『 A Party of Seven 』✧ BTS Adventure Fanfic ✧

1. Meet Jin... and a Bunny?

"Do you know what is the coolest vegetable?" Jin asked the elderly farmer at his market stand.

"The coolest?" The man behind the stand pondered, "Well, I'd say it's up to personal taste, I suppose..."

"The RAD-ish!"

The vendor laughed heartily, prominent wrinkles around his eyes showcasing his merriment with every breath. He then threw a radish into Jin's arms. "For you, half off!"

"A pleasure, sir!" Jin took a few into his rucksack, gave the farmer his money, then ducked out to continue scouring the market stands for cooking ingredients.

Clad in a belted blue tunic and leather calf boots, Jin was in his late teens living independently in the village. He lived a simple life, though yearned for more. He wasn't sure what, though. He had skill with knives (whether cooking, butchering, or hunting), but had never been sure the best way to apply them.

As he walked through the dirt roads of the marketplace, he caught a glimpse of a poster tacked to the door of a humble cottage on the street. On it was a scribble of a cartoon bunny, with the caption:

MISSING BUNNY. SHY BUT CUTE. LAST SEEN IN THE FIELD. IF FOUND, PLEASE RETURN TO THIS HOUSE. KNOCK FIRST.

It was rare for anyone to own a pet bunny in this village, let alone go to such lengths to find it. As an animal lover, Jin could appreciate the gesture but otherwise kept walking.

His shopping bounty yielded him a full, rewarding bag, and he could've ended it there, but Jin was really craving the berries that only grew in the rural outskirts. So he and his rucksack made the short trip to the fields, where he ruffled through bushes until he uncovered a patch of dark black... hair?

The hair poked back down into the leaves. Curious, Jin swooped his arm across the bush, revealing a small peasant boy with big, round eyes sitting on the ground.

"Shhh, I'm hiding..." The boy murmured softly, covering his head in his arms.

"Hey, where are your parents?"

The boy wouldn't answer and was wrapping himself so tight, he was almost shrinking away.

Jin began to get a strange feeling about this boy... So he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and asked, "Bunny?"

Almost immediately, the boy's ears perked up and he stood, hands clenched into fists at his sides. His eyes suddenly lost their puppy-dog stare and burned into Jin. "Don't call me that! Who are you? Did HE put you up to this? I'm not a bunny! I have a name. It's Jungkook."

The bunny, or Jungkook, seemed to inflate as he ranted, then eventually dwindled down to normal size. Once he was done, Jin sighed. This was going to be difficult.

"Look, I need to get your back to your parents, or whoever put that sign up. Will you come with me?"

"It's not my parents... "

"Well, whoever it is, they probably just want to make sure you're safe. Are you coming?"

Jungkook sighed. "No. He doesn't let me eat more... He says he feels bad because I'm a growing boy, but he doesn't have enough money for more food. I feel like such a burden on him."

Jin looked at him. The boy looked young, but maybe he was older than he thought.

"Come with me. Don't worry, I won't take you to him. But I'm about to make supper..." Jin produced two berries from his pocket. "And you can join me if you want."

◕ ◕ ◕