On the highway of your heart {1/3}
Title: On the highway of your heart
Pairing: Baekhyun/Kyungsoo, side!Chanyeol/Joonmyun
Rating: PG-13
Length: 23,638 words
Warnings: too much use of alcohol.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
Summary: Long travels are the best way to get two persons more than just close. Road Trip!AU
Notes: written for sooenaemoured A huge thanks to cairistiona for motivating me to write this, for cheering and helping me with everything! Also, Shie, thank you so much for proofreading this! Thank you tlist for cheering on me and holding my hand! I love you all~!
It’s another boring day in Calculus II. Chanyeol is staring out of the window, Joonmyun is being the good student and taking notes of everything, Baekhyun is playing some game on his cell phone, Jongdae is laughing at something he remembered and Kyungsoo is pretending that he’s paying attention to the teacher’s lecture (when in reality, he’s writing in his notebook).
They’re one day away from their summer break, the so-very-awaited three months off from college. They have yet to decide what they’ll do with all this free time. They just know that they won’t touch any notebook, notes or textbooks.
They’re all friends, some closer to others and vice versa; Kyungsoo usually sticks to Joonmyun; Chanyeol and Jongdae to Baekhyun, and together they’re a huge mess. Sometimes it gets awkward because some of them don’t know each other that well, so they avoid conversations; usually Kyungsoo with Baekhyun or Joonmyun with Chanyeol and Jongdae.
The next day, when they’re almost free from college, Kyungsoo pops up at Chanyeol’s desk. everybody is around and the teacher doesn’t really care about what they’re doing; he wants to get out of here as much as the students.
“I have a plan for the beginning of our break, does anyone want to join me?” Kyungsoo asks, furiously shaking the same notebook he was scribbling in yesterday.
“It depends,” says Joonmyun with his usual generous smile and a pat on Kyungsoo’s shoulder. “What do you have in mind?”
“It’s been a while since I wanted to do this,” he says, flipping to the pages and nodding in satisfaction. He had spent the whole night finalising the plans. “A road trip to San Francisco. I’m going to visit my parents, and I plan on visiting one city in each state I stop in. So now, who wants to join?”
“You’re from San Francisco too?” Baekhyun asks, raising a brow. He had known Kyungsoo for a little more than two years and the boy never mentioned his hometown, and well, he didn’t bother talking or asking about it either. “Me too, I was planning on visiting my parents, just like you. I think it’s a good idea. I’m in.”
Kyungsoo looks at the others, waiting for a reply.
“Just texted my mother and she said that I can go,” Jongdae says, after checking his cell phone and giving a thumbs up to the idea.
“You need to ask for your mother’s permission?” Chanyeol laughs loudly, slapping his thigh and hitting someone (who ends up being Joonmyun).
“Can we stop by LA? I need to show my parents that I’m still alive.” Kyungsoo nods and Chanyeol agrees to his plans with a friendly, and hard, slap on his back. Oh, how much fun he’ll provide them! And by ‘fun’, Chanyeol means alcohol; he’s not The Park Chanyeol, the King of All Parties, for nothing.
“Joonmyun?” Kyungsoo asks, looking at his best friend and rubbing his aching back. He’s like some role model among them and the boys usually seek for Joonmyun’s permission, after all he’s the responsible one and it’d be awesome if he decided to go along.
Joonmyun purses his lips, and maybe he’s making a estimation of the costs; he’s always one to think ahead.
“Why not? Someone needs to look out for you all,” he finally says, and the boys cheer. The teacher turns to look at them. With an accusing finger he sends each one to their respective seats.
When classes are over the boys meet outside. They’re all in a rush; Kyungsoo’s idea got them all excited to go back to their rooms and pack.
“We can use my car,” Chanyeol offers, because his car is huge; too big for a single person. Maybe it wasn’t Chanyeol who chose it, it must’ve been his mom. Chanyeol would have chosen a Lamborghini instead of an Eco Sport 2011.
“Awesome, because mine sucks,” Kyungsoo says, while he checks the ‘find a car that isn’t my Corolla’ off his list.
“You all can share the costs for the fuel and I can pay for our food and stay,” Joonmyun suggests and Jongdae is the first to agree with it.
“I think we should share everything,” Baekhyun adds and he leans against the wall next to them. “And by everything, really everything.”
“Deal, can we go now? I need to pack if we’re going tomorrow in the morning,” Jongdae finally says and he taps his right foot, making an annoying sound. “I also need to sleep, last night I stayed up until 3am finishing my project.”
“Which project? We’re in the same major. Don’t lie; as your roommate, I know you were playing minecraft again,” Chanyeol says, poking Jongdae hard on his ribs and earning a groan of pain from the latter’s lips, especially because Chanyeol doesn’t know his own strength.
“Can we stop discussing when we clearly figured everything out?” Baekhyun says without trying to be rude (he probably just wants to go to his room, take a nice shower, get all his belongings ready and sleep).
“Yes, yes we can,” Kyungsoo says, waving his arms perhaps in happiness. Nobody’s entirely sure, so they decide to just go home and prepare everything.
With an excited see you tomorrow, they run to their dorms.
“Do you guys have everything that you’ll need?” Kyungsoo asks, with a notebook at hand again. “Is everything okay? Like, did you guys switch off the gas and stuff?”
“No, I think I’m leaving it on so we can explode the building, and if we’re lucky, Yifan will explode along with it. I can’t with him screaming in Mandarin when he’s watching basketball games on his television,” Jongdae says and Chanyeol agrees, it’s really exasperating when he starts to curse, that’s not the way they’d expected to learn the language.
They’d planned on meeting at Chanyeol and Jongdae’s dorm, since they’ll be using Chanyeol’s car. The rest of the boys are late.
“I’m serious. I don’t want to come back to see chaos,” Kyungsoo says and points the pen in their direction.
“It’s okay Mama, we shoved our homework under our beds and maybe into the closet, but everything is okay. The bathroom is clean, not really, and the kitchen too,” Jongdae says and laughs, Kyungsoo is about to reply but an arm around his shoulders stops him.
“Joonmyun, you’re late! You’re never late, what happened?” Kyungsoo hits his friend with the notebook and looks around. Baekhyun is late too, like, really late; he was supposed to be here first.
“I was checking my credit card online, geez. Stop being so temperamental, it’s only 9am,” Joonmyun says rubbing his now-aching arm. He’s lucky that Kyungsoo didn’t slap him.
“I’m sorry!” says a breathless Baekhyun. He’s carrying two suitcases and a backpack, and the others are just staring at him and looking down at their single suitcases and non existent handbags.
“What the actual fuck Baekhyun,” Jongdae says and shakes his arms up and down.
“Don’t worry Jongdae, we have enough space in my car,” Chanyeol smiles and taps the bodywork of it. Almost new, only used to go grocery shopping, it’s clearly stupid to have such a big car. But at least it’ll come in handy now.
“While Chanyeol arranges everything at the trunk, let’s decide something really important: who’s gonna drive,” Kyungsoo asks and eyes everybody.
“I don’t wanna leave this world at such an early age, so let’s not put Chanyeol near the steering wheel,” Jongdae says while he carries Baekhyun’s suitcases to be placed in the trunk. “Last time we went grocery shopping, at the corner, I thought I’d die. He nearly hit a pole.”
“I’m not that bad, how come I have an driver's license?” Chanyeol says, taking the card out of his pocket.
“I bet your mom paid for it,” Baekhyun says, eyeing the card that Chanyeol is proudly holding.
“So I’ll be the driver, Joonmyun can help me with the directions,” Kyungsoo decides, ignoring all the bickering, and the boys agree silently, better Kyungsoo than Chanyeol. Baekhyun doesn’t have a driver’s license, Joonmyun is afraid of the road and Jongdae would probably exceed the speed limit.
However, the boys have no idea about Kyungsoo’s driving skills. Hopefully, he’s better than all of them together.
It ended up that Kyungsoo drives just like their mothers; carefulness added to concentration. Joonmyun sits by his side. They just entered the road, and the rest of the boys are cheering from the back seat like the crazy idiots that they are, aside from Baekhyun, who’s trying to look at himself at the rearview mirror.
“Take your head out of the way, please,” Kyungsoo says and Baekhyun isn’t given the chance to reply. Chanyeol jumps on his seat.
“Please, put in this CD.” Jongdae shoves the disc in Joonmyun’s lap and bounces up and down, Baekhyun sandwiched between the two overly excited boys.
“Can you not?” Baekhyun says and brushes his bangs out of his eyes. With a flick on Jongdae’s head, they both shut their mouths.
Until Joonmyun puts the disc in to play.
Chanyeol and Jongdae start to scream along with the song because this is fucking awesome.
Kyungsoo tries to contain his nerves, paying attention to the route they’re taking, and Joonmyun is having a hard time with a map he brought with him.
“I think we need to turn the left,” Joonmyun says with uncertainty. He unfolds the map here and there and tries to not hit Kyungsoo on the face.The map is indeed really large.
While Chanyeol screams that he’s only got twenty dollars on his pocket, Jongdae beatboxes to the rhythm and Kyungsoo feels like choking him. How the hell does he call that a real quality beatbox?
“No, I think it’s right,” Joonmyun corrects his last words and turns the map around.
“Joonmyun, we’re in a straight line, do you expect me to crash the car? There’s no right or left, we don’t need this map,” Kyungsoo says, his sight glued to the road. He’s not up to dying this early, and neither are the other boys, so they better shut the fuck up and let him do his task.
“Wait, map?” Chanyeol shouts and Baekhyun groans, he’s going to be deaf by the end of this trip.
“Why?” Joonmyun asks and looks back.
“I thought you guys were using my sat nav,” he replies and Kyungsoo grips the steering wheel harder, his fingers tingling to kill someone, right here and right now.
“You should’ve said earlier,” Joonmyun says and folds the map back. Damn it, he thinks and just kneads the paper. “Thank you, but where is it?”
“Right in front of you?” Chanyeol says, pointing above the stereo, and indeed, it’s there. Joonmyun turns a light shade of red, because, how come he didn’t see it? Kyungsoo thinks he needs to make an appointment at his eye doctor.
“Just put in Pittsburgh and we’re good,” Kyungsoo says and Joonmyun follows his commands.
This time Jongdae yells that there's a she-wolf in the closet and Baekhyun just wants to throw himself out of the window, but he can’t, because he’s stuck inside the goddamn car, between the two most obnoxious people he’s ever met.
After two pauses at some gas stations to use the restroom, they pass the plaque saying that they’ve entered Pennsylvania.
Kyungsoo sighs in relief. It’s his first time driving out of the city; being spoiled by his mother isn’t that good after all. He’s never had the chance to drive for long hours so it’s usually his mother, since his father is always busy at work. Bless her for driving all the way from San Francisco just to make sure he is safe and sound inside the dorms.
“I can’t feel my butt,” Jongdae complains, and Chanyeol laughs, probably hearing some stupid joke about it inside his head.
“What time is it?” Baekhyun asks.
He should check his own cell phone, thinks Kyungsoo but nevertheless, he replies with, “3pm.” He receives a groan in response.
“Just wait, in three hours we’ll arrive at our destination,” Joonmyun tries to console the boy, but sighs; his butt is starting to feel sore from all the hours he’d been seated.
‘After 1km, turn to the right.’
‘Lake Arthur’ Kyungsoo reads as he stops the car.
“Where the fuck is this?” Jongdae complains some more. “Isn’t it supposed to be, I don’t know, Pittsburgh?”
‘Turn to the left.’
“Aren’t you going to do what the sat nav is saying?” asks Joonmyun, face more serious than intended.
“Are you crazy?” Kyungsoo yells and the boys jump in their seats. “We’re not entering the lake.”
“I think,” Chanyeol says, through the loud beats of some Usher song, “that we should move Joonmyun back here with us.”
“I volunteer to exchange seats with him,” Baekhyun says with the speed of light, already loosening his seatbelt and shoving Jongdae aside. He takes the opportunity that the car is ‘parked’ to open the door and run to the front.
“Move,” he says to Joonmyun, who is still trying to release the buckle and taking longer than needed.
“Yes, come here, Hyung,” Chanyeol says, grinning from ear to ear with his signature smile, energetically patting the empty seat between him and Jongdae.
After the hard time of releasing his seat belt, Joonmyun is yanked from his seat and manhandled into the back, and Baekhyun plops into his new seat, happier than ever.
“Now that I’m here, let’s get things started,” Baekhyun says and laughs at everybody and everything. He turns the stupid sat nav that Chanyeol shouldn’t have suggested off, also taking the currently playing disc out. “We can update it later at a public library.”
He takes out a flash drive and shakes it in front of Chanyeol’s face.
“16GB of quality music,” he says before plugging it on the stereo and Madonna starts to play.
Everybody groans, but Kyungsoo decides to ignore them. They have an addition of three hours inside the car until they make it to Pittsburgh and he needs to get back to driving.
“Stop the car,” Jongdae shrieks and knocks on Kyungsoo’s seat.
“What now?” Kyungsoo screams, an hour ago Chanyeol forced him to stop to get some food and now he’s being hit without reason.
“I need to pee,” he says shaking the seat in front of him some more. “Or I’m going to pee on the seat.”
“Stop the car,” Chanyeol screams too, kicking the seat in front of him. Baekhyun turns to the back and glares at them.
“Stop,” he says to Kyungsoo and the latter obeys.
“We’re in the middle of the road,” Joonmyun points out and he looks confused.
“Jongdae doesn’t care,” Chanyeol says, pointing at the boy outside relieving himself in the middle of the bushes.
Indeed, he doesn’t, he’s shameless enough.
In less than a minute he runs back to the car, and Joonmyun screams please, don’t touch me and Chanyeol laughs. Kyungsoo and Baekhyun are thankful that they’re not in the back seats.
Driving for a few more minutes, the car finally enters the city. It’s night time already, and after all this time inside the vehicle, they don’t have enough energy - or will - to stroll around Pittsburgh.
They find a cheap hotel and fall into bed, asleep, right after taking a quick shower.
They wake up early, there’s not too much to do at the city, but the sooner they visit what they want, the sooner they can go back to the road.
The time at the PNC Park (✿) is fast. They take a look at the Pittsburgh Pirates house. The stadium looks good but they only manage to stay outside. It is enough though, and they happily run into a library - bless the heavens - having an outdated sat nav is one of the worse things that happened and they upgrade it with the maps and all the necessary information. Chanyeol is sheepish about it, it was his fault for not informing them that it was probably lying in his car since he got it because he only drives to the supermarket.
He’s so forgetful.
After finding a place to have a good meal, they slowly walk back to the car. They didn’t do much, and the next place they want to visit is only worth it if near the sunset.
In the meantime, they get some ice cream and lazy around a park at the center of Pittsburgh.
When the clock nears the end of the afternoon, they head to the Mount Washington (✿), observing the beautiful blending of the colors in the sky, the light pink with the orange tones and it’s better than the pictures. The city view is also superb and the nightlife is about to start, but Kyungsoo is sure that he just wants to go back to the hotel and sleep. It’ll only be a short way until they reach Cleveland tomorrow, but he doesn’t want to rush things.
The sun goes to sleep and the sky gets dark. All the boys are enjoying the day but, sadly, they can't see many stars, it’s a big city after all.
Heading back to the hotel, they stop by a small restaurant to grab dinner and when they reach the room, Chanyeol runs to the bathroom for a shower and the others lie around. Tomorrow is going to be a light day, save from the over seven hours confined inside the car.
The drive to Cleveland is pleasant, the weather is nice and they have a good time all the way. This is aside from the constant fights over which song they should play; Chanyeol and Jongdae shoving their disc around and Baekhyun with his flash drive. Surprisingly, Joonmyun takes out a CD from his backpack and they listen to Tchaikovsky until the city plaque comes in sight.
That’s the best method to make them all shut up or fall asleep.
Joonmyun and Kyungsoo’s plan was to pass by the Cleveland Museum of Art (✿), driving next to the Lake Erie on their way.
Jongdae starts to laugh loudly.
“Do you think we should enter the lake with our car?” he asks, covering his mouth and avoiding eye contact with Joonmyun.
“Don’t be so mean! Hyung was trying to help,” Chanyeol says, and squeezes Joonmyun’s thigh. The elder jumps on his seat and shakes the hand off him.
With a dry laugh and burning cheeks, Joonmyun waves the subject away and while he tries to hide his embarrassment, they reach their destination.
They leave the car and face the building. There’s a really beautiful fountain in front of it. Kyungsoo takes out five tickets from his wallet.
“Bought them in advance,” he says when he notices the questioning eyes on him.
Totally ignoring Kyungsoo, the boys take said tickets out of his hands and walk up to the entrance.
Already inside, observing the paintings covering the walls and the sculptures inside the building, they finish their visit to the place in 2 hours.
2 hours of Jongdae nagging about how much he wants to go to somewhere fun and not for old people or Chanyeol clapping his hands and laughing at everything.
They’d better get used to this because Kyungsoo put some more museums to be visited into his plans.
After a late lunch at a Subway they found on their way, the car is on the road again, heading right for Indianapolis. It’s 5 hours until they reach the city and since visiting anywhere right now is out of their hands, they stop by some convenience store and Chanyeol gets them food and drinks, waving the cans of beer in front of everybody’s faces.
When they find a reasonable hotel, they eat their snacks. Kyungsoo swears he’ll need to make it up with some walking when he gets back to New York, after all this junk food. He can imagine how much weight he’ll gain.
Joonmyun takes control of the beer cans and hands one to each, Chanyeol pouts but it doesn’t mean he got another one.
Stomachs full and eyelids heavy, they fall asleep, the atmosphere at ease. These are the times in which they thank the heavens for their being friends.
The sun rises, and as always, Kyungsoo is the first to wake up. When he finishes his shower, all the boys are up, aside from Chanyeol, who probably sneaked out the rest of the beer last night when everybody went to sleep.
Jongdae manages to get Chanyeol awake by continuously poking him on the stomach with his foot. Chanyeol rolls out of the blankets, hair messy, sticking to all the sides and eyes still closed, and he bumps into everybody on his way to the shower, but in the end he’s the most enthusiastic when they leave the hotel.
Cups of coffee in hand, and maybe a muffin or a panini, they exit the Starbucks they stopped at, sitting somewhere at the benches near some park and Kyungsoo finishes his too familiar drink, courtesy of the endless nights awake studying or doing projects.
“We’re going to a museum today,” Kyungsoo announces, and both - Jongdae and Chanyeol - complain in unison, but Kyungsoo glares at them for not letting him finish his sentence. “And I chose it especially for you two.”
“Really?” Jongdae asks, mouth stuffed with his blueberry muffin and there’s expectation plastered all over his face, the corner of his lips turning upwards, and crumbs of the food stick there, but Kyungsoo just ignores the sight and nods his head.
“Let’s go, then?” Chanyeol says, biting the last piece of his sandwich. Baekhyun and Joonmyun agree and wait for Kyungsoo lead the way.
“Children's Museum of Indianapolis (✿),” Jongdae reads the plaque and glances at Chanyeol, looking from side to side.
“Yup, I looked it up online, I bet you’ll like it,” Kyungsoo says honestly, and instead of being mad that they were called kids, Chanyeol and Jongdae exchange looks and run to the ticket booth, Baekhyun rolling his eyes and Joonmyun smiling at them.
It’s after they leave the museum that they end up getting lunch at McDonald’s, hunger sated and high spirited.
“I planned another visit to a place you two will like,” Kyungsoo tells them. He knows how boring his preferences are sometimes, all museums and art exhibitions, so he thought a lot about the two of them who are not very fond of all the cultural stuff.
“Reeeally?” it’s Chanyeol who asks this time and Kyungsoo nods eagerly, he’s also excited to visit the place.
“The zoo, we’re going to the city’s zoo,” he exclaims, biting his lips and checking some of his plans in his notebook. The boys cheer enthusiastically like little kids.
Baekhyun is not a huge fan of zoos, but apparently he likes cute things, so Kyungsoo hopes he enjoyed the visit. Joonmyun always remains silent, smile playing on his lips, and oh, Kyungsoo’s eyes shine when they enter the huge aquarium (✿). Chanyeol and Jongdae point at everything all the time and enjoy themselves far too much. Kyungsoo is glad they managed to come here.
It takes around 4 hours, at least, for them to leave the zoo. So far it was the best place they visited, according to the common agreement between them.
Climbing back in the car, they chat about the animals and how much fun they had, and the 3 hours pass quickly. It is nighttime when they arrive, the city is all illuminated already, bars and clubs opening their doors, but they boys already decided that they would save this for later.
By now, they stick to buying more convenience stores food - again - and, just this time, more cans of beer than needed.
They hit the hotel and get their room. Since they started travelling, they always got a twin room; two beds and a couch. It always ends up with Chanyeol on the floor, Jongdae sharing a bed with Baekhyun - since they’re best buds -, Joonmyun on the couch and Kyungsoo has a bed just to himself.
As for food, tonight, having beef jerky for dinner could’ve been worse. The beer is a good companion to it.
Kyungsoo's tolerance for alcohol is not the best, but it's also not the worst, that'd be Joonmyun. But after 4 cans of beer, he sees everything a little blurred, he senses that if he gets up now, he may not be able to stand still like a normal person.
Chanyeol is giggling to himself, purposefully leaning closer to Joonmyun. It's obvious that he likes the elder; Joonmyun is just too oblivious. Then there's Jongdae, already passed out in one bed.
Baekhyun is not in the room. Kyungsoo attempts to walk, pushing his body off the ground and supporting his weight by one bed, before making his way outside the room.
It's one of those opened areas that faces the parking lot directly. It's already past midnight and everybody in the other rooms are probably asleep (all the lights are off, so that’s what he assumes).
The palm of his left hand never loses contact with the wall and, from where he is, he can take sight of someone resting against the wall. Cold air hits Kyungsoo's sweaty skin.
"Baekhyun?" he asks, or he thinks he does as the alcohol is already taking over his body, but he still is conscious of his surroundings.
He brushes his hands against the boy’s shoulder and the latter turns to look at him, Baekhyun doesn’t look affected by the alcohol, in fact, Kyungsoo thinks he saw Baekhyun only having one can. He’s the one who got out of control and ended up with four empty cans next to him, while Chanyeol finished 5, but his tolerance is high - out of experience -, totally different from him, the one who gets dizzy after a glass of wine at end-of-year parties.
Baekhyun doesn’t move, he just stays there, looking at Kyungsoo, waiting for him to tell him whatever he wanted to. Kyungsoo grabs Baekhyun by the shoulders, face serious and he ponders over all the consequences of getting this drunk - the worst is yet to come, hangovers are the worst.
“I think we should go to sleep, it’s late,” Baekhyun says freeing himself from Kyungsoo’s grip but he’s pushed against the wall and yelps, Kyungsoo is not someone who’s that strong, but the sudden movement caught him by surprise. “Oh my God, what are you even doing Kyungsoo?”
He doesn’t shout, yell or scream, he just looks concerned. Kyungsoo is sweating and he wonders what Baekhyun is thinking right now.
“You’re out of yourself, please, let’s go back to the room,” he sighs and tries to push Kyungsoo out of the way, but he just ends up pressed harder against the wall. “I don’t know what you want, make a decision quickly, I’m starting to get sleepy.”
Kyungsoo makes his decision as told, closing his eyes and pressing his lips against Baekhyun’s. Bless the heavens that they’re almost the same height, Baekhyun being just a little taller than him. If it was Chanyeol he’d have a hard time, but he doesn’t want Chanyeol, so that’s not the point.
The point is that this feels really nice.
Kyungsoo is not sure if this is the side effect of all the alcohol flowing in his veins, or something he always wanted to do but wasn't fearless enough to actually put into action. He always thought Baekhyun looked good, not the ‘you look good with this shirt and all’ type, but the ‘you look good and I maybe want to hold your hand because that’d be really nice’ type, suppressing this feeling was easy.
Until now. That’s why he doesn’t drink, it always puts his guards down and he ends up doing something he might regret later, but he thinks he won’t regret this.
At first, Baekhyun may be surprised, but he doesn't push away too, it’s when Kyungsoo tentatively licks his lower lip that he jumps slightly, Kyungsoo’s hand holds Baekhyun’s jaw and he tilts his head for better access, even if Baekhyun didn’t grant it.
It takes a lot of effort for Kyungsoo to not pin him against the wall to finally be able to kiss him properly.
Baekhyun’s hands move to Kyungsoo’s waist and instead of granting access, he hugs the boy’s waist and pulls him closer, doing the job himself, startling Kyungsoo when he licks his way into his mouth, hot and wet. The kiss tastes like alcohol but Kyungsoo couldn’t care less, it’s mainly his fault.
The break apart when Kyungsoo is running out of oxygen, he feels like he might fall and Baekhyun apparently got the message, leading him back to the room with his arms circled around his waist.
They enter the room, cans of beer all around, Chanyeol is face flat on the floor and Joonmyun spread out on the couch. Jongdae is taking up basically the whole bed and Baekhyun stops in his tracks, he looks to the only free spot to crash and he doesn't have any other option but to comply to it.
They already showered, just their luck, and Baekhyun pushes Kyungsoo down on the bed. They’ll need to share it tonight.
When they’re already lying down and staring at the ceiling, Kyungsoo still dizzy and all, he crawls up on top of Baekhyun without care.
“What are you even doing?” Baekhyun whispers through gritted teeth, but Kyungsoo ignores him.
Kyungsoo’s face is closer to Baekhyun’s. He doesn’t wait much and presses his lips back to Baekhyun’s.
They kiss just like before for a few minutes, until Kyungsoo is on the verge of falling asleep and falls to the side.
Kyungsoo wakes up confused. So he just runs out of the bed to the bathroom. He smells awfully like beer and he doesn’t want to know what happened last night with Baekhyun.
“Good morning,” he says without looking at Baekhyun when he’s out the bathroom from his shower, towel covering his eyes and Baekhyun replies to him with a good morning to you too.
The shower was a good idea, it eases his headache a little
“We need to get the boys up to enjoy our day in Chicago,” Kyungsoo tosses the towel to a chair and walks to the couch to shake Joonmyun until he wakes up.
Baekhyun lies back down, groaning.
Kyungsoo hopes to spend the whole day in Chicago and part in Des Moines the next day. Chicago is a big city; there’s a lot of things to do.
His throbbing headache is not helping at all, he promises himself to not do that ever again. His memories are in a blurry but the feeling of skin against his own is still vivid in his memory.
Walking around the big Michigan Avenue (✿) is not that awesome when you have too much in mind, Kyungsoo is not enjoying the simple walk and window shopping. They parked the car a few blocks from here, all the attractions in just one street, yet, he feels like he’d rather be locked inside the vehicle.
Going by foot to the Millennium Park (✿) doesn’t take them more than 10 minutes, and at the end of the day (not really late though), they find their way to the Navy Pier (✿). There’s so many attractions there, but Chanyeol practically forces them to go to the Beer Garden (✿).
Great, just what Kyungsoo wanted; beer is the last thing he needs in front of him, especially after the huge hangover he got. Though nobody actually knows that he’s a little grumpy today.
He decides to sit on a bench near the trees. He’s not going to consume a single drop of alcohol for the next days and Chanyeol had better not do something stupid this time.
A horrifying flash of memory comes into his mind, and the imagery of a really drunk Chanyeol lying atop of his car gets his blood boiling but also get him laughing a little at the remembrance of him falling from there.
It’s been more than an hour, Kyungsoo had ordered some chicken wings (real food is a bless) and he’s drinking some Dr Pepper. Looking from afar, the cans of beer are growing at Chanyeol’s table and Joonmyun worriedly glances at the giant boy. Jongdae is also part of this party. The duo will never learn.
But Baekhyun is nowhere in sight. Kyungsoo finishes his food and his drink. He gives the waiter the money to pay for everything he got and he decides to just stroll around. They agreed to meet at the hotel later, so they won’t get lost from each other.
He didn’t even walk two meters when someone topples over him. He’s still near the trees, but maybe further. He recognizes the person as Baekhyun.
“Kyungsoo?” he manages to say. Baekhyun is not that drunk, apparently the alcohol is not taking over him but maybe it’s enough to get his head spinning slightly.
Without uttering another word, he holds Kyungsoo by the wrist and takes him somewhere; somewhere far from all the crowd, it’s already dark, they walk, walk and walk, until they’re not at the pier anymore, instead, it’s some kind of park, they cross the road and it’s dangerous - really dangerous - Baekhyun is drunk and Kyungsoo needs to make sure that they won’t get hit.
Arriving at another part of the park, where there’s absolutely nobody, and also no benches, just some trees and grass, Baekhyun releases his grip and Kyungsoo tries to form in his head what happened to Baekhyun to do something like this. It’s impossible that only the alcohol is at fault.
It’s full moon tonight, the sea a few kilometers away from them and it’s beautiful, Kyungsoo gets distracted at the way the moonlight hits the low waves of the water and he snaps out of his trance when something warm touches his arm, he knows it’s Baekhyun, and he turns to look at him.
“I don’t know what you want,” Kyungsoo says and stares at Baekhyun, face calm and still not sure of what to do with this situation.
"You don't need to know," Baekhyun says, staring back at Kyungsoo.
A little more than confused, Kyungsoo is about to reply when hands find their way to his waist. He freezes; it feels like a déjà vu, but in his mind, it's in a fog. Baekhyun is invading his personal space, and what surprises him the most: he doesn't mind it at all.
It takes more than a minute for Baekhyun to move out of his space, a few seconds ago just looking at Kyungsoo's face in maybe awe, maybe fondness, and Kyungsoo is intrigued by the boy's gaze on him.
Admiration may be the word, but everything is cut short when a first move is made and lips are pressed against lips.
Maybe Kyungsoo knew that this was coming, maybe that’s what happened yesterday while he was too drunk to know what his brain was telling him to do. But maybe, his subconscious wanted this for a long time already.
He doesn’t hesitate, kissing Baekhyun back eagerly, holding onto the collar of his shirt and pressing their lips harder. Baekhyun pulls him by his waist, holding him closer, the sea breeze mixed with the nocturne atmosphere making everything feel colder, yet, it feels warm, hot even, this is not right. His brain tells him to stop but his senses tell him to keep going. In the end he breaks the kiss.
“I knew it,” Baekhyun says and turns away, hands coming to his lips to rub the spit off. “You don’t like me.”
“What? Baekhyun,” Baekhyun looks, hurt? He’s way too drunk to process anything properly, but Kyungsoo thinks that, maybe, the boy was doing what he wanted, but he’s not totally himself right now. He can’t risk being awkward with his friend the next day because of something of the moment. “I do like you.”
“Why did you just stop then?” he says without meeting Kyungsoo’s eyes. The latter sighs. It’s too much for him; first the horrible headache, now this.
“I think we should go back to the hotel, you need to rest,” Kyungsoo says, avoiding Baekhyun’s question. The boy senses it too and his shoulders drop lower and Kyungsoo just wants to hug him and reassure that yes, he does like him, but he doesn’t do it, not tonight, everything is too confusing right now.
He takes Baekhyun by the hand and leads his half-dead self all the way to where they’re staying. He hopes Joonmyun is still sane enough to bring Chanyeol and Jongdae back alive.
Kyungsoo wakes up to a silent room; everybody is still sleeping but it’s already 9am. Surprisingly, Jongdae is on the floor and Chanyeol is on the couch with Joonmyun. Kyungsoo snickers at them and gets up.
They all need to get ready for the 5 hours and a half travel to Des Moines that awaits them.
He shakes everybody awake and when it’s Baekhyun’s turn, he’s not sure if he should do it himself or ask Jongdae; but since Jongdae just ran out of the room and slammed the bathroom door closed, he’s the one in charge now.
"Baekhyun, please wake up, we have to leave," Kyungsoo says and shakes Baekhyun's body gently to not scare the boy. Baekhyun opens his eyes and stares at him, Kyungsoo holds his breath, Baekhyun looks like he wants to say something but instead, he licks his lips and turns to the side, whispering I'll be up in a few minutes, don't worry.
Kyungsoo releases his breath and sighs, the face Baekhyun gave him wasn't a happy or friendly one. Great way to start the day. Perfect. He suppresses a groan and decides to run to the car. Call him dirty, but he's not in the mood for a shower right now.
"Jongdae?" Kyungsoo opens his eyes and asks confused, after he closed the door, he leaned against his seat and fell asleep. He was expecting to find Baekhyun at his side, not Jongdae - he doesn't mind it being Jongdae but, where the hell is Baekhyun?
"Baekhyun said he was still tired, he's in the back if you’re wondering.” Jongdae points and Kyungsoo turns to look at Baekhyun. He doesn’t look like someone’s who’s actually sleeping, but he has his eyes closed, so he’ll let it pass.
Jongdae puts the damn CD to play again.
“I swear to God Jongdae, if it’s that same disc from yesterday, I’m going to murder you,” Kyungsoo says turning the ignition on and getting on the road.
“Don’t worry, it’s a new one. That one was Chanyeol’s.”
“We also need to refuel. Goddammit, Jongdae!” Kyungsoo yells and fumes, “Not Bootylicious.”
The travel to Des Moines was everything but pleasant. Jongdae screaming nonstop to his music, Joonmyun pretending he was caring and Chanyeol leaning way too much into his personal space, added to Baekhyun totally blacked out on the side.
“Fuck. Kim Jongdae!” Kyungsoo shouts and stops the car as they’ve reached the place he wanted to visit. The city is just a quick pit stop, but surprisingly - more like daunting to death - the boy does a good thing; he actually closed his mouth and the rest apparently jumped from the back seats.
“What?” Jongdae asks, scared; the last time Kyungsoo screamed like this, he gained trauma from baseball equipment.
“We’re here,” Kyungsoo smiles and opens the car door, taking out his cell phone to take a picture of the Capitol Building (✿). He takes around six and runs back to the car. “Everybody back in, we’re done here.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Chanyeol groans and pushes Joonmyun back toward his seat.
“Unless you want to stay here and not go to Las Vegas, I mean, we’re four stops away and I think that if we stay here for a day we might need to skip it,” Kyungsoo says with a thoughtful face, the face he uses to bribe the boys to do things for him.
“No!” Chanyeol says and shoves Joonmyun back into the car. “Go go.”
“Gotcha.” Kyungsoo snaps his fingers and takes the driver’s seat.
Baekhyun may or may not be smiling at him from behind. Kyungsoo is not sure, the rear mirror is not the best choice to sneak a peek at someone who has almost his whole face covered by hair.
“You’re not putting your music on?” After 5 minutes of driving, Kyungsoo asks Jongdae who’s silent, which is strange, but it’s good news, so he doesn’t question much.
“Not really, I think that was enough for a day,” he replies and closes his eyes. He yawns and turns to face the window. “Is it okay if I take a nap?”
“Go on,” Kyungsoo doesn’t take his eyes off the road and remembers about something that’s in his backpack. “Wait a minute, Jongdae. Joonmyun, can you get me that CD I brought with me?”
Joonmyun shakes Chanyeol’s hands off his arm and turns to the back, accidentally hitting Baekhyun’s head but successfully getting the said CD Kyungsoo asked for.
“Here, have fun, I hope it’s better than everything we heard through the whole trip,” he says with a big smile, handing Kyungsoo the disc. Poor Joonmyun must’ve suffered more than Kyungsoo himself.
“I bet it is,” Kyungsoo jokes and Jongdae puts the disc to play.
“Not Queen,” Jongdae whines as the first song starts and bangs his head against his seat. “I also bet you put on Journey.”
“I wasn’t very aware of it, but Jongdae,” Kyungsoo looks at the boy dying beside him and grins from ear to ear, Jongdae looks up, curious about what made Kyungsoo smile at him. “You know me so well.”
The boy groans and sinks into his seat. It’s not a long drive, but it’ll probably be long for Jongdae - he was supposed to be napping -, Kyungsoo laughs silently and focuses on reaching Omaha as soon as possible.
When they reach the city, night is already falling upon it. Kyungsoo stops the car at the Gene Leahy Mall (✿), the sat nav is really useful now that it has the correct information in it, and he stares at the place in front of him. It’s a park, not really a mall.
He steps out first, walking down to see the lake closely. It looks deeper because of the lack of light. The rest of the boys follow him, looking at the empty surroundings.
Baekhyun sits somewhere and watches from afar. Kyungsoo wants to be a little braver so he will go there and sit right beside him, but, instead, he turns back to the lake. He looks up and wishes the sky would have more stars, the night feels lonely without them.
Kyungsoo’s eyes open; he just remembered that he needs to fill the tank; and it’s only 7am.
He takes his coat from his backpack and puts it on; it’s still early so who knows what the weather is like outside. At the same time he also wonders what the other boys are doing regarding their dirty clothes. Baekhyun is reasonable (he brought two suitcases and all), but the others should wash their clothes and hang them somewhere in the room just like he does himself before going to sleep.
He takes the car keys and his wallet, exiting the room; the air a little cold so he zips his coat up, quickly getting in the car and using the rear mirror to fix his bed hair that he hadn’t bothered to brush. A knock on the window startles him and Kyungsoo hits his head on the window in surprise.
Rubbing the sore place, he looks at the passenger’s seat window and sees Baekhyun there. He unlocks the door and passes a hand through his hair.
“You nearly killed me,” he says and Baekhyun whispers sorry. “Do you want something? Do you want to come along with me?”
Baekhyun looks ahead and nods. Kyungsoo doesn’t say anything further, he just twists the key and drives.
“You know, it’s really early,” Kyungsoo starts when they’re in the gas station waiting for the tank to fuel. “I think we should go to the Omaha Garden (✿), which I’m almost certain the boys, aside from Joonmyun, won’t enjoy that much and we can take a walk.”
Baekhyun agrees silently with a simple nod of his head. He’s so quiet that Kyungsoo wonders if it’s his fault, maybe some time, just the two of them, can do them good. Maybe he can talk about it with Baekhyun.
The breeze is fresh and the place is empty. Baekhyun walks ahead of Kyungsoo and the latter is trying to come up with something to talk about, but even now he still doesn’t know what to do.
He sticks to just walking in silence.
They pass by a lake, fountains, bridges and beautiful flowers. They reach an even more secluded area. Baekhyun walks up to the gazebo in the middle of all the plants; ivory colored wood, green surrounding everything, and he sits there, resting against the backboard of a bench and closing his eyes.
Kyungsoo is still a few meters behind, walking slowly along the cement path that leads to the gazebo. He glances at Baekhyun and thinks he should do something. Quickening his steps he reaches the three stairs and takes a seat next to the boy.
“Why would you-”
“I want to talk,” Baekhyun cuts his words. “And it’s not just because of yesterday.”
Kyungsoo promptly shuts his mouth and waits for Baekhyun to keep talking.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that you don’t know what happened two days ago.” Kyungsoo searches his memories, purses his lips and bites his finger, because he does remember, but not clearly.
“It’s the night I had too much beer travelling around my system,” Kyungsoo mumbles absent-mindedly.
“You don’t really remember what happened?” Baekhyun asks, unsure, Kyungsoo shakes his head and sighs, he definitely shall not drink alcohol like that again.
“Can I show you?” Baekhyun asks, playing with his feet, hands gripping at the knee of his jeans and he doesn’t look up at Kyungsoo to receive a response.
Resting his elbow on the backboard, Kyungsoo hums in response, allowing Baekhyun to show him whatever he did the other day.
He doesn’t know what he should wait for, but he’s surprised by Baekhyun’s hands on his waist pulling him up from his sitting position.
“Are you sure?” he asks, not letting his hands fall from Kyungsoo’s tiny waist. With a short nod Kyungsoo agrees regardless of what might happen. “Close your eyes.”
Kyungsoo is sure Baekhyun won’t take a scissor from his pocket and stab him in the middle of the park, so he closes his eyes as told, licking his lips as anticipation takes care of him, a million of possibilities going through his brain. Yet, he wonders if he did what he’s just thinking about and he wonders if Baekhyun will do so.
When light huffs of hot air linger on his face, he’s absolutely sure about it, but Baekhyun is taking too long to make a move. He peeks through one eye carefully to not be noticed and his breathing hitches because Baekhyun’s face is about four inches away from his, a faint tint of crimson coloring his cheeks, long lashes moving quickly and perfect nose waiting to touch Kyungsoo’s skin.
With his arms awkwardly dropped to his sides, Kyungsoo closes his eye again and with a deep breath. He brings his hand to Baekhyun’s neck in an almost imperceptible movement, earning a gasp of surprise when Baekhyun takes notice that he’s being pulled into a kiss.
Too slow, thinks Kyungsoo while he moves his lips against Baekhyun’s. They’re so soft that Kyungsoo wants to just stay like this.
Opening his eyes slightly and trying to look behind himself with his head tilted, Kyungsoo pulls Baekhyun by the neck once again and rests his back in on of the pillars, using the opportunity to savour the taste of mint toothbrush on Baekhyun’s mouth.
Baekhyun is the one who breaks the kiss, licking the spit from his bottom lip and Kyungsoo looks away, embarrassed.
“I-”
“I hope you’re not sorry,” Baekhyun cuts him off quickly with a swift movement of his hand.
“I really forgot, I’m so dumb,” Kyungsoo says, hitting his forehead with the palm of his right hand. “I’m sorry for not remembering it.”
“That’s okay,” Baekhyun says, smiling shyly and extending a hand, trying to reach Kyungsoo’s. “We should go back to the hotel, you know, it’s going to be like, lunch time if we take longer.”
Kyungsoo complies, taking Baekhyun's hand and biting his bottom lip. It should be illegal for someone to feel so much happiness early in the morning.
When they hit the hotel, Kyungsoo is not surprised to find all the boys still sleeping, he bets they arrived early morning from the pier.
He kicks the sleepyheads awake as they still have a place to visit here.
Paying the Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium (✿) a really fast visit, in which Kyungsoo is mesmerized once again by the giant aquarium and Baekhyun watches him from afar while the other boys look at everything with excitement. They need to run though, the travelling time until they reach Denver is almost eight hours and it’ll take them more than this because of bathroom and food stops on the road.
WIth Baekhyun promptly seated at the front again, he takes out his flash drive.
“It better not be the same one,” Kyungsoo hisses and Joonmyun agrees silently from his seat. “Or I’m throwing it out of the window.”
“It’s not,” Baekhyun sing songs sweetly and Kyungsoo holds his smile. He plugs the flash drive and waits for the music to play.
The boys burst out laughing and Baekhyun jumps on his spot.
“Holy fuck, I put on the wrong song,” Baekhyun says, yanking the object before it can play the song further. “Ignore that!”
“But Baek, how can you deny it? Your hips don’t lie,” Jongdae jokes and earns a piercing glare and the middle finger from his best friend. Instead of shutting him up, it provides him with a fit of laughter. “It’s true, remember how you-”
“Hush!” Baekhyun shouts and hides his face and embarrassment with his hair.
Kyungsoo ignores the bickering and starts to drive. They still need to get something to eat and find a place to sleep when they get to the city.
The day starts with a visit to a convenience store. Everybody is already awake and the day will be a long one, with not so many places to visit but lots of time confined inside the car.
Visiting the Mount Evans (✿) - Highest Paved Road in North America - they observe the beauty and imprint it in their memories. There’s not much time to spend here, especially if they want to hit Las Vegas at the end of the day.
Kyungsoo drives their way on the road to Moab, another place that they’ll only pass by and take a look at (the sat nav is still up and working with force), the anticipation to see the neon lights and huge fountains in Las Vegas is too much that it can’t stop them on their way.
They drive next to the Arches Park (✿). It’s a beautiful view and Kyungsoo thinks he might pay a visit to the place when he next has the time.
The first sight of the big city is their huge and illuminated neon sign saying ‘Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada’. After hours, they’re finally getting what they want.
Chanyeol bounces in his seat and Jongdae needs to actually slap him to get the boy to calm down. They point at the place they plan on spending the day, the only day in which they’ll waste money like there’s no tomorrow - well, this is Chanyeol and Jongdae.
They pass by the Eiffel Tower Experience (✿) and all the magnificent hotels, the traffic is chaotic and all the lights are a little blinding but the the Statue of Liberty is visible already.
New York, New York (✿) and its replicas of buildings, huge rollercoaster - they came to an accord to avoid it at all costs - and enormous pool.
Kyungsoo stops the car in front of the hotel, looking up in awe and the chauffeur asks for the key. They all get their suitcases and enter the building.
They stop by the reception and get a room with two double beds, but it’s not like they’re going to spend the night in it. They may be tired from the travel but the fun is just about to start.
Taking the elevator and pressing the button to their floor, they tap their feet, excited for basically everything. It’s their first time in Las Vegas and oh, they want to make the most of it.
When Kyungsoo opens the room with the card key, Chanyeol, literally, throws his bag somewhere, grabs his wallet and runs out of the door, Jongdae following behind and leaving the rest still there.
“That was fast,” Joonmyun points out, and stares at the door.
“As expected,” Baekhyun says and puts his belongings in a chair. “He’s always been like this.”
“I don’t know if I should,” Joonmyun whispers sitting on the bed, staring at the beige silky carpet he’s walking on. Joonmyun’s never been someone who likes parties.
“You can stay in the room and watch some tv, you know,” Kyungsoo says and sits by his side, patting his friend’s shoulder understandingly. “You’re not forced to come with us.”
“Okay.”
“Let’s go then? Have fun Joonmyun.” Baekhyun smiles and takes Kyungsoo by the wrist, pulling him out of the room with him. “Do you think it’s really okay? He looks lonely.”
“Let him be,” Kyungsoo whispers back, the corridors are empty because everybody must be down there, having the time of their lives. “He’ll come around if he wants to.”
One l Two l Three
Pairing: Baekhyun/Kyungsoo, side!Chanyeol/Joonmyun
Rating: PG-13
Length: 23,638 words
Warnings: too much use of alcohol.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
Summary: Long travels are the best way to get two persons more than just close. Road Trip!AU
Notes: written for sooenaemoured A huge thanks to cairistiona for motivating me to write this, for cheering and helping me with everything! Also, Shie, thank you so much for proofreading this! Thank you tlist for cheering on me and holding my hand! I love you all~!
It’s another boring day in Calculus II. Chanyeol is staring out of the window, Joonmyun is being the good student and taking notes of everything, Baekhyun is playing some game on his cell phone, Jongdae is laughing at something he remembered and Kyungsoo is pretending that he’s paying attention to the teacher’s lecture (when in reality, he’s writing in his notebook).
They’re one day away from their summer break, the so-very-awaited three months off from college. They have yet to decide what they’ll do with all this free time. They just know that they won’t touch any notebook, notes or textbooks.
They’re all friends, some closer to others and vice versa; Kyungsoo usually sticks to Joonmyun; Chanyeol and Jongdae to Baekhyun, and together they’re a huge mess. Sometimes it gets awkward because some of them don’t know each other that well, so they avoid conversations; usually Kyungsoo with Baekhyun or Joonmyun with Chanyeol and Jongdae.
The next day, when they’re almost free from college, Kyungsoo pops up at Chanyeol’s desk. everybody is around and the teacher doesn’t really care about what they’re doing; he wants to get out of here as much as the students.
“I have a plan for the beginning of our break, does anyone want to join me?” Kyungsoo asks, furiously shaking the same notebook he was scribbling in yesterday.
“It depends,” says Joonmyun with his usual generous smile and a pat on Kyungsoo’s shoulder. “What do you have in mind?”
“It’s been a while since I wanted to do this,” he says, flipping to the pages and nodding in satisfaction. He had spent the whole night finalising the plans. “A road trip to San Francisco. I’m going to visit my parents, and I plan on visiting one city in each state I stop in. So now, who wants to join?”
“You’re from San Francisco too?” Baekhyun asks, raising a brow. He had known Kyungsoo for a little more than two years and the boy never mentioned his hometown, and well, he didn’t bother talking or asking about it either. “Me too, I was planning on visiting my parents, just like you. I think it’s a good idea. I’m in.”
Kyungsoo looks at the others, waiting for a reply.
“Just texted my mother and she said that I can go,” Jongdae says, after checking his cell phone and giving a thumbs up to the idea.
“You need to ask for your mother’s permission?” Chanyeol laughs loudly, slapping his thigh and hitting someone (who ends up being Joonmyun).
“Can we stop by LA? I need to show my parents that I’m still alive.” Kyungsoo nods and Chanyeol agrees to his plans with a friendly, and hard, slap on his back. Oh, how much fun he’ll provide them! And by ‘fun’, Chanyeol means alcohol; he’s not The Park Chanyeol, the King of All Parties, for nothing.
“Joonmyun?” Kyungsoo asks, looking at his best friend and rubbing his aching back. He’s like some role model among them and the boys usually seek for Joonmyun’s permission, after all he’s the responsible one and it’d be awesome if he decided to go along.
Joonmyun purses his lips, and maybe he’s making a estimation of the costs; he’s always one to think ahead.
“Why not? Someone needs to look out for you all,” he finally says, and the boys cheer. The teacher turns to look at them. With an accusing finger he sends each one to their respective seats.
When classes are over the boys meet outside. They’re all in a rush; Kyungsoo’s idea got them all excited to go back to their rooms and pack.
“We can use my car,” Chanyeol offers, because his car is huge; too big for a single person. Maybe it wasn’t Chanyeol who chose it, it must’ve been his mom. Chanyeol would have chosen a Lamborghini instead of an Eco Sport 2011.
“Awesome, because mine sucks,” Kyungsoo says, while he checks the ‘find a car that isn’t my Corolla’ off his list.
“You all can share the costs for the fuel and I can pay for our food and stay,” Joonmyun suggests and Jongdae is the first to agree with it.
“I think we should share everything,” Baekhyun adds and he leans against the wall next to them. “And by everything, really everything.”
“Deal, can we go now? I need to pack if we’re going tomorrow in the morning,” Jongdae finally says and he taps his right foot, making an annoying sound. “I also need to sleep, last night I stayed up until 3am finishing my project.”
“Which project? We’re in the same major. Don’t lie; as your roommate, I know you were playing minecraft again,” Chanyeol says, poking Jongdae hard on his ribs and earning a groan of pain from the latter’s lips, especially because Chanyeol doesn’t know his own strength.
“Can we stop discussing when we clearly figured everything out?” Baekhyun says without trying to be rude (he probably just wants to go to his room, take a nice shower, get all his belongings ready and sleep).
“Yes, yes we can,” Kyungsoo says, waving his arms perhaps in happiness. Nobody’s entirely sure, so they decide to just go home and prepare everything.
With an excited see you tomorrow, they run to their dorms.
“Do you guys have everything that you’ll need?” Kyungsoo asks, with a notebook at hand again. “Is everything okay? Like, did you guys switch off the gas and stuff?”
“No, I think I’m leaving it on so we can explode the building, and if we’re lucky, Yifan will explode along with it. I can’t with him screaming in Mandarin when he’s watching basketball games on his television,” Jongdae says and Chanyeol agrees, it’s really exasperating when he starts to curse, that’s not the way they’d expected to learn the language.
They’d planned on meeting at Chanyeol and Jongdae’s dorm, since they’ll be using Chanyeol’s car. The rest of the boys are late.
“I’m serious. I don’t want to come back to see chaos,” Kyungsoo says and points the pen in their direction.
“It’s okay Mama, we shoved our homework under our beds and maybe into the closet, but everything is okay. The bathroom is clean, not really, and the kitchen too,” Jongdae says and laughs, Kyungsoo is about to reply but an arm around his shoulders stops him.
“Joonmyun, you’re late! You’re never late, what happened?” Kyungsoo hits his friend with the notebook and looks around. Baekhyun is late too, like, really late; he was supposed to be here first.
“I was checking my credit card online, geez. Stop being so temperamental, it’s only 9am,” Joonmyun says rubbing his now-aching arm. He’s lucky that Kyungsoo didn’t slap him.
“I’m sorry!” says a breathless Baekhyun. He’s carrying two suitcases and a backpack, and the others are just staring at him and looking down at their single suitcases and non existent handbags.
“What the actual fuck Baekhyun,” Jongdae says and shakes his arms up and down.
“Don’t worry Jongdae, we have enough space in my car,” Chanyeol smiles and taps the bodywork of it. Almost new, only used to go grocery shopping, it’s clearly stupid to have such a big car. But at least it’ll come in handy now.
“While Chanyeol arranges everything at the trunk, let’s decide something really important: who’s gonna drive,” Kyungsoo asks and eyes everybody.
“I don’t wanna leave this world at such an early age, so let’s not put Chanyeol near the steering wheel,” Jongdae says while he carries Baekhyun’s suitcases to be placed in the trunk. “Last time we went grocery shopping, at the corner, I thought I’d die. He nearly hit a pole.”
“I’m not that bad, how come I have an driver's license?” Chanyeol says, taking the card out of his pocket.
“I bet your mom paid for it,” Baekhyun says, eyeing the card that Chanyeol is proudly holding.
“So I’ll be the driver, Joonmyun can help me with the directions,” Kyungsoo decides, ignoring all the bickering, and the boys agree silently, better Kyungsoo than Chanyeol. Baekhyun doesn’t have a driver’s license, Joonmyun is afraid of the road and Jongdae would probably exceed the speed limit.
However, the boys have no idea about Kyungsoo’s driving skills. Hopefully, he’s better than all of them together.
It ended up that Kyungsoo drives just like their mothers; carefulness added to concentration. Joonmyun sits by his side. They just entered the road, and the rest of the boys are cheering from the back seat like the crazy idiots that they are, aside from Baekhyun, who’s trying to look at himself at the rearview mirror.
“Take your head out of the way, please,” Kyungsoo says and Baekhyun isn’t given the chance to reply. Chanyeol jumps on his seat.
“Please, put in this CD.” Jongdae shoves the disc in Joonmyun’s lap and bounces up and down, Baekhyun sandwiched between the two overly excited boys.
“Can you not?” Baekhyun says and brushes his bangs out of his eyes. With a flick on Jongdae’s head, they both shut their mouths.
Until Joonmyun puts the disc in to play.
Chanyeol and Jongdae start to scream along with the song because this is fucking awesome.
Kyungsoo tries to contain his nerves, paying attention to the route they’re taking, and Joonmyun is having a hard time with a map he brought with him.
“I think we need to turn the left,” Joonmyun says with uncertainty. He unfolds the map here and there and tries to not hit Kyungsoo on the face.The map is indeed really large.
While Chanyeol screams that he’s only got twenty dollars on his pocket, Jongdae beatboxes to the rhythm and Kyungsoo feels like choking him. How the hell does he call that a real quality beatbox?
“No, I think it’s right,” Joonmyun corrects his last words and turns the map around.
“Joonmyun, we’re in a straight line, do you expect me to crash the car? There’s no right or left, we don’t need this map,” Kyungsoo says, his sight glued to the road. He’s not up to dying this early, and neither are the other boys, so they better shut the fuck up and let him do his task.
“Wait, map?” Chanyeol shouts and Baekhyun groans, he’s going to be deaf by the end of this trip.
“Why?” Joonmyun asks and looks back.
“I thought you guys were using my sat nav,” he replies and Kyungsoo grips the steering wheel harder, his fingers tingling to kill someone, right here and right now.
“You should’ve said earlier,” Joonmyun says and folds the map back. Damn it, he thinks and just kneads the paper. “Thank you, but where is it?”
“Right in front of you?” Chanyeol says, pointing above the stereo, and indeed, it’s there. Joonmyun turns a light shade of red, because, how come he didn’t see it? Kyungsoo thinks he needs to make an appointment at his eye doctor.
“Just put in Pittsburgh and we’re good,” Kyungsoo says and Joonmyun follows his commands.
This time Jongdae yells that there's a she-wolf in the closet and Baekhyun just wants to throw himself out of the window, but he can’t, because he’s stuck inside the goddamn car, between the two most obnoxious people he’s ever met.
After two pauses at some gas stations to use the restroom, they pass the plaque saying that they’ve entered Pennsylvania.
Kyungsoo sighs in relief. It’s his first time driving out of the city; being spoiled by his mother isn’t that good after all. He’s never had the chance to drive for long hours so it’s usually his mother, since his father is always busy at work. Bless her for driving all the way from San Francisco just to make sure he is safe and sound inside the dorms.
“I can’t feel my butt,” Jongdae complains, and Chanyeol laughs, probably hearing some stupid joke about it inside his head.
“What time is it?” Baekhyun asks.
He should check his own cell phone, thinks Kyungsoo but nevertheless, he replies with, “3pm.” He receives a groan in response.
“Just wait, in three hours we’ll arrive at our destination,” Joonmyun tries to console the boy, but sighs; his butt is starting to feel sore from all the hours he’d been seated.
‘After 1km, turn to the right.’
‘Lake Arthur’ Kyungsoo reads as he stops the car.
“Where the fuck is this?” Jongdae complains some more. “Isn’t it supposed to be, I don’t know, Pittsburgh?”
‘Turn to the left.’
“Aren’t you going to do what the sat nav is saying?” asks Joonmyun, face more serious than intended.
“Are you crazy?” Kyungsoo yells and the boys jump in their seats. “We’re not entering the lake.”
“I think,” Chanyeol says, through the loud beats of some Usher song, “that we should move Joonmyun back here with us.”
“I volunteer to exchange seats with him,” Baekhyun says with the speed of light, already loosening his seatbelt and shoving Jongdae aside. He takes the opportunity that the car is ‘parked’ to open the door and run to the front.
“Move,” he says to Joonmyun, who is still trying to release the buckle and taking longer than needed.
“Yes, come here, Hyung,” Chanyeol says, grinning from ear to ear with his signature smile, energetically patting the empty seat between him and Jongdae.
After the hard time of releasing his seat belt, Joonmyun is yanked from his seat and manhandled into the back, and Baekhyun plops into his new seat, happier than ever.
“Now that I’m here, let’s get things started,” Baekhyun says and laughs at everybody and everything. He turns the stupid sat nav that Chanyeol shouldn’t have suggested off, also taking the currently playing disc out. “We can update it later at a public library.”
He takes out a flash drive and shakes it in front of Chanyeol’s face.
“16GB of quality music,” he says before plugging it on the stereo and Madonna starts to play.
Everybody groans, but Kyungsoo decides to ignore them. They have an addition of three hours inside the car until they make it to Pittsburgh and he needs to get back to driving.
“Stop the car,” Jongdae shrieks and knocks on Kyungsoo’s seat.
“What now?” Kyungsoo screams, an hour ago Chanyeol forced him to stop to get some food and now he’s being hit without reason.
“I need to pee,” he says shaking the seat in front of him some more. “Or I’m going to pee on the seat.”
“Stop the car,” Chanyeol screams too, kicking the seat in front of him. Baekhyun turns to the back and glares at them.
“Stop,” he says to Kyungsoo and the latter obeys.
“We’re in the middle of the road,” Joonmyun points out and he looks confused.
“Jongdae doesn’t care,” Chanyeol says, pointing at the boy outside relieving himself in the middle of the bushes.
Indeed, he doesn’t, he’s shameless enough.
In less than a minute he runs back to the car, and Joonmyun screams please, don’t touch me and Chanyeol laughs. Kyungsoo and Baekhyun are thankful that they’re not in the back seats.
Driving for a few more minutes, the car finally enters the city. It’s night time already, and after all this time inside the vehicle, they don’t have enough energy - or will - to stroll around Pittsburgh.
They find a cheap hotel and fall into bed, asleep, right after taking a quick shower.
They wake up early, there’s not too much to do at the city, but the sooner they visit what they want, the sooner they can go back to the road.
The time at the PNC Park (✿) is fast. They take a look at the Pittsburgh Pirates house. The stadium looks good but they only manage to stay outside. It is enough though, and they happily run into a library - bless the heavens - having an outdated sat nav is one of the worse things that happened and they upgrade it with the maps and all the necessary information. Chanyeol is sheepish about it, it was his fault for not informing them that it was probably lying in his car since he got it because he only drives to the supermarket.
He’s so forgetful.
After finding a place to have a good meal, they slowly walk back to the car. They didn’t do much, and the next place they want to visit is only worth it if near the sunset.
In the meantime, they get some ice cream and lazy around a park at the center of Pittsburgh.
When the clock nears the end of the afternoon, they head to the Mount Washington (✿), observing the beautiful blending of the colors in the sky, the light pink with the orange tones and it’s better than the pictures. The city view is also superb and the nightlife is about to start, but Kyungsoo is sure that he just wants to go back to the hotel and sleep. It’ll only be a short way until they reach Cleveland tomorrow, but he doesn’t want to rush things.
The sun goes to sleep and the sky gets dark. All the boys are enjoying the day but, sadly, they can't see many stars, it’s a big city after all.
Heading back to the hotel, they stop by a small restaurant to grab dinner and when they reach the room, Chanyeol runs to the bathroom for a shower and the others lie around. Tomorrow is going to be a light day, save from the over seven hours confined inside the car.
The drive to Cleveland is pleasant, the weather is nice and they have a good time all the way. This is aside from the constant fights over which song they should play; Chanyeol and Jongdae shoving their disc around and Baekhyun with his flash drive. Surprisingly, Joonmyun takes out a CD from his backpack and they listen to Tchaikovsky until the city plaque comes in sight.
That’s the best method to make them all shut up or fall asleep.
Joonmyun and Kyungsoo’s plan was to pass by the Cleveland Museum of Art (✿), driving next to the Lake Erie on their way.
Jongdae starts to laugh loudly.
“Do you think we should enter the lake with our car?” he asks, covering his mouth and avoiding eye contact with Joonmyun.
“Don’t be so mean! Hyung was trying to help,” Chanyeol says, and squeezes Joonmyun’s thigh. The elder jumps on his seat and shakes the hand off him.
With a dry laugh and burning cheeks, Joonmyun waves the subject away and while he tries to hide his embarrassment, they reach their destination.
They leave the car and face the building. There’s a really beautiful fountain in front of it. Kyungsoo takes out five tickets from his wallet.
“Bought them in advance,” he says when he notices the questioning eyes on him.
Totally ignoring Kyungsoo, the boys take said tickets out of his hands and walk up to the entrance.
Already inside, observing the paintings covering the walls and the sculptures inside the building, they finish their visit to the place in 2 hours.
2 hours of Jongdae nagging about how much he wants to go to somewhere fun and not for old people or Chanyeol clapping his hands and laughing at everything.
They’d better get used to this because Kyungsoo put some more museums to be visited into his plans.
After a late lunch at a Subway they found on their way, the car is on the road again, heading right for Indianapolis. It’s 5 hours until they reach the city and since visiting anywhere right now is out of their hands, they stop by some convenience store and Chanyeol gets them food and drinks, waving the cans of beer in front of everybody’s faces.
When they find a reasonable hotel, they eat their snacks. Kyungsoo swears he’ll need to make it up with some walking when he gets back to New York, after all this junk food. He can imagine how much weight he’ll gain.
Joonmyun takes control of the beer cans and hands one to each, Chanyeol pouts but it doesn’t mean he got another one.
Stomachs full and eyelids heavy, they fall asleep, the atmosphere at ease. These are the times in which they thank the heavens for their being friends.
The sun rises, and as always, Kyungsoo is the first to wake up. When he finishes his shower, all the boys are up, aside from Chanyeol, who probably sneaked out the rest of the beer last night when everybody went to sleep.
Jongdae manages to get Chanyeol awake by continuously poking him on the stomach with his foot. Chanyeol rolls out of the blankets, hair messy, sticking to all the sides and eyes still closed, and he bumps into everybody on his way to the shower, but in the end he’s the most enthusiastic when they leave the hotel.
Cups of coffee in hand, and maybe a muffin or a panini, they exit the Starbucks they stopped at, sitting somewhere at the benches near some park and Kyungsoo finishes his too familiar drink, courtesy of the endless nights awake studying or doing projects.
“We’re going to a museum today,” Kyungsoo announces, and both - Jongdae and Chanyeol - complain in unison, but Kyungsoo glares at them for not letting him finish his sentence. “And I chose it especially for you two.”
“Really?” Jongdae asks, mouth stuffed with his blueberry muffin and there’s expectation plastered all over his face, the corner of his lips turning upwards, and crumbs of the food stick there, but Kyungsoo just ignores the sight and nods his head.
“Let’s go, then?” Chanyeol says, biting the last piece of his sandwich. Baekhyun and Joonmyun agree and wait for Kyungsoo lead the way.
“Children's Museum of Indianapolis (✿),” Jongdae reads the plaque and glances at Chanyeol, looking from side to side.
“Yup, I looked it up online, I bet you’ll like it,” Kyungsoo says honestly, and instead of being mad that they were called kids, Chanyeol and Jongdae exchange looks and run to the ticket booth, Baekhyun rolling his eyes and Joonmyun smiling at them.
It’s after they leave the museum that they end up getting lunch at McDonald’s, hunger sated and high spirited.
“I planned another visit to a place you two will like,” Kyungsoo tells them. He knows how boring his preferences are sometimes, all museums and art exhibitions, so he thought a lot about the two of them who are not very fond of all the cultural stuff.
“Reeeally?” it’s Chanyeol who asks this time and Kyungsoo nods eagerly, he’s also excited to visit the place.
“The zoo, we’re going to the city’s zoo,” he exclaims, biting his lips and checking some of his plans in his notebook. The boys cheer enthusiastically like little kids.
Baekhyun is not a huge fan of zoos, but apparently he likes cute things, so Kyungsoo hopes he enjoyed the visit. Joonmyun always remains silent, smile playing on his lips, and oh, Kyungsoo’s eyes shine when they enter the huge aquarium (✿). Chanyeol and Jongdae point at everything all the time and enjoy themselves far too much. Kyungsoo is glad they managed to come here.
It takes around 4 hours, at least, for them to leave the zoo. So far it was the best place they visited, according to the common agreement between them.
Climbing back in the car, they chat about the animals and how much fun they had, and the 3 hours pass quickly. It is nighttime when they arrive, the city is all illuminated already, bars and clubs opening their doors, but they boys already decided that they would save this for later.
By now, they stick to buying more convenience stores food - again - and, just this time, more cans of beer than needed.
They hit the hotel and get their room. Since they started travelling, they always got a twin room; two beds and a couch. It always ends up with Chanyeol on the floor, Jongdae sharing a bed with Baekhyun - since they’re best buds -, Joonmyun on the couch and Kyungsoo has a bed just to himself.
As for food, tonight, having beef jerky for dinner could’ve been worse. The beer is a good companion to it.
Kyungsoo's tolerance for alcohol is not the best, but it's also not the worst, that'd be Joonmyun. But after 4 cans of beer, he sees everything a little blurred, he senses that if he gets up now, he may not be able to stand still like a normal person.
Chanyeol is giggling to himself, purposefully leaning closer to Joonmyun. It's obvious that he likes the elder; Joonmyun is just too oblivious. Then there's Jongdae, already passed out in one bed.
Baekhyun is not in the room. Kyungsoo attempts to walk, pushing his body off the ground and supporting his weight by one bed, before making his way outside the room.
It's one of those opened areas that faces the parking lot directly. It's already past midnight and everybody in the other rooms are probably asleep (all the lights are off, so that’s what he assumes).
The palm of his left hand never loses contact with the wall and, from where he is, he can take sight of someone resting against the wall. Cold air hits Kyungsoo's sweaty skin.
"Baekhyun?" he asks, or he thinks he does as the alcohol is already taking over his body, but he still is conscious of his surroundings.
He brushes his hands against the boy’s shoulder and the latter turns to look at him, Baekhyun doesn’t look affected by the alcohol, in fact, Kyungsoo thinks he saw Baekhyun only having one can. He’s the one who got out of control and ended up with four empty cans next to him, while Chanyeol finished 5, but his tolerance is high - out of experience -, totally different from him, the one who gets dizzy after a glass of wine at end-of-year parties.
Baekhyun doesn’t move, he just stays there, looking at Kyungsoo, waiting for him to tell him whatever he wanted to. Kyungsoo grabs Baekhyun by the shoulders, face serious and he ponders over all the consequences of getting this drunk - the worst is yet to come, hangovers are the worst.
“I think we should go to sleep, it’s late,” Baekhyun says freeing himself from Kyungsoo’s grip but he’s pushed against the wall and yelps, Kyungsoo is not someone who’s that strong, but the sudden movement caught him by surprise. “Oh my God, what are you even doing Kyungsoo?”
He doesn’t shout, yell or scream, he just looks concerned. Kyungsoo is sweating and he wonders what Baekhyun is thinking right now.
“You’re out of yourself, please, let’s go back to the room,” he sighs and tries to push Kyungsoo out of the way, but he just ends up pressed harder against the wall. “I don’t know what you want, make a decision quickly, I’m starting to get sleepy.”
Kyungsoo makes his decision as told, closing his eyes and pressing his lips against Baekhyun’s. Bless the heavens that they’re almost the same height, Baekhyun being just a little taller than him. If it was Chanyeol he’d have a hard time, but he doesn’t want Chanyeol, so that’s not the point.
The point is that this feels really nice.
Kyungsoo is not sure if this is the side effect of all the alcohol flowing in his veins, or something he always wanted to do but wasn't fearless enough to actually put into action. He always thought Baekhyun looked good, not the ‘you look good with this shirt and all’ type, but the ‘you look good and I maybe want to hold your hand because that’d be really nice’ type, suppressing this feeling was easy.
Until now. That’s why he doesn’t drink, it always puts his guards down and he ends up doing something he might regret later, but he thinks he won’t regret this.
At first, Baekhyun may be surprised, but he doesn't push away too, it’s when Kyungsoo tentatively licks his lower lip that he jumps slightly, Kyungsoo’s hand holds Baekhyun’s jaw and he tilts his head for better access, even if Baekhyun didn’t grant it.
It takes a lot of effort for Kyungsoo to not pin him against the wall to finally be able to kiss him properly.
Baekhyun’s hands move to Kyungsoo’s waist and instead of granting access, he hugs the boy’s waist and pulls him closer, doing the job himself, startling Kyungsoo when he licks his way into his mouth, hot and wet. The kiss tastes like alcohol but Kyungsoo couldn’t care less, it’s mainly his fault.
The break apart when Kyungsoo is running out of oxygen, he feels like he might fall and Baekhyun apparently got the message, leading him back to the room with his arms circled around his waist.
They enter the room, cans of beer all around, Chanyeol is face flat on the floor and Joonmyun spread out on the couch. Jongdae is taking up basically the whole bed and Baekhyun stops in his tracks, he looks to the only free spot to crash and he doesn't have any other option but to comply to it.
They already showered, just their luck, and Baekhyun pushes Kyungsoo down on the bed. They’ll need to share it tonight.
When they’re already lying down and staring at the ceiling, Kyungsoo still dizzy and all, he crawls up on top of Baekhyun without care.
“What are you even doing?” Baekhyun whispers through gritted teeth, but Kyungsoo ignores him.
Kyungsoo’s face is closer to Baekhyun’s. He doesn’t wait much and presses his lips back to Baekhyun’s.
They kiss just like before for a few minutes, until Kyungsoo is on the verge of falling asleep and falls to the side.
Kyungsoo wakes up confused. So he just runs out of the bed to the bathroom. He smells awfully like beer and he doesn’t want to know what happened last night with Baekhyun.
“Good morning,” he says without looking at Baekhyun when he’s out the bathroom from his shower, towel covering his eyes and Baekhyun replies to him with a good morning to you too.
The shower was a good idea, it eases his headache a little
“We need to get the boys up to enjoy our day in Chicago,” Kyungsoo tosses the towel to a chair and walks to the couch to shake Joonmyun until he wakes up.
Baekhyun lies back down, groaning.
Kyungsoo hopes to spend the whole day in Chicago and part in Des Moines the next day. Chicago is a big city; there’s a lot of things to do.
His throbbing headache is not helping at all, he promises himself to not do that ever again. His memories are in a blurry but the feeling of skin against his own is still vivid in his memory.
Walking around the big Michigan Avenue (✿) is not that awesome when you have too much in mind, Kyungsoo is not enjoying the simple walk and window shopping. They parked the car a few blocks from here, all the attractions in just one street, yet, he feels like he’d rather be locked inside the vehicle.
Going by foot to the Millennium Park (✿) doesn’t take them more than 10 minutes, and at the end of the day (not really late though), they find their way to the Navy Pier (✿). There’s so many attractions there, but Chanyeol practically forces them to go to the Beer Garden (✿).
Great, just what Kyungsoo wanted; beer is the last thing he needs in front of him, especially after the huge hangover he got. Though nobody actually knows that he’s a little grumpy today.
He decides to sit on a bench near the trees. He’s not going to consume a single drop of alcohol for the next days and Chanyeol had better not do something stupid this time.
A horrifying flash of memory comes into his mind, and the imagery of a really drunk Chanyeol lying atop of his car gets his blood boiling but also get him laughing a little at the remembrance of him falling from there.
It’s been more than an hour, Kyungsoo had ordered some chicken wings (real food is a bless) and he’s drinking some Dr Pepper. Looking from afar, the cans of beer are growing at Chanyeol’s table and Joonmyun worriedly glances at the giant boy. Jongdae is also part of this party. The duo will never learn.
But Baekhyun is nowhere in sight. Kyungsoo finishes his food and his drink. He gives the waiter the money to pay for everything he got and he decides to just stroll around. They agreed to meet at the hotel later, so they won’t get lost from each other.
He didn’t even walk two meters when someone topples over him. He’s still near the trees, but maybe further. He recognizes the person as Baekhyun.
“Kyungsoo?” he manages to say. Baekhyun is not that drunk, apparently the alcohol is not taking over him but maybe it’s enough to get his head spinning slightly.
Without uttering another word, he holds Kyungsoo by the wrist and takes him somewhere; somewhere far from all the crowd, it’s already dark, they walk, walk and walk, until they’re not at the pier anymore, instead, it’s some kind of park, they cross the road and it’s dangerous - really dangerous - Baekhyun is drunk and Kyungsoo needs to make sure that they won’t get hit.
Arriving at another part of the park, where there’s absolutely nobody, and also no benches, just some trees and grass, Baekhyun releases his grip and Kyungsoo tries to form in his head what happened to Baekhyun to do something like this. It’s impossible that only the alcohol is at fault.
It’s full moon tonight, the sea a few kilometers away from them and it’s beautiful, Kyungsoo gets distracted at the way the moonlight hits the low waves of the water and he snaps out of his trance when something warm touches his arm, he knows it’s Baekhyun, and he turns to look at him.
“I don’t know what you want,” Kyungsoo says and stares at Baekhyun, face calm and still not sure of what to do with this situation.
"You don't need to know," Baekhyun says, staring back at Kyungsoo.
A little more than confused, Kyungsoo is about to reply when hands find their way to his waist. He freezes; it feels like a déjà vu, but in his mind, it's in a fog. Baekhyun is invading his personal space, and what surprises him the most: he doesn't mind it at all.
It takes more than a minute for Baekhyun to move out of his space, a few seconds ago just looking at Kyungsoo's face in maybe awe, maybe fondness, and Kyungsoo is intrigued by the boy's gaze on him.
Admiration may be the word, but everything is cut short when a first move is made and lips are pressed against lips.
Maybe Kyungsoo knew that this was coming, maybe that’s what happened yesterday while he was too drunk to know what his brain was telling him to do. But maybe, his subconscious wanted this for a long time already.
He doesn’t hesitate, kissing Baekhyun back eagerly, holding onto the collar of his shirt and pressing their lips harder. Baekhyun pulls him by his waist, holding him closer, the sea breeze mixed with the nocturne atmosphere making everything feel colder, yet, it feels warm, hot even, this is not right. His brain tells him to stop but his senses tell him to keep going. In the end he breaks the kiss.
“I knew it,” Baekhyun says and turns away, hands coming to his lips to rub the spit off. “You don’t like me.”
“What? Baekhyun,” Baekhyun looks, hurt? He’s way too drunk to process anything properly, but Kyungsoo thinks that, maybe, the boy was doing what he wanted, but he’s not totally himself right now. He can’t risk being awkward with his friend the next day because of something of the moment. “I do like you.”
“Why did you just stop then?” he says without meeting Kyungsoo’s eyes. The latter sighs. It’s too much for him; first the horrible headache, now this.
“I think we should go back to the hotel, you need to rest,” Kyungsoo says, avoiding Baekhyun’s question. The boy senses it too and his shoulders drop lower and Kyungsoo just wants to hug him and reassure that yes, he does like him, but he doesn’t do it, not tonight, everything is too confusing right now.
He takes Baekhyun by the hand and leads his half-dead self all the way to where they’re staying. He hopes Joonmyun is still sane enough to bring Chanyeol and Jongdae back alive.
Kyungsoo wakes up to a silent room; everybody is still sleeping but it’s already 9am. Surprisingly, Jongdae is on the floor and Chanyeol is on the couch with Joonmyun. Kyungsoo snickers at them and gets up.
They all need to get ready for the 5 hours and a half travel to Des Moines that awaits them.
He shakes everybody awake and when it’s Baekhyun’s turn, he’s not sure if he should do it himself or ask Jongdae; but since Jongdae just ran out of the room and slammed the bathroom door closed, he’s the one in charge now.
"Baekhyun, please wake up, we have to leave," Kyungsoo says and shakes Baekhyun's body gently to not scare the boy. Baekhyun opens his eyes and stares at him, Kyungsoo holds his breath, Baekhyun looks like he wants to say something but instead, he licks his lips and turns to the side, whispering I'll be up in a few minutes, don't worry.
Kyungsoo releases his breath and sighs, the face Baekhyun gave him wasn't a happy or friendly one. Great way to start the day. Perfect. He suppresses a groan and decides to run to the car. Call him dirty, but he's not in the mood for a shower right now.
"Jongdae?" Kyungsoo opens his eyes and asks confused, after he closed the door, he leaned against his seat and fell asleep. He was expecting to find Baekhyun at his side, not Jongdae - he doesn't mind it being Jongdae but, where the hell is Baekhyun?
"Baekhyun said he was still tired, he's in the back if you’re wondering.” Jongdae points and Kyungsoo turns to look at Baekhyun. He doesn’t look like someone’s who’s actually sleeping, but he has his eyes closed, so he’ll let it pass.
Jongdae puts the damn CD to play again.
“I swear to God Jongdae, if it’s that same disc from yesterday, I’m going to murder you,” Kyungsoo says turning the ignition on and getting on the road.
“Don’t worry, it’s a new one. That one was Chanyeol’s.”
“We also need to refuel. Goddammit, Jongdae!” Kyungsoo yells and fumes, “Not Bootylicious.”
The travel to Des Moines was everything but pleasant. Jongdae screaming nonstop to his music, Joonmyun pretending he was caring and Chanyeol leaning way too much into his personal space, added to Baekhyun totally blacked out on the side.
“Fuck. Kim Jongdae!” Kyungsoo shouts and stops the car as they’ve reached the place he wanted to visit. The city is just a quick pit stop, but surprisingly - more like daunting to death - the boy does a good thing; he actually closed his mouth and the rest apparently jumped from the back seats.
“What?” Jongdae asks, scared; the last time Kyungsoo screamed like this, he gained trauma from baseball equipment.
“We’re here,” Kyungsoo smiles and opens the car door, taking out his cell phone to take a picture of the Capitol Building (✿). He takes around six and runs back to the car. “Everybody back in, we’re done here.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Chanyeol groans and pushes Joonmyun back toward his seat.
“Unless you want to stay here and not go to Las Vegas, I mean, we’re four stops away and I think that if we stay here for a day we might need to skip it,” Kyungsoo says with a thoughtful face, the face he uses to bribe the boys to do things for him.
“No!” Chanyeol says and shoves Joonmyun back into the car. “Go go.”
“Gotcha.” Kyungsoo snaps his fingers and takes the driver’s seat.
Baekhyun may or may not be smiling at him from behind. Kyungsoo is not sure, the rear mirror is not the best choice to sneak a peek at someone who has almost his whole face covered by hair.
“You’re not putting your music on?” After 5 minutes of driving, Kyungsoo asks Jongdae who’s silent, which is strange, but it’s good news, so he doesn’t question much.
“Not really, I think that was enough for a day,” he replies and closes his eyes. He yawns and turns to face the window. “Is it okay if I take a nap?”
“Go on,” Kyungsoo doesn’t take his eyes off the road and remembers about something that’s in his backpack. “Wait a minute, Jongdae. Joonmyun, can you get me that CD I brought with me?”
Joonmyun shakes Chanyeol’s hands off his arm and turns to the back, accidentally hitting Baekhyun’s head but successfully getting the said CD Kyungsoo asked for.
“Here, have fun, I hope it’s better than everything we heard through the whole trip,” he says with a big smile, handing Kyungsoo the disc. Poor Joonmyun must’ve suffered more than Kyungsoo himself.
“I bet it is,” Kyungsoo jokes and Jongdae puts the disc to play.
“Not Queen,” Jongdae whines as the first song starts and bangs his head against his seat. “I also bet you put on Journey.”
“I wasn’t very aware of it, but Jongdae,” Kyungsoo looks at the boy dying beside him and grins from ear to ear, Jongdae looks up, curious about what made Kyungsoo smile at him. “You know me so well.”
The boy groans and sinks into his seat. It’s not a long drive, but it’ll probably be long for Jongdae - he was supposed to be napping -, Kyungsoo laughs silently and focuses on reaching Omaha as soon as possible.
When they reach the city, night is already falling upon it. Kyungsoo stops the car at the Gene Leahy Mall (✿), the sat nav is really useful now that it has the correct information in it, and he stares at the place in front of him. It’s a park, not really a mall.
He steps out first, walking down to see the lake closely. It looks deeper because of the lack of light. The rest of the boys follow him, looking at the empty surroundings.
Baekhyun sits somewhere and watches from afar. Kyungsoo wants to be a little braver so he will go there and sit right beside him, but, instead, he turns back to the lake. He looks up and wishes the sky would have more stars, the night feels lonely without them.
Kyungsoo’s eyes open; he just remembered that he needs to fill the tank; and it’s only 7am.
He takes his coat from his backpack and puts it on; it’s still early so who knows what the weather is like outside. At the same time he also wonders what the other boys are doing regarding their dirty clothes. Baekhyun is reasonable (he brought two suitcases and all), but the others should wash their clothes and hang them somewhere in the room just like he does himself before going to sleep.
He takes the car keys and his wallet, exiting the room; the air a little cold so he zips his coat up, quickly getting in the car and using the rear mirror to fix his bed hair that he hadn’t bothered to brush. A knock on the window startles him and Kyungsoo hits his head on the window in surprise.
Rubbing the sore place, he looks at the passenger’s seat window and sees Baekhyun there. He unlocks the door and passes a hand through his hair.
“You nearly killed me,” he says and Baekhyun whispers sorry. “Do you want something? Do you want to come along with me?”
Baekhyun looks ahead and nods. Kyungsoo doesn’t say anything further, he just twists the key and drives.
“You know, it’s really early,” Kyungsoo starts when they’re in the gas station waiting for the tank to fuel. “I think we should go to the Omaha Garden (✿), which I’m almost certain the boys, aside from Joonmyun, won’t enjoy that much and we can take a walk.”
Baekhyun agrees silently with a simple nod of his head. He’s so quiet that Kyungsoo wonders if it’s his fault, maybe some time, just the two of them, can do them good. Maybe he can talk about it with Baekhyun.
The breeze is fresh and the place is empty. Baekhyun walks ahead of Kyungsoo and the latter is trying to come up with something to talk about, but even now he still doesn’t know what to do.
He sticks to just walking in silence.
They pass by a lake, fountains, bridges and beautiful flowers. They reach an even more secluded area. Baekhyun walks up to the gazebo in the middle of all the plants; ivory colored wood, green surrounding everything, and he sits there, resting against the backboard of a bench and closing his eyes.
Kyungsoo is still a few meters behind, walking slowly along the cement path that leads to the gazebo. He glances at Baekhyun and thinks he should do something. Quickening his steps he reaches the three stairs and takes a seat next to the boy.
“Why would you-”
“I want to talk,” Baekhyun cuts his words. “And it’s not just because of yesterday.”
Kyungsoo promptly shuts his mouth and waits for Baekhyun to keep talking.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that you don’t know what happened two days ago.” Kyungsoo searches his memories, purses his lips and bites his finger, because he does remember, but not clearly.
“It’s the night I had too much beer travelling around my system,” Kyungsoo mumbles absent-mindedly.
“You don’t really remember what happened?” Baekhyun asks, unsure, Kyungsoo shakes his head and sighs, he definitely shall not drink alcohol like that again.
“Can I show you?” Baekhyun asks, playing with his feet, hands gripping at the knee of his jeans and he doesn’t look up at Kyungsoo to receive a response.
Resting his elbow on the backboard, Kyungsoo hums in response, allowing Baekhyun to show him whatever he did the other day.
He doesn’t know what he should wait for, but he’s surprised by Baekhyun’s hands on his waist pulling him up from his sitting position.
“Are you sure?” he asks, not letting his hands fall from Kyungsoo’s tiny waist. With a short nod Kyungsoo agrees regardless of what might happen. “Close your eyes.”
Kyungsoo is sure Baekhyun won’t take a scissor from his pocket and stab him in the middle of the park, so he closes his eyes as told, licking his lips as anticipation takes care of him, a million of possibilities going through his brain. Yet, he wonders if he did what he’s just thinking about and he wonders if Baekhyun will do so.
When light huffs of hot air linger on his face, he’s absolutely sure about it, but Baekhyun is taking too long to make a move. He peeks through one eye carefully to not be noticed and his breathing hitches because Baekhyun’s face is about four inches away from his, a faint tint of crimson coloring his cheeks, long lashes moving quickly and perfect nose waiting to touch Kyungsoo’s skin.
With his arms awkwardly dropped to his sides, Kyungsoo closes his eye again and with a deep breath. He brings his hand to Baekhyun’s neck in an almost imperceptible movement, earning a gasp of surprise when Baekhyun takes notice that he’s being pulled into a kiss.
Too slow, thinks Kyungsoo while he moves his lips against Baekhyun’s. They’re so soft that Kyungsoo wants to just stay like this.
Opening his eyes slightly and trying to look behind himself with his head tilted, Kyungsoo pulls Baekhyun by the neck once again and rests his back in on of the pillars, using the opportunity to savour the taste of mint toothbrush on Baekhyun’s mouth.
Baekhyun is the one who breaks the kiss, licking the spit from his bottom lip and Kyungsoo looks away, embarrassed.
“I-”
“I hope you’re not sorry,” Baekhyun cuts him off quickly with a swift movement of his hand.
“I really forgot, I’m so dumb,” Kyungsoo says, hitting his forehead with the palm of his right hand. “I’m sorry for not remembering it.”
“That’s okay,” Baekhyun says, smiling shyly and extending a hand, trying to reach Kyungsoo’s. “We should go back to the hotel, you know, it’s going to be like, lunch time if we take longer.”
Kyungsoo complies, taking Baekhyun's hand and biting his bottom lip. It should be illegal for someone to feel so much happiness early in the morning.
When they hit the hotel, Kyungsoo is not surprised to find all the boys still sleeping, he bets they arrived early morning from the pier.
He kicks the sleepyheads awake as they still have a place to visit here.
Paying the Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium (✿) a really fast visit, in which Kyungsoo is mesmerized once again by the giant aquarium and Baekhyun watches him from afar while the other boys look at everything with excitement. They need to run though, the travelling time until they reach Denver is almost eight hours and it’ll take them more than this because of bathroom and food stops on the road.
WIth Baekhyun promptly seated at the front again, he takes out his flash drive.
“It better not be the same one,” Kyungsoo hisses and Joonmyun agrees silently from his seat. “Or I’m throwing it out of the window.”
“It’s not,” Baekhyun sing songs sweetly and Kyungsoo holds his smile. He plugs the flash drive and waits for the music to play.
The boys burst out laughing and Baekhyun jumps on his spot.
“Holy fuck, I put on the wrong song,” Baekhyun says, yanking the object before it can play the song further. “Ignore that!”
“But Baek, how can you deny it? Your hips don’t lie,” Jongdae jokes and earns a piercing glare and the middle finger from his best friend. Instead of shutting him up, it provides him with a fit of laughter. “It’s true, remember how you-”
“Hush!” Baekhyun shouts and hides his face and embarrassment with his hair.
Kyungsoo ignores the bickering and starts to drive. They still need to get something to eat and find a place to sleep when they get to the city.
The day starts with a visit to a convenience store. Everybody is already awake and the day will be a long one, with not so many places to visit but lots of time confined inside the car.
Visiting the Mount Evans (✿) - Highest Paved Road in North America - they observe the beauty and imprint it in their memories. There’s not much time to spend here, especially if they want to hit Las Vegas at the end of the day.
Kyungsoo drives their way on the road to Moab, another place that they’ll only pass by and take a look at (the sat nav is still up and working with force), the anticipation to see the neon lights and huge fountains in Las Vegas is too much that it can’t stop them on their way.
They drive next to the Arches Park (✿). It’s a beautiful view and Kyungsoo thinks he might pay a visit to the place when he next has the time.
The first sight of the big city is their huge and illuminated neon sign saying ‘Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada’. After hours, they’re finally getting what they want.
Chanyeol bounces in his seat and Jongdae needs to actually slap him to get the boy to calm down. They point at the place they plan on spending the day, the only day in which they’ll waste money like there’s no tomorrow - well, this is Chanyeol and Jongdae.
They pass by the Eiffel Tower Experience (✿) and all the magnificent hotels, the traffic is chaotic and all the lights are a little blinding but the the Statue of Liberty is visible already.
New York, New York (✿) and its replicas of buildings, huge rollercoaster - they came to an accord to avoid it at all costs - and enormous pool.
Kyungsoo stops the car in front of the hotel, looking up in awe and the chauffeur asks for the key. They all get their suitcases and enter the building.
They stop by the reception and get a room with two double beds, but it’s not like they’re going to spend the night in it. They may be tired from the travel but the fun is just about to start.
Taking the elevator and pressing the button to their floor, they tap their feet, excited for basically everything. It’s their first time in Las Vegas and oh, they want to make the most of it.
When Kyungsoo opens the room with the card key, Chanyeol, literally, throws his bag somewhere, grabs his wallet and runs out of the door, Jongdae following behind and leaving the rest still there.
“That was fast,” Joonmyun points out, and stares at the door.
“As expected,” Baekhyun says and puts his belongings in a chair. “He’s always been like this.”
“I don’t know if I should,” Joonmyun whispers sitting on the bed, staring at the beige silky carpet he’s walking on. Joonmyun’s never been someone who likes parties.
“You can stay in the room and watch some tv, you know,” Kyungsoo says and sits by his side, patting his friend’s shoulder understandingly. “You’re not forced to come with us.”
“Okay.”
“Let’s go then? Have fun Joonmyun.” Baekhyun smiles and takes Kyungsoo by the wrist, pulling him out of the room with him. “Do you think it’s really okay? He looks lonely.”
“Let him be,” Kyungsoo whispers back, the corridors are empty because everybody must be down there, having the time of their lives. “He’ll come around if he wants to.”
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