R U N A W A Y • yoonkook

ONE

Growing up was hard for Min Yoongi. Maybe it was the awkward emo stage in his teen years, or the terrible fashion sense he had, or his incongruous body... There's a lot of things that he could blame it on, honestly, but probably the most prominent reason would be the fact he spent half of his life in a cell. Not a jail cell, but close enough. Yoongi grew up in what is called the Institution, or that is what he has always heard it been called by the scientists that worked there. Yoongi has never known a real childhood, a real life. He doesn't remember much of growing up, besides the fact of all the tests he was put through. 

When he was a baby, the scientists fucked around with his DNA and infused him with martial eagle DNA. Slowly, his body started to change. He was in incredible pain every hour, every minute, every second with the changes. His bones started to change, their density becoming thinner and his lungs split, creating air sacs in his body, and after that his wings started to grow in. It took about three years before his body finally stopped changing, and he had to undergo many procedures because his body was trying to reject the new DNA. Unfortunately, the scientists were able to save him every time. 

He grew up in the Institution, under the watchful eyes of the scientists. Everything he did was watched, observed, noted. There were cameras in his room, in the bathroom, everywhere. Everyday he would undergo different tests, all ranging from different levels of severity. The scientists would force him into a box full of water, testing to see how long he could hold his breath. The next day they could see how much he could eat without being full, and the next day not feed him at all to see how weak he could get. They would measure his body, his wings, listen to his heartbeat, and listen to him breathe every hour to see if anything had changed. 

Yoongi knew nothing of the outside word, beyond the gates surrounding the Institution, he knew nothing. 

There was, however, one sliver of happiness he had in this hell. His name was Jungkook. He had his DNA fucked with too, but instead of a bird of prey, he was injected with gray wolf DNA. At ten, he weighed 120 pounds, and at seventeen he weighed 209 in pure muscle. His eyesight was perfect, more than perfect, and his sense of smell was so precise he could sniff out anything and everything that needed to be found. He could lift 300 pounds with ease, and he gets stronger everyday. 

Yoongi and Jungkook grew up together in the Institution together. Their "rooms" were directly next to each other, and if they talked loud enough they could talk to each other. The two even created their own language, by knocking on the walls to each other. They would sometimes see each other passing in the hallway, one coming from their tests and the other going. However, they did have one hour to actually be together with no scientists on either side of them... 

"One hour." The man in the white suit grunts, grabbing Yoongi's thin arm and practically throwing him out the door, almost making him fall. The heavy metal door slams shut behind him and Yoongi just stands there for a minute in his thin sweatpants and shirt before taking a few steps forward. He doesn't have any shoes on despite there being a thin layer of snow on the ground, and his hair is so long that he now has to tie it up in a bun on top of his head. Sadly. today was his no-food test so he feels weaker today than usually. 

"Jungkook!" He calls out, cupping his hands around his mouth. The area they have to spend the hour in is huge, probably a good mile on all four sides. The fence is high, stretching a good fifty feet into the air with barbed wire curling in over the top. Yoongi rolls his shoulders back a little, and slowly stretches out his wings. Personally, he thinks his wings could be gorgeous, if he did not live here. They clip his feathers to make sure he can't fly so the most he can do is jump about ten feet into the air before making a rough-ish landing. His wings stretch out fully a good thirteen feet, to make up for the fact that he is not a big and is in fact a human so that if he were able to fly, he could. His wings are a pretty dusty gray color going from dark and then fading to a very light gray color at his primary and secondary feathers, and he also has white spots freckled over them. 

"Yoongi!" Jungkook calls out, running over to his friend. Yoongi cannot help but to smile at seeing his face. He wears a sweatshirt and sweatpants with a pair of sneakers. His hair seems to have been cut recently, too. It's not shocking to see the difference in treatment between them anymore. Jungkook is their favorite because he listens to them, while Yoongi just tries to defy the scientists every chance he gets. "Happy 18th birthday!" He throws himself over Yoongi in a nice big bear hug, effectively sending both of them to the ground and causing the wind to be knocked out of him. 

"Get off, you're way too heavy." Yoongi grumbles, trying his best to shove his friend off, but it's basically like he is pushing on a brick wall. Jungkook just laughs and snuggles up to him for one minute more before sitting back on his legs. 

"No, you're just too weak... Have you not eaten yet?" Jungkook asks with an innocent tilt to his head. When Jungkook was fourteen, they moved him to the other side of the Institution, effectively making Yoongi finally lose it to insanity. When Jungkook was moved, he was treated much better. When they would meet in the courtyard Jungkook would tell Yoongi all about the special treatment he got on the other side, and he would always urge Yoongi to just follow their rules and he would get the same treatment, but Yoongi turned him down each time and finally Jungkook just stopped trying. To make his puppy feel better, however, he has been lying to him, telling him that the scientists have actually started to treat him better, too, but instead with each passing year the treatment has just been getting worse. 

"No, not yet. They brought me my food when it was time to go outside. I'll just eat it when I go back in." The lie tastes bitter to him, the words dying on his tongue. Jungkook just smiles and tells Yoongi all about his day, about how he got the chance to play with his new friends today since he gets the whole weekend off from tests. Yoongi listens attentively, smiling, laughing, and asking questions when he needs to, but the whole time he feels his throat getting tighter and the area around his eyes heating up as if he is getting ready to cry. If Jungkook notices, he says nothing, and just continues on with his stories. 

"Jungkook." Yoongi stops him in the middle of his sentence, his head lowered and he fidgets with his hands. "Are we always going to be friends?" He asks, his voice trembling just a little. 

"What?" Jungkook asks, reaching out and gently cupping Yoongi's chin, making him look up at him. "Of course. What kind of question is that, bird boy?" He gently laughs, tucking a piece of hair that has fallen from the messy bun behind his ear. 

"I was just wondering... I have a plan, and we may not see each other for a long time, but when we do I just want you to remember what you just said... Okay?" He asks and he feels his lip start to tremble, so he gently bites it, trying to make it stop. Yoongi stares into Jungkook's amber eyes, and he watches the confusion swim in them before realization finally hits. His eyebrows go up, and his eyes widen and his mouth drops open, and then closes, as if he is a fish. 

"Yoongi, you can't be serious." He snatches his hand away, as if he has been burned. "You can't be serious." He repeats and Yoongi says nothing, just stares off through the gates, into the pine trees surrounding them. "Tell me you aren't thinking that."

Instead of answering him, he says, "Have you ever wondered what the world is like beyond these gates?" Jungkook just stares at him, horror written all over his face. "I have to go now, Jungkookie. I'll see you next Sunday." 

Again, the lie tasted bitter on his tongue.