“I can’t believe this…” Kihyun grumbles. He’s currently bent over into the front of his car, cursing at the faulty engine. He’s vaguely aware of Jooheon, one of his better friends, watching him from behind with a bemused expression.

“Hyung,” Jooheon says at last, causing Kihyun to glance over his shoulder at him. “I don’t know about you, but I think we should walk somewhere until we find somewhere we can get service. This looks like more of a problem than you can handle.”

“Don’t doubt your hyung, Jooheonney,” Kihyun tells him in mock-sternness, “it’s bad manners.” He then pauses, straightening up with a tired sigh. He glances at the beautifully unmarred sky hanging above them, notes how the setting sun paints it with so many wondrous colors you just can’t see in the city. “We should go find somewhere to stay the night, though. I don’t want to get to know all the different creatures that hang out here in the desert…”

Jooheon grows stiff, and noisily gulps. Kihyun glances over just to smirk at the terrified light now filling the younger’s eyes, but he quickly wipes such an expression off his face.

“Who knows,” Kihyun says while shrugging, “there could even be ghosts out here… Coyotes and wolves could be the least of our worries.” Jooheon whimpers a little in his throat, giving Kihyun just the kind of reaction he’d been hoping for. He has to look away just to laugh so his dongsaeng doesn’t catch on to the tease. Luckily, under the guise of retrieving their things from the car, he successfully hides all his snickers successfully.

He shoulders his own bag and puts his camera round his neck. That is the whole reason they had come out here, after all. They’d both run off to the desert today amidst their free time in California just so Kihyun could take pictures of the scenery. While the others had gone practicing, Kihyun and Jooheon had managed to sneak away from the hotel for this special mission.

Kihyun lifts the camera to his eye, and takes a few test shots as he tries to find the best focus for the setting before him. He then turns, and takes a couple of shots of his dongsaeng. Jooheon puffs out an annoyed breath and shoves his bleached hair back with a single hand. His roots have begun to show ever so slightly, and his hair has certainly grown longer since the beginning of the tour… but Kihyun doesn’t particularly mind. In fact, he thinks this look works even better for the younger than the clean-cut, freshly-dyed one.

The older chuckles in an effort to divert his own attention away from how good the younger looks in this dramatic lighting as he lowers his camera. He shoulders his own bag, and holds out Jooheon’s for the younger to carry. However, Jooheon takes his own bag and Kihyun’s without a word. Kihyun is about to question it, but he thinks better of it. If Jooheon is wanting to be a helpful dongsaeng, what kind of hyung would he be to deny him?

 

They start off at a typical pace, Kihyun stopping every so often to get some ideal landscape shots. At least this gives him more time to get some more shots, he supposes.

Plus, he can’t help but think, spending more time with Jooheonney is always a good thing, especially lately. Kihyun glances over at the younger as he lowers his camera, pursing his lips as he thinks of how long it’s been since they’ve been able to hang out together, just the two of them… Much, much too long in his opinion.

 

Jooheon keeps a watchful eye on his phone their entire walk, on guard for when they finally reach an area with service. Kihyun doesn’t have the heart to tell him that they lost service almost as soon as they left the city limits, which had been about an hour’s drive from where they’d broken down, if he remembers correctly. His dongsaeng seems nervous enough about his earlier taunts, and he’d hate to dishearten him any more than he already has.

“Hyung?” Jooheon sheepishly asks upon noticing Kihyun’s gaze. Kihyun hums, lifting a single brow to prompt him to go on. He younger his lips nervously as he asks, “Do… Do you really think there are ghosts out here…?” It’s all Kihyun has in him to keep from bursting out laughing at his adorably chicken-hearted dongsaeng. He skates by with pushing an amused breath through his pursed lips, but Jooheon doesn’t seem to catch on. He merely glances around their surroundings with wide eyes, pouting ever so slightly.

The sight is enough to cause Kihyun’s heart to skip a beat, to almost make him feel guilty for teasing him… almost.

“America does have a lot of highway ghost stories…” is all he says, not exactly willing to drop the joke just yet. Jooheon whimpers again and moves closer to his hyung as they walk. He loops his arm around the older’s, and holds on tightly. Kihyun has to keep himself from cooing at his dongsaeng, just content to set his hand atop the slightly-taller’s in consolation.

Kihyun thinks back to when fans had begun to refer to the younger as an ‘anxious koala’… He can’t help but chuckle at how accurate that description is in this moment, how when Jooheon’s scared or nervous he just latches on to whoever’s closest and won’t let go for anything. Jooheon looks over, pouting a bit more at the laughter.

“Don’t laugh at me, hyung!” he protests knowingly. “You’re the one that scared me! Now we’re going to get killed by coyotes, and then our spirits are going to be stuck in this desert forever, all because a stupid car broke down!”

“There, there, Jooheonney,” Kihyun coos, gripping Jooheon’s hand ever so slightly. “We won’t die. I remember seeing a motel not too far off.”

“A motel?” Jooheon asks surprisedly. His eyes flit away from Kihyun, the tips of his ears beginning to burn. “Do… Do you think that’s a good idea?” Kihyun gives him a confused little pout, and Jooheon’s heart pounds loudly in his chest. “I mean… I mean do we have enough money for a motel tonight?” Kihyun hums, glancing off into the distance just in time to miss Jooheon breathing relievedly. He silently commends himself for coming up with a reason so quickly for his reaction.

“That’s a good point,” Kihyun mumbles. He then shrugs, looking back at Jooheon with a bright smile. “It’ll work out, Jooheonney. Don’t worry about it.” Jooheon gulps hard at the beautiful sight of Kihyun’s optimistic grin, and can’t help but glance behind them at the setting sun. He has to fightback a sigh as he notes how Kihyun’s smile is more breathtaking than any sunset he’s ever seen, and will probably ever see.

It'll be fine, Jooheon tells himself. Just because we’re sharing a room doesn’t mean we’ll have to share a bed, anyway. What we can even afford is probably just a single twin bed, anyway. Then one of us can just sleep in it, and the other on the floor…

He releases a deep breath through his nose, acutely aware of the way his hyung moves beside him. He has to fight back a groan as he tries his best to ignore the tinglings he gets when he’s so close to the older.

God, please let there be more than one bed… Please.

 

They manage to reach the motel just before nightfall. They even communicate with the owner with little difficulty their need for a room. Though, from the sounds of it, he only has one room left in the place. Kihyun doesn’t see any issue with this, of course. He figures it’s fine since they’re roommates back home, anyway, but Jooheon seems a bit nervous at the notion. The older man shuffles down the hall just passed the check-in desk, and points to the first door on the right. The wood is cracked and faded, and Kihyun is fairly certain there’s about fifty stains on it that are all made up of bodily fluids.

But, it isn’t as if they have much of a choice, so…

“Um, excuthe me,” Kihyun says slowly, turning around to face the man once more. He does his best to remember the right words, and manages to do so pretty easily. “May I… uthe… your… um, phone?” The clerk nods with a kind smile, and gestures for Kihyun to follow him back to the desk. Kihyun gives Jooheon an encouraging smile, silently telling him to go ahead and wait in the room. Jooheon nods, getting the message easily, and goes into the room.

What he finds inside stops his heart for a good minute-and-a-half…

 

“Thank you,” Kihyun says gratefully in English, nodding his head respectfully as he dials the number of his manager. He waits impatiently whilst tapping a foot, wondering why it’s taking more than a single ring for his manager to answer his phone while two of the members are practically missing.

“Hello, this is the phone of Hongsik of Starship Entertainment, how may I help you?” Kihyun frowns, this being the absolute last voice he’d been expecting to hear.

“Minhyuk-ah,” Kihyun says, “hand the phone to Hongsik-hyung.” There’s a sharp, overdramatic gasp on the other end, and Kihyun can’t help but roll his eyes.

“Kihyun-ssi!” Minhyuk exclaims. “Where are you? Where’s Jooheonney? Are you both okay??”

“Yes, yes,” Kihyun tells him, “we’re fine. As if I’d let anything happen to Jooheonney. Honestly, Minhyuk-ah…”

“Where are you two?” Minhyuk asks again. “Hongsik-hyung is worried sick about you both. He’s out right now looking for you.”

“Well,” Kihyun sighs, eyes rolling to the ceiling in annoyance as he thinks back to the beginning of this trial of errors. “That car we rented broke down off in the middle of nowhere. We don’t have service on our phones, and now we’re at some motel off in the desert. The name’s in English, so I’m not too sure how to pronounce it.”

“At least you found a place to stay,” Minhyuk comments. “I’ll tell Hongsik-hyung when he gets back. He was in such a hurry to find you two he left without his phone.” Kihyun chuckles fondly at this, very much appreciative of the care their manager shows them on a daily basis.

“I showed you where we were going today, right?” Minhyuk hums in affirmation, and Kihyun sends up a prayer of thanks for his own foresight to have done so. “Great. Go with Hongsik-hyung when he comes to find us tomorrow. You can tell him what roads to take. I don’t remember many other, if any, more motels around, so we won’t be too hard to find.”

“Got it,” Minhyuk confirms, a sense of duty overtaking his voice. There’s a pause, and Kihyun is just about to hang up, when Minhyuk suddenly begins to chuckle.

“Yah yah yah!” Kihyun protests. “What’s so funny about this situation? We’re lucky he had a room available, and that we even had enough to cover the cost of a room in the first place!”

“You and Jooheonney,” Minhyuk says amongst his snickers, “in a room… alone… together. God, it’s just too perfect.” The tips of Kihyun’s ears begin to burn at Minhyuk’s continued laughter, and he purses his lips in annoyance.

“I don’t know if I like what you’re implying, Minhyuk-ah…”

“Whatever,” Minhyuk tells him, sighing. “I’ll let you go now. Have fun with Jooheonney~…” And, with that, the slightly-older hangs up without even giving Kihyun a chance to respond. Kihyun ‘hmmphs’, rolling his eyes as he hangs up as well. He turns to leave, nodding in thanks one more time to the older man as he does so.

 

Jooheon his lips nervously, and sets his and Kihyun’s bags down at the foot of the bed. The only bed. In the room. He hadn’t been able to follow much when Kihyun was talking with the old man up front, but the older had bothered to translate that this had been the only room available. He smacks his lips in thought, trying to come up with a way to get out of sharing a bed with Kihyun.

Sharing a room is one thing. Sharing a room is fine. The two share a room at home on a daily basis. But, there, they don’t share a bed, so Jooheon doesn’t run the risk of waking up with morning wood next to his hyung.

God, this is not going to end well… He just knows it.

 

Kihyun returns to the room soon enough, after only making a quick pit stop at a vending machine he passes by. He smiles brightly at his dongsaeng as he drops his armful of junk food onto the bed, and then moves to retrieve his bag. He hadn’t thought to get any clothes to change into, but that doesn’t matter to him too much. He doesn’t always sleep with clothes on, anyway.

“I know this doesn’t really count as a dinner,” Kihyun says as he begins to undo his jeans, “but it’s the best we can do for tonight. I promise I’ll buy us something good tomorrow to make up for this.” He catches Jooheon’s nod out of the corner of his eye as he turns to kick out of his ripped pants. He decides to leave his shirt on for now, though, it being long enough to act as a sort of nightgown until he’s done eating.

As he turns back around to sit on the bed and begin rifling through snacks, he glances up in a prompting manner, only to find Jooheon staring at him, or, rather, his bare legs, with wide eyes. He smirks at noticing this, humming under his breath.

“Jooheon-ah,” Kihyun calls, hardening his voice ever so slightly to get the younger’s attention, “aren’t you hungry?” He quirks up a brow as Jooheon jolts at the question. He smacks his lips together, and nods slowly, as if coming out of a daze. He sits down at the pace of molasses next to his hyung, and silently goes through the stack of snacks in front of him. He picks up a snack without even glancing at the package, and opens it with some difficulty before popping what appears to be a powdered donut-like food into his mouth.

“Thanks, hyung,” Jooheon mumbles around the food. Kihyun chuckles fondly, and reaches forward with an outstretched thumb to wipe away some of the white powder from his dongsaeng’s mouth. He on his thumb without thinking, humming in appreciation of the pleasant sweetness. Jooheon doesn’t say anything about this, merely averts his eyes from his hyung as he continues eating.

 

Kihyun ends up turning on the television in the room, very much not liking the silence in the room. Jooheon grows more easygoing as the night goes on, even scooting closer to cuddle with his hyung as they chuckled softly every so often at what they assume is a comedy show. Though, he still seems a bit tense by the time the older decides to call it a night.

All the snacks are eaten, and Kihyun moves quickly to turn off the television and scoop up whatever trash is left behind. He then takes off his shirt and slides under the covers, sighing heavily at the itchy sheets. Jooheon quickly takes off his shorts and crawls into bed beside the older, gulping noisily.

“Hyung?” he asks nervously, earning a curious look from Kihyun. “Could… Could you watch over me while I sleep? You really scared me earlier with all that talk about ghosts…” Kihyun’s smile grows despite himself, and he quickly nods at the adorable request.

Jooheon quickly moves to hug Kihyun round his waist, and rests his head atop Kihyun’s chest. Their legs tangle together as Kihyun adjusts his position for better comfort for them both. He hugs Jooheon close, his hair gently. He smiles up at the grimy ceiling above them, and finds himself grateful to that crappy rental car from before.

It’s all worth it, he thinks, because it got us here together, if only for a night.