Metal rattled against metal when you heaved yourself over the fence, thin grit cutting into your hands. Jungkook was already waiting on the other side, arms reaching up to catch you in case you'd fall.

Your feet landed on the dusty ground with a thud, the unpleasant feeling of clammy hands reminding you of how hot it had gotten so quickly. You wiped your palms off on your cargo shorts, dreading the moment you'd run out of deodorant.

"Imma go ahead, 'kay?" Jungkook gave you thumbs up with a grin, scythe swinging from left to right as he checked the terrain for prowlers. The blade caught the light whenever he lifted it to ram it down into another doomed prowler, making you look away blinded.

You were still wary about his decision to help you find the refugee, not believing that he was fond of the idea of going there, but hey you wouldn't question him.

The ground you'd technically broken in to just now was a small, private fishing port, with rows of comically small fisher boats in front of a warehouse that reeked like fish and death - no, you were not going to go inside there.

"-Should we check out the inside?"

"-No!" You scowled at Jungkook. Hadn't he been the one bitching the most about the stench in the restaurant you raided this winter?

The plan was to take one of these boats and use it to get over to Jeju where you would, hopefully, find a refugee full with happy, healthy non-prowlers.

There were just... a few problems.

a. the possibility that any of these boats, that had been rotting in the port for almost a year now, were still intact was really low.

b. none of you knew how to steer these things.

Problem a. was swiftly solved by Jungkook hopping into each boat and turning on the engine how-so-ever he knew how to do that - same reason for why he'd been so confident with stealing cars, you supposed - and you soon possessed a lovely red monstrosity, that was quite frankly intimidating to enter.

The sounds the ground beneath your feet made when you walked over it's surface seemed very un-trustworthy to you, but Jungkook didn't seem to spend it a second thought.

"What are we gonna do now?" You looked at him expectantly, who'd been overly confident the whole time, as he was always with things he didn't actually have a clue of - for Jungkook everything seemed to be trial and error, and if it didn't work out then he at least didn't wreck his brain too hard over it.

"This thing can't be too hard to steer." He rolled his shoulders, joints cracking grossly.

Great

...

"Chickie. What are you doin'?"

You looked at him weirdly, "Putting on life vests?"

"What- why would you do that?"

"I do not trust you with this boat, I'd rather be safe, thanks."

He made a dismissive noise, reaching out to pull the quite un-sexy vest off your shoulders, "Ain't no one left to tell you to wear these, so screw them."

"That's a terrible reason to no wear life vests-"

"Y'know what? Screw 'em for real." He threw the two only life vests on this boat into the water, clapping his hands together as if wanting to signalize the beginning of your journey, "We gon' rock this bitch."

"Please don't really, I might get sea sick-"

"We will rock it!"

It still amazed you how this illiterate moron had managed to not only get this overgrown toy out of the port mainly undamaged, but somehow was still keeping the course correct-ish.

"We'll be there in about four hours." You yawned, eyes trained onto the horizon where you knew Jeju would appear soon.

"How d'you know that?" He questioned, seemingly fascinated as if he hadn't just brought forth a miracle by not smashing your boat into the port.

You shrugged, preferring to keep your methods a mystery, for dramatic reasons. Instead you averted your attention to the sky above you, eyes squinting at the menacingly bright sun, that was hammering down on your unprotected form mercilessly.

"Why did you.. agree?" You asked after some time, uttering the thoughts that had been plaguing you ever since you had woken up earlier this morning.

Jungkook remained silent for some while, staring at the ocean from within his little cabin. He seemed to think thoroughly about his answer, small frown on his forehead.

He looked weirdly wrong in his place - the edgy leather jacket, wild locks and scarred face didn't quite add up with the cartoonish fishing boat and his broad but tired looking form was that of a well-trained fighter whose been on his feet for too long, not that of a fisherman.

"...'cause..." He dragged slowly, "Everything else woulda been unfair."

You stepped closer, confused, "What?"

"Let's be honest Chickie, you're at my mercy." He stated dryly, "You wouldn't have survived for long without me. So... you kind of are bound to go where I go, right?"

"Bound?" You echoed, stunned at his smart un-Jungkook-ish choice of words, "...yeah."

"It's my responsibility to keep you safe and to... grant you a life that you're happy with."

You frowned, "That's not true Jungkook, you don't owe me anything- if anything I'm the one who should do as you-"

"S' 'cause I wanna, Chickie." He cut you off sternly, "I want you to be happy 'cause of me, okay?..." He looked aside and added quietly: "I don't wanna disappoint you."

You stared at him wide-eyed, feeling conflicted, "And I don't want to disappoint you, Kook." Your voice grew quite with each word, "Please don't... do something that you don't want to do because of me. I don't want to be another person to imprison you."

His stern look fell, immediately replaced by an uncharacteristically soft one, "Fuck, you're amazing, Chibi." A blinding grin spread over his face, so much brighter than the menacing sun above you, "If you're imprisoning me, then you're doin' it in the best way possible."

His words sounded so abstract for someone who didn't even know how to put together the toys in Kinder surprise eggs, yet they made your heart leap in your chest as if you'd just went through a rollercoaster in the span of half a second.

His words left you reeling, seeking for an answer that you didn't have.

There, on the blazing hot deck of a comically red fishing boat, in the middle of the sea, you realized that, while you were struggling to get a grip on your stupid little feelings for Jungkook, he had somehow made peace with his. For you. His feeling for you. And you totally should've seen it coming, because that's how he does things - trial and error, and if it doesn't work out, well... at least he didn't wreck his brain over it.

"I like it when all your attention is on me. I like it when we're on the run together and I also like the peaceful moments we have. You can't know it, but I've never felt close to anyone ever."

A sudden jerk of the entire ship tore you out of your amazement, making you tumble against the railing, "Shit-"

"Chickie?" Jungkook's voice came from the cabin, "You good?"

You nodded, heaving yourself back onto your feet. Your eyes turned to the other end of the boat, where you'd heard a loud tumbling when the boat had rocked.

There was a small rectangular opening, probably for storage or to keep the haul (at least that's what the stench had given away).

But right now this opening wasn't filled with fish but with a good portion of prowler. Two long, skinny limbs forced themselves through the metallic floor, piercing into the ground while an abnormally large body battled with the too small hole, gurgling and hissing while squeezing itself through.

"Fuck, shit-" You stumbled backwards, eyes large as you watched the body lift itself up. It wasn't a regular, skinny prowler body, but one that reminded more of that of a carterpillar - long and fat, winding itself from the effort it made to get up.

"J-Jungkook-!"

"I see it." With a decided look on his face he turned off the engine, grabbing the scythe that had been leaning on the outer wall of the cabin.

You expected him to charge head on into the creature, that kept bringing out more and more of it's giant, wobbly body, black liquid filling the boat's floor steadily, but instead he grabbed your wrist, turning into the other direction.

"Kook? What are you-"

"We're jumping."

"Not again."

"I can't take this thing in such a small space Chickie, it's either gonna kill me or you'll end up hurt." He answered, worry evident on his face.

You turned towards the prowler, behind whom you could see Jeju already. You'd been on the water for good three hours now, there was still about an hour left, "Jungkook, we won't make it that far by ourselves."

"I will." He grabbed your wrist tighter, "Please trust me, Chibi."

His eyes searched for yours, hasty look caused by the slowly unfolding prowler behind you, and you understood him. You were so close. He didn't want to risk anything so close before reaching your goal.

"You're- that's-" You stammered, "That's crazy-"

"I know," He smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes. He wasn't as confident as he wanted you to think, "Let's go?"

He was about to pull you with him, over the railing when you stopped one more time by pulling him back, "Jungkook! I-I- you-"

He grinned, this time genuine, "I know." His hand pulled you forward, against him, "Me too."

And then your feet got lifted off the ground and your world turned and then all you felt was piercing cold and a pair of strong arms wrapping themselves around you protectively.

___