Work Text:
soonyoung takes the road test, and jihoon ends up being the one driving straight into soonyoung's heart.
--
"take the road test" they said. "it'll be fun" they said.
soonyoung's twenty-one and doesn't have his license. his friends have been nagging at him for quite some time now to just take the test and get it over with. it's not that easy, he wants to counter back. before he could even take the road test, he needs to take the written test. and in order to pass the written test, he has to study. and who wants to study? though he's been told it’s a pretty simple multiple-choice test, in all honesty soonyoung's just really lazy. however, that doesn't stop his friends from continuously pestering him about it.
"i really don't need one!" soonyoung exclaims over lunch one day, throwing his hands in the air, unnecessarily causing a scene in the food court. his friends duck their heads in embarrassment, one of the many things they do when they're with soonyoung. "i like taking the bus. it gives me time to listen to music and just relax."
"you can't always depend on public transportation." seungkwan mentions, shaking his head. "you know how many times you've been late to classes because the bus decided not to show up? or when their was a delay in the subway and it took you an hour to get to campus? you literally live 20 minutes away! hyung, i think it's time for you to take the road test."
soonyoung didn't want to admit the younger had a valid point, but still. studying? he shook his head quickly, poking at his uneaten chicken wing on his plate.
"yeah! look at all the benefits of driving!" seokmin spoke up, smiling brightly at the older. the two exchanged knowing glances, smiles plastered onto their faces as they nodded their heads. soonyoung frowned, eyeing the two for a moment before-
oh . soonyoung finally manages to catch on.
"you guys just want me to drive so i can take you places, huh?" soonyoung questions, eyes darting between the two. seungkwan suddenly finds his food very interesting, and seokmin quickly excuses himself to go to the bathroom.
"didn't you just go to the bathroom?" soonyoung calls out after the other, only to have seokmin respond with "small bladder, hyung!"
their usual go-to driver was seungcheol because he had a car, and he had his license. it was perfect, emphasis on was . ever since graduating college, seungcheol’s been busy dealing with the realities of the real world. he's been hustling with work that he never has the time to hang out with them during the day, too preoccupied in his cubicle to come out for lunch.
with seungcheol only coming around to hang out on the weekends, they've been desperate. and the second oldest amongst them was soonyoung.
a silence falls amongst them once seokmin returns, and soonyoung figures getting a license wouldn't be that bad.
"fine. i'll take the road test."
--
"hyung. let me borrow your car."
"excuse me?" seungcheol practically shouts into his phone, soonyoung's head jerking away quickly, a faint ringing in his ear as he glares at seungcheol’s contact photo. what the heck?
“aren’t you at work? why are you yelling?” soonyoung questions as he switches his phone to the other side, rubbing his damaged ear with a pout on his lips.
“lunch break, bud.” seungcheol chuckles, before he goes quiet. “why do you need my car?”
“i’m going to take the road test.” soonyoung says proudly, before he slumps back against his seat. “rather, the kids want me to drive them around.”
he could hear the faint snort coming from seungcheol over the line. “it’s about time you got your license, you know.” the older responds, muffled by the food in his mouth.
“yeah, yeah. so you’ll let me borrow your car?” soonyoung asks, pushing his textbook off his lap as he stood up, stretching his arms over his head.
“you took the written test?” seungcheol questioned.
“yes, and i passed.” soonyoung cheerfully responds, patting himself on the back. hey, someone’s gotta be happy for him.
“hm. well, you need someone to teach you to drive before the road test, you know.” he states over the phone. “what, do you plan on learning yourself? and ruining my baby?”
it was soonyoung’s turn to snort, rolling his eyes as he shuffled into the kitchen. “well, i have to start somewhere.”
“idiot.” seungcheol whispers into the phone, earning an offended “hey, talk away from the phone if you’re going to say that!” from soonyoung. “i have someone who could teach you. he taught me to drive and i got my license just like that.” seungcheol continues, ignoring the whiny noises soonyoung makes in disapproval. what an ass.
soonyoung raises an eyebrow at his response, opening his refrigerator to look for some milk. shit, he needs to buy milk. “cool. contact him for me?”
“yeah, i’ll message you when i get a response.”
“thanks hyung, you’re the best!” soonyoung exclaims into the phone, his aegyo making even himself cringe.
the line disconnects.
--
lee jihoon was his name. from what seungcheol told him, he was short. and had purple hair. sounded like a fairy, if you’d ask soonyoung.
“don’t call him that.” seungcheol warns him over the phone. “he’ll kick you.”
leaning against seungcheol’s car, soonyoung promptly waited as the older went inside the school building to retrieve the other. he was an elementary school teacher, apparently.
when soonyoung catches sight of the purple haired male, he feels the wind practically knocked out of his lungs because wow, was he cute. seungcheol was right when he said jihoon was short, and it brings a smile on his face because that just made the older even cuter. the sharp look on jihoon’s face said otherwise. it was almost intimidating to soonyoung, and he eventually learns the older’s from busan. he wonders if jihoon’s ever been mistaken as a student, but refrains from asking. he rather not offend his new driving teacher on the first day.
“kwon soonyoung, lee jihoon. lee jihoon, kwon soonyoung.” seungcheol grins. “good luck, and please don’t hurt brittany.”
“god, why’d you name your car-” jihoon groans, running a hand over his face as seungcheol darts away from the scene.
jihoon sighs, glancing up at soonyoung. “let’s get started.”
--
the lesson goes well, yet at the same time it doesn’t.
the first problem that arose was the fact that soonyoung had accidentally pressed on the gas pedal while the car was still parked, a yelp leaving the inexperienced male as his eyes widened in shock, engine roaring to life as he held his hands up and away from the steering wheel.
“it’s still parked.” jihoon states, shifting uncomfortably beside him in passenger seat.
right.
“remember, keep your foot on the brake when you switch from park to drive. seungcheol’s car rolls.”
nodding his head quickly, soonyoung does as he’s told, changing the gear shift from “p” to “d”. after doing so, he glances helplessly over at the older for what to do next.
“drive. and always check your mirrors.”
--
at the end, they were both alive and the car had no damages, and that’s all soonyoung could’ve asked for. despite the many times jihoon would start yelling and calling him an idiot for swerving too much onto the other lane, even having to take the steering wheel into his own hands at one point when soonyoung started to panic, he’d say it went okay.
once soonyoung stepped out of the car, a loud sigh of relief left his mouth, quick to move far away, making his way back onto the sidewalk.
“looks like seungcheol’s baby won’t need to visit a hospital.” jihoon jokes once he steps out, leaning against the car as he watches soonyoung mumble to himself incoherently.
soonyoung laughs despite himself, his hands still shaky as he clenches them into fists. “yeah. ha.” he mumbles, taking in short, deep breaths to try and calm his racing heart.
“that wasn’t fun.” he admitted to the older, palms rubbing against his face, peeking at the other through his fingers, voice muffled from behind his hands.
jihoon smiled, a pitiful smile from the looks of it, and soonyoung couldn’t help but feel his soul cleansed from such beauty. what-
“hey, it was your first time. it’s okay to be nervous. plus, i probably added onto that-- sorry. yelling and calling you an idiot isn’t really much teaching, huh?” jihoon muttered, sheepishly looking away from soonyoung to glance at the wall he was leaning on.
“you still taught me!” soonyoung piped up, wanting to see that angelic smile that grazed the shorter’s face yet again. it was somewhat addicting to soonyoung, for some reason. “i still learned the basics, so you did do your job.”
jihoon glanced up at soonyoung, eyeing him for a moment, as though he were trying to see if he were telling a lie or not, before looking away again. shrugging, the older pushed himself off from the car. “i’m glad you learned something. good luck on the road test.”
soonyoung panicked when he realized the older was starting to say his goodbyes, and he scrambled to find his words. “money!”
jihoon frowned, eyebrows furrowing as gazed up at soonyoung. “wha-”
“i mean, you taught me, i should pay you, right?” soonyoung quickly tried to correct himself, a nervous laugh leaving his lips.
“oh.” jihoon mumbled, rubbing the back of his nape. “you don’t have to. i’m doing this because seungcheol asked. don’t worry about it.”
soonyoung frowned, racking his brain for any other ideas he could think of so he could spend just a little more time to get to know jihoon. “coffee. atleast let me treat you to coffee.”
jihoon pursed his lips out, hesitating in his steps before nodding his head. “after school ends, there’s a cafe around the corner from here. i’ll see you then.”
--
a week passes and all soonyoung could think about is the purple-haired elementary school teacher who, he eventually learns, did get mistaken as a student a couple of times when he first started working. soonyoung learns jihoon went to the same college as him, which is how jihoon and seungcheol met. (soonyoung mentally takes a note to smack the older for not having introduced him to the purple-haired boy earlier.)
his road test is scheduled a month from now, and he’s been getting lessons from jihoon every week until the deadline.
“soonyoung, i think you’ll be fine.” jihoon comments as soonyoung swiftly and safely drives down the street. “you didn’t really need any more lessons from me, you know?”
soonyoung grips the steering wheel. okay, he admits -- he really doesn’t need the lessons anymore. he’s picked up the basics pretty fast, and would say he’s a decent driver at this point. he just uses this as a sorry excuse to spend more time with the shorter. you can’t really blame him, when all the older does is sit at home and grade papers. do you know how many times soonyoung’s asked him to come out for lunch or dinner, only to get a simple response of “i’m busy” or “maybe next time”? too many times to keep count.
“ha- really?” soonyoung comments back, chuckling nervously. “i still think my parking needs some improvement.”
jihoon just hums in response, and soonyoung hopes the sound of the engine drowns out the way his heart pounds against his chest.
--
soonyoung asks seungcheol more about jihoon, and by this time, it’s less than a week until soonyoung takes his road test.
“he’s so quiet about himself.” soonyoung pouts, body draped over the table with his cheek pressed against it.
seungcheol’s seated at the other side of the table, raising an eyebrow at the younger. “why are you so curious about him? someone’s got a crush on the shortie?”
soonyoung rolls his eyes. “it’s not a crush. i just find him very interesting. and i want to take him out for lunch. and talk about our pasts. and possibly our future together.”
“idiot.” seungcheol mutters, earning a glare from soonyoung.
soonyoung lifts his head up, squinting at the other. “did he say anything about me?”
the brunette shook his head, shoulder raising up in a shrug. “not really. said you were cute and looked you like you were about to piss your pants the first time you drove -- “hey!” -- and mentioned it seemed like you were trying to ask him out on a date.”
“was i that obvious?” soonyoung groans softly.
“hey, he said you were cute. jihoon doesn’t go around simply calling people cute, you know?”
cute. that was a start, he thinks to himself.
“but, in terms of being in a relationship, jihoon avoids them like a plague. probably due to his previous one?” seungcheol shrugs, pushing his glasses up a bit. “but you never know.”
visibly sulking, soonyoung presses his forehead against the cool table. “i guess that means i’m giving up.”
there was a moment of silence that fell between the two.
“let’s go to a club tonight.”
soonyoung slowly lifts his head up, a confused expression on his face. “club?”
there was a mischievous glint that twinkled in seungcheol’s eyes, and the older just nodded his head.
--
kwon soonyoung finds out that lee jihoon was also woozi, underground rapper/singer that sang at the club near his campus.
the moment soonyoung spotted the shorter, his whole world flipped upside down, inside out. compared to his short, cute stature as an elementary school teacher, he was still short, but the sex appeal was through the roof. he felt himself break out into a sweat as he watched the purple-haired dance on stage, dressed in all leather, glancing over at seungcheol, who just smirked and shrugged.
“maybe this will break the ice.”
--
“what the fuck, seungcheol?” jihoon says when he spots the older waving like crazy, along with the blue-haired soonyoung looking relatively uncomfortable.
“we decided to visit. soonyoung here wanted to know more about you, so why not show him woozi?”
soonyoung smiled awkwardly, clearing his throat as he avoided the shorter’s gaze. how does someone so short contain this much sex appeal? what happened to all the cute? soonyoung’s having a mental breakdown as jihoon stares at him, eyebrows furrowing.
“hey. you okay?” jihoon asked, a chuckle leaving his lips as he moves to touch soonyoung’s arm, which makes the younger freeze instantly.
“yeah. of course! why wouldn’t i be?” soonyoung laughed awkwardly, and he could feel seungcheol snickering from next to him. asshole.
snorting, jihoon pulled his hand away, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, that killer smile on his lips has soonyoung’s knees going weak. he needs to hold onto something before he falls, but there’s nothing so he’ll just have to toughen it out.
“i didn’t expect to see you here…” jihoon admitted, shooting a glare at seungcheol, who stood there as though he were an innocent angel. “if i had know, i would’ve toned down on the leather.”
“no!” soonyoung jumps in, which causes seungcheol and jihoon to give him an odd, questioning look. “i mean, it’s okay! it’s hot- wait, not you. the room, this place, it’s very hot. i’m sweating, don’t you see? ha. drinks! you guys want drinks, it’s on me.” soonyoung rambles on, walking off before he could embarrass himself even more towards the bar. he could hear seungcheol gasping for air as he laughs, and he swore he saw a smirk on jihoon’s lips before he left.
--
the sound of an alarm ringing has him jolting awake, groaning as a headache hits him full force. vision blurred, he could feel the sun streaming into the room, walls white and --
wait.
everything from last night is suddenly a blur, and he starts to panic when he doesn’t recognize where he was. he shifts a bit on his stomach, until jihoon’s face comes into his view.
he was just dreaming.
he starts to relax against the warmth of the pillow, eyes fluttering closed. it’s okay, he’ll just wake up again and he’ll be in his own room, sleeping in his own bed.
soonyoung freezes when he feels a damp cloth pressing against his cheek, and that’s when he realizes--
“hey, kwon soonyoung. i have work.” jihoon’s voice bursts through his bubble, and shit. he wasn’t dreaming.
his eyes widen as he stares at the purple-haired male. “oh my god-” was the first thing that left his mouth.
“did we--” he starts, before he glances down at his body, his clothed still intact “oh, we didn’t.” and he can’t help but sound a bit disappointed at that.
jihoon snorts, muttering something under his breathe as he continued to dab the cloth over soonyoung’s face. it’s soothing, and drowns out the throb of his headache, by just a little. or maybe it’s the fact it’s jihoon doing it, and not someone else-- like seungcheol.
“what happened..” soonyoung questions, pushing his upper body off the bed with his arms, shifting so he’s seated. jihoon moves to stand up, and soonyoung can’t help but stare. jihoon was so timid, so soft spoken and cute. woozi was something completely different, that had soonyoung sweating and drooling over. to think they were one in the same was something that still blows his mind in all ways possible, but he’s not complaining -- jihoon or woozi, soonyoung was falling head first for the male.
“well. you bought us drinks, which i want to thank you for, and then you ended up getting piss drunk after downing some shots. seungcheol fled the scene, something about not wanting to take care of your ass, and here we are.”
soonyoung scoffed. he takes note to remember this next time seungcheol gets drunk, and frowns. “did i say anything?”
jihoon paused, his cheeks suddenly flushing a light pink, almost unnoticeable if you didn’t look hard enough, but all soonyoung did was stare at the male. “you said something about me looking, as i quote, ‘like a sexy teacher in leather pants’ and requested for me to punish you.”
“oh no.”
“yeah.”
--
soonyoung’s nervous. today’s the day of his road test, and if he fucks this up, he fucks up everything he’s worked so hard for.
taking in deep breathes, he sits in seungcheol’s car, giving himself a small pep talk as he visualizes what he has to do. don’t brake too abruptly. both hands on the wheel and always check your mirrors. watch for pedestrians and--
his phone vibrates just minutes before the instructor shows up, and soonyoung scrambles to check it.
to soonyoung:
hey, good luck. i hope you pass.
soonyoung lets out a breathe, fingers shaking as he types out his response.
to jihoon:
me too.
--
“go on a date with me.” soonyoung stated, not even bothering to ask.
jihoon makes a face, shoveling cereal into his mouth. “are you still hungover or something?”
“no. i’m serious. go on a date with me, jihoon.” soonyoung says, almost pleads, from across jihoon’s kitchen counter.
“it’s not that easy, dork.” jihoon grumbles, eyes avoiding soonyoung’s oh-so-desperate ones. he doesn’t want to give in so easily, and the pout on soonyoung’s lips has jihoon’s walls crumbling down. almost.
“pass your road test.”
“what?” soonyoung questions, eyebrows furrowed.
“pass your road test, and we’ll go on that date.”
soonyoung stares at him for a minute, and jihoon could swear the tension could easily cut through us.
“okay.” soonyoung responds, voice fueled with determination. “i will.”
--
“i passed.” soonyoung calls jihoon, voice filled with pride and confidence, hands still shaking as he holds onto his receipt for confirmation.
“did you really?” jihoon states monotonously, but soonyoung could practically hear the smile that pulls on the older’s lips.
“yeah, looks like i’ll be picking you up in seungcheol’s car for that date.”
the sound of jihoon’s laughs blesses soonyoung’s ear, and he swears he could listen to that all day long. “i’ll see you at 3.”