Jungkook wasn't particularly a car person. His father owned one, a model he didn't recognise nor care about but apparently boasted low energy emissions to help save the planet. In his opinion, if someone wanted to save the planet then walking would probably be a smarter option. The legroom was cramped and the seats not that comfortable for the price tag which was why he much preferred walking to school. It hadn't even crossed his mind that a vehicle of some kind would have really helped them out, would have gotten them from city to city in a few hours rather than two entire days, and when the car pulled up in front of them he had just stared at it blankly, wondering who was going to climb out. Possibly someone dropping a friend or relative off at the station to board a coach? He had even been about to look away when their friend's head had popped out of the window and he had felt his jaw dropping open in complete confusion. What the hell was he doing in the car? Was he getting a lift off a stranger? Yet the wide grin on his face had been enough to show him that that was not the case at all.
"Sorry I'm late, but I think this makes up for it, huh?" And Namjoon held his hand up to dangle the keys in front of him, and that had been the final piece of the puzzle snapping in place for him. The young man had the keys and was sitting in the driver-seat because he had driven the car to them, because he seemed to own the car even though the idea was so absurd he couldn't possibly figure out how or why. Judging from his friends stunned silence they didn't have a clue either and there was nearly an entire minute of silence before one of them broke it.
"What. The. Fuck?" Yoongi asked, punctuating each word with a pause and summing all of their thoughts up in just three simple syllables. He even had his mouth hanging open as widely as his, and had he had a cigarette between his lips it would have been been burning a hole right through his jeans by now.
Jungkook slowly ran his eyes over the vehicle to take it all in, seeing that the paint all over the body was a medium blue like faded denim. The shape was long and had a rectangle-shaped hood and boot that made it look somewhat vintage. Long and wide windows set into chrome and low headlights shaped like circles rather than squared. He saw some wear on the paint so that the metal underneath was on show, rusted from age, and that one of the windshield wipers was missing. It wasn't a new car, that much was certain, but it still looked in pretty good condition and that was just the exterior and not the interior, the engines seemingly in a good way judging from the sound it had made just a few seconds ago.
"A Chevy 1960 Impala Convertible as I live and fucking breathe!" Taehyung declared before whistling under his breath and racing over to run his hand along the hood. "Hot damn!"
"OK, so are we getting an explanation for all of this?" Hoseok asked dumbly and Namjoon popped the door open before stepping onto the sidewalk. He stretched his legs and then leaned back against the side of the car. "Because I really need one right now."
"Won it in a bet," he replied with a wide smirk, "well actually, I won it playing poker if you can believe that? I can't, I'm still reeling from it but hey, talk about crazy good luck, right?" Namjoon was playing with the keys, fingering the ring so that it tinkled melodically between his fingers. Taehyung was still observing the vehicle with wide eyes, expression showing that he was keen and interested, eyeing it like a slice of cake. Yoongi also got to his feet to wander over and glance in through the open door at the dashboard. "I mean, it's not brand spanking new or anything like that but we woke up this morning robbed of pretty much all of our cash and now...now we have a fucking car." Namjoon started laughing and after a few seconds they couldn't help but join in. He had finally explained it all up for them, put the entire situation into perspective, and it really was so insane that Jungkook briefly wondered if he was actually awake and reached down to pinch between his thumb and forefinger hard. He didn't wake up of course, because he was already awake. "And Choi actually told me to not gamble outside of Seoul. Shit, I nearly took his advice."
"Win any cash too?"
"Oh, the car isn't good enough for you, huh, Yoongi?"
"Nah, just curious."
"Got about...80,000₩. It's not much but-"
"Don't matter, we got about 244,000₩ all together," Jimin explained, "and Tae got 108,000 of that on his own." Namjoon furrowed his brow and asked him if he was being serious and Seokjin showed him the roll of notes still in his hand. Namjoon stared at it and then Taehyung grabbed it back before shoving it into his boot.
"You upstaged me man! I said we could earn cash not win fucking cars!"
"324,000₩ and a car," Jungkook said, the first thing he had managed to say since their friend had arrived a few minutes ago. "I don't believe this. What the fuck?" He started laughing again before getting to his feet and moving to stand by the other boy. He saw a few dents in the hood and several stickers in the corner of the window, in which the glass was unscratched and looked in perfect condition. "Is this a good car, huh?" he asked stupidly and Taehyung snorted before slinging his arm around his shoulders and ruffling his hair roughly just like he always did with Jimin to annoy him. "What, I was being serious?"
"Look at this baby! A good car? Fuck you Jeon Jungkook!" He tried to wriggle free but his grip was too tight and it didn't work. Seokjin decided that it was a good time to pop the back the boot open and drop his holdall in it and they all hastily tossed their bags at him, making him complain after Jimin managed to smack him in the face with his backpack rather hard. The other boy didn't hand his bag over because it meant letting go of him, and possibly also because there was some booze inside of it. "I haven't seen one of these in forever, no one drives the cool-looking cars any more."
"Probably because this car is older than our grandparents," Hoseok remarked and it made Jungkook grin. "Or maybe because they guzzle gas like you drink beer?" Their eldest friend slammed the boot shut and they all stood around the vehicle for a moment as if they weren't entirely certain what came next.
"One question," Jimin asked, breaking the silence, "who actually has a license?" The question hanged in the air for a few seconds and then they all burst out laughing again. The boy looked at them all in comic confusion, eyes wide and lips pouted in a little 'o'. "What? I don't get it? What's so funny?"
"God Jimin, you wonderful child," Yoongi grinned widely. "Since when did we care about licenses or shit like that, huh?" Jimin furrowed his brow as he thought this over and then he smiled slightly, but he still looked rather confused by it all. "The real question is: who's driving the car first?" Namjoon looked at Seokjin silently and the young man thought it over before confirming that he'd drive for the first few hours until they were out of the city just because he had at least had some driving lessons in the past before giving up the idea of being able to afford a car. He finally didn't need to buy one after all. He tossed the keys at him and Seokjin caught them better than the bags before moving to climb into the front. Namjoon went around the side to dive into the passenger-seat before any of them could even shout the word 'shotgun' and then there was the sudden realisation that they all had to fit in the backseat. Jungkook managed to wriggle inside before Taehyung could, forced to slide along to the middle because Jimin had also beat the two others to the other window seat.
"Respect your elders," Yoongi complained as he stood in the doorway and glared at them.
"Shift over a little, there might be enough room." Jimin elbowed him hard in the ribs so he pressed up against his friend and managed to free up enough room for the young man to sit down, having to place one leg up on the other boy's knee so that he could slam the door shut. Hoseok walked around to the back to climb into Taehyung's side, sitting on his lap because he had no other choice: there wasn't a single inch of seat left. No seat belts to keep him in place the boy had to wrap his arms around his waist to make a temporary one and Jungkook shifted to try and allow him a little legroom.
"Why didn't you win a bus?" Yoongi asked and they all snorted laughter because the comment was really apt right now. Namjoon twisted to look back at them and the grin on his face showed that he was enjoying their discomfort greatly. Jungkook felt a little like a tin of sardines, pressed between his friends so much that he couldn't even wriggle on the seat.
"A bus isn't the most stylish of rides," Hoseok commented as he moved to rest his back against the window, long legs awkwardly folded up so that he didn't slam his knees into the back of the front seat, boots hitting against Jungkook's shin a few times as he tried to get comfortable. "We look so much cooler in this tin can."
"This car is a beaut," Taehyung argued with a shake of his head, "and stop moving around, I feel like you're riding me right now..."
"You wish," the other boy scoffed.
"Not in front of the kids lover boy, I'm not really into the kinky, voyeuristic shit."
"There's something sticking into my back, what the fuck is sticking into my back?" Hoseok asked suddenly.
"...I promise it's not my dick."
"It's the mechanism for the windows," Seokjin explained. "Surely you can remember cars back when you needed to roll the windows down?" Yoongi reached over to grab a small handle beside him and rolled his wrist a few times so that the glass slipped down and let in a soft breeze that played with his and Jimin's hair. "You two remember them, right?" He and Namjoon both confirmed this and he sighed in mock relief before sticking the keys into the ignition.
"Yeah, but back in your day the tires were made from stone," Jungkook joked.
"Seokjin invented the wheel, dude," Taehyung added and their friend laughed theatrically as he started the engine and gently twisted the wheel so that it pulled away from the curb and onto the empty road. As it rolled down the street Jungkook spared one last glance out of the window at the coach station. He saw the coaches parked across the lot like sentries and most of the interior because there were large windows along the length of the building. It wasn't like the station back home, made of brick rather than metal and without steps and ramps to get inside. It hadn't really registered with him that they were already an entire city away from Seoul and currently in the act of making it two. They had had some shitty luck these past three days but it was starting to look up at last, a break of sun through the storm clouds that would let the sky turn back to bright blue once more.
"You know Tae," Seokjin said, "one day you'll be my age too. How's that for a nightmare?"
"Well...I wasn't planning on sleeping tonight," the boy muttered as Jungkook shifted to try looking out of the other window. Hoseok was blocking most of the view but he could see a peek of street, rows of colourfully lit up buildings in the distance and a glowing beacon of some kind of radio tower. When he looked out of the front window he saw the headlights glowing brightly, illuminating the road in front of them. After a minute Jimin asked where they were going. Like always at least one of them had to venture onto this topic, in the hopes of perhaps getting a proper answer for once. "Wherever the road takes us."
"What if the road takes us back to Seoul?" Yoongi asked with a mischievous expression. "What then?"
"Then we go to Incheon," Taehyung explained without missing a beat, "and then we could go all the way to North Korea if we tried hard enough."
"Try getting over the DMZ without being blown up by a landmine," Namjoon said with a soft laugh as he turned back to the front window. "Though you could probably find a way Tae..."
"Then we can get all of the way to China! And then Europe!"
"Seriously Tae, Europe?" Hoseok asked, weary but amused look on his face.
"Don't you wanna go to France? Speak the language of love?"
"No, not really."
"Mi amor."
"That's Spanish." They could only roll their eyes at this but it didn't stop Taehyung from loudly declaring that they were totally going to Europe with a wide grin. "All I really want to do right now is sleep, and hopefully not wake up in France." So Seokjin told them that there was nothing stopping them from resting up whilst he took charge of the driving for a few hours.
"That's easy for you to say, you're not being crushed to death right now," Jungkook mumbled as he tried to get more comfortable. The seats were kind of nice, not overly padded leather but enough to still feel plush against his tired back. There was a headrest attached to the top and he settled back against it with a heavy sigh. It wasn't a hostel bed by any rights but it sure as hell beat sleeping on a park bench or down a cold subway line any night. He couldn't see the time on the dashboard clock but the watch on Taehyung's wrist was visible, revealing the time to be way past the allotted final meetup of 12am. It was now something closer to 2am judging from the fingers behind the shattered glass face and he felt seconds away from passing out from exhaustion. They had been awake since 8am, walking constantly in the heat since then, and he thought that he could happily sleep for twenty-four hours straight no problem...if he could just get comfortable first that was. He closed his eyes and folded his arms across his chest and...
The slamming of a car door woke him up again.
Jungkook opened his eyes before closing them again with a hiss of pain. When he had drifted off the sky outside had been pitch-black, the interior lit only by the dim ceiling light on the roof of the vehicle. But right now there was bright sunlight streaming in from the windows to hit him right in the eyes. After a few seconds he opened them again but more of a squint than wide open, allowing his eyes to adapt to the change more easily. The sky was now a light pastel blue that revealed that the sun was starting to rise, tinged with lilac across the horizon like watercolour paints washed gently across a canvas. A scattering of clouds that might mean it could be a cooler day than the last few. Not that it would matter with the windows open letting in a breeze.
Jungkook groaned under his breath and reached up to rub at his heavy eyelids before dropping his hands back down on his lap only to find that his palms brushed against something that wasn't his thighs but rather someone's knees: Hoseok's. He looked up to see that the front seats were empty and a quick glance out the window showed his two friends were standing beside the car stretching their legs and jumping up and down on the spot to wake up their stiff muscles. He shifted to look across the backseat and study the others. Hoseok was stirring awake, maybe because he had just knocked his legs and woke him up or because of the slamming car door. Still sitting on Taehyung's lap, the other boy's face burrowed against his shoulder and presumably asleep because he was completely still. Jimin was to his left, leaned over so that he was using their other friend's chest as a pillow, and Yoongi was slumped back against the seat, head balanced on the window and so deeply asleep that he looked near unconscious. What time was it? He moved forward to lean over the gear stick panel and eye the dashboard. 6:12am. He had been asleep for barely four hours. Now he knew what Yoongi felt like. Jungkook sat back in the seat and that was when Jimin jerked in his sleep.
"Hmm...what happened?" he asked in a heavy voice, eyes still closed.
"The car stopped, Namjoon and Seokjin are swapping roles I think."
"Mmm...'kay."
There was a sudden movement to his right and he turned his head just in time to see Hoseok climbing out of the car. The act of doing so woke Taehyung up and a second later he rolled out of it, muttering about how he missed real toilets as he stumbled over to the side of the road. When he looked back over his shoulder at the other boy Jimin seemed to be asleep again so he left him and shimmied along to the end of the backseat so that he could swing his legs out of the open doorway, sitting hunched forward and folding his elbows on his knees.
"Why am I awake this early? I thought this adventure was supposed to be fun?"
"I dunno, pissing on the side of the road after two hours of sleep with someone sitting on my lap crushing my boner...that's my idea of real fun." Taehyung declared as he zipped his jeans back up and then stretched his arms, reaching up and behind to touch his opposite shoulders with a satisfied noise under his breath. Jungkook raised an eyebrow at Hoseok to confirm if this was the case and his friend flashed him the middle finger before going around the back to pop the boot open.
"The others?" Namjoon asked, hunched forward to touch his toes so that his hood fell down to block his face.
"Sleeping," he explained, "want me to wake them up?"
"No, let them rest," Seokjin said as he waved this off. "At least until we get to a gas station." From a few feet away came the sound of Hoseok rummaging around in the boot and a moment later he slammed it shut again and reappeared with a bottle of water that had been in his backpack. "There should be one coming up in couple of miles or so, which is good because we need the gas." Jungkook thought this over for a moment before getting out of the car and walking over to get into the passenger-seat. He had just settled back in the seat and put his boots up on the dashboard when the young man moved to lean in through the open doorway. "Excuse me?"
"Yeah?"
"You're sitting in my seat."
"Huh, I don't see your name on it." Seokjin rolled his eyes at the comment. "Hey, I had Jimin elbowing me for four hours straight, Tae snoring and Hoseok using my lap like a foot stool. Just for a little while? I mean, you might be more cramped than me but...oops, you snooze you lose."
"I haven't slept in twenty-four hours," his friend muttered before moving out of the doorway again. After several more minutes of stretching, toilet breaks and complaining, the rest of them milled back into the car. Namjoon climbed into the driver-seat and actually snapped his seatbelt in place before starting the engine. Jungkook shifted to look over his shoulder at the rest of the gang, unable to keep the smirk off his face at the sight of them squished together so tightly. Jimin and Yoongi actually looked rather comfortable on the right but the other three most certainly did not. Taehyung had demanded a window seat and had ended up on both Hoseok and Seokjin's laps because he had been too stubborn and as a result he had actually rolled the window down fully and had shoved his legs out of the gap in what was most definitely a traffic violation. If a police car went past they were going to get pulled over but he doubted that one would appear this far out from the city. Hoseok had looked annoyed by this predicament for a few seconds before resigning himself to it and Seokjin looked like he wasn't going to get much rest whilst the boy wriggled about until he could get comfortable. He was just about to turn back to the front when Taehyung unzipped his backpack and actually pulled out a bottle of soju, the one he had been talking about last night.
"Tae... it's 6am right now." Jungkook said in disbelief.
"And it's like... 5pm in America. Probably." The boy bit down on the cap and actually managed to dent the middle enough so that he could pull it off. "What, don't you want any?"
"Driving without licenses in a car with no registration," Hoseok remarked, "and a bottle of soju in tow." He laughed under his breath before adding. "We really are determined to get arrested, aren't we?"
"Things only really get fun when there's a jail sentence involved," Taehyung took a sip of the soju and the scent wafted through the car to hit Jungkook in the face. The last time he had drank soju had been months back and he vaguely remembered fireworks for reason, which wasn't the smartest combination. The boy lowered the bottle for a moment as if about to add something onto this but after a few seconds of silence he just took another sip.
"Try to not get too drunk before 10am," Seokjin muttered, eyes closed as he no doubt tried to rest them even though it was probably useless.
Jungkook sat back in the seat and then unrolled his own window, working the handle a few times until there was a sizable gap. His father's smart eco friendly car most certainly did not have manual windows. He stuck his arm through the gap and let the breeze blow against it, amused by the force needed to push back against it. The view outside showed a dirt road surrounded on both sides with dried grass rather than the lush green that had been back in the woods with the train tracks. No fences ringed them off in any way so that the yellowed blades just danced in the breeze and reached out to dangle just a few inches away from the body of the car. If he stretched out a little further then he might just be able to touch them. Some trees in the distance and hints of what could be farmland judging from the neatly kept hillocks and hints of barns and buildings in the early morning sunlight, reduced to the size of children's toys. The sky was practically the same shade of blue as the car body; that faded denim. When he dragged his eyes away from the window his gaze fell onto the dashboard and he saw some wear on the plastic, gouges from keys, starburst burn patterns from the smouldering ends of cigarettes that had been stubbed out on it for convenience. But apart from the nicks and dents, the burns and wear, the car was in pretty damn good shape overall. Almost too good for their current run of luck.
"How did the performance go?" Namjoon asked, breaking the silence that had fallen over the interior. Jungkook turned away from the window to look at him in confusion so he clarified. "The bar gig?"
"Oh that," he paused for a few seconds, "it went good, real good. I got a lot of applause, the owner said that he'd let me perform again." The young man looked impressed and reached over to pat him on the shoulder and he laughed at the gesture.
"He got a lot of tips," Hoseok added from the backseat.
"I...uh, yeah I did, and several requests. That's how I made a nice amount of cash." Jungkook let his eyes wander over the dials of the radio rather than look at any of them. Was the lie as obvious on his face as it felt? Or wasn't it at all, because he had technically made quite a bit of cash and it wasn't that much of a lie? But the image of that photograph floated up into his mind, the little boy and girl on the Polaroid trapped inside the wallet he had tossed aside like trash after stealing their father's hard-earned cash. Or likely hard-earned anyway. I'm turning into Tae, he thought before pushing it away.
"When are we gonna hear this talent, huh?" Taehyung asked and before he could even open his mouth to argue against this the others started asking too, voicing annoyance that they had had to wait this long to begin with.
"I charge for my talents," he retorted.
"So does...Tae," Yoongi muttered from the backseat, apparently capable of witticisms even when asleep.
"I got a bottle of soju, three shots payment enough?" Jungkook thought this over for a moment before agreeing and the boy shifted to get comfortable. "Sing your heart out, dude."
"OK but..." he paused before sighing, "if I fucking suck don't laugh, OK? Just give it to me straight and say "Jungkook, you fucking suck and-""
"If you sucked you wouldn't be getting tips, would you?" Namjoon interrupted with an eyebrow raise but he didn't take his eyes off the road, hands at 11o'clock and 3o'clock precisely just like his father always drove. "No laughing, I promise."
"I got asked to sing this song so I'll sing it to you guys even though it's not the same without the piano." Jungkook cleared his throat and hummed a few bars to warm his voice up before opening his mouth and singing the open notes of the song.
"Why do birds suddenly appear? Every time you are near? Just like me, they long to be...close to you. Why do stars fall down from the sky? Every time you walk by? Just like me, they long to be...close to you."
When he was finished his voice trailed off inside the car and he was suddenly aware of how silent it was. He longed to break it but felt too embarrassed to do so and instead just looked out of the window because it seemed like the best thing to do. After a near minute of silence there was a low whistling sound.
"Damn..." Namjoon said, "I got chills man. Look at my arms, real chills."
"The perfect lullaby," Yoongi mumbled, "to send me right back to sleep." This made Jungkook laugh and when he pulled gaze away from the rolling scenery he saw that his friend was smiling widely at the wheel. Had they really liked his singing that much or were they just playing around to make him feel better about it all?
"That song put me in the mood for love," Taehyung said as he shifted to hand him the bottle of soju. Jungkook accepted it and took a single sip, swallowing the hot and grainy liquid with a slight hiss because it burnt on the way down. "What about you Hoseok?"
"It was amazing," Hoseok said, moving so that he could look around the boy on his lap and hold his eyes. "Seriously Kookie, you could make it as a singer with that voice-" Taehyung swung an arm around his neck and proceeded to nuzzle against his hair and he ignored him to carry on talking. "You should really try sending an audition tape to a company and, Tae please?"
"Stop pretending, you love it."
"I don't have a headache, I don't need a head massage."
"Yeah yeah lover boy," Taehyung said as he stopped nuzzling and instead pressed his cheek against the top of his head, "I'd massage more than your head, if you know what I mean..." Jungkook had been in the act of taking another sip of soju and he nearly sprayed it all over them both, swallowing hard and coughing even as he laughed. At the sound of his choking Jimin made a noise and lifted his head off Yoongi's shoulder to open his eyes, looking over them all slowly with his brow furrowed.
"What did I miss?"
He grabbed his holdall bag out of the boot and shrugged it up onto his shoulder before turning to look over the gas station, which was currently empty save for their vehicle. The building was like most gas stations, a ground floor square made of glass and metal, automatic doors on a ramp covered in grey rubberised pads. There were eight pumps set across the sprawling lot and another area to the right that looked to be a hand car wash judging from the buckets and coiled up hoses snaked across the concrete. The pumps were set into rectangle receptacles, buttons and screens, slots for cards and cash, diesel and petrol options. White and green with the company logo above the screen, paint scratched off to reveal the metal underneath. The pumps themselves were also metal with a thick red plastic bottom from which the black hoses flowed from and down into the ground. To the left of the building was a block of restrooms and he eyed them before formulating an idea in his head. The others were either standing just beside the vehicle or sitting in the open doorways, and Namjoon wandered over to uncap the petrol tank before turning to look at the machine.
"I'll fill her up," the young man said, "someone else go into the store and see what food they have. We've got nothing more than a couple of bottles of warm water and crumbs."
"I'll check it out," Seokjin said and Yoongi also agreed to tag along. "But don't expect booze and sodas from me."
"Gee mom," Taehyung muttered, "you're such a fucking square."
"Say no to drugs," Seokjin called as he crossed the lot. Yoongi followed after him but turned on his heel to look back at them. He shook his head vigorously in denial of this statement first, and then he nodded and gave them all a thumbs up with a wide grin before disappearing into the building and letting the doors swish close behind him.
"I'm gonna go get cleaned up in the restrooms," Jungkook said as he looked over them. "Sinks and running water...actual toilets." At this he saw interest, piqued expressions on their faces. "Clean underwear." He had only just started walking across the lot when he heard them all shifting to grab their own bags from the boot and then Jimin raced ahead of him to push the male restroom door open. They all spilled inside and a quick scan of the interior showed three sinks on the left wall, urinals directly opposite them, and a double stall to the right. Cracked and grimy mirrors over the sinks, washing soap dispensers drained dry and a hand dryer built onto the wall just beside the door. There was a trash can inside and Taehyung grabbed it before dragging it in front of the door.
"Trust me, done this enough times to know that you don't want truckers walking in when you're buck ass nude." Hoseok went into one of the stalls and the lock clicked in place: green vacancy becoming a red occupied. "It's a...how do I put it? A very surreal experience." The boy had already dropped to his knee to unlace his boots hastily and within seconds he was shrugging his open denim shirt off and shoving it inside his backpack.
"I might be the only guy here who hasn't washed in a public restroom," Jimin remarked as he eyed the sinks and then the linoleum floor. "Isn't it a little messy?"
"The owner might pay us to clean it up," Jungkook joked as he dropped his own bag and hunkered down to unzip it and grab random supplies: toothbrush and paste, shower gel and shampoo. He balanced the bottles on the rim of the sink in front of him and then started brushing his teeth as he unknotted his own boots. His friend thought this over for a moment before copying them and the sound of the toilet flushing sounded before Hoseok emerged from the cubicle.
"I'm gone for a single minute and you're all planning an orgy without me."
Jungkook rinsed his mouth out before shoving the toothbrush back in his bag and searching for his towel he had nearly left behind in the hostel yesterday. He found it and proceeded to continue getting undressed and Taehyung was already ahead of them all: tap water running hot as he dunked his head under it to wet his hair, jeans left over by his backpack so that they wouldn't get soaked through during the process, tee and underwear lying by his feet without a care.
"It's like we're on a camping trip, I guess?" Jimin commented as he unzipped his own jeans. "But without tents and campfires or marshmallows...basically anything camping related."
"Is it cold in here?" Taehyung joked as he started lathering shampoo messily in his hair. "Or are you just really unlucky Jimin?" The other boy feigned laughter as he turned the tap on. Hoseok wandered over to stand by his sink seen as there were just three and then he dropped his backpack and slipped his own tee off over his head.
"I never thought I'd miss something as mundane as a shower," Jungkook muttered as he lathered gel between his hands and spread it up along his arms, thick white foam coating his skin. When he splashed water on them the gel started to bubble, great blobs of it falling free to land in the sink and get washed away by the running tap. The other boy finished rinsing his hair through and proceeded to shake his head vigorously like a wet dog, splashing water all over them and the mirrors above the sink. So Jungkook cupped a handful of water and splashed it back at him. Taehyung stared at him with an unreadable expression before he realised that he had given him an idea.
Jungkook followed his gaze across the restroom over to Jimin to see that the boy had finished cleaning his face and was in the process of washing his hair, eyes closed because the suds were running down everywhere. Taehyung walked over and quickly shoved the plug inside, the water filling the shallow bowl rapidly, and then he grabbed the back of Jimin's head and dunked it into the sink. The boy let out a little shocked noise before there was a loud splash as he went face first into the sink. He flailed and elbowed their friend rather hard in the ribs and then Taehyung let go of him and he shot back upright, spitting a mouthful of sudsy water out like a whale's blowhole. It hit the sink mirror and ran down in rivulets that cut through the steam that had started to form from the heat of the running water.
"Tae you little fucker!" This just made the boy laugh even harder.
"That was mean," Hoseok said, using water from Jungkook's sink to clean his own skin with. "You're such a bully Tae."
"I told you he was," Jimin practically whined as he continued washing the last of the shampoo that their friend's dunking hadn't managed to get. "He and Kookie are always bullying me."
"Hey, I'm just getting cleaned up here," Jungkook retorted. "I'm not bullying anyone."
"How would you like it if someone did that to you?" Hoseok asked.
"I would find it hilarious but no one ever will 'cos I know all of the tricks." And as Taehyung walked back over to his own sink he quickly threw his arm out and slapped Hoseok hard on the ass. "Like that one." Their friend jumped slightly from the sudden contact before rolling his eyes with a weary sigh. When Jungkook looked down a moment later he saw a perfectly formed red hand print on his skin like a cattle brand.
"I'll get you one day Tae," Jimin said as he brushed his soaking hair back off his brow. "Just you wait."
"With bated breath Dumbass," the boy said around his red toothbrush.
He didn't exactly count how long they were in the restrooms for but it didn't seem that long to him at all. Splashing sink water on his skin and dunking his head under a tap wasn't exactly ideal nor easy but it did make him feel refreshed and a lot more awake than he had been in the car. At least there had been the bonus of a hairdryer in the form of the hand dryer which had been rather amusing to mess around with, the force of the air coming out of it enough to whip their hair around as if it were a tornado and not just a small box machine. Jungkook got dried and dressed just after Taehyung, avoiding stepping in puddles even though it was a difficult task thanks to the splash war he had accidentally initiated just a few minutes prior. He didn't shove his damp towel and dirty clothing back into his holdall but rather balled them up together instead. They would get the rest of his stuff wet and so he would just shove it all into the boot to be washed whenever next possible. The two other boys hastily got dressed and he leaned against the wall beside the door and waited for them so that they could go back to the vehicle as a group. Toiletries back inside bags, clean clothes and skin that smelled of honey and milk or berries and other combinations, hair dry but messy, they all milled out and across the lot to get back to the car. Namjoon was lying in the open backseat, Seokjin was in the driver-seat, and Yoongi was perched on the hood with his legs dangling over the side.
"What took you so long?" he asked, cigarette stick bobbing in his mouth as he did. Jungkook explained about about the impromptu restroom shower and he saw interest flicker across his face at this as Yoongi eyed the eldest through the front window. He took another drag and dropped the butt on the ground, stepping down to grind it out under his boot with a hard twist of his heel. "Good, watch the car whilst we get cleaned up then." Seokjin climbed out to hand him a white bag, telling him that their breakfast was inside.
"All of it?"
"We already ate whilst waiting for you," Namjoon explained as he got out of the back and stretched his legs.
"Won't be long, don't drive off without us," Yoongi joked as he tossed a practically empty packet of cigarettes at Jimin. "I mean it, any of you little assholes touch those keys and I'll kick your ass." Jungkook turned and watched them crossing the lot before tossing his holdall and clothes into the boot, which was currently empty save for another white gas station bag and empty water bottles. His friends copied him and then he was climbing into the backseat and sliding along to the middle so the rest of them could join him. He upended the bag and various packets and cartons landed on his lap. He saw iced coffee drinks that looked to be laced with more sugar than any soda, pastel blue plastic containers with golden letters and cartoon coffee beans printed all over. Packets of kimbap and flavoured rice crackers, even a bag of candy that Seokjin had likely caved and bought for them.
"One day we might just get to eat hot food," Hoseok joked as he took a sip of coffee.
"Hot food is expensive," Jimin explained as he chewed a mouthful of kimbap, colourful vegetables nestled in the centre of the roll. "We can't afford expensive. But Kookie could make enough with his singing and treat us all, right?"
"...Right," Jungkook said, cracker hovering just in front of his lips, "next gig I get it's burgers and fries on me."
"What about pizza?" Taehyung asked as he moved onto his third slice of triangle kimbap.
"Make your own fucking cash and buy pizza," he retorted and they snorted laughter, sound echoing across the still empty lot. "Fine, burgers and fries and pizza, what else huh? What food group have we missed out?"
"Dessert: ice cream," Jimin said.
"Dessert isn't a food group, it's a course," Hoseok corrected with a wide grin.
"Dumbass strikes again." And the boy seemed too happy about the food to even complain at Taehyung's nickname for once. In the time that it took them to eat it all, sharing the candy out in handfuls, the others didn't return. They were still getting cleaned up and that left them alone in the car. Jimin thumbed the packet of cigarettes open to reveal three, sticking one into his own mouth before handing the packet to him. Jungkook slipped one out and tossed the last to Taehyung and the boy rooted around in his jeans pocket before pulling a box of hostel matches free. He hastily struck one and lit his own stick before holding the flame out for them to lean forward and light theirs. He shook the flame out and then threw the match out of the open doorway.
"Throwing matches in a gas station?" Jungkook took a pull on his own cigarette and held it for a few seconds before breathing it out again. "And you're calling Jimin a dumbass..." Jimin grinned at this and the stick rolled into the corner of his mouth.
"Take risks, live a little," Taehyung countered as he pulled his cigarette free, held between his thumb and forefinger. He moved his tongue around his mouth for a moment as if savouring the flavour on his tongue and then took another drag before offering the stick to Hoseok, holding it in front of his lips. The boy eyed it for a moment before leaning over and getting the filter between his lips. Jungkook saw the way that Taehyung's eyes dropped to study his mouth, gaze lingering even after he let go of the stick. When Hoseok breathed it out through his lips the boy inhaled the smoke and then exhaled as he put the cigarette back in his own mouth.
"Do you think our parents are pissed at us?" Jimin asked suddenly and they all glanced over at him. The boy had the stick between his middle and ring finger, exactly how Yoongi held his. Jungkook had read something about how particular smoking techniques reflected personalities and he seemed to recall that one being the 'artist'. When none of them said anything he quickly added. "For running off, you know?"
"Did you run off?" Hoseok asked and the boy redirected the question back at him. "No, I told my parents that I was staying with a friend for a few days, I actually used your name in my haste to lie. Well, kind of lie. I am staying with friends...just not in the way that they're thinking." Another drag off the shared cigarette, another lungful of smoke that Taehyung chased after greedily. "Kookie?"
"I just left the house that morning without leaving a note. My parents were in work," he explained, dabbing ash onto the car carpet, "so I got ready, packed my holdall and left right away. Slept on a subway bench for a couple of hours before going to the bus station. They probably think I'm still in Seoul right now." He took a deep pull on the stick and glanced at the other boy, raising an eyebrow at him.
"My dad's pissed, like really pissed at me," Jimin said, cigarette seemingly abandoned for the current moment, smouldering between his fingers. This statement hanged in the air for a few seconds and they waited to see if he would say anything else. "I fucked up." He muttered as he lifted the stick and took a drag, plumes coming out of his nose and hand shaking slightly as he did.
"How'd you fuck up, huh?" Taehyung asked, no longer inhaling second-hand smoke but rather smoking his own cigarette properly. So the boy explained that he had argued with his father over school, over a broken car engine he had been unable to help fix, over the trip that he wasn't supposed to be on with them. They all listened to him and Jimin shifted uncomfortably as he talked, clearly aware of himself and his words and the sudden attention he was getting, reaching up to run his fingers along his brow and then into his hairline. "He hit you whilst talking all of that shit?"
"Uh, yeah, a few times. I wasn't really...counting."
"Your dad's a piece of shit," Taehyung said without even blinking. It was as if he had said nothing more normal than how nice the weather currently was and not insulted their friend's father so bluntly. Jungkook glanced at him before eyeing Hoseok, also seeing surprise mirrored on his face, What he had said was a lot different to making a remark about his situation like they usually did: "that fucking sucks Jimin" or "don't let him get to you, yeah?" No, the boy had cursed about the man and even they were all thinking it none of them would have dared said something like that out loud. Except Taehyung of course. Taehyung had his own reasons. Jungkook looked back at Jimin and saw a resigned expression on his face as he nodded.
"I know, but I did fuck up the engine so maybe I deserved it."
"Don't say that," Hoseok said quietly, leaning over so that he could look around him and Taehyung to see their friend, one leg hanging out of the open doorway to fit onto the seat. "Don't ever say shit like that. You don't deserve treatment like that, no one does." Jimin just finished his cigarette without another word and then tossed the remains over his shoulder to land on the concrete outside the car. "What about you Tae, what did you do?"
"Left the hostel room that morning like always. I'm rooming with someone right now, Soobin, a beautiful six year old princess who fell through the cracks of the social services and ended up in the hostel. Uncle tried to kill her," Taehyung said as he smoked his cigarette. "And she's got this big scar from here," he reached up to touch the side of his jaw by his ear before tracing his forefinger down and stopping by his collarbones, "to here. Six fucking years old. I gave her enough cash to last a couple of weeks for food and shit. The room's been paid for the next month so she'll be alright without me for a little while."
"When's she gonna start hanging with us, huh?" Jungkook asked with a grin.
"What? You want a girlfriend?" Taehyung retorted before giving the last drag to Hoseok. "That's my story." In the next minute Jungkook was also finished and he had just shifted to lean over Jimin's lap and toss the used-up butt out when he caught sight of their friends crossing the lot to get back to the vehicle. Holdalls tossed into the boot and the door slammed shut. Yoongi climbed into the back again and they all shifted to try and fit comfortably. The two other young men got into the front.
"Right," Seokjin asked as he looked back at them, keys stuck in the ignition. "Before we leave no one needs the restroom, do they?" The car went silent for a moment.
"Actually..."
"Jimin."
"Sorry, I'll be real quick." The boy had to climb over Yoongi because he didn't get out and then he raced across the lot to disappear through the restroom doors.
"Everything OK?" Namjoon asked, eyeing them all using the rear view mirror. Jungkook asked him what he meant by this and he thought his words over for a moment. "Dunno, car seemed really quiet. I thought we'd come back to see you all messing with the wheel with the radio blaring, jumping up and down on the hood like kids but...behaving? That's a shock."
"Smoking and drinking cheap soju is your idea of behaving?" Hoseok asked with a grin.
"Behaving more than usual," Yoongi corrected. He took advantage of Jimin's absence to settle into the seat more comfortably for a minute, stretching his legs with a sigh. In a minute or two they would be back to lap-sharing and crushed legroom to all fit into the backseat and Jungkook was not looking forward to it. "Where is said soju?" Seokjin glanced back at him and the young man shifted. "That was a joke by the way." Taehyung pulled the bottle out from behind the back of the passenger-seat where he had stashed it and waved it at him with an eyebrow wiggle. "...Maybe later." He had just shoved it back when Jimin popped the door open and eyed the backseat quietly for a moment. After some temporary bickering the boy ended up on Yoongi's lap, sitting just like their two other friends had been over the last couple of hours.
"OK, now we can leave right?" They all mumbled in agreement and so Seokjin twisted the keys and started the engine. He had just rolled the car onto the road when a truck finally pulled up at the station behind them, slowly turning into the lot to stop at one of the pumps. Jungkook looked at it before it vanished out of sight and then he turned back to the window in front of them.
The view outside didn't change by much over the time spent on the road. The dried grass gave way to dirt paths that seemed to snake up to farm houses, little wooden posts and signs warning people from trespassing. Sometimes animals were visible grazing out in the pastures: cows, sheep, even a few horses, tractors and troughs and wells here and there. It seemed that the roads outside of the cities were just like the countryside and it was somewhat strange to see such rural sights thriving between the industrial building-block sights that they would soon be seeing once more. He almost enjoyed the view because it was a pleasant break from repetitive metal, concrete and glass, a breath of fresh air not heavily polluted from gridlocked streets. Taehyung's legs went right back out of the open window as he lounged over both his and Hoseok's laps, one foot bobbing in rhythm with the low music coming from the radio. If a song came on that he knew then he sang random parts under his breath, voice deep and a little husky in a pleasing way, but never loud enough to be heard over the actual song. There was a relaxed sense in the air for the first time in days and everyone at least seemed to be regaining their spirits back after the horrors of yesterday. It was starting to feel like a real adventure now.
"You know," Jungkook said to break the silence whilst an MC started reading out traffic reports, "we haven't passed another car for awhile now, just a few trucks. You should try something cool."
"Cool like what?" Seokjin asked as his eyes moved up to the rear view mirror.
"Do a trick like outta the movies, you know, drifting or something like that."
"I'd rather not blow a tire," Namjoon remarked. "Or have the car upend trying to drive like a NASCAR driver." But Jungkook persisted, obnoxious whine in his voice, and when they ignored him he dropped the ultimate: he called them all pussies. As expected this got a reaction, laughter off the other boys, indignant glares from the young men in the front seat.
"Come on," Jimin added enthusiastically, "just a single trick. We've got the entire road to ourselves right now!"
"You want to go home without trying at least one?" Jungkook asked. Yoongi muttered about how it would be better going home without broken bones. "We're not gonna crash! Seokjin's not that bad a driver!"
"I bet 10,000₩ he's too scared to do it," Taehyung said with a wide grin. "That he's a little pussy." Seokjin didn't say a thing and rather just carried on driving down the road. The boy started making bold declarations about just how much of a pussy he was and the back of the car filled with laughter. But he had only managed a bare three of these when the vehicle took a sharp twist off the road and they all shifted from the sudden movement, Jimin yelping in surprise as he nearly rolled off Yoongi's lap.
The car shot across the tarmac and onto a stretch dirt beside the road and Seokjin span the wheel hard as he stomped his foot down on the pedal. The tires screeched and then the car was starting to drift in a circle and after a moment it was rapidly spinning around. Jungkook had to hold onto Taehyung with one hand and Jimin with the other to help keep them in place, the former holding onto the back of the passenger-seat and hollering at the top of his lungs, the latter in Yoongi's makeshift arm seatbelt as he snagged hold of the driver-seat headrest and started laughing. The view outside the window blurred and was then obscured by clouds of dust and thick exhaust fumes and the pressure from the movement made them all lean to the left slightly. There was no way of counting how many circles he completed but after a few seconds Seokjin pulled on the gear stick and hit the brake before pushing it forward again and shooting back onto the road.
"Goddamn," Yoongi muttered breathlessly, lowering his hand from the overhead handle. "Thanks for the heart attack." Jungkook twisted to look out of the back window and he saw a thick dust cloud still clinging to the side of the road where they had just been, deep tire tracks cut into the soil.
"Where did you learn to do that?" Namjoon asked in surprise.
"Action movies," Seokjin replied without missing a beat.
"That was the coolest!" Jungkook declared with a laugh before grinning.
"Who's a pussy now?"
The sky was starting to darken when Jungkook felt his eyelids getting heavy, the blue becoming vibrant shades of pink and orange as the sun began to set on the horizon, thick bank of clouds rolling in to drift lazily overhead. In the distance the sight of another city was becoming visible, already glowing like a lighthouse of neon colours, an aureole of light floating around it like a halo. Yet, much like a fabled desert oasis it didn't seem to be getting any closer, rather just staying the same size as if the road they were driving along was never ending, like the wheels were rolling in place rather than forward. For the last few hours the atmosphere had varied between sleepy mumbling and sudden bursts of energy, everyone wanting to be out of the car for longer than a couple of minutes for toilet breaks and to grab water or snacks from the boot. Soon enough they would hopefully be pulling up outside a motel for the night, able to roll right into beds or perhaps go for a brisk walk for a few blocks to burn up energy. And Jungkook had very much been planning on taking a walk even if it was just him on his own, to clear his head and make his stiff legs feel alive again, but then his eyelids had been drooping and closing for a couple of seconds longer than usual. Jimin was already way ahead of him, asleep and slumped against the window on Yoongi's lap, but he could feel the rest of them drifting off too. He was just about to nod off when there was a loud noise and he jerked his head up again.
It was a deafening noise much like a gunshot or a crack of a whip, loud enough to echo along the nearly empty road. It surprised him so much that his heart actually skipped a beat in his chest, shooting right up into his throat. He sat upright and was about to ask what it was when the car bucked hard and he felt his ass leaving the seat before coming down hard. He couldn't even make a noise in surprise because he bit down on his tongue and cut himself off and that was when the sleeping boy rolled forward and smacked his head on the back of the driver-seat. There was a loud thump and then a crunch and he woke up with a cry of pain, clapping his hand over his lower face as he did.
"The fuck?!" Taehyung shouted as he bolted upright, back of his head slamming into Jungkook's chin and almost making his bite his tongue again.
"Uh...I think that was the engine," Seokjin said as he shifted in his seat, eyeing the dashboard as he did. "But I don't really know. Cars aren't really my specialty but-" another slight lurch but then the vehicle carried on moving forward rather smoothly, "if it was philosophers then I might just know a thing or two." None of them even laughed at this feeble attempt at a joke as they were too busy anticipating the next jerk that would spill them free of their seats. Yoongi batted the boy's hands away from his face so he could look and sure enough his nose was pouring blood, enough so that a few drops even dribbled down his chin to land on his tee, which was luckily black and wouldn't stain. The young man cursed and then told him to pinch the bridge of his nose and Jimin did, wincing from the contact and smearing more gore across his face. It didn't seem to be broken but it was going to swell, just like Jungkook's tongue was currently doing in his mouth, leaving a faint taste of blood as it did.
"What's the gas look like?" Hoseok asked and Namjoon told him that it was over halfway full, the needle bobbing on the glass screen comfortably far away from E. "OK, maybe the engine is a little overheated or something?"
"I dun dink so-" Jimin said, voice muffled and nasally, "I dink a valve broke or sumdink."
"Meaning?"
"Nuh gud."
"Well, look there's another couple of miles until we're in the city right?" Seokjin said in an optimistic tone. "The car just needs to last until then and no problem. We can sort it all out tomorrow." But he didn't think that they had that long at all before it died. "So, fingers crossed."
Maybe a minute passed before the engine started making choppy noises again and then it did more than buck, it stalled for a few seconds before rolling forward and stalling again: like a child's race car that was running out of charge but would speed up when prodded with a little burst of energy before stopping again. Every time that it stopped they all prepared themselves for the hard jerk of it shooting forward again and at least no one else smacked their noses on anything. After a couple of stalls it seemed to cough, a great plume of deep grey smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe. The scent of it bled in through the open windows, acrid and enough to make Jungkook pull his tee over his lower face to try and block the scent. It was almost toxic and he knew that that was a really bad sign.
"Come on, come on," Namjoon muttered, "just a little longer and-" the car gave another shuddering lurch and then backfired loudly again. The noise died off into an almost pitiful wheeze and that was that: the final breath of life.
The car was dead.
It didn't stop right away but rather rolled forward a few feet before the wheels stopped turning and then nothing. For a moment the interior fell silent and none of them seemed to know how to break it, all sitting there staring at the dashboard as if something was going to happen. A miracle perhaps. But all that did occur was the steady cloud of exhaust still coming out of the pipe. Seokjin twisted the keys but not even a slight rumble came from the engine no matter how many times he tried. He stomped on the pedal, fiddled with the gear stick and then gave up trying.
"You said this was a good car," Jungkook said as he turned to look at his friend. "Fuck you Kim Taehyung."
"Yeah," he mumbled, "fuck me."