Taehyung had left the hut rather quickly on Friday morning both because he needed to take a leak and because, if Seokjin had not appeared right then, Jungkook would’ve kissed him and Taehyung didn’t know yet how to feel about that.

He walked for a long time because he wanted to find a good spot for peeing, preferably one where he couldn’t easily lose his footing, where there wasn’t any cow or horse dung and where he couldn’t be seen by any people out and about at that hour. He also walked for a long time because he kept spacing out while thinking about Jungkook.

There was no doubt in his mind that Taehyung would’ve liked kissing or getting kissed by Jungkook. But what would come after that? After less than the 9 days that were left of that trip they might not even see each other again. And, even if they did, it was probably not going to go well. More specifically, Taehyung could already predict that he’d be the one clinging onto a relationship while Jungkook might not even regard it as a relationship. And Taehyung knew that he wanted things to happen with Jungkook, but he also knew that he didn’t want all the risk and heartache that could come with that.

He walked until he almost walked into a tree, so he decided to stop right there, look around and empty his bladder. When he was done, he turned back to head in the direction he came from, but he realized that he wasn’t sure which exact direction he came from and nothing around him looked familiar. Then he made another realization – he didn’t take his phone with him.

Taehyung remembered south was on the left side from the hut and he had gone left after leaving the hut, so he looked at the sun that was still rising at the eastern point, approximated where north was and decided to head north… or where he thought north was.

Back at the hut, Jungkook was the first to realize that Taehyung’s absence was unnaturally long.

J: “Do you guys know where Taehyung is?”

N: “Probably peeing.”

J: “But he’s been gone for way too long for just that.”

S: “He’s right. Even with the worst constipation in history, he shouldn’t be missing for this long.”

J: “You don’t think he fell into the river and got swept away, do you?”

N: “I’ll try calling him.” Namjoon said, commencing that action, but shortly after they all discovered that Taehyung’s phone was still inside the hut.

S: “What if he’s being chased by a cow…”

J: “He could’ve taken a crooked step, fallen and now he can’t walk anymore…”

S: “Or he could’ve stepped in a nest of hibernating snakes and gotten bitten…”

N: “Alright, tell your imaginations to settle down. He’s probably just lost. I’ll turn on the music and turn the speakers to their maximum volume. If he’s lost, that’ll work like a lighthouse. Hopefully.”

Namjoon did what he said and set out to look for Taehyung. Jungkook did the same, heading in the opposite direction from Namjoon. Seokjin stayed back because he still had to work and also because there should be someone there in case Taehyung came back to the hut by himself.

Over his painful and heavy breaths, Taehyung started hearing the faint sound of music and, given the genre, he was sure it was coming from Namjoon’s hut. The exact direction it came from wasn’t clear, because sound could bounce off of the surrounding slopes, but he now had at least a little bit of guidance. However, he didn’t have much strength anymore. After wandering around on an empty stomach on diagonal and bumpy surfaces for nearly 40 minutes, he was out of breath and his throat had gone dry. But he forced himself to sit back up and go in the direction he thought the music came from.

10 more minutes passed and he was hearing the music louder, but the layer of clothes closest to his body was already drenched in sweat and he had to take breaks more and more often. Then he heard:

J: “Taehyung!”

Jungkook was higher on the slope and about 100 meters away, but he came running down at a speed that filled Taehyung with worry considering how easy it was to take a bad step and fall.

T: “Careful! Be careful!”

When Jungkook reached Taehyung, he saw fear on the latter’s face, not knowing that it was his reckless way of climbing down the slope that had caused it, so he suddenly hugged Taehyung and asked:

J: “Were you scared?”

Taehyung absentmindedly circled his arms around Jungkook, surprised by the 2 realizations that question made him have. One was that he had not been scared. Just hungry, thirsty and very tired. Normally, his mind would’ve played out horrible scenarios of what could happen if he didn’t find his way back at least by nightfall, but those scenarios didn’t even cross his mind and that was very atypical for him. Instead, it seemed like he had been focused only on solving the problem and moving forward.

The other realization was that the suspension bridge effect had nothing or very little to do with how he felt towards Jungkook. Because that effect dealt with arousal and it couldn’t account for all the fondness taking over him as he squeezed Jungkook tighter. That was most likely due to Jungkook being more than an attractive rebel or a problematic child and Taehyung had become aware of those other sides during the last 5 days.

T: “I wasn’t scared. Just dead tired, thirsty and hungry.”

J: “Oh. Then let’s get you back to the hut as soon as possible.” Jungkook said, detaching himself from Taehyung and starting to ascend the steep slope he had climbed down, but that slope looked really daunting to Taehyung in his very tired state.

T: “Do we have to go back that way?”

J: “Yeah, it’s the fastest.” Jungkook explained before realizing it could be a difficult climb for Taehyung, so he stretched out his hand and added: “Hold onto me. I’ll pull you so it’d be easier to climb.”

Taehyung looked from Jungkook’s hand to his face, seemingly lost in thought for a moment, then he gently pushed Jungkook’s hand back.

T: “Thank you. But I wanna try doing it with my own strength. Even if there’s not much left...”

J: “Uhm… Okay.”

After finishing climbing just that slope, Taehyung was gasping and coughing, but Jungkook just silently waited for him to breathe a bit better again and then they continued walking and climbing. This repeated a few more times until they reached near the hut where Taehyung fell on his hands and knees, sweat drops falling from his chin almost like rain and his vision going blurry every couple of seconds.

Jungkook could’ve helped him in numerous ways, even by carrying him, but he limited himself to only a few encouraging or reassuring words here in there. He thought it was best to not help Taehyung at all, unless the latter either really couldn’t continue anymore or at least really believed that he couldn’t, because people gain confidence, strength, wisdom and a calm mind by doing and experiencing things themselves and, if he could do this on his own, maybe Taehyung would have more faith in himself.

After finding Taehyung, Jungkook had notified the other two through a message, so Namjoon ended up coming back just as Jungkook and Seokjin were carrying Taehyung inside the hut by each holding one of his arms over their shoulders. Taehyung ended up downing 1.5l of water and 3 plates of omelet with ham, bread and salad.

S: “Can we have a day go by without something happening to someone? Joon, you’ve been lucky and unharmed so far and I’m sincerely requesting you to stay that way. Don’t get hurt. Or sick.”

T: “Or lost.”

S: “He doesn’t get lost. Last time we were here, he remembered a tree he saw 3 months ago and that was in the middle of the woods with hundreds of trees of the same kind. If there were a way to turn his brain into a navigation system, I’d be out of a job.”

J: “So how come you don’t drive?”

N: “I get distracted by the scenery… and then the car’s suddenly not on the road anymore.”

J: “Oh…”

S: “But on foot or on a bicycle, he’s the most reliable person ever. So, Taehyung, you should ask him to accompany you if you go peeing after dark.”

T: “Uhm…”

N: “I wouldn’t mind. It’s better than you getting lost. Besides your struggle with the whole situation, Jin was panicking over here and even Jungkook was worried.”

S: “I just couldn’t get the image of Taehyung getting bitten by a snake out of my head, okay? Seeing snakes, even if they’re not poisonous, up close and freely moving around in front of me, were the most traumatic experiences I’ve had on this mountain. Plus I kinda have snake-related trauma from the past when my dad, my uncle and my cousin over here got bitten by vipers.”

J: “That wasn’t my fault!” Jungkook defended himself out of reflex.

S: “I wasn’t blaming you. If you didn’t have steel instead of synapses, we would’ve lost both our dads.”

J: “See, that’s proof right there that being reckless runs in the family. I told them I think there’s a nest of hibernating snakes in the pile of branches and dead leaves… and they just go and set it on fire!”

T: “What happened then?”

S: “JK rushed over there to pull them away, but he didn’t make it in time. And the vipers that felt they were burned, of course went straight into attack. One bit my dad, one bit my uncle, one bit JK and one was caught by JK and had its head crushed between his fists… I still get nightmares remembering that…”

N: “Adult vipers don’t usually release venom on their first bite if they’re dealing with a larger living being than them, because they wanna preserve their venom and they’re kinda aware they could get easily killed. But since they were under attack by being burned, they also went for the kill.”

S: “And they almost succeeded. If JK hadn’t gone there, both our dads would’ve had 2 vipers biting them instead of 1. And then there really wouldn’t have been any hope left. Plus JK, a high schooler, yelled at them, fully grown men, to stop moving and stay calm. Which, thankfully, they did.”

N: “Because venom travels through your body faster if you move or if your heart rate increases cause of agitation. Good quick thinking!”

S: “Shortly after, the emergency team’s helicopters came for them and, luckily, that day left us with a story that will be passed onto the next 5 generations instead of 3 bodies to bury.”

N: “You’re really cool, Jungkook.”

J: “Thanks. But you got bitten by way more things than I have, including a viper, so that makes you the cooler one.”

S: “Wait a minute, you what?!”

N: “I mean I’ve been wandering around in nature since I could walk properly, so it was inevitable.”

J: “Since you’re parents are both into nature, hiking and exploring, I bet they held you up on the edge of a cliff like Simba when you were a baby.”

N: “They did, actually. I have that picture at my parent’s house if you’ll wanna see it.”

As Jungkook and Namjoon kept joking around about the Lion King and Seokjin was rubbing his forehead, Taehyung thought he shouldn’t be surprised after hearing that story from Jungkook’s past, given what he had seen of him in the recent days, but he was in shock. Jungkook could probably remain calm through and survive more than half of the popular apocalyptic scenarios, despite being reckless.

Seokjin got back to work, Taehyung stayed in the hut to simply rest, Namjoon had suggested showing Jungkook where snow had fallen last night even higher up on the mountain and what he discovered while searching for Taehyung, so off they went. Before those two exited the hut, Taehyung called out Jungkook’s name, but when the latter turned towards him, assuming already what Taehyung wanted to say, Taehyung decided against telling Jungkook to dress warmer and looked to the side without saying anything at all. A moment later, Jungkook said “See you later.”, making Taehyung look at him again and see that Jungkook had put on a beanie and smiled at him before going out the door.

Night fell and it got considerably colder. Taehyung chatted with Mr. Cha in Seokjin’s place as he fed the 3 dogs, Seokjin pretending he still had work to do just to not be forced into chatting with Mr. Cha for the umpteenth time. After Mr. Cha left, Taehyung looked all around in hopes of seeing the other two coming back, but he couldn’t see anything at all further away than where the light from the hut was shining. He wondered how people like Mr. Cha could walk over a kilometer in that darkness and find their way home or how Namjoon and Jungkook could safely arrive back. He considered calling them, but he remembered there was a fine line between caring about someone and becoming annoying.

S: “Is the coast clear?” Seokjin asked Taehyung when the latter came back into the hut.

T: “Yes, he’s gone. He seems like a likable person though. Why does he annoy you so much?”

S: “I thought the was likable too… the first 20 times I had to chat with him for at least 30 minutes each time in the course of 1 month…”

T: “He lives alone so maybe he just craves social interaction. Maybe he’s lonely…” Taehyung said, suddenly shivering at the thought of that also being his fate.

S: “I know that inside my head, but I can’t just use so much of my limited time in which I have a tone of other things to do just because someone who’s pretty much a stranger is lonely.”

Taehyung opened himself a beer and sat down on the bed, lost in thoughts. He had gotten, in his opinion, very few calls and messages from his family members and most of the interactions started with Taehyung sending them pictures of the scenery and Mr. Cha’s cute dogs.

S: “Taehyung, are you okay?”

T: “Huh? Ah, yeah. Why?”

S: “You’ve been quiet and staring into space for a while now. Is something going on?”

T: “Uhm, no. Don’t worry about it…”

S: “Listen…” Seokjin started, sitting beside Taehyung and rubbing his back. “I know I don’t have enough patience with Mr. Cha, but that doesn’t mean I won’t gladly make time for my friends to listen or help out with anything needed.”

T: “Well, I’ve… been feeling lost and alone during the last month… I guess that’s part of the reason why being literally lost and alone didn’t faze me that much…”

S: “Why have you been feeling like that?”

T: “Since my little sisters have gone off to college, it kinda feels weird staying with my mom and stepdad. I feel like I lost my place and I don’t really belong with any of all those people I thought I was tightly connected to… I came here to get away from that feeling and, since so much is happening all the time, it’s a good distraction. I also thought for a second that I found a new connection here that I could work on… but it’s really the worst kinda connection for me right now…”

S: “What connection are you talking about?”

T: “How should I explain this…” Taehyung said after a sigh, but then he was cut off by Namjoon’s voice coming from outside.

N: “Honey! I’m hooooome! And I’ve brought dinner!”

S: “Please don’t let it be a dead animal, please don’t, please don’t…” Seokjin mumbled to himself before Namjoon opened the door and revealed a bag full of mushrooms, plus a large grin. “Perfect, honey! I was just thinking of making a dinner based on mushrooms.”

Seokjin went up to kiss Namjoon and they just stared at each other lovingly while Jungkook also entered the hut and excitedly said:

J: “Look what I got!”

He then pulled out an empty cigarette pack and revealed the huge beetle-type insect inside, making Seokjin face-palm. Then Jungkook showed it to Taehyung, asking “Isn’t it cool?” and Taehyung couldn’t help laughing a bittersweet laugh.

Seokjin stir-fried the 3 kilograms of mushrooms gathered by Namjoon and Jungkook with some onions and then paired them with rice. Taehyung hesitated for a second in eating them, but then he remembered there was no need to question Namjoon’s extensive knowledge on mushrooms. At some point, when no one else could hear him, Seokjin told Taehyung that they should continue the talk from before, but Taehyung just said “It’s fine.”, because he didn’t really know how to explain things.

On their way back to the guest house, while Jungkook was driving, he suddenly realized:

J: “Oh, wow… I’ve been completely sober for 4 days straight and didn’t even realize it…”

Taehyung couldn’t help the laughter that took over him at that.

After reaching the guest house and saying good night, as Taehyung was unlocking his door, he felt eyes upon him and, when he turned towards Jungkook, the latter was staring at him with his hand on the door handle to his own door and an expression that looked determined. There was a moment of silence and stillness thick with tension, then Jungkook went up to Taehyung, grabbed the sides of his head and kissed him. Taehyung returned the kiss and wrapped his arms around Jungkook. It was a long and passionate kiss and it died out really slowly. When it ended, their faces were still very close and only Jungkook’s eyes were open as he asked:

J: “Wanna come to my room?”

T: “Why your room?”

J: “I’ve got lube, condoms and other stuff in there.”

T: “Lube? Wh… WHOA!” Taehyung nearly shouted pushing Jungkook away. “It’s fine. I’m good. See you tomorrow. It’s road trip day. We should sleep early. Good night.”

Saying all that in a panicked tone, Taehyung fumbled with the door handle till he could open his door, got inside his room, shut the door and stayed there to block it like he was under attack. Jungkook was left utterly confused by that sequence of events, but decided to let it be and went into his own room.

A.N. Just another photo of the mountain.