Indefinitely - Part 6
Genre: Dystopia!AU
Pairing: Jaebum x You (Female!Reader)
Warnings: None
Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 | Words: 3,099
Out of all the nights in the past month, you had never wanted to be able to fall asleep more than you had last night.
After falling and scraping your knee, pretty much all of your negative emotions had risen to the surface, and you’d had just a bit of a mental breakdown. You’d almost given up entirely... and if it hadn’t been for Jaebum, you probably would have.
No, not even ‘probably.’ You definitely would have. If he hadn’t been there to remind you why you were here, remind you that you weren’t alone, remind you that you did, indeed, have the strength to carry on... you wouldn’t have been able to remember it. Any of it.
And, boy, were you embarrassed.
If Jaebum had any weaknesses, you had yet to find them. But now he knew all of yours. He knew that something as tiny as a skinned knee could break you.
And yet... he had been surprisingly... nice to you last night. He’d been perfectly supportive and encouraging. He hadn’t let you continue to feel bad about yourself, but he also hadn’t told you to stop crying. He’d been firm but still... caring.
What had happened to him?
When you’d been crying in his car just over a month ago, he had asked you -- in no uncertain terms -- to try and keep it down.
Yeah, but, he had also given you a bandana to use as a tissue.
You still had that, by the way. You’d actually gotten it out last night after you’d heard Jaebum and Youngjae’s deep, even breathing. Up until now, you had used it as a handkerchief, but last night it had been more of a security blanket type thing. You’d clutched it in your hand, gathering up the fabric in your fingers and keeping it close to you.
Which... was kind of weird now that you thought about it.
Your eyes darted over to Jaebum’s bench, and when you saw he was still sleeping, you stealthily stuffed the bandana back into your bag.
While you were in your bag, you went ahead and took out the Atlas to get a start on mapping out your route for the day. You wanted to get as many miles covered as possible today so the three of you wouldn’t have to live like nomads for too long.
Since you were able to walk twelve miles during the second half of the day yesterday, you figured you should be able to walk twenty-five on a full day. Twelve and a half before lunch and twelve and a half after lunch. ...If you could find lunch, that is.
You carefully measured out twenty-five miles, seeing there was a town almost exactly that distance away: Bridgeport. Ten miles before Bridgeport was Twinbrook, so you would have to leave pretty soon and walk as quickly as your skinned knee would allow.
“Where are we headed today?” Jaebum asked groggily, and the sudden noise in the otherwise silent park made you jump and let out a soft gasp.
Your gaze snapped over to Jaebum’s bench, and he... he was actually kind of smiling at your reaction. “Sorry,” he mumbled with a quiet chuckle. “I didn’t realize you were concentrating so hard.”
“Oh,” you breathed, trying to force a smile onto your own lips. “No, it’s okay. Um... I think we should try to get to a place called Twinbrook that’s about fifteen miles from here, and then... Bridgeport for the night, ten miles past that.”
“Twenty-five miles,” Jaebum replied with a low whistle as he sat up and swung his legs over the bench. “How’s your knee feeling?”
“I can do it,” you assured him, keeping your gaze focused on the map.
Jaebum didn’t answer right away, but you heard him let out a soft, breathy laugh. And then he said, “I didn’t ask if you could do it. I just want to know if it still hurts.”
Your cheeks almost immediately warmed. ...He was checking up on your injury? You figured he didn’t want to have to help you or carry you on his back for twenty-five miles, so asking how your knee was feeling had been his way of backhandedly asking if you would be able to walk twenty-five miles.
“It’s... it’s not too bad,” you murmured.
“Did you get any sleep?”
...Okay, what was with him? First, he was asking how your knee felt. Now, he was asking if you got any sleep? He’d literally never asked you about your sleeping patterns before.
“Uh... maybe a little,” you shrugged. And then you asked hesitantly, “...How about you?”
“Probably a few hours,” he answered as he stood up and began to roll up his blanket. “I’m going to head to that gas station down the road to see if there’s any food. Try to have Youngjae awake before I get back?”
You simply let out a scoff, your lips tugging into a smirk. “Yeah, I’ll try,” you said with plenty of sarcasm.
Jaebum simply smiled and shook his head.
Your eyes followed him as he walked toward the main road, and as soon as you were sure he was out of earshot... you scrambled off of your bench and over to Youngjae’s.
“Youngjae,” you hissed, crouching down by his head even though it hurt your knee to do it. “Youngjae, wake up! Wake up!”
“What?” he mumbled, though he kept his eyes closed.
“Jaebum is acting weird,” you told him with a very clear tone of distress.
Youngjae’s brow furrowed softly. “What do you mean weird? Is he sick?”
“I don’t think so, but he’s... he’s just... he’s, like, asking me things.”
“What kind of things?” he sighed sleepily.
“He asked how my knee was feeling and if I got any sleep last night.”
Youngjae was silent for a few moments before he replied with, “So?”
“So? He’s never asked me if I’ve gotten any sleep before!”
“I think... did you also hit your head when you fell yesterday?”
The corners of your lips turned down into a frown, and you reached out to swat Youngjae’s shoulder.
“Hey!” he cried, finally opening his eyes. “You’re just being weird!”
“I’m not the one being weird,” you retorted. “He is!”
“He is not. He’s being a good friend?” Youngjae pointed out as if it should be super obvious.
You stared at Youngjae for a second, blinking in confusion. And then you said, “So... he thinks of me as a friend? Do you really think so?”
Youngjae opened his mouth to reply... but then he closed it. You could tell there was something he wanted to say, and he was merely settling when he said, “Yes, I do really think so.”
“Will you walk with me today?” you asked, your forehead wrinkling. “Please?”
“Well, yeah. But why?”
“Because Jaebum is making me nervous.”
The tiniest of smirks pulled at Youngjae’s lips, but he didn’t say anything.
“Also, you have to be up by the time he gets back from the gas station,” you added. “So, you’d better just get up now.”
Youngjae’s smirk disappeared immediately, and he let out a tired groan.
“Yeah, I know,” you sighed. “But come on. We’ve got a long way to go today.”
By the time Jaebum returned in about twenty minutes, both you and Youngjae had your backpacks on and were ready to go. Jaebum handed each of you a stick of beef jerky and a packet of peanut butter crackers, assuring you he had stocked up for lunch and dinner, too.
“We all ready to go?” he murmured as he unzipped his backpack and dumped the rest of the food inside.
“Yep!” you replied with a proud smile. “Ready to walk fifteen miles.”
Jaebum’s eyebrows raised slightly, and he shot you an impressed look.
“What? You asked me to be ready by the time you got back, and we are! I’m not totally useless, you know,” you replied with a hint of teasing in your voice.
“I never said you were useless,” Jaebum noted, shaking his head and sliding his backpack onto his shoulders.
“Yeah, you’re totally the opposite of useless,” Youngjae assured you. He nudged your shoulder as Jaebum headed back to the main road, and you nudged his back as you fell into step beside him.
The nice thing about Jaebum was that he really didn’t mind being on his own. He didn’t find it strange or question it when you stayed behind him with Youngjae. He never turned around to ask what you guys were talking about, so you knew you could ask Youngjae a question that had been on your mind for a month now.
“Do you remember that first night we were at your house, and I cooked spaghetti, and you and Jaebum did the dishes?” you asked, still making sure to keep your voice quiet so Jaebum wouldn’t hear.
“Yeah...” Youngjae answered.
“...What were you guys talking about at the sink?”
The expression on Youngjae’s face morphed to one which clearly said, ‘Seriously? You remember that?’
“I asked Jaebum that night, but he just said ‘nothing’! And he was really crabby about it, so obviously, I’m going to be curious,” you retorted.
Youngjae let out a soft sigh, his brow furrowing as he shot a glance up at Jaebum. “Well, I mean... if he didn’t tell you, doesn’t that mean he doesn’t want you to know?”
“Just tell me,” you whined quietly. You’d been thinking about it for a month, and you weren’t sure you would ever get the nerve to ask Jaebum again.
With a tiny, relenting roll of his eyes, Youngjae said, “Okay, fine. He just... he kind of... warned me?”
“...Warned you?” you asked, your head jerking back slightly in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“Well, he said that you were really fragile right now, and he told me not to ask too many questions just yet.”
You narrowed your eyes over at him. “But... you did. That very night.”
“Yeah,” Youngjae shrugged. “But he wasn’t in the room.”
“What else did he say?”
“He told me he was fine with me joining you guys, but if I did or said anything to ‘upset the balance,’” Youngjae continued, lifting his hands so he could do air quotes around those words. “Then he wouldn’t hesitate to leave me behind.”
“The balance?” you asked in a tone of quiet awe. “What is he talking about?”
“I, uh... I think he just meant you. If I did anything to upset you, then I was out.”
You truly almost scoffed. “Me? Why would he mean me? Why would he care if you upset me?”
Youngjae just pressed his lips together and shrugged.
I mean, maybe now you could believe it since it seemed like the two of you were actually becoming friends... but back then? He had barely tolerated you back then. Why would he have cared if Youngjae upset you?
“He really said I was fragile?” you asked.
Youngjae nodded and hummed positively.
...Why had he been looking out for you back then? And not only that, he had been looking out for you behind your back. Not even to your face.
First, Jaebum had given you that pep talk after your breakdown yesterday. Then, he had actually responded to your goodnight wish. Now, you found out he had warned Youngjae about upsetting you all those weeks ago?
‘Confused’ didn’t even begin to describe what you were feeling right now.
The three of you stopped in Twinbrook for about an hour to rest and eat some more beef jerky and crackers, and the information Youngjae had loaded on you kept you quiet for basically the whole hour.
Okay, for basically the whole rest of the day.
By the time you reached Bridgeport after sunset, you could probably count the number of sentences you’d spoken on one hand. Maybe two.
Thankfully, Bridgeport seemed to have been a much more bustling town than Brindleton Springs because there was a strip mall right off the highway. Jaebum led you and Youngjae there, and when you got close enough, you saw it housed a gym as well as a mattress store.
“Looks like we found a place to shower and sleep tonight,” Youngjae called out with a grin.
It would be a cold shower, that much was certain, but a cold shower was better than no shower.
Jaebum got two wrapped bars of soap from his backpack, throwing one to you and nodding toward Youngjae as you all headed over to the gym.
Unsurprisingly, being in the women’s locker room all by yourself was just a little... creepy. So, you showered as quickly as you could, trying not to close your eyes even though it was already dark in there. You just didn’t want it to be that dark. Not when you were completely alone.
You were still the last one out, though, but only Youngjae was waiting for you by the gym’s front door.
“Jaebum went to the mattress store to make sure it’s okay to sleep in there.”
“Yeah, sure,” you murmured as you wrung out your wet hair with your towel. “He’s probably just avoiding me.”
Youngjae rolled his eyes, suppressing a smirk and opening the door so the two of you could leave. “Yeah, right. Why do you think he hates you?”
“Because he does! I mean, maybe he doesn’t hate me now, but... he always used to.”
Thinking about all the times you’d tried to talk to him when you were neighbors... there was no way he hadn’t hated you. Just no way!
You and Youngjae quickly walked down to the mattress store, and you let out a sigh of relief when Jaebum was already inside with his blanket spread over one of the beds.
“This is perfect,” you announced as you walked in, letting your backpack fall from your shoulders and onto the floor. Even though your knee was still sore from your fall yesterday, you gave in to your urge to run over to one of the empty mattresses and jump onto it face first.
After sleeping on a couch for a month -- and sleeping on a bench last night -- the mattress felt like a literal cloud.
You had jumped onto the mattress next to Jaebum’s, and Youngjae headed over to the mattress on the other side, spreading out his blanket and getting settled for the night.
You really didn’t want to move because you were already so comfortable, but you were still chilled from your cold shower, and you most definitely needed a blanket to sleep with. With a groan, you rolled off the bed and shuffled over to your backpack.
Youngjae was already asleep by the time you got out your blanket, unrolled it over the mattress, and got underneath. To be honest, you didn’t blame him one bit. You were exhausted.
...But, after a few minutes, you realized you were also cold. Was it just from your shower? Or was the temperature lower tonight than it had been last night? Either way, you realized you had been shivering since you’d laid down, and you hadn’t stopped since.
You tried wrapping yourself up in your blanket, but it didn’t do much. You still found you had goosebumps all over your arms and legs.
“Okay, is it freezing in here or is it just me?” you asked loudly enough for Jaebum and Youngjae to hear you.
“It’s not just you,” Jaebum replied.
After a few moments of silence, you called out, “Youngjae!”
“Hmm?”
“Are you cold?”
“No, I’m asleep, shut up.”
...Well. At least, Jaebum had said ‘yes.’
With a sigh, you hugged yourself tighter, hoping you would warm up enough to fall asleep... but then Jaebum’s quiet voice cut through the darkness.
“You can come over here.”
Your eyes shot open, and you almost bolted upright in shock.
“...I’m sorry, what?”
“Two blankets, two bodies. It’ll be warmer.”
...You had no idea what to say to that.
“You don’t have to, I just thought --”
You were cold enough right now that the panic and anxiety of sharing a bed with Jaebum was overshadowed by just how good it sounded. How warm it sounded.
“No, no,” you interrupted him. “I -- Yes. Thank you.”
And, without letting another second go by, you slipped off of your mattress, gathered up your blanket, and tiptoed over to Jaebum.
You had been living in the same house, sleeping in the same room as Jaebum for several weeks now. There had been many times where you’d felt awkward around him.
But none of those times even compared to this.
Just like you had been when you’d cut his hair the other day, you were hyper-aware of every little move, every breath, especially when you laid down next to him.
But... you had to admit. The extra blanket was totally worth it.
“Thanks,” you repeated in a whisper.
“Yeah, sure,” he replied. “Are you... warm enough?”
You nodded, but then you realized he probably couldn’t tell that you’d nodded because it was so dark. So, you whispered, “Yeah. Are you?”
He simply let out a positive hum, and you figured that was the end of that. The two of you would close your eyes and fall asleep and no more needed to be said.
So, imagine your surprise when Jaebum inhaled softly and asked. “Do... you... want me to... hold you?”
You almost choked on the air you were breathing, and images of Jaebum’s arms around you immediately flooded your brain.
“Why -- why would I want you to do that?” you asked hastily, breathlessly.
“You really think I don’t hear you crying yourself to sleep every night?” he murmured.
...Well. To be honest, yes, you did think that. Until now, of course.
As your cheeks began to flame with embarrassment, you rolled over onto your side to face away from Jaebum. “No, I’m okay.”
There were a few moments of awkward silence -- very awkward silence -- before Jaebum spoke again.
“I’m not going to bite.”
“I know,” you whispered. “It’s not that, it’s just -- “
But there was no way you were going to tell him how embarrassed you were. Or how vividly you were imagining him holding you right now. Or... how good those imaginings made you feel.
So, you simply said, “Good night.”
You closed your eyes, not waiting for him to reply out of instinct. Because he hadn’t before (besides last night, but he hadn’t said ‘goodnight’ back, so does that really count?).
“Night,” Jaebum’s soft murmur answered, his low voice reaching your ear and dancing down your spine.
Part 7
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