Jungkook expected excitement. Pride. A party, even, to celebrate their first win. As first-timers, they did considerably well, much better than a lot of other teams in fact. According to snippets of conversations between spectators that Jungkook had managed to catch, there were quite a lot of casualties. A great chunk of the participants didn’t even make it out of the race alive.
And while Jungkook himself hadn’t been around to see what happened in the first four legs, as far as he could tell there had been no disputes whatsoever among his team. They had welcomed him at the finishing line as one, all grins and sweaty bodies as they threw their arms around each other in a group huddle, and at that moment they seemed more like a family than a group of strangers that just met ten days ago.
Which was why Jungkook was incredibly confused when they arrived back home—funny how Jin and Hoseok’s place was automatically marked as “home” in his head by now—and there were no jubilant festivities, not even a congratulatory dinner (which Jungkook would have offered to cook if anyone had shown any signs of wanting it). Everyone was strangely quiet, tense.
Of course, it made sense that Taehyung would be silent. The tournament medics were amazing(apparently the medical industry was super advanced in that era), but with all the blood loss he was understandably exhausted and could barely stay upright on his board. Jimin held him all the way home.
Of course, it would also make sense if Jimin were angry. He had been a raging mess in the beginning, when the malfunctioning time machine dropped them in this new world. Taehyung being in any kind of danger resulted in a fuming Jimin. It was to be expected.
But Jimin wasn’t the cause of this high-strung silence in the house. That was the strange part. Instead, the four older men were the antsy ones—they seemed to be walking on eggshells around each other, blatantly avoiding any eye contact. None of them said much, and if they had to talk they mostly did it with the younger ones. Hoseok had patted Jungkook on the back and said he was proud of him, before disappearing into the shower. Yoongi hung around Jimin mostly, seeming to find comfort in the younger’s presence, and Jin busied himself fussing over Taehyung. Namjoon sat on the couch, face blank, staring into space.
This continued for an hour or so, until Jungkook felt like he couldn’t stand it anymore. He exchanged uneasy glances with Jimin, who looked equally confused. Taehyung was the only one who was oblivious, but he was barely conscious after all.
The pregnant silence was deafening, like the calm before the storm, like everyone was waiting for something to happen. Jungkook just wanted to get the hell out of there.
When Taehyung fell onto Jungkook’s shoulder groggily, Jungkook seized the opportunity to take his leave. Picking Taehyung up bridal style, he plastered a cheerful smile onto his face and announced: “We’re going to bed!”
“If Taehyungie is going to bed, I’m going to bed too,” Jimin quickly added with an exaggerated yawn, trailing after Jungkook. The three made their way into Jin’s room and closed the door. Jungkook set an already slumbering Taehyung onto the bed, glanced at the door, and turned to look at Jimin.
“What the heck was that?” Jimin said immediately, now that they were out of earshot.
“Did anything happen during the race that made them like… that?” Jungkook whispered.
“A lot of things happened, but… I don’t know, everything that happened seemed to have brought everyone closer? Jin even hugged Namjoon from the back. They were super lovey-dovey.” Jimin frowned. “…Wait, what if that’s what’s causing the tension? Jin was embarrassed that his huge-ass crush on Namjoon was showing and didn’t know what to do about it?”
