Swept Away [Chapter 4]
At first, waking up was peaceful. Changmin laid on his back in the backseat, one leg bent almost awkwardly and the other hanging down on the floor where the passenger seat was pushed forward. Kyuhyun was a smooth driver, Changmin had to admit. He hadn’t woken up from a sharp turn or bump or any sort of swerve (that he could remember). The sun came through the window behind him and created a comforting heat across his abdomen and chest, an artsy red-yellow pattern dancing across his clothing. It was entrancing to watch, his now stiff neck keeping his head in place staring down at the rest of his body, the chill of his zipper and the sun against the top of his head contradicting and cancelling each other out. He looked towards the driver’s seat, a slow and steady jazz beat flitting around the front seats and leaking just a bit to his ears in the back. Kyuhyun was still driving wordlessly, and through the gap between the seat and the door Changmin could see two of his long, slender fingers tapping against the steering wheel.
It somehow reminded him of home. It was an obscure comparison considering home meant a comfortable bed, the distinct smell of green tea and citrus that his mother sprayed almost obsessively throughout the rooms, parents that were loving and solid role models.
Changmin chuckled.
No, this was hardly home. But, sitting there peacefully, knowing he was safe, and somehow content with the situation; that made him feel like he was at home.
He sat up slowly with a grunt, neck cracking and he winced as his back screamed in protest at the movement after being uncomfortable for so long.
“That sounded pleasant.”
“Oh that hurts.” Changmin whined. He stayed still for a few more steady breaths before he tired moving again, pouting at Kyuhyun smirking at him in the rearview mirror.
“Sleep well?”
“Actually, yes. Is there a way we can stop soon to switch and all?” Changmin asked. Kyuhyun made a sound of acknowledgement and nodded, tapping on the touch screen of the GPS and looking back and forth from the road to it. After a minute the GPS began a new route, speaking pleasantly into the confines of the car in English.
“Can you change it back before I drive?” Changmin probed, frowning.
“You should learn some more English. We won’t get lost.” Kyuhyun grinned. Changmin muttered something unintelligible as he tried to work out the sore spots on his body in the small confines of the back seat.
“I was bored waiting for you to wake up. There’s coffee up here for you. And I have a whole conversation ready to go.”
“I don’t like talking first thing in the morning.”
“Which is why you will just listen.” Kyuhyun smiled into the rearview mirror. He reached for the coffee in the holder nearest the passenger seat and handed it back over his head to Changmin, who accepted it with another mumbled thank you.
“My father and mother met in Korea, but my mother couldn’t leave the country after I was born. Family reasons. I moved here with my father when I was seven, because he had to come back to his job here. In North Carolina. When we were in Korea, my mother taught me Korean and taught me how to paint. She believed I was a prodigy in both.” He chuckled and Changmin just stared at his sorrowful brown eyes in the mirror.
“Why are you telling me this?” Changmin asked quietly.
“Might as well get to know each other. When else are you faced with being stuck in the car with someone for a week?” Kyuhyun asked cheerfully. Changmin sighed and took the first sip of the coffee Kyuhyun got for him. He settled back into his seat with a surprised gasp.
“You got me a caramel macchiato.” Changmin stated, surprised that Kyuhyun had somehow gotten his favorite coffee.
“You don’t like it?” Kyuhyun asked.
“I do, I just didn’t know you knew that.”
“It was what you spilled on me at the airport. I figured you liked it if you got it once.” Kyuhyun answered aloofly.
Changmin tried not to swoon at the thought that the man remembered that much about him. He just sipped in silence, waiting for Kyuhyun to finish whatever story he had started.
“But yes, painting. She wanted me to be a painter. I still kind of do it, but, singing is just… it’s more me. My father was in a rock band in college before they had met, my teenage years were filled with classic American rock music. I still talk to my mother at least once a week in Korean. She calls to say she misses me and she loves me. More often after my parents divorced when I was 17. It surprised me that it hadn’t happened sooner, but you know. She’s proud of what I’ve made for myself as a singer, and I have been to Korea to play for her a few times.”
“So we’re going to North Carolina?” Changmin probed.
“Yes cháng jǐng lù, we are.”
“Excuse me?!” Changmin prickled, nearly spitting out his coffee. Giraffe?
“We’re going to North Carolina, cháng jǐng lù. I want to see my dad.” Kyuhyun chuckled.
“You could have flown there your damn self. And don’t call me cháng jǐng lù. How the fuck can you speak Chinese?” Changmin snapped.
“How do you know Chinese?”
“I know Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Italian.” Changmin said pointedly.
“Learn English next then, cháng jǐng lù.” Kyuhyun laughed.
“Why are you really telling me all this?” Changmin asked again, not satisfied that Kyuhyun was just telling him out of boredom.
“I don’t know…” Kyuhyun said in an uncharacteristically small voice. “It’s just that, you didn’t recognize me. The fact that I’m considered famous here means nothing to you. You’re obviously attractive. Why not share my life story with you. You probably know more about me now than most people who like my music.”
“Stop saying that shit.” Changmin muttered.
“What? That you’re attractive?”
“How can you say that so casually? Cut it out.” Changmin put the coffee cup in his face and drank heartily to hide the blush spreading across his face.
“It’s the truth. I’m just stating a fact.”
“Do you usually hit on other men?”
“You’re the second.” Kyuhyun nodded.
The second? Changmin couldn’t shake the flare of jealousy. Who was this other man? Had he looked like Changmin? Was he a friend of Kyuhyun’s?
“Why am I jealous?” Changmin growled out loud, then his eyes widened and he looked up as he realized he’d just asked the question out loud.
Fuck.
“What was that?” Kyuhyun questioned.
“Nothing!” Changmin snapped.
He slid down the seat and let out a sigh. Too close. He wasn’t sure why he felt the sudden surge of jealousy anyway. Kyuhyun was a man. His own gender. In fact, Kyuhyun had almost the exact same figure as he did. Tall, skinny, all legs, brown wavy hair, and eyes that were doe-shaped. Kyuhyun looked much lankier and had a slightly smaller face, but those were the only real differences.
“You’re jealous because you might think I’m attractive too.” Changmin choked and gaped, coughing with his face surely blood red as he shook his head quickly.
“It’s okay, a lot of people think I’m attractive.”
“I can’t fucking handle you.” Changmin said breathlessly as he slowly recovered his lung functions.
“You haven’t even tried yet, cháng jǐng lù.” Kyuhyun took the next turn he came to and Changmin began straightening himself out, knowing they would be stopping to switch soon.
“You haven’t told me anything about you.” Kyuhyun remarked casually.
“Maybe another day when I haven’t had such a dose of you.” Changmin muttered as he drank more of his coffee.
Kyuhyun stayed silent, which was unsettling at best for the rest of the ride to the nearest gas station. The sudden niceness that he was putting off was even more unsettling. When else are you faced with being stuck in the car with someone for a week? Well, never; but that wasn’t an excuse. Kyuhyun’s story was rather humbling. It didn’t sound like the back-story that a rock star would have. And that not a lot of people knew this story, this side of him, only really made Changmin feel worse. What had he done to deserve this stranger opening his heart to him? Nothing at all. Nothing.
Changmin had done nothing to him, nothing to deserve what Kyuhyun was telling him. Changmin knew that Kyuhyun had just handed him his heart hidden amidst self-criticisms and sarcasm.
Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.
The mid-morning sun made Kyuhyun nearly flawless as he turned to look to his right before turning into the much nicer gas station than they had visited the night before. The golden colors set his hair on fire, red and orange glows on his sharp nose and high cheekbones. His nearly black eyes were suddenly red-amber, warm liquid gold that should have been dripping down onto his cheeks with the molten quality to them.
Changmin cleared his throat as the car parked and got out almost as soon as Kyuhyun had turned off the car. He took a few more sips of the coffee before waltzing to a trash can and dumping it in casually. The temperature had dropped a bit as they approached the Midwest (or at least Changmin assumed they are close to the Midwest), and he walked back around to the rear of the car to get a sweater out of the trunk before he went to the driver’s seat. Kyuhyun was leaning against the side of the car watching him, his arms crossed, sunglasses hiding his eyes, and the usual smirk stretched across his lips.
“What?” Changmin said grouchily as he slammed the trunk shut and slipped the long sleeve V-neck sweater on over his shirt.
“Nothing at all.” Kyuhyun shrugged before climbing into the passenger side. Changmin let out a sigh and walked around to the driver’s side.
“Gas?” Changmin asked.
“Oh yeah, that.” Kyuhyun agreed, reaching into his wallet and handing Changmin his credit card. “0715” He added simply as Changmin took the plastic card. Changmin nodded and sighed again.
“Why do I feel like your slave?” He muttered and then stopped in front of his mortal enemy. “Damn it. Kyuhyun, you come do it.” Changmin called. The gas pump loomed in front of him, numbers flashing as if the machine was laughing at him.
Kyuhyun was laughing heartily as he climbed out of the front seat and Changmin couldn’t help the cross between a pout and a snarl that was flitting across his face.
“Let me teach you. This is just sad, cháng jǐng lù.”
“Stop calling me that. I'm not a giraffe. Or a deer. Whatever the hell it means.” Changmin blushed, more at the knife to his pride because he knew very well that he should in fact know how to.
Kyuhyun walked him through it step-by-step, arms crossed but his finger popping out occasionally to point out things that Changmin should be paying attention to.
“Why are you in the states, anyway?” Kyuhyun asked off-handedly as Changmin finally got the handle to stay propped so he could let go of it.
“I’m visiting my brother and his wife in New York.” Changmin answered before he realized he was, but let it go anyway.
“You struck me as an only child.”
“Well, he’s not my real brother. We’ve just known each other for so long he might as well be.” Changmin shrugged, staring off ahead of him so he didn’t make any kind of eye contact with Kyuhyun.
“Must be hard with him living here in the states now.”
“I mean we still talk when we can, of course. This is my first time seeing him in a few years. We were both so busy, but I’m excited now that I know I will see him soon.”
“You are astounding.” Kyuhyun said simply. Changmin froze at the words and tried not to flinch away as Kyuhyun was suddenly touching the top of his head. “See, you don’t have to be an ice cube all the time.” He said simply. Changmin opened his mouth to shoot back but Kyuhyun beat him to it. “Just shush. Watch the handle. It’ll pop up when it’s ready, and you just put it back where you got it from. Simple, really.”
Changmin stood flabbergasted, head incredibly hot (from the sun, of course, and not the hand that just ran through his hair), hand shaking as he hovered it over the handle.
“He’s just messing with you, stop that.” He scolded himself half-heartedly, more to convince himself it was impossible than anything else. Kyuhyun may have handed him pieces of himself that no one else had seen, but, that didn’t make the man any less of a flirtatious, pretentious asshole.
As the handle popped up, Changmin jumped a bit and grabbed it frantically, twisting around awkwardly and shoving the pump back into its place. The receipt printed a few seconds later and he huffed as he walked around and got into the car. Kyuhyun had the window rolled down, head leaning against the door, eyes hooded and lips pursed as he stared at his reflection in the side-view mirror (which was certainly not where Changmin had just been standing).
Changmin started the car and pulled out, pretending he hadn’t been affected by the sight of Kyuhyun’s sleepy face as the wind swept through his hair against the door.
It somehow reminded him of home. It was an obscure comparison considering home meant a comfortable bed, the distinct smell of green tea and citrus that his mother sprayed almost obsessively throughout the rooms, parents that were loving and solid role models.
Changmin chuckled.
No, this was hardly home. But, sitting there peacefully, knowing he was safe, and somehow content with the situation; that made him feel like he was at home.
He sat up slowly with a grunt, neck cracking and he winced as his back screamed in protest at the movement after being uncomfortable for so long.
“That sounded pleasant.”
“Oh that hurts.” Changmin whined. He stayed still for a few more steady breaths before he tired moving again, pouting at Kyuhyun smirking at him in the rearview mirror.
“Sleep well?”
“Actually, yes. Is there a way we can stop soon to switch and all?” Changmin asked. Kyuhyun made a sound of acknowledgement and nodded, tapping on the touch screen of the GPS and looking back and forth from the road to it. After a minute the GPS began a new route, speaking pleasantly into the confines of the car in English.
“Can you change it back before I drive?” Changmin probed, frowning.
“You should learn some more English. We won’t get lost.” Kyuhyun grinned. Changmin muttered something unintelligible as he tried to work out the sore spots on his body in the small confines of the back seat.
“I was bored waiting for you to wake up. There’s coffee up here for you. And I have a whole conversation ready to go.”
“I don’t like talking first thing in the morning.”
“Which is why you will just listen.” Kyuhyun smiled into the rearview mirror. He reached for the coffee in the holder nearest the passenger seat and handed it back over his head to Changmin, who accepted it with another mumbled thank you.
“My father and mother met in Korea, but my mother couldn’t leave the country after I was born. Family reasons. I moved here with my father when I was seven, because he had to come back to his job here. In North Carolina. When we were in Korea, my mother taught me Korean and taught me how to paint. She believed I was a prodigy in both.” He chuckled and Changmin just stared at his sorrowful brown eyes in the mirror.
“Why are you telling me this?” Changmin asked quietly.
“Might as well get to know each other. When else are you faced with being stuck in the car with someone for a week?” Kyuhyun asked cheerfully. Changmin sighed and took the first sip of the coffee Kyuhyun got for him. He settled back into his seat with a surprised gasp.
“You got me a caramel macchiato.” Changmin stated, surprised that Kyuhyun had somehow gotten his favorite coffee.
“You don’t like it?” Kyuhyun asked.
“I do, I just didn’t know you knew that.”
“It was what you spilled on me at the airport. I figured you liked it if you got it once.” Kyuhyun answered aloofly.
Changmin tried not to swoon at the thought that the man remembered that much about him. He just sipped in silence, waiting for Kyuhyun to finish whatever story he had started.
“But yes, painting. She wanted me to be a painter. I still kind of do it, but, singing is just… it’s more me. My father was in a rock band in college before they had met, my teenage years were filled with classic American rock music. I still talk to my mother at least once a week in Korean. She calls to say she misses me and she loves me. More often after my parents divorced when I was 17. It surprised me that it hadn’t happened sooner, but you know. She’s proud of what I’ve made for myself as a singer, and I have been to Korea to play for her a few times.”
“So we’re going to North Carolina?” Changmin probed.
“Yes cháng jǐng lù, we are.”
“Excuse me?!” Changmin prickled, nearly spitting out his coffee. Giraffe?
“We’re going to North Carolina, cháng jǐng lù. I want to see my dad.” Kyuhyun chuckled.
“You could have flown there your damn self. And don’t call me cháng jǐng lù. How the fuck can you speak Chinese?” Changmin snapped.
“How do you know Chinese?”
“I know Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Italian.” Changmin said pointedly.
“Learn English next then, cháng jǐng lù.” Kyuhyun laughed.
“Why are you really telling me all this?” Changmin asked again, not satisfied that Kyuhyun was just telling him out of boredom.
“I don’t know…” Kyuhyun said in an uncharacteristically small voice. “It’s just that, you didn’t recognize me. The fact that I’m considered famous here means nothing to you. You’re obviously attractive. Why not share my life story with you. You probably know more about me now than most people who like my music.”
“Stop saying that shit.” Changmin muttered.
“What? That you’re attractive?”
“How can you say that so casually? Cut it out.” Changmin put the coffee cup in his face and drank heartily to hide the blush spreading across his face.
“It’s the truth. I’m just stating a fact.”
“Do you usually hit on other men?”
“You’re the second.” Kyuhyun nodded.
The second? Changmin couldn’t shake the flare of jealousy. Who was this other man? Had he looked like Changmin? Was he a friend of Kyuhyun’s?
“Why am I jealous?” Changmin growled out loud, then his eyes widened and he looked up as he realized he’d just asked the question out loud.
Fuck.
“What was that?” Kyuhyun questioned.
“Nothing!” Changmin snapped.
He slid down the seat and let out a sigh. Too close. He wasn’t sure why he felt the sudden surge of jealousy anyway. Kyuhyun was a man. His own gender. In fact, Kyuhyun had almost the exact same figure as he did. Tall, skinny, all legs, brown wavy hair, and eyes that were doe-shaped. Kyuhyun looked much lankier and had a slightly smaller face, but those were the only real differences.
“You’re jealous because you might think I’m attractive too.” Changmin choked and gaped, coughing with his face surely blood red as he shook his head quickly.
“It’s okay, a lot of people think I’m attractive.”
“I can’t fucking handle you.” Changmin said breathlessly as he slowly recovered his lung functions.
“You haven’t even tried yet, cháng jǐng lù.” Kyuhyun took the next turn he came to and Changmin began straightening himself out, knowing they would be stopping to switch soon.
“You haven’t told me anything about you.” Kyuhyun remarked casually.
“Maybe another day when I haven’t had such a dose of you.” Changmin muttered as he drank more of his coffee.
Kyuhyun stayed silent, which was unsettling at best for the rest of the ride to the nearest gas station. The sudden niceness that he was putting off was even more unsettling. When else are you faced with being stuck in the car with someone for a week? Well, never; but that wasn’t an excuse. Kyuhyun’s story was rather humbling. It didn’t sound like the back-story that a rock star would have. And that not a lot of people knew this story, this side of him, only really made Changmin feel worse. What had he done to deserve this stranger opening his heart to him? Nothing at all. Nothing.
Changmin had done nothing to him, nothing to deserve what Kyuhyun was telling him. Changmin knew that Kyuhyun had just handed him his heart hidden amidst self-criticisms and sarcasm.
Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.
The mid-morning sun made Kyuhyun nearly flawless as he turned to look to his right before turning into the much nicer gas station than they had visited the night before. The golden colors set his hair on fire, red and orange glows on his sharp nose and high cheekbones. His nearly black eyes were suddenly red-amber, warm liquid gold that should have been dripping down onto his cheeks with the molten quality to them.
Changmin cleared his throat as the car parked and got out almost as soon as Kyuhyun had turned off the car. He took a few more sips of the coffee before waltzing to a trash can and dumping it in casually. The temperature had dropped a bit as they approached the Midwest (or at least Changmin assumed they are close to the Midwest), and he walked back around to the rear of the car to get a sweater out of the trunk before he went to the driver’s seat. Kyuhyun was leaning against the side of the car watching him, his arms crossed, sunglasses hiding his eyes, and the usual smirk stretched across his lips.
“What?” Changmin said grouchily as he slammed the trunk shut and slipped the long sleeve V-neck sweater on over his shirt.
“Nothing at all.” Kyuhyun shrugged before climbing into the passenger side. Changmin let out a sigh and walked around to the driver’s side.
“Gas?” Changmin asked.
“Oh yeah, that.” Kyuhyun agreed, reaching into his wallet and handing Changmin his credit card. “0715” He added simply as Changmin took the plastic card. Changmin nodded and sighed again.
“Why do I feel like your slave?” He muttered and then stopped in front of his mortal enemy. “Damn it. Kyuhyun, you come do it.” Changmin called. The gas pump loomed in front of him, numbers flashing as if the machine was laughing at him.
Kyuhyun was laughing heartily as he climbed out of the front seat and Changmin couldn’t help the cross between a pout and a snarl that was flitting across his face.
“Let me teach you. This is just sad, cháng jǐng lù.”
“Stop calling me that. I'm not a giraffe. Or a deer. Whatever the hell it means.” Changmin blushed, more at the knife to his pride because he knew very well that he should in fact know how to.
Kyuhyun walked him through it step-by-step, arms crossed but his finger popping out occasionally to point out things that Changmin should be paying attention to.
“Why are you in the states, anyway?” Kyuhyun asked off-handedly as Changmin finally got the handle to stay propped so he could let go of it.
“I’m visiting my brother and his wife in New York.” Changmin answered before he realized he was, but let it go anyway.
“You struck me as an only child.”
“Well, he’s not my real brother. We’ve just known each other for so long he might as well be.” Changmin shrugged, staring off ahead of him so he didn’t make any kind of eye contact with Kyuhyun.
“Must be hard with him living here in the states now.”
“I mean we still talk when we can, of course. This is my first time seeing him in a few years. We were both so busy, but I’m excited now that I know I will see him soon.”
“You are astounding.” Kyuhyun said simply. Changmin froze at the words and tried not to flinch away as Kyuhyun was suddenly touching the top of his head. “See, you don’t have to be an ice cube all the time.” He said simply. Changmin opened his mouth to shoot back but Kyuhyun beat him to it. “Just shush. Watch the handle. It’ll pop up when it’s ready, and you just put it back where you got it from. Simple, really.”
Changmin stood flabbergasted, head incredibly hot (from the sun, of course, and not the hand that just ran through his hair), hand shaking as he hovered it over the handle.
“He’s just messing with you, stop that.” He scolded himself half-heartedly, more to convince himself it was impossible than anything else. Kyuhyun may have handed him pieces of himself that no one else had seen, but, that didn’t make the man any less of a flirtatious, pretentious asshole.
As the handle popped up, Changmin jumped a bit and grabbed it frantically, twisting around awkwardly and shoving the pump back into its place. The receipt printed a few seconds later and he huffed as he walked around and got into the car. Kyuhyun had the window rolled down, head leaning against the door, eyes hooded and lips pursed as he stared at his reflection in the side-view mirror (which was certainly not where Changmin had just been standing).
Changmin started the car and pulled out, pretending he hadn’t been affected by the sight of Kyuhyun’s sleepy face as the wind swept through his hair against the door.