wish upon a dead star || taekook || completed

Chapter 6: Introductions

"Wait... dear!?"

Namjoon blushed as Jimin voiced both of the boy's thoughts. Taehyung's eyes widened as he started twisting his head between the purple haired man and his friend. "Holy shit! I knew you weren't straight, you monster!"

"Taehyung, he was definitely the straightest out of all of us. What do you mean?"

"It's always the unexpected ones... He also knows all the dances to the male idol groups and knows their names by heart... I'm also pretty sure one of them was his wallpaper. Just a guess."

Taehyung and Jimin then turned to the flushing man before them, grinning. "Trust the apocalypse to push him out of the closet," Taehyung muttered, causing the whole room to erupt into laughter. He smiled, watching his friends laugh was like medicine. It had been too long.

His eyes settled on the cackling figure of the youngest in the room. Jungkook was practically rolling on the floor, body bent in painful laughter. Taehyung watched as he gasped for air and relaxed his back against the cold floor, still grinning at his comment. Taehyung realized he was staring for a bit too long when their eyes locked. He quickly twisted his vision away from the other and focused on Namjoon.

The older coughed, still flushed, and started the introductions, "Um, now that everyone is here, it's time for official introductions. Guys, this is Kim Taehyung and Park Jimin. I knew them in high school and they are both 19. Tae, Jimin, these are my friends from the underground," he started pointing when he said each ones name, "Those two are Jeon Jungkook who is 17, and Min Yoongi who is 21, but you already know them. These two maniacs are Jung Hoseok, who is 20, and Kim Seokjin, who is 22..."

Everyone began to greet each other appropriately, mutual respect spreading throughout the group. Even Jimin gave a slight bow towards Yoongi. When Taehyung went to meet Jungkook, butterfly's decided to have a spasm in his stomach. He started panicking and his nerves began to tingle. He slowly walked towards the younger, already hating himself for approaching him.

"So I hear you're older."

Taehyung's head slowly rose to meet the eyes of the boy before him. He may have been younger, but he didn't seem like it. He was taller than Taehyung, enough to where he had to look up at him. He had a maturity to him that wasn't common for 17 year olds, which Taehyung thought was decently charming.

"Apparently... I'm afraid you're going to have to call me Hyung," Taehyung chuckled as the boy's smile turned into a small scowl.

"Now that the world's ending, do honorifics really matter?"

"Yes. Us older kids need some reason to live... what better than bossing others around?" The pair grinned and Taehyung slowly walked back towards the table. He especially liked Jin. When he talked to him, he discovered the mom vibes were correct. The older apparently cooks for the others, and he likes to clean and keep things orderly. He's also the oldest, which meant a lot of responsibilities and peacekeeping fell on to his shoulders. Of course Namjoon was his boyfriend. Taehyung never believed in the saying "opposites attract" until this pair. Namjoon, who sucks at cleaning and cooking and breaks everything, found himself his opposite. And they were perfect. He smiled as he thought of his friend. He deserved Jin, and he deserved to be happy.

The group settled back down, having met and talked and shared. Although Jin was the oldest, Taehyung realized that everyone looked towards Namjoon for leadership. He gave off that type of aura... oh... he's the dad. Taehyung grinned at his little thought. It made perfect sense, and he loved it.

"So I guess now that everyone... knows everyone, it's time to figure out what exactly is going to happen." Namjoon stood up and started to pace, thinking. Taehyung thought about the present situation, about exactly what was going to happen next. He didn't like it. Logically, now that the problem was sorted out, he and Jimin would move on and head towards the suburbs. But why should they? Taehyung, without even realizing it, felt comfortable around these strangers. He felt like he belonged for once. He felt like the pair that went through so much shit, should finally relax.

But he knew that wasn't likely. They would be taking their food and shelter and home and only adding to their already heavy baggage. No, the two couldn't do that to the others, and they knew it. Both of them did. Jimin eyed Taehyung with sadness in his eyes, but a smile on his lips. That is what his best friend always seemed like to him. Sad but masked. Jimin stood up, hands on the table, and looked around at the group, "Tae and I should move on. We can't take your home and we can't endanger you. Seven is a large group. We will head towards the suburbs and try to find a safer place to stay than the city. Maybe a farm, if we can make it that far."

At that point Tae stood up next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, "We've made it this far, we can make it a bit more-"

"No," Jin interrupted, walking over to Namjoon's side, "No. There is no way in hell that we can send you two back out there. Alone. No way. It's dangerous enough with five and adding two more is a scary thought; however, just two is even more dangerous. You could only handle so much. So no-"

Hoseok looked down, Shame plastered across his face, but Taehyung knew someone would have to say it, "Jin Hyung... can we afford to take anyone else? Food is already scarce enou-"

"Jung Hoseok!" Yoongi stood up, slamming his hands into the table. Jimin jumped beside Taehyung and stared at the angry blonde. "What the fuck are you saying.? We can take two more people. We can't... we can't send them back," Taehyung and Jimin's eyes widened as they watched him shake, but not with anger. "You didn't hear their story Hobi. You didn't hear what they went through. Sending them back out is like sending them to their death. You can only test luck so many times."

Jungkook sat there in silence. His eyes were wide and he was gnawing on his lip. He flipped his hand through his hair and slowly moved his head to make eye contact with Taehyung from across the table. When Taehyung also looked over, he felt a slight blush rise up from his neck, but he didn't look away. The boy across the table cocked his head, and smiled. Simply reassuring him without having to say a word.

Taehyung moved his gaze to the other faces in the room. Angry, scared, concerned, and lost. The boys didn't have an answer. How could they?

Jimin was still staring at Yoongi, deep in thought. "Hey... what about this. Tae and I," Jimin glanced at Tae, giving him a small nod, "we only use this place for shelter. We can get our own food. Go off on our own if we need to. We can both kinda fight... our weapons and shit kind of suck but we've been at this for a while and have been in more danger than you 5. We can manage by ourselves as long as we are located here for a bit."

Taehyung smiled slightly at his friend. He knew that they both needed rest. At night, they couldn't even fall asleep with out one of them keeping watch. Now, if they said yes, there could be seven to carry the load. But if they said no... then they would be out there again. In the dark. Alone. With no one and no place to call home.

Namjoon stood up and stared at the two nerve ridden boys. "You can stay for now. We can take care of each other and watch out for the other. Food is scarce though, and it's important to know you two will pull your weight. But for now, it's late and we need sleep. Jungkook, you're on ground level watch, and Yoongi, you're on roof watch. Tae, Jimin., get some sleep, okay? We have to explain a few things tomorrow morning."

The pair grinned and nodded. Taking the food from their bags, they placed all of it in the room except for some snacks that were now their dinner. They followed Jin to the sleeping quarters, laid down, and fell asleep, or at least they tried to. Taehyung couldn't get comfortable. He was restless, used to the pattern he and his best friend have formed after months of solitude and fear. They could finally relax and sleep, and Taehyung couldn't. Love that. Namjoon said Jungkook was on watch tonight right? He thought about going to visit the younger, but decided against it. He didn't want to annoy the boy and he wasn't going to come off as clingy. He was also a nervous wreck, so there was no point in embarrassing himself tonight. He swung his legs back into his bed and laid down, staring at the white ceiling.

He was about to drift off when the creaking of the door pulled him back into consciousness.
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Hiiiii have a good day today!!! Love you all!

~Jhitachiin