You Slow Down (Then You Speed Up) [1/3]
Title: You Slow Down (Then You Speed Up)
Word Counts: 25.3k
Pairing(s): Kaisoo, side!Taohun
Rating: PG
Summary:Kyungsoo learns to drive.
Author's Note: This is a bit self-indulgent because it's a gift to my beta for betaing that 66k less than a week before it was due. It is also a bit rough and gross because I had to use replacement betas and working with them was... different.
Everything’s easier said than done. That’s pretty much the law of the universe. And so yes, driving has always been a dream for Kyungsoo, for any teenager really, but he’s always been busy. Too busy to bother with the whole process of actually getting your license.
Later, he had always told himself. He’ll get it later.
Turns out later just so happens to be 7 years later.
Honestly speaking, it’s not even his idea to get it. It’d been more at his roommate’s insistence: I’m tired of carting your license-less ass around town, Zitao had said when Kyungsoo had unceremoniously barged into his room to ask Zitao to drive him to the nearby grocery store for some pocky. You are gonna get your license even if I have to shove the driving pamphlet up your ass myself. His reaction had seemed like an overreaction, overly exasperated until Kyungsoo had noticed the half-naked, glossy-eyed male splayed out of his roommate's bed. Kyungsoo had stared for just a second too long and Zitao had promptly chased him out of his room, somehow managing to procure and then throw a copy of a driving manual at the fleeing Kyungsoo.
No matter his reasons for getting it, Kyungsoo had been adamant about studying for the permit test, had spent hours reading and rereading the booklet, and his efforts had paid off when he passed the test with flying colours. After getting his permit, all that was left was to log 50 hours of supervised driving and then take his driving test. Easy.
But apparently, that's where the real obstacle actually lies.
/ / /
“Kyungsoo, that's not the accelerator.”
“You just turned on the windshield wipers.”
“You're going in reverse.”
“Now that you’ve found it, don't be afraid to actually, you know, step on the accelerator.”
“That's the windshield wipers.”
“We're going at a solid 1 mph. Nice.”
“Kyungsoo. That’s not the brakes.”
“You just turned on the damned parking brake!”
“YOU JUST TURNED ON THE WINDSHIELD WIPERS AGAIN.”
"Pull over." Zitao says after about 10 minutes. He has his head cradled in his hands. It's hasn't been long but already, he feels a migraine coming on and along with the severe heart palpitations that slam into him every time Kyungsoo does anything -- everything -- with his precious car, this is definitely not good for Zitao's health. “Pull over.” Zitao repeats, practically growling out the words.
Kyungsoo offers him a pleading look but from the quickly deepening furrow of Zitao's brow, Kyungsoo knows that no amount of begging will save him now. He actually doesn't trust himself to pull over, doesn't trust the trees that line the sides of the road because he knows if he gets so much as a scratch on Zitao's car, Zitao will actually kill him, not just be plotting Kyungsoo's murder in his head. So instead he just turns off the car in the middle of the road. It's not like the road's particularly busy, anyways.
Regardless, Zitao flashes him an incredulous look before ultimately ripping off his seatbelt and bolting out the door. Kyungsoo doesn't even have time to even take a guess as to what Zitao's doing before the younger appears outside of Kyungsoo's door, knocking on the car window. Confused, Kyungsoo proceeds to roll down the window. "Hello?" He asks.
"Get out." Zitao huffs out and that's enough to have Kyungsoo scrambling out from the driver's seat, circling around the car to take a seat on the passenger’s side. “Well.” Zitao breathes out as soon as Kyungsoo’s buckled in. “That was a great experience and all but we are never doing that again.”
“But I need a car to practice with.” Kyungsoo responds, point-blank. His eyes are trained on the road as Zitao revs up the car and speeds out of the mostly empty neighbourhood they had gone to to practice in.
“But I’m not jeopardizing the safety of my car for you.” Zitao says as he turns onto the main road and begins to speed up.
“But I need a car to practice with.” He repeats, “You’re the one who was so insistent on getting me to drive.”
“But my car is a Maserati Granturismo. The seats are real leather, the steering wheel is covered in real leather -- everything is covered in leather -- and the pulchritudinous exterior is flawless, not a single scratch, dent, or scathe. Everything is functioning perfectly. As it is right not, it’s worth $134,625.” And Zitao’s chest puffs up slightly in pride. “And again, I’m not jeopardizing the safety of my car for you.”
“Are you not jeopardizing the safety of your car right now?” Kyungsoo rolls his eyes as Zitao effortlessly weaves through the lanes of traffic. Barely, just barely, does he manage to pass the blue Honda Civic in front of them without a scratch
"Yes but I trust myself with the car. I don't trust you."
They’re still arguing by the time they get back. So much that they don’t even notice the stranger who’s reclined on the couch, his feet resting precariously on the coffee table that Kyungsoo had just cleaned. But apparently, the stranger isn’t a stranger to Zitao. (And he might not actually be a stranger to Kyungsoo either; he looks familiar.) “What are you doing here?” Zitao asks as he shucks off his shoes and goes into the kitchen to get something.
The stranger shrugs. “I don’t know. Bored?”
Kyungsoo takes it upon himself to asks the far more important question of “How did you get in here?”
Again, the stranger shrugs, “The door was unlocked.”
“No it wasn’t.” Kyungsoo’s quick to amend because it wasn’t. He distinctly remembering locking the door right before throwing his keys at Zitao’s face for being particularly obnoxious.
The man on the couch only blinks at Kyungsoo and Kyungsoo decides it’d be best to duck into the kitchen as well. “Who is he?” He asks quietly as his roommate is sifting through the fridge looking for something to eat.
“Sehun. My friend.” Zitao shrugs before finally locating the half bottle of Sprite he had bought yesterday. “Just friends.” He adds in at Kyungsoo’s prying stares.
“How did he get in here?” Kyungsoo proceeds to ask.
“The door was unlocked.” Zitao answers as he unscrews his cap and lifts the bottle to his lips.
“No it wasn’t.”
Zitao stops drinking only to give Kyungsoo a blank stare before walking back into the living room. Kyungsoo follows. It’s when Zitao is settled onto the couch space next to this Sehun that Kyungsoo suddenly remembers where he’s seen this guy before. It was back when Zitao had first yelled at him to get his permit. Sehun had been the man shirtless and panting on the bed.
Zitao has insisted that Sehun’s only a friend. Kyungsoo calls bullshit.
Zitao’s personal relations aside, Kyungsoo makes for the recliner rather than his usual place on the couch. “So Sehun.” Kyungsoo starts and it’s a little rude how Sehun doesn’t even bother to look up from his phone even after he’s been addressed. “Settle an argument for us.”
“There’s no argument.” Zitao rolls his eyes, “There’s not an argument if it’s mine and I have the right to revoke your right to the car.”
“But you said I could use it to learn.”
“But then I realized that you suck far worse than I anticipated.”
“Is this about Kyungsoo learning to drive?” Sehun pipes in, finally ripping his gaze from the screen of his iPhone. Kyungsoo had forgotten about Sehun’s presence in the original “discussion” about Kyungsoo needing his license. No one answers but Sehun continues on anyways. “And this is about the use of Tao’s car, I’m guessing?”
Kyungsoo doesn’t miss the way that Sehun calls Zitao “Tao” instead of Zitao. Even though Zitao hates any sort of alterations or shortenings of his birth name. Just friends, his ass.
“Well,” Sehun starts up again despite the lack of response to his last question. “While you do need a car--”
Kyungsoo glares at Zitao who only scowls.
“Zitao does have a point in that his car is precious. It’s expensive.”
“$134,625.” Zitao adds in as he nods in agreement. "It's much too precious for you to use to learn to drive."
“So what do you suggest I do? I still need a car to practice with.” Kyungsoo insists, sinking into the couch in defeat.
Sehun pauses for a second. “Why don’t you just go to a driving instructor? Use their car.”
“But that costs money.” Kyungsoo interrupts.
“But if you suck at driving so badly, you might need it.” Sehun points out. Kyungsoo frowns. "Plus. Zitao can pay for it.”
Zitao whips his head around to Sehun with a look of utter betrayal. "You said what now?"
Again with a shrug, Sehun says, "I mean it's the least you can do since you're revoking his privileges to a car."
"But--" Zitao begins to whine but Sehun's quick to cut him off by muffling Zitao with his hand.
"No buts." Sehun shakes his head, obviously not bothered by that Zitao's starting to slobber all over his hand. "You asked me to settle your dispute, I settled your dispute so shut up because my show is coming on in 5 minutes and they're finally going to reveal who really is the next top model and I need complete silence for when this emotional roller coaster begins."
As Sehun turns on the TV, Kyungsoo can't help but flash Zitao a victorious smile.
/ / /
The driving instructor that Kyungsoo ends up with is one of Sehun's friends. It seems a bit shady to him to not go with an instructor from a well known company but Sehun had insisted that he's qualified. And cheap. And that's all that really matters.
He schedules their first meeting over phone and for the first three minutes, Kyungsoo has to repeatedly explain who he is and why he's calling.
"Ohhhh," the man draws out, "Right right right. I vaguely remember Sehun mentioning this to me."
"Yeah well uhm, like I've been saying, I'd like to schedule an appointment. What dates would work for you?" Kyungsoo asks and he picks up the pen off his desk, absentmindedly clicking it up and down.
The line is quiet for a second but then there's the distinctive sounds of yawning. "Uh... I don't know. Whatever works for you.”
"Anytime works for me." Kyungsoo says quickly and there's a bit of annoyance seeping into his tone. "That's why I'd like you to tell me the times you're free so we can work out the timings so it's convenient for you."
"Oh. Okay." There's some indistinguishable sounds of movement from the other side before Kyungsoo gets a reply. "How about Tuesday?"
"Tuesday." Kyungsoo repeats as he nearly rights down the event on his calendar. He's just about done with the final letter when the man interrupts.
"Wait wait wait. Scratch that." So Kyungsoo does. It leaves an ugly blob of blue in the Tuesday box that has him internally cringing. "Wednesday. Let's do Wednesday. At noon?"
Shifting his hand to the right, Kyungsoo moves to pen in the event when the instructor interjects once more. "No wait I lied." He says and Kyungsoo is about to snap his pen in half. "Not at noon. How about 2?"
"Wednesday at 2?" Kyungsoo asks and he's smart enough to wait for confirmation before defiling his calendar yet again.
"Yes."
"Are you absolutely sure about it this time?"
"... Yes?"
The affirmation is shaky, not at all convincing so Kyungsoo ultimately not write in the event in case he changes his mind; it's not like he'll forget anyway.
"Okay. I look forward to meeting you." Kyungsoo says and he stabs at the end call button on his phone. It's only after he's hung up does Kyungsoo realize that he hadn't even gotten the man's name.
/ / /
He does forget. It completely slips his mind and he's only reminded of his previously scheduled appointment when there's an incoming call from an unknown number. "Kyungsoo?" The voice calls out as soon as he picks up, "Are you here already?"
And that's when he remembers.
"If you are, I need you to hang on. I think I'm going to be thirty minutes late; my student came in late so my lessons ran a bit over. I'm so sorry, I'll try to be out as fast as I can."
"No it's fine." Kyungsoo rushes to say, "Take your time. Take all the time you need." As he speaks, Kyungsoo is kicking Zitao awake, using a series of eye motions and gestures to try to convey the urgency of the situation.
"What do you want?" Zitao groans blearily, much too tired to read Kyungsoo's lips so Kyungsoo hunts down a pen and paper and writes WE HAVE TO GO. NOW. Only then does Zitao bolt up and begins to locate his keys.
"Are you still there?" The other line asks and Kyungsoo jolts, realizing that he'd forgotten to respond to the last question. Hell, he doesn't even remember what the last question was.
"Uh." He says intelligently, "Could you repeat that? I was distracted."
"The studio on Pico Boulevard, you know where that is, right?"
He doesn’t know where it is but Zitao probably does. "Yeah."
"Let's meet up there instead of our original location, it'll be easier for me."
“That’s fine with me. I will see you soon.” And with that, Kyungsoo hangs up and rushes into Zitao’s car.
Thanks to the minimal traffic and Zitao’s fairly terrifying driving speed, they arrive at the place in less than ten minutes. “Isn’t this a dance studio?” Kyungsoo has to ask as Zitao pulls in front of the building.
“Well yeah,” Zitao replies distractedly as he works to maneuver his car between two others. "What kind of studio did you think it'd be?"
“Art studio?” Kyungsoo shrugs, “Driving instructing studio?”
“You’re an idiot.” Zitao sniffs. He turns off the car and they sit in silence. “Well I have to go.” Zitao announces unceremoniously after about two minutes. “So get out.”
Kyungsoo gives him a baffled look. “What do you mean you have to go? What are you even going to do?”
“I have a dat--” Zitao effectively cuts himself off, glancing down to his hands that are resting on the wheel, “I’m going to hang out with… friends.”
“You mean Sehun?”
“I mean friends.” He insists, hurriedly unlocking the doors, “Now you need to get out.”
“What are you talking about?” Kyungsoo frowns before turning to sneak a glance out the window. “He’s not even here yet.”
“So?” Zitao shrugs, “Just wait. He’ll show up eventually.”
“You’re a terrible friend.” He obediently gets out, anyways, and watches as Zitao’s flashy red car disappears into the distance before ducking into the shade. It’s hot. Particularly hot in his all black attire. Within a minute, he already feels the sweat beading down his back and it’s disgusting.
He really wishes that he had gotten a picture, even a vague description as to what his driving instructor is supposed to look like because with every opening of the studio’s doors, his eyes are flitting up in hopes that that’s the guy. It never is.
About five minutes into waiting around, there’s been about a total of fifteen people who have exited the building, only about half are men, and only about a quarter look like they’re actually old enough to be a driver instructor. Most of the people leave the premises soon after they exit the building so it’s pretty easy to tell that none of them are the person he’s waiting for. There’s only one person who doesn’t immediately jump into their car and drive away and it’s a young man. Clad in a pair of tight-fitting sweatpants and a loose tank top that scoops down to reveal a good amount of his chest, the guy’s cute. Kyungsoo might have even considered chatting him up had he not been here for a driving lesson.
While he waits, Kyungsoo takes to watching the man, gawking at him from the shadows as the other fiddles with his wet hair. As he reaches his arms high above his head and stretches. As he begins to slowly run through some choreography while waiting. It's cute. Really cute.
As five minutes lapses into fifteen and his patience runs thin, his phone goes off. Scrambling to answer, Kyungsoo fishes the device out of his back pocket. “Hello?”
“Are you here yet?”
“Yes.” He tries his best to keep the impatience out his voice, but it’s difficult. He’s wasted fifteen precious minutes waiting for this guy. “Where are you?”
“Where are you? I’ve been waiting for like ten minutes.”
“What are you talking about? I’ve been here for the last fifte--” And that’s when he notices. The cute guy. He’s also on his phone. He also seems to be calling someone. He’s also--
No.
It can’t be.
“Raise your hand.” Kyungsoo blurts out before he can come up with a nicer way to say it.
“What? Why?”
“Raise your hand.” He repeats urgingly and he watches in horror as the cute guy raise his hand out of nowhere.
There is no way this fetus is his driving instructor.
And all of a sudden the cute guy is turning around with a puzzled expression and his gaze locks with Kyungsoo’s own. “Are you Kyungsoo?” He asks through the phone but with their proximity, the timbre of his voice reverberates much better in the open air.
"Hello." Kyungsoo offers meekly with a slight wave.
“Have you been here the whole time?” The guy asks incredulously as he steps closer. He hangs up first, quickly pocketing his cellphone as Kyungsoo does the same.
“Yeah.”
“I mean I knew there was someone over there but I didn’t realize it was you. I was expecting like a teenager or something.” He begins to ramble on, “You know, since that’s usually the kind of clientele that usually go to driving instructors but I guess--”
“I’m a little older than most other people getting their license.” Kyungsoo cuts in with a frown. “I realize that.”
"I don't mean anything by it, I swear. It's just..." The instructor cuts himself off. "Doesn't matter. My car's just over there, let's go." He smiles as he waves Kyungsoo over to the gray Acura parked about a block away.
"So I'm Jongin." The man -- Jongin -- introduces himself belatedly as they walk in silence. "Nice to meet you."
Kyungsoo makes to bow in greeting to Jongin but Jongin’s already unlocking the car, skirting around to the other side to the driver’s seat to open the door for Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo only follows, lets himself be helped into the car and settles into the front seat as Jongin enters in from the other side.
“So uhm,” Jongin starts as he buckles himself in, “I guess I should ask to see your permit?”
“I guess you should.” Kyungsoo answers as he fishes out his wallet from his back pocket. Sliding the permit out from its slot, Kyungsoo hands it over.
“That awkward moment when your driver instructor is younger than you.” The instructor muses as he looks over Kyungsoo’s permit, eyeing at his birth date, and Kyungsoo kind of wants to shrink into the corner of his seat and disappear. “Okay, you’re good!” Jongin announces shortly after. “So, I was thinking that for this session, I could just analyze how you are at driving, figure out your strengths and weaknesses so that I’ll know what we need to work on. So just exit back onto the main road and--”
“I’ve never driven on a busy road before.” Kyungsoo blurts out.
“Okay then, how about I drive us to a more peaceful area and you can drive there?”
“I’ve never driven on like any road… actually.” Kyungsoo admits a bit hesitantly..
“So uhm…” Jongin says, squinting, “Like no offense but why are you already taking a driving course?"
"Because I want to be proactive about my driving career."
And Jongin just stares at him. “Well okay. Fair enough.” He says after a while and nothing else until he suggests. “So how about… I take you to somewhere far less busy and I’ll teach you everything.”
“I already know how to drive.”
Jongin makes a noise of approval though the skepticism is quite easy to pick out. “We’ll see about that.”
So it turns out he doesn’t, in fact, really know how to drive. Or at least that’s the conclusion that Jongin comes to as he braces himself through every jerk of the car, At one point, he almosts smashes his head up against the dashboard when Kyungsoo, for some unbeknownst reason, finds it necessary to slam the brakes.
As soon as the hours changes, Jongin moves to grasp Kyungsoo’s deadlock on the gear shift. Out of surprise, Kyungsoo’s grip lets up as he turns to the instructor. “Yes?”
Jongin gestures to the clock, “The lesson’s over. So would you like me to drop you off somewhere or…?”
“What? Oh. Oh yeah,” Unclicking his seatbelt, Kyungsoo scrambles out of the front seat, looping around the car to come to Jongin’s side. Instead of bothering with that kind of effort, Jongin instead maneuvers himself carefully over the center console and settles into the driver’s seat. Kyungsoo watches in mild amazement before coming back into the car. “So, I need you to take me back to my apartment. I don’t think it’s too far from where we are.”
Jongin nods and then motions for Kyungsoo to relay the location as he fishes out his phone and pulls up the maps app. As Kyungsoo mouths off the address, Jongin’s quick to type and by the time Kyungsoo’s finished, Jongin’s already managed to pull up the directions with the quickest route.
It takes about 15 minutes to get back and the time is spent in absolute silence. Jongin’s fidgeting, desperate to turn on the music but he knows exactly what CD is currently in the CD player and he doesn’t want Kyungsoo to hear it. So instead, he suffers through the excruciating quiet as Kyungsoo stares out the window. The only words that are said on their trip back is “We’re here” just as Jongin pulls up to a particularly high class apartment complex.
“You live here?” Jongin can’t help but breathe out.
“My roommate is kind of rich.” Kyungsoo shrugs before stopping. “Speaking of my roommate…” It’s then that he’s conjuring up his phone from like thin air and dialing in a number. Not really dialing, though, Jongin notices, since Kyungsoo seems to have the man on speed dial. Number 2 to be exact.
Jongin can only hear half of the conversation as Kyungsoo keeps the phone pressed closely to his face as if to muffle the sound from being heard, but from what he can gather, the roommate is to come downstairs and pay him. “He’ll be down in a second.” Kyungsoo says as he hangs up.
It takes more than a second. It takes more than ten minutes actually and Kyungsoo is sheepishly looking around and it’s up to Jongin to break the silence. "When do you want to schedule the next session?" He asks before adding slowly. “You are planning to continue with our lessons, right?”
Kyungsoo nods so Jongin continues. "Well then, I would suggest in a week or two so you have some time to practice what you've learned and like, actually learn how to at least drive down a straight road properly."
"About that..." Kyungsoo starts out uncertainly, "There will be no out-of-lesson practice for me."
"I know you think that you're a pro at driving and all, but trust me you need some practice."
"It's not that..."
"No seriously you like really suck and I suggest you spend every waking hour--"
"I don't have a car." Kyungsoo finally blurts out. "So I kind of need you -- or more specifically, your car around in order to practice."
It takes a while for Kyungsoo’s words to fully dawn on Jongin. "So you need me around for the whole 50+ hours of driving that’s required to get your license?"
Kyungsoo nods.
"Do you have any idea how much that's gonna cost you?"
Kyungsoo nods again. "It's not like I'm the one who's paying for it."
"Touché."
Zitao does eventually come down but it’s about thirty minutes later and as each minute passes, Kyungsoo grows increasingly angrier. By the time the man eventually does come down, Kyungsoo about ready to murder someone but he has to appear civil before his new driving instructor. “Took you long enough.” He bites out, rolling down the window as his roommate approaches the car. Zitao looks different from usual. Something about him seems messier… more disheveled.
From behind him, Jongin is inching in close, moving so that he can also look out the passenger side window. He waves and Kyungsoo gives him a bemused look. “What are you doing?”
“Waving.” Jongin says as if that answers everything. “Way at the top floor, there’s Sehun waving out the window.”
Sure enough, when Kyungsoo’s eyes scale up the building, there certainly is a Sehun (surprisingly shirtless) waving ecstatically from the window. Suddenly Zitao’s lateness makes sense and Kyungsoo frowns at him. Zitao only blinks innocently.
“So how much do I owe you?” Kyungsoo asks and his words have Jongin refocusing his attention onto him.
“Uh… What did we agree on…” Jongin seems to murmur to himself before saying a bit more confidently, “$40?”
Kyungsoo gives him a look before turning back to his roommate. “Give him $50. For making him wait for so long.”
The roommate opens his mouth, as if to protest, but quickly clamps it shut. Instead, he’s digging out his wallet and plucking out two twenty dollar bills and a ten. Giving a bit of a glare to Kyungsoo, Zitao bypasses the middleman and just hands off the money to Jongin directly. “Thank you for your hard work.” He salutes and then goes back inside the apartment. Kyungsoo soon follows after bidding a proper goodbye.
Jongin sits in his car for a bit, flicking through the crisp bills before shoving them into his pocket. Maybe this week, he can actually afford to eat something better than ramen.
/ / /
Their next session is actually scheduled earlier than the two weeks that Jongin suggested. In fact, it’s scheduled the next day.
“You can refuse my request for driving lessons you know," Kyungsoo says as he buckles into the passenger seat of Jongin's car. Just like yesterday, Zitao had dropped him off in front of the dance studio; the lesson was to start whenever Jongin was let out from his 1 o'clock dance class. "Like I would understand if you're not willing to go driving with me everyday."
"Nah it's cool," Jongin shrugs and he pulls into the street.
Kyungsoo hums noncommittally. At first, that's all he plans on replying with but as they begin to speed along the roads and silence settles in, he can't help but add it."Don't you have anything better to do than give me driving lessons?"
Jongin shrugs, not bothering to glance over at the older. "Not really. I've developed a bad case of senioritis and I'm taking it easy this last semester." He feels the need to emphasize, "Like really easy."
"When you say senior, you mean senior in college, right?" Kyungsoo deadpan and Jongin gives him an affronted look.
"Just how young do I look?" He frowns and Kyungsoo has to cover his mouth with his hand to hide the smile pulling up at his lips.
"So where are you taking me?" Kyungsoo asks after a while because Jongin apparently still does not think music is necessary and Kyungsoo’s not comfortable with just listening to Jongin’s breathing.
“There’s used to be a mall around here but it closed down,” Jongin says, “The parking lot around there should be mostly empty and I think that’d be a good place to practice.”
“Okay.”
Indeed, the drive over is not very long, only about five minutes tops and as soon as Jongin turns into the lot, he’s unbuckling. “Here, let’s switch.”
Kyungsoo nods and he exits the car to reenter from the opposite side. Jongin, instead of just crawling over the middle like last time, actually gets out and pops open the trunk. Kyungsoo doesn’t pay much mind to him, instead focuses on going through the mental checklist that Jongin had taught him last time. When he’s in the middle of readjusting his seat, Jongin comes back in.
“So I set up some cones,” He says as he pulls the seatbelt across himself. “Today we can try to practice turning and stuff.” As Kyungsoo nods, Jongin instructs, “There’s four cones out there and I think we could just, you know, drive around the perimeter so you can have some experience with turns.”
Shifting out of park, Kyungsoo eases his foot onto the accelerator to start moving. “This is pretty basic… You know, we don’t have to do all of this beginner’s stuff. I know how to drive.”
“I think everyone’s knows how to drive; you just grip the wheel, step on the accelerator, and steer. It’s a matter of being able to do it well which,” Jongin pauses for dramatic effects, “Incidentally, you suck at.”
Kyungsoo pretends he’s too distracted maneuvering around the cone to hear him.
As it would turn out Kyungsoo also sucks at turning. Out of the 7 times he’s circumvented the circuit, he’s only left one cone actually standing. One. Out of 28.
Everytime he knocks over the cone, Jongin has to get out and reset them and at first it’s annoying. At first it’s painstakingly irritating when Jongin has to exit the car every couple of minutes to stand the cones up again, but after the 4th time, he’s laughing. “You know,” Jongin snickers and he tries not to think of the look on Kyungsoo’s face that’s growing increasingly murderous. “You’re going at like 6 mph. You’d think at that speed, you’d actually manage to get around them.”
“You’d think at that speed, you’d actually manage to shut up because I’m trying to concentrate.” Kyungsoo snips. Only when Jongin quiets, does Kyungsoo realize how rude he’s being and he proceeds to slam the brakes. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to be disresp--” He cuts himself off when he sees Jongin grinning in amusement.
“Oh, sassy Kyungsoo,” Jongin snorts, “Where did this come from?”
Kyungsoo breaks into his own little smile. “Sassy Kyungsoo has always been here.” And he begins to drive again.
At the end of their two hour session, Kyungsoo is mentally exhausted. As brainless as going around cones seems, it actually drains him and he’s about ready to fall asleep at the end of it.
“I think that was the most boring two hours of my life.” Jongin announces and Kyungsoo frowns. “On the brightside, your success rate went up to an earth-shattering 27.9%.”
“I feel you’re mocking me.”
“I feel you’re right.”
Kyungsoo’s frown only deepens but Jongin just laughs. “No worries, sharp turns can be difficult. Maybe I should’ve started on something easier.”
“I’m not a beginner!” Kyungsoo says indignantly but even he knows that that’s a blatant lie.
Jongin only chuckles, “Whatever you say. Next time, how about we practice speeding up or something simple like that?”
“I’m not a beginner…” Kyungsoo mutters beneath his breath.
/ / /
For their third session, Jongin ends up taking him to a cemetery. “What was wrong with that parking lot?” Kyungsoo has to ask as he watches Jongin turn into the entrance.
“I think it’d be better for you to get a feel for actually driving on a road, not continuously around a square circuit,” Jongin answers and he parks in the nearby parking lot. “Plus, it’s really boring to just watch you go around and around. At least now we have a scenery.”
“Everything’s dead here.” Kyungsoo comments, sparing a glance at their oh-so-beautiful surroundings.
Jongin cracks a smile. “I’m not sure what else you’d expect from a cemetery.”
“I was talking about the trees, you dip shit,” Kyungsoo rolls his eyes and Jongin only laughs goodnaturedly as they do their usual seat shuffle. Their little routine is improving and now it takes less than a minute to do.
"The cemetery kind of goes around in a loop and the turns aren’t too bad. It shouldn’t be too hard.”
And it’s really not too hard. They’ve been at it for about an hour and Kyungsoo hasn’t run over any graves yet. In his own opinion, he thinks he’s doing perfectly fine, but Jongin seems to have other ideas.
“I think I could walk faster than you’re driving.” Jongin finally has to comment when he notices the speedometer going at a solid 5 mph.
“I think you’d at least have to be running in order to go at this speed.”
“That doesn’t detract from my point, in the slightest.
“Kindly shut up.”
“Kindly speed up because at this rate I think that old lady on the sidewalk is going to pass us.”
“You want to see fast?” Kyungsoo growls out and for some reason, he thinks it’d be a good idea to just slam his foot down on the accelerator. They jerk forward and Jongin is screaming and Kyungsoo’s too surprised to actually think straight and remember to brake.
He has to eventually, when Jongin’s pulling at his arm, screaming at the top of his lungs, and the tree is getting progressively closer to them. Kyungsoo presses on the brakes as hard he can and they come to a screeching halt. As bad as it sounds, there’s adrenaline pumping through Kyungsoo’s veins, a weird sort of pleasure from the speed filling his body.
Jongin seems to be just the opposite. He’s pressed closely to his seat, looking a lot like he’s about to piss himself. He slowly turns to Kyungsoo with fear in his eyes and a pleading voice. “Please never do that again.”
Kyungsoo begrudgingly agrees.
/ / /
Although Kyungsoo believes that Jongin’s really avoiding him because of their near-death experience (which totally wasn’t his fault. Jongin had been the one egging him on), Jongin tells him that he just doesn’t have time for another session the next day. Or the day after that. Or the day after that. Jongin’s actually busy for the next couple of days and so their next session isn’t until the next Tuesday. This time around, to accommodate around Zitao’s oh-so-busy lifestyle, they have to schedule it a bit earlier but they somehow make it work.
This time around, because Zitao decides that he’s only able to drop Kyungsoo off somewhere at 11, Jongin decides it’d be best to meet up at his apartment. “I have a class that ends a little before 11,” He had said when he’d called Kyungsoo to plan things out, “So let’s meet up at 11 at my apartment.”
With Jongin’s address carefully written on a sticky note, Zitao had decided to just leave Kyungsoo in the approximate area of the apartment and let him walk the rest of the way (“Because I’m busy, Soo. And you have legs.”). It’s only about a 7 minute walk. Not too long, but just enough to be annoying because it probably would’ve taken Zitao no more than a minute or two to just leave him at the actual apartment. Nonetheless, he makes it just fine with his phone’s GPS.
Jongin’s already there waiting for Kyungsoo when he finally arrives. He rushes up to the older as he approaches. “I was worried that you might’ve gotten lost on your way here.”
“Not lost.” Kyungsoo shakes his head. “Zitao just dropped me off about three or four blocks away.”
Jongin nods before he’s ushering Kyungsoo into the car and it isn’t long before they’re on their way to the cemetery.
“Why are we taking so long?” Kyungsoo asks after a while when he finally realizes that they’re going the opposite direction from the cemetery.
“You’ll see” is the only thing Jongin says and Kyungsoo watches as he taps his thumb against the steering wheel. He had noticed it before; it’s probably a force of habit.
“Hey Jongin,” Kyungsoo starts up as a silence begins to settle between them again. He’s met with only a soft hum of affirmation but that’s enough of a cue for his to continue. “Why do we never listen to music in your car?”
“Because what if our music taste conflict?” Jongin shrugs, not bothering to turn his eyes away from the road despite being stopped at a red light.
“What if it doesn’t?” comes Kyungsoo’s response. “I listen to anything really, so you can listen to anything you want. Just anything’s better than sitting in silence.”
“I don’t know. Silence isn’t too bad.” Jongin protests but his point of argument is undeniably weak.
Kyungsoo blinks at him and before Jongin can stop him, he’s reaching over to turn on the music and he had a couple of guesses as to what kind of songs Jongin listens to. He was thinking rock, heavy metal maybe. Possibly some screamo. When the music starts to blast from the speakers, he certainly wasn’t expecting so… sensual.
Jongin’s reaction is quick, the singer has only managed to croon out a couple of obscenities before he turns it off. His face is bright red.
“Why’d you turn it off?” Kyungsoo asks blankly and now, the red is even starting to spread to the tips of Jongin’s ears.
“I think it’d best if we kept that music off.” Jongin rushes out and he’s ejecting the CD. He’s about to take it and put it back in the case when the light switches back to green. As he begins to accelerate, he’s watching the ejected CD with concern. Kyungsoo takes matters into his own hands, literally, as he grabs the disk from where it’s sticking out.
“Where’s the cover?” He asks, eyeing the disk with amusement. “‘Bad Minds’? What a title...”
“It’s in the back of your seat.” Jongin mutters, “And my friend gave it to me so.,.”
“I know you’re trying to save yourself the embarrassment but if anything, it’s weirder that your friend gave you this.” Kyungsoo snorts but he snakes his arm around his seat to search the car seat pouch for the case. It’s with a bit difficulty that he manages to find the right one since there’s about seven different CDs stuffed into the back, but he gets it. There’s a black and white photo of a woman rolling up her stockings on the front of it and Kyungsoo tries not to laugh.
“My friend gave it to me.” Jongin repeats once again but Kyungsoo’s still skeptical.
“What other CDs do you have back there?” He asks, but he’s already reaching back to bring them all to the front.
“There’s no like, actual albums. They’re all just mixtapes.”
“Do you like making mixtapes or something?” Kyungsoo asks as he’s looking at the assortment of CDs. There’s one titled Weeaboo Trash and Kyungsoo is mildly intrigued.
“Yeah, I really like making them. I made all of the ones that are in here--” Jongin cuts himself off with a sudden snap of the jaw. “I mean no. My friend. Uhm. My friend is the one that gives them to me. I mean that one. They gave me that one.”
Kyungsoo can’t help but laugh. “If you’re going to lie, please get your story straight.” Jongin doesn’t say anything; he instead preoccupies himself with staring intently at the car driving in front of them. “Well let’s listen to one of them.” Kyungsoo says, popping open one of the cases but before he manages to actually push the CD into the player, Jongin’s batting his hand away.
“Not that one.” Jongin says, desperately. ‘Please not that one.”
Kyungsoo shrugs. He’s about to pull out another one of them but Jongin just shakes his head. “How about none of them?” Jongin pleads, “Let’s just listen to the radio. Please.”
Kyungsoo nods in agreement. “So long as I get to choose the station.”
“Did we really just drive 20 minutes just to go here?” Kyungsoo asks as they pull up to their destination. It’s another cemetery. “What was wrong with going to the closer one?”
“This one’s nicer.” Jongin shrugs. “Now let’s switch.”
The new cemetery is great, it really is. Leafy trees line the streets and the turns are easy, the streets wide and empty. “This is where I learned to drive,” Jongin muses as Kyungsoo starts to adjust the side view mirrors.
“Really now?” He answers back distractedly, his hand moves to jostle the rearview mirror.
“Yeah." Jongin says before adding with a smirk. "Like 6 years ago.”
Somewhere near the end of the lesson, someone texts Kyungsoo. Immediately, he reaches over to grab his phone but Jongin stops him. “No.” Jongin says, looking awfully disappointed. “No texting and driving.”
“We’re at a cemetery and there is no one here.” Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, “It’s fine.”
Jongin’s adamant though, continues to push Kyungsoo’s hand away even though they’re already slowing to a stop. “I’m not going to let you develop bad habits this early on. I’ve got this.” And what Jongin does next is completely unexpected. He takes it upon himself to slide his entire hand into Kyungsoo’s front pocket and pull out the phone. Kyungsoo’s too astounded to actually say anything to get him to stop being weird.
Jongin takes the phone triumphantly. “It’s Zitao.” He say and he’s sliding the screen to the left, his raised brow asking for the phone’s passcode.
“1-1-8-1,” Kyungsoo answers and he starts to accelerate again to continue driving. “What’s it say?”
“He says that he’s gonna be late picking you up.” Jongin looks up from the screen, “You want me to just drive you home?”
“You can’t,” Kyungsoo says quickly and Jongin looks mildly concerned so he elaborates. “Zitao has to pay you.”
“He doesn’t give you money to pay me yourself?”
“Zitao doesn’t trust me with money.” Kyungsoo grimaces, “Especially his money.”
So they return back to Jongin’s apartment; Jongin drives because Kyungsoo’s still not considered skilled enough to actually drive on a real road without putting the public at risk. As they walk into the apartment complex, Kyungsoo has to muse, “For someone who can barely afford food, this is a really nice place.”
“I can afford food.” Jongin says indignantly and Kyungsoo only blinks at him.
“Real food, I mean,” Kyungsoo feels the need to explain. “Not just ramen packs every day.”
This time, there’s nothing Jongin can deny. Instead he just shrugs, “Yeah, the majority of my income goes toward paying the rent for this place but it’s worth it.”
“Whatever you say.”
They take the stairs up but it doesn’t take long for them to get to Jongin’s place. “I just want to say,” Jongin starts as he’s fishing his keys out of his pocket. “Don’t expect this place to be like spick and span. It’s not bad but it’s… it’s also not good.”
“It doesn’t really matter.” Kyungsoo assures, “I don’t mind.” That’s a lie. That is such a lie. A part of Kyungsoo dies every time he sees Zitao so much as leave his jacket on the ground.
The moment Jongin pushes open the apartment door, the distinct smell of something burning wafts out and there’s the loud scream of someone from within. “Close the door!” The voice squawks out, loud and shrill, “The smell is gonna spread!”
Jongin’s quick to do as he’s told. With a look of what seems to be embarrassment, he pulls Kyungsoo into the apartment and slams the door closed behind them. Immediately after, he’s toeing off his shoes and stalking to the kitchen located to their left. “Jongdae!” He calls out and Kyungsoo can only assume that that is the name of his roommate. “I told you not to cook!”
Kyungsoo watches as Jongin enters the kitchen and only after he’s toed off his shoes does he go to follow. The two roommates seem to be in the middle of a heated argument as Kyungsoo enters; Jongin looks a little mad, mostly concerned, and Jongdae just looks angry. The latter seems to perk up when he sees Kyungsoo enter the kitchen. “Hello!” Jongdae greets and he’s bounding over to Kyungsoo for a handshake.
From behind the roommate, Kyungsoo can see Jongin rolling his eyes and going to turn off the stove. “I’m Jongdae.” Jongdae introduces himself, “You Jongin’s new boyfriend?”
And from behind the roommate, Kyungsoo can see Jongin turning around, looking absolutely mortified. He’s quick to move over to Jongdae and wretch him off from where he’s crowding Kyungsoo. “He’s not my boyfriend.” Jongin hisses out. Kyungsoo takes note of how Jongin doesn’t even bat an eye at the word ‘boyfriend’.
“I’m his student,” Kyungsoo says instead, bowing slightly.
“Student?” Jongdae lifts a brow, turning toward Jongin, “Kinky.”
Jongin flushes red and proceeds to slap Jongdae quite loudly in the arm.
“He’s my driving student!”
“I’m his driving student.”
Kyungsoo and Jongin say at the same time but while Jongin yells it out, Kyungsoo just states the simple truth. “Oh.” Jongdae shrugs, “Simple mistake.”
“Why were you cooking?” Jongin interrupts, effectively changing the subject to something he’s more comfortable with. “You know you can’t cook. We’ve been through this before.”
“It’s not my fault that the thing caught on fire!”
To that, Kyungsoo silently mouths the question “How?” and Jongin only shrugs.
“Just be happy that the smoke detectors didn’t go off.” Jongdae pouts before he glances at his watch. Before Jongin can say anything, Jongdae’s holding up a hand to stop him. “Save that thought. I have a class.” And with that he’s dashing into the living room, collecting a bag that’s sitting up against the couch and then he’s out the door.
“You have to clean this up!” Jongin’s calling after him but the roommate’s already gone before he can do anything. Jongin sighs. “Sorry about that. For Jongdae. And for the weird burning smell.”
“We could go stand outside until the smell clears?” Kyungsoo suggests, jerking a thumb toward the balcony. Jongin nods and leads them out. “The view’s nice.” Kyungsoo comments as he settles into one of the white plastic chairs that’s seated outside. The younger takes a seat next to him.
“You’re literally looking at a street. There’s nothing nice about that.”
“Being outside is nice..?” Kyungsoo tries again and Jongin laughs.
“Better.”
>>>
Word Counts: 25.3k
Pairing(s): Kaisoo, side!Taohun
Rating: PG
Summary:Kyungsoo learns to drive.
Author's Note: This is a bit self-indulgent because it's a gift to my beta for betaing that 66k less than a week before it was due. It is also a bit rough and gross because I had to use replacement betas and working with them was... different.
Everything’s easier said than done. That’s pretty much the law of the universe. And so yes, driving has always been a dream for Kyungsoo, for any teenager really, but he’s always been busy. Too busy to bother with the whole process of actually getting your license.
Later, he had always told himself. He’ll get it later.
Turns out later just so happens to be 7 years later.
Honestly speaking, it’s not even his idea to get it. It’d been more at his roommate’s insistence: I’m tired of carting your license-less ass around town, Zitao had said when Kyungsoo had unceremoniously barged into his room to ask Zitao to drive him to the nearby grocery store for some pocky. You are gonna get your license even if I have to shove the driving pamphlet up your ass myself. His reaction had seemed like an overreaction, overly exasperated until Kyungsoo had noticed the half-naked, glossy-eyed male splayed out of his roommate's bed. Kyungsoo had stared for just a second too long and Zitao had promptly chased him out of his room, somehow managing to procure and then throw a copy of a driving manual at the fleeing Kyungsoo.
No matter his reasons for getting it, Kyungsoo had been adamant about studying for the permit test, had spent hours reading and rereading the booklet, and his efforts had paid off when he passed the test with flying colours. After getting his permit, all that was left was to log 50 hours of supervised driving and then take his driving test. Easy.
But apparently, that's where the real obstacle actually lies.
/ / /
“Kyungsoo, that's not the accelerator.”
“You just turned on the windshield wipers.”
“You're going in reverse.”
“Now that you’ve found it, don't be afraid to actually, you know, step on the accelerator.”
“That's the windshield wipers.”
“We're going at a solid 1 mph. Nice.”
“Kyungsoo. That’s not the brakes.”
“You just turned on the damned parking brake!”
“YOU JUST TURNED ON THE WINDSHIELD WIPERS AGAIN.”
"Pull over." Zitao says after about 10 minutes. He has his head cradled in his hands. It's hasn't been long but already, he feels a migraine coming on and along with the severe heart palpitations that slam into him every time Kyungsoo does anything -- everything -- with his precious car, this is definitely not good for Zitao's health. “Pull over.” Zitao repeats, practically growling out the words.
Kyungsoo offers him a pleading look but from the quickly deepening furrow of Zitao's brow, Kyungsoo knows that no amount of begging will save him now. He actually doesn't trust himself to pull over, doesn't trust the trees that line the sides of the road because he knows if he gets so much as a scratch on Zitao's car, Zitao will actually kill him, not just be plotting Kyungsoo's murder in his head. So instead he just turns off the car in the middle of the road. It's not like the road's particularly busy, anyways.
Regardless, Zitao flashes him an incredulous look before ultimately ripping off his seatbelt and bolting out the door. Kyungsoo doesn't even have time to even take a guess as to what Zitao's doing before the younger appears outside of Kyungsoo's door, knocking on the car window. Confused, Kyungsoo proceeds to roll down the window. "Hello?" He asks.
"Get out." Zitao huffs out and that's enough to have Kyungsoo scrambling out from the driver's seat, circling around the car to take a seat on the passenger’s side. “Well.” Zitao breathes out as soon as Kyungsoo’s buckled in. “That was a great experience and all but we are never doing that again.”
“But I need a car to practice with.” Kyungsoo responds, point-blank. His eyes are trained on the road as Zitao revs up the car and speeds out of the mostly empty neighbourhood they had gone to to practice in.
“But I’m not jeopardizing the safety of my car for you.” Zitao says as he turns onto the main road and begins to speed up.
“But I need a car to practice with.” He repeats, “You’re the one who was so insistent on getting me to drive.”
“But my car is a Maserati Granturismo. The seats are real leather, the steering wheel is covered in real leather -- everything is covered in leather -- and the pulchritudinous exterior is flawless, not a single scratch, dent, or scathe. Everything is functioning perfectly. As it is right not, it’s worth $134,625.” And Zitao’s chest puffs up slightly in pride. “And again, I’m not jeopardizing the safety of my car for you.”
“Are you not jeopardizing the safety of your car right now?” Kyungsoo rolls his eyes as Zitao effortlessly weaves through the lanes of traffic. Barely, just barely, does he manage to pass the blue Honda Civic in front of them without a scratch
"Yes but I trust myself with the car. I don't trust you."
They’re still arguing by the time they get back. So much that they don’t even notice the stranger who’s reclined on the couch, his feet resting precariously on the coffee table that Kyungsoo had just cleaned. But apparently, the stranger isn’t a stranger to Zitao. (And he might not actually be a stranger to Kyungsoo either; he looks familiar.) “What are you doing here?” Zitao asks as he shucks off his shoes and goes into the kitchen to get something.
The stranger shrugs. “I don’t know. Bored?”
Kyungsoo takes it upon himself to asks the far more important question of “How did you get in here?”
Again, the stranger shrugs, “The door was unlocked.”
“No it wasn’t.” Kyungsoo’s quick to amend because it wasn’t. He distinctly remembering locking the door right before throwing his keys at Zitao’s face for being particularly obnoxious.
The man on the couch only blinks at Kyungsoo and Kyungsoo decides it’d be best to duck into the kitchen as well. “Who is he?” He asks quietly as his roommate is sifting through the fridge looking for something to eat.
“Sehun. My friend.” Zitao shrugs before finally locating the half bottle of Sprite he had bought yesterday. “Just friends.” He adds in at Kyungsoo’s prying stares.
“How did he get in here?” Kyungsoo proceeds to ask.
“The door was unlocked.” Zitao answers as he unscrews his cap and lifts the bottle to his lips.
“No it wasn’t.”
Zitao stops drinking only to give Kyungsoo a blank stare before walking back into the living room. Kyungsoo follows. It’s when Zitao is settled onto the couch space next to this Sehun that Kyungsoo suddenly remembers where he’s seen this guy before. It was back when Zitao had first yelled at him to get his permit. Sehun had been the man shirtless and panting on the bed.
Zitao has insisted that Sehun’s only a friend. Kyungsoo calls bullshit.
Zitao’s personal relations aside, Kyungsoo makes for the recliner rather than his usual place on the couch. “So Sehun.” Kyungsoo starts and it’s a little rude how Sehun doesn’t even bother to look up from his phone even after he’s been addressed. “Settle an argument for us.”
“There’s no argument.” Zitao rolls his eyes, “There’s not an argument if it’s mine and I have the right to revoke your right to the car.”
“But you said I could use it to learn.”
“But then I realized that you suck far worse than I anticipated.”
“Is this about Kyungsoo learning to drive?” Sehun pipes in, finally ripping his gaze from the screen of his iPhone. Kyungsoo had forgotten about Sehun’s presence in the original “discussion” about Kyungsoo needing his license. No one answers but Sehun continues on anyways. “And this is about the use of Tao’s car, I’m guessing?”
Kyungsoo doesn’t miss the way that Sehun calls Zitao “Tao” instead of Zitao. Even though Zitao hates any sort of alterations or shortenings of his birth name. Just friends, his ass.
“Well,” Sehun starts up again despite the lack of response to his last question. “While you do need a car--”
Kyungsoo glares at Zitao who only scowls.
“Zitao does have a point in that his car is precious. It’s expensive.”
“$134,625.” Zitao adds in as he nods in agreement. "It's much too precious for you to use to learn to drive."
“So what do you suggest I do? I still need a car to practice with.” Kyungsoo insists, sinking into the couch in defeat.
Sehun pauses for a second. “Why don’t you just go to a driving instructor? Use their car.”
“But that costs money.” Kyungsoo interrupts.
“But if you suck at driving so badly, you might need it.” Sehun points out. Kyungsoo frowns. "Plus. Zitao can pay for it.”
Zitao whips his head around to Sehun with a look of utter betrayal. "You said what now?"
Again with a shrug, Sehun says, "I mean it's the least you can do since you're revoking his privileges to a car."
"But--" Zitao begins to whine but Sehun's quick to cut him off by muffling Zitao with his hand.
"No buts." Sehun shakes his head, obviously not bothered by that Zitao's starting to slobber all over his hand. "You asked me to settle your dispute, I settled your dispute so shut up because my show is coming on in 5 minutes and they're finally going to reveal who really is the next top model and I need complete silence for when this emotional roller coaster begins."
As Sehun turns on the TV, Kyungsoo can't help but flash Zitao a victorious smile.
/ / /
The driving instructor that Kyungsoo ends up with is one of Sehun's friends. It seems a bit shady to him to not go with an instructor from a well known company but Sehun had insisted that he's qualified. And cheap. And that's all that really matters.
He schedules their first meeting over phone and for the first three minutes, Kyungsoo has to repeatedly explain who he is and why he's calling.
"Ohhhh," the man draws out, "Right right right. I vaguely remember Sehun mentioning this to me."
"Yeah well uhm, like I've been saying, I'd like to schedule an appointment. What dates would work for you?" Kyungsoo asks and he picks up the pen off his desk, absentmindedly clicking it up and down.
The line is quiet for a second but then there's the distinctive sounds of yawning. "Uh... I don't know. Whatever works for you.”
"Anytime works for me." Kyungsoo says quickly and there's a bit of annoyance seeping into his tone. "That's why I'd like you to tell me the times you're free so we can work out the timings so it's convenient for you."
"Oh. Okay." There's some indistinguishable sounds of movement from the other side before Kyungsoo gets a reply. "How about Tuesday?"
"Tuesday." Kyungsoo repeats as he nearly rights down the event on his calendar. He's just about done with the final letter when the man interrupts.
"Wait wait wait. Scratch that." So Kyungsoo does. It leaves an ugly blob of blue in the Tuesday box that has him internally cringing. "Wednesday. Let's do Wednesday. At noon?"
Shifting his hand to the right, Kyungsoo moves to pen in the event when the instructor interjects once more. "No wait I lied." He says and Kyungsoo is about to snap his pen in half. "Not at noon. How about 2?"
"Wednesday at 2?" Kyungsoo asks and he's smart enough to wait for confirmation before defiling his calendar yet again.
"Yes."
"Are you absolutely sure about it this time?"
"... Yes?"
The affirmation is shaky, not at all convincing so Kyungsoo ultimately not write in the event in case he changes his mind; it's not like he'll forget anyway.
"Okay. I look forward to meeting you." Kyungsoo says and he stabs at the end call button on his phone. It's only after he's hung up does Kyungsoo realize that he hadn't even gotten the man's name.
/ / /
He does forget. It completely slips his mind and he's only reminded of his previously scheduled appointment when there's an incoming call from an unknown number. "Kyungsoo?" The voice calls out as soon as he picks up, "Are you here already?"
And that's when he remembers.
"If you are, I need you to hang on. I think I'm going to be thirty minutes late; my student came in late so my lessons ran a bit over. I'm so sorry, I'll try to be out as fast as I can."
"No it's fine." Kyungsoo rushes to say, "Take your time. Take all the time you need." As he speaks, Kyungsoo is kicking Zitao awake, using a series of eye motions and gestures to try to convey the urgency of the situation.
"What do you want?" Zitao groans blearily, much too tired to read Kyungsoo's lips so Kyungsoo hunts down a pen and paper and writes WE HAVE TO GO. NOW. Only then does Zitao bolt up and begins to locate his keys.
"Are you still there?" The other line asks and Kyungsoo jolts, realizing that he'd forgotten to respond to the last question. Hell, he doesn't even remember what the last question was.
"Uh." He says intelligently, "Could you repeat that? I was distracted."
"The studio on Pico Boulevard, you know where that is, right?"
He doesn’t know where it is but Zitao probably does. "Yeah."
"Let's meet up there instead of our original location, it'll be easier for me."
“That’s fine with me. I will see you soon.” And with that, Kyungsoo hangs up and rushes into Zitao’s car.
Thanks to the minimal traffic and Zitao’s fairly terrifying driving speed, they arrive at the place in less than ten minutes. “Isn’t this a dance studio?” Kyungsoo has to ask as Zitao pulls in front of the building.
“Well yeah,” Zitao replies distractedly as he works to maneuver his car between two others. "What kind of studio did you think it'd be?"
“Art studio?” Kyungsoo shrugs, “Driving instructing studio?”
“You’re an idiot.” Zitao sniffs. He turns off the car and they sit in silence. “Well I have to go.” Zitao announces unceremoniously after about two minutes. “So get out.”
Kyungsoo gives him a baffled look. “What do you mean you have to go? What are you even going to do?”
“I have a dat--” Zitao effectively cuts himself off, glancing down to his hands that are resting on the wheel, “I’m going to hang out with… friends.”
“You mean Sehun?”
“I mean friends.” He insists, hurriedly unlocking the doors, “Now you need to get out.”
“What are you talking about?” Kyungsoo frowns before turning to sneak a glance out the window. “He’s not even here yet.”
“So?” Zitao shrugs, “Just wait. He’ll show up eventually.”
“You’re a terrible friend.” He obediently gets out, anyways, and watches as Zitao’s flashy red car disappears into the distance before ducking into the shade. It’s hot. Particularly hot in his all black attire. Within a minute, he already feels the sweat beading down his back and it’s disgusting.
He really wishes that he had gotten a picture, even a vague description as to what his driving instructor is supposed to look like because with every opening of the studio’s doors, his eyes are flitting up in hopes that that’s the guy. It never is.
About five minutes into waiting around, there’s been about a total of fifteen people who have exited the building, only about half are men, and only about a quarter look like they’re actually old enough to be a driver instructor. Most of the people leave the premises soon after they exit the building so it’s pretty easy to tell that none of them are the person he’s waiting for. There’s only one person who doesn’t immediately jump into their car and drive away and it’s a young man. Clad in a pair of tight-fitting sweatpants and a loose tank top that scoops down to reveal a good amount of his chest, the guy’s cute. Kyungsoo might have even considered chatting him up had he not been here for a driving lesson.
While he waits, Kyungsoo takes to watching the man, gawking at him from the shadows as the other fiddles with his wet hair. As he reaches his arms high above his head and stretches. As he begins to slowly run through some choreography while waiting. It's cute. Really cute.
As five minutes lapses into fifteen and his patience runs thin, his phone goes off. Scrambling to answer, Kyungsoo fishes the device out of his back pocket. “Hello?”
“Are you here yet?”
“Yes.” He tries his best to keep the impatience out his voice, but it’s difficult. He’s wasted fifteen precious minutes waiting for this guy. “Where are you?”
“Where are you? I’ve been waiting for like ten minutes.”
“What are you talking about? I’ve been here for the last fifte--” And that’s when he notices. The cute guy. He’s also on his phone. He also seems to be calling someone. He’s also--
No.
It can’t be.
“Raise your hand.” Kyungsoo blurts out before he can come up with a nicer way to say it.
“What? Why?”
“Raise your hand.” He repeats urgingly and he watches in horror as the cute guy raise his hand out of nowhere.
There is no way this fetus is his driving instructor.
And all of a sudden the cute guy is turning around with a puzzled expression and his gaze locks with Kyungsoo’s own. “Are you Kyungsoo?” He asks through the phone but with their proximity, the timbre of his voice reverberates much better in the open air.
"Hello." Kyungsoo offers meekly with a slight wave.
“Have you been here the whole time?” The guy asks incredulously as he steps closer. He hangs up first, quickly pocketing his cellphone as Kyungsoo does the same.
“Yeah.”
“I mean I knew there was someone over there but I didn’t realize it was you. I was expecting like a teenager or something.” He begins to ramble on, “You know, since that’s usually the kind of clientele that usually go to driving instructors but I guess--”
“I’m a little older than most other people getting their license.” Kyungsoo cuts in with a frown. “I realize that.”
"I don't mean anything by it, I swear. It's just..." The instructor cuts himself off. "Doesn't matter. My car's just over there, let's go." He smiles as he waves Kyungsoo over to the gray Acura parked about a block away.
"So I'm Jongin." The man -- Jongin -- introduces himself belatedly as they walk in silence. "Nice to meet you."
Kyungsoo makes to bow in greeting to Jongin but Jongin’s already unlocking the car, skirting around to the other side to the driver’s seat to open the door for Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo only follows, lets himself be helped into the car and settles into the front seat as Jongin enters in from the other side.
“So uhm,” Jongin starts as he buckles himself in, “I guess I should ask to see your permit?”
“I guess you should.” Kyungsoo answers as he fishes out his wallet from his back pocket. Sliding the permit out from its slot, Kyungsoo hands it over.
“That awkward moment when your driver instructor is younger than you.” The instructor muses as he looks over Kyungsoo’s permit, eyeing at his birth date, and Kyungsoo kind of wants to shrink into the corner of his seat and disappear. “Okay, you’re good!” Jongin announces shortly after. “So, I was thinking that for this session, I could just analyze how you are at driving, figure out your strengths and weaknesses so that I’ll know what we need to work on. So just exit back onto the main road and--”
“I’ve never driven on a busy road before.” Kyungsoo blurts out.
“Okay then, how about I drive us to a more peaceful area and you can drive there?”
“I’ve never driven on like any road… actually.” Kyungsoo admits a bit hesitantly..
“So uhm…” Jongin says, squinting, “Like no offense but why are you already taking a driving course?"
"Because I want to be proactive about my driving career."
And Jongin just stares at him. “Well okay. Fair enough.” He says after a while and nothing else until he suggests. “So how about… I take you to somewhere far less busy and I’ll teach you everything.”
“I already know how to drive.”
Jongin makes a noise of approval though the skepticism is quite easy to pick out. “We’ll see about that.”
So it turns out he doesn’t, in fact, really know how to drive. Or at least that’s the conclusion that Jongin comes to as he braces himself through every jerk of the car, At one point, he almosts smashes his head up against the dashboard when Kyungsoo, for some unbeknownst reason, finds it necessary to slam the brakes.
As soon as the hours changes, Jongin moves to grasp Kyungsoo’s deadlock on the gear shift. Out of surprise, Kyungsoo’s grip lets up as he turns to the instructor. “Yes?”
Jongin gestures to the clock, “The lesson’s over. So would you like me to drop you off somewhere or…?”
“What? Oh. Oh yeah,” Unclicking his seatbelt, Kyungsoo scrambles out of the front seat, looping around the car to come to Jongin’s side. Instead of bothering with that kind of effort, Jongin instead maneuvers himself carefully over the center console and settles into the driver’s seat. Kyungsoo watches in mild amazement before coming back into the car. “So, I need you to take me back to my apartment. I don’t think it’s too far from where we are.”
Jongin nods and then motions for Kyungsoo to relay the location as he fishes out his phone and pulls up the maps app. As Kyungsoo mouths off the address, Jongin’s quick to type and by the time Kyungsoo’s finished, Jongin’s already managed to pull up the directions with the quickest route.
It takes about 15 minutes to get back and the time is spent in absolute silence. Jongin’s fidgeting, desperate to turn on the music but he knows exactly what CD is currently in the CD player and he doesn’t want Kyungsoo to hear it. So instead, he suffers through the excruciating quiet as Kyungsoo stares out the window. The only words that are said on their trip back is “We’re here” just as Jongin pulls up to a particularly high class apartment complex.
“You live here?” Jongin can’t help but breathe out.
“My roommate is kind of rich.” Kyungsoo shrugs before stopping. “Speaking of my roommate…” It’s then that he’s conjuring up his phone from like thin air and dialing in a number. Not really dialing, though, Jongin notices, since Kyungsoo seems to have the man on speed dial. Number 2 to be exact.
Jongin can only hear half of the conversation as Kyungsoo keeps the phone pressed closely to his face as if to muffle the sound from being heard, but from what he can gather, the roommate is to come downstairs and pay him. “He’ll be down in a second.” Kyungsoo says as he hangs up.
It takes more than a second. It takes more than ten minutes actually and Kyungsoo is sheepishly looking around and it’s up to Jongin to break the silence. "When do you want to schedule the next session?" He asks before adding slowly. “You are planning to continue with our lessons, right?”
Kyungsoo nods so Jongin continues. "Well then, I would suggest in a week or two so you have some time to practice what you've learned and like, actually learn how to at least drive down a straight road properly."
"About that..." Kyungsoo starts out uncertainly, "There will be no out-of-lesson practice for me."
"I know you think that you're a pro at driving and all, but trust me you need some practice."
"It's not that..."
"No seriously you like really suck and I suggest you spend every waking hour--"
"I don't have a car." Kyungsoo finally blurts out. "So I kind of need you -- or more specifically, your car around in order to practice."
It takes a while for Kyungsoo’s words to fully dawn on Jongin. "So you need me around for the whole 50+ hours of driving that’s required to get your license?"
Kyungsoo nods.
"Do you have any idea how much that's gonna cost you?"
Kyungsoo nods again. "It's not like I'm the one who's paying for it."
"Touché."
Zitao does eventually come down but it’s about thirty minutes later and as each minute passes, Kyungsoo grows increasingly angrier. By the time the man eventually does come down, Kyungsoo about ready to murder someone but he has to appear civil before his new driving instructor. “Took you long enough.” He bites out, rolling down the window as his roommate approaches the car. Zitao looks different from usual. Something about him seems messier… more disheveled.
From behind him, Jongin is inching in close, moving so that he can also look out the passenger side window. He waves and Kyungsoo gives him a bemused look. “What are you doing?”
“Waving.” Jongin says as if that answers everything. “Way at the top floor, there’s Sehun waving out the window.”
Sure enough, when Kyungsoo’s eyes scale up the building, there certainly is a Sehun (surprisingly shirtless) waving ecstatically from the window. Suddenly Zitao’s lateness makes sense and Kyungsoo frowns at him. Zitao only blinks innocently.
“So how much do I owe you?” Kyungsoo asks and his words have Jongin refocusing his attention onto him.
“Uh… What did we agree on…” Jongin seems to murmur to himself before saying a bit more confidently, “$40?”
Kyungsoo gives him a look before turning back to his roommate. “Give him $50. For making him wait for so long.”
The roommate opens his mouth, as if to protest, but quickly clamps it shut. Instead, he’s digging out his wallet and plucking out two twenty dollar bills and a ten. Giving a bit of a glare to Kyungsoo, Zitao bypasses the middleman and just hands off the money to Jongin directly. “Thank you for your hard work.” He salutes and then goes back inside the apartment. Kyungsoo soon follows after bidding a proper goodbye.
Jongin sits in his car for a bit, flicking through the crisp bills before shoving them into his pocket. Maybe this week, he can actually afford to eat something better than ramen.
/ / /
Their next session is actually scheduled earlier than the two weeks that Jongin suggested. In fact, it’s scheduled the next day.
“You can refuse my request for driving lessons you know," Kyungsoo says as he buckles into the passenger seat of Jongin's car. Just like yesterday, Zitao had dropped him off in front of the dance studio; the lesson was to start whenever Jongin was let out from his 1 o'clock dance class. "Like I would understand if you're not willing to go driving with me everyday."
"Nah it's cool," Jongin shrugs and he pulls into the street.
Kyungsoo hums noncommittally. At first, that's all he plans on replying with but as they begin to speed along the roads and silence settles in, he can't help but add it."Don't you have anything better to do than give me driving lessons?"
Jongin shrugs, not bothering to glance over at the older. "Not really. I've developed a bad case of senioritis and I'm taking it easy this last semester." He feels the need to emphasize, "Like really easy."
"When you say senior, you mean senior in college, right?" Kyungsoo deadpan and Jongin gives him an affronted look.
"Just how young do I look?" He frowns and Kyungsoo has to cover his mouth with his hand to hide the smile pulling up at his lips.
"So where are you taking me?" Kyungsoo asks after a while because Jongin apparently still does not think music is necessary and Kyungsoo’s not comfortable with just listening to Jongin’s breathing.
“There’s used to be a mall around here but it closed down,” Jongin says, “The parking lot around there should be mostly empty and I think that’d be a good place to practice.”
“Okay.”
Indeed, the drive over is not very long, only about five minutes tops and as soon as Jongin turns into the lot, he’s unbuckling. “Here, let’s switch.”
Kyungsoo nods and he exits the car to reenter from the opposite side. Jongin, instead of just crawling over the middle like last time, actually gets out and pops open the trunk. Kyungsoo doesn’t pay much mind to him, instead focuses on going through the mental checklist that Jongin had taught him last time. When he’s in the middle of readjusting his seat, Jongin comes back in.
“So I set up some cones,” He says as he pulls the seatbelt across himself. “Today we can try to practice turning and stuff.” As Kyungsoo nods, Jongin instructs, “There’s four cones out there and I think we could just, you know, drive around the perimeter so you can have some experience with turns.”
Shifting out of park, Kyungsoo eases his foot onto the accelerator to start moving. “This is pretty basic… You know, we don’t have to do all of this beginner’s stuff. I know how to drive.”
“I think everyone’s knows how to drive; you just grip the wheel, step on the accelerator, and steer. It’s a matter of being able to do it well which,” Jongin pauses for dramatic effects, “Incidentally, you suck at.”
Kyungsoo pretends he’s too distracted maneuvering around the cone to hear him.
As it would turn out Kyungsoo also sucks at turning. Out of the 7 times he’s circumvented the circuit, he’s only left one cone actually standing. One. Out of 28.
Everytime he knocks over the cone, Jongin has to get out and reset them and at first it’s annoying. At first it’s painstakingly irritating when Jongin has to exit the car every couple of minutes to stand the cones up again, but after the 4th time, he’s laughing. “You know,” Jongin snickers and he tries not to think of the look on Kyungsoo’s face that’s growing increasingly murderous. “You’re going at like 6 mph. You’d think at that speed, you’d actually manage to get around them.”
“You’d think at that speed, you’d actually manage to shut up because I’m trying to concentrate.” Kyungsoo snips. Only when Jongin quiets, does Kyungsoo realize how rude he’s being and he proceeds to slam the brakes. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to be disresp--” He cuts himself off when he sees Jongin grinning in amusement.
“Oh, sassy Kyungsoo,” Jongin snorts, “Where did this come from?”
Kyungsoo breaks into his own little smile. “Sassy Kyungsoo has always been here.” And he begins to drive again.
At the end of their two hour session, Kyungsoo is mentally exhausted. As brainless as going around cones seems, it actually drains him and he’s about ready to fall asleep at the end of it.
“I think that was the most boring two hours of my life.” Jongin announces and Kyungsoo frowns. “On the brightside, your success rate went up to an earth-shattering 27.9%.”
“I feel you’re mocking me.”
“I feel you’re right.”
Kyungsoo’s frown only deepens but Jongin just laughs. “No worries, sharp turns can be difficult. Maybe I should’ve started on something easier.”
“I’m not a beginner!” Kyungsoo says indignantly but even he knows that that’s a blatant lie.
Jongin only chuckles, “Whatever you say. Next time, how about we practice speeding up or something simple like that?”
“I’m not a beginner…” Kyungsoo mutters beneath his breath.
/ / /
For their third session, Jongin ends up taking him to a cemetery. “What was wrong with that parking lot?” Kyungsoo has to ask as he watches Jongin turn into the entrance.
“I think it’d be better for you to get a feel for actually driving on a road, not continuously around a square circuit,” Jongin answers and he parks in the nearby parking lot. “Plus, it’s really boring to just watch you go around and around. At least now we have a scenery.”
“Everything’s dead here.” Kyungsoo comments, sparing a glance at their oh-so-beautiful surroundings.
Jongin cracks a smile. “I’m not sure what else you’d expect from a cemetery.”
“I was talking about the trees, you dip shit,” Kyungsoo rolls his eyes and Jongin only laughs goodnaturedly as they do their usual seat shuffle. Their little routine is improving and now it takes less than a minute to do.
"The cemetery kind of goes around in a loop and the turns aren’t too bad. It shouldn’t be too hard.”
And it’s really not too hard. They’ve been at it for about an hour and Kyungsoo hasn’t run over any graves yet. In his own opinion, he thinks he’s doing perfectly fine, but Jongin seems to have other ideas.
“I think I could walk faster than you’re driving.” Jongin finally has to comment when he notices the speedometer going at a solid 5 mph.
“I think you’d at least have to be running in order to go at this speed.”
“That doesn’t detract from my point, in the slightest.
“Kindly shut up.”
“Kindly speed up because at this rate I think that old lady on the sidewalk is going to pass us.”
“You want to see fast?” Kyungsoo growls out and for some reason, he thinks it’d be a good idea to just slam his foot down on the accelerator. They jerk forward and Jongin is screaming and Kyungsoo’s too surprised to actually think straight and remember to brake.
He has to eventually, when Jongin’s pulling at his arm, screaming at the top of his lungs, and the tree is getting progressively closer to them. Kyungsoo presses on the brakes as hard he can and they come to a screeching halt. As bad as it sounds, there’s adrenaline pumping through Kyungsoo’s veins, a weird sort of pleasure from the speed filling his body.
Jongin seems to be just the opposite. He’s pressed closely to his seat, looking a lot like he’s about to piss himself. He slowly turns to Kyungsoo with fear in his eyes and a pleading voice. “Please never do that again.”
Kyungsoo begrudgingly agrees.
/ / /
Although Kyungsoo believes that Jongin’s really avoiding him because of their near-death experience (which totally wasn’t his fault. Jongin had been the one egging him on), Jongin tells him that he just doesn’t have time for another session the next day. Or the day after that. Or the day after that. Jongin’s actually busy for the next couple of days and so their next session isn’t until the next Tuesday. This time around, to accommodate around Zitao’s oh-so-busy lifestyle, they have to schedule it a bit earlier but they somehow make it work.
This time around, because Zitao decides that he’s only able to drop Kyungsoo off somewhere at 11, Jongin decides it’d be best to meet up at his apartment. “I have a class that ends a little before 11,” He had said when he’d called Kyungsoo to plan things out, “So let’s meet up at 11 at my apartment.”
With Jongin’s address carefully written on a sticky note, Zitao had decided to just leave Kyungsoo in the approximate area of the apartment and let him walk the rest of the way (“Because I’m busy, Soo. And you have legs.”). It’s only about a 7 minute walk. Not too long, but just enough to be annoying because it probably would’ve taken Zitao no more than a minute or two to just leave him at the actual apartment. Nonetheless, he makes it just fine with his phone’s GPS.
Jongin’s already there waiting for Kyungsoo when he finally arrives. He rushes up to the older as he approaches. “I was worried that you might’ve gotten lost on your way here.”
“Not lost.” Kyungsoo shakes his head. “Zitao just dropped me off about three or four blocks away.”
Jongin nods before he’s ushering Kyungsoo into the car and it isn’t long before they’re on their way to the cemetery.
“Why are we taking so long?” Kyungsoo asks after a while when he finally realizes that they’re going the opposite direction from the cemetery.
“You’ll see” is the only thing Jongin says and Kyungsoo watches as he taps his thumb against the steering wheel. He had noticed it before; it’s probably a force of habit.
“Hey Jongin,” Kyungsoo starts up as a silence begins to settle between them again. He’s met with only a soft hum of affirmation but that’s enough of a cue for his to continue. “Why do we never listen to music in your car?”
“Because what if our music taste conflict?” Jongin shrugs, not bothering to turn his eyes away from the road despite being stopped at a red light.
“What if it doesn’t?” comes Kyungsoo’s response. “I listen to anything really, so you can listen to anything you want. Just anything’s better than sitting in silence.”
“I don’t know. Silence isn’t too bad.” Jongin protests but his point of argument is undeniably weak.
Kyungsoo blinks at him and before Jongin can stop him, he’s reaching over to turn on the music and he had a couple of guesses as to what kind of songs Jongin listens to. He was thinking rock, heavy metal maybe. Possibly some screamo. When the music starts to blast from the speakers, he certainly wasn’t expecting so… sensual.
Jongin’s reaction is quick, the singer has only managed to croon out a couple of obscenities before he turns it off. His face is bright red.
“Why’d you turn it off?” Kyungsoo asks blankly and now, the red is even starting to spread to the tips of Jongin’s ears.
“I think it’d best if we kept that music off.” Jongin rushes out and he’s ejecting the CD. He’s about to take it and put it back in the case when the light switches back to green. As he begins to accelerate, he’s watching the ejected CD with concern. Kyungsoo takes matters into his own hands, literally, as he grabs the disk from where it’s sticking out.
“Where’s the cover?” He asks, eyeing the disk with amusement. “‘Bad Minds’? What a title...”
“It’s in the back of your seat.” Jongin mutters, “And my friend gave it to me so.,.”
“I know you’re trying to save yourself the embarrassment but if anything, it’s weirder that your friend gave you this.” Kyungsoo snorts but he snakes his arm around his seat to search the car seat pouch for the case. It’s with a bit difficulty that he manages to find the right one since there’s about seven different CDs stuffed into the back, but he gets it. There’s a black and white photo of a woman rolling up her stockings on the front of it and Kyungsoo tries not to laugh.
“My friend gave it to me.” Jongin repeats once again but Kyungsoo’s still skeptical.
“What other CDs do you have back there?” He asks, but he’s already reaching back to bring them all to the front.
“There’s no like, actual albums. They’re all just mixtapes.”
“Do you like making mixtapes or something?” Kyungsoo asks as he’s looking at the assortment of CDs. There’s one titled Weeaboo Trash and Kyungsoo is mildly intrigued.
“Yeah, I really like making them. I made all of the ones that are in here--” Jongin cuts himself off with a sudden snap of the jaw. “I mean no. My friend. Uhm. My friend is the one that gives them to me. I mean that one. They gave me that one.”
Kyungsoo can’t help but laugh. “If you’re going to lie, please get your story straight.” Jongin doesn’t say anything; he instead preoccupies himself with staring intently at the car driving in front of them. “Well let’s listen to one of them.” Kyungsoo says, popping open one of the cases but before he manages to actually push the CD into the player, Jongin’s batting his hand away.
“Not that one.” Jongin says, desperately. ‘Please not that one.”
Kyungsoo shrugs. He’s about to pull out another one of them but Jongin just shakes his head. “How about none of them?” Jongin pleads, “Let’s just listen to the radio. Please.”
Kyungsoo nods in agreement. “So long as I get to choose the station.”
“Did we really just drive 20 minutes just to go here?” Kyungsoo asks as they pull up to their destination. It’s another cemetery. “What was wrong with going to the closer one?”
“This one’s nicer.” Jongin shrugs. “Now let’s switch.”
The new cemetery is great, it really is. Leafy trees line the streets and the turns are easy, the streets wide and empty. “This is where I learned to drive,” Jongin muses as Kyungsoo starts to adjust the side view mirrors.
“Really now?” He answers back distractedly, his hand moves to jostle the rearview mirror.
“Yeah." Jongin says before adding with a smirk. "Like 6 years ago.”
Somewhere near the end of the lesson, someone texts Kyungsoo. Immediately, he reaches over to grab his phone but Jongin stops him. “No.” Jongin says, looking awfully disappointed. “No texting and driving.”
“We’re at a cemetery and there is no one here.” Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, “It’s fine.”
Jongin’s adamant though, continues to push Kyungsoo’s hand away even though they’re already slowing to a stop. “I’m not going to let you develop bad habits this early on. I’ve got this.” And what Jongin does next is completely unexpected. He takes it upon himself to slide his entire hand into Kyungsoo’s front pocket and pull out the phone. Kyungsoo’s too astounded to actually say anything to get him to stop being weird.
Jongin takes the phone triumphantly. “It’s Zitao.” He say and he’s sliding the screen to the left, his raised brow asking for the phone’s passcode.
“1-1-8-1,” Kyungsoo answers and he starts to accelerate again to continue driving. “What’s it say?”
“He says that he’s gonna be late picking you up.” Jongin looks up from the screen, “You want me to just drive you home?”
“You can’t,” Kyungsoo says quickly and Jongin looks mildly concerned so he elaborates. “Zitao has to pay you.”
“He doesn’t give you money to pay me yourself?”
“Zitao doesn’t trust me with money.” Kyungsoo grimaces, “Especially his money.”
So they return back to Jongin’s apartment; Jongin drives because Kyungsoo’s still not considered skilled enough to actually drive on a real road without putting the public at risk. As they walk into the apartment complex, Kyungsoo has to muse, “For someone who can barely afford food, this is a really nice place.”
“I can afford food.” Jongin says indignantly and Kyungsoo only blinks at him.
“Real food, I mean,” Kyungsoo feels the need to explain. “Not just ramen packs every day.”
This time, there’s nothing Jongin can deny. Instead he just shrugs, “Yeah, the majority of my income goes toward paying the rent for this place but it’s worth it.”
“Whatever you say.”
They take the stairs up but it doesn’t take long for them to get to Jongin’s place. “I just want to say,” Jongin starts as he’s fishing his keys out of his pocket. “Don’t expect this place to be like spick and span. It’s not bad but it’s… it’s also not good.”
“It doesn’t really matter.” Kyungsoo assures, “I don’t mind.” That’s a lie. That is such a lie. A part of Kyungsoo dies every time he sees Zitao so much as leave his jacket on the ground.
The moment Jongin pushes open the apartment door, the distinct smell of something burning wafts out and there’s the loud scream of someone from within. “Close the door!” The voice squawks out, loud and shrill, “The smell is gonna spread!”
Jongin’s quick to do as he’s told. With a look of what seems to be embarrassment, he pulls Kyungsoo into the apartment and slams the door closed behind them. Immediately after, he’s toeing off his shoes and stalking to the kitchen located to their left. “Jongdae!” He calls out and Kyungsoo can only assume that that is the name of his roommate. “I told you not to cook!”
Kyungsoo watches as Jongin enters the kitchen and only after he’s toed off his shoes does he go to follow. The two roommates seem to be in the middle of a heated argument as Kyungsoo enters; Jongin looks a little mad, mostly concerned, and Jongdae just looks angry. The latter seems to perk up when he sees Kyungsoo enter the kitchen. “Hello!” Jongdae greets and he’s bounding over to Kyungsoo for a handshake.
From behind the roommate, Kyungsoo can see Jongin rolling his eyes and going to turn off the stove. “I’m Jongdae.” Jongdae introduces himself, “You Jongin’s new boyfriend?”
And from behind the roommate, Kyungsoo can see Jongin turning around, looking absolutely mortified. He’s quick to move over to Jongdae and wretch him off from where he’s crowding Kyungsoo. “He’s not my boyfriend.” Jongin hisses out. Kyungsoo takes note of how Jongin doesn’t even bat an eye at the word ‘boyfriend’.
“I’m his student,” Kyungsoo says instead, bowing slightly.
“Student?” Jongdae lifts a brow, turning toward Jongin, “Kinky.”
Jongin flushes red and proceeds to slap Jongdae quite loudly in the arm.
“He’s my driving student!”
“I’m his driving student.”
Kyungsoo and Jongin say at the same time but while Jongin yells it out, Kyungsoo just states the simple truth. “Oh.” Jongdae shrugs, “Simple mistake.”
“Why were you cooking?” Jongin interrupts, effectively changing the subject to something he’s more comfortable with. “You know you can’t cook. We’ve been through this before.”
“It’s not my fault that the thing caught on fire!”
To that, Kyungsoo silently mouths the question “How?” and Jongin only shrugs.
“Just be happy that the smoke detectors didn’t go off.” Jongdae pouts before he glances at his watch. Before Jongin can say anything, Jongdae’s holding up a hand to stop him. “Save that thought. I have a class.” And with that he’s dashing into the living room, collecting a bag that’s sitting up against the couch and then he’s out the door.
“You have to clean this up!” Jongin’s calling after him but the roommate’s already gone before he can do anything. Jongin sighs. “Sorry about that. For Jongdae. And for the weird burning smell.”
“We could go stand outside until the smell clears?” Kyungsoo suggests, jerking a thumb toward the balcony. Jongin nods and leads them out. “The view’s nice.” Kyungsoo comments as he settles into one of the white plastic chairs that’s seated outside. The younger takes a seat next to him.
“You’re literally looking at a street. There’s nothing nice about that.”
“Being outside is nice..?” Kyungsoo tries again and Jongin laughs.
“Better.”
>>>