The next morning, everyone emerged from their tents, only to be met with the familiar petrichor of the soggy ground and their clothes, still wet, hanging above a flameless fire pit. Jungkook frowned upon noticing that Yoongi and Hoseok were yet to come out from their tent, Namjoon seeing his confusion and walking over with a sad smile.
"Yoongi woke up at least three times in a panic last night. He won't let anyone but Hoseok touch him, so I think it's best if the two of them rest a little longer." Namjoon explained, Jungkook nodding understandingly towards the taller male.
"Yeah, okay. If we stay until noon we have time to get packed and relax a little before travelling. But for obvious reasons we can't stay any longer than that." Jungkook replied, Namjoon nodding and walking back over to his husband. Jungkook then went to check on the others, noticing that Taehyung followed him around, but he didn't seem to mind.
"Are you all okay to start travelling today? We've got until noon before we really need to get going." Jungkook said, the two girls and Jimin agreeing with enthusiastic smiles.
Taehyung noticed that Yuri was leaning on Jimin for support, and his brows furrowed as a small frown tugged the ends of his lips downwards.
"How about you Yuri? Will you be okay to walk that far?" Taehyung spoke up, the blonde girl shrugging and wincing as her movement caused her back to only ache more.
"I think a couple more hours of rest and I'll be good to go. Don't let me slow you down." She said with a small chuckle, Jimin using that moment to smile to the others and drag Yuri back inside their tent, closely followed by Leanne. Jungkook sighed, bringing a hand to his face and dragging it over it out of stress.
"This has all kinda ended up a mess. Was there something I could have done differently?" He said under his breath, not intending for anyone to hear but Taehyung frowned as he overheard.
"Yeah, but you're doing alright, Kook. It's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault for that matter." Taehyung said from beside him, Jungkook turning to him and sighing.
"But if South Camp weren't after me, none of you would be in danger. People would have carried on with their lives, Yuri and Yoongi wouldn't be in pain and Kwan... Kwan would be alive." He said through gritted teeth, immediately seething with anger for himself. How could he have been so careless? Was this the way he repays the others for saving his life? By ruining theirs?
Taehyung groaned from beside him, frowning at the younger's doubts.
"And if you hadn't have been rescued by the others, both you and I would probably be dead, the Kim's van would have been destroyed, and we would have never met and helped Jimin and Yuri. Heck, those two only helped us escape because they recognised you, if you weren't there the rest of us would be dead meat, and Jimin and Yuri would still be stuck in that rebel base." Taehyung said, Jungkook furrowing his eyebrows as he made eye contact with the older.
"Don't you see, Kook?" Taehyung continued, placing his hands on the younger's broad shoulders.
"It was never your fault that you needed rescuing in the first place, but the fact that you're blaming this on yourself just doesn't make sense! Everyone feels more comfortable and relaxed when you're here to finalise plans and ideas. I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for you. You saved my life, twice may I add!" Taehyung exclaimed, Jungkook smiling a little at that.
"You saved my life as well." He added quietly, and Taehyung nodded.
"Yeah, I did, because I care about you and that's what teams are for, Jungkook. We're all together in this one, no backing out and no blaming yourself. Got it?" He finished firmly, and Jungkook chuckled a little before nodding with a smile.
"Thanks Tae." He said, and Taehyung rolled his eyes as his lips contrastingly twitched into a smile.
"It's good to know that I got something through that thick skull of yours." He teased as he ruffled the younger's hair, Jungkook glaring playfully and grabbing his wrist to pull it down.
"Dude, way to ruin a moment." Jungkook laughed, Taehyung shrugging and laughing back as he pulled his hand away from Jungkook's grasp with some difficulty.
"You know, the only thing that I could ever blame someone for was the fact that some dumbass named Jimin stole my fucking tinned noodles last night." Taehyung huffed accusingly, narrowing his dark eyes into slits as he heard quiet laughter coming from the nearby tent.
"Guilty." Jimin's voice squeaked from inside the tent, Jungkook walking over to it and unzipping the door just so he could poke his head through.
"How long have you guys been listening?" He asked with a nervous chuckle, Jimin smirking at his embarrassment as the two girls laughed.
"Long enough to know that there's something going on between the two of you." Jimin said with a suggestive eyebrow raise, Jungkook grabbing a nearby water bottle and chucking it at him.
"Yah! Shut up." Jungkook groaned as Jimin shrieked and covered his face before the bottle could hit him, the laughter only getting louder at that.
"But you didn't deny it." Leanne added, Jungkook rolling his eyes and going back outside to Taehyung as the girls exchanged glances.
"I think it's cute." Yuri chuckled to Leanne who nodded, Jungkook overhearing and sighing as he tried to get rid of the faint blush that settled on his cheeks.
'Damn right he's cute...'
"Jimin, I'm still hungry you know!" Taehyung shouted from outside as Jungkook walked towards him, causing another eruption of laughter from the tent, Jungkook included, as Namjoon and Jin watched on in confusion, huddled up on a log outside their tent. Jungkook smiled a little to himself. He felt like he was surrounded by friends with his squad. Every one of them was so welcoming and nice, each with contrasting but complimenting personalities, and so he swore to himself that he would do his best to protect them. Maybe he could have done better in the past, but after what Taehyung said he'd accepted that you can't reverse time, so as the leader and the youngest, Jungkook made sure to focus on now and the future.
Deciding to take advantage of the couple of hours that they had to relax, Jungkook and Taehyung also went into their tent, sitting side by side on the floor and sighing at their aching muscles. Well, there wasn't exactly any other orientation that they possibly could sit in, the tent was impossibly small, barely big enough for one person let alone two. Yet they didn't mind too much, Taehyung has subtly mentioned after they came in from the rain the night before that it was warmer when they were closer together, Jungkook not hesitating to agree. But something in the back of his mind told him that there was another reason why he felt so warm sleeping next to Taehyung.
"Kook? Hey, hellooo. You there?"
Jungkook was snapped back to reality quite literally by Taehyung's fingers snapping in front of his face, blinking a few times before realising that he had been staring at Taehyung for longer than maybe he should have. Taehyung chuckled at the younger who was now blushing, muttering an apology as he looked away from Taehyung.
"You okay? You zoned out for a second." Taehyung queried, the amusement still evident on his face.
"Yeah, sorry. I was just... thinking." Jungkook replied, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly as he looked up at Taehyung.
"Thinking? About what?" Taehyung asked out of curiosity. Jungkook contemplated whether to answer or not, but he was saved when a head poked through the door, summoning his attention.
It was Hoseok.
YOU ARE READING
Apocalypse | BTS
Fanfiction[COMPLETE] 7 different boys, 7 different lives, 7 different personas, yet their shadows must become one in order to survive the inevitable~ When a large meteor is sent spiralling in the direction of the earth, it was known that the impact would have...
