Jungkook’s PoV.

                As soon as everything calmed down, Mr. Kim and Namjoon started sending me to the school here. Here, which wasn’t exactly anywhere in particular, was a nice place. The people were friendly, and they kept us hidden well. As long as we were safe, I was happy.

                School was fun, a bit more so than in the Society. We learned things I found a bit more useful, like how to hunt and track animals.

                On my first out-of-classroom assignment, I was paired up with a boy with pink hair, who smiled fondly at me. “Hi!” He said, jumping up and down excitedly. “What’s your name? Are you new? I haven’t seen you before, you must be new!”

                I smiled, laughing softly. “Hi, I’m Jungkook. Jeon Jungkook. I just came here a few months ago, along with my dad and some friends.”

                The boy grinned, nodding. “So you were the new kid that we saw! Duh. Ah, I forget faces so quickly. But you’d think I’d remember one as cute as yours, don’t you?”

                I blushed profoundly, looking down and mumbling an incoherent response.

                “Oh! By the way,” he looked at me and stuck out his hand. “I’m Park Jimin!”

                I looked at him for a moment, jaw dropping slightly. “W- Wait, Park Jimin?”

                He nodded.

                He changed his hair. We were never allowed to do that in the Society.

                “I- I knew you when we were kids!”

                “Huh?” He lowered his hand slowly, frowning slightly. “I don’t remember you.”

                “W- Well, we weren’t friends, but you came up to me on the Playground when I was younger, and you said you and your mom were coming here, or something. And you asked me if I would be coming along. And then Dad and Taehyung tried to make it here, but they didn’t, but now my Dad is here, and…” I continued to ramble, watching his lips curve back into a smile.

                “You can’t expect me to remember that, can you?” Jimin laughed.

                I shook my head, my face reddening even more. “N- No, not really. I’m sorry.”

                He took my hand in his own, shrugging. “Oh well! I’ll just have to take your word for it. I don’t think I ever saw anybody as handsome as you when I was still there, or I’m positive I’d remember.”

                He laughed, squeezing my hand as my face turned an even darker shade of red.

                “I- I’m sorry, I’m not really used to… this.” I fumbled over my words, avoiding his gaze.

                “Hmm, I don’t know, you’re even cuter when your face gets all flushed. I think I’ll keep doing it.” He chirped and continued walking, dragging me along as I became even more flustered than I thought possible.

                Jimin just continued to laugh and call me cute, walking ahead.

                He was just as blunt as he had been all those years ago, yet still so different.

                I smiled, watching him walk.

                I decided that I liked Park Jimin.

Jin’s PoV.

                Jungkook had been inviting over his friend Jimin to our house for the past few weeks.

                For the first month, we had lived in a makeshift tent, but the people here were nice and built us our own permanent household, completely from scratch. I couldn’t thank them enough.

                When Jimin came in the first time, he was teasing Jungkook, whose face had reddened significantly, but stopped as he saw me. He bowed and greeted me politely, and then followed Jungkook to his room.

                It was no different now. I watched as Jimin dragged Jungkook by his wrist, leading him throughout his own house and laughing at some joke he had made.

                I smiled over at Namjoon. “Joonie, do you think that’s Jungkook’s boyfriend?”

                Namjoon looked up from the book he had just continued reading, eyes wide. “Wh- What? Kookie has a boyfriend?”

                Laughing, I swatted him arm softly. “You never listen, do you? Jimin, I bet they’re dating!”

                His mouth quirked into a small smile. “Ah, yeah, he seems like Jungkook’s type. I think.” His eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

                I smiled, sitting down next to Namjoon on the floor and pressing a kiss onto his forehead. “You’re cute when you’re confused, do you know that?”

                Namjoon blushed, kissing my lips softly. “Only because you tell me every day.”

                I leaned my head onto his shoulder, sighing softly.

                “Seokjin?”

                “Yeah?”

                “W- Will you… Will you marry me?”

                I sat up, my heart panging in my chest. “Namjoon…”

                He stuttered, keeping his eyes on the ground. “I- I mean… I know it doesn’t really mean anything in Society because it doesn’t matter, you’re matched anyways, but here, it must mean something. Right?”

                I smiled, laughing as tears welled in the back of my eyes. “Namjoon, why did you even bother asking?”

                “What? What do you-”

                I kissed Namjoon, making him shut up. He hummed against my lips, running his hands through my hair. He deepened the kiss, pulling me closer as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

                Fireworks danced in my heart

                “Namjoon, I- Oh.” A voice interrupted us, and we broke apart. Yoongi stared at us, his eyes widening.

                Namjoon laughed awkwardly, standing up. “Yeah, what do you need?”

                “I- Is this good?” Yoongi asked, holding out a piece of paper.

                I smiled, watching as Namjoon and Yoongi spoke to one another quietly. Namjoon was helping Yoongi, giving him an escape from his emotions by teaching him more about music, which he had picked up at a young age back in the Society.

                Yoongi nodded, smiling slightly. “Th- Thanks… Where’s Kookie?”

                Grinning, I pressed a finger to my lips and silenced Yoongi. “Shh, he’s working on his homework with Jimin. I’d give it another month at most, and they’ll be a couple.”

                Yoongi looked slightly shocked at first, but nodded, his gaze hazing over as it did every so often. “I miss seeing him grow up…” He whispered.

                Namjoon wrapped an arm around Yoongi, smiling. “Don’t worry, he’s still a child at heart! You’ll get to watch him grow up still, don’t worry!”

                Yoongi nodded slowly, his eyes becoming more alert again. “O- Okay. I’m going to go work on this for a little bit more, then…”

                Namjoon nodded, grinning and sitting back down next to me. He closed his eyes, sighing and leaning against me. “I’m so tired…” He whined softly.

                I smiled, putting an arm around him lightly. I couldn’t stop smiling, not when Namjoon had just asked me to marry him. As my arm rested around his torso, he exhaled lightly, snuggling up to my side. “Wake me up in twenty minutes, okay?” Namjoon mumbled. He yawned, almost immediately drifting off to sleep.

                Running a hand through his hair absentmindedly, I looked down at him and smiled. His lips had formed a small ‘o’ shape as he breathed, his chest rising and falling softly. He shifted slightly, his head resting on my chest. I moved slowly, adjusting so the both of us were resting on the floor of the living room.

                I pulled him closer, pressing a kiss onto his forehead and closing my eyes as well.

                “Sleep well, Joonie.”

                I drifted off to sleep shortly after, his proposal still ringing softly in my ears as it lulled me into the land of dreams.

Jungkook’s PoV.

                “Jimin, c- can you let me focus, please?”

                Jimin pouted, falling down dramatically and resting his head in my lap, staring up at me with his wide eyes. “Oh no, am I distracting our Jungkookie? I didn’t mean to, I’m sure!” Jimin grinned, crossing his arms in a refusal to move.

                I shifted nervously. Why couldn’t I just tell him how I felt? I’m such a coward.

                Jimin grabbed his notebook, sighing as he looked over everything he had written. He picked up mine a moment later, comparing the answers we had written.

                “You’re sure you’ve never written, much less done math before?” He asked, looking up at me.

                I shook my head. “We had computers for everything in the Society, but I learn quickly, I guess…”

                Jimin smiled. “Good. I like guys who are smart.”

                My face flushed even redder. I snatched my notes back from Jimin, stuffing them into my bag and pretending to look for something in it. Jimin moved his head, resting his head on my shoulder as I moved my bag onto my lap.

                I grabbed out the knife I had been given to practice hunting with, the same one Jimin had used before I came. I set it down on my nightstand, an overturned crate next to my mattress.

                There may have been less comfort here, but it was definitely still a much nicer place to live.

                I set my bag down, collapsing back onto my bed. “Ahh, I’ve never had this much work before! It was always so easy, when did it get so hard?”

                Jimin lay down next to me, his hand intertwining with mine as he looked over at me.

                “Jungkookie, you’re cute.”

                I blushed. Again. “Jimin, stop saying that.”

                “But I mean it!” He whined. “I- I really like you, and I just think that everything you do it cute and perfect and adorable and I want you to like me back. I- I really do, Kookie!” He looked at me, his eyes widening slightly. I studied his gaze for a moment, spotting only sincerity in his brown eyes.

                I opened my mouth to say something, but was only met with a kiss from Jimin.

                Park Jimin.

                The boy who had led me here so many years ago without even meaning to, the boy who taught me how to write and do math, had his lips pressed against mine, wrapping his hands around my waist as he inched closer.

                My eyes were wide as I absentmindedly moved my hands to wrap around his waist as he was doing to me. Jimin pulled away, his eyes half-lidded yet still tinged with excitement.

                I nodded blankly, staring at Jimin. “O- Okay…”

                Jimin, whom I had never known to be flustered in our months of knowing one another, looked away sheepishly. “I- I’m sorry, that was rude of me. I can go now, if you want.”

                “No!” I yelled. “I- I mean, I want you to stay. Here. With me.”

                He grinned, looking up and throwing his arms around me. I smiled slightly, hugging Jimin back and resting my head on his shoulder softly.

                “Park Jimin, you are the most insanely beautiful boy I have ever met. But mostly just insane.”

Namjoon’s PoV.

                I was right.

                Although not seen that way in the Society, marriage was a big event here. Everybody congratulated me and Seokjin, telling me how lucky we were and how they would help us to plan the event.

                It truly was grand.

                Jungkook and Jimin sat in the first row, the rest of the people in the village taking up the roughly 500 other seats.

                I turned to face Seokjin, who looked more handsome than ever in his black suit, identical to mine.

                “You may now kiss.”

                I smiled, pecking Seokjin’s lips softly as everybody erupted into cheers. Over the shouts, I could hear Jimin and Jungkook speaking.

                “Hey, Kookie, that’s going to be us soon, right?”

                “Wh- What?”

                I laughed, watching Jungkook become flustered again. Yoongi, who sat next to them, put an arm around Jungkook protectively. “Not until I get to watch my Kookie grow up, you won’t get to marry him.” He joked.

                I smiled, turning to Seokjin.

                “And they all lived happily ever after?” I said, quoting the endings of the fairy tales we had read in class before.

                “Hmm, I’d say this is better than a happily ever after.”

                “Is that so?”

                “I love you.”

                “I love you too, Seokjin.”

                And we did live happily ever after, just as I had said, for many years to come.