed the soda over Zelo to Jongup, and after a sip off the drink Jongup took the soda can and lightly pressed the bottom of the can against Zelo's cheek. He pressed the can once more against Zelo's face before Zelo shifted and slowly opening his eyes.
"Are we there already?" Zelo muttered.
"Nope. Just eating," Jongup said.
"Really?" Zelo asked, sitting up with such energy that Yongguk was amazed that Zelo ever managed to sleep at all. "Are there any cherry tomatoes to eat?"
Daehyun's smile widened. "You don't think I would forget them, would you?" He pulled out a container and handed it to Zelo who was now squealing with delight.
"Cherry tomatoes!" he yelled with glee, eating them all with relish and only giving one to Jongup before eating the rest.
"Zelo, I know why your hair's red. It's because you eat so many cherry tomatoes," Jongup said.
Zelo smiled, popping another cherry tomato into his mouth. "If that's the case, then I'll have red hair when I'm eighty!"
Yongguk watched Zelo eating with such a passion that it made his own stomach growl. He turned to Himchan. "Seeing him eat makes me wish I had some ramen."
"Or some Korean barbecue," Youngjae said.
At Youngjae's words, all the boys in the group fell into a short silence as they contemplated the consumption of the best food in Korea. Even Zelo paused with a cherry tomato to his lips.
"Well, we'll have some barbecue once we get back from our tour," Himchan said to bring everyone out of their slight depression. "As a reward to ourselves for working so hard."
"Yeah, let's practice dancing so we can really earn it!" Zelo said. Before anyone could say anything, Zelo had pushed past Jongup and started dancing in the aisle, humming a simple tune that he could dance along to.
"Try this, Zelo," Jongup said, taking out his phone, selecting a song that everyone instantly recognized, and jumping up himself to dance beside Zelo.
" 'We got the power!' " they all sang.
"This was such a great song," Himchan said as the song continued playing.
"You got that right," Yongguk said. "And don't forget safe. We didn't get injured during the production of 'Power' like we did during 'One Shot.' "
"But my hand's fine now," Himchan said. "Is yours good, oh, great warrior?"
"I'm fine. Because, you know, we need to keep up our tough image," Yongguk said.
"You mean the toddler image," Youngjae snorted.
"What do you . . . " Yongguk turned to see what Youngjae was looking at. Zelo was in the aisle, in front of Jongup and dancing childishly to the ending of "Power." He was swinging his arms, bopping his head from side to side, and smiling in a way that in no way demonstrated the tough image they were trying to present to the public. "Zelo!" Yongguk said. "Stop that!"
Zelo stopped for a moment, his smile disappearing. Seconds later he was doing the same dance again, flashing Yongguk a quick apologetic smile as he continued. Yongguk couldn't help laughing.
"Come on, Zelo, get your image right!" Daehyun said, nudging his way to the aisle and taking the stance of a dancer. "Dance like we've got the power!" After saying this, Daehyun performed an amazing pirouette and jumped into the air, hitting the ground in splits fashion. Then the whole team heard a loud rip.
Daehyun was suddenly up from the floor, clutching the fork of his jeans while limping across the aisle with a look of pure horror on his face. Everyone else was roaring with laughter, and several of the members fell out of their seats.
"No!" he sputtered. "Guys, this isn't good! We're going to be in America in a few hours!"
"J-just get a new pair of jeans from your carry-on," Yongguk laughed out.
"I can't!" Daehyun said, now sounding even more frantic. "This was the only pair that was clean because Zelo didn't do the laundry before we left!"
"The fans will certainly get an eyeful then," Himchan said, still crippled with laughter.
Daehyun ran off to the bathroom then, leaving the rest of the team to compose themselves which took at least ten minutes.
"Do you think we should help him find some clothes to wear?" Youngjae asked once everyone had calmed down.
"No, our manager will handle it," Himchan said. "But if not, we can just lend him a pair of our jeans and never let him forget it."
"So, what do you think will be your favorite part of America?" Yongguk asked.
"Being able to perform," Himchan said.
"Seeing our fans," Jongup said.
"The beaches and the sights," Zelo said.
"What about you, Yongguk? What'll be your favorite part of America?"
Yongguk thought for a moment. "Just being there, I guess. It's an honor."
At that moment, Daehyun returned wearing a pair of black jeans.
"So the Great Daehyun returns," Youngjae said. "Who'd you have to bribe to get those jeans?"
Daehyun pushed his hair away from his face, laughing a little in an attempt to brush off his embarrassment. "I'm so glad that our manager thinks of everything. This was the pair of jeans that I wore for our 'Power' music video. I'm just glad that they fit well."
"Don't do any splits in them during performance," Youngjae said.
"Or else you'll be performing a concert that our fans will never forget," Yongguk said.
Attention, passengers. We will be arriving in America in ten minutes. Please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts.
"Wow, already?" Himchan said. "That was fast."
"Time flies when you're having fun," Yongguk said.
"And falling asleep," Jongup said, with a glance at Zelo.
"And eating," Himchan said, with a glance at Daehyun.
"And splitting your jeans," Youngjae laughed.
Yongguk smiled, but Daehyun looked so miserable that he punched Daehyun on the shoulder to cheer him up.
"Come on, everyone," Himchan said. "Buckle up."
"And get out your passports," Yongguk added, glancing at Zelo.
Zelo smiled and waved his passport in the air.
The six of them extracted their passports from their wallets and buckled up. The plane landed soon after, and before they knew it they were being ushered off the plane by a group of American policemen. The six went through customs, then prepared themselves to present their image to the American fans who were at the airport.
"Well, this is it," Yongguk said loudly so everyone could hear him.
"We're about to meet our American fans," Himchan said.
"I wonder how many there'll be," Jongup said.
"But what if there aren't any?" Zelo asked.
Everyone paused, Zelo's having voiced everyone's greatest fear. What if they had booked a tour in America only to find out that only one or two fans had ever heard of them? Or worse, what if they didn't do well and lost fans because of that?
"We've done our best this far," Yongguk said to cheer everyone up. "The fans know that. I'm sure there are hundreds of them waiting for us in the airport." He paused and knuckled Zelo under the chin. "Be strong; we're warriors, remember?"
Zelo looked up at him, smiled, and nodded.
Yongguk nodded as well, swallowing his silent fear as he slowly descended the stairs that led to the public part of the airport. He looked through the glass windows to the other side of the airport and gasped.