He hadn’t exactly thought it through.

It was ironic, really; Jaehyung had been planning to leave for so long and then when the time came, he wasn’t ready.

That didn’t stop him. He’d done it partly out of spite – his mother had never believed that he would truly leave. He used to talk about it a lot and she used to say that that was his way of coping with being the eldest sibling; the one who had to grow up too quickly and the one with the most responsibilities.

In fact she hadn’t taken him seriously even as he was walking out the door. She thought that he’d come back in a while. Truth to be told, he wasn’t equipped for a longer trip. He had his guitar, anything that would fit in the case including all the money he’d saved up, and that was it.

Jae travelled on foot, because he could only afford that. He followed the road, having one destination in mind: Seoul.

He had a solid plan considering what he wanted to do there: get an education. Better than the one he could get in his hometown, anyway.

But he’d kind of glossed over some details like how he’d get there at all.

Despite all of that he wasn’t even thinking about going back. He couldn’t.

By nightfall he’d reached a small town. He found a payphone and called home. He wasn’t homesick, not after a single day. But he’d promised his little sister he’d call to say goodnight. She was used to it and couldn’t sleep without it.

“Jae!”

The enthusiastic greeting made him smile. “Hey, Hyunnie. I’m sorry I couldn’t call earlier. Is it past your bedtime?”

“Just a little. But I had to wait for the call. You know where you’ll sleep tonight?”

Jae threw a glance at the nearby park bench. “Yup, all set.”

“Good then,” Sohyun sounded satisfied. He wasn’t about to make her worry. “Goodnight, oppa.”

“Goodnight, Hyunnie,” he said and hung up.

As he settled down on the bench he started to wonder if maybe, just maybe, he’d also needed the call to be able to sleep.

Jae was rather used to sleeping in strange places; on the floor, on two chairs pushed together, under the stairs, or on the roof. Not because he didn’t have a place to sleep, but because he often used to find himself in odd situations. Because of that, sleeping on a bench was no problem.

He woke up some time after dawn and made a quick getaway from a cop. Then it was walking time again. He followed the road until the sun was high in the sky.

He started to feel tired and a lightheaded, so he decided to do the inadvisable thing and try to catch a ride. His problem was that there were no cars in sight, so he just kept walking helplessly.

Soon he heard something. He stopped in his tracks and turned. A red pickup truck had appeared in the distance and Jae decided to try his luck with it.

At first he thought it would drive by, but it stopped a few meters away. As soon as it did, Jae ran as if he was no longer exhausted. When he reached it, he was met with a friendly smile from a black haired guy behind the wheel.

“Hi,” the guy said.

“Hello,” Jae answered.

“Need a ride?”

He shrugged. “That seems to be the case.”

“We’re going to Seoul. That okay?”

Jae opened my arms. “That’s perfect. I can hang in the back?”

“Sure. Just don’t step on Dowoon.” The guy grinned. “I’m Sungjin, by the way.”

He gave a nod. “Jae.”

After tossing his guitar in the back and climbing in, he saw what Sungjin meant.

Dowoon was the one sprawled out comfortably, hands behind his head, snoozing with his hat over his eyes.

Jae considered telling him to move, as he was taking up most of the space, but that meant that he would have to wake the boy up.

Conveniently enough, he started to wake up soon after Jae got in.

Dowoon lifted his hat slightly and Jae was able to see his face. He squinted up at Jae in the kind of after-nap confusion; and probably the kind of seeing-a-stranger-in-your-pickup-truck confusion.

Jae waved. “Hey.”

“Hi… Who are you?”

“Jae. Your friend decided to pick me up.”

“Oh.” Dowoon rubbed his eyes. “I’m Dowoon.”

“I know.”

Jae received a confused look from him.

“Sungjin told me not to step on you,” he explained.

Dowoon cracked a smile. “Good thing he’s looking out for me.”

“Good thing I didn’t step on you.”

Dowoon laughed, looking to the side. After a while he looked over at Jae’s guitar.

“You play?” He asked.

“Yup,” Jae answered, popping the ‘p’. “You?” He asked, nodding towards the other guitar, which was in the pickup truck before he’d gotten in.

“Nah, that’s Sungjin-hyung’s. I play the drums.” He opened his arms. “Don’t have them here, obviously.”

 “We could form a band,” Jae blurted out.

They both chuckled at the silly idea, but as their laughter faded, they exchanged looks, as if contemplating it.

Jae looked at the road, into the distance. He blinked, thinking at first that he was imagining. But he really did see it – someone sitting at the side of the road.

“Maybe that guy plays an instrument as well so we can be a real group,” Jae said.

Dowoon turned to look at what the other was talking about, turning back to him with raised eyebrows. Dowoon then moved to dangerously lean over the edge to be able to reach the window.

“Another passenger?” He suggested.

Though Jae couldn’t hear the answer, Sungjin must have agreed because the pickup truck started to slow down.