"Hey, buddy," Min Yoongi has muttered incoherently, the trio's — Yoongi himself, Taehyung. and Jeongguk — laboured breaths and animalistic screams of hungry, infected humans the only sound between his wary words, "you have some explaining to do."
• • •
SOMEWHERE IN BUSAN, S.KOREA. 02:09 AM, 4 months ago.
Nighttime and noises of diminished orders, thick boots marching over an underground sewer that's hidden from the eyes of the uncompromising government force, or soldiers, armed and shields whilst Min Yoongi crouches right beneath them, quivering like a leaf with the fear of being found.
He shouldn't have left his den to search for that guy, those gem-like shine to the eyes he wished to meet once more, just once more. Yet, he was here, in a territory unfamiliar and alien, a group of suited men after his blood, for reasons purely based upon assumptions. He can't face them, he doesn't know if they'll spare him.
He had loathed to mingle with humankind, been alone most of his post-apocalyptic life, except two time periods; one with his best friend, who walked out on him without a note, and again where he encountered a gentleman with undying exuberance, as if a flickering light was within the said guy.
A daredevil roused inside Yoongi's chest, so he sets foot outside Daegu, questing about, clueless of who he was searching for, heedless of where he was heading to. A tale prosperous of tragedy, he feared it all to fall apart, his skills and crafts unknown to this (ending) world.
He unroots his feet, unfreezes, listening intently to the heavy hiking of men spectating the grounds for Yoongi's own head. Minding the ivy-covered walls of the tunnel, he creeps onwards, taking the chance of his way being the right one.
In an endless tunnel he ambled on and on, ruthlessly beating himself to not take a break, his lungs aching in agony, tongue dry as sand. Eyes lightening up at the sound of muffled conversations, for he has reached a trapdoor in the stones, across which, he was pretty sure, was a room.
He bolted to the door and struggled to catch the phrases, monotonous vowels of a gruff man. The wood cold on his hot ear, he closes in.
"—'s a fucking turd. No one fucks around with Tony," there's a pause, the small flip of papers, and again, "No one has ever fucked around with me."
"Mm." It's a woman talking now, sounding sceptical and perfectly steady, "People are always disappointing in the end, my dude. I'm sure you haven't met many folks." A low, appreciating chuckle followed by a third presence, lightly peppered with her own.
Tony, Yoongi perceives, did not seem to praise her snarky comment, for he jabs back, unconcerned, "I'm sure you have, both ways." The sudden shift of offended feet.
And the man who was first amused, now retorts with the most deadly of tones, superficially severe, "Don't fucking talk to her that way, I'll fucking tear your balls apart." Yoongi wouldn't want to mess with him, whoever he was.
Tony clears his throat, pretty unnecessarily loudly, and resumed his talk, a cautious edge in his sentence, now, "You both make a nice team, and I need someone like you two. I'll be offering reasonable—" Yoongi pressed himself more against the hard surface (he was famished), "— bulges of weapons and firearms—"
However, to Yoongi's cry of terror and rotten luck, the trapdoor opens and he falls outwards, in front of the three people who jump at his uninvited, unforeseen attendance, but then jerk out their guns to aim at Yoongi, who automatically raised his arms, still recovering from his loss of impact.
A beat later, Tony (a middle-aged, grimy-clothed man) demands, his yellowing teeth snarling at Yoongi, "Who the fuck are you?" The little hair he was left with appeared well-kept and nicely combed.
Something cracked within Yoongi; most definitely the beast who disliked dislikable persons.
Thus he snaps back, palms in the air, "Now, why would I tell you that, you dumbfuck?" From the corner of his eyes, he saw the other two shift, and feels himself calming down, a watery tone flowing out of him like a seamless stream, "I can literally tell you my men have you surrounded, killed all of yours. Or set off this room within the limit before you dash out, with this handy grenade of mine—"
"He's with me, Tony," intervened the chill dude from beside the determined-looking lady, who himself had his lips clamped and shoulders wide and taut. Yoongi was doing okay on his own, he needed not the guy's help, but he withdrew from his alter ego and went with the flow, accepting silence, inching his arms down, trying to look sheepish.
Aghast, Tony retaliated, extremely perturbed, "Your—? How did he find out about the tunnel—? I thought we were compromising, Jeon—!" He halts, for Jeongguk has edged unto him, a boundary drawn that proposed not to mistreat the man aforementioned.
Who implored, less harshly so, "You see, when I say he's with us, he is with us. When I say we'll clear your town of all undead, we'll do so. Don't test me, will ya?" Two seconds, Tony took two seconds to adhere to Jeongguk's say, simpering quite menacingly and huffing a haughty, "Fucking fine."
"So," the pretty lady voiced, "Deals on, yeah, Tony-ah?" The quirky edge to her voice is chipped off and smoother; she sounds more kinder and yielding.
Tony shots a nasty glare Yoongi's way, nods once, and throws himself back in the swivelling office chair he was sat on, an off-handed regard of dismissal.
Once Yoongi tails Jeongguk and Areum, she calls herself, to the most-likely-bomb-shelled streets near the 'outskirts', Jeongguk discontinued their wordless walk, turning around in the inky darkness to scrutinise Yoongi, his voice weary but otherwise straightforward and casual, "Hey, buddy," he indulged, "You have some explaining to do."
Yoongi was grinning.
• • •
Jeongguk was grinning, hands clasped to his knees and hair sticking to his precipitating, glistening forehead and prominent cheeks. Taehyung was beginning to regain his breath, Yoongi's narrowed gaze unmoving and rested upon the healed bite-mark on the youngest's arm.
"You sick bastard," Jeongguk exhaled out, puffing, "I thought you were dead!" And before Yoongi could complain, Jeongguk embraces him, catching Taehyung's face frowning at them, and realising how the Jeongguk he has met few months ago would've never shown such morale or affection.
