kicks ✓ || namgi || k.th

025: shirt

chapter 25: shirt
location: tulsa, oklahoma

"All right, Oklahoma," Hoseok said, drawling our the syllables like he was a down home Western boy. "Oooo-klaaaa-hoooooe-maaaaaah."

"Isn't that a song?" Jimin asked.

"It's a musical," Taehyung piped up. As part of his required music classes, he had learned all about the American tradition of musical theater. "Maybe we can go to one? Do they show the musical Oklahoma in Oklahoma?"

"I doubt it," Hoseok said with a laugh. "Most of that fancy theater is back in NYC. We left it all behind."

"There are traveling theater companies, though," Taehyung insisted.

"We are not going to see a show," Seokjin interrupted. "That will bring way too much attention to us. Not to mention, those things are expensive."

"Expensive, schmexpensive," Jimin chimed in. "Namjoon's got tons of money."

"Namjoon has tons of money that is supposed to get us through the next eternity, and it probably won't," Seokjin fired back. "Speaking of which, are we still headed toward the hotel?"

"Yup," Namjoon said, glaring straight ahead and paying attention to the road. He hadn't slept at all the previous night, thinking about Yoongi, whether or not Yoongi was gay, whether or not Yoongi might be gay for him, and whether pigs could fly. He couldn't wait to get to the new hotel and be left alone for a while.

"Namjoon looks like he didn't sleep last night," Jungkook said from the back. Drat.

Namjoon stopped at a red light, then turned from the wheel and glared daggers back at Jungkook. "You know, I'd get more sleep if we could just find somewhere to live from now on. I like this traveling and all, but it's really not good for my shut eye."

It reminded Taehyung of Sara, and the information he had found out online back at Carnegie Mellon. "Um, hyung?"

Namjoon was back to watching the red light. "I'm focusing."

"Oh, okay. I was just...curious about something. Do you know what LaPostale is?"

Namjoon's eyes widened; he turned back around at Taehyung. "What?!"

Without warning, the van shook, absorbing impact. Namjoon was still twisted around the front seat, but buckled in. Hoseok pitched forward, as did Seokjin and Jungkook. Jimin smacked his head against the seat in front of him. Taehyung grabbed onto the handle above him. Yoongi was asleep; he tumbled off the back seat and was jolted awake.

They had been hit. Namjoon put the van in park, then rolled down his window and looked out. There was a small car behind them that hadn't been paying attention and had slammed right into them. He got out of the van against his better judgement and went over to the car. "Are you okay?"

A bigger lady got out of the front seat and decided now was a good time to scream at Namjoon. "What the hell do you think you were doing! You just stopped suddenly like that and gave me no clearance! My airbags went off and everything! Where's your license and registration, young man?"

Uh-oh. Namjoon had bought the van, and he had a license that worked in America, but they had never registered the vehicle with the government for obvious reasons. "Um --"

"Are you driving without insurance?" The lady was now shrieking at Namjoon, and people were starting to take notice. The cops had probably been called at this point. He took a quick glance at the back of the van. There were a couple of scratches on the fender, and something had probably been bent underneath, but the van was still driveable.

He didn't say another word and got back in the car. "We gotta go, now." He shut the door, strapped in, and pushed the supercharged button.

Nothing.

No whoosh outside, no change of scenery, nothing. They were still parked in front of the red light, and Namjoon could hear the whirring of police sirens off in the distance. He pushed the supercharged button again. Still nothing.

"Joon?" Namjoon looked over at Hoseok, who looked terrified. "What's going on?"

Seeing his brother, someone he was supposed to protect, made something click in Namjoon's mind. He grabbed the wheel, put the van in drive, and sped down the street with a tire squeal, just before the cops arrived.

"What are you doing?!?" he heard Yoongi yell from the back seat as they sped down the road.

"Running," Namjoon said, pushing the supercharged button again. "This isn't working! Some lady wrecked into us, and the cops are gonna get us."

"Not if you can handle it," Jungkook said, holding his breath.

Yoongi climbed back onto his seat and looked out the back. The road was thankfully clear in front, but a police car was speeding right towards them. "Speed up!"

"Namjoon, you focus, I'll push," Hoseok said. He held down the supercharged button that up until now had been their savior. Namjoon did his best to keep his eyes on the road, but he was not good at this driving thing, and he knew he couldn't beat out the cops by speed alone.

"What's gonna happen to us?" Jimin bawled.

Seokjin wrapped an arm around him. "It's gonna be okay," he whispered, even though he knew it was not going to be okay.

A million thoughts were going through Taehyung's mind. Where had they been hit? Were they still able to drive? Did the sudden impact do anything to their special button? He had a feeling Sara would know...if Sara weren't...

"A ghost," he whispered, out loud, in the crazy of the car chase.

Jungkook looked over at Taehyung. "Did you say something?"

Yoongi curled up in a ball in the back, unable to handle it. They were going to catch him, and they were going to take him away, before -- before what, exactly? he asked himself. He squeezed his eyes and said a prayer, for the first time in a long time. If they could just get out of this alive, then he promised he would --

"Hang on!" Namjoon screamed from the front, and the van flew over a set of five train tracks. For a moment, everybody was airborne. Then, the world around them finally tilted.

~~

Asterhythm: There is an important note I would like to attach to this chapter.

This chapter was originally written on May 10th. I write my chapters a little ahead of time, and as I write new ones, I post what I have in my queue. Which means this chapter would have been posted at the same time the George Floyd riots were starting. It was NOT the right time to post this chapter, so I appropriately read the room and withheld. Around the same time, I got inspired to write something MUCH fluffier and not offensive at all for Pride. Dream On, Cinderella is available now in its entirety for you to read. It is literally the story of Cinderella, but gay, and with BTS. You know exactly what you're getting yourself into. 

I had mentioned that I would not be updating 'kicks' while I worked on the side novella. Which is fine. Author-nim was overloaded. But Author-nim also understood that I'm writing about America. And I'm not gonna shy away from the fact that racism and police brutality are real things that happen in America. I'm not going to write about it from a black perspective. That's not my lane. But the things that happen to our Bangtan Boys in 'kicks' are small but crucial reminders of the society that we all live in. This takes place in an alternate 90's universe, but the stigma remains. It MUST be changed.

I'm not going to shy away from that fact. Now that some time has passed, I can continue, but I will make this promise: that scene where Taehyung punches the officer in chapter 4 is the roughest physically that you will see any confrontation between our boys and the police get. While it's important to stay true to the America I live in, this is still an escape.

Sign the petitions. March if you can. Don't shut up about it. The world needs your voice. Black Lives Matter. Pride wouldn't exist without Black trans women. I'm done with my soapbox for now, but I thought that was important to bring up. Carry on.