What Happens in Vegas
What Happens in Vegas;
Baekhyun/Lu Han/D.O
G
~4,856w
In which three boys embark on a poorly-planned road trip -- armed with nothing more than a car, a stolen credit card, Lu Han's driving skills, Kyungsoo's sarcasm and Baekhyun's wit.
Lol this is a completely random fic inspired by this and this. There is no particular reason for the use of these three as my medium, apart from the fact that they are my biases, and how I managed to vomit 4500+ words on two photos continues to elude me. Enjoy :)
The sky is pitch black in the sleepy hours just after midnight, simply illuminated by the moon, holding on firmly to her ardent audience before her ever more-popular incandescent sister arrives in a few hours to upstage her. The town is asleep, silent save for the low hum of cars zooming through dimly-lit streets, the shops closed and barred with the exception of a brightly-lit 24-hour convenience, a sleepy cashier waiting for the time to pass with half-closed eyes perusing a magazine.
Sluggish eyes droop to a close when the swoosh of the automatic doors snaps her to attention, and she quickly rubs the sleep out of her eyes, her mumbled greeting unintelligible, but the customers don’t seem to mind, and one even gives her a charming eye-smile before rushing off to catch up with his two companions. There is a cheerful banter between the three as they peruse the shelves, deciding between getting spicy crackers or potato chips; in the end they get both.
Let’s get alcohol and I’m starving, can we get a sandwich? flits from behind the sweets aisle, and an impassive third voice deadpans we’re too young for that, hyung with an added get a sandwich but make sure we have enough money for it. There is an excited cheer and a figure whizzes past three aisles to get to the chilled sandwich display, with a shouted I want ham and cheese! following him before the same voice insists that they none of them were underage, which was quickly rebutted with yeah but you’re driving, hyung!
They regroup in front of the checkout and the one carrying the basket stops and suggests they count all the items first to ensure they have enough money - his dark-haired companion, the one who had smiled at her when they came in, dumps three sandwiches inside the basket before emphatically guaranteeing that there won’t be a problem; he has the manager’s credit card. His companions’ eyes grow round, and one’s mouth drops open in shock and the other laughs, eyes nearly disappearing with his huge smile as he insists, with a hint of accented Korean, that they really should get some alcohol.
In the end, an embarrassed boy with eyes the size of dinner plates - strangely familiar - sets the overflowing basket on the till with a murmured, “Sorry, thank you,” as if apologising for their earlier antics. His companions are busy chatting excitedly, and the cashier smiles at the unusual sight of such enthusiasm at the graveyard shift; it must be nice to be young.
“Here you are,” She hands the last of the bags and recites the price on the screen. Big-eyes (as she had dubbed him) unceremoniously dumps all of the bags on Accent, and hisses for Eye-smile to come and pay for everything, guilt written across his face. The dark-haired boy is smug in comparison as he whips out a silver-plated credit card, and happily inserts it in the device.
There is a pause, before he says in a tone of complete bafflement, “Pin?”
The cashier struggles to hide her laugh as there is a sudden burst of chaos and utter panic, bags hastily set on the floor and a jumble of incomprehensible words are exchanged, mixed with what sounded suspiciously like Mandarin; three hands dive for their wallets, and gradually, notes and coins are surrendered to the cashier and she dutifully counts them, the three biting their lips in worry.
Ten minutes later and two bottles of alcohol lighter (and a completely empty wallet for a pitiful Accent), Big-eyes thanks her profusely before herding off a pouting Accent with Eye-smile consoling him with a cheerful, “At least we afforded the sandwiches, hyung!” The automatic doors swoosh shut, and she watches them board a black van, smiling when Eye-smile catches her looking and gives her a wave.
They’d zoomed off when the cashier turns her attention back to her ignored magazine, sighing as she realises she has three hours of work to go. Her eyes skim the glossy page, reading the bold headlines disinterestedly.
New SM group; EXO!, splashed with a photo of the new kids on the entertainment scene. They get younger and younger every year, she thought as she saw one too many baby faces; one, in particular, caught her eye.
He looks awfully familiar; so does the boy next to him. A wide sweep of all twelve boys, and she comes up with another. Her eyes widen.
Big-eyes, Eye-smile and Accent smile up at her.
“We should have gotten the alcohol.”
“Cheer up, hyung, at least we have sandwiches,” was what he wanted to say, but came out more like cheerufhyunf, atlftwehaf thandfwithes, reiterating his point by gobbling a tuna sandwich with much enthusiasm. But his hyung was far from appeased, sending him a glare over his shoulder powerful enough to somehow transport negative energy - it works, and he promptly chokes on his sandwich. He clutches at the person next to him, who had been busy sorting out their purchases; he receives an exasperated eye-roll and a helpful thump on the back. His hyung sniggers from the driver’s seat and mouths serves you right.
“Oh for goodness’ sake, Baekhyun-hyung, chew your food properly and - hyung, car!”
There is a heart-stopping moment as the car scrambles to return to the correct lane after the staring contest had distracted the driver sufficiently enough for his hands to go slack on the wheel, the car veering onto the opposite lane where an incoming vehicle with an incredulous-faced driver was honking madly at them to get out of the way.
An explosion of Mandarin joins the loud screech of tires; the unfortunate backseat passengers, lacking in forward-thinking to wear their seatbelt for safety, were jostled to and fro like a couple of rag dolls in the hands of a child amidst a fit of temper. Kyungsoo prays for God, his mother, and their manager (in that order), oblivious to Baekhyun frantically clutching at his arm.
Baekhyun’s heart seemed to have slid up his oesophagus and decided to give the trapped sandwich some company. His heart had always done what it wanted without consulting Baekhyun, and they had an impersonal, purely professional relationship in that sense, except at the moment he couldn’t really breathe, his face was probably turning blue, and it was his heart’s job to keep him alive; this was obviously a breach of contract.
Baekhyun briefly wondered whether he was actually going to die over a tuna sandwich and a traitorous heart.
All this happened in a space of second, but it felt like eternity (as will the lecture that awaited them when the manager finds out they stole his car and his card). Time seemed to freeze, then kick-start as in a matter of seconds they find themselves safely on the correct lane, a honk blaring at them with an irate driver screaming have you lost your minds, idiots from his open window before zooming off angrily.
Lu Han scrambles to remember his Korean, but his brain is too busy babbling out a string of Mandarin to express his profuse gratitude to the higher being that was merciful enough to have allowed him to survive another day. Baekhyun repeats the same prayers in his head with the most flowery Korean prose he knew, because by some miracle the blow that had forced him back in his seat was effective enough to free his throat’s captive from its constricting confines, and his heart, annoyed by the loss, slid back to its rightful place to carry on with its mundane existence.
Heavy gasps and pounding heartbeats gradually begin to calm before Lu Han finally remembers his Korean. “Everyone okay?” His accent is thick and unrecognizable, but comprehensible enough from Baekhyun’s croaked “Yeah.”; that made two of them, then.
There was a pause, and Lu Han meets the other boy’s eyes on the rear view mirror before Baekhyun looks to his side.
“Uh…Kyungsoo’s dead. I think.”
When Kyungsoo finally wakes up with a worried Lu Han and Baekhyun bent over him and unreasonably stealing all his oxygen, he certainly wishes he were. They further violate his personal space with Lu Han squishing him with a relieved embrace, a squealed Kyungsoo, you’re alive! accompanied by what looked suspiciously like tears, while the master of irony behind him comments Yeah, I told you he wasn’t dead.
He gives the clinging older male a feeble pat on the back before sitting up, only to lie back down because the mother of all headaches had decided to take up residence in his head. He locks all his muscles into place, willing the bile that had risen up from his roiling stomach to go back to where it belonged, which was not the car’s leather seats because the manager will hang, draw and quarter him alive, and his eyes are bigger than normal, even bigger than the normal dinner-plate size, and for that reason Baekhyun asks if he’s okay with genuine worry.
Kyungsoo can’t speak without spewing his dinner all over the place, so he points to his head instead. Lu Han runs a hand through it before encountering a lump the size of an egg on the back, where Kyungsoo had slammed it on the car window during their brief dance with death.
“You’ve hit your head,” Lu Han confirms worriedly, and there is a panicked exchange between his two companions as they discuss whether they should go back to the convenience store and buy some ice, or should they just go back home? But how do they get him inside without making a lot of noise, should they ring somebody in advance to let them know they were coming? Baekhyun is shaking his head, distrustful; they’ll tell the managers, those traitors, he insists, but Lu Han assures that they could choose between Sehun or Jongin - he had blackmail material for both if they didn’t agree to keep their silence.
Meanwhile, Kyungsoo is already beginning to feel better; he hadn’t had a headache like this since he woke up the morning after the management announced EXO’s debut date; there had been so many tears and an overflowing sense of happiness that night, with all twelve boys getting together and going all out with food and drinks. He didn’t drink much - or at all, to be truthful - but Jongin and Chanyeol had egged him on, and soon everyone was downing shots and he didn’t realise alcohol could make a party three times, five times more fun, more wild, and more exciting, though to be completely truthful again, everything had been a foggy blur after the second tequila shot.
The next morning wasn’t so much fun, and neither was the stinging lecture of their incensed manager, but there had been smiles amidst bleary eyes and pounding headaches as they suffered the wrath of the storm together.
The pounding on his head was nothing more than a mild throb by the time he was able to sit up without losing his last meal; the two boys in front of him seemed to have forgotten him in favour of exchanging dirty secrets about the absent members. Lu Han was a veritable fount of knowledge on the up-close-and-personal, good, bad and ugly exploits of their Chinese (and two Koreans, but mostly the Korean who was unlucky enough to have a face shaped like a steamed bun and have Lu Han pointing it out all the time) counterparts, while Baekhyun refuses to lose the apparent contest of who possessed the most knowledge on EXO dirt and elaborates on that one time he’d caught Joonmyun-hyung trying on a tube of red lipstick from a coordi-noona’s bag when he thought no one was looking-
“I’m fine, guys, thanks for your concern,” The two boys turn to Kyungsoo, smiling obliviously at his caustic tone before Lu Han blurts, “Did you know that Chanyeol likes to wear dresses while dancing and singing ‘Gee’?”
“He does Taeyeon-noona’s parts best,” Baekhyun adds, and the two cackle like hyenas.
The mild throb is back to a pounding headache.
It’s been half an hour on an endless stretch of a highway with no street signs, or even landmarks (just a bunch of trees now and then) to give any tell-tale clues as to where they were. Lu Han absently waves a hand behind his shoulder for the spicy crackers - Baekhyun acknowledges the unspoken request by helpfully holding up the bag - and Lu Han stuffs a handful of crackers in his mouth. He chews thoroughly before he voices out his thoughts, because he was raised to be a well-mannered individual and one mustn’t talk with one’s mouth full, after all.
“So; does anyone know where we’re going?”
An awkward silence greets his question. He meets Kyungsoo’s eyes on the rear-view mirror, and they are growing wider by the millisecond.
“But hyung, I thought you knew where we were going.” Beside him, Baekhyun is nodding his head earnestly, the spicy cracker that had frozen midway at the question proceeding with its journey to Baekhyun’s mouth at the assurance of Kyungsoo’s statement. Lu Han’s passengers smile at him expectantly.
“Ah…let’s pull up, shall we?”
If anyone thought it odd that a black van was pulled up at the side of a dead highway, they would never quite know because the highway was just that - dead. The moon shone on the three boys almost sympathetically, granting them a little bit of company in the otherwise deserted stretch where their only companion was the chilly night breeze and occasional passers-by - of the flying, feathered variety.
The trio don’t seem to mind - or notice - their inanimate surroundings as they were too busy ransacking the car in fervent hope that they would unearth a map or guide somewhere - I’m sure manager-hyung keeps one in here, I’ve seen him using it, an optimistic Kyungsoo states, in a sincere hope that he hadn’t imagined that incident in his desperation; he’s sure he hasn’t, it’s in here somewhere (he hopes).
Lu Han feels completely inadequate, unfamiliar with this manager’s car, but doesn’t recall if EXO-M’s car had a map either; it did have a secret stash of porn magazines under the driver seat (no need to judge, their managers must get bored waiting for them all the time while they do their schedules, and they were human too; and humans have needs), so he supposed that if they were stranded here, at least they’d be entertained somewhat. He decides to check under the driver seat of this car as well; there were always treasures to be found, treasures to be added to his treasure trove of blackmail.
Baekhyun gropes underneath the back seats, perking up when his fingers encounter the edge of a book; he pulls it out enthusiastically, only to have his spirits defused when it isn’t a map - but wait a minute, this was the manga that he’d lent Jongin but never got back, and that liar said he never borrowed it in the first place, and he’d spent three hours turning his room upside down only to find it here-
“Hyung, this is not the time to be reading Naruto,” Kyungsoo barks, grabbing the much-abused manga and throwing it over his shoulder. It narrowly misses Lu Han’s head, who had just unearthed a racy magazine from underneath the driver’s seat - heh, managers were so predictable.
“Nice rack better be a street sign, hyung,” Lu Han hurriedly stuffs the magazine back in its place at Kyungsoo’s menacing growl, and Baekhyun gives up on the back seats, clambering outside to check the boot.
A sudden booming cheer breaks the sleepy stillness of the deserted highway, making Kyungsoo jump and hit his head on an arm rest and Lu Han tear his eyes off a certain blonde ninja’s adventures and pretend to be busy searching. In between a cacophony of oh yeah, who’s the man, and bow to me, for I am your king, a proud Baekhyun presents the holy grail, their salvation - a dog-eared, coffee-stained map.
Kyungsoo weeps, whether from relief or from the return of the pounding headache (since he’d hit his head in the exact same spot of the lump) no one knew, and Lu Han gladly pledges his allegiance to the new ruler of South Korea (though does he have to, if his citizenship was Chinese?).
Baekhyun decides that being a king was too much trouble - five minutes into the regime of Emperor Baekhyun, the First of his Name, and his subjects were already starting a rebellion.
Do Kyungsoo, that upstart, was pointing out that he wasn’t much of a king when he couldn’t even read a map, and was obviously already plotting to overthrow him with an added remark of how do you expect to rule when you probably don’t even know your way to the bathroom? Baekhyun is indignant at this treachery and appeals to his royal adviser for help, the first subject to swear allegiance, but his adviser was busy studying the map, before looking up with an adorable smile lighting up his baby face and inquiring which way is north?
Cute, yes; loyal too - unfortunate lack of a sense of direction, however…his royal adviser certainly left much to be desired.
And so ends the twenty-minute reign of Emperor Baekhyun, First and Last of his Name, and he begrudgingly hands the kingdom’s reigns to the parvenu - he simply cannot keep up with the youth these days, conveniently disregarding that there was only a few months between their births, and bids a tearful goodbye to his dreams of a wealthy regime where he could have all nine of the Girls Generation as his wives, and he’d condemn rebels like Do Kyungsoo to a lifetime of scrubbing toilets-
“Pay attention, Baekhyun-hyung.” Alas, he was now just another minion, just another slave to the new dictatorship; he begrudgingly turns his attention to the map.
Another twenty minutes pass before they acknowledge the hopelessness of the whole situation because, first and foremost, they didn’t even know where they were - neither could they, for the life of them, figure out where the EXO dorm even was in the map. Baekhyun’s enthusiastic Oh, oh, I think I see our neighbour’s garden! is brutally shot down by Kyungsoo’s hyung, this isn’t Google Maps Street View, for the love of God, and Lu Han is steadily growing annoyed by the exchange. The reality of being lost and stranded in this deserted road - which was looking more and more like the perfect setting for a horror movie - was slowly beginning to sink in.
With the scenes of that horrific first episode of The Walking Dead - that he finally forced himself to watch after that stupid Sehun wounded his pride by calling him a coward - running wildly through his mind, Lu Han is choked up with fear and launches a heavily-accented tirade that we’re lost and who’s fault is it and anyway, this would never have happened if we never left the dorm, besides, why didn’t you guys plan anything before we left-
His panicked monologue is understood enough (although Kyungsoo looks like he’s still trying to translate it in his head judging by his baffled expression) by Baekhyun, who scoffs defensively that actually, Lu Han-hyung wasn’t even supposed to come, just because you caught us sneaking out and we agreed to let you come just so you’d keep your mouth shut, when originally it was just supposed to be me and Kyungsoo, and anyway what the heck was hyung doing in the K dorm anyway, just because Joonmyun-hyung was in the M dorm visiting Jongdae-hyung doesn’t mean they had to even the numbers out-
Lu Han rolls his eyes at this, as if we were going to let Joonmyun sleep on the sofa, and he told me to take his bed anyway, and oh, please tell me more how far you’d get when neither of you know how to drive-
But at least we’d still be in Seoul, not a hundred miles away in the middle of Nowhereville because hyung is such a great driver-
Lu Han’s jaw drops open. “You ungrateful little-and who’s amazing idea was it to steal a credit card without even knowing the stupid PIN-”
“Oh, don’t try to make me the bad guy here-”
“Enough!” Enoughenoughenoughoughough…the mountains echo, and the quarrelling duo accomplishes a feat they never even thought possible - their eyes are the size of Kyungsoo’s at the volume of that roar. For such a pint-sized guy he certainly had an impressive set of lungs.
“Are we calm now?” It was hard to believe he was the youngest, but the two older males, whipped to submission, meekly nodded their heads instead. “So, let’s try again; any suggestions?”
Kyungsoo suggests turning the car around and heading the direction they came from; they were bound to find a familiar street or landmark eventually.
Lu Han agrees, but suggested calling somebody to let them know they were lost and maybe they could help them find their way back - who though?
Wu Fan? He’d kill us if he found out, and since we’d wake him from his beauty sleep, he’d torture us first (Lu Han)
Joonmyun? Too risky, he’d probably wake up Wu Fan-hyung and half of Seoul with his screaming (Baekhyun)
Minseok or Jongdae? [The former] won’t wake up even with the zombie apocalypse camped on his front door and [the latter], well; how much are you willing to pay for his silence? (Lu Han)
Yixing? He has no sense of direction (Lu Han) Just like you then, hyung (Baekhyun)
Chanyeol? Yeah, how about no (Baekhyun)
Tao? He’d tell Wu Fan (Lu Han)
Jongin? Probably useless and besides, are you willing to eat kimchi spaghetti every day for the next five weeks (Kyungsoo)
And lastly, Sehun. Hmm…never mind. (All)
“I suppose we’ll stick to your plan, then,” Lu Han concludes.
“What, but that’s so boring,” Two stony-faced heads turn at Baekhyun’s unwanted feedback; he shrugs. “It’s only three in the morning; we have hours to go before they start looking.”
“Oh, really? And where do you suggest we go, genius?” Baekhyun jumps enthusiastically at the question, dripping with sarcasm though it may be.
“I dunno; let’s go to China or something. Whaddaya think?”
Even his eye-smile could not save him.
They might as well have gone to China, or they might even be in China already; everything looks the same when you’re completely and utterly lost.
Lu Han is confused as to how a simple stretch suddenly turned into a series of winding turns and forked roads when they were coming from the opposite direction; he had no memory of having to make the decision of turning left or right as many times as he’d had to do in the past hour.
It might have something to with the fact that a few hours ago (back when the destination didn’t matter), they’d blasted out the entire EXO mini-CD - both versions - and had even danced to every track - yes, even the driver, with one hand barely on the wheel - and sung all the songs in both languages - yes, even Two Moons, because suck on that Wu Fan and Chanyeol.
An hour later, and they seem to be back in the city again, yet nothing looks familiar - Lu Han pulls up in a random car park and emphatically states that they were still lost, and what should they do now? And also, somebody pass him his sandwich - he was starving.
Kyungsoo had already emptied a whole king-sized bag of potato chips by himself, unconsciously stuffing his face in his worry - he was going to suffer for his tomorrow, in a bloated-face way - while a pouting Baekhyun, who had staunchly refused to communicate with anyone after receiving a stinging setdown a few miles back, had been consoling himself with a whole bar of chocolate (also king-sized).
All three will probably be able to rival Minseok tomorrow; that will comfort the long-suffering eldest, at least.
It’s five in the morning, and the queen of the night sky is preparing to retire; the sky is already turning gray, and soon, the brighter queen would take her stage once more - that meant the city itself was already rousing from its deep sleep, and soon, people would be looking for them.
“Why did you guys decide to run away?”
Lu Han’s tone was non-accusatory, simply thoughtful with a mixture of curiosity, interested to find the reason why he’d caught the two younger males sneaking out of the quiet dorm in the first place, at the graveyard hour of just past midnight.
“We didn’t run away,” Baekhyun snorted out, donning his hunter hat to protect his ears from a sudden gust of cold wind; Lu Han adjusted his beanie to do the same, and Kyungsoo tugged his coat lapels together. They shiver a moment before Baekhyun continues, tone thick with uncertainty, “We just - I don’t know, really.”
“We just wanted to get away, for a little bit.”
Kyungsoo’s quiet statement is met with neither agreement nor disagreement - yet Lu Han understands, Baekhyun understands. It was a confusing subject, with a heavy dose of contradiction.
They’ve trained for years - not the formal training, because Baekhyun had only a year of that - but dreams counted, and all three had been dreaming of this ever since…well, the exact time is irrelevant, really.
And now they were here, the dream was fulfilled; they were the ones standing on the stage, no longer with the audience, and it was their names being screamed by the ardent crowd, no longer them shouting themselves hoarse with countless names of idols being ripped from their throats.
They had new identities now, yet nobody said the transition from a struggling trainee to a popular idol was easy - at times it was difficult to fathom the thought that their friends as trainees may not want to be friends anymore, or a simple trip to a fast food joint could bring an onslaught of adoring fans.
Then there were more difficult thoughts to swallow, in which they had to face the disappointment or anger of loved ones, because the entertainment industry could be your greatest ally this year yet the premeditator of your downfall ten years from now, because nobody stays young and popular forever and what were they supposed to do after all of this?
And what of the slight feeling of disappointment when the cashier in that convenience store hadn't even recognised them? It was early days yet, but there was a heavy feeling that perhaps, when their popularity had reached its peak, they would start wishing that it would all go back to the beginning and they were nobodies again, because everywhere they go, people would know them?
It seems much too early for these thoughts; they’d barely passed the fourth month since their debut and they were already so cynical about the whole situation.
Yet, as they stared at the first rays of sunlight breaking through the gray clouds from their current position - what seemed to be the steps of a fire exit on an unknown building - it was a lot to ponder, and they let their thoughts overcome them as they watched the rustling city slowly illuminated with the gentle glow of early morning.
“Ah, there they are-hyung!”
The spell is broken; Baekhyun turns, yet Kyungsoo looks down for a moment, composing himself, and Lu Han continues to stare at the distance yet a smile quirks his lips at the sound of the familiar voices approaching.
Eventually, all three turn with small smiles to face a waving Chanyeol, grinning Jongin and seemingly half-asleep Sehun giving them a lazy wave.
“Oh, you three are in so much trouble,” Chanyeol cackles with glee, which Baekhyun responds with an eye-roll and a sarcastic duh, why the hell do you think you’re here? If we’re in trouble then you three are as well, and Chanyeol has no reply to that, quickly launching a tirade of complaints concerning his missing invitation to this private party.
“Thanks for coming, Jongin, but did you have to bring Chanyeol?” Jongin shrugged; he’d tried to leave the dorm as discreetly as possible since he’d received Kyungsoo’s call half an hour ago, but bumped into Sehun who had been sleepwalking to the toilet, and the “I’m going jogging” excuse was just not going to cut it if he was wearing jeans, and by the way, had he seen Lu Han? Jongin had never been particularly good at lying.
They’d begrudgingly agreed to wake Chanyeol because they were halfway down the road when they realised that neither of them knew which bus to take, or where the location of this unknown building even was, whereas Chanyeol knew Seoul like the back of his hand.
“Anyway, hyung, you owe me breakfast,” Jongin concludes with a grin, and Kyungsoo rolls his eyes but smiles.
They board the car, and are comfortably on the right road thanks to Chanyeol’s navigation when Sehun asks no one in particular, mouth full of leftover spicy crackers, “By the way, hyung, where did you go? What did you do?” Chanyeol echoes the question enthusiastically; Jongin, who had been dozing on the backseat, opened both eyes in obvious interest.
Lu Han catches Kyungsoo and Baekhyun’s eyes on the rear view mirror; there is an unspoken agreement there, a sudden bond that was formed by the night’s exploits - what happens in Vegas - or creepy deserted highway - stays in Vegas, after all.
In unison, all three smile. “Nothing.”
Just for reference, the final scene was once again inspired by this and this.
Feedback is always most appreciated as I am always looking for ways to improve my writing. Thank you for reading! :)
Baekhyun/Lu Han/D.O
G
~4,856w
In which three boys embark on a poorly-planned road trip -- armed with nothing more than a car, a stolen credit card, Lu Han's driving skills, Kyungsoo's sarcasm and Baekhyun's wit.
Lol this is a completely random fic inspired by this and this. There is no particular reason for the use of these three as my medium, apart from the fact that they are my biases, and how I managed to vomit 4500+ words on two photos continues to elude me. Enjoy :)
The sky is pitch black in the sleepy hours just after midnight, simply illuminated by the moon, holding on firmly to her ardent audience before her ever more-popular incandescent sister arrives in a few hours to upstage her. The town is asleep, silent save for the low hum of cars zooming through dimly-lit streets, the shops closed and barred with the exception of a brightly-lit 24-hour convenience, a sleepy cashier waiting for the time to pass with half-closed eyes perusing a magazine.
Sluggish eyes droop to a close when the swoosh of the automatic doors snaps her to attention, and she quickly rubs the sleep out of her eyes, her mumbled greeting unintelligible, but the customers don’t seem to mind, and one even gives her a charming eye-smile before rushing off to catch up with his two companions. There is a cheerful banter between the three as they peruse the shelves, deciding between getting spicy crackers or potato chips; in the end they get both.
Let’s get alcohol and I’m starving, can we get a sandwich? flits from behind the sweets aisle, and an impassive third voice deadpans we’re too young for that, hyung with an added get a sandwich but make sure we have enough money for it. There is an excited cheer and a figure whizzes past three aisles to get to the chilled sandwich display, with a shouted I want ham and cheese! following him before the same voice insists that they none of them were underage, which was quickly rebutted with yeah but you’re driving, hyung!
They regroup in front of the checkout and the one carrying the basket stops and suggests they count all the items first to ensure they have enough money - his dark-haired companion, the one who had smiled at her when they came in, dumps three sandwiches inside the basket before emphatically guaranteeing that there won’t be a problem; he has the manager’s credit card. His companions’ eyes grow round, and one’s mouth drops open in shock and the other laughs, eyes nearly disappearing with his huge smile as he insists, with a hint of accented Korean, that they really should get some alcohol.
In the end, an embarrassed boy with eyes the size of dinner plates - strangely familiar - sets the overflowing basket on the till with a murmured, “Sorry, thank you,” as if apologising for their earlier antics. His companions are busy chatting excitedly, and the cashier smiles at the unusual sight of such enthusiasm at the graveyard shift; it must be nice to be young.
“Here you are,” She hands the last of the bags and recites the price on the screen. Big-eyes (as she had dubbed him) unceremoniously dumps all of the bags on Accent, and hisses for Eye-smile to come and pay for everything, guilt written across his face. The dark-haired boy is smug in comparison as he whips out a silver-plated credit card, and happily inserts it in the device.
There is a pause, before he says in a tone of complete bafflement, “Pin?”
The cashier struggles to hide her laugh as there is a sudden burst of chaos and utter panic, bags hastily set on the floor and a jumble of incomprehensible words are exchanged, mixed with what sounded suspiciously like Mandarin; three hands dive for their wallets, and gradually, notes and coins are surrendered to the cashier and she dutifully counts them, the three biting their lips in worry.
Ten minutes later and two bottles of alcohol lighter (and a completely empty wallet for a pitiful Accent), Big-eyes thanks her profusely before herding off a pouting Accent with Eye-smile consoling him with a cheerful, “At least we afforded the sandwiches, hyung!” The automatic doors swoosh shut, and she watches them board a black van, smiling when Eye-smile catches her looking and gives her a wave.
They’d zoomed off when the cashier turns her attention back to her ignored magazine, sighing as she realises she has three hours of work to go. Her eyes skim the glossy page, reading the bold headlines disinterestedly.
New SM group; EXO!, splashed with a photo of the new kids on the entertainment scene. They get younger and younger every year, she thought as she saw one too many baby faces; one, in particular, caught her eye.
He looks awfully familiar; so does the boy next to him. A wide sweep of all twelve boys, and she comes up with another. Her eyes widen.
Big-eyes, Eye-smile and Accent smile up at her.
“We should have gotten the alcohol.”
“Cheer up, hyung, at least we have sandwiches,” was what he wanted to say, but came out more like cheerufhyunf, atlftwehaf thandfwithes, reiterating his point by gobbling a tuna sandwich with much enthusiasm. But his hyung was far from appeased, sending him a glare over his shoulder powerful enough to somehow transport negative energy - it works, and he promptly chokes on his sandwich. He clutches at the person next to him, who had been busy sorting out their purchases; he receives an exasperated eye-roll and a helpful thump on the back. His hyung sniggers from the driver’s seat and mouths serves you right.
“Oh for goodness’ sake, Baekhyun-hyung, chew your food properly and - hyung, car!”
There is a heart-stopping moment as the car scrambles to return to the correct lane after the staring contest had distracted the driver sufficiently enough for his hands to go slack on the wheel, the car veering onto the opposite lane where an incoming vehicle with an incredulous-faced driver was honking madly at them to get out of the way.
An explosion of Mandarin joins the loud screech of tires; the unfortunate backseat passengers, lacking in forward-thinking to wear their seatbelt for safety, were jostled to and fro like a couple of rag dolls in the hands of a child amidst a fit of temper. Kyungsoo prays for God, his mother, and their manager (in that order), oblivious to Baekhyun frantically clutching at his arm.
Baekhyun’s heart seemed to have slid up his oesophagus and decided to give the trapped sandwich some company. His heart had always done what it wanted without consulting Baekhyun, and they had an impersonal, purely professional relationship in that sense, except at the moment he couldn’t really breathe, his face was probably turning blue, and it was his heart’s job to keep him alive; this was obviously a breach of contract.
Baekhyun briefly wondered whether he was actually going to die over a tuna sandwich and a traitorous heart.
All this happened in a space of second, but it felt like eternity (as will the lecture that awaited them when the manager finds out they stole his car and his card). Time seemed to freeze, then kick-start as in a matter of seconds they find themselves safely on the correct lane, a honk blaring at them with an irate driver screaming have you lost your minds, idiots from his open window before zooming off angrily.
Lu Han scrambles to remember his Korean, but his brain is too busy babbling out a string of Mandarin to express his profuse gratitude to the higher being that was merciful enough to have allowed him to survive another day. Baekhyun repeats the same prayers in his head with the most flowery Korean prose he knew, because by some miracle the blow that had forced him back in his seat was effective enough to free his throat’s captive from its constricting confines, and his heart, annoyed by the loss, slid back to its rightful place to carry on with its mundane existence.
Heavy gasps and pounding heartbeats gradually begin to calm before Lu Han finally remembers his Korean. “Everyone okay?” His accent is thick and unrecognizable, but comprehensible enough from Baekhyun’s croaked “Yeah.”; that made two of them, then.
There was a pause, and Lu Han meets the other boy’s eyes on the rear view mirror before Baekhyun looks to his side.
“Uh…Kyungsoo’s dead. I think.”
When Kyungsoo finally wakes up with a worried Lu Han and Baekhyun bent over him and unreasonably stealing all his oxygen, he certainly wishes he were. They further violate his personal space with Lu Han squishing him with a relieved embrace, a squealed Kyungsoo, you’re alive! accompanied by what looked suspiciously like tears, while the master of irony behind him comments Yeah, I told you he wasn’t dead.
He gives the clinging older male a feeble pat on the back before sitting up, only to lie back down because the mother of all headaches had decided to take up residence in his head. He locks all his muscles into place, willing the bile that had risen up from his roiling stomach to go back to where it belonged, which was not the car’s leather seats because the manager will hang, draw and quarter him alive, and his eyes are bigger than normal, even bigger than the normal dinner-plate size, and for that reason Baekhyun asks if he’s okay with genuine worry.
Kyungsoo can’t speak without spewing his dinner all over the place, so he points to his head instead. Lu Han runs a hand through it before encountering a lump the size of an egg on the back, where Kyungsoo had slammed it on the car window during their brief dance with death.
“You’ve hit your head,” Lu Han confirms worriedly, and there is a panicked exchange between his two companions as they discuss whether they should go back to the convenience store and buy some ice, or should they just go back home? But how do they get him inside without making a lot of noise, should they ring somebody in advance to let them know they were coming? Baekhyun is shaking his head, distrustful; they’ll tell the managers, those traitors, he insists, but Lu Han assures that they could choose between Sehun or Jongin - he had blackmail material for both if they didn’t agree to keep their silence.
Meanwhile, Kyungsoo is already beginning to feel better; he hadn’t had a headache like this since he woke up the morning after the management announced EXO’s debut date; there had been so many tears and an overflowing sense of happiness that night, with all twelve boys getting together and going all out with food and drinks. He didn’t drink much - or at all, to be truthful - but Jongin and Chanyeol had egged him on, and soon everyone was downing shots and he didn’t realise alcohol could make a party three times, five times more fun, more wild, and more exciting, though to be completely truthful again, everything had been a foggy blur after the second tequila shot.
The next morning wasn’t so much fun, and neither was the stinging lecture of their incensed manager, but there had been smiles amidst bleary eyes and pounding headaches as they suffered the wrath of the storm together.
The pounding on his head was nothing more than a mild throb by the time he was able to sit up without losing his last meal; the two boys in front of him seemed to have forgotten him in favour of exchanging dirty secrets about the absent members. Lu Han was a veritable fount of knowledge on the up-close-and-personal, good, bad and ugly exploits of their Chinese (and two Koreans, but mostly the Korean who was unlucky enough to have a face shaped like a steamed bun and have Lu Han pointing it out all the time) counterparts, while Baekhyun refuses to lose the apparent contest of who possessed the most knowledge on EXO dirt and elaborates on that one time he’d caught Joonmyun-hyung trying on a tube of red lipstick from a coordi-noona’s bag when he thought no one was looking-
“I’m fine, guys, thanks for your concern,” The two boys turn to Kyungsoo, smiling obliviously at his caustic tone before Lu Han blurts, “Did you know that Chanyeol likes to wear dresses while dancing and singing ‘Gee’?”
“He does Taeyeon-noona’s parts best,” Baekhyun adds, and the two cackle like hyenas.
The mild throb is back to a pounding headache.
It’s been half an hour on an endless stretch of a highway with no street signs, or even landmarks (just a bunch of trees now and then) to give any tell-tale clues as to where they were. Lu Han absently waves a hand behind his shoulder for the spicy crackers - Baekhyun acknowledges the unspoken request by helpfully holding up the bag - and Lu Han stuffs a handful of crackers in his mouth. He chews thoroughly before he voices out his thoughts, because he was raised to be a well-mannered individual and one mustn’t talk with one’s mouth full, after all.
“So; does anyone know where we’re going?”
An awkward silence greets his question. He meets Kyungsoo’s eyes on the rear-view mirror, and they are growing wider by the millisecond.
“But hyung, I thought you knew where we were going.” Beside him, Baekhyun is nodding his head earnestly, the spicy cracker that had frozen midway at the question proceeding with its journey to Baekhyun’s mouth at the assurance of Kyungsoo’s statement. Lu Han’s passengers smile at him expectantly.
“Ah…let’s pull up, shall we?”
If anyone thought it odd that a black van was pulled up at the side of a dead highway, they would never quite know because the highway was just that - dead. The moon shone on the three boys almost sympathetically, granting them a little bit of company in the otherwise deserted stretch where their only companion was the chilly night breeze and occasional passers-by - of the flying, feathered variety.
The trio don’t seem to mind - or notice - their inanimate surroundings as they were too busy ransacking the car in fervent hope that they would unearth a map or guide somewhere - I’m sure manager-hyung keeps one in here, I’ve seen him using it, an optimistic Kyungsoo states, in a sincere hope that he hadn’t imagined that incident in his desperation; he’s sure he hasn’t, it’s in here somewhere (he hopes).
Lu Han feels completely inadequate, unfamiliar with this manager’s car, but doesn’t recall if EXO-M’s car had a map either; it did have a secret stash of porn magazines under the driver seat (no need to judge, their managers must get bored waiting for them all the time while they do their schedules, and they were human too; and humans have needs), so he supposed that if they were stranded here, at least they’d be entertained somewhat. He decides to check under the driver seat of this car as well; there were always treasures to be found, treasures to be added to his treasure trove of blackmail.
Baekhyun gropes underneath the back seats, perking up when his fingers encounter the edge of a book; he pulls it out enthusiastically, only to have his spirits defused when it isn’t a map - but wait a minute, this was the manga that he’d lent Jongin but never got back, and that liar said he never borrowed it in the first place, and he’d spent three hours turning his room upside down only to find it here-
“Hyung, this is not the time to be reading Naruto,” Kyungsoo barks, grabbing the much-abused manga and throwing it over his shoulder. It narrowly misses Lu Han’s head, who had just unearthed a racy magazine from underneath the driver’s seat - heh, managers were so predictable.
“Nice rack better be a street sign, hyung,” Lu Han hurriedly stuffs the magazine back in its place at Kyungsoo’s menacing growl, and Baekhyun gives up on the back seats, clambering outside to check the boot.
A sudden booming cheer breaks the sleepy stillness of the deserted highway, making Kyungsoo jump and hit his head on an arm rest and Lu Han tear his eyes off a certain blonde ninja’s adventures and pretend to be busy searching. In between a cacophony of oh yeah, who’s the man, and bow to me, for I am your king, a proud Baekhyun presents the holy grail, their salvation - a dog-eared, coffee-stained map.
Kyungsoo weeps, whether from relief or from the return of the pounding headache (since he’d hit his head in the exact same spot of the lump) no one knew, and Lu Han gladly pledges his allegiance to the new ruler of South Korea (though does he have to, if his citizenship was Chinese?).
Baekhyun decides that being a king was too much trouble - five minutes into the regime of Emperor Baekhyun, the First of his Name, and his subjects were already starting a rebellion.
Do Kyungsoo, that upstart, was pointing out that he wasn’t much of a king when he couldn’t even read a map, and was obviously already plotting to overthrow him with an added remark of how do you expect to rule when you probably don’t even know your way to the bathroom? Baekhyun is indignant at this treachery and appeals to his royal adviser for help, the first subject to swear allegiance, but his adviser was busy studying the map, before looking up with an adorable smile lighting up his baby face and inquiring which way is north?
Cute, yes; loyal too - unfortunate lack of a sense of direction, however…his royal adviser certainly left much to be desired.
And so ends the twenty-minute reign of Emperor Baekhyun, First and Last of his Name, and he begrudgingly hands the kingdom’s reigns to the parvenu - he simply cannot keep up with the youth these days, conveniently disregarding that there was only a few months between their births, and bids a tearful goodbye to his dreams of a wealthy regime where he could have all nine of the Girls Generation as his wives, and he’d condemn rebels like Do Kyungsoo to a lifetime of scrubbing toilets-
“Pay attention, Baekhyun-hyung.” Alas, he was now just another minion, just another slave to the new dictatorship; he begrudgingly turns his attention to the map.
Another twenty minutes pass before they acknowledge the hopelessness of the whole situation because, first and foremost, they didn’t even know where they were - neither could they, for the life of them, figure out where the EXO dorm even was in the map. Baekhyun’s enthusiastic Oh, oh, I think I see our neighbour’s garden! is brutally shot down by Kyungsoo’s hyung, this isn’t Google Maps Street View, for the love of God, and Lu Han is steadily growing annoyed by the exchange. The reality of being lost and stranded in this deserted road - which was looking more and more like the perfect setting for a horror movie - was slowly beginning to sink in.
With the scenes of that horrific first episode of The Walking Dead - that he finally forced himself to watch after that stupid Sehun wounded his pride by calling him a coward - running wildly through his mind, Lu Han is choked up with fear and launches a heavily-accented tirade that we’re lost and who’s fault is it and anyway, this would never have happened if we never left the dorm, besides, why didn’t you guys plan anything before we left-
His panicked monologue is understood enough (although Kyungsoo looks like he’s still trying to translate it in his head judging by his baffled expression) by Baekhyun, who scoffs defensively that actually, Lu Han-hyung wasn’t even supposed to come, just because you caught us sneaking out and we agreed to let you come just so you’d keep your mouth shut, when originally it was just supposed to be me and Kyungsoo, and anyway what the heck was hyung doing in the K dorm anyway, just because Joonmyun-hyung was in the M dorm visiting Jongdae-hyung doesn’t mean they had to even the numbers out-
Lu Han rolls his eyes at this, as if we were going to let Joonmyun sleep on the sofa, and he told me to take his bed anyway, and oh, please tell me more how far you’d get when neither of you know how to drive-
But at least we’d still be in Seoul, not a hundred miles away in the middle of Nowhereville because hyung is such a great driver-
Lu Han’s jaw drops open. “You ungrateful little-and who’s amazing idea was it to steal a credit card without even knowing the stupid PIN-”
“Oh, don’t try to make me the bad guy here-”
“Enough!” Enoughenoughenoughoughough…the mountains echo, and the quarrelling duo accomplishes a feat they never even thought possible - their eyes are the size of Kyungsoo’s at the volume of that roar. For such a pint-sized guy he certainly had an impressive set of lungs.
“Are we calm now?” It was hard to believe he was the youngest, but the two older males, whipped to submission, meekly nodded their heads instead. “So, let’s try again; any suggestions?”
Kyungsoo suggests turning the car around and heading the direction they came from; they were bound to find a familiar street or landmark eventually.
Lu Han agrees, but suggested calling somebody to let them know they were lost and maybe they could help them find their way back - who though?
Wu Fan? He’d kill us if he found out, and since we’d wake him from his beauty sleep, he’d torture us first (Lu Han)
Joonmyun? Too risky, he’d probably wake up Wu Fan-hyung and half of Seoul with his screaming (Baekhyun)
Minseok or Jongdae? [The former] won’t wake up even with the zombie apocalypse camped on his front door and [the latter], well; how much are you willing to pay for his silence? (Lu Han)
Yixing? He has no sense of direction (Lu Han) Just like you then, hyung (Baekhyun)
Chanyeol? Yeah, how about no (Baekhyun)
Tao? He’d tell Wu Fan (Lu Han)
Jongin? Probably useless and besides, are you willing to eat kimchi spaghetti every day for the next five weeks (Kyungsoo)
And lastly, Sehun. Hmm…never mind. (All)
“I suppose we’ll stick to your plan, then,” Lu Han concludes.
“What, but that’s so boring,” Two stony-faced heads turn at Baekhyun’s unwanted feedback; he shrugs. “It’s only three in the morning; we have hours to go before they start looking.”
“Oh, really? And where do you suggest we go, genius?” Baekhyun jumps enthusiastically at the question, dripping with sarcasm though it may be.
“I dunno; let’s go to China or something. Whaddaya think?”
Even his eye-smile could not save him.
They might as well have gone to China, or they might even be in China already; everything looks the same when you’re completely and utterly lost.
Lu Han is confused as to how a simple stretch suddenly turned into a series of winding turns and forked roads when they were coming from the opposite direction; he had no memory of having to make the decision of turning left or right as many times as he’d had to do in the past hour.
It might have something to with the fact that a few hours ago (back when the destination didn’t matter), they’d blasted out the entire EXO mini-CD - both versions - and had even danced to every track - yes, even the driver, with one hand barely on the wheel - and sung all the songs in both languages - yes, even Two Moons, because suck on that Wu Fan and Chanyeol.
An hour later, and they seem to be back in the city again, yet nothing looks familiar - Lu Han pulls up in a random car park and emphatically states that they were still lost, and what should they do now? And also, somebody pass him his sandwich - he was starving.
Kyungsoo had already emptied a whole king-sized bag of potato chips by himself, unconsciously stuffing his face in his worry - he was going to suffer for his tomorrow, in a bloated-face way - while a pouting Baekhyun, who had staunchly refused to communicate with anyone after receiving a stinging setdown a few miles back, had been consoling himself with a whole bar of chocolate (also king-sized).
All three will probably be able to rival Minseok tomorrow; that will comfort the long-suffering eldest, at least.
It’s five in the morning, and the queen of the night sky is preparing to retire; the sky is already turning gray, and soon, the brighter queen would take her stage once more - that meant the city itself was already rousing from its deep sleep, and soon, people would be looking for them.
“Why did you guys decide to run away?”
Lu Han’s tone was non-accusatory, simply thoughtful with a mixture of curiosity, interested to find the reason why he’d caught the two younger males sneaking out of the quiet dorm in the first place, at the graveyard hour of just past midnight.
“We didn’t run away,” Baekhyun snorted out, donning his hunter hat to protect his ears from a sudden gust of cold wind; Lu Han adjusted his beanie to do the same, and Kyungsoo tugged his coat lapels together. They shiver a moment before Baekhyun continues, tone thick with uncertainty, “We just - I don’t know, really.”
“We just wanted to get away, for a little bit.”
Kyungsoo’s quiet statement is met with neither agreement nor disagreement - yet Lu Han understands, Baekhyun understands. It was a confusing subject, with a heavy dose of contradiction.
They’ve trained for years - not the formal training, because Baekhyun had only a year of that - but dreams counted, and all three had been dreaming of this ever since…well, the exact time is irrelevant, really.
And now they were here, the dream was fulfilled; they were the ones standing on the stage, no longer with the audience, and it was their names being screamed by the ardent crowd, no longer them shouting themselves hoarse with countless names of idols being ripped from their throats.
They had new identities now, yet nobody said the transition from a struggling trainee to a popular idol was easy - at times it was difficult to fathom the thought that their friends as trainees may not want to be friends anymore, or a simple trip to a fast food joint could bring an onslaught of adoring fans.
Then there were more difficult thoughts to swallow, in which they had to face the disappointment or anger of loved ones, because the entertainment industry could be your greatest ally this year yet the premeditator of your downfall ten years from now, because nobody stays young and popular forever and what were they supposed to do after all of this?
And what of the slight feeling of disappointment when the cashier in that convenience store hadn't even recognised them? It was early days yet, but there was a heavy feeling that perhaps, when their popularity had reached its peak, they would start wishing that it would all go back to the beginning and they were nobodies again, because everywhere they go, people would know them?
It seems much too early for these thoughts; they’d barely passed the fourth month since their debut and they were already so cynical about the whole situation.
Yet, as they stared at the first rays of sunlight breaking through the gray clouds from their current position - what seemed to be the steps of a fire exit on an unknown building - it was a lot to ponder, and they let their thoughts overcome them as they watched the rustling city slowly illuminated with the gentle glow of early morning.
“Ah, there they are-hyung!”
The spell is broken; Baekhyun turns, yet Kyungsoo looks down for a moment, composing himself, and Lu Han continues to stare at the distance yet a smile quirks his lips at the sound of the familiar voices approaching.
Eventually, all three turn with small smiles to face a waving Chanyeol, grinning Jongin and seemingly half-asleep Sehun giving them a lazy wave.
“Oh, you three are in so much trouble,” Chanyeol cackles with glee, which Baekhyun responds with an eye-roll and a sarcastic duh, why the hell do you think you’re here? If we’re in trouble then you three are as well, and Chanyeol has no reply to that, quickly launching a tirade of complaints concerning his missing invitation to this private party.
“Thanks for coming, Jongin, but did you have to bring Chanyeol?” Jongin shrugged; he’d tried to leave the dorm as discreetly as possible since he’d received Kyungsoo’s call half an hour ago, but bumped into Sehun who had been sleepwalking to the toilet, and the “I’m going jogging” excuse was just not going to cut it if he was wearing jeans, and by the way, had he seen Lu Han? Jongin had never been particularly good at lying.
They’d begrudgingly agreed to wake Chanyeol because they were halfway down the road when they realised that neither of them knew which bus to take, or where the location of this unknown building even was, whereas Chanyeol knew Seoul like the back of his hand.
“Anyway, hyung, you owe me breakfast,” Jongin concludes with a grin, and Kyungsoo rolls his eyes but smiles.
They board the car, and are comfortably on the right road thanks to Chanyeol’s navigation when Sehun asks no one in particular, mouth full of leftover spicy crackers, “By the way, hyung, where did you go? What did you do?” Chanyeol echoes the question enthusiastically; Jongin, who had been dozing on the backseat, opened both eyes in obvious interest.
Lu Han catches Kyungsoo and Baekhyun’s eyes on the rear view mirror; there is an unspoken agreement there, a sudden bond that was formed by the night’s exploits - what happens in Vegas - or creepy deserted highway - stays in Vegas, after all.
In unison, all three smile. “Nothing.”
Just for reference, the final scene was once again inspired by this and this.
Feedback is always most appreciated as I am always looking for ways to improve my writing. Thank you for reading! :)