Work Text:
you had me at hello ...
Pairing: Sekai
Rating: general audience
Genre: romance, fluff
Warning: language and unrealistic ways of falling in love lol.
Friday, 5.32pm.
Jongin had never thought his summer would be this shit. I guess he saw it coming. He never had the privilege of having a typical summer you see in movies, where you get wasted, partying and travelling to the beaches all week long. Jongin was too poor for that shit. And he had pretty strict parents to add on, so even if he did save up money for the summer of a lifetime, he was sure a cold hard no from his parents would stop him.
All summer long he’s been working at the local garage, fixing cars and practically being a slave for the other workers, always telling him what to do and forcing him to do their work whilst they fuck around in the staffroom. The garage was a big warehouse, cars from all brands and sizes lined up, waiting to be fixed. Heat from the machinery and the summer heat from the open garage made every day for Jongin feel like he was inside a fucking oven.
‘Jongin, clear the tyres before signing off’, his boss shouts, making him stop in his tracks, hands up in mid-air as he was just about to take off his uniform, clothes just above his head. For fuck’s sake.
‘Alright sir’, he murmurs, he slides his shirt back on, rolling his eyes as the men around him in the garage laugh about some middle age type of joke about woman or sex. It’s always about woman or sex in the garage. Jongin swore he can physically see the testosterone flying around the air. These men probably haven’t had sex in years…
‘Are you working or playing around, boy?’, his boss could not be any louder, screaming anytime Jongin even sat down for just a second, lecturing him about laziness and life and other bullshit Jongin didn’t care for.
‘I’m doing it dad’, oh, and his boss happens to be his dad too. To say the least, he’s had the worst summer compared to everyone else. As soon as high school ended, his dad was already dragging him to work every single fucking day in his garage, fixing tyres, cleaning the engines, lifting old car materials. His friend once said that this might be an opportunity for him to get ripped and attract a cute boy or girl, but during the summer, all their customers are either old men or middle age women with at least three kids. Who exactly was Jongin going to attract?
His hands reach for the nearest spanner, a rusted silver tool resting on the wooden table of other rusted car tools. God. The garage wasn’t a nice place either, with the smell of oil everywhere, the place being hotter than outside due to all the machinery and the fucking dirt would get everywhere. He quickly rushes over to his last car for the day, his body lying below the vehicle and arms tensing as he unscrews the tyres, sweat beading from his already sweaty forehead, shirt sticking to his skin and dirt all over him.
‘God, I can’t wait to take a shower’.
‘Chicken, chicken, chicken. I want me some chicken’, Jongin sings to himself, feeling refreshed after fixing the tyres on his last car and heading straight for the shower room. He could spend hours in there just cleansing of all the sweat and dirt collected throughout the day, rubbing the soap all over his body a million times.
Hair still wet, he jogs over to the other side of the garage, where the employee parking lot was, a light skip in his step as he waves goodbye to the nasty ass place that is his dad’s garage. He’s no longer in navy blue overalls, but in his comfortable sweatpants and short sleeved t-shirt, the sun still pretty bright despite the evening rolling in.
‘Pizza Hut, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut’, he sings on, this time louder as he knew he was far from earshot of his father. His father usually stayed until the late hours of the day, but with the help from his mum, he persuaded his dad to let him go five o’clock on the dot. He was not going to stay all day there. Nah uh.
Jongin is resting comfortably in his own car, phone in his hand as he types the address to the nearest KFC in Google Maps, wishing to eat fried chicken now because he was so damn hungry. With his dad being a car and mechanic mania, you would think Jongin might have a sweet ride, but he has an old red 1964 Ford Falcon. His dad picked it up from the junkyard, fixing it up and making it at least reliable enough for the engines to work every time Jongin turned it on. He didn’t mind having a junk of a car; he wasn’t that spoilt to complain when his dad rolled up with the ungodly thing in their front yard, telling him that it’s his. But just because he tolerated it doesn’t mean he liked it when he drives around the street, showing everyone what a dumpster his ride is. The only good thing about it was that it was convertible, so on a scorching hot day like this, he had the advantage of taking his roof off, welcoming him to a gush of refreshing wind.
‘Alright, fried chicken, here I come’, he turns his keys, being welcomed with the hideous noise that his car makes whenever he turns it on, swerving out of the parking lot and into the streets of Seoul.
He drives pass familiar buildings and local people, earning a wave or two from old aunties he helped cross the road during high school, turning a left and being welcome by God himself. Colonel Sanders printed in a high billboard next to his ultimate favourite restaurant, KFC. Pulling over to the drive-thru, he didn’t even look at the menu stand outside, pulling his car to a stop as he ordered his usual Family Bucket size chicken with three fries and a can of coke, oh and not forgetting his BBQ sauce along with it.
‘KFC, how may I help you?’
‘Just the usual, babe’
‘Oh right, family bucket, coke, fries and a diagnosis of diabetes’, the man behind the speaker speaks out as he recognises Jongin’s voice, earning a soft laugh from Jongin. He was so glad he isn’t the only one having a shit summer.
‘Thanks, babe’, he drives through the small window, waiting for his meal. The windows open and he’s greeted by his best friend who is wearing a red KFC shirt with his name tag pinned to the side and sporting an odd looking white hat with the KFC logo printed on it. Jongin can only laugh as Taemin practically threw his order to him.
‘How’s work going?’, he snickers, fully aware of Taemin’s strong deadly gaze as he continues to make fun of him. Taemin wasn’t supposed to be working in KFC. Taemin is rich enough to buy the whole branch, with his parents being both lawyers, and pretty damn good ones, so it’s still a shock that his rich best friend is being bossed around and frying chips till sundown, but that’s what you get when you crash your father’s BMW into your back garden whilst being pissed drunk.
‘Shut up and piss off’, Taemin threatens him once again, slamming the windows in front of Jongin as the boy continues to laugh his ass off.
‘I love you really!’, he shouts across the shut window, giggling whilst he places his bags of food on the passenger seat next to him, driving out of the restaurant and parking right in front of it, impatiently prying the paper bag off, hands rushing to feel the hot fries on his fingers. God, he’s fucking hungry. His mouth is already full of chicken and fries, both hands being occupied by two chicken legs. Kim Jongin is a savage when it comes to eating, especially with fried chicken. Many of his friends refuse to eat with him because of his problem of always stuffing his mouth with food, making him look like an absolute idiot. But he didn’t care. He loves food too much to care.
He places his bucket right onto his lap, after getting annoyed with having to keep stretching over as he reaches for another chicken piece, oily hands gripping onto his coke as he gulps the sweet drink in one go. Just as he was about to reach for his fifth piece of chicken, his car sways violently as an object jumps over his open-top Ford Falcon, flying over to land straight into the passenger seat. That object happens to be a human being.
‘Hello’, the boy gasps, chest heaving as he tries to regain his breath, head looking back as he taps Jongin’s shoulder, ‘DRIVE!’, he suddenly screams, shouts from behind forcing Jongin to turn back, seeing a bunch of police racing over, arms flailing as they run up to where he and his parked car is. What the fuck is going on? Jongin looks over, confused with his family bucket still on his lap.
‘I said drive!’, Jongin didn’t know what came over him, but he grips his keys with his oily hands, turning his engines on and swerving out of the sidewalk, racing straight into the busy streets of Seoul and driving all the way down route 48, straight out of the fucking city.
‘What the fuck? Who the fuck are you?’, Jongin screams at the boy beside him, turning around to see the policemen trying to chase after them, shouting commands for them to stop and pull over. And why wasn’t Jongin following the authorities’ orders? Why is he pressing down to accelerate and driving his car faster? Shit, these are the police. The boy beside him refuses to answer, laughing as he turns around, seeing the police’ figures getting smaller and smaller, their shouts disappearing as they race ahead, heading straight into the highway.
‘Um… Hello?’, Jongin tries to gain the boy’s attention, family bucket swaying from side to side as he turns left into another highway.
‘Why hello’, the boy acknowledges him finally, head resting on Jongin’s passenger seat as he stretches his arms out, like he’s trying to hold the air which gushes pass the open top car, laughing and screaming, ‘This is so cool!’
‘Right… This is stupid’, Jongin utters to himself, pulling over to the nearest rest stop, a small gas station and parking area where he can stop and question the boy and his life decisions.
‘Why’d you stop?’, the boy complains, looking at him like he knew Jongin.
‘Oh, I don’t know… Maybe because I have a random stranger sitting in my car being chased by the fucking police!’, Jongin is now freaking out, rewinding the events and evaluating his decision of driving an unknown boy from the police. Shit, he was practically helping a criminal get away by the looks of it.
‘Right, well, allow me to introduce myself’, the boy smiles over at him, brushing his scruffy hair down and reaching his hand out, ‘My name is Oh Sehun’
‘What?’
‘What?’
‘Why are you- What the fuck, I don’t need to know your name’, Jongin swats the boy’s hand away from him, hugging his family bucket for comfort, eyeing the weird boy up and down.
‘You said that a random stranger is in your car’, he explains himself, swerving his ignored gesture for a handshake, straightening his shirt and looking straight at Jongin, ‘You know my name, so I’m no longer a stranger’, Jongin shakes his head. You must be kidding me, he thought, laughing at himself and the whole situation. This boy fucked him over without blinking an eye. And why was he acting so normal? A group of policemen were just chasing him a moment ago.
‘Right… Oh, Sehun, you better leave my fucking car before I drive you to the police station myself’, Jongin threatens the boy, unlocking his car and pointing for Sehun to leave.
‘Ahh… But we were just having some fun’, Sehun whines, body leaning into the seat, showing no signs of him leaving the car.
‘I don’t know who the fuck you are. I need you out of this car in three seconds’, Jongin warns him, but Sehun closes his eyes and rests his head on Jongin’s passenger seat.
‘One…’
‘Two…’
The sound of police cars roars from the distance, making Sehun open his eyes and turn around, smiling as if he was expecting it.
‘Looks like those police cars are for me’, he blurts all of a sudden, reaching out to grab Jongin’s forgotten family bucket from his lap, ‘If you don’t drive out of the city now, I’m afraid you’ll just be dragged into this’, this time, it’s Sehun’s turn to warn the oblivious Jongin as the alarms grow louder.
‘What the fuck are you talking about?’
‘Well, you are with me. Seems plausible to mistake you as an accomplice’
‘But I’m not!’
‘Well, sorry, but you look like it. And especially after driving away from the officers in the first place’
Fuck. He did look like a fucking accomplice.
‘Fucking shit sticks…’, he whines to himself, closing his eyes as he turns his engines back on, eyes turning side to side, paranoid as fuck as he is just about to drive a criminal away from the police.
‘I hope you fucking die’, Jongin whispers as they zoom back into the highway, driving fast as they try to escape the roaring alarms of police cars, turning left into an exit Jongin hadn’t taken before, leading them straight into an isolated road, congested with overbearing trees.
‘This is some good chicken’, he looks over to find Sehun digging into his family bucket. And the bitch is eating his chicken too. Now he wishes he can just swerve over to a cliff and drown the motherfucker.
Jongin is not okay. He’s shitting bricks. It’s been three full hours of them driving around an isolated road, the day beginning to end and the night starting to roll in, leaving them with nothing but Jongin’s headlights being the only light blaring down on the mysterious road. Jongin had never been this far out of the city, eyes quivering as he overthinks every branch as being a monster and every shadow as the girl from The Grudge.
‘We’re going to die. This is it. If I don’t get killed by some creepy Asian ghost girl, my dad will be waiting for me with chains to hang me with’, Jongin tends to start talking to himself when he’s put under such immense pressure, trying to distract himself from screaming or having a panic attack.
‘Don’t worry about it. I texted your mum that you’ll be out all night’
‘What?!’, Jongin looks over to find Sehun fiddling with his phone, fingers tapping as he searches another video to watch on YouTube.
‘How did you unlock it?’, Jongin remembers setting a password for his new phone, so how the hell did Sehun get through to his phone?
‘It was already unlocked. It was on Google Maps’, Right. Jongin was using his phone as a GPS a moment ago.
‘Stop playing with my phone. I don’t have a charger and I think we’re lost’, he warns Sehun, reaching his hand out to grab his phone from the infuriating boy beside him. He didn’t even know Sehun, but the boy is already making his blood boil every minute he turns to look at him.
‘I’m sure we’ll stop over a motel or at least another gas station soon’, Sehun tries to comfort Jongin, but it wasn’t working, the boy was close to a mental breakdown if he doesn’t find a light that’s not coming from his car.
‘Oh, thank Jesus’, he sighs as he notices neon lights blaring in the distance, meaning they’re at least in a town.
‘See, I told you. Motels everywhere’, Sehun points out, they both look over to the different buildings with different neon signs nailed onto each entrance. Names such as Jieun’s Lodge and Kim’s pass them in bright neon lights, at least comforting Jongin to know that they are once again surrounded by people and not trees and wildlife.
‘Lee’s Motel looks promising’, Sehun points out a humble building at the end of the street, parking lot surrounding it and low-lit lights which gleam the motel’s logo shines in front of them.
‘What are you talking about?’
‘It’s 9 o’clock. I’m tired. Let’s get some sleep’, Oh hell no.
‘And who’s going to pay for the motel?’, Jongin asks, slowly parking his car in front of the motel, eyeing Sehun as he just smiles on.
‘Well… I’m sure you have your wallet on you… You did buy some KFC’
‘Piss off. I’m not paying for anything’, Jongin looks over in shock, gasping at the thought of actually paying for the boy who he didn’t even know, ‘Do you have any idea how much fuel I probably wasted on you!’
‘Oh, come on. I’ll pay you back’
‘Pay me back?! With what? Stolen money?’
‘Stolen?’
‘Well yeah. You’re basically a criminal… You probably stole someone’s purse… Why don’t you pay?!’, Sehun glares at Jongin for a moment, angry that the boy actually thought of him as something as low as a thief.
‘I’m not a thief’
‘What are you then?’
‘Someone who writes on walls’
‘Excuse me?’, all of a sudden, Sehun whips out his side bag which has been resting comfortably around his torso, opening his bag and showing Jongin dozens of spray-paint. Great. Jongin was giving a stupid teenager who vandalises community property a ride around his car.
‘How old are you?’
‘Seventeen’, Jongin sighs. He’s a year younger than him and he’s a minor. Jongin is now responsible for this idiot’s ass.
‘Alright. Get out’
‘What?’
‘Do you want to sleep in my car instead?’, Jongin threatens the younger, rushing him out before he changes his mind. Fucking hell, he has to spend some of his summer earnings. And he was so keen on saving them all up for college. Unlike Jongin, who is having a constant battle in his head, Sehun smiles happily, swinging the car doors open and skipping out.
‘Please let this place be cheap…’, Jongin prays as Sehun opens the entrance to the motel, being greeted by a bored old man who looked like he gave up on life years ago.
‘One room for the night please’, Sehun requests in gleam, hands resting on the front desk and eyes scanning the many room keys hanging on the key racks behind the old man. The front reception wasn’t grand, but it didn’t look like a killer hotel like from American Horror Story, so Jongin can at least sleep at night.
‘One room, two bedrooms, that’ll be ₩75,000’, Jongin nearly shits himself. ₩75,000?! He doesn’t even waste that much money on food!
‘I’m sorry, but is there any other room that’s… You know… Much cheaper?’, Jongin tries to save his wallet from such atrocity, not wanting to have all his savings ripped off him in one go.
‘There’s a room for ₩50,000, but-‘
‘I’ll take it!’, Jongin didn’t let the man finish, grabbing his card and swiping for the room, Sehun beside him swaying excitedly as they wait for the room keys to be given to them. As the transaction finishes, the man fishes out a key which hung comfortably from the key rack, handing it over to the hands of Sehun who runs to the elevator doors, reading the number of their room with a heavy-hearted Jongin saying goodbye to his ₩50,000 toddling behind him.
Their footsteps follow along each other as they leave the elevator door which guided them to a brightly lit corridor, doors with numbers engulfing them.
‘Seventy-three, seventy-four…’, Sehun murmurs as he tries to find their room, Room 79 which is all the way at the end of the corridor, ‘Found it!’, Sehun gleams excitedly, hands fumbling over the locks as he fits the key in.
‘Have you never stayed in a motel?’, Jongin questions, wondering why the boy looked too excited for something small as sleeping over a motel for one night.
‘Never!’, Sehun exclaims, answering Jongin’s question as he runs inside the small room, oohing as he races over to open every drawer and closet and ahhing as he finds robes and typical hotel toiletries inside their en-suite bathroom. Jongin didn’t care about any of that. He’s had school trips and family holidays to know what a motel feels like, so he heaves out a sigh, stretching his arms as he travels to the nearest bed, ready to call it a day.
‘What the…’, he looks over and to his astonishment, he only finds one double bed in the centre of the room, ‘Where’s the other bed?’, he asks, head looking around and peeking through the door, just in case they had another room with a bed, but alas, the only door which leads him to another room is their bathroom.
‘You must’ve bought the room for one bed’, Sehun points out, jumping onto the only bed available with a slightly pissed of Jongin by his side. Of course, this was going to happen. It seems like this day cannot get any worse.
‘Right. Get up’, he orders Sehun, tapping the boy’s leg just as he was about to get comfortable, head resting on the fresh pillows.
‘What? Why?’
‘You're sleeping on the sofa’, Jongin points to a hard-looking couch which rested on the side of the room, right beside the bed. Sehun opens his eyes to look up at Jongin.
‘Why?’, he whines, arms grabbing to hug the pillow, protesting as Jongin tries to push his legs out of the mattress.
‘Because I paid for the room, so I get the bed’, Jongin states in a matter of fact, not willing to tolerate any more of Sehun’s bullshit. He’s just too fucking tired for it, ‘Go before I throw you out my room’, Jongin reminds the younger once again of who paid for their room.
With lips pouting, Sehun drags himself out of the bed, arms still hugging the pillow, glaring at Jongin and sticking his tongue out as he makes his way over the old and hard sofa.
‘This is so uncomfortable!’, he complains, jumping up and down to feel the hardness of the couch and pouting even more as Jongin refuses to acknowledge his complaints.
‘I give no fucks’, he replies, closing the lights and instantly burying himself in the sheets of the motel bed, breathing out a heavy sigh as he tries to sleep the rest of the day off. Maybe this might all be a dream and I’ll just wake up soon.
Saturday; 9.26am
Jongin hugs the warm pillow, burying his face in the soft material. Morning sunlight invades their room and the soft breeze gushes from the open window, kissing Jongin’s skin a good morning, waking him up with warmth as summer continues to roll into the days. He hugs his pillow tightly once more, feeling something rub up against his chin that wasn’t a soft material. In fact, it was spiky and quite uncomfortable. Fluttering his eyelids open, he gazes down on what he thinks is his pillow, but instead, he notices his arms being wrapped around a certain blonde-haired boy whose head is buried on Jongin’s shoulder, snoring lightly, breath pressing against Jongin’s neck. So, it wasn’t the morning breeze that woke up Jongin, it was Sehun’s breathing.
‘Get off of me!’, Jongin pushes Sehun away from him the moment he realises the boy is practically hugging him with everything he’s got, legs intertwined with his and arms hugging his waist. The impact of Jongin’s push on the sleeping boy forces Sehun to drop onto the floor, eyes wide open and confused as he scratches his messy bed hair.
‘What do you think you’re doing sleeping in my bed?’, Jongin squirms, wriggling at the fact that he hugged Sehun.
‘The sofa was cold and uncomfortable’, Sehun whines as he tries to defend himself, still sitting on the floor but now fully awake.
‘That doesn’t mean- You know what, I give up’, Sehun is a lost cause to Jongin, so instead of wasting his breath and ruining his morning, he gets up, footsteps making their way to the bathroom, locking it before stripping his clothes off and stepping into the shower.
‘We need to buy some clothes’, Sehun complains as he wipes his wet hair, stepping out of the shower and sniffing his shirt, scrunching his nose at the smell of sweat and spray-paint.
‘You need to buy clothes’, Jongin brushes off another one of Sehun’s suggestions and complaints as he waits for his phone to charge. He woke up in the morning to find his phone completely dead, thanks to Sehun’s constant roaming. He had to beg for the owner of the hotel for him to borrow a charger and racing back up to their room once the manager gave in.
‘Your clothes stink too!’, Sehun points out, pointing out on the sweat patches under Jongin’s sleeves. He couldn’t lie. The day was hot and stressful, so of course, Jongin would be sweating his ass off, but he wasn’t going to waste any more of his well-earned money on anything else. They are going straight home.
‘Yes!’, Jongin celebrates as his iPhone finally turns on, the apple logo welcoming Jongin back to his phone, ‘Siri, where are we?’, Jongin instantly asks his iPhone, being too impatient to Google their current location.
‘You are in Yeonan Pier’, the computer like voice replies.
‘Ooh! We’re at a pier! Let’s go check it out!’, Sehun claps excitedly, approaching Jongin and his phone, looking down to click on the official website link of the Yeonan Pier, ‘Look! They have an amusement park by the pier! Let’s go! Let’s go!’, Sehun jumps up and down, shaking Jongin’s shoulders as he looks through the pictures of the rides.
‘Piss off. We’re not going anywhere but back to Seoul’, Jongin shakes Sehun’s hands off of him, finger typing on his phone to the nearest gas station so he can fuel up for the journey.
‘No fair!’
‘Sehun, first of all, do you even know my name to be acting so comfortable around me?’
‘You’re Jongin aren’t you?’, now how the fuck did he know that? Does Sehun know him? ‘Your mother texted back and said take the whole weekend off if you wanted. She called you Jongin’, he looks down and opens his messages and there it was, his mum’s texts which were instigated by Sehun, telling him to go have fun. If only she knew.
‘Oh…’, he looks down as his mum messages him again, hearing the ping.
Mum:
Honey, I know that this summer has been stressful for you and I understand your sudden weekend getaway. I added some money to your account so you won’t have to spend a lot of your own money. Have fun, honey! Come back soon xx
Oh, thank God!
‘Alright, let’s go’, he rushes up, checking the room one more time, just in case they’ve left anything lying around, his hands feeling his front pockets for his wallet, finding it resting comfortably inside his sweatpants pocket.
‘Where are we going?’, Sehun asks, standing up as Jongin rushes to the exit of their room.
‘You said you wanted new clothes, right?’, Sehun gleams as Jongin offers to buy him fresh new clothes, running to be beside his new friend, side bag around him as they rush to Jongin’s car, waving goodbye to the motel owner before leaving.
‘How about this one?’, Sehun grabs Jongin’s hands, rushing them through another aisle of clothes, picking out bright t-shirts, some with logos and others with patterns, ‘I don’t think stripes suit me’, Sehun looks down, hanging the clothes right in front of his torso, inspecting in front of a mirror.
‘I don’t give a fuck. Just pick one so we can leave’, Jongin rolls his eyes as he sees Sehun being so picky. It literally took him less than five minutes to pick a white button-down shirt with denim jeans. They’ve been inside this shop for at least an hour.
‘How about these? I’m not a big sports fan, but it’s quite hot today’
‘Oh my God, Sehun I don’t care! Just pick one!’, Jongin whines. Grabbing a white short sleeves shirt from the rack and shoving it to Sehun, ‘We’re buying this one!’, Jongin dismisses Sehun’s internal battle over his clothes, grabbing one of the denim jeans that Sehun was holding along with the shirt he pulled out, making his way towards the cashier.
‘Wait! Is that in my size?’, Jongin ignores Sehun’s cries, already swiping his card as the retail worker scan the clothes, placing it in a plastic bag for Jongin.
‘Hurry up and get changed. I’m hungry’, Jongin blurts out, throwing his recent purchase to the loud boy behind him, toddling out of the shop and scanning for any nearby restaurant. Jesus, it seems like this small town doesn’t have any fast food chains…
‘One Japchae and one Jajangmyeon’, the old lady smiles towards the two, bringing them their order. Sehun found an old traditional Korean restaurant and being an outspoken pain in Jongin’s ass, he drags the older boy to the restaurant.
‘Thank you’, both bow, grabbing their chopsticks and smelling the sweet aroma of both dishes, the steam still emitting from the food.
‘This is going to taste amazing!’, Sehun beams as he twists his chopsticks around his noodles, stuffing a large number of noodles in his mouth, making Jongin laugh slightly at the boy in front of him, mouth wide open and he chews his noodles, looking like a cute hamster with puffy cheeks chewing their food.
‘So… Oh, Sehun the criminal… What exactly did you write on the wall for an actual police car to chase after you?’, Jongin begins to ask, after getting used to Sehun’s presence, he’s curiosity seeps in as he watches the innocent looking boy in front of him eat.
‘Not much really. Just a few of my pieces and a couple remakes of Banksy’
‘Banksy?’
Yeah! The famously anonymous British graffiti artist who draws on walls about political injustice and dark humour about society!’
‘Right… And you’ve done it many times that… They chase after you with a police car?’
‘Kind of… I make sure to only write on beaten down and abandoned buildings… But apparently, it’s still vandalism’
‘Well of course it is! You’re writing on private property!’
‘But no one uses it!’, by this point, Jongin has given up arguing with Sehun, just digging into his Jajangmyeon instead, slurping the noodles loudly, earning a small snigger from Sehun in front of him.
‘What?’, he questioned as Sehun giggles on, pointing at his chin, he tries to look down, but obviously, he can’t see exactly what’s on his face that’s making Sehun laugh so much. It’s probably just some black bean sauce. Before Jongin can grab a tissue, he sees Sehun reaching his hand out, lifting his chin as his thumb glides over, wiping the black sauce from him. He let’s go of Jongin, licking his thumb, tasting the sauce, which rested on Jongin’s chin.
‘Hmm, it has a sweet taste’, he comments, giggling as he carries on eating his own dish, not knowing how flustered he’s made Jongin, who freezes for a moment from the touch. That was just too sudden for him to process properly.
‘So how about you? How have you been spending your summer?’, Sehun asks, reaching out to gulp his cold pineapple drink.
‘Working at my dad’s garage’
‘That’s it?’
‘Yeah, I guess’
‘How boring’
‘At least I was being a decent civilian’
‘Yeah, well that’s boring’
Jongin rolls his eyes, gazing down at the piece of work that is Oh Sehun. It seems as though God as cursed this child with having a big ass mouth and personality. He watches Sehun trying to get all the food in his mouth, fingers picking up the left-over vegetables and noodles which didn’t make it on his chopsticks, laughing as he tries to lift the noodles into his mouth but dropping it completely, making Sehun pout in frustration as he tries to pick up the noodles again.
‘So, you’re telling me that you picked up some random kid who was being chased down by the police and now you’re going on a date with him?’, Taemin’s voice shouts across the phone, making Jongin flinch his ears away from the screeching of his best friend.
‘First of all, it’s not a date. Second of all, he’s only a year younger of us, so he’s not a kid’, Jongin informs his best friend matter of factly, trying to find a quiet corner for him to speak peacefully to Taemin as the screaming of kids and other children mixed with pop music blaring out of the speakers making it almost impossible for Jongin to concentrate.
‘Right… And forgetting the fact that you helped him run away from the police. They can scan your plate, you dickhead! What have you done! You could get your licence revoked! Who’s going to drive us to our first day of college now!’, Taemin is now going batshit crazy on Jongin, screaming out how irresponsible his best friend is.
‘Irresponsible? I’m speaking to the one who just crashed his father’s million-dollar car whilst drunk!’, Jongin fires back, shouting back at Taemin for calling him irresponsible.
‘Alright! We’re both pathetic and irresponsible! But can at least one of us be slightly more normal? I don’t want a weird best friend. I’m already weird myself!’
‘Jongin! Look! Come here!’, Sehun’s voice distracts him from his conversation, a pair of hands gripping onto his arms as Sehun drags him by a small stall of cute and quirky headbands. Yes, they were in an amusement park and yes, Jongin tried to stop Sehun from dragging them here and yes, he failed miserably.
‘Look! We can get matching ones!’, Sehun screams in excitement, picking out a headband with furry cat ears, placing it on Jongin’s head, smiling as he looks at Jongin with a cat-eared headband, ‘I’m going to get the bunny-eared one!’
‘Not a date huh…’, he hears Taemin snigger over the phone as Sehun’s screams can be heard from miles away.
‘Fuck off. I’m hanging up’, he dismisses his best friend’s playful tone as he starts to joke about Jongin’s intentions, hanging up before Taemin can poke fun at him. Jongin had no intentions. He just needed to shut Sehun up so their trip home could at least be tolerable.
‘That’ll be ₩120’, the stall owner says, making Jongin once again hand out his credit card with a small frown on his face. His mum didn’t give him enough, spending most of her money on lunch and churros once they made it to the amusement park. Jongin now had to start spending his own money again, and he had a feeling Sehun will just be sucking out more of his cash as the day goes on.
‘Let’s ride the rollercoaster first!’, he suggests, skipping towards the ticket stall right after Jongin had paid for their stupid headbands. Yeah, he was right. He’s going to end up spending most of his money on this kid.
Two roller coaster rides, three bumper car rides, a dragon claw ride and five fairground games later, Sehun is skipping ahead with his arms wrapped around a massive teddy bear which Jongin won for him after five thousand tries. Sehun was persistent on getting the specific teddy bear with a cute hat on it, forcing Jongin to waste all of his change shooting basketball in moving hoops just so he can have the teddy bear.
‘I’m broke. I won’t even have money to buy a beer on the first day of college’, Jongin whines to himself, the weight of his wallet metaphorically digging under his skin as it begs him to stop spending all of his hard-earned money, ‘Why am I even doing it? Just fucking say no Jongin, get a hold of yourself’, he carries on talking to himself as he tails behind Sehun, walking away from the amusement park and into the pier, wind gushing from the sea and sun brightly upon the sky.
‘You truly are a piece of work’, Jongin whispers as he makes his way beside Sehun, arms leaning on the wooden pier.
‘Why’s that?’, Sehun turns away from the sea, looking at Jongin.
‘You’re an outspoken idiot who doesn’t understand basic human norms and just goes straight to making people uncomfortable’
‘I guess I just like people paying attention to me’
‘Well, you’re good at it’
‘Really?’
‘Well yeah. You had me at hello’, both Jongin and Sehun smile at each other, both now glaring down at the horizon, where the skies above them meet the waving sea below.
‘This looks so beautiful’, Sehun beams as he leans onto the wooden railings of the pier, hair flying everywhere as the wind violently tug the clothes on their back and the hair on their head, small waves crashing down onto the pebbled beach. The sky is in hues of yellows and blues, the sun mixing with the sky, creating a masterpiece right above them.
‘Yeah, I guess so’, Jongin breathes out, glad that they’re away from the screaming teenagers and children in the amusement park, seeing old couples walking their dogs below the pier, little children playing catch and girls rushing to dip their feet into the cold sea.
‘Oh come, just admit it. It’s absolutely wonderful!’, he looks over the overly excited boy beside him, arms resting on his teddy bear, a smile creasing his face in the perfect way, making him more young and pretty.
‘Yeah… Wonderful’, his eyes continue to stare at Sehun, the boy’s blonde hair swaying just above his eyes, blocking Jongin’s view to Sehun’s luminous eyes, hues of brown refusing to meet his gaze. He didn’t know why he did it. Why his fingers suddenly touch the tips of Sehun’s hair, swaying them away from the boy’s eyes so he can stare at them, get lost in them. Two boys under one sky, gazing at each other in silent, for a moment. For more than a moment. For what seems like a lifetime before Jongin breaks it with the movement of his head towards Sehun’s, lips touching lips with a soft delicate buzz between them, forcing millions of butterflies to bombard their stomach, making their heads feel giddy and their eyes close to the warm sensation of their lips colliding towards each other. Jongin’s hands graze Sehun’s cheeks, leaving trails of heat and electricity on Sehun’s skin as the boy yearns for more of Jongin’s touches. But Jongin pushes back all of a sudden, leaving Sehun flustered with his eyes still closed, not wanting the feeling he felt a moment ago to leave just yet.
‘I think we should go’, Jongin coughs awkwardly, all contact breaking from the boy with the teddy bear, walking away from him, eyes closed and head spinning around with thoughts. What was that? Why did he do that? What’s wrong with him? Fucking hell, what an idiot.
They walk with a small distance between them, Jongin looking at the ground whilst Sehun looks down on his teddy bear which occupies most of his arms and view. Why did it feel like Jongin’s car was parked on the edge of the Earth and they were on the other side? They awkwardly try not to look at each other, Jongin failing miserably, sneaking a glance at Sehun from time to time, blushing as he looks at Sehun’s lips once more. Shit. He needs to stop thinking filthy thoughts.
‘Um… We need to quickly go to the gas station first. Then we’ll make our way home’, Jongin explains as they see the entrance of the parking lot, his hands going down his pockets for his car keys.
‘Sure. Then maybe you can take me on an official date before summer ends’, this takes Jongin by surprise, flinching at the word date, making him drop his keys and look at Sehun with wide eyes.
‘I’m sorry… What?’
‘I said, why don’t we go on a date?’
‘Um, Sehun… Listen… What happened back there was-‘
‘What… You don’t like me?’
‘No-‘
‘Then why did you kiss me?’, Sehun interrupts Jongin, looking up with puppy eyes, a disappointed expression as he makes Jongin feel even more guilty.
‘No… It’s just that… I was-‘
‘Oh Sehun’, a deep hoarse voice interrupts their conversation, making both heads turn to the direction of Jongin’s car, which to their dismay, is being towed away by some truck.
‘What the fuck?’, Jongin shouts as he tries to approach the driver of the truck who’s pulling his beat-up car away, ‘Dude, what are you doing ?’, he looks inside to see the man wearing an official uniform of Seoul Police District. Fuck.
‘We scanned the license plate and this is the car which Oh Sehun was caught in as he tries to escape from the Seoul Police’, the man replies, not even looking up at him as he fills the last pages on his clipboard flies, starting the engines of his truck.
‘Wait… Wait! Where would my car be towed to?’ Jongin asks, but to no avail as the man carries on driving out of the parking lot with his ride right behind him, ‘Take care of it! It’s all I have!’, he shouts, feeling a twinge of guilt as he sees his Ford Falcon being towed away from him. That car is a piece of shit, but that was his piece of shit, and it didn’t sit well with him as he sees his car being dragged away from him. He turns back to see a police officer beside a crouched Sehun.
‘I need the both of you to come inside my car. Now’, the officer bellows, opening the passenger doors of his police car. Shit. Jongin had never been arrested before.
‘Violation of community property. Irresponsible getaway. Runaway of a minor and misuse of vehicle’, the officer continues to lecture the two boys behind the passenger seat, Jongin squirming in the corner as the police officer yells on.
‘It wasn't misused of vehicle. Jongin was just driving me around…’, Sehun tries to defend them both but he was met with a deathly glare from the rear-view mirror.
‘He was driving around a criminal!’
‘I’m not a criminal!’
‘You are to me’
‘Come on! I didn’t return for one night. You know I was fine!’
Jongin is more than confused as he tails behind the argument. Why did this sound oddly too personal for just a fellow police officer and troublemaker arguing against each other?
‘You are a minor who went missing!’
‘Mum already knew where I was! I called her last night!’
‘That’s not enough! You ran away’
‘Dad stop shouting at me! You’re the one who keeps chasing me out!’
Wait. Dad? Mum? What the actual fuck?
‘Um… Excuse me. Sorry for interrupting… Whatever this is, but can anyone tell me what’s going on?’, Jongin butts in, trying to piece together what was going on.
‘Jongin, meet my dad’, Sehun huffs as he points at the front of the car where the police officer is driving, glaring and furious. Fuck off. No fucking way…
Um… He’s… The police officer is your dad?’, he whispers, quivering in fright as he watches the hench middle age man grip his strong hands tighter on the stirring wheel, looking like it’s trying to choke it. Jongin can only imagine how strong his hands will be around his neck later.
‘Yes. I’m Oh Sehun’s father and you’ve got a lot of explaining to do when we get to the station young man’, fuck. Jongin shakes in fear as he hears the venom in the man’s voice.
‘Dad stop it. Jongin did nothing wrong’
‘He’s a random stranger who agreed for a minor to ride with him out of the city’
‘He’s not a stranger!’
‘Oh really? Then who is he?’
‘My boyfriend’, Jongin choked on his own saliva as he heard that word coming out of Sehun’s lips. He looked towards Sehun, hands shaking vigorously, signalling him to shut up.
‘Your what?!’, this is it. This is when Jongin’s life will come to a bitter end. By the hands of a very angry and muscular looking police officer choking him to death and crushing his skull inwards like what The Mountain did to Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones.
‘Sir, no. There’s been a misunderstanding! I’m not Sehun’s boyfriend. I only met him yesterday, honestly sir’, Jongin tries to save himself from the wrath of Sehun’s police officer of a father, nudging the younger boy to help him out, but all he got was a glare.
‘Then what are we?’, Sehun shouts out in anger, not helping Jongin in any way as he starts a different argument, surely meant for another day, not when his dad was just about to commit murder. And it didn’t help that Jongin is stuck in the small vicinity controlled by Sehun’s father. He can’t escape.
‘What do you mean?’, Jongin whispers, trying to get Sehun to shut up.
‘You were the one who kissed me’ the car swerved suddenly, making both Sehun and Jongin lose their balance, Sehun’s dad gripping the car even tighter, eyes looking at the rear-view mirror, staring at Jongin and planning three hundred ways to kill the boy.
‘Oh God, sir… it’s not what it sounds like! I was just caught up in the moment-‘
‘Exactly!’, Sehun interrupts, grabbing the teddy bear which fell from his arms as the car swerves once again.
‘Exactly what?’
‘We had a moment. Which means we’re going out’
‘Oh God, sir… Please believe me… I didn’t mean it that way’, why was Sehun so keen in digging Jongin a deeper grave. What has he done to deserve this?
‘So, you drive my son miles away from his home, taking him for two days and one night to a random town and violating him by kissing a minor?!’, Sehun’s father begins to shout at Jongin, nose flaring in anger. Jongin can only squirm in fright, refusing to meet the police officer’s gaze.
‘Dad, I’m seventeen, stop making me out as if I’m twelve! Plus, Jongin’s only one year older than me. It’s not like he’s in his thirties!’
‘But son, he took you out of the city! For a whole night! I mean, where did you even stay?’
‘At a motel, obviously’
‘A motel?!’
Dear God, please look after my dog after I die, make sure my sisters feed him daily. I pray that Taemin will get super wasted on the first day of college on my behalf. I hope I get to see that bastard who’s always teased my dark skin to fall off a ditch before I die…
Jongin closes his eyes shut as he prays for his awaited death.
‘Dad, it’s just a motel’
‘Son, do you have any idea what people do in motels?’
‘They sleep’
‘Oh son. Look at my son boy! He’s innocent and here you are dragging him to motels and kissing him!’, they turn to an exit from the highway, Jongin slowly recognising their surrounding as they near Seoul.
‘Sir, I’m so sorry. I didn’t… I mean… He wanted to sleep in a motel… I actually didn’t want to waste my money…’
‘Dad come on. Don’t be silly. All we did is sleep in one bed. Nothing happened’
‘One bed?! That’s it, boy, you are going straight to the holding cell once we get to the station’.
‘Mum! Can you tell dad to stop overreacting! I told him so many times! Jongin couldn’t afford to pay for two beds so we got a room with one but he forced me to sleep on the couch! It was my suggestion to sleep on the bed with him!’
‘Excuse me Sehun. Let me rephrase that. You didn’t have an idea or suggestion… You climbed into the bed whilst I was asleep, so I was unconscious when this happened. Clearly, I’m the victim?’, Jongin tries to point out, hands grabbing the holding cell, head trying to peak over to Sehun and his father and also his mother who happened to be another police officer. Fuck, he got himself involved in a family of police officers, he was not going out that easily.
‘Honey, Sehun did call me. I knew where he was and he was safe’, his mother tries to reason with him before he files Jongin for violation of pretty much everything available in the book.
‘Dad! Jongin actually likes me and you’re scaring him off!’, the three family members look to their left simultaneously, staring at a quivering Jongin as he holds onto the cell in fright.
‘And don’t think you’ll get away too, mister! Vandalism of private property! That could land you in another set of community service’
‘I was drawing on a wall, not setting things on fire!’
‘Kim Jongin!’, he hears his father’s loud and bellowing voice joining in the hot mess of a situation that was right in front of him, both his parents fuming in rage as they approach the station, looking over to their son who’s behind bars.
‘Oh, God… Mum? Dad?’, Jongin closed his eyes… This day just can’t get any worse.
‘What is the meaning of this?’, his father shouts across the station, gaining the attention of pretty much everyone in the room.
‘Your son was running off with my son to God knows where spending their times in motels and other places I don’t want to think about!’, Sehun’s father replies, standing up from his desk and approaching Jongin’s father, ‘You need to teach your son better manners!’
‘Excuse me? My son does have better manners! By not throwing your son out on the streets and paying for a roof to be over his head!’, the two men began to argue, outwitting each other on who has the worse son whilst Sehun looks at his mother in embarrassment and defeat, hugging his teddy bear even more.
‘Your son can’t even drive!’
‘Well, your son has no taste in teddy bears!’
‘How dare you?!’
‘Mum! Mum! Please just sign the papers and get me out of here!’, Jongin shouts over, trying to gain the attention of his normal parent.
Two hours and five loud arguments later, Sehun’s father was slowly persuaded to drop charges of sexual assault and kidnapping under Jongin’s name, the two families shaking their hands for a peace alliance before separating their own way, Jongin being dragged by two angry parents.
‘I thought you needed a break to relax. Not to cause mayhem!’, his mum smacks him on the head, tutting as they walk towards their family car.
‘Hey, Jongin! Wait!’, Sehun’s voice breaks the cold silent night, making all three of them turn around, ‘You forgot this’, Sehun’s hands wraps itself around Jongin’s head, placing a fluffy cat-eared headband on his head.
‘Thanks’, Jongin whispers, looking down at Sehun’s shy and sorry eyes, their faces close to each other.
‘Come on Jongin, let’s go’, his father breaks their silence, forcing Jongin to break away from their moment, staring at his two parents, standing by the car and waiting for him.
‘And what is your name young man?’, Jongin’s mother tries to ease the tension, smiling as she eyes her husband to be civil.
‘I’m Oh Sehun Mrs Jongin. I’m Jongin’s boyfriend’, this earns a flustered expression on Jongin’s mum, surprise at the boy’s unwavering confidence.
‘Huh! Yeah right. Come on Jongin. Let’s go!’, his dad dismisses Sehun with a wave of a hand, glaring for his son to hurry along.
‘Are you really?’, Jongin’s mother continues to explore this new situation, not believing it at first, but after their soft looks towards each other, she wasn’t so sure anymore.
There was a silence between Sehun and Jongin, the younger boy looking up with hopeful eyes. Hands reaching out to hold onto Jongin’s sleeves. Urgh. Jongin gives up.
‘I guess so’.
