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Seven boys had spent their entire lives as what seemed like nothing more than playthings for fate’s twisted sense of humor.
Seven boys came together as a rebellion against that fate which would see them torn down time and time again.
They don't bring up each others' imperfections. They've learned that the best way to help each other is to give them happy memories to cling to when the world goes to shit. When Jungkook notices burn marks underneath Yoongi’s sleeves at their monthly bonfire, he throws himself down beside the other boy and leans against him. He says nothing of the marks, but instead spends the evening trying to make Yoongi laugh.
The first time the boys witness one of Hope's episodes, they go home and research the proper way to help him if it happens again and whenever it happens they help him without question or complaint.
It was in this miserable substitute for happiness that they found peace.
For a few sweet hours, their problems were discarded in the dust. They come as they are and leave as they were, but they learned to live for the moments in between.
Their fall from grace was not beautiful. Everything that mattered to them was ripped away in too short a time. The hurt and heartbreak was not courageously endured, instead it ripped them apart and shattered the remains, but the connection of their seven souls made the pain bearable for a time.
Jungkook had learned quickly that if he hurried from his last class, he could beat the other kids to their cars so he and his hyungs wouldn't have to wait in traffic. Less than a minute after the bell had sounded, he was seen exploding out the door, bookbag hectically beating against his back. He vaulted into the truck bed, and banged on the cab window to confirm that he was in safely and the truck was off as the first wave of students poured out into the parking lot.
Jimin, also sitting in the bed, rubbed the other boy's black hair affectionately and threw his arm over Jungkook's shoulders.
"Where are we going?" He shouted over the wind and street noise.
Jimin shrugged, "Jin and Namjoon won't tell," He shouted back. "Said they have a place."
Jungkook turned under Jimin's arm and knocked on the cab window again. It opened a second later and he stuck his head in. Yoongi was fast asleep, pink hair pressed against the window, but thankfully Hope seemed fully alert. Jin and Namjoon occupied the front seats as they always did. The other members rotated seats constantly, but it was an unspoken rule that the two front seats were reserved for their oldest and leader unless one gave up their seat.
Hobi was messing with the sleeping Yoongi and snickering quietly.
Hoseok was known by everyone as a ray of sunshine, pure and good, but Jimin insisted that he had a streak of evil in him. He was always playing jokes and annoying people, but whenever they lashed out, he'd bat his eyes and smile so wide that no one could say mad.
Pure evil! Jimin had insisted jokingly.
Yoongi's eyes opened and after a moment of dazed confusion, swore violently at Hoseok. Hoseok blinked in surprise before bursting into laughter.
Jungkook reached an arm in and patted Yoongi's hair with an amused smile.
"Where's Taehyung?" He asked.
"He's meeting us there," Namjoon said.
"How was school?" Jin asked.
Jungkook groaned, "I can't wait to graduate."
"Do you need help with homework?" Namjoon twisted in the passenger's seat to look at Jungkook. As their smartest, all the younger members (and the elders, though they were less quick to admit it) held Namjoon solely responsible for their graduation, and he intended to see their maknae through too.
"Not this weekend!" Hoseok interrupted. "We're not worrying about anything this weekend!"
"Where are we going? Jungkook asked.
"First to get food," Jin said. "The rest is a surprise."
Satisfied, Jungkook dropped back outside with a heavy sigh. His parents would figure out he wasn't coming home this weekend soon enough and the thought made him want to throw his phone as hard as he could into traffic. He relaxed against Jimin and willed the thoughts away.
They found Taehyung waiting for them at their favorite restaurant. They smiled and looked past the bruises half-hidden under his collar.
Jin insisted that they all eat as much as they wanted, then insisted on paying for their meals. He didn't want to admit it, but the way the younger kids looked so undernourished made him, who ate well regularly, feel quite guilty. So, he resolved to stubbornly forced plentiful amounts of food into their mouths.
As they ate, they all began to relax. A week's worth of weight lifted off their shoulders as they laughed and chattered loudly around the table.
That night, they all sat around a bonfire. The night had an icy bite, so they huddled especially close to the warmth and pulled blankets closer around their shoulders.
They all agreed that Namjoon's new spot was beautiful. On the outskirts of the industrial district, a clearing, long forgotten, was littered with rusting shipping crates and a wall of huge concrete blocks. Silent, secluded, and falling to pieces- perfect for them.
Namjoon always wondered how such massive and useful things could be abandoned like this.
He and Jin had hauled old but comfortable couches and chairs down to the spot earlier that day, and scavenged the clearing for cinder blocks for a fire pit. No one asked where the couches came from.
It was truly a living room fit for seven misfits.
Jin, as always, had his pink Polaroid out and was snapping the others’ content and smiling faces, as well as some of blank and faraway looks. He never threw a single shot away, too afraid of forgetting. Unless one of the other members took one or two, they would all eventually end up pinned to the wall in his apartment.
His favorite of the evening was one of Jungkook and Yoongi, curled together as they always were under a plaid blanket.
Their late night conversations slowly began to die off as one by one the began to slip off into dreams- first Hoseok, then Jungkook, Suga, Jimin, Namjoon, and after a while Jin and Taehyung.
The next morning, the group was roused by Yoongi. The sun was just beginning to light the sky, so they all turned their eyes up to the clouds, sipping and sharing bottles of coffee provided by Jin. The sky was soft, muted oranges and smokey purples and became progressively bluer as the minutes ticked by.
“What should we do today, boys?” Namjoon asked finally, bringing the attention back down to earth.
“Let's go hiking!” Jungkook said excitedly. “I found an old path near the school that goes back into the woods.”
They all agreed to the suggestion and made quick work of changing their clothes into fresher ones and packing their belongings back in the truck.
Jimin and Taehyung sat together in the bed, and the others crammed themselves into the cab.
The path that Jungkook was referring to was longer than any of them expected. Jimin and Taehyung complained jokingly, but they all appreciated the excuse to be together longer. The peacefulness of the woods was shattered by the pounding of feet and shouts of laughter. Jin and Namjoon walked well behind the others, who took turns sprinting ahead or racing each other. Even Yoongi seemed uncharacteristically lively, even going so far to leave his lighter behind in Jin’s truck. Occasionally, Jin took out his camera and snapped a picture.
The time speedily approached noon, and seemed that the trail went on endlessly. Hoseok asked for a rest in a tone that suggested he was truly in need of one so they left the path and found a clearing underneath a patch of sunlight and halted their expedition. They sat or lay on the earth and relaxed. Hoseok lay on Jimin’s legs and fell asleep. Jungkook and Yoongi lay in the grass and looked through the trees at the sky.
To an outsider, the sudden and drastic shift of energy in the group from rowdy and intrusive to seemingly calm and meditative would have been baffling, but they were all used to it. They relished in the spontaneous flow of peace and chaos and the sureness of being in control of the change.
Jin and Taehyung wandered away to explore and returned soon after adorned with wildflowers and leaves. Taehyung began arranging flowers in Hoseok’s hair while he slept, being especially careful not to disturb him. When he was finished, Hoseok looked almost ethereal. His sleeping face was free of tension and blissfully peaceful, and the wreath of flowers woven through his hair made him look like a prince of the forest. Jin took two pictures- one for himself and one for Taehyung who was in awe of his own work.
Out in the woods, the rest of the world seemed unimportant and faraway. They let the raw calmness of their surroundings weigh heavy on their souls, and the warmth of each others’ presence easy their minds.
They got too hungry and tired to discover what lay at the end of the trail, but they all agreed to return and finish it someday.
They all returned to the truck with aching feet and calm hearts.
They spent the rest of the day wandering the city, sometimes driving, sometimes walking. Eventually, the sun began its descent to make way for the moon and the seven boys agreed to find a place to watch the sunset.
When they'd first met, they'd been angry together. They rebelled and ran and wreaked havoc across the city that would see their youth snuffed out. Now, they mostly kept to themselves, but the spark of rebellion flickered in all of their eyes when they did something particularly frowned upon. Today, “rebellion” was jumping the fence to the private train yard.
To the passerby, the yard would seem abandoned, but the boys knew it was owned by one of the city’s old rich pricks who didn't take kindly to trespassers. They often were run off the property, but they quickly learned the security patterns well enough not to get caught.
They wandered between the inanimate train cars, enjoying small talk and the crunch of rocks underfoot.
Jin looked over the lines of train cars, imagining what would happen if they could all jump in one of the cars and ride away. If only they could make the cars move, then all of their problems would be left behind them.
“If I were ever to become a singer, my stage name would be Seagull,” Jungkook said thoughtfully. It received a few chuckles and he looked up seriously.
“Why?” Jimin laughed.
Jungkook shrugged, “I like them.”
“That's such a random thing to think about, though!” Hoseok said.
“I have!” Yoongi jumped in.
“What is it?”
“Suga,” He said. “Shooting Guard, Su-Ga.”
“I would just be ‘Jimin’.”
They wove their way through the yard, finally settling on a car that had a good view over the tree line. One by one they clamored up and arranged themselves atop it with feet dangling over the edge.
The sun blazed across the clouds, painting oranges and purples and pinks across the blue background until the sky seemed to be lit on fire.
They all touched one another in some way, whether it be curled under an arm or the knocking of feet. They allowed the gorgeous sunset to touch their hearts and reinvigorate them, then they passed along the energy through their connection and willed it flow through them as a whole rather than seven parts.
It was in this way that for a few moments they were free.
Free from the darkness lurking behind the moments of happiness, like a demon’s whisper begging for attention.
Free from the pressure from the world.
Free from growing up.
That night they parked the truck in an open field outside the city and huddled in the truck bed under their blankets. Like the night before, there was a chill in the air but tonight they had no fire to lean towards. Instead they relied on the blankets and each other for warmth.
The stars gazed down on their gathering with twinkling eyes and they looked right back.
Namjoon told stories, Jimin and Jungkook sang, Taehyung told jokes, and Jin captured it all through his camera.
Yoongi’s fingers toyed with his silver lighter, and he brought the flame to life again and again. His mind was far from reality, unwillingly sinking deeper into into dark thoughts that he could never ward off for long. He itched to bring the lighter to his skin, to drown out the thoughts with pain.
Suddenly, a hand was on his wrist and he was pulled back from the darkness by Jungkook. He smiled at Yoongi, but there was unmistakable worry in his eyes. Before Yoongi could register the movement, Jungkook had swiped the lighter from his grasp and had replaced it with his own hand.
They both relaxed and returned their attention to the conversation around them and the darkness slipped away from Yoongi’s mind again.
Hours flew by all too quickly, and they barely noticed any time had passed. Sometime in the early hours of the morning, the seven boys fell asleep under the stars.
Sundays always felt a bit chaotic when they were together.
All were desperate to savor their moments together as the shadow of their lives began to creep back into their minds. It whispered in the back of their heads as their last day together flew by, reminding them that they would part at sundown.
Nevertheless, they adventured and enjoyed each other for as long as they could.
When Sunday finally slid into the evening, they knew it was time to return back to their real worlds. They gathered in the train yard for a final sunset, shared their energy, and said goodbye.
It had been a great weekend, they all decided, and they would do it again soon.
Taehyung left first, not specifying where he was headed. He never did, and they never asked. Jimin followed shortly after with Hoseok close behind. Yoongi offered to take Jungkook home and they left. Jin dropped off Namjoon, and finally he went home too. He went to the wall in his bedroom and pinned the weekend’s new pictures there with the rest, looking over each with a smile.
Everything could seem hopeless, but the memories they shared remained in all their hearts as untouched shrines to youth and happiness that the universe, try as it might, could not strip them of.