fortuitous odds

[5] there's no place like home

────────

A set of old clothes were dropped into Jungkook's lap, pulling him from his concentration on his game. His head shot up to see Hoseok standing in front of him with a hard to read expression, bag packed and slung over his shoulder.

"Get changed, we leave in half an hour." The aloof older boy explained plainly, twisting around to search the room for any loose items that their guest may have left. On the side table was a cracked phone sitting forgotten. "You'll probably want this," He added, collecting the device and offering it back to Jungkook who was staring back with a glazed uncertainty.

"You're taking me back? What about Taehyung?"

"Doesn't know the area. I won't bite you, if that's what you're worried about." Assured Hoseok with a coy smile, chuckling when Jungkook chewed his lip nervously. "You worry too much. You're in safe hands with me, I know this region like the back of my hand." Letting Jungkook take the phone from his open hand, he stepped toward the doorway and tugged on the curtain behind him. "Meet me in the kitchen. Don't be late." Then he was gone, leaving Jungkook to scramble getting all of his belongings back into his backpack and change into a set of clean clothes. The shirt was made out of a ribbed black fabric that stretched a little too tight over his torso and had thumb holes that left part of the fabric covering his hands. It paired with a set of cargo pants splattered in spray paint. He pulled his boots back on and retrieved his Katharós jacket to cover the tight fabric. The white of the overlayer was an intense shift away from the dull clothes he'd been wearing all week, and staring at himself in the old mirror on the back of the cupboard door brought a strange feeling.

It felt like more than a week had gone by, hair feeling longer despite barely having grown a centimetre, face scruffy and skin a little scuffed up from avoiding the public shower rooms. He couldn't wait to get home and have a proper shower with his familiar body wash and sleep in his own bed. It was such simple things he missed, the smell of his house feeling buried in his memories. Most importantly he couldn't wait to see Elias. It had become this expanding concern that no one had come back to check the site, but he knew it was their policy. He just hoped Elias would be happy to see him return.

Shame was written all across his appearance, mentally preparing for the mortifying moment when his team would see him return wearing Deviant clothes and completely healthy. Thinking about it too long felt like slipping into a deep lake, so he shoved the worries aside and pulled all his things into the bag, zipping it up and exiting through the curtain door without looking back.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

No one but Hoseok was in the kitchen when he knocked quietly. The red haired boy opened the door, not even letting him enter before he was moving them both toward the exit.

"Where is everyone?" Jungkook asked, scanning the room as hastily as he was allowed, looking for the familiar faces of the brothers he had shared a dinner with less than twenty hours ago. His final moment with any of them being the awkward silence between Tae and him as the silver boy finished the final layers of his work. They parted without a goodbye, mainly because Jungkook was too fucking anxious to say a word.

"Sorry, no farewells. We've got a lot of work to do trying to sort out this smoke thing." Hoseok explained as they began their trip through the town. Over his shoulder Jungkook watched Hoseok bring out a detailed map, covering the entire region that they were living in. The names of old cities and towns had never been removed, but no one called them that anymore. In the south west area was a small patch of urbanised population, and Jungkook realised as he snooped closer that it was his camp.

"You know where we are located?" His shock elicited a snorted laugh from Hoseok as he folded the map back up and slipped it into his pocket.

"Oh you naive soul. Of course we know where you are. We're not idiots." The younger boy pulled back, swallowing thickly as he bowed his head.