It Takes Two (Kim Namjoon)

Visited

Namjoon slipped his hand discreetly into mine as we tried to dodge the worst of the rain.

"I can't believe I forgot an umbrella," he huffed, taking his cap off with his free hand and shoving it on my nearly soaked head.

I immediately snatched it off and put it back onto him, pecking the strip of cheek that showed over his surgical-style face mask as I did so. "As sweet as you are, I would take a storm over a stampede."

He let go of my hand and raised an arm over my head as we jogged towards our haven and our goal: the National Museum of Korea. For the past several weeks, Namjoon had made it his mission to get me to every museum possible for a date. It was unbelievably perceptive of him, and I appreciated the stolen moments we had immensely.

As we paid for tickets, Namjoon tugged his mask down slightly in front of the older woman helping us and asked, "Are there listening devices available in Spanish?"

She nodded and shuffled around, then turned back and handed it to me.

I looked up at Namjoon. "I don't need this," I said, confused.

He smiled and took the black device from my hand. "It's for me," he confessed, thanking the worker before hiding his face again. "I know we've put aside our writing and Spanish lessons for um...other types of lessons in tongues, but I've been practicing on my own and I'm ready to challenge myself."

My jaw practically dropped. "When there comes a day that you can't do something, Joon, please let me know so I can film it."

He laughed, but it was cut short by his shoe catching on the lip of a stair.

I snorted. "Glad I didn't have to wait too long."

He squeezed my hand and pulled me to him. "I'm still getting used to the new shoes."

Ah, yes. The new shoes that he "just had to have" after I bought an astonishingly similar pair two weeks ago. I'd finally replaced my black high-top Converse with a new pair, and Namjoon thought it would be nice to match.

"I didn't force you to buy them," I informed him airily.

Namjoon's long fingers fiddled with the collar of his sweater. "Yes, but you did force me to wear this," he reminded me. I blushed. What originally was going to be a nice, homemade knit sweater for Jin, who I heard was going through a rough time with his family right now, turned out slightly too small. I thought I had accounted for the wide shoulders of Mr. Worldwide Handsome, but I was off by enough. Luckily, I had a boyfriend for these problems.

"You love it, caught in a lie." I winked, poorly.

"I love it, babe, but my skin doesn't. You may have to take it off of me." He winked, cutely.

I ignored my racing heart and examined the museum. "Oh look, ancient jewelry!" I squealed, heading straight for the nearest display case to avoid taking Namjoon up on his offer.

Namjoon hummed behind me, "I didn't peg you for a jewelry fan."

"I may not be fabulous, but I respect women who aspired to high standards with limited means."

As I walked around as I pleased, Namjoon followed the ordered pattern of the museum, popping in headphones and listening intently to his audiotape. He would find me occasionally and ask me questions, and I would translate for him and beam at everything he understood. He really must've been practicing without me. I didn't know how he slept and wrote lyrics and studied languages and performed and still looked like a seven-course meal every day.

Two hours later, we walked out into the drizzly day.

"Thanks for taking me, Joon," I said. My head was spinning from all the new information I learned, making me slaphappy and exhausted.