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letsgoletsgetit08 · 2 months ago

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It's A Trip! Ch. 2

summary: It started off as a joke, the proposition to road trip from the east coast to the west coast for Hongjoong and Seonghwa's wedding, but then Mingi said yes. And Jongho wasn't about to pass up that opportunity.

warnings/tags: mdni!, mxm, smut, recreational drug use, tropes, fluff, light angst, wooyoung is a little shit, jongho is whipped, au non-famous, siri play maknae on top by stray kids

pairing: top!jongho x bottom!mingi

author's note: I couldn't resist the idea of a little stoner road trip situation with unspoken feelings and Wooyoung trying to play matchmaker behind the scenes. Loosely based on the song of the same title by Joywave that got stuck in my head recently and fits the vibes, I think. Anyway. Enjoy!

word count: 21k (around 3.5k per chapter, 6 chapters total)

ao3 link: It's A Trip!

Day Two

Jongho woke up to his alarm at 5am, cold and alone. He wasn't surprised, necessarily, but couldn't help and feel a little sad. It would have been nice to wake up still embracing the man he was harboring a secret crush on. Oh well.

The other three were milling about groggily in the kitchen, Mingi looking incomprehensibly adorable with his hair still sticking up in odd places and face puffy from sleep and too much sodium the night before.

“I saved you the last cup of coffee.” Mingi told Jongho after noticing him walk in.

His face was unreadable for once, which was frustrating for Jongho. The fact that Mingi was typically completely incapable of hiding his emotions, his face always a dead giveaway to his thoughts, was something that Jongho admired most about him. He tended to take people very literally otherwise and often found himself confused when peoples’ expressions differed greatly from their words or actions. So the fact that he couldn't tell how Mingi felt in that very moment - their first moment together after spending the night cuddling together in the same bed - led Jongho to two possible conclusions: either Mingi remembered nothing and was being completely normal right now, or he remembered all of it and this was his plea to ignore it and return back to homeostasis.

Either way, it didn't really matter. Jongho would go along with whatever Mingi wanted, however he wanted to handle it. He wasn't Wooyoung, he wouldn't pry.

Speaking of the devil, Wooyoung kept casting him fiendish looks over his coffee mug from across the table, raising his eyebrows suggestively, acting as if he was implying he and Mingi had slept together last night or something. Jongho didn't give him the satisfaction of any sort of response.

Instead, he addressed the room, “I don't mind taking first shift driving again.”

Mingi stood up to wash his now empty coffee mug, “Shotgun!”

Like anyone would ever fight him on that. Jongho didn't think he'd seen Wooyoung and San not touching in some way since they had gotten together during undergrad.

But when the four of them had packed up and were loading the car, Wooyoung suddenly made a mad dash for the front seat.

Mingi stared at him incredulously, “What the hell, man!”

“Oh, did you call the front seat?” Wooyoung was putting on a show of innocence, “Sorry, must not have heard you. Maybe next time just say what you mean to say instead of speaking in code and dancing around the subject.”

Mingi was lost, “Uhhh okay. I mean it's a pretty common phrase but-”

Jongho cut him off, “Wooyoung, move. Mingi called it. If we can't all play by the very basic rules of the road, we shouldn't have gone on a road trip together.”

Wooyoung didn't move, “No. I'm already here. Mingi can sit in the back with San. Can't you Mingi?”

Jongho was getting heated now, “No he can't, he called-”

San cut them off, “He's not going to give it up, you might as well hop in the back, Mingi.”

Jongho might have imagined it, but he swore Mingi was pouting when he climbed into the backseat next to San, directly behind Jongho instead of beside him.

Wooyoung looked entirely too proud of himself. Little shit.

Wooyoung rode up front all the way from Knoxville to Nashville and Jongho swore it was the longest stent of the trip so far. After getting to be next to Mingi all day and then unexpectedly all night as well, he was annoyed that he wasn’t sitting beside him currently. Once he got a taste of proximity with him again, he wondered how he had stood going so long without it. To make things worse, Wooyoung was yapping the whole way, engaging only Jongho in the conversation to the point where Mingi and San ended up having their own conversations in the backseat. Jongho was almost at his wit’s end, about to pull over early and demand to switch, but then he saw the exit signs start mentioning Nashville and he decided he could wait it out. He had demanded that they stop at Third Man Records in Nashville while they were there. Wooyoung decided to allow it, mostly - so he claimed - because there was a brunch spot nearby that he wanted to try.

Third Man was even better in person than the pictures Jongho had seen on Instagram. He was having trouble choosing what piece of merch he wanted to buy. Had an even harder time not taking home a whole case of vinyl. Mingi seemed to love it, too. He bounded over to Jongho excitedly, “There’s a recording booth! We can record something and print it on vinyl!”

Jongho recalled what he was talking about from his research he’d done on the place, “Oh, yeah! the Voice-o-Graph, right?”

Mingi nodded, “Yeah, come on let’s go! Sing something with me!” He grabbed Jongo’s wrist and drug him over to the booth.

The booth wasn’t really built for two people, but they made it work anyway, Mingi practically in Jongho’s lap.

“Any song come to mind?” Jongo asked him.

Mingi thought about it for a second, “What about… This Must Be the Place by the Talking Heads? I know you know that one. And I maybe also really like it. I kinda missed hearing it when you moved on.”

It was true. Jongho had gone through a bit of a phase with that song at one point. He still stood by it, though. He hadn’t realized Mingi also liked it so much though. The thought made his chest bloom, head feeling pleasantly fuzzy.

Mingi started them off, Jongho joining in on the second stanza. Mingi had been avoiding Jongho’s eyes until he got to the pre-chorus:

“…And you’re standing here beside me

I love the passing of time”

Where he looked straight into the depths of his soul, it seemed.

Jongho had forgotten just how romantic the song was, which was probably why he had been so hung up on it at one point. He realized now, singing it with Mingi, making him know he meant it when he sang,

“You’ve got a face with a view”

that he had always thought of Mingi when it came to this song.

He had been in love with him for years. Just didn’t know it. Because he had nothing else to compare it to. He thought he had just preferred Mingi to his other friends, but now that he had tried dating, and was getting to be around Mingi again, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was in love.

Fuck.

They finished the song out and Mingi’s face had ended up so close to Jongho’s that it wouldn’t take very much at all to close the gap and land his lips on Mingi’s. Mingi’s eyelids fluttered for a second, his breath shallow from exertion. Probably from exertion. Not from desire. Surely.

The booth door opened abruptly, revealing an all too pleased Wooyoung, “Bravo! You two successfully cleared out the whole building with that performance.”

They knew he was lying, all of them had gone to music school together, they were all good singers. Which meant that Wooyoung was doing it to be a nuisance. Jongho gave him a murderous look, which was met with a completely innocent expression from the other. Oh he’d be having words with him later.

Mingi wasn’t as bothered, just moved back into his own space and said, “Jongho, you need to let me produce an album for you. You promised you’d think about it! Your voice is too good to just be teaching.”

Jongho tried to hide his smile but was unsuccessful. He was very proud of his voice and getting a compliment from Mingi meant everything to him.

“I’ll think about it.” He told him.

They collected their vinyl once it was finished pressing and checked out with their souvenirs. Jongho couldn’t wait to listen to their recording on his record player. He had a feeling it was about to become his very favorite.

They shouldn’t have been surprised that Wooyoung was taking them to drag brunch, really. He had gone through a Drag Race obsession back in undergrad. It was more surprising that he had chosen something that would be this big of a time sink.

But Jongho had to admit, it was a good time. The queens loved Mingi and San, kept choosing them out of the crowd to stand up and dance with them or to serenade them. They were embarrassed but were good sports about it. Jongho and Wooyoung took video for the group chat - the guys ate it up.

Jongho couldn’t but feel a pang of jealousy as San sat back down beside Wooyoung and the latter was able to kiss him on the cheek, secure in him being his. Jongho couldn’t do the same with Mingi. But he wanted to. He wanted everyone there to know who he belonged to. And he truly had never thought of himself as possessive, but now that he had realized his feelings for Mingi, he was getting stronger and stronger urges to confess. Tell him how he felt. Ideally, he felt the same. But if not, at least then he could start moving forward, moving on. He was sure even if Mingi didn’t return his feelings, that they could figure out how to be friends again. Maybe not immediately, but at some point. But would their friendship ever be truly the same? That’s what worried him the most. That, and rejection was also terrifying.

He needed more time to think on it.

He beat Wooyoung to the front seat as Mingi hopped into the driver’s seat. Really, he probably wouldn’t have tried again, but Jongho wasn’t going to take any chances.

Now that they were fed and caffeinated, the few hours to Memphis was full of car games that Wooyoung seemed to be making up half of on the spot.

“Someone picks a song and we go around picking a new song where the title of the next song starts with the last word of the title of the song before it. Like if I started with Closing Time, then maybe San would choose Time to Pretend. Understand?”

Mingi had a vast music taste and kept winning because he kept picking song titles with weird esoteric words in them that no one could find a song to follow.

Jongho won several rounds of twenty questions.

Wooyoung kept winning the alphabet game, but the others were convinced he was cheating. “I saw that sign, too, Wooyo, there’s no word that starts with ‘X’ on there!” Mingi had protested. It was no use. Wooyoung doubled down until they all gave in.

San found a Mad Libs app on his phone and they had fun filling in the blanks with the most immature word choices they could think of.

Before they knew it, they were seeing signs for Memphis.

“Anyone hungry yet?” Mingi asked.

“Uhh not really.” Jongho replied.

Wooyoung and San agreed. They had no room for Memphis barbeque. Maybe on the way back.

They stopped at a gas station in not the best area of town, grabbed snacks for the road, switched drivers, (landing Mingi and Jongo in the backseat together again) and got the hell out of there. Marveled at the giant Bass Pro Shop pyramid on their way out.

Goodbye, Tennessee.

Hello, Arkansas.

The first half of Arkansas was boring and ugly. They stopped in Little Rock to switch drivers for the last time that night, and this time it was Jongho who cornered Wooyoung in the bathroom.

“What the hell, man?” He asked him incredulously.

Wooyoung smiled smugly, “What the hell, what?”

“What have you been on about, Wooyoung? You knew Mingi wanted shotgun earlier!” He whisper-yelled at him.

Wooyoung shrugged, “Distance makes the heart grow fonder.”

Jongho sighed, exasperated, “We’ve had distance! Plenty of it! For years!”

“Yeah but,” he laughed, “think about how pissed you are about it right now. I bet Mingi was feeling the same way.”

“You make no sense to me.” Jongho said flatly before pushing past him and back outside.

After stopping for the last time of the night, as they entered northwest Arkansas, the scenery got much better. Mingi had pulled out his wired earbuds that time and offered one to Jongho so they could listen to music together. Leaning towards each other across the cup holder fold-out. Getting sleepy with the silence in the car. Jongho’s head kept slipping out of his hand. Mingi nudged him and patted his shoulder. Jongho felt butterflies stir in his stomach again as he leaned over and rested his head there on Mingi’s broad shoulder. Mingi rested his head on top of Jongho’s. Listening to Billie Holiday’s self-titled album. It was peaceful. Intimate. Jongho could spend an eternity doing exactly that.

He awoke to the car turning off, parked behind what he assumed to be the inn Wooyoung had booked. It was a cool old light yellow house called Dickson Street Inn.

Wooyoung had neglected to mention that it was a popular place for couples to stay on their wedding nights. All the rooms were singles. He would be sharing a bed with Mingi. Again.

It’s not that he wasn’t excited, it’s just that it made him nervous.

They made plans to meet back out by the car in an hour to go find a bite to eat and then hit the town.

Was it smart to go out the night before another full day of driving? Probably not. Were they going to do it anyway? Of course they were. It was the week of Halloween and they were in a college town. They intended to make the most of it.

“Is eyeliner too much?” Mingi called from the bathroom where he was getting ready for the night, door cracked open so that he and Jongho could talk from the other’s position on the bed.

“I say no. It’s Halloweek. And I really enjoyed your emo phase.” Jongho chided him.

Mingi’s head popped around the corner, “What if I still haven’t learned how to do it, though?”

Jongho laughed, “Want some help?”

“Please?” Mingi asked, sticking his bottom lip out.

Jongho shook his head, gathered himself off the bed, and walked into the bathroom to take the eyeliner pencil out of Mingi’s hand.

“Hop up,” he instructed, patting the bathroom counter.

Mingi obeyed and Jongho stepped in between his legs in order to get close enough to do his eye makeup.

“Look up,” Jongho directed. Mingi did as he was told so that Jongho could apply the eyeliner underneath his eye, gently as he could.

“Okay, eyes closed,” he ordered.

Mingi reached out and touched his waist as his eyes closed, “I like this shirt, by the way.”

Jongho tried not to jump at his touch out of surprise, not wanting to scare him off, enjoying his large hand’s presence there, “Yeah? Thanks. It’s new.”

Mingi smiled, “I thought so.”

“Don’t act like you know me.” Jongho joked.

Their faces were close enough together to be sharing one another’s breath again. Mingi’s was warm and minty on Jongho’s face. He felt Mingi’s hand grip almost imperceptibly tighter as he moved on to the other eye. Jongho hoped Mingi couldn’t hear his heart trying to beat out of his chest. He could easily close the gap between them right now if he wanted to. If he was brave. But he didn’t want to kiss Mingi unless he knew indubitably that his friend wanted that as well. And he wasn’t ready to have that conversation yet. So instead, he finished the other eye, patting Mingi on the face, “Alright, take a look. Let me know if I need to fix anything.

Jongho took a step back to let Mingi hop down, but Mingi kept his hand on his waist the whole time, using him to ensure a solid landing, before finally letting go and turning around to look in the mirror.

“It’s perfect. Thanks, man.” Mingi smiled at him through the mirror.

“Anytime.” Jongho replied. And he meant it. He would do anything for Mingi.

Dinner was spent at a basement level burger joint that was famous in the city. The decor was vintage, it was loud and busy, and the food was delicious. No complaints. Wooyoung had done it again. Next on his list was a bar down the street called Maxine’s. It was also packed and they had gone all out with decorations for Halloween. The inside was completely Pirates of the Caribbean themed, the bartenders and bar backs were also dressed to theme. One of them, a pretty brunette wearing a theme-appropriate corset, hair braided with a red bandana, looked at Mingi in his outfit (which, admittedly, wasn’t not pirate-y) and eyeliner and said, “Oh, nice, you’re a pirate, too!”

He laughed, “Um, not intentionally,” he glanced down at his outfit, “but uh yeah, I guess I am.”

“Cute. First drink is free for fellow pirates,” she winked at him, “What can I get for y’all?”

Jongho had to resist the urge to throw his hand around Mingi’s waist. The bartender hadn’t done anything wrong but he once again found himself wishing he was in a position where everyone would know who Mingi belonged to. Wishing that he had the right to claim he belonged to him at all.

They ordered and happened to find the area towards the back of the bar to be both unoccupied and to have a dart board on the wall.

Wooyoung looked at them, “Teams of two?”

They agreed.

Mingi was laughably terrible at it, only getting worse the more he drank. By the second round, he was whining, “Jongho, you have to help me! I suck!”

Jongho was glad to have liquid courage in his system. He approached Mingi from behind, his hand finding the wrist attached to the hand holding the dart, “Okay, just stare down the bullseye and don’t let your eyes move off of it, no matter what. Then you’ll bring your hand back,” he guided his hand backwards, “And then follow through like this,” he demonstrated, “and try to keep your hand level. But most importantly, eye on the bullseye.” He stepped back, hating the distance immediately, “Okay, you try.”

Mingi took a deep breath and threw the dart. It wasn’t a bullseye, but it was much better than what he had been throwing. He jumped in excitement and pulled Jongho in for a bear hug, “You fixed me!” He yelled into his ear.

Jongho laughed, letting himself be squeezed.

They win the third round. Mingi celebrated with shots.

Jongho and Wooyoung easily have the best tolerance of the four of them, with San being the worst of them. He was still sipping on his first drink of the night while the others were on number three or four. Which meant that Mingi was the most buzzed of them all, face almost as pink as his hair. It was cute. Jongho made him drink some water before moving on to the next bar.

This bar was also decorated for Halloween, and had pinball and skeeball machines in the back.

The bartender there looked at them and exclaimed, “Oh! Nice BTS costumes, guys!”

They looked between themselves. Four Korean transplants all dressed more fashion forward than had reached the states yet, and definitely not the south. Yeah, okay. Maybe if that was your only point of reference for their culture, sure. They probably looked like they were dressed up as the only k-pop group most people could name.

They decided to just roll with it, looking at each other before Wooyoung finally looked at her and said, “Thanks!”

They laughed it off as soon as they turned away from the bar with their drinks.

After that, the night moved on in a bit of a blur. Mingi was weirdly good at pinball. They played games and drank and laughed and had a great time. It was only on their way back that Jongho saw just how drunk Mingi had gotten. He could barely walk in a straight line and kept barking at cars that passed by for some reason.

Jongho helped him up the stairs to their room at the inn. Upon entering, Mingi immediately darted to the bathroom, no time to close the door before he was kneeling in front of the toilet, vomiting up every ounce he had put away previously.

Jongho followed him in, found a headband in his toiletry bag and helped him put it on to keep his hair out of his face while he was sick. Mingi groaned pathetically and Jongho knelt down beside him, rubbing his back, “I know honey. You’re okay.” He cooed to the man, a little surprised at his own softness.

Jongho stood up and went to the bedroom where he found some water glasses on top of the mini fridge, which he filled up for both of them before grabbing some Ibuprofen from his own bathroom bag.

“Here, sit up a little,” he told the other from the ground beside him, “Sip on this.”

Mingi did as he was told, but tried to chug the water. Jongho stopped him, “No, no, no, no chugging, Mingi. You’ll make yourself sick again. Take these though.” He handed him the pills.

Mingi tossed the pills back and followed them with more water.

“There you go. Good. That will help.”

Mingi was swaying on the spot from his place still kneeling in front of the toilet, when he leaned sideways, wrapped his arms around Jongho’s middle and mumbled, “Thank you.”

Jongho smiled down at him, so very fond, “Okay, pukey. You’re welcome. Let’s get you clean, yeah?”

He managed to get Mingi upright to where he could get his shirt off, then had him sit on the toilet to remove his pants before starting the water in the bathtub.

Was he ready, mentally or physically, to help a fully nude Mingi bathe while he was drunk as a skunk and Jongho himself tipsy? Not at all. Was it about to happen anyway? Yeah. Sure was.

Mingi had always had a beautiful body. A naturally muscular and lean build, someone who always found it easy to lose weight or gain muscle if he wanted to. Jongho couldn’t help but admire it. He managed to not make eye contact with Mingi’s genitalia as he pulled his underwear off and helped him rather clumsily into the bathtub.

Jongho washed the man’s body as well as he could. Mingi reached up and grabbed Jongho’s wrist as his hand was passing over his chest, staring at him a second before saying, “You’re so pretty. I like your face. Did you know that? My pretty Jongho.” He smiled deliriously up at him.

Jongho knew it was just the alcohol talking, but he couldn’t help the blush that creeped up his neck at the words. “You’re the pretty one, Mingi.” He corrected him.

“Uh-uh. No one as pretty as you, baby.” Mingi slurred.

Jongho’s heart did backflips at the pet name. Where did that even come from? He was too stunned to speak.

After he had gotten Mingi to bed and himself also hydrated and ready to sleep, he climbed in beside Mingi, whom he had thought to be out cold. But as soon as he felt Jongho’s weight on the bed, he rolled over and glommed onto his back, pulling him close to his chest. Jongho let himself relax into it. It might be the only time he ever experienced it. He fell asleep with Mingi’s warm breath tickling the hairs on his neck, content as ever.

#ateez #ateez smut #ateez mingi #ateez fanfic #ateez jongho #ateez fluff #ateez hongjoong #ateez seonghwa #ateez san #ateez yunho #ateez wooyoung #ateez yeosang #ateez jonggi #ateez woosan #ateez matz #ateez see the midsouth #ateez road trip

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