Chapter 2 - Fate

I woke up to the sound of someone biting into something really crunchy, but decided to keep my eyes closed for the moment. This bed was so warm and cozy, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Still, when the crunching sound kept echoing from the walls, I opened my left eye to have a glimpse at what was happening around me to find Hoseok leaning against the wall while munching on some sort of chocolate-waffle-stick.

Let me correct myself: I wouldn't trade my bed for anything but food. That's why I rolled out of bed with a yawn, the blanket swung around my shoulders as I examined the subway station I had been sleeping at. Hoseok aside, there was no one else in sight and I frowned at the boy reading some book.

“Morning, Hyungwon”, he mumbled through a mouth full of sweet chocolate that looked like it was the most delicious thing in the world. If only I could get a bite of– stop right there, you're getting hungry.

“G-good morning!”, I said a bit louder than expected and my voice was thrown back at me by the tall walls, causing me to flinch. “Where are the others?”, I continued quietly as I walked up to Hoseok to sit down to his right.

“Most are out for work. Jungkookie is probably going around stealing stuff he likes and Jimin is at school with Tae”, my opponent replied with a shrug, causing me to frown and it had to be written all over my face what I wanted to ask next, which is why he explained: “At some point we stopped trying to change our youngest. The other two are two of the lucky boys who got neither abandoned nor conscripted during the last years. If Taehyung actually tried hard he could achieve many things, but he doesn't, he's stuck with us.”

“Oh. Okay”, was all I could bring myself to say, already lost in my own thoughts again. If they were so well off, why would they even be in this gang, they don't gain anything here? I my lips and decided to distract myself by leaning over to have a closer look at the book Hoseok had been reading. It only took me a few moments to get what he was doing, seeing the complicated patterns I had drawn so many times before.

You're doing it wrong, idiot, that voice appeared in my head again, followed by a chuckle and I breathed in slowly to get rid of it. “You're actually learning Chinese?”

Hoseok bit his lip with a nod. “Jungkook brought it the other day and I feel like it might be helpful if all of this continues, you know?” Careful not to remind myself of the time I had learned the exact character the other boy had his finger on, I nodded. Light. “Say, how did you sleep this long?”

After having a look at my watch to check the time, this question was quite legit. I had slept for thirteen hours straight. “To be honest, I haven't got the slightest idea.”

Hoseok stopped for a second and then started chuckling, which soon turned into a laugh that filled the whole station, making my ears ring. Was it that funny? “Looks like Suga has a competitor, I can't believe it. His record is fifteen hours, but you'll pass that mark in no time, I guess.”

I opened my mouth to reply that I had never even been close to today's thirteen hours before, but that's when Jungkook and Namjoon came down the stairs, the former jumping up and down while the latter had has hands buried in his pockets.

“Rise and shine!”, Jungkook shouted with a grin and Hoseok put the Chinese book aside with a sigh before a blinding smile appeared on his face.

“Hi”, I muttered with a yawn. “You're quite cheerful.”

“Well, Minhyuk is coming today!”, Jungkook said in excitement, earning himself a slight smack on the head from Hoseok.

“You know you shouldn't be that excited, we see him, like, once a week. You're exaggerating.”

“I know, but he brings all that stuff!”, the youngest retorted while stretching his back.

I combed some kind of greasy strand of hair with my fingers. “What stuff?”

Namjoon waved it off. “He's always like that just wait and see for yourself, we're going to meet up with the others from yesterday again in the evening.” He didn't say anything else and I didn't know what to ask to get further information about it, so, after gratefully taking an improvised shower BTS had pieced together, I waited.

The three boys who had left the night before came around 3pm, bringing some bread and rice for us to eat and shortly after that, Suga returned too. How did I deserve to be treated this well; just one day ago I was on the brink of death and now look at me, munching my rice with seven new acquaintances by my side. Still, I noticed that something was different about the boys: They were on edge.

Of course they were joking around and all, mostly making fun of Seokjin and Jungkook, but when Namjoon simply dropped his chopsticks once, his hands curled into fists and he took a deep rattling breath as if he had to calm himself down before picking the wooden sticks up again. Suga went back to bed after some time, turning away from everybody and I glanced at Jimin who seemed to observe it too. “Why is everybody so tense?”

He flinched and swallowed before putting on a smile and looking anywhere but at me. “Ah, there are days like this, it's... Well, it's because they can't wait for...tonight?” His statement came out more as a question than a convincing answer and I bit my lip while trying to understand what was going on.

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Thank god we already left at 7pm, the motion helped me distract myself from thinking about anything. It took me some time, but after about ten minutes I recognized the tunnel we were aiming for and could hear the voices of many people long before we reached the station.

“Hyungwon!”, someone screeched and I was sent to the ground by a huge weight throwing itself on me. As I was almost suffocating because of long golden hair, I figured it must be Bora.

“H-hi”, I breathed and she let go with a bright smile on her face.

“I'm glad to see you got a bit better!” She was so...loud. Had it been like that yesterday too?

I nodded hesitantly and stuttered a quiet affirmative reply before she got off of me, taking my hand to lead me to the others. That's when I noticed how many of them there were. I mean, the boys alone were thirteen, but there were more, about thirty, people crowding around the fire this time. And again they felt the urge to introduce me to every single one. Minjae, Nahyun, Jinhoo, Kogyeol and many many more, you get the hang of it. Not that I was able to remember any of them, I was glad I recognized Seungcheol and Woozi after all.

“Sorry for the wait!”, someone's voice echoed from the high walls and the talking ceased almost immediately while everybody, including me