The night sky is clear tonight, the stars in the sky visible to the eye at the outskirts of the city where there aren’t any city lights polluting the air. At a tall, abandoned mountain near the ocean, the final street race of 2017 is taking place. Another year of illegal races is coming to an end.

Though illegal, these races still work in a specific manner and a coordinated way, pitting one team up against another. Solo racers aren’t part of the system but they still raced casually with any member of any team just for fun. These people raced more for the adrenaline and the exhilaration of stepping on the accelerator and maybe crashing an expensive sports car, not so much for the money, the glory, the occasional drama, and fame like the team players.

The race is taking place on the mountain. It’s a makeshift race track, like all the illegal race tracks are, going up the mountain in circles. There are rocks falling from the mountain, crashing into the waves down the cliff, that’s why it has been abandoned for years. It’s one of the most popular tracks amongst the illegal races. At the same time, it’s also one of the most dangerous ones. But that’s what makes it exciting.

The place is jam-packed with racers and audiences alike. Different teams from all over have come here to gather and watch the final race take place, even those who lost previous rounds and aren’t part of the race tonight. There’re also a handful of retired racers there, eager to watch the race as the information that everyone got is that the two most talented races in history are finally racing against one another tonight after five years.

Park Chanyeol from The Phoenix and Oh Sehun from Sky Eagles are going up against each other.

Other than the fact that that they were really the two best racers today, it’s also a nice story to sell. Because Chanyeol was the one who brought Sehun into the world of racing. Both of them were orphans and were from the same orphanage. It wasn’t a nice place to be at so when Chanyeol was twelve, he escaped from the orphanage and brought Sehun along with him because the younger boy didn’t want to be apart from Chanyeol. And then they lived on the streets after that. The first few years were difficult, as expected but neither of them gave up.

At fifteen, Chanyeol stole a car and he drove Sehun and himself to a far away place where they could start anew but who would hire a fifteen-year-old and a thirteen-year-old? The next year, Chanyeol started to race on the streets to earn small cash. By eighteen, after racing for only two years, he became a legend. Park Chanyeol became known as the racer who could make any turn, no matter how sharp, who could go up any slope, no matter how steep.

Then he joined The Phoenix, his current racing team and never looked back. The Phoenix are his family now. Sehun was once part of The Phoenix, but along the way, he left. It’s been five years since then. No one knows the real reason why but rumour has it that he grew attracted to a racer from Sky Eagles so he left The Phoenix behind. Rumours also has it that the racer from Sky Eagles was secretly in a relationship with Chanyeol at that point in time but that’s a story for another day.

A bright red Porsche 911 GT2 pulls up along the side of the open field where rows of other sports car were already parked. Baekhyun steps out of his car onto the muddy soil and grimaces at his now ruined shoes. Maybe he should have worn his sneakers instead of his boots. He knew it was going to be a rainy night because of the weather forecast. But he was already in his car, driving towards the mountain where the final race is taking place tonight when he heard about the rain. Though when he reached the track, the rain had already stopped. He was happy about it, of course. So happy that he forgot that the rain would have made the ground wet and muddy. But the damage was already done and he can’t do anything about it.

Sighing, Baekhyun looks sadly at his Valentino boots one last time before he starts scanning the crowd for his team. He spots them easily, standing at the barricade next to the road where the racers are.

“Soo!” he calls out cheerfully, drawing some attention to himself but he isn’t bothered.

Brows furrowing, Kyungsoo points at Baekhyun. “I thought you weren’t coming?”

Smiling, Baekhyun gives a small shrug and stands beside Kyungsoo, resting his arms on the railings of the temporary barrier set around the track. “I decided to come.”

“You’re not here to cheer Sehun on, are you?” Kyungsoo asks straightforwardly, eyes trained on Baekhyun and his face remains passive even when Baekhyun gives a slight nod.

“He’s here to support his phoenix boyfriend,” a new voice joins in the conversation. “Isn’t that right?”

“How nice of you to eavesdrop, Jongin,” Baekhyun says as a way of greeting to the second youngest member of Sky Eagles. He smiles widely when he sees Jongin and the younger man grins back.

“Ex-boyfriend,” Kyungsoo supplies helpfully, earning a look from Baekhyun. “You’re welcome.”

“Baek!”

The three of them turn to source of yet another new but familiar voice. Sehun’s walking over to them, all suit up with his helmet in his hand and looking more ready than ever to scale that mountain in his trusty orange Lamborghini.

“All the best,” Baekhyun exclaims excitedly, cupping Sehun’s face as soon as the other’s near enough and pulls him down while he tiptoes to place a quick kiss to the youngest member’s forehead for luck.

“Thanks.” Sehun grins when Baekhyun lets go of his face.

Another racer from another team walks up to Sehun suddenly to wish him good luck and to chat a little.

“You know there are people who recognise you, right?” Kyungsoo deadpans. “You know that the racing world’s hottest gossip is still about your relationship with Chanyeol, right?” Kyungsoo stresses ineffectively because Baekhyun doesn’t seem bothered, even when he hears someone talking about him, saying that he’s now dating Sehun.

“Sehun’s like my little brother,” Baekhyun casually says.

“Except he was Chanyeol’s little brother first,” Jongin adds.

Shrugging, Baekhyun gives Jongin a playful smile. “All the more making him my little brother.”

“You guys aren’t even dating anymore,” Jongin points out, making a face of disgust jokingly. His eyes widen suddenly when he realises what Baekhyun’s really doing here. “You’re here to ask him to get back with you, aren’t you?”

“Baek,” Kyungsoo scolds gently after hearing Jongin’s words. He looks at the oldest member of their team gravely. “It’s been months.”

“But I miss him so damn much,” Baekhyun mutters, folding his arms atop the railings and resting his chin on them. “So much…” he closes his eyes and he thinks about a musky yet floral scent. He imagines catching a whiff of that familiar smell and smiles to himself. Sighing blissfully, Baekhyun thinks he’s dreaming until he hears a deep voice that almost sends him falling to the ground and flat on his face.

“Let’s have a good match,” Chanyeol tells Sehun as he stretches out his hand.

Grinning, Sehun takes Chanyeol’s hand in a firm grip and shakes it. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Opening his mouth, Baekhyun’s about to say something when he feels Kyungsoo’s hand over his mouth. He makes a muffled sound of protest only for Kyungsoo to step on his foot. Pathetically, he lets out a soft wince but Kyungsoo ignores him and so Baekhyun has no choice but to stay quiet.

Chanyeol doesn’t even regard the rest of Sky Eagle standing behind the barricade before he walks back to his car.

“He didn’t notice you,” Sehun tells Baekhyun once Chanyeol’s out of earshot, clearly unaware about his teammates’ previous conversation about Baekhyun’s plan just moments ago.

“Ha-ha,” Baekhyun fakes a laugh, making Sehun rolls his eyes affectionately. Then he turns to Kyungsoo with a scowl. “What was that for?” Baekhyun hisses, now that Kyungsoo’s hand is finally not covering his mouth anymore. “And why did you step on my foot?”

“So that you won’t stupidly draw any unnecessary attention to yourself,” Kyungsoo says as if it’s obvious, looking extremely displeased with Baekhyun.

“What do you mean by that?” Baekhyun asks with a huff, folding his arms across his chest, not liking how Kyungsoo is reprimanding him and how he actually is feeling a little scared. He’s the oldest one on their team, damn it.

“Oh come on, everyone knows how Chanyeol gets around you,” Jongin chips in and Kyungsoo sends him a grateful look. He smiles back at Kyungsoo lovingly and Baekhyun pretends to barf. Sehun’s already engaged in another conversation. “If he loses this match because he’s distracted, phoenix is going to murder us and we won’t stand a chance.”

“Because they have more members?” Baekhyun drawls sarcastically.

“Because they have Minseok who can annihilate us within seconds and yes, because they have more members,” Jongin explains with absolutely seriousness and fixes Baekhyun with a look that says “I’m right on this one”.

“Minseok loves me,” Baekhyun proclaims haughtily, disregarding Jongin’s claim on being correct.

“Minseok loved you when you were still dating Chanyeol and stopped when you broke his heart,” Kyungsoo says logically.

Baekhyun puts a hand on his chest, over where his heart is and clutches a fistful of his shirt dramatically. “Ouch.”

“But true. So be a good boy and not let anyone in phoenix see you,” Kyungsoo tells Baekhyun, his tone indicating that there’s no more room for discussion.

The argument ends there because before Baekhyun can protest, there’s the sound of a horn blasting, the signal for all racers to go to their respective cars.

“All the best,” Jongin wishes Sehun on behalf of the team one last time and the youngest member nods before walking to his car.

As Sehun reaches his Lamborghini, he throws a hand sign to the rest of the team - with his index and middle finger joined tightly together, he taps the side of his head twice before moving it away and letting his hand fall again. It’s something he’s been doing ever since he started racing.

Both Kyungsoo and Jongin grin upon seeing Sehun’s little gesture. As for Baekhyun, he’s currently doing his best to stay out The Phoenix’s members sight by making himself small.

Don’t let anyone in phoenix spot him, that’s easy. But Baekhyun still can’t help but look in The Phoenix’s direction to see the car which Chanyeol’s driving. He spots Chanyeol doing the same hand sign Sehun just did and his heart aches a little. Sehun picked this gesture up from Chanyeol, that much Baekhyun knows even if he doesn’t know its meaning. Shaking his head, Baekhyun trains his eyes on Chanyeol and finds him walking towards a Ford GT that’s liquid blue in paint. It was painted illegally, of course. The colour wasn’t on sale for this particular model.

“I painted that car…” Baekhyun says softly to himself but Kyungsoo’s standing close enough to hear him and he gives Baekhyun a sad look.

The racers are all in their cars now and driving to the start line. The sound of engines revving echo throughout the night sky thunderously as the audiences gathered around the barricade cheer loudly.

Everyone goes silent when they see the Starter getting into his place with a pistol in his hand. To make the whole thing more dramatic than it really is, the Starter slowly raises the pistol to the sky and majority of the audiences lean forward, eyes trained sharply on the Starter’s finger.

Very abruptly, the Starter fires a shot to the sky, the sound booming only for a second before the sound of modified engines and wheels screeching against the rocky road overpowers it.

People cheer as the cars zoom by them at extremely high speed. Some of the audiences are already in their own cars trailing shortly behind the racers to have the front row seat throughout the whole race. It’s dangerous but it’s truly the best seat in the house. Some others are driving their cars to other parts of the mountain, namely the turning points to see which car is going to skid near the edge of the cliff or maybe even fall off. Things like that don’t happen often despite it being an illegal race but whenever it does happen, trouble stirs and when there’s trouble, there’s drama - what everyone loves.

Baekhyun is cheering in plain sight, screaming at the top of his lungs as he watches the cars go up the mountain track. He’s seen enough races and been in enough races to know how to observe from afar. There’re many blind spots but he can still enjoy the game. He’ll be able to enjoy it even better if someone doesn’t randomly talk to him about Chanyeol.

“Byun,” someone calls.

Grimacing, Baekhyun spins around with his hands on his hips. He comes face to face with one of The Phoenix’s star racers, Kim Jongdae. Or better known to Baekhyun as “Park Chanyeol’s Best Friend” if Baekhyun’s going to know Jongdae by a title. Otherwise, Jongdae’s just fine. Baekhyun and him were really close once upon a time.

The race is coming to an end, the orange Lamborghini and the blue Ford are right next to each other and heading straight for the finish line. It’s only a matter of seconds before both cars cross the finish line.

As they complete the final turn with practiced ease, the crowd goes wild in anticipation.

Something happens then and only a few trained eyes catch it. They already know the outcome. They already know who’s going to be the winner.

Baekhyun runs from his spot to stand atop a small hill that gives him a clearer view of the finish line.

The liquid blue Ford passes the finish line and the race comes to an end. Just two seconds later, the orange Lamborghini is also passing the finish line, except that the ribbon’s already broken.

Sehun exits his car and when he throws his helmet off his head, there are tears running down his face. As soon as Chanyeol gets out of his Ford, Sehun throws his arms around Chanyeol’s neck and congratulates the older man. Chanyeol returns the hug by ruffling Sehun’s hair and patting his head.

“Congratulations,” someone shouts from a short distance away.

It’s a voice that Chanyeol recognises. It’s a voice that Chanyeol’s been wanting to hear for days, weeks, months.

“Baek?” Chanyeol knits his brows together, his voice is slightly muffled because of he still has his helmet on.

The silver-haired man nods, smiling sweetly at the newly crowned racing king.

Taking off his helmet, Chanyeol tells something to Sehun and the younger nods, letting Chanyeol go before the winner of the race slowly jogs over to Baekhyun, ignoring everyone who’s fighting for his attention, calling his name and touching his car. Especially those who are touching his car.

Jongdae sees who he’s running towards and scoffs, shaking his head and then shoos away all the people crowding their team. “The champion’s not even here,” he announces. “Leave!”

Slowly, the random strangers scatter and Jongdae smiles, pleased with himself. Minseok is shaking his head at Jongdae.

“What?” Jongdae asks, frowning, not knowing why Minseok is judging him when he did nothing wrong.

“Baek…” Chanyeol calls softly when he’s standing in front of the silver-haired man. He drinks in how Baekhyun looks - how handsome he looks in his newly dyed hair, how pale his complexion looks under the moonlight, how the gold glitter dusting his eyelids brought out the light brown in his eyes, how the dark and smudged edges of his eyeshadow make him look fiercer than he really is, and most of all, how short he still is. “What are you doing here?”

“The countdown! Quick!” people around them are shouting as they run to where the track is where everyone is gathering, ready to celebrate the new year.

“Twenty! Nineteen!”

“Aren’t you going to countdown with them?” Baekhyun asks casually, stuffing his hands into his pocket.

“Sixteen!”

“Why are you doing this now?” Chanyeol asks with a forlorn sigh, his eyes sad as he looks into Baekhyun’s hopeful ones. “We already broke up.”

“Because I miss you,” Baekhyun says quickly and Chanyeol would have thought that it’s one of Baekhyun’s lies if it isn’t for the sincerity shining in his eyes. “I miss you so much and I’m so sorry for breaking up with you.”

“On this very track too.” Chanyeol nods with a bitter smile.

“Nine! Eight!”

“I want to get back with you.” Baekhyun takes a step forward and holds Chanyeol’s hand. “Please.”

“Five!”

“Baek...I...I don’t know…” Chanyeol admits unsurely, afraid that his heart is just going to get broken again. He may be the king of racing but he wants to be king with Baekhyun by his side. The fact that they’re on different teams from the start makes it almost impossible for them to be together.

“Two!”

“Baek, I - ”

“One!”

Baekhyun stands on his tiptoes, holding Chanyeol’s shoulder to hold himself steady as he kisses the taller man full on the lips, muffling whatever Chanyeol is about to say just as fireworks explode in the sky.

It takes only a second before Chanyeol starts kissing back fervently. He combs his fingers through Baekhyun’s silver locks and gently bites down on his lower lip, making Baekhyun moan in surprise.

Pulling away, Chanyeol looks into Baekhyun’s eyes for a brief moment before throwing his arms around the shorter’s neck and burying his face in Baekhyun’s left shoulder.

Laughing, Baekhyun encircles his arms around Chanyeol’s waist and rests his chin on Chanyeol’s shoulder blade.

“Don’t ever leave me again,” Chanyeol says into Baekhyun’s shoulder before turning to the side and placing a kiss on Baekhyun’s neck.

The silver-haired man gasps at the light, feathery touch of Chanyeol’s lips again his pulse point. “I love you,” Baekhyun whispers into Chanyeol’s ear, tightening his arms, making a silent promise to The Phoenix’s racer that he isn’t going to go anywhere.

“I love you too, Baek.”

another cross-post!

Say hi to @baekingneeds on Twitter if you want to be friends! Follow @parkingfare if you want any updates regarding my fics, tweetfic, etc!