When Taehyung and Jungkook reached the hut at around noon on that Monday, Namjoon was the only one to come out and greet them, since Seokjin was still during work hours, and he told Jungkook how to park the car this time to avoid it getting damaged when they’d start tearing down the abandoned hut.

Taehyung took the bags inside the hut and saw Seokjin on the edge of the bed with a laptop on the table, a console in his lap and headphones over his head but only over one ear.

T: “Should I put the food where I think it might go?”

S: “Yeah, please do. I’ll be done with this map pretty soon. Then I’ll be on my lunch break and I’ll make polenta with the fresh cow cheese Namjoon brought and some sausages.”

T: “Should I make lunch instead?”

S: “I thought you didn’t know how to cook.”

T: “I don’t. But I can handle slapping something together since you seem busy.”

S: “Thanks, but I’ll manage fine. Instead, I’d like to ask you to help with the demolishing. Joon can be prone to accidents sometimes and his only sidekick at the moment is that firecracker I share DNA with.”

T: “Roger, captain! I’ll go out there as soon as I finish here.”

By the time Taehyung exited the hut, Namjoon was still explaining to Jungkook how he had built the outdoor toilet and what still needed to be done regarding it. Then Namjoon got his axe and Jungkook brought the ladder next to the abandoned hut and they tried various spots where they thought the ground would keep the ladder stable enough. Namjoon started climbing the ladder Jungkook and Taehyung were holding still and the latter yelled for Seokjin to come out since he also wanted to see the first domino piece of destruction. Namjoon hit the roof with the axe a few times and, by the sixth blow, the roof epically caved in.

S: “Whoo!” Seokjin shouted from the entrance to their hut, the others echoing his cheer.

The axe landed a few more blows near the edges to make all of the roof fall, then Namjoon climbed down the ladder. Once his feet were on the ground again, Jungkook asked:

J: “Can I go inside now?”

N: “…”

J: “…”

N: “Okay, go. But be... careful” Namjoon said, but Jungkook had already opened the door by the time he finished his advice.

While Taehyung and Namjoon were laying the ladder a little further away, they could hear all kinds of exclamation noises from Jungkook and, as the two of them came toward the entrance, Jungkook was just coming out to show them something.

J: “Check out this old-school mirror! It’s so rusty and I bet it’s haunted!”

Jungkook barely finished his sentence as he stepped out of the hut, when he stepped in a weird way and fell flat on his face, making the mirror land on the ground and shatter.

S: “And the lucky winner of 7 years of bad luck is none other than you - JK! Congratulations!” Seokjin shouted as he ironically clapped before he went inside to get back to work.

Namjoon wanted to use the planks that were still usable to build more furniture or things like that and the parts that were already too decayed as firewood, so he explained how he wanted the rest of the dismemberment to go and they got to work. At one point, Taehyung saw Jungkook pulling on one such plank with all of his strength but not being successful in his endeavor, so he asked:

T: “What are you doing?”

J: “I’m getting the planks off of the metal grinds like Namjoon said we should.”

T: “But you have to unscrew the planks from the grinds first…”

J: “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

T: “Joon said so literally 3 minutes ago…”

They barely managed to finish 1 of the 4 walls before Seokjin told them to come have lunch. Later on, after Seokjin was done with work, he also came to help. Namjoon left removing all of the wood to the other three while he sorted out what was usable and what was going into the fire, using a chainsaw to separate the parts. With so many people working on it, what was once the abandoned hut was mostly cleared out and, by that time, Namjoon had started another campfire and the grill, so Seokjin came towards him with his arms crossed.

N: “What? We’re just gonna grill mushrooms with bellows cheese and some veggies and wrap potatoes in aluminum foil and cook them in the embers. It’s not another BBQ…”

S: “I guess… But that might not be enough to feed 4 people.”

N: “Should I also grill the fish?”

S: “Yeah, good idea. We’ll go with that and I’ll make some souse with sour cream and garlic for it.”

Eating a tasty and rich dinner around a campfire after a hard day of work was one of the best things in the world. After that, Seokjin and Namjoon shared a joint, Jungkook smoked a few cigarettes and the three of them drank beer. Taehyung didn’t participate in any of that because it was so cold outside that he just wanted to enjoy the hot tea Seokjin had made for him. He had sweated while working and now, even though Namjoon gave him an extra 3 layers of clothes, he was still feeling the cold mountain air during the night in the middle of autumn caressing all the places on his body where the heat from the campfire wasn’t reaching.

When it was time for him and Jungkook to go back to the guest house, Taehyung was again uneasy with Jungkook driving on that narrow, uneven and inclined dirt road after drinking.

T: “I know it’s probably not a good idea to say this after our talk this morning and the events of last night… but can you not drive under influence on such dangerous roads?”

J: “How else are we supposed to get back to the guest house? On foot? Or… do you wanna drive?”

T: “…”

J: “How about this?” Jungkook started, stopping the car on the dirt road. “You didn’t drink anything tonight. You drive us back to the guest house and I won’t drive under influence for the next 2 weeks.”

There was a moment of silence in which Taehyung just stared at Jungkook with clearly terrified eyes and a face that looked pale even in that poor lighting before Jungkook continued with:

J: “Or you could just get off my case and let me…”

Jungkook was stopped by Taehyung firmly grabbing his hand and saying:

T: “6 months.”

J: “What?”

T: “If I drive us to the guest house, you don’t drive under influence for the next 6 months.”

J: “Hell no! I’m not accepting that kinda deal… 1 month.”

T: “3 months.”

J: “2 months.”

T: “3 months, since that covers all of December and Christmas is a time when many people drive under influence and get into accidents. I’m aiming to get you into the next year alive and intact.”

J: “Fine! Deal! But you still have to drive us all the way to the guest house before that.” Jungkook said with a challenging gaze directed towards Taehyung, the latter looking like his jaws had frozen in place before getting out of the car and switching places with Jungkook.

It took quite some time for Taehyung to work up the nerve to start the car, but eventually he did and he was going so slowly, it barely felt like they were moving. His hands held onto the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles had turned white, his body was learning forward enough for his chin to nearly touch the steering wheel and he was breathing so rarely Jungkook had to think of what to do in case Taehyung suddenly passed out with the car still in motion.

When they finally reached the asphalted part of the road, Taehyung stopped the car, unlocked his seatbelt, got out of the car and started crying from the amount of pressure that was leaving his body and mind. His engine had died 4 times along the way, his heart nearly stopped dozens of times during those hellish 30 minutes, each time the car abruptly became unbalanced because of the holes in the ground, jolting them inside, and he envisioned not being able to control the car from going over the edge more times than he could count.

After he got back into the car, he secured his seatbelt and wiped his face while breathing heavily, then he started the engine again. During all of this time, Jungkook had said nothing and he continued to stay silent and merely observant until they finally parked near the guest house.

J: “Hey, Taehyung…” Jungkook finally said as he got outside the car, then leaned down so he could see Taehyung through the open car door as he finished with: “You’re pretty cool.”

Jungkook closed the door and went inside the guest house. Taehyung stayed frozen in the car for another 10 minutes or so because the tension had not yet left his body and, ironically, he also felt too weak to walk.

On Tuesday morning, Taehyung woke up later than usual to a message from Seokjin that read “What does JK mean by you guys coming later today because you’re “worn out by character development”? What happened? Are you okay?”.

Taehyung reassured Seokjin that he was okay without going into too many details and asked where he could find Jungkook because, even if they went to the hut later, Taehyung still wanted to go and see some cows lazily grazing for his inner peace. Apparently Jungkook went fishing in the river on the edge of town, so Taehyung put on his rubber boots, grabbed a quick breakfast and bought 2 large coffees before he set out towards the river. When he located Jungkook, he mentally face-palmed for expecting Jungkook to be finishing like any regular human would.

Jungkook had borrowed Namjoon’s extra-long rubber boots that reached close to Jungkook’s hips and, wearing those, he had gone more than knee-deep into the river, keeping his hands under water with his body bent forward, trying to catch fish by suddenly grabbing them as they passed between his hands.

T: “Are you a caveman or something? There are more efficient ways to go fishing you know…”

J: “I thought this would be faster than going around and asking people to borrow a fishing rod.”

T: “How long have you been standing there like that?”

J: “Not sure. I lost track of time. But I just need 1 more fish before I’m done.” Jungkook said, making Taehyung look inside a large plastic container with a lid where 3 fish were still moving in a bit of water. “Then there’ll be 1 for each of us to roast for lunch. You bought the food yesterday, we had fish for dinner last night, so that’s how I thought about doing this.”

T: “I see. But aren’t you frozen by now? Those boots may keep you dry, but they don’t keep you warm.”

J: “I’ve noticed. But, since I already came this far, I won’t give up till I finish.”

Taehyung sighed, put the coffees on the ground and got into the river up till where the boots would keep him dry, then placed his hands into the water similarly to Jungkook, waiting for a fish. However…

T: “This is so damned cold!”

J: “Well yeah. Rivers, especially mountain rivers, can be cold even in the summer. And it’s October now.”

T: “Any chance of me convincing you to stop this before blood stops flowing below your wrists?” Taehyung asked with no hope of getting an affirmative answer.

After 2 minutes or so, just as he was wondering why he was participating in this foolishness and remembering it was for the purpose of hopefully catching the fourth fish and getting Jungkook to come out of the water faster, Taehyung saw a fish come in his direction and, with more speed and strength than he thought his frozen hands could have under the water, grabbed it and tried to keep his grip tight as the slippery fish was struggling with desperation.

T: “I got it!”

J: “Whoo-hoo!” Jungkook let out while coming to open the container for Taehyung to put the fish inside.

With just the sense of victory on their minds, they high-fived and then they hissed from the pain that action caused them. Taehyung then had a proper look at Jungkook’s purple and white hands and yelled:

T: “Oh, my God! Here, hold this. The coffee should still be warm at least.”

Taehyung made Jungkook hold the warm container between his hands and covered the backside of those hands with his own, blowing hot breaths over them in hopes of getting them warmed up.

J: “Taehyung?”

T: “Yeah?”

J: “Are you sure you don’t want a hookup with me?”

T: “Positive.”

J: “Because you’re not a risk-taker?”

T: “Yup.”

J: “But you took a risk last night. And when you came into the abandoned hut after me. And now when you engaged in fishing with my method.”

T: “That’s my character malfunctioning, not developing.”

J: “Well my character might be malfunctioning or developing a bit too.”

T: “How so?”

J: “I usually don’t feel fear because I’m usually in control. But last night, with you who was tensed and very unsure of yourself being in control of our safety on that dangerous road, I kinda felt a bit on edge… literally and figuratively… So I may have also started feeling some suspension bridge effects.”

T: “It’s a trick your mind’s playing on you. I guarantee it.”

J: “And if it’s not? Would you be interested then?”

T: “What I’m interested in right now is the state of your hands. Don’t you feel pain?”

J: “Well, yeah, but it’ll pass. Since you’re taking good care of them…” Jungkook said with a cheeky smile, but Taehyung didn’t react because he became lost in thought for a moment, then suddenly said:

T: “Sorry if this’ll be weird.”

J: “Huh?”

Taehyung then put the coffee container on the grown, ped his hoodie, placed Jungkook’s hands under his armpits and lowered his elbows to cover Jungkook’s hands on both sides.

J: “Okay… It’s a bit weird.”

T: “To warm up frozen fingers or hands, this is the best at hand method… Pun not intended.”

J: “I’m not complaining though. But won’t you feel uneasy?”

T: “With what?”

J: “With someone passing by and seeing us in this weird position. The people in places like this are really conservative from what I’ve heard. Everyone thinks Jin’s just a very good friend of Namjoon’s that accompanies and assists him constantly because Namjoon can’t drive.”

T: “Potential for danger or bad things happening makes me uneasy. Getting into trouble or causing trouble make me uneasy. Getting judged or gossiped about for something like this doesn’t faze me.”

J: “That’s cool. But then I don’t really get why hooking up with me would be such a risk on your part.”

T: “If you can go 1 day without doing something detrimental or potentially detrimental to yourself, maybe I’ll explain it to you. Speaking of that, you’re supposed to not drink and drive for 3 months starting today. Think you can handle that?”

J: “I made a deal, so I will. Should we head to the hut now so we can catch them before lunch?”

T: “Yeah, let’s go. But keep your hands inside your pockets till we reach the car. I’ll carry the stuff here.”

J: “Do you think Namjoon will finally let me ride a cow?”

A.N. A photo of the river fits here. :)