AUTUMN ; September

Friday -- Morning

“Jungkook! Wake up!” Jiyoo screams at the top of her lungs.

Jungkook’s father rolls his eyes as he heard Jiyoo’s scream from the kitchen. He was busy making a rather large breakfast since the guys were going to come over later. What really surprised him was that Jiyoo managed to wake up before Jungkook for once. Those two slept like the dead.

“Jungkook!” Jiyoo shouts again, shaking his shoulders as she bounces up and down on the bed. “Wake up!”

“Why are you yelling?” Jungkook groans. He slowly rolls over and buries his face into his pillow, folding up the sides to cover his ears.

“It’s your birthday that’s why!” Jiyoo says excitedly.

When Jungkook doesn’t move, she frowns. It looked like she was happier that it was his birthday than he was. Hopping off the bed, she pulls out a box. The crinkling got Jungkook’s attention, but he didn’t get out of bed. Instead, he moved his head so that he could see where the noise was coming from.

In Jiyoo’s hand was a neatly wrapped present with white wrapping paper. Call it cheesy, but it was Jungkook’s favorite color, so she always wrapped his gifts with white wrapping paper. Jiyoo could see Jungkook side eyeing the box, but he still hadn’t moved from his bed.

“I guess you don’t want your present after all.” Jiyoo sighs, faking her disappointment as she heads down to the living room.

“W-Wait! I want it!” Jungkook stumbles out from his bed. His blankets were tangled around his legs, causing him to faceplant into the carpet and allowing Jiyoo to run downstairs without him.

He chased Jiyoo downstairs and found her hiding behind his father. She had a smug grin on her face while Jungkook’s father just tried to ignore her completely while making the soup.

“Unhand my present, you fiend!” Jungkook shouts, pointing a finger at Jiyoo as upper lip curled into a sinister smile.

“Never!” She shouts, running into the living room.

Jungkook chased after her and they spent ten minutes playing cops and robbers until Jiyoo was starting to get tired. She could see Jungkook starting to run out of energy as well. He rotated his shoulder as he plopped down on the couch. Jiyoo tossed his present into his lap and he caught it easily. Ripping off the white wrapping paper, he opened the box and found a bunch of salonpas and muscle rub lotions. Not only that, but there were vitamins.

“Everyone knows that you’re trying to exercise in secret.” Jiyoo says, trying to suppress the laugh that threatened to come out after seeing Jungkook’s caught expression. “You act like an old man these days.”

Jiyoo rotates her shoulder and sighs, shifting her arms so that one was on top of the other as she checked out her biceps. She didn’t have any, but neither did Jungkook, making his desperate attempt for muscles even funnier. He rolls his eyes at the imitation of him and looks back at the vitamins. “And what are these for?”

“To be healthy, I guess?” Jiyoo says with a shrug. She remembered that Jungkook’s results from their monthly testings always said that he was deficient in protein and potassium. “And with these we don’t have to eat vegetables!”

“Yes you do.” Jungkook’s father interrupts, walking into the living room.

He lightly hits Jiyoo on the head with the back of the rice paddle, causing her to let out a small squeak from the sudden hit. “They’re just supplements. You should get used to eating vegetables too.”

“Wow, no vegetables, huh?” Jungkook says with a whistle, ignoring his father’s words. Seeing that Jungkook wanted to act that way, his father brought up the rice paddle causing his son to flinch back and hold up his hands. “Kidding! I’m kidding! It’s just a joke!”

“That’s what I thought.” Jungkook’s father says with a smile, heading back into the kitchen to wash the rice paddle so he could fluff the rice.

The sound of the front door being opened signaled that their guests were here. Jimin runs out into the living room first, followed by Hoseok and Taehyung.

“Happy birthday Jungkook!” They chorused, piling on top of him while giving him birthday punches.

“G-Get off me!” Jungkook screams as his sides were tickled.

“Morning Jiyoo.” Seokjin says with a small chuckle.

Jiyoo smiles, though she can’t help but pity Jungkook under that dogpile. “Good morning Seokjin.”

She’s wary when Seokjin gives her a weird look, but he’d walked away before she’d gotten the chance to ask what was up. Watching him walk into the kitchen, he’s followed by Namjoon who was poking his arm and laughing. They were almost out of earshot, but she could just barely make out the words “didn’t” and “oppa”. Jiyoo sighs. She didn’t know why calling someone oppa was some sort of magic word.

Once Jungkook was freed by the dog pile, his father announced that he had finished cooking breakfast. They all ate in high spirits, especially since they’d planned to go and play laser tag for Jungkook’s birthday. Jungkook thought the idea was a bit childish when his father first brought it up, though Jiyoo managed to convince him that it would be fun. She may or may not have mentioned that Jungkook could beat the other guys since he was probably the most athletically fit out of all of them. That made Jungkook’s eyes light up, a smirk appearing on his lips as he planned for their utter embarrassment by his hands.

They helped clean up and were out the door within the next hour, all eight of them driving down to the laser tag center (thanks to Seokjin driving).

“I bet I can beat all of you guys.” Jimin says, his chin high despite how his height was everything but.

“We’ll see hyung.” Jungkook rolls his eyes. His phone beeped just at that moment. Jungkook unlocked the screen and checked his messages to see that Hyunbin was on his way as well- and with a few friends.

“Do you think they’re real friends?” Jiyoo asks, not trying to be mean, though the context of her words were a bit harsh.

“If he said he’d bring friends, then maybe.” Jungkook shrugs. “It could be some of Jisung hyung’s friends too.”

Jiyoo nods her head and looks out the window as the scenery flew by. She might not have said it, but she was excited to go to laser tag. Jiyoo knew Jungkook wasn’t going to take it easy on her, but she also had a feeling he wouldn’t let her get out first if he wanted to have some fun. Jungkook was just a bully like that.

They arrived at the laser tag center and walked into the main lobby, surprised to see Hyunbin surrounded by a group of people. He had a relaxed smile on his face despite how he was usually very tense and stone faced in school. Seeing that they’d come, he waved his long arm, which caught the attention of almost everyone in the room.

“Ah!” A voice shouts from the group of Hyunbin’s friends. “Jimin hyung!”

“Taemin?” Jimin says unsurely. There’s only one person that he knows that calls him hyung with such sincerity. Taemin moves around Hyunbin and waves to Jimin, who was equally happy to see him as well.

“Moonbok!” Taehyung yells, running over to his friend as they high fived and immediately began to get immersed into their own little conversation.

While they were having their little reunion, Jiyoo and Jungkook went over to where Hyunbin was.

“Hi Hyunbin.” Jiyoo says with a small smile.

Hyunbin smiles at her and holds out a small bag for Jungkook, “Happy birthday.”

“Thanks.”

Jungkook takes the bag and peers inside. His jaw drops, almost like the bag he was holding in his hand. Jiyoo was just barely quick enough to catch the bag as he holds a square case in his hand. Opening it, he reveals a really expensive looking watch. And by expensive, I mean really expensive.

“Holy .” Taehyung gasps, earning a slap from Hoseok.

“I can’t take this dude.” Jungkook says, though his eyes say another thing as he continues to oogle at the expensive watch.

“It’s alright.” Hyunbin chuckles. He has a sheepish smile on his face as he scratches the back of his head. “I actually, uh.. I got it as a gift from one of my directors, but I already bought the watch, so it’s just an extra. Sorry if it’s a bit weird to regift it. I can buy you something else if you want-”

“Well if you got it for free, then I guess I can take it.” Jungkook interjects. He immediately slips the watch on his wrist and admires how the light hits the smooth glass.

“You’re such a cheap friend Hyunbin.” One of the boys joked, shaking his head.

Hyunbin’s eyes grew wide and he immediately went to apologize if it was one of Jungkook’s friends, but seeing his own friend try to rag on him, he just pushes the latter. “He said it was okay Daniel hyung.”

The latter shrugs, but Jiyoo could tell he was just joking. Hyunbin later introduced everyone to his friends. “This is Daniel. He’s Korean, by the way.”

Daniel gives a little wave, his eyes turning into crescents as he smiles. Hyunbin introduced Moonbok next. He was friends with Taehyung from high school, that’s why they knew each other.

“I graduated, unlike this guy here.” Moonbok says, pulling Taehyung into a headlock as the latter just laughed like an idiot.

“You already know Taemin and Jisung, so it’s just Taehyun hyung left.” Hyunbin says, motioning towards the last of his friends.

Taehyun gave a wave, but was too immersed in looking at the types of laser tag games to give a better reaction. It may have seemed rude, but when he’d finally decided, he had a wide grin on his face. Turning towards the group, his aura emitted a lively vibe. “You guys ready to play?”

Something in Jungkook lit on fire. It was like Taehyung was provoking him, and yet he wasn’t upset. Jungkook was excited if anything. “Hope you can keep up, hyung.”

Taehyun laughs, knowing that Jungkook meant his words as a playful threat. He loops an arm around Jungkook and they walk together into the waiting room. The two looked like they’d been friends for years and Jiyoo could only beam knowing that Jungkook was actually making friends.

“Let’s go!” Taehyung says gleefully. He grabs Jiyoo’s hand and pulls her towards the waiting room.

Together they pass Taehyun and Jungkook, who look at one another with a competitive fire burning in their eyes. They too, run down the hall to the waiting room. Jungkook was fast, but that didn’t mean that Taehyun couldn’t keep up with him. They arrived neck and neck at the doorway of the waiting room, both saying that they’d beat the other. Neither were able to go into the waiting room though due to how Taehyung and Jiyoo were blocking the door. Well, it was mainly Taehyung blocking the door. Jiyoo stood behind him, his arm curling around her waist as if to hide her from something.

“Jiyoo? Is that you?” A voice called from in the waiting room.

Taehyung shakes his head, squeezing his arm around Jiyoo as if to reassure her that everything was okay. She didn’t seem afraid, causing Jungkook’s curiosity to rise. He pushes past Taehyung and walks into the room, coming face to face with Yugyeom.

“What are you doing here?!” They shout in disbelief.

While the two began to squabble, the rest of the group that were taking their time walking to the waiting room were being pushed in by one of the workers. She was small, but boy was she a force to be reckoned with. She even managed to push Hyunbin, the 187 cm giant, into the room with a single palm.

“Looks like you’ve all met! Great!” She said with an overly enthusiastic voice, “I’m Yeonjoo and I’ll be the scorekeeper for your match!”

“Why is he here? We made a reservation for two groups only.” Jungkook presses, his voice already hoarse from having argued with Yugyeom.

“Yes, you made a reservation, but that only guaranteed that we would save you a spot to play.” Yeonjoo says, a vibrant smile on her face despite the way she was gritting her teeth.

“It’s Mark’s birthday coming up, so we came to celebrate early.” Jackson says to answer Jungkook’s question. He wraps an arm around Mark who wasn’t too bothered by the situation. There’s a small glint in Jackson’s eye as he glared at Jungkook from afar.

Jungkook on the other hand didn’t care for the real reason why they were there in the waiting room with them. Jungkook’s real problem with having them there altogether. “I don’t want to play with them. I just want our two groups.”

Yeonjoo is smiling, but her anger was beginning to rise. It wasn’t that noticeable at first, but the more Jungkook tried to argue, her facade begun to wear down.

“I’m very sorry sir, but all games played for the laser tag portion are played in even groups of three.” She said, her hands clenched behind her back. Yeonjoo was probably around the same age as them, so the fact that she was using such formalities made her sound really sarcastic.

Jungkook doesn’t seem very convinced, nor does he notice any of that. He opened his mouth to speak again, “But-”

“Stop being mean to her Jungkook. She’s just trying to do her job.” Jiyoo sighs loudly. Everyone was getting a little irritated with Jungkook’s tantrum, but nobody wanted to say anything since it was Jungkook’s birthday.

Seeing that Jiyoo was the first to tell him to stop was something new, especially since Jiyoo usually stayed off to the side. He zipped his lips and his tough guy image faded, making him look like a sad little bunny. “But Jiyoo..”

“You can shoot Yugyeom in the game if you’re that mad.” Jiyoo says, rubbing her sore temples as she spun around. Since her back was faced towards Jungkook, he was unaware of the sly smile on her face. “Unless… You don’t think you can win?”

“Of course not.” Jungkook says, his voice loud and prideful. He turns around to look at their referee for the game. “Let’s start. Now-” Glancing at Jiyoo, his voice becomes softer. “Please.”

Yeonjoo sighs, but manages to throw a small thankful smile towards Jiyoo. Or at least Jiyoo thought it was a thankful smile. “Unfortunately your groups aren’t even. One group has seven while one group has eight, and another has six.”

“Easy. Just put one person from the group of eight to the group of six. Let’s go already.” Jungkook said impatiently, unaware that his group was the group of eight.

“We can have Jiyoo on our team!” Bambam shouts quickly. He gives Yugyeom a small triumphant look before his head had suddenly dropped.

Jaebum smacked him on the head, “We already have seven people, idiot.”

“Does that mean Jiyoo is on our team?” Hyunbin asks unsurely. He watches as Jungkook’s eyes burned with jealousy and waves his hands. “She can be on your team if you want! But we need to level the teams-”

“Great! You’ve all decided!” Yeonjoo says without missing a beat. She gently grabs Jiyoo by the wrist and pulls her over to Hyunbin’s group, not missing the shocked expression on Jungkook’s face. “Now that all of the groups are set, I can explain the rules, so listen carefully please!”

Rule one was that nobody were to do anything that would result in someone going to the hospital. Yeonjoo’s lips shut after speaking of the one rule, causing everyone to grow concerned by the lack of rules.

“That’s it?” Seokjin asked, a worried frown on his lips.

“There are more rules, but seeing that you’re a big group, I think you can handle yourself.” Yeonjoo says with a small sigh. She takes off her uniform hat and smoothes out her bangs before walking over to the door to the laser tag arena. Tying in the password, the door slides open and she turns with an excited grin on her face. “It’s more exciting this way, don’t you think?”

Seokjin wasn’t the only worried one. “W-Wait, but what if someone does get hurt?” Taemin stutters, his eyes wide as he watches the rest of his friends blindly walk into the room where who knows what will happen.

“Dunno. Have fun!” Yeonjoo says with another business smile. She waves before the door had shut behind them.

The inside of the laser tag arena was dark. The only thing they could see was the three colored lines that guided the teams to their respective spots. Even though it was dark, Jiyoo knew that Jungkook was looking at her, or at least in her direction.

“You were supposed to be on my team..” Jungkook grumbles, already aware that no changes could be made if they wanted to play.

Jiyoo rolls her eyes, the action conveniently covered by the darkness. “Just hope you win or else I’ll be the winner.”

She was never the type to be competitive, but being friends with Jungkook for so long, she knew that he was practically blinded by his competitiveness when the situation arose. In this moment, he’d completely forgotten about wanting to beat up the hyungs due to their uninvited guests.

“As if.” Jungkook says. His hand darts out and reaches to pat Jiyoo on the head, as if to console her for thinking that she could win.

When he feels hair that’s much more rough that Jiyoo’s, Jungkook finds a hand darting out and shoving him back.

“I’m not that short!” Jimin screams, his voice echoing through the arena along with Hoseok’s high pitched laughter that followed shortly after.

Reaching the fork in the path, Jimin stomps off to their starting point, followed by Hoseok and the rest. Hoseok is still laughing and he pats Jimin’s head teasingly, earning more displeased shouts from the latter. Jungkook parts with them, leaving Jiyoo with a very awkward looking Hyunbin.

“Do you think Jungkook is mad that you’re on our team?” Hyunbin says, his voice having a faraway tone to it.

“Probably, but seeing that Yugyeom and the others are here, I don’t really think it bothers him that much.” Jiyoo shrugs.

She heads over to where the vests were and curiously looks over at the other guys as they put on their vests. Only Taemin noticed that Jiyoo hadn’t suited up yet. “Do you know how to put it on?”

“Not really.” Jiyoo says sheepishly, “I only tagged along today because we were all going to go for Jungkook’s birthday.”

“This makes this a lot easier then!”

Taehyun, who’s already wearing his vest and has his gun, walks right up to Jiyoo and drops a vest over her head. It slides over her torso easily, mostly due to how small she was. Getting her straps ready, Jiyoo jumped back when one of Taehyun’s hands dipped in between her legs.

“W-What are you doing?” Jiyoo yelps, stumbling backwards on her feet and into Taemin who stood behind her.

“Suiting you up?” Taehyun said bluntly, as if she’d asked a stupid question.

“You have to at least tell her you’re going in between her legs!” Jisung groans loudly.

Shoving him aside, he locks eye contact with Jiyoo to make sure she knew what he was doing. When she nodded her head, he took the strap of the vest and looped it between her legs, successfully buckling it once it reached the other side.

Jiyoo could only sigh after hearing Jungkook’s distressed voice across the arena. “Thanks Jisung oppa.”

“I deserve a thank you too.” Taehyun grumbles, though he doesn’t appear too upset. The countdown was dwindling down to single digits and his game face was on. Turning towards Jiyoo, he fiddles with a small toy in his hand before giving it to her.

“It’s a grenade.” He says, “I set the power at max, so just make sure to be far away when you throw it or you’ll end up getting out too, okay?”

“Got it.” Jiyoo nods. She’s handed a smaller gun in comparison to Taehyun’s, but nevertheless takes it gratefully.

Putting the grenade in one of the pockets of her vest, a blaring alarm goes off, causing her to jump. The rest of the guys on her team were quick to rush out and try to find cover, leaving her alone to collect her thoughts before quickly skittering after them. It was an all out fight; Or at least, as much of a fight you could get with toy guns. There were shouts and cries, even swearing. There wasn’t enough time for Jiyoo to laugh at others’ misfortunes though.

“There are 16 people remaining! The faster you go, the faster I go on break!” Yeonjoo’s voice quipped, the playfulness evident in her voice despite the battle that was going down below the observation deck.

“Get your head in the game kid!” Jisung’s usual cheerful vibe was replaced with a much more serious one. Although he did his best to get Jiyoo’s attention back to the matter at hand-

A frightful expression was plastered all over her face. Jiyoo didn’t know if the other team’s members were eliminated, or if it was her own. Hell, she barely stepped foot into the battlefield, so she didn’t know who was on there at all. Gripping onto the handle of her gun, she inches out into the battlefield. Before she could turn her head to check for any enemies, a flash of red shoots in front of her eyes, practically blinding her. She stumbles back, abandoning her gun on the floor to find cover. There’s a nearby wall that has a small hiding spot under the wood. It was just big enough for Jiyoo to squeeze under. She shifted a nearby barrel to cover herself, making sure that nothing was sticking out to give away her hiding spot.

“Where did she go?” A low voice whined. The sound of footsteps made Jiyoo jump, but since she was crammed into her hiding spot, she didn’t move much to make any noise.

“Are you sure you saw her?” Another voice asked, causing Jiyoo’s heart to beat faster.

Yugyeom nods his head, looking at Jaebum with a small frown on his face. He’d just managed to shoot Taehyung with his gun, causing the latter to get out. Just as he’d hidden around a wall to wipe the sweat dripping down his face, he’d seen a face pop out of one of the enemy team’s starting points. Yugyeom shot his gun instinctively and watched as long black hair disappeared back around the corner.

When he’d wiped the sweat out of his eyes, there was no sign of who the hair belonged to. Only a lone gun lay on the floor.

“It could’ve been that long haired guy from the other team too.” Jaebum says, not wanting Yugyeom to get his hopes up. There was something in his chest that felt guilty for saying so, but he ignored it as he watched Yugyeom shake his head to argue.

“I shot him before I shot Taehyung. Those two were goofing around together.” Yugyeom mutters. “It had to be her.”

Jaebum didn’t see the two get out, but since Yugyeom said he got them out, he had no choice but to believe him. The feeling in Jaebum’s chest grew once Yugyeom had said that. He didn’t want to admit it, but he too was feeling anxious knowing that Jiyoo was somewhere nearby. It frustrated him that they couldn’t find her just as much as it did for Yugyeom, only Jaebum knew how to control his expressions.

“Ugh, what a creeper.”

Yugyeom and Jaebum spin around, finding Jungkook standing right in the open. His eyes go from the starting point back to the two. “You really had to come all the way here to look for her?”

“I just so happened to come here after wiping out your team is all.” Yugyeom scoffs.

Jungkook smirked, the gesture causing Yugyeom’s brows to scrunch together. The sound of a microphone being tapped was heard before Yeonjoo’s voice boomed throughout the arena. “Four more players remaining! I repeat, four more plays remaining!”

“I guess I could say the same then.” Jungkook grins, bringing his arm up to shoot his gun.

The light beam traveled and bounced off the barrel that Jiyoo was hiding behind, causing her to jump back as far as the tiny hiding spot would allow her. She couldn’t look away though, especially since the window between the barrel and the wall was so small, she needed to lean forward in order to see where Jungkook was. She watched as Jungkook managed to shoot Jaebum, causing his vest to fizzle until all of the lights shut off. His gun turned off along with his vest, preventing him from shooting any more.

“Damn it.” Jaebum hisses.

Since Jiyoo hadn’t seen any of the action in the arena occur, she could only guess that Jaebum was out due to his lack of enthusiasm when it came to hiding from Jungkook’s next shot. Yugyeom on the other hand, did just that.

Jaebum knew what was best for his team to survive and already knew that Yugyeom had the same thing in mind when Yugyeom decided to hide behind him. Jungkook’s shots only could successfully hit in game targets. And since Jaebum was out, he was no longer a target.

“That’s cheating!” Jungkook yells, rushing to hide behind the corner as Yugyeom just grins.

He pushes Jaebum forward, using the latter as a human shield until he was in close enough range to see Jungkook again. “You gotta do what you gotta do in this kind of world.” Yugyeom laughs.

Although Yugyeom had an advantage, Jungkook wasn’t completely in trouble yet. Since Yugyeom had to make sure Jaebum was close to him at all times, the two moved a lot slower than Jungkook did alone. Jungkook made them run in circles, constantly making sure they had enough space in between them so he wouldn’t get out.

Yugyeom wasn’t stupid though. After running around the same corner for the third time, he decided to go to plan B. Yanking Jaebum’s collar, he goes in the opposite direction that Jungkook was running. Now they were going to meet whether Jungkook liked it or not.

Jiyoo could only watch as they inched closer and closer to one another. Or so she thought. Her voice left her lips before her brain had considered keeping her hiding spot hidden.

“He’s going the other way Jungkook!” Jiyoo yells frantically, “Look out!”

Jungkook heard her loud and clear. So did Yugyeom and Jaebum. But by the time her voice had reached their ears, both Jungkook and Yugyeom had brought their guns up to shoot. It was Jungkook’s loss that befell him once he decided to look for Jiyoo instead of focusing on Yugyeom when he shot. He knew it was over once his vest light went out and a triumphant smile was on Yugyeom’s face.

“I win.” Yugyeom smiles, eyes going from Jungkook over to Jiyoo, who’s hiding spot had been compromised as soon as she’d opened .

Jungkook couldn’t say anything. Not on the way out of the arena or even when meeting back up with the others. He could only hurry to the viewing station so that he could keep an eye out on Yugyeom and Jiyoo.

He could’ve just stayed down in the arena if he really wanted, which he was pretty close to doing. But before he’d made his move to stand up after getting out, he saw Jiyoo mouth something to him.

“It’s okay.”

He didn’t know what she meant by that, but seeing that she was waving for him to get out of there caused his feet to move automatically. The defeat crushed him, leaving him with only one option left: To leave the arena.

“Hi Jiyoo.” Yugyeom said with a smile.

The heavy barrel that Jiyoo was barely able to move to cover herself was easily torn from its place. Yugyeom squats down in front of her, a happy grin on his face despite how Jiyoo looked as though she was about to pee herself.

“H-Hi..” She barely let out.

Seeing that she was willing to talk to him, Yugyeom’s smile grew bigger. “You don’t look too comfortable in there.”

Without her permission, he sticks his hands under her armpits and pulls her out by force. Jiyoo looks like a tiny dog trapped in his hands (Yugyeom also stood at least two heads taller than her). Placing her down onto the floor, Yugyeom could see the uncertainty in Jiyoo’s eyes. “I just want to talk, that’s all.”

“About what?” Jiyoo’s eyes stare up at the viewing room. She can see Jungkook’s worried expression among the other angry players that had gotten out already. Looking back at Yugyeom, the latter looks nervous.

“Do you… Hate me?” He asks carefully, watching her reaction.

In that moment, Jiyoo questions herself as to why she always ran away from Yugyeom. She knew he had a bit of a mean streak, not to mention that he tended to do it more whenever Jungkook was around. Right now, he just looked like a worried child.

“No.. I don’t think so.” She sighs, unaware of the breath she was holding in. She avoids his eyes still, not wanting to make the situation more awkward than it already was. “You’re just mean to Jungkook.. And I don’t like it.”

Yugyeom’s lips purse together, but he doesn’t argue with Jiyoo. Instead, he nods his head slowly, as if to make up his mind about something. “Would you like me a bit more if I was nicer to him?”

Jiyoo shakes her head, “Sometimes he needs to be taught a lesson.”

Yugyeom is confused. He thought that Jiyoo never liked seeing Jungkook in any sort of discomfort. Before he could ask why she thought the way she did, Jiyoo chuckles, a small smile on her face.

“Jungkook is just a bit protective of me since we’ve been friends for so long.” Jiyoo smiles fondly, her eyes looking down at her feet as she reminisces about the times between her and Jungkook. “He’s a bit of a baby sometimes, but he’s not a bad guy. Just like you.”

Looking up, Jiyoo finally meets Yugyeom’s eyes. She smiles, bringing a small smile to appear on Yugyeom’s face.

There wasn’t much time left for their small talk session; The arena countdown timer had less than a minute left. Any longer and the game would automatically result in a draw for Jiyoo and Yugyeom’s teams. Yugyeom didn’t really care if he won or lost today; His greatest victory was having his little talk with Jiyoo.

Yugyeom stands up and puts a hand out towards Jiyoo, who doesn’t hesitate to take it. When they’re both standing up, Jiyoo puts her hands behind her back and gives him a small smile. Then she does something that Yugyeom would’ve never expected from the small girl:

She wraps her arms around his waist and hugs him.

Fireworks go off in Yugyeom’s line of sight as he feels the warmth of Jiyoo around him. To think he’d actually enjoy running into Jungkook for once. In Yugyeom’s eyes, having a thousand run ins with Jungkook was worth it for this exact moment. Returning the hug, Yugyeom manages to put his arms around Jiyoo. Her small frame made his heart squeeze and he couldn’t help but sigh in relief. The sound of the arena countdown beeped steadily and he smiled knowing that this was the way that this was the way that the game was going to end.

In a flash, Yugyeom feels the light around him go dark. He was startled by the sudden loud beep that droned for a few seconds before going silent. Looking down at Jiyoo, she has a devious grin on her face and Yugyeom wasn’t able to process what was going on until she’d outright told him.

“Thanks for being a good sport, but I don’t like losing either.” Jiyoo says, revealing the grenade that was placed oh so conveniently in her palm.

The lights in the arena began to light up and Yugyeom couldn’t help but be baffled. He’d been tricked by one of the easiest targets in the game, and he got tricked real good.

“And to think I thought you were more innocent than Jungkook.” Yugyeom grumbles. His attempt to look mad was shattered in an instant as soon as Jiyoo flashed him that smile that he couldn’t help but grin back at.

The two walk up towards the observation room and were tackled by their respective teammates; Jiyoo was almost being serenaded by her own team, who didn’t think that she’d be able to pull off something so brilliant and yet risky.

“I saw it in an anime so I wanted to try it.” Was all she said.

A very few in the room understood what she meant. Jungkook was the first to laugh, though he’d gone over and scooped Jiyoo right up into his arms. She didn’t mind the action and cuddled into the crook of his neck. The sweet sight made the other guys cringe, telling them to get a room or at least be in private before being all over each other.

They’d all managed to mingle a bit on the way out from the game room; As it turns out, all of the boys were easy to get along with one another, even the groups between Jungkook’s and Yugyeom’s groups of friends. The problem was just between the two of them anyways, so as long as they were civil, everybody else could follow and have a bit of fun.

“I’m hungry.” Seokjin says boredly. He was one of the guys that had gotten out the earliest in the game and waited impatiently for Jiyoo to end Yugyeom out on the battlefield, just like he’d predicted (not really, but he liked boasting that he knew she was going to do something like that).

“Pizza!” Jungkook and Mark say in unison. They look at each other with wide eyes, but don’t say anything else, just nodding their heads as if to silently approve of one another a bit more.

The big group walked a couple blocks down the street to a nearby pizza place. They filled practically half the store trying to sit next to one another, but the manager didn’t mind. If anything, he seemed delighted to have that many customers.

They ordered a total of 10 pizzas to start off, impatiently making small talk until the food came out. Then it was just a battlefield for food at that point.

“Ya!” Jaebum yells, snatching a piece of pizza from Yugyeom who tried to take his pizza. “Get your own!”

“My dad is paying for tonight’s dinner, so I don’t know why you’re acting so selfish.” Yugyeom grumbles, though he obeys his hyung’s command.

“Thanks for that.” Mark says quietly. He was a bit apprehensive about letting Yugyeom’s father get the bill for all seven of them, but after Yugyeom’s father had personally told him to not worry about it, he kept quiet and took it as a grateful gesture for his birthday.

“Fy fad faid hef fay for our foof foo.” Jungkook says, voice muffled by the food lodged in his cheeks. Jiyoo pushes his arm a bit, signaling for him not to talk with his mouth full.

The remaining group of boys turns towards Jisung, who was happily eating his own pizza. Their eyes reflected something akin to begging as if to say they wanted to be treated to pizza rather than having to pay for it. Jisung rolls his eyes, but agrees to pay, allowing those that came along with him and Hyunbin to eat happily.

Another 30 minutes went by and a good majority of the group was finished eating their fill of food. They’d ended up ordering another 5 pizzas as well as a bunch of sides of chicken, daikon and cheese sticks.

Let’s just say Jungkook’s father was relieved that he only had to pay for Jungkook’s share of the meal.

“We saved you some spinach pizza.” Jiyoo drawls. She was on the verge of falling asleep after stuffing herself with all of that pizza.

Jungkook’s father chuckles and pats her head endearingly. When he was finished paying for the meal, he turns around and spots a familiar face in the crowd. “Oh? I knew you’d end up showing up.”

Jungkook’s father smiles in the direction of a man that neither Jungkook nor Jiyoo knew. They just watched as the unknown man interacted with Jungkook’s father as if they’d known each other for years.

“Took you long enough.” Yugyeom whines, a small grin appears on his lips when the man doesn’t hesitate to smack him in the head. “Did you pay already dad?”

Yugyeom’s father rolls his eyes, but nods. “How do you know him anyways?” He asks Jungkook’s father, who lets out a nervous chuckle.

“Let’s just say there’s a bit of competition again with the next generation.”

Yugyeom’s father takes one look at his son before sighing, a chuckle escaping his own lips as well. He and Jungkook’s father talked for a little while, allowing the rest of the kids to pack away their leftovers and move out of their seats before they all fell into food comas.

They all went their separate ways, not before waving goodbye to one another, some more passionately than others. Yugyeom makes sure that Jiyoo sees him wave and feels his heart swell when she waves back just as happily. There’s a sleepy look in her eyes, but he doesn’t mind. Seeing her happy and knowing they got one step closer was one of the best things that happened today, besides Mark’s birthday of course.

A/N: Heyyyy I'm back ahhahahaaa.. Sorry it took me so long to get my straight hrmm but I'm back for now. It ate away at me when I'd come on aff to read stories only to find people missing the story, so I decided to beat down my inner demons for a few days and this chapter kind of happened.

APPARENTLY IT'S ALSO JUNGKOOK DAY AND I JUST??? DID SOME FORTUNE TELLING WITH THIS STORY TITLE THAT I WROTE FAR IN ADVANCE??? Like if you've ever read Introspective, you'd be ing BLOWN away when you realize we predicted half the that came out for Exo, but that's not the point-

ANYWAYS I'll do my best to update, though I would highly encourage you all to NOT ask me to update every comment or else I'll be overloaded with the anxiety that I need to make a good and quick chapter (I break under stress easily = why I put the story on a hiatus). BUT I still would like it if you posted a bit of feedback, even if it's constructive criticism. uhhh idk what else to say except that I hope you enjoyed the chapter and happy new year nnn all. Happy reading!