Taiya slept the entire drive to the airport, could barely keep his eyes open through security and barely managed to make it onto the jet.
The exam had taken a lot out of him. Physical exhaustion was unavoidable, even for someone who was used to working 14 hour days.
Once they took off he fell asleep right away. Not even Mori could wake him up. And trust him, he tried. Multiple times on multiple occasions.
The moment they arrived at the hotel room, Taiya changed into some pajamas and flopped on the bed, falling asleep before his head even hit the pillow.
Mori sighed and maneuvered the kid so he was at least under the blankets partway. He seriously had no idea why the kid was tired all the time. He didn't stay up super late playing games or anything, and he hadn't partied in two weeks now. He was an asshole in the morning too.
The man made his way to the room next to Taiya's where he was staying. He supposed that was a perk of the job, being able to stay in 5 star hotels all the time.
On the other hand, he was only really there to babysit, so it wasn't that much of a perk.
That night he didn't bother with working out of using the hotel pool, like he usually would. He wanted to get a solid night's sleep before the chaos that would be Taiya's first party in a while.
He had a headache just thinking about it.
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Taiya took in his appearance in the bathroom mirror making absolute sure that he looked perfect.
He had elected to do his own makeup for the day, Mori had remembered to bring that, if almost nothing else.
Mori had let someone into his apartment earlier that afternoon to dye his hair back to its natural colour. He had never dyed his hair outside of a role before, if he went out with it black he would be hounded with questions about what he was doing, why he dyed it, all that stuff. Then the movie might be uncovered and he couldn't do that to Azuma.
The outfit had been picked out by Han-gyeol's stylist, which surprised him. He was excited when he was told it was because he wanted them to match.
Despite forgetting the guy's birthday, they had been texting often since Taiya moved to Musutafu.
Considering the outfit in question was a satin ruched pink suit, he was excited to see what Han-gyeol was wearing.
He had decided to forgo a tie and just leave the top button undone and add some small gold necklaces and a pair of small earrings. He didn't want to do too much, especially considering that he was wearing a little bit of pink eyeshadow to match. It could easily become 'too much for a guy' as the media and public would say.
Then again, he was pretty used to being called too feminine at this point. 'Cause people like when you dress well, but not too well or you look gay. Not that it wasn't public knowledge he didn't exactly have a label. He had some very public relationships with men and women, or more accurately 'relations'. Half the time they were never really dating.
"Hey its time to go!" Mori called out, knocking on the bathroom door. "You're taking forever.".
Taiya rolled his eyes. He made his way to the door and swung it open. "You can't rush perfection." He said, like it was obvious. Mori rolled his eyes.
"You have no place to diss me. A black suit? Again?" He asked.
Mori raised an eyebrow. "You expect me to dress like you every time I go out? Thanks but no thanks.".
"Okay, fair. I understand that not everyone can pull this off." He smirked, adjusting the suit jacket. "But maybe get, I don't know, a second black suit? Or maybe a grey one. Have some fun with your life.".
"No offense but you and I don't have the same definition of 'fun'." Mori said as they left the hotel room, meeting up with the security guards outside.
Taiya introduced himself in korean and made sure to thank them in advance. He was planning on getting rid of them somehow at some point tonight. He might as well be nice while he's there.
The guards walked in front of him the moment the lobby doors opened and Taiya soon realized why. The place was swarmed with paparazzi. He closed the door before anyone could get so much as a glimpse of him.
"Fuck no." He said, switching back to japanese after chatting with the security guards. He looked to Mori with gritted teeth. "No way in hell am I going out there.".
"Why? Its just paparazzi?" Mori was confused. Taiya usually never had a problem with them.
"I don't know if the outfits supposed to be a surprise or not." Taiya explained, "Also, who the hell leaked that I was staying here? Why do they know?". God this was his worst nightmare. And they were going to be late at this rate.
Maybe his break from the limelight for two whole weeks had made him lose some of his desensitization to the paparazzi. He didn't like the idea that someone had leaked his personal information. When it was a public affair, that was another story. Then they were welcome to take as many photos as they wanted.
But not like this.
"We can help if you explain the situation." One of the four security guards offered. Taiya reluctantly gave him the full run through. Before he was even able to finish the story, that same guard was taking off his black trench coat and holding it out for Taiya to wear.
"No, I can't-" Taiya began. "Its okay." The man assured him, "Its your friend's birthday party, it shouldn't be this stressful.".
The boy was surprised at the generosity, but graciously declined. He decided it would create more of a fuss if he tried to cover his outfit up than if he just wore it.
He didn't miss how that particular guard stuck closer to him than the others though. The support was definitively wholeheartedly appreciated.
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"You look great! " Taiya said, rushing over to hug Han-gyeol the moment the other teen got out of his car. "I missed you.". The pair hugged quickly. It was hard being friends with someone who lived across the ocean, even if it was only a two hour flight.
Han-gyeol was wearing a red version of Taiya's suit, and it looked great on him, Taiya made sure to tell him that.
"Missed you too, jerk." Han-gyeol replied. "My bandmates said I had to dress up more because you would be there and damn it they were right.".
"Hey, above and beyond is always important. I'm not going to outshine the birthday boy though." Taiya winked. "Lets get going. You're the guest of honor, after all.".
The party was being held at his entertainment company, for ease and security. It was already new for him to be having a public birthday party in the first place, most idols just had a stream for their birthdays with their bandmates popping in and out. But Han-gyeol's group, ILY, had been built on a more celebrity focused vision.
The moment they entered the room, there were cheers for Han-gyeol, that Taiya participated in of course. Anything that embarrassed his friend.
As people came up to wish the idol a happy birthday, Taiya slipped off into the crowd to socialize.
Unfortunately, the first person he saw was Kim Tae-hwan, one of Han-gyeol's bandmates.
Oh, he should probably have mentioned that they hate him. That was kind of important.
But because Taiya liked to make a bad situation worse, he decided to acknowledge the eye contact and speak to him.
"Long time no see." He smiled.
"Yeah." Tae-hwan said awkwardly. The atmosphere was awkward to say the least.
"Look, we can either pretend to get along, fight each other out back or fuck, because people are watching, so take your pick." He was half joking. Which options he was joking about will remain unsaid.
"Fuck ?" The older teen repeated, scandalized by the notion. Taiya laughed.
"That one was a joke, Gyeol would never forgive me.".
Tae-hwan laughed a bit too, despite himself. "No, he wouldn't. But its just like I thought, I'm just not good with people like you.".
"I'll choose to take that as a compliment.". Taiya looked around the room. "I'll see ya later !".
Tae-hwan looked over to see what Taiya was looking at and tensed up. "Don't do anything that'll make the news.".
It was a common warning that Taiya got from ILY's leader pretty much every single time he was in a populated area with the group.
"Don't worry, no one's going to hear a thing. Besides, I'm only here to hang out with Han-gyeol anyways." The actor said, waving goodbye.
Whether he was lying or not will remain unsaid.
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Mori on the outside: Come on, we're gonna be late!
Mori on the inside: Repeating the names of each and every one of Taiya's exes that are going to be at the party.
I sweat this man doesn't get paid enough for all the work he does.
Honestly tho, Taiya wouldn't screw up his friend's party. The ending is a bit ominous, but I felt like I should clear that up. He's trying his best to be a good friend, if nothing else.
He still makes some questionable mistakes tho. Also probably sent the guard a really expensive gift, cause I've just decided he's a material gworl.
Anyways that's enough of me defending my shallow asshole of an oc 😅he really does suck sometimes.
Its one of those 'gets worse before it gets better things though, I promise!
Stay Tuned!