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“Hey– hey, wait!”
Hyunjae slams his hand on the panel, thankfully hitting the open button. He tries to balance his load in one arm, leaning against the wall so the bag with frozen meat doesn't fall.
“Thank you, oh my god!” Hyunjae realizes it's the cute guy who lives three floors above him. They usually also cohabit the building’s gym, albeit at strange times because that guy is already done working out and is cleaning up just as Hyunjae goes in after waking up.
Hyunjae knows he lives three floors up because this also wasn't the first time they shared an elevator ride. The last time, there were a few more people with them though, and this guy kindly asked Hyunjae to press floor 15.
“Thank you, wow.” He seems to be out of breath as he faces Hyunjae. “My friend made me get our snack order from the delivery guy but the delivery guy won't believe I’m Jacob’s friend so he won't hand the order over and Jacob– my friend, by the way– has been sending increasingly angry gifs to me.”
Hyunjae can only nod. “Ah.” He should probably say more, but he's too preoccupied with the flush that's occupying the shoulders and neck and cheeks of this cute guy…
“Crap, I should have introduced myself. I keep forgetting we never really had an actual conversation before...” The cutie straightens up and the elevator doors close. He beams at Hyunjae. “Hi, I’m Kevin!”
“Hyunjae.”
Kevin’s smile brightens. “I always see you at the gym just as I'm leaving! A little late in the mornings, too. I’ve always wanted to–”
There's a sudden drop and Kevin fumbles the drink box he’s been holding. Hyunjae hears and feels the bag of meat slipping from his own arms and plopping to the floor.
The lights flicker out, covering them in darkness for a moment before the emergency light turns on and temporarily blinds Hyunjae.
“What the fuck was that?” Kevin gasps, kneeling to get his (thankfully covered) drinks.
“Uh-oh.” Hyunjae murmurs, more to himself. He sees the emergency message blinking on the LED screen above the doors. “I think the elevator is broken.”
“What?” Kevin cries out. “Jacob’s gonna murder my ass twice now!”
“Well, it's not your fault the delivery guy was just being cautious and the elevator died, right?” Hyunjae presses a button with a bell on it, remembering it as the call for help button. “Do you have cell service? I left my phone at my apartment.”
Kevin glanced at him and the numerous paper bags in his arms, confused. “You went grocery shopping without your phone?”
“No, my friend went by earlier and dropped these off for me at the counter.” Hyunjae sighed. “It’s not allowed, but Juyeon was in a hurry. The concierge and front desk were both so mad at me.”
“Your friend gave you uncooked, frozen meat?” Kevin gestures to the sad lump on the floor, the only package in clear plastic.
“Said it's steak or something. I can't remember, I was half-asleep when he called.” Hyunjae bends to get the meat. “Something about him winning something, I don't know. Juyeon gets into a lot of side quests on his own.”
When Hyunjae glances up again, Kevin’s extending his arms as high as possible and waving his phone around. There's a cute little frown on his eyebrows and Hyunjae quickly looks away.
I guess that means no signal coverage here. He places the rest of his bags on the floor and inspects the inside of the elevator. There should be a hatch or something…
“Is there like, an oxygen limit?”
“What?” Hyunjae blinks at Kevin’s question, his attention snatched away from the seamless elevator ceiling.
“This is a confined space, right? There must be a specific amount of air here. Maybe I shouldn't talk so much? Oh my gosh!” Kevin slaps a hand over his own mouth, suddenly panicked.
“There's nothing like that.”
Kevin frowns at him, unbelieving.
“I’m a firefighter, trust me.” Hyunjae shakes his head, finding Kevin’s behavior endearing. He watches with a warming chest as Kevin slowly lowers his hands from his face and inhales deeply.
“Wait,” Kevin points at him, somewhat accusatory. “You’re a firefighter, huh? Shouldn't you be bailing us out of here instead of being stuck too?”
“Hey, don’t look at me like that!” Hyunjae pouts. “We do the work outside the elevator. There's a key we use on the panel outside and that lets us pry the doors open.”
Kevin hums, tapping a finger to his chin.
Hyunjae bites his lip and looks away, squinting at the distorted reflection on the top mirror. His eyesight is shit, to say the least, but at least he can keep his cool like this.
If he keeps staring at Kevin, Hyunjae’s sure he’s going to explode from cuteness aggression.
“What if we try to pry the doors open from here?” comes Kevin’s question.
Hyunjae quickly whips his head back to stare at him in horror.
“What?” Kevin stares back incredulously.
“Have you ever seen Final Destination? The second movie? The one with the logs falling off the truck and killing everyone.”
“No. No, that shit’s scary.”
“What about the first Resident Evil movie? The one that started the film franchise with Mila Jovovich?” Hyunjae tries again, remembering the way the woman got cut in two as the elevator started suddenly moving again.
Kevin hums thoughtfully. “I wanted to watch it, but my friend– Jacob again, by the way –is a huge video game nerd and he hates the Resident Evil movies except for the one with Halsey’s fiancé.”
“So, no?” Hyunjae clarifies.
“Nope.”
“Okay, how about… what was that stupid movie with Karl Urban and The Rock–”
“Lord of the Rings?”
Hyunjae pauses, extremely taken aback. “What?”
“Oh, you said Karl Urban.” Kevin is still innocently blinking at him. “I know he played Eomer in Lord of the Rings. I had a crush on him growing up, you know!”
“Kevin, why would I be talking about Lord of the Rings?” Logically, Hyunjae should be annoyed. And while he does sound exasperated, he can't help but feel extremely amused at how derailed their conversation is going.
“Right, sorry. No elevators in Middle Earth.” Kevin clears his throat, blushing. He looks at his shoes, and Hyunjae hides his own balled-up fists in his hoodie to avoid reaching out to Kevin.
“You don't know that.”
Kevin laughs, shyly peeking up. “Yeah, maybe I don't.”
They stare at each other for a while in silence, long enough for Kevin to shift his weight on his feet and for Hyunjae to start involuntarily chewing on his bottom lip. Kevin’s eyes track the movement before dropping to the floor again.
“So, what was the movie with Dwayne Johnson and Karl Urban?” He asks softly.
“Right.” Hyunjae blinks, feeling warm around the neck as well. “Um, it was a video game movie too. I forgot the title, it had a really shitty premise… some video games should just be video games and not be made into movies.”
“Any thoughts on Exit 8 being made into a movie?”
“Juyeon and I watched that last weekend, actually.” Hyunjae shakes his head. “Terrifying. Being in a time loop seems scarier than getting cut in half by an elevator–”
Kevin visibly pales. “Getting what?”
“Oh yeah, that's why you don't open it on your own and attempt to crawl out.” Hyunjae shrugs. “The key we use also freezes the suspension mechanism that the elevators use to go up or down, so as long as there's a key, there's no danger of crawling out of an elevator.”
Kevin must have been horrified still, because he had to sit down as Hyunjae explains.
“Is that actually real? Or just movie bullshit?”
“It’s real.” Hyunjae moves to sit as well. He looks at the melting meat inside of the bag with despair, hoping they get rescued before it spoils. “I think it was in Spain in the late 2010s, a woman got cut in half in a hospital elevator. Right after giving birth to her baby, too.”
Kevin shudders, but he leans forward. Hyunjae takes it as a sign to go on with what he knows.
“From what I remember, the stretcher was only halfway in when the elevator suddenly went up, so the upper half of her body was like,” Hyunjae tried to motion with his hands. “Stuck between the roof and the elevator.”
“Okay,” Kevin reaches out and grabs his wrist. “Okay, I get it. No forcibly opening the door.”
“Good.” Hyunjae grins. He looks at his arm, where Kevin’s pretty fingers are still wrapped around and notices the chipping nail polish. He recognizes some art on the nails as well before his mind got carried away imagining those hands wrapped around something else.
He tries to shift subtly.
Thankfully, Kevin doesn't seem to be paying much attention to him. “But how will we let others know we’re trapped in here? What if they never know? And they’ll only know because of the smell of our decomposing bodies?”
Hyunjae can't help it. He laughs, a full-on belly-laugh. His voice echoes around them and he has to use his free hand to wipe tears away.
When he's finally able to muster enough composure to speak, Hyunjae finds Kevin looking at him with a small, soft smile.
It makes him slightly self conscious, and he starts chewing on his lip again.
“Stop doing that.” Kevin murmurs, before turning red and shaking Hyunjae’s wrist that's still in his grasp. “That's so distracting! I was talking about how we might die here and you’re being all hot over there!”
He immediately clamps his lips shut, already thin lips forming a thinner line as embarrassment catches up to him.
Hyunjae feels Kevin’s hold on his wrist slacken and he quickly maneuvers their situation so he's grasping Kevin’s hand in a loose hold. He runs his thumb on the inside of Kevin’s palm, marvelling at the smattering of callouses that he probably got from lifting weights.
“I already pressed the emergency button.” Hyunjae reassures him. “And the building security and maintenance always have access to elevators. Don't worry your pretty little head too much, Kevin.”
While he’s getting some sort of whiplash with how their conversation went from films with elevator deaths to flirting, Hyunjae isn't complaining.
There's a satisfied warmth in his body as Kevin sputters in response but doesn't remove his hand, leaving Hyunjae free to let the pad of his thumb explore the rough palm.
“Hey, do you drink matcha?” Kevin peeks at him after a moment.
“Never tried it, why?”
“We might as well drink these, seeing as they’ll be ruined when all the ice melts.” Kevin twists his upper body around to retrieve and open the drink box, unwilling to let go of Hyunjae’s hand.
“What about your friend? You said he’ll kill you.”
Kevin snorts, stabbing a straw into one of the drinks before handing it to Hyunjae. “Well, I guess you have to do something to protect me, Mr. Firefighter.”
“I’ll do my best.” Hyunjae waits until Kevin gets a straw through another drink before clinking their plastic cups together in a toast.
Hyunjae takes a tentative sip of the green-looking liquid and immediately regrets it.
“Oh, come on! Your beige flag can't be that you don't like matcha.” Kevin laughs as Hyunjae places the drink on the floor and shakes his head. “Here, give that to me. We can trade, this one is passion fruit boba or something.”
“This is just grass, blended up or squeezed.” Hyunjae accepts the trade.
“Don't say that! It’s not my fault you have a primitive tongue.” Kevin sticks his own tongue out before sipping on the green drink.
Hyunjae belatedly realizes he hasn't wiped the straw off, but Kevin doesn't seem to mind. The implication makes Hyunjae even warmer, he wonders if he should take his hoodie off.
“So, tell me about yourself, Hyunjae.” Kevin prompts.
“Isn’t it unfair that you already know so much about me but I don't know stuff about you, Kevin?” Hyunjae teases, squeezing their hands together.
Kevin rolls his eyes but acquiesces. “Fine! My name is Kevin, I work as a real estate firm’s marketing manager, have a mickey mouse tattoo that I sort of regret getting, and I like cooking. Is that enough, Mr. Hyunjae?”
“I’ll accept it.” Hyunjae is still stuck on the mickey mouse tattoo part. He wants to ask if he can see it, and he considers it in his mind for a moment. But before he can decide, Kevin is pawing for more information already.
“You don't like matcha, watch crazy scary movies with gore, work as a firefighter, and work out a lot. What else?”
“I make a really mean barbecue. Special marinade and all. If the meat that my idiot best friend gave me survives this ordeal, you really should come over and have some.” The words tumble out of Hyunjae’s mouth before he can actually process them. “You can show me the mickey mouse tattoo too.”
Kevin blinks at him. Silence grows between them, and Hyunjae starts to panic at having blown his cool and (presumably) chance with this extremely attractive–
“I can just show you here?” Kevin suggests shyly, and that's when Hyunjae registers the red blossoming all over Kevin’s cheeks.
Ah.
“But I want a surprise.” Hyunjae pouts, shaking their hands. He doesn't add that if Kevin does something remotely suggestive, Hyunjae might actually pounce on him in their current trapped environment.
“I have other tattoos! You can… take your time… exploring.” Kevin shuts his eyes, whispering to himself, “Holy shit, this is embarrassing. Am I a bad flirt? Be honest with me, Hyunjae. Is this like, I don't know… not normal?”
Hyunjae shakes his head, but as he’s about to reply, there's a rumbling noise and they both jump to their feet.
“What's happening?” Kevin shrieks, holding onto Hyunjae’s arm. “Oh my gosh, if the elevator goes on a free fall downwards, do I have to bend my knees to reduce the impact force? Should we lay down to evenly distribute it?”
“What?” Hyunjae glances at him. “No, why would– Kevin, it doesn't go that far down, babe. We were on the second floor when the elevator stopped, remember?”
“Yeah, but isn't there space down there too? I don't know!”
“I told you not to worry too much.” Hyunjae takes him into his arms, only exhaling in relief once Kevin fully sags into his embrace. He tries to relay confidence through vibes to Kevin, wishing he can distract the other man for a moment.
Then the doors open slightly and Hyunjae makes out Juyeon’s disgruntled face peeking in from the opening.
“Hey!” Juyeon grunts as he tries to pry one of the doors a little wider. They seem to be stuck between the 2nd floor and the lobby. “Shit, hyung. Sorry, how long have you guys been here? We couldn't find the key and had to call the– is that your boyfriend?”
“Really, Juyeon? That's where your head is at?” Hyunjae groans, but doesn't release Kevin even when the other man shifts in his hold.
“Right, sorry! I think this is the most I can get the door to open. Other elevators are working fine, so only this one has to go to maintenance. You can crawl out now.” Juyeon sheepishly beckons them over. “Oh, hand the bags over first!”
Hyunjae pats Kevin’s head reassuringly before pulling away to crouch on the floor. He systematically passes over his bags of food, the meat (while sending Juyeon a stink-eye) and Kevin’s drinks and snack bag.
“Okay, your turn. Go on, Kev.” Hyunjae tugs at Kevin's hand.
Kevin looks downright scared. “After you told me about that woman who got cut in half?”
Hyunjae ignores Juyeon’s laughter from outside, gently pulling Kevin down to the floor. “I know, I know.” He cups Kevin’s face, smiling. “But Juyeon is a firefighter like me and he has the key. The elevator isn't going to crush you, babe.”
“Can you go first instead, hyung?” Juyeon asks when Kevin still isn't moving.
“No, I need to make sure he gets out safely first.” Hyunjae shakes his head.
“You want to make sure the elevator doesn't snap you in half by sacrificing me first!” Kevin whimpers, eyes brimming with tears.
“No, no.” Hyunjae curses himself for how he worded it out. “Sorry, Kevin, not like that! It's just a safety instinct I have. I need to make sure you're safe first, and Juyeon will pull you out as fast as possible.”
Hyunjae says the last part loudly, directing it to his friend outside.
Juyeon salutes him in affirmation.
“Okay.” Kevin breathes out, trying to steel himself. “Okay, yeah. Yeah, I can do this.” He wiggles to get on all fours, slowly moving towards the open door.
“Good. Come on, Kev.” Hyunjae can't help but pat Kevin’s ass as he passes by. “You’re doing great.”
“I got you.” Juyeon adds, hoisting Kevin down with a quick but strong pull. He sits Kevin down on one of the lobby sofas before returning to Hyunjae. “Maybe I should leave you there, hyung!”
“Fuck you, I still haven’t forgiven you for leaving the food here in the lobby and forcing me into the corcierge’s bad graces.” Hyunjae scowls, readying to crawl out as well.
Juyeon shrugs, uncaring. “I was in a hurry! Chanhee made those and I was already late to work.”
“Whatever, give me a boost.”
When Hyunjae’s safely out as well, he immediately goes over to a still frozen Kevin on the sofa. He massages Kevin’s nape as they listen to Juyeon give protocol instructions to the lobby staff.
“Your phone is buzzing.” Hyunjae tells Kevin.
“That's Jacob composing my obituary for after he murders me when I get back to the apartment.” Kevin mutters, then grabs Hyunjae’s hoodie by the hem. “Shit, I have to ride an elevator again to get to the apartment.”
“Yep.” Hyunjae nods, crouching to be eye-level with him. “And you will. It’s safe, these accidents are rare and no one gets hurt most of the time. Come on, I’ll go with you to your floor first.”
He helps a shaky Kevin up before calling Juyeon over to make him carry the bags of food and the drinks.
(“I can't carry all these!” Juyeon whines.
“Put those big hands to use, Jyu. Or else I’m telling Sangyeon-hyung about that time you smoked at the back of the station and set off the fire alarm!”
“Jeez, you didn't have to pull out the big guns.”)
Hyunjae keeps Kevin close to him, letting the man hide in chest as they enter a different elevator. Hyunjae rubs his back and presses the button for the 15th floor, ignoring Juyeon wiggling his eyebrows in the corner.
“Okay, moonshine. We’re here.” They step out and Hyunjae first makes sure that Kevin’s solidly standing before taking the bags from Juyeon and telling him to go away.
Juyeon gives him a wounded look, dramatically putting his huge hands over his chest and scrunching his eyebrows as he staggers back into the elevator.
Hyunjae rolls his eyes at his friend’s antics and Juyeon grins, waving at them as the doors close.
“You okay?” Hyunjae asks Kevin, who’s staring at a door.
“He’s going to murder me. I drank his passionfruit boba.” Kevin whispers. He turns to Hyunjae, glancing at the sad, melted drinks. “It was nice meeting you, Hyunjae. Too bad you’ll never see me again after Jacob throws me out the balcony.”
“He won't do that.” Hyunjae insists.
“He will!” Kevin is wincing as he rings the doorbell.
The door is flung open and Jacob is staring Kevin down immediately. Kevin squeaks and hides behind Hyunjae, already rambling about what happened with the delivery.
And it's only then that Jacob realizes Kevin is with someone.
“You found a boyfriend while getting snacks? My snacks?” Jacob hisses.
“I’m Hyunjae. Kev got stuck in the broken elevator with me. I would shake your hand, but…” Hyunjae motions to his full hands. “Please don't kill your friend, he really wanted to go back quickly and give your snacks at the risk of getting cut in half by crawling out of the elevator.”
Jacob softens, flushing. “I’m just joking, I wasn't going to kill him. Hey,” he shakes his head at Kevin. “You’re not hurt, right?”
“Not physically.” Kevin murmurs. “You get pissy when you're on a losing streak on League of Legends. I don't feel safe near you right now.”
“Hey!”
“Okay,” Hyunjae intervenes. “Kev, can you give the snacks to your friend? You can stay over at mine for now.”
Kevin jumps up. “Really?” He then composes himself, shy. “Really? We were just joking–”
“Take him. Take him away! Oh my gosh, please.” Jacob gushes, pushing Kevin back towards Hyunjae. “Please, I’m so sick of him moping around because he’s single!” He jabs a finger into Kevin’s chest and adds, “Don't come back until you're taken. Or have a hickey. Preferably both.”
“Jake–”
“Shh, bye-bye!” Jacob moves to close the door, only stopping at the last second to suddenly glare at Hyunjae. “You know what I will do to you and your corpse is going to hit the headlines if you do anything bad to my best friend, got it?”
“Yes sir.” Hyunjae nods.
The door closes and Hyunjae shifts his attention to Kevin, who is frantically shaking his head behind his hands, embarrassed.
“Come on, show me that mickey mouse tattoo while I marinate the meat.” Hyunjae grins, then smirks when he realizes the double meaning of his invitation has Kevin growing a darker shade of red.
He nudges Kevin with his shoulder, since his hands are full, and urges him to press the elevator button to go down.
“You’re a tease, Hyunjae.” Kevin sniffs, holding onto Hyunjae’s arm again as they step into an elevator.
“Aren't you glad you got stuck with me, though?” Hyunjae prods, laughing. He hits the button for the 12th floor and leans against the railing, letting Kevin rest his head on his shoulder.
Kevin surprises him with a kiss to the cheek.
“Yeah, I am.”