An early road trip
The engineering classThe dorm was dark, the blinds were broken and thin, normally useless since the light could always peek in early in the day. But not this morning, the sky was deep grey, promising a lazy busy day, one of those that are so cold that you can't help but be awake wishing for a warmer scarf or a cup of fresh coffee. One of these days that you wish never to be a weekend.
The room was a mess, and the tiny boy got in with a big sigh. The spare key was a bless at times like this. He picked up a hoodie and threw it at the bed next to the door, the boy lying there grunted and turned around, covering every inch of his blonde hair, deepening his eyebrows.
He kept on walking, now making sure he was being louder. He kicked some shoes out of the way, crushed some empty water bottles out of the way.
"Not even my dumb roommate is this messy guys, really" his voice was loud and too bright and awake for this early in the morning.
The brown haired boy was deep asleep. The voice going in the room was just a dream, something distant, not happening to him. He opened his eye slightly just to see his best friend being hit by the smaller guy with the loud voice, the tall blond guy only sat on his bed when the smaller figure handed him a familiar white cup from the coffee shop.
He went back to sleep, it was all very distant, not happening to him anyway.
"(...) Ya, (...) wake up already "
His bed was so warm, so comfortable, it was his girlfriend in lonely nights and terrible mornings like this one.
"YA, KIM JONGIN" he felt the not so soft punches and kicks and pulls turning harder and stronger, what the hell is this now?
He grunted, please get off me please let it all be an ugly nightmare.
"Really Jongin-ah... Its almost 7am, we have to get going" no response, just another deep grunt. "I brought you coffee"
"Hyung, can't you wake up Sehun first? Seriously hes troublesome help him out hyung I beg you" His voice was deep as he spoke quickly, stepping over his own words, he sounded like he had been living in a cave for decades.
"Sehun is up and getting dressed, get up" He felt his lovely 25$ pillow slip away from his head, making him hit the cold bed sheets.
"Ah really Jongdae-hyung... why are you like this" he whined, closing his eyes, covering his face with a hand and standing his other to the smaller guy.
Jongdae handed him the cup of coffee. "I bet you gave Sehun the good coffee full of cream and I'm getting the unsweetened no caffeine I hate you"
Jongdae ignored him, pulling the covers away from Jongin's warm body. He felt the cold wrapping him so quickly, that he sat on the bed, crossing his legs, holding the coffee firmly, taking a strong long sip of it.
He had his eyes closed but he caught glances of a tiny Kim Jongdae walking around, complaining, whining, getting upset but not really, his mood was pretty stable. He met the smaller guy in their group this year, it was his sophomore year, while Jongin and Sehun had just turned 19, being the freshman and youngest. Jongdae was some sort of organizer in the group. He wasn't a leader, he wouldn't even want to be, but he was probably the only one who cared enough to keep things going smoothly, the only one who would drown in books for the finals, the one who would grab everyone by the collar and drag them to class or to the library every now and then. He was a fun guy though, he was surprisingly funny and loud for a small smart focused guy. He would never say no to a good party or to a day off eating cold pizza and playing videogames.
Jongin, on the other hand, loved the idea of being the leader. He liked to get things going and was just as bright and loud as the older one. But he was too unorganized.
A couple of months ago, around Halloween time, the boy kept getting calls and texts from his older brother, Joonmyun, who had finally being able to move into his new fancy apartment in Seoul with his boyfriend. He kept wondering if both Jongin and Sehun would be free to visit them this winter break, stay for Christmas and maybe New Years. He promised them a spare guest room big enough to throw "pajama parties" and Jongin blew raspberries at his phone, nothing thinking much about it.
Just last week, though, Jongin had decided finally reply to his lame brother about staying over for Winter break, it wouldn't hurt to go, would it? Sehun, of course, would go along, so its not like he would be stuck there doing nothing for a couple of weeks. It was starting to get him excited.
The whole winter break plans came up in a conversation between the two youngest and Jongdae once. The smaller guy shrunk his shoulders and said his family would be spending the New Year's Eve in Disneyland this year, he wasn't fond of this kind of things, he would rather spend the week in his room studying or something like that.
Just the thought of leaving the boy alone to sit at his desk and study in a empty lonely cold dorm gave Jongin shivers. He was their friend, damn it, he could never leave the boy to rot by himself with math equations and cold coffee.
He was dragging Jongdae along. And he didn't seem too bothered about it, in fact, he was way more excited than Sehun.
But Jongin hated mornings. He always have. It was never fun, even when he had no responsibility and the only thing he had to do was get his packed lunch and crayons and meet his tiny friends in primary school, he hated it. He hated getting up, getting dressed, the whole deal.
Ironically, what he didn't hate was getting things done. Organizing things, looking at himself in the mirror and feel like he had accomplished a ton of things in a couple of minutes. He was not the best leader though, people couldn't take his word or count on him fully. One night he would make a million of plans and at the very next day he would quit it all just to sleep a little more.
Last night the boys organized the trip, the plan was to get out early, the earliest to avoid as much traffic as possible. They would bring some food to save up time, everyone was encharged of something, Jongdae ended up getting the task of waking everyone up, even if it went unsaid. Jongin was the one who would drive and Sehun would "check and text back Joonmyun", that being the silliest worst task ever and Jongin would hit him every time he commented on how helpful he was being by literally just planning in sitting and holding his phone, did he really think he could fool Jongin?
Oh Sehun was his friend since elementary school and they spent the days glued to each other since them. But Sehun was just as sloppy and unfocused as him. The blond kid was more selfish though, he would take full interest in things that were cool and good for his benefit only. He would be dedicated for his projects, but his way to support Jongin's dumb ideas were not as good, he would chuckle and bash his ideas, or just say it would never work, not in a million of year. Or worse, not say anything at all.
They were so alike, since elementary school, they were like brothers. They were the same age, studying engineering, had the same habits, loved the same movies and had the same favorite foods, their personalities were incredibly alike, and until last summer, they were the same height. Jongin was still mad at how Sehun suddenly grew Kris sized so quickly. How dared him grow tall without Jongin?
The boy sighed and finally got out of bed, going to the tiny, once white bathroom and looked at himself in the tiny squared mirror in front of the dirtiest sink. He placed his coffee cup ontop of the unused loudly basked and turned the tap on. He closed his eyes and took a deep sigh, whining a little. He ran his hands through his dirty oily warm face and hair, pretending to cry. It was so so early, what the hell was he doing up this early? Why is this bathroom so cold and why does it smell like poo? He hated everything so much at that moment.
He took his shirt of and washed himself briefly on the tiny plastic sink. He washed his face with cold-almost warm water and regretted it right away.
"Jongin-ah, stop playing around and get dressed, Im not kidding"
"Ah hyung, really. You are so mean why are you doing this to me, why do you treat Sehun better?" He whined louder now. To Jongdae, he sounded like a puppy, though. "Where's Sehun?"
"I dont know, just be quick and find for yourself, man"
***
After some effort and finishing his now cold unsweetened coffee, he changed from his warm stained sweatpants to a pair of jeans. He put on a warm chunky sweater and a big leather jacket, he combed his hair back and smiled at himself in the mirror in front of his bed. It was early and he was up early, but even if everything , today he was doing his favorite thing ever. He was driving.
Jongin learned how to drive just recently, not like Sehun who had all these dumb privileges and got to learn how do drive when he was 16 or something like that. The brown haired boy got his driving license a couple months ago but he haven't yet gotten the chance to drive and going to the club to pick up a drunk Zitao didn't count as driving. What he was doing today though, it was exciting, it was driving driving, he was going to be in a highway during at least three or four hours. It sounded like a dream to him.
He arrived in front of the Engineering department, where the boys were going to meet. It was empty, cold and there wasn't enough daylight even though they were outside. He hadn't seen a blue sky in weeks now, and even if this early in the morning, the deep dark grey suggested a very cold, dark rainy day ahead of them.
He hated it, he wished to go back to his dorm room and sleep the winter break away. But as soon as his eye caught the glimpse of a silver box, a loud tiny Jongdae next to a tall slow guy, wearing big frames, a huge white jersey and a silly furry hat, he smiled and walked faster.
There it was, the car. He smiled big and saw the tall guy crunch his way into the backseat of the tiny car. He put himself as much comfortable as possible and closed his eyes. Jongin turned to observe the car again, taking a turn around it, running his hand alongside the car.
"Chanyeol helped me packing up everything" The tiny busy guy close the trunk.
Now wide awake, Jongin noticed that the combo big red sweater with his boots over his jeans made Jongdae's legs look thinner and smaller than they actually were and together with his big round framed glasses made him look like a 7th grader.
The boy locked the trunk with the key and put his hands on his waist and smiled tiredly. "We managed to fit all yours and Zitao's crap in, you idiots" He said, finally turning to Jongin, his smiled faded for a couple of seconds, and then he frowned.
"Why are you wearing sunglasses?" Jongdae mocked him, pulling Jongin's glasses away from his face, making him frown and shout at the smaller guy whose voice was louder than ever as he made a ton of faces "Ah... Really Jongin-ah... "
"I'm driving today I need sunglasses to see!" Jongin tried to fish his ray-ban aviators back.
"You are driving, not flying, you idiot. You're not a pilot" Sehun showed up from behind him, his greasy blond hair parted in half, making his forehead look even bigger, Jongin had told him a thousand times before. His best friend was wearing a big white jacket and black jeans, for some reason, he was expecting Sehun to walk out of their dorm in slippers and sweatpants.
Jongin frowned at him as he stole his sunglasses, putting it ontop of his head. He laughed at Jongin trying to get it back.
"Is this even real? Looks like a cheap copy though" The soft lazy voice with a tiny trace of Chinese accent came up next to Sehun, the guy with the cat eyes had an almost grossed-out look on his face, getting the sunglasses from Jongin's best friend. Of course he would say something stupid like this instead of greeting everyone properly.
Huang Zitao was the newest in their group. He was a freshman just like Sehun and Jongin, they were in the same class and Zitao lived in the dorm room just across the hall. They quickly hit off, Zitao being knew in the city, in the country, in fact, it was like the boy was out of this world.
He looked like the Japanese drawings in the books Chanyeol always read, he was tall and had perfect shiny black hair and unlike Chanyeol, who seemed to had forgotten to grow his face away from looking like he was 14, the Chinese boy's sharp face was proportional to his slender figure. He was also gracious, well, way more than any of them. He had good sense of fashion, beating Sehun to it even if the youngest wouldn't admit it.
He was wearing all black and red laced up shoes, something he called a monochromatic look, whatever it was supposed to mean. He talked about his fashion and how that shirt was new and he didn't want to get it stained or "smelling like their cheap cologne".
Yes, Zitao always dressed well, but today he had outdone himself, he was looking like he would be attending Seoul's Fashion Week, and Jongin knew the only reason why he was even going was to finally meet Sehun's older brother. This kid was definitely a fool but he didn't mind, it was fun to have all his friends from the engineering department coming along.
Jongin looked over at them both playing around with his sunglasses, this was getting stupid. Its not like he cared anyway.
"Gimme the car keys" He said, turning to Jongdae, who was sort of trying to step in the car by pushing Chanyeol's knee with his dark grey combat boots. His boots were dirty, staining Chanyeol's jeans without the tall boy realizing.
The smaller guy in the group turned to him and threw the keys his direction, Jongin caught them quickly and smiled, fist in the air.
"Jongin you are so stupid, you are the only creature who would be happy in driving this early in this car" Sehun said, taking a bite off his freshly baked bagel with cream cheese and handed a sandwich wrapped in brown paper to Jongdae who got in the car next to the giant.
Sehun had just gotten a "new" car for his good grades and to, quoting the tall blond, "relief the stress from the finals and keep up working hard" because Sehun was that good of a student, whatever, Jongin thought.
But the blond wasn't very fond of the car though. It was old, rusty, belonged to his older brother when he was around his age, to Sehun, it was practically useless. If he whined a little he probably could get a better car before summer break.
The brown haired boy gave him a look and glanced back at the car. Sure, it wasn't the best car out there, but it was a good car, it reminded him of all these american movies from the 80's, the car looked straight out of a movie set, and Jongin didn't understand how Sehun couldn't appreciate its charm.
The smell of freshly baked good woke up his stomach, the half cold coffee that Jongdae handed him earlier wasn't enough to feed him.
"Hey give me a bite" He said, opening his mouth and getting closer to Sehun's bagel. The youngest stepped away and got in the car, taking the seat next to the driver's.
"Get your own" He said and went to check his phone.
"Ya this isn't fair, you got everyone something!"
"They asked me to get them stuff, though" But of course, Sehun would never have got to the store to get everybody breakfast.
"You even got Chanyeol something, and hes asleep, just gimme his food come on I'm driving today!" Jongin grunted, kicking the door.
"No, I can't, the poor guy would be hungry, you are very insensitive" Sehun murmured, not even looking at Jongin.
The boy realized he was the only one still out of the car, Zitao had find a place behind the driver's seat, Chanyeol sitting next to him with his head sloppy rested on Zitao's shoulder.
He noticed how all of them (well, except Chanyeol) were snacking on something that would at least keep them fed and awake for the whole morning. Jongin felt like stomping his feet and denying to drive his friends off until Sehun agree in buying him breakfast.
But knowing the youngest, it would be useless, just making him waste time.
"Get in, you fool" Sehun suggested, throwing a snickers chocolate bar at his direction.
Holding the chocolate bar didn't make him any happier, if anything, it made him frustrated, his friend didn't care not the least bit for his health. What if he fainted in the middle of the high way because everything he ate was a snickers bar?
No, Jongin was better than that, he wouldn't cause a scene over that. Even if he wished his own death just go get back at Sehun, he decided to send himself positive thoughts. The trip would go smoothly and he would be driving without his mum on the passenger's seat screaming and crying and treating him like he was learning how to walk.
After flipping off his best friend, he took a bite of the chocolate and got in the car, smiling big.
"Is everyone with their seatbelts on?"
***
"So let me see if I got this straight," he said, leaning over Jongin's seat, making the others grunt in exhaustion. They were on the road for a hour now, Chanyeol was still asleep, Sehun had turned to his phone but participating in the conversation between the others every now and then. The boys chatted a little about trivial things, until Zitao started to make questions about Sehun's older brother. They were trying to get the foreign student to understand it all for over twenty minutes now "You and Sehun are best friends right?"
"Yes"
"And your brother is marrying his brother, right?"
"No, they are living together"
"Didn't Joonmyun comment on wanting to get married and build a family though?" Sehun looked away from the phone for a second and looked at the road, frowning his eyebrows a little.
"Maybe they are, I don't know I don't wanna know I mean do you really want to know Sehun, are you really interested in it?" he said in an ironic tired tone.
"Of course I am, I'm going to be the best man after all."
"What? " Jongin looked at him with a surprised look at quickly went back to look at the road, whatever, its not like he cared anyway. "Did he actually say that?" he snorted, lowering his voice and shaking his head a little.
"No, but isn't it obvious that I am the best choice?" The boy said like it was the silliest question hes ever been made, as he typed quickly.
"Guys, you are confusing Tao even more!" Jongdae sunk in his seat and kicked Sehun's seat slightly, getting annoyed at the way the boys at the front would get distracted or fill in the conversation with useless information every now and then.
"Are you two brothers or what?" Zitao sat back, pouting. "Is your brother single or not, Sehun-ah?" He said in a slow sleepy whiny tone.
"No you dumb fool, we are not brothers"
"We are brothers at heart!"
"God, Jongin, shut up already" Sehun put the phone away for a second, cringing and crackling at his friend "Seriously, do you even listen to what you say sometimes?"
Jongin tried to hit his friend without taking his eyes off the road.
"Ya, can we get over this already? This conversation is getting me car sick!"
"God, me too, just the thought of my brother marrying a older copy of Sehun gets me vomiting to be quite honest"
"Seriously of all people Kris had to pick a small dull version of Kim Jongin" Sehun said, his voice going sharp and his eyebrows deepening as he turned his head away from Jongin.
"Please, Look at your brother," Jongin said in a loud tone, throwing his head back "He thinks hes so cool but he can only pull it off because he looks half decent. Same as you."
"Ah, but that isn't true, Kris hyung is very good charming" Zitao smiled big and Jongdae laughed at him, was this kid going mad or something?
"Hes right, listen to Tao, my brother might be dumb but he's good at looking good" He said, shaking his finger.
"Sehun-ah, you said Kris hyung can speak fluent mandarin, I can't wait to meet him"
Jongin coughed under his breath "Fluent. Right. In what world."
"Well it's okay if he isn't fluent though, I can teach him."
The car exploded into a unison cringing cry. They had seen Zitao in action at the club before, in fact, he was in action all the time with anyone. He would blatantly flirt using the worst pick up lines they could probably think of.
And knowing Kris, it wouldn't be the best combination. The tall blonde wasn't any better, even if his younger brother wouldn't like to admit, they both knew Kris was just as cringe-worthy, muzzy material. Imagining some kind of "who knows the worst pick up line in Earth" wasn't hard, but it was embarrassing enough.
The loud reaction ended up waking up the giant sitting between Zitao and Jongdae. His furry hat had long fallen from his head, revealing a greasy disheveled dark brown hair, his face was all crunched up, making his scared surprised eyes look even bigger. The boy looked at the eyes watching him and then tried looking for something in his pockets, slowly getting desperate.
He quickly pulled the black sleeve back and looked at his watch.
"-ere are we going?" His voice was heavy and he quickly cleared his throat "AH... ah really... guys..." He said, looking at the boys surrounding him, and suddenly he turned his head to look at a street sign above them as they went through the highway "SEOUL?!" He shouted.
"What's up with this guy now" Jongin chuckled, shaking his head slightly. "Hyung, we are going to meet my brother Joonmyun, remember?" He said softly as if he was talking to a child.
"No, no, come on, why... how.. How did you get me in here?! Jongdae-ah," He turned to the smallest guy in the car "Jongdae, you knew I would meet Baekhyunnie tomorrow! And we even were spending the New Year's together!" He whined, covering his face.
"You helped me packing everything up though. You even got your stuff in the car. You even got in first" Jongdae spoke louder, "You probably forgot you were meeting up with Baekhyun, don't blame it on me!"
Chanyeol's face turned into a offended one, his mouth gaping wide, his eyes big, like he could not believe his roommate would say such a thing.
"No! I did not! You fooled me into this trip I didn't plan to come I told you guys I couldn't come!"
The boys looked at each other and murmured. Last night they had got together to organize the last bits of the trip. They ordered a pizza and watched some lame drama while organizing everything. Sehun was lying on his bed texting or playing on his phone, just nodding and grunting at Jongin's attempts in getting the boy involved. Zitao sat next to him asking to see pictures of Kris and asking how he was like, even if Sehun kept saying how he was much older and dating already. Jongdae asked questions and Jongin came up with the answers on how everything would go down on the next morning. He even had a whole plan written down on a tissue with black sharpie. Chanyeol was there as well, they remembered him ordering a second pizza and calling Baekhyun every five minutes.
But they couldn't remember if the oldest had said anything about not joining them anymore. Well, he probably mentioned something, but they didn't take him too seriously.
Park Chanyeol was always like that though, going back and forth with his thoughts, thinking too much over trivial things just to pick the first choice at the end. Was he actually serious about staying at the dorms with Byun Baekhyun? He probably was and they didn't notice.
Chanyeol met Baekhyun through a group project, they were in the same class as Jongdae but the boy would
"So you were serious about that?" Sehun's eyebrows raised in surprise.
"Eh, I don't think Baekhyun had any plans in seeing you during the holidays, Chanyeol." Jongdae made a grossed out face, his friend was turning into a creep day by day.
"Yeah, you are probably just being a stalker, let the boy breath a little" Jongin laughed, looking at the tall frustrated, in the verge of tears Chanyeol through the rear view mirror.
"Ya, what are you guys saying!? He asked me if I could go to his party and I said I could I would, I had a whole outfit planned out!" He groaned, covering his face.
He asked a couple of times for Jongin to stop the car, but the younger ignored him completely. And the next few minutes were almost nerve wracking to the boy driving. Chanyeol was way too tall and awkward to be siting in the middle of two boys who couldn't stop moving or talking. The tallest kept making both Zitao and Jongdae get up or move a little so he could look for his phone, because he was sure he had his phone with him earlier. The sudden hustle in the backseat got him a bit annoyed. Was it how his dad felt when he tried to drive both him and Joonmyun to the beach on summer break?
"Ya, Sehun," Jongin said, slapping his friend's leg.
"Ouch! What was that for?" Sehun turned to him, frowning, trying to slap him back. "Don't hit me in my own car! Do you know how rude that is?"
"Right, get these guys to shut it for a minute or two"
"You are looking like your mom" Sehun laughed, poking Jongin's face, obviously getting his friend even more annoyed. Sehun would always annoy Jongin by making fun of him, or reminding him of something extremely embarrassing, like that one time when they were both 13 and he was in love with their teacher and decided to write her a poem, and Jongin would probably do something a thousand times worse to get back at him, but this time Jongin looked like he was about to deliberately flip the car over and set it on fire with everyone trapped inside. Sehun slowly turned around "Ya, Jongin is driving" he said as if he was chewing his cheek "Keep it quiet before I get hit until I bleed to death, he's hitting me because of all of you!" He said, curling his lips down and frowning.
It didn't help much, Jongdae was starting to lose his mind at Chanyeol asking him to get out of the way so he could look for his stupid phone under him. Zitao kept being pushed against the door and had a whiny voice and face going on, his long legs against Jongin's sit, pushing him forward.
And suddenly everyone started to talk more, louder, moving a lot. Zitao kept asking for them to make a stop so he could pee and Chanyeol could look for his phone properly, he kept pointing at every gas station of sign for the closest convenience store. Jongdae said over and over to his roommate of how he must have forgotten his phone at the dorm and it was getting on the driver's nerves, he would rather hear something else coming from his mouth than the same sentence over and over again. Sehun kept to himself, looking at his phone, not paying much attention to the whole chaos breaking loose. He would only look back and ask them to keep down or glance at Jongin every few minutes.
Little by little, Chanyeol was looking like Hulk, getting angrier, raising his voice.
"Come on... I really gotta go to the bathroom"
"Chanyeol, you probably left your phone in the dorm, do you want me to lend you my phone?"
"You dont understand" His voice was strong and louder, his eyes were crazy wide even if he was frowning "He probably is texting me right now, I. NEED. MY. OWN. PHONE"
"Well, you probably left your phone in the dorm"
"Somebody try calling his phone or something... I need to pee" Zitao kept moving his legs, hitting Jongin's chair with his knee or foot.
"Its useless, it was on silence since last night" He lowered his voice as he pushed Jongdae out of the way again.
"Ya, you probably left your phone in the dorm, stop pushing me!"
"Just get out of my way for a second man!"
"No, you sit down and get out of my face, stop touching me! I'm telling you probably left your phon-"
"Jongdae I swear to god I'm going to rip your dumb glasses out of your damn face and throw it out of the window, shut it already would you?!" Jongin turned his head lightly to face the smallest boy and then frowned, looking at the road once again.
"What?!" Jongdae shouted back "Now what the hell did I do?! Chanyeol keep pushing me!"
"I JUST NEED MY PHONE!"
"Chanyeol is so desperate..." Zitao was once again pushed against the door, this time feeling bothered by Chanyeol's stubbornness
"Yeah, he probably didn't even call you man, just chill"
"Don't you tell me to chill, I swear to ing god Jongdae,"
"Ya, guys, keep it down, Jongin is turning purple over here" Sehun tried speaking up. "Is there any way we can make a little break?" He asked his best friend, who didn't take his eyes off the road.
"No."
"Dude, would you like me to drive for little while you res--"
"Can you look for his ing phone in the glove compartment?" Jongin's voice was deep and serious, he was just as stubborn as Chanyeol.
Sehun would probably protest at his friend's orders, but instead, he froze for a second, lowering the phone he held in his hands.
"Are... we are looking for Chanyeol's phone?" His voice was low and slow "Chanyeol's... phone? Is this what the fuss is all about?"
"Yeah... yeah, aren't you listening to anything?" Jongin glanced at his friend briefly and looked back at the road. "Just... just look for the goddamn phone, would you?"
Sehun chuckled, shaking his head a little.
"Just do what I say before I..." Jongin looked at him, frowning "What the are you laughing at?"
"Oh man, you... You gonna laugh, you gotta laugh, you must..." He said, laughing more. Sehun was actually a little worried in telling his friend, since Jongin was already in such a terrible mood.
"I mean, you would laugh if you weren't so pissed" He laughed more, raising the hand he held the phone with. "Everyone is probably going to laugh" he whispered, snorting.
"What are you..." Jongin looked at his friend, and then at the black phone in his hands.
He would expect at least two reactions coming from his best friend. He would either join in and bust out laughing at the whole thing, or shout and probably throw a fit over it. But instead, Sehun was surprised by Jongin turning his face to the road and falling silent.
Sehun watched him a couple of seconds, before turning to his friends and interrupting the whole mess.
"Ya... Chanyeollie... Channie-ah... Chanyeol hyung..." He said, a thin smile on his lips, his voice calm and he handed the boy the phone "I had your phone with me, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were looking for it"
He felt the three of them watching him, and instead of everything breaking into hell, Chanyeol thanked him almost inaudibly and the whole car turned quiet.
For the next twenty minutes, the car was quiet, the boys didn't even dare facing each other.
***
Actually, Jongin was glad, even if he could feel the heavy atmosphere left in the car, he had a thin smile on his lips, the shouting and the pushing had stopped completely and he could concentrate in driving. But it wasn't exactly how he wanted it to be like. He would rather have some music playing and have the boys talking about something trivial, but everyone refused to even say a word when he asked them anything. It felt like a victory at first, but he started to feel bitter about it.
And then he started to get angry. It wasn't even his fault to begin with. Why would the guys be mad at HIM? Plus this was ridiculous, immature, juvenile. He was so much bigger than this, Jongin thought.
He turned to Sehun, who was again back to playing around with a phone.
"Ya, what were you even doing with his phone? Wheres that dumb golden iPhone your mom got you?"
"My phone needs to be charged. And Chanyeol's has this fun game called Ridiculous Fishing and you fish around with chainsaws and hammers and I was almost beating his score" He snorted.
"So whose phone is that?" Jongin tried grabbing the phone from Sehun's hands, who swift away from the driver quickly, chuckling. "Wait is that.." he said, looking at him quickly "give me back my phone!"
Jongin kept trying to get his phone from the blond, who kept ducking away from him, laughing more.
"What's wrong Jongin-ah?"
"Seriously Sehun get your own... phone" he said, trying to both concentrate on the driving and get his phone back from Sehun.
"Are you trying to hide something? What is it? Should I check your texts?" He laughed louder.
"Hey man, just give him his phone back before you get us in a freaking car accident, come on" Jongdae stepped up in the conversation without actually trying to stop them.
"It looks..." Sehun kept smiling big, more agitated than usual "... it looks like Kyungsoo texted you..." he kept dodging away from his friend " he texted you twice! TWO UNREAD TEXTS FROM " Sehun shouted, busting into laughter.
"Kyungsoo? as in Do Kyungsoo?" Chanyeol, who was sitting bored staring at his phone started to pay attention to the youngest.
"Isn't he friends with Baekhyun?" Jongdae looked at the tall guy next to him, who nodded
"Does he knows anything about Baek?"
"What's wrong Hyung, isn't Baekhyun hyung texting you back?" Zitao looked away from the window and looked at Chanyeol's phone.
"Ya, it's not like that I ... maybe his phone died on him"
"Maybe he's tired of you stalking his " Jongdae started laughing as Chanyeol threaten to throw him out of the car.
"Jongin-ah are you in love with Kyungsoo hyung?"
"Tao shut up" Jongin frowned, his cheeks flustered "Tao get my phone away from Sehun! SEHUN I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU READ THE TEXTS.... JUST GIVE MY PHONE BACK"
"Yeah Jongin-ah, are you in love? Are you? With an older guy? Gee Kim Jongin, you are just like your brother, just as dumb and unfunny and-"
"STOP READING MY TEXTS"
"You send him too many texts too quick" Sehun frowned, taking pity of his best friend, going through his texts, knowing he would be dead before the trip was over "and you send too many emojis, chill a bit"
"STOP READING... Sehun stop reading my texts!" He whined, shaking back and forth
"Is he ting him?"
"I'M NOT... NO I'M NOT TING KYUNGSOO HYUNG ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR DAMN MIND JONGDAE?"
"He might be, if hes trying to hide things from me this bad... seriously Jongin-ah, I thought we were best friends"
"Oh Sehun you are so ing dead."
"Let me see, Let me see!" Jongdae jumped closer to Sehun's seat and snapped the phone from him quickly.
"STOP READING MY PERSONAL THINGS" He shouted "Did I ever do something like this to you guys before, did I actually invade your personal spaces before?"
"Yes, actually"
The boys nodded in agreement, and Jongin's plan flunked as the boys realized they could go ahead and read his texts.
"How did you even get his phone in the first place?"
"How did you get his phone and my phone? "
"I don't know, I just did."
"Kyungsoo hyung is so polite to Jongin-ah, he's so sweet!"
"A crush being polite to you is not exactly what you would be hoping for, is it?"
"Yeah, Chanyeol would know, at least is better than being ignored by your crush isn't it?"
"Shut up you freaking Hobbit!"
"Should we text Kyungsoo back for you?"
"YEAH WE SHOULD WE DEFINITELY SHOULD"
"SHUT UP, NO YOU SHOULDN'T, GET AWAY FROM MY PHONE"
"What's wrong Jongin-ah? You wanna know what Kyungsoo replied to you? Is that it?"
"He wished you a nice trip! Aw, Kyungsoo Hyung is really the best" Zitao read the latest text from the phone, with dreamy eyes.
"Hey guys, this is really uncool, don't be gross, don't gross Kyungsoo hyung out"
"We are not going to be gross to Kyungsoo, man, relax"
"We should tell him something like... I wish you were here"
"Seriously can you be any lamer? That's why Baekhyun wants you miles away"
"Jongdae Hyung don't be mean, I bet Baekhyun Hyung can't reply to him right now, that's it! If I give Kris Hyung my number and he can't reply right away, I will understand that."
"Tao are you seriously trying to get between my brother's and Joonmyun's relationship?! You are, he actually is, Jongin-ah do something!" Sehun poked Jongin.
"Get off me, Joonmyun and his lame boyfriend, give my phone back! Did you guys actually reply to him? I'm going to kill all of you without a pity, do you hear me?"
***
The trip went on, and even if Jongin begged and threatened his friends from being thrown out of a moving vehicle, it wasn't enough to stop them from texting Do Kyungsoo.
They promised him the texts they'd send didn't contain anything that would scare Jongin's crush away, but the driver knew he couldn't trust his friends, the same group of guys who would go to parties without him when he had to catch up with school work, the same group of guys that would scream obscene things while he was on the phone talking to his mum.
Plus, they didn't know Kyungsoo like he did. Even if Chanyeol and Jongdae were in the same year as him, and even if their friend Minseok from the Literature dept introduced them to Kyungsoo, even if they got to know each other much before Jongin was around, that didn't mean they knew him any better than Jongin did.
He frowned and hold onto the steering wheel tighter. Jongin watched his phone, placed ontop of the glove compartment like a hawk, even if Sehun "promised" he would only touch his phone if Kyungsoo replied to him.
But Jongin would be a fool in trusting his best friend.
"Come on Jongin-ah, you can't be mad at me during the whole trip, believe me, we did you a favor in texting him back" Sehun groaned, he promised he wouldn't tweak and play around with Jongin's phone anymore to avoid his best friend from going completely insane. But now without a phone or gadget to hold on to, he was incredibly bored, sinking in his seat.
Talking to the boys in the back wasn't the same as playing around and annoying Kim Jongin.
"Should I turn on the radio? You love old crap music, there's always a radio station for that" He leaned forward, pushing and pressing all the buttons on the old dusty faded radio. But Jongin didn't react, he didn't take the eyes off the road or changed his expression. The blond kept on skipping songs and white noise until the driver stopped him with his arm.
"I dig this song" He said, Sehun nodded and sat back.
"Ah... seriously, you have the worst music taste I've ever witnessed." He frowned and grunted at Jongin hitting him with his free arm. "Ah! Ouch! Stop hitting me, your brother will look at me covered in bruises and what are you going to say to him?"
"Do you seriously think I'm afraid of my brother?" Jongin laughed, raising his eyebrows.
"Maybe not your brother, but I know you are terrified of my brother since that one time you slept over at my house and you tried got thirsty in the middle of the night and tried to sneak to the kitchen but you met Kris half way through and you almost pissed yourself." Sehun started raising his voice.
"Shut it, seriously shut it" Jongin said quickly
"Your brother will tell my brother and my brother will kick your " Sehun had a thin smile on his face.
Jongin glanced at his best friend, it was like that since their brothers started going out. The blond was already a spoiled brat, but with both Kris and Joonmyun taking care of him, he had become insufferable.
"Shut up Sehun" The brown haired boy shook his head "you are full of it"
"No I'm not, You know I'm not." His smug smile growing bigger "Now give me your phone before my brother finds out how you have been treating me"
The driver sighed and rolled his eyes, actually laughing and giving in. It's whatever, he thought. He could always use this later against Sehun himself.
They continued the trip chatting every now and then, Sehun decided to play tetris on the brown haired's phone, Chanyeol kept whining about Baekhyun not replying him, and everybody's attention was on something else. Jongdae ended up falling asleep at the window, and Zitao was texting whoever it was, he was on his phone, but kept moving his legs and hitting Jongin's chair every now and then.
It didn't bother him much, to be honest. He was calm, the music playing in the radio was upbeat and his friend's saying stupid things and laughing every now and then was keeping him in a good mood.
"Ya... I still have to go to the bathroom"
"My legs are starting to get numb, can't we make a break? A tiny one? We will be quick"
"I can't do much for you guys" Jongin said, leaning over the steering wheel, watching the tiny droplets of rain hitting the rain. It was around 11am and the traffic was forming lines of not so colorful cars. It was definitely depressing, he thought, sinking in his seat a little. "We can stop at the next gas station, but I don't know how long it will take, so shut your and don't complain to me, I can't do anything"
"Ah, don't be mad, but I really need to pee"
"Pee in a bottle" Chanyeol suggested, his voice dragging. He was already frustrated because he couldn't reach the other guy, now he was starting to feel incredibly uncomfortable sitting right in the middle of a tall slander guy who couldn't stop moving and a smaller one who had taken half the backseat by falling asleep.
"No way, that's so gross!"
"Come on, you are a guy, we are all guys, it won't matter" Jongin said, looking for an empty bottle and chuckling.
Zitao kept whining at his friends, pushing Chanyeol away from him, who threatened in ing his pants for him.
"YAH, don't do that, this car is mine, what if he spills, really" Sehun tried stopping Jongin from handing the bottle to Chanyeol.
"If he spills it will only spill on himself, though" Jongin laughed out loud along with Chanyeol.
"Hey, get away from me, seriously!" Zitao put his hands on Chanyeol's face, trying to stop the boy from reaching him, even if he was just playing around, Zitao hated this kind of games.
"Hold him down! Jongin-ah help me holding him down!"
"Jongin, pay attention to the road you dumb fart" Sehun kicked his friend's leg. "Chanyeol hyung seriously, stop this he might pee himself" The blond couldn't stop himself and ended up snorting and joining Chanyeol in laughing at the Chinese boy.
Jongin ended up having to quit the fight as he turned back to face the traffic moving slightly. Chanyeol was pushed away so harshly by an angry Zitao that he fell over the smaller guy sleeping in the corner.
"YAH! What the hell" He said, trying to take Chanyeol, who was now laughing even harder along with Sehun, away from him. "Get off me, you are so fat that's why Baek doesn't want anything with you, I swear"
Without moving, Chanyeol frowned "Yah, I'm not fat, I'm big boned" He said, lifting his legs and arms, occupying even more space, his legs hitting Zitao and his entire torso covering Jongdae's body, almost pushing him to the floor.
"Kids, behave yourselves!" Jongin shouted
"What the hell, we are older than you"
"Well, I'm driving, so I'm pretty much untouchable" Jongin smiled until Sehun kicked his leg again.
"This car is mine"
"Since when do you care about this car! Stop kicking me, you are getting my jeans dirty!"
"It's not like you are meeting Kyungsoo today"
"Ah! Shut up! Don't talk about Kyungsoo"
"Calm down, he didn't reply to you yet"
"Ok, that's it, give me my phone back" Jongin tried to grab his phone from Sehun's hands, but the boy dodged away from him, gluing himself at the door, getting as far from Jongin as he could.
"Oh, Sehun-ah, Luhan hyung texted me asking where are you at" Zitao's lazy voice stopped Sehun from acting childish right away, he glanced at the black haired boy, raising his eyebrows slightly.
"He did? Oh, could you tell him my phone died on me?" He said, watching Zitao nodding and texting right away. He kept his back turned to Jongin, who quickly saw this as a chance to get his phone back.
He smiled and pushed his friend, but the blond's lack of response got him sitting and staring blankly.
Sehun asked softly for Zitao's phone, and the boy gave it to him, they chatted a bit, something about how "Luhan hyung rarely texted him" and Sehun had a smile on his face as he heard these words.
It was like his friend had turned into someone else. It wasn't that he was jealous, or angry because the attention wasn't on him anymore, it was just weird seeing his best friend talking to Zitao about something so softly and carefully, like it was a secret or like they were cheating in a test together. Jongin felt his mouth dry and his throat itchy a bit. He felt... awkward.
For the first time since seventh grade, when Sehun got his first girlfriend, Jongin felt left out of something that involved the blond boy.
Luhan hyung? Lu han hyung. It was weird. Sehun wouldn't bother hiding anything from him, and, well, it's not like he was trying to hide this from him, it just came up out of nowhere, didn't it? But why did Zitao knew about it beforehand? Jongin was always the first to know these things.
The boy driving waited anxiously for the traffic to stop, and he glanced at the phone Sehun was holding. He texted quickly, and the replies came back just as quick.
He could ask who was it. He would have, if they were at their dorm, or at home, or anywhere else. But having the boys surrounding them both, it didn't felt ideal. He noticed how his friend was indulged in the conversation happening in the phone, as he sat back on his seat, putting his legs close to him, on the seat, like he was hugging himself.
It's whatever, Jongin thought. If it was something meaningful, he would be knowing about it by know, wouldn't he? He definitely would.
***
He guessed he couldn't avoid it. The frowning, the face burning, the sudden feeling, that definitely was not jealously, from overflowing him. He kept staring and driving, the boys kept talking and laughing, the music kept playing, and Sehun kept focused in the phone, texting nonstop.
It was annoying, his friend didn't even bother talking to him, since Zitao lend him his damn phone.
It was supposed to be a trip for them, all of them, the driver included. But Sehun couldn't stop himself from blowing everything up by sitting alone and texting Lu whatever his name is.
"There's a gas station two minutes from here!"
"And a Mcdonalds as well, I'm so hungry let's go there!"
Jongin agreed, all he wanted right now was a tiny break, a good cup of coffee and maybe some greasy snacks. His was getting sore from sitting, and maybe that was why he felt so cranky, not because someone texting his best friend.
***
It was cold out there, the thin rain made it even more uncomfortable, but the boys would rather be in the cold than sit in the car for another few hours.
Jongin parked at the convenience store in front of the gas station and the boys split. Chanyeol and Jongdae took orders from the boys quickly and went to the Mcdonalds, they thought going in the restaurant was quicker than waiting in drive thru's line.
Zitao rushed into the convenience store and ran to the toilets, the cashier shouting at him he had to buy something to use it, and he apologized a ton of times and asked Sehun to buy something for him.
Jongin and Sehun walked in slowly, the store was smaller than they expected and the variety of snacks and fast food wasn't as good as Jongin expected, but it was better than nothing. The whole tiny store and the gas station were covered in red and white glitter, with fake snow covering the store's window, with a upset cashier wearing a santa's hat.
He avoided glancing at Sehun, or being around him, but the blond kept walking right behind him.
"Ya"
Jongin kept staring at the soggy sandwiches and drinks of curious taste, without saying a word.
"Ya, Jongin-ah, are you ignoring me now?" Sehun put his hand on Jongin's shoulder, but the boy shook it off quickly.
"YAH! Are you mad? What the hell did I do now? Seriously, you got the worst temper"
"Did I say anything?" Jongin looked at the blond, who had (finally) put the damn phone away.
"I just got a headache and you are not helping"
"Fine" Sehun nodded slowly, grabbing an aloe vera drink and reading the label, frowning. "And you are sure this is not about Luhan hyung, right?"
Jongin snorted.
"Who the hell is Luhan hyung, you talk like I know about this guy or something" He said quickly, walking away, Sehun right behind him, following his every step.
"So you are mad"
"No, No I'm not! You are dating, you are dating a guy, whatever, why do I have to know everything about your stupid lif-- Sehun get off me!" He felt the boy jump on his back and kiss his neck
"Don't be jealous!" Sehun chuckled, holding himself firmly from a furious Jongin, who tried to shake him off "YAH yah be careful you're going to knock everything over!"
"Get off me, don't kiss me you gross fart!" He shouted "Go kiss luhan hyung whatever!"
"Don't worry Jongin-ah! Im forever yours Jongin-ah!" He said, Jongin's ear, making the other scream in horror.
"YOU ARE SO GROSS GET OFF ME I'M GOING TO MURDER YOUR "
Jongin knocked some Pringles cans, making the cashier frown heavily at them and Sehun jumped out of him, stepping away from him quickly.
***
Sehun picked two santa's hat, putting a red one on himself, quickly fixing it by watching his reflection in the window. He put a green one on Jongin's head, the boy complaining it would give him lice, but he didn't care at the end.
They waited in the car for the boys, Zitao was taking long than they have hoped for, so they decided to grab as much junk food as they cold and wait for the others in the car.
"Ah, seriously... " Jongin laughed, shaking his head and getting rid of the packaging of one of the soggy sandwiches he picked "Even Tao knew"
Sehun took a sip of his aloe vera drink, making a disgusting face.
"He only knew because Luhan hyung is helping him with korean"
"Of course you are dating a chinese guy, you never settle for something easy do you"
Sehun shrug his shoulders.
They sat and waited for a little more. Chanyeol and Jongdae were taking way longer than they expected, but at least they could see Zitao at the cashier, picking a bunch of chocolate boxes and christmasy themed packaging, they could only guess the boy was planning in handing them to everyone when they finally get at Joonmyun's place.
"How long?"
"Uh... two... no, three months."
"Ah, seriously. And you... and I didn't doubt a thing."
"You are dumb and you never caught on things quickly though"
"You're a sneaky bastard, be honest."
"I didn't see the point in telling you something this soon" Sehun stared at the empty bottle "You would probably start planning my wedding or some "
Jongin hit his friend's forehead and the boy tried hitting him back, when the backdoor opened.
"Yah yah you two fighting already, seriously" Jongdae walked
"Oh, Christmas hats, did you pick one for me too?"
"Your head is too big, we didn't find a pumpkin sized hat, sorry hyung"
"Did you get me the fries and the chicken nuggets? And the fries sauce?" Zitao walked in with a huge black bag, quickly placing it between his legs, on the floor, and reaching for the brown bag who was already getting wet and greasy.
They ate on the way to Joonmyun's place. Sehun changed the radio station to one playing a top 100 Christmas songs and Zitao kept complaining on how he couldn't stand Christmas carols, and how he hated Christmas pop songs, and how Mariah Careys "All I want for Christmas" was the best song ever.
Chanyeol kept staring at his phone, until Jongdae finally reached for it and kept it away from him.
It was a fun ride, Jongin realized. Even if in a old car, low on cash, with the worst weather possible, spending the season with his friends was nice. Of course, their faces reminded him of the assignments he had to finish for his next class in January, and he probably would lose his head every five minutes later in the day, but it was a thousand times better than facing his dummy brother and his dumb boyfriend on his own.
Yeah, maybe Sehun had started dating before him, and it got him annoyed, because it was yet another thing he was losing to Sehun on, but at least he wouldn't have to handle Joonmyun trying to pair him to his lame disgusting spoiled best friend.
"YAH, Tao! Stop kicking my chair!"
"I have to go pee again"
"Pee in a bottle already!"
"Sehun can you take your dumb eyes off this dumb phone? Wait, is that my phone?! YAH, DON'T TEXT YOUR BOYFRIEND THROUGH MY PHONE!"
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