Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“minho, the prelims are next wednesday. you gonna compete?”

minho turns to the sound of the voice, leaning back in his chair, twirling his pen between his fingers.

“woojin, it’s the prelims. of course i’m gonna compete.”
“what about phoenix?” he asks again, a small smile playing at his lips.

minho rolls his eyes. “he’s good, but against alpha? nah. no chance.”

“that’s a confident claim. as a phoenix enthusiast, i’m offended.”
“i’m a confident person, and an alpha enthusiast.”

woojin scoffs. “and did phoenix fall while walking down the stairs?”
minho flips him off. “shut up. that was one time.”
“jun laughed at you.”
“same way sukjae laughed at you when you got your finger stuck in the fucking car door.”

woojin scoffs, shutting his textbook when their teacher calls for class to be over.

minho swirls his tongue around the lollipop in his mouth, leaning back against the wall of the maintenance shed on the roof of the school’s main building. wind rustles through his hair as he looks out over the city. from here, he can see down onto the streets below, people milling around, getting lunch, rushing back in to work, hanging out at the park near school.

he clicks his tongue, looks down at his watch.

11:27. he stands, picks up his bag.

“woojin,” he says, when his watch stops ringing and the boy on the other end picks up.
“what is it?”
“let’s race. track near the abandoned shopping district. you know the place.”
“why now all of a sudden?”
“because i’m bored. and the prelims are tonight. and i have advanced physics next so let’s wag.”

the boy on the other end chuckles. “alright. whatever you say.”

he hangs up, turns on his heels and leaves for the stairwell back down into the school.

“minho. where are you going?”

said boy turns his head around. brian (brian kang, senior business teacher assistant) is standing there, his lanyard and keys in one hand, textbooks in his other.

“the track. don’t dog me in, rat.”

brian scoffs.

“alright then. don’t get caught.”

minho startles when someone drags him back by his bag when he’s walking out of the school gates, yelping when said person ruffles his hair and snickers.

“woojin, fuck off, holy shit.”

woojin snorts. “did i scare you?”

“what the hell else did you think you did?”

minho dusts off his shoulders, sighing. cars slowly pass by, stopping at the intersection off to the left, continuing down long roads.

“so, do you think that han kid is gonna come tonight?”
“kid probably can’t race for shit.” minho snorts.
“okay, so that’s code for ‘i really hope he comes’.”
“ugh, so what if he does? not like he’s gonna win. nobody’s beaten my record for years.”
“everybody’s shit, that’s why.”
“woah, big words coming out of your mouth there, buddy.”
“so you can be cocky and i can’t?”
“well my name is alpha, woojin.”

woojin rolls his eyes, follows hurriedly after minho as they round the corner of the street, passing the old lady that always gives minho one of her sweets every day when he walks to school.

jisung chokes on his chocolate milk when warm arms wrap around him from behind and there’s a chin resting on his shoulder.

“sungie, when are you gonna be done? play video games with me!” it’s jeongin, his annoyingly irresistible sweet voice ringing in the older boy’s ear.
“i’ll play video games with you in a bit, but this painting for class isn’t going to finish itself, innie.”
“awwnnn, unfair. you said that you were going to show me how to race today, too.”
“ah, that’s right. it’s only noon, we’ve got time before i can teach you. go bother channie for a bit, hey?”
“okay!”

and with that, the thirteen year old picks up his little stuffed rabbit and bounds out of jisung’s room, shutting the door behind him before jisung hears the distinct creaking of the door to the bedroom next to his open.

he sighs, dumps his brush back into his cup of dirty water and stretches his arms above his head. he looks at the time on his computer display. 12:04pm.

he pushes his painting closer to the corner of his room, where another painting sits unfinished, blues bleeding into reds bleeding into the gold of a sunset hidden away by intricately detailed trees.

the meet is at 9. he turns on his heels and picks up his cups of water, nudging his door open with his hip so he can head downstairs to clean them out.

“ow— channie!”
“sorry, innie!”

jisung laughs to himself.

“—and then press down clutch and release accelerator—”

jisung observes jeongin as he presses his foot down, one hand gripping at the wheel and the other at the gear shift.

“—now move the gear shift into four, and then release clutch—”

jeongin does as told, accelerating down the straight and speeding over the black and white checkered line at the finish, where he eventually comes to a stop.

“wow, i can’t believe you actually managed to teach jeongin how to race.” chan whistles, helping jeongin out of jisung’s old racing suit.
“i’m not that stupid when it comes to this stuff.”
“and you are when it comes to your studies?”
“well, i’m sorry that you came second overall in grade eleven last year but some of us aren’t as smart as you, aight?”
“at least you’re a good kid, that’s all that matters. you’re not out at night doing shady shit, dealing drugs, drinking alcohol. you’re a good kid.”
“y-yeah—”
“you’re going to the library to study tonight, right? want me to drop you off?” chan asks, folding up the racing suit and stuffing it into jeongin’s bag.
“nah. i’ll be fine with walking.”
“m’kay then.”

jisung scratches his neck. he figures chan doesn’t need to know; he’s too overprotective.

throwing his bag over his shoulder, jisung waits for his brothers until they’ve finished packing up and have got their own bags on.

“come on, kiddos. mom’s gonna be mad if we’re not there for dinner. dad’s home tonight.” chan hums, jisung watches him as he bends over to pick up a couple of stones on the side of the track, bouncing them across the slightly tacky blacktop.
“dad’s home!” jeongin chirps happily. “sungie, you gotta tell dad about your competition on friday, maybe he’ll come!”
“a-ah, maybe not. i’m not the best.”
“of course you are!”

jisung chuckles quietly to himself, elbows jeongin in the arm.

minho raises an eyebrow, turning over his shoulder at the sound of glass breaking behind him. he takes another sip of his water, turning back to the conversation in front of him although rather disinterested. woojin is busy typing away at his phone, the glow of the screen lighting up sharp features in a ghostly manner. minho rolls his eyes when there’s a loud session of laughter a few feet away from him, the rev of a car getting everyone excited. the meet hasn’t even started. he turns to look over his shoulder, checking the alleyway just behind sungjin and jaebum.

is han coming? he thinks to himself, but shrugs it off, flipping someone the bird when he gives him a smirk and a wink.

woojin tucks his phone away in his pocket, looks up at minho. “first heat is in five minutes. ten heats. top three times in each progress to the second round.”

minho nods, sips his water again, screws the cap on and pulls his face mask over his mouth. he runs deft fingers through soft strands of raven hair, and pushes them out of his face as another car revs its engine louder, more pronounced.

“alpha. new boy is here, i think.”

minho’s ears perk up and he turns his head. jaehyung is standing there, gold rimmed glasses sitting atop the milky skin of his nose, reflecting the red lights blaring around the area diluted by smoke.

“the little one?”
“mm.”
“is he competing?” minho raises an eyebrow, jaehyung shrugs in response.
“i don’t know. phoenix, come with me and ask him.”
“no, i’ll come.”

minho stuffs his phone into his back pocket and turns on his heels, following after jaehyung. he flips woojin off when he whistles from behind them.

“he was around here, i think,” jaehyung says when they get to the back of the meet.

minho stuffs his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and clicks his tongue, looking around. there are a lot of newcomers standing around, some as buff as the returning racers, some scrawny and little.

“alpha, there he is.”

minho clicks his tongue, turning to where jaehyung is pointing. sure enough, there he is, leaning against the wall with his phone up to his ear, and his mouth is moving as if he’s arguing with someone.

he has a snapback pulled backwards over washed out blond hair, and his frame is drowning in a bright red hoodie, legs hugged in tight fitting ripped jeans.

“no, no, i can get home myself, chan.”
“alright then. be safe, sung.”

minho raises an eyebrow, slaps jaehyung on the back and sends him off to announce the first heat.

“oi. han, right?”

the boy jumps, fumbles with his phone until he clutches it to his chest. he looks up at minho with wide eyes, mouth open in shock.

“a-ah, hey! uh—”
“are you competing tonight? first heat is starting in a little bit.”
“uhm, i thought i’d just w-watch—”
“nah, come on, i’ll get you first choice in car. you know how to drive, right?”
“i race for my school.”

minho raises an eyebrow, pulls his mask down and smirks at the shorter boy.

“i expect you to pass onto the next round then.”
“u-uh, i-is there like a registration, or…?”

minho laughs. han watches him and scratches at the back of his head.

“there is, but are you willing to sell your soul away?”
“uh—”
“i’m kidding, follow me.”

han stands there for a second, and it takes alpha two seconds to stop and look over his shoulder at him for him to move.

“alright, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the preliminary round of the annual 9th district tournament.”

jisung fiddles with the sleeves of his hoodie. he looks around, no sign of alpha anywhere — where the fuck did he go? — and everyone is slowly pushing him against the barrier blocking them off from the stage where a boy wearing a white shirt tucked into ripped denim jeans is standing, gold rimmed glasses perched unevenly on his nose.

“this tournament is for those who are not of weak hearts, so if you aren’t up to the challenge, please step away now.”

jisung hears a couple of people shuffle away, leaving him with a couple of men and women, most taller than him and smelling like beer and smoke. he shifts his toes in his boots and rocks back and forth.

“for returning racers, welcome! pray that this tournament will be yours to win. for newcomers, welcome also! my name is mercury, one of the officials here, alongside phoenix, blackout and, of course, our beloved alpha.”

there are loud cheers and whoops from everyone, applause deafening jisung’s ears as he watches three other people climb up onto the stage.

he ignores the heat racing across his cheeks when alpha looks him in the eye and winks. jisung watches mercury pass the microphone to him.

“good evening, ladies and gentlemen.”

(jisung is sure someone behind him just, like, bust a nut, if that groan was anything to go by.)

“the first heat in the preliminary begins in two minutes. if you are competing, please move to the gates to the left. but before you do—”

jisung’s phone vibrates in his back pocket.

old bitch
— mom wants to know if you’re going to be staying at lix’s

“the cute boy with the blonde hair in the front, please make your way over first.”

jisung sighs a tiny breath of relief. he didn’t mention his name. good.

what isn’t good, jisung decides, is the fact that everyone watches him as he shuffles over to the gates. the dude guarding it is tall, buff as hell, and he keeps his eyes trained on the ground.

“okay, han, follow me.”

jisung looks up, alpha is standing there with an eyebrow quirked and a smirk on his face, the girls behind him all fawning and sighing dreamily to each other.

“may the tournament begin.”