"This is not a great idea, Jinki, seriously," Kibum says for only the third time since they started packing the car. A pillow precariously teeters on the armrest and gives in, falling onto the driver's side as he leans against the frame. "Did Minho talk you into this? I swear, don't listen to him, he ran out of gas 15 miles into the last trip...."

Jinki wears a patient expression as he extracts the pillow and stuffs it behind the seat. The third time's a charm, they all say, and Jinki firmly believes in adages. It helps that his boyfriend wears confusion very cutely.

"You have exams tomorrow," Kibum points out as he slides partway into the car, intent on being heard.

"Not until 1."

"It's an oral exam. Less forgiving of bull."

Jinki blows out a puff of air demonstrably, and Kibum raises his eyebrow - the one with the dashing cut through it, Jinki loves that little twitch. 

"Fecal free," he explains easily. He stretches his legs out so he's in a quasi push-up, his arms braced against the seat. 

Kibum's face has gone pinched, the one that says Jinki needs to back up a little, let his boyfriend fret without rebuttal. 

"You never sleep in the car."

"Not going to be a problem, honey," he says, wiggling forward and stealing a kiss. "I'm driving, you can sleep."

His boyfriend will puff and gripe, but Jinki never does take it too strong to heart. They do need to get going though, so Kibum can whistle his concerns away from the highway. Bringing a knee up for extra support, he shifts so he can pull his secret weapon from the back.

The oversized sweatshirt is soft between his fingers, and he jogs around the hood with it clasped in a wrinkle-inducing ball in his hands. Arms crossed, Kibum looks down at him as he squats. The sweater is inside-out; he has his arms pushed through haphazardly, fingers reaching out and waiting for Kibum.

Kibum huffs even has he gives in and lets Jinki embrace him, the air expelling his neck in a rush.

"Can you at least tell me where we're going?"

Jinki pulls back and lets Kibum pull the sweatshirt over his own head, messing his hair. Jinki smiles fondly when Kibum tsks and smooths the errant strands down.

"The final frontier."

Kibum furrows, adorably in Jinki's well-informed opinion, but he jumps into the driver's seat and turns the key, not willing to delay any longer.

---

"Do you want anything?"

Kibum eyes the menuboard with suspicion. The speaker crackles. It sets his teeth on edge.

"A parfait," he finally decides, taking the inquisitive look off of Jinki's face.

"And a parfait," Jinki says loudly. 

"Pull around and pay at the first window".

"Thank you!" he says cheerfully to the speaker, the person the other end already moving on.

"The only thing with fruit," he says as they settle behind a dusty minivan. He's trying to go along with this spontaneous trip, but really. The options were limited and he had a responsibility to note exactly how limited.

Jinki holds up his hand and starts to count off. His tone of voice is the same as when he's listing potential diseases to fascinated and horrified underlings at the clinic. It's Jinki's teaching voice, and the mild condescension and self-assuredness is both infuriating and slightly attractive. 

(Kibum is the first to admit he has issues, but he owns up to them without shame.)

"Apple pie, strawberry shake, burger, fries - "

He hums out an offended noise, holding his cord for charging in his mouth as he rummages in his bag for money.

"Tomato," Jinki says. "Ketchup. It's a fruit sauce."

Kibum chokes.

"Firstly, that in no way counts for nutritional content - "

Jinki isn't responding to his objection, handing his card to the harried-looking teenager and smiling his thanks once more before turning back.

"This wasn't about nutrition; it was about content -"

"Secondly, burgers and fries don't automatically come with ketchup, so even if I did accept such a ridiculous proposition - "

"I have to drive, honey," Jinki says patiently. Behind him, the checkout woman is tapping impatient fingernails against the scuffed window frame. 

Kibum accepts his parfait with a grumble, and Jinki starts to pull out.

"You don't even like this place," he points out.

Jinki shrugs, his eyes bright as the car turns toward the freeway. 

"It's tradition."

"This is literally the first time we've done....whatever this is."

"A very new tradition," Jinki corrects himself amiably.  "Want some ketchup for additional fruit flavor?"

---

 Jinki is squinting into the sun as it slowly lowers itself into the horizon when Kibum wakes up from a cat nap. His mouth tastes like carpet. 

"Where did you put them?" he asks, opening up the glovebox and looking into the various holders. Nearly all of them are filled with papers, various notes and half-written essays. There are at least two dated 2016.  "Your sunglasses?"

There is a very guilty silence, and he groans. He twists his body around, wincing as the seatbelt digs into his neck, and looks into the backseat.

"A bat, sure. Haven't played in years, glove is basically cobwebbed over. But basic eye protection, no," his voice is muffled before he comes up. He has a baseball hat clutched triumphantly in his hand. 

Jinki lets Kibum shove it on and adjust the tightness, his patient accommodation a wordless apology.

He settles back into his seat and glances around. They're onto a two-lane, the landscape to either side wide and untended with the exception of small, weathered buildings. It looks oddly familiar to him, like he found it playing around in that stupid Google Maps game Taemin keeps pressing him into. 

"You were out for about an hour."

 "An hour, give or take 50 years?" he says, fairly certain they just passed an outhouse. 

"Just the hour."

A mileage sign is upcoming; Kibum squints.

"I've never even heard of this - babe, really, where are we going? Because this is the start of a horror movie."

"What's horrifying about a desolate stretch of land, with no one around for miles, and minimal access to technology?" Jinki asks, with zero trace of irony.

"...everything, old man. Literally everything."

Jinki just laughs, smile high on his cheeks.

---

They're at a rest stop. This is what Jinki says, even though Kibum takes a few moments to finish up his reading. The sun is just dipped behind some mountains to the west, and he wants to take up all the light he can. 

"And gas," Jinki continues as he pulls in to park. Now that they're parked, he can see how windy it is, the tubes of the gas pumps swinging and rubbing against the stands.

He struggles with the door; the few free strands of Jinki's hair are blowing wildly as he holds his hand out to help him up.

Having fallen asleep, his feet tingle uncomfortable and unfamiliar, and it makes him stumble as he extracts himself with assistance. His hands reach out to sky before folding back at the below, fingertips tapping against the back of his neck as a satisfying strain dulls itself across the muscle of his upper arm. 

"I want a drink."

"Allow me," Jinki says, and he offers his elbow and escorts Kibum into the small convenience store. The bell doesn't chime, just rattles above them. 

"Caffeine, caffeine, sugar, legally considered slurry..." he counts off the offerings, growing more despondent. He turns to face his boyfriend, but the other man is rummaging through the salty offerings with happy noises of indecisiveness. 

He finally picks out something that looks halfway to promising - no dust around the lid and a clearly stamped expiration date - and parks himself beside a still-musing Jinki.

"You took less time picking out a car."

Jinki's expression is wounded, big eyes full of surprise, and Kibum knows in his bones he's kidding and yet - 

"I'm just kidding, Jesus," he says, exasperation just as exaggerated as Jinki's. 

His expression immediately turns into gentle amusement, and he nudges against Kibum's shoulder before going into a squat and digging into the back of a box at the lowest shelf. Kibum circles around behind him, for the inevitable - 

"Ah!" he cries, pulling out victoriously, but losing his balance and falling back towards his legs. Kibum catches him and brushes the hair out of his face as he looks up, gummy worms clutched in his hand. 

"You'll get sick," he says immediately.

A small bag of granola is added to their purchases as food compensation. 

---

The landscape is a darkening blue, the features of the mountains turning indistinct even as the road hugs closer to the foothills. 

"Do you want me to quiz you?"

Jinki hums a rejection, and Kibum looks carefully at his face, the glow of the dashboard casting orange on the lines of his jaw. 

"It couldn't hurt," he tries again. He's had review cards in his bag since April, printed in Kibum's careful handwriting, Jinki's more looping scrawl intermittent along the margins. 

He shrugs. 

"That's not what this is about," he offers vaguely. 

"So what is this about then?"

He pulls to the side, the rumble strips beside the road shaking their small car and making Kibum's teeth rattle. He looks around and sees - nothing. There's no headlights behind them, and no taillights before them. He stares up at Jinki when he opens the car door and offers his hand. 

"This is good," his boyfriend says with a small smile. "C'mon."

"It's cold," and it is, he's pulling his jacket tighter around him and shivering as the first bite of fresh air since the gas station hits them, but he pushes himself out into Jinki's arms, which wrap accommodatingly around him. 

"I know."

"Really cold. And it's the middle of nowhere, Jinki. What if we get murdered?"

"Well, we'll go out together. Would you want it any other way?"

He makes a face into Jinki's exposed skin, and the other man laughs, a full body, warm giggle that always makes Kibum feel warm and off-footed. He expects Jinki to release him and do - whatever they came out here to do - but he waddles the pair of them back to the open car door and sits him down. He goes down and looks up at Kibum. 

"Stay here, OK?"

"Where would I even go?" he cries, indignant, as Jinki walks to the back of the car and pops open the trunk. Twisting around, he watches him move around briefly, until Jinki looks up and makes "shoo" motions with his hands, a sly smile growing like a weed. 

With a groan, he turns back to face the empty road in front of them. The adjuster is just out of reach; he fumbles around for it and pulls it with a jerk. 

"Yah, no - !" Jinki cries out. 

And Kibum is staring up through the grimy, undersized sunroof, at hundreds of stars. 

He vaguely is aware of noises behind him, Jinki crawling up through the trunk, but even the appearance of his head, hair in disarray, genuine hurt resting on his brows, doesn't register with Kibum. 

"So..." he starts, but Kibum has recovered, throwing the car door open and jumping out, stumbling as the asphalt unevenly fades into dirt. 

Kibum is from the city. He loves the city. He doesn't really throw much stock into getting back into nature (nature has mosquitos, point - Kibum), and he's rejected more than one offer to go camping from Minho and his boyfriend, Jonghyun. If he wants chocolate and marshmallows and dry crackers, he has a stove. 

But this - 

Jinki puts his hands on his hips, silent. He can feel his quiet, unrushed gaze and leans back against him. 

"You could have told me," he says, hushed out of instinct. 

"I wanted you to be surprised," Jinki offers, shy in a way he hasn't been in years. It feels cautious and sweet and - Kibum twists himself around to kiss Jinki firm on the lips. His boyfriend makes a pleased, small noise and holds him close, swaying gently in their small space in the great wide open for a few quiet, reverent minutes. 

"Well, you succeeded, old man," he says. His smile is gentle, just for Jinki and the space above them. He twists back around and locks Jinki's arms around his waist. "Now keep me warm."

"Oh!" Jinki says, excited. He lets go of Kibum, unceremoniously fluttering back to the still-ajar trunk to rummage. Kibum wants to watch him fiddle, the lines of his legs pleasingly on display, but the stars keep calling him back. The moon looks bright tonight as well. The desert air suddenly feels too big, like it's going to envelope Kibum whole. 

 A blank comes out of nowhere to settle on Kibum's shoulders, and he blinks at the sudden weight of it. Jinki is already back at the car, pulling out with a distinctly victorious air - 

"Lawn chairs?"

"Lawn chair," Jinki corrects him, dragging the ugly thing over. "Minho let me borrow it."

It probably smells like soccer sweat. Kibum lays the blanket down to guard against it before sitting. He sniffs the air cautiously - and it definitely smells like soccer sweat. 

It's also meant for two. Jinki is back to the trunk, and Kibum wants to cuddle under the stars, soccer sweat be damned. 

"Jinki, you dragged me all this way - " he starts, but his boyfriend is rushing over, arms full. A bundle is shoved into Kibum's lap, and Jinki's sweatshirt is once again being pulled over his head. Just as his head breaks free, it gets swallowed up by a beanie. 

"It's cold," he explains. It's a significantly unnecessary observation, given how every other breath from their mouths is accompanied with little puffs. But Jinki's holding Kibum's hands in his, rubbing his thumbs against palms to warm them up, so Kibum lets him get away with being obvious. 

Gloves are pulled on, socks are pulled up, and then Jinki is winding a scarf around his neck while trailing another thick-looking blanket towards the lawn chair where Kibum is waiting. His neck is starting to ache, but he wants to just look. 

Jinki settles in next to him, and Kibum lets himself fall to the side, lets his head land on Jinki's waiting thigh. He reaches over to tuck the blanket beneath Kibum's feet and around his side, so he is now a stylish, warm, affectionate burrito out in the middle of a nowhere. It's a pretty good feeling, all things considered. 

The stars are stretched out as far as he can see, and he knows they go even farther, endless behind the mountains and beyond the ocean that's hundreds of miles away. Jinki's fingers, made even more awkward and clumsy in gloves, are blindly grazing against his cheek because Jinki is enraptured by the night sky above them as well. 

"Hey, old man," he whispers. Jinki turns and blinks down at him. His eyes are dark and Kibum thinks he can see the stars in them too. 

"Love you."

The stars fade a little when his eyes crinkle. But they're still there. 

"Love you too."