road trip.

[29] egg fried rice

"i wanna see you."

"hello to you too, hyung, im kinda busy—" jungkook starts, tying the grocery bag full of taehyung's snacks to the handlebars tightly. he flickers his gaze to taehyung who sits on the motorcycle, sniffling and shoving sour candy into his mouth. "— to come and 'play' with you."

"yeah, joon hyung tells me you're doing tasks again — im glad — but it's not that," the boy on the other side of the phone clicks his tongue, "it's something else."

"then what is this something else?" jungkook questions with slight impatience lacing his words. he pulls his phone away from his ear momentarily to look at the time: 5:22pm, any more wasting of time and they'll be behind schedule—

"it's about. . . um, junghoon."

jungkook stiffens, junghoon?

"fine, ill come by."

                                      +

taehyung focus
"what are we doing here?" taehyung questions as he holds out a wary hand, waiting for jungkook to take it and help him climb off the motorcycle. jungkook with an eye roll, grips the boy's hand and helps him down on to the littered ground below.

at 7:29pm, they stand outside fairy ong's lovely laundry!! a small laundromat found in a tiny crevice between a convenience store and a garage. it's a pretty conspicuous building despite being so small; it's painted a pretty lilac shade and the floor to ceiling windows that should display the washing machines inside, are covered with old posters about youth group and drug abuse as well as yellowing notices declaring "buy two fish for the price of one at [insert shop name]!" and "green vegetables are now going on sale!! buy them at [insert shop name]!!"

taehyung looks at jungkook.

"don't ask questions, kim." jungkook murmurs, tugging taehyung closer to fairy ong's lovely laundry!! jungkook places his palm on the door and pushes it open, sounding the silver bells hanging over the door frame.

jungkook takes taehyung down the linoleum floor and past all these unattended washing machines that whir silently with clothes swirling inside, the garments mixing in with soapy suds.
the inside of the laundromat is pretty simple; it's painted a similar shade of lavender and washing machines sit in lines on either side of the room, standing to attention like soldiers. brown wicker baskets are balanced on top of each other in a corner, ready to be used.

jungkook ignores the washing machines and walks to the right back of the room where a woman sits behind a thin desk, busily sifting through receipts whilst raking her wrinkly hand through her greying hair.

"auntie! can i go upstairs?" jungkook calls out as he approaches the lady.

the woman looks up and glares at the boy over her round spectacles, "go ahead-- oh, and tell my idiot nephew to stop stealing my electricity to power those stupid computers. i have my washing machines to power, for god's sake." the woman, mrs ong, mutters, looking away and returning to her receipts. she thumbs through them as if she doesn't want to talk anymore. so jungkook doesn't bother speaking any further, instead, he pulls on taehyung's shirt, guiding him towards an inconspicuous door set in the wall. he yanks it open, revealing a small box of a room where a set of concrete stairs start, and motions for taehyung to go first. feeling hesitant, taehyung walks through the doors and up the steps with jungkook following close by.