When he opened his eyes the first thing that he saw was the dark purplish overcast that covered the sky above his head. Jungkook stared at the sight in drowsy and heavy wonder, running his eyes along thick banks of clouds that had the faintest glimmers of stars nestled away in them. Every now and again one would sneak out and shine down at him, like light playing off the sharp edge of a cut diamond. Yet the light didn't hurt his eyes, didn't make him squint or look away. It was a soft white light that was pleasant to observe, faded stars that were probably already dead millions of miles away from him. He couldn't see much more colour under the purple beyond a strange orange that seemed to come from the horizon but he didn't want to lift his head to check. Where the orange light spread it lightened the purple to delicate pinks. He was observing a sunrise and he didn't know what time it was, where they even where right now. All he did know was that he was comfortable and warm and he wanted to stay that way for as long as he could. The flatbed floor of his friend's car wasn't soft or padded but with a pillow from Yoongi's house shoved under his head and a series of blankets strewn over him he felt like he could drift right back off to sleep again. He just felt safe and secure in a way that seemed at odds with everything that had happened over the last two days.

Jungkook had never seen someone fully in shock before. He had witnessed the faint after effects of Jimin's situation and had found himself trying to wonder what it had been like for Yoongi to try and coax him back out of his shell, to let him know that he was alright and everything was going to be okay. He had gotten his wish with Taehyung but he wasn't very sure that he had truly wanted to know. He had found the silences not punctuated by his voice very jarring, almost offensive. There wasn't supposed to be silence in his presence, it was something that they had all grown used to over the years. So sitting in Yoongi's house and finding the atmosphere heavy and silent, Jungkook had found himself greatly disliking it. The distant look in Taehyung's eyes coupled with the silence had made him restless and uneasy, but coming back to the house yesterday afternoon he had noted a slight change in Taehyung's behaviour. He hadn't been his old self, upbeat and obnoxious in the most exquisitely perfect way, but he had held eye contact and said words. Even if they had been soft mumbles from his bruised throat it had been better than nothing at all.

That ring of mottled bruises on his friend's neck, a choker of fingers and defined thumb prints across his Adam's Apple, it was enough to make that old anger want to surge back to the surface again. Jungkook had felt it suppressed greatly over the last year thanks to his daily Ritalin dosages, and feeling the emotion again was both confusing and unsettling. It had made him feel nauseous almost, as if it was bad that he felt such a strong emotion. Jungkook did not like how his hands shook every time his eyes settled on those bruises; still dark blotches on his skin that were a mixture of blues and purples that would take a great time to fade. Not the bruises of reckless street brawls and drunken arguments but rather the lingering remains of a struggle to survive. They were like the faint marks on Jimin's elbow and the little pucker on his throat, the tattoos of raised flesh on Yoongi's inner elbow...like his own lightly scarred knuckles, the white line just below his lower lip and the trench along his cheekbone that was years old. All signs of survival, all carrying the weight of shame and pity.

So upon returning home and finding Taehyung actually looking up at him and holding his eyes, Jungkook had felt a fluttering sensation in his chest: the butterflies of relief. Yoongi had managed to get him to open up ever so slightly and from that point he had taken over in Hoseok's absence. They had gotten comfortable in Yoongi's bed, under the covers and lying upside down with the pillows hugged under their chests, comic book and Chocopie snacks and just each other's company for the sake of it. Taehyung had said a few things to him, had played with the sheets and that was it. But he had looked at him and Jungkook had been able to see interest in his eyes rather than an empty stare. It had meant that Taehyung was slowly opening up again and soon enough they might just get to hear his voice breaking the silences once more.

There hadn't been much talk about what they were doing exactly, where they were going. Jungkook had just been told that they were leaving to go down to Taean County, a place that he had never been to before. He had been told that it was a coastal area, which meant little to him. Jungkook much preferred being in urban areas, surrounded by high-rise buildings and wide roads packed with bodies and streets. But the idea of getting away for a little while, of getting to breathe air not entirely polluted by exhaust fumes, was appealing in its own way. Even if it meant traveling along near empty back roads and barely seeing other human faces beyond his friends. That was more than appealing, it was something that he could very much enjoy and was almost hoping for. Jungkook had looked at photographs on his phone of the region and had seen nothing more than rocky outcrops, old industrial buildings, the signs of a rather rundown location. Not like the cities that they had ended up on the last time they had been on the roads. Taean County, a place that apparently held good memories for Taehyung. Would it create good memories for them too?

An evening of rushed showers and hastily changing into clean clothes, shoving everything away, piling into Seokjin's car in a stealthy way that made him almost feel like they were runaways; disappearing into the night in a getaway car. Delinquents. Right now Seokjin was sitting at the wheel of his car. Before leaving in the early night hours their friend had taken a quick nap, hair still damp from his shower and seated on the end of Yoongi's settee with his head balanced on the stiff arm. He had a feeling that their oldest friend was probably very tired but he knew that he wouldn't declare this. Seokjin wouldn't admit to anything that made him sound weak, not because of his pride but rather for their sake. Seokjin carried the weight of the world on his shoulders most days, made even heavier by all of their baggage on top, and yet he never showed a single crack on the surface. Jungkook wondered how he could possibly cope, knowing that he would have exploded a long time ago from the overbearing pressure and yet...Seokjin still stood tall. Without his unbreakable spirit they probably wouldn't have gotten very far, certainly wouldn't still be clinging on together like they currently were now. The young man was a lot stronger than most people would assume from appearance, and Jungkook loved him for it.

Inside the car with Seokjin was Namjoon, seated in the passenger-seat where he had been since the start of this current ride. He had been pouring over a large unfolded road map, marking it with pencils at first to try and plan a route out in advance, which he then went over in thick Sharpie pen strokes when they both decided on the correct route. For once they actually had a map so they didn't need to rely on road signs and luck anymore. They had a series of colourful lines on a wrinkled sheet of paper, revealing the roads to them long before their eyes settled on them from out of the windows. Seemed to ruin the fun, the sense of adventure, but Jungkook knew that they would all prefer getting to their planned destination with as little trouble as possible. In the backseat was Hoseok and Taehyung, the pair of them sharing the slight leather cushions with no pillows and a single blanket between them. Presumably they had slept well for Yoongi had packed the sleeping pills away in his backpack and he had given one to Taehyung. Not Hoseok of course, their friend had looked away from the bottle and found his boots more interesting to look at. Jungkook just hoped that he didn't get too reliant on the pills, for the last thing they needed was Taehyung finding another crutch to support himself with.

Jungkook was sharing the flatbed with Jimin and Yoongi. Surprisingly enough it wasn't that cramped even though there were three of them and a variety of bags shoved against one of the sides. Some of the bags had been stored in the backseat legroom too, for there was no boot to utilise. The floor vibrated ever so softly as the wheels rolled, occasionally a little harder if it ran over a pebble or trash on the road. Jimin was on the far right, hidden out of his sight beneath thick winter blankets and the slight bumps and curves of Yoongi's body. His friend was lying on his side, back to him, and he could see his dyed hair fanned out messily on the pillow, his pale neck and most of his upper shoulders peeking out from under his own blanket. Jungkook had always seen Yoongi as slight, neither tall nor wide but rather small on both accounts. Yet with his rather large personality it was sometimes something that he didn't notice. Lying beside him right now however, it was impossible for him to not see it. It was strange knowing that he had already outgrown him at his age and he was probably only going to get bigger whilst Yoongi stayed the same.

Time passing was an unsettling concept.

Jungkook reached over with his hand to touch the back of his head and he found that his hair was soft even though he expected it to be dry and rough from the dye. As he gently moved his fingers he saw the slightest hints of black roots hidden away out of sight. He dropped his hand back down with a sigh and glanced back up at the sky. 4am? He felt that it might just be that, which meant that Seokjin had been driving for nearly seven hours. What should he do? Should he force himself to wake up fully and see what happened, watch the views go past over the side of the flatbed, elbow cocked on the metal side and pillow shoved between his back and the window? Should he just fall asleep like everyone else seemed to be doing because he was comfortable? Jungkook was thinking this over when there was a soft noise from beside him, and then his friend was rolling onto his back.

"Hey," Yoongi said in a sleepy mumble. His voice was husky, more of a rumble than actual words, and he reached up with his other hand to rub his eyes open. The patchwork blanket rustled as he lowered his arm again. "You OK kid?" Jungkook confirmed that he was and his friend shifted to roll onto his side. "Jin told me about yesterday."

"...What'd he say?" he asked, furrowing his brow slightly because he had not expected this. Seokjin had told them about what had happened? He must have done that whilst he had been in the bedroom with Taehyung, both of them eating chocolates and he attempting to make him smile a little more. Why had he told them all? Clearly he thought that it was for the best that they all know...except Taehyung. No secrets to hide, less problems could arise from it. Jungkook felt a brief flare of panic at the thought that the others would be angry before pushing it aside.

"He said you buried the motherfucker in the garden," Yoongi said, tongue darting out to wet his lips. "That was pretty much all he said, that's why I asked if you were OK. I wanted to know if you felt...fine after all of that shit."

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine." Jungkook nodded, feeling the pillow rub against his cheek as he did. It let out a soft lavender scent, the scent that was usually buried under cigarette smoke on Yoongi's clothing. "I didn't see anything, not really. I dug the grave in the garden shed. Namjoon and Seokjin carried the body out and dumped it in, wrapped in bed sheets like a kinda shroud. I saw all of the blood though, in the house. We cleaned up everything we could. I know that he'll be found eventually but for now we might just be in the clear."

"You really didn't see anything?" He shook his head and Yoongi went quiet for a moment, thinking it over.""Good, I was hoping that you didn't. Just looking at the blood stains in that freight carriage freaked me the fuck out, I was worried that it might've scared you too."

"No, I wasn't scared, not bad anyway. We were all a little scared I think. They didn't show it though. Seokjin just looked very...passive."

"Jin can be real tough when he wants to be," his friend said with a soft laugh. "'Specially on the subject of us. Pretty sure that he'd bury a lot more dead bodies if he had to but let's not make anymore, yeah?"

"Yeah," Jungkook agreed with a grin which Yoongi lazily returned. "Hey Yoongi?"

"Yeah kid?"

"I'm sorry about the other morning." He shifted slightly to snag a handful of blanket and play with it, rubbing the material between his thumb and forefingers. "I really put you on the spot and said some pretty fucked up things. I was tired and upset, wasn't thinking very clearly. So I'm sorry if I said anything that freaked you out, but also thankful that you actually listened, you know?"

"I understand."

"'Cos it was pretty...dark what I said," Jungkook continued, fingers pulling at the material. "I got pretty close to death. It's weird. I dunno, I didn't feel much. It's like it was all just a dream." Yoongi told him that they shouldn't talk about death in a quiet voice. "It's hard to not think about it after all that's happened, don't you think?"

"I ain't thinking about it," he replied nonchalantly. "I'm thinking about all of you and Tae but I ain't thinking about death and that piece of shit. He's gone now. No need to think about him. I don't believe in ghosts. He ain't gonna haunt me, now come here," Yoongi said before reaching over with one arm. He managed to slip it around his neck and then he was rolling onto his back, pulling him closer. His other arm went around Jimin and their friend made a sleepy noise as he was disturbed in his sleep. Yoongi lay between them both, Jimin's head balanced in the crook of one shoulder and his in the other. "It's way too early to be awake and debating. Let's just sleep for a little while longer, huh?"

"OK," Jungkook mumbled in agreement as he shifted to get more comfortable. When he placed an arm over Yoongi's ribs he felt his fingers brushing against Jimin's arms and then his friend was lightly snagging hold of his wrist to hold onto him. Jimin's hands were surprisingly soft considering his profession, dry but warm and soft, and he liked the sensation a lot. It was like a blanket itself. "You don't believe in ghosts?"

"Nah," Yoongi replied, arm moving so that he could place his hand on his head and play with his hair just like the other morning. "And don't tell me that shit about how you saw one at the old trainyard or I'll push you outta this fucking car." Jungkook staunchly refuted that he had seen a ghost that day, disappearing into the tunnel in a quick blur of white, and that Taehyung had seen it too. "Yeah, and you were both drunk." When he pointed out that he was drunk too Yoongi laughed, the sound making his shoulder shake softly. "I was wasted, no wonder I didn't see the 'ghost'," he said in a sarcastic way, "but I've been there sober enough times to not see it." Jungkook smiled lazily, face against his jacket thick with the scent of cigarettes. "You're as bad as Tae, always trying to freak people out with ghost shit."

"Hmm, kinda funny don't you think?" Yoongi asked him what he meant by that. "Kinda funny that most of us are more scared by ghosts than...dead bodies." Yoongi's fingers stopped playing with his hair for a moment and he felt him tensing against him. After a few seconds of stillness he let his breath out slowly and then resumed running his fingers through gently. "And I'm not scared of either."

"Course not, you're tough," he retorted, even though he didn't hear a smile in his voice when he did: a forced joke. "Tough Kookie." Jungkook groaned at this and at least he sensed a grin for a second or so. "There's something you're scared of though, I'm sure that there is." He didn't reply to this and instead just stared over the slight rise of Yoongi's throat, seeing a hint of Jimin's face, messy hair and shoulder. Yoongi was right, he was scared of something but he doubted that they would figure out what that was exactly. "Probably not baby shit like me and heights, or Jimin and pretty much everything."

"Mmm, shut up," Jimin mumbled sleepily, breath on Yoongi's neck likely ticklish for he moved slightly. "That's Hoseok, not me."

"Remember the subway?" Jungkook asked suddenly, shifting so that he could lift his head and look at both of them. "Remember how he and Hoseok were too scared to go down the broken escalator and they tried to make us vote on whether we should've stayed or left?" Jimin retorted that he had found the subway, as if this in anyway negated his obvious fear. "It was cute."

"I hated that place," Jimin grumbled, eyes still staying firmly shut. A few seconds later Yoongi also admitted to disliking it, staring that it had been creepy.

"I liked it," Jungkook said as he placed his chin on his friend's chest, rolling to get on his stomach as he did and knocking Yoongi's fingers free. He just moved them down to between his shoulder blades instead. "It felt safe, a proper shelter. I just kinda wished we'd found it sooner so we could've explored it more." Jimin snorted and opened his eyes to look at him, asking him if he remembered the joke that Taehyung had made to scare Hoseok; the one about dead bodies being stashed in the empty tunnels. "Why dump a body down there when you could use a shed?"

The remark slipped out of his lips before he could even try and curb it, spilling out in a blunt and cold way that made him inwardly wince. Talk about ruining a rather nice moment. Why had he even thought of something so morbid? A quick glance at both of their faces showed hard to read expressions. He couldn't tell if they were shocked, disgusted or horrified for they were both rather blank. Jimin slipped his eyes up to study Yoongi's profile yet the other man was just staring up at the sky. Jungkook gnawed on his inner lip and waited for the reply.

"...A shed's more practical," Yoongi said after what felt like an eternity of silence. He tried to not sigh in relief at the fact that he hadn't cursed at him. "You wanna explore underground deathtraps go ahead but don't drag me the fuck along." Jimin agreed with a nod. "No subways for us now, we got a car and a destination in mind."

"You think we'll make it down there?"

"Yeah Minnie, why wouldn't we?"

"I didn't mean it like that I meant do you think that we'll get there without any troubles?" It was Jimin's turn to move now, cocking an elbow up so that he could hold his head in his palm and study his lover more clearly. Yoongi held his gaze for a moment as he thought this over and Jungkook could see something rather sweet in the way that they held each other's eyes so intently. He doubted he would be able to get that close to someone without feeling the pressing urge to look away after a moment, cheeks heating up as he did.

"When have we been outta trouble?" Yoongi asked in response, causing Jimin to smile slightly. "I dunno Minnie, probably not but I'll hope we do. I'm getting too old for this shit, never mind Jin." He sighed heavily and then looked between them both. "Go the fuck back to sleep so I can too, I feel like I need to smoke five cigarettes right now." Jimin shifted to once again lie down, dragging himself close, but Jungkook moved to sit up instead. Yoongi studied him for a second and then rolled onto his side to get closer to Jimin. Jungkook lifted his arms up high and stretched with a weary groan, feeling his muscles complaining. Having being curled up for hours it was no wonder that they were stiff. He rolled his shoulders and rubbed at the back of his neck before taking a moment to appreciate the view his new position offered.

They were currently traveling along a freeway of some kind. Either side of the road there were low concrete barricades and he couldn't see over them but he assumed there to be dirt and not much more than that. No trees, no wooden fences in sight just yet. Maybe soon they would end up on the wide roads of the wilderness but he doubted it would be for a very long time. The horizon offered distant views of cities, grey blocks of apartments and radio towers smaller than his fingers when he lifted an arm to check, and towering pylons with thick wires that seemed to lightly away in the breeze. Jungkook rolled his head up to examine one and he saw a near army of birds seated in the centre so that the cable dropped from their weight. Like he had predicted the very bottom of the sky was a deep orange that was probably described as 'burnt', glowing hint of the sun rising bright enough to make him shield his eyes from the strong rays. In front of him, which was technically behind of them, he could see a couple of vehicles along the freeway but they were mostly trucks rather than cars: delivery trucks with big company logos on the sides.

Jungkook sighed and dropped his arm, hand bouncing off his thigh and rubbing against the blanket. He heard a low murmuring from beside him and when he spared a glance over at his friends he saw Yoongi reaching up to cup Jimin's cheek in hand so that he could kiss him. Soft press of lips, faces turning slightly to deepen the kiss. He looked away again to study the vehicles following along behind them and then he twisted to look over his shoulder. Nothing but an endless stretch of grey tarmac. He checked over the side of the flatbed and saw that the back window was open and it looked like he could reach it so he leaned forward experimentally. Jungkook found that he could indeed stretch far enough to shove most of his upper body through the open window. The sound of him slipping through the made Namjoon twist in his seat and stare at him.

"You know how dangerous that is right?" he asked in a tone that hinted at disbelief. Jungkook just folded his arms on the window rest and grinned at him. "Hey Jin we got a guest."

"Kookie, I wouldn't do that if I were you," Seokjin said as he moved his gaze to look at the rear view mirror. Despite driving for so long now he looked surprisingly well, not at all as haggard as they all currently felt. "If you fall over the side you could break a bone, or crack your skull."

"I won't fall, I'm comfortable right now," he retorted as he looked over the interior.

In the front seat there were no blankets or pillows in sight, rather just jackets lazily placed over laps instead. The dashboard in front of him showed a container of coffee that revealed that Seokjin had stopped at some point in the night and they had all slept without a clue, along with a food wrapper and the road map currently spread open on the deep grey plastic. Jungkook could see various lines scrawled all over it, the marker pen and pencil sticking out of a holder on the gear stick panel. On the backseat right in front of him Taehyung and Hoseok were still sleeping. The position that they were lying in didn't look very comfortable at all compared to how nice it had been in the back of the flatbed. Hoseok was against the door furthest away from him, slumped back in the seat with his head on the window, gently moving every now and again in response to the soft vibrations of the engine. Taehyung took up most of the middle and other window seat because he was sprawled out to use Hoseok's chest as a pillow, arms locked around his lower ribs and legs folded up on the leather. Boots nowhere in sight, at least he hadn't tracked dirt on the seats. He had a single blanket dragged all of the way up under his chin and he couldn't see most of his face because of his tangled hair. In any other situation Jungkook would have reached down and jokingly grabbed at his bare foot, to have him kick out and wake up with a surprised mumble, but not now. Now he needed to let him sleep instead, find peace in the blackness of his rest rather than the stress that reality currently offered.

"Pretty sure that's what Jimin said the last time he fell out of a tree..." Namjoon remarked, sly smile at the corners of his lips. After a second he laughed and confirmed that it really was because he could remember the exact tree he had fallen out of.

"Where are we right now?" Jungkook asked as he looked at Taehyung again. Had his arms been able to stretch he would have brushed his hair back so that he could study his face instead. "Gotta be in Gyeonggi by now, right?"

"Currently in Osan, moving down in Pyeongtaek soon enough," Seokjin replied as he lightly shifted the wheel, one hand on it and the other moving down to rest on the gear stick.

"Pyeongtaek?" He raised an eyebrow at this, recalling that they had been there before; a year ago that currently felt like a week to him. "Nearly out of Gyeonggi then." His friend said that it would take longer than he was expecting. "I'm just glad to find out we're not stuck in Seoul."

"I'm not that slow a driver," Seokjin retorted, making him and Namjoon laugh at the petulant whine in his voice. "I'm hoping that this freeway ends soon because I really need to take a break..."

"The minute it does pull over," Namjoon said shifted in his seat to get more comfortable. "Don't want you crashing. You've been driving long enough, you deserve a break."

"Not a long one I mean-" but the other man carried on over him, telling him that coffee was not a suitable substitute for sleep. Seokjin glanced at him in the rear view mirror and then rolled his eyes. "Who will drive whilst I'm asleep, hmm?"

"No one, we'll just find something to do for a couple of hours. Don't wanna risk getting pulled over now that we have a legit license." Namjoon folded his arms over his chest, thumb rubbing at his elbow slowly. "Last time we did that we were stupid, we're still stupid now but I'm hoping we're a little more mature."

"You're kidding me, right? Mature?" Seokjin smiled widely at this, Jungkook saw it reflected in the rear view and side mirror. It lit his face up for a few seconds but when the corners of his lips finally went down he noticed that his earlier assumption was incorrect. He did look tired, looked near exhausted, mostly around his eyes because his eyelids were starting to get slightly puffy. "Maturity is something we most certainly do not possess, and I'm including myself in that statement."

There was a soft groaning noise from the backseat and Jungkook turned his head in time to catch Taehyung moving, wriggling in his sleep so that the crown of his head rubbed against Hoseok's chin. His eyelids flickered open for a second, showing a flash of his eyes before they closed again, but his lips twitched in a way that showed that he was restless. The car fell silent for a moment as they all waited to see what would happen and then he jerked so suddenly that Jungkook jumped in shock, nearly bumping his head on the top of the window. Taehyung sat upright as well as he could, legs tangled in the blankets, and he balanced his weight on one wrist so he could reach up and wipe at his eyes with the other. He sniffed a few times and then lowered his hand slightly as he looked over the car. Sleep seemed to have caused him disorientation but after a quick scan he seemed to have figured out where he was.

"Hey Tae, you feeling alright?" Jungkook asked him in a soft voice. His friend furrowed his brow and turned his head to look at him, and after a couple of seconds of dumb confusion he let out a sudden guffaw. The sound of it made his heart skip a beat or three in his chest. Taehyung had just laughed. It seemed like forever since he had heard that sound.

"The fuck?" Taehyung asked as he looked him up and down. "You're gonna fall off the car." From the front seats Seokjin and Namjoon voiced that they had already warned him about that, and Jungkook just sighed. Taehyung rubbed at his eyes roughly again and then pushed his hair back. It stayed in place for a mere moment before falling back over his brow, at least this time fluffed up enough to not block his eyes from view. "Shit, I feel like shit." He said in a quiet voice, not a whisper but not much louder than that. Jungkook contemplated telling him that they all felt like shit but he held his tongue instead. He didn't want to make another joke like the garden shed one. Yes they all might have felt like shit, but none so much as Taehyung would currently feel.

On a scale of one to ten he was willing to bet that Taehyung currently felt like a minus seven.

Their friend shifted to sit in another position, pulling his legs up so that he could hug them against his chest, bare feet slightly hanging over the edge of the seat and blanket currently abandoned. Taehyung placed his chin down on his knees and Jungkook looked down to study his hands, which were tightly clasped around his ankles. Same scarred knuckles that were paler than his tanned flesh, but his fingers were also in a bad way, several slices in the pads that hadn't healed over. He stared at them and just knew that they had come from the broken beer bottle. Everything about his position hinted that he didn't really want to be spoken to right now, or answer any questions. But just because he didn't want to talk it didn't mean that they couldn't try and get a response out of him.

"You thirsty?" Namjoon asked as he moved in his seat to retrieve something, a bottle of juice that he had stuck in the armrest of the passenger-seat. He leaned around the seat to offer the bottle to him and Taehyung studied it silently before accepting the bottle with a quiet thanks. He unscrewed the cap and took a deep sip of the orange juice and swallowed it, tongue sticking out slightly to lick at his lips. Namjoon studied him and then turned back to look out the front window. "Ah Jin, turnoff to the right." Seokjin confirmed that he had seen it, the soft clicking sound of the indicator like a ticking clock. Then he was softly turning the wheel and the car was going off the freeway and onto another road.

"Uh..." Taehyung made a soft noise and then cleared his throat. "What about you guys? How'd you feel?"

"Good," Seokjin said, maneuvering his car down the road smoothly. "I feel good right now, tired but good." And to his credit he did sound like he was telling the truth, which he probably was. Jungkook would believe him if he said it was so, considering how honest he had been with him in the market yesterday afternoon. "So it's like every day of the week." He finished, sparing a fast look back at him. He offered Taehyung a smile and he returned a tentative one for roughly two seconds.

"I feel like it need to run laps around a track," Namjoon said. "My legs are dead, I'll climb outta the car and fall over. Have to crawl." Seokjin made a noise in agreement at this, claiming that his back was sore too. "But yeah, I guess I'm good too." Taehyung took another slight sip of juice before looking over at him, eyebrows lifting under his hair so that the locks lightly shifted from the movement. Jungkook studied him for a moment before nodding and telling him that he felt good too. He didn't really know what he felt but it wasn't a bad emotion necessarily. He felt like his positivity far outweighed any negativity. Upon hearing this Taehyung let his breath out in a soft sigh and he held the bottle out to offer him it. Jungkook accepted it and drank the last mouthful in the bottom before shifting to toss the empty bottle of the window. Namjoon nagged at him for littering and he watched the bottle fly and bounce off the concrete barricade.

"I'd care a lot more about the earth if it wasn't so fucked up," Jungkook retorted. On the end seat Hoseok mumbled something in his sleep, something that sounded like 'Taehyung' but long and drawn out to the point of sounding like nonsense. "Hopefully we'll all be dead before the end of the world, so I don't think a single bottle matters, right?"

"Such a pessimistic kid," Namjoon muttered with a head shake.

It took Seokjin a few minutes to find an area that he seemed suitable to stop the car, doing so in a way that seemed to show that it was begrudgingly. It was a short dirt road that looked to lead down into private fields, or farmland, with no fences but lined with thick growths of trees. He killed the engine with a heavy sigh and left the keys in the ignition rather than remove them. Namjoon popped the door open and then removed his seatbelt, swinging his legs over with a groan before getting to his feet. Jungkook watched him putting a hand on his lower back as he took a few stumbling steps away from the vehicle. The sound of the door opening made Hoseok wake up, head jerking and eyes opening as he stared out of the window at their friend. Then he groaned and sat upright, squinting as he reached up to rub at the back of his neck.

"...time is it?" he asked as he forced his eyes open.

"4:30am," Seokjin explained as he undone his own seatbelt. "Time for a little break and food before carrying on, and in my case a nice nap." Namjoon called out that he would set an alarm on his phone for 9:00am. "That's a little late don't you think?" He told him to go for 8:00am instead, eventually them both settling on 8:30am. Four hours. The amount was enough to make Jungkook shudder and then realise that he hadn't slept for much longer. How he was currently awake was a miracle in his opinion.

"Urgh, I need the bathroom..." Hoseok popped his own door open and struggled out to cross the dirt road and go a few feet into the thick grass at the side. Namjoon was in the act of stretching his stiff legs, lifting one up and bending the knee and ankles before switching over, wincing no doubt from pins and needles settled deep in his muscles. Taehyung shifted to slide along the backseat and also get out, leaving the back open for Seokjin to climb into, which he did with a grateful sigh.

"This is what luxury feels like," he said sarcastically as he tried to get comfortable, nearly slamming his head on the armrest as he did. Jungkook looked down at him wriggling and smiled when he stared back up at him. Seokjin gave him a pitiful expression and so he asked him if he would like his pillow. "Yes please."

Jungkook dragged his legs out of the back and then dropped them to the floor, hearing his boots thumping on the hard soil. He moved around the side of the car and glanced inside of the flatbed to see that Yoongi and Jimin were still asleep, buried under blankets and each other arms. He shifted to get up onto the back, on his knees, and leaned over to collect a hemp bag filled with food and the pillow from his friend's house; which was now hundreds of miles away already. Seoul was hundreds of miles away too, though it was hard to believe. When Jungkook had closed his eyes and drifted off they had still been stuck on highways of the capital and yet now it was nowhere in sight, not even on the skyline.

"Let's not use the hotplate yet," Namjoon said, still stretching to loosen his stiff muscles. "I don't wanna break it, Jin will know how to work it." Jungkook thought about how long it would take for him break it, twisting the knobs and accidentally burning himself or someone else on the metal. It was a very possible occurrence so he could only nod in agreement as he shrugged the back up onto his elbow and jumped off the back of the flatbed. He went over to the backseat window and shoved the pillow inside for Seokjin, laughing when it dropped and landed on his face. His friend let out a surprised noise and then he lifted his head to stick it under, lying on his back and looking not at all comfortable. Jungkook reached in to snag the edge of the blanket and pull it up to his chin just to piss him off that little bit more but Seokjin was too tired to even react to this.

From the other side of the car he could hear Namjoon explaining to Taehyung and Hoseok everything that had happened, the drive out of Seoul and the stop in the gas station, of how he had slept a little while and woken up to find that Seokjin had gotten them down in Gyeonggi on the rather mild highways. He had clearly not slept that much either, yet he didn't look too tired. He told them that they were in Osan, a rather unremarkable city by the looks of things. Not much of interest to report beyond this. Jungkook glanced at Seokjin one last time before going around the back of the car to get to his other friends.

"Yoongi and Jimin?" Hoseok asked, also in the act of stretching by crossing one arm over his chest and applying pressure on his shoulder with his other hand.

"Still asleep," he explained as he dumped the bag at their feet. "Should I wake them up?" Namjoon thought it over for a moment before telling him to leave them. Four hours to waste and nothing more than food and a walk to distract them, it would be nicer to just let them sleep instead. Then he hunkered down and opened the bag wide, studying the interior for a moment. "Seokjin made food for today, fresh stuff instead of instant shit. Sandwiches I think? Wasn't a lot of stuff in Yoongi's house to work with so he just used whatever he could."

"Yeah, there's quite a lot here...shit did he use a whole loaf?" Namjoon asked with a laugh as he reached inside and pulled out a wrapped stack of sandwiches, two cut into triangles to make four slices.

"I haven't had sandwiches since..." Hoseok furrowed his brow and looked up to stare across the road. "Since middle school I think?"

"Really?" Jungkook asked in shock. "You've went that long without bread?" When he nodded he couldn't help a disgusted expression appearing on his face. "I feel offended right now."

"Yeah Kookie we all know about your love of bread and carbs and kimchi and saturated fats," Namjoon said as he pulled out more wrapped bundles until he had four, one for each of them. "You guys think I'm kidding but there's more than three left in here."

"Good," Taehyung said in a quiet voice. "Let Kookie eat 'em all and puke." Jungkook said that he would happily accept the challenge, feeling a lot better about the remark when he saw him smiling. Hoseok placed his hands on his hips and joked about how they had packed everything but a bench for them to sit on, eliciting laughs from they all.

"Ah, picnic blanket!" Jungkook announced before jogging over to the back of the truck to collect his blanket. He pulled it off and carried it back over. "Not a bench but better than dirt right?"

A minute later they were all seated together on the blanket in a rough circle, bottles of water and sandwiches piled in the centre. Seokjin had bought meats in the market yesterday, something that had confused Jungkook for they had no way of storing the cuts for longer than a day or two, but he had discovered the true reason for it now. There was bulgogi and kimchi, clearly created for him in mind, marinated chicken in a sweet sauce and salad, and there were just plain salad sandwiches too, packed with tomatoes and cucumbers that were still crunchy despite being left in a bag for several hours. Jungkook eat his share and found a hole that he hadn't even been aware of under his ribs being greatly sated, leaning back on his wrists in satisfaction. He couldn't help but notice that Taehyung ate slowly, just like he had the previous evening. Slow chewing, long paused between bites that seemed to stretch forever. But at least he was eating, which he supposed was better than nothing. Sure he was used to seeing him devouring food just as enthusiastically as he did, but after what had happened he probably didn't even have an appetite. He supposed that, after stabbing a glass bottle into your father's guts about a hundred times, a person's interest in food might wane for a little while. Whilst they ate none of them really spoke beyond mundane things about the weather, for it didn't seem like the right time to talk.

After finishing the early morning breakfast Namjoon actually amazed him by collecting the plastic wrappers together and shoving them into the hemp bag, doing so in an orderly fashion that made Jungkook snort laughter. Saving the planet one piece of Saran Wrap at a time it would seem. There was still a great deal of time to waste and yet despite not getting much sleep he didn't want to crawl back into in the car and rest. He was wide awake and longing to do something, and as luck would have it Taehyung decided to wander off from the car and walk right through the copse of trees without a single word.

Jungkook watched him go and then turned back to his friends to see if they had noticed. Namjoon was too busy pouring over the map in the open passenger-seat, pen in mouth and pencil between fingers as he ran his eyes over the colourful squiggles, and Hoseok was attempting to get better reception on his mobile. He twisted to see the last flash of Taehyung's denim jacket disappear through the shade of the branches.

"Hey guys?" he said in a low voice, not wanting him to overhear him. "Tae just walked off..." Hoseok stopped in the act of typing something on his phone to look up at him, then he moved his gaze to look over his shoulder at the empty space that Taehyung had been occupying a moment ago. "Just through the trees over there, going for a walk I think. Should we...?"

"What?" Namjoon asked from the passenger-seat. Jungkook let his unfinished question hang in the air for a moment before asking if they should follow after him. His friend didn't reply but he moved to look back over his shoulder at him, lips pursed around the marker pen.

"I mean he might just be going for walk but still, don't want him wandering off and getting lost, right?" Jungkook asked, all the while thinking in his head that they didn't want him to run off and vanish without a trace. He wouldn't expect Taehyung to do so, but just a few days ago he had not thought him capable of murder either. Right now, if Taehyung were to just hightail it he wouldn't at all be surprised. "I'm gonna follow him..." he muttered as he shoved his hands into his jacket pockets and walked around the back of Seokjin's car. He had only just stepped in the grass when he heard footsteps on the dirt road and a quick glance back showed Hoseok following him too.

"I'll stay here and watch the car," Namjoon called, clearly not wanting to leave it alone with just their sleeping friends inside of it.

"Sure thing," Jungkook called before walking through the slight field of grass. It was dry and barely reached higher than his knees, more green than yellow, and the soil it sprouted from was slightly reddish in colour. Then he was ducking down to avoid the low hanging branches of the first wave of trees. He felt one trying to snag in his hair annoyingly and just reached up to push it away, rough bark scratching at the back of his hand as he did. It only took a few feet of walking before he started to notice the shade from the foliage overhead, blocking out the early morning sunlight and making it slightly dark. That was when he felt Hoseok's hand reaching out to grab a handful of his jacket so that he couldn't get too far ahead of him. Jungkook stopped walking side you and cocked his head and sure enough he heard the sound of twigs being snapped underfoot. He could faintly trace their friend's location from the sound and so he slowly carried on walking forward, trying to make as little noise as possible so that he could listen to his footsteps.

They found Taehyung after a minute or two of wandering through the wooded area. His footsteps didn't lead them to him fully because at one point they stopped and Jungkook had had to just follow his instincts. Getting deeper into the area the trees actually thinned out slightly, growing further apart until there were just roots crossing in front of their feet trying to trip them up. When they laid eyes on him at first it was his back for he was sitting face away from them, on the splintered and broken trunk of a tree that looked to have collapsed at some point. There was no telling how or why, the tree was just tilted to crush the upper canopies of the trees closest, the upper body on a severe diagonal angle. Taehyung was sitting at the bottom of this, on the nearly rounded stump that had been revealed from the fall, hands shoved into his pockets and legs spread out in front of him. Jungkook glanced at his friend and silently asked him what they should do, lightly cocking his head in his direction. A few seconds passed and then Hoseok let go of his jacket and crossed the space between them to stop beside their friend.

"A tree falls in a forest, and no one's around to hear it. Does it make a sound?" Hoseok asked with a slight smile as he reached over to touch the trunk. He ran his hands along the rough bark, little chips dropping down to land at his feet as he did.

"Yeah, of course it does," Jungkook replied with a nod. "Just 'cos we can't hear it doesn't mean it doesn't happen."

"But we would never know, right?"

"Put recording equipment in a forest," Taehyung said suddenly. "Problem solved." The air fell silent for a minute as they both looked at him and then they heard the softest sound of him laughing under his breath, shoulders shaking as he did. Then Hoseok reached over to lightly punch his arm and he started laughing more loudly. "What? You said we'll never know, you were wrong lover boy." This made him sigh heavily and roll his eyes. Jungkook wondered if this nickname had been used since last year at all or if it had suddenly been dragged to surface like a lot of things. Then Taehyung shifted to turn back and face them both, placing one leg up on the stump had letting the other dangle over the side. He remembered that Taehyung wasn't wearing shoes and his toes skimmed the ground, pieces of grass and little specks of soil stuck to his skin. He folded his knee and seemed to get pretty comfortable on the old splintered stump. "What're you doing here?"

"Could ask you the same thing..." Jungkook said as he leaned back against the trunk of a whole tree, hands also shoved into his pockets.

"Dunno," Taehyung shrugged, same languid movement as always. "Just wanted to go for a walk. Saw the trees and thought it'd be nice to check it out." He dropped his gaze to his bare foot and prodded at a pebble with his toes. "Kinda reminded me of the tracks, y'know? Trees and grass...was hoping I might see tracks but I didn't." Jungkook told him that he thought about that too, that it reminded him of the woods that they had all trekked through. "So I just decided to check it out but it's quiet here, kinda like it."

"Since when do you like quiet, huh?" Hoseok asked as he reached over to put a hand on top of his head. Taehyung flinched at the contact and Jungkook wished that he hadn't seen his Hoseok's lips drop at the corners for a second.

"Like the trainyard," Taehyung explained, eyes still glued on the ground. "Quiet, kinda like a shelter with all of the trees around me." His lover thought this over for a moment had then he moved his fingers ever so softly. He didn't flinch this time. "The shade is nice too." Jungkook thought that he would feel the heat a lot less if he took his denim jacket off but he knew what it was underneath it. The yellow tee that he had been wearing the night he had killed his father, still faintly stained despite the bleach and cold water that it had been soaked and scrubbed in. He wondered why exactly he would why to wear it now that it was rough and uncomfortable, but he didn't really want to get the honest answer. "Y'know, I can't wait to get down to Taean County..."

"So you can dive right into the water?" Jungkook asked as he kicked at a chunk of rock. It skittered across the small clearing to disappear into the grass.

"Yeah, if I wanna drop dead from the cold," Taehyung retorted. "I just...just wanna see the old lighthouse and the bluffs, the exact ones I saw when I was a kid. There's gotta be hundreds but I know the exact ones."

"I've never really seen the sea," he said as he searched for another pebble, bending down to pick it up and then tossing it up into the air to catch, the smooth edges bouncing off his palm with a soft thumping sound. "Is it pretty?"

"Real pretty," Taehyung said with a nod, ruffling his hair on Hoseok's hand as he did. "Prettier than Venus." Jungkook raised an eyebrow at this, surprised by this sudden declaration. Prettier than Venus? He doubted that could be true but he was willing to find out. "I can't explain it, but it's like what Jimin described the sunrise as...about not being able to touch it." Taehyung pulled one hand free from his jacket pocket and held it up in front of him, lightly curling his fingers as he did. "But I gonna see the sea, and I'm gonna touch it. It's not a dream, it's real and I'm gonna touch it."