Tokyo Skylines
Title: Tokyo Skylines
Author eoryndal
Rating: pg
Pairing: TaeKey
Genre: angst, fluff
Summary: Taemin remembers their debut in Japan.
Kibum-hyung, say, did you like the Tokyo night skyline?
It's such a beautiful sight. I still remember our first time in Tokyo. I still remember that first night in our hotel room twenty-three storeys above Tokyo. The first time I was enraptured by that sight. I stood at the window, extra thick glass, well isolated against the heat of summer days and the cold of winter nights. Even the curtains were extra thick, as protection against the warm daylight and the busy street lights at night.
That's where I stood, my hand clasping the thick curtain, and my forehead resting against the thick glass.
I was surrounded by all these heavy things, yet I felt light and fragile, like a feather blown high into the night sky by a fated sweep of wind.
Maybe I was a little homesick?
But isn't it strange that I worried more about whether I'd like the foreign food and whether I'd understand the foreign MCs well enough during interviews?
I only got homesick at night.
When I stood at the window of our hotel room and enjoyed the view.
When I started thinking too much, even though my head felt light and empty and I don't remember what I could have been thinking about all the time.
Maybe all those lights reminded me of home? After all, in the dark, bathed in all those lights, this foreign city looked so similar to our beloved Seoul.
It's weird, I couldn't seem to tear my eyes away from it. I wasn't tired at all, and the sight just kept me trapped. I was so immersed in it that I didn't hear you rummaging through the room we shared, going to the bathroom to take a shower and finally going to bed. I wonder what you thought of me. 'Hey Taemin, what are you standing there for? Did you turn to stone?' Something along that line.
But even though I may have felt uprooted and homesick in this night-time city, I still enjoyed it very much. And we all grew accustomed to it, right?
Minho, who once said that he felt stressed and stiff, dances as smoothly as ever before, Jonghyun's beautiful voice lost that slight, insecure tremor and Jinki's healthy appetite is back. I feel quite confident talking in Japanese now. And don't we all like Japanese food now?
Kibum, don't you like Tokyo now?
I forgot what time the red glow-in-the-dark digits of the alarm clock read as I finally turned away from that window. My legs did feel as if they had turned to stone, Kibum. Manager-san would definitely scold me the next day at dance rehearsal.
Maybe the sky was turning a distant, warm pink, there at that point farthest away from us. But I forgot.
It's weird, huh? After all, I kept standing there staring into the distance for so long. You would think I'd remember, right?
I remember how I thought everyone of us resembled the sky. To me, Minho was the morning sky, a little cool but with bright rays of sunlight tickling you to wake you up, promising a fine day, maybe tempting you to play a game of soccer. Jonghyun was the sky at noon, with pure sunshine, sometimes erupting into a thunderstorm but usually bright and clear. Kibum, you were the evening sky, all the different shades from a bright orange, passionate deep red, soft pink, reminiscent violet to a dark blue. Jinki was the night sky, deep and thoughtful, the stars as sharp and bright as his stupid humor, and quite a romantic nevertheless.
Would you have laughed at me for making those comparisons? But I'm serious. You noticed that someone's missing in my list, right? Myself. That's because I... I forgot what kind of sky I was.
Maybe I was that sky I had been staring at all the time. Those many many shades of grey, indecisive of what kind of a day, what kind of a weather they should become. The kind of a sky that most people won't like at first because it looks odd and discomforting. I'm glad you are there to notice the faint pink lining at the horizon.
I remember how I smiled eventually, drew the curtain close and took the few steps to my bed. I may have felt like a blown away feather. This melancholic feeling... you've felt it too, right? We're soul mates, right?
I was lying in that hotel room bed, under the thick and heavy covers. Why did everything seem thick and heavy to me that night, except for my heart which felt so strangely airy? But now I'm grateful because if things hadn't been that heavy, maybe I would've really been blown away, who knows?
I still couldn't fall asleep. My eyes drifted to the window ever so often, hung on the closed curtain, and I tried to guess: How did the sky beyond it look? There's a saying... The hardest person to know is yourself. And another saying goes: You can't make a wing out of one feather.
Maybe out of five...
That night was our first night in Tokyo and I remember that your sleep was heavily bothered by nightmares. Was something chasing you, our almighty Key? What could it be? Or maybe it was one of those nightmares in which you felt an overwhelming loneliness, as if you were the only person in the world? It's gone now, right? You said, you were able to sleep as deeply as in Korea.
Maybe I was the one feeling lonely.
I needed to reach over to your bed and grasp your hand, intertwining our fingers. Then I fell asleep.
Jonghyun woke us up the next morning, he came bouncing into our hotel room, cheerfully pulling the curtains open, the morning sunlight falling onto our sleepy faces. We had practice that day and with Onew's help we all did well. Even the sun shone really brightly, as if it was proud of us. We had a tv appearance in the evening and I think we could show them our many different colours. Manager-san even allowed us to go partying later that evening. The city was still so alien to us but we had a lot of fun.
And at night, back in that hotel room of ours, you sat beside me looking out that huge, thick glassed window, twenty-three storeys above Tokyo. Was it because if you went to bed the nightmares would chase you again? You sat there with me and held my hand, intertwining our fingers. How did you know? You had been fast asleep the night before. But now you just sat there with me. You never complained about your legs feeling like stones from not moving them the whole time. In fact, you didn't even say a single word. You were just there with me, warming my hand, until the horizon turned a distant, warm pink...
So, Kibum, say, did you like the Tokyo night skyline?
Author eoryndal
Rating: pg
Pairing: TaeKey
Genre: angst, fluff
Summary: Taemin remembers their debut in Japan.
Kibum-hyung, say, did you like the Tokyo night skyline?
It's such a beautiful sight. I still remember our first time in Tokyo. I still remember that first night in our hotel room twenty-three storeys above Tokyo. The first time I was enraptured by that sight. I stood at the window, extra thick glass, well isolated against the heat of summer days and the cold of winter nights. Even the curtains were extra thick, as protection against the warm daylight and the busy street lights at night.
That's where I stood, my hand clasping the thick curtain, and my forehead resting against the thick glass.
I was surrounded by all these heavy things, yet I felt light and fragile, like a feather blown high into the night sky by a fated sweep of wind.
Maybe I was a little homesick?
But isn't it strange that I worried more about whether I'd like the foreign food and whether I'd understand the foreign MCs well enough during interviews?
I only got homesick at night.
When I stood at the window of our hotel room and enjoyed the view.
When I started thinking too much, even though my head felt light and empty and I don't remember what I could have been thinking about all the time.
Maybe all those lights reminded me of home? After all, in the dark, bathed in all those lights, this foreign city looked so similar to our beloved Seoul.
It's weird, I couldn't seem to tear my eyes away from it. I wasn't tired at all, and the sight just kept me trapped. I was so immersed in it that I didn't hear you rummaging through the room we shared, going to the bathroom to take a shower and finally going to bed. I wonder what you thought of me. 'Hey Taemin, what are you standing there for? Did you turn to stone?' Something along that line.
But even though I may have felt uprooted and homesick in this night-time city, I still enjoyed it very much. And we all grew accustomed to it, right?
Minho, who once said that he felt stressed and stiff, dances as smoothly as ever before, Jonghyun's beautiful voice lost that slight, insecure tremor and Jinki's healthy appetite is back. I feel quite confident talking in Japanese now. And don't we all like Japanese food now?
Kibum, don't you like Tokyo now?
I forgot what time the red glow-in-the-dark digits of the alarm clock read as I finally turned away from that window. My legs did feel as if they had turned to stone, Kibum. Manager-san would definitely scold me the next day at dance rehearsal.
Maybe the sky was turning a distant, warm pink, there at that point farthest away from us. But I forgot.
It's weird, huh? After all, I kept standing there staring into the distance for so long. You would think I'd remember, right?
I remember how I thought everyone of us resembled the sky. To me, Minho was the morning sky, a little cool but with bright rays of sunlight tickling you to wake you up, promising a fine day, maybe tempting you to play a game of soccer. Jonghyun was the sky at noon, with pure sunshine, sometimes erupting into a thunderstorm but usually bright and clear. Kibum, you were the evening sky, all the different shades from a bright orange, passionate deep red, soft pink, reminiscent violet to a dark blue. Jinki was the night sky, deep and thoughtful, the stars as sharp and bright as his stupid humor, and quite a romantic nevertheless.
Would you have laughed at me for making those comparisons? But I'm serious. You noticed that someone's missing in my list, right? Myself. That's because I... I forgot what kind of sky I was.
Maybe I was that sky I had been staring at all the time. Those many many shades of grey, indecisive of what kind of a day, what kind of a weather they should become. The kind of a sky that most people won't like at first because it looks odd and discomforting. I'm glad you are there to notice the faint pink lining at the horizon.
I remember how I smiled eventually, drew the curtain close and took the few steps to my bed. I may have felt like a blown away feather. This melancholic feeling... you've felt it too, right? We're soul mates, right?
I was lying in that hotel room bed, under the thick and heavy covers. Why did everything seem thick and heavy to me that night, except for my heart which felt so strangely airy? But now I'm grateful because if things hadn't been that heavy, maybe I would've really been blown away, who knows?
I still couldn't fall asleep. My eyes drifted to the window ever so often, hung on the closed curtain, and I tried to guess: How did the sky beyond it look? There's a saying... The hardest person to know is yourself. And another saying goes: You can't make a wing out of one feather.
Maybe out of five...
That night was our first night in Tokyo and I remember that your sleep was heavily bothered by nightmares. Was something chasing you, our almighty Key? What could it be? Or maybe it was one of those nightmares in which you felt an overwhelming loneliness, as if you were the only person in the world? It's gone now, right? You said, you were able to sleep as deeply as in Korea.
Maybe I was the one feeling lonely.
I needed to reach over to your bed and grasp your hand, intertwining our fingers. Then I fell asleep.
Jonghyun woke us up the next morning, he came bouncing into our hotel room, cheerfully pulling the curtains open, the morning sunlight falling onto our sleepy faces. We had practice that day and with Onew's help we all did well. Even the sun shone really brightly, as if it was proud of us. We had a tv appearance in the evening and I think we could show them our many different colours. Manager-san even allowed us to go partying later that evening. The city was still so alien to us but we had a lot of fun.
And at night, back in that hotel room of ours, you sat beside me looking out that huge, thick glassed window, twenty-three storeys above Tokyo. Was it because if you went to bed the nightmares would chase you again? You sat there with me and held my hand, intertwining our fingers. How did you know? You had been fast asleep the night before. But now you just sat there with me. You never complained about your legs feeling like stones from not moving them the whole time. In fact, you didn't even say a single word. You were just there with me, warming my hand, until the horizon turned a distant, warm pink...
So, Kibum, say, did you like the Tokyo night skyline?