Dog Days Are Over ◆ JeonJungkook /ON HOLD/

1 - Pigeon Days

Loud clashes hollered above your head, a heavy body climbing closer and closer as you were speeding trough the lean alley of what used to be Yokohama's biggest street food market.

Feet stomped through muddy puddles, soaking your shoes as black limbs twice your size wrecked over roofs - yet all you could concentrate on in the moment was your breathing and not loosing on pace. Your fingers were clutched around the straps of your worn back pack, knuckles white, aching as much as your knees and lungs did by now.

The relentless prowler above you inched closer each moment that passed, water drops raining down on you where the monster shook the wet roofs and fabric planes that once served the food stands as protection.

It's about time that these grey skies cleared up, you thought.

A gurgling scream notified you that the monster was about to lunge down and grab, having you drop down on your knees reflexively, making yourself as small as possible while your eyes were hefted onto the scene above you tensely.

Right when the former-human creature was about to pounce down on you, clashed a third person into it, delighted laughter shrieking through the cold alley as he slashed his scythe down onto the prowler with a hefty blow, splitting it's ugly head in half. The giant body slumped together, crashing through the fragile roofs of the market stands, until it landed on the street next to you.

Black liquid was pooling out of the seemingly gelatinous body, acidic scent of it biting, making your eyes tear up.

Behind you landed the one that had saved you, heavy boots loud on the ground. A man with brown, curly hair, that had grown long enough for him to wear it in a loose man bun, a chiseled face with a scar dragging across his right eye up to his temple and a pair of expressive, brown eyes that walked this very fine line between puppy-like and predatory. He was tall - much taller than you - with broad shoulders and a physique that made him appear like he was able to walk through walls or dance Ballett all the same - sturdy but athletic, strong but not bulky in any way, like an Acrobat, you had to think.

"God, they stink." You pinched your nose together, eyeing the dead prowler disgusted.

"A 'thank you' seems appropriate, Chickie." Jeon Jungkook grinned at you, hand that wasn't holding his scythe stemmed into his hip, like a housewife upset that her husband complained about her cooking.

You waved it off, still covering your nose, "You where the one who came up with using me as bait. Fucking asshole."

He cackled, arm wrapping around your smaller shoulders as if to placate you, "It worked, didn't it?"

"I'm sure you could've done it without me." You grumbled, letting him lead you back to your current hide out, away from the prowler that had been menacing you for days now.

"Sure, but seeing you run for your life is just that much funnier."

"Ha ha." You glared at him.

"Oh, I can imagine how good you would've been at running from the police together." He sighed dreamily, batting his eyelashes enamored.

"You have a very twisted sense of romance, you know that?"

"Who was talking about romance, hot stuff?" He winked at you, grinning impishly.

"Oh my god."

"You know." He mused, once you'd made it out of the terribly reeking food market, "I remember Yokohama kind of differently. Not so..." He waved vaguely in front of his face.

"-moldy?"

"Yeah."

"Have you been here often?"

"Surprisingly, yes." Jungkook shrugged, "Dunno, maybe Dino just had a problem with Yokohama citizens or whatever."

He had gotten a lot comfier with talking about his past, and while there was a voice in the back of your mind subtly reminding you that he was reminiscing about his past as a murderer, you felt way too detached from this past you'd never been part of to feel disturbed by his stories.

"As I see it now, I can't even blame him." You grimaced, referring to the... well, different experiences Jungkook and you had made within your few weeks here. The prowlers in Japan behaved vastly different from the ones in Korea, something you had not really been prepared for. Luckily, having Jungkook with you also meant not having to worry about this kinda stuff. But still, the sense of uncertainty Japan brought with it was nothing you embraced.

You've witnessed disturbing things here in Yokohama and considering that all these prowlers once were human, you really had to question what the people here had been like.

--of course, this way of thinking automatically suggested that the way humans were before they transformed influences their life as a prowler - which you had no evidence for whatsoever. 

Generally, you didn't really get closer to solving the mystery around the apocalypse, even after three months or so.

"I'm kinda sad about the street food." Jungkook pouted while climbing up the emergency ladder to your current hideout, " -was really good."

You followed him quickly not wanting to be out in the wet cold for longer than necessary (as Jungkook liked to regularly remind you: You getting sick could cause both your deaths).

"We'll find you someone who can cook like that again." You assured him, grunted when you slipped on the wet windowsill and just kind of tumbled into the apartment - Jungkook, the fucking Romeo, doing nothing but laugh at your misery.

"You're- ow- you're terrible."

"And you're clumsy."

"At least I'm cute."

"Fair."

He helped you up once you'd glared at him long enough, one hand on your shoulder, the other pulling on your hand. It stayed there a little longer than necessary, thumb gently rubbing over your palm until he let go of you completely.

You overplayed it easily, but that small touch was enough to throw you off your easy going mood.

It had gotten weird lately. As much as you hated to feel this way, you kind of wished to go back to how Jungkook's and your relationship had been before - no feelings, nothing official, only vague pining and short, teasing glances. That way it wouldn't feel so forced whenever Jungkook hugged you, whenever you realized you'd gotten through another day with just trying to make it out alive, without properly looking each other in the eyes even once.

Jungkook and you were in love, yes, but you'd been in love already before Japan, before Jeju. Now, having to put a label on your relationship while unable to properly live out your feelings felt like you were letting him down. There was a reason for why you'd only gotten to really explore your emotions once you'd reached Jeju, where the two of you had time to worry about something else than just mere survival.

You'd never talked about it, but you knew Jungkook felt the same way - he tried to hide it by being as casual and bubbly as usual, but he too had made far less advances than when you'd shared a bed in Jeju.

Things like that made you wonder how it would've been to date him before the apocalypse, as a normal couple in a normal life. But those were just fantasies, because Jeon Jungkook hadn't been a normal boy at any time of his life.

"What're you waiting for, Chickie?" He gave you a crooked grin when you'd done nothing but stare at his back for three minutes straight, snapping you out of your doubts and thoughts.

Maybe you were just over thinking this. Maybe Jungkook didn't feel the same uncertainty. He was a lot more simple-minded than most, honestly.

When you still didn't answer he snickered, swatting your head playfully, "Stop it ya fucking moron, I can hear the gears in your head turn. Idiot."

"Hey!"

___

Chickie and Jungkook are back :D I have no idea how regularly I'll be able to work on this sequel, but as always I'll try my best

xx