Take Me Away
Ephemeral
N POV~
Sitting in the car with Ken and Ravi was weird. He knew he'd probably been in cars a billion times in his life but thanks to his memory loss, it felt like the first time. He was a little nervous. Especially with Ken driving.
"Don't worry." Ravi told him. "Jaehwan may seem mentally handicapped at times but he's a pretty good driver."
"I wont crash. Well..." Ken got a dreamy look on his face. "I might crash if like a space ship came down and I got so shocked I was like 'Oh my god it's a space ship. Aliens are awesome. Can I touch one?' And crashed into a tree and the car exploded and then a pack of rabid mongooses came and ate our bodies... Then I would probably crash."
"That sounds weirdly planned out..." Ravi commented, giving Ken a slightly weirded out look. N was pretty sure Ken was the strangest member of their group of friends. Not that he minded though. It was kind of fun.
"... Hey look a bunny!" Ken yelled, flailing an arm wildly at the rear window of the car as he drove. N and Ravi both looked out the back window. N pouted when all he saw was sidewalk and a parking lot.
"There was not a bunny." He sighed and Ken raised an eyebrow at him.
"Who said anything about a bunny? You're losing it man." Jaehwan laughed the whole rest of the way back to the apartment.
Leo POV~
He hated hearing his Hakyeon driving away with another man. His only hint of solace is that he knew Jaehwan wasn't going to leave Wonshik's side long enough for anything to happen between them.
Leo was a little sad he wouldn't be able to see N when he got reacquainted with the apartment or their room. Or even just when he enjoyed the cake Hongbin and Hyuk made him. He knew the look of child-like wonder that N would get. It was one of his favorite expressions of the redhead.
He kept thinking about N all the way to the pawn shop he had left off on the night before. He showed the man at the counter a picture of the ring he had on his phone. It only took a moment before the man sped off to the back room and brought out a ring box. Leo opened it slowly, his heart racing. He wanted more than anything for this to be N's ring.
"Yes! This is my ring!" Leo yelled as he held it to his chest. The mixture of happiness and relief inside of him was almost too much.
"You'll have to pay for it then." The man smirked. Leo didn't want to pay this stranger for the ring but he did anyway. He would do anything for his Hakyeon. Even if N wouldn't quite know how much meaning these actions had behind them.
Ravi POV~
As soon as they entered the apartment Hongbin and Hyuk pounced on N. N looked a little overwhelmed and he wondered if he should save him, but he was smiling so he figured he'd leave him be. Besides, it was probably the best way to get used to his friends again.
Finally Hongbin brought out a beautifully decorated cake and N jumped up and down in excitement. It was adorable. Until Ken tripped over his own feet, fell into Hongbin, and sent the cake flying at the wall where it completely covered one of Hongbin's priceless paintings.
Hongbin let out an ear piercing scream of frustration and dove at Ken. Luckily Hyuk and Ravi both managed to hold the enraged man back from murdering their flaily friend. Ken ran to hide behind N. N had the most shocked expression on his face.
There was a few minutes of uncomfortable silence as Hongbin kept trying to break free of his captors and N and Ken just waited to find out if he could. But then Ravi's beautiful crush seemed to forget his life was in danger. Ravi wasn't really surprised. Ken had the attention span of a squirrel who had too much caffeine.
"Hey guys. What do you get when you divide an insect into 3 sections?" Ken beamed happily. His short attention span clearly not allowing him to register the look of death Hongbin was still giving him.
"What?" Ravi devided to break the new string of silence before the tension in the room got so high someone went insane. Hongbin already seemed close enough.
"A dead bug!" Jaehwan's grin widened and Ravi could tell he was pretty proud of his joke. Hyuk groaned at the cheesiness of it and Hongbin covered his face in defeat. Then N burst into hysterical laughter.
N POV~
It wasn't that Ken's joke was good. N was laughing because it was just so dang childishly adorable that the thought of that joke coming out of a full grown man's mouth only made it funnier. Especially with how happy Jaehwan was with himself for telling it.
N laughed all the way into the kitchen and back as he began wiping the cake off the painting with a hand towel. He could feel everyone staring at him but he couldn't stop the giggles. This weird group of mis-matched people were his friends? Something told him he fit right in.
"Great. Not only did he ruin my painting but he broke Hakyeon." Hongbin sighed and Hyuk started to laugh.
"Hey. It was a good joke!" Ken sounded like he was pouting.
"No no no. I'm not broken." N promised as he finished wiping the painting off and turned to smile at them. "I was just thinking how lucky I am to have all of you. Thank you." Before he even felt the tears well up in his eyes they began to fall down his cheeks. He was so happy he was crying. He reached up to wipe his cheeks and smeared frosting across one.
"Hey. Don't cry." Ravi sounded concerned as he came over to N, wiping the frosting off of his face. N heard the click of the front door opening as Ravi presses his lips against N's.
Leo POV~
Too many things at once seemed to happen when Leo opened the apartment door. Ken shrieked like a little girl who found her favorite doll decapitated. Ravi was kissing Leo's Hakyeon. N had tears on his face. And Leo's brain went fuzzy and blank like static on an old tv.
He turned as quickly as he could and fled from the apartment, slamming the door behind him. He didn't make it far before he heard the door open again. He heard footsteps hurrying after him and turned to slam whomever it was against the hallway wall.
N POV~
N gasped in shock as he felt his body colide with wallpaper and concrete. He stared at Leo, his heart pounding in fear. He was too scared to even breathe.
It seemed to take a moment for Leo to realize whom he had roughly pinned but even when he did it felt like an eternity that Leo stared at him with that cold, angry expression. It made N want to curl into a ball and die. He didn't even know what had possed him to run after Leo in the first place but he was really regretting it.
"T-Taekwoon..." N was surprised he managed to speak at all as he looked into those hateful, beautiful eyes. Their faces were so close that N could feel Leo's breath on his cheeks. He still smelled like cinnamon.
Without saying a word, Leo kissed him. It was deep and urget and a little rough and left N completely breathless when Leo pulled away. The surly man took a chain from his pocket and threw it at N before he stormed down the hallway, disappearing around the corner.
N picked up the necklace slowly. A ring dangled on it. An inscription was inside. He looked closely and read it to himself.
"Hakyeon and Taekwoon forever." He clutched the ring to his chest. His heart hurt. He wants Leo to come back, to tell him everything. The tears erupted forth again and the next thing he knew, he was on his knees in the hallway, sobbing hysterically with a ring gripped tightly in his fingers.
Ravi POV~
He hadn't meant to kiss N. He really hadn't. It had just sort of happened. When the door opened and N had seen Leo standing there he had shoved Ravi so hard he had fallen into the couch.
Ravi had watched as N ran from the room, following after Leo. Ravi watched as Ken ran around the apartment screetching. Ravi watched as Hongbin grumbled and finished cleaning up his painting. All Ravi could do was watch.
"Wonshik are you okay?" Hyuk finally questioned, helping him off the couch.
"I'm fine." Ravi sighed and shook his head, smiling a little. "I think I accidentally caused a problem." A scream of anguish came from the hallway and Ravi rushed out to make sure Leo wasn't hurting N.
"Hakyeon?" He inquired as he crouched down beside him and noticed the ring in his hands. The ring that belonged to N's father. The ring N had gotten inscribed and given to Leo for his birthday a few years ago.
"I... I'm o-okay..." N sniffled as he tried to stop crying.
"Don't lie. It's fine. I know how it is between you and Taekwoon. Right now I know better than you do even." He helpsled N up and brought him back into the apartment, sitting him down on Hongbin's previously shanked chair. Like every other time Leo left N in a breakdown, their group of friends would pick up his pieces. But Leo wasn't going to get away with it this time. Ravi had already warned him.
Leo POV~
Leo ran until he knew N couldn't see him. He didn't want N to see him cry. He was too late. He was too late to keep his Hakyeon.
No. Not his anymore. N belonged to Ravi now. Leo had never felt a pain like this in his entire life. At least the night N had disappeared Leo had still held onto a thread of hope he would come back.
He ran until he couldn't run anymore. Then he just collapsed into the snow and stared up at the sky. He didn't bother to look around and see where he was. He just wanted to freeze there. That's all he deserved anyway. Besides, without N his life couldn't get any more cold.
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