Work Text:
The junkyard is clearly not the place for romance, but they manage it somehow.
All smiles and hands caressing hands and soft smiley giggles while roaming around the maze of mashed up cars towering over each other. Two pairs of Dr. Martens clumsily strolling in the half-dried dirt, one pair walking forward, the other being walked backwards; outworn jean-clad knees rubbing against each other in the process. It's Jihoon's hand taking Taeil's and that's all it takes to ignite a kiss, the older on tiptoes, younger pushing further into him. The sun is setting when they detach from each other, breaths hitched and cheeks flushed.
x
'Shit shit shIT SHIT SHIT' even if Taeil is cursing his beautiful mouth off while angrily opening the hood of his 87' Honda Accord, hoping to find a glitch that broke down his car, he still manages to look as dazzling as ever. Jihoon hates the fact that he has to look left and right, to the highway in the middle of the endless farmlands to see if there's a single soul out there before he could remove his hands from his pockets and circle them around Taeil from the back; envelope him into an embrace.
Taeil's car has a bumper sticker shaped like a goldfish.
x
'Taeil hyung, let's elope?' Jihoon knows the answer he will be receiving from Taeil, heck, he's asked about a hundred times, but he asks anyway; because the situation is so convenient. Taeil looks so pure, laying there next to the younger, naked, post-romance sleep injected into his eyes.
There's a long pause. Taeil turns around in his arms and Jihoon falls in love with how the shades leave pretty patterns on Taeil's cheek.
'Let's.'
Jihoon's heart skips a beat at that.
x
They are on the road again, as they usually are when they're not covered in motor oil and working at Taeils dad's junkyard.
But this time they are actually eloping.
Taeil feels his chest beating so hard he thinks it's going to break out of his sternum and jump out of the half-opened car window. And they don't have time for a stop before they reach two towns ahead of them.
x
They are utterly fucked after Taeil's car gets robbed and they lose half their stuff to a burglar; and driving each other insane in their 1-room apartment; Taeil is stressed for not having a job and Jihoon is desperately craving for some alone time. Still, Jihoon crawls to bed every night after a sleepy groggy Taeil, kisses his nose and falls asleep peacefully.
Finally Taeil gets a job at a car repair shop and Jihoon at a the local gas station and things turn for the better.
x
Jihoon finds Taeil dancing to old country songs when he comes home one evening. He feels like he fell in love with Taeil again.
x
Jihoon takes his hand while walking home from the 24/7 store at night and there's still a little hesitation in the way Taeil takes time to grip his hand but it's a huge leap from how life had been at the junkyard.
x
They make new friends, of course they know what they are, they all met at the local gay pub.
There's a weird freedom that Jihoon has in his heart, when people he cares about know who he really is.
They drink and dance till early hours of the day although they know Kyung will be at their door before afternoon the next day with a sixpack to drown the hangover and the group ends up sitting on the verge of the high pedestal near a hill of their flat that holds up a neon sign blinking CAR REPAIR with Jihoon's arm around Taeil because it's cold. It's nice nonetheless but they part soon enough, Sundays never last that long and Monday is already a work day.
x
Jihoon can tell Taeil is so nervous, the way he grips the steering wheel of his car and holding his breath with that run-down face.
“It'll be okay, hyung..” he knows they're not.
It turns out better than they expected; sure, they get kicked out of the house after Taeil comes out to his family but they were expecting to get cased by Taeil's dad and three brothers with hunting rifles.
Taeil doesn't talk to his family for a year, except to his mother who still calls every week to cry into the phone.
After about three years she tells him she is so proud of him, of them two; and wish him and Jihoon all the happiness in the world, and they both sit there, so far away from each other but oddly close at the same time, for an hour, crying into the phone, until Jihoon comes home to find Taeil in this miserable state and hugs him the tightest he's ever had.
x
They walk home from the movies one evening and Jihoon takes Taeil's hand and there is no hesitation from either of them, no worry that maybe someone will see.
About fuckin' time, Jihoon thinks.