Burnout ⊗ Jeongchan

End ✘ The King and The Songbird

"Did you study?"

"Since when have I studied? Do I look like a person who studies, I'm as dumb as a sack of hot pockets. 'Did you study', what a dumb statement."

"You LITERALLY got a full-ride scholarship to an abroad university because of your computer skills. Oh, wait, no, you are dumb because you turned it down!"

"Well fuck you too then!"

"As perplexing as this conversation is, how is the program coming along?"

"Fine. I'll be done with it soon."

"That's our genius! I'm so in love."

"Wow thanks, I am right here."

"Get smart then."

"When are the traitors supposed to be coming back?"

"I heard it was soon? Within a few weeks, they'll at least be visiting."

"Knowing them, they're already around here, causing trouble."

"Some of the racers at the Hub told me they were last seen tearing up Nagoya."

"Nagoya?"

"Japan?!"

"Imagine being Jeongin. Life would be so much easier if I were Jeongin."

"And yet, what a shame," Hyunjin clicked his tongue, "You're still Jisung."

The mentioned turned his nose up at the other, hand slamming down on the new shop table, old one haven broken months ago after the prolonged time of no use and then immediately a certain someone standing on it when they decided to return. He snapped, "Hell yeah I'm still Jisung. Jisung is a god."

"Debatable," Minho pitched in as he wiggled himself out from under the hood of a car. Before Jisung could counter, he turned to Changbin, "Have you seen the torque wrench?"

Barely peeping up from the laptop screen, Changbin pointed somewhere in the shop without too much of a thought, "It's by the laptop."

"You're on the laptop."

"No, sorry, it's by Hyunjin."

"Thank you kindly, sir."

"Mhm."

A while away, sat on the edge of the highway where everything began, a car stained with the inlet colors of an encroaching void and the darkness of a realm for crawling monsters. It was once bleached in a hue straddling a line; Never too far, never too near, between light and dark, between day and night, between right and wrong. That hue now belonged to the canary that drove it. The daubed tones of crimson, of violence and of romance tangled in an unwanted flood, finally quenched with satisfaction. A hyena with braying eyes of gluttony, tearing and shredding the world around it, a king sat perched upon his throne.

The King passed his crown to his songbird, "Ready?"

A smile pulled at those tattered lips worn by whispers of songs. The risk evening air nipping at everything it could get it's hands on. As the last light of the painting eventide sun burned out, the night was ushered in. They, the beasts who thrived in it, were alive. Alive against the hardened words, dismissing stares, threading worlds, and bleeding traumas stabbing their chests.

The songbird's grip on the car keys, their crown, tightened. A simper stretched across his features as he watched the older rip open the passenger door without a minute of hesitation and interjected with nothing but trust.

"Yeah."

⊕Burnout⊕
End

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Author Note ahead warning (it's long):

I have been writing Burn Out (Burnout? Technically Burnout) for an entire year now. One or more chapter every single week without fail. A whole year. I started this last March/April, I can't remember exactly when but it was around this time of year. I've become so attached to the characters and personalities of this story, I will admit that I am sad to see them go. With that I have a few general notes about the story itself and my agenda for the future.

1) There are things left unsolved. A certain someone's background, the mystery of the broken locker, the deleted contacts, etc. I left them unsolved for a reason, but Jack of Diamonds should interest you.

2) I've enjoyed reading all of your theories. When I say I read the comments, I read ALL the comments.

3)  If you're interested there are a few extra chapters posted for fun! (AKA no, Chan is not dead)

Now, the readers.

I'd been thinking for a while, what I would say when Burnout ended. "I'm glad you kept up with the book", "I enjoyed writing this", "It was fun reading your comments"; There was a lot I considered but none of them felt quite right. It got me thinking. If I was able to sit with the Jeongin from this story, what would I say to him? If I was met face to face with him, Chan, or the crew, what would I tell them?

Hearing the readers, seeing the stories you tell in the comments and in private messages, it made me realize a lot of you are similar to the characters in the story. Whether that's because you've had weeks when you feel like you're worthless, or because you've never had a home to call your own, or even when you've had times you laugh and joke with the people you call a family. This story has always been special to me and at times it seemed like it was special to you as well. Whether that was because you felt a connection to it, you liked the writing, you can understand their worries, or otherwise, it became something special.

So, from the author to the readers,

To the burnouts,

To those who doubt their self-worth,

To the ones who don't have a place to return to,

To the runaways,

To the survivors,

You deserve to love.
You deserve to live.
I am so proud of you.

From the author of Burnout,

Thank you.

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