Taekwoon is about to have a breakdown.

 

He knew ever since he left the last rest stop after dinner. There's that rumbling in his chest, his cheeks gradually getting more flush as he drives.

 

There isn't much traffic on the road tonight, which can either be a good or a bad thing. Good because less people will see his breakdown. Bad because well, less people will see his breakdown.

 

Not that Taekwoon cares if people see his breakdown. Most people won't stop to help anyway.

 

Taekwoon passes a sign telling him the next rest stop is still another twenty miles away. He takes one last look around him and decides he better pull over on the side of the road to deal with his inevitable break down.

 

He's right to pull over rather than try to stretch his luck at the rest stop. As soon as he slows his truck down he hears his truck gasp a little for air, then give a final breath before he feels his truck drop a few inches. He watches the gauges on his dashboard go from one extreme to the other before looking at his watch and calling it.

 

It's 11:46pm and he's finally had his truck break down.

 

He leaves his lights on as he jumps out of the truck and opens his side door for his supplies.

 

Taekwoon has learned years ago that being a trucker means not only being a trucker, but taking on multiple roles when needed. For example he's his own meteorologist, gps (with help from a map), even his own radio at times. Then there are times like now that he becomes a mechanic (or at least try). He pops the hood of his truck and sees small clouds of black smoke fly from the engine.

 

He knows it's too early to start poking around, the engine is still hot. For now he lets the engine cool and digs for a bottle of water. He's become his own canteen.

 

“Here kitty, kitty, kitty.” A voice crackles through his two-way radio. The two younger voices from channel 6 dropped off hours ago. The two night owls haven't started their conversation yet, both are most likely stopped and out of their trucks for their own late night meals. Recently he's heard the two use a different tone for each other. Even when the channel is flooded with all six boys it's obvious to tell when Ravi is addressing a question to N or N to Ravi.

 

It's hard to have any privacy on a two-way radio channel. You never know when someone is listening, but neither boy seems to mind. Taekwoon admits he feels slightly guilt listening to the two converse late at night, but he can't help smile at how the two speak to one another.

 

“Here kitty, kitty, kitty.” That leaves only one remaining trucker on the channel with Taekwoon. Really, there is no need for deduction. That nickname alone gives him away.

 

“Stop calling me that.” Taekwoon speaks into his radio.

 

“Leo-yah, Kitty-Leo, I haven't heard from you all day.”

 

What else is new? Taekwoon thinks, but doesn't share his question.

 

“Yeah yeah, I know what else is new, right? I at least get some sense of you on the line, but today I felt extra lonely, Kitty Leo.” Taekwoon can practically hear the pout in his voice.

 

Taekwoon bites his lip from smiling. Sure, he's become more vocal over the radio, but he's not quite ready to let all of his emotions out into the two-way radio frequency universe. It's thanks to this rambling buffoon that he's become so comfortable with channel 6.

 

“I'm telling you, Kenneth, stop calling me that.”

 

“Me-ow, such a feisty kitty.”

 

It's only by chance that Ken even heard Taekwoon on Channel 6. Three years ago, before the two young voices joined, before Ravi's deep voice and N's soft tones were always piercing his ears (in a good way, I assure you) it was only Taekwoon. Well, what Taekwoon thought was only Taekwoon.

 

He wasn't talkative at first, but he did his fair share of calling out to any other truckers who might be lonely and tired on the road. At the time Taekwoon was one of the youngest truckers on the road, so not many truckers took the time to respond. Taekwoon didn't mind listening in, but started to realize he could barely keep his eyes open while listening to idle talk on the radio. Since the two-way radio is essential for trucking purposes (only 30% of the time, the other 70% is filled with what bar trucker A went to last night or what movie trucker B got to see) listening to the actual radio is out of the question. Music was the one thing Taekwoon missed about his old life.

 

That's when he found channel 6. He listened to silence for two days straight before deeming the channel deserted. It was perfect. He could stream music from his phone just loud enough to keep him awake. Staying on Channel 6 made it easy to know when something important was being shared. Alerts and warnings broadcast over all channels and all Taekwoon had to do was set his dispatch to the correct channel so his coordinates would come over. This day and age dispatchers don't actually communicate to the truckers, they simply type in the coordinates for a job, perhaps a brief message explaining the client, and hit send. You'd think by now they'd catch on to those crazy new inventions called cellular phones they can use instead of the two-way radio.

 

Not that Taekwoon minds using the radio.

 

One day after lunch, Taekwoon climbed into his truck and his radio. Before he could start his music stream he heard music through the his two-way radio.

 

It was someone singing.

 

At the end he applauded himself and asked for any requests.

 

His voice was so lovely that Taekwoon had already made a mental list of all the songs he wanted to hear that voice sing.

 

“Are you stopped for the night?” Taekwoon hears through the radio.

 

Enough time has passed for Taekwoon to go out and be a mechanic again. He stares at the radio and convinces himself that it's late enough he could pass off as sleeping. Before he gives himself away he jumps out of his truck and walks to the open hood. He shines his flashlight in and finds himself completely lost in all of the cords and cables. He walks back to his truck. Maybe in a few minutes his truck will magically fix itself?

 

“Leo? Everything okay?”

 

How does this kid know so much?!

 

Taekwoon is a trucker, a mechanic (who's he kidding, he's no mechanic), he fancies himself a good singer, but above all, Taekwoon is a man. Men do not ask for help so easily. Besides, who's to say Ken would be of any help anyway?

 

“If you need help, Kitty Leo, I can help you.”

 

Taekwoon stares at the radio again. He's never met any of the voices from Channel and he's sure he likes it that way. Right?

 

“Not now.” Taekwoon finds himself saying into the radio. Why would he give himself away? Why? He lightly rests his forehead on his steering wheel.

 

“Ah, so you do need help.”

 

“I'm sleeping.” Taekwoon replies quickly, trying to half yawn into the radio.

 

“Looks like I'm going on a lion hunt! A Kitty Leo lion hunt!”

 

“No.”

 

“Here kitty, kitty, kitty.”

 

“Ken--”

 

“Here kitty. Kitty Leo, is that you?”

 

Taekwoon knows the two could be cities apart. On the other hand, they could be mere miles apart.

 

He listens to Ken search for his broken down truck (“Is this you? Nope, just a car. Is this you? No, that's a bus!”) Until he hears a truck stop behind his own.

 

“Aha, found you.”

 

Taekwoon lifts his head from his wheel and sees another truck's headlight in his rear view mirror. He starts feeling dizzy. Sudden anticipation causes another rumble in his chest like the one earlier. Except this time he knows it's not going to go away that easily.

 

There's a silhouette of a young man. His build is smaller than Taekwoon, but they're the same height. The silhouette walks without fear to the front of the truck. Taekwoon finds himself smiling at Ken's rashness.

 

“I could have been waiting to murder you.”

 

“Ah, my net is much too small to catch such a large kitty.”

 

“That's it. I'm going to murder you.”

 

“How will you ever get back on the road if you murder me? Let me fix your truck first.”

 

Taekwoon has been told his gaze is less than friendly. He'll glance towards someone and they'll immediately look the other way. Another reason why being a trucker fit Taekwoon perfectly. Although looking at Ken there's a different feeling.

 

Taekwoon follows Ken out to the front of his truck and holds the flashlight like he used to for his dad when he was younger. He watches as Ken checks from fluids, shakes a few cords and cables, then walks back to his truck. He comes back with something he's pulled from his own side door. Taekwoon follows Ken back to his own truck. Ken hands him the damaged cord and smiles, “simple fix.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Your voice does not match your body, you know that?”

 

“Hm.”

 

“I'm not disappointed in either, just, well one doesn't do justice for the other.”

 

Taekwoon doesn't understand that last part.

 

“What I mean is, you look good.”

 

Taekwoon's blush is hidden in the dark, but he can feel the smile on his lips.

 

“You look good, too.” He means it. He guesses Ken is a year or two younger. His hair is pushed away from his face, accentuating his large features. Plump lips, slightly larger nose, even his eyes are larger than most.

 

“My name is Jaehwan.” Jaehwan says as he wipes his hands off from a towel he's pulled from his truck.

 

“Taekwoon.” He holds out his hand and waits for Jaehwan to grab hold of his own.

 

Jaehwan smiles a lop-sided grin and takes the hand.

 

Before letting go Jaehwan takes Taekwoon's hand in both of his own.

 

“My first successful lion hunt. I wish I had a wall I could hang you on.”

 

“A downside of being a trucker.”

 

“Well maybe I can take a picture. I could hang that on my dashboard. That's kind of a wall, right?”

 

Taekwoon shakes his head at the cellular phone being shoved in his face for a picture. “Do you like coffee, Jaehwan?”

 

Jaehwan lowers his phone. “I love it.”

 

“You want to grab a cup before we start driving again?”

 

Jaehwan sits down in his truck and thinks about the offer. He places a hand on his chin and scratches his head like it's a big decision to make. “Well, that depends, are you buying?”

 

Taekwoon snorts, “yes, I will buy.”

 

“I mean it's only fair, right? I helped you with your truck and all--”

 

“I said yes.”

 

“Hmm...” Jaehwan crosses and uncrosses his legs, “sure, coffee sounds great!”

 

Taekwoon waits for Jaehwan to jump out of his truck.

 

Although Jaehwan doesn't make a move. He's sitting half outside of his truck, door open, interior light on, almost creating a spotlight for Jaehwan.

 

Like an angel, sent from heaven to help Taekwoon with his truck needs.

 

Barf.

 

“Well?” Taekwoon wants a cup of coffee and even more to have a chance to sit with Jaehwan, maybe get a better look at the younger boy...

 

Jaehwan cutely kicks out his feet, demonstrating the distance between his feet and the ground. He reaches out to Taekwoon as if he's too afraid to make the jump on his own.

 

Taekwoon finds this cute, but rolls his eyes at how over the top he finds Jaehwan can be. He should have known for as much as he acts cute over channel 6, seeing him in the flesh is ten fold the amount.

 

“Come here.” Taekwoon reaches out a hand to help Jaehwan from his truck.

 

Just as Taekwoon's hand is fully extended Jaehwan takes the opportunity to snap a picture of his new friend.

 

“Perfect.”

 

“Yah, do you want to die?”

 

Jaehwan hops down without Taekwoon's help. He's checking the picture he just took. Taekwoon's face is beginning to hurt from smiling so much. Jaehwan made the picture his background.

 

“I'll probably stop and have a photo copy made, but my cell phone background is like a wall, right? That's why they call it wallpaper still, right?”

 

The two boys walk to the nearest coffee shop (a diner passed less than a mile ago) and talk the whole time. Taekwoon catches Jaehwan glimpse at his phone from time to time, smiling at his new wallpaper.

 

“I deserve a picture, too.”

 

“Why's that?” Jaehwan pockets his phone, excited to hear what Taekwoon has to say.

 

“If it wasn't for my breakdown, you would have never found me.” Taekwoon pulls out his own phone, now, trying to get a good shot in the dark.

 

Jaehwan smiles and blocks the phone. “You planned this, didn't you. You wanted to be caught and tamed, my Kitty Leo.”

 

“I told you, stop calling me that.”

 

“It's cute, my own personal nickname for you. No one else on channel 6 calls you that, you know that?”

 

“Just let me take a picture.”

 

“I'll send one to you. I have a ton in my phone.”

 

Taekwoon seems to accept this, “I get to pic which one.”

 

“No problem my Kitty Leo. Now, I'll just need your phone number..”

 

 

AN: I feel a writers block coming on... hopefully I'll push through it! Thanks for reading!