They Met In Copenhagen 3
Title: They met in Copenhagen
Author: suju_shinki
Genre: Romance, crack, the usuals.
Pairing: Yoosu
Length: 3/?
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Junsu loses his luggage at the airport and his life starts from there.
03. Amsterdam
It was still dark outside when Yoochun shook Junsu awake during their train ride to Amsterdam.
“Hey, they called,” Yoochun said softly. “The airport called about your luggage.”
“Oh, really?” Junsu said, sitting up straight. “What did they say?”
“Here, there’s still on the other line,” he said, pushing the cell phone into Junsu’s hand.
“Hello?” he croaked into the phone.
“Mister Kim? We have good news. We’ve found your luggage and you can come pick it up whenever you’re ready.”
“That’s great, but I’m half way across the world right now...”
“Well, it’ll be here until you come back. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
“That’s okay…bye…”
Still not completely awake, he gave Yoochun his cell back. “They found it,” he murmured, closing his eyes.
When he opened them again, he was in Amsterdam. The train had stopped.
“I want to see the Van Gogh museum! And Dam Square! And the Anne Frank House!”
“Maybe we should get out of the station first and work from there,” Yoochun suggested. It seemed that they had quietly agreed that even though Junsu didn’t need Yoochun anymore for his phone, they were going to stay together for this trip. Junsu was somehow relieved Yoochun wasn’t planning on leaving him alone because there were a lot of things he feared he’d have trouble doing alone. Buying train tickets was a very simple example.
They were at the station in Berlin the other day and Junsu had convinced Yoochun to let him pay for their tickets this time and take care of the rest too. Junsu hadn’t expected to find out that there wasn’t a person selling tickets, but a freaking machine with a freaking touch screen that only spoke German, English and French. If it was a person he could have just used his limited English and go: “Amsterdam. Ticket, please.” But no. The machine had very long sentenced and a very sensitive touch screen and in the end he had to ask Yoochun for help because he couldn’t figure it out. It didn’t help his self-esteem much when Yoochun clicked on to the touch screen three times and the tickets came rolling out in less than 15 seconds.
The second they stepped out of the station Junsu almost got run over by something that looked like a train, but wasn’t quite it.
“O my god, it’s a tram!” he said excitedly, getting over his initial shock.
“And it almost got you killed. You really have to look out more,” Yoochun said, before grabbing his elbow and crossing the busy street with him. The station must have been the trams’ end destination, because there were trams all over the place. Most of them standing still, some of them just arriving and others taking off.
Junsu couldn’t help himself. Amsterdam was one of the city’s he wanted to see most and he hadn’t been there for more than 5 minutes and was already fulfilled. “Look at all the people riding bicycles!”
When they stopped at a bus stop, Junsu looked at Yoochun questioningly. “You’ve been here before, haven’t you?”
“I’ve lived here for a couple of months,” Yoochun admitted. “So this time I know my way around.”
“Are we going to ride a tram?”
“Yes.”
“Really?” Junsu couldn’t contain the excitement in his voice and Yoochun laughed.
“Yes, really.”
It wasn’t quite as warm as it had been in Berlin, but Junsu found the slight breeze refreshing as they waited for their tram to come. Things had gotten a bit awkward after the whole peeping-at-Yoochun-and-some-guy-almost doing-it-thing and they still hadn’t completely recovered from it, but Junsu hoped that this day, that Amsterdam would fix things again.
Their tram came and Junsu’s heart starting beating like it used to do when he was a kid and was about to ride a rollercoaster. And during the whole trip all he could think was: I’m riding a tram! It wasn’t until Yoochun motioned him to get up and said they were getting off, he realized he had no idea where they were going, but the second he got off, he knew.
The building in front of them looked like a huge cube with windows in it and on the front there were shiny silver letters: Van Gogh Museum.
“Did you know van Gogh was crazy? Did you know he actually cut off his own ear? Did you know that he once said that orange was the colour of craziness and did you know that Holland’s national colour is orange? Don’t you think that’s kind of funny?”
Yoochun looked at him, amused. “What is it about Amsterdam that’s making you so pumped up?” he asked, taking Junsu’s elbow again as they crossed a small road between the bus stop and the museum.
“I don’t know, maybe it’s the idea of being in the city where everything is okay. Did you know there is a saying that goes: ‘Good boys go to heaven and bad boys go to Amsterdam’?”
“Sounds more like a advertisement slogan than a saying to me,” Yoochun snorted. “Believe me; most people here are just as normal as anywhere else.”
They entered the museum and after buying their tickets Junsu felt like a little kid in a playground and Yoochun followed him around like an amused parent.
When they had finally seen everything there was to see, Junsu’s stomach grumbled.
“Time for lunch,” Yoochun stated with a smile.
“We haven’t even had breakfast,” Junsu sighed. “We should take better care of ourselves while we’re out here.”
“Hey, you know what haring is, right?”
Haring tasted…very salty. But Junsu knew that it was part of Dutch tradition and he was more than happy to try it.
They were standing in the middle of a marketplace, in front of a stand selling sorts of baked fish. They ate their haring and Yoochun got them a portion of fried shrimp each, afterwards.
“So how come you’ve lived here?” Junsu asked as they walked through the marketplace, their shrimp in one hand and a small fork in the other. “Isn’t it a bit far away from home?”
“I have some friends here,” Yoochun shrugged. “I stayed with them for a while before I decided to travel again.”
All of a sudden the thought of Yoochun being a drug dealer seemed too obvious. Plus, why would a drug dealer travel Europe pointlessly like he did? Drug dealers had places to be and money to make, Yoochun followed Junsu around like he had all the time in the world. And where would Yoochun possible be hiding all the drugs he was supposedly dealing? Junsu had seen his bag, had rummaged through it, even. With permission, of course.
“Have you ever smoked pot?” It wasn’t that weird of a question to ask someone who has lived in Amsterdam, but for a second Junsu was scared Yoochun would get mad. But he just laughed and nodded. “Once or twice.”
“Really? How was it?” It was one of the thing Junsu couldn’t even imagine himself doing, but now that he was actually in Europe…who knew. Going home with a girl he didn’t even know the name of wasn’t a thing he could imagine himself doing either, but he did and even though it was a complete failure, he didn’t completely regret it. He’d done something he wanted to and it was refreshing not to be stopped by his fears of what people may think of him.
“Honestly, it’s not that special. You have to be careful though. If you want to try it, I know a place that sells regular stuff. There is some weird stuff out there that can seriously make you delusional.”
Junsu agreed to it, even if it was just to see the place Yoochun clearly was familiar with.
“Hey, don’t you want to visit our friends while you’re here? You could if you want. I could just go to the next museums alone-“
“Do you even know where the next museums are? It’s fine. You know what? One of my friends works at a club. We could go there tonight and you can meet him. You’ll get your pot there too.”
They took a tram -a tram! - to Dam square and Junsu snapped a million pictures of the living statues there. There was one in particular in a Poseidon costume that kept poking him in the ass with his pitchfork when he turned around. Yoochun found it extremely funny, Junsu got a little scared. After that, they got coffee at a Coffee Company at the edge of the square and decided to walk to the Anne Frank House, since Yoochun said it wasn’t that far away.
Amsterdam was beautiful, Junsu decided. He knew he was already biased but he didn’t really care. The amount of people on bicycles was insane. Young, old, mothers with children, men in business suits. They all road their bikes through the city and over the small bridges crossing the famous canals. There were people in little motor boats languidly floating up the canals in little groups of friends or families. Junsu loved the sight and snapped away with his camera.
The Anne Frank House had a giant line in front of it and Junsu heard Yoochun sigh loudly.
“You don’t have to wait with me,” Junsu quickly said. “If you think the line is too long, I mean”
“I’m starting to think you’re trying to get rid of me,” Yoochun said. “To bad, because I’m staying.”
“That’s not it at all.”
“Good.”
“Great.”
“Fine.”
And just like that, the line didn’t seem as long anymore and they were inside in no time.
When they finally came out again it was already time for diner.
“Should we find a place to sleep before we go out to diner?” Junsu suggested.
“We could,” Yoochun said, “or if you feel comfortable enough we could call my friend and crash at his place.
“Oh…” Junsu wondered how safe that was. He barely knew Yoochun, let alone his friend who lived in Amsterdam and worked in a club. Now that he thought of it, he actually knew more about the friend then he knew about Yoochun!
“That’s fine, but I don’t want to impose on your friend,” Junsu finally said.
“Trust me, you wont,” he grinned and took out his cell phone. He dialled and held the phone to his ear. “Changmin? Guess where I am!...I know, I know. I’ll make it up to you…that’s cool but I have a friend with me….Really? That’s awesome. We’ll be there in 15 minutes.”
“Your friend is Korean,” Junsu stated after hearing the quick conversation.
“Born and raised in Amsterdam, though. His parents went back and he stayed to finish his school. He lives in his parents’ house alone, so he has more than enough room for us,” Yoochun explained and he actually looked excited. “I met him the first day I was here and lived with him for about three months.”
For some reason Junsu couldn’t imagine Yoochun’s school-going friend to be a drug dealer even though he hadn’t even met him yet.
They got onto another tram - A tram! - and got off not ten minutes later, but the scenery had changed completely. Junsu saw grass, lots and lots of grass and - what the hell? Was that a cow?
Junsu almost broke his neck staring, realizing it was indeed a cow. And there were more than one! He wanted to look at them some more, take pictures of them, maybe even pet them if that was possible, but Yoochun walked passed them like it was the most normal thing in the world and crossed a street. Junsu quickly followed him and saw that they had arrived in a large street with lots of very colourful houses. Junsu wondered if Changmin lived in one of them and was answered when Yoochun stopped in front of a dark blue house with a yellow door and yellow window seals. He rang the doorbell and not 5 seconds later the door opened, revealing a someone who could only be described as tall, dark and handsome. He laughed before anyone had even said anything and pulled Yoochun into a hug.
“You’re such a fucker,” Changmin said, still laughing. “I’m surprised you even called.”
“I’m surprised you answered when you knew it was me,” Yoochun chuckled and answered his hug.
Junsu stood there, awkwardly looking around until Yoochun finally turned to him.
“This is Junsu. I met him in Copenhagen. He was travelling alone, so I decided to keep him company.”
“Ever so spontaneous,” Changmin rolled his eyes and held out his hand and Junsu answered his handshake. “Nice meeting you. I’m Shim Changmin.”
Taking a better look at him, Junsu concluded he couldn’t be older than 20.
“Come on in. Where’s your luggage, Junsu? Don’t tell me you’re travelling as empty handed as Yoochun is?”
He closed the door behind them as Junsu explained about how he had lost his luggage.
Changmin seemed to be as easy going as Yoochun was. The only difference was that Changmin was way more open and didn’t try to find his way out of personal questions. He ordered diner for them and as the ate in the large living room Junsu noticed how close the two guys were. The subtle, but intimate touches they shared, the jokes and loud laughter, everything. Junsu wondered if Changmin was gay and whether he and Yoochun may have been an item.
Before he knew it, it had gotten dark outside and Changmin said he had to change for work and that he’d be down in a minute.
“So what do you think?” Yoochun asked.
“He seems really nice,” Junsu admitted. “I can’t believe he lives here all alone. It looks so big.”
“His parents and sisters come back a couple of times a year, so instead of selling the house they decided leaving it to Changmin was the best option. He’s smart enough to take care of it.”
“I’m sure he is,” Junsu nodded.
Changmin came down wearing an incredibly tight black v-neck and an equally tight pair of jeans.
“You guys picked the right night to come. If you had come a few days later you wouldn’t have found me here,” he said as he looked around for something.
“Where are you going?” Yoochun asked, picking up the phone lying on the table in front of him and handing it over to Changmin. Did he just read his mind?
“Paris,” Changmin answered. “My internship starts in exactly one week.”
“What kind of internship?” Junsu asked interested. He’d have killed for an internship abroad during college, but he never got the chance.
“I get to be the bellboy for the photographer of Clinique. I have to start somewhere, don’t I?”
“Isn’t that kind of huge?” Yoochun asked.
“Sure,” Changmin shrugged.
“So you want to be a photographer? That’s cool.” Junsu hadn’t sought something like that after this Changmin-person. He didn’t really look like the artistic type and when they arrived to the club where Changmin worked-to Junsu’s disappointment they didn’t take the tram this time but Changmin’s little Peugeot- he got another surprise.
The second they entered the dimly lit club with the word Bitterzoet written on the doors and the bartenders’ aprons, Changmin disappeared to the back and appeared on a small stage across from the bar holding a guitar. The second he got on the people around them burst into applause and Junsu turned to Yoochun questioningly.
“Boy can sing too,” Yoochun chuckled.
It took a while before he actually started but when he did Junsu was blown away. Even though he sang in English and Junsu barely understood a word he said, he felt like a fan already.
Changmin sang three songs before bowing and other music was put on.
“What did you think?” Yoochun asked, pulling Junsu towards the bar.
“He was amazing,” Junsu said. “Really, really great.”
“You should tell him that when he gets back. French Martini?”
Junsu nodded and Yoochun ordered for them. Changmin appeared a few seconds later and sat down on a barstool. One of the bartenders immediately handed him a glass of water and said something in Dutch that made him laugh.
“You have a great voice,” Junsu said. “Are you going to sing more tonight?”
“Later. Here.” He put cigarette in Junsu’s hand. “First round of drinks is on the house.”
Junsu stared at the cigarette in his hand and was about to say that he didn’t smoke, when he noticed that it didn’t look like a regular cigarette. Oh. Oh.
He nervously twirled it between his fingers until his drink was put down in front of him. He had told Yoochun he wanted it and he’d gone through the trouble of telling his friend and Changmin had gone through god knows what to get it for him, for free no less. He couldn’t back down, could he? He took a large sip of his drink and turned to Yoochun. “Do you want this?” he asked holding up the cigarette.
“You mean you want to share?” he asked. “Sure. We can’t smoke in here though, so we have to go outside. Finish up your drink first.”
Junsu decided to take smaller sips, but eventually there was nothing left in his martini glass and he followed Yoochun outside.
“You don’t have to smoke it if you don’t want to. You can just give it back to Changmin.”
“No,” Junsu said. “Lighter.”
Yoochun fished a lighter out of the pocket of his pants and handed it over. Junsu lit the joint and gave it to him. “You first.”
Yoochun nodded and took a long draw, before coolly releasing blowing out the smoke up into the air. He handed it back and Junsu had to gather all his courage to do the same. He took a draw, as small as possible and immediately started coughing. He heard Yoochun chuckle and felt him patting him on the back. “First timers always do that.”
Junsu eventually caught his breath again and passed the joint back to Yoochun. Yoochun finished his turn and gave it back. Junsu tried it again, this time thankfully without choking. He started feeling a bit light headed after the fourth draw after a few others they had smoked it up.
“Come on,” Yoochun said stomping out the bud under his flipflop. “Let’s get another drink.”
Junsu nodded and grabbed his arm. They went back inside together and found Changmin back on stage. Yoochun ordered them new drinks and they sat on their barstools watching.
“You know,” Yoochun said all of a sudden, “I didn’t really think you were going to go through with it.”
“Why not?” Junsu asked, feigning indignation.
“Just couldn’t picture it, that’s all. Says a lot about you that you still did it. One thing it says is that you’re really trying to do new things.”
“Aren’t you the one who said I should live a little? Just doing what you told me,” Junsu shrugged and finished his second drink. “Did you know Amsterdam is the gay capital of the world?” He didn’t know where that came from, but when he was drinking, a lot just came from no where.
“Interesting, isn’t it?” Yoochun chuckled.
“Is it different? Kissing a guy, I mean. Is it different from kissing a girl? Have you ever kissed a girl?” Woah, there tiger. Junsu didn’t feel all that drunk, but the random inappropriate words kept coming. Maybe it was the weed and alcohol together that had that effect on him.
“I have kissed girls before and yeah, it is different. For me it feels right when I kiss a guy and wrong when I kiss a girl, just like it would probably feel wrong for you if you’d kiss a guy.”
“Can’t it both feel good?” Junsu asked.
“Sure. It’s called bisexuality. I’m sure you’ve heard of it.”
Junsu knew Yoochun was making fun of him somehow and ignored it. “Can I get another drink?”
Yoochun nodded and ordered a third round for them. In his mind Junsu kept thinking about what Yoochun had said. Would it feel weird for him if he kissed a guy? For some reason, he didn’t think so. There was only one way to find out, though and Junsu didn’t know if he could master up the courage for that. He got his third drink and sipped it as he listened to Changmin’s voice in the background. The club had gotten jam-packed with people and a lot of them were standing in front of the stage, dancing, cheering for him. He saw a few couples making out and turned to look at Yoochun, who was casually sipping his drink.
“Hey,” Junsu said. “Europe is the place to experiment, right?”
“It is for us,” Yoochun nodded. “Why?”
“I want to experiment. With you. Do you want to?”
“You want to kiss me?” Yoochun asked straight out and took a gigantic sip to replace his blush out of embarrassment with a blush of breathlessness.
“I want to experiment,” he simply said after that.
“What happens if you regret this?” Yoochun asked sliding off of his barstool and stood in front of Junsu, leaning one hand on his knee.
“That’s not for you to worry about. This is my experiment,” Junsu shrugged.
Yoochun leaned in without further warning. He bit onto Junsu’s lower lip, tugging his mouth open and moved up for a full kiss. His mouth was warm and Junsu couldn’t help but welcome him with all he got. Their tongues touched, sending shivers down his spine. He blindly put his drink down on the bar and when he didn’t hear a crash of glass breaking he guessed he was lucky. But he didn’t waste any more seconds thinking about that and put his hands in Yoochun’s neck, angling his own just enough to deepen the kiss and blow his own mind. This didn’t feel wrong, not at all. It felt amazingly sexy to have his body pressed up against Yoochun’s hard one and it felt amazingly sexy to feel big, firm, strong hands on his thigh and waist. Not wrong at all.
So, so, so wrong! How could he have kissed a guy?! Yoochun, no less! What was he going to think of him? Why did he like it so much? What the hell was wrong with him?!
It was morning and Junsu woke up on the couch in Changmin’s living room. Yoochun was sitting on the other couch, across from him. Junsu had only opened his eyes for a second, seen Yoochun sitting there and immediately closed them again when all the memories of the night before coming rushing back. How was he going to face him now? Was Yoochun going to think he was gay? Was he gay? He quickly thought of soft breasts, round hips and big pretty eyes. Nope, still like all of those. So he was straight. Bisexual? No, he was straight. And had bisexual tendencies. Well one thing was for sure and that was that he still liked boobies.
“You don’t have to pretend you’re asleep, you know. Last night wasn’t that bad.”
Junsu hesitated before opening one eye and looking at Yoochun’s amused expression. “It was embarrassing,” Junsu groaned, pulling the thin sheet that was covering him over his head. “I’m sorry.”
“For experimenting? If all your experiments go like that, I wouldn’t mind being your guinea pig more often.”
“Stop flirting. I don’t…I’m confused.”
“About what?”
“About my sexuality.”
“Well…you obviously like girls.”
“Exactly. So I’m straight.”
“But you liked last night a lot too.”
Junsu fell silent. That was too true.
“So I guess you had some hidden gayness all along.”
“Bisexual,” Junsu muttered, pulling the sheet closer around him and uncovering his head. “Don’t smile like that. You weren’t that great.”
Yoochun laughed. “No one has ever said that to me. Please, tell me how I can improve.”
“Aish!” Junsu groaned loudly and jerked himself up straight. “I didn’t like it that much!”
“Only you did like it that much.”
“Didn’t.”
“Did.”
“Now, that’s mature. What’s our next stop anyway?”
“I was thinking we follow Changmin to Paris,” Yoochun said. “What do you think?”
“The city of love.” Junsu said and immediately regretted it when he saw the suggestive look on Yoochun’s face. “The city of straight love,” he corrected himself quickly. “Or gay love. Nothing in between.”
Yoochun stood up and stretched before walking towards the door. “We’ll see.”
“No we won’t!” Junsu called after him, but he had a feeling he would.
Author: suju_shinki
Genre: Romance, crack, the usuals.
Pairing: Yoosu
Length: 3/?
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Junsu loses his luggage at the airport and his life starts from there.
03. Amsterdam
It was still dark outside when Yoochun shook Junsu awake during their train ride to Amsterdam.
“Hey, they called,” Yoochun said softly. “The airport called about your luggage.”
“Oh, really?” Junsu said, sitting up straight. “What did they say?”
“Here, there’s still on the other line,” he said, pushing the cell phone into Junsu’s hand.
“Hello?” he croaked into the phone.
“Mister Kim? We have good news. We’ve found your luggage and you can come pick it up whenever you’re ready.”
“That’s great, but I’m half way across the world right now...”
“Well, it’ll be here until you come back. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
“That’s okay…bye…”
Still not completely awake, he gave Yoochun his cell back. “They found it,” he murmured, closing his eyes.
When he opened them again, he was in Amsterdam. The train had stopped.
“I want to see the Van Gogh museum! And Dam Square! And the Anne Frank House!”
“Maybe we should get out of the station first and work from there,” Yoochun suggested. It seemed that they had quietly agreed that even though Junsu didn’t need Yoochun anymore for his phone, they were going to stay together for this trip. Junsu was somehow relieved Yoochun wasn’t planning on leaving him alone because there were a lot of things he feared he’d have trouble doing alone. Buying train tickets was a very simple example.
They were at the station in Berlin the other day and Junsu had convinced Yoochun to let him pay for their tickets this time and take care of the rest too. Junsu hadn’t expected to find out that there wasn’t a person selling tickets, but a freaking machine with a freaking touch screen that only spoke German, English and French. If it was a person he could have just used his limited English and go: “Amsterdam. Ticket, please.” But no. The machine had very long sentenced and a very sensitive touch screen and in the end he had to ask Yoochun for help because he couldn’t figure it out. It didn’t help his self-esteem much when Yoochun clicked on to the touch screen three times and the tickets came rolling out in less than 15 seconds.
The second they stepped out of the station Junsu almost got run over by something that looked like a train, but wasn’t quite it.
“O my god, it’s a tram!” he said excitedly, getting over his initial shock.
“And it almost got you killed. You really have to look out more,” Yoochun said, before grabbing his elbow and crossing the busy street with him. The station must have been the trams’ end destination, because there were trams all over the place. Most of them standing still, some of them just arriving and others taking off.
Junsu couldn’t help himself. Amsterdam was one of the city’s he wanted to see most and he hadn’t been there for more than 5 minutes and was already fulfilled. “Look at all the people riding bicycles!”
When they stopped at a bus stop, Junsu looked at Yoochun questioningly. “You’ve been here before, haven’t you?”
“I’ve lived here for a couple of months,” Yoochun admitted. “So this time I know my way around.”
“Are we going to ride a tram?”
“Yes.”
“Really?” Junsu couldn’t contain the excitement in his voice and Yoochun laughed.
“Yes, really.”
It wasn’t quite as warm as it had been in Berlin, but Junsu found the slight breeze refreshing as they waited for their tram to come. Things had gotten a bit awkward after the whole peeping-at-Yoochun-and-some-guy-almost doing-it-thing and they still hadn’t completely recovered from it, but Junsu hoped that this day, that Amsterdam would fix things again.
Their tram came and Junsu’s heart starting beating like it used to do when he was a kid and was about to ride a rollercoaster. And during the whole trip all he could think was: I’m riding a tram! It wasn’t until Yoochun motioned him to get up and said they were getting off, he realized he had no idea where they were going, but the second he got off, he knew.
The building in front of them looked like a huge cube with windows in it and on the front there were shiny silver letters: Van Gogh Museum.
“Did you know van Gogh was crazy? Did you know he actually cut off his own ear? Did you know that he once said that orange was the colour of craziness and did you know that Holland’s national colour is orange? Don’t you think that’s kind of funny?”
Yoochun looked at him, amused. “What is it about Amsterdam that’s making you so pumped up?” he asked, taking Junsu’s elbow again as they crossed a small road between the bus stop and the museum.
“I don’t know, maybe it’s the idea of being in the city where everything is okay. Did you know there is a saying that goes: ‘Good boys go to heaven and bad boys go to Amsterdam’?”
“Sounds more like a advertisement slogan than a saying to me,” Yoochun snorted. “Believe me; most people here are just as normal as anywhere else.”
They entered the museum and after buying their tickets Junsu felt like a little kid in a playground and Yoochun followed him around like an amused parent.
When they had finally seen everything there was to see, Junsu’s stomach grumbled.
“Time for lunch,” Yoochun stated with a smile.
“We haven’t even had breakfast,” Junsu sighed. “We should take better care of ourselves while we’re out here.”
“Hey, you know what haring is, right?”
Haring tasted…very salty. But Junsu knew that it was part of Dutch tradition and he was more than happy to try it.
They were standing in the middle of a marketplace, in front of a stand selling sorts of baked fish. They ate their haring and Yoochun got them a portion of fried shrimp each, afterwards.
“So how come you’ve lived here?” Junsu asked as they walked through the marketplace, their shrimp in one hand and a small fork in the other. “Isn’t it a bit far away from home?”
“I have some friends here,” Yoochun shrugged. “I stayed with them for a while before I decided to travel again.”
All of a sudden the thought of Yoochun being a drug dealer seemed too obvious. Plus, why would a drug dealer travel Europe pointlessly like he did? Drug dealers had places to be and money to make, Yoochun followed Junsu around like he had all the time in the world. And where would Yoochun possible be hiding all the drugs he was supposedly dealing? Junsu had seen his bag, had rummaged through it, even. With permission, of course.
“Have you ever smoked pot?” It wasn’t that weird of a question to ask someone who has lived in Amsterdam, but for a second Junsu was scared Yoochun would get mad. But he just laughed and nodded. “Once or twice.”
“Really? How was it?” It was one of the thing Junsu couldn’t even imagine himself doing, but now that he was actually in Europe…who knew. Going home with a girl he didn’t even know the name of wasn’t a thing he could imagine himself doing either, but he did and even though it was a complete failure, he didn’t completely regret it. He’d done something he wanted to and it was refreshing not to be stopped by his fears of what people may think of him.
“Honestly, it’s not that special. You have to be careful though. If you want to try it, I know a place that sells regular stuff. There is some weird stuff out there that can seriously make you delusional.”
Junsu agreed to it, even if it was just to see the place Yoochun clearly was familiar with.
“Hey, don’t you want to visit our friends while you’re here? You could if you want. I could just go to the next museums alone-“
“Do you even know where the next museums are? It’s fine. You know what? One of my friends works at a club. We could go there tonight and you can meet him. You’ll get your pot there too.”
They took a tram -a tram! - to Dam square and Junsu snapped a million pictures of the living statues there. There was one in particular in a Poseidon costume that kept poking him in the ass with his pitchfork when he turned around. Yoochun found it extremely funny, Junsu got a little scared. After that, they got coffee at a Coffee Company at the edge of the square and decided to walk to the Anne Frank House, since Yoochun said it wasn’t that far away.
Amsterdam was beautiful, Junsu decided. He knew he was already biased but he didn’t really care. The amount of people on bicycles was insane. Young, old, mothers with children, men in business suits. They all road their bikes through the city and over the small bridges crossing the famous canals. There were people in little motor boats languidly floating up the canals in little groups of friends or families. Junsu loved the sight and snapped away with his camera.
The Anne Frank House had a giant line in front of it and Junsu heard Yoochun sigh loudly.
“You don’t have to wait with me,” Junsu quickly said. “If you think the line is too long, I mean”
“I’m starting to think you’re trying to get rid of me,” Yoochun said. “To bad, because I’m staying.”
“That’s not it at all.”
“Good.”
“Great.”
“Fine.”
And just like that, the line didn’t seem as long anymore and they were inside in no time.
When they finally came out again it was already time for diner.
“Should we find a place to sleep before we go out to diner?” Junsu suggested.
“We could,” Yoochun said, “or if you feel comfortable enough we could call my friend and crash at his place.
“Oh…” Junsu wondered how safe that was. He barely knew Yoochun, let alone his friend who lived in Amsterdam and worked in a club. Now that he thought of it, he actually knew more about the friend then he knew about Yoochun!
“That’s fine, but I don’t want to impose on your friend,” Junsu finally said.
“Trust me, you wont,” he grinned and took out his cell phone. He dialled and held the phone to his ear. “Changmin? Guess where I am!...I know, I know. I’ll make it up to you…that’s cool but I have a friend with me….Really? That’s awesome. We’ll be there in 15 minutes.”
“Your friend is Korean,” Junsu stated after hearing the quick conversation.
“Born and raised in Amsterdam, though. His parents went back and he stayed to finish his school. He lives in his parents’ house alone, so he has more than enough room for us,” Yoochun explained and he actually looked excited. “I met him the first day I was here and lived with him for about three months.”
For some reason Junsu couldn’t imagine Yoochun’s school-going friend to be a drug dealer even though he hadn’t even met him yet.
They got onto another tram - A tram! - and got off not ten minutes later, but the scenery had changed completely. Junsu saw grass, lots and lots of grass and - what the hell? Was that a cow?
Junsu almost broke his neck staring, realizing it was indeed a cow. And there were more than one! He wanted to look at them some more, take pictures of them, maybe even pet them if that was possible, but Yoochun walked passed them like it was the most normal thing in the world and crossed a street. Junsu quickly followed him and saw that they had arrived in a large street with lots of very colourful houses. Junsu wondered if Changmin lived in one of them and was answered when Yoochun stopped in front of a dark blue house with a yellow door and yellow window seals. He rang the doorbell and not 5 seconds later the door opened, revealing a someone who could only be described as tall, dark and handsome. He laughed before anyone had even said anything and pulled Yoochun into a hug.
“You’re such a fucker,” Changmin said, still laughing. “I’m surprised you even called.”
“I’m surprised you answered when you knew it was me,” Yoochun chuckled and answered his hug.
Junsu stood there, awkwardly looking around until Yoochun finally turned to him.
“This is Junsu. I met him in Copenhagen. He was travelling alone, so I decided to keep him company.”
“Ever so spontaneous,” Changmin rolled his eyes and held out his hand and Junsu answered his handshake. “Nice meeting you. I’m Shim Changmin.”
Taking a better look at him, Junsu concluded he couldn’t be older than 20.
“Come on in. Where’s your luggage, Junsu? Don’t tell me you’re travelling as empty handed as Yoochun is?”
He closed the door behind them as Junsu explained about how he had lost his luggage.
Changmin seemed to be as easy going as Yoochun was. The only difference was that Changmin was way more open and didn’t try to find his way out of personal questions. He ordered diner for them and as the ate in the large living room Junsu noticed how close the two guys were. The subtle, but intimate touches they shared, the jokes and loud laughter, everything. Junsu wondered if Changmin was gay and whether he and Yoochun may have been an item.
Before he knew it, it had gotten dark outside and Changmin said he had to change for work and that he’d be down in a minute.
“So what do you think?” Yoochun asked.
“He seems really nice,” Junsu admitted. “I can’t believe he lives here all alone. It looks so big.”
“His parents and sisters come back a couple of times a year, so instead of selling the house they decided leaving it to Changmin was the best option. He’s smart enough to take care of it.”
“I’m sure he is,” Junsu nodded.
Changmin came down wearing an incredibly tight black v-neck and an equally tight pair of jeans.
“You guys picked the right night to come. If you had come a few days later you wouldn’t have found me here,” he said as he looked around for something.
“Where are you going?” Yoochun asked, picking up the phone lying on the table in front of him and handing it over to Changmin. Did he just read his mind?
“Paris,” Changmin answered. “My internship starts in exactly one week.”
“What kind of internship?” Junsu asked interested. He’d have killed for an internship abroad during college, but he never got the chance.
“I get to be the bellboy for the photographer of Clinique. I have to start somewhere, don’t I?”
“Isn’t that kind of huge?” Yoochun asked.
“Sure,” Changmin shrugged.
“So you want to be a photographer? That’s cool.” Junsu hadn’t sought something like that after this Changmin-person. He didn’t really look like the artistic type and when they arrived to the club where Changmin worked-to Junsu’s disappointment they didn’t take the tram this time but Changmin’s little Peugeot- he got another surprise.
The second they entered the dimly lit club with the word Bitterzoet written on the doors and the bartenders’ aprons, Changmin disappeared to the back and appeared on a small stage across from the bar holding a guitar. The second he got on the people around them burst into applause and Junsu turned to Yoochun questioningly.
“Boy can sing too,” Yoochun chuckled.
It took a while before he actually started but when he did Junsu was blown away. Even though he sang in English and Junsu barely understood a word he said, he felt like a fan already.
Changmin sang three songs before bowing and other music was put on.
“What did you think?” Yoochun asked, pulling Junsu towards the bar.
“He was amazing,” Junsu said. “Really, really great.”
“You should tell him that when he gets back. French Martini?”
Junsu nodded and Yoochun ordered for them. Changmin appeared a few seconds later and sat down on a barstool. One of the bartenders immediately handed him a glass of water and said something in Dutch that made him laugh.
“You have a great voice,” Junsu said. “Are you going to sing more tonight?”
“Later. Here.” He put cigarette in Junsu’s hand. “First round of drinks is on the house.”
Junsu stared at the cigarette in his hand and was about to say that he didn’t smoke, when he noticed that it didn’t look like a regular cigarette. Oh. Oh.
He nervously twirled it between his fingers until his drink was put down in front of him. He had told Yoochun he wanted it and he’d gone through the trouble of telling his friend and Changmin had gone through god knows what to get it for him, for free no less. He couldn’t back down, could he? He took a large sip of his drink and turned to Yoochun. “Do you want this?” he asked holding up the cigarette.
“You mean you want to share?” he asked. “Sure. We can’t smoke in here though, so we have to go outside. Finish up your drink first.”
Junsu decided to take smaller sips, but eventually there was nothing left in his martini glass and he followed Yoochun outside.
“You don’t have to smoke it if you don’t want to. You can just give it back to Changmin.”
“No,” Junsu said. “Lighter.”
Yoochun fished a lighter out of the pocket of his pants and handed it over. Junsu lit the joint and gave it to him. “You first.”
Yoochun nodded and took a long draw, before coolly releasing blowing out the smoke up into the air. He handed it back and Junsu had to gather all his courage to do the same. He took a draw, as small as possible and immediately started coughing. He heard Yoochun chuckle and felt him patting him on the back. “First timers always do that.”
Junsu eventually caught his breath again and passed the joint back to Yoochun. Yoochun finished his turn and gave it back. Junsu tried it again, this time thankfully without choking. He started feeling a bit light headed after the fourth draw after a few others they had smoked it up.
“Come on,” Yoochun said stomping out the bud under his flipflop. “Let’s get another drink.”
Junsu nodded and grabbed his arm. They went back inside together and found Changmin back on stage. Yoochun ordered them new drinks and they sat on their barstools watching.
“You know,” Yoochun said all of a sudden, “I didn’t really think you were going to go through with it.”
“Why not?” Junsu asked, feigning indignation.
“Just couldn’t picture it, that’s all. Says a lot about you that you still did it. One thing it says is that you’re really trying to do new things.”
“Aren’t you the one who said I should live a little? Just doing what you told me,” Junsu shrugged and finished his second drink. “Did you know Amsterdam is the gay capital of the world?” He didn’t know where that came from, but when he was drinking, a lot just came from no where.
“Interesting, isn’t it?” Yoochun chuckled.
“Is it different? Kissing a guy, I mean. Is it different from kissing a girl? Have you ever kissed a girl?” Woah, there tiger. Junsu didn’t feel all that drunk, but the random inappropriate words kept coming. Maybe it was the weed and alcohol together that had that effect on him.
“I have kissed girls before and yeah, it is different. For me it feels right when I kiss a guy and wrong when I kiss a girl, just like it would probably feel wrong for you if you’d kiss a guy.”
“Can’t it both feel good?” Junsu asked.
“Sure. It’s called bisexuality. I’m sure you’ve heard of it.”
Junsu knew Yoochun was making fun of him somehow and ignored it. “Can I get another drink?”
Yoochun nodded and ordered a third round for them. In his mind Junsu kept thinking about what Yoochun had said. Would it feel weird for him if he kissed a guy? For some reason, he didn’t think so. There was only one way to find out, though and Junsu didn’t know if he could master up the courage for that. He got his third drink and sipped it as he listened to Changmin’s voice in the background. The club had gotten jam-packed with people and a lot of them were standing in front of the stage, dancing, cheering for him. He saw a few couples making out and turned to look at Yoochun, who was casually sipping his drink.
“Hey,” Junsu said. “Europe is the place to experiment, right?”
“It is for us,” Yoochun nodded. “Why?”
“I want to experiment. With you. Do you want to?”
“You want to kiss me?” Yoochun asked straight out and took a gigantic sip to replace his blush out of embarrassment with a blush of breathlessness.
“I want to experiment,” he simply said after that.
“What happens if you regret this?” Yoochun asked sliding off of his barstool and stood in front of Junsu, leaning one hand on his knee.
“That’s not for you to worry about. This is my experiment,” Junsu shrugged.
Yoochun leaned in without further warning. He bit onto Junsu’s lower lip, tugging his mouth open and moved up for a full kiss. His mouth was warm and Junsu couldn’t help but welcome him with all he got. Their tongues touched, sending shivers down his spine. He blindly put his drink down on the bar and when he didn’t hear a crash of glass breaking he guessed he was lucky. But he didn’t waste any more seconds thinking about that and put his hands in Yoochun’s neck, angling his own just enough to deepen the kiss and blow his own mind. This didn’t feel wrong, not at all. It felt amazingly sexy to have his body pressed up against Yoochun’s hard one and it felt amazingly sexy to feel big, firm, strong hands on his thigh and waist. Not wrong at all.
So, so, so wrong! How could he have kissed a guy?! Yoochun, no less! What was he going to think of him? Why did he like it so much? What the hell was wrong with him?!
It was morning and Junsu woke up on the couch in Changmin’s living room. Yoochun was sitting on the other couch, across from him. Junsu had only opened his eyes for a second, seen Yoochun sitting there and immediately closed them again when all the memories of the night before coming rushing back. How was he going to face him now? Was Yoochun going to think he was gay? Was he gay? He quickly thought of soft breasts, round hips and big pretty eyes. Nope, still like all of those. So he was straight. Bisexual? No, he was straight. And had bisexual tendencies. Well one thing was for sure and that was that he still liked boobies.
“You don’t have to pretend you’re asleep, you know. Last night wasn’t that bad.”
Junsu hesitated before opening one eye and looking at Yoochun’s amused expression. “It was embarrassing,” Junsu groaned, pulling the thin sheet that was covering him over his head. “I’m sorry.”
“For experimenting? If all your experiments go like that, I wouldn’t mind being your guinea pig more often.”
“Stop flirting. I don’t…I’m confused.”
“About what?”
“About my sexuality.”
“Well…you obviously like girls.”
“Exactly. So I’m straight.”
“But you liked last night a lot too.”
Junsu fell silent. That was too true.
“So I guess you had some hidden gayness all along.”
“Bisexual,” Junsu muttered, pulling the sheet closer around him and uncovering his head. “Don’t smile like that. You weren’t that great.”
Yoochun laughed. “No one has ever said that to me. Please, tell me how I can improve.”
“Aish!” Junsu groaned loudly and jerked himself up straight. “I didn’t like it that much!”
“Only you did like it that much.”
“Didn’t.”
“Did.”
“Now, that’s mature. What’s our next stop anyway?”
“I was thinking we follow Changmin to Paris,” Yoochun said. “What do you think?”
“The city of love.” Junsu said and immediately regretted it when he saw the suggestive look on Yoochun’s face. “The city of straight love,” he corrected himself quickly. “Or gay love. Nothing in between.”
Yoochun stood up and stretched before walking towards the door. “We’ll see.”
“No we won’t!” Junsu called after him, but he had a feeling he would.