Taehyung wasn't saying anything, was barely moving, and Seokjin decided that he didn't like this one bit.

Seated at the kitchen counter with another mug of coffee in front of him, he could little more than observe him from across the open-plan room. But observation was a skill within itself, he had long learnt. If someone had a feeling that they were being watched then it was hard to catch them acting completely natural. There was always something forced or off about reactions: a smile for the sake of it for example. So Seokjin had long perfected the ability to discreetly watch a person without giving off the sensation that he was. He would spend a minute of close observation before finding something else for a few seconds, making a big show so that he gave off an air of being busy; moving cutlery around his plate to create a soft scraping noise and make it look like he was distracted with food, writing on a piece of paper when he was doing nothing more than scribbling over the surface. It always worked for the constant little movements out of the corner of the person he was observing's eyes never seemed to lock with his when they looked over the room. So right now Seokjin was miming with his spoon and just spreading rice around his bowl, the occasional clattering sound of the metal touching the porcelain, and he was watching Taehyung as keen as a hawk.

He had yet needed to look away for Taehyung's eyes had not shifted up from the floor once for the past three hours.

The house was slightly more empty than the early hours of the morning. That was because Hoseok and Jimin had work shifts to deal with, job shifts that they couldn't miss. Seokjin liked to think that by them showing up it made everything seem much more normal. It was just another day, nothing new. It was perfectly normal, nothing to worry about at all. They all knew that it wasn't but it was nice to pretend that it was. Hoseok's shift was from the lunch to dinner period and he had had to race back home to get changed into his uniform clothing, but also collect a bag that he had dropped back at the house. It was a bag full of clothing for Taehyung. Then he had jumped a bus to get there on time, looking haggard and jittery the entire time he had been in the house. He had a feeling that he had only gotten a few hours of sleep, three at most most likely, and that was why he looked so bad but he knew that it wasn't just the sleep. Alternatively Jimin had been so sleepy that he had had trouble waking, only upon Yoongi's insistence and pinching fingers had he finally crawled out from within the blanket cocoon.

Yoongi.

Seokjin allowed his gaze to shift across the room, still keeping up the cutlery charade as he did. Yoongi was sitting on the floor, hunkered forward with his lower back against the TV unit and his chin balanced on his knees. When he had woken up this morning he had not expected to have seen Jungkook missing in the space between him and Namjoon and Yoongi not lying on the floor with Jimin. He had climbed out of the bed having expected to find them in the bathroom perhaps, but it had been empty. Then downstairs to find that they weren't there either, just Hoseok and Taehyung lying on the settee together deeply asleep. He had eventually located them through the kitchen window, lying in the garden grass like a pair of children. The sight had been strangely sweet but also confusing. Why were they both out in the garden rather than inside? Had they gone out to talk at some point and had fallen asleep? But talk about what exactly? Seokjin didn't know but he wanted to.

Jungkook was on his usual spot up on the windowsill, legs folded up and bare feet curled softly over the edge of the ledge. When he had stepped into the house earlier they had been stained green just like his tee which was currently balled up in the washing machine. He was tapping his feet in an offbeat rhythm as he just stared into space, dreamy expression on his face. What was on the boy's mind exactly, and why had he taken to telling Yoongi? Had they both just been awake and it had been a convenient time to talk? Seokjin thought that that was likely the case. Jungkook told Jimin and Taehyung everything, but this morning they had both been incapacitated, so he had turned to the one friend usually awake. He trusted Yoongi to have given him good advice. He just hoped that it was a small matter that needed a rub on the back and some comforting words than something serious.

Namjoon was seated on the end of the settee by Taehyung, slightly forward with his hands dangling between his legs because he had to stay on the edge of the seat. He had tried breaking the silence several times yet it had felt awkward and forced, eliciting just a few mumbles or noises in response. At least he had tried, that was what mattered but the fact remained that they could feel the gaping space that Taehyung used to fill. He would have always had a joke ready to dispel any tension from the air, or some stupid story to tell them all. Right now however he was staring at a steaming mug in his hands and not taking a single sip. Head bowed, his dark hair forward over his eyes once more, it was hard to tell if he was awake or asleep.

"So...what the fuck happens now?" Yoongi asked, voice breaking what must have been twenty minutes of solid silence. He shifted to look over them all and then settled his gaze on him. Seokjin stopped his pointless spoon routine and put it down, seen as he hadn't been eating for quite some time now. "Are we gonna camp out in my house and sing songs around a campfire?"

"You can't sing so no," Namjoon retorted, making the other man snort in agreement. "I dunno, what exactly are we supposed to do?"

"Just feel like we're supposed to do...something." Yoongi shrugged and lowered his arms to clasp his ankles, chin still on his knees. "This feels like some weird intermission right now, don't you think?"

"Intermission like what?" Jungkook asked, bobbing his feet a little faster.

"Like we're waiting for a sign of some kind," he explained. On the settee Taehyung shifted ever so softly to take a sip of the tea and then lowered his cup again. Just this moment was enough to get them all staring at him. "Are we staying, or are we going?"

"Going where exactly?" Seokjin asked as he shifted to fold his arms on the counter. Yoongi didn't reply to the question but it was obvious that he didn't have one: none of them did. "You think we need to run away? You think we should disappear underground?"

"Maybe not us exactly..." he said in a quiet voice as his eyes flickered to look at Taehyung. "But I think it would be wise to not hang around the city right now. Even if just for a week or so, it seems like we should just avoid being here, y'know?"

"That's a good point but like Jin said: go where?" Namjoon asked as he shifted, sitting up more straight.

"Down to the coast?" Jungkook suggested. "Along South Chungcheong? Would take like...two days by car on the freeways, right?"

"Then what?"

"Lay low, keep an eye on the news? I dunno," the boy shrugged. "It's better than doing nothing like we are now..."

The air went silent once more and Seokjin could feel something in it; something like apprehension. He realised that they were all waiting for him to say what he thought because he had guided them so far in the past, it was now his responsibility to do so in the current and future too. He was the eldest, but not necessarily the wisest, but it still fell to him to do so.

"I think that we need to...to think this over a little more. We can't just run off into the sunset like kids, we need a plan first," Seokjin said as he looked up from the bowl of rice. "We need to talk to Hoseok and Jimin, get their thoughts too. We decide as a team, not a majority. If one isn't in then we don't do anything. We need to make sure that we're prepared for such a situation. Not like last time, stolen phones and wallets, no cash and begging for jobs. Yes?" He heard soft agreements at this. "Right now it's a pretty...pretty serious situation and I think that we just need to put all of our heads together and think." When he finished talking the house fell silent again and so he just remained patient and after a minute Yoongi shifted to lower his legs to the floor.

"You three go out, stock up on things. I'll keep an eye on Tae. You're right, we do need to work together but we also need to think about time. Already we've wasted a whole fucking night sitting around with our thumbs up our asses." Trust Yoongi to be so bluntly poetic. Namjoon looked over at him and held his gaze for a moment, trying to gauge his thoughts without saying a single thing. Seokjin was thinking that leaving the house would be the perfect opportunity to get air and maybe ideas flowing, to get out from under the oppressive atmosphere clinging to the place. But he wasn't entirely sure that he was keen on the idea of leaving Seoul at this current moment. It just seemed too rash, so very much like their old childish ways. Was it the idea of going so close to their old path that was making him feel so uncomfortable, or the niggling idea that they had never really gotten off it in the first place?

"...OK, let's go," Seokjin said as he got to his feet. "You sure you'll be alright with Tae?" Yoongi confirmed that he would and so he crossed the room to get close to the settee. Then he reached down and placed his hand on the top of Taehyung's head, slowly and delicately patting him just so that he would feel the warmth of his touch. "We'll be back soon, OK Tae?"

"Mmm..." Taehyung said in reply, nothing more than a soft noise but better than nothing at all. By the time they had left the house Namjoon had gently squeezed his shoulder and Jungkook had slung arm around his him and pulled him into a half-embrace. Then Yoongi was shifting to get on the settee and talking to him in a soft voice, words lost under the sound of them getting into shoes and shrugging on light jackets.

The ride to the local market was a quiet one, Seokjin concentrating on the roads and driving and Namjoon observing the sights out of the window. Jungkook lounged across the backseat and refused to wear his seatbelt, one leg cocked up on the leather and the other spread out comfortably in the leg room behind the seats. The sunlight streamed into the car in an annoying fashion, both strong enough to make him squint at the light reflecting off traffic and also hot and heavy enough to make it uncomfortable. Being the weekend still there were a lot of people filling up the sidewalks and shopping in the early afternoon hours. Upon getting there he luckily found a parking space right at the very back of the lot, inconvenient but better than nothing. Crossing said lot proved as dangerous as the main road outside of the trainyard, having to dodge reversing vehicles and hastily cross lanes whilst they were open.

The interior of the market was large and packed full of thick aisles, the tills right in front of the doors and rows of trolleys and baskets placed here and there. Seokjin moved to pull out two of the heavy blue baskets, handing one to Namjoon. He scanned the overhead signs and the ceiling was so high up that he had to crane his neck to do so, seeing the glass ceiling and metal support beams. Jungkook asked what exactly they were here for and the question hanged in the air for a moment, which was punctuated by the static drone of hundreds of voices, low music playing from mounted speakers, the beeping of till machines and squeaking and rattling trolleys.

"Food and water," Seokjin replied eventually, dragging his eyes back down to planet earth. "That's the most important of course, but other things too like..." He paused and fished around for a word, waving his hand uselessly as he did. "Basic supplies I don't...like things it would be wise to pack on a mini break."

"Kinda like a camping trip," Namjoon suggested, the closest that they could seem to get to what they were all thinking.

"I'll cover the food, Joonie you search for all of that shit."

"On it," his friend said before weaving around a stack of trolleys and crossing the store. Within seconds it was hard to keep track of him in the crowded area but his light hair and tall height meant that he was easier to spot than most.

"Kookie, you can-"

"I'll stick with you," the boy spoke over him. "Too many people here, just asking for me to bump into one and start a brawl." He knew that Jungkook was joking around with him but the remark cut a little close to the bone for his liking. Seokjin felt his fingers feeling around for his wrist and so he turned his hand so that he could get hold of his hand instead. At the brush of his palm against his he saw Jungkook jolt a little and then he was reluctantly taking hold of his hand. It was hard to not notice the slight pinkness of his cheeks. Probably embarrassed that he was holding hands with him in public, that some might think that he was being escorted around by an older brother. Seokjin doubted that anyone would assume that they were a couple; that required a bit of progressive thinking. Still, Jungkook held onto his hand as they weaved their way past bustling tills and in the direction of the instant and preserved food aisles.

"We're going to be living off packet food again if we do this..."

"That's the best kinda food," the boy argued with a grin. Still made his face look childishly sweet even though Seokjin knew that he was long past those stages.

"Oh yes? So you'll take Nongshim ramyun over my own home cooked kimchi jigae?" Jungkook thought this over before saying that that was an exception. "Speaking of ramyun-"

"At the bottom of the aisle, right by the drinks fridges." There were his keen eyes again, spotting the familiar logo and coloured packets and cups even from their distance. "You get water, I'll get instant shit." Jungkook let go of his hand as they got closer so Seokjin carried onto the adjacent storage fridges at the end of the aisle. He saw rows and rows of soft drinks, bottles and cans, cartons of milk and fruit juices, but mostly what looked like hundreds of bottles of water. Different shapes, different labels, different boasts about mineral content. Seokjin spent a minute or two just staring at them all and thinking; thinking about how much they would need for a day on the road before they found a gas station to stock up in, thinking about if this was really a good idea. Seen as how he was paying for this he finally decided that the cheapest would suffice and so he shoved the slide glass door open. His phone started vibrating in his jeans pocket just as he reached over to grab the multi-pack of water bottles. It was a good thing that he hadn't already picked the pack up or else he would have dropped it on his foot and that would have hurt like hell, maybe even caused one of the bottles to explode. Seokjin jumped slightly and then shifted the basket to his left hand before reaching inside of his pocket to pull it free. He saw an unknown number once more but one that he felt that he recognized; the last four digits on the end. He furrowed his brow and studied the screen for a moment before hearing a noise down the aisle and when he turned his head he saw Jungkook coming towards him with several things hugged in his arms.

"Hey, who's calling? Yoongi?" There was a brief flash of concern on his face and so he shook his head to let him know it was fine.

"No, unknown number," Seokjin lied as he watched the boy placing things into the basket: packets of instant ramyun, tins of kimchi. Surprise surprise, the boy had went right for his favourite staple. The only thing that was missing was Chocopie boxes, but he wouldn't put it past him to go and collect some as soon as his arms were free. He knew exactly who it was calling him but he didn't want to take the call right now, not when he was so busy and distracted with the current situation.

"Aren't you gonna answer it?" Jungkook asked as he placed the last ramyun cup down in the basket.

"I'll wait and see if they leave a voicemail or if they call back. Might be a wrong number." After a few more rings the phone went still in his hand so he shoved it back into his pocket and reached over to retrieve the pack of water. The multi-pack had some weight to it and he added two into the basket even when it felt rather heavy in his hand. Probably should have gotten a trolley instead of a baskets. Jungkook studied him for a moment and then he saw that there was a cocktail stick between his lips, thin sliver of wood. "Where did you get that?"

"Free samples in the aisle where I found the kimchi," Jungkook retorted as the stick rolled into the corner of his mouth, lips lifting in a grin. He asked him how many he had taken. "A few, they had marinated tofu and a little cup of soup, a collection of the fresh kimbap. I wasn't gonna pass it up."

"You just tagged along for free food, didn't you?"

"Hell yeah." The boy shoved his hands into his pockets and glanced down the aisle so he turned his head to follow his gaze. Nothing more than a middle-aged woman filling her own basket with fresh chili peppers, stored in a long plastic bag. Seokjin looked back at him and he thought that Jungkook was thinking about saying something, mulling over his thoughts over intently. It was on his face, the distant look in his eyes and his slightly pouted lips around the cocktail stick. He asked him if he was okay and it took the boy a few seconds to snap out of it. "Huh?"

"I asked if you were alright?"

"Uh, yeah...yeah I'm good," Jungkook said, shrugging so that his hands shifting in his pockets with a soft rustling sound. This seemed to be a forced reaction but Seokjin decided to let it slide rather than question it. Jungkook knew that he could talk to them all, for they had been in this situation before in the past, so he just needed to wait for the boy to take the plunge and speak to them first. "Are you alright?"

"Honestly?" Seokjin shifted the basket so that he could it between both hands, lessening the burden. "Not really."

"What'd you mean?"

"I'm not sure, I just don't feel alright right now." He glanced at the contents before looking up at Jungkook. "I feel a little like...like I'm hollow and I'm trying to fill myself up with things to get rid of the feeling. I'm shopping right now, trying to pretend that it's all good, it's cool, but it's not. I feel weird."

"Like you're going through the motions."

"Yes, and when we're done we'll go back to Yoongi's house and I'll prepare food. We'll all crowd around the kitchen area of the stools and sit up on the counter and we'll all pretend that this is 'normal' and it couldn't be any further from that." He saw Namjoon passing by at the top of the aisle, basket much lighter than his judging from the way it swung from his grip. "It's the kind of situation that you can't just react to, you know? You can't plan for it, you can't possibly think of how you would react until it happens and then everything you do just seems to be the wrong thing." Jungkook thought this over for a moment, stick lightly bobbing between his lips because he was nibbling on the end of it. "And I'm scared that we're doing the wrong thing right now because we think it's the right."

"I don't think we're wrong." The boy's words were an attempt at comfort but Seokjin could only inwardly wince. That was exactly the point he was trying to make yet Jungkook's naïvety hadn't even realised. Of course they were going to think that they were in the right until it was too late. They had a wonderful habit of doing that, as the previous year showed. "I think that we're handling this as good as we can. Like you said, no preparation, no knowledge on what to do, so I think we're doing good."

"I just don't feel good."

"...'Cos of Tae?"

"No, it's not even because of Tae it's..." He sighed and scanned the shelf in front of them before quietly finishing. "It's all of us, I don't know. Can't really explain it." Seokjin started walking along the aisle and he heard Jungkook's boots squeaking on the linoleum as he followed along after him. "Don't you have more samples to try."

"They know my face now I can't go and get more free shit," he retorted.

They found Namjoon several aisles down scanning goods that looked like they belonged in a camping catalog. Their friend was looking over a torch for some reason, turning it over as he checked the battery pack and scanned the label. A quick glance into his basket showed a variety of tools, a few books, bottles of aspirin and bandage rolls and a random assortment of other shit along with a cardboard box that contained a portable hot plate.

"What the..." Jungkook reached inside and pulled a book out to look at the cover. "You're spending cash on books? Why not read online for free?"

"'Cos that's illegal," Namjoon retorted with a sarcastic tone in his voice. "Plus, where the fuck you finding entire books online Kookie? Wanna share with me?"

"Oh I didn't mean books," the boy said as he flicked through it and scanned pages without really reading what his eyes fell on. "But you can find stories on there." Their friend placed the torch back down before retrieving the book out of his hands. "Some of 'em are long enough to be books though." Namjoon put the book back in the basket and then the boy told him that it was a book for old people.

"Yeah well I saw comic books shoved in the book and magazine racks alright? Whilst I was busy being an old man."

"What kinda comics?" Jungkook asked, eyes narrowing at him in interest.

"Wasn't really looking but there might've been an Iron Man one..." The boy's expression shifted to that of incredulous shock, cocktail stick falling out of his lips to land on the linoleum. Seokjin couldn't help but snort laughter at the sight. "So stop making fun of me and I'll buy you it." Jungkook grinned widely at this before hastily walking down the aisle, head up as he scanned the overhanging sign to locate the books. He asked his friend if there had been an Iron Man comic or if he had been lying and Namjoon shrugged. "He was on a cover, hard to miss him. Comic or graphic novel, who cares so long as it gives him something to look at and shut up right?"

"He'll probably shove it in Tae's face," Seokjin commented as he watched the boy turn and disappear into another aisle. "Might distract him for a little while."

"We can hope but I doubt it. You saw how out of it he was this morning, right?" He nodded and thought back to Taehyung, sitting on the settee with a steaming mug between his hands, vacant eyes staring at the floor rather than hold anyone's eyes.

"What's with all of this?" he asked as he gestured at the basket, at the glint of tools nestled away inside. Namjoon explained that he didn't want another situation happening with the car like they had had with the Chevy Impala; breaking down in the middle of nowhere again. So long as they had tools and Jimin then he could fix any problem without a hitch. "You think we'll have another situation like that?"

"C'mon Jin it's us, what do you think?" Namjoon offered him a knowing expression and he could only make a noise in agreement. That pretty much summed it all up perfectly; it could and it would happen. "I mean, we have a license and shit now but still..."

"What?" Seokjin asked, knowing that he could be blunt with his friend because Namjoon was the kind to be very upfront and honest with him.

"Hey, you been thinking about the police?" he asked suddenly, shifting to pick up the torch. It was a prop to play with and nothing more than that. When Seokjin told him that thoughts of the police crossed his mind he saw him tightening his fingers around the handle of the torch. "Tae's old home...it's in an abandoned area. Not a lot of people there. I doubt that anyone even knows what happened."

Seokjin had his eyes on his friend's fingers as he fiddled with the torch, watching the nervous fumbling of his thumb around the rubberised grip. At this however he lifted his gaze back up to study his profile. Surprisingly hard to read for once. Did Namjoon even have a clue what his words had just done to him? Seokjin's skin felt cold and his heartbeat had kicked up a notch or two. Taehyung's family home had used to be part of a thriving area but renovations on a nearby lot and had seen most of the residents moving out over the years. To their knowledge the old family house was the only occupied one on that block. What did that mean exactly? Well, it meant very few chances of eyewitnesses reporting anything amiss in the area. Or the murder itself. How long could it all go unreported for? Just how long could his father's body be left lying in the house to rot before someone wondered where the old drunk had gone missing to?

"What are you suggesting?" Seokjin managed to ask through numb lips as he watched him turn the torch over.

"I suggest that we buy a shovel," Namjoon said before placing the torch inside the basket. Jungkook came skipping back up the aisle a few seconds later, comic book in one hand and the unmistakable red cardboard box of Chocopies in the other, wide smile still on his face.

"If you don't want to get involved with this Kookie, just tell us," Seokjin said as he ran his fingers along the steering wheel slowly. A quick glance up at the rear view mirror showed the boy already in the act of undoing his seatbelt, hand down to press the button and release him. At his voice he looked up and glanced at the back of his head before shifting his eyes over to the mirror, holding his gaze steady and unblinkingly.

Parked on the curb outside of the house once more, the area as dead as he had observed just the day before, Seokjin was beginning to question all of their participation. Not just Jungkook's. He was beginning to wonder at what point in crossing a line was too far yet he couldn't figure it out. So far they were all roughly a foot over it, barely more than the edges of their shoes peeking over the line, but this was something so much more than a slight misstep. If they went through with this then the three of them had leapt over the line by a massive amount. They might as well start dancing over it, laughing like lunatics. The others had no idea; Jimin and Hoseok at work trying their hardest to act like everything was fine, Yoongi keeping a watchful eye over Taehyung and ensuring that he was safe. To their knowledge they were just at the market buying food, stocking his car up in preparation for a mini vacation to clear their minds.

They had no clue at all that they three of them were planning on burying Taehyung's dead father in the garden of the family home to try and stop anyone stumbling inside and seeing what had happened. In the open back of the car right now, along with bags of food and other items, was a hardwood shovel and several pairs of gardening gloves.

This was so fucking illegal that it was ridiculous and yet here they were, twenty minutes of silent driving later and not one of them had spoken up about how they shouldn't go through with it.

Seokjin didn't know a lot about the law, about police, but he did know that Namjoon was right about the very high chances of the body not being discovered. Right now the area was completely dead and he hadn't passed a moving vehicle or pedestrian on a block worth of streets. The house was just sitting there, undisturbed. No police tape in sight, nothing at all to hint that a brutal stabbing had happened inside of it. It was eerie, looking at it again just a day after touching the fence and feeling a completely different surge of emotions; no more sudden and suffocating nostalgia that made him cry, rather a terrible coldness in his veins. His blood felt like ice and he was aware of how slow his breathing was, how horribly calm he felt. Seokjin had an inkling that it needed to be forty-eight hours before missing reports could be filed, and that was for people important enough to warrant a report being made. Someone like Taehyung's father? He doubted that anyone would even report anything after double that time frame. If there was no need to expect foul play then a buried body could take even longer to be discovered. That meant that this was a good idea even though a part deep down in his thoughts told him that it was a bad one. That was fear talking, and he was trying his hardest to suppress it.

There was the crisp click of Jungkook freeing himself from his seatbelt and then shifting on the backseat, jeans rubbing on the leather. Seokjin spared a glance over at Namjoon to see that he was staring out the front window, elbow cocked up on the curve beside the window as he slowly ran his fingers over his lips. He looked like he was deep in his thoughts. Seokjin had noticed how most of them had been doing that over the last day; going still and silent as they stared off into nothingness.

"I don't want out," Jungkook announced with a head shake. "I wanna help."

"Because I know that you do but this is something serious, something serious that I think you really need to think about."

"I have thought about it, I still wanna do it."

"You're digging," Namjoon said suddenly, still running his fingers along his lower lip as he did. "You're not going in the house. You're gonna dig the hole whilst me and Jin sort the rest of it out." Jungkook looked between them both slowly, expression gauging to see if he could get away with a complaint. "Jin's right Kookie."

"What? You think I'll have nightmares or some shit?" The boy snorted at this but neither of them laughed.

"I think that I want to avoid exposing you to more shit than needed," Namjoon continued as if he hadn't spoken. "Yeah, right now you probably think that you're helping out, and you are. You're helping by digging the hole." Grave, Seokjin thought but didn't correct him. He didn't really need to because they all knew what he had meant by the word 'hole'. Jungkook settled back on the seat for a moment, quiet as he stared at the gear stick panel. The boy's mouth was pouted slightly and he looked like he might just decide to stay in the car instead. He probably greatly disliked being babied by them this way but Seokjin couldn't even explain his thoughts to him.

This wasn't a video game, wasn't a tacky horror film. Jungkook wasn't going to enter that house and not be affected by what he saw because he was used to it all like he was probably thinking. Even the most hideous horror film couldn't come close to reality. Inside of that house would be a sight that would give them all nightmares, regardless of age and squeamishness. Jungkook would see death on a very personal level, be able to see and touch and even smell it just on the floor by the toes of his boots. This wasn't a just dead body, this was a murder victim and Seokjin himself could only imagine the ruination that his eyes would be falling on soon enough. Namjoon didn't want to expose the boy to it all and he could only vigorously agree with him.

"...OK, then let's hurry up and get this done," Jungkook declared before shifting to pop the back door open. His boots crunched on the tarmac through the open window and Seokjin glanced at his friend again to see that he was steeling himself, getting himself as prepared mentally as possible. Then they were both climbing out and watching the boy walk around the back of the car with the shovel in hand; price sticker still stuck on the gleaming metal head. He had pulled a pair of gloves on even though he wasn't going to be touching anything inside, just to be sure.

"Remember what you said about a normal day?" Namjoon remarked as he handed him his own pair. Seokjin accepted them and sighed heavily, slipping them on and feeling the thick material making it hard to bend his fingers.

"Fuck normalcy," Jungkook retorted, leaning the shovel against the fence so that he could remove his bomber jacket and tie it around his waist snugly by the arms. In the current heat he was going to need to remove it to dig a grave.

"Wouldn't hurt to feel it for a little while," Seokjin muttered as he secured the second glove.

"We had it for nearly a year," the boy said as he pulled the arms tight and picked up the shovel. "I kinda hated it."

Gloves on, shovel ready, the three of them walked along the short stretch of sidewalk and climbed over the low fence. As they did Jungkook poked the head of the shovel in the grass, the metal clanging as it struck something: an old tricycle. The boy looked his shoulder at them as the toy vehicle became visible through the grass, shovel parting it all to show that the red plastic was cracked over the years and the metal spokes were thick with brown rust. Then they were going around the side of the house to get into the back garden area of the house. It was a medium patch and there was a broken shed and the hollowed corpse of a tree right at the very bottom, growing so much over the years that the branches had tangled with that of the other trees in the abandoned back of the opposite house garden. Seokjin could recall that it had been a chestnut tree at one point for Taehyung had used to collect them and turn them into conkers, which he had played completely wrong. Instead of smashing them together with another friend he had just used to swing them around to hit them on the backs of their heads. In the current summer heat the grass was a sea of yellowed husk-like blades and he just knew that it would be rough to the touch.

"Base of the tree," Jungkook said as he ran his eyes over the garden. "Or the shed?"

"Shed," Namjoon replied after a moment of thought. "I've been in there with Tae before, there's no flooring it's just dirt. Clay and soil. Could cover the disturbed soil with whatever's inside."

"Hmm, good idea." Jungkook crossed the garden to get to the shed and Seokjin watched him step inside and study the interior for a moment. Then he was dragging a broken lawnmower out to clear it and planting the head in the soil and stomping his foot down hard on it. It punched down with a crunching sound that echoed on the still air. "Yeah I can dig in this no problem." He called out so he turned to look at Namjoon.

"Let's do this," he said as he offered him a firm nod.

Upon getting closer to the house Seokjin detected a scent in the air that could only be described as foul. It was a strong scent that made him gag, reaching up to cover his mouth. After an attempt at breathing through his hand he could still smell it so reached down to drag his tee over his lower face, breathing in the scent of yesterday's cologne. Namjoon copied him, making a low groan of disgust as he did. He knew that it was a mixture of things, mostly the scent of blood that he had smelled just this morning when Taehyung had climbed into the backseat of his car and had left smears on the leather that he had had to clean off. But it was something else too, something gaseous and putrid that he didn't even want to figure out. His friend grumbled that he regretted breakfast and he mentally agreed with him. It hadn't been a full day yet and the stench from coming from the house was unbelievable. Jungkook would be thankful for them for saving him from the experience now. Seokjin curled up his fingers up into tight fists and then reached up to push the closed over back door with his knuckles. The hinges creaked as it swung inwards and he stepped over the slight step to get inside.

"...Fuck," Namjoon muttered through his tee, eyes settling on the sight sprawled out just a few feet away from them. Seokjin felt his heart plummet down past his ribs right into the pit of his stomach.

Taehyung must have been grabbed in the kitchen, trying to flee across the room to get back out again, for one look showed that a mighty struggle had happened in front of them. The kitchen counter was a mess of empty beer bottles, a few having been knocked over to dribble remains onto the wood, and most of one was still shattered on the linoleum in big shards. Just a few feet away he could see his father's body lying on the floor, sprawled out being the best description; legs and arms open and unmoving. He saw a messy head of black hair with just slight hints of grey running through it and then he turned to grab Namjoon's arm.

"Go into the other rooms," he explained, thumb and fingers dimpling into his skin. "Find some sheets. We'll roll him up and make it easier to carry him." His friend considered this for a moment before nodding at him and gently pulling his arm free, moving over so that he could get as close to the wall as possible. Then he sidestepped past, eyes up so that he didn't have to look down at the corpse, and disappeared through an open doorway to get into another room. He heard the sound of his sneakers lightly pounding on the wooden flooring all throughout the house. Seokjin turned his attention back to the man on the floor and then he took slow steps to get closer to him, not lifting his feet but rather sliding closer and closer until he could look down at him.

This was the man that he knew was Taehyung's father, had seen him a great many times over his childhood years, and yet he also wasn't. He was more of a shell, a shadow even, rather than truly him. Without the flushed hints of life under the skin Seokjin discovered that it didn't really feel like looking at a person. If he let the man's face be visible out of the corner of his eye he would look just like a mannequin instead. A pale, ashen mannequin. Though his eyes were open he wasn't seeing anything at all, reflecting his face back at him on the glassy dark depths. He shifted his gaze downwards, along the collar of his shirt until he saw the bib of blood that covered the rest of the white fabric. It wasn't a deep crimson like he had expected but looked almost closer to black where it had dried hard on the material and the linoleum. The bottom section of his shirt was ribboned and he just knew that through the fabric his flesh would be too; flesh and muscles and everything else. He edged his foot forward slightly and let it touch one of his outstretched hands. Seokjin almost waited to see if his fingers would twitch, would curl up and then loosen before the man flipped over and crawled towards him; spewing filth and threatening to kill him like he had tried to kill Taehyung. But he didn't of course, for he was well and truly dead.

This is what the end looked like. Death.

There was a series of thumping sounds from within the house and it made him jump in surprise and look up just in time to see Namjoon stepping through the doorway with a series of sheets folded over his forearm. He explained that he found it all in the linen closet rather than touch the bed and then he came over to stand on the other side of the body. So Seokjin told him to place them down on the floor, spread out, so he could shift the body onto them and then roll him up. His friend did as he said, sparing a quick glance at the man's face before dropping his gaze again. When he was done he hunkered down and prepared himself for the second hurdle. Seokjin was surprised to find that the body wasn't actually chill like he had expected but rather slightly warm: room temperature. Upon touching him a swarm of flies that he hadn't even noticed came buzzing out of the wounds on his stomach and he moved back with a disgusted yelp, waving up to get them away from his face. His own stomach jerked hard and he had to clench his jaw and take deep breaths to control his gorge.

"You OK man?" Namjoon asked in a low whisper, as if being afraid of being overheard. But the dead couldn't hear, and it was very much impossible to wake them.

"Yes, I'm OK," Seokjin replied, muffled through his tee and his attempts at not gagging again. "I'm OK, I'm OK," he repeated this like mantra as he grabbed the man's arm and one of his trouser belt loops. Namjoon reached over to help, getting a strong grip so they could shift him onto the blanket. Seokjin grabbed the edges and folded them over him, then he shoved him hard and watched the rigid body roll over and land with a thump. It was rather sickening, the sound. He thought about the noise meat made when it was being tenderised and then he carried on rolling the man until he was swaddled and hidden under a thick layer of sheets. A few smears wiped off onto it from the floor but mostly the dried blood just stayed in place. "Get his legs." Namjoon shifted to get to the bottom of the strange shaped roll and then he hunkered down and grabbed hold. Seokjin saw him grimacing as he grabbed somewhere roughly around the shoulders and started backing out of the house. In the process of carrying the body his tee slipped down but he barely even noticed in his haste to get into the garden. When he did he risked a glance over to see that there was a thick mound of soil by the entrance and he could still hear the boy messing around inside the shed. They stopped just by the broken door and Jungkook paused, shovel head piled with dirt.

"Shit, it's still pretty shallow," he explained before dropping his eyes to the bundled roll between them. "You think he'll fit?" Seokjin spared a glance down and thought that he would so he made Namjoon let go and he dragged the body to the edge before shoving it in with a hard kick. Another meaty thump, the roll of bed sheets landing in the shallow pit that the boy had dug. A few chunks of soil sifted down to land on top.

"Shovel." Seokjin held his hand out and he saw Jungkook hesitating before handing him it. The effort of digging the hole had caused the boy to break out into a sweat, hair plastered to his forehead and tee clinging to his chest, the white material slightly see through. He got a load of the disturbed soil onto the head and then dropped it down into the grave, listening to the rustling sound it made as it landed on the bundle.

"The sheets was a good idea..." the boy said as he reached up to rub at his brow with the back of his wrist, smearing reddish brown soil on his skin as he did. There was a light dust on his boots and little specks caught in the creases of his knotted jacket.

"Jin must've watched a lot of gangster films..." Namjoon muttered, causing the boy to laugh under his breath. "It was his idea."

"Was he...?" Jungkook didn't finish this question but they don't knew what he had meant by it. Was he fucked up? Was he torn to shreds; a closed casket case? Seokjin didn't think that he needed to tell him about the glassy eyes and the flies escaping out of the tears in the man's shirt, about how there was likely maggots just waiting to burst free from his festering stab wounds. No, he didn't think that the boy needed to hear that at all.

"Didn't look," Namjoon said with a shrug, reaching up to rub at his own face too. "I really didn't look at all I just saw...red."

"...Well I hope he was fucked up," Jungkook said after a moment. Seokjin just carried on dumping the soil on top of bundle of bed sheets until he was left with the task of patting it down and making it look as smooth and undisturbed as possible. When he was finished Namjoon shoved the broken lawnmower back inside, taking great care to use it to block as much of the grave off as possible. How fitting that his grave marker be a piece of broken machinery; useless shit. Seokjin emerged from the shed feeling strangely calmer than he had upon entering it, sweating and breathless but somewhat lighter than before.

"OK...the bloodstains," he said as he wiped his dusty gloves off his jeans. "Cold water, right?"

Jimin was swinging his legs over the edge of the kitchen counter so that his the heels of his bare feet lightly hit the cupboard and Seokjin was starting to find the noise a little irritating. It wasn't enough to make him ask him to stop but it was slowly getting there. It was the soft thump thump, constantly over and over to the point in which it reminded him of a clock. A clock...and the sound of the body dropping down into the shallow garden grave. Across the counter there was a stack of used bowls and cups placed along the length, everyone finished except Yoongi who was still eating the remains of his food. Namjoon was on the end, Seokjin to his right and Yoongi, Jimin sitting on the counter. Hoseok was on the opposite side. Jungkook and Taehyung were upstairs currently, the pair of them lounged on the single bed with the boy's comic book and a couple of Chocopies between them both. Taehyung had been talking a little but still not enough for his liking, so very quiet and still in the most jarring of ways.

Seokjin watched Jimin's legs moving again, the back and forth of his bare lower legs and the rustling of his denim shorts. He was leaning back of one hand and nibbling on the ends of his chopsticks absentmindedly. He had been very quiet upon getting back from his mechanic shift, not saying much after they had told him and Hoseok about how they were thinking of hitting the road again for a small break; a break that they had yet to fully figure out. Seokjin had a feeling that he was pondering on his job right now and thinking about how he would lose it if he agreed to tag along. Yet Hoseok hadn't seemed to have cared. Their friend had just listened to them explaining it all and then when they had finished he had made a soft noise and wanted to know when exactly they were leaving. But if Jimin didn't want to get involved then...

"I was looking at shit with Tae." As he said this Yoongi reached over to place his hand on Jimin's knee, thankfully causing him to stop moving his feet. He watched him lightly squeeze down on his kneecap, tendons moving under his skin as he did and thumb softly moving across his skin. "When you were all out."

"What kinda shit?" Namjoon asked, glass of water in hand.

"Photographs of South Chungcheong," he explained as he cheeked a mouthful of kimchi. There was a slight blob of chili sauce in the corner of his mouth and he hadn't seemed to have noticed. "Like Kookie suggested. Pretty place. Found a nice coastal region, Tae liked it a lot."

"You spoke to Tae?" Seokjin asked in a low voice. "What did he say, was he..."

"He talked. Left alone with me he kinda had no choice I wouldn't shut the fuck up. I think you all forget that I've got experience with things like that." At this Jimin stopped suddenly, chopsticks hovering over a slice of kimchi that he had been planning on nabbing off his plate. "Always talk. If a person is in shock talk. Let 'em know that you're there and they're safe even if they don't answer you back or they look like they're on another planet: talk." His lover reached over to wipe at his mouth and Yoongi didn't even blink at the contact. "'Cos they need to know. So I talked to him, just about stupid shit y'know, nothing personal or related to the...the incident." His eyes flickered over to look at Hoseok as he said this and their friend just nodded softly. "Asked him if he had to pick a place to go, where'd he go? He said Taean County."

"Taean County?" Seokjin furrowed his brow at this. "That's the very edge of the country, right by the sea. There was that massive oil slick back in...I forget the year, 2008?"

"Yeah, tourism was fucked," Yoongi continued. "Remember seeing all the pics of 'em trying to clean up the beaches and poor birds. Turns out not a lot of people go there but...Tae's been there before." At this the kitchen fell silent and then, slowly, they all turned to stare at Yoongi. He just stayed still, hand on Jimin's knee and the other holding his spoon an inch above his bowl. Taehyung had been to Taean County? When had this happened? Seokjin couldn't recall and he saw on everyone else's faces that they were also slightly confused by this piece of information. "When he was five," Yoongi continued after a minute of silence, "he went down with his mother to visit family during a school break. He remembered all of it, he told me about this fucking lighthouse on the coast of this beach before I even got photos up. He drew it into the air, right in front of him: the exact shape."

"Yoongi's right," Hoseok said as he shifted on the stool. "I remember that now. I remember him coming back with a gift for me. It was a lollipop about the size of Namjoon's brain." This made their friend snort under his breath. "Taean County...shit it's been so long how did he remember that?"

"I dunno, but he told me about it all." Yoongi spooned the last of the rice and then pushed the bowl of kimchi towards Jimin. "Seemed like he really wanted to go there," he said around the mouthful. "He even smiled at me when I said that we could." Jimin asked him why he had agreed so suddenly to it, without asking all of them, as he picked up a slice of the scallion. "'Cos he asked me if we could and I looked at his face and..." Yoongi sniffed and reached up to rub at his nose, the fidgeting hinting at slight embarrassment. "He was glowing, alright? I haven't seen Tae look so fucking happy in so long that I couldn't say no to him. Besides, you'd have all agreed anyway so?" He shrugged with an obnoxious expression on his face.

"That's smarter than your usual reasons," Jimin retorted with a smile as he chewed the kimchi.

"You know why he wants to go there right?" Namjoon asked as he played with his glass, turning it this way and that without a care.

"Positive memories," Seokjin replied as he shifted his gaze to look at the ceiling because a sudden burst of laughter had sounded from up there. Jungkook from the sound of it, so he wondered what exactly he was laughing at. "Tae wants to reclaim his positive memories as a way of...of healing the bad ones. But to make new ones too." Then he looked down at his friend and tried to gauge if they should reveal the memory that they had made today: the three of them in the garden shed of Taehyung's house. Before Namjoon could do much more than blink at him Hoseok shifted to reach up and tug on his hair. It was starting to grow a little longer than it used to be, now falling just over his brows in a neater fashion than Taehyung's tattered and rough cut lengths.

"I can't stop thinking about that fucking bottle..." He tugged on his hair and then sighed. "Is it stupid? Was what I did stupid?"

"No," Jimin said with a from head shake. "Tae could've hurt himself with it, or one of us by accident like he did to your hand. Getting rid if it was a smart idea."

"Evidence..." He scoffed under his breath. "Like the bottle is the biggest piece of evidence, huh?" Hoseok's lips lifted in the corners sarcastically.

"We don't need to worry about that," Seokjin replied, studying the counter rather than look at his friends. "That problem has been sorted."

"...Meaning?"

"Meaning the body is under a few feet of soil in the garden," he said in a curt tone, expression not budging in the slightest even when he just knew that they were all looking at him. "I like to think that we helped speed up the process of him getting to hell, don't you?"

"You...you buried him in the fucking garden?" Hoseok asked in a voice barely above a whisper. It was to tell what he was thinking just by looking at his face, slack lips and wide eyes. When Namjoon quietly confirmed that they did he reached up to place both hands on the sides of his head. Then he let in his breath out in a wheezy groan and closed his eyes.

"Jesus fucking Christ," Yoongi muttered, hand squeezing down on Jimin's knee so tightly that his fingers were dimpling in his skin. "You three...you buried a dead body without me?"

"That's not really the most important thing here, is it Yoongi?" Hoseok asked in that same groan. Oh, his light tan had started to go a little grey.

"No body, no evidence..." Jimin said, chopsticks placed on his lip as he stopped gnawing on them. "At least for a little while."

"You just...you went to the house and-" their friend lowered his hands and opened his eyes. It seemed like Hoseok wanted to say something and yet he couldn't seem to get the right words out. "The kitchen? What about the kitchen?"

"Clean," Namjoon explained. "Only way you'll know there was blood is if you use a fucking black light we bleached the place down."

"So we just all...we've all risked our futures on Tae right now?" he managed to ask. "If he gets caught then we all go down with him. You know that right? It's not just me getting rid of a murder weapon anymore. It's serious, all of us."

"If one of us goes down we all do," Seokjin agreed with a nod. "That's how it's always been." He let this sink in for a moment before shifting his gaze over to the clock across the room. "Now, I think we should leave tonight. All get ready and hit the freeways when they won't be as busy. We leave in the morning and it will take hours longer to get out of Seoul and down into Gyeonggi."

"...OK, Minnie go get cleaned up," Yoongi said as he practically pulled him off the counter. There were still smears of grease on his arms and face. "Get the kids to get ready too."

"Kids?" Jimin asked he reached down to keep his hands locked on his hips. "Aren't we a little old for that?" Yoongi shook his head in denial and he laughed before leaning down and pecking him in the corner of the mouth. The blond male looked embarrassed for all of three seconds as he watched Jimin exit the room and then head up the creaking stairs.

"I can't believe that you would..." Hoseok blinked slowly, "that you would risk your futures on something like this. I could have taken the fucking fall if it went wrong. Not you, shit guys. Burying a murder victim? Do you know how long you could end up in prison for that? Jin, Joonie, fuck even Kookie. He's in high school," he said this in a low voice, almost a hiss. "You've risked everything on him."

"Tae would risk everything on us," Seokjin explained. "We all know that he would. It's not even a question it's a statement."

"Yes, but we wouldn't...wouldn't kill someone." Yoongi quietly said that they couldn't know that, that no one really knew about anything like that. "So we're the musketeers? All for one and one for all?" Hoseok nibbled on his lower lip and then snorted. "Wielding glass bottles instead of rapiers..." Then he reached up to rub at his forehead with a weary sigh. "Sorry, I'm acting like a complete asshole right now it's just-"

"Been a hard time, we know." Namjoon placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly. "You're tired, we're all tired."

"I'm going to check on Tae," Hoseok mumbled as he got to his feet and crossed the room to disappear upstairs just like Jimin. Namjoon got to his feet and started collecting dishes together, carrying them over to the sink and filling it up with hot water and lots of liquid soap.

"I need a fucking smoke," Yoongi declared as he got off the stool and hastily moved to leave through the front door. After a few seconds spent listening to the sound of his friend splashing things around in the sink and the soft voices bleeding through the ceiling from upstairs he also got to his feet and left the house, front door left open a crack. Seokjin watched Yoongi shift to sit on the brick walk, sticking a cigarette between his lips and stroking a match to light it. He called him an old man and his friend grumbled around his first exhale of smoke that he was older than he was.

"I know I am," Seokjin said with a smile. "I'm not even an old man now I'm a fossil." Yoongi snorted and managed to not choke on a lungful of smoke as he folded his legs up on the wall and hunkered forward, spine curled up in his typical seated position. He rubbed at his bare lower arms roughly to try and keep them warm and Seokjin couldn't help but noticed the scars still on his flesh, the ones that would never go away. Then he pulled his phone out and checked the screen to see that he had a voicemail. Same number as earlier. He sighed and loaded the message, holding his phone against his ear as he did.

"Hello Kim, this is just Mrs. Choi calling from Keisung High to let you know that there are interviews now open. The quicker you get in contact the quicker we can arrange a suitable one for you." He let his breath out slowly, feeling a twinge in his chest as he did. "Your application was one of the best that we received truthfully, at this stage the interview is pretty much just procedural. I can't see you not securing a position with your current level of skills. So just get in contact with me between the working hours of 8:30am to 6:00pm and I'm sure we can find a suitable date for you." The voicemail ended and he pulled his phone away to stare at the screen for a moment.

"You OK?" Yoongi asked as he pulled his cigarette free and dabbed ash on the brick wall.

"Yes," Seokjin replied as he locked his phone and shoved it back into his jeans pocket. "Yes everything's fine, just a wrong number."