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─── METAL TWISTS somewhere behind the boy hunched over a gas pump, probably due to the grasp of the chilling breeze as it whips around and causes objects to lose their shape; like a force formed only for the purpose of destruction. Fallen stars dance on his fingertips, galaxies breathe in his irises, and he is at ease in the darkness as it calms the anxieties of his chest.

His fingertips tremble somewhat against the cooling plastic nozzle, making it much harder to guide it into the car without spilling any of the thick liquid he's left so hurriedly to get. But he manages, a stuttered sigh becoming the spokesperson for his mood.

The dull melody of some random song plays through the one earphone in his ear as he taps his finger against the cold rim of his father's car window and watches the meter climb up to the amount of money he can afford to spend in this barren dump of a gas station, wherein even the main lights of the store flicker and refuse to succumb to the beat of anything but their own dying melody.

Jeon Jeongguk almost falls victim to their trap, regaining focus on the meter with his melted chocolate eyes just in time to pull the pump out of his car exactly as it hits £20.

It's with a soft sigh that he hooks the pump back up and walks towards the window where he's supposed to pay, clocking a man with hooded eyelids— and an obvious trace of drugs in his dilated pupils —as he nods towards the brunette, lips too slurred to form coherent words.

Jeongguk slides the money under the glass, a polite smile on his lips as he glances over at the clock behind the lilac haired worker's head. Three am, on the dot.

The world is so different at this time.

It seems that the planet rotates slower. The clouds shift like a finger through the thickest of treacle leaking and oozing over the night sky. It coats it in a sort of darkness that's almost tangible to Jeongguk's drowsy head.

"Safe trip," the worker manages to speak, dragging his words out habitually.

His mouth falls lazy on one side as he produces words, like how people speak with a cigarette between their lips. The phrase, although one of good nature, meets the youth's ears as a cautionary reminder. Naive, Jeongguk shrugs it off.

"You, too." Jeongguk doesn't seem to acknowledge the humour of his attempt at a friendly nicety, because as far as he knows, the boy behind the glass is going nowhere and it seems he'd be right in his assumption as the worker laughs with a huff, pulling shut the compartment for the money and reclining in his chair to light nothing other than a cigarette.

Jeongguk watches it pollute the space behind the glass like its own private planet where the air is thick with a sweet kind of poison. People can't live on a planet like that for long at all.

And, as he watches, the foolish martian melts into the drag he takes from the cigarette, sinking back into his own skin with his eyes rolling shut.

Doesn't he realise that smoking in a petrol station could set the fragile canisters off into a marvellous explosion that would steal even the moon's spotlight?

No, Jeongguk thinks, he is the one who should wish himself safety.

And with that, he turns on his heel to return to his car, something catching his eye in the process. A motorcycle stands in the centre of the road beside the gas station, no one to be seen neither near nor atop the vehicle to claim ownership.

Some part of himself can't come to look away, even with his slow steps towards his car before he finally glances up in time to catch the pouring stars blink out like tiny towns.

But it seems that his eyes are cursed only to notice the things that will soon bring him trouble, because as they settle again on the pump that had filled his car, he clocks the word 'diesel' and his stomach flips.

Oh, curse his soul, he hasn't just fucking put diesel in his car, has he?

He drags his fingers down over his face, glancing back at the boy in the window with the cigarette and the hair that probably reeks of nothing but smoke.

"Uh, excuse me?" He asks, tapping his knuckle on the glass and patiently waiting for the worker to look up. But he doesn't for some time until he exposes the column of his throat to roll his neck back, eyes screwed shut and cigarette drooping from his lips.

The only thing to clue Jeongguk into the situation is the way his hands busy themselves in his lap. Oh... His lap. Not only his lap, but the boy's head in his lap. Bleached blonde hair is clumped in a fistful amongst the worker's slender fingers that tug amidst a deep passion.

Jeongguk wonders how different life would be if he was on the other side of the glass. Doing things like that. Feeling things like that. Maybe that's him, in another timeline. 

The worker's throat takes dramatic swallows on his own eagerness and Jeongguk knows he shouldn't interrupt such a moment of bliss for two who may never see the world in such a way again. But he has to bring his car home, so he knocks harder, finally stirring a reaction from the boy on his knees who looks up to the light with a mouth shiny— coated in saliva.

The worker messily leans forward to open the window once more, resting his forearm on the counter as he tries to regain his breath.

"Yeah?" He queries, licking his tongue over his lips as the other wipes his mouth shamelessly and puts his cheek to the counter, gazing up at Jeongguk with curious eyes. His plump lips look exaggerated and red. He sure is handsome. Extremely so.

"Sorry, it's just that I've accidentally put diesel in my car... is there any way I can fix it?" Jeongguk asks, trying hard not to make eye contact with the pretty boy who's staring right back at him with those eyes that still dance in arousal.

"Uh..." The boy with lavender hair begins, glancing back at the lone car in the station with a quirk of his head.

"If you have a straw I'll suck it out for you," The other boy interjects, earning an odd glance from both Jeongguk and the worker. "It won't be quick, but it might do the job." He adds with a shrug, but Jeongguk only shakes his head.

"Nah... uh, you're... alright. I'll just have to figure something out. Thanks, anyway. Sorry for... interrupting." Jeongguk says, stuffing his hands into his pockets and sulking away from the window, kicking a small stone on his way back to his car.

He sits on the curb, facing out towards the road, a pitiful stance with a muffled sort of sadness that isn't just a fault of his own stupidity. It's been there, if only a little less prominent, all the while. But it's on this night, in this light, that it finally amounts to him that he's really had it with life as he knows it.

A slow consideration of simply ditching his car and hitchhiking back home just for the thrill of the adventure comes and passes in the time it takes for him to notice the same motorcycle from before, now parked at the edge of the road, overlooking the water below them.

The headlights flash on in a second and he notices the person on top kick off of the stationary position, making a sharp turn towards the gas station and skidding to a halt right in front of him.

Jeongguk stands up hastily in his own fear for catching his head under the front wheel and it's through the racing of his chest as he stares, wide eyed and startled by the man's reckless behaviour, that he finally allows himself to take note of the figure.

Something about the sight in front of him is indescribable. All he knows is he can't look away. Head won't let him. He's shocked by the very face of the man— of the being. It's almost as though there's this chemical pull, keeping his attention caught on the piercing blue stare of the man with fair skin and beautiful blond hair.

Something about him feels familiar. Sets an intense burn of nostalgia to blaze through his bones. Pools in his heart, makes everything feel okay. He forgets his issue at hand, simply caught up on trying to figure out just where he could possibly have seen and forgotten a face such as this.

"Who..." He speaks, eyes unfaltering in their stern hold on the man parallel to him. "Who are you?"

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✧･ﾟ: *✧ ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
yo, this is NOT banging
and i'm very disappointed
but i'm half tempted to
update it again later 🤪