When Taemin came back home, Minho was still struggling to calm down an excited Jonghyun. The latter had been so curious about the whole thing he had asked his neighbor if she could drive him to Minho’s place to get answers.

“I’m telling you I have no idea ! If you wanted real answers, you should have gone to Jinki’s.”

“You know he wouldn’t have told me anything !”

“Taemin did !”

“But it’s no use ! Jinki will never-”

Said Taemin walked in at that moment, a huge smile on his face. Minho and Jonghyun frowned at the unexpected expression on the younger’s face.

“Can we know why you’re smiling like that ? You look high or something.” Jonghyun said.

Taemin rolled his eyes.

“I’m just happy. Am I not allowed to be happy ?”

“And… what’s the reason behind that sudden happiness ?”

“Let’s say that… I got the answers I wanted, and more.”

Jonghyun’s eyes widened and he rushed to him.

“So you know if it was really Jinki himself who called Kibum ?”

“He did. For real.”

Jonghyun and Minho stared at Taemin with wide eyes. They had never thought Jinki could ever call Key himself. Had Jinki finally moved on ?

“Oh, I need to go see Jinki !” Jonghyun said with a smirk.

Jinki would have to suffer from Jonghyun’s teasing again, apparently...

“No !” Taemin said.

“What do you mean, ‘no’ ?”

“I talked to Key and he wants us to leave Jinki alone. And I must say that… I think so too. I mean, Jinki called him ! It has to mean he doesn’t need us anymore, right ? It’s time for him to do his own thing, and I think he thinks the same, otherwise he wouldn’t have hidden the fact that Key is spending the weekend at his place from us.”

Minho had to admit Taemin had a point. Since when had his boyfriend become so wise ? He was usually the first person to persuade people to do things (or rather, to harass them until they did what he wanted them to do). He had said him himself, he liked playing Cupid.

“He’s spending the weekend with Key ?! The entire weekend ?! Why am I always the last person to know ?!” Jonghyun complained, faking to be offended. “I need to talk to Jinki !”

Taemin frowned in disapproval and Jonghyun was quick to try and reassure him.

“Don’t worry, it’s just to congratulate him !”

“I think Taemin’s right.”

“Minho…” Jonghyun said with a sigh.

“We should leave them alone, for this weekend at least.”

“And what if nothing happens because Jinki’s afraid to make the first step ?”

“You know very well he’ll more likely do something if we’re not there. He won’t do anything if we’re with them, he doesn’t like us watching his every move.”

Jonghyun heaved a sigh and shook his head.

“Alright… We won’t bother them this weekend.”

Taemin made a little happy dance at that and Minho couldn’t help but smile. His boyfriend was just really cute sometimes.

“I don’t understand how you can be this happy right now…” Jonghyun said. “We’re supposed to be partners ! We’ve always teased Jinki together ! What changed ?”

“I made a deal with Key.”

“Oh. And what could he propose that’s better than teasing Jinki ?”

“He promised me he would wear y underwears all weekend.”

For a second, Minho wondered how in the heavens could they have ended up making that kind of deal but he would rather stay ignorant on that one. With Taemin, it was sometimes better not to know.

“Oh my God… Lee Taemin, don’t say things like that to me !”

“He was so y… especially with those see-through boxers.”

“You saw him in his underwears ?!” Jonghyun yelled, his eyes widening.

“I saw him with and without underwears.” Taemin bragged.

“You saw him ?!” Jonghyun yelled in a high-pitched voice, both shocked and envious.

Yes, Minho thought it was better not to know.

…………………………

The car was completely washed, her clean red body finally shining. She was just like in his memories and he felt a slight pang in his heart when he thought about all of the years she had spent locked up in his garage. He shouldn’t have treated her like this.

“Do you have the keys ?” Kibum asked.

“I do, but I doubt she’ll start after all these years…”

He was sure she wouldn’t start if they tried. She had spent almost eight years in his garage collecting dust.

“We can still try !”

Jinki smiled at Kibum’s motivation.

“The keys are in my office, we can go get them if you want.”

“No, you stay there and I’ll go get them. You two must have some catching up to do.” He said with a smile as he tapped the hood.

“Alright.” He said, chuckling. “You can ask Sohye, she knows where the keys are.”

Kibum nodded and left to go get them, leaving Jinki alone with his old car. He moved closer and rested his hand on the hood. He might have not driven her for a long time, but he still had lived a lot of things in that car. He had brought her to college with him, had often driven Minho to football practice when the younger didn’t have a car, had driven them to parties and had driven Minho back home afterwards when he was too drunk… The list could go even longer, and Jinki was struck by a feeling of nostalgia.

“I have the keys !”

He turned to see Kibum, holding the keys up with a big smile. The younger opened the driver’s door and heaved a sigh.

“We should clean the inside too…”

It was true that the seats and the dashboard needed some dusting. The inside of the car was covered in dust as well; a lot less than the outside, but still. They still needed to do some more cleaning up before the car could be back to its original state.

“It’s getting late, we can still clean up the rest tomorrow.”

Kibum nodded. They had both slept in that morning, but cleaning up the car had been exhausting for the both of them.

“I’ll give a call later for someone can take a look at her.”

His father had a friend who worked in a garage and he always used to let him fix his cars whenever there was a problem. Jinki must still have his number somewhere.

“We should go back inside.”

The temperature was getting lower and lower and the wind may have been weak, it still felt very cold because of their wet clothes. Jinki only wanted one thing: to take a warm shower and slip into dry and comfortable clothes.

They went to get help to put the car back into the garage and Kibum closed the door before giving the keys back to Jinki. They had done most of the work already, and they would finish everything tomorrow.

When they got back, Sohye and Mrs Park were talking in the hallway. They both stopped talking when they came in - soaked to the bone - and stared silently. Jinki sighed inwardly when he headed to his room and they stayed silent, or didn’t make any comment out loud at least. Mrs Park would probably start telling everyone as soon as he would turn his back.

About an hour later, Jinki was by the dinner table, in his most comfortable sweatpants and a black hoodie. He was reading the newspapers when Kibum sat at the table next to him. He had changed into his famous robe but still had his choker on. His hair was wet and he smiled he felt Jinki’s stare. He was beautiful.

He wanted to touch him so bad.

He took his hand in his and squeezed it gently. Their eyes met and Kibum stood up, Jinki pulled away from the table and Kibum sat on his lap as usual. He wrapped his arms around his neck while Jinki’s hand rested on his thigh. He looked up and Kibum rested his forehead on his. Jinki’s used his free hand to cup his cheek and they smiled to each other before leaning in. They kissed slowly, and it felt so right Jinki’s heart melted.

Ever since Jinki had confided in Kibum in the pool, his desire to be close to Kibum had been stronger than the fear trapping him. It was still there, buried deep in a corner of his heart, dormant until the day something would awaken it. But for now, Jinki would breathe. He could kiss Kibum whenever he wanted without hearing a voice telling him that he didn’t love him, that he only wanted his money and that he would break his heart like she had done. So he was making the best of it. He would have spent every second of this weekend kissing Kibum if he could. It was as if he had been granted a weekend of freedom after years spent in jail.

They parted and Kibum chuckled.

“What ?” Jinki asked.

“I was just thinking about your friends’ reaction if they saw us like this.”

Jinki heaved a sigh. He could picture it very well. Minho would have stared at them with an approving glint in his eyes and a small smile. Taemin would hug the life out of them while congratulating them excitedly. As for Jonghyun, he would stare at them with a smirk and say how it was ‘about time’.

If they ever saw them like this, Jinki probably wouldn’t hear the end of it.

He was happy they weren’t there.

…………………………..

Sohye couldn’t help but smile at the sight. They were both in the living room, watching a movie while eating popcorn. Key was sitting in the armchair with his legs against his chest while Jinki was next to him, the popcorn bowl resting on his lap. Key was talking and Jinki was listening silently, a small smile on his lips.

Jinki was smiling a lot these days, and Sohye couldn’t be happier. She was far from stupid, she knew it was linked to Key. And she hoped with all her heart that they would end up together for good. Yes, Key was an . But he was a good person and it looked like he genuinely cared about Jinki.

She was just hoping that life wouldn’t get in the way. Fate could play some cruel tricks on the nicest people, and Jinki had already suffered enough.

The next day, Sohye woke Jinki up herself. She had found a new physio and even if she had let Jinki sleep a little the day before, she didn’t want to give the man a bad impression. Finding a physio available on a Sunday morning was almost as easy as finding a needle in a haystack and yet, she had done it. She wanted to prioritize Jinki’s happiness, yes, but that didn’t mean she would let his physical condition suffer from it.

She walked in the room and opened the curtains. The sunlight suddenly pooled in the room and she heard Jinki groan. He couldn’t sleep when there was light, hence the dark heavy curtains.

She turned towards him to see him buried under the covers. She sighed and shook her head. As if hiding under the covers would keep her from waking him up… She walked to the bed and brutally pulled the covers away. He groaned and hid his eyes with his arms.

“Good morning, Jinki !”

He only groaned as an answer and hid his face in his pillow.

“Good morning, Jinki.” She repeated, amused.

“Yeah, yeah… ‘Morning.”

She had obviously made him even grumpier than usual. She had to admit she could have waken him up in a more gentle way, but after years of waking him up every morning and seeing him grumpy no matter what she did, she had run out of patience. She was a busy woman, and she had no time to waste.

“Where’s Kibum ?”

Sohye smiled. He would have obviously preferred to be waken up by Key, but she had decided not to. Key just took too long to wake him up. When he actually woke him up and didn’t fall back asleep himself, that was.

“He’s busy.”

Jinki frowned.

“He was on the phone.” She explained.

“Oh.”

Sohye opened the window before turning back to Jinki, only to find him ready to fall back asleep, his eyes closed.

“Jinki !” She scolded, raising her voice.

He jumped and opened his eyes; she sighed.

“Don’t fall back asleep. The new physio will be there in a few minutes.”

“You could have left me the weekend…”

“Yesterday was an exception, Jinki. Don’t get used to me letting you sleep in.”

Jinki sighed and Sohye smiled. He may have been happier than usual, but he was still as grumpy as ever when he was woken up.

……………………..

The car was back in the courtyard, and this time Kibum and Jinki were armed with vacuum cleaners and pieces of rags to dust it off. Seeing how things had turned out yesterday, Jinki was rather happy they didn’t need any water this time.

They were both dressed in simple clothes since they were probably going to spend the whole day cleaning it up. Jinki had opted for a simple pair of jeans and a black tee-shirt (he wouldn’t risk another white tee-shirt), while Kibum was wearing was very a pair of skinny jeans ripped at the knees and a large white tee-shirt. He mustn’t have thought about bringing old clothes he could use. But they hadn’t planned to clean up his old car in the first place, anyway.

They started cleaning up the inside of the car and spent a good part of the afternoon hoovering the floor and dusting off the dashboard and the leather seats. They talked about this and that, and time flew by faster than expected. Jinki couldn’t help but glance at Kibum every now and then. He was beautiful, and Jinki was wondering how someone could ever look so good in such simple clothes.

A few hours later, they were both sitting in the car which now looked just like she used to. Jinki felt the nostalgia taking over.

“Let’s try and start it !”

“It won’t work.”

Kibum refused to admit defeat and sat in the driver’s seat. He put the key in the ignition and turned it over. Unsurprisingly, the car didn’t start.

Kibum pouted.

“See ? I told you.”

“It was still worth a try.” He said, leaning back against the seat.

“You can say it if you don’t trust me, you know.” Jinki teased.

“Yah ! That’s not what I meant !” Kibum complained, hitting his shoulder.

Jinki chuckled and Kibum got out of the car. He gestured for Jinki to take his place and with some help, he ended up in the driver’s seat while Kibum went to the other side of the car to sit on the passenger seat. Jinki smiled fondly and caressed the steering wheel.

“Must have been easy, hitting on people with a car like this…”

Jinki chuckled and felt the dashboard.

“It was… But every time I went to a party and had a chance with someone, I ended up having to take care of a drunk Minho.”

“Minho ?” Kibum said, with wide eyes. “He doesn’t look like the type of guy to get drunk at parties.”

“Not anymore, because he’s grown a lot more mature since, but when we were younger he was a real party-goer.”

“It’s hard to believe…”

“It is. Taemin still doesn’t believe me, and Minho denies all of it…”

“So you’ve missed a lot of opportunities because of him ?”

Jinki chuckled. He could remember a few times when Minho had blown off all of his chances to go back home with someone. Once, they had gone to a student party and Jinki had been hitting on a rather pretty girl outside when Minho had appeared out of nowhere and had thrown up in the bushes right next to them. Obviously, the girl had been disgusted, and Jinki had been forced to bring Minho back to his house to rest. It was without a doubt one of the most memorable moments. Minho had been so drunk he had spent the night locked up in Jinki’s bathroom so that his parents wouldn’t see him like this.

“Yes, we could say that.”

They kept talking for a while. After that, they both fell silent. Jinki was lost in his thoughts.

“I’ve always wanted to do it in a car.” Kibum admitted, breaking the silence.

“W-what ?”

“I’d like to do it in a car, one day.” He repeated.

Kibum had that habit of talking about embarrassing things without batting an eyelash. Jinki had to admit he admired his frankness.

“Isn’t that a bit cliché ?” He ended up saying, after a while.

“It’s not because it’s cliché that it’s a bad idea.”

“I thought…” He trailed off. “Nevermind.”

“What ?”

Talking about clichés, he had thought Kibum had already tried all there was to try… ually but he didn’t want to upset him because of wrong assumptions. Jinki hesitated but Kibum gestured for him to speak up.

“Well, since you’re an …”

“Oh.”

He didn’t look upset at all and Jinki felt relieved.

“I do what my customers want me to do. It isn’t about what I want, it’s about what they want. I don’t do any weird though. And most of my customers like their privacy so… having in a car probably isn’t a good idea. Besides,” he said with a sigh. “I don’t want to do it with them. I want to do it with someone I love.”

Jinki felt a pang in the heart when he thought about all of the rich erts who had laid their hands on Kibum. Sure, he liked his job and he had chosen to do what he did, but Jinki still thought it wasn’t right for him to be bought and used like a toy.

He felt his heart clench at the thought of someone - anyone - laying his hands on Kibum and for the first time, he felt the cold stab of jealousy piercing his heart.