Partners in Speed - ver.2 (also Street Racers #2)

bonus scene 6

Taehyung

(a year has passed since the last bonus scene; two years since the end of Star Racer)

A morning after three hours of sleep isn't exactly my favorite thing in the world, but walking into the kitchen where my boyfriend is making coffee in sweatpants and sweatpants only, freshly after a workout and a shower? That's a whole different story.

Dragging my feet across the floor, I glue myself to his back, half-asleep on his shoulder, arms around his waist.

"Morning," Wooshik says, smiling, tamping ground coffee. He's been very persistent in getting the most expensive espresso machine to ever exist and now he's my own personal barista.

"Mhm."

"No one told you to watch this drama till six in the morning."

"I didn't know it's six. And besides, I couldn't stop. It was so good."

I waddle everywhere he goes. Half naked, but still warm. Delicate orange and jasmine cologne I'm so used to by now making my eyes heavy.

"I'm gonna wake you up, then," he says. "I've got news."

"What news?"

Espresso brews into two cups, and Wooshik pulls me further through the kitchen to get ice. "I'll tell you when the coffee is ready."

"Then I'll nap until then."

"Taehyung." He laughs, and I smile against his skin, because both his laugh and when he says my name are my favorite sounds in the world.

Two iced coffees are ready, but he doesn't give any to me, yet.

Twisting in between my arms, and he hooks his around my waist and says, "The news first. I'm afraid you'll spill the coffee or spit it on me when I tell you."

I force my eyes open, the kitchen too bright. A laugh jumps out of me. "You look so handsome already and I look like shit." At least I managed to wash my teeth (with a prior motive of getting kisses).

"No, you're always beautiful," he says. "Listen now. You know those six races in Busan I won?"

"Mhm. The ones that gave you a lot of cash."

"Yes, these. But I don't have this money anymore."

I frown. That was a lot of cash. I'm sure I would have seen him spending it. "Why not?"

"I bought myself a certain spot," he says, kind of playful, kind of mysterious.

"What spot? An island?"

"Not that kind of spot. I bought myself a spot as a boss of a team." That sounds oddly familiar. And his smile is too wide and too suspicious. "In the Japan Race."

"In a what?"

"You heard me."

"Wooshik, what the fuck?! Are you for real?!"

"See? I told you it's gonna wake you up." He reaches for the coffee, but I grab his arms, pull him to me and crash my lips on his. The kiss is short and heated, and I am awake. "I've got more news," he says when we part. "I've completed my team already."

"Who?"

"You know who." He smiles wide. "Choi Wooshik, Jang Yeeun, Jeon Jungkook, Kim Taehyung."

More kisses as the ice melts in our coffees. I just want to kiss him for that, and I do, for the next... half an hour, in every corner of the kitchen. He's said it once, not long after we met, that one day he'll get a spot in this race.

And he did.

"Happy birthday, I love you," he says, when we finally get to drink the watered down Americanos.

Happy birthday?

Oh.

I smile as he holds my hand across the table. "I forgot it's today."

"Lucky you, me and our friends didn't."

"Do they know? About the race?" I ask, but if Jungkook knew, he'd already be here.

"No, I will tell them when we meet later."

"Call 911 already, Jungkook's gonna need it."

🏁

We're spending my birthday in a lowkey way, stuffed on the couch in Jungkook and Yeeun's apartment. Just the four of us having fun, and Boogie asleep in their bedroom.

Jungkook loses a race in the game against Wooshik. "Fuck you, man. I'm never playing with you again.

"Speak nicely to your boss, Jeon Jungkook," Wooshik says, smiling playfully, and takes a sip of beer.

Jungkook furrows his eyebrows, so does Yeeun. They both look at me only to catch me smiling, too.

"My what?" Jungkook asks, huffing a small laugh.

"I've got news," Wooshik says and sets the bottle on the coffee table. "I was a millionaire for two months, but I spent all this money on something really cool."

"A Bugatti for our wedding gift, obviously." Yeeun says.

"You got married a year ago," Wooshik says. "I will just say it, all of it, so brace yourselves. I spent all the money on a spot in the Japan Race. I'm the boss now, and my team is the four of us." Still straightforward.

Jungkook freezes. Eyes wide on Wooshik, then on me, then on Yeeun. "Japan Race?"

"Japan Race."

"You're the boss?"

"I am."

"We're all driving in it?"

"All four. Next month."

Jungkook and Yeeun both jump from the couch at the same time. For all I know, they could scream now. They do look like they are about to explode. Jungkook's not in disbelief this time. Almost like back then, unconsciously, he knew something was off. Now he knows it's not a joke, not a lie, not a trick.

We're going into the Japan Race.

"Taehyung," Jungkook says, swinging his hands around. "Kiss him from me, because I can't."

Wooshik laughs. "He's already kissed me a lot for it, don't worry."

"Are you complaining or what?" Jungkook frowns, more hyperactive than I've ever seen him.

"Right, are you complaining?" I joke, poking his sides.

He clicks his tongue, grabbing my hands to stop me, and pulls me into a quick kiss.

In the background, Jungkook and Yeeun are having their own squealing-laughing celebration, and hearing them makes me laugh into my own, messy kiss. A thought crosses my mind, that many things can change, but this is what I'll always care about the most.