Youth; Jeongchan

7. Guess I'm a disappointment

"So... how did you find out?"

Chan turns on the signal and merges lanes. After a fitful night of sleep in the car along with a breakfast consisting of dry cereal, the two companions are back on the road. Jeongin's mouth tastes of ash, and his hair is chaotic, sticking up in all directions.

"Changbin called. Yeri made a move on him, for some reason, so he investigated a bit, if you can call it that. As it turns out, she's been cheating for the past six months. That's around the time I took up more work around the repair shop."

"What's your next move?"

"I sent her a break up text yesterday."

Jeongin raises his eyebrows. Chan seems like the more forgiving type, but then again, how does a relationship even come back from this?

"Damn. Just like that?"

"Changbin doesn't lie. And our relationship wouldn't have lasted through autumn, she's going to school out of state. This is just the straw that broke the camel's back."

Even as he says the words, Chan's hands tense against the steering wheel. Jeongin wets his lips.

"Seems like more than a straw."

Chan shrugs.

Jeongin hums and watches the car fly by a few brick barns. They're still in the middle of nowhere, but the terrain is getting hillier as they go on.

Erratic, Chan slams his foot on the break.

Jeongin flies forward, the yank of the seatbelt snapping his head back against the headrest.

"Holy fuck, what the hell?"

Chan slows further until they're at cruising speeds instead of probably unhealthy breakneck ones.

"I had to slow down. There's a speed cam right there."

Jeongin's mouth turns into a flat line.

"You can't just almost kill us to not get a speeding ticket."

"I have everything under control."

Which is why you hit the brakes so hard we almost flew out of a window, Jeongin thinks. Sure, why not. That's totally a sign of everything being under control. When has it ever not been a sign of control to smash your acquaintances nose into an airbag.

Chan fiddles with the radio.

"Your parents texted me", he says, deciding on an 80s station.

"They did?"

"Yeah."

"What did they say?", Jeongin asks, focused on the road ahead. He's not going to cry, he tells himself. He doesn't cry in front of other people.

"They told me to tell you to come home."

Jeongin's mouth runs dry. Chan won't give him up, will he?

"And what did you say?"

Chan merges lanes.

"I haven't replied back yet."

Jeongin holds out his hand.

Chan glances at him, then hands him his phone.

Indeed, the texts are there.

"Bring Jeongin back home. We're going to sue you for kidnapping", Jeongin reads out, and lets out a disbelieving laugh.

"Can you even sue people for kidnapping? And doesn't have the person being kidnapped have something to say about it?", he asks.

Chan grins.

"They didn't think of that, I guess"

Jeongin keeps reading. The texts range from flattery to insults to flat-out threats.

Well, at least he knows they care.

"You know", he starts, then pauses, finishing reading a text.

"What?", Chan asks.

"I'd like to call them. At the next gas station. After that, we can see, but I want to know what they have to say. Also, do your parents know your route?"

Chan shakes his head.

"They don't know the exact intricacies, and they wouldn't tell your parents. They know you wanted to come with."

Jeongin lets out a pent up breath.

"Good", he says,"good."

They pull into the next gas station. As Chan tanks, Jeongin calls his mother.

She picks up immediately.

"Chan Christopher Bang! Bring me back my-"

"Hi mom", Jeongin says.

"Jeongin!", his mother yelps,"Jeongin, where are you? What did he do-"

"Mom, I want you to listen."

"Anything, baby, just stay on the line, we'll help you soon enough."

"Mom, Chan didn't kidnap me. I went away of my own volition."

"Of course you did, honey. Chan, stop telling him what to say, now where are you?"

"Mom, I told you to listen to me. Chan didn't kidnap me, I wanted to leave. You were pressuring me and pressuring me, and I don't want to play Liszt and Brahms for 5 fucking hours a day, have you ever considered that? I want to play what I want."

"Jeongin, honey, we'll talk about this when you're back home-", his mother tries, realizing that Jeongin indeed acted at least partially of his own free will.

"No! I am telling you this now, could you please just listen to me?"

"Come home Jeongin."

"No."

"Jeongin Yang, you better come home right this instant or I will-"

"I'm hanging up now", Jeongin says, holding the phone away from his ear to not lose his hearing to his mother's louder voice.

"Young man, you will not hang up on me-"

"Hanging up and blocking your number, stop harassing Chan, he has nothing to do with this."

"Jeongin! We will ground you-", his father joins in from the background.

"Goodbye, see you in a month", Jeongin says, and true to his word, hangs up.

He blocks his mother's number, and then his father's. Chan has finished tanking. They get back in the vehicle.

Chan grips the wheel tightly, peeling out of the gas station.

"How did it go?", he asks.

Jeongin sighs.

"Fucking excellent. I hung up on them and blocked their numbers."

Chan doesn't answer, letting him stew in his frustration and annoyance. Of fucking course this is how it went. Why would he expect anything different? His parents mean well, but they don't listen, they never do. This is nothing new, just a continuation of the same game Jeongin has been playing his whole life.

"Jeongin?", Chan asks, glancing over at him.

Jeongin hums.

"How are you going to deal once we're back?"

Jeongin swallows.

"Let's not think of that just yet. We have a month."

"No worrying about the future?", Chan asks, and it sounds like a promise.

Jeongin thinks of the piano, waiting for him back home. He thinks of his parents, the angry shitshow that awaits him when he gets back. He thinks of college, of going away from everything he's known, of losing Felix and Jeongyeon and school having ended and not having the same rhythm in his life now.

"No worrying about the future."

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