The cold breeze of an evening on late-January comes gushing through his black hair, swaying it left and right as he tries to defend himself from the coldness. He pulls his cardigan tighter around his body to keep himself warm as he walks straight to a bus stop a few feet away from him. He regrets for wearing such thin layer of clothes that evening as the coldness keeps on attacking him from all direction. The bus stop is not crowded, but it is not empty either.

A woman with a black scarf wrapping neatly around her neck and a winter coat wrapping nicely around her petite figure starts to tap her high heels on the ground as she tries to defeat the temperature. There is also a man who stands against the bus stop pole with an un-lit cigarette in between his lips. A guitar case covered in various bumper stickers and sharpie drawings places next to his right. He has a distant look in his eyes as he brings the grey lighter closer to his chin and lights his cigarette.

A few uninteresting people scatters around the bus stop, but before he can closely observes them, a bus approaches.

When the bus stops, the passengers start to stand in line, waiting for the door to be opened and once it's his turn to get on, he steps up in to the aisle and looks around before he swipes his t-card. The passengers before him are busy procuring a seat to themselves. A girl with her hoodie up, covering her head but that blonde hair of hers and the headphone that she wears underneath can still be seen; is sitting near the front of the bus. A young mother with a sleeping baby rocked gently in her embrace is sitting next to the blonde girl.

The other passengers before him soon look at him, waiting for him to be seated and he quickly takes a seat in the middle of the last row at the back of the bus. It's the most uncomfortable seat in every bus with this kind of seating pattern because when the bus suddenly jerks stop due to an emergency brake, he will be the first person to stumble over from his seat, but he doubts that will happen since the traffic is quite busy at that time so the bus driver doesn't have the chance on speeding.

He settles on his seat, then, after a few minutes of waiting, he can see the woman with black scarf and the guy with the guitar case board the bus not that far behind him. They also struggle to find a place to seat but they decide to stand with the help of the safety rails above their heads as support once the door closes and the bus starts to drive off.

 

Outside, the sun starts to set, leaving rose quarts and serenity painting across the clear sky and that calming scene presents on and off as the tall buildings block him from seeing it one after another. He then looks around as the bus slows down when it approaches the next bus stop. There are a lot of passengers who stands up carefully and stands in line to get off on this stop and the number of passengers who waits to get on board is quite little.

When the bus stops, the passengers outside are giving way for the passengers inside to get off board first before they get on board. Different style of people comes in view in front of him but then he catches a cute but tired-looking small guy with a soft yellow-colored hair walks in the aisle slowly, heading to an empty seat next to him. As the small guy comes closer, that light yellow-colored hair soon turns to be giallo banana-colored and it's definitely suits the small guy's appearance.

The smaller sits down quietly next to him and the rest of the new passengers soon take their places inside the bus before the bus starts to drive off again. The environment inside of the bus slowly turns to be calming and soothing as everyone uses this time to relax from their active day. He feels his eyes getting heavier, his eyelids start to open and close repetitively, but the moment when he decides to close his eyes for a few minutes, he can feel a weight on his right shoulder.

His eyes shot open widely at the contact and he looks elsewhere, not trying to look at the weight on his shoulder. He knows that it belongs to the small guy earlier who sits next to him because he looks tired once he gets on board and he doesn't have the heart to wake the smaller up. He knows it's strange to feel this way but how the smaller's head fits perfectly at the crook of his neck makes him feel fluttery on the inside.

He clasps his hands together, trying to hide his nervousness from being obvious as he continues to act as if nothing happen and it seems like the other passengers don't bother to look at the two of them at the back of the bus. They stay like that for another minute before the smaller's head suddenly falls off his shoulder which cause the smaller to wake up from his tiredness.

The small guy covers his face with his hands from the embarrassment for a moment and he quickly ruffles his messy, giallo banana-colored hair before he looks to the side and apologizes.

"S-sorry…"

"That's okay…"

He looks to the smaller to find that exhaustion look in his eyes, he can't help but feel sympathize towards the smaller. He manages to take a closer look of the smaller in the close proximity and he notices the student ID card hanging loosely around the smaller's neck, thus he quickly catches the name of the owner.

Lee Jihoon.

He looks away to hide that smile formed on his face from the smaller and bites that lips of his to stop it from trembling out of happiness.

He doesn't have any idea of how long they have been in the situation once the bus comes to a slower speed, approaching another stop, but he appreciates every second of it. The guy named Jihoon steadily stands up from the seat to get off on this stop and before he steps out of the bus, he looks back at the guy at the back seat of the bus.

Jihoon smiles to the guy and the guy looks back at him with a smile on his face until he lands on the ground outside of the bus. Jihoon doesn't know what's gotten into him because he suddenly feels the urge to know the name that belongs to the handsome-looking and kind-hearted guy and despite being sleepy himself, when he managed to catch a glimpse of it on the guy's student ID card, he feels shy yet joyful at the same time.

Choi Seungcheol.

 

**********

 

The sun is shining brightly straight above their heads, making them blinded with the amount of sunlight brightening their eyesight. The passengers start to hide themselves under the roofed bus stop, as a shelter from the amount of brightness and soon, the roofed bus stop is crowded with the amount of overflowed passengers who goes out for lunch break. It's contradicting how it's shines so brightly yet it's not hot compared to how it looks, so Jihoon decides to stand next to the bus stop pole, away from the crowd.

He looks at his watch on one of his wrist to check the time before his part-time job starts. He bites his slightly chapped lips while trying to calculate the possibility of him getting on the next bus with the huge number of passengers and the little amount of time he has. He nervously shakes his legs; feeling agitated at how the bus comes in later than the usual time but soon, he feels relieved. He spots the bus approaching the stop so he quickly stands at the most front of the line and the other passengers start to join in the queue.

The bus stops in front of Jihoon and the door is finally open for him and the others. He carefully climbs into the bus and swipes his t-card before he scans throughout the seats as he slowly walks towards an aisle between the bus driver and the most front seats. He smiles at the couple sitting at the front seat behind him and as he turns around to face the front, he spots that familiar guy from last evening, talking and laughing with another guy next to him, sitting together near the back of the bus.

Oh, Seungcheol…?

But before the other guy can feel the eyes on him, Jihoon quickly averts his attention forward and holds onto the safety rails in front of him as he stands when soon the bus starts to drive off to the next destination.

The ride to his part-time job is longer than his ride back home and as the bus drives along the road, he wonders which stop Seungcheol will get off. He wishes that the elder would get off first before him so that he can see the taller one more time, but too bad, his stop comes first and Seungcheol doesn't look like he's getting off when Jihoon takes a quick glance towards the taller's direction before he goes out off the bus.

Little that he knows a pair of eyes has been looking at his small figure from the back of the bus.

 

**********

 

It's Friday night and the buses are usually crowded at that hour since the high school students go back home late after having fun at the karaoke bar, cybercafé or at the arcade. The adults are nothing lesser than that as they also go back home late after spending the time drinking, dating or having a company dinner together with their colleagues.

Seungcheol doesn't know if he should give way to the others and wait for the next bus or he should just ride the approaching one, but then he remembers that he needs to finish his assignments early since he has a basketball practice tomorrow morning. He follows behind the other passengers whose lining up but as soon as the bus stops, the queue is broken. People push and jolt one another and he can see the bus driver shakes his head, disapproving the behavior.

Seungcheol is the last one to climb inside and the moment he swipes his t-card, he can see the amount of passengers standing along the aisle while holding onto the safety rails above their heads for extra precaution. He decides to continue standing in the middle of the aisle and joins in holding the safety rail above his head as well. He definitely doesn't enjoy this kind of ride. Crowded and packed.

As the bus starts to drive along to the next destination, even a few feet away from the bus stop, he can see the large number of passengers lining up at the bus stop and he knows that with the current situation inside of the bus, it can't fit all of them in one go.

Once the bus stops and opens its door, the new passengers rush to climb up and the bus driver suddenly raises his voice at the other passengers who doesn't want to give up and keep on pushing. The other passengers inside of the bus are speechless as they feel guilty from their similar behavior earlier; they're gazing down with expressionless faces as they try to attract as little attention as possible.

Seungcheol, on the other hand, is relaxed by the action of the bus driver; his mouth turns slightly up into a smile to show the pleasing feeling and when he makes an eye contact with the driver, he gives him a broad real smile with his eyes closed and crinkled as to not show too much self-satisfaction.

Way to go, bus driver-nim.

 

As he waits for the bus to drive off after the door has been closed, he can see a small figure trying to squeeze himself through the passengers at the most front of the bus heading to the middle of the aisle where he stands. Seungcheol quickly steps behind a bit, signaling the smaller to stand in front of him and Jihoon walks slowly towards the taller. Jihoon looks up at the safety rails above his head and for being small himself, he can't reach it without tiptoed himself and that's even more dangerous so he holds onto the seats near him instead.

He takes a quick glance towards Seungcheol to find the taller is looking back at him with that smile that looks genuine enough to him. Jihoon smiles back despite being tired and exhausted from his part-time job.

Seungcheol takes this chance to observe Jihoon and he can see how the hints of exhaustion can be seen on the smaller's face. His eyes look lifeless and sleepy with those plaintive eyebrows of his and the dark eye bags starts to show under that sleepy eyes. His giallo banana-colored hair looks messy and the fringes covering his forehead are not in orderly place. His body can't stand up straight, showing how he already spent all of his energy for the day.

"Hey…" said Seungcheol and Jihoon look up to meet his eyes in a sleepy gaze.

"Hmm?" hummed the smaller in a question manner.

"You're okay? You look awful…"

Seungcheol truly sympathizes the smaller but as Jihoon starts to show that smile again, he feels at slight ease.

"Yeah, I'm okay… I'm just tired, that's all."

"Well, isn't that obvious??"

Jihoon chuckles softly at Seungcheol's light sarcasm. Jihoon can see that Seungcheol acts innocent when his eyes stare away with exaggeration and a grin formed across his face. He feels entertained by the taller's gesture.

His eyes travel around to appreciate Seungcheol's appearance once again; his well-cut and brushed-up black hair frames his oval-shaped face and his lighter shades of skin tone very well, his brown and sparkled deep set of eyes with a little amount of peach-colored eye-shadow, his almost pointed nose and thin lips add an extra touch to the taller's appearance, his slightly pointed, clean-shaved chin and his normal-sized yet cute ears compliments him a lot.

His eyes then travel down to Seungcheol's long and graceful neck, with that soft skin decorating it and that slightly shown sharped collarbones below it makes Jihoon blushes because he remembers how he accidentally slept on the taller's shoulder and how he was soothed by the comfort and instead of retreating himself, he tucked his head comfortably onto the taller's shoulder.

If Seungcheol knows about this, about how Jihoon enjoys that moment, he will definitely freaked out because what kind of strangers would do that to a person he just encountered? But Jihoon can't help it since he feels so tired that evening and how Seungcheol's shoulder soothes him like a soft pillow tucked under his exhausted state is irresistible.

Jihoon looks down, feeling embarrassed from his own doings and he looks away as he can feel the heat on his both sides of fluffy cheeks. He doesn't feel sleepy all of the sudden.

 

They both stay quiet as the bus slowly drives through the busy traffic that night, causing the ride to be longer than usual. If it weren't for Jihoon, Seungcheol would be so annoyed in this crowded space; he starts to acknowledge on how comforting Jihoon's presence is to him. Seungcheol looks at the smaller figure in front of him while Jihoon focuses his attention on the traffic outside.

When Seungcheol thought everything is going to be okay, the bus driver then presses on the honk so many times and he instinctively readies himself to hold Jihoon into his embrace when the bus pulls off an emergency brake, and it really did happen. The bus driver steps on the brake immediately to avoid crashing on the careless driver who suddenly drives into the lane to stop on the side without giving any signals as warning.

Seungcheol knows how it works; he's been bus-riding going back and forth constantly between his university and his rental house for 3 years already so he has an idea when it will happen. Just as he acts based on his instinct, he quickly wraps his unoccupied hand securely around Jihoon's waist and tighten his other grip onto the safety rails above to prevent them from stumbling over due to the great inertia.

Jihoon, who is shocked at the sudden brake, spontaneously hugs around Seungcheol's waist when the taller welcomes him in his warmth embrace and as it is made to complete one another, Jihoon's head straightaway finds its place in the crook of Seungcheol's neck. He doesn't want to break away when the scent of the taller has a gently relaxing effect on him, but he immediately pushes the taller away when pairs of eyes behind Seungcheol shoot glares at their direction.

Jihoon just realized what he did and when the bus driver opens the door even though the next stop is at the far end of the corner at the junction, he quickly makes his way pass through the crowd and swiping his t-card before he gets off the bus. As he walks away from the bus stop, he can hear a familiar voice, screaming for his attention.

"Hey! Wait up!"

"Hey!"

"Jihoon!"

Jihoon suddenly stops on his track when the taller screams his name because he doesn't remember telling the taller that. Just as he waits on his spot without turning around, Seungcheol lightly jogs to his front and catches his breath as he's oxygen-deprived from all the chasing before Jihoon speaks up.

"H-how did you know my name?"

Well, he is not the one to ask that question as he already knows the taller's name intentionally, probably from the same method.

"Oh, I saw your name on your student ID card the other day…"

Seungcheol rubs the back of his neck, trying to surpass the embarrassment he feels but Jihoon notices that forced embarrassed grin and blushed cheeks of his.

As expected, he did the same.

"I don't remember you get off the same stop as me before…" said Jihoon weakly as exhaustion takes place inside of him.

"Oh, that's because you suddenly pushed me off and I thought that I stepped over the limit… I'm sorry…"

Jihoon can feel how the taller is trying to explain clearly and genuinely apologize for his mistake.

"No, it's not because of you… You saved me from falling over, I thank you for that." Jihoon smiles reassuringly at Seungcheol and he smiles at Jihoon back before he follows the smaller wherever the smaller heads to.

 

Soon, they arrive at a wooden bench on the side of the walkway but it's slightly hidden despite being at an open area because the streetlight near the bench doesn't work thus engulfing its presence into the fairly darkness. Jihoon slumps his tired and exhausted self onto the bench, leans back to it and Seungcheol joins in to sit next to him.

"What did you do to be this tired?"

"I'm a kitchen porter at a very famous restaurant, but I mostly do dishwashing because they're lacking in staff for that particular job. The pay is very high for an hour but of course, the effort to it is as high as the pay…"

Jihoon decides to close his eyes when he can feel an attentive gaze on him.

"Oh, did you wash barehanded or with gloves?" asked the curious taller.

"With gloves, but since I wash the dishes for 6 hours with only a few breaks, my hands get wrinkled from the humidity inside of it…"

Just as Jihoon trails off the last word to his sentence lazily, he can feel a pair of hands pulls his hands away from him which causes him to open his eyes and change the attention to their hands together on Seungcheol's lap.

"What are you doing?!" asked Jihoon, being flushed red from the touch.

Seungcheol stays quiet as he scans through the beautiful hands and long, pretty fingers and he can see how the wrinkles are eating away the beauty of it, so one of his hand fishes out a hand cream in one of the pockets of his backpack. He pops open the lid cover with his mouth and squeeze a decent amount onto Jihoon's wrinkled palms. Jihoon just look at whatever Seungcheol plans on doing as he leans back against the backrest of the bench.

 

The night breeze suddenly comes gushing lightly against their skin and as Seungcheol starts to massage on one of his palms gently, all the tied up tension and stress he experienced from both, his university life and his part-time job begin to get released through the power of Seungcheol's touch. It's amazing how Seungcheol can make him calm, focusing only on the rhythm of his breathing, quieting his mind and letting all the thoughts pass by.

He is in the verge of being mindfulness.

The pressure from Seungcheol's hand movements against his palm comes into play again, improving his circulation by moving blood more efficiently. Tranquility takes over his mind and body; he is in need of a soft pillow to tuck himself in the infinity peace and soon his head finds its place once again. He snuggles his head to find that comfortable spot against 'his soft pillow' and smiles to himself satisfyingly once he found it.

But then, he remembers.

Jihoon's eyes open at its widest; embarrassment once again conquers his entire body from his spontaneous act. He looks at Seungcheol to find him looking back at him tenderly as the taller's head tilts sideways, his soft eyes and his gentle smile put Jihoon at ease back in response to the smaller's cuteness. Jihoon bravely looks back into that tenderly gaze but his voice betrays him as its got stuck in between the words he wants to say.

"C-can I…?" Jihoon clears his throat to get his words out more clearly. "Can I?"

"I don't mind…" Seungcheol smiles back at him lovingly and Jihoon quickly hides himself from the red blushes on his cheeks in the crook of the taller's neck and he can feel his ears heated up as the shyness takes over the embarrassment, but he doesn't mind indulging himself shamelessly in Seungcheol's embrace, Seungcheol's warmth and Seungcheol's scent.

 

He opens his eyes slowly as he tries to figure out everything before he falls asleep but when he wants to move his head, he feels a weight on top of it. He looks at their hands together on Seungcheol's lap and how the other's hands are staying stationary can only mean one thing; the taller falls asleep too. He is sure that Seungcheol would experience neck pain as the taller had to bend down lower to lean on top of his head because of their height difference.

Jihoon looks at his wrist to check the time and he is so surprised to see it's already half past two in the morning.

"Hey, Seungcheol… Seungcheol, wake up~" Jihoon's hoarse voice sweet-calls for Seungcheol to wake up and the taller slowly responds to it as he raises his head when his neck starts to feel the pain for bending down uncomfortably in a long period of time. He rubs his eyes to get rid of the sleepiness and he looks to the empty roads and surrounding in front of them.

"What time is it, Jihoon?"

"Two thirty…"

"Oh my god, we fall asleep for that long?" Seungcheol laughs at his own question in disbelief as he remembers that he has assignments to finish before he goes to practice the next morning but he doesn’t know what will happen now. He tilts his head to the side to massage his neck from the pain, subconsciously exposing his long, gracious neck to Jihoon and the smaller quickly looks away.

"How are you going back? The bus has already stopped to operate…" Jihoon says softly as he feels guilty for dragging Seungcheol here in the first place. Seungcheol looks side to side, probably trying to figure something out before he answers to the question.

"I try to catch a taxi or maybe I should just call a chauffeur service…"

"You're serious? You know any number?"

"Yeap, there's this old man who I used to call at this hour…"

"O-oh… I didn’t know you drink…"

"No, not me… but Jeonghan, my friend is a heavy drinker and usually I'm the one who has to bring him home…"

Jihoon nods as he assumes that this said Jeonghan guy may be the friend he saw together with Seungcheol few days ago.

"Oh okay, I'll wait with you until that old man arrives…"

"No, you don’t have to wait… You should go back and get your rest…"

"That's okay, I can wait. Besides, you put me to a good sleep… Think of it as a way of me saying thanks to you…"

Seungcheol's mouth curves into a smile when he heard Jihoon's reason to stay and tears suddenly fill his eyes. Jihoon looks at him surprised and speechless; his mouth puckers slightly and his eyes widen in a round shape, looking at the taller.

"I'm sorry, I'm always emotional at this time around…" said Seungcheol as he rubs away the tears.

 

Seungcheol takes out his cellphone from his pocket to give a call to the old man for his chauffeur service and gratefully the old man picks up his call and agrees for the business. They wait for 10 minutes silently before a car suddenly pulls over in front of them. Seungcheol stands up from the wooden bench as he can see that familiar car and that familiar old man waving at their direction.

But before Seungcheol walks towards the car, leaving the smaller behind, he puts his hand cream into Jihoon's grip.

"What's this for?" Jihoon mentally slaps himself for such obvious question, but he asks the other because he wants confirmation.

"For your hands… don't let it get wrinkled, okay?"

Jihoon smiles heartwarmingly at the attention the taller's giving.

"Oh, one more thing, Jihoon… can I have your number?" asked Seungcheol as he hands over his cellphone to the smaller. Jihoon gladly takes it to fill in his number and hands it back to its owner before waving goodbye.

"I'll call you!" screamed Seungcheol as they get separated further from each other and Jihoon is thankful for the broken streetlight as it hides the visible blushes.

 

**********

 

Friday night is as insanely busy as normal. Jihoon has been working two jobs that day, taking care of the general cleaning other than dishwashing since the worker for that job is taking his day off and he's going as fast as he possibly can to keep up with the dishes, doing it in an alright pace when another worker starts bringing in more dishes. Jihoon sighs softly at the amount of scrubbing and spraying he has to do that night. Jihoon reeks in sweat, has a horrible headache that he had almost called in sick that morning which something Jihoon has never done before, but he keeps on pushing himself through.

Nothing is easy in this world, that's how reality is.

Enclosed in a pile of dishes, Jihoon begins to wash every dish over the sinks. One sink filled with soapy water and another one filled with crap, Jihoon scoops water up and scrubs over the crap-filled sink. Time-consuming and inefficient but he's trying the best that he can. One of the cooks sees that Jihoon looks like he is about to hang himself and offers to help after his shift ends. Even with two guys, they don't get it finish until 1 in the morning.

Whose idea is it to make a large-scale company dinner that night? Jihoon can't help but cursing to that person for causing him a double amount of exhaustion and tiredness since he carries two persons' job all by himself.

He sends away the cook who helps him earlier with a gratitude and thankful smile, but as the cook walks away from his vision, his smile fades and his expression dulls thinking about the other stuff that he needs to settle on before calling his shift off.

While waiting for the dishes, utensils and cooking equipment to dry, Jihoon decides to clean the sinks before organizing the whole kitchen work area and equipment in orderly condition. After being satisfied with the neatly-place and orderly-maintained area, he begins to wipe off the semi dry dishes, utensils and cooking equipment and keeping all of it in the storage area accordingly. He sweeps the floor next and takes out the trash, placing it in the designated pick-up area outside of the restaurant.

Before he goes back in the kitchen, he takes a minute to rest himself by sitting at one of the stairs in front of the backdoor of the restaurant. He loosens the white apron wrapping his body before leaning back with the help from his arms to support his body weight and looking up the night sky while loosening his tired legs by straightening it forward. Just when he wants to close his eyes and appreciates the time to himself, his supervisor comes out to stand behind him.

"Jihoon-ah, you're tired?"

Jihoon is having a hard time trying to get himself standing straight but he pushes himself to do so as to show respect to his supervisor. He turns around to find his supervisor's arms crossing in front of him showing the seriousness but his face says otherwise when Jihoon can see his eyebrows curves rise, creating furrows in the forehead with a hint of less anger and more fear. His supervisor is worried of his well-being after all.

"Yeah, sort of…" says Jihoon while a hand rubbing the back of his head, feeling guilty for being too honest towards his supervisor.

The supervisor looks at the younger one more time before giving him a softer gaze, a hand reaching towards one of his pocket to take out a thick, brown envelope.

"Here…" handed the supervisor the envelope to the younger and Jihoon looks at him with a surprised look.

"That's the cut-off for this month, plus the bonus for working on Soonyoung's behalf and for working so diligently all this while..."

"Really?!" asked Jihoon in astonishment and the supervisor is amused by the younger's reaction.

"Really… and you can take two days off this weekend. I have another part-timer that can fill in while you're not around."

Jihoon is in complete shock as to get another privilege given by his supervisor and soon, the supervisor bids him goodbye before disappearing behind the backdoor. He quickly fishes out his cellphone to call his 3-months boyfriend with a hope that the other is not asleep yet.

 

**********

 

"You sure about this, Jihoon-ie?" asked Seungcheol as his eyes wanders around the aisle inside of the tour bus to find the matching numbers to the numbers displayed on their tickets.

He soon spots the matching numbers at the near back of the bus and he gives in a way for the smaller to walk in to sit next to the window. He always gives Jihoon the seat next to the window as he wants to present the smaller with the best place to see the beautiful view outside. He takes their backpacks to put it at the compartment above their heads before joining Jihoon.

He looks to the side to see other passengers walking slowly along the aisle while searching for their assigned seats before an announcement can be heard from the intercom.

This bus is heading towards Busan and it will take 4 hours and 30 minute's time with only one stop at a rest area. Please ensure that you get on the right bus and be seated on the right seat. We'll be leaving in another 5 minutes. Thank you for choosing us, I hope you all get to have a nice and safe journey.

Jihoon breaks the silence between them after the announcement ends to answer Seungcheol's question.

"About what?" asked Jihoon as he ties up the curtain that covers the window to see the outside view before reclining back to his comfortable seat.

"About going to see your parents…"

"Silly you… Just think of it as me introducing my best friend to my family…"

"But what if I don't give good impression to them? What if they don't like you befriending me?"

"Don't think about it too much, they're gonna like you for sure… Besides, I haven't visited them for months now, it just so happen to be a perfect timing to bring you along…" said Jihoon as he rests his head in the crook of Seungcheol's neck; his favorite place, his home.

Seungcheol leans lower to comfortably place his head on top of Jihoon's and his hand is reaching for one of Jihoon's hands before intertwining their fingers together.

"So, why did you want us to take the bus instead of the train? It'll save us two hours if we take the KTX though…" asked Seungcheol as he plays with Jihoon's fingers, his thumb rubs against Jihoon's hand gently; appreciating the smaller's presence next to him.

"It is way cheaper and I want to spend more time with you like this…" said Jihoon while looking at how their fingers fit one another so completely, it's unbelievable.

Jihoon is conscience-stricken that they don't get to spend their time together as much as they thought they would since both of them are busy with their own lives, especially Jihoon since his part-time job is hectic and tiresome and whenever he's done, he doesn't have enough energy left.

Yeah, sure they see each other when riding the same bus and exchange a few topic of conversation which later will be continued during the midnight call session after Jihoon's shift comes to an end, but it doesn't feel right and enough as they officially become a couple. Jihoon purposely buys the bus tickets for both of them to make up for the time they can't spend together.

Jihoon bites the corner of his lips as the guilt starts to develop within himself. He takes a deep breath before his mouth curves down and his eyes gaze down to their hands sadly.

"I'm sorry…"

"For what?" asked Seungcheol with that soft voice of his, gentle as ever.

"For not being able to spend time like this with you lately…"

"That's okay… you know I don't mind, right?"

"Yeah, but my part-time job…" Jihoon sighs before he continues. "I'll try to find another that less tiresome than this, I promise…"

"You don't have to… it's okay Jihoon-ie. I'm serious…"

Jihoon slowly retreats himself to look into Seungcheol's sparkling, brown eyes. Seungcheol looks back into those glowing black orbs of Jihoon's tenderly before he breaks the staring game.

"You don't have to worry about your part-time job, Jihoon-ie because I'm full-time yours... I'll try my best to make time for you no matter what..." said Seungcheol, filled with confidence and proud to feel belonged to Jihoon.

"You're so cheesy…" replied Jihoon before he tickles onto Seungcheol's side, feeling happy to look at Seungcheol's laughing frantically; his eyebrows knotted and his eyes closed shut as he's trying to surpass the tears from coming out, his nose wrinkled and his mouth opened widely, giving way for his voice to resonate throughout the whole bus, showing off how happy he is with Jihoon to the other passengers.

Jihoon stops himself from tinkling Seungcheol and when the taller calms down, he tucks himself back in the crook of the taller's neck, feeling home again. Seungcheol clasps their hands together one more time before dropping a love-filled kiss on top of Jihoon's crown and Jihoon smiles to himself contently.

Good thing he fell asleep on Seungcheol's shoulder the first time they met on the bus; he wonders what will happen if he hadn't done that before. 

 

---

Thank you again 'shien1004-nim', I know this is way different from your idea, but because of it, I managed to write bus!au ^^ Is it bad that I have an idea for another oneshot eventhough I just write this and abandoning my chaptered one? X) anyway, I'm in love with hiphop team's check in... the cinematography of the mv is so beautiful, aesthetic level on point T^T

'I check in, Seoul city~' 

P.S. If you guys happen to find a oneshot or chaptered fic with this kind of au, jicheol or hiptop team pairing, plz do tell me... I need it.