“Damn it Jonghyun! Why didn’t you refill when we were at the diner?!”

“Well sorry if I was distracted with other things at the moment! You act like this is my fault.”

“Your car, your fault.”

“Aish,” Jonghyun slammed his car door shut and walked around to the other side. He opened the passenger door for Key and held his hand out to him, “Come on princess. The nearest station is a couple miles north. Knowing how ‘physically fit’ your body is-”

“Or lack thereof,” Key cut him off, glaring.

“-We should be able to make it there and back before the dawn.”

Key huffed and accepted his hand, stepping out of the old Honda civic. After their meal at GG’s diner, the two took off on their spontaneous road trip again. However, Jonghyun had failed to notice the fuel gage on his car and was surprised to see the needle hit ‘E’ only 3 hours after their departure. Now they were forced to walk on the side of a road to a gas station that is apparently a few miles away, according to Jonghyun’s phone, in the middle of the night with no hope of catching a ride.

“Why am I coming with you?” the younger of the two questioned a few minutes later, “Shouldn’t one of us stay with the car and make sure it doesn’t get towed or something?”

“Pabo, what tow truck would be up this late at night? And what truck would drive around searching for abandoned cars in the first place? That’s a waste of gas!”

“You have no right to be talking about gas.”

“Speaking of gas…” Jonghyun trailed off. Key’s eyes widened and he attempted to walk ahead, but Jonghyun grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back with a chuckle, “And where do you think you’re going?”

“I swear to god Jonghyun, if you so much as think about letting one rip I’ll-”

“You’ll what? Walk ten feet ahead?”

“I’ll steal your keys and wallet, shove you in the woods, and blow every sent you have on random until you’re in debt for the next 20 years. Do. Not. Tempt. Me. Kim. Jonghyun.”

He laughed and held his hands up, “Okay okay, spare me Almighty overlord.”

“Almighty Key,” he quickly corrected, a smug smile on his face.

“Almighty pain in my , can’t you carry the gas bucket for a little bit?”

“No. You’re the idiot who forgot gas.”

Jonghyun hummed in response and kicked a few rocks by his feet. Key stuffed his hands in his jacket pocket and looked up at the sky. Their silence was comfortable and relaxing, at least it was for ten minutes. Then the howls of some stray animals echoed through the trees, making Key jump with the unfamiliar noise.

“What was that?” he asked, looking around. Jonghyun furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He didn’t hear anything, but before he could ask the noise repeated and Key froze, “J-Jonghyun.”

“It’s probably just a couple of animals. Count one-thousands and the next time they howl will tell you how far away they are.”

“That only works with lightning!”

“Two one-thousand, three one-thousand,” the howl came again and the elder man smiled, “They’re really far away, you have nothing to worry about.”

“Like I can trust your words,” Key scoffed, but inched closer when he heard it again.

“Look, if you’re really scared you can-”

“I’d thought you’d never offer,” Key s his arm around the latter’s and clung to him like a small child would.

Jonghyun chuckled, “You’re such a scardy cat.”

“I’d hit you if it wasn’t for the fact that I’m holding you.”

“You always resort to violence, that’s not very cute.”

“Neither is your short structure. Honestly who wants to date someone half their size.”

“Yah! I’ll have you know I make up for my size!”

“How?” Jonghyun smirked again and flexed his arm ever so slightly. He felt Key’s grip on him tighten and the younger nodded, “Point taken.”

They remained silent until the bright lights of the gas station came into view. Key jumped for joy and ran ahead, leaving the dino in his trail of dust. Jonghyun glared at him when he finally made it, seeing as Key had already snuck into the convenient store and bought himself a bottle of water.

The blonde smiled and held it out to him, “Want some?”

Jonghyun nodded and took it from his hand, drinking it gratefully, “God, how can it be this frikken hot in the middle of the night?”

“It’s summer, what did you expect? Now hurry up and get the gas. I’m going to go inside and talk with the cashier.”

He frowned, “How come I get to do all the work while you run off?”

“Because I’m going to try and persuade him to give us a ride back,” he winked, “It shouldn’t take long.”

Jonghyun rolled his eyes and watch him disappear back inside. He put the gas can down and pulled the nozzle from the machine, beginning to fill it up. He leaned back against one of the supporting pillars and looked through the store window. Key was leaning slightly over the counter, happily chatting up a boy that looked his age, maybe even a bit younger. He couldn’t quite place it, but something seemed familiar about him… however those thoughts quickly vanished when he saw them laughed about something. Key had reached his hand out and punched him playfully on the arm. A friendly gesture, yes, but something that he normally only used with Jonghyun.

The elder man felt himself get slightly irritated, not with Key of course but with the boy he was talking to. He didn’t know why, but seeing the two acting so happy together made him wanna punch something. Then, Key glanced outside the window and motioned to him. The boy looked, making brief eye contact with Jonghyun before nodding with a smile and turning to call one of the other employees.

Key clapped his hands together and bowed as a thank you before running outside, “I got us a ride. Woohyun doesn’t mind driving us.”

“’Woohyun’? First name basis already?”

Key rolled his eyes, “Quit acting weird.”

Jonghyun narrowed his eyes and noticed the can had been full for quite some time. He quickly paid the machine and picked it up just as Woohyun stepped outside. He smiled at the two, “Are you guys ready?”

Key looked to Jonghyun, who nodded to confirm before he responded, “Yeah, thanks soo much for doing this.”

“It’s not a problem. I’ll do anything to help a friend in need.”

Jonghyun scoffed, So they’re friends now?

Key sent him a glare and pulled him to the boy’s car. He climbed into the front seat as Jonghyun slid in the back, not particularly paying attention to the small droplets of gas dripping onto the seat. He watched as Key and Woohyun made more small talk, but wasn’t actually listening in on their conversations.

No, he watched their expressions. He watched how Key laughed at some of the stuff the boy said and hit him again, how his eyes would crinkle up when he flashed him his toothy smile. Jonghyun would be lying if he said he wasn’t even a little bit jealous. He was use to being the person that made Key smile and laugh like that, he didn’t like how this boy was doing it so easily.

Then Woohyun slowed down the speed of the car. He did a quick U-turn, since no one was in sight, and stopped right behind their car.

“Kansamnida,” Key thanked him again, unbuckling his seatbelt as he looked behind him, “You okay Jonghyun?”

“Hm?” the dino boy snapped out of his thoughts and nodded. Key grinned and stepped out of the car with the elder male following suit.

“Text me later Key!” Woohyun yelled as he rolled down the window, “Let’s make arrangements to really catch up next time.”

“We’ll see, I don’t know how long this road trip is gonna last,” he chuckled, waving the cashier off, “Say hi to Sunggyu for me!”

Oh god, they’re going to meet again? Wait… “Catch up?” Jonghyun asked, turning to Key with a confused expression on his face.

The blonde nodded, “Yeah. Woohyun is my dongsaeng from high school. Don’t you remember? He usually followed us around during lunch.”

Jonghyun was still a little confused. He dug through his memories of that dreaded place and widened his eyes, “Woohyun… Nam Woohyun?” Key nodded, “The greasiest kid in school that you shared a home economics class with? The kid that hits on anything with a heartbeat? That Nam Woohyun?!”

“Yes that Nam Woohyun,” the blonde sighed, “He seems to be doing well. He’s going to Seoul Uni. under an art major. Seems like he really will be a singer after all.”

Jonghyun scoffed, “And what about me?”

“What about you? You’re already a singer; don’t those café gigs pay well?”

“Depends on the crowd,” he realized that they had just been standing their talking and walked to the side of his car. He popped the side open and unscrewed the lid, then started filling up the car, “Sometimes I get twice my normal salary, sometimes a little less.”

“Oh…” Key nodded, allowing the topic to die off.

When the bucket was empty, Jonghyun closed everything up and unlocked the car. Key jumped into the passenger’s seat and waited impatiently for Jonghyun to get inside.

“You two looked like you had fun though…” Jonghyun mumbled, meaning to keep that thought in his head.

“Fun? We just talked.”

“Yeah, but you were still pretty happy.”

Key rolled his eyes, “He was annoying though, I mean I love the guy but I can only handle so much of him.”

Jonghyun brightened up at the statement and looked over at him, “Really?”

Key nodded again, “Now do you see why I always hid with you at lunch? Come on I thought you knew this.”

“I didn’t… but it’s good to know,” He couldn’t suppress a smile as he pulled back onto the road.

The blonde gave him a concerned look, “You’re acting weird.”

“I’m not.”

“You are. You’re grumpy one minute and now you’re smiling like you just won the lottery.”

“They lottery? Really?”

“Okay, maybe not that happy, but still!”

Jonghyun shook his head and leaned over, grabbing one of Key’s hands, “Go sleep while you can. You’ll be driving when I get tired.”