wonbin shook shotaro awake, singing his name. "ugh, what time is it?" the older boy's voice rasped, eyes blurry from adjusting to the morning light.
"taro, i got a high score in tom gold run!" the latter cheered victoriously, pumping his phone in the air.
"that's great, bin." shotaro rubbed his eyes. "where are we going today, again?" he weakly stood up and centered himself. the boy did not do well in mornings.
"national history museum. (to my friends reading this book, i'm skipping the capitol tour and basically that whole day.) you're in a different bus than us." wonbin fake cried. "it's fine though, let's just meet up when you're there."
"yeah." the blonde boy shrugged on his jacket, pocketing his portable charger. "i guess we have breakfast now."
—
"your phones weren't taken?!" xiaojun exclaimed in shock. shotaro shushed him.
"oh my god, shut up. anyway, how was the sleeping situation? chan, did you..."
"don't get any ideas! i slept with keeho. xiaojun just got a bed for himself while anton slept on the floor." sungchan stabbed a piece of bread. "they were playing dnd the entire time."
shotaro hummed. "we've got some time anyway. i'm gonna head back up to the room with wonbin."
"alright." sungchan nodded, and the two best friends proceeded to perform their handshake. "see you at the museum."
—
shotaro:
i'm in the animal exhibit with anton
sungchan:
IM NOT THERE YET
HOLD ON
ok im here
where are you guys
shotaro:
still in the animal section
sungchan:
me and xiaojun are here
why can't we see you
WHERE ARE YOU
shotaro:
IN THE BACK OF THE SECTION, IDIOT
sungchan:
oh there you are
shotaro and sungchan did their handshake once more. "our tour guide was rambling on in the car." the younger boy rolled his eyes.
"yeah, and he wouldn't st—"
suddenly, karina and her friend ran towards xiaojun with grins on their faces.
"i'm interviewing everyone on the trip. what's your name?" karina asked. the boy leaned into the mic.
"xiaojun."
"what's your favorite color?"
"red."
"who's the hottest in the grade?"
xiaojun suggestively side eyed his roommate. "sungchan." the said boy facepalmed.
"thank you, who do you want us to interview next?" karina passed the mic to xiaojun once more.
"sungchan."
"motherfu—" sungchan was interrupted by karina and giselle.
"what's your name?"
"i'm gonna let you deal with that." shotaro laughed, walking upstairs with anton.
frankly, the whole museum wasn't too eventful. once they finished their interviews, xiaojun and sungchan eventually caught up to shotaro and they toured the museum together.
it wasn't until when they were leaving that something happened.
"why are you always on your phone playing retrobowl? we're in a museum, at least enjoy what you're seeing." sungchan nudged keeho, eyebrows furrowed.
"i mean it's not hurting anyone, and this is pretty boring anyway." the canadian hummed, calling theo over to watch him play.
"oh, so you think this whole museum is just built to have people play goddamn retro bowl the entire time?" sungchan asked, his tone getting higher, signaling that his anger was rising.
"guys can you two just not argue?" xiaojun offered an awkward smile, but it didn't help in the slightest.
"what's wrong with it? why the hell are you getting so angry?" theo questioned, glaring a hole through sungchan, who returned it.
"you're not apart of this conversation, theo." sungchan hissed, and shotaro could sense that he was getting a bit too heated up.
"hey, chan, calm down a little." he softly spoke, lowering his hands as a symbol of taking a breath out.
"i'm fine, shotaro." his best friend stared at him with that same glare which made him flinch. he opened his mouth.
"just please don't get into trou—"
"everyone get into their advisories!" the projecting voice of the dean cut through their tension. shotaro turned to the dean, then back at sungchan. he extended his arm out to shake his hand, something they had been doing forever.
sungchan shook his head, rejecting shotaro's handshake. the older boy felt his heart sink. "oh, okay. i'm..." he dragged on back to his advisory group, arms held close to his chest. "sorry."
ricky noticed the visibly disappointed look on his face. "hey shotaro, you okay?"
the said boy nodded appreciatively. "i'm fine. thanks though, ricky." the chinese boy smiled, skipping over to kevin.
—
shotaro didn't talk much on the bus ride. anton would initiate maybe a conversation or two, but he stopped trying once he processed how uninterested shotaro seemed.
"i'm sorry, man, everything's crazy right now and i just...i don't know." the japanese boy scratched his head, hoping that anton would understand. "again, i'm sorry."
"don't worry, i get it." anton gave a comforting smile. "take all the time you need."
shotaro propped his chin up on his fist, gazing out the window and admiring the cherry blossom trees of washington dc. he reached for his phone, but stopped himself, remembering that sungchan needed his space.
shotaro:
remember when changbin liked you tho
wonbin:
don't get me started on him
I can't tell who's worse
Seunghan or him
and it's hard to tie with Seunghan
shotaro:
and they had a fistfight too 😭
wonbin:
LMAO WHAT
over what?
shotaro:
idk probably something like who was the strongest man
wonbin:
oh welp that's-
that definitely seems like something they'd fight over
"Hi guys and grill"-beomhan
shotaro:
shotaro was surprised to see a text notification from sungchan.
sungchan:
hey taro i'm so sorry for getting all annoyed at the museum i'm not feeling the best rn
i apologized to keeho i think we're all cool now
shotaro:
alright, good to hear
and i'm sorry that you aren't feeling great
sungchan:
i'm sure it'll pass