summer breezes - 5/5
meetings, meetings, G, AU, 1828 words.
part iv | part v
a/n: lots of hugs to Anna for beta'ing the first three chapters :'3
i. "Hyunggie!" a familiar voice calls out, and Kibum looks up from the counter, wiping sweat from his forehead.
"Hyunggie!" Taemin repeats, tone almost whiny. "How've you been?" he inquires excitedly, as he climbs up on the tall, round seat.
"I hab a cold," Kibum mumbles, sniffing, "Dode lead id doo close, you bite gadget."
"Oh, alright," Taemin whispers, sitting up with his back straight. Kibum laughs at how Taemin always whispers when people are ill, as if health is directly proportional to eardrum sensitivity.
"So," Taemin whispers some more, "How'd you fall sick, hyung?"
ii. Jinki blinks his eyes open, slowly focusing back into wakefulness as the driver announces the stop they're at, now. Then he jumps when he realizes his house is two stops behind and the platform's already slowly slipping away through the window as the driver starts up again.
"Wait wait!" he yelps as he runs up the aisle, bangs into one of the poles and doggedly jumps out the moving vehichle, satchel bumping against his hip with every move.
He lands, amazingly, on his feet. A group of people nearby cheer. Jinki blushes and scratches his head before walking off as fast as possible.
iii. "So we basically have a 3 to 0 score with the other school, right now, and we absolutely have to win the next match against that team coming from Busan to get into the semi-finals. May I remind you," Minho adds, for the billionth time, "That we have not gotten this close to semi-finals in three years."
"That's really cool," Jonghyun sounds fascinated. And he is fascinated, he just doesn't get a word Minho's saying.
"You're not getting a word I'm saying," Minho accuses.
"You know I really want you to get to semi-finals and kick everyone's butts and win, okay? And I'll be there as a new recruit at the cheerleader place and cheer you in a sparkly red blouse or something, if you want," Jonghyun laughed.
"Well, please do."
"Wait, what." Jonghyun's composure drops off his face and shatters, leaving a ridiculous look of terror in its place.
"You look like a fish," Minho ruffles his hair amusedly and Jonghyun's expression turns abruptly grumpy.
"You take advantage of me too much."
"Of your lack of common sense, not you."
"Are you going to spend the next ten minutes convincing me that there's a difference?"
"Well, to prove your prediction wrong, no."
ii. Jinki's kind of lost, and that's an understatement. He's been through this stop, but never actually gotten out and tried to get anywhere from here. He wanders around on the pavement, aimlessly, after getting out of the station. You are in a dangerous situation, a small voice mumbles inside of him, but he barely registers it. He's getting sleepy again and he really needs some coffee or a couple of donuts to keep him up.
"Excuse me," he calls out, to a newspaper with legs.
The newspaper lowers to show a man in a felt hat and pink glasses, and then legs. "Yes?"
"Uh, is there a coffee stand or something nearby?"
The man gawks.
"What?" Jinki's already uneasy and this isn't helping.
"You're standing in front of a cafe."
He whirls around. "Oh, okay."
The man sidles off, and Jinki waves half-heartedly to the retreating figure.
With an actual cafe in front of him, the prospect of food and wonderful coffee in such convenient distance makes him pause at the glass door, trying to decide what to have. Then he realizes he hasn't even looked at the menu yet, so he sets a shoulder against the door and puffs his way in, bells behind it ringing. Hinges need oiling, the voice mumbles again, and he yawns a little as he looks around him.
The walls are a soft cream - Coffee cream! he grins to himself - with wavy stripes of light, cardamom green. There are photos of mugs and cupcakes on one wall. Small tables with uncomfortably high chairs wait, lonely, for someone to take a seat. It's pretty empty, apart from the boy behind the counter, and another sitting across from him.
He frowns at the straight, shaggy black hair touching the shoulders of the striped yellow T-shirt. He's seen those hair somewhere before, just more... clean-cut. He can almost remember the face under silky, even bangs - wide, curious eyes and make me a wizard!
"Taemin!" he says, loudly, without realizing it, and the boy turns around, surprised.
It is Taemin.
i. Kibum looks up, expectant, when the bells sound and someone stumbles in, pushing the actual door instead of the handle. "Here's your bilkjake, Dae," he slides the glass over to the younger boy, who wiggles his fingers in the air excitedly in a ritual, before pulling it towards him and sucking on the straw.
The boy's probably a little shorter than him, bangs cut in a slant across his forehead, hanging over a baby face. Bright, smallish eyes take everything in, dwelling on the picture of couple mugs for a second before flitting to the framed painting of a birthday cake. Kibum feels a little uneasy - he's the one who painted it. But the other blinks and smiles at it as if it's real and it's his own birthday cake before turning around to narrow his eyes a little at Taemin's head.
Kibum really doesn't like making assumptions, but the way this newcomer's boring holes through Taemin's hair is kind of creepy. He decides he shouldn't have worried, though, when his brows raise in recognition and he calls Taemin's name with a smile.
Taemin turns around in surprise. "Yes?"
Kibum feels a slight twinge of sympathy when the happy look in the other's eyes stutters and is replaced with confusion. "You don't remember me?"
Taemin cocks his head to the side, then shakes it in apology.
"Take a seat!" Kibum butts in, and especially leans over the counter to pull out a chair next to Taemin's.
The boy shuffles awkwardly forward, setting his satchel down by his feet and Kibum points towards the menu card propped up at one side of the counter. "Uh, an americano and some munchkins, please," the other decides, and his voice is thick, mellow. It's nice.
"I'm Taemin," Taemin pipes up, brightly. The other two grin.
"Yes, I know."
"You are...?" Taemin questions with a slurp on his straw.
"Jinki."
"Jinki hyung?"
Kibum smiles at the surprise in Taemin's voice.
iii. "Minho slow down."
"Dude, running is the life, you should try it once in a while," but he slows down anyway, and he hears Jonghyun gasping behind him, catching his breath.
"Already ran enough for a lifetime last week," Jonghyun shakes his head like a wet puppy.
Minho raises an amused eyebrow. "Yeah? Half a mile?"
"It was the whole damned freeway," Jonghyun glares at him, then grins at the substantial distance the other's brows traveled up.
"Why?"
Jonghyun grins wider. "There was this kid? Around your age - "
" - Not a kid."
" - Are too. So anyway he was there and I was there and I was going home and he thought I was chasing him so I started chasing him for real and apparently he was going on foot to the other side of town so I basically covered the freeway and then we got into a bus in the end. He was cool," he ends with a serious nod.
Minho nods, too, trying not to laugh. Jonghyun catches the slight shake of his shoulders, though, and sighs. "What've I done now?"
"You just make friends that randomly, don't you?" Minho smiles, fondly. "That guy walking on the freeway. Me, tripped up and pretending to do push ups on a deserted road."
Jonghyun shrugs. "I like people like that, y'know? Quirky."
Minho loops an arm around his shoulders in silence.
"Hey, no touchy touchy feelings now," Jonghyun ducks away, hiding a small grin. Then it widens. "Coffee!" he points excitedly across the road, and Minho quickly bats his arm back down. "Pointing is uncivilized," he hisses, and Jonghyun rolls his eyes. "I wasn't aware that cafetarias had feelings, smarto."
Minho ignores him and looks across the street. "Ah yes," he notes. "Cafe, should house some coffee."
"You usually call these things cafetarias," Jonghyun says, in turn.
"Yes but you said it first, I had to say something different."
"Poop head," Jonghyun dismisses him and pulls him across. "And I want espresso."
Minho stumbles slightly, banging his knee into Jonghyun's calf. "Sorry, man."
i. "Yeah... yeah," Jinki smiles, too.
"How's your writing going? Have you written anything new? Did the dragon prince find the murderer in the end? Oh and did you - "
"Yes, I wrote a story with you as a wizard," there's a laugh in the answer, and Taemin looks a bit sheepish, but then his eyes widen even more if it was possible. "Can I... see?"
Jinki raises his index finger in excitement and dives down for his satchel, bumping his head on the counter in the process. He bumps against it again on his way back up. He's got some neatly folded sheets in his hand and Kibum looks on interestedly as this Jinki passes it to Taemin, who immediately presses them out and begins reading, slurping messily on the straw even though the glass is empty.
"So, uh," Jinki blinks and turns to Kibum, ducking his head briefly. "Nice to meet you."
Kibum nods, "Kibum. I'b sigzdeen."
Jinki smiles, blindingly bright. "Eighteen."
Kibum does a double take.
iii. "I hate espresso, though," Minho grumbles as Jonghyun pushes the door handle and walks in.
"I wasn't exactly going to force you into taking it, you know?"
Then - "Speak of the devil! Kibum!"
A pale, slim boy looks up, expression going from amazed to surprised.
"Hey! Giddar boy!" he waves excitedly.
"The name's Jonghyun," Jonghyun shakes his head in disapproval, pulling Minho along and plopping next to a boy with a satchel in his lap.
Another boy looks up from some sheets and leans over with an outstretched hand. Jonghyun shakes it smilingly. "I'm Taemin," he says, voice hushed and slightly squeaky. "Kibum hyung is sick, we should keep it down." Then he resumes reading.
The satchel one gives a start and stares at Kibum. "Are you really?"
i. Kibum nods with a laugh, and then starts sneezing. "Sorry," he manages between sniffs and waves to the really tall, quiet-seeming boy, who smiles back. His smile is really bright, almost like Jinki's, but even his smile is quiet.
"He's not quiet," Jonghyun speaks up as if he's read Kibum's mind. "He's loud and quite rude and his name's Minho."
Kibum laughs again and suppresses a sneeze. "Nice. Hello, Minho."
"Hello Kibum."
There's a loud silence for a moment and then - "Oh, and, well, I'm Jinki," Jinki speaks up.
Even Taemin looks up to join in the sudden collective grin that follows.
part iv | part v
a/n: lots of hugs to Anna for beta'ing the first three chapters :'3
i. "Hyunggie!" a familiar voice calls out, and Kibum looks up from the counter, wiping sweat from his forehead.
"Hyunggie!" Taemin repeats, tone almost whiny. "How've you been?" he inquires excitedly, as he climbs up on the tall, round seat.
"I hab a cold," Kibum mumbles, sniffing, "Dode lead id doo close, you bite gadget."
"Oh, alright," Taemin whispers, sitting up with his back straight. Kibum laughs at how Taemin always whispers when people are ill, as if health is directly proportional to eardrum sensitivity.
"So," Taemin whispers some more, "How'd you fall sick, hyung?"
ii. Jinki blinks his eyes open, slowly focusing back into wakefulness as the driver announces the stop they're at, now. Then he jumps when he realizes his house is two stops behind and the platform's already slowly slipping away through the window as the driver starts up again.
"Wait wait!" he yelps as he runs up the aisle, bangs into one of the poles and doggedly jumps out the moving vehichle, satchel bumping against his hip with every move.
He lands, amazingly, on his feet. A group of people nearby cheer. Jinki blushes and scratches his head before walking off as fast as possible.
iii. "So we basically have a 3 to 0 score with the other school, right now, and we absolutely have to win the next match against that team coming from Busan to get into the semi-finals. May I remind you," Minho adds, for the billionth time, "That we have not gotten this close to semi-finals in three years."
"That's really cool," Jonghyun sounds fascinated. And he is fascinated, he just doesn't get a word Minho's saying.
"You're not getting a word I'm saying," Minho accuses.
"You know I really want you to get to semi-finals and kick everyone's butts and win, okay? And I'll be there as a new recruit at the cheerleader place and cheer you in a sparkly red blouse or something, if you want," Jonghyun laughed.
"Well, please do."
"Wait, what." Jonghyun's composure drops off his face and shatters, leaving a ridiculous look of terror in its place.
"You look like a fish," Minho ruffles his hair amusedly and Jonghyun's expression turns abruptly grumpy.
"You take advantage of me too much."
"Of your lack of common sense, not you."
"Are you going to spend the next ten minutes convincing me that there's a difference?"
"Well, to prove your prediction wrong, no."
ii. Jinki's kind of lost, and that's an understatement. He's been through this stop, but never actually gotten out and tried to get anywhere from here. He wanders around on the pavement, aimlessly, after getting out of the station. You are in a dangerous situation, a small voice mumbles inside of him, but he barely registers it. He's getting sleepy again and he really needs some coffee or a couple of donuts to keep him up.
"Excuse me," he calls out, to a newspaper with legs.
The newspaper lowers to show a man in a felt hat and pink glasses, and then legs. "Yes?"
"Uh, is there a coffee stand or something nearby?"
The man gawks.
"What?" Jinki's already uneasy and this isn't helping.
"You're standing in front of a cafe."
He whirls around. "Oh, okay."
The man sidles off, and Jinki waves half-heartedly to the retreating figure.
With an actual cafe in front of him, the prospect of food and wonderful coffee in such convenient distance makes him pause at the glass door, trying to decide what to have. Then he realizes he hasn't even looked at the menu yet, so he sets a shoulder against the door and puffs his way in, bells behind it ringing. Hinges need oiling, the voice mumbles again, and he yawns a little as he looks around him.
The walls are a soft cream - Coffee cream! he grins to himself - with wavy stripes of light, cardamom green. There are photos of mugs and cupcakes on one wall. Small tables with uncomfortably high chairs wait, lonely, for someone to take a seat. It's pretty empty, apart from the boy behind the counter, and another sitting across from him.
He frowns at the straight, shaggy black hair touching the shoulders of the striped yellow T-shirt. He's seen those hair somewhere before, just more... clean-cut. He can almost remember the face under silky, even bangs - wide, curious eyes and make me a wizard!
"Taemin!" he says, loudly, without realizing it, and the boy turns around, surprised.
It is Taemin.
i. Kibum looks up, expectant, when the bells sound and someone stumbles in, pushing the actual door instead of the handle. "Here's your bilkjake, Dae," he slides the glass over to the younger boy, who wiggles his fingers in the air excitedly in a ritual, before pulling it towards him and sucking on the straw.
The boy's probably a little shorter than him, bangs cut in a slant across his forehead, hanging over a baby face. Bright, smallish eyes take everything in, dwelling on the picture of couple mugs for a second before flitting to the framed painting of a birthday cake. Kibum feels a little uneasy - he's the one who painted it. But the other blinks and smiles at it as if it's real and it's his own birthday cake before turning around to narrow his eyes a little at Taemin's head.
Kibum really doesn't like making assumptions, but the way this newcomer's boring holes through Taemin's hair is kind of creepy. He decides he shouldn't have worried, though, when his brows raise in recognition and he calls Taemin's name with a smile.
Taemin turns around in surprise. "Yes?"
Kibum feels a slight twinge of sympathy when the happy look in the other's eyes stutters and is replaced with confusion. "You don't remember me?"
Taemin cocks his head to the side, then shakes it in apology.
"Take a seat!" Kibum butts in, and especially leans over the counter to pull out a chair next to Taemin's.
The boy shuffles awkwardly forward, setting his satchel down by his feet and Kibum points towards the menu card propped up at one side of the counter. "Uh, an americano and some munchkins, please," the other decides, and his voice is thick, mellow. It's nice.
"I'm Taemin," Taemin pipes up, brightly. The other two grin.
"Yes, I know."
"You are...?" Taemin questions with a slurp on his straw.
"Jinki."
"Jinki hyung?"
Kibum smiles at the surprise in Taemin's voice.
iii. "Minho slow down."
"Dude, running is the life, you should try it once in a while," but he slows down anyway, and he hears Jonghyun gasping behind him, catching his breath.
"Already ran enough for a lifetime last week," Jonghyun shakes his head like a wet puppy.
Minho raises an amused eyebrow. "Yeah? Half a mile?"
"It was the whole damned freeway," Jonghyun glares at him, then grins at the substantial distance the other's brows traveled up.
"Why?"
Jonghyun grins wider. "There was this kid? Around your age - "
" - Not a kid."
" - Are too. So anyway he was there and I was there and I was going home and he thought I was chasing him so I started chasing him for real and apparently he was going on foot to the other side of town so I basically covered the freeway and then we got into a bus in the end. He was cool," he ends with a serious nod.
Minho nods, too, trying not to laugh. Jonghyun catches the slight shake of his shoulders, though, and sighs. "What've I done now?"
"You just make friends that randomly, don't you?" Minho smiles, fondly. "That guy walking on the freeway. Me, tripped up and pretending to do push ups on a deserted road."
Jonghyun shrugs. "I like people like that, y'know? Quirky."
Minho loops an arm around his shoulders in silence.
"Hey, no touchy touchy feelings now," Jonghyun ducks away, hiding a small grin. Then it widens. "Coffee!" he points excitedly across the road, and Minho quickly bats his arm back down. "Pointing is uncivilized," he hisses, and Jonghyun rolls his eyes. "I wasn't aware that cafetarias had feelings, smarto."
Minho ignores him and looks across the street. "Ah yes," he notes. "Cafe, should house some coffee."
"You usually call these things cafetarias," Jonghyun says, in turn.
"Yes but you said it first, I had to say something different."
"Poop head," Jonghyun dismisses him and pulls him across. "And I want espresso."
Minho stumbles slightly, banging his knee into Jonghyun's calf. "Sorry, man."
i. "Yeah... yeah," Jinki smiles, too.
"How's your writing going? Have you written anything new? Did the dragon prince find the murderer in the end? Oh and did you - "
"Yes, I wrote a story with you as a wizard," there's a laugh in the answer, and Taemin looks a bit sheepish, but then his eyes widen even more if it was possible. "Can I... see?"
Jinki raises his index finger in excitement and dives down for his satchel, bumping his head on the counter in the process. He bumps against it again on his way back up. He's got some neatly folded sheets in his hand and Kibum looks on interestedly as this Jinki passes it to Taemin, who immediately presses them out and begins reading, slurping messily on the straw even though the glass is empty.
"So, uh," Jinki blinks and turns to Kibum, ducking his head briefly. "Nice to meet you."
Kibum nods, "Kibum. I'b sigzdeen."
Jinki smiles, blindingly bright. "Eighteen."
Kibum does a double take.
iii. "I hate espresso, though," Minho grumbles as Jonghyun pushes the door handle and walks in.
"I wasn't exactly going to force you into taking it, you know?"
Then - "Speak of the devil! Kibum!"
A pale, slim boy looks up, expression going from amazed to surprised.
"Hey! Giddar boy!" he waves excitedly.
"The name's Jonghyun," Jonghyun shakes his head in disapproval, pulling Minho along and plopping next to a boy with a satchel in his lap.
Another boy looks up from some sheets and leans over with an outstretched hand. Jonghyun shakes it smilingly. "I'm Taemin," he says, voice hushed and slightly squeaky. "Kibum hyung is sick, we should keep it down." Then he resumes reading.
The satchel one gives a start and stares at Kibum. "Are you really?"
i. Kibum nods with a laugh, and then starts sneezing. "Sorry," he manages between sniffs and waves to the really tall, quiet-seeming boy, who smiles back. His smile is really bright, almost like Jinki's, but even his smile is quiet.
"He's not quiet," Jonghyun speaks up as if he's read Kibum's mind. "He's loud and quite rude and his name's Minho."
Kibum laughs again and suppresses a sneeze. "Nice. Hello, Minho."
"Hello Kibum."
There's a loud silence for a moment and then - "Oh, and, well, I'm Jinki," Jinki speaks up.
Even Taemin looks up to join in the sudden collective grin that follows.