"you're fucking crazy, choi beomgyu," panted yeonjun as he smiled against him.
"this was your idea, dumbass," retorted the other, chuckling at the lunacy of it all.
a few hours prior
the walk to the train station was anything but pleasant. beomgyu, not being used to the woods, walked straight into two spider webs, and stepped into what smelled like animal dung with his precious white jordans. they also went the wrong way at first, thanks to yeonjun's brilliant skills of direction.
"i fricking hate this!" whined beomgyu, clearly dissatisfied.
"stop being a brat, we're almost there,"
"you said that two hours ago!"
this time, yeonjun was right though. beomgyu swore he almost cried seeing the platform uncover from the trees. what later made him cry again however, was that this was a cargo train station.
"what? did you expect to ride in luxury all your life?" yeonjun retorted, looking back at the boy who stopped in his steps.
"i just thought... this would be a passenger train..." beomgyu sighed in defeat.
"gotta spice it up a little bit, y'know?" yeonjun winked, walking up next to him and putting his hand over the other's shoulder to guide them further while the other sulked, too disheartened to notice.
his eye suddenly twitched, "it's already spicy enough for me."
yeonjun raised his eyebrows at him, "oh? are you implying that i'm spicy?"
"what? that's a completely different sentence!" beomgyu raised his voice defensively, noticing his arm and trying to escape.
"shhh... stay quiet," yeonjun brought his index finger to his lips while positioning his good hand over beomgyu's mouth from behind. he ducked them both behind a random storage box as some workers passed by, "we can't let them see us."
"great. how are we gonna make it to the train then?" beomgyu replied, whisking his palm away.
"we could hide in one of these boxes," reasoned yeonjun.
"and suffocate to death? tempting, but no thanks," beomgyu said flatly, "any other ideas?"
"we could... beat up these guys and take their uniform, pretend to be them, and get on the train?"
"you know, you're really being a red flag right now."
"joke. i was joking," yeonjun's head fell.
"how about we just sprint to an open wagon right before the train leaves? they usually have the empty ones at the end."
"that's..." yeonjun furrowed his eyebrows before looking up at him in surprise, "actually a good idea!"
beomgyu rolled his eyes at him, "of course it is, don't think i'm dumb."
"i never did," smiled yeonjun, ever so sweetly.
meanwhile, the robot lady from the speakers announced five minutes before the initial train departs. both boys took this as a queue to poorly maneuver through towers of trunks and cargo boxes, and eventually jump on the railway and dash towards the end of the train. beomgyu was sure that at least two workers saw them, but were too tired and overworked to give a damn.
beomgyu's weekly badminton practice could have never prepared him for the amount of exercise this scheme required. running alone was exhausting, but having to use his muscle strength, which he did not have, to pull himself up on the wagon was even more excruciating.
luckily, yeonjun helped him from behind, despite his wounded arm. to their demise, the train started moving as soon as beomgyu got on, leaving yeonjun behind. the older started running after the slowly moving vehicle as it accelerated, "beomgyu! fast! help me up!"
to say beomgyu panicked was an understatement. he grabbed onto yeonjun's left hand, pulling him up with all his might, while yeonjun used his legs to climb onto the edge of the wagon.
the struggle was quite something as the train got to its full speed, and yeonjun was still only half way inside. "come on!" beomgyu shouted, clinging onto his arm for dear life, as yeonjun's life quite literally depended on him.
with one last pull, yeonjun made it inside the wagon, falling right on top of beomgyu. both of them collapsed into the steel hard floor, the clash echoing through the walls.
yeonjun rested his head on the younger's chest a little longer as they both gasped for air, letting the adrenaline pulse through their veins.
"you're fucking crazy, choi beomgyu," panted yeonjun as he smiled against him.
"this was your idea, dumbass," retorted the other, chuckling at the lunacy of it all.
yeonjun raised his head to look straight at him. beomgyu fluttered his eyes open to see his partner in crime look strikingly beautiful in the dimming light. the sweat highlighted his features while his damp, charcoal hair hung loosely at the sides.
beomgyu was quite literally stuck under yeonjun now, both of the fitter man's hands caging his frame to the floor. he felt his blush return for the nth time today.
"wasn't it you who came up with this brilliant idea?" mused yeonjun.
"yeah, b- but it was you who suggested we take the train," answered beomgyu, mentally slapping himself for the stutter.
"fair enough," beamed yeonjun with that same, sweet smile. it drove beomgyu mad.
"why're you smiling? you could've died just seconds ago."
"but i didn't, did i? all thanks to you," winking, yeonjun finally got up leaving the younger in a stupor on the floor.
beomgyu wanted to scream. he was pretty sure yeonjun's first language was flirting instead of korean. the fact that this man didn't falter once blew his mind.
he watched yeonjun drop his rucksack next to a small pile of hay, which was conveniently situated in the corner of the rusty wagon. the older then knocked off his boots and flopped right onto the pile. beomgyu assumed this would be their bed for today.
their, he blushed. no, he would rather stay on the safe side, 2 meters away from it, "so, uh," beomgyu sat up, "any idea of where we're going to?"
yeonjun didn't bother to open his eyes as he murmured, "we'll find out tomorrow."
wonderful, thought beomgyu. for a perfectionist who likes to have all the days of the week planned out beforehand, the statement wasn't very assuring. this was the unknown, something beomgyu feared. but he couldn't back out, not after everything.
he took yeonjun's rucksack, taking some of the thieved oreos out of the other's bag and leaning on the wall adjacent to the hay bed. he examined the packet before directing his question at yeonjun, "don't you feel guilty about stealing?"
yeonjun turned to his side, making lazy eye-contact with beomgyu, "no. plus, i only steal from vending machines."
"why?"
yeonjun yawned, "no one except me gets blamed for the raid," he explained, "plus, the stuff is from big corporations that wouldn't notice a few dollars missing, given their company is worth millions already. most of them are also extremely exploitative and unethical anyway, so who cares."
he took a moment to think about yeonjun's well-formulated claim. it made sense, but it didn't mean he condoned it. it's never something he would do. however, beomgyu didn't know the kind of situation yeonjun was in that prompted him to do this. he said he hadn't eaten anything for days, and god knows when was the last time he slept.
beomgyu noticed yeonjun's eyelids drop once again. the tiredness was written all over his face, so he let him rest. after driving all night and then being on edge the entire day, yeonjun needed it.
what did he get himself into? beomgyu thought as he opened the pack of cookies as quietly as possible, not wanting to disturb the sleeping boy. he munched for a bit, looking out of the half opened wagon door. the train didn't seem to move as fast when he was inside, letting him appreciate the scenery.
it was around sunset when the rays began to seep through the trees, blinding beomgyu momentarily. the flickers danced on his skin, making him smile from the warmth of the late summer sun. it was the last before the coldness of autumn would set in. the forest was already changing to a sweet shade of tangerine orange.
it didn't take much for beomgyu to get lost in his thoughts. the clanging of the rails and yeonjun's soft breaths soothed him to sleep almost too quickly.