word is on the street that the fire in your heart is out [winner; jinwoo/seungyoon] (1/2)
word is on the street that the fire in your heart is out
jinwoo/seungyoon, mino/jinwoo, ot5
pg-13, 11,200 words
Jinwoo doesn’t think it’s that awkward, going on a two-day road trip with your ex-boyfriend. Everyone else in the car might be inclined to disagree. AU (AO3 mirror)
originally posted here for vvipforseungri for winnerexchange!
DAY 3 - 12:06AM: SEUNGHOON
“Floral scent?” Jinwoo says, scrunching his nose and pulling the collar of his hoodie to take a sniff. It takes all of Seunghoon’s self-restraint, and then the pleading look Seungyoon sends his way, to keep his mouth shut.
“It’s more… citrus-y than floral,” Seunghoon offers.
Jinwoo twists his lips, contemplating, before shrugging with a small, "Hm, I guess."
Taehyun isn’t as convinced. He wraps the shock blanket tighter around his shoulder and levels Seungyoon with a look so flat, it could iron out the worst wrinkles with its intensity. Seunghoon can feel it in his toes that this is about to go somewhere no one wants it to, and looks around desperately to try and see if Minho’s back from his turn at interrogation. Not that Minho can really do anything at this point, but sometimes looking at his dopey face has a therapeutic effect.
“So you’re telling me,” Taehyun starts. “That the reason we’re here is because of Seungyoon’s stupid cru-”
“Are they done with Minho yet?” Jinwoo asks. He shifts to rest his head against Seungyoon’s shoulder, yawning and closing his eyes. “He always asks the fun questions,” he mumbles against Seungyoon’s collarbone. Seunghoon wants to laugh. Scratch that, he does laugh. Loudly. And then dodges the swift kick Seungyoon sends his way.
“Minho is the only person who’d think playing 20 Questions to kill time in between a police investigation is an appropriate thing to do,” Seungyoon refutes. “Also no, the reason we’re here is because of Seunghoon’s stupid crush.”
“You’re a child,” Seunghoon scoffs, leaning back against his seat. “With the things me and her have done, it’s love.” Repulsed protests erupt around him, and he grins.
“You know what, I take it back,” Seungyoon says. “Let’s play 20 Questions instead. Let’s talk about anything else instead.”
“How did this weekend go so wrong,” Taehyun groans.
“Next question,” Seunghoon dismisses.
Taehyun thins his lips. “Fine,” he enunciates. He turns to face Jinwoo, eyes flittering towards Seungyoon as he asks, carefully and deliberately, “Tell me, was it awkward, going on a two day road trip with your ex-boyfriend?”
Jinwoo raises an eyebrow and smiles bemusedly. “Of course not,” he answers, shifting himself away from Seungyoon to stretch his arms out. “Me and Minho are great.”
DAY 1 - 03:00AM: SEUNGYOON
The thing about Seunghoon is, although his actual methods of persuasion only go as far as refusing to let go of Seungyoon’s leg when he's late for class, there’s still something to be said about his persistency. The thing about Seungyoon is, he has no problems shutting down stupid ideas on first go, but he’s easy to wear down if you know how. Seunghoon doesn’t know how yet, evidently, if the personalised sticker spam on Kakaotalk is anything to go by, but he’s creative.
But whether it’s creativity or lunacy that’s tapping on Seungyoon’s window at 3AM in the morning, that’s up for debate.
Seungyoon should probably leave Seunghoon out there to freeze. But his phone says it’s inching towards minus 5 degrees tonight, and Seunghoon is the kind of person who’d wait outside until he’s dead from hypothermia, or being dragged away by security. Plus, Seungyoon is prepared and might as well have some fun. He’s wearing the demonic Pikachu mask Seunghoon is terrified of when he approaches the window, and lets out the most horrifying scream he can muster when he pulls up the blinds.
Seungyoon doesn’t have to try with the second scream that rips through him. He only just stops himself from falling backwards by grabbing onto the curtain cord and letting the blinds drop down dramatically. He takes a few seconds to collect himself, and curse Seunghoon under his breath, before drawing the blinds back up again to unveil Jinwoo instead pulling at the edge of the window frame, not having registered that you can’t actually open it from the outside.
Seungyoon motions for Jinwoo to move back before unlocking the latch on the window and lifting it up, letting the chilly air and slight floral scent Jinwoo always seems to carry around him hit his face.
“Let me in,” Jinwoo whispers, mouth quirking upwards.
-1 DAY - 02:00PM: SEUNGYOON
“Definitely not,” Seungyoon says, flipping through his notebook. Seunghoon, without embarrassment, takes a seat next to Seungyoon in the lecture theatre and starts pulling out books from his backpack like he’s actually in this class.
“Seungyoon,” Seunghoon demands. “Where’s your sense of righteousness?”
“With your sense of shame,” Seungyoon bites back. “You’re crazy, you can’t spring this on me one day before and expect me to agree.”
“I have been floating, Seungyoon,” Seunghoon argues. “I’ve been floating, and I only realised this morning that if I have the ability to fix this- to get her back, and I don’t. Then well, I deserve to float.”
“Nothing you’re saying has the impact I feel like you think it does,” Seungyoon replies apathetically. The lecturer walks in at that moment, tapping her hand on the podium and calling for everyone to quieten down. Seunghoon huffs and sits back in his seat.
“Hey, give me your notes,” he says.
“What?” Seungyoon sputters. “You aren’t even in this class, you don’t need my notes-”
Seunghoon ignores him and grabs his binder, pulling out the first few pages he sees before shoving the thing back towards Seungyoon again, who only just stops it from knocking into the laptop of the girl sitting next to him. A total of fifteen minutes of uninterrupted focus go by before there’s a scrunched up paper ball being thrown at Seungyoon’s head. Seungyoon turns to glare at Seunghoon, who’s staring straight ahead at the blackboard, nodding like serial composition has never made so much sense to him before- or like he can actually read sheet music.
Seungyoon rolls his eyes and flattens out the piece of paper.
I will dress up as Jinwoo and suck your di-
“Ow!” Seunghoon jolts, a hand coming up to clutch the side of his head.
“Shhh,” the lecturer says from the front, narrowing her eyes at both of them.
Seunghoon rubs the spot that Seungyoon’s pen hit dead on and frowns. “I was just trying to compensate you,” he whispers, “And this is how you treat me.”
“Go leave for the bathroom,” Seungyoon replies, eyes turned towards the front, “And then never come back.”
He isn’t looking at Seunghoon, but he can feel the indignant glare he’s probably sending his way like it burns his skin. Seunghoon packs his bag up quietly, slinging it over his shoulder. Before he leaves he bends down to whisper into Seungyoon’s ear, unnecessarily dramatic as always, “I will break you, Seungyoon. I will stab that arrow into your achilles heel, and it’ll be painful.”
Seungyoon tilts his head to the side and smiles at Seunghoon, popping off the cap of his yellow highlighter. “Don’t let the door hit you on your way out.”
DAY 1 - 05:00AM: JINWOO
Jinwoo knows that nothing about his current circumstance is anything less than self-inflicted.
Still, he can’t help the pinch of resentment when Taehyun immediately calls shotgun and corners Jinwoo into taking the backseat. Seungyoon is the kind of guy who lounges and takes up half the leg space when he sleeps sitting up, and usually Jinwoo wouldn’t care. But currently, this means he’s pressed up closer than he’d like to be against Minho, and with Seungyoon and Taehyun knocked out, and Seunghoon too focused on not missing the right exit, Jinwoo is all too aware that he and Minho are the most conscious ones in the car. And they. Are. Not. Talking.
To be fair, it’s not like there’s anything to really talk about right now. Even by highway standards, this one’s pretty boring. No scenery to speak of, just a long stretch of dirt flushed gradient blue in the twilight. So vast and barren it’s hard to believe that just an hour ago they were parked outside a 24-Hour McDonald’s trying to load Google Maps on limited data. In the end, they’d made do with a few disjointed screenshots, and an americano to keep Seunghoon awake until they could swap drivers.
The last time Jinwoo properly slept was around three weeks ago. Seunghoon had called him at midnight, and maybe it says something that Jinwoo sat there for two whole minutes, staring at the TV playing Running Man on mute, and couldn’t think of one reason to say no to an impromptu two day road trip (”Rescue mission,” Seunghoon’s voice had insisted through the speaker). He’d stayed in the city hoping to find a job with the dismal GPA his Computer Science degree had left him with, and had zero lined up. He was avoiding talking to his parents, so what was a little loss of reception here and there. Seunghoon knew this better than anyone else, and that’s why neither of them were surprised when Jinwoo said yes all too agreeably.
Jinwoo can take a pretty good guess as to why Minho is awake, if the tapping on his phone and the concentrated lip synching is anything to go off. Jinwoo’s only seen him do it so many times in stifling, overcrowded clubs. Jinwoo's thumbs rubbing circles onto Minho’s shoulder blades. Watching Minho size up the competition on stage with an earnestness he wished he was more intimately familiar with.
“Do you want me to drive?” Jinwoo offers, leaning forward and resting his arms on the back of Seunghoon’s seat.
“No, it’s fine,” Seunghoon says. His left eye twitches, and he reaches a hand towards the drink holder to grapple for his coffee. Instead, he grabs Taehyun’s phone and holds it up to his lips. It takes a few seconds for Seunghoon to blink and put the phone back down. "Actually, you know what," he says. "Maybe you should drive."
Seunghoon turns the wheel to pull off the highway when Minho yells. “Wait, no!”
Seunghoon swerves sharply back into his lane, and the momentum has Taehyun’s head bumping onto the glass, and Jinwoo careening onto Seungyoon’s lap.
“Oof,” Seungyoon says, jolting awake. His knees dig sharply into the middle of Jinwoo's spine.
Jinwoo groans and arches his back to relieve some of the pain. When he opens one eye, Seungyoon is looking down at him, blinking rapidly and slapping his hands across his face in turn. “You awake now?” Jinwoo asks, grabbing a hand mid-slap and curling it into a fist to knock against Seungyoon’s head.
Taehyun grimaces and turns to Seunghoon. “Is this why you tried to crash the car?”
“I don’t know,” Seunghoon replies, chest heaving, eyes not leaving the road ahead. “Minho, why did I almost crash the car?”
“So Jinwoo wouldn’t almost crash the car,” Minho replies, a little petulantly. A small pout on his lips that Jinwoo almost instinctively leans forward to kiss away.
“I would not!” Jinwoo protests, trying to lift himself up but sinking further into the space between Seungyoon’s legs.
“Jinwoo, how are you real,” Taehyun sighs, climbing onto his seat to lean over and help pull Jinwoo upright. Seungyoon has a hand on Jinwoo’s back, and Minho pulls him up by the shoulder. Jinwoo shrugs all their hands off to slouch low against his unfortunate middle seat.
It wasn’t a bad breakup, really. Just an unfortunate one.
-17 DAYS - 10:20PM: MINHO
Minho remembers Danah telling him “Treat a date how you would be wanted to be treated, Minho, alright. It’s not about being a gentleman or whatever, it’s about being considerate.”. Back home from a bad date, she’d sat on Minho’s bed, feet up on his lap, listing off with her fingers all the ways her date that night had been terrible, and everything Minho should do to not be the guy whose number was deleted from Dana’s phone as soon as his car was out of sight. Don’t pay for them without making sure they aren’t prepared to cover it themselves, if they look bored then they probably are bored, don’t act like they’re a burden to have around. Minho had listened carefully, nodding along before asking, “This will definitely get them to put out right?”. Danah had tried to scratch his chin with her toenails, and then squirmed when Minho tickled the underside of her feet.
Minho always goes back to that night as his go-to guidebook. Not that what Danah told him wasn’t basically common sense, but Minho is the type to get caught up in things. Sometimes it takes looking into his drink and seeing Danah’s disapproving face reflected back at him, shaking her head, for Minho to take look around.
This is how he notices how quiet Jinwoo is.
Jinwoo’s not much of a speaker anyway, but he talks through how he moves. Mirthful nods, small sounds of engagement, leaning into Minho’s space whenever he's feeling a little fatigued. Sometimes, if they’re with a lot of people they don’t know, he rubs his foot against Minho’s where no one can see. Today he’s staring down at the table, eyes occasionally drifting to the phone he’s clutching in his hands. Minho pats Pyo on the shoulder and gestures towards the door.
“Hey,” Minho says, nudging Jinwoo’s shoulder. Jinwoo starts, hand coming up to grab Minho’s like he’s bracing himself for the worst. “Let’s leave, it’s getting late.” Jinwoo purses his lips for a few seconds, before nodding and pulling on his coat, following Minho outside.
Minho stops once they’re at his car, grabbing Jinwoo by the arm and gently pulling him under a streetlamp. He looks distracted, fingers pulling at the material of his gloves. Minho reaches out to take Jinwoo’s hands in his own, holding them still. “Everything okay?” he asks.
JInwoo blows out a puff of air. “I… I’m not. I’m worried about finding a job.”
Minho blinks and takes a step back. He holds Jinwoo away by the shoulders and squints at his face. “Is that it?”
Jinwoo doesn’t get angry easily, but Minho knows he’s tiptoed into that side of the spectrum from the crease on Jinwoo’s forehead, and tries to amend it with “No, I mean. That really sucks. I just mean like- did they say something wrong this time, you seem really upset. I’ll,” Minho shifts his voice to a comically low pitch, “I’ll beat ‘em up.”
Stupid voices usually make Jinwoo laugh, but now he looks at Minho like he’s the one who turned him down for the job. “No, I don’t want you and your friends to beat them up-”
“Jinwoo,” Minho cuts off sharply, “I’m joking, when have I ever-”
“I know you’re joking,” Jinwoo says. “But that’s what I mean, I don’t want that. I want a job.”
“I mean,” Minho searches for the words desperately. He’s downright fucking awful at containing potentially explosive situations- more often than not he just makes them worse. Which is precisely why he does his goddamn best trying to make sure things never get there in the first place. “Do you want me to get you a job?”
“Didn’t you want me to move in with you?” Jinwoo asks, eyebrows locked together.
Minho cups Jinwoo’s face with his hands, tilting his head up. “I still do,” Minho reassures. “What are you even talking about?”
Jinwoo covers Minho’s hands with his own, moving his head to the side so his lips are pressed into Minho’s gloved palm. He stays like that for a minute, before he mumbles out a small. “Okay.”
“I’ll pay the rent for you until you can find a job,” Minho offers.
Jinwoo cocks his head to the side. “Huh?”
“I’ll pay the rent,” Minho repeats. “You don’t have to worry about anything.”
“Since when was underground rapping a lucrative career choice?” Jinwoo laughs. His laugh has always been ugly, but Minho’s always been enamoured with it anyway. Right now though, with it's jagged edge and condescending lilt, it makes Minho feel small. “You can’t even pay for yourself.”
“I’ll take three jobs,” Minho promises, though he really hopes Jinwoo refuses, because he can’t work that many hours a week and he isn’t so sure of how willing he is to try. “I just don’t want you to worry.”
“I’m always worried,” Jinwoo whispers. It’s said softly but it’s like a slap to the face. Minho recoils.
There it is, the one thing that can calm Jinwoo down, apparently. Guilt. Jinwoo looks apologetic and closes the space between them, gripping Minho’s arms and kissing under his jaw. “That’s not what I meant. I’m worried about other things.”
“Then tell me,” Minho pleads, curling his toes at how childish he probably sounds. He’s never had to worry about that before with Jinwoo. “I want to know.”
Jinwoo sighs. “You can’t fix everything, Minho,” he says. “I’m cold, let’s just get in the car?”
Minho nods eagerly, pulling off his coat and wrapping it around him. “I’m wearing a coat!” Jinwoo protests, tugging at the beige lapel hidden beneath Minho’s large black windbreaker.
“Let me try and fix that at least,” Minho replies. He fumbles with his car keys before pressing the button and unlocking the doors, not looking at Jinwoo as climbs in.
Minho waits until Jinwoo clambers in after him and is settled before sticking the key into ignition. “Let’s go to your place?” Jinwoo asks, sounding unsure.
Minho forces a smile. It’s obvious and takes too long, but he still leans forward to kiss Jinwoo on the cheek. “Of course,” he says.
DAY 1 - 12:00PM: JINWOO
They stop for gas fifteen minutes later. Partly because they’re not sure when Lady Luck will spring another service station on them, but mostly because they couldn’t tell if the car was shaking along with the loose gravel, or from Seunghoon vibrating in the front seat. Seungyoon takes a twenty minute nap inside the car in preparation for his turn, Seunghoon does small laps to try and exhaust his excess energy, Taehyun lethargically following to poke Seunghoon with a stick when they overlap, and Jinwoo corners Minho in the small washroom behind the service station.
It’s dingy and looks in need of a wash itself, mouldy looking stains on grey tiles which, in all honesty, Jinwoo finds kind of quaint, but he’s probably wrong. Minho is washing his hands in the sink, the muscles in his back tight and baited.
Everything Jinwoo wanted to say dissolves on his tongue into something sticky and heavy that he can’t swallow down. He tries to relax himself by thinking of hypothetical drama castings, except when he blinks away from the idea of Lee Nayoung and Gong Yoo in a Hong Sisters drama, Minho is still staring down at the basin even though Jinwoo realises he stopped hearing water running a while ago.
Jinwoo doesn’t know what to do. He and Minho, it had been easy, more obvious than the resounding crack from Minho hitting that baseball and giving Jinwoo a concussion. Of course Jinwoo would say yes to the good looking, sincerely apologetic guy who kept delivering him flowers in the hospital. Who brought him his laptop so they could watch variety shows together, the distance between them on the hospital bed only the width of their shared earphones. It was easy and obvious, and fun. Bears at carnivals, amusement park anniversaries, mutual friends, and couple items.
This. Cramped bathrooms, tension so heavy and drab that Jinwoo can’t believe he’s on one end of it, isn’t something he’s had to navigate with Minho before.
“You okay?” Minho asks, wiping his hands along his jeans.
“Yeah, just,” Jinwoo clears his throat. “I wanted to drive, why wouldn’t you let me drive? I’m a better driver than you.” He raises a hand to cutely slap Minho’s arm because it seems like the familiar thing to do, but when Minho doesn’t laugh, immediately feels awkward about it.
“You didn’t look like you’d slept,” Minho offers, shrugging. “You know you do that thing where you’re like wide awake one second, and then when I blink you’re snoring?”
“No,” Jinwoo answers. “I mean, I’d be asleep then. So no.”
“Well, take my word for it,” Minho says. ”You do. Now, imagine if instead of on my bed- uh, your bed.”
“No, your bed,” Jinwoo concedes, shrugging.
“Right, my bed.” Minho agrees. “Imagine if it was in front of a wheel.”
Jinwoo doesn’t say anything for a few seconds. When he does, it’s matter-of-fact even though it feels like anything but. “I haven’t been sleeping recently.”
Minho’s entire face falls. “I’m sorry Jinwoo. I-”
Jinwoo shakes his head. “It’s not you, no. I’m just saying I haven’t been sleeping and I’ve had like, two cans of Red Bull. I wouldn’t have fallen asleep at the wheel.”
Minho wraps Jinwoo in a hug. He smells like that overly masculine body spray his roommate Pyo keeps buying in bulk. The one that only Jinwoo seems to like, if the explosion Seunghoon once caused in their dorms from trying to destroy them was anything to go by. He can feel Minho’s hold losing confidence, loosening, and Jinwoo belatedly wraps his arms around Minho. Comfort received. Jinwoo’s always liked feeling protected.
-44 Days - 04:17PM: SEUNGYOON
Even though Taehyun and Seungyoon’s initial friendship had its roots in slightly more than dubious circumstances - at least if that’s what you want to call compulsory community service - Seungyoon feels like they’ve known each other long enough to be comfortable with the label “good friends” by now. Taehyun doesn’t look like he agrees when he finally leaves the men’s bathroom, but the fact he’s not actively trying to run away is essentially an ‘I love you’ as far as Seungyoon’s concerned.
“An entire hour,” Seungyoon chirps, pushing himself off the wall with his foot and linking Taehyun’s arm in his. “That’s one long bathroom break.”
“Yeah,” Taehyun drawls, “I’ll spare you the details.”
Seungyoon sighs. “You know, Taehyun, I was your age once-”
“Four months ago,” Taehyun mumbles, trying to sneak his arm out of Seungyoon’s grip. Seungyoon holds it tighter against his side.
“You’ve grown so much,” Seungyoon continues, “You’ve come so far from being that bratty 18-year-old I had that meet cute-”
“It wasn’t a meet cute,” Taehyun corrects, “If we were both coerced.”
“I don’t know about you,” Seungyoon says. “But there was no coercion on my side.” It’s only a half-lie, so Seungyoon doesn’t let himself mull over it for too long. Maybe sitting in the waiting room of a counsellor's office with bruised knuckles and an ice pack pressed against one eye wasn’t cute by conventional definition, but Jinwoo had said it was adorable when Seungyoon told him why he suddenly had a surly, droopy faced teenager following him around everywhere. Seunghoon said it was cute too, even if his tone was a little more patronising than Seungyoon would have liked it to be.
It was years ago that Seungyoon had pushed his way through an overexcited throng of students to reach the lanky, messy boy in the middle of a brawl with Seungyoon’s old friends, one that he had no chances of winning had Seungyoon not intervened. Days like today though, Seungyoon thinks it might as well have been just last week.
“I didn’t throw the first punch,” Taehyun says at Seungyoon’s sudden silence. “I didn’t even fight back.”
“I know,” Seungyoon says.
“You don’t have to follow me around,” Taehyun snips. “I’m not going to run off and try and set them on fire.”
“Maybe I just want to spend time with you!” Seungyoon exclaims, pulling their hands down and trying to link fingers with Taehyun, who looks like his real wish was to set himself on fire. “We’re both here, we might as well-”
“Hey, is that Jinwoo?” Taehyun says.
Seungyoon snorts. “Nice try, but-”
“No, I’m being serious,” Taehyun insists, pulling his hand away and manhandling Seungyoon into turning around. “Isn’t that Jinwoo?”
Seungyoon squints, Taehyun immediately lets go and starts running in the other direction, and ordinarily Seungyoon would chase after him, but not right now because that is definitely Jinwoo, waiting at the bus stop in his red KFC uniform, visor pulled low over his forehead. Seungyoon takes out his phone to shoot a quick message to Minho to check up on Taehyun, then makes his way over to where Jinwoo is sitting.
“Hey,” Seungyoon says, swinging himself around the edge of the bus shelter. Jinwoo, for whatever reason, frowns curiously before looking in the complete other direction, and Seungyoon sighs before flinging himself down on the bench to slide right into Jinwoo’s side.
Jinwoo flails and Seungyoon pulls him back by the waist to stop him from sliding off the seat. Jinwoo turns to face him, and when their eyes meet, lets out a long sigh of relief. “Oh, it’s just you.”
“Who else would it be,” Seungyoon prods. “Who’re you running away from now?”
“Your mother,” Jinwoo says solemnly, before cracking a smile. “That was good right-”
“No,” Seungyoon cuts off, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “Still not right.”
“One day,” Jinwoo promises. “One day.”
"Sure." Seungyoon pats Jinwoo’s back. “What are you doing here anyway? You work like, twenty minutes away.” He reaches a hand up to flick the KFC logo on Jinwoo’s visor.
“Ah…” Jinwoo hesitates. “I didn’t feel like going home so I went for a walk, and then I forgot which way I came. So I’m just waiting for a bus back instead.”
Seungyoon lifts himself off the bench to look at the timetable pasted on the side of the bus stop. He drags his fingers down the list of busses and arrival times before turning to Jinwoo and saying: “The buses here all go in the opposite direction.”
“What?” Jinwoo pushes Seungyoon aside to look at the timetable himself. “The lady lied to me!”
Seungyoon throws a hand around Jinwoo’s shoulder, dragging him away from staring betrayed at the map. “Come on, it’s a dangerous world out there Red Riding Hood,” he warns. “Let’s get you back home in one piece.”
“I can’t believe she lied…”
Seungyoon gets an MMS from Minho once they're both on the right bus back to campus. It’s a picture of Taehyun and Minho at a karaoke bar, Taehyun kneeling on the floor dramatically, singing into a microphone, Minho pointing at him with a thumbs up, and an Aqua music video playing in the background. Seungyoon is gratified and is about to make it Taehyun’s contact picture, when Jinwoo leans over his shoulder to look at his phone.
“Cute,” Jinwoo coos, and Seungyoon can feel Jinwoo’s cheek brush against his own when he smiles. “I’m glad they’re both feeling better.” He moves back to grin at Seungyoon, but then his face falls. “What’s that?” he asks, moving closer and pressing his fingers above Seungyoon’s chin. There’s a dull ache and Seungyoon flinches, turning his phone camera on selfie mode and holding it up to his face.
There’s a dull gray-blue blemish under his lip and Seungyoon grimaces. “Aw man,” he says. “I have a thing tomorrow too.”
“Where’d you get that?” Jinwoo pries, hands folding themselves into fists on his lap.
“What?” Seungyoon furrows his eyebrows at the sudden heaviness in Jinwoo’s tone, and notes the worry lines beginning to form on his forehead. “Oh! No, no. Taehyun just- There were these goons at the mall stealing this kid’s wallet, and Taehyun got into like, an argument. Not going to lie, there were punches thrown.” Jinwoo widens his eyes and Seungyoon rushes to explain. “Not by us! By them, mostly towards Taehyun, but I was trying to pull him out of the way and- I think one of them grazed me.”
Jinwoo still looks nervous, but slightly placated. “Goons?” he asks.
“Yeah they were huge, like probably my weight in muscle mass and, okay, they were wearing school uniforms- Don’t laugh!” he says, shoving Jinwoo’s shoulder. “You don’t know high school students these days. They’re huge. Like we’re slowly evolving back to prehistoric times.”
“I’m seeing like, a scrappy past version of you, closing his eyes and just flailing his hands everywhere, and by luck managing to hit this present, slightly less pretentious version of you,” Jinwoo grins.
“Hey, that’s offensive!” Seungyoon yells, indignant. He waits for Jinwoo to stop giggling to himself before adding, “If anything, I’m a lot more pretentious now.” He can’t see the smile that breaks out on his face when Jinwoo bursts out into laughter again, but he prays it doesn’t look as hopelessly smitten as it feels.
next
jinwoo/seungyoon, mino/jinwoo, ot5
pg-13, 11,200 words
Jinwoo doesn’t think it’s that awkward, going on a two-day road trip with your ex-boyfriend. Everyone else in the car might be inclined to disagree. AU (AO3 mirror)
originally posted here for vvipforseungri for winnerexchange!
DAY 3 - 12:06AM: SEUNGHOON
“Floral scent?” Jinwoo says, scrunching his nose and pulling the collar of his hoodie to take a sniff. It takes all of Seunghoon’s self-restraint, and then the pleading look Seungyoon sends his way, to keep his mouth shut.
“It’s more… citrus-y than floral,” Seunghoon offers.
Jinwoo twists his lips, contemplating, before shrugging with a small, "Hm, I guess."
Taehyun isn’t as convinced. He wraps the shock blanket tighter around his shoulder and levels Seungyoon with a look so flat, it could iron out the worst wrinkles with its intensity. Seunghoon can feel it in his toes that this is about to go somewhere no one wants it to, and looks around desperately to try and see if Minho’s back from his turn at interrogation. Not that Minho can really do anything at this point, but sometimes looking at his dopey face has a therapeutic effect.
“So you’re telling me,” Taehyun starts. “That the reason we’re here is because of Seungyoon’s stupid cru-”
“Are they done with Minho yet?” Jinwoo asks. He shifts to rest his head against Seungyoon’s shoulder, yawning and closing his eyes. “He always asks the fun questions,” he mumbles against Seungyoon’s collarbone. Seunghoon wants to laugh. Scratch that, he does laugh. Loudly. And then dodges the swift kick Seungyoon sends his way.
“Minho is the only person who’d think playing 20 Questions to kill time in between a police investigation is an appropriate thing to do,” Seungyoon refutes. “Also no, the reason we’re here is because of Seunghoon’s stupid crush.”
“You’re a child,” Seunghoon scoffs, leaning back against his seat. “With the things me and her have done, it’s love.” Repulsed protests erupt around him, and he grins.
“You know what, I take it back,” Seungyoon says. “Let’s play 20 Questions instead. Let’s talk about anything else instead.”
“How did this weekend go so wrong,” Taehyun groans.
“Next question,” Seunghoon dismisses.
Taehyun thins his lips. “Fine,” he enunciates. He turns to face Jinwoo, eyes flittering towards Seungyoon as he asks, carefully and deliberately, “Tell me, was it awkward, going on a two day road trip with your ex-boyfriend?”
Jinwoo raises an eyebrow and smiles bemusedly. “Of course not,” he answers, shifting himself away from Seungyoon to stretch his arms out. “Me and Minho are great.”
DAY 1 - 03:00AM: SEUNGYOON
The thing about Seunghoon is, although his actual methods of persuasion only go as far as refusing to let go of Seungyoon’s leg when he's late for class, there’s still something to be said about his persistency. The thing about Seungyoon is, he has no problems shutting down stupid ideas on first go, but he’s easy to wear down if you know how. Seunghoon doesn’t know how yet, evidently, if the personalised sticker spam on Kakaotalk is anything to go by, but he’s creative.
But whether it’s creativity or lunacy that’s tapping on Seungyoon’s window at 3AM in the morning, that’s up for debate.
Seungyoon should probably leave Seunghoon out there to freeze. But his phone says it’s inching towards minus 5 degrees tonight, and Seunghoon is the kind of person who’d wait outside until he’s dead from hypothermia, or being dragged away by security. Plus, Seungyoon is prepared and might as well have some fun. He’s wearing the demonic Pikachu mask Seunghoon is terrified of when he approaches the window, and lets out the most horrifying scream he can muster when he pulls up the blinds.
Seungyoon doesn’t have to try with the second scream that rips through him. He only just stops himself from falling backwards by grabbing onto the curtain cord and letting the blinds drop down dramatically. He takes a few seconds to collect himself, and curse Seunghoon under his breath, before drawing the blinds back up again to unveil Jinwoo instead pulling at the edge of the window frame, not having registered that you can’t actually open it from the outside.
Seungyoon motions for Jinwoo to move back before unlocking the latch on the window and lifting it up, letting the chilly air and slight floral scent Jinwoo always seems to carry around him hit his face.
“Let me in,” Jinwoo whispers, mouth quirking upwards.
-1 DAY - 02:00PM: SEUNGYOON
“Definitely not,” Seungyoon says, flipping through his notebook. Seunghoon, without embarrassment, takes a seat next to Seungyoon in the lecture theatre and starts pulling out books from his backpack like he’s actually in this class.
“Seungyoon,” Seunghoon demands. “Where’s your sense of righteousness?”
“With your sense of shame,” Seungyoon bites back. “You’re crazy, you can’t spring this on me one day before and expect me to agree.”
“I have been floating, Seungyoon,” Seunghoon argues. “I’ve been floating, and I only realised this morning that if I have the ability to fix this- to get her back, and I don’t. Then well, I deserve to float.”
“Nothing you’re saying has the impact I feel like you think it does,” Seungyoon replies apathetically. The lecturer walks in at that moment, tapping her hand on the podium and calling for everyone to quieten down. Seunghoon huffs and sits back in his seat.
“Hey, give me your notes,” he says.
“What?” Seungyoon sputters. “You aren’t even in this class, you don’t need my notes-”
Seunghoon ignores him and grabs his binder, pulling out the first few pages he sees before shoving the thing back towards Seungyoon again, who only just stops it from knocking into the laptop of the girl sitting next to him. A total of fifteen minutes of uninterrupted focus go by before there’s a scrunched up paper ball being thrown at Seungyoon’s head. Seungyoon turns to glare at Seunghoon, who’s staring straight ahead at the blackboard, nodding like serial composition has never made so much sense to him before- or like he can actually read sheet music.
Seungyoon rolls his eyes and flattens out the piece of paper.
I will dress up as Jinwoo and suck your di-
“Ow!” Seunghoon jolts, a hand coming up to clutch the side of his head.
“Shhh,” the lecturer says from the front, narrowing her eyes at both of them.
Seunghoon rubs the spot that Seungyoon’s pen hit dead on and frowns. “I was just trying to compensate you,” he whispers, “And this is how you treat me.”
“Go leave for the bathroom,” Seungyoon replies, eyes turned towards the front, “And then never come back.”
He isn’t looking at Seunghoon, but he can feel the indignant glare he’s probably sending his way like it burns his skin. Seunghoon packs his bag up quietly, slinging it over his shoulder. Before he leaves he bends down to whisper into Seungyoon’s ear, unnecessarily dramatic as always, “I will break you, Seungyoon. I will stab that arrow into your achilles heel, and it’ll be painful.”
Seungyoon tilts his head to the side and smiles at Seunghoon, popping off the cap of his yellow highlighter. “Don’t let the door hit you on your way out.”
DAY 1 - 05:00AM: JINWOO
Jinwoo knows that nothing about his current circumstance is anything less than self-inflicted.
Still, he can’t help the pinch of resentment when Taehyun immediately calls shotgun and corners Jinwoo into taking the backseat. Seungyoon is the kind of guy who lounges and takes up half the leg space when he sleeps sitting up, and usually Jinwoo wouldn’t care. But currently, this means he’s pressed up closer than he’d like to be against Minho, and with Seungyoon and Taehyun knocked out, and Seunghoon too focused on not missing the right exit, Jinwoo is all too aware that he and Minho are the most conscious ones in the car. And they. Are. Not. Talking.
To be fair, it’s not like there’s anything to really talk about right now. Even by highway standards, this one’s pretty boring. No scenery to speak of, just a long stretch of dirt flushed gradient blue in the twilight. So vast and barren it’s hard to believe that just an hour ago they were parked outside a 24-Hour McDonald’s trying to load Google Maps on limited data. In the end, they’d made do with a few disjointed screenshots, and an americano to keep Seunghoon awake until they could swap drivers.
The last time Jinwoo properly slept was around three weeks ago. Seunghoon had called him at midnight, and maybe it says something that Jinwoo sat there for two whole minutes, staring at the TV playing Running Man on mute, and couldn’t think of one reason to say no to an impromptu two day road trip (”Rescue mission,” Seunghoon’s voice had insisted through the speaker). He’d stayed in the city hoping to find a job with the dismal GPA his Computer Science degree had left him with, and had zero lined up. He was avoiding talking to his parents, so what was a little loss of reception here and there. Seunghoon knew this better than anyone else, and that’s why neither of them were surprised when Jinwoo said yes all too agreeably.
Jinwoo can take a pretty good guess as to why Minho is awake, if the tapping on his phone and the concentrated lip synching is anything to go off. Jinwoo’s only seen him do it so many times in stifling, overcrowded clubs. Jinwoo's thumbs rubbing circles onto Minho’s shoulder blades. Watching Minho size up the competition on stage with an earnestness he wished he was more intimately familiar with.
“Do you want me to drive?” Jinwoo offers, leaning forward and resting his arms on the back of Seunghoon’s seat.
“No, it’s fine,” Seunghoon says. His left eye twitches, and he reaches a hand towards the drink holder to grapple for his coffee. Instead, he grabs Taehyun’s phone and holds it up to his lips. It takes a few seconds for Seunghoon to blink and put the phone back down. "Actually, you know what," he says. "Maybe you should drive."
Seunghoon turns the wheel to pull off the highway when Minho yells. “Wait, no!”
Seunghoon swerves sharply back into his lane, and the momentum has Taehyun’s head bumping onto the glass, and Jinwoo careening onto Seungyoon’s lap.
“Oof,” Seungyoon says, jolting awake. His knees dig sharply into the middle of Jinwoo's spine.
Jinwoo groans and arches his back to relieve some of the pain. When he opens one eye, Seungyoon is looking down at him, blinking rapidly and slapping his hands across his face in turn. “You awake now?” Jinwoo asks, grabbing a hand mid-slap and curling it into a fist to knock against Seungyoon’s head.
Taehyun grimaces and turns to Seunghoon. “Is this why you tried to crash the car?”
“I don’t know,” Seunghoon replies, chest heaving, eyes not leaving the road ahead. “Minho, why did I almost crash the car?”
“So Jinwoo wouldn’t almost crash the car,” Minho replies, a little petulantly. A small pout on his lips that Jinwoo almost instinctively leans forward to kiss away.
“I would not!” Jinwoo protests, trying to lift himself up but sinking further into the space between Seungyoon’s legs.
“Jinwoo, how are you real,” Taehyun sighs, climbing onto his seat to lean over and help pull Jinwoo upright. Seungyoon has a hand on Jinwoo’s back, and Minho pulls him up by the shoulder. Jinwoo shrugs all their hands off to slouch low against his unfortunate middle seat.
It wasn’t a bad breakup, really. Just an unfortunate one.
-17 DAYS - 10:20PM: MINHO
Minho remembers Danah telling him “Treat a date how you would be wanted to be treated, Minho, alright. It’s not about being a gentleman or whatever, it’s about being considerate.”. Back home from a bad date, she’d sat on Minho’s bed, feet up on his lap, listing off with her fingers all the ways her date that night had been terrible, and everything Minho should do to not be the guy whose number was deleted from Dana’s phone as soon as his car was out of sight. Don’t pay for them without making sure they aren’t prepared to cover it themselves, if they look bored then they probably are bored, don’t act like they’re a burden to have around. Minho had listened carefully, nodding along before asking, “This will definitely get them to put out right?”. Danah had tried to scratch his chin with her toenails, and then squirmed when Minho tickled the underside of her feet.
Minho always goes back to that night as his go-to guidebook. Not that what Danah told him wasn’t basically common sense, but Minho is the type to get caught up in things. Sometimes it takes looking into his drink and seeing Danah’s disapproving face reflected back at him, shaking her head, for Minho to take look around.
This is how he notices how quiet Jinwoo is.
Jinwoo’s not much of a speaker anyway, but he talks through how he moves. Mirthful nods, small sounds of engagement, leaning into Minho’s space whenever he's feeling a little fatigued. Sometimes, if they’re with a lot of people they don’t know, he rubs his foot against Minho’s where no one can see. Today he’s staring down at the table, eyes occasionally drifting to the phone he’s clutching in his hands. Minho pats Pyo on the shoulder and gestures towards the door.
“Hey,” Minho says, nudging Jinwoo’s shoulder. Jinwoo starts, hand coming up to grab Minho’s like he’s bracing himself for the worst. “Let’s leave, it’s getting late.” Jinwoo purses his lips for a few seconds, before nodding and pulling on his coat, following Minho outside.
Minho stops once they’re at his car, grabbing Jinwoo by the arm and gently pulling him under a streetlamp. He looks distracted, fingers pulling at the material of his gloves. Minho reaches out to take Jinwoo’s hands in his own, holding them still. “Everything okay?” he asks.
JInwoo blows out a puff of air. “I… I’m not. I’m worried about finding a job.”
Minho blinks and takes a step back. He holds Jinwoo away by the shoulders and squints at his face. “Is that it?”
Jinwoo doesn’t get angry easily, but Minho knows he’s tiptoed into that side of the spectrum from the crease on Jinwoo’s forehead, and tries to amend it with “No, I mean. That really sucks. I just mean like- did they say something wrong this time, you seem really upset. I’ll,” Minho shifts his voice to a comically low pitch, “I’ll beat ‘em up.”
Stupid voices usually make Jinwoo laugh, but now he looks at Minho like he’s the one who turned him down for the job. “No, I don’t want you and your friends to beat them up-”
“Jinwoo,” Minho cuts off sharply, “I’m joking, when have I ever-”
“I know you’re joking,” Jinwoo says. “But that’s what I mean, I don’t want that. I want a job.”
“I mean,” Minho searches for the words desperately. He’s downright fucking awful at containing potentially explosive situations- more often than not he just makes them worse. Which is precisely why he does his goddamn best trying to make sure things never get there in the first place. “Do you want me to get you a job?”
“Didn’t you want me to move in with you?” Jinwoo asks, eyebrows locked together.
Minho cups Jinwoo’s face with his hands, tilting his head up. “I still do,” Minho reassures. “What are you even talking about?”
Jinwoo covers Minho’s hands with his own, moving his head to the side so his lips are pressed into Minho’s gloved palm. He stays like that for a minute, before he mumbles out a small. “Okay.”
“I’ll pay the rent for you until you can find a job,” Minho offers.
Jinwoo cocks his head to the side. “Huh?”
“I’ll pay the rent,” Minho repeats. “You don’t have to worry about anything.”
“Since when was underground rapping a lucrative career choice?” Jinwoo laughs. His laugh has always been ugly, but Minho’s always been enamoured with it anyway. Right now though, with it's jagged edge and condescending lilt, it makes Minho feel small. “You can’t even pay for yourself.”
“I’ll take three jobs,” Minho promises, though he really hopes Jinwoo refuses, because he can’t work that many hours a week and he isn’t so sure of how willing he is to try. “I just don’t want you to worry.”
“I’m always worried,” Jinwoo whispers. It’s said softly but it’s like a slap to the face. Minho recoils.
There it is, the one thing that can calm Jinwoo down, apparently. Guilt. Jinwoo looks apologetic and closes the space between them, gripping Minho’s arms and kissing under his jaw. “That’s not what I meant. I’m worried about other things.”
“Then tell me,” Minho pleads, curling his toes at how childish he probably sounds. He’s never had to worry about that before with Jinwoo. “I want to know.”
Jinwoo sighs. “You can’t fix everything, Minho,” he says. “I’m cold, let’s just get in the car?”
Minho nods eagerly, pulling off his coat and wrapping it around him. “I’m wearing a coat!” Jinwoo protests, tugging at the beige lapel hidden beneath Minho’s large black windbreaker.
“Let me try and fix that at least,” Minho replies. He fumbles with his car keys before pressing the button and unlocking the doors, not looking at Jinwoo as climbs in.
Minho waits until Jinwoo clambers in after him and is settled before sticking the key into ignition. “Let’s go to your place?” Jinwoo asks, sounding unsure.
Minho forces a smile. It’s obvious and takes too long, but he still leans forward to kiss Jinwoo on the cheek. “Of course,” he says.
DAY 1 - 12:00PM: JINWOO
They stop for gas fifteen minutes later. Partly because they’re not sure when Lady Luck will spring another service station on them, but mostly because they couldn’t tell if the car was shaking along with the loose gravel, or from Seunghoon vibrating in the front seat. Seungyoon takes a twenty minute nap inside the car in preparation for his turn, Seunghoon does small laps to try and exhaust his excess energy, Taehyun lethargically following to poke Seunghoon with a stick when they overlap, and Jinwoo corners Minho in the small washroom behind the service station.
It’s dingy and looks in need of a wash itself, mouldy looking stains on grey tiles which, in all honesty, Jinwoo finds kind of quaint, but he’s probably wrong. Minho is washing his hands in the sink, the muscles in his back tight and baited.
Everything Jinwoo wanted to say dissolves on his tongue into something sticky and heavy that he can’t swallow down. He tries to relax himself by thinking of hypothetical drama castings, except when he blinks away from the idea of Lee Nayoung and Gong Yoo in a Hong Sisters drama, Minho is still staring down at the basin even though Jinwoo realises he stopped hearing water running a while ago.
Jinwoo doesn’t know what to do. He and Minho, it had been easy, more obvious than the resounding crack from Minho hitting that baseball and giving Jinwoo a concussion. Of course Jinwoo would say yes to the good looking, sincerely apologetic guy who kept delivering him flowers in the hospital. Who brought him his laptop so they could watch variety shows together, the distance between them on the hospital bed only the width of their shared earphones. It was easy and obvious, and fun. Bears at carnivals, amusement park anniversaries, mutual friends, and couple items.
This. Cramped bathrooms, tension so heavy and drab that Jinwoo can’t believe he’s on one end of it, isn’t something he’s had to navigate with Minho before.
“You okay?” Minho asks, wiping his hands along his jeans.
“Yeah, just,” Jinwoo clears his throat. “I wanted to drive, why wouldn’t you let me drive? I’m a better driver than you.” He raises a hand to cutely slap Minho’s arm because it seems like the familiar thing to do, but when Minho doesn’t laugh, immediately feels awkward about it.
“You didn’t look like you’d slept,” Minho offers, shrugging. “You know you do that thing where you’re like wide awake one second, and then when I blink you’re snoring?”
“No,” Jinwoo answers. “I mean, I’d be asleep then. So no.”
“Well, take my word for it,” Minho says. ”You do. Now, imagine if instead of on my bed- uh, your bed.”
“No, your bed,” Jinwoo concedes, shrugging.
“Right, my bed.” Minho agrees. “Imagine if it was in front of a wheel.”
Jinwoo doesn’t say anything for a few seconds. When he does, it’s matter-of-fact even though it feels like anything but. “I haven’t been sleeping recently.”
Minho’s entire face falls. “I’m sorry Jinwoo. I-”
Jinwoo shakes his head. “It’s not you, no. I’m just saying I haven’t been sleeping and I’ve had like, two cans of Red Bull. I wouldn’t have fallen asleep at the wheel.”
Minho wraps Jinwoo in a hug. He smells like that overly masculine body spray his roommate Pyo keeps buying in bulk. The one that only Jinwoo seems to like, if the explosion Seunghoon once caused in their dorms from trying to destroy them was anything to go by. He can feel Minho’s hold losing confidence, loosening, and Jinwoo belatedly wraps his arms around Minho. Comfort received. Jinwoo’s always liked feeling protected.
-44 Days - 04:17PM: SEUNGYOON
Even though Taehyun and Seungyoon’s initial friendship had its roots in slightly more than dubious circumstances - at least if that’s what you want to call compulsory community service - Seungyoon feels like they’ve known each other long enough to be comfortable with the label “good friends” by now. Taehyun doesn’t look like he agrees when he finally leaves the men’s bathroom, but the fact he’s not actively trying to run away is essentially an ‘I love you’ as far as Seungyoon’s concerned.
“An entire hour,” Seungyoon chirps, pushing himself off the wall with his foot and linking Taehyun’s arm in his. “That’s one long bathroom break.”
“Yeah,” Taehyun drawls, “I’ll spare you the details.”
Seungyoon sighs. “You know, Taehyun, I was your age once-”
“Four months ago,” Taehyun mumbles, trying to sneak his arm out of Seungyoon’s grip. Seungyoon holds it tighter against his side.
“You’ve grown so much,” Seungyoon continues, “You’ve come so far from being that bratty 18-year-old I had that meet cute-”
“It wasn’t a meet cute,” Taehyun corrects, “If we were both coerced.”
“I don’t know about you,” Seungyoon says. “But there was no coercion on my side.” It’s only a half-lie, so Seungyoon doesn’t let himself mull over it for too long. Maybe sitting in the waiting room of a counsellor's office with bruised knuckles and an ice pack pressed against one eye wasn’t cute by conventional definition, but Jinwoo had said it was adorable when Seungyoon told him why he suddenly had a surly, droopy faced teenager following him around everywhere. Seunghoon said it was cute too, even if his tone was a little more patronising than Seungyoon would have liked it to be.
It was years ago that Seungyoon had pushed his way through an overexcited throng of students to reach the lanky, messy boy in the middle of a brawl with Seungyoon’s old friends, one that he had no chances of winning had Seungyoon not intervened. Days like today though, Seungyoon thinks it might as well have been just last week.
“I didn’t throw the first punch,” Taehyun says at Seungyoon’s sudden silence. “I didn’t even fight back.”
“I know,” Seungyoon says.
“You don’t have to follow me around,” Taehyun snips. “I’m not going to run off and try and set them on fire.”
“Maybe I just want to spend time with you!” Seungyoon exclaims, pulling their hands down and trying to link fingers with Taehyun, who looks like his real wish was to set himself on fire. “We’re both here, we might as well-”
“Hey, is that Jinwoo?” Taehyun says.
Seungyoon snorts. “Nice try, but-”
“No, I’m being serious,” Taehyun insists, pulling his hand away and manhandling Seungyoon into turning around. “Isn’t that Jinwoo?”
Seungyoon squints, Taehyun immediately lets go and starts running in the other direction, and ordinarily Seungyoon would chase after him, but not right now because that is definitely Jinwoo, waiting at the bus stop in his red KFC uniform, visor pulled low over his forehead. Seungyoon takes out his phone to shoot a quick message to Minho to check up on Taehyun, then makes his way over to where Jinwoo is sitting.
“Hey,” Seungyoon says, swinging himself around the edge of the bus shelter. Jinwoo, for whatever reason, frowns curiously before looking in the complete other direction, and Seungyoon sighs before flinging himself down on the bench to slide right into Jinwoo’s side.
Jinwoo flails and Seungyoon pulls him back by the waist to stop him from sliding off the seat. Jinwoo turns to face him, and when their eyes meet, lets out a long sigh of relief. “Oh, it’s just you.”
“Who else would it be,” Seungyoon prods. “Who’re you running away from now?”
“Your mother,” Jinwoo says solemnly, before cracking a smile. “That was good right-”
“No,” Seungyoon cuts off, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “Still not right.”
“One day,” Jinwoo promises. “One day.”
"Sure." Seungyoon pats Jinwoo’s back. “What are you doing here anyway? You work like, twenty minutes away.” He reaches a hand up to flick the KFC logo on Jinwoo’s visor.
“Ah…” Jinwoo hesitates. “I didn’t feel like going home so I went for a walk, and then I forgot which way I came. So I’m just waiting for a bus back instead.”
Seungyoon lifts himself off the bench to look at the timetable pasted on the side of the bus stop. He drags his fingers down the list of busses and arrival times before turning to Jinwoo and saying: “The buses here all go in the opposite direction.”
“What?” Jinwoo pushes Seungyoon aside to look at the timetable himself. “The lady lied to me!”
Seungyoon throws a hand around Jinwoo’s shoulder, dragging him away from staring betrayed at the map. “Come on, it’s a dangerous world out there Red Riding Hood,” he warns. “Let’s get you back home in one piece.”
“I can’t believe she lied…”
Seungyoon gets an MMS from Minho once they're both on the right bus back to campus. It’s a picture of Taehyun and Minho at a karaoke bar, Taehyun kneeling on the floor dramatically, singing into a microphone, Minho pointing at him with a thumbs up, and an Aqua music video playing in the background. Seungyoon is gratified and is about to make it Taehyun’s contact picture, when Jinwoo leans over his shoulder to look at his phone.
“Cute,” Jinwoo coos, and Seungyoon can feel Jinwoo’s cheek brush against his own when he smiles. “I’m glad they’re both feeling better.” He moves back to grin at Seungyoon, but then his face falls. “What’s that?” he asks, moving closer and pressing his fingers above Seungyoon’s chin. There’s a dull ache and Seungyoon flinches, turning his phone camera on selfie mode and holding it up to his face.
There’s a dull gray-blue blemish under his lip and Seungyoon grimaces. “Aw man,” he says. “I have a thing tomorrow too.”
“Where’d you get that?” Jinwoo pries, hands folding themselves into fists on his lap.
“What?” Seungyoon furrows his eyebrows at the sudden heaviness in Jinwoo’s tone, and notes the worry lines beginning to form on his forehead. “Oh! No, no. Taehyun just- There were these goons at the mall stealing this kid’s wallet, and Taehyun got into like, an argument. Not going to lie, there were punches thrown.” Jinwoo widens his eyes and Seungyoon rushes to explain. “Not by us! By them, mostly towards Taehyun, but I was trying to pull him out of the way and- I think one of them grazed me.”
Jinwoo still looks nervous, but slightly placated. “Goons?” he asks.
“Yeah they were huge, like probably my weight in muscle mass and, okay, they were wearing school uniforms- Don’t laugh!” he says, shoving Jinwoo’s shoulder. “You don’t know high school students these days. They’re huge. Like we’re slowly evolving back to prehistoric times.”
“I’m seeing like, a scrappy past version of you, closing his eyes and just flailing his hands everywhere, and by luck managing to hit this present, slightly less pretentious version of you,” Jinwoo grins.
“Hey, that’s offensive!” Seungyoon yells, indignant. He waits for Jinwoo to stop giggling to himself before adding, “If anything, I’m a lot more pretentious now.” He can’t see the smile that breaks out on his face when Jinwoo bursts out into laughter again, but he prays it doesn’t look as hopelessly smitten as it feels.
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