Chapter Text
Jimin attempts to ignore the flicker of trepidation that lays heavy in his gut. Has, in fact, been laying heavy in his gut ever since he agreed to attend this goddamn high school reunion… As yet, nothing has happened to prove it correct.
But the feeling still burns. Jimin cannot help but give it attention.
Whether it deserves it or not...
His ancient Hyundai Sonata – whom he has christened the auspicious name of Seohyun – chugs along reliably underneath him. Though her radio crackles with static, she is otherwise in tip-top shape, especially considering her grand old age.
“Maybe you’re wrong, maybe nothing’s going to happen. Maybe you should get over yourself and stop thinking you’re some kind of oracle,” Jimin grumbles to himself as he speeds into the left lane to overtake a small car that just won’t get out of the way.
Why is this asshole taking up space on the road at this time of night, anyway? Jimin wonders idly as he completes the overtaking manoeuvre. He’s not entirely sure what the time is. But he suspects it’s well past midnight, given he left the rest stop at 11.47pm after a restorative bowl of jjamppong.
Perhaps Jimin himself has no more business being on the road than the driver he’s cursing?
“Nah,” he chuckles under his breath, shaking his head.
Driving during the day is a mug’s game. Too many people on the roads. Too many people everywhere, actually. Jimin definitely prefers to exist in the shadows. Which is why he’s so cut up about this goddamn reunion. He’s got to go there, and be seen, and talk to people.
Ew.
If it wasn’t for his friend and ex-neighbour Jeongguk, he definitely wouldn’t be going. But resisting his dongsaeng’s boba eyes is never an easy task. Jimin simply couldn’t manage to do it this time. At least he would be getting to Busan a few days early to spend time with Jeongguk, who he hadn’t properly caught up with in a couple of years. Even though he’d wanted to. There are few people in Jimin’s life who he can stand to share a space with for more than a few hours. But Jeongguk is one of them. Despite the younger’s annoying habit of being cheeky to his hyungs, Jimin is still extremely fond of him. Most of the time.
However.
The main problem with driving at night is that it’s easy to end up being lulled into a kind of trance while your thoughts go running off on their own. Jimin is preoccupied with reminiscing over the chaos he and Jeongguk used to cause as teenagers when a loud clunking noise breaks into his consciousness with a jolt.
His heart thuds in his chest, his stomach twisting in panic. “What was that?” he hisses.
For a moment, Jimin thinks he must have hit a pothole. But then the the clunking noise starts up again and the reality of the situation becomes apparent. Maybe there is something stuck under the car? He speeds up in an attempt to dislodge it.
But the clunking noise only becomes louder.
Faster.
More terrifying.
“Fuck!” Jimin curses, slamming his fist against the steering wheel.
The unbearable clunking is joined by a high-pitched whine from Seohyun’s engine, and Jimin knows that he has to pull over immediately.
“Seohyun-ah, what’s wrong with you?” he laments as he comes to a stop on the side of the expressway. “You’ve never let me down like this before.”
Seohyun, predictably, says nothing.
The silence is deafening.
Jimin attempts to restart Seohyun’s engine, but nothing happens. It doesn’t turn over. Doesn’t even splutter. Just… Silence.
“Fuck!” he yells, bashing his hands roughly on Seohyun’s steering wheel. “Sorry, Seohyun-ah,” he adds as an afterthought.
Until this point in time, Jimin has sincerely believed that the reason his car has lasted so long is because he’s always treated her with kindness. If nothing else, it's a lovely idea.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be helping him right now.
He knows, deep down, that Seohyun has crossed the bridge. Passed over. Been sent to the afterlife. She’d done well to last as long as she did. Jimin can comfort himself with that knowledge. But sorrow still hits Jimin smack in the chest at the loss of his faithful companion.
However, he doesn’t have time to mourn, given that he’s stuck on the hard shoulder of the Gyeongbu Expressway in the middle of the fucking night.
“What am I gonna do?” he wails. His eyes glaze over with extremely unwelcome tears. “Ugh, what is crying going to do to help?” he grumbles, swatting at his face in annoyance.
His first impulse is to call Jeongguk. But then Jimin realises that Jeongguk is on a shift. His dongsaeng is a bouncer at one of the hottest (and roughest) clubs in Busan, and using phones during work hours is absolutely off-limits. Jimin also can’t call his breakdown cover, because he stupidly let it lapse when money was a little tight a couple of months ago. His parents? No way, he’d hate to wake them at this time of night and besides, he doesn’t really want them driving all the way out here from Wonju to pick him up.
Just as Jimin is really beginning to despair, a pair of headlights grow large in his rear view mirror. By the time the vehicle comes to a stop behind him Jimin is aware that it’s an old-style Volkswagen campervan. Probably from the seventies. Even older than Seohyun, Jimin thinks wryly. But this vehicle seems to have no trouble actually moving. Two-tone, with white on the top and the bottom half a shade of green that could charitably be described as ‘baby-vomit’, it is certainly no beauty.
The door opens and a man climbs out.
Now there’s a beauty, Jimin can’t help but think.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t have time to unpack that thought before the man is tapping on his car window and making the universal ‘wind it down’ sign.
Maybe Jimin should be more cautious. But his brain has gone completely offline at the glorious sight of the man in front of him. Tall. Broad-shouldered. Slim but with just enough muscle definition to make him juicy.
Very juicy indeed. Jimin’s mouth is already beginning to water.
The man wears a pair of baggy ripped jeans and an Aztec-patterned poncho. A paisley-print bandana is tied around his head. On most people, the outfit would look ridiculous. But this man does not fit the definition of ‘most people’.
When Jimin winds down the driver’s side window and is hit with the full force of the man’s dark, almond-shaped gaze, he wonders briefly whether he’s the one who has been sent to the afterlife instead of Seohyun.
“Car trouble?” the man asks, and oh.
His voice is dark caramel, coated in the finest chocolate. And the smile he flashes is the most weirdly adorable thing Jimin has seen in all his thirty years of life. Broad, rectangular, and toothy, it combines with a cheeky glint in his eye to create a sort of irresistibly rakish charm.
Jimin is done for.
“Uh,” he replies.
The man squints at him, leaning a little closer. “Sorry. You do speak Korean, right? I didn’t mean to assume… Nihongo o hanashimasu ka?” he adds as an afterthought.
Startled, Jimin laughs. “Yeah, I speak Korean,” he manages to say. “Sorry. And yeah, I’m having car trouble,” he tacks on breathlessly.
“Aha. Seems like you had a case of the cat getting your tongue rather than any language barrier, then,” the man says, giving Jimin an exaggerated wink. “Anyway. Care to elaborate?”
“She won’t go,” Jimin sighs. “We were plodding along just fine and then I heard a clunking noise and a high-pitched shriek and now she won't even turn over. I think she’s dead,” he laments.
“Hmm,” the man hums, a deep, delicious sound. “Do you mind if I have a rummage under her bonnet?” Raising an eyebrow, he manages to give the simple question a salacious edge that leaves Jimin blushing.
“Whatever it takes to get her going,” Jimin bats back.
The man studies him for a moment, then throws his head back and laughs.
Warmth floods Jimin as the sound wraps around him like a fleecy blanket.
“First of all, does she have a name?” the man asks. “If I’m going to look under her top, I’d prefer to be introduced first.”
A giggle slips past Jimin’s lips. “Seohyun. Her name is Seohyun.”
“Ah, an elegant name for an elegant lady. Lovely to meet you, Seohyun-ssi! I’m Taehyung. And your gentleman friend? Would he also care to introduce himself?”
“Jimin,” he says, gathering his courage to look the man in the eyes. “Nice to meet you, Taehyung-ssi.”
A beat passes in which Jimin wonders whether Taehyung is actually giving him the glad eye. But it passes so quickly he may well have imagined it.
Taehyung’s boxy smile returns in full force. “Pleasure to meet you, Jimin-ssi. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to have a little look at Seohyun, here.”
“Be my guest,” Jimin murmurs and pulls the lever to release the bonnet catch.
Smoke pours out of Seohyun’s engine bay the moment Taehyung gets her open. Panicked, Jimin practically jumps out of the car and pulls Taehyung away from the fumes.
“Jimin-ssi?” Taehyung says quizzically. “It’s only a little smoke,” he adds, the corners of his lips quirking upward. “I’ll just take a quick look, OK?”
Mortified, Jimin lets go of Taehyung’s arm. Oh, he’s warm, Jimin realises the moment Taehyung’s body heat disappears. The night air wraps around his t-shirt-clad body and Jimin trembles. Taehyung, somehow, notices.
“Jimin-ssi? If you’re cold, you can sit in the back of my campervan,” he offers. “It’s warm in there. And if you want you can boil the kettle and make yourself some tea. There are teabags in the cupboard above the kettle.”
Now Jimin is really not in the habit of getting into the back of strangers’ campervans.
But Taehyung seems nice. Jimin feels he can make an exception just this once.
The fact that Taehyung is possibly the hottest man Jimin has ever seen has nothing to do with it.
Nothing at all.
Jimin wanders over to the Volkswagen and climbs into the back. Reeling a little from the green and yellow tartan seats and a whole lot of fake wood veneer, he nevertheless locates the kettle and teabags and sets about making himself a cup of tea. I’d better make one for Taehyung as well, he realises, casting a glance out the open door to see Taehyung bent over with his head firmly in Seohyun’s entrails. Taehyung straightens and wipes his forehead with the back of his hand. Shaking his head solemnly, he strides toward the campervan.
“I’m sorry, Jimin, but Seohyun is no longer with us,” Taehyung confides. “I’m afraid she’s suffered a fatal engine failure and will need a full transplant, which at her age, is probably not advisable.” He takes off his bandana and shakes his hair out before fixing his eyes respectfully on the floor.
“That’s what I’d suspected,” Jimin sighs. “Ah, well. She’s lived a good life. I’ll miss her.” He hands Taehyung the cup of tea he made for him.
“Oh!” Taehyung exclaims. “Thank you, Jimin-ssi. And… I’m sorry for your loss. Do you need my help to call your breakdown cover, or…”
“I don’t have any,” Jimin mumbles, almost inaudibly.
“Sorry, Jimin-ssi, what was that?”
“I said I don’t have any breakdown cover,” Jimin repeats. Louder this time. “I had some, uh, funding issues and I let it lapse. Not my finest decision,” he admits wryly, twisting his face into a grimace.
Taehyung studies him in a way that has Jimin feeling as though his skin is transparent. He fights the urge to cover himself with his hands.
“Jimin-ssi, please sit down,” Taehyung offers, gesturing to the garishly coloured sofa.
Jimin sits.
“I’m a nomad,” Taehyung begins.
Jimin sits back a little, his eyebrows raising.
“This van you see here? Well, this is my house."
Jimin's eyebrows raise in surprise.
"I live on the road. I go where life takes me. And it takes me to some very interesting places,” Taehyung grins. “I’m not religious, but the one thing I believe above all else is that the universe gives, and the universe takes. There’s nothing much we can do about that. However, if there is an opportunity for kindness, I believe wholeheartedly in taking that opportunity.”
Jimin attempts to make sense of all the beautiful words Taehyung is saying instead of simply drifting heavenward at the sound of his voice. But eventually he has to admit that he’s lost.
Sensing his confusion, Taehyung asks, “Where were you heading to before Seohyun's unexpected demise, Jimin-ssi?”
“Busan,” Jimin replies dully.
Taehyung’s eyes light up. “Ah, excellent! We can travel via the Golden Route. When do you need to be there? Because it will take about five days at the pace I like to travel.”
Jimin’s jaw drops. Is Taehyung really offering to drive him to Busan?
“Five days is fine. It’s perfect, actually,” he blurts out unthinkingly. “My high school reunion is in six.”
Taehyung raises a knowing eyebrow.
“I’m not particularly looking forward to it,” Jimin mumbles, looking down at his knees. Something occurs to him and his gaze flicks up to meet Taehyung’s. “But wait, why five days? I was gonna get there in about five hours until Seohyun upped and died on me,” he points out.
“I believe in appreciating the beauty of the world around me,” Taehyung explains. “And that’s something you just can’t rush. Am I right, Jimin-ssi?”
Jimin may be mistaken, again, but he is almost certain Taehyung is giving him the glad eye. And for the first time in years, Jimin isn’t sure he minds. He may be resistant to most human company, but five days in a cosy campervan with a man like this? Well. Jimin thinks he can just about manage that.
“Oh yes, Taehyung-ssi,” he purrs. “I’m all about appreciating a bit of beauty myself.”
Taehyung beams. “Right,” he declares, jumping to his feet. “Let’s get your stuff out of dear old Seohyun and get started.”
Taehyung insists upon carrying everything and not letting him help at all. To the point that Jimin wonders why he even bothered getting out of the van. Still, watching Taehyung lift his bag, biceps bulging, is a treat Jimin is glad he didn’t do without.
Soon enough, Jimin’s belongings are tucked up inside the back of Taehyung’s van. Jimin himself is seated in the front. Taehyung has insisted upon handing him a feather pillow and a soft woollen blanket.
“In case you get tired,” Taehyung explains. “Then you can just drift off right here.”
Jimin can honestly say that he has never felt more awake in his life.
The Volkswagen starts up with a solid rumble. “Good girl,” Taehyung whispers, patting the steering wheel affectionately. “Now, Jimin-ssi, we’re headed to the outskirts of Jeonju, where I’ll park up so that we can get a few hours of sleep before sightseeing tomorrow. It’s cosy in the back, but we’ll make it work,” Taehyung points out with a cheeky wink.
Casting a furtive glance back, Jimin’s eyes bulge when he realises that the sofa folds down into a bed. And it’s… not a wide one, either. Surely Taehyung doesn’t mean to suggest that they share? Maybe Jimin can just take the front seat.
Whatever. He’ll manage.
Though when his eyes return to the front of the van and rest appreciatively on its driver, he cannot help but imagine what it might be like to sleep tucked right in beside him…
It's going to be an interesting five days, Jimin tells himself as Taehyung pulls the campervan back on to the Gyeongbu Expressway.