“Hyukkie, let me teach you how to drive.”

Sanghyuk opens his eyes to see Jaehwan hovering over him. The brunette looks as if he’s been awake for hours. His hair dry and simply styled, already dressed in a sweater and jeans. Sanghyuk looks at the clock, it’s only just turned 6:00am.

“Hyung,” Sanhyuk’s eyes are begging to rest a little longer. “Why are you up so early? We don’t have to be at the studio until—“

“8:00am, I know. I wanted your lesson to start off on the right foot.” Jaehwan peels back the covers from the youngest, trying not to wake the other boys still sleeping. Hongbin lies very close to Sanghyuk’s blankets. On his other side, Wonshik burrows his head underneath his pillow, trying to escape the talk.

Sanghyuk looks to the sleeping boy practically sharing the blankets with him. “Is that what Hongbin told you?”

He felt bad for running as fast as he could from the car that day, but think of it as a flight or fight reaction. He would never want to fight his Honbinnie. Hongbin was right, though, they weren’t late. Luckily for Sanghyuk, they arrived just in time to dance, no chitchat. Sanghyuk’s legs stopped shaking halfway through practice. The first few songs he would bump into the other members, although never once did he come in contact with Hongbin.

“Yah—Trying to sleep.” Wonshik grumbles from his pillow. Hongbin reaches across Sanghuks spot to take a swipe at the rapper. He almost clips Sanghyuk, but the youngest almost jumps onto Jaehwan’s lap to avoid it.

Jaehwan helps steady the taller boy. The two watch as the final two boys in bed grumble and mumble to each other, thinking the other is to blame for the noise.

Sanghyuk fights back a giggle while Jaehwan mouths the words ‘Just hurry’, and points towards the bathroom door.

~

As he steps out into the main area of their apartment, Sanghyuk is met with a cup of coffee courtesy of Jaehwan. He waves to the two oldest sitting at the kitchen table as he bows in thanks of the coffee. Jaehwan’s smile hasn’t left his face since Sanghyuk silently agreed to let his Jaehwan Hyung teach him how to drive. He hasn’t openly agreed to the lesson, but at this point, to voice a turndown would be heartbreaking to Jaehwan, and no one wants that.

“So, Jaehwan tells me he’s giving you a driving lesson today.” Hakyeon stirs two sugar cubes into this coffee. Sanghyuk thinks it’s too early for Hakyeon to give him such an evil smirk, but he didn’t heed his words of caution the first lesson, why should it matter this time, right?

Jaehwan gently smacks Sanghyuk’s hand away from the bowl of fruit Taekwoon sits on the table every morning. “Come on come on, we can grab something on the way there, I want to make sure we have enough time to learn everything.”

Before Sanghyuk can protest Jaehwan is out the door, leaving the youngest with the two oldest boys of the group. He glances at the seated boys and realizes both have odd looks on their faces. Taekwoon, once Sanghyuk catches his eye, finds the bowl of fruit much more interesting. If that doesn’t slightly freak him out, the fact that Hakyeon’s eyes never leave his makes it worse.

“What, are you going to warn me about Jaehwan’s driving? Tell me ‘good luck’ again? A ‘be careful’ at least?” Sanghyuk waits for protests from the leader as he slips on his shoes, only half expecting to listen to the sass he’s about to hear.

“No need,” Sanghyuk doesn’t give the satisfaction of his full attention. “Have fun, Sanghyuk, learn lots.” Hakyeon’s voice matches that evil smirk on his face.

“Thanks.” Sanghyuk has no idea why he’s so offended. Jaehwan is doing everything to give his maknae the best driving lesson he can. How sweet.

And here’s Hakyeon, sassy, sarcastic, Hakyeon. Sanghyuk is confident Jaehwan will prove Hakyeon wrong.

Right?

~

“Okay, first step.” Jaehwan is practically vibrating in the driver seat. “Adjust your seat. Make sure you’re comfortable with the distance between the seat and the wheel.” Jaehwan demonstrates how adjust the bottom of the seat and the top. Sanghyuk nods, understanding the basics is the best place to start.

He nods through the explanation of the seat belt and the explanation of the mirror placement. He nods through the explanation of the shifting of gears. Park, Drive, Neutral, Sanghyuk nods through the lengthy explanation of each. Before he knows it, Sanghyuk finds himself actually nodding off to the sound of Jaehwan’s voice.

Sanghyuk dreams that he and Jaehwan are on a road trip. He feels the wind hitting his face and the sun beating down. Throughout the dream Sanghyuk can’t help but feel like the two are supposed to be somewhere. Sanghyuk tries to ask the driver where they’re going and if they need to actually be going somewhere else. Every time he looks at his hyung, instead of Jaehwan’s face, its only Jaehwan’s mouth. Just one huge mouth connected to a neck. The lips move and move and keep on moving.

Sanghyuk’s voice is drowned out by the moving lips. He feels the anxiety rise from the pit of his stomach. He raises his voice a little louder. Anxiety rises. Voice rises. Anxiety rises. Voice rises. The louder he yells the bigger the mouth gets. The mouth gets bigger and bigger until Sanghyuk is pushed against the windshield. He gives one final shout as he feels his lungs crushed by the mouth.

“HYUNG!!!!” Sanghyuk jumps in his seat, realizing Jaehwan’s lips are the same size they’ve always been. He’s relieved to hear his own voice and for once not hear Jaehwan’s.

The car is stopped and parked in front of the studio. He looks around and sees the other members crowded around the front of the car. Jaehwan’s car door is open and the members are peering in the car with worried looks. Even Hakyeon.

Jaehwan is halfway across the middle console. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” he says, hand hovering over Sanghyuk’s shoulder, “I was just letting you know we’re here.”

Sanghyuk is startled at the sound of Jaehwan’s voice coming out of the normal-sized mouth. He backs up quickly, but apologizes profusely.

Jaehwan smiles and Sanghyuk’s heart starts racing at Jaehwan’s growing smile. It’s not that his hyung’s smile is something that get’s his heart beating; it’s a great smile, no doubt. Really, it’s because his face is closing in and his smile is getting so big it’s like Sanghyuk’s dream is coming true.

“It’s not problem, Hyukkie, I must have woken you up a little too early!” Jaehwan gets out of the car and Sanghyuk feels his heart beat start to even out.

“We can try again tomorrow morning!” Jaehwan’s face is back in his view so quickly Sanghyuk loses his breath.

Jaehwan catches up with Hongbin leading the rest of the group inside. Sanghyuk can hear him rehash what he only assumes Jaehwan talked about the entire time. Wonshik keeps looking in the car and Sanghyuk thinks he hears him ask Taekwoon if everything is okay in there. Taekwoon joins the Wonshik and the two stare into the car like Sanghyuk is some type of animal at a zoo, locked in a cage. Taekwoon’s head turns slightly and although he can’t hear, Sanghyuk thinks Taekwoon is probably reassuring Wonshik everything is fine. Taekwoon places an arm around the younger boy and leads him towards the studio, following Hongbin and Jaehwan. Judging from the exaggerated hand motions, Jaehwan is still explaining things. Always explaining things. Wonshik allows Taekwoon to move his body, but he has a hard time tearing his gaze from the car.

Sanghyuk can’t control his breathing. Somehow, Jaehwan’s voice is still ringing in his ears. It’s like his ears can only pick up the main vocal’s voice. He swears this very instant he can her him telling Hongbin what a great job he did explaining the importance of rear defrost.

Hakyeon’s body stands next to Sanghyuk’s window. He taps on the glass lightly, as to not startle the youngest even more than he seems to be. Sanghyuk gathers his bearings and finally makes it out of the car. Taking a deep breath he meets Hakyeon’s soft gaze. There is no smirk, only a look of concern.

“Did you have a nice lesson?”

“It was a nightmare.”