THE SURFERS ended up winning the competition, much to hyunjin's disappointment. it was a close battle, though: changbin (while trying to reach a can of beans that happened to be on the top shelf) accidentally made a sea of cans fall off of their shelves and rush out into the rest of the store, causing felix (who had just gotten out of his onion prison) to stumble and fall, slowing his already slow progress. seungmin had also run into some trouble as well when he was cornered by hyunjin in the dairy section, who refused to let him leave. the surfer had a gallon of milk in hand and decided that the best thing to do would be to dump it all over hyunjin (an act he would later claim to be "self-defense"), effectively distracting the biker and allowing him to make a quick escape. it was also seungmin who, with a milk-covered hand, slapped chan out of his jeongin-induced stupor and led their team to the checkout line, claiming their victory.

but winning was the last thing on chan's mind. all he could think about was what jeongin had said to him in the movie snacks aisle.

chan has just intended to play around with him a little bit and maybe do some harmless flirting disguised as teasing. after what had happened at the theater, he wanted to see how far he could push things without making his intentions too obvious. so, he had subtly eavesdropped on the bikers when they were giving out their food assignments and made sure to wait for jeongin by the popcorn.

he was anticipating a blushing, fumbling jeongin who would stumble over his words embarrassedly.

what he got was the exact opposite.

this popcorn won't be the only thing you'll— no! bad chan! do not think of such impurities! he ran a hand through his silver locks, thoroughly distressed. i need to find jeongin and get to the bottom of this. hopefully, he wasn't being serious. if he was... no, we're not gonna think about that.

"you good, mate?" a hand on chan's shoulder startled him out of his thoughts. when he turned, a familiar freckled face was staring back at him.

"...you smell like onions," chan observed, choosing to ignore the question. felix scrunched up his nose and sniffed his white t-shirt.

"damn, i do. it sucks that i slipped on a banana peel and ended up knocking over the entire onion stand, or else i totally would've caught jeongin!" at the mention of jeongin's name chan visibly stiffened. felix, ever-so observant of the mood patterns of his friends, took notice. "wait, did something happen between you and jeongin? is that why you're being weird?"

"no! well... no!"

"are you sure? that was a suspicious 'no'. hey, jeongin, come over here!"

wait! i'm not mentally prepared! chan thought in panic as jeongin approached them, looking as casual as ever. he looks so calm. am i the only one out of the two of us worrying about this? am i overthinking things?

"what's up?" the redhead asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. chan suddenly remembered the warmth of his hand upon his chest and the feeling of his fingers gently tugging his head downwards.

"oh, nothing much. chan's just being super weird. i think it might have something to do with you." chan shot his freckled friend a sharp glare that said shut up right now before i castrate you, but felix kept going. "i think you should talk to him before his weirdness rubs off on the rest of us. have fun!" and with that, felix skipped away, leaving the pair alone in an awkward silence.

jeongin was the first to break it. "are you okay, chan? is something wrong?" his voice held nothing but innocence and purity and chan was dumbfounded. how can he speak as if he didn't just try a pick-up line on me? and an extremely suggestive one, too!

"no! nothing's wrong. it's just..." he hesitated. "did you...actually mean what you said to me earlier? about...you know...popping..."

jeongin's previously calm face melted into a look of absolute mortification. "oh my god!" he exclaimed. "i'm so sorry! hyunjin gave me a list of pick-up lines to use to throw people off their guard if they tried to get in my way, so i decided to use one on you. don't worry— i didn't mean it at all."

chan breathed a sigh of relief and tried to ignore the slight pang in his heart. "that makes more sense. i'd never taken you as the type to say that kind of stuff, so i was super surprised when you did." he chuckled nervously. "i guess hyunjin was right: it did catch me pretty off-guard."

jeongin beamed. "that was the goal!"

taking a look at the younger's bright, innocent smile, chan couldn't help but gulp. even though it was clear that jeongin didn't mean what he had said, his words continued to swirl around in chan's mind in a flurry of dark thoughts. that combined with the purity practically radiating off of jeongin made the surfer's head spin.

fuck. he's going to be the death of me.

☀☀☀

"wait, what?"

"i said," seungmin laughed over the phone, "while you and jeongin were talking, the rest of us stole your truck and left! well, felix and i stole your truck. the bikers are behind us on their motorcycles."

chan rubbed his temples. "and what possessed you to think that was a good idea?"

"nothing!" seungmin wheezed. it was clear he found the situation hilarious. "relax, chan. we took all the groceries with us and we'll drop them off at your house. we'll put them away for you, too, since you're probably not gonna get home for a long time."

chan pinched the bridge of his nose. god, why am i even friends with them? "you guys are idiots. how am i supposed to get home?"

"you'll figure it out!" felix hollered in the background as the pair erupted into even more laughter. chan decided that they would be of no more use to him so he ended the call and stuffed his phone into his pocket with a huff.

"what's wrong?" jeongin asked. "where'd everybody go?"

"apparently they decided that it would be funny to steal my truck and take off." chan ran a hand through his hair as he tried to think of what to do. "i guess i'll have to walk home."

jeongin was quiet for a moment before speaking. "um..." chan's gaze flickered over to him questioningly. "do you maybe...want me to...uh...drive you home on my bike?"

it took all of chan's willpower to not gasp in surprise. riding on a motorcycle had always been his dream— in fact, it's what brought him and jeongin together— but he had always dismissed it, thinking that it was impossible. as much as he tried to ignore the social standards around him, the fact of the matter was that he was a surfer. not a biker. surfers didn't ride bikes— they rode waves. surfers didn't dress in leather jackets— they dressed in swimsuits. never in his life did chan ever think that it would be a possibility that he'd even go near a motorcycle.

but, like always, jeongin seemed to fill his life with surprises.

"are you sure? i don't want to accidentally throw you off balance or something." although internally chan wanted to jump for joy— seriously, what were the odds that he would ever ride a motorcycle again?— he didn't want to seem too eager at jeongin's proposal and risk looking uncool.

jeongin shook his head profusely. "trust me," he said, "you'll be perfectly fine."

it took chan three tries to be able to get on the bike. the first time, he nearly knocked it over in his enthusiastic state. the second time, chan accidentally fell off when he tried to coolly slide on like he'd seen the other bikers do. after that, jeongin insisted on holding onto him so that he would be able to get on successfully (which he did).

"are you ready?" jeongin's voice was slightly muffled through the helmet that jeongin insisted chan wear. the surfer nodded, excitement rushing through his veins. this is it! my dream is finally coming true! he felt nothing but excitement, the rumble of the engine beneath him only adding to that. he wasn't afraid. he wasn't scared. in fact, he was anything but.

however, as soon as they took off, chan felt like he was going to die.

"shit!" he yelled, his body lurching forward and hitting jeongin's back. he quickly searched for something— anything— to hold onto so that he wouldn't become roadkill. the first thing he grabbed was jeongin's leather jacket so he held on with a death grip, screaming the whole time.

in the mirror, he could see jeongin glance at him with a worried expression. "chan! are you okay?" he yelled.

chan shook his head rapidly.

"are you gonna fall?"

chan nodded.

"hold on!" jeongin took one hand off of the handlebars (oh, we're really gonna die now, chan thought) and swiftly tugged chan's arms around his waist. "is that better?"

as if by magic, chan suddenly felt at ease. his chest was flush to jeongin's back, a position that was familiar to the pair, having done the same thing in the theater. except for the fact that this time it was chan who needed to be stabilized and comforted, not jeongin. their roles had reversed completely, yet for some reason, chan didn't mind at all.

"chan?" the surfer's head snapped up. he'd been unknowingly burying his face in jeongin's back. "are you okay now?" chan nodded. more than okay, actually. through the mirror, he saw jeongin smile as he accelerated further, the wind whipping through his red hair maniacally. chan peeked out to the side and nearly gasped when he saw how quickly the landscape rushed past them. everything blurred together in a jumbled masterpiece that he couldn't take his eyes off of. they passed a cluster of homes. then they were zooming past the beach. everything happened so quickly that chan had trouble keeping up, but it didn't bother him. he just wanted to keep watching it forever.

can it be like this forever?