blind side - {tsubaki}

[lee min-jae]

BLACK TEARS, BLACK SMILES

romance is merely a fantasy
a dream, but not a disease
it only breaks your heart
no, i'm not trying to be poetic. please, just leave.

There wasn't anything wrong with him, was there? No, no, Min-Jae knew he was perfectly sane. Only that he was standing in sweltering hot, 35ºC weather. Out in the middle of the park. Which was virtually empty. Wonderful. The raven-haired man let out a sigh and tried to cool himself down. Letting his camera hang around his neck, he fanned himself slightly and took a gulp of water from his water bottle. Maybe he'd have lunch before continuing. Besides, there was hardly anything worthwhile in here to consider taking pictures of without seeming like a typical tourist.

'Aigoo~ Too hot,' he thought, brushing his dark hair out of his eyes.  Min-Jae pulled at his simple striped shirt and adjusted his scarf, trying to relieve the heat. Perhaps the dark-colored scarf, a staple of his everyday clothing, was a little unnecessary.  However, the Korean didn't really have anywhere to put his scarf. Looks like he would have to bear the beating sun for now.

He packed up his things and relocated to a shadier spot, one underneath a tree and near the pond he had passed a while back. He found his paper bag and began pulling out an assortment of items. Laying down the red and white checkered picnic blanket and getting out the numerous food stuffs, Min-Jae again wondered if he'd brought too much food. 'Went a little too overboard hm?...' he mused.  

Kimbap, onigiri, potato salad, egg sandwiches, some cold yakitori, a pitcher of oolong tea, and of course a few chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting. Delicious, but a picnic for one. Biting into an egg sandwich, Min-Jae leaned against the tree trunk and looked up at the sky thoughtfully. He devoured the small sandwich in a couple of bites and poured himself some tea. Ah well. He had too much food, but he supposed he could use the leftovers to make lunch.

He received quite a few stares from sitting alone, but it was something Min-Jae was used to. The raven-haired man kicked off his sandals and stretched, all while grabbing more food. Today seemed nicer the more it went on. 

CODED BY ELECTRIC OF GANGNAM STYLE

[Deleted]

“

It’s chance that, it’s chance that accidentally led to our today. Can I tell you now? Can I tell you now? Where am I going? Where am I going? It’s chance that, it’s chance that accidentally led to our today. Can you tell me now? Can you tell me now? Are you smiling? Are you smiling? Our final goodbye reminded me of the different solutions of an equation; I gave it up again, I just can’t solve it anymore. This kind of goodbye doesn’t have any rhyme or reasoning.

He shouldn't have come to Harajuka — not in this heat, not in a suit. After fleeing to the park to avoid being surrounded by people just as sweaty as he was, Tsubaki had taken off his tie, only for an unfortunately strong gust of wind to blow it out of his hand and into a conveniently placed tree. Anyone else would have probably shrugged and meandered off to go buy another tie, but, at the time, the celebrity had figured that climbing the tree would be easy.

And it had been. Unbelievably so.

The only problem was that, in his state of mind, he had completely forgotten how much of a hassle it would be make his way down. Gingerly sitting himself on top of a branch, back to the trunk, Tsubaki contemplated his situation rather deeply. Not necessarily think up a way to get down unscathed, rather the young man had been predicting the amount of bones he'd break if he were to happen to, ahem, jump down.

"It couldn't be too many, right?" Tsubaki murmured, though it seemed that he didn't quite have confidence in his own words. Climbing down was the more obvious course of action, but he had even less faith in his ability to do that. His footing could be lost, the moment Tsubaki let himself grow at ease! That kind of bad luck tended to happen the moment the protagonist felt all was right with the world — and then bam! His friends had turned against him and his girlfriend had decided to become a nun.

Just as his hope was about to diminish, Tsubaki spied someone, probably a little older than he was, near the very tree he was stuck in. Wrapping his tie around his wrist, he was about to catch the stranger's attention, before stopping. Wait, was he having a picnic? The skies were clear and the sun was shining — way too much, in his opinion — so it wasn't really strange for someone to want get out, but it was sun's warmth that day was a little bit on scalding side. Even with the shade, he could probably still get a heatstroke. If anyone were to hear his thoughts aloud, they would have probably told him to stop with the terrible dramatics.

Manuevering his body into a crouch, he wondered if the person would be kind enough to lend him a hand. As to be expected, Tsubaki didn't mull on it for long.

"Yo! You, the one in the ponytail! Look up here!" What with the way he was waving, no one in the vicinity could have missed him.

CODED BY ELECTRIC OF GANGNAM STYLE

[lee min-jae]

BLACK TEARS, BLACK SMILES

romance is merely a fantasy
a dream, but not a disease
it only breaks your heart
no, i'm not trying to be poetic. please, just leave.

Mm, he should make that onigiri again sometime. The salted fish he had bought to make a filling was simply delightful. Yes, he would have to keep that in mind. Min-Jae sighed contentedly and poured himself some more tea. Even with the heat outside, his apartment was probably worse since the cooling system was broken. Damn the landlady and her cheapness. He packed up most of the food, leaving the pitcher of tea and the cupcakes. Dusting his hands off lightly, Min-Jae sat back down and eyed the cupcakes reluctantly before deciding he still had room for some dessert. 

Min-Jae hesitantly licked the frosting, a light buttercream variation he had decided to make instead of his traditional frosting bought from the store. He'd never made his own frosting before, and to his relief, it had turned out quite well. Well enough that he would consider wasting more time to make frosting instead of buying it. Devouring the cupcake in a matter of seconds, Min-Jae was faced with the decision to eat another cupcake or pack it all up and go around the park.

'Tempting.'  He shrugged. Thankfully, he was saved from making an important decision by the sound of a rustling tree branch. He looked up briefly, saw a man in a tree, and resumed thinking about his cupcake dilemma. He gave up and reached for the cupcake. It wasn't like he was on a diet anyways.

Finishing it in a matter of seconds, Min-Jae sighed again and decided he would go take a nap. Closing his eyes, he was rudely interrupted when he heard a call from the man in the tree. Opening an eye and raising an eyebrow, he loudly drawled out, "Yes?" It seemed the man in the tree needed some help. Min-Jae considered helping him. The mysterious tree-man was wearing a suit. Wealthy, perhaps? It was the only reason someone would wear a suit in this weather.

The dark-haired man rubbed his chin and smirked lightly. 

"Ah, well. I've already done my one good deed of the day. Good luck finding someone else to help you~!" Min-Jae sang out quite jovially. 

Min-Jae didn't feel obligated in helping him. He was a stranger, and after all it was his fault for getting into such a predicament. However, he wasn't completely heartless so maybe he'd let the man simmer for a while, then go to help him. He wasn't much in a charity mood right now. Maybe after a nap, he'd go to help him out.

CODED BY ELECTRIC OF GANGNAM STYLE

[Deleted]

“

It’s chance that, it’s chance that accidentally led to our today. Can I tell you now? Can I tell you now? Where am I going? Where am I going? It’s chance that, it’s chance that accidentally led to our today. Can you tell me now? Can you tell me now? Are you smiling? Are you smiling? Our final goodbye reminded me of the different solutions of an equation; I gave it up again, I just can’t solve it anymore. This kind of goodbye doesn’t have any rhyme or reasoning.

Instead of asking for help, as he initially planned, Tsubaki grinned and held his hands in front of him, as if he were pleading innocence. "Hey, hey! Don't jump to conclusions! I wasn't about to ask for a hand to get down or anything." Yes, he was.

"I mean, yeah, itd be nice if you would stay riiiight there, so that you'd cushion my fall, buuut," Tsubaki stroked his chin, as if thinking deeply. "You wouldn't like that, huh?"

Casually swinging one leg off the branch and bending the other to rest his chin on, his gaze fell upon the remnants of the older man's lunch. Would it have been rude to ask if he had anything left? Probably. Waking someone up and then asking for their stuff, Tsubaki's mother would have had a hell of a time knocking sense into him — all the while adding 'nyaa' to the end of her sentences. How far away was Ikebukuro from Harajuka again?

Ah, wait. Speaking of distances...

Off-handedly. "Do you think I could jump and not die?"

Considering how the stranger had completely rejected him, before Tsubaki had the chance to ask for assistance certainly said something about him and the celebrity wasn't entirely sure what, but he figured that a response was kind of unlikely. Which wasn't exactly fair to assume, he admitted. Maybe he would reply with something unnecessarily jabbing!

Regardless of what he did, Tsubaki had already concluded that it was easier to talk at him than to. "If I did happen to actually jump, you'd make sure to call the paramedics, right? It'd be scary if you just left me there on the ground to go," he paused momentarily, trying to find the right phrasing. "To go nap."

Beaming at the other man, any third party would have thought Tsubaki were talking to an old friend, rather than someone he had just met — and then that very person would have to double-take, since the scene was, after all, rather odd. A man in a tree and another trying to catch some shut-eye; it was half picturesque, half ridiculousness.

...and besides, if either one of them spoke, anyone would have immediately been disenchanted.

Example. "Do you have any napkins? I'm sweating like crazy up here."

CODED BY ELECTRIC OF GANGNAM STYLE

[lee min-jae]

BLACK TEARS, BLACK SMILES

romance is merely a fantasy
a dream, but not a disease
it only breaks your heart
no, i'm not trying to be poetic. please, just leave.

That silly man was preventing him from getting any rest. Here Min-Jae was, trying to sleep, and some stupid idiot in a tree had decided to disturb him. With biting comments implying that he needed some help. Well boo-hoo. Min-Jae already said he wasn't going to help. Besides, he was a man of his word. Usually.  

The man in the tree seemed desperate. And he wasn't getting any sleep. Without opening his eyes, Min-Jae spoke. "...You could jump and not die. You'd just break a few bones. But I'm not completely heartless. If you jumped, I'd call the paramedics. If I had my phone with me." He smirked, but it wasn't like the other could see him clearly enough to notice his change of expression. 

"If you'd kindly leave me to go sleep, I'd be very grateful to you. Oh, and I don't have any napkins," he added quickly. Resuming his relaxed position, Min-Jae tried to fall asleep. Again. Sadly, that was not to be. 

A few minutes later, he felt something fall on his head. Annoyed, he opened his eyes to see a squirrel staring at him. A squirrel. A squirrel who had conveniently dropped an acorn on him. An acorn. Yes, an acorn. 

Min-Jae glared at the squirrel, who made sounds of glee and scurried away. Reluctantly, he sat up and rubbed the sore spot on his forehead. He revoked his earlier statement. Today was not a nice day, what with the strange man and the squirrel. To make matters worse, a group of screaming kids ran by with water guns and started targeting him. 

Min-Jae sighed, and shot a nasty look at the kids. Now he was all wet. Wonderful. Wait! His camera! He frantically looked around for his camera, hoping it was dry. After a few seconds, he found it and let out a sigh of relief. It was fine. Hopefully. 

CODED BY ELECTRIC OF GANGNAM STYLE