Burnout ⊗ Jeongchan

①⑧ Barricades

The school bell echoed in his head as he walked down the empty sidewalks. His mind was flooding at an unbearable speed, faster then the cars he watched race at night. He began wondering where he would be right now, how far away he is, if he'll be caught, and if he'll be caught how much trouble he would be in. At least a firm talking to by the Dean.

Now would be a good time to mention Jeongin was skipping school for the first time.

Jisung laughed at him when he told him what he was about to do, and upon realizing the younger was completely serious about what he said, thought the world was coming to an end. He warned Jeongin that it wouldn't be that easy to get away with it, but he found it was quite the opposite. All he needed was the pretense to convince the nurse he ate something at the beginning of lunch that wasn't sitting well with him, and she gave him the clearance to go home for the day. After all, this was Jeongin that they were talking about. He would never skip school purely for the purpose of self enjoyment.

Only, he did. It didn't stop the horrible feeling from knawing at his gut. This was still wrong. This was still something he would never do. Only, he is. Could he really say that he would never do it, if he was currently power walking down the sidewalk in his uniform during school hours?

Jeongin shook his head in an attempt to rid of the thoughts. He'd worry about it later. For now, as he continued his nervous stroll down the sidewalk, he spotted the silver car parked patiently along the gutter. His steps unknowingly quickened as he approached the car, ripped open the passenger side door, and slipped inside.

"Thanks for answering my texts," Jeongin placed his book bag and his feet, taking no care at all as he tore his uniform jacket off and tossed it somewhere in the back of the car, followed by the uniform tie. Somehow, doing that brought back a familiar sense of deja-vu.

"You're lucky. Caught me before I made plans," Chan muttered. Once the younger buckled in his seatbelt, he glanced over to the older to see why he was so uncharacteristically quiet. He was hanging off the steering wheel, his head resting on the arms he folded at the top of it.

"You look," Jeongin paused as he gave the older a once-over. A messy nest of uncombed hair, an incredibly loose fitting shirt, and pair of jeans that looked like they had just been freshly pulled from the wash, not even bothered to dry off for a few minutes. And the boots. Can't forget the boots he wore everywhere. It was not an unpleasant sight, something that he would never admit to anyone, but it was far from the prim and proper tailor he was so strongly adapted to. He settled on the nicest thing he could think of, "Ravishing."

"Just woke up."

"I see. Will you be alright to drive?"

"Made it this far," Chan said as he pushed himself off the steering wheel and stretched his hands far above his head in an attempt to wake up more, landing them somewhere behind his head rest where he hung on to for a few more beats. He shrugged, "And it's not like we've got much of a choice."

Jeongin crossed his legs as he refuted, mumbling idly into a closed fist he propped on the small strip of windowsill, "We could take a taxi."

"If I'm going to be in a car, I'm going to be driving it," The older finalized as he started up the ignition and guided the car back on the street with a careful hand, driving them farther and farther away from the school and closer to freedom.

Jeongin had half the mind to tell him otherwise but settled on the more pleasant option of not getting into an argument over something as small as that. Instead he focused on the street signs and stop lights outside his window, the people marching by as they were always on a mission to go somewhere, a family happily walking together although the children should have been in school, a world so mundane and normal to the strangers but too far away for him to be a part of. Like a model set, he could see it and admire it, but he could never touch it.