final.

Hydroperation

Jackson was never one that did not show fear. Probably because he knew he couldn't fake it, he was easily scared and between him being the energy ball that he was, getting scared just came as an instinct most of the time. If something scared him or surprised him... It was easy to spot.

Jaebum on the other hand, being the emotionally constipated man that everyone said he was, he wasn't so fond on expressing his fear. He was better at hiding and cradling that feeling inside of him. As a leader it came mostly natural too; don't show fear, so the others can take confidence from you.

So in the midst of having themselves trapped inside this caged bird, Jaebum was truly surprised hearing Jackson firm tone, telling the younger ones to calm down, take a breather; that they would find a way, that he would do anything he could to help everyone out and that right now it wasn't time for them to freak out because it would complicate things.

Jaebum could really see the fear that had a hold of Jackson's body. His shoulders were slumped down like he has been already defeated and his whole body was shivering but that could have been because of hypothermia too. They were in water to begin with and Jackson's body heat dropped way too easily for anyones liking. He felt a hand grabbing his shoulder and he turned around to find Mark and Jinyoung looking at him. Mark's facial expression was serious and Jaebum thought he saw some doubt in his eyes but only for a brief second. Jinyoung seemed freaked out in general but was trying to get his self to calm down and maybe think of possible solutions.

"We need to find a boat, open the side door and get out" Mark said in a hushed voice, possibly so that the younger's wouldn't hear him.

The plan was probably to find legitimate ways of getting out before rising panic into the younger ones. Jaebum would like to put himself into the younger group too but probably that wasn't the time. Being leader of a kpop group never had as side note to help your band survive a horrid accident but here they were and really if Jackson could man up, he wouldn't show his fear right now.

"What about the pilots?" he asked looking forward were half the plane must have been diving in the sea. They had very little time to be considering of anything more than getting themselves out of there but his brain couldn't help but supply that the plane, did not fly itself.

"They probably died on impact" Jinyoung supplied and turn to stare at the back of the plane, were it was mostly dry still. "We need to search the cabinets in the back, I think that is where they keep the boats and we need to search for life jackets under the chairs" he informed more, remembering the explanatory video from when they entered the plane to begin with and whatever he could remember from survival documentaries he had seen through his years of staring at a tv screen.

Mark nodded. "Sounds like a plan" he said.

"What then?" Jaebum asked feeling his blood pumping into his ears. Jinyoung looked between the two. Jaebum kinda envied him right now, a minute ago he was as panicked as he is but now he seemed collected and almost like he knew what to do; where Jaebum was looking like he is going to lose it soon.

"Let's just gather what we need for now, explain everything later" Mark said in his quiet voice trying to calm Jaebum down. He knew Mark was trying to calm him down and yet, it didn't help at all.

"We don't have that much time. We need to know the whole plan before we make any sudden moves this is about our lives, this is about us not dying here!" Jaebum replied back not realising that in his panicking stage his voice raised and when he did it was too late.

He turned back looking at the younger and Jackson, looking at him, staring at him. Yugyeom was crying. Dammit of course he was. He saw Jackson's jaw clench and unclench. He let his fear get the best of him but he is human too and being leader doesn't actually teach you what to do in this kind of situations. He wanted out of this, he wanted to cry too.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to find Youngjae there. "It's okay hyung" the young man reassured him "We are going to get out of this, the key is not to panic just like Jackson hyung said" Youngjae smiled at him. Jaebum felt his stomach turn and twist and he felt a lot worse.

He was losing it. He was going to be the burden, he felt it in his bones. "Just take deep breaths" Youngjae continued assuring him and helping him calm down as he followed the younger's instructions.

----

He didn't know how long it's been since his little outburst but he turned to look at the children, who were already wearing a life jacket each and turned to look at Youngjae who smiled softly at him as he coaxed him into one himself.

"Where?" Jaebum asked, slowly zoning in again.

"Jackson hyung had been diving for them a while now. We don't have much to waste as the plane keeps sinking" Youngjae informed him, a glint of worry in his eyes. "Jackson hyung is an excellent diver" Bambam encouraged from somewhere on his left as he realised Youngjae was done with his life jacket and was getting another one, probably for his own from Mark.

He stared as Mark for a bit. "Where is Jinyoung?" he asked, to which Mark just pointed at the back of the plain where he could clearly see Jinyoung's silhouette having a fight with a cabinet; probably trying to get the inflatable boat out of. He looked back at Mark who was by now wearing a life jacket as well as holding one -probably for Jinyoung- and wondered on asking what to was to do next. He feared that Mark wouldn't tell him though and he briefly thought that, that was probably for the best. They didn't need him to be freaking out again...if Mark was indeed going to exclude him for any future planning in this whole situation he did not mind at all.

"Where is Jackson?" he asked as he had a while to see the younger since he zoned back in to their current situation. He sure was hearing the sudden splashes in and outside when he was focusing at one person at a time but he hadn't heard one in a while and he was starting to get worried. He turned to look at Youngjae who had the same worry still pooling in his eyes and he heard a small gasp from Yugyeom before Bambam's soft coaxing words came in hearing too. He wonders if he is getting scold after they all this if everyone survives on how you don't ask 'stupid' questions in front of children. But then again it's not like they have a huge space go in the plane now.

He turns slowly at Mark and he realises that he must have said something he didn't hear because he saw him mouthing. "What was that?" he asks again, he sees the older biting his lips. Jaebum doesn't want to play with anyones patience in a situation like this but he guesses he can't help it, the blood running in his ear and his loss of focus don't help him much right now.

"He wanted to check the pilots too, before searching for his own jacket" Mark repeats and there is a little scoff. Jaebum knows. They both know that if they weren't dead on impact just like Jinyoung said they would have drowned a long while ago. Jaebum realises Jackson probably knows too, but wanted to check for him, because he was the first one to imply about the pilots. Stupid Jackson. Jaebum just wants him to resurface and see if he is okay.

He smiles a little when he hears the splash of exactly that. Jackson resurfacing but his smile drops. The shivers that are going around his body are more visible now he can tell that his skin look a little more pale than it usually is. He can't see his face though and he swears softly under his breath. "What took you so long? Where is your jacket?" Jaebum hears Youngjae ask incredulously as he toad's himself closer to the blonde. He sees Youngjae's eyes get slightly bigger and he is going to assume its horror that dances with worry now in his eyes.

"I couldn't check the pilots and grab it all in one breath. How is Jinyoung doing? " the blonde replies and Mark in moving towards them too as Youngjae, cups Jackson's jaw. Jaebum swears he saw the latter lean towards the hand, which he presumes is warm. Youngjae's hands were always relatively warm, he guesses they have to still contain some warmth even now.

Mark stops near him though and Jaebum wonders if he decided that he doesn't want to check on Jackson right now, in fear of panicking himself. "He is almost done with the boat, we will need to move soon" he says firmly and Jackson nods from where he is leaning towards Youngjae's touch.

"I'll dive one last time for my jacket and them we can proceed with the plan" he informs and Jaebum has to admit that the blonde seems much more calm than he feels. Maybe Jackson was really born to be good at everything, even at situations like these. At death threatening events in which Jaebum just feels like he would have died a long while ago if not of s.

"Please make it fast. I want to give you a few minutes to rest before we execute--" Mark's tone is coated with worry as well before his being interrupted from Jackson who says something in Chinese to him and chuckles softly.

Mark doesn't seem to find it funny. "Gaga..." he says instead before Jackson dives again and Jaebum is left feeling his stomach turn again. It's not long after that Jackson comes back up and Jaebum can only left some of his worry lessen. Both Yungyeom and Bambam help Jackson put on his life jacket as the older fakes not to understand how, just to make the younger ones relax even a bit and also draws some laughter out of them.

Jinyoung suddenly drops into his right and Jaebum feels himself jump-swim over to Mark, who doesn't seem very happy to get a handful of Jaebum. He was focusing so much on Jackson he got scared of Jinyoung, swimming next to him. Good job, leader. Good job.

"Ah..sorry" he apologizes to both Mark and Jinyoung as he swims closer to Youngjae now. They slowly form a circle, Jaebum notes. He also notes Jackson, replaces himself with youngjae on his left side as Mark stayed on his now right side. He wonder's if they are afraid of him now, panic drowning any of them and so maybe Jackson volunteered. He bites his lower lip, trying not to thing of such things.

Jaebum also notes that everyone seems to be aware of the plan to follow except him. Maybe that was for the better until now but Jaebum kind of needs to know what he will have to deal with from now on.

Mark seems to catch on to that. If Jaebum's head turning over at Mark and Jinyoung are any indications; well Mark has guessed right.

"Jackson's going to open the door, we are all going to take a deep breath and swim outside the plane, make sure to get hold of each other as Jinyoung opens the boat, which will speedily pull as up" Mark explains as quick as possible and everybody nods.

"The boat instructions say there are some airtight flares placed into some pockets of the boat so we can figure out how to call for help after that" Jinyoung chirps in as to calm down any of Jaebum's doubts. Again everybody nods, probably just to assure him.

"But wait... If Jackson opens the door doesn't that means he will get pulled out when the water impetus inside?" Jaebum turns horrified to Mark. Because that would mean that Jackson can actually get lost because of the currents of the sea and that is a very horrific image that just impaled itself in his head. Damn you vivid imagination.

"I'll hold onto the door don't worry! But as soon as the water fills up in here you need to come out, I don't think I can hold my breath forever, I'm not a mermaid" Jackson reassures and jokes about it all at once. He doesn't put Jaebum at ease but he seems to have the calming effect on Yugyeom and Bambam and maybe that is good.

"Okay. So are we ready?" Mark says as he eye checks everyone. Jaebum notices his eyes linger on Jackson the most before they stare at him. He has to say he feels some judgement on them. Like Mark is telling him 'try to not screw this one up' or maybe he really did say it to him because he catches him mouthing again but he was lost in his thoughts and didn't listen what it was. "Jaebum, are you ready?" Mark asks again as if on queue and he can feel everyone's eyes lingering on him.

"I'm ready" he nods. He repeats the instructions in his head. He can't screw this up because right now, screwing up would not mean detention, it would mean death and he doesn't want that for anybody in this group. He feels Jackson squeeze his hand and smile at him.

"Gaga, whenever you're ready" Mark says frowning slightly. Jackson nods before taking a deep breath and diving. Mark grabs Jaebum's hand now, he doesn't squeeze like Jackson did but he intertwines their fingers.

It's only a while before Jackson comes back up. "It won't budge with just me" he says and Jaebum can hear that he is out of breath already. He wonders how much this whole experience has strained out his lungs. He sees Mark nod and he feels his hand alone all over again, till the moment Youngjae drags him closer by his elbow.

"We dive together then" he says and nods towards the rest of them. "Same plan" he says as if to make sure that nobody thinks that things has changed.

"Be careful" Jaebum hears Jinyoung say as he frowns. Mark smiles at him and is that a wink? Jaebum probably didn't see right.

Mark dives and this time Jackson lingers above the surface slightly before he too dives back in. Jinyoung and Youngjae exchange a worried look, Jaebum is too preoccupied with repeating the instruction in his head to notice anything.

After a few moments a sound heard and the surface of the water rises. Jaebum realises that is their queue in taking a big breath and diving. And so they do; he can't really tell who is who in water because everything is blurry and his eyes sting but he follows the silhouettes anyway as they slowly and steadily swim down, towards and out of the door.

He sees a blur of blonde -obviously Jackson- still holding the door and helping guide everyone outside, softly pushing them where Mark is, holding Jinyoung's waist and linking his hand with Yugyeom who does the same for Youngjae who does the same for Bambam as he slowly is boosted out of the door. It's his turn yet, he guesses he will link his arm with Jackson since he will be the last one to boost himself away from the plane.

He burly links his arm to whom he believe is indeed Bambam and he extent his arm towards Jackson to catch. He wishes the whole boat thing works because he needs air and he needs it now. He can only wonder how much more Mark and Jackson need it. He feels something brush his fingers and he focuses his eyesight onto the blur that is Jackson; their hands didn't link with the first try. He tries to watch the blonde closely -however he can in this bluriness- and he thinks his movements are rather groggy. The second try is succesful and he realises Jackson pushes his other hand up in what he supposes is a thumbs up as Jinyoung at lasts open the boat.

----

Jaebum would say that there was a sound but in reality there was just silence. Jackson would say it was the sound of silence but Jaebum isn't sure that silence even has a sound. Their resurface is more painful than Jaebum thought possibly and even though he is happy for the air that enters his lungs the burn that accompanies it has them all gasping and wincing.

He tiredly realises that his life jacket as been pumped with air and he doesn't remember doing that, he looks around to see everyone's had been opened up as he watches Mark, pushing Jinyoung into the boat. He realises it must be hard, because Jinyoung keeps on slipping but all he can think about of being the problem right now is probably them still being in the water.

His leader instincts briefly kick back in now that they are not trapped into the plane and he can ing breath again and he does a head count, now that he is less panicky he has the need to check if everyone is okay. He sees Yugyeom and Bambam first, they are closer to him and it's easier to do a once over. They seem over all okay, for what he can see, probably just tired for swimming all this time, just like everyone is. He then catches Jinyoung who seems to have managed to climb the dumb boat and is starting railing Yugyeom up with Mark's help pushing him upwards. Mark too seems relatively okay so he turns behind him, where he spots Jackson's back and Youngjae's worried gaze.

Now that his vision isn't all blurred up he can actually see the tint of faint purplish blue over the edges of Jackson's increasingly pale skin. He frowns slightly and he frowns again when Jackson is leaning again on Youngjae's palms. As warm as someone can be, they would have definitely lose their warmth being in the water this long. His gut turns and twists and he has an awful feeling which he has to leave unexplored as Mark grubs him by his elbow and turns to help him climb up the boat. He found Jinyoung waiting to pull him up too, with something like worry in his eyes.

"Come on hyung" he hears Jinyoung's unmistakably annoyed tone, such contradiction to his eyes and he can't help the small smile that appears in his lips as he pulls himself inside the boat too.

He does a look over only to realise that there is actually another boat, near the one he is inside and that they are firmly tied together by two ropes. "Quick thinking huh?" Jinyoung smirks to himself as he pulls Bambam up the boat too. Jaebum stares at him and then at the other boat.

"Jinyoung found two boats and thought that one wouldn't possibly be all that trust worthy with seven people" the explanation comes from somewhere over his horizon and he matches the voice to Mark, who is still in the water. There is an 'umpf' sound coming from Bambam as he enters the boat himself, slipping all limps haphazardly across the limited space.

"Good thinking" Jaebum says as he find his voice again. He finds Yugyeom nodding as well at his peripheral view. Jinyoung is slowly moving in the other boat, to help up the rest in it and starts from Jackson who Youngjae pushes before him and demands to be pulled up first. Jinyoung complies and Jaebum is worried when Jackson doesn't seem to protest almost at all.

Jaebum stretches his neck to be able to see Jackson better but Jinyoung is right in front of him. There is a wheezing sound and Jaebum knows its coming from Jackson, he tries to move in their boat to be able to go closer but it's slippery from all the water and he finds himself holding onto Yugyeom not to fall overboard. He feels Bambam pulling him to sit back down and hold him there, as if afraid that Jaebum will try to actually fall overboard all on his own.
He looks back towards where Jackson is and he definitely can't see anything now cause Youngjae is covering the whole lot of him, while Jinyoung pulls Mark up. He ended up in the youngsters side and for once in this whole ordeal he doesn't want to. Yugyeom and Bambam might be okay with being left out and staying in their own little world but he needs to check up on Jackson, his whole body tell him too. He is worried, god dammit!

"I need to see Jackson, Bam" he says looking at the kid holding him down. Bambam makes some weird cooing sounds in which Yugyeom joins probably for the fun of it and without really understanding and Jaebum feels like this is not the time for it. "He is just across from us hyung, I think you can definitely pass some time apart" Bambam jokes and winks at him a couple of times.

Jaebum notes how the kid smiles but his eyes seem rather dull. He reminds himself just how scared he must have been too. He is a child still just like Yugyeom, the fact that he didn't cry like the younger of them all did, doesn't exclude him of being scared. Heck Jaebum was the second oldest and he ing lost his crap in there. "Are you okay?" he asks instead and he feels like punching himself at the surprise he sees on the latters eyes, like he didn't expect him to care. "This was a really bad rollercoaster right?" he tries to joke because he knows by now that, that is how Bambam copes with things. Through jokes. He turns to Yugyeom next, he feels the hold on his waist tighten and he squeezes the forearm back as acknowledgement. "How are you feeling Gyeomie?" he asks the younger and Yugyeom acting like his age for once starts crying all over again. Jaebum lets out a sigh as he pats the child's head -brushing his hand into his hair and he notices a gush there, probably from the crash, he should have known there would be some cuts and bruises, he should have checked earlier, the would is probably 'burned' shut by the salt water by now-, before pulling the other closer to him. Jaebum ends up tangled by a crying Yugyeom and a sniffling Bambam who had joined the party.

He mentally swears at himself for not caring about the youngers earlier before his gaze drifts over to the other boat. He's worry won't go away at all today apparently as he notices all three of the other boys are blocking his view as they are standing in front of Jackson like some kind of shield. There are hushed wishpers from them and sharp movements, that he doesn't know how to interpret. He wants to ask but he doesn't feel like worrying the youngsters too, they seem to have already too much on their plate. He moves himself slightly, feels the hold around his waist tighten up again. "I'm not going anywhere" he informs in a quiet tone as he fixes himself on a much more comfortable position. Yugyeom reposition himself too.

----

Not much later Youngjae slowly joins their boat. Jaebum decided to call it kid boat, just because. "Are you okay?" is the first thing he asks even though they both know, Jackson is a priority on his mind, a while now. Youngjae nods and turns to look at adult boat before he gazes guiltily at him. He feels his breath catching in his throat, he still can't see Jackson; Mark's and Jinyoung's board backs are the most annoying thing to him right now. He feels Youngjae prying Bambam away from him and calmly instructing Yugyeom to do the same. He will be their giant teddy bear for a bit, Jaebum needs to go to the adult boat.

Bambam has this need to protest but after a while it dies down and Jaebum is free to carefully crawl to the adult boat. He slips slightly and falls face first onto Jinyoung's back, his nose hitting the younger's shoulder-blade as they both wince at the collision. "Sorry" he says as he balances himself and comes to look at Jackson from his left side.

He feels his throat getting dry and the burn from when they burst out of the sea is back again, burning not only his lungs but his throat as well. Jackson is as pale as the greyish sheets they have back home and the purplish-blue tint he had noticed inside the plane is still there but it's not just littering his skin but also his lips. Jaebum notices that Jackson isn't shivering anymore but he is not sure how reassuring is that because when he touches him, Jackson is way too cold. He also notices that there is blood, smeared at the side of his ears and he himself pales at the realisation that, that is what extreme change of the sea level pressure can do, bursting your eardrums and he will hate himself if he turns to Mark to be informed that Jackson can not actually hear them. He will hate himself for panicking when s needed him the most and he will hate himself for not noticing this sooner.

In reality it's a miracle nobody else's ears didn't pop too.

"You look like " Jaebum is brought back by Jackson's voice and he sees him smirking at him. Jaebum startles because Jackson's eyes were closed and he thought he had passed out, he stares at him and realises he was probably just resting them because of how red they are and another wave hits him that Jackson had done the most diving out of all of them. He had held his eyes open so long in the salty water it's only normal for them to be this agitated.
"You don't look any better yourself" Mark informs him back and Jaebum wants to protest and say that no, Jackson looks a lot more worse than what they do. Jackson look like he is almost dead. "Are you cold?" Jinyoung asks to which Jackson just stares not answering, slowly frowning at them. "Are you cold..? " Jinyoung repeats himself louder this time and Jaebum dreads for an answer. It takes a moment longer but Jackson eventually shakes his head. "I think I'm totally numb" he says and Mark shakes his head. Being numb is not better than being cold. They see Jackson open his mouth as he continues frowning and he closes it soon after before opening it again, not sure if he can phrase what he needs. The blonde turns his head slightly to Mark and he stares him for a long while still frowning.

"Gaga" Mark starts about to ask what is wrong before Jackson interrupts him and tells him something in chinese. Jaebum swears Mark lost some of his color too. "What did he say?" he founds himself asking together with Jinyoung. Mark doesn't take his eyes off of Jackson as he says "He can't hear us all that much, he doesn't catches all the sounds". Jaebum knows Mark is tearing up when he turns around to look at the kids boat and it's not because of the salt or the air blowing around them. Jinyoung frowns and bites his lower lip turning together with Mark, Jaebum just finds himself staring at Jackson who stares back at him.

"Which might be a problem in him understanding Korean the best right now" he hears Mark continuing and he frowns, even though his eyes never leaving Jackson's. He wants to ask why, it's not like he forgot how to speak. "It's because korean have way more sounds and pronunciations over chinese or english, korean is an expressive language after all" Jinyoung explains to him as if he has read his brain and he founds him, looking back at him as he takes his eyes off Jackson.

"Then how did he get you?" Jaebum doesn't want to believe this. "Small sentence" Jinyoung says "And it did take him a while"; Jaebum can only nod. He turns his gaze back at the blonde and he sighs, shaking his head. Because they didn't have enough troubles already being straddled in the middle of the ocean with no food, no water and god knows when would help arrive, lady luck probably lost a bet from fate and Jackson had to get the backslash from it.

Jaebum slowly and steadily positions himself right beside Jackson, sitting as uncomfortably close as he can. "He is cold, we need to get his body heat up at least" he explains himself even though nobody asked him too. Mark nods and takes up Jackson's right side. Mark is good to be on the same boat as Jackson because for now, he is the only one that can make Jackson understand and Jaebum would probably need a translator.

Jinyoung -Jaebum notices- has moved to the kids boat, probably to inform the others on the turn of the events. Jaebum notes the looks the kids through at them, the worry they show for Jackson now that nobody towers before him, the way they support each other and the questions that are being fired.

Jaebum feels fingers intertwine with his and he knows they are Jackson's, he squeezes them and they squeeze back and a little while he wants to close his eyelids and forget that this whole day even happened.

----

When he opens his eyes again, there is a disagreement going around. He tunes in easily, even though groggily and he realises that it's about someone being either hungry or thirsty or possibly both. It's not hard to guess that is one of the youngers. The second thing he realises is that it's night which bring him to his third realisation of the atmosphere being rather cold at night and so he turns to check on Jackson. He is slightly relieved to see that Jackson's body heat is rather normal, compared to what it was when he first closed his eyes and so he lets a content sigh escape. It's not long after he tunes back in the other's conversation again. Bambam is raging on Jinyoung for not letting them actually drink from the ocean when the water is actually there, so their 'thirst' problem is actually solved.

"Actually" everyone stops talking as they hear his voice and he feels like a special snowflake right now "long story short, sea water will make you dehydrate faster, in other words die" he says loudly enough and even though he feels a little cruel to give the 'd' word he know that it's the only way to give it to Bambam faster. Cruel works miracles when the least thing you want to do is die. Bambam himself seems to get it and he stops talking all at once sitting back down between Yugyeom and Youngjae. There are some droplets in his eyes but he prefers the kid crying over dying.

"We can use our piss as hydrant to clench thirst" Jackson's rusty voice is heard and everyone turns their eyes on him. Jaebum feels his hand being squeezed and he squeezes back for reassurance. There are some gathered ewes going around at the kids boat and he can see Bambam definitely rebelling and refusing at that. "Jackson hyung that's gross" Yugyeom's whiny voice comes soon after. Jackson doesn't seem to have heard and his condition dawns over Jaebum once more.

"He is particularly right though" Jaebum intervenes. "Urine have approximately less salt as anything we eat so it's definitely something we can use to clench out thirst" he explains and he can see the weird our looks Jinyoung and Mark are giving him. He doesn't feel like telling them he studied at school, they can figure it out by themselves.

"Have you smelled your urine?" Bambam practically shouts, grossed out. Yup, definitely grossed out. "If you collect them and let them somewhere aside to uncenser, it becomes odorless and i guess easier to drink, if you mentally forget it came out of you" Jackson offers who seems to have heard Bambam's cry of disgust. Jinyoung is giving Jackson that weird look now. "What? I watch docimanters too you know!" Jackson whines. Jaebum smiles at him, he likes getting bits of their energetic Jackson back, it can only relieve him a bit. Their intertwined hands squeeze again.

"It's still gross there is no way I'm doing it!" Bambam says shaking his head negatively.

"Die from dehydration then" Youngjae says and everyone look at him wide-eyed. Jaebum wonder's if this is what they say that survival situations make you harsh. Never have he ever thought Youngjae could be this savage. He guesses that the other is at the end of his rope, he is the one sitting closest to a whining Bambam after all.

"Fine!" the young Thailand boy pouts. "Were are we deposing our piss to drink them?" he asked mockingly and Jaebum slightly sighed, that was a legitimate question even if the younger did to piss them off. Jackson had closed his eyes again and Jaebum found himself tuning everyone out again as he laid his head slightly backwards. The stars were so nice right above their heads, he wishes he had the time to appreciated them from their apartment in Seoul other than the middle of nowhere on the ocean.
"If we have nothing we will have to drink it straight from the source I guess" Mark says this time and brings Jaebum back, staring at him, just like every other pair of eyes, except Jackson who probably haven't even heard him. "Are you serious?" Bambam screams and Jackson starless, scared at the sudden sound and it takes Jaebum a while to manage and calm him again. Bambam has the decency to seem sorry about it. "I'm not drinking anyone elses piss!" the Thailand hush yells at them. Jaebum has to agree that drinking someone else urine doesn't sound that ideal to him either, not even the idea of his urine sounded ideal to him but on the other hand he doesn't want to die from dehydration. Dying is definitely a no-no, kind of situation for him.

Mark briefly apologises for the 'outrageous' idea before Youngjae speaks up again. "Unless you have from somewhere to actually drink, I would suggest each of us find someone we are even remotedly okay in drinking his urine" the main vocalist says and Jaebum still wonders if this Youngjae is the same one as their innocent smiley one back at Seoul.

Jaebum hears Mark translate what's being said to Jackson, who nods, eyes still closed. "I chose either Mark or Jaebum" he says soon after and Jaebum muh like Mark, find his face warming up.

"I...chose Jinyoung I guess...o..or Jackson" Mark stutters and Jaebum briefly wonders why. He also realises Jackson is taking a lot of decisions first so the group can follow, it's like he eases them towards the direction the things are turning. "I choose Jackson or Youngjae I guess" Jaebum continues the choosing rounds, Youngjae chooses Jaebum and Jinyoung, Mark and the kids with Bambam deciding last chose each other. Now that they all have decided they are all staring between them, probably everyone dreading to go first.

"So...who's thirsty?" Jinyoung asks, looking all around as he his lips, mostly because his nervous other than what Bambam would interpret as wanting to get into it. No one speaks for a while and then a soft voice that Jaebum thinks comes from Mark says "The better question would be who is ready to urinate, I think..."
There is much silence after that. Bambam decided to ban the words piss and urine together with any derivatives of the words for as long as they'll be on the boats. From then on they would refer to it as 'the thing' or 'hydroperation' to make it more believable that they are not going to do what they would be about to do.

Jaebum finds it rather cool the kid tries it's best. Silence stays with them though for what Jaebum can only guess is another hour before Jackson groans. Jaebum squeezes his hand and almost rides him in an attempt to check him and see what is going on. Jackson loudly claps his lips together "I'm thirsty..." he whines rustily and both Jaebum and Mark look at each other. The youngster's eyes are as big as potatoes and are staring to the three of them.

Jackson has leaned towards Mark slightly and Jaebum has caught him shivering again. There is a layer of sweat over his body too and he briefly wonders if he will need to check the blonde for a fever soon. "I can't" Jaebum says in a low voice when Mark nudges him and Mark pales slightly but nods. Jackson seems kinda out of it and he continues whining till Mark is on his knees, Jaebum holding the blonde slightly more upwards and Jackson opens his mouth without much protest. Everyone else is averting their eyes, nobody wants to see that, they will probably experience it too sooner or later anyway.

Mark is seated back down, besides the young chinese boy and he is sporting a full blush, Jaebum can tell. "Thank you" comes a whisper from Jackson, who has his eyes still fully closed. Jaebum has realised early on that help would not be arriving in the middle of the night, possibly because even though they probably knew their plane crushed and they wouldn't know exactly where and secondly because it would be too dark for anyone to fly or float out there to find them. He doesn't share this with anyone because he knows that Mark and Jinyoung had probably realised too on their own, Youngjae possibly too, Jackson had enough troubles as it was and the kids, didn't really need to know, they would be happy enough when the rescuers would appear, whenever that would be.

Jaebum thinks he should start worrying for Jackson's still closed eyes too but fatigue is taking over his body as well and with Jackson curled around him, sharing their warmth he can't really think further from the buzz in his brain as Morpheus takes him away for a couple more hours.

He knows he is shook away sometime in the night to 'hydroperate' on Youngjae who dead eye doesn't seem to mind at all. He wants sleep to help him forget about it forever if able. He never thought he would ever come this close to these boys that are a second family to him. He guesses he doesn't really mind if it means saving their life. He is half woken again when he feels Jinyoung (?) falling onto him, by probably losing his balance while he too was getting hydroperated but he chooses to ignore all, in an attempt not to know.

By the time he fully wakes up he thinks everyone got their fair share of hydration in the night. He won't be the one to ask anyway, they are all trying to salvage whatever pride they have left. His first priority for now is checking up on Jackson, who he is glad to see that in the light of day he has most of his color back, the purplish-blue tint long gone and he doesn't seem to have a fever.

They maybe, just maybe will see luck smiling at them from now on.

---

Jaebum comes to the decision that the reason he was sleeping this much in such period of crisis is because he was exhausted from all their scheduling and their underwater scaring adventure. He is somewhat glad to know he was not the only one to pass their one day and a half straddled on a double boat in the middle of the ocean sleeping like everything would work out on their own. He will remember to scold Bambam later on as he was one of the people who had gotten mostly dehydrated, he won't mention he was the other one.

The one with less sleep than all of them was Jinyoung who apparently worried himself awake. The on with most sleep was Jackson, even though he was excused as the paramedics had informed them; Jaebum reached second best. Yugyeom got his gush checked, which was from his head colliding with the seat in front of him when the turbulence was happening. Bambam had twisted his wrist but he was unaware of the fact until the paramedics pointed it out to him, then he wouldn't shut up about how much his twisted wrist hurt. Jaebum guesses it was the fatigue and the adrenaline that kept him from realising. Youngjae was mostly fine, his new side took a while to diminish but other than that he was the Youngjae everyone knew and love. Mark was mostly fine, just tired as he kept company to the very awake Jinyoung most of the night. Jaebum himself had just hurt his pride with his all panic state of mind, nothing he wouldn't be able to fix in the future.

Jackson had been taken away as fast as they reached the hospital, as he was the most ill out of them when the paramedics arrived. Jaebum was suddenly glad it had been decided they would enter that specific flight alone as he was engulfed into the arms of their manager as soon as he was out of the helicopter. Now all seven of them sitting at the waiting room, Jaebum didn't know what the odds would have been if the manager was with them too. Maybe the older guy wouldn't have made it and Jaebum would have more than just his pride to mourn over. He briefly thought about the two pilots and how they would have to send some apologies to their families and pay their respect but he couldn't really anything towards them. Maybe his guilt for that would come back to him in the next few days but for now he was glad he and his brothers were ok.

---

It's been a week since they had been recovered from their freaky accident boats and he still feels like it happened yesterday. Everyone seems to have slipped back to their routines, like the accident never happened and Jaebum wonders if he should feel bad it's taking him a longer time to adjust back to reality but then he takes a look at Jackson who is still having trouble hearing, who needs a hearing handset to be able to catch-all the sounds and he doesn't wonder for much longer.

Everyone else go back to what they used to do in order to forget what happened but Jaebum doesn't really want to forget, not the important parts of it anyway. The parts of the misfortune that brought them closer. The parts that grew their friendship more, the parts that helped them survive. He doesn't wanna forget those, not even savage Youngjae.

The part he doesn't want to forget the most is how his hand felt intertwined with Jacksons. He wishes Jackson doesn't forget either.

"Jaebum ah! I'm suppose not to be able to hear!" Jackson's whiny voice brings him back to reality, the joke hurts a bit but if Jackson can joke about it who is he to say otherwise.
"I've told you to stop spacing out!" the blonde continues to whine.

"Yah! Stop! What is it?" Jaebum chuckles and hits him on his forehead, gaining another whine from the male laying half on his lap. "You are not paying attention to the movie, you are spacing out and thus you are not paying attention to me either!" Jackson whined again, pouting. "I asked you three times if you would still love someone even after like five years of having not talk to them at all, without knowing they would be alive or dead?!" Jackson implied, pointing towards the screen were the movie had been apparently paused. Jaebum wonders when that happened but he would be better of not ask Jackson that.

"I guess it depends what kind of relationship I had with them and how much they would mean to me" Jaebum chuckles trying to appease to Jackson's dramatical side with answering honestly and seriously.

"Me. Would you still love me, even after being gone for five years without knowing if I'm alive or dead?" Jackson asks as he pulls himself away from the olders lap, turning to look him straight in his eyes. The atmosphere feels tight and serious and Jaebum sincerely nods without any hesitation.

"Yes Jackson, I would still love you" Jaebum says and he lets Jackson interpret that however he would like.

The hug he receives does not make him regret anything.

Like this story? Give it an Upvote!
Thank you!

Comments

You must be logged in to comment
Harricots #1
Chapter 1: Wow...I wasn't expecting all this when I clicked on this fiction ?? It felt quite real at some point XD
trichelle #2
Chapter 1: I don't know why but I just can't laughing and saying ohmygod ohmygod in my mind when I read the part about drinking piss hahaha