Chapter Text
Joshua doesn't think he was that drunk the previous night, not really. In fact, he would argue that he deserved to get drunker, all things considered.
That being said, it is very telling that he has no idea why the doorman of his apartment is calling him at 6:30 AM and telling him there is a young man there to see him and asking if he should give him access.
The logical part of his brain tells him to say no because none of his friends would go out willingly that early on a weekend and, well, he doesn't imagine it could be his boyfriend of all people because there's no reason Junhyeok would care to visit Joshua—he hasn't in the past three years, anyway, and then again, there's…
He says yes.
No more than five minutes later there's a knock on his door and Joshua takes his time to get out of bed, stumble with the half-open suitcase by the door of his bedroom, put on his slippers, trip and send one of his slippers flying while rushing through the living room and reach out for the door.
“If you're a serial killer can you at least wait until noon?” He asks as he opens the door.
“Unfortunately if I did then we probably won’t get anywhere decent to sleep anytime soon,” says the warm voice in front of him and Joshua's eyes widen when he sees the man standing in front of him. The man smiles. “Hi.”
“You're the guy from the bar,” Joshua says dumbly.
Bar Guy's smile widens, his entire face lighting up under the white cap he's wearing and Joshua feels like squinting. “You remember me, that's good!” He says happily. “Do you remember why I’m here?”
“I wasn't that drunk.” He absolutely was, he decides now, because he has no idea of what Bar Guy could possibly be doing at his apartment—or how he knows the address to Joshua's apartment for that matter.
“So you do, then?” Bar Guy asks, his eyes twinkling with amusement.
Joshua looks away. “I could use a reminder.”
Bar Guy laughs loudly and Joshua tries not to make himself smaller because that is truly not who he is as a person, but this man’s energy is overwhelming, especially so early in the morning.
“You told me about your boyfriend last night,” Bar Guy explains and Joshua can’t help the tired sigh he lets out.
“God,” he groans as he runs a hand through his hair and it’s only then that he realizes he must look like such a mess—he realizes how terrible he definitely looked yesterday, as well. “Look, I’m sorry for… whatever I dumped on you, but—”
“Don’t apologize,” Bar Guy says, his smile smaller but still bright. “He’s a dick.”
“He—” Joshua chokes back a small laugh. “Okay.” He straightens up, tries to ease the tension on his shoulders. “Why are you here?”
“Driving you to New York so you can break up with him,” Bar Guy replies, his voice so incredibly genuine, like it’s not the most insane thing he could’ve said. “I offered last night and you said yes.”
That makes Joshua pause. “You offered,” he repeats, trying to process. Bar Guy nods. “And I said yes,” he adds slowly. Bar Guy chuckles and Joshua allows himself to consider, if only for a moment. “My mom would kill me for doing that,” he murmurs, looking down at his slipper-less foot.
It’s true; his mom would call him insane and irresponsible and then she’d nag him some more about giving—because that is what happened, he supposes—a stranger his address while drunk. And then she’d get upset that he met said stranger in a bar because he lost his flight. And then he’d have to tell her why he was flying to New York in the first place out of nowhere.
And then she’d understand. And she’d hold him and tell him it’s okay, even if he doesn’t feel like it is—and she’d make him believe it for just a second.
Bar Guy isn’t saying anything. All he’s doing is watching Joshua, maybe watching the array of emotions his face must be going through. He waits.
“Alright,” Joshua says finally. “How much would it be?”
Bar Guy doesn’t hesitate. “Just gas. And, like, your part for motels and stuff, I guess.”
Joshua almost doesn’t believe him, but he supposes, in a situation as odd as this, he might as well.
So he lets Bar Guy into his apartment.
❯❯❯❯❯
It takes him about ten minutes to get changed and shove some more clothes to his already packed suitcase before he’s walking back into his living room, where Bar Guy is lazily scrolling through his phone.
Despite, well, everything, the smile and crescent eyes he’s met with when Bar Guy looks up are what truly startle him fully awake at last and it hits him what he’s agreed to.
“Ready to go?”
Joshua takes a breath.
“Yeah.”
❯❯❯❯❯
They’ve probably been on the road for half an hour and Joshua has only eaten a quarter of his sandwich—because of course Bar Guy made them sandwiches for the road—when he decides to swallow his pride.
“I don't know your name,” he admits. There's a moment of silence before Bar Guy bursts into warm, bright laughter.
Joshua gives himself a couple of seconds to close his eyes and feel embarrassed before he glances at Bar Guy, whose eyes are still focused on the road but, even as his laughter dies down, there's a particular glimmer in them that makes Joshua shift in his seat.
After a moment of silence Bar Guy speaks. “Jun. Junhui.”
“Junhui,” Joshua repeats, trying it out in his own mouth. “Jun,” he says, softer, “I'm Joshua.”
“I know.” Junhui giggles. “I was wondering if you were ever going to ask my name.”
Despite himself, Joshua feels a smile tug at his lips. “Did you even introduce yourself last night?” He asks, dubious.
“I did!” Junhui defends himself immediately, adjusting his grip on the steering wheel. “I just didn't think you ever actually got it.”
Joshua narrows his eyes at him, but there's still some kind of bubbliness inside his chest. “If you say so, Jun.”
Junhui spares Joshua a glance and no matter how brief it is, it makes him bite the inside of his cheek. “I like the way you say my name.”
It's… not what he expected at all. He doesn't think he says Junhui's name in any special way but he decides that he doesn't really understand Junhui's thought process anyway. Probably no normal guy would offer to do for a stranger what he’s doing for Joshua.
He looks out through the window, taking in the view of the road. The sky is a mix of shades of blue that welcome the sun in a way that makes Joshua want to close his eyes and pretend that nothing is wrong, that he can just relax for a little. Junhui hasn’t spoken much so far, only offering food and for Joshua to play whatever music he wants and Joshua let nostalgia win for once by playing his old Glee playlist.
He feels his jaw unclench as Darren Criss’ voice fills his ears and Junhui hums the melody. Joshua itches to ask, like a silly teenager, if Junhui has seen Glee or if it’s just him knowing a popular song. Instead, he takes another bite of the sandwich and lets the sound lull him to sleep.
❯❯❯❯❯
Junhui is getting out of the car when Joshua opens his eyes next.
He squints. The sun is high in the sky now and the car feels awfully warm, making Joshua shrug off his jacket. He quickly gets out, making Junhui glance at him briefly from where he’s leaning on the hood of the car.
As he walks to stand next to Junhui he sees it.
Across the distance, the sun shines on what seems like countless glass bottles, of all shapes and colors, arranged on poles and other structures like they’ve always existed in that little space in the middle of the road.
The environment is filled with sounds of birds, the twinkling of windchimes and the cars driving through and Joshua almost feels like he’s in the middle of multiple worlds, suspended in some kind of limbo where time doesn’t pass—all that passes are people lost on the road.
It’s beautiful and Joshua almost forgets that he has no clue of why they stopped if it weren’t for Junhui’s voice next to him.
“Come on!” He barely lets out, voice giddy, before pulling Joshua by the hand and into the forest of glass.
Joshua allows himself to be guided, only for a moment, before he stops in his tracks, tugging at Junhui’s hand.
“Wait,” he starts, cautious. “What is this?”
Junhui blinks slowly. “Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch,” he says, like it’s obvious.
“Okay.” He lets go of Junhui’s hand. “Why are we here?” He tries.
Junhui tilts his head to the side. “This is a road trip.”
Joshua thinks he could smash one of the bottles next to him on his own head.
“This is not—” Except it kind of is a road trip, so. “I never agreed to go sightseeing.”
“You did, though,” Junhui replies without a drop of hesitation. “At the bar. I told you I haven’t gone on a trip since moving here and you said we could check out all the stops I wanted.”
Joshua takes a deep breath. He counts to ten. He ignores the urge to kill his drunken self.
Fine. “Fine.”
Junhui doesn’t even spare Joshua another glance before he continues walking through the place.
Joshua doesn’t really have much else to do except follow. He hums at the little sounds of excitement Junhui makes whenever they pass anything even mildly interesting. He tries to contain a smile when Junhui finds an old phone propped up on a pole and starts playing with it—acting out silly phone calls and pretending the phone has no way of being plugged.
He isn’t sure for how long they walk around the place—he isn’t even sure the ranch is big enough to justify the amount of walking they do—, but at some point Junhui takes him by the arm again and sits Joshua down at a picnic table and pulls out the messenger bag he’s carrying Joshua’s half eaten sandwich and his own untouched one wrapped in some nice paper and two bottles of water before sitting in front of Joshua.
Joshua thanks him quietly but doesn’t start eating yet. Instead, he watches the way the colors of the glass bottles shine on Junhui’s face, glittering and pretty in a way that makes Joshua’s stomach curl.
He takes a deep breath before he speaks.
“Why did you offer to do this?” Junhui looks up from where he's taking a bite of his food, caught off guard. “I mean, I can guess some of what I told you about Junhyeok.” That he's a cheater—that Joshua almost doesn't care. “But even then I just… I can't understand why you'd do something like this for a stranger.”
Junhui swallows, takes a sip of water for good measure. Joshua unwraps his sandwich.
“You seemed,” he looks away for a moment, like he's considering his words. “Frustrated,” he settles on. “You didn't even seem that upset that your boyfriend is an asshole, but rather by the fact that you lost your flight, and then you went on this rant about how you're always early to the airport and how he's annoying about it but of course the one time you're late is when you're finally done with him and,” he shrugs. The reflection of green glass shines on his hair. “I guess I just thought you didn't deserve that.”
Joshua looks at Junhui and he seems… honest. Joshua wonders if Junhui is capable of being anything other than genuine.
“You don't know me, though,” he says, just to be difficult. “Maybe I do deserve it.”
Junhui just smiles. “Maybe, but I really hope you don't.”
❯❯❯❯❯
Junhui doesn't let Joshua sleep after they're back on the road, so Joshua plays the Glee Cast Version of Thong Song and sighs in disappointment when Junhui doesn't even react to it.
So maybe he hasn't watched the show.
They don't drive for very long before Junhui pulls into a parking lot next to the road. Joshua sighs loudly but doesn't say a word as they walk out of the car and into—
“A ghost town?” He asks, incredulous. Okay, so he does say something.
“Yeah!” Junhui exclaims happily as he walks to a small cabin that reads Visitor’s Center.
The air conditioning inside the small building greets Joshua as he settles on a couch while Junhui pays the entrance fee for the both of them, not even listening when Joshua claims he can pay his own. Junhui chats for a little with the woman working there, pointing at pictures and asking questions and when he finally stands in front of Joshua he grins.
“We’re taking a tour!”
“Oh,” Joshua breathes out. “Sure.”
The tour isn’t particularly exciting. It is maybe an hour of walking around the town and seeing picturesque old west houses and buildings. They’re pretty, and Junhui truly seems immersed in the entire thing, but the town isn’t all that big in the first place and they have to pay extra for the Mystery Shack tour—that really is just a crooked house that makes Joshua slightly dizzy but gets Junhui to giggle when he tries and fails to get up from a chair the guide shows them—and the railroad tour.
It is while they’re on the train that they finally get a moment to chat. There’s no one else taking the tour, much less on the same car as them, and there’s a voice coming from the speakers on the train explaining the history on the mines of the town and its silver, but Junhui turns his full attention to Joshua, like he’s all that matters at that moment, and Joshua is helpless against that.
“So,” Junhui starts. His smile is playful, his eyes are round and they glint under the blazing sun. “What’s up with your music?”
Joshua lets out a surprised laugh. “Oh, I thought you were just gonna let that slide,” he says, leaning his back fully on the seat of the car, enjoying the breeze, as hot as it is.
“I was going to,” Junhui nods. “But some choices were,” he waves his hand around dismissively. “And most songs I’ve heard but they’re…”
“It’s my Glee playlist,” Joshua explains.
Junhui doesn’t say anything for a few seconds. Then he slowly opens his mouth. “You have a Glee playlist.”
He doesn’t say it as a question, so Joshua only shrugs and Junhui cackles.
“Alright,” Junhui says. “You have a Glee playlist. Is there anything else I should know about you?”
Joshua thinks for a moment.
“I really, really, wanted to be a waterbender as a kid,” is what he settles on. “I practiced in the shower and everything.”
Junhui’s smile is blinding. Joshua doesn’t know how he doesn’t get tired of smiling.
“I wanted to be an airbender.”
Something about the way he says it—the earnest tone, the way the wind messes his hair—makes Joshua think that maybe his drunk, sad self was onto something when he decided to confide in Junhui. Maybe trusting this beautiful man who smiles like a kid and stands like living is the easiest thing in the world makes perfect sense.
They don’t do much after the tour ends. Junhui wants to try panning and then they walk around the gift shop for what feels like ages, showing each other every toy and figurine they can find and not buying anything.
Sometime around 2 PM Joshua’s stomach grumbles and they ignore the nasty look the shop owner throws at them when they leave to go to the restaurant in town and order burgers.
There aren’t many people eating, but just enough that the restaurant isn’t exactly quiet and the noise drowns out any complicated thoughts Joshua has, making him finally remember that he has a phone that he hasn’t checked all day.
He has six messages from Seungkwan.
Seungkwannie (8:13 AM)
hey????
what do you mean you lost your flight??
and what do you mean you met a model?
Seungkwannie (9:26 AM)
are you alive?
how did you get home??
why were you taking a flight?
And then, because his friends are like that, he has a message from Jeonghan and another from Hansol.
Hannie (9:30 AM)
reply to seungkwan
Hansollie (9:31 AM)
srsly reply to boo pls
He debates for a couple of minutes before sending a quick I’m alive, I’ll call you later to Seungkwan and a thumbs up to Hansoland setting his phone back on the table as the waiter brings their food.
Both him and Junhui thank them and immediately dive in and—dear God—it honestly might be the best burger Joshua has had in ages, it’s almost ridiculous.
Junhui seems to agree as he makes an honestly embarrassing noise as he takes a bite and they both sit there in silence for a long moment, just savouring their food.
It is only when they're halfway through their burgers that Joshua thinks to ask.
“How can you just… take so many days off from your life on a random Thursday?”
Junhui takes a bit to think. “Well, I’m an Uber driver, so I’m not exactly straying away from my job.” And, oh, that explains it. “Plus, my family lives back in China, so they can’t really notice I left unless I tell them and,” he takes a sip of his iced tea before continuing. “I do have this friend who has tried calling me a couple of times, but I’m sure he’ll understand when I explain it to him.”
“Your friend has tried calling you and you haven’t answered?” He never said he isn’t a hypocrite.
Junhui quickly dismisses it. “I’ll call him when we get to the hotel, he’ll be fine.”
Joshua scoffs. “If you say so.”
“I do.”
They continue eating in silence for a bit. Joshua finds that, whether they’re talking or not, Junhui’s company is nice. He feels comfortable and it’s weird because he usually doesn’t feel so at ease with strangers, not really.
It is one thing to manage politeness and to socialize somewhat easily with most types of people, but it is entirely different to not even have to try with someone you’ve never met before, and that’s exactly what being around Junhui makes him feel.
“Jun,” he calls after a while, making Junhui perk up. “Tell me something about you,” he requests, thinking back to Junhui’s own question on the railroad.
Junhui hums and puts his hand on his chin as he tries to come up with something—like he’s some kind of cartoon character.
“Well, when I was a kid I acted a little.”
“Huh?”
“Yeah, like,” he starts. “Like, in a few commercials and stuff,” he explains.
“Wait, really?” Joshua asks, feeling almost giddy. “Can I see?”
Junhui seems bashful—an expression Joshua hadn’t seen on him yet—but he complies, taking his phone out to look up the commercials and show them to Joshua.
Joshua almost laments the fact that he doesn’t know Chinese, so he can’t really understand what’s going on, but he still finds himself smiling at Junhui’s sweet voice and cute expressions and somehow the conversation turns to be about all the extracurriculars they took as kids.
Joshua tells him stories about his first roles in the theater, his terrible guitar teacher and about trying to be part of the choir at church and Junhui shares about another kid kicking his ass at wushu, his messy piano lessons that he loved anyway and trying out for dance crews.
Everything about the conversation feels light and warm. Welcoming.
By the time they decide to pay and finally get back on the road, their food is long gone and they pay the waiter a good tip for waiting for them to finish up for so long.
❯❯❯❯❯
Joshua doesn't think he's functioning properly by the time they walk into the hotel.
It's cheap—it looks cheap—, but it also seems clean, and the bored looking receptionist is fairly kind as she checks them up for a room. Joshua lets Junhui handle it and he drags his suitcase to the elevator doors in the middle of the reception.
The sky is getting darker each second, the sun nearly invisible except for bits of light slipping through the windows of the building.
His steps are sluggish as they ride the elevator and find their room for the night, and he hardly takes a glance at the place before he beelines for the bathroom and forces himself to take a brisk shower. He can barely remember the motions of shampooing his hair and washing his body, but he manages well enough to be out of the shower in ten minutes, when Junhui is finishing up a call and relaxing on his bed.
“Your friend?” Joshua asks as he dries his hair with a towel, droplets falling on his shoulders.
Junhui hums as he sees which movies are available. “Yeah, he nagged me the entire time you were there but at least he sounded relieved to speak to—” He stops clicking the control. “Oh, how do you feel about Camp Rock 2?”
Joshua scrunches up his nose. “I don’t feel anything in particular about Camp Rock.”
Junhui looks up to him. “Perfect, we’re watching it then!”
So they watch Camp Rock 2.
Joshua is half asleep for most of the movie, just hugging a hotel pillow and occasionally glancing towards Junhui when he comments on anything happening. So far it’s been about Nick Jonas’ character and the girl he has a crush on, but it gets especially intense when, 30 minutes into de movie, Introducing Me starts playing and it seems like Junhui not only knows the lyrics, but he has rather strong opinions on both the song and the characters involved.
“It’s insane how they made this another movie about Mitchie and Shane when Nate and Dana had so much potential, not only to be the better couple, but also make the competition aspect more interesting!”
Joshua leans deeper into the pillow, feeling a smile tug at his lips. “Yeah?” He asks, and it’s way too soft, but he’s too sleepy to care about it.
“Yes!” Junhui stresses. “Like you can’t tell me this isn’t the best song in the movie. Plus, they are the music camp Romeo and Juliet and obviously like each other more than Mitchy and Shane do.”
Joshua shrugs, his eyes close. “I don’t know, I think Mitchy and Shane are cute.”
Junhui’s voice starts sounding distant. Nick Jonas isn’t even singing anymore. “In the first movie, yes, but in this one they’re just kind of annoying and not that special,” he grumbles.
Joshua laughs, but it’s barely a sound anymore. “I’d love to hear your thoughts on High School Musical,” is what he means to say, but he thinks it might come out more slurred than he intended.
Still, he can make out Junhui saying something along the lines of “I’ve never seen High School Musical” and he means to say that that’s crazy—ask who’s watched Camp Rock but not High School Musical. He thinks about telling him something on how they need to watch it, but he’s not sure of what actually comes out of his mouth and what doesn’t.
He doesn’t know when he falls asleep.