The trip there wasn’t at all bad… A few minor bumps in the road but that’s it. I wouldn’t know where we are, or how far we’ve gotten. But all I knew was that we were close. Above me and all around me I could hear rounds of bullets being shot into the distance, shouting coming from the bunkers, war aircrafts flying above. Who knew war would be this scary?

Well for me I minimized most of the anxiety by staring down at the floor, arms wrapped around my knees which were pulled closely and tightly up to my chest. I twiddled my thumbs around the whole trip keeping my mind off how mum was and how my sister was doing, and more on the thought of what I wanted to do when the war was over. I enjoyed writing my own songs; I’d made several songs up in my head on the way from my home to the bunker and memorized them all. I guess that’s what boredom does to you. Being bored also doesn’t help when you have poorly made camouflage clothing that looked like they had been previously worn – and worn pretty damn well too – and was made by somebody who was clearly rushing and decided to forget about half the stitching and sew every few millimetre’s down the leg; long story short, the stitching on the clothes were terrible.

I found myself picking at the cotton every few minutes, wanting to see how much would come out when I pulled and what would happen to the clothing when I did pull. I wondered if it would be like a hoodie, (after pulling the strings) would the fabric become wrinkled and bunched together. Things like this seemed to entertain me on the ride there. But what annoyed me most was the fabric make. It felt like wool, not cotton! It was itchy like hell, every few minutes I had to raise my arm to my back and scratch like mad. I scratched my back so much I could almost swear I felt blood soaking my navy green woollen shirt and worst of all starting to dry, making the whole ‘itchy woollen clothing’ story not much better.

The boots they’d given me were a nightmare too! Big heavy steel toed boots probably around 2 sizes too big for me… Cheap bastards… Can’t even afford shoes that fit for their own men! After all, they were the ones that dragged me out of my house with a minutes notice before shipping me off to war. Even the other men didn’t seem too happy to be dragged away by the soldiers onto a humid truck, be thrown uncomfortable clothes and be told to sit down and be quiet. But then again half the blokes on the truck did look like they’d been disturbed from their half an hour, intense o session. Me, I was playing my new guitar. I’d got it for my birthday, today. The bastards pulled me from my own celebration on my ing birthday.

All the blokes on the truck looked the same; the same shirts, trousers and boots. But one lad really stood out amongst the others. A lad named ‘Key’ he called himself, he boasted about back home how he and his family owned half of his town and how he was a rich . Jammy git… He was one of those men that you just wanted to grab by the neck and kick him in the nuts for sprouting such from his mouth. He was also one of those men you couldn’t help but look at because he was different, and you had to admire his positive attitude and lack of fear. He had more a sarcastic attitude, and would constantly blow off the enemy like it was extremely obvious that we were going to beat them. It wasn’t. But that’s what made the boy intriguing to listen to. He honestly thought that we would win and return to our homes victorious, known as heroes in our families. And that somehow gave us hope, it gave us hope that we all one day would return to our families, no injuries, ready to continue living our lives, ready to tell the remarkable stories of what our experiences were like and most importantly, ready to live. The whole way to the bunker we all couldn’t help ourselves but listen to the boy’s stories of his life, and how he’d already done twice as many things that most of us planned on doing. We all listened eagerly, each of us pretending we didn’t give a , but in reality we were all astonished with his skills and ability to tell fake stories on the spot. It was also so realistic that it felt impossible that he had made any of his stories up. His personality and lifestyle was astonishing, but then again so were his facial features; perfect jawline, perfect nose and eyes, soft pink lips. He looked like a feline, he looked so pretty. His hair was gorgeous too, fluffy and soft, probably the best blonde colour you’ll ever find. Thinking about him this way sure made time fly by at super speeds. I thought we arrived long ago, - shortly after we began to hear the multiple sounds that screamed war – but instead we were just entering no-mans-land, out in the open for the enemy to kill us, blow us up, follow us to the bunker or even snipe us. The thought itself was sickening; I couldn’t even imagine the enemy killing people like us in one of our most venerable states. The only thing that kept me sane in the truck was the fact the way were bullet proof (or so we were told) so we could not be shot down and also mostly explosive proof. (Which I thought was utter , I’ve seen documentaries on how powerful explosives can be)

The truck was mostly silent accept the men one by one telling their own life stories which were a lot less exciting than Key’s. One by one the new soldiers told their own stories and told us about themselves. And then it got to me.

“And what about you, what your story?” Key looked towards me, gaze followed by around 20 soldiers all turning their heads to look at me. All attention was on me. Key tilted in head, a puzzled ‘what the hell is up with this guy’ look rising on his face. He nodded to say ‘Go on’, crossing his left leg over his right.

I cleared my throat.

“I’m Jonghyun, I’m 22 and I was born in 1990 on April 8^th.” I paused looking up and around at the uninterested faces now looking away, pretending they didn’t care just like I did to each of them. I thought to myself that I should stop there if nobody really cared about my life. It didn’t bother me that much, just a few more people that didn’t give a . I looked back down at the floor, pulling my legs back up to my chin, nuzzling my chin and neck into my knees – the only way I ever felt safe.

“Hey, puppy” Key called playfully smirking at me with radiant white glowing teeth.

I looked into his eyes with a questioning look. Was he talking to me?

“Yes you, you ninny” Key smiled cheekily. Not letting me ask why he named me that before he answered it right away, as though he saw my question in my curious eyes. “You look like a puppy when you’re sad” Key tilted his head to the side smiling as though he was trying to figure me out, at the same time he eyes roamed my face searching for any flaw but seemed to look away as though he found nothing to amuse himself with.

I smiled back up at him. Opening my mouth as I replied “Then I guess I should chase you until you bite or scratch back at me, because you look like a feline.” My smile got bigger without me realizing. I just flirted with a guy! WHAT THE HELL!

Key’s face looked like he’d just rested in a boiling hot bath for an hour or two as his face rose up with heat and he looked like a fresh ripe strawberry. He looked down for a few moments – probably waiting for the heat in his body to pass before he looked back up towards somebody else and asked them about their life, the whole while I watched him intently waiting for the smallest of glance to turn towards me, indicating obvious interest. But there was nothing, it’s like Key had trained himself not to look at people who just subtly flirted with him. It amused me so much for most of the trip, I continued staring at the cute boy I’d flirted with not so long before, it was hard not to, he was too beautiful.

Eventually we got through everybody’s lives, giving us nothing to talk about, the truck went silent. The only thing that could be heard was the dirt and stones hitting the outer rim of the truck and the shaking of the uniforms as we sped over many bumps in the road, none of us noticing that the bumps were that hard until that was the only thing on everyone’s mind. I continued to stare at Key though, without realizing he just glanced over to me casually, then looking away quickly he scratched the back of his head and coughed gawkily. It amused me greatly to see him embarrassed, but it never occurred to me that he was like that because I’d been looking at him and only him for the past hour. A few long minutes passed before he returned my gaze, scrunched his nose and scoffed.

“Is there a reason you’re staring at me” he looked at me, showing clear attitude like he was an adolescent teenager.

I shrugged and winked at him.

I saw his face once again go the colour of the sky at the break of dawn and he looked away. He was incredibly adorable when he blushed. My best guess is that flirting was his blushing weakness. Another guess was that he was gay. It felt great; I finally had another gay guy to play with.  

I smiled to myself at the thought and returned to my ‘safety’ position, every now and then stealing glances towards the feline looking boy in the corner.

“Alright lads, get out of the truck. We’ll be staying here over night. The drive took longer than we expected. Don’t worry though, we’ll be safe here and we’ll get up bright and early in the morning to get a head start onto the route to the bunker.” A deep voice called from the outside of the truck.

Key was the first to get up and leave the truck, it’s like somebody had just stuck a red hot poker up his to get him moving. All the other men groaned, some in tiredness and some in annoyance. It was weird because Key still seemed as happy and sarcastic as ever.

“Come on puppy. We need you out there; if this is a war zone the enemy will take one look at you and instantly drop their weapons. They’ll see how cute and innocent you are and want to take you for their own. Now we cannot have that happen, can we?”

I rolled my eyes and pulled the fabric at the back of the truck away and jumped from the truck. Now that I think about it, saying the whole truck was bullet proof didn’t exactly make sense. I could barely walk a metre before Key pushed past me almost knocking my weak numb legs off balance causing me to lean to the side almost falling over.

“Minho baby, how come I didn’t get to ride upfront with you?” Key stormed up to the voice that called us out from the truck about two minutes ago and slid his arms round his waist forcibly pulling him into a deep awkward kiss.

I felt my face heat up causing me to feel like a ripe tomato. Apparently my weakness was jealously…

When Key pulled away from his recognizable tongue kiss, he looked towards me, scoffed and turned back to Minho – probably talking about me…

I myself turned away too, watching as each group member jumped off the truck to get in a line, which weirdly enough I’d started. The last person jumped off the truck, a small pretty girl, her silky brown hair pulled back tightly into a ponytail, bobbing as she skipped over to me; face beaming nodding to me as she faced Minho and Key. I followed her gaze over to the two men standing up straight and watching us.

The squad leader walked down the line of men, naming each of them in a cruel way. Then he got to me; he looked me up and down, trying to figure me out. Then Key (who was standing behind him) whispered something into his ear.

“Coward” he said bluntly, moving to the next man, continuing his route, and not once looking back to me or any of the other men. The word he called me stung, he didn’t even know me, yet he seemed to think that I was a coward. I’d show him, I’d try my hardest out on the battlefield and return to my home victorious – just like Key said.

“Right you scum, get inside!” Minho spat on the ground and turned towards the door, opening it and switching the lights on and beckoning us inside. The room as we could tell was large in the darkness and the lights took a few seconds to spring into action and turn on. They lit up one by one, brightening the room, revealing many blood soaked beds and smashed windows.

“Now find yourselves a decent bed and sleep. We’ll eat on the road in the morning.” Everybody froze staring at him wide-eyed. We couldn’t believe he was going to make us sleep in this completely unprotected place! It’s windows were smashed, the beds were soaked in contaminated blood and the blinding lights in the room were the only well-lit thing to be seen for miles, yet he seemed to not care whether we were found and shot or not. “That’s an order!” His growled words spoke towards everybody, but his gaze seemed to speak to me. It felt uncomfortable, like he’d decided he already hated me and wanted to see me lying limp and dead, blood gushing out from my body, on the battlefield.

We all departed the group, peering round corners in the small hospital and peeking in rooms to find an unsoiled bed. Several people found clean beds in the lieutenant hospital quarters – obviously everybody else got unclean bloody sheets to recover in, whilst the lieutenants just got their asses by the doctors – whereas I and the rest of the men had to settle for blood sodden beds to nest in for the night.

The hospital was abandoned (probably moved to a less recognizable area) and half the walls had crumbled and fallen due to all the bomb impact. It was cold and dank, the beds were old and had most of the springs pushing out from the mattress. We all had to mix and match bedding and mattresses to create ourselves a decent resting area for the night. I found myself a quiet, cosy bed in the corner of the room, close to the entrance. It was away from the light, the sheets were uncontaminated (probably) and the mattress seemed somewhat satisfactory. The only problem was it was opposite the hospital office where I saw Lieutenant Minho and Key cuddling and sharing the bed in the corner of the office.

So that’s why he was pissed off with me so much! I’d flirted with his boyfriend and Key had told him. That Key was just like a girl, one of those annoying one that kisses and tells everybody that she sees. That’s not very healthy in a relationship…

I was awoke not five minutes later by Minho’s booming voice “Okay lads, I’m turning the lights off now so we don’t get spotted. You all better have found a bed” his voice echoed through the hospital, bouncing off the walls with the same vibrant noise of when it first left his mouth. He stared towards me in disgust as he back into the office and settled quietly and lovingly back down with Key on the bed and fell asleep. I tried myself to sleep, I closed my eyes and annoyed myself whenever I moved, because the now uncomfortable bed below me just kept squeaking with every major or minor movement. I eventually just lay on the bed with my eyes wide open, staring at Key.

 Key was so cute when he slept…

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I came up with this in the shower classroom! :D I have the whole story plan written in notes on my Ipod, THIS WILL BE COOL!! If you don't support JongkeyxMinkey GTFO! >:( We don't need haterzzz here :) But if you're a fan of war feel free to stay. This story will have it's ups and downs. And it WILL be sad even I almost cried. Trust me.

Peace out!!!

- CookiemonstaateDINO

~ Charlotte

> The addicted one <