"What time is it?" Jeno asked him.

"Eight thirty." Renjun murmured. "You wanna sleep?"

"Mhm. I'm tired." He snuggled closer to Renjun, placing soft pecks across his neck.

"Tomorrow will be another disasterous adventure." Renjun joked, hearing Jeno laugh.

"Dissapointed but not surprised."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"They weren't kidding when they said today would be pretty windy." Jaemin mumbled as they were protecting their fire for their breakfast. The only thing they could really afford to make with their fire was a bit of porridge Chenle and Renjun were making.

"I know... I should wear a hoodie instead." Hyuck mumbled, going into his tent to change the shirt he was wearing.

"You okay, Jeno?" Jisung asked him.

"Yeah. Taeyong-hyung tied the stitches nicely. They aren't as itchy as always."

"Lucky. When I had the stitches under my jaw, I almost opened the wound again because it was so uncomfortable." jisung sulked, remembering those two weeks of torture.

"Hey, eat up quickly. Every team has to leave in 5." Renjun said to them.

"Good thing we're all packed." Hyuck sighed, yawning and thanking Chenle who gave him a bot of porridge in a plastic cup.

"C'mon. Let's hurry." Jaemin said to them, packing up all the pans and putting out the fire. Before he even realized it, he didn't eat any food since yesterday's lunch and just skipped out on breakfast. He was just anxious to get into the forest and get everything over with.

"We all ready?" Jisung asked around. Everybody nodded, and they all headed out to the forest.

The first hour and a half was pretty average. They were just hiking in the woods, feeling refreshed from the good night's rest. They just needed to get today over with.

"Oh shit..." Renjun mumbled, looking at the map over and over again.

"What?" Jeno asked him, as all their friends had their attention on the short blond boy.

"We have to cross a river. There's no way around it." He sighed.

"How are we gonna do that?" Hyuck asked him, obviously traumatized from even being near a river.

"I'm sure it's shallow enough." Jaemin reassured him. "If they've hiked this before, it has to be passable."

"That's true." Renjun mumbled. "We'll be near it soon."

"Great. Just great..." Hyuck muttered.

Just as Renjun had said, in 20ish minutes, they had arrived at a river.

"It looks shallow enough." Jisung said, peering into it. "I'll go first."

"You do that." Hyuck commented, not wanting to cross it at all. He turned to look at Jaemin and Chenle who both looked just as nervous as him. Although, Hyuck didn't know if he was exaggerating or not, but Jaemin almost looked... pale.

The boy took off his shoes, holding it above the water. He wasn't worried about getting his feet dirty as the river bank was consisted of smooth rocks at the bottom. It kind of felt like the concrete of a pool at the bottom.

The current of the river looked pretty intense. The rushing water being the only thing they could really hear. It was just like yesterday. Their voices being drowned out by nature.

In the middle of the river, the water only reached Jisung's thighs. He had to take slow steps and pause in between them to regain his balance.

Jeno went first, grabbing Jisung's hand in the middle of the river to regain his balance and he was the first one over. He even grabbed the other's shoes, taking it with them to the other side so the younger could hold the others better.

"The rocks are slippery at the end! Be careful!" He yelled to his friends. Renjun went next, crossing it smoothly and having Jeno help him out of the river at the end. Hyuck and Chenle went after, leaving Jaemin last.

"C'mon Jaemin!" Jisung motioned for him to cross, seeing him gulp and nod.

Jaemin was feeling so light headed. He hated it. He really should have eaten that morning. He had put his shoes inside his waterproof backpack, making sure it was sealed tightly before making his way over to Jisung.

He started panicking with the water. His muscles were giving out at the worst time. His vision blurred, hearing Hyuck yell something he didn't really understand. He felt fingers touch his arm before collapsing into the river.

The current took him downstream as all his friends started panicking with Jisung having to swim after him.

"Take off his bag!" Jeno yelled, moving closer to where they were to catch Jaemin's bag. Jisung threw it over, grabbing onto the soaked boy and swimming his hardest to the other side, ending up successful.

Jisung lays down on the riverbank of rocks, panting as Jaemin coughs up water, trying to breathe slowly.

Chenle and Hyyck were scared. The moment they saw Jaemin pass out, they felt like they were gonna pass out. Jeno had run back, holding Jaemin's bag, with Renjun grabbing Jisung's bag.

"Jaemin you scared the shit out of us." Jisung panted.

"What happened?" Hyuck asked him, seeing how the by tried to sit up.

"It's... embarrassing." He sighed.

"What is?" Chenle asked him.

"I... fell b-because I-I-I didn't... eat." He mumbled, his cheeks flushed pink.

"What? You've been starving this whole time?" Hyuck asked him. "You shoulda said something!"

"You didn't eat breakfast?" Renjun asked him. Jaemin shook his head.

"Last thing I ate was yesterday's lunch..."

"Are you fucking crazy?!" Jeno said. "You know damn well you have to eat."

"I know..." Jaemin sighed.

"Let's just have lunch then. It's already 12." Chenle said. They all nodded and started trying to make a fire.

"We should refill on water and use iodine to purify it." Renjun said, collecting everyone's water bottles and going to the river bank. Jeno decided to go and help him out.

"Need help?" He asked. Renjun nodded, smiling to him.

"I'd appreciate it." The taller sat down slowly next to him, sighing. He grabbed the iodine in his bag and started putting one drop in each water bottle Renjun.

They sat there, calming at the sound of the river. It was nice today with the sun shining brightly and the cool breeze of the trees.

"Does it hurt?" Renjun asked, referring to Jeno's stitches.

"Not really." Jeno smiled. "If I had to get them somewhere like my arm, it would probably be uncomfortable." Jeno said.

There was silence between them for a while.

"I'm sorry for making you fall." Renjun frowned, knowing it was partially his fault for Jeno slipping and falling down with him.

"It's not your fault, Renjun." Jeno sighed. "It's never gonna be your fault."

"Yes it is, I made you fall." Renjun frowned, seeing Jeno scoot over next to him.

"Junnie, it's not your fault." Jeno reassured him, seeing him look down at his lap.

"When I saw you bleeding and limping, I thought I would have killed you." Renjun admitted, making Jeno laugh.

"Is that it? Were you just scared?" Jeno asked him, seeing him nod, a little embarrassed. "Aw~ Junnie."

Renjun sniffled, getting close to Jeno and hugging him tightly as a silent tear exited his eyes. Jeno patted his back soothingly and kissed his head various times.

"Baby it's okay. I'm okay." Jeno laughed a little, hearing Renjun whine. "I promise you. See how I was running to catch Jaemin's bag and even crossed the river with two bags. I'm fine."

"You shouldn't of." Renjun mumbled, head in Jeno's chest.

"It's okay, baby." Jeno chuckled. Renjun huffed, sniffling back his tears that left his eyes. "If falling down a hill and getting hit by a tree only gave me stitches, I think I'll be fine."

He cupped Renjun's cheeks, pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

"When you guys are done sucking each other's face, you can come and get your lunch." Chenle said, making Renjun pull away from Jeno, really shy.

Jeno chuckled and redirected Renjun's face to look at him. Leaning back in, he feels Renjun pull away.

"What? He said to join when we were done?" Jeno had that teasing smile swiped across his lips.

"We're done." Renjun's flushed cheeks became even more red at Jeno's words.

"For now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

omg imagine noren adopting a baby 🥺

thanks everyone for the birthday wishes, i love you all (im 15 now omg)