onsen boys - let's go?
Onsen Boys Chapter 1 - DAVID☁️
Are you new to the Apple Hair world? Start here for an introduction. Or! If that doesn’t interest you, you can start on this story. Onsen Boys features two members of Apple Hair on their brief vacation to Japan:
Before their official debut, David and Seiya take a trip to Arima Onsen, and share a very cute (but not what it sounds like) “first time.”
“Hey, so I know we’re going to see each other naked for the first time,” Seiya says.
I groan into my fist. “Really, Seiya?”
On the airplane, the stewardess approaches and offers me a bag of mixed nuts—almonds and cashews, with a colorful package that offsets the boringness of the snack. It reflects the light like pink and red cellophane, pleasing my eye, reminding me of a goodie bag. All around me, people accept the free food, trying to balance their orange juices and red wines as the plane goes through minor turbulence that feels like it could turn major at any moment.
“It’s true, bro,” he says. “Anyway, have you booked all the accommodations yet?”
“Yeah,” I say, trying to ignore his previous sentence, as if skirting around the thorny bush, ignoring the flames licking underneath the bramble.
Four full days in Japan. One night in Osaka, two days in Arima Onsen, and then one night in Tokyo before we head back home. I planned this trip on a whim, and the other boys seemed okay with our going, if only because we’re still riding on the high of our debut confirmation, which catapulted us to a collective high as we all breathed in the fog of victory.
“Man,” Seiya says, shoving a handful of nuts into his mouth. “I can’t believe we’re going to debut.”
“We overcame a lot,” I say, remembering the terror of all we had to face, and all the times the voice tried to tear us apart, not just by a sudden motion, but a steady ripping and stabbing into the bond we tried so hard to fortify.
“It’s just mad nice that we can take a trip like this,” Seiya says. “Together, or whateva.”
“Isn’t it?” I say. I keep blushing, hoping that Seiya won’t find out that I’m thinking about going to the onsen together. My blush feels like a fire that won’t stop being fanned, a ball of light that cannot be hidden by a simple turn or denial.
“What are you going to do for the whole ride?” Seiya asks. “Nine hours or some shit, yeah?”
“I don’t know?” I say, trying to ignore the way he fidgets with his legs in his gray sweatpants, his little intricacies in how he adjusts his bomber jacket, his bangs covering his forehead in the definition of a messy fringe. His light pink hair matches him, bringing out a pleasant rosiness to his cheeks, although I don’t tell him that to his face very often.
“I’m going to take a fat nap,” Seiya says. “Or at least try to. Maybe you should get some sleep too ‘tho?”
“I’ll try,” I say, not bothering to tell him that I’ve never slept on a plane and probably never will.
After the snack service, the plane attendants serve dinner before the true red eye begins. I ordered the veggie option, curry and lentils with rice, while Seiya chomps down on short ribs. A bit of sauce splatters onto his hair, and I reach out to wipe it away with a napkin, coming as close as I dare.
Even though we’re together, I would call our relationship pretty new—everything feels new, including the way I come close enough that a whisper would be heard, or rather, to see the pores on his face and the frayed ends of his hair. His roots have grown, making a darker halo that compliments him. The pink also brings out the brown in his eyes, breathing “magical.”
“Thanks bro,” he says, smiling.
“Why do you call people bro all the time?” I ask.
He grins further, stabbing a green onion with his plastic fork. “I don’t know. Habit?”
As people finish their meals and return their trays to upright position, I watch Seiya as he slowly drifts into sleep. His light snores keep me up, and the flutter in his eyelashes tempts me to reach out and tickle them, although I’d imagine that he’d bolt awake.
I turn on the mini light from the corner of my seat, cracking open a book, BTS’s Beyond the Story. When I first found out that Seiya has a crush on V, I was bitter for a few days until I realized the truth. Who wouldn’t?
As I read about their hard lives as trainees, I become inspired to keep going on my journey—Apple Hair will reach people and show them the love of God, how they belong in this world and can create their own universe, coloring it in with all the tones that they choose, not just holding on but thriving and finding meaning in the process.
Eventually, my eyes grow tired, and I think I’m seeing things in the corner of my vision, little undulations that tell me that I haven’t had enough sleep, and that I should at least try.
After an hour of trying to get adjusted to my seat, I give up and watch Seiya in the lowlight, his chest and strong arms, the way he slouches a little with his mouth slightly open, a prime environment for drool to escape, but it never does.
He wakes up an hour before landing. “Did ya’ sleep?”
“Um, yeah?”
“Liar,” he says. Then he leans over and places his head on my shoulder, as if putting me in my place, or anchoring me back down to the universe, covering me in the words “familiar” and “right.”
“I just can’t believe we’ll be in Osaka in an hour,” I say, trying something to fill the silence, which is comfortable yet so intimate that I can barely breathe.
“Thanks for the trip,” he says. “Are you sure—”
“I’m sure,” I say. If there’s something I can offer my group, it’s my black card, and my parents don’t mind my spending every once in a while, especially when it gives them good reason to act like the “good” parents.
“Thanks braddah,” he says.
Eventually, the plane descends for landing, and the turbulence arises like how I imagine a spinning asteroid would look like in the universe, descending and spiraling all at the same time. And although planes are safe for the most part, I keep imagining the window ripping out, sucking me and Seiya out into a violent freefall.
When the plane touches down smoothly, I lift up a prayer with my mouth, a few utterances of my lip, and Seiya looks at me sweetly after.
“One more day ‘til our big moment,” he says.
Why’d he have to remind me? I think about onsens and how Seiya will practically be at home, while I struggle with a small towel and even smaller confidence.
“First thing’s first,” I say. “Let’s find our first hotel.”