“Ayah…” Jinki sighed as he pulled up to the corner near Fortune’s Haven where Jonghyun had called to request he come pick him up.  The young man wasn’t hard to miss as he was sitting on the curb, nursing a split lip, a black eye and who knew what else.  Cringing at the appearance of his friend, Jinki parked the car and hopped out, giving him a worried glance.  “Jonghyun,” he murmured softly.

Briefly startled, Jonghyun jerked when he heard Jinki’s voice and flashed him a grin that quickly turned to a wince when it pulled at his busted lip.  “Jinki!” he called in a restrained tone of voice, carefully pushing himself off the curb and moving to greet him stiffly.

“What on earth have you gotten yourself into this time?” Jinki asked, hurrying over to step beside the shorter male, pulling his arm over his shoulder and bracing the sturdy frame against his as they walked.

“Pretty much what I expected,” Jonghyun admitted, immeasurably grateful that the other had shown up on such short notice.  They’d taken all of his money, including the small bit he had reserved for the cab ride home.

“Ugh, you are hopeless,” the other rolled his eyes with a deep breath as he guided him to the side of his silver BMW, gently handing him off into the passenger seat.  When he looked up and glanced back at the entrance to the gambling hall, he noticed three rather suspicious looking individuals watching him with interest and he frowned at them, not at all pleased.

“Only sometimes,” Jonghyun weakly defended himself, hissing when pulling the seatbelt into place proved to be somewhat challenging.

Jinki eyed the other three for a moment more before he carefully shut the door and moved around to his side, hopping in and clicking his seat belt into place without taking his eyes off the rearview mirror.  The three hadn’t moved but they continued to watch from their perch at the front.  “More often of late,” he added distractedly when he finally started the car and pulled off, taking a second to glance at his worked over friend.  “So.  Mind telling me why you don’t have your car anymore?”

“Um…  That.  Yeah.  I sold it,” he stated awkwardly, tugging on the seatbelt strap nervously.  “I’ve been wanting a new one anyway and I figured it was about time,” he shrugged, which was only half-true.  He had been thinking about getting something new…just not right now.  Beside him, Jinki didn’t say a word as he continued to stare straight ahead, which was invariably worse than him yelling at his friend.

“You’re still at your apartment, right?” he asked, giving the shorter male a sidelong glance to make sure he was heading in the right direction.

Jonghyun nodded, chewing his bottom lip before he dabbed at the split lip again, taking a shallow breath.  “I did sell it…” he admitted after another tense moment of silence.  “I needed the money.”

“Jonghyun,” Jinki murmured, lips pursed in disappointment.  “I thought you were going to stop.”

“I was!  I meant to anyway…” Jonghyun grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

“How much?” the elder asked softly, looking directly at his friend and then back to the road, careful never to look away too long.

Jonghyun waved at the question and stared out the window, “It’s taken care of.  Don’t worry about it, Jinki,” he urged quietly.

For a moment, Jinki held his tongue and took another steadying breath.  “Why didn’t you come to me like before?”

“I promised I wouldn’t,” the other responded reluctantly, looking back over his shoulder before he dropped his gaze in shame.

Jinki groaned and smacked his face with his palm.  “Stubborn, honest idiot,” he forced a laugh and rubbed his forehead with his fingers.  “Seriously though.  I’d rather you have to come to me than see you end up like this again,” he stated earnestly, eyeing Jonghyun’s bruised face with sympathy, since he knew there were other wounds on his person he couldn’t see.

“They weren’t so tough,” he snorted, dismissing his friend’s concern.  “And you should see them,” he laughed.  “Well.  One of them anyway,” he had to amend quickly.  Of the four who’d ganged up on him, he’d really only managed to mark the one but he’d gotten a rather nasty cut on his cheek for his efforts.  Jonghyun had split his knuckles open on that hit but it had been very satisfying.

“I’d rather not see any of them at this point,” Jinki spoke, eyes slightly narrowed.

“Nuh uh,” Jonghyun shook his head, one eye closing when the action made him slightly dizzy.  “You don’t have to worry about them anymore.  Seriously, Jinki.  Just leave it alone, alright?” he urged, reaching over to grasp the other man’s forearm when he didn’t respond.  “Hey.”

Reluctantly, Jinki grumbled under his breath and finally nodded in agreement, “Fine.  I’ll leave it as is but if this happens again, I won’t stay silent the next time.”

More than a little relieved, Jonghyun leaned back in the seat and took a breath.  “It won’t happen again.  I promise.”

“I should hope not,” the driver stated with a laugh, taking a second to ruffle his friend’s hair gently with his hand.  As expected, Jonghyun flinched away, batting the hand off uselessly, but it still made them both smile.

“Sorry about this,” Jonghyun apologized sincerely as he stepped out of the car, waving off Jinki’s assistance while he stood up stiffly.

“Seriously, Jong.  I will always be there for you, but do you think we can do normal friend things like hanging out or going to see a movie or something?” Jinki chuckled, leaning over to get a better look at his departing friend.

Jonghyun laughed in response and rubbed the back of his neck, nodding slowly in agreement.  “That would be nice.  We’ll have to try that next time,” he offered, waving at his friend with just the one hand and stepping away slowly.

“Deal,” the other accepted, waving back with a genuine smile before he sat up and waited for Jonghyun to shut the door.  Safely secured, he pulled off, sticking his hand out the driver side window to wave one more time before he got too far out of sight.

Only when Jinki was out of sight did Jonghyun release the breath he was holding and slump forward in mild defeat.  He loved the fact that he could always count on Jinki but he hated that he was never able to reciprocate anymore.  And now he was in a bigger bind…  He’d repaid what he owed but they were demanding an exorbitant amount in interest; an amount he simply didn’t have, nor would he have any time in the near future.

“Pabo,” he grumbled, ambling inside slowly as he silently prayed that his vague promise that he would get the funds would buy him time enough to figure out how to do so.

“So how did it go?” Kibum asked softly when Jinki returned home.  The slender male approached him as he stepped in from the front door and looked into his face closely.  He hadn’t been called at an unreasonable hour and it didn’t sound like it had been an emergency, but it was unusual to receive a call for a ride to say the least.

Jinki took a deep breath to collect himself and shook his head.  “He’s alright.  A bit banged up but nothing too bad,” he admitted, running his fingers through his hair before letting them hang loosely at his side.

“Ayah,” Kibum hissed, stepping close and sliding his arms around Jinki’s torso, resting his blonde head on the taller male’s shoulder.  “What are you going to do with him?” he mumbled grumpily.  “I know you say you’ve been friends forever but all he ever does is ask you for help these days,” he pointed out.

For a moment, Jinki didn’t respond verbally.  He simply wrapped his arms around Key’s frame and rested his cheek on the top of his head, petting the other’s back lightly.  “He didn’t used to be this way, Kibummie.  You should have seen him in our younger years,” he chuckled fondly.  “Imagine all of his exuberance and excitement without the sinkhole that is betting and you’ve got Jonghyun.  Wide open, excitable, foolish at times, but one of the staunchest friends I’ve ever known.”

“Needy is more like it,” Kibum grumbled, still miffed.

“We weren’t so different back then,” Jinki reminded his lover, pulling back enough to peer down at the delicate features.  “Both of us were needy.   I can’t even begin to tell you how many times we borrowed funds from each other, begged for rides when one of us was out of gas and had to call in backup when we got into another mess.”

Kibum just looked at him with narrowed eyes and didn’t say anything for a few seconds.  At last, he spoke, “Okay, but you at least did something about it.  You started Dream Boats and built your own business from the ground up and Jonghyun…  Well, you see where he’s ended up.”

“I know,” Jinki nodded in agreement, cupping the other man’s face gently with his palm.  “He’ll come around though.  You’ll see, love.  Just give it a little more time,” he requested softly, closing the distance between them to place his lips tenderly against his lover’s smiling when he responded in turn.

Breathless, Kibum pulled back, resting his forehead against Jinki’s and closed his eyes in contentment.  “Alright, dear.”  His russet eyes opened again and he looked at his lover in concern, “I’m worried about you though, Dubu.  Those types of people he’s around aren’t good people.  I just don’t want you getting hurt.”

Jinki gave him a confident smile in return and kissed the top of his forehead, holding him close in the next moment.  “I know, love.  Everything is going to be okay.  Come on,” he urged, giving the slender male a gentle push away from the door.  “We were right in the middle of a movie weren’t we?” he asked with a light laugh, pausing to make sure the door was locked behind him.

He pursed his lips when he noticed a car parked on the other side of the road with dark windows that were rolled down only a couple inches, allowing for a small window of sight.  With some concern, he squinted through the side window as he tried to see something but they remained a mystery.  “You coming Dubu?” he heard Kibum call from the living room.

“Neh,” he replied automatically.  “Sorry.  I just got distracted,” he laughed, tearing his eyes from the car and hurrying back into the living room.

(a/n: Shorter than my norm but hopefully still satisfying.  Thanks for reading and have a great one!  ^_^)