my flower 🌹

     “It’s actually our off season, so I’m allowed to eat whatever I want without worrying about dieting. So drop the pizza and leave me be.” He frowned at the other, his fingers latching onto the pizza box and dragging it back over to him. It wasn’t as if he was overeating or eating too much - he just wanted to indulge a little bit. Was that so bad? He spent most of the year eating like a rabbit or unable to eat his favorite greasy, fatty foods. He figured that he deserved some kind of reward.

     Dohan doesn’t really get many chances to practice his very rarely used English, so whenever he’s in the presence of a foreigner, he does his best to use as much English as possible. Or he supposed that he was the foreigner in this case. His group had been asked to do a few songs from their debut mini album and their new comeback mini album at that year’s American K-Con, a real honor in their industry, something that they jumped at the chance to. And while they weren’t busy doing their performances or meet and greets, they were given the chance to explore a little bit - which was how he found himself lost and parted away from the other members of his group. He tried not to panic, and he approached the first person he saw, hoping they could help him. “Hello,” he greeted, his accent slipping through even more because of the anxiety kicking in. “Can you help me? I’m lost..” He admitted, a small frown on his face. ”Do you know where there is big building - large group of people stand outside.” He made a large gesture with his hands, as if replicating how big the building is. “A lot of.. Posters? Billboards.” 

     nigel has gotten tattoos before - he has some on his arms, ones that he often has to cover up with makeup whenever their costumes or wardrobe exposes their arms. he’d gotten in trouble with the label for having them, but there wasn’t anything they could really do about it when it was all said and done - they aren’t going to make him get it removed. he returns the woman’s smile, shaking his head slightly. “no, i’m not new. well, i’m new here, i’m just not new to getting tattoos.” he speaks slowly, making sure that he doesn’t slip away from the korean language, like he does a lot of the time. and he’s not sure if she can understand english or not, so it’s better to stay on the sage side. “i’m just here to get something new done. a celebratory tattoo.”

     When he turned the corner, he almost bumped into someone, stopping just short of running into them. The person in front of him was unfamiliar, which wasn’t surprising. Sometimes they let fans and audience members backstage just get a sneak peek of their favorite idols. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. Are you alright?”

     It only took a few minutes of conversation for the leader to finally coax out of him what was wrong. It turned out that Nigel had been getting his fair share of hate and it had been getting to him, something that was understandable. Shao placed an arm around the shorter male’s shoulder while they walked down the street - they got a few glances here and there, recognition flickering across people’s faces, but by the time it registered, it was too late and they were already halfway down the street. “You need to see how great you are and not pay attention to the haters, Nigel.” He sighed, before his eyes caught a stranger walking opposite of them, and he grabbed their attention. “Excuse me,” he said, tugging Nigel over to them. He grabbed the younger’s face, squishing his cheeks slightly. “Isn’t this the cutest face you’ve ever seen?” He asked, cooing at the maknae, trying to make him laugh, but it only made him groan out of embarrassment. “Please tell him that he’s the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. Tell him how adorable he is. King of Aegyo here.”

     Which was why she stood, squinting up at the sign in front of her. She slid her sunglasses down her nose, hoping that would give her a better view and help her understand the writing a little bit more, but no such luck. She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and sighed, muttering curses under her breath in Shona, before her eyes scanned her surrounding area. They quickly landed on a figure, and she took a step over to them, making a small gesture with her hand to get their attention. “Hi,” she greeted, giving them a smile and taking off her glasses all the way. “Do you mind telling me what that says up there?” She wasn’t embarrassed about asking for help - you learned rather quickly how to not be embarrassed about things when you’re an idol. Or at least, she did.