pinky up!

by pinksun4eva

Summary:

“I can have a plan,” Anton interrupts him. “I can make a plan right now, as long as I know you are coming with me.”

“And if I don’t?” the older asks.

“Then I will drag you out of that gaming chair whether you like it or not.”

“Geez, Anton,” Sohee chuckles. “The end of the world made you evil, huh?”

The world is ending this week. That is what the news and radio keep telling people. It should have ended in 30 days, but the scientists made the wrong calculation, so the world will end way sooner than they expected. There is a meteor rain hitting the earth— or that’s what they understand. Basically, dinosaur gate 2.0.

And Anton is here, in his room, looking at the booking code for the flight he bought for two more weeks. And the tab where it says all the flights are booked. It doesn’t matter if he flies and transit to ten more countries before New Jersey. All the planes are booked, also Anton doesn’t want to step foot inside the chaos that is happening at the airport right now.

So he just sits in the dorm, listening to Shotaro’s luggage wheels rolling until they stop right in front of his door. “Knock knock,” Shotaro says while opening Anton’s door, which is already half-open anyway. “Hi, I’m gonna go now.”

Without hesitation, Anton runs and hugs him for it is the last hug they might share. No, it is the last hug he is going to have with Shotaro ever. They don’t say any words, just letting the feeling sink in.

They already talked about their feelings for each other two nights before, the day the scientists announced that they had made a miscalculation. So there is no need for them to say anything again, except for how unfair it is. They are really at the peak of their careers, and the fucking apocalypse suddenly hits.

“Goodbye, hyung,” Anton sniffles into his neck.

“Goodbye,” Shotaro caressing his back. “Are you really not going to go anywhere?”

“No, I don’t think so. Maybe I will. I don’t know. I don’t have any plans at all,” Anton answers, quickly erasing the tears from his eyes. “Everyone already left anyway.”

“Sohee haven’t.” Shotaro stops him. “He is still downstairs playing with Eunseok’s computer, you know.”

“I don’t know if he wants to talk with me,” Anton answers him with a smile. “I’ll figure it out on my own.”

“Come on,” Shotaro complains. “You both only have each other for now. And I know you both have so many things to talk about.”

“It’s fine,” Anton says. “You can go. If you miss your plane, then you are going to be stuck with me too.”

“Okay.” Shotaro nods. “Promise to text me whenever you can, and if the internet cuts out again, just know that I love you. Always.”

“Yes, I love you too, hyung.” They share one last hug before Anton follows him out to the basement, where he will drive himself to the airport and fly back to Japan.

The plan was already organized for Anton—or it used to be. When the government announced they couldn’t do anything about the meteorites hitting the earth, he booked a flight for his family for that day. And for him scheduled two more weeks later, because even when the world is ending there are still idol things to do. They can’t cancel the fansigns, can they?

And so the plan perishes, like the earth in a week. Anton is now alone in their dorm, with no family and just Sohee, who refuses to talk to him. Maybe Anton could try to contact the NCT-s. They have so many members that there might be someone who is also stuck here like him.

But everyone is probably spending their last day with their loved ones. Anton is too shy to just bump in and ask to hang out with someone he barely knows. So, he presses the button to what used to be Wonbin, Sungchan, and Eunseok’s floor.

They gave Anton the key, so he just barges in there, expecting to see Sohee. No—well, he is going to fix it with Sohee. This last weekend is already shit, so he’s going to at least fix things with his best friend.

As expected, Sohee is there, sitting in front of the PC with his headphones on, talking to whoever is on that Discord call. And that pisses Anton off. Shotaro already told him what Sohee was doing, but seeing it firsthand? So he grabs an empty can of soda from the floor and throws it at Sohee’s head.

“What the fuck?” Sohee turns his chair around, putting down his headphones to look at the younger standing right behind him with his arms crossed.

“Pathetic, truly. This might be the last week you live, and you are seriously—seriously—going to spend it playing games?” Anton rambles.

“That’s none of your business.” Sohee gives him a look and puts his headphones back on.

“Nope.” Anton pulls down his headphones, followed by a curse from Sohee. “I won’t let you do this. Get up and go travel with me. I heard there are still a lot of train tickets available.”

“No.” Sohee answers briefly before turning around again, but gets pulled back by Anton. “Do it yourself. Leave me alone. You are the reason I’m stuck here anyway.”

Hearing that, Anton plugs off the cable attached to the wall, followed by bad words from Sohee’s mouth that Anton hasn’t even realized the meaning of yet. “Sure, whatever. Blame it on me as much as you want, even though we both know that is on you too. But I won’t let you just rot around here on your last day.”

Sohee stands up and lands a punch on Anton’s face. “Fuck!” Sohee yells, holding his hand because the punch did more damage to his hand than it did to Anton. But rather than the pain on his face, all Anton can feel is a numb sensation in his chest.

“Are you done?” Anton utters while rubbing his face.

“No, I am not done!” Sohee yells. “I almost won that round! If you didn’t fuck it all up, I should have ranked up! Fuck you, man! Not everything is about you and your travel goals. I have my own goal for the end of the world!”

“I’m sorry,” Anton replies. “What should I do when you’ve been avoiding me? You are all I have left.”

As much as Sohee’s heart is filled with rage, his eyes soften a little when he looks up at the guy he has spent most of his time with for the last five years. They are each other’s person, whether Sohee likes it or not. “Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know. Anywhere but here,” Anton answers. “I don’t want to see work stuff when I die.”

“When we die,” Sohee corrects him. “That’s a great plan you have there.”

“I can have a plan,” Anton interrupts him. “I can make a plan right now, as long as I know you are coming with me.”

“And if I don’t?” the older asks.

“Then I will drag you out of that gaming chair whether you like it or not.”

“Geez, Anton,” Sohee chuckles. “The end of the world made you evil, huh?”

“I don’t care,” Anton says, interrupting him again. “I care about you too much to let you rot here alone, with beer cans on the floor”

Sohee sighs and contemplates about it for a few seconds. “Make a plan.”

“Huh?” Anton is confused by his answer.

“Make a plan and show it to me. I won’t do a crazy adventure where we don’t know what we should do or where to go.” Sohee continues, “I want a detailed plan about your trip, or I won’t go.”

“Okay.” Anton nods, giving him a smile before jumping to the door. “I promise this is going to be good.”

“Sure.” Sohee smiles before sitting on the gaming chair again, closing his eyes.

 

—

 

The plan is easy: go to a town small enough for anyone to not recognize them. Not that it matters anymore—Anton could go down right now to the nearest GS25 and people wouldn’t even bat an eye. The worst they can do is just tap his shoulder and smile. Everyone is too busy spending their end to give a fuck about idols.

The next problem is, Anton is too busy searching town tourist information to realize that they’ve booked out all the train tickets. He’s back to square one. Sohee is going to kill him. Everything he just done to Sohee flashed onto his mind.

Anton has unplugged Sohee’s precious computer in the middle of his game, and he has no plan to present. Sohee is going to kill him.

He could book a bus, but he’s sure Sohee doesn’t want to be crammed in a small space with Anton’s tall ass for more than 3 hours just to go to a small town. Anton knows Sohee is better than that. He sighs and puts his head down on the table.

His phone notification rings.

Sohee
It’s been one hour.
Where are you with your plans.

Anton
I’m sorry.
I’ve been too busy considering Pohang and Yeosu that they ran out of tickets for today.

Sohee
Figured.
What a great plan you have there.

Anton
I’m sorry. You can kill me. It’s not like it matters anymore.

Sohee
I’m not gonna kill you.
Just take my car.

Anton
Really?! I haven’t passed my driving test though.

Sohee
Do you really think they are gonna fine us?

Anton
Right.
Right.
Okay.

Sohee
Just plan the town we are driving to. I’m going to pack.

Anton
I’m aiming for the beach.

Sohee
I don’t care. Just get me out of here.

 

—

 

Anton had fixed the town they are going to. If they have a car, then it makes everything different. Anton could drive anywhere, as long as the GPS is on. Well, that could be a problem because the internet hasn’t been good these past few days. He doesn’t care anymore—Anton has someone to spend his last day with.

He could hear Sohee stuffing his clothes into his suitcase from next door, or his grumbling about the cute things he spent so much money on but cannot bring with him to the end days. Sohee has always been the type to splurge on things that aren’t exactly useful.

They agreed to start their journey tomorrow. It would be an exhausting one, so they needed whatever rest they could get. And maybe they both wanted to spend a few more moments in their rooms for the last time too.

“Anton.”

“Yes?” Anton jumps because he had his back turned to the door.

“We are spending it until the end of the week, right?” Sohee asks from the doorway. “Like, we are not coming back?”

“Yes, we are not coming back,” Anton answers, looking back at Sohee and nodding at his own answer. “Are you okay, hyung?”

“Except for the fact that I’m not going to spend it with my family, yes,” Sohee answers before disappearing back into his room next door.

To Anton’s knowledge, this fight right now is the worst one he has ever had with Sohee. Usually they just talk things out, or work forces them together until everything naturally settles again. But because their problem right now is only this, Sohee is free to stay mad for as long as he wants.

Anton, on the other hand, forgot what it feels like to live without Sohee.

After finishing up everything, the room suddenly feels too small. Like everything is placed wrong somehow. So, Anton steps out of his room and sits on the sofa instead, turning on the TV and opening YouTube. Watching anything that makes sense in this situation.

Which somehow ends up being a vlog about a youtuber’s trip to Universal Studios Orlando, with someone giving instructions on what and what not to do there.

“That could’ve been us, you know.”

The voice from behind startles him. “Hi.” Anton smiles at him immediately.

“Hi,” Sohee says while nudging Anton’s leg from the side of the sofa, silently asking for space beside him.

“Can’t sleep?”

“Yeah. The room feels…” Sohee sighs while glancing back toward it.

“Weird,” Anton finishes for him. “I know. I feel it too.”

“It feels so weird to be the only ones here,” Sohee continues quietly.

“Yeah. Without Shotaro it just doesn’t feel the same.” Anton swallows a little. It still feels strange talking to him again after everything. He still doesn’t know if this conversation could suddenly turn bad. “You missed him this morning.”

“I already said my goodbye,” Sohee answers. “If I saw him leaving like that, I wouldn’t have been able to let him go.”

Anton lets out a long heavy breath, finally taking his attention away from the TV to stare at the pretty hyung who everyone left him with. “I’m sorry, hyung.”

“We don’t have to talk about it,” Sohee says, resting his head against the arm of the sofa. Their legs are touching slightly. Just enough for them to feel each other’s warmth. Anton doesn’t mind. He just feels relieved that Sohee is talking to him again.

They don’t talk much after that. Sohee falls asleep not long later, exhaustion finally catching up to him. Anton carefully shifts out of the way, draping a blanket over him before leaving him there.

He ruffles Sohee’s hair gently one last time before heading back to his room too.

—

In the morning, after a few hours, they both finally manage to get out of their rooms with a big luggage. Funny enough, at the same time and before Anton can joke about it, Sohee throws him his car key. Even though Sohee is very sulky and puffy right now, he still finds him cute.

“You sure you want me to drive your car?” Anton asks.

“Yes, I want to sleep,” Sohee says while rolling his luggage to the door. Anton follows him from behind to the elevator. His heart breaks a little as he was hoping he could have a conversation with Sohee throughout the road trip.

But he won’t push it. Having Sohee here with him is already enough.

“Where are we going?” Sohee breaks the silence when Anton drives them out of the parking lot, making himself comfortable with a pillow on his neck, and a Naruto plushie on his lap. “Are we going to find your first love or something?”

“There is no first love in Korea,” Anton answers, while stealing looks at Sohee, who has already found a perfect position to sleep. “We are not searching for anyone.”

“Right, your first love is in New Jersey,” Sohee says, still closing his eyes. “Maybe you could ask your brother to tell them for you.”

“There is no telling anyone something,” Anton answers. “We are just going somewhere small, with a view to remember, probably.”

“Or drive to find my first love.”

“You have a first love?” Anton almost forgets to press the brake at the stop sign.

“Of course I do,” Sohee answers briefly. “It’s what people do right now, right? Find their crush from high school and probably have sex and get married.”

“You never told me you have a first love,” Anton says while waiting for the red light to turn green.

Sohee rolls his eyes. Anton has always been like this—Sohee never got to find out why “Why? You want to drive me to my first love?”

“You know where they are?” Anton asks again.

“I don’t. So wherever we are going now, please make it more fun than me searching for my first love,” Sohee answers while closing his eyes again, drifting himself to sleep.

Throughout the drive Anton still can’t grasp the fact that Sohee has someone he used to love and never told him. Sohee knows everything about Anton, and Anton did too—or he thought he did. Why did he never mention this to him?

But Anton shuts his mouth—he doesn’t want to piss him off even further. Or isn’t this the time to just talk without giving a fuck? They are all going to die in a few days anyway. What is Anton afraid of? There are so many things to say, but he is going to save them. He won’t risk Sohee fleeing out of the car and leaving him. Anton knows Sohee is capable of doing that.

“I want to pee.” Sohee breaks the silence.

Anton doesn’t answer him immediately. He thinks about it for a while. “Do you want to pee now, or can you wait until I find a rest area?”

“Pee now and pee where?” Sohee asks. “Do you want me to pee on the trees? Or in your mouth? Of course I want to wait.”

“Right.” Anton gulps. “I’ll stop when I find one.”

He knows Sohee is joking, but the thought might have made his dick twitch a little. It has always been like that for them, they love to joke around like this. Just for a laugh, because they are all so tired from work.

But this is different. They have no work-related activity, this is a road trip just for two. A close proximity for what is about to be days. Anton just cannot help himself from thinking about the possibilities.

Anton finds a rest area after 2 kilometres. It isn’t really empty. There are people everywhere doing their own activities. A lot of them are smoking in their cars, or making out on top of tables. It is pretty chaotic, but not in a purge-like crime. People just there to live their lives.

“Can I buy you some corndogs?” Anton says before Sohee runs his way to the restroom. Sohee nods and leaves him to find the restroom. Actually, Anton had left the dorm full but the smell of food made his stomach grumble.

“Take away or eat here, sir?” the employee asks him.

“Take away,” Anton replies, though he was actually planning to eat here. But he hasn’t told Sohee that yet.

“Anything else?” he asks again.

“Can I add one tteokbokki too? Also, can you tell me where I can find the best kimchi fried rice around here? I’ve been craving it since last month.”

“Oh, you can try that kiosk there, with that lady with red hair—it is really delicious,” he answers while giving him the total of the price.

“Thank you.” Anton taps his card. “And sorry you still have to work in this situation.”

“It’s fine! All the employees have left, and since I own this, I figured people might still need to eat,” he answers while giving him the receipt. “The food will be ready in 10 minutes, okay?”

“Thank you so much, I really appreciate that.”

“No worries!” he says. “And I love Boom Boom Bass.” Anton laughs. Even though he’s hours away from the city, people still do recognize him. It is inevitable

“Are you done?” Sohee is done from the restroom and approaches him.

“Yeah.” Anton grins at him. “I was wondering if you want to eat here first? The owner said that the kimchi fried rice over there is good.”

Sohee looks around, giving it a thought. “Sure, why not.”

“Okay, I’ll order it for you.” Anton skips to the stall, catching his breath because, truthfully, he was scared Sohee would not agree to this little plan he had. Because truthfully, he really had no specific plan—he just had this specific town in his mind.

The lady serving him is also very generous, giving him an extra egg because she thought he was very handsome. Anton gives her one last smile before heading back to Sohee with two plates on his tray.

“You ordered a lot,” Sohee says, looking at the table filled with every kind of snack Anton was interested in.

“Yeah, it all smells so good, so I didn’t know which one to choose.”

Sohee gives him a look before taking the odeng out from the bowl. “That uncle said he likes Talk Saxy when he put it on the table.”

“Really? He said he likes Boom Boom Bass to me,” Anton answers, taking out the corndog from the box.

They go silent for a while, just munching on their food. Anton wants to say something—he wants to say a lot—but he just hasn’t had the courage yet. “Thank you.” Sohee startles Anton.

“For?” Anton wipes his mouth.

“For ordering all of these,” Sohee answers. “I actually had a lot of cravings since yesterday, but the delivery just wouldn’t get through.”

“Yeah, Shotaro said you’ve been cooking,” Anton says, with a little bit of emotion there. Because Sohee was cooking for everyone but Anton. He had to stay upstairs eating ramyeon all by himself, when the others were eating whatever Sohee was cooking.

“I did,” Sohee says, munching everything that is on the table. Sohee clearly did not notice that Anton is little bit sulking. “The French fries are nice.”

Anton nods. Should he have that conversation now? No—Anton should just wait until they arrive. But Anton opens his mouth anyway. “Sohee hyung, can I—”

“Hey.” They suddenly get interrupted by a man coming to the table. Great, Anton thinks. He’s probably a fan.

“Hi,” they say back to him.

“Shawty, I just wanna say you are fine as fuck,” the man says, looking straight at Sohee.

“Sorry?” Sohee furrows his eyebrows.

“On this glorious day before this all ends, shawty,” the man says, holding onto his jeans’ belt, “can I say you are the most beautiful person I have ever seen?”

“Thanks…?” Sohee smiles awkwardly, side-eyeing Anton, who looks like he wants to punch this guy’s face. “Are you a fan?”

“A fan of your face, yeah,” the guy says while brushing his hair back. “Look, shawty, I have a car with a comfortable bedding. If you are free, we can—”

“Back off, man,” Anton hisses.

Sohee finds this situation funny. He usually gets approached by fans, asking for an autograph or just a quick compliment. But being someone with fame, he never got approached like this.

“Sorry,” Sohee smiles. “I have other plans.”

“Hey, it’s okay, it won’t be that long,” the guy says, clearly unbothered by Anton’s death stare. “I’m sure your boyfriend here can wait for a while. No pressure.”

Sohee laughs, looking at Anton with a is he serious face. “Thank you, but we have a tight schedule.”

“Hey, I appreciate that,” the guy says, flinging both of his hands into the air. “But if you change your mind, find the red car.”

Anton’s breath is heavy. He can feel his fingers stinging because of everything that just went down in front of him. “Jerk.”

“He’s probably on something,” Sohee giggles. “You okay? Your face is red.”

Anton furrows his eyebrows. “Yours too.”

“Well, it is my first time a guy asked me for sex this bluntly,” Sohee answers, fanning his face. “What’s your excuse?”

Anton coughs. He actually doesn’t know which one made him red—a guy asking Sohee out, or Sohee not denying that he is his boyfriend. “The tteokbokki is spicy.”

Sohee smirks a little, but nods anyway at his answer. “I’m going to pee one more time, and then we can continue.”

“Me too,” Anton answers while both of them stand up from their seats. “Do you want ice cream?”

Sohee gives him a face. “Eh, not really. It’s going to be too much for my stomach.”

“Okay.” Anton nods, parting ways with Sohee. “I’m going to wait in the car.”

 

Anton had finished his business a while ago. He went to the bathroom, then back to the food stall, ordering some more of the stuff that he thinks they can eat if they suddenly get hungry. Even after all his orders are done, Sohee is nowhere to be seen.

Even after he finishes filling up the gas, Sohee still isn’t here. Anton sighs and sits himself on the driver’s seat. He looks out the window, spotting the red car parked right at the very edge of the parking lot. It makes Anton’s stomach turn a little.

Did Sohee change his mind? He couldn’t have. Or he could have—it wasn’t any of Anton’s business anyway. Sohee said it himself that this is his first time someone has ever done this to him. But doing it with a crackhead? Anton is sure there are fans who would want to do it with him too.

This is it. Sohee would be joining that crackhead’s adventure after this, and Anton would be back alone. At square one. Good job, Anton. Now you are going to spend the apocalypse alone, and the very best guy you ever—

“Hi, sorry, I got lost.” A voice startles him as the door opens. “There is a cute gift shop at the back, and I encountered a dark alley, so I had to take another route. But I ended up getting more lost. Thank god I remembered where the toilet was.”

“You didn’t leave,” Anton interrupts.

“Of course I didn’t.” Sohee frowns. “Where do you think I’ll leave you? You had my car key and everything.”

“I just thought…” Anton can’t look at Sohee in the eye. This is too embarrassing. “You were taking too long, and I thought you were going with that jerk.”

Sohee laughs. “You really think of me that low?”

“I didn’t! It’s just—” Anton exhales. “Sorry, I’m just afraid that I will be alone.”

“I won’t leave you, Anton. You can calm down.”

 

With the extra few minutes they stay at the rest area, now they are finally back on the road, with the smell of food lingering inside of the car. “Can you turn on the radio this time?” Sohee says while positioning himself to sleep again. “It’s so quiet.”

“Sure.” Anton presses a button. “But I don’t know if there is a reception around here.”

“Good afternoon, doomsday!” After Anton busily changes channels, it finally lands on something. “This is by far the most request we have ever received! Hell, we didn’t even receive this much when the world wasn’t ending.”

Anton glances at Sohee for a while. It’s kind of a loud channel, but Sohee stays still with his eyes closed.

“And we are going to play your most requested song!! I guess most people are in this situation right now,” the host continues. “This is a song from Studio Killers called Jenny, or I Wanna Ruin Our Friendship!”

Anton doesn’t really pay attention to the song. He is too focused on not missing his turn that he doesn’t realize the song on the radio keeps repeating I wanna ruin our friendship over and over again.

When he realized, Anton turns off the radio immediately. It feels weird. What happened at the rest area was weird. Anton is a pretty jealous person—he knows that. It isn’t something Anton likes to hide; all of his members know. His heart would break if he knew Sohee went to eat with Sungchan but didn’t tell Anton about it. Well, Anton feels it with every member, not just Sohee. He once got sulky over the fact that Wonbin and Sohee got matching necklaces. Though, that also involves Sohee—whatever, Anton just couldn’t find another example. But he’s just a jealous person.

It has been five minutes. The song must have been over. So he turns on the radio again.

“—soon the world’s gonna end, I’m gonna make out with my new bestest friend!” plays a line from KATSEYE’s Pinky Up. So Anton turns it off once again.

“Why do you keep turning it on and off?” Sohee mumbles.

“They are all playing loud songs, and I’m not really in the mood,” Anton answers. “I’m going to find my aux cable in my bag so I can play other songs that are slow.” —and not about kissing your best friend.

“Mmhm, okay.” Sohee closes his eyes again.

“Sohee hyung, the town we are heading to… there’s a cable car,” Anton coughs. “Will it be okay if we ride it today?”

“Yeah, of course. Why not?” Sohee says while glancing at the window.

“Okay.” Anton smiles. “And then after that we can find a hotel for the night.”

“You think they are still open?”

“I called them earlier. The cable car company said they are still open.”

“Okay.” Sohee nods. “Your idea of spending the end of the world is doing romantic shit with me?”

“What?” Anton coughs. “Do you think it’s romantic?”

“Of course it is,” Sohee answers a little too nonchalantly for Anton. “We never even do things like this before. It’s always group, group, group or with a manager.”

“Yes, I guess it’s beautiful and it’s just us two,” Anton answers, stealing glimpses of Sohee while trying to keep his composure. “If you think it’s romantic then… it is.”

“Great,” Sohee answers.

“Great?”

“Great.” Sohee repeats. “Don’t think too much.”

“I’m not,” Anton says while slowly taking the turn leading to the road that tells them they are finally here. The cable car is already visible from where they are, hanging above the sea under the orange sky. Sohee’s eyes sparkled a little when he sees it.

“Can’t believe they are still open,” Sohee says, looking around. “There’s not even tourists or enough people here. Why would they open?”

Anton looks around for a moment. “I uh… I told them to open for us,” he coughs, trying not to look at Sohee glaring at him. “They said they were closed and had no reason to open. But I called and told them I wanted to do it… with you.”

“Oh.” Sohee nods slowly. “Romantic.”

“Okay yeah, sure.” Anton smiles at him awkwardly. “I guess I’m a pretty romantic guy. You’re lucky you’re stuck with me and not with that jerk at the rest area.”

“Very jealous too,” Sohee adds.

“What?” Anton asks again because he’s busy parking the car in a spot that would only take them five steps to reach the cable car station.

“Nothing.” Sohee takes off his seatbelt. “Are you sure they are fine with opening just for us?”

“Yeah, I kinda paid a lot more than I should, but it’s okay,” Anton answers while taking off his seatbelt too, bringing his big bag that carries his camera.

Sohee furrows his eyebrows. “Really? You are still going to take pictures in this state?”

“Of course!” Anton says, looking at Sohee like it makes complete sense for him to do this. Then he remembers the world won’t even exist in a week. “Maybe someone from the next life would find this camera and put it in a museum or something. Or aliens would take it.”

Sohee chuckles while following Anton to the elevator. Anton thinks he forgot the exact moment they stopped being awkward. The tension between them slowly melted somewhere along the road.

“Oh, the couple is here!” a middle-aged woman yells when the elevator door opens. “Good afternoon, sir! We are very happy that you are here!”

Anton grins awkwardly. Why did everyone see them and just concludes that they are couple? But he’ll just ignore it. “Yes ma’am, we’re the ones who called. It can operate, right?”

“Of course it can! It can operate as many times as you want!” the woman says happily. “We are just happy that tourists still want to spend time here!”

“Ah, I’m happy that you would open for us too,” Anton coughs awkwardly. The lady’s mood doesn’t really feel like they are in the middle of a mass extinction. “Where can I make my payment like we agreed on the phone?”

“Oh nonsense.” The lady waves her hand. “That was my son you talked to on the phone. You can just take it for free.”

“What? No.” Anton shakes his head immediately. “It’s really okay. We have more than enough to pay you.”

“The money would be gone in a week anyway.” She smiles at both Anton and Sohee. “You can just go inside now. Really, it’s fine!”

Anton and Sohee both give her a smile before taking the path to the cable car. There are only a few people operating it. Maybe two people precisely. Just enough to give instructions and keep the ride running.

“Are you sure they are not going to kill us?” Sohee whispers before entering the glass cabin.

“What? No, they’re not.” Anton furrows his eyebrows. “They are just nice. The end of the world might change people that way.”

“What way?” Sohee questions while settling into his seat, sitting in front of Anton so the cable car won’t lean to one side. And maybe because it’s easier to talk while looking at each other.

“There are people who go, ‘This is the last time I’m living so I’m going to rob a bank!’” Anton explains. “And there are people who go, ‘We are going to die and judgement day is here, so we should do good deeds.’ That lady might be the second one.”

“Not buying it.” Sohee frowns. “They are going to cut the cable and kill us because they secretly wanted to do it their whole lives. Now we are here and they finally have an excuse.”

“Sohee hyung.” Anton sulks. “You are ruining it right now.”

“Oh right.” Sohee laughs, leaning back against the seat. “Romantic date. So? Anything you want to confess to me right now?”

Anton glances at Sohee. The sunset light reflects against his face beautifully, painting his skin gold and orange through the glass windows. “I’m sorry for making you mad.”

“Not that.” Sohee nudges the response away immediately. “I’m not in the mood”

“And I’m not going to stop trying.”

“Whatever.” Sohee avoids eye contact. “Forget I asked. Now shut up and look at the scenery.”

“What do you want me to confess exactly?”

“That you were the one who used my toothbrush that time” Sohee says quickly. “And threw it into the trash because you felt guilty.”

“What?” Anton frowns. “No. Never.”

“I’m sure it was you.” Sohee squints while leaning closer toward Anton. “Shotaro would never.”

“And how exactly would you know?”

Sohee sighs before leaning back against his seat again. “You’re right. We should shut up.”

“You were the one who told me to shut up.” Anton frowns again, watching Sohee who just giggles quietly.

But Anton takes the silence Sohee gave him to finally enjoy the view. The beach is perfectly visible from up here, the sea reflecting the orange from the sunset. And not far from there, there’s a mountain too. It’s so beautiful enough to make him forget the world is ending for a second.

So he takes out his camera, taking pictures of the scenery and also Sohee. “Is it good?” Sohee asks.

“Yeah.” Anton gulps. “Beautiful too.”

“The view?”

“Yeah, and you too.” Anton answers honestly. “Can’t believe the end of the world makes you glow even more, hyung. This would be the perfect time to shoot an album pictorial or something.”

“Thank you.” Sohee gulps quietly. His ears are getting red. “The glow was there the moment I couldn’t go on a last vacation with my family because of you.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“So we are going to talk about it now.” Anton leans back, his entire attention turning toward Sohee.

“Yeah, I guess.” Sohee answers.

“You know that’s not my fault at all.” Anton raises his voice slightly. “You were the one who wanted to join me. Sending your family to the States too just because of I am planning to do so.”

“I hate you,” Sohee says briefly.

“No you don’t. But if you want to blame someone, sure, blame me. If you want to be angry at me then yeah, fine.” Anton keeps babbling, words spilling out faster the more nervous he gets. “But you haven’t talked to me for days because of something stupid like this.”

“I just can’t believe I followed along with your stupid plan.”

“My stupid plan was great!” Anton groans dramatically. “You could’ve had a great day in Los Angeles with your family, and I could’ve been with mine in New Jersey. Following along and booking the same flight as me was entirely your choice.”

“Geez.” Sohee chuckles a little. “Feisty much?”

“I am! If I need to tell you a hundred times then I will.” Anton exhales loudly. “I just want us to be okay. I’m the second type too you know, judgement day is here.”

“Okay.” Sohee leans back again, smiling at Anton now. He’s kinda checking him out too. “For how long are we going to stay in this cable car? This is our fifth rotation already.”

“Until the sun fully sets, they said we can stay for how as long as we want” Anton says while crossing his arms stubbornly.

“Hey, Anton.” Sohee calls him softly.

“Yes?” Anton immediately puts all his attention back onto him.

“I’m not mad at you,” Sohee mutters quietly.

“Really?” Anton’s eyes sparkle immediately.

“Really.”

They continue the rotations until the sky finally turns dark, making their way back to the car afterward. Thankfully, no killings happened and their car is still parked safely outside. Thus, no robberies either.

“We are going to stay at this guest house tonight,” Anton says while driving through the quieter streets. “I don’t know if the streets will be safe at night so”

“Oh?” Sohee lifts his head from his phone. “We are going to another place again tomorrow or?”

“I don’t know. I just want to explore. If that’s fine with you.”

“Of course.” Sohee nods. “Do you think there’s like… an escape room still running here?”

“I’ll try to find out.” Anton smiles. And Sohee smiles too.

They arrive shortly after. Anton parks the car in front of a small guest house. It does say “hotel” on Google, but there are probably only ten rooms and the whole place is traditional-themed. Anton opens the lobby door, with Sohee following behind him. They haven’t even brought out their luggage yet.

“Good evening, sir! Welcome” an elderly man greets them at the desk. “You guys need a room?”

“Hi, yes.” Anton smiles and puts down his bag on the desk. “Are there two rooms available?”

“Of course!” the man answers. “For one night?”

“Yes for now.” Anton smiles.

“Two rooms available right now already cleaned and ready to go!”

“Great, we’ll take it,” Anton says.

“For one night and two rooms, it will be 2000 US dollars,” the man grins.

“Sorry?”

“Well, it was kind of a sudden arrangement, and regarding the situation we are in…” the man explains.

“The world is ending,” Sohee utters. “There is no use for that money even if we give it to you.”

“Well, the money could still be used for a few days, right?” he responds, still not dropping his smile. “Our resort is in high demand as well.”

“We are literally the only ones here,” Sohee says, unable to believe what he’s hearing.

“No one is able to afford it” he replies. “Well, you can take it or leave it. Your choice.”

Anton turns to Sohee. “Should we just leave?”

“You said it probably won’t be safe at night?”

“Yeah… ugh.” Anton rubs his forehead. “We could just pay.”

“2000 dollars for one night?” Sohee furrows his eyebrows. “US Dollars, right? Not won?” he asks the man.

“Yes! Dollars.”

“Jerk. I searched Google—it was only supposed to be 50k won per night,” Anton grumbles.

“We could just take one room,” Sohee says. “It’s not going to be a problem, right? We share rooms all the time.”

“Oh.” Anton nods. “Okay, one room.”

“One room it is!” The man claps his hands. “You can tap your card here, and here’s your room key!”

 

They settle in, putting their bags in the closet. Thankfully, the room has two beds, so Anton’s heart can stop beating so hard. Except it doesn’t. He still can’t stop his heart from pounding so loudly, he’s starting to think he’s having a heart attack.

“Do you want to shower first?” Sohee asks.

“YES—” Anton answers a little too loudly. “Sorry. I’m very tired. Yes, I want to shower first.”

“Okay, I’ll wait. Just don’t take too long,” Sohee replies, settling onto the sofa. He has this rule—if he hasn’t showered yet, he won’t sleep on his bed.

“Woah, they have a lot of good amenities,” Anton says while stepping into the bathroom. “They even have a bathrobe too—look, hyung.” He grabs it and shows it to Sohee.

But Sohee is already on his headphones, playing another game on his phone. He barely shifts his attention. “That’s great.”

Yeah, it’s great. Everything is great. No matter how many conversations Anton has had with Sohee in the past few hours, it just isn’t the same. Sohee is there with him, but Anton still can’t quite reach him.

Anton spends the whole shower thinking about it—overthinking everything.

His and Sohee’s actions these past few hours. How Sohee acted in the car, at the rest area, during the cable car. It all seems just fine and normal. Maybe they just don’t have any connection outside of work. He finishes the shower quickly. He knows Sohee hates waiting too long.

“You’re done?” Sohee puts down his phone, scanning Anton from head to toe. “Wow, I haven’t seen that shirt in forever.”

Anton is a bit confused at first—but then his heart starts racing again. “Oh… yeah. You still remember, hyung?”

“Of course.” Sohee lightly taps his shoulder as he walks past him toward the bathroom.

Anton plops down onto the bed, he can’t and won’t sleep. What was that? First, Sohee wasn’t giving him any attention, and now he remembers his old shirt from when they were still trainees? It’s absurd. He’s absurd, because he shouldn’t be overthinking everything like this.

He takes out his phone, texting Shotaro like he promised. Telling him that he and Sohee finally got into an adventure together. But it doesn’t go through, just as Anton thought. He also texts a few of the members separately, just to tell them that he’s doing okay. But none of it gets through either.

And Sohee is taking too long in the shower. Anton so badly wants to have another conversation with him, to fix everything and just be normal with Sohee. Even though they already settle it at the cable car, it still wasn’t the same. There’s this weird tension lingering between them.

The sound of the bathroom sliding door opening makes Anton immediately sit up straighter. Sohee is standing there with only his bathrobe on, looking straight at him. Anton swears he really is having a heart attack now.

“Sorry,” Sohee walks toward his bed, taking a plastic bag from the mattress. “I forgot my clothes.”

“Yeah.” Anton can feel his ears getting hot immediately, eyes betraying him as they linger a second too long on Sohee flushed red body from the hot shower, and the smooth legs peeking out from underneath the robe. The AC is working perfectly, yet he can feel sweat starting to form on his forehead.

And Sohee can feel Anton’s eyes following him. From the bathroom door, to the bed, and back to the bathroom again. Before he slides the door shut once more, he steals another glance. The eye contact sends a shiver down Sohee’s spine.

So Sohee closes the door again, drying himself with a towel. Wearing the awkwardly fitted pajamas he randomly chose from his suitcase. Brushing his teeth, drying his hair just enough to make himself comfortable.

And when he slides the door open again, his heart almost jumps out when he sees Anton just standing there waiting for him. “Do you need something?”

“I— uh.” Anton awkwardly brushes his damp hair back. “I think I left my lotion in there. Was just waiting for you so I don’t go to sleep first.”

“Okay,” Sohee says while walking away from the bathroom door, though he still lingers around the doorway. Listening to Anton’s footsteps as he rummages around inside. “Did you find it?”

“Yeah!” Anton peeks out from inside, looking at Sohee who is still standing there with his shoulder leaning against the wall. “Sorry, you’re still not done here?”

“Mmhm,” Sohee hums, maintaining eye contact. “Are you sure you’re looking for lotion and not just waiting for me like a loser?”

“Wh-what?” Anton nearly stumbles over the tiny height difference between the bathroom floor and outside, now standing upright right in front of Sohee. Completely flustered. “I am.”

“You’re turning red,” Sohee says with his arms crossed loosely over his chest. “And I know when you’re lying.”

“I- uh, I am.” Anton keeps stumbling over every word. He has something to say, but everything keeps getting stuck in his throat. Because Sohee has him cornered now. He can’t run away and hide behind another member anymore. He’s all alone here, with Sohee.

“Go on.” Sohee waits patiently. “Speak carefully.”

“Sohee hyung…” Anton exhales, calling his name with a slight whiny tone that instantly tells Sohee to stop teasing him.

“So you were just waiting for me like a creep?”

“I am not!” Anton raises his voice defensively. “I really… really needed the lotion. The sheets are rough and it’s uncomfortable.”

“Really.” Sohee tilts his head slightly, refusing to break eye contact even though Anton is trying so hard to look literally anywhere else. “Are you seriously not going to do it?”

“What do you mean?”

“What exactly is stopping you?” Sohee says while lightly tugging at Anton’s shirt, not enough to pull him closer, just enough to make him aware. “Tell me. Because we’re both getting frustrated here.”

Anton is confused. He wants to kiss him. So bad. Every inch of his body feels like it’s begging him to do it. But he never really let himself think about it before. Yes, Sohee’s lips are plump and sometimes glossy enough that Anton genuinely wonders what they would feel like. But he never let the thought linger too long.

Yes, his heart is beating ridiculously fast right now, but it’s probably because he’s alone in a hotel room with another man. Right? Fuck, Sohee is so pretty. His heart does this whenever he sees someone pretty like this. This isn’t about Sohee specifically… right?

But his heart feels like it climbed all the way into his mouth.

And despite all of that, Anton still takes a step forward, trapping Sohee gently against the wall with his bigger frame. His right hand carefully touches Sohee’s jaw, hesitant even now.

“Can I?”

“Roll my pants down and see that I’m not wearing underwear” Sohee whispers just before their faces touch. “You can do more than this.”

Anton smiles faintly before finally pressing their lips together. They both wanted the same thing. Sohee’s lips feel cold from the shower, while Anton’s feel agonizingly warm. Sohee melts almost immediately, letting himself feel every touch as Anton kisses him deeper. He squirms slightly when Anton’s hand drifts to the sensitive spot on his neck.

Even though this is their first time with each other, and somehow everything falls perfectly into place. Anton knows exactly where to touch him, and Sohee in some way knows it too.

Sohee lets out a brassier sound when Anton slips his hand underneath the oversized shirt, fingers brushing over his nipple. He’s sensitive, especially after the hot shower.

“Anton…” Sohee breathes out when they finally pull apart from the intense kiss. His head is spinning from the stimulation, from Anton’s lips trailing down his neck and his hand lazily playing with his chest.

Anton has always loved hearing Sohee’s voice. Whether he’s singing high notes in the studio or moaning like this right now. It’s beautiful, and honestly it only makes Anton’s dick harder. Is this what pirates felt while hearing sirens?

“You’re so beautiful, hyung,” Anton whispers against his skin.

Sohee bites his lip, fingers squeezing weakly around Anton’s shoulders because Anton found the sensitive spot on his neck again. His legs feel embarrassingly weak already, so Anton gently lifts his head and looks at him for a second before pulling Sohee’s shirt off completely.

The cold air from the AC hits Sohee’s skin immediately, goosebumps rising all over his body. Sohee immediately grabs Anton by the neck again just to kiss him rougher. He needs to feel it again.

This kiss is hungrier than before. They both already know exactly what they want. The way Sohee parts his lips slightly to let Anton’s tongue in easier. The way he drags Anton’s bigger body impossibly closer against his own. His hands tangled tightly around Anton’s neck, leaving barely any distance between them.

Meanwhile Anton’s hands keep roaming lower and lower across Sohee’s body, eventually reaching the waistband of his sweatpants. He’s curious if Sohee was telling the truth.

When Anton’s hand finally slips inside, Sohee immediately grabs his wrist.

“Not— not here,” Sohee breathes out shakily. “Damn it, I can’t even stand properly anymore, Anton.”

“Okay.” Anton smirks softly before immediately lifting him up and carrying him toward the bed with the rough sheets.

Sohee lands against the headboard with a quiet sound, and Anton quickly shoves a pillow behind him to make him comfortable. Sohee’s whole body is flushed pink now, and Anton can finally see the faint marks he accidentally left all over his neck earlier. “Are you comfortable, hyung?”

“Just come here.” Sohee grabs him again for another kiss, pulling him down until Anton’s entire body presses him deeper into the mattress. Anton supports himself carefully with his elbows so he doesn’t completely crush him.

Sohee’s face keeps getting wetter from the kisses. And honestly, so is his dick. Anton finally gives up resisting and slides his hand down into Sohee’s sweatpants again. This time when he fully feels it, he pulls back with wide eyes. “You weren’t lying.”

“That I’m not wearing anything?”

“Yeah.” Anton gulps hard, feeling himself getting harder too. Was Sohee actually planning this from the beginning? Did he prepare for this?

“Don’t overthink it. This is how I sleep every day,” Sohee says before dragging Anton back into another kiss. God, he is already addicted. This time, Sohee slides his hand under Anton’s shirt and pulls it off him, so now both of their bodies are colliding against each other raw.

But Anton pulls back again, just enough to look at him with those stupid puppy eyes. “Hyung… can I suck you off?”

Sohee immediately rolls his eyes. “You were supposed to kiss me first and trail down dramatically to my dick.”

“I know, I know.” Anton laughs breathlessly. “But I wanted to ask first.”

“Shut up and just do it.” Sohee pulls him back into another kiss again.

And Anton continues kissing him exactly the way they both seem to like. He traces his kisses from Sohee’s plump, beautiful lips to his neck, where the kiss marks are already formed, then to his chest, lower and lower until he finally pulls down Sohee’s sweatpants, revealing his hard pink twitching dick. Precum already pouring out of it.

“Stop staring at it,” Sohee says breathlessly. He’s trying hard to stop his body from trembling. Anton hasn’t even done anything remotely intense for him to react like this. But now Anton isn’t doing anything at all, just staring. Sohee can feel his breath against his.

“Sorry,” Anton says, snapping out of it. This isn’t the first time he’s seen Sohee’s dick. Living together for years, Anton has seen more—it’s inevitable. But it’s his first time looking at it hard because of him. Sohee’s dick is hard because of him. So Anton carefully strokes it, giving Sohee time to breathe before going further. “Tell me if you want to stop, okay?”

“Don’t—don’t stop,” Sohee pants, each stroke making him arch and grip the pillow beneath him tighter.

Anton nods before leaning closer and kissing the tip carefully. He circles it slowly with his tongue before finally taking it into his mouth. The words fuck fuck fuck immediately spilling out of Sohee’s mouth. Where the hell did he learn this?

Sohee slowly drags his attention from the ceiling down to where Anton is swallowing him now. The view is filthy. Anton’s mouth moving up and down, the wet sounds filling the room.

Using all his energy, Sohee carefully sits up a little just so he can stroke Anton’s long beautiful hair. Like how he used to pat him and tell him good job. Except this time, it means don’t fucking stop. Well, Sohee helps a little more than that. Rather than just stroking his head, he gently pushes Anton’s head down further so he can take him deeper.

Anton’s eyes are teary, but he still takes it all. Maybe Sohee’s ego shoots down a little when he realizes his entire dick is almost disappearing into Anton’s mouth without much struggle. So Sohee pushes his head down a little more, pressing against his throat until Anton finally pulls away gagging around him. And at the same time, Sohee hits his limit, cumming almost all over Anton’s face.

“Fuck, sorry,” he says immediately, trying to gather himself together. He wasn’t planning to cum that quickly at all. Sohee thought he was holding on pretty well, but the sounds Anton was making made it unbearable. He cups Anton’s damp red face, grabbing tissues from the nightstand and gently wiping away every trace before kissing his cheeks softly.

“It’s okay,” Anton says quietly, eyes closed as he melts into every touch Sohee gives him.

“Are you…” Sohee starts carefully. “Do you want me to take care of you now?”

“You don’t need to if you’re tired.”

Sohee shakes his head. “I want to. Go sit there too.” He points toward the edge of the bed, the same place Sohee had been sitting earlier. Anton nods and slowly settles himself there comfortably. He can’t even remember the last time his dick felt this hard. Completely edged after making his best friend cum.

“You’re right, I am tired,” Sohee utters while crawling toward him and settling onto his lap. “And yours is so big I don’t think I could handle it.”

“It’s fine. I can take care of it,” Anton says, holding onto Sohee’s hips, almost pushing him away.

“Shut up,” Sohee mutters before kissing him again. He can taste something different now compared to before. Even though Sohee already reached his limit once, he still wants more. Wants Anton to feel exactly what he’s feeling.

This time Sohee takes the lead completely. Touching him everywhere, gripping his hair, kissing and sucking at his neck while feeling up his broad chest. Fuck, his chest is so damn huge. Sohee brushes over one of his nipples and Anton immediately lets out a sound. Oh, sensitive too.

“Hyung,” Anton breathes out shakily.

“You liked that?” Sohee whispers, circling and pinching it exactly the way he used to secretly imagine doing every time Anton’s chest was exposed in waiting rooms before concerts.

Anton closes his eyes, biting down on his lower lip when Sohee’s hands get busier, slowly slipping inside his pants and wrapping around his big hard dick. “Do you want to do this with your pants off or on?”

“On, please,” Anton groans immediately.

“Good boy.” Sohee kisses his cheek before pressing his ass down against Anton’s dick, still trapped inside his pajama pants. Slowly grinding against him metrically while Anton buries his face into Sohee’s neck. “Fuck, you’re so big.”

It already feels like Anton won’t last long, but fuck, whatever he’s feeling right now—he never wants it to stop. “Please- please make me feel good, hyung”

Sohee’s hard again too, so Anton reaches down and grips his dick, stroking him in the same rhythm Sohee is grinding against him with. The sounds they’re both making are so loud and gross. If someone casually walked past the hallway, they’d probably think they were filming a porn movie in here.

But nobody’s in this hotel except them and that creepy owner guy who conned them out of a thousand dollars for this room. So they don’t care. Honestly, Sohee kind of wants that guy to hear them. If they’re paying that much, they might as well make this room filthy.

Anton grips Sohee’s ass tighter, helping him move back and forth while gently squeezing him too. And before Sohee can even realize Anton’s reaching his limit, he slips his hand under Anton’s pants and strokes him faster.

Maybe that’s the loudest sound Sohee has ever heard come out of Anton’s mouth. They both reach their limit at the same time, panting into each other’s necks like they just finished a three-hour nonstop performance. Both of their hands are now soiled with cum. They need to take a shower again, great.

“You have a spare, right?” Sohee says while looking down at Anton’s pants.

“Yes,” Anton answers, helping Sohee up from his lap. He takes a few tissues from the nightstand again, cleaning everything he can from the bed.

“This is too ruined, you might need to sleep on my bed,” Sohee says while gathering himself, taking his used towel from the door. “We can share. I’m going to clean myself first.”

“Oh, okay.” Anton coughs. As amazing as what happened just now was, this is still weird. What just happened? Does this mean they are more than just best friends now? What is he supposed to do? Sleep normally beside him like nothing happened?

Anton spends his night listening to Sohee showering again, overthinking everything again while he can still feel Sohee’s ass against his dick. But he quickly shoves the thought away, afraid he’s going to get hard again. But he does get hard again in the shower, recalling everything from that moment. He takes care of it himself though, hoping Sohee doesn’t hear him panting and groaning under the water noise.

When he gets out of the shower, Sohee is already asleep on the corner of his bed, giving just enough space for Anton to sleep beside him. Now Anton doesn’t really know what to do. Should he cuddle him? Would that be too needy?

But then again, it’s the end of the world. There is no time for him to overthink, so he carefully places his arm around Sohee, spooning him from behind. Sohee doesn’t mind. Instead, he makes himself more comfortable under him.

 

-

 

The next morning goes by normally. When Anton wakes up, Sohee is already in the shower. And when he’s finished, Sohee normally asks him what their plans are for today. So it’s casual. Anton tells himself he doesn’t mind that. Though he really wants to carry him up to the sink and kiss him again.

They check out from the hotel, giving the man a smile before handing him the keys. They both wonder if he heard them last night, but the way he avoids eye contact with both of them sort of confirms that he did.

Anton carries both of their suitcases to the car, taking one of the big water bottles he bought from the rest area and placing it between them. After settling in, Anton nudges Sohee’s shoulder a little before giving him a grin. Sohee furrows his eyebrows, then just shakes his head with a chuckle.

They drive out after that, continuing their trip. Sohee doesn’t make himself comfortable enough to sleep like he used to, so Anton’s heart spikes up again. He should make a conversation.

“Are you hungry, hyung?”

“Mm, yeah.” Sohee wakes up from his daydream. He has been too busy looking at the roads, staring at them that are so, so empty. He’s pretty sure they are the only ones there. “You sure there could be a restaurant around here?”

“There should be one in one kilometre,” Anton confirms.

“Why?” Sohee asks. “Did you call them again this time or are you just hoping they won’t con us again?”

“I called them,” Anton says. “I learned my lesson. I called and asked if they were open, and they said they are. They are serving crab today too, apparently.”

“Okay, I’m starving.”

“Sohee hyung.” Anton calls him again, hands still steady on the wheel. Though his eyes wander for a second.

“Yeah?”

And Anton goes silent. At the back of his throat sits the sentence: what the fuck was last night? Should we talk about it? I still feel your dick in my mouth.

“What?” Sohee asks again, confused at how the younger suddenly goes quiet.

“Nothing.” Anton shakes his head. “I’m just hoping you’ll like the food. Or we could just eat the cup ramyeon you brought.”

Sohee grunts. He has had enough ramyeon these past few days when the member start leabing. It’s the only thing he has been eating because he’s too lazy to go out and have a proper meal. “Yeah, I hope so too.”

“By the way, hyung, did any of your messages go through?” Anton tries making another conversation. “I reached out to everyone last night but none of them got through.”

Sohee goes silent for a few seconds. “I don’t know. I haven’t been reaching out.”

“Oh.” Anton nods. An awkward tension fills the car again. “There’s the restaurant.”

“Okay.” Sohee unbuckles his seatbelt while Anton carefully pulls the car into the parking lot, the tires crunching softly against the gravel. He parks near the entrance under a flickering signboard, turning the engine off before exhaling quietly.

They walk into the restaurant. Different from every other place they’ve been to in this town, the restaurant is packed. Well, not really packed, but it feels normal. I guess everyone still cares about eating.

“Hi, good morning! Looking to eat here?” the lady greets them from the front door.

“Yeah, I called this morning? For two,” Anton answers her with a smile.

“Oh yes, of course! We already prepared a table for you both in the corner.” The lady smiles warmly. “Best spot there is.”

“Thank you, you really didn’t need to.” Anton smiles back as she escorts them.

“Oh nonsense, I could tell by your voice that you weren’t from here, so I wanted to accommodate you properly,” the lady says while helping them with the chairs. “And this must be your lover, right?” she asks, pointing at Sohee.

“Oh— what?” Anton says while sitting down.

Before he can explain, the lady starts rambling again. “These days people keep visiting with their loved ones. No judgment here, everyone is welcomed! And even if you are alone, we will also set you up with another person.”

“Oh, there’s no need,” Anton coughs awkwardly. “We would just like to order the bestseller, portion for two.”

It wasn’t their first time getting mistaken for lovers, but Anton still hasn’t gotten used to it.

“Okay, coming right up!” she says with another smile. “Is there anything else you need?”

“Do you perhaps know somewhere fun around here?” Sohee finally speaks up after staying quiet for a while. “Like an amusement park or something? Or an escape room?”

“Oh, of course there is! I can give you the address. There’s a community here that just built an amusement park. A lot of things are happening there. I haven’t been there myself, but people keep talking about it,” she explains enthusiastically. “You could ask that gentleman over there too, he’s one of the people associated with it.”

Sohee smiles at her. “Thank you.”

“Do you want to join them?” Anton asks, taking a cup from the side and pouring cold tea for both himself and Sohee.

“Eh, if it’s not in your plan then meh.”

“My plan is basically just you,” Anton says while sipping his tea, not even realizing what just came out of his mouth. Meanwhile Sohee’s eyes basically pop open. “Sorry, what I meant was—”

“It’s fine.” Sohee shakes his head, trying to hide his smile, but his ears are getting red again. “I know what you meant.”

What did Anton mean exactly? Anton doesn’t think he even considered it himself. His head is still stuck on last night. But maybe it’s fine. Them hooking up and then pretending everything is normal the next day. It’s just a different routine. Usually at this time they would be practicing for eight straight hours. Now they’re just here, sitting across from each other, waiting for the crab to be served.

“She said they built an amusement park?” Anton asks again.

Sohee nods. “Yeah. I don’t know, do you want to try?”

“Could be fun,” Anton answers just as a tray carrying a humongous crab is placed in front of them. “Do you?”

“She said it’s a community.” Sohee cringes, trying to imagine a whole group of strangers outside his circle. “I don’t know.”

“Absolutely.” Anton nods.

The crab is huge, bright red with the shell still glistening from the steam. The smell hits them directly. They really haven’t been eating properly these past few days, so right now, really. They are going to absolutely smash the shit out of this crab.

They didn’t really talk throughout the meal, just focusing on devouring the crab in front of them. Though Anton still helped most of the time, carefully taking the shells off and putting the meat onto Sohee’s plate so he could eat comfortably. Anton does it all, really.

“Hey, sorry to bother you.” Oh what now, Anton thinks. “But noona said you guys were interested in coming to our amusement park?”

Sohee takes a tissue and wipes his mouth. “Hi, yeah. She said you guys built it?”

“Haha yeah.” The guy scratches his head awkwardly. “We had the materials from the previous abandoned park, and we’ve just been building it these past few months. And now it’s finally done. You guys are more than welcome to come.”

“How much is the fee?” Anton asks carefully.

“Nonsense, there’s no fee.” The guy laughs. “You can just come. I’ll give you the address link, open it on Maps and it’ll lead you straight there.”

“Sorry, we’ve just been conned, so we’re trying to be careful.” Anton smiles awkwardly.

“Conned?” The guy asks, suddenly looking concerned. “Where?”

“The guest house outside the street, not far from here.”

“Ah, Mr. Hong.” The guy chuckles, shaking his head “Yeah, he’s a straight-up moron. If you guys needed somewhere to stay yesterday, you should’ve come straight here. We have a place for people to stay too. For free.”

“Ah, it’s alright.” Anton nods. Whatever happened last night had nothing to regret. “We might come though. Can you send me the link?”

“Sure, sure. Give me your Kakao and I’ll forward it to you, okay?” He takes his phone out from his pocket. “And while you’re there, you can join our community too. I promise, you won’t get conned again.”

“Okay, thank you,” Sohee says.

 

-

 

When they finished the meal, they just went straight to the place from the link they got. After thinking for a whole ten minutes, they finally agreed to just try it. Why not, right? This is the time to take chances and do things they probably would never ever do if they were still idols.

“You are sure they are not going to kill us?” Sohee says while looking at the trees throughout the road. It wasn’t dark and creepy or anything, but it was just quiet.

“Sohee hyung,” Anton complaints, “we talked about this. It’s kinda too late to back out now.”

“Still...”

“Look, we are going there and just inspect it. If it feels creepy, we turn around, okay?” Anton says while slowly driving the car. The link seems legit enough. There were even a few photo reviews attached under a giant COME TO OUR PARK! title. Totally not sketchy at all.

“Okay,” Sohee mutters quietly, hugging his Naruto plushie closer. He still doesn’t really like the idea of joining a random community, but he is sure he’s excited for the amusement park.

“Woah,” Anton suddenly gasps. “Is that it?”

“What the hell?” Sohee was just as shocked as he was. When they imagined an abandoned amusement park rebuilt in the middle of an apocalypse, they had been imagining something straight out of a zombie movie. Minimal lights, rusty rides, and maybe only one thing working if they were lucky.

But this wasn’t that at all. It looked like a full-blown Everland sitting on top of a mountain. Bright lights covered the hills, the roller coaster stretched across the sky, and they could even see the Ferris wheel glowing from this far away. “Yeah, they are going to kill us.”

“Is that a...” Anton squints a little while pointing somewhere. “Hotel? Or a mall? What the hell even is this place?”

“It’s probably a cult that wants us to feel good before sacrificing us to the devil or something,” Sohee says before chugging his bottled water down.

It was weird. The amusement park looked perfect, but in some way everything about it still gave them chills. “Do you want to turn around?” Anton asks carefully. “We can find another hotel or go to another town.”

Sohee shakes his head immediately even though his heart is beating so loud. “No, we’ve gone this far already. At least let’s see inside.”

“Okay.”

So they drive around the hills for another few kilometers, slowly climbing higher and higher into the hills until they finally reach an area where they can park their car. The entrance of the park wasn’t that far away anymore.

Surprisingly, there were people. Not that many, but people. They were pretty sure it was just going to be them, like the cable car yesterday where they had the whole place to themselves. I guess everyone just somehow ended up here.

Sohee had to take care of a few things before getting out of the car, fixing his bag and moving some random things around. Anton casually opens the door for him before stopping for a second. Huh. He never really does that. Fuck, is this because of what happened last night? “Thank you,” Sohee says while changing into a more comfortable pair of Crocs.

“We really don’t need to bring anything right?” Anton asks while holding out his hand for Sohee without really thinking.

And Sohee just casually loops his arm around Anton’s because it’s cold, and comfortable, and they are both a little bit scared. “Nah, pretty sure they are going to kill us.”

“Sohee hyung,” Anton whines again while slightly leaning his weight on him.

“Kidding,” Sohee laughs. “They won’t, the meteor will.”

“There you both are!” The guy from the restaurant suddenly runs from the entrance gate toward them. “I thought you both changed your mind or got lost or something.”

“The road was kinda confusing,” Anton answers. “So we can just go inside?”

“Yes yes of course, please have fun. There are a few staff around that can help you, but if there aren’t, you can just press the buttons and everything will work as it should.” The man explains, but both of them are still staring at him. “I’m sorry, I know this all looks weird, but I promise you, the rides here have been operating for almost a month now and everything will be great.”

“Okay,” Sohee nods. “Thank you.”

“And also I know you guys don’t really have anywhere to stay right now,” he adds. “There’s a hotel right beside this place too. You can just go there and someone will help you.”

“Yo actually?” Sohee asks, genuinely surprised.

“Yeah, though I think there are only a few people there right now. Everyone’s still having fun here,” he scratches his head. “But yes, it’s fully furnished. There are only a few rooms cleaned though, so make sure to go there early.”

“What the hell even is this place?” Sohee asks him.

The man chuckles. “Well, there used to be an investor who wanted to build an amusement park because they thought it would be great for the town. But it didn’t work out. People just didn’t want the hassle of coming to a mediocre park when they could find better ones in Seoul, you know?”

“Ah.” They both nod.

“So when the news hit, the investor came again and told us about how he wanted to reinvent the place, gave us a lot of money to tool around with, and here we are,” he explains more. “Enjoying every last bit of it. I know it seems bizarre, but the whole town actually likes the idea, and we have a lot of volunteers from outside town too.”

“Okay...” Anton furrows his eyebrows while looking at Sohee. “Thank you so much.”

“No problem.” The man pats both of them on the shoulders. “Have fun, okay?”

“Okay...” They still stand there near the entrance gate even after the guy leaves them alone.

“Shall we go in?” Anton asks.

“Yeah,” Sohee says. “It’s fine. We can watch people ride first, and if it feels okay, we go.”

“That’s a great idea.”

They slowly pace inside together. The amusement park isn’t that big. Yeah, they can tell why it failed. There are only a few rides here and there, with people walking around laughing and carrying snacks.

“Let’s sit there first.” Sohee points at a bench near a small roller coaster. Compared to the giant ones in Seoul it looks small, but enough to make people scream and regret life choices. Still, it looked pretty cool with how the track disappeared inside a building and came back out.

“Okay.”

They both sit down carefully, watching the ride. People start screaming from inside the building before suddenly flying out of the entrance tunnel and going down the tracks. It twists around a few turns before disappearing inside again.

“It looks fine,” Anton says.

“You wanna go?” Sohee asks.

“Yeah.” They stand up and walk toward the queue line. Still hand in hand. There are probably only five people there.

“Hey,” one of the girls greets them. “You guys are new.”

“Hi.” Anton waves awkwardly. “Yeah, we just got here.”

“Oh, welcome!” they all say together. “Coming from Seoul?”

“Yeah,” Sohee answers. “How did you know?”

“We just know,” one of them laughs. “And I think I saw you guys on TV before.”

“Oh.” Sohee carefully slips his arm away from Anton's. Somehow that breaks Anton’s heart a little. It’s fine though. Of course it’s fine.

“Oh no, no please don’t.” She immediately waves her hand. “Please don’t stop whatever you guys were doing. Celebrities come here all the time, it’s okay.”

So Anton casually reaches for Sohee’s hand again. Sohee immediately makes a face at him, but Anton just grins. “Thank you,” Anton answers them. He carefully pats Sohee’s hand twice. Just casually.

“It’s fine,” she laughs. “Just have fun, okay?”

Not long after that, the door for the coaster opens. Once they are all buckled in, Sohee and Anton sit at the very back of the coaster, and one of the staff presses a button before they start moving after like two minutes. Sohee holds onto Anton a little tighter. They don’t know how much they could trust a self-operating theme park.

But surprisingly, it was better than most of the coasters they had tried. This one was smoother and felt new. Even the leather on the handles smelled like a new car. Just how much money did the investor give them? This would have hit daebak if the world wasn’t ending.

“What the hell,” Sohee speaks after the coaster reaches the end. “It’s so good.”

“Yeah, what the hell.” Anton is just as baffled as him. They stare at each other and start laughing. Probably the first time they’ve smiled at each other this genuinely. The people from the other cart look at them and smile too.

So after the seatbelts are unbuckled, Sohee pulls Anton’s hand toward another ride. The merry-go-round, the ride where they need to point guns at aliens the whole time, the ride where the cart only goes up and down, and more coasters. Through it all, Sohee never stops holding Anton’s hand.

They spend the whole afternoon just running around the park, even doing the game where Anton throws a bottle and wins a bear for Sohee. It all feels normal. The park isn’t all that crowded, and both of them can roam around without caring about other people. They’ve been walking around acting like a couple and nobody bats an eye.

So should Anton kiss him now?

They are now both queueing, waiting for their turn to ride the ferris wheel. Anton hasn’t really thought about it for the past hour. They were too busy running around trying to do every ride in one day. So now, with the queue taking too long, both him and Sohee are crammed into this close space. The sky is getting darker, and only the dim lights from the ferris wheel are shining onto Sohee.

Anton keeps thinking about it, thinking about how they were kissing last night. And right now, he wants to do it again. “What? Is there something on my face?” Sohee holds his face, puzzled because of how Anton is looking at him.

“No—no, sorry.” Anton shakes his head. “I’m thinking about something.”

“The members?” Sohee asks.

“Yeah.” Anton nods. “Them.”

“I’m sorry it must be weird when I said I haven’t contacted them at all,” Sohee says. “It’s just... sad.”

“No no, I get that of course.” Anton taps Sohee’s shoulder gently. “It’s okay, I’m not thinking about that at all.”

“Oh okay.” Sohee smiles. “Can you reach them now?”

“Nope.” Anton smiles back at him. It’s kinda hopeless actually. Anton doesn’t know why he keeps trying to contact them.

“You will, I’m sure of it.” Sohee taps his shoulder back.

“Are you sure they’re not blocking me?” Anton jokes.

“Of course not,” Sohee says. “They’re probably busy, searching for their love, probably.”

“Mmhm.” Anton hums, and before he can ask anything else, the staff calls them, telling them they can finally enter one of the carts. The ride feels steady, not making any weird creaking noises at all. It feels safe. Anton should kiss Sohee again, right?

It’s a ferris wheel that doesn’t really have a lot of space or feel new. Out of all the rides they did today, this one feels the most 2000-ish. They’re both sitting face to face again, with a small handle separating them in the middle. The cart isn’t fully closed, so they can feel the breeze coming through. Since they’re on top of a mountain, it’s kinda chilly. But nothing they can’t handle.

“So here we are again,” Sohee says under his breath.

“What?” Anton asks, too immersed in staring at the view to really hear what Sohee just said.

“It feels like the cable car again,” Sohee says louder this time, the sound of the wind passing between them.

“Oh.” Anton nods. “Yeah, it does. Just colder.”

“Yeah.” Sohee agrees. “So... anything you want to confess to me again?”

Anton exhales. A lot actually. First, what the fuck was last night. Second, what the fuck are we right now. But what Anton ends up saying is, “Are you sure you’re done being angry at me?”

“This again.” Sohee rolls his eyes. “You’re the one ruining the mood, Anton.”

“What?” Anton laughs nervously. “I’m sorry. Yeah, forget it. I’m sorry.”

Sohee looks a little annoyed, raising an eyebrow at him. “You’re still thinking about it?”

“Of course.” Anton raises his voice slightly. “It was kinda our first real fight in forever.”

Sohee thinks about it for a while before eventually nodding. “I guess so.”

“Who do you miss the most?” Anton asks. “From all the people you can’t see again.”

The question hangs there for a while. Sohee stays quiet, thinking, “All of them, duh.” Sohee finally says. “What kind of question is that?”

“And you’re really not going to contact them?”

“I think Wonbin hyung is pretty mad that I didn’t send him off last week,” Sohee confesses quietly. “And I just... couldn’t get myself to contact him, even though I used his stuff all week.”

“He isn’t mad at you, hyung.” Anton gently squeezes Sohee’s shoulder.

“He’s not.” Sohee shakes his head. “I just don’t want to cry while having a conversation with them. I’ll save that for the last day.”

“Okay.” Anton smiles, staring at Sohee’s noticeably sparkly eyes. “Then anything you want to confess to me?”

“Hm.” Sohee puts a hand on his chin dramatically. “I once accidentally used your towel in the bathroom.”

“Oh ew.” Anton immediately makes a face. Not that it really matters. He got Sohee’s dick in his mouth last night. Accidentally switching towels is just meh.

“It was an honest mistake!” Sohee kicks Anton’s leg lightly. “I washed it immediately, unlike you, who threw it in the trash instead.”

“I’m not the one who used your—” Anton throws his hand in the air. “You know what, never mind. What we need to think about is where we sleep tonight.”

Sohee points toward the obvious giant building outside. “That hotel?”

“You wanna try?” Anton asks softly.

“Why not?” Sohee grins. “I feel like we’re just doing whatever.”

“Okay.” Anton nods.

So when their time on the ferris wheel is over, they head back to their car, grab their suitcases, and walk into what looks like a former five-star hotel. Anton can kinda see the vision, honestly. A theme park with a hotel right beside it. He’s sure there was supposed to be some kind of casino underneath too.

“Hello! Welcome!” a lady greets them at the entrance. “You guys wanna stay here or...?”

“Staying. For two people,” Anton answers while dragging both his and Sohee’s suitcases.

“Okay.” The lady nods. “I think there are a few rooms available. You can ask for a room key at that desk over there and they’ll help you. Enjoy your stay.”

“Thank you,” Sohee smiles, reaching for his suitcase, but Anton immediately pulls it away.

When they reach the desk, the staff is too busy making out with another staff member. So they just stand there. Staring and unable to say anything. “Woah!” the girl suddenly says after finally noticing them. She pushes her partner aside. “Sorry, you guys should’ve said something.”

“No, it’s alright. We can wait,” Anton says with a smile.

“Lol don’t do that.” She laughs. “I’m guessing you guys are looking for a room?”

“Yes please,” Sohee answers.

“Judging by both of your suitcases being on this man’s hands...” she clicks through something on the monitor, “I’m guessing you guys are a couple too.”

“Oh we are—” they are both totally confused with everyone magically assumes that they are a couple.

“Well lucky for you!” she cuts Anton off. “We have the best room available. Last room with the best view.”

Anton and Sohee stare at each other. “We don’t need—”

“Nonsense!” she says dramatically. “I saw you guys at the theme park earlier. You guys need this. Best room in the hotel.”

Anton and Sohee stare at each other again, eventually say yes. The staff grins before handing them a keycard. “We also have lots of activities for you guys after you settle in.” She hands them a paper with a whole timetable and a map on it. “Games, movie nights, relaxing activities, all that stuff.”

“Oh?” Anton raises an eyebrow while looking at Sohee, who has the exact same expression. “We just... come?”

“Yes! We’re spending the last days on earth doing lots and lots of fun things.” She smiles. “Or if you guys wanna volunteer at the theme park, you’re welcome too.”

“Okay...” Anton takes the room key and paper. “Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome! Oh and if you’re hungry, there is a buffet is provided at the restaurant too. It’s on the map.”

“For... free?” Sohee asks suspiciously.

“Of course! It is available right now if you guys want it”

“Okay thank you again.” They slowly walk away. “I’m sure this is a cult,” Sohee whispers.

“Hyung, stop saying that.”

“What kind of community gives you free rooms and free food?” Sohee continues. “Are we sure the food isn’t human flesh or something?”

Anton lightly pushes his shoulder. “You play too much horror games.”

“I’m just saying.” Sohee nudges him back. “It’s too good to be true.”

“Well, let’s say it is a cult.” Anton drags their suitcases toward the elevator. They both look around the hotel decorations. They can tell it used to be abandoned. Dust still sits in some corners and a few spiderwebs are visible if you look closely. But overall, everything is lit up. The chandeliers shine brightly and the mirrors are polished clean. “Until when are we gonna run?” Anton asks.

“Hm.” Sohee thinks while the elevator dings open. Anton presses the third floor. “Maybe if they start dancing in circles.”

“Okay.” Anton laughs. “What about the activities? Wanna go?”

“Let’s start with eating first,” Sohee says instantly. “I’m hungry.”

“Yeah.” They find their room almost immediately. It’s not far from the elevator, and when they walk inside— “Woah.”

Turns out the staff wasn’t lying. The room smells like lavender, the lights are warm and bright, and everything looks strangely new compared to the rest of the hotel. They gave them the big room with a king bed on the middle. A pretty good upgrade from their last 'hotel'.

“Woah, I’m so tired,” Sohee says dramatically before immediately throwing himself onto the sofa.

“Hyung, you can’t sleep if you want to eat.” Anton nudges Sohee’s legs.

“Mmmhmm. Five minutes.” Sohee buries his face into the sofa’s pillow. “Or you go. I stay.”

“You were the one who said you were hungry.” Anton bumps him again. “Come on, we’ll go straight back here after.”

“Okay.” Sohee sits up, opening his suitcase and changing into another jacket. Anton heads to the bathroom too to change into something more comfortable, and when he opens the bathroom door again, Sohee is already standing there waiting for him. “If the food tastes weird, we leave, okay?”

“Okay.” Anton takes his bag.

“And if we suddenly start feeling high too.”

“Okay, you’re too paranoid. I’m sure it’s fine.” Anton taps his shoulder, taking the room key from the slot before they head out to the elevator again. The kitchen was apparently on the second floor, along with the restaurant.

They press the button and when they arrive, there are already a bunch of people there. Pretty sure almost everyone they saw at the park is here right now. They search for the buffet section and people are already lining up.

“I’m sure it’s fine,” Anton whispers.

“Yeah.” Sohee nods, and they get in line too, taking plates from the stand.

“Sohee?” A voice suddenly calls out from somewhere. Both Anton and Sohee look around for a moment until a guy walks toward them with the biggest smile ever.

“Woah.” Sohee almost drops his plate. “Kim?”

“Yeahhh.” The guy laughs. “Woah, you still remember me?”

“O-of course.” Sohee starts stuttering. Anton frowns his eyebrow.

“Well, I thought since you’re a superstar now, you wouldn’t remember who I am.” The guy smirks before reaching his hand out toward Anton. “Hi, I’m Kim. Me and Sohee used to attend the same middle school.”

“Ah.” Anton nods politely. “Nice to meet you. I’m Anton.”

“I know who you are.” Kim grins. “I’m a big fan, really.”

“You are?” Sohee asks, and Anton swears he could see Sohee’s eyes sparkling. “I’m sorry we haven’t been in touch after graduation.”

“Ah, that’s fine.” Kim casually squeezes Sohee’s shoulder. Anton raises both of his eyebrows now. “We can catch up now. You guys staying here?”

“Y-yeah, we are.” Sohee stutters again. “We just got here.”

“Ah, that’s fantastic. We have more than enough time to catch up then.” His hand is still on Sohee’s shoulder. There’s really no need for him to still do that.

“Our table is right there,” Kim says while pointing to the table near the balcony. “You guys are more than welcome to join.”

“Sure, we’ll be there,” Sohee answers. We are? Anton thinks.

When Kim walks away far enough, Sohee leans toward Anton and whispers, “Now that is my middle school crush.”

“Oh.” Oh. Now it makes sense why Sohee’s ears are slightly red right now, or why he keeps stuttering. It’s fine. He gets it. There’s no need for Anton to overreact. He’ll be okay.

“It’s okay, right?” Sohee asks while taking food from the buffet trays. “If we sit there?”

“Of course.” Anton answers. Why wouldn’t it be okay? It’s not like they are something after hooking up last night haha. Ha. Ha.

They sit down at a big round table where four other people are already sitting, including Kim. Kim saves seats for both of them. Sohee takes the chair beside Kim, and Anton sits beside him.

They start chatting about their middle school. About how Sohee used to enter class exactly five minutes late every morning, or how Sohee always brought lunch from home and was rarely seen in the cafeteria. “Do you know he’s a picky eater, Anton?” Kim asks.
“Of course.” Anton smiles. Of course he knows. He’s lived with Sohee for more than five years. He knows a lot more than you, Kim.

“Well, he used to bring me the free jelly from the cafeteria.” Kim laughs. “He said he hated the flavour, but I don’t know... did you really hate it?”

“I didn’t.” Sohee blushes.

“That’s what I thought.” Dinner continues with more stories about the past. About how Sohee always carried a navy backpack and how Kim always knew where Sohee was because he could spot it from anywhere. Little things and facts Anton never knew.

Anton thought that even if Kim used to be Sohee’s middle school crush, Anton was still the one who lived together with him. Well along with four other members. But that wasn’t the point. He thought that whatever Kim knew about Sohee, Anton probably knew more. He probably known Sohee longer than him.

But that wasn’t true at all. Anton can’t feel the nostalgic feeling Sohee and Kim were sharing right now. And unlike them, Anton grew up in a completely different school environment, so he really couldn’t relate at all. He suddenly feels weirdly lonely. For the past two days, he had Sohee all to himself. But right now, it feels like being back in that dorm room again.

“Hey, do you guys want to join the game activity after this?” Kim asks both of them. “It’s mostly board games and little stuff like that, but it’s fun.”

“Sure, why not,” Sohee smiles, looking at Anton too.

“Sure,” Anton nods. “But I’m pretty tired. I probably won’t stay that long.”

“It’s fine,” Kim grins. “It’s just a chance for you guys to get to know the community, that’s all.”

“What’s the community like?” Anton asks. “I mean, you guys just have fun the whole day?”

“Yeah, that’s basically it.” Kim nods. “Might be weird for you guys, but I think for these last few days, it’s better to just have fun, right?” Kim slightly hugs into Sohee’s shoulder again. Weird how Sohee doesn’t even budge.

“I get that,” Sohee answers Kim. Anton rolls his eyes. It’s like a whole different Sohee he’s looking at. Sure, Anton would probably be smitten too if he were standing side by side with his old middle school crush. He’s fine.

After they finish dinner, they head up to the fifth floor where the ballroom is. There are a few different rooms, each filled with different activities. One room has board games, another has people doing karaoke, and somewhere farther down there’s a room full of people doing trivia.

They end up entering a room for relay games, and suddenly it feels like they’re filming a variety show all over again. Anton and Sohee join them without hesitation. They spend the next twenty minutes running around carrying ping-pong balls with spoons, trying to stack paper cups while people scream instructions from the side, and racing with balloons squeezed between their backs.

They actually had fun and since Anton and Sohee have years of experience doing ridiculous games like this, it isn’t hard at all. What is hard is seeing Sohee getting along so well with Kim and his friends. He laughs brighter and his pretty eyes disappearing completely. Anton has seen that laugh before, obviously he has, but seeing it directed somewhere else like this. Anton will admit that it stings a little.

“Hey, you wanna do a board game after this?” Sohee walks over to Anton.

“I’m gonna sit this one out.” Anton smiles. “I’m actually really tired.”

“Oh.” Sohee frowns a little.

“It’s okay, you can continue.” Looking at Sohee’s expression, Anton taps Sohee’s shoulder. “I’ll just be in our room.”

“Okay, I’ll be there as soon as possible, okay?” Sohee caresses his hair.

“Sohee hyung.”

“Yeah?”

“After this, can we talk?” Anton asks softly. “About last night.”

Sohee goes silent for a little bit, but he nods. “Okay, I’ll be there as soon as possible, I promise.”

“Okay.”

He says his goodbye to everyone before heading toward the elevator alone. This place definitely isn't a cult. Probably. But Anton feels he wants to leave so badly. Still, he won’t—not when Sohee is having so much fun here.

When he gets back to the room, his face immediately lights up at the sight of a few missed calls from Shotaro and the little 5G symbol sitting at the top of his phone screen. He immediately walks over to the balcony overlooking the theme park and dials Shotaro.

“Anton! Oh god, finally you can be reached. Where the hell are you?” The call is finally picked up by Shotaro. “And also I just saw your text—you’re with Sohee? YOU SPENT THE NIGHT TOGETHER WITH SOHEE?!”

“Hyung, calm down, I can barely hear you,” Anton replies. “Yes, I’m with Sohee. How are you?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine, just doing this and that. Kinda boring, but it’s peaceful here,” Shotaro explains. “Oh god, please tell me you guys kissed.”

“We, uh—” Anton coughs. “Did more than that.”

Anton can hear Shotaro’s manic scream through the phone; he has to pull it away from his ear for a bit. “Fucking called it,” Shotaro says. “Oh please, please tell me the details.”

“I’m not going to tell you the details.”

“Ah, come on—not that kind of details. Just tell me how it led to that,” Shotaro insists.

“When you left, I immediately went to him and asked him—no, I kinda forced him to come with me. Because I didn’t want to die alone,” Anton explains. “And yeah, we spent the night together and… yeah…”

“Took you both long enough,” Shotaro laughs. “I’m surprised you guys haven’t done it before this, to be honest.”

“What does that mean?”

“I mean, I’ve lived with both of you long enough to know what you guys feel,” Shotaro clarifies. “It’s not hard to guess that you both have feelings for each other.”

“I don’t know,” Anton interrupts. “Since last night, we haven’t even talked about it.”

“Then what the hell are you two doing?”

“We found an amusement park around here, so we just had fun, I guess,” Anton says. “There are so many things to do here. And people barely give a fuck about us, so we just enjoy it.”

“I understand that, but—” Shotaro says, “you guys have to do something, please. To be honest, I’m so jealous of you guys. So please, do something about it.”

“Why?” Anton asks. “Did you not meet the ex you told us about?”

“There is no ex,” Shotaro chuckles. “I only said that because I was pissed Sungchan didn’t even ask to spend the end of the world with me.”

“What, I thought—”

“Yeah,” Shotaro hums. “Pathetic, right? Even at the end of the world, I still couldn’t tell him I still pretty much in love with him”

“Hyung, I’m sorry, I should’ve said something,” Anton says. “I thought you already moved on.”

“It’s okay, I did,” Shotaro answers. “It’s just end-of-the-world melancholy, and I expected more. But it just didn’t happen.”

“I’m sorry, hyung.”

Anton feels the ache in his chest too. Shotaro and Sungchan used to be a thing, but it ended during the peak of their schedules. They both said they were done with their feelings and just wanted to move on and work together. Anton was just naive enough to believe that.

“It’s fine, it’s really not your fault. And I’m happy right now spending time with my family. There’s no need to be sorry,” Shotaro says. “Enough about me. What do you want to do about it?”

“I don’t know,” Anton says. “I want to kiss him again, but I’m afraid I’ll set off something and he’ll leave me.”

“Oh, Anton…” Shotaro breathes out softly. “I didn’t know you love him that much.”

“I—” Anton is taken aback. “Love him? Hyung, you’re overreacting. If you were the one with me, I’d also be scared that you’d leave me. I just don’t want to be alone.”

“No, you probably don’t want to kiss me, Anton,” he says. “You have loved him throughout the years we spent with the group.”

Anton goes quiet for a moment. “I’m just used to suppressing it,” he finally confesses. “All I know is that I like being near him, but I don’t know if I’m allowed to kiss him. And after seeing what happened between you and Sungchan... sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. We were stupid,” Shotaro admits. “But I’m sorry if that stopped you from getting Sohee.”

“Hyung, I really don’t know what to do,” Anton says with a whiny voice. Being here alone with all these feelings toward Sohee just makes him feel like he’s about to explode. “I really, really like him, and I don’t want this to end badly.”

“Everything will end badly, Anton, so there’s really nothing to be afraid of,” Shotaro exhales. “If the world wasn’t ending, you’d probably have a lot more years together. Maybe have a child or something”

And somehow that breaks Anton’s heart even more. “I don’t think I’d ever kiss him if the world wasn’t ending.”

“Oh, you would,” Shotaro says immediately. “Eventually. Maybe not right now, but in a few years. Five, maybe ten years. You’d get the courage.”

Anton lets out a quiet breath. “You know, even at a time like this, Sohee hyung still has to be the one taking the first step.”

Shotaro laughs. “Predictable. Okay woah, I gotta go. My mom is yelling at me right now.”

“Okay, hyung, I’ll call you again soon, okay? I’m standing on this hotel balcony right now just to get a signal.” Anton shifts his weight and stands up.

“Haha okay, have fun with Sohee. Tell him I said hi and that I love him so much, okay,” Shotaro says. “Please call me if you guys decide to get married.”

“What—” Shotaro can’t see it, but Anton can feel his face getting hot instantly. “Married? That’s not—”

“Everyone is getting married, Anton,” Shotaro says while laughing. “You should do that too. Make it official in front of the world and God.”

“Sohee is really going to leave me if I do that.”
“He won’t,” Shotaro says before hanging up. “I live with both of you guys for too long, not just you. Trust me when I say he wants you just as much as you want him.”

“Hyung—”

“I love you so much, Anton. Be safe, okay.”

“Bye, hyung. Love you too”

The line cuts off.

 

Anton completely forgets to mention to Shotaro that Sohee met his middle school crush. There’s just too much to talk about and way too little time. Everything is moving too fast. Anton heads back inside, walks in to take a shower. After he finishes, he plops down onto the bed and waits for Sohee. He’s having fun, so it probably won’t be over for another thirty minutes, right?

But Anton kinda hope it will be, because he really want to talk about what happened last night. So, Anton waits, and waits. Forty-five minutes pass, then an hour. Anton closes his eyes, listening to the downloaded music on his phone while occasionally scrolling through the news.

He doesn’t even know how much time has passed anymore. It’s already past midnight, and he’s starting to get a little worried. What if this really is a cult and Anton accidentally leaves Sohee behind to get eaten?

Or worse, what if Sohee is making out with Kim right now? He immediately sits up. Pulls his socks back on and gets ready to go look for Sohee, but before he can even leave, a click from the door is heard. Sohee walks inside. He looks a little worn out. And he smells different.

“You smell like cigarettes.”

“Yeah,” Sohee speaks while locking the door behind him and slipping off his shoes. “They invite me to smoke together and it was great.”

“I thought you quit,” Anton says carefully. “You know, for—”

“For my recovery, yeah I know,” Sohee interrupts with a shrug. “But we are going to die anyway, Anton. I could inject myself with morphine right now and I wouldn’t care.”

“Don’t do that,” Anton utters immediately. “Don’t die doing something stupid.”

“Why not?” Sohee smiles faintly, looking exhausted. “You think getting hit by meteorites would be better?”

“Yes,” Anton answers without hesitation. “It’s better. Far better than whatever you’re doing right now.”

“Relax.” Sohee takes off his jacket and tosses it carelessly onto the sofa. “Live a little, Anton.”

“How can I even—” Anton groans, dragging a hand down his face. “I’ve been waiting for you for hours now. You promise me we could talk, and I wait, but you smoked? With them?”

“Calm down, I’m sorry. He keeps telling me all these stories and I can’t just leave, could I?” Sohee sits down on the edge of the bed with a sigh. “And we can talk. I’m here now.”

“I don’t like how you smell right now.”

“Fuck, Anton, you are never going to loosen up, are you?” Sohee snickers tiredly. “Do you want me to shower first? Or do you want to talk right now and get this over with?”

“Jerk,” Anton mumbles under his breath.

Whatever happens tonight with Sohee and Kim makes Sohee sound a little different. Or maybe Sohee just has been walking on glass these past few days. “What?”

“You’re a jerk. You never take me seriously. Even when the world collapsing, you still never did.” Anton groans again, frustration spilling out faster than he can control it. “What, you treat me like one of your one-night stand and then forget that I’m also your friend?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Sohee complaints, his eyebrows furrowing. “You take me to this community, I meet my old friend, and now you’re mad at me for talking to him? You’re the jerk for being overly jealous all the time.”

“Me?” Anton yells in disbelief. “You never treat me like a friend, ever. I always think we are something, you know? But now I know we are nothing more than coworkers.”

“What the fuck?” Sohee lets out a dry laugh, like he genuinely can’t believe what he’s hearing. “What do you want me to do? Hug you around all day? What do you think I’ve been doing this whole trip? I’ve been with you the whole time.”

“I’m not talking about today.”

“Then what the fuck are you talking about?” Sohee finally snaps, his patience running thin.

“Today is the first time I ever learn something about you other than the fact that you like spending nights practicing until 2 a.m. or that you like eating 2 packs of ramyeon when you are stressed.” Anton’s voice cracks slightly near the end. “Whyyou never told me things what you told them? I’ve been with you for the longest time.”

“Did you ever ask?” Sohee mutters quietly. “You realize you’re jealous of my friend who you literally meet seconds ago?”

“Yes, I am overly jealous.” Anton throws both of his hands into the air in frustration. “I’m overly jealous because I want to be closer to you. Because I want an actual conversation after we hook up instead of you dodging it.”

“Who says I’m dodging it?”

“Ugh.” Anton looks up at the ceiling like there is an invisible audience watching them argue. “Seriously?”

“What do you want me to say, Anton?”

“I don’t know!” Anton yells, his voice echoing through the room. “One thing I know is that you can’t kiss me and act like nothing happened. I deserve more than that. You can be angry at me all you want, but I have too big of a heart for you to treat me like this.”

“You think I don’t have a heart?” Sohee asks quietly this time.

“Right now? Yeah.”

“Wow.” Sohee exhales sharply, looking genuinely hurt for the first time tonight. “I never know you think of me that way.”

“Oh come on, stop gaslighting me,” Anton yells again, pacing around the room because standing still suddenly feels impossible. “I just want you to talk to me. You know I do everything with my heart, so for you to do that and then pretend nothing changes—”

“I’m not good with feelings,” Sohee interrupts, his voice lower now. “You know that.”

“To some extent.”

“God this is so” Sohee groans as he harshly ran his fingers through his hair.

“It’s okay you can take it slow” Anton says while crossing his arms. “I can wait all night”

“Yes, I’ve been wanting to hook up with you for quite some time,” Sohee admits after a long silence. “Maybe you already know that, I don’t know. At some point we both know we want the same thing, but I never want to take steps.”

Anton stays quiet this time, fully waiting for Sohee to continue. His chest is beating so loudly it almost hurts.

“You want me to be more honest?” Sohee finally looks up at him. “I like you, Anton. Maybe I’ve had that feeling since the moment I meet you, and it just gradually increases into something psychotic waiting to burst. I know you like me too, so you don’t need to explain it. I’ve seen the way you look at me.”

Anton slowly stands up and takes a step closer until he is standing right in front of Sohee. The older man actively avoids looking him in the eyes, suddenly finding the floor far more interesting than Anton standing inches away from him. “Okay”

“Okay?” Sohee finally looks up at Anton, his eyes searching for some kind of answer.

“I like you too, hyung.” Anton reaches out and fixes Sohee’s messy hair. “Maybe a lot more, but I’m sure you already know that too.”

“Yeah.” Sohee presses a kiss against his cheek. “That’s it for now. I’m so tired.”

“Yeah, please wash all the cigarette smell off first,” Anton says, patting Sohee’s back lightly. “We’ll talk again tomorrow. I’m sorry I lashed out.”

“It’s fine,” Sohee says while pulling out a change of clothes from his suitcase before walking toward the bathroom. “You can go to sleep now. Your eyes look so tired.”

“Yeah.” Anton lays back down on the bed, saying goodnight one more time before closing his eyes and getting comfortable against the pillows. He doesn’t set any alarms because he knows Sohee will wake him up again like usual.

He lets himself drift to sleep and when he wakes up in the middle of the night, he can feel Sohee sleeping right beside him. His back is pressed lightly against Anton’s—enough to tell each other that they are right there. Keeping each other safe.

 

—

 

They end up fully snuggling in the morning, the heat from the window waking Anton up. Generally because Sohee is putting his whole face and body on Anton’s chest. His heart starts beating super fast again. He doesn’t want to wake Sohee up but he doesn’t want this cuddling situation to ever end too.

He’s pretty sure it’s past 10 a.m. and they really need to wake up if they don’t want to miss the buffet. So he gives Sohee one last hug before slowly getting himself off from Sohee’s hand. He opens his phone. It shows that it is 10:41 a.m. It’s definitely too late for any morning activity.

“Sohee hyung,” he slowly taps his shoulder.

“Mmhm,” he hums from the pillow.

“It’s almost 11 a.m., we need to eat. They said it closes at 12.”

“Mmhhmmmmmmmm…” Sohee stretches his body but still keeps his eyes closed. Anton thinks he’s the most adorable person on earth. And with the circumstances that they essentially confessed to each other last night makes Anton so happy.

“I’m going to shower for a little, okay? You need to get up if you want to eat.”

“Mm.” The hum is shorter this time, indicating that Anton should hurry up.

Anton chuckles before going to shower and change into a more appropriate attire. He dries his hair, puts on lotion and sunscreen just because. When he’s done, Sohee is still in the same position as Anton left him.

“Sohee hyung,” Anton nudges again.

“Mm…”

“Okay, at least wash your face.” He pulls him up. “We can go eat and head back here if you want. But at least wash a little. Do you not remember your crush is still here?”

Sohee finally opens both of his eyes, gathering every bit of energy he has.

“And now you open your eyes?” Anton chuckles, pulling him again. “Come on, up up, Sohee hyung.”

“Mm…” Sohee still hums, but walks to the sink and washes his face. He brushes his hair a few times before going out again to change his top into a sweater. He doesn’t change his pants though, he goes out still in short pajama pants and a soft blue sweater.

“You are done?” Anton asks from the sofa.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, let’s go.” Anton takes his hand to the elevator. Even though Sohee has washed his face, it is clear that he isn’t really awake yet. And Anton uses this as an excuse to hold his hand through the elevator ride.

When they arrive at the buffet, it isn’t as crowded like yesterday. It’s also pretty obvious that people have already started their day. Anton and Sohee both take their plates again, taking anything that is left at the buffet.

They find themselves a table too—great, no Kim for today, Anton thinks for a few seconds before he sees Kim’s familiar figure at the exit door. He doesn’t walk up to them though, Anton and Sohee find themselves at peace finishing their brunch.

Sohee looks exceptionally pretty in this hour as well. His hair a little messy, but he still looks cute, munching on beef barbeque with the fresh sun shining on him. “What?”

“Nothing.” Anton shakes his head, but he still stares at him. “I talked to Shotaro yesterday.”

“Oh really?” Sohee shows interest.

“Mmhm.” Anton nods. “He told me to tell you that he loves you.”

“Awe.” Sohee exhales, shoulders going down. “I want to talk to him now.”

“He sounds pretty busy,” Anton answers. “I’ll try another member maybe.”

“Okay,” Sohee nods. “You do that.”

Anton giggles again and after they finish their meal they walk toward the dessert table. “Sohee!” here goes Kim.

“Kim!” Sohee grins. “I slept too much last night.”

“I could see that,” Kim laughs. “Hi, Anton.”

“Hi.”

“So I was wondering if you want to go hike with us?” Kim asks, voice suspiciously low. Anton has a hard time hearing him.

“Oh? Where?” Sohee asks.

“Around here, there’s a track. Come to our table and we’ll explain more.”

“Oh,” Sohee is interested. Anton can also see that. “I’m going to finish my dessert and I’ll come over there, okay?”

“Okay!” Kim says, tapping his shoulder before leaving.

Anton and Sohee go back to their table with a brownie in hand. It is quiet for a while. It was just last night that Anton admitted that he was jealous of Kim, so both of them probably don’t say anything to avoid the tension.

Sohee finishes his brownie quickly though. “I’ll go to their table for a minute, okay?” he says.

Anton nods, but his heart feels like it is breaking into a thousand pieces. Seriously? Sohee is going to just leave him alone here? Even after last night. That talk didn’t mean anything at all, huh. Anton is just stupid to think there could be something more between them.

After Anton finishes his plate, he storms out of the restaurant, pushes the button to his room, and goes in and harshly packs up his suitcase. If Sohee wants to leave him, he can too.

Anton leaves their room and quickly presses the button to the lobby, and makes his way out to the car—Sohee’s car. Anton knew Sohee won’t need it anymore. He’s going to be busy hiking with his lovely Kim. Anton starts the engine, making his way out of the park, onto the same road they went through yesterday. He doesn’t really know where to go, but he is very, very angry. He’s just done feeling this way. If Sohee likes to confess and kiss and cuddle and then go on an adventure with another guy—Well then Sohee isn’t Anton’s guy. Fuck that.

He drives back to town again, looking at the same sight like yesterday. Right now, Sohee is probably packing his stuff to go hike. What a joke. Anton decides that he will enter this grocery store. It looks huge.

Anton is planning to loot. He is going to take whatever he wants in this store and he won’t be paying for any of it.

When he comes in, the store probably has only 30% of the stock left. But it doesn’t matter. He starts by putting cookies in his cart, taking yogurt drinks from the freezer—probably past their expired date. Going to the cereal aisle. He loves cereal, so he takes every flavor and puts it in his cart.

He goes to the shampoo section. Again, Anton wants to try everything. He’s probably going to be back at that 1000-dollar guest house and try everything there. For what Anton understands, he’s never going to meet Sohee ever again. Ever.

There are people there, but they only take what they need. Not like Anton. Thus, he gets the stare, but he doesn’t care. After a few laps in the store, he doesn’t realize his cart is already super full. It’s catastrophic. He’s just stress buying everything—not really paying though, because Anton is going straight out to the car park.

When he goes out of the door, he sees a familiar figure.

“What the fuck?!”

“What the fuck…” Anton gasps, staring straight at Sohee.

Sohee is standing there with his suitcase, still wearing his sweater and short pants from what he wore at the buffet. It’s obvious he just came here without any preparation at all.
“What the fuck, did you seriously leave me there?” Sohee starts marching toward Anton and shoves him away from his overflowing cart. “What the fuck? I thought we were cool, man. Fuck you.”

Sohee takes off his bag and started hitting Anton with it. “What—” Anton throws his arms up to protect himself, but the attacks keep coming from every direction. “How the fuck did you find me”

“I have a tracker on my car do you not have a brain?!” Sohee starts punching him again.

“Ouch, ouch, ouch! I thought you were going on a date!”

“What date, you stupid asshole” Sohee keeps hitting him with both hands, nearly cornering him against the entrance. “What kind of friend leaves me there alone, huh?”

“Ouch, stop! Let me explain!” Anton grabs both of Sohee’s wrists to stop him, but Sohee immediately kicks him with his free leg.

“Go on,” Sohee says, standing firm. “Explain before I kick you again.”

“I was wrong for assuming you were going on a trip with him? With your long-lost middle school crush?” Anton starts rambling. “I should be the one kicking you right now because I thought we were cool too! But you said yes to his invite!”

“Well that invite included you too!” Sohee yells. “You left before I could even tell you, you stupid little chum fuck face” He starts kicking again.

“Ouch, stop kicking!” Anton grips him tighter. “How was I supposed to know you were planning to invite me too when you didn’t include me in the conversation?”

“I figured you didn’t like him, so I was trying to find a way to make a perfect plan for both him and us” Sohee shoots back. “Fuck you for thinking I’d leave you for him.”

“Well, I don’t know, okay?!” Anton raises his voice too. The entire parking lot can probably hear them now. “You weren’t really clear about your intentions!”

“Not clear about my intentions my ass” Sohee blurts out. “Do you not remember how I kissed you? Do you forget I basically confessed to you last night? What else do I need to do for you to believe I feel the same way? What the fuck do you think I am, Anton? Do you seriously think I’d leave you for some guy I barely know over you?”

“I’m sorry.” Anton exhales. He’s feeling very stupid right now. “I’m sorry, hyung. I know. I’m sorry. I guess it’s just really hard to believe you’d like me too.”

“That’s the worst excuse ever.”

“Fuck, I know.” Anton exhales all of his breaths. “I overthink. So when you don’t show me love the exact same way I do, I start thinking you really don’t feel the same. My head just gets really loud.”

“I get that. Maybe we’re just moving really fast right now,” he replies quietly, “but Anton, believe me when I say the feelings were already there before all of this happened.”

Anton stares at him before smiling. “We are moving really fast.” He laughs softly. “But the world’s ending in a few days. We kinda have to move fast, hyung.”

“Do you want to get married?” Sohee asks bluntly. Anton’s eyes almost pop out hearing it. “Since it’s hard for you to believe me with just my words, let’s make it official in front of God and everything. The hotel has a church and a priest, we can do that—”

“I don’t want to go back there,” Anton confesses.

“Okay,” Sohee says in a lower voice, looking down at Anton’s shoes.

“Woah I’m saying that we can just find another church, there’s one not far from here.” Anton smiles, slowly caressing Sohee’s face with his thumb. “I would really love to get married with you”

“It’s a yes?” Sohee asks again.

“It’s a hundred percent yes, hyung,” Anton says. “Matter of fact, let’s go right now. I have a lot of things I just bought and we can drive somewhere else after.”

“Fuck, Anton.” Sohee pulls him forward and kisses him before Anton can even react. Amusing that this kiss is their first time they kiss again after that night. Anton freezes for half a second before kissing him back immediately, his hand moving to Sohee’s neck instinctively. Sloppy and wet because Sohee keeps using his tongue.

When they finally pull away for air, they’re still standing stupidly close. Sohee grabs Anton’s hand and starts dragging him and his own suitcase toward the parking lot. Anton horridly grabs his cart because he can’t just leave it there. It was a good looting session.

“Where are we going?” Anton asks while trying to push the cart and keep up with Sohee at the same time.

“Car,” Sohee answers briefly.

“Wait, which car? I stole your car” Anton points to another direction. “Your car is right there.”

“A car that I stole from Kim,” Sohee answers.

“Oh.” Oh.

Sohee opens the door immediately, pushing Anton to the driver seat. Sohee climbs onto his lap within just a few seconds. Anton reaches his hand out, wanting to close the door, but Sohee stops him. “Who cares.”

“Right,” Anton gulps. Sohee busies himself with pulling down his own pants, while Anton is busy adjusting his seat. “Sohee hyung, you wanna do this here? I think if we do it back there it’ll be more comfortable—”

“Shut up.” Sohee kisses him again, like a porn star kinda because of how sloppy and dirty it is. Fuck, he was genuinely eating Anton’s whole mouth. Honestly, he’s still pretty damn pissed off that Anton left him. So he’s going to make this fun for himself, he puts a little pressure on Anton’s neck with his hands while he kisses him.

The car seat can only be adjusted to a certain point, so through it all Anton can only think about how Sohee isn’t really comfortable. He leans away from the kiss. “Sohee hyung, your legs will hurt if we do it like this”

“I don’t care, make me unable to walk for all I care.” Sohee kisses him again, his hands wandering under Anton’s jeans. Can’t believe this fucker is wearing a jeans, while Sohee is still wearing his damn pajamas. Sohee is really going to ruin him. He unzips his pants, entering his hand under and taking his whole dick out before stroking it. “Fuck, you are already this hard?”

“Hyung...” Anton closes his eyes. The feeling of Sohee’s whole body pressing him down in this tight car, and him taking Anton’s dick with his bare hand. It’s a lot of stimulation for Anton. He’s never done anything like this before. Fuck, he’s a damn idol, so doing freaky shit like this, especially in public, was totally out of the question.

“Why?” Sohee whispers against his face, kissing it. “Getting hard from us arguing back there?”

“I didn’t—ah.” Anton is trying to form a sentence again. He could. But every time he does, Sohee strokes his dick harder.

“You are into this stuff, aren’t you?” Sohee keeps teasing, his hand getting faster while he licks Anton’s face, his other hand gripping his neck.

“Stop teasing me,” Anton says under his breath. Any minute of this and Anton might pass out.

“Okay.” Sohee kisses his cheeks. “Can you help me put it in?”

“Hyung, I haven’t—”

“Grab that lube over there.” Sohee signals to the passenger seat. “Stole it from them too.”

“Will you be okay?” Anton asks again. For all Anton knows, there hasn’t been enough foreplay. He got really worried about Sohee’s legs, of course he’s going to concern about his hyung’s hole too.

“I prepared, it’s okay,” Sohee answers after Anton puts the lube on his hands. He’s a little bit trembling so he puts too much. Sohee lifts his body up, taking Anton’s finger to find its way to his butt. Anton’s other hand carefully spreading his cheeks, “feel it for yourself.”

“Fuck,” Anton groans. “Hyung, you are—”

“Yeah,” Sohee hisses because Anton is entering his fingers into him. It wasn’t tight, Anton could feel that Sohee has been fingering himself “You are so, so stupid.”

“You have been preparing for me?” Anton asks, kissing Sohee’s neck that is currently right in front of his face. The view right now—if anyone casually passed them—would be fucking insane. Anton spreading Sohee’s butt cheeks against the steering wheel, his fingers going in and out. Sohee’s face is pressed against the roof of the car.

Anton’s dick twitches with the thought.

“Anton.” Sohee calls his name, his toes curling from the pleasure. Anton found the spot immediately. Sohee is pissed off, it’s the first time Anton’s fingers have actually been inside him but he makes it so easy.

While his other hand is empty, he curls Sohee’s shirt up just enough for his nipples to be revealed. Anton starts licking it, kissing and circling it with his tongue. And Sohee’s smug attitude is now gone, his face red and smushed against the headrest.

“Anton, put it in,” Sohee grunts. Anton actually wants to tease Sohee too, like he just did with him, but Anton just couldn’t. So, Anton carefully pours more lube on his hand, spreading it over his dick.

“Wait, the condom.” Anton stops.

“Are you stupid?” Sohee groans. “We are going to die anyway. Fuck me raw.”

“Ah right, okay.” Anton positions himself carefully and presses Sohee’s body down, fully entering and fucking him.

Sohee groans as Anton continues to thrust him, pressing everything inside. “Fuck, you are so big.”

“Are you okay?” Anton asks, “tell me if you need to stop, okay?”

“Keep going.” Sohee grips the headrest, fully giving Anton all the control. Anton helps with thrusting and pushing Sohee’s body up and down, and the word fuck fuck fuck fills up the car again from both of them.

“You feel so good, hyung.” Anton moves his head closer to kiss him, and Sohee starts to take control, he moves forward and backward. Anton’s head starts to spin, again, wondering when did Sohee learn this stuff. He feels a little bit jealous actually, so Anton fucks into him harder, pushing a moan from Sohee that the whole area could hear.

“You want—ah—” Sohee whispers in between. “You want to record this?”

“What—no.” Anton pants in disapproval, but Sohee can feel his dick getting harder inside him.

“Come on.” Sohee grins. “You’ll love it, I know you have imagined this specific scene for sooo long.” Sohee kisses him again. “Take your phone out.” Anton groans, but he takes his phone from the cup holder and gives it to Sohee, but he shakes his head. “No, do it from your point of view.”

Anton is a little cloudy right now, with his favourite person telling him what to do. His fingers, though trembling, presses the camera app and hit record. Anton doesn’t really know what to do. His own view is restricted too, and he’s almost at the edge. Sohee moving his body faster doesn’t help either.

“Are you close?” Sohee asks breathless, directing his camera to his face.

“Y-yeah,” Anton pants sinking his face to Sohee’s neck. He could still the smell of Sohee’s soap from yesterday.

So Sohee moves faster and faster, also making sure Anton’s phone gets it too. Anton couldn’t take it anymore. With just a few more thrust from Sohee, Anton finally cums. Sohee closes his eyes feeling it drip inside of him, it’s his first time feeling someone raw too.

“Fuck.” Sohee takes it out, giving his own dick a few strokes before cumming onto Anton’s shirt too. “Yeah, lets fucking get married.”

“Yeah.” They are both still in the driver’s seat. Sohee truly can’t feel his knees anymore; they both went numb from the amount of time he folded them in the tight space. Anton carefully helps Sohee stand up, switching seats so Sohee can sit properly in the driver seat too. Sohee’s body is all red, and Anton can see a little bruising too.

“I’ll go inside and try to find some ointment, okay?” Anton says, fixing his jeans and also putting a jacket over Sohee. Since Sohee still can’t find the energy to put his pants back on.

“No, no need,” Sohee says weakly. “Just stay here, we can find it later.”

“Okay.” Anton smiles, walking around to open the other side of the car and sitting right next to Sohee. Just comforting themselves after the intense session. They look around for a while, maybe searching for someone that might have watched them.

“Do you wanna share the video on Bubble?” Sohee breaks the silence.

Anton gasps, straightening his body. “Hyung!”

“Kidding.” Sohee laughs. “Well, it’s okay if you want to.”

 

—

 

They drive away from the grocery store afterward, looking for anything—or anyone—that would be willing to make their relationship official. They really want the whole dramatic making it official in front of God thing. Eventually, they stop in front of a building that looks like a church.

Anton walks around to open Sohee’s car door, taking his hand as they head inside together. They look around for anyone in charge. When they push open another door, it looks like some sort of office. Neither of them feels particularly confident though. The place seems almost empty.

“Excuse me?” Anton says while knocking on the door.

“Yes?” a man inside answers. “Can we help you?”

“Yeah, uh...” Anton glances at Sohee beside him since they can hear a voice but still can’t see anyone. “We were hoping we could get married today. Well... right now.”

“Oh, fantastic.” A man in a black robe finally steps out from another room. “Yes, of course I can do that. Do you have an audience or just you two?”

“Just us two.”

“That’s fine.” The man, who looks like a priest, smiles at them. “I’ll ask a few more questions first since I know you two aren’t from here. I’ve been blessing a lot of couples these past few days, but I really want to bless people who truly deserve it.”

“What do you mean?” Sohee asks. “Sorry, we’re both not really into this stuff.”

“It’s fine. I just won’t bless two people who met at a gas station 5 minutes ago,” he explains. “So tell me your story.”

“Well, uh...” Anton coughs. “We’ve probably known each other for more than six years now.”

“Best friends?” the priest asks.

“More, I guess. We’re in the same K-pop group.”

“Ah.” The priest smiles. “What a perfect love story then. You are sure you both want to do this?”

Anton and Sohee steal a glance at each other before nodding. Neither of them expects getting married during an apocalypse to suddenly become this serious.

“Perfect then. We can proceed to the altar. Write both of your names on this paper and I’ll bless you.”

“That’s it?” Anton asks.

“That’s it.” The priest laughs. “I’m not going to get nosy and ask how you fell in love or anything. I just don’t want to bless something completely impulsive.”

“Okay.”

They stand up and walk into the church. A large cross hangs above the altar, and there still flower decorations lined across some of the chairs, probably left behind by another couple earlier. A few petals have already fallen onto the floor.

The church itself is strangely quiet. It feels weird, to be at this place where there are no choir singing somewhere, no mothers chatting around. Just the soft sound of the wind from the old ceiling fan. Suddenly Sohee feels like his heart is trying to crawl out of his chest. “Wait.” He grips Anton’s hand tighter.

“Hey.” Anton stops and turns toward him, carefully fixing Sohee’s messy hair. It’s a little wet from the sweat Sohee made in the car session earlier. Sohee still looks unbelievably beautiful. “You okay? You don’t want to do this?”

“I do,” Sohee answers quickly. “I’m just nervous.”

“Me too.” Anton smiles and presses a small kiss against his temple. “This isn’t how I imagined getting married at all.”

“Yeah.” Sohee closes his eyes for a moment. If he ever got married, he always imagined seeing people he loved sitting in those chairs, crying and smiling for them. He imagined flowers and cameras and people clapping afterward.

“Are you guys ready?” the priest calls from the altar.

“Yeah,” Sohee answers.

They walk toward the center together. The priest gives them both a look before starting his blessing.

“Love isn’t measured by how much time the world gives you,” he says softly. “Some people spend fifty years together and still leave things unsaid. Some people find the person they love and only get a moment with them. The world outside is ending in fire and stone, yet you stand here together as best friends who already chose each other long ago”

The priest’s voice echoes softly around the empty church. But Sohee barely hears any of it. It sucks. It sucks so much that the world chooses to end at the exact moment he finally gets to be with the person he truly loves.

“Do you have vows to say to each other?” The priest stops to ask them.

“I— No we don’t” Sohee answers

“I want to say something” Anton interrupts “If that’s okay”

“Yes please” the priest lets him, and Sohee lets out a confused face.

“I just want to say thank you” Anton starts “For being with me in your last day, you could have done anything with anyone. But you choose me, so I really am thankful for you Sohee hyung.”
“What the hell” Sohee could feel his eyes burning, he pushes Anton’s shoulder lightly. He wasn’t prepared to be emotional. Especially after getting fucked in the ass.

“That’s beautiful, I sincerely hope the best for you both. So for the big question” the priest continues “Do you Sohee Lee, take Anton to be your groom?”

“I do.” Sohee answers while erasing the tears on his eyes, holding Anton’s finger.

“And are you Anton Lee, take Sohee to be your groom?”

“I do.” Anton can’t hide his smile any longer, Sohee grins to his reaction. This the best day of their life.

“You may kiss the groom.”

The thought of Anton being Sohee’s groom almost makes him want to scream so bad. Then they pull each other for a kiss. It feels different this time. Anton lifts one hand to cup Sohee’s cheek while Sohee immediately laughs into the kiss. Somehow, he gets shy at the worst possible moment. They both end up laughing against each other’s lips before trying again.

The priest hands them a certificate afterward, and the second they step outside they practically run back to the car, giggling and laughing about the fact that they actually did it. They really, really got married. Then they drive toward the sunset, aimlessly moving through town.

 

—

 

They spend the rest of their days just driving and driving, pinning random places on the map and finding community after community. But they’re done with all of that now, so they decide to settle on their own.
They find a small place a little past Yeosu, where they build a little camping setup around Sohee’s car, making it their own place for the last few days.
They send their wedding certificate to their families and to the riize’s group chat, and all the members immediately starting a group call after seeing it. They get bombarded with question how, why, and what the hell happened, but Sohee simply answers with, “Do you want us to send you guys our sex tape?”

The call ends after that. At least the important people know about them. That’s enough.

Now it’s probably only a matter of minutes before the meteorites start hitting Earth. They can already see the sky slowly changing colors, and they can feel the temperature shifting around them.

Anton lends his hand from above, helping Sohee climb up to sit on top of the car.

“You know I have been talking with someone these past months,” Sohee starts after settling beside him.

“What do you mean, talking?” Anton asks while pulling a big blanket over both of them, covering them together against the cold wind.

“It means Eunseok hyung set me up with a guy,” Sohee clarifies. “But it wasn’t serious yet. We just talked and played games like usual. We never really had the time to go on a proper date.”

“Oh.” Okay Anton didn’t know that. He had been living in the closest proximity ever to Sohee, weird how he didn’t know any of it. “Is it the guy you always play games with until late at night?”

“Yes, one of them,” Sohee replies. “But he ghosted me after the end-of-the-world news came out.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Like I said, it wasn’t serious.” Sohee shrugs. “Eunseok hyung just thought we matched.”

“And did you think so?” Anton looks at him with the puppiest eyes.

“I think so?” Sohee hums. “Maybe if we had time to meet and stuff. But it was just like online dating, you know.”

“Yeah.” Anton nods. “Do I know this guy?”

“Probably.” Sohee grins thinking back. “We met him a few times at music shows and stuff.”

“Oh, so an idol.”

“Yeah.” Sohee grins. “Worst part is, his face is a hundred percent my type.”

“Okay, stop.” Anton presses a hand against Sohee’s chest. “I don’t think I want to hear you swoon over another guy.”

Sohee laughs. “I know, that’s why I never told you.”

“Mean,” Anton mutters, holding his head dramatically. “You know I would’ve been supportive either way.”

“You would’ve been jealous.”

“I won’t,” Anton insists. Sohee raises an eyebrow. “I would be supportive. That’s what friends do.”

“Mhm.” Sohee nods slowly. “You mean you wouldn’t throw another tantrum like that time you found out I kissed someone?”

Anton pauses. “You knew it was because of you?”

“Of course I did.” Sohee laughs. “The whole team knew.”

“I’m sorry.” Anton lowers his head a little. “I didn’t know what I was feeling back then. Even if I did—”

“It would’ve jeopardized the team,” Sohee cuts him off softly. “I know. Our feelings weren’t supposed to come out. Ever.”

“Yeah.” Anton pulls his knees closer, resting his chin on them while looking at Sohee beside him. “I love you a lot, Sohee hyung. I don’t care if you knew already. I just have this huge feeling towards you that I can’t control sometimes.”

“I do too,” Sohee answers quietly. “I love you a lot more”

“Yeah?” Anton pulls his body closer, giving Sohee’s cheek a kiss.

“Anton?” Sohee calls. His eyes glisten while staring at Anton’s long hair, and the way it falls around his face with the wind brushing against it.

“Hmm?” Anton hums, giving him that cheeky smile again. Sohee had been calling his name a lot these days. It sounds beautiful every time.

“In our next life, I’m sure there is one.” Sohee continues, brushing Anton’s hair away from his face carefully. “I’m sure after all of this ends, we’re going to meet again. In a different world or a different form. Make sure you find me again, okay?”

“Of course I will.” Anton furrows his eyebrows, genuinely baffled by the idea of worlds existing where there is no Sohee and Anton.

“And when you find me…” Sohee’s fingers slowly run through Anton’s hair. “Make sure you feel the same way you do right now. Find me and love me again.”

“I’ll love you over and over again, hyung.” Anton takes Sohee’s hand away from his hair and presses a gentle kiss against it. “Even if the meteor hits a thousand more times, I’ll still find a way to love you again.”

“Sucks.” Sohee doesn’t even realize tears are already rolling down his face now. “It would’ve been nice to just be in love in this one.”

Anton immediately pulls him closer, wrapping both arms around him until there’s no space left between them. “I know.” His voice breaks a little. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, hyung.”

“No, don’t say that.” Sohee is sobbing into Anton’s neck. “It’s okay. We’re okay.”

“We are.” Anton gently runs his fingers through Sohee’s hair. They both feel warm under the blanket now despite the cold wind. Above them, meteors streak across the sky like falling stars. Below the hills, car alarms start blaring one after another. People blasting gospel songs through speakers. The sky itself feels looks like it’s burning. Anton just holds him tighter. “We’re going to be okay.”

“Promise me you’ll find me again.”

“I promise.” Anton hugs him tighter and tighter he’s trying to memorize the shape of his love. “I love you, Sohee.”

“I love you too, Anton.”

And everything goes quiet.

Notes:

*meteorites hitting the earth sound effect*

HIIIIIII hello i hope you enjoyed that!!
i kinda worked on this since pinky up by katseye was released.. (i really LOVE THAT SONG!!!) and also inspired by the movie 'dont look up'.... so im sorry if you can feel that ive been working this for a long time............ if that make sense........
I really really hope you guys enjoy this ;__; if you do... THANKYOU!!! FOR READING this far :D