soulmates ᴶᴼᴴᴺᵀᴱᴺ

３３.

"Let's GO!!!"

"Johnny, slow down," Momma Suh puffed, carrying two bags in one hand and pulling a suitcase behind her with the other one.

It was supposed to be only two weeks of their sweet vacation but Johnny expected this—his mom bringing almost the whole house with them. Like what is the rice cooker for? They could try local food (with the help of Ten) or live on ramen packs that he was sure were the same as in Korea.

Johnny eyed her with his one suitcase and backpack but eventually decided to take one of the bags to help her. What a nice son he is!

"Should I look up a cheap taxi to our hotel or did you already book something beforehand?"

"You could say so. The person picking us should be here already."

"Person? What else, a limousine? What are we, Rich Asians?" Johnny joked but his mom only smiled to herself, passing by him quickly. But what were her steps compared to Johnny's road runways? He immediately caught up.

"Mom? Mom. Hello? Now you're scaring me."

She sighed, "Argh, stop whining, you'll see in a moment. Be patient a little."

"I'm not ill though."

"I swear—" she went for a smack on Johnny's arm but he quickly dodged it by stepping one stair down on the escalator. Before he could say anything more, however, his eyes caught something very familiar among the crowd of people that already stood by the exit area.

No way.

"Wait what?!" Johnny turned to his mom that was still smiling, now even more. She was excited, obviously.

"What? Ten isn't only your friend," Momma Suh pouted light-heartedly.

"So now you're stealing my friends? Great." He sulked but too only in a joking way. By that Johnny tried to mask the excitement that was building inside him at a rapid speed.

His attention moved back to the boy—the same boy he's been talking to for months—and he observed him. Ten still haven't noticed them as he was busy doing something on his phone, with one of his hands holding a sign with 'the Suh family' surrounded by a couple of hearts, all written in red colour.

Oh my God, so he wasn't lying. As they got closer and closer, Johnny couldn't help but start laughing.

Ten was tiny. No, literally, in Johnny's eyes of a crane the boy was at least a head smaller and the big oversized hoodie of grey colour, which sleeves were fully covering his hands, was visually making him even tinier. Johnny squealed internally. He can't wait to make their whole trip about it and annoy the hell out of the Thai boy.

"Ten, honey!" Momma Suh called as soon as they stepped out of the zone for the passengers, a few metres away from Ten.

When he lifted his head and his gaze met Johnny's, the world seemed to come to a halt.

Well, what now? Johnny panicked inside. His legs were in auto mode, following his mom, but he completely blacked out.

What do you say as the first thing to your long-distance best friend (which you, by the way, has been kind of falling for—who wouldn't??) and there's a lot of things you'd like to say to him but he is also looking so huggable at that moment that your brain just short-circuited? And it was obvious that Ten (the Ten that would comfortably talk about his kinks and r-rated bl webtoons to him at any given moment) got also very shy from the way he stood like an anime girl, toes pointing at each other, with his ears burning red. It was a silent mess and if momma Suh noticed it, she didn't say anything.

"I'm so happy to finally meet you!" The only mind-present person among the three grinned. She put her bags and suitcase on the ground before embracing the Thai boy in a bone-crushing hug. That seemed to ease the atmosphere a bit as Ten sighed into the embrace and his lips finally formed a cute smile when she pulled away.

"Hi." Ten did a quick wave in his direction with hands still buried inside his hoodie but the tall boy stood still as if he was robot on low battery. Honestly, if someone was to throw a rock at him, he wouldn't budge.

CODE RED CODE RED CODE RED! Johnny had a whole fireman party inside his brain that got luckily interrupted by his mom slapping (some sense into) him. She whispered something along the lines of 'don't be impolite' and he snapped out of his little gay-panic trance.

"O-oh, sorry, I'm a bit nervous," Johnny sheepishly smiled, "Anyway—hey," he added softly.

They stared at each other for a while and just then Johnny told himself fuck it and embraced the boy as well. The way Ten's body got lost in his own pastel pink hoodie and arms was putting him on the edge of having a mental breakdown and just scream. On top of all, Ten smelled like the hard round candy that has various flowers and animals in the middle and Johnny couldn't stop thinking about it while his nose was constantly being tickled by the boy's soft hair. He smells like candy!!!

"Haha, thanks. You smell nice too, " Ten murmured something into his chest and it took Johnny a good five seconds (during which they already pulled away and he could see the boy's flushed cheeks) to decode it.

SHIT. He said that out loud???????

"Oh my God, observing you two is like watching two baby penguins interacting for the first time. I feel like a wildlife photographer from the National Geographic channel."

"Well, we are interacting for the first time, aren't we? Besides, Ten kinda resembles a penguin, I mean look at his height." Johnny used the perfect opportunity that was laid in front of him on a plate and Ten's shyness disappeared in a blink of an eye.

He smacked his arm, "Hey! Don't make fun of my height, you sweaty emo flamingo."

"Gnome."

"Cheap Dildo."

"Dildos aren't always pink though."

"I wasn't referring to your hoodie but nice that you know that."

"It's a well known fact! Purple is the basic."

"Whatever, Johnson."

"Fine, five times two."

Momma Suh groaned, "Oh lord, I'm flying back home."

"No, don't leave me alone with him, mom!"

And the vacation has begun.