The warmth of the hut swallowed Yoongi whole as he entered it. The smell of pine needles and dried wood and the fireplace was very welcoming and somehow similar to the scent of his old house back in the capital, in Cypherland. This analogy made Yoongi’s heart clutch a bit, but he was obviously too tired to wallow in this wound again. Not now, he said to himself, not now.

Tae closed the door behind them and walked in, while Yoongi was still standing close to the entrance, hesitating to step further inside, partially because he felt a little constrained and awkward, partially because his body was numbed by the sudden comforting warmth.

“Wow, this is… good.” He said softly.

“Please,” Tae moved his hand in an inviting gesture. “Come in.”

Yoongi nodded, but didn’t move. He looked around instead. The hut wasn’t much, but it was cozy enough for someone who’d spent last eight hours or more of his life outside. For someone who arrived to the nearest town early in the morning to buy some oils and other ingredients he couldn’t find in the village, then went picking and collecting specific herbs he needed, and then, well.. roamed aimlessly around the cold November forest, losing tracks of his own . Actually yes, now the stanger’s hut looked (or at least felt) like very, very much to Yoongi. Especially considering that half an hour ago he was mentally preparing himself for sleeping on the poor Novemeber snow under a pine.

The hut was basically one room which contained a fireplace, with actual fire and a big old chair confronting it; a rounded wooden table with a bench and a single bed by the opposite wall. Dark wooden walls, marked with two windows, were partially occupied too: some clothes were hanging on small hooks here and there, herbs were tied together in buns to rust above the fireplace and, finally, a huge hunter’s bow was hanging above the bed. There were also a lot of burning candles everywhere, smaller and bigger ones, on the fireplace and on the table, it was those which made the place so lit up.

Tae was standing in the middle of the hut, covered in his black cloak, and waited for Yoongi to move. But seeing the other man in his hazed state he gave up, walked directly to the chair in front of the fireplace and fell down onto it heavily. It was Tae’s movements that finally shook Yoongi off of his little trance.

“I’ll… sit at the table, I guess?” He finally detached himself from the door and stepped into the room. “If that’s okay?”

“Yeah, of course it’s okay.” Tae’s voice seemed a bit tired now. “Sit, make yourself at home. I’ll rest a little and then get you something to eat.”

“Okay, this is very… kind of you, thank you.”

Yoongi took off his backpack and put it by the wall under the table. He couldn’t see Tae’s face, only the back of the old massive chair he was seated in and his head, still mostly covered in the hood of his cloak.

“Is that okay if I hang my coat on that hook?” Yoongi asked, pointing at a spare one between those already occupied by clothes.

“Yes, just put it there.” Followed the answer, but the host didn’t even look his way, remaining still in his current position.

“Okay then.” Yoongi took off his dark blue coat and hung it there.  Then he sat on a wooden bench behind the table, moving a bit to the side so he could see Tae better, not only his back. Yoongi’s own back was touching the wall now, and he leaned on it, giving his muscles the comfort they’d been begging for. The warmth spreading from the burning fireplace made Yoongi a little more at ease and less tense. He wasn’t sleepy, just relaxed and a little bit blank-minded. Yoongi watched Tae lazily pull the black hood off his head. The room was silent and the silence honestly was very awkward, but Yoongi had no intention or enough balls at the moment to break it. If Tae thought it was alright to sit the silence, then it was, and Yoongi should be fine with that. So he decided to let it go and use the opportunity to take a better look at Tae, while the latter was still sitting moveless.

Tae’s whole figure, even seated in the chair, looked big, broad and manly, though Yoongi could not see much because of the baggy cloak Tae was still covered in. The unsteady lights from the candles and from the fireplace were brushing Tae's face gently, and bright enough for Yoongi to see his features quite clear. As he already noticed, they were very, very soft, and when Yoongi watched them closely they seemed to mysteriously add to the warmth spreading from the fireplace. Tae’s side profile (the only view of his face that Yoongi’s spot let him witness at the moment), from his forehead to his chin, didn't contain a single edgy or sharp line. His brown bangs, soft and shiny, somehow had ashy-grey tone to them, or maybe Yoongi’s eyes were tricking him because he totally felt like him mind was starting to be a bit blurry as he kept looking at Tae. He felt like he was enchanted by Tae’s perfectly shaped nose with a soft rounded point, and how it was followed by perfectly measured curve of his lips. For a brief moment Yoongi noticed that Tae’s lips were moving, like he was humming a song or something, but then it seemed like they were still againg. Must be a vision trick again. To his own surprise Yoongi acknowledged that Tae’s face gave off a very innocent, child-like vibe. A face like his could never make you feel in danger, Yoongi thought. He actually felt like he wasn’t in danger anymore. He was glad he followed Tae here. It was probably his best decision ever.

Almost ten minutes had passed before Yoongi found himself starring at Tae's face shamelessly. For a second he even doubted that he blinked at least once during the process, because his eyes felt dry and sore now, and Yoongi started to blink the feeling away fiercely. Good thing Tae seemed quite oblivious to his guest's shameless stare, not blinking much himself, as his eyes were calm and defocused facing the open fire.

Yoongi's body was way heavier that usual on the bench, like the gravitation had suddenly increased and pinned him the spot, not letting him move. Yoongi didn’t even want to. He couldn't dare to take his eyes off Tae's face, he was entranced and mesmerized and...

"We need to eat though."

Yoongi jumped on his seat, hitting the wall with his nape. All because Tae unexpectedly turned his face to look straight at Yoongi. Now his deep, almond-shaped back eyes were staring at him directly, no shade of the haze he seemed to be in just a moment ago.

"Umm, yeah... that would be... good." Yoongi managed to say, trying to act as natural as he could after the awkward act of hitting the wall with his head under the Tae's sudden stare.

Tae's eyes were sure deep and black, and yet his gaze didn't feel heavy at all. It felt.. comforting? Yes, more like it.

"Well then, go get some brushwood from the pile outside." Tae nodded in the direction of the dark window, letting Yoongi know that the brushwood pile was located behind the hut. "We’re gonna need a better fire if we don't wanna wait till morning for the water to boil."

"Sure, of course, I can do that." Tae’s directive tone surprised Yoongi, but then going out there to get some brushwood was not much of a big deal after all. And he couldn’t actually say no. Not like he physically couldn’t say it, but like… he was a guest here so he had to be polite and do what was asked... Not like he physcically couldn’t say no, of course not.

"How much do I need to bring?" Yoongi asked.

"I don’t know, measure yourself”, Tae smiled. By the time he talked to Yoongi again he’d lost some of the cool he was channeling outside, and now it was quite a playful smile, actually, but also with his gaze becoming intense and almost challenging. “But it has to be enough for the fire to burn real good." It might’ve been a joke attempt, but Yoongi’s blurred consciousness didn’t process it. Seeing Yoongi's puzzlement, Tae softened and laughed. "I’m kidding. Just.. a handful. A handful will be enough."

Yoongi stood up from the table and crossed the room in to reach the door. His thoughts and movements seemed too slow for him, like he suddenly couldn’t control his body as well as he used to. Why is so hard to think straight, he thought, let alone walk?

“Yoongi,” He heard Tae’s voice from behind. “Your coat.”

“Oh… Yeah.” Yoongi looked at himself, only noticing he was wearing nothing but his thin white shirt and black throusers.

“Don’t get me wrong, but it’s really cold out there.” Tae suggested.

“Yeah, it sure is. I’ll just… Ughh, okay.” And Yoongi hurried back to the table awkwardly to put his coat on. After doing so and letting out another quick and unnecessary “okay”, Yoongi managed to get out of the hut successfully. Well, not without a little struggle with the heavy door’s lock though.

When finally outside, he noticed that the frosty night air smelled of something strange. Not a bad kind of strange, if he had to describe it, but strange anyway. Something like old memories, like a creeping nostalgia tickling inside of his nose. Then he understood: there was something strangely familiar and friendly about the hut, like something he’d already seen, some place we was once happy in. He descended from the entrance and looked at the hut, at its slightly brightened windows and  remembered: it looked very much like the small house he and the other two students shared on their first practice trip back in Cypherland, back when he was studying medicine in the capital, few years ago. Yoongi still recalled it to be the happiest period of his life up to that point. The memory was so warm and overwhelming, that Yoongi had to shake it off almost physically. Then he circled the hut so he could reach the brushwood pile and get it over and done with.

He found the pile around the hut’s corner, few feet away form it, between two rather thin pines. The pile was about half Yoongi’s height and covered in hard tarp. He approached it and pulled the side of the tarp up to get better access to the brushwood sticks, trying to find the thick ones so that they would burn longer. His mind was still a bit blurry, but the freshness of the air he breathed was slowly clearing it a little. His body was loosing some of the previous heaviness, too, but was still operating funny.

Yoongi already picked four or five suitable brushwood sticks when he stopped. He suddenly felt an uncomfortable tickling in his arms, then an ache in his head, behind his eyelids. The feeling was somehow similar to being hangover, except Yoongi was perfectly sure there wasn’t a single drop of alcohol in his system for almost three months now. Well, two moths and twenty-four days, to be precise. Well, not digging deeper into what exactly it felt like, Yoongi was sure he felt sick.

Yoongi’s mind had suddenly become colder than frosty November air, and an unexpected thought appeared it: I need to run.

It seemed to be the fist sober thought that Yoongi produced since he met Tae that night.  Yoongi felt nauseous, he realized that the feelings he was dealing with were caused by fear, the one of the strengh he’d never experienced before. When his mind was numb, there still inside the hut, he couldn’t feel it, but his whole being was apparently experiencing this fear, giving in to the instinct. And now that the effect the hut must’ve had on him was wearing off, the fear became substantial. Yes, Yoongi was scared less and all he knew was that he needed to run, run immediately. From this pile, from the hut, from Tae. Especially from Tae, his guts told him reasonably.

The brushwood he was holding fell on the ground, he kust let go of the sticks. Yes, he is going, he is running, now. his backpack, he’ll get new herbs and oils. the warmth of the hut, he’ll be just fine walking around all night until he gets out or finds someone, anyone who’s not Tae. Yoongi had never heard his inner voice speaking to him as clearly as it was at that exact moment near the damned woodbrush pile. The voice wasn’t just telling him, it was commanding him to get away from the man who was so kind to offer him a place to stay over the cold November night. That creepy feelling that got him scared and panicked when Tae first talked to him, the sense of danger that he radiated, wasn’t at all that elusive anymore, it was solid and present, free from any excuses Yoongi had made to make it seem like this feeling of threat didn’t exist at all. As if getting out of the hut and away from his host’s poisonous presence sobered him.

Yoongi made few uncertain steps away from the pile and right into deepening woods. That’s it, I’m going. He didn’t care if there were bears. It was probably safer to fight a bear barehanded than spend a night alone with that man. He didn’t care if it was cold (good thing he took his coat though). He decided he’d walk, not run, for the sake of making less noice. Few more steps, now he was more confident.  you, Tae, and Yoongi’s own incertitude which made him accept the offer at first place. More steps, away, away! Yoongi felt like humming a little victory song to himself. Away, away! The distance between Yoongi and the hut grew. He knew that if Tae went out of the hut right now to check on him he wouldn’t see Yoongi at all. Damn, he wouldn’t even know what direction he went to! This thought added to Yoongi’s confidence and he was walking in a quite fast pace now, with one thought on his surprisingly clear mind: away, away.

Yoongi didn’t turn around as he walked away. He knew, few more pines to pass by and he escaped. Yoongi wondered though if he could still see the light from hut’s windows from there or if it was totally out of sight now. He peeked over his shoulder quickly: the vague light dot between the pines was still there. Not far enough away yet, Yoongi said to himself. He continued walking, but but couldn’t help one more look over his shoulder, just to track the progress he was making. He lowkey wondered if Tae noticed his escape by now. Did he go out to check on him? Or did he open the window to call for him? Or did he not notice anything at all?

Yoongi had to look back once more, and he did. He was starting to feel tired, not able to walk as fast as he did at the beginning. His mind was roaming around the thought of Tae noticing his absence. Tae, what a weird name. Yoongi’s legs were becoming heavier, as if he wasn’t walking, but rather running this whole time. Tae. Now he felt the urge to look back again, and he did. He almost couldn’t locate the light anymore. Yoongi’s stride slowed. Tae, was ringing in his ears. What the . Yoongi tried to shake these thoughts away, unsuccessfully. Tae: soft lines of his face, bathing in fireplace lights; his big, deep eyes. Yoongi felt like he was falling into a black hole, except he was still walking between the pines. He had to look back once more, moving slower and slower with every step. Tae: his perfectly shaped lips. Yoongi didn’t even seem to see the darkness of the forest around him anymore, all he could think of and see with his eyes was Tae. He was all around the place in his head. Tae: deep voice which still seemed to be present somewhere in the back of Yoongi’s mind. He looked back once again. Tae. Yoongi’s legs were barely moving by then.

Then Yoongi simply froze on the spot. That was it. He had to see him, he had to go back. He needed to be around Tae. He couldn’t move any further, he simply couldn’t.  The reasonable decision to run away wan’t relevant anymore, not when all he could think about was Tae’s face. Yoongi’s mind and body didn’t seem to belong to him anymore, they were owned by only one desire: to go back to the hut. Some small part of Yoongi’s conscious wanted to protest against it, but that small part wasn’t strong enough or capable of any serious resistance. Covered in cold sweat and breathing heavily, Yoongi turned around and ran right back to the hut as fast as he could.

Well, .