Yoongi awoke with an awful headache. A cold numbness had overtaken his body early last night and it had only worsened through the morning. His throat burned with the beginnings of a cold and beads of sweat had started to form on his forehead despite his still damp, ice-cold clothing.

Sure, he may have positioned himself in front of Jisoo as soon as she’d fallen asleep, his back blocking out the wind, but he was not quite prepared for the excruciating consequences of such a decision. Now, as every inch of movement triggered a sharp pain to ripple throughout his body, he realized why he did not perform gallant gestures on a regular basis.

He probably wouldn’t have done it for anyone else (except maybe Jennie). But this damn woman had been shaking against his chest since the beginning of the thunderstorm and he needed to put an end to it. Unfortunately, the only way to do that was to sacrifice his own comfort for hers.

But, after seeing the calmness overtake her sleeping features, maybe, just maybe, he didn’t regret his decision as much as he thought he would.

Judging by the wetness of the trees and puddles in the soil, it had only stopped raining a few hours ago. Although, he had loathed the storm last night as it attacked his body, the aftermath of it had left the forest glimmering shades of healthy green and motivated the birds to begin chirping a morning tune above their heads.

And now, as this raven-haired woman rested her head on his chest, perhaps he was grateful for the calmness that followed every storm. Without even realizing it, his hand had found its way to her wavy hair, through it gently.

“What are you two doing up there?” Taehyung’s taunting voice snapped Yoongi out of his reverie, and he almost pushed Jisoo right off of him to avoid being caught in the midst of such a gentle act.

Jisoo began to stir with a grumpy pout as Yoongi peered down below the net, where Taehyung and Chaeyoung stood, appearing a little too amused for Yoongi’s liking.

“Nice of you to finally look for us,” Yoongi muttered sarcastically, after casually clearing his throat, “in your clean, dry clothes, and well-rested bodies, might I add.”

“Ya, so much for teamwork,” Jisoo said, her hands rubbing her eyes groggily.

“We’re so sorry,” Chaeyoung replied, her brows furrowed in concern as Taehyung began climbing the tree to rescue them, “we were hoping you two had found some shelter.”

“And we also assumed that you two would be smart enough to avoid animal traps,” Taehyung added sarcastically, now crouched on the tree branch the two of them were hanging from and beginning to use a dagger to cut through the net.

“Hey!” Jisoo exclaimed, offended, and now wide awake, “give us a break, it was dark and stormy, and we were trying to find the plant.”

As soon as she finished that sentence, Taehyung had finished cutting through the thick material, and without any warning, the net sprung apart, flinging Jisoo and Yoongi’s bodies straight down into a fresh puddle of mud.

“Kim ing Taehyung!” Yoongi screeched as Jisoo landed on top of him, smothering his back and legs in the brown liquid.

“Woops,” Taehyung mumbled, and Yoongi swore he saw a hint of a smile on his lips.

Jisoo immediately got off him, placing her hand on his chest for support and then dusting her body off even though her clothes did not have even a speck of mud on it. Yoongi almost lost it when he thought he saw her suppress a laugh too.

“Taehyung,” Chaeyoung chastised as she rushed over to Yoongi and offered to help him up.

“Sorry,” he muttered, jumping down from the branch. His feet landed in another, smaller puddle, splashing Yoongi in the face with more of the murky liquid.

This time both Jisoo and Taehyung did laugh, and it was the last ing straw for Min Yoongi.

Instead of taking Chaeyoung’s outstretched hand, he grasped one of Taehyung’s ankles. With a firm tug, he pulled him down on the body of mud and used his feet to kick some of it at his face.

And thus, began a messy wrestling match between the two princes of Daegu.

“Taehyung, stop,” Chaeyoung tried to pull them apart as they continued to roll around in the mud and throw punches left and right.

“Get the off him, Yoongi!” Jisoo yelled, as she tried to come in between the two of them.

But, as hard as the ladies tried, the two men had experienced equally rough nights and needed to let off steam. Both had spent the past few hours enduring a confusing, rollercoaster of feelings and repressing their emotions – and as young, reckless men, they chose to release their pent-up frustration through aggression, instead of doing what they truly wanted to do.

They had been going at it for several minutes, their clothes soiled completely with sticky mud, and their hair drenched in the same, dark fluid. Yoongi could feel a slow stinging sensation spread through his jaw, where Taehyung had just landed another blow, but the rest of his body remained numb from the long, rainy night. However, instead of pain all Yoongi felt was relief – like an elephant had been sitting on his chest the entire night and the load had only just begun to ease off him. It was strangely cathartic.

“Boys!” Jimin’s voice suddenly called out, and he had rushed over to the two grappling men in an instant, “what the hell is going on?”

Yoongi couldn’t help but feel a wave of nostalgia wash over him as he allowed Jimin to forcefully peel him off Taehyung. He couldn’t count the amount of times the three of them had been in this same situation throughout their lives – Yoongi and Taehyung at each other’s throats, and Jimin always needing to step in to prevent serious injuries and/or death. He had always been their voice of reason.

“Oh, you know, the usual,” Yoongi growled as he rolled onto his back beside Taehyung, both of them fighting to catch their breaths, “Taehyung is being an immature and I’m trying to pound some sense into him.”

Surprisingly, Taehyung laughed at that, springing up to his feet immediately, “you know what, I can’t even argue with that. I admit, it was completely my fault this time.”

He opened his arms wide to greet Jimin, but he instantly dodged Taehyung’s mud-stained body. Yoongi thought they were about to chase each other through the forest like giggling school girls, and they really might have, if it hadn’t been for Jennie’s grand entrance.

“Gosh, I feel like we need to put leashes on the two of you,” she rolled her eyes and stuck a hand out to help Yoongi up.

Ignoring Jisoo’s unimpressed gaze, he took Jennie’s hand and hauled himself up, “how did you guys find us?”

“We followed the sound of swinging fists and battle cries,” Jennie replied with a grin, “we were beginning to worry the tigers ate all of you, but then we heard you fighting, and we knew all was right with the world.”

And then she glanced over at where Chaeyoung was standing, her eyes suddenly cold, “nice shirt. Isn’t that Taehyung’s from like 10 years ago?”

“I guess he lent it to her when they spent the night together,” Jisoo shrugged, meeting Jennie’s gaze with sharp eyes, and Yoongi could hear the silent “” that he knew she wanted to add.

“Jisoo!” Chaeyoung elbowed her, a fresh shade of pink flushing across her pale complexion as everyone’s attention turned to her.

“Oh, so this is the famous princess?” Jimin asked with one of his most charming smiles, walking over to her and greeting her properly with a polite bow, “you’re even more beautiful than I imagined.”

“What kind of things are you imagining?” Taehyung narrowed his eyes at him and pulled him away before he could kiss her hand the way he usually did when he met a pretty lady.

Jimin laughed in amusement at the childish way Taehyung was behaving and Yoongi swore he heard him whisper, “relax, I’m not about to steal your girl.”

Yoongi was just glad Jimin hadn’t even acknowledged his girl. Wait what? He couldn’t believe that thought had even made its way through all the filters in his brain. Jisoo was not his girl. That was just ridiculous, preposterous –

“Hey Yoongi,” Taehyung called out, suddenly changing the topic, “isn’t this the perfect time to complete your end of our deal?”

Yoongi turned ice-cold eyes to him, “what deal?”

“Weren’t you supposed to tell Jimin and Jennie about that thing that happened last summer?”

A feeling of absolute dread filled Yoongi as he remembered what Taehyung was talking about. Suddenly, he wished he had completely knocked the younger man out when he had the chance.

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