tokyo ↔ seoul

his shoulder bumped lightly against the elevator wall as he stared at the floor numbers overhead. anything was better than looking directly at maki right now. the worst part was that he'd known the second the words left his mouth that asking eunchae had probably been a mistake.

it had sounded normal in his head. even harmless, then she turned him down. not even harshly, which somehow makes him feel ten times worse.

james shifted his weight, trying to ignore the lingering embarrassment still sitting heavily in his chest. he hated how obvious he must've looked. hated that maki had apparently clocked it immediately. "and for the record," he started, lifting a finger, "i did not look like someone told me my dog died. maybe a goldfish."

years of friendship made it impossible not to fall into the familiar rhythm. maki had seen him through enough embarrassing situations that joking back almost came automatically, even when james wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere.

the second question hit harder. or was the problem that you wanted her to come with us? james felt his stomach twist. because yes, obviously yes. but saying that out loud felt like voluntarily stepping in front of a moving train.

"i asked her because she was standing there," he said, far too quickly. "she's very helpful." the excuse sounded weak even to him. he exhaled quietly. "i just..." his voice trailed off before he shook his head. "never mind." because explaining it would only make things worse.

"'she's very helpful,'" he repeated, doing a surprisingly accurate imitation of james' voice. "yeah, okay." the elevator dinged as it passed another floor, but maki barely acknowledged it. "you know who else was standing there?" he continued. "me. sunoo. ni-ki." his brows lifted. "but somehow the very helpful person you wanted to go with you was eunchae?" he let that sit for a second before grinning. "interesting."

despite the teasing, there wasn't any judgment in his voice. if anything, he looked entertained by the whole thing. when james cut himself off with a never mind, maki noticed immediately. he always did. years of friendship made it pretty easy to tell when james was trying not to say something.