Hunger | A Jikook Hunger Games AU

«̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ «̶ ̶̶̶ Chapter Three ̶ ̶ ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ »̶ ̶̶̶

Luck was not on Jimin's side anymore—it had given up on him today. He was chosen to die in a few weeks—perhaps even a few days. That fact was already terrible enough.

But now he has to endure it all with his best friend, the one he loves, knowing that at most, only one of them would come back alive. Whatever this reality was, Jimin didn't want to be in it anymore. What was Jimin in another universe doing, and why was he the one chosen to have to suffer through this?

Hoseok makes the tributes shake hands with one another. Jimin is somehow able to look at the others' broken faces as he did. One girl—maybe fourteen—still has fresh tears on her face. Jimin feels bad for the girl. The tributes would only see her as an easy target now.

When Jimin and Jungkook's hands meet, they make direct eye contact. Jungkook mouths, 'It will be okay,' to the older, as if to assure him. But Jimin knew the truth, obviously he knew. The truth was that nothing was ever going to be okay ever again.

"Please give a round of applause to our brand new tributes!" Hoseok tries to show the group off like cattle. The square is quiet. The only thing that comes back are sad, pitiful eyes, and soft inaudible murmurs within the crowd. It was always like this, but now that there were six kids up there? It was even sadder for the district.

"Time to go to The Justice Building~" Hoseok nudges the tributes to the car that would escort them to The Justice Building—the district's main political building. That was where they would be confined like prisoners before being shipped off to The Capital to get absolutely pampered as their death slowly creeps closer and closer.

The car they would be riding in was not meant for eight people—those being the six tributes, as well as Hoseok and the driver. Hoseok lets out an exasperated sigh. It doesn't sit well with Jimin how dramatically Hoseok was acting over a minor inconvenience when he was quite literally leading six kids to their place of death.

"Come on, you can get nice and comfortable with each other, we're all friends here," Hoseok rolls his eyes when the six don't move. "Squish, sit on each other's laps even. We have places to be, ladies and gentlemen!"

"Come on, Mimmie," Jungkook whispers, his voice sullen as he pulls the older to the car. "If we're going to have to do this, we at least need to be likable." He scoots to the farthest end of the car, then proceeds to pull Jimin onto his lap, making the latter's face heat up.

"Oh my God!" Hoseok basically shrieks. "Are you two dating? Are you two in love!? Do you know how that'll be for ratings!? Do you know how many people are going to wanna support something like that!?" Jimin feels Jungkook squirm in his seat. He knew the taller gets uncomfortable whenever people ask.

"N-no, we're just friends," Jimin didn't ever like saying that, no matter how true it was. "Jungkook is my best friend."

Hoseok's ecstatic demeanor deflates like a balloon. "Oh. Shame. People are really suckers for a good love story, you know. And you two look like you could be so in love."

That statement leaves a bitter taste in Jimin's mouth. The Capital didn't care about them or their feelings. No, that would humanize them too much. Jimin had to assume they would just want to fetishize the relationship between him and Jungkook, and have it go down in history as a tragic love story. They don't care about what happens to the pair, just the story they'll get to tell when this is all over.

Jimin gives Jungkook a glance after Hoseok finished speaking, which was swiftly returned to him. Jimin sees that Jungkook's face is a light pink as well, and he guesses it's from embarrassment. After all, Jungkook wasn't even gay. Jimin would've known if he were gay.

The ride to the district building wasn't what he would call enjoyable. Of course, it was a step closer to death, so he shouldn't have expected much, but even still. He doesn't usually get to ride in cars, not this nice. He felt so trapped within the tiny space, packed like cattle on the way to the slaughterhouse. If it weren't for Jungkook, he probably would have panicked.