Seokjin was woken up from his slumber to the sound of heated yelling and for a moment he couldn't seem to open his eyes or even move. He was tired, physically drained after nearly eight hours on the road with just a single stop for food, pissing in the slightest growth of bushes they had been able to find because there were no toilets out in the middle of freeways and desolate roads leading out of the city. He could hear the noise and yet it was all muffled as if his head was packed full of cotton wool, could see nothing more than blackness behind his eyelids as he tried to force them open, Something was happening outside, happening on the stretch of concrete path that ran the length of the building like a sidewalk, but he didn't know what because he couldn't make the words out. Were the other patrons in the hostel arguing over something? Was the owner forcibly evicting someone? He didn't know and to find out that meant that he needed to wake up fully.

He rolled onto his side before sitting up slowly, legs swinging over the edge of the bed so that his feet brushed against the itchy carpet pile. His eyelids felt swollen but he managed to force them open and stare across the room. The first thing that he noticed was the small window on the wall facing him, open a crack to let the gauzy curtains dance lightly from a soft breeze. It brought in the scent of gasoline and the sound of droning traffic and shouting voices: shouting male voices from what he could discern. On the sill he saw the stubbed out remains of three cigarettes, undoubtedly the result of Yoongi finishing a packet in the hours that he hadn't been able to sleep. There might be a few on the carpet too but he hoped that that was not the case. He dragged his eyes away to look at the other bed and saw Namjoon curled up tightly in the covers, bump hinting that he might have his knees drawn up against his chest in the foetal position. He could see his arm and he realised that he was pressing his pillow over his ears to try and block the noise, white lump wrapped around his head like an over-sized set of earmuffs. Seokjin reached up to rub at his heavy eyelids and then turned his head to look across the room. Small coffee table with Namjoon's hoodie strewn over it, one arm hanging over the side so that the cuff was on the carpet, half-empty bottle of water that had dents in the plastic and tears in the paper wrapper around the body. The battered settee was just behind it and he saw Yoongi lying on it. He was on his back but twisted to the side to fit on comfortably; legs tucked up on the cushioned seat and head turned sideways against the pillow their friend had given him. His jacket was over the upper half of his body like a blanket and one arm was dangling over the side so that his fingers were grazing an inch or so off the floor. He was asleep for once, the sound didn't seem to have disturbed him yet, mouth open in a slight pout as his eyes slowly moved under his closed lids. He eyed his arm and saw that the young man was a little too pale, thin and frail-looking so that his elbow joint looked too large between his fore and upper arm, so that the curve of his wrist bone protruded sharply from his skin. He had noticed him barely eating anything yesterday, just picking at the fries and sipping at a soda every now and again rather than eating a proper meal. The leftovers he had packed in his holdall, presumably the remains of yesterday's breakfast, had been given to the kids last night to save it being tossed into the trash.

Yoongi had called himself a bad influence but he really had no idea. Seokjin thought that he was his own worst enemy and that he had a much worst influence on himself than the kids. Working three jobs without a decent break, up to eighteen hours a day spent slaving away and the remaining six spent travelling between locations and attempting to sleep, smoking himself into a near coma over the entire duration. At least he seemed to have had some rest for today and hopefully he would eat more than a dozen fries over the hours on the road. He was going to make sure that he did and-

"...fucking hands off him!"

The voice caught him by surprise and Seokjin cocked his head. It sounded like Jungkook's voice but why would he be shouting like that? Surely he had just misheard it? But it was enough to make him get to his feet and cross the room to get to the door. He went to open it when he remembered that it was locked and he stopped twisting the handle to stare at the lock. The keys. There was the table just beside the door and he reached over to snatch them out of the little cut glass bowl before shoving them into the keyhole and twisting hard. He stepped outside and felt that the concrete underfoot was cold and dusty, and then he caught sight of something moving quickly out of the corner of his eye and when he turned his head he saw a blur of someone darting back into the room beside their one: the unmistakable sight of Jungkook racing back inside.

Seokjin stared at the space he had been occupying just a second ago dumbly and then someone emerged again. He recognised the man as the owner of the hostel, the one that had been on the desk yesterday evening. He had looked rather pleasant, smiling at them from across the stretch of wood as they had paid for the night and gotten the keys, but he didn't look very nice this morning. He was yelling back at one of the boys inside the room and then he dragged one of them out. He saw that he had a handful of Jimin's hair snagged in his fist and the boy was trying to free himself, own fingers pulling at his hand to try and loosen his grip so he could wriggle free. Seokjin watched this all and then decided that it was high time he stepped in to control the situation.

"Excuse me, excuse me." He took several quick steps towards them both. "What's going on?"

"What's going on," Jungkook shouted as he reemerged, shrugging a tee on over his head and still clad in his underwear, "is this asshole just barged in and demanded money before throwing our stuff everywhere and assaulting Jimin!" The boy pulled down on the ends roughly and then pointed at the man. "Let go of him!"

"Pay up first and then we'll talk."

"Pay? Pay for what?" Seokjin asked as he stared at the owner.

"The room for the day. You paid an evening charge, you should have been out of here three hours ago." The man let go of Jimin and he stumbled back to fall on his ass. A quick glance across the lot showed people staring at them from cracks in doorways, enjoying the better entertainment than the TV sets in their rooms could possibly offer. He was briefly glad that Yoongi wasn't awake because if he had seen him treating the boy that way then there would have been even more yelling and roughhousing, and there was already enough as it was. "I knocked on their door ten times and I was polite. I asked them about the money and these punks started swearing at me and refusing to pay." He placed both his hands on his hips and stared at him. Despite their differing height Seokjin suddenly felt a lot smaller in his presence, like a kid rather than an adult. He heard someone moving in the doorway behind him and he assumed it was Namjoon. "Therefore we have a problem."

"Kids," his friend pushed past him to go into the other room, "hurry up and pack all of the shit away, we're leaving. Come on." Seokjin shifted to look inside and saw the room in disarray, pillows, covers and even bed sheets all over the floor. Taehyung was attempting to shove clothes into holdalls and backpacks with eyes that looked glued shut, and Hoseok was sitting on the end of one of the beds in his underwear, rubbing at his head as if massaging a headache away, lips pulled in tightly in a thin line. Namjoon went over to help him to his feet before turning to exit the room again, to no doubt go back into theirs and start packing their stuff up too. Hoseok just stood by the bed dumbly before bending to retrieve his jeans and struggling to get into them. Seokjin dragged his eyes away again to look at the owner, aware that he needed to reply but struggling to do so.

"Uh..." Jungkook more or less dragged Jimin upright by his upper arm and roughly flattened his messy hair. "I'm sorry. We didn't know the rates. I thought we bought them for the morning hours too I...we were so tired that we must have made a mistake and-"

"I tried explaining," the man interrupted, cutting him off without even so much as a blink, "but they weren't listening. They were cursing and spitting, they were threatening." He thought about how the boy in front of him had been dragged out of the room by his hair and wondered who had really been threatening who. "And the room still needs to be paid for."

"Fuck you," Taehyung called from the room, "you ain't getting shit!"

"You little brat!" The owner went to storm back inside the hostel room but Jungkook stepped in his way to block him, a few inches taller and glaring down at him unflinchingly. "You think you're all so smart but you're not. You're goddamn high schools kids, at least a few of you, and you're ditching class to cause trouble like a bunch of delinquents. I can smell booze and smoke, what would the police think if I called them right now, huh? Ditching school and underage drinking, they'd drag your asses into the back of their squad car and you'd be sleeping in cells tonight."

"Look, we're packing up. We're going to leave, no more trouble."

"Good, get the hell out of here but you need to pay up first. Two minutes, then get the hell out." Seokjin told the boys to get their stuff and then hastily went back into the other room. Namjoon had managed to pack quite a bit away and he emerged from the bathroom carrying newly washed clothing from last night. He dropped them on his bed and started sorting through and shoving them into holdalls. Yoongi was sitting up on the settee, running a hand through his hair as he grumbled under his breath.

"He's threatening to call the police," he said as he scanned the room for any items that might get left behind in their rush. "And he wants money."

"Don't pay him," Yoongi muttered. "Let him call the fucking cops. We'll just blow this place before they show."

"You're still asleep," Namjoon retorted as he packed underwear away. "I'd like to see you run. Jin help the kids, I'll get this all packed up no problem."

"OK...sure." Seokjin stumbled back out of the room, aware of the fact he was only clad in a vest and underpants and yet that didn't seem important right now at all. Just getting out of here before he heard the warbling sirens of a squad car was the really important thing. He felt the owner's eyes burning into his back as he went past and into the room, a weight that he wished he could just shrug off. He had only just helped shove the last items away messily when he heard the man yelling again and they had no choice but to evacuate, carrying armfuls of clothing and bags, boots dangling from laces looped between fingers. Taehyung tossed the key at him and it landed at his feet and then the two men stepped out of the other room too.

"What was the rate?" Seokjin asked as he fumbled for his wallet, having to check his jeans pocket which should have been on his body and not folded over his forearm. He heard his friends mumbling about this but he ignored them, and when the owner told him 42,608₩ they did more than mumble, they started complaining loudly. He counted the notes out and got a little change from the inner compartment before looking up at him. "You promise not to call the police?"

"I won't, I just want you out of here." So he shoved the cash into his hand and then crossed the lot to get around the front of the building. Then he tossed his holdall on the curb and started getting dressed regardless of staring eyes from passing vehicles. As he knotted his boots up he glanced over his shoulder to look at his friends. They were just standing around in a mixture of confusion and lethargy; in nothing but underwear or tees, jeans in Yoongi and Hoseok's case.

"Come on, we need to get dressed and leave." He finished knotting his laces and then shrugged his black coat on over his vest because he didn't want to start rummaging through his bag right now.

"But...we didn't even get washed up," Jungkook said dumbly.

"We'll figure that out after we get dressed, there are people staring, come on." After his insistence they all started to get dressed, shrugging into tees and jeans, sitting down on the paving flags to fasten up boots too. Seokjin turned to look across the road and scan the sights in front of them. Cars, buses and trucks rolling down the wide road, rumbling and honking and spewing fumes out into the air, dissipating before getting anywhere close to the vivid blue sky. There were a handful of clouds near the horizon, just visible over the tops of buildings, sun hidden behind a bank of them. When he looked back he saw Taehyung knotting Hoseok's laces for him so that he didn't need to bend down, still squinting as he held a hand up against his brow to make a temporary visor.

"Wanna know something funny?" Yoongi asked, knotting his jacket around his slight waist snugly. "I'm not wearing any underwear." For a moment they all just looked at him and then Namjoon sniggered and seconds later they were all laughing. "Seriously," he said with a wide grin, "no underpants, going commando." He reached up to rub at his eyes before getting his cigarettes out, shoving one of the sticks into his mouth. "Well, today got off to a good start, huh?"

"That asshole," Jungkook muttered, "was lying about everything. He didn't knock at all, he unlocked the door with his keys and started shouting at the top of his lungs like a fucking lunatic. So me and Tae, we started shouting back and then the bastard skull-dragged Jimin outta the room and-"

"He did what?" Namjoon asked, eyebrows grazing against his hairline comically as he pulled his hood up.

"Dragged him outta the bed," Taehyung said as he pulled a toothbrush out of his backpack. "By his fucking hair even though he wasn't doing anything, wasn't shouting or arguing and just sitting there. Right?"

"Uh...right," Jimin agreed as he dropped his gaze to his boots because they were all staring at him. Yoongi pulled his unlit cigarette free and turned to look back at the hostel.

"That fucker," he spat, "I'm gonna knock his fucking teeth in and- Joonie, let go of me." But the other young man told him that it wasn't worth the trouble now, after everything, and after a few more grumbled curses and threats he gave up trying to free himself.

"Robs us of a couple of thousand won, treated Jimin like shit and didn't even let us get dressed before kicking us to the curb." Taehyung shook his head and started brushing his teeth vigorously, swilling his mouth out with water from one of their bottles. Then he went over to the entrance window of the building and spat the mouthful at it. Foamy water and spit ran down the glass. "C'mon, let's leave before he finally decides to call the fucking cops anyway." He grabbed his backpack and shrugged it up onto his shoulder

Several minutes later they were no longer on the block with the hostel though it was still visible over their shoulders, the wide lot more than anything else. They had all copied Taehyung's idea to brush their teeth, spitting the foamy mixture down gutters rather than windows to piss people off, but they could do no more than splash water on their tired faces until they managed to find bathrooms of some kind to get cleaned up in. They actually stopped after a block or two so that they could sort their bags out, all using a low brick wall so that they could dump them on it and sort through the contents. In their haste to leave they had balled up clothing messily and and that made their bags lumpy and difficult to carry. Namjoon pulled his cap free from the inside of his holdall and shoved it on Hoseok's head just so that he stopped squinting, the brim at least blocking most of the rays for him. The boy thanked him quietly before fixing it in place so that his hair wasn't hanging down in front of his eyes.

"You really thought he was gonna call the cops on us, huh?" Yoongi asked as he took a drag on his cigarette and blew it out again in annoyance. Seokjin folded a tee and placed it inside his holdall before saying that he had thought it. "He said that so you'd give him the cash."

"He probably did, but no point in thinking about it now. We're not in the hostel so it doesn't matter."

"I think that you did the right thing," Jimin said softly. "We really could've gotten in trouble if he did call the cops." The boy shrugged his backpack on and he eyed one of the straps to see that it was frayed terribly and that it wouldn't last much longer. Seokjin made a mental note to find a safety pin of some kind in the future and then lifted his own bag off the wall. "Ditching school. Tae's booze-"

"What booze?" Namjoon asked in confusion. "Did you pack alcohol?"

"Just the cans left from the trainyard," the boy said with a shrug, "they're all gone now so no need to worry dad." Taehyung started walking down the street and they all quickly finished fixing their bags to follow after him. Seokjin collared Jimin before he could race off and waited until the others were a few feet ahead of them. He saw the perplexed expression on the boy's face, hair still a little messy from where the owner had grabbed it earlier.

"That's all he had, right? Just a couple of beers?"

"Yeah," Jimin said with a nod. "Shared them with me and Jungkook 'cos Hoseok didn't want any." He cocked his head slightly, very puppy-like, and then asked him why he had asked. Seokjin just shrugged the question off and glanced at the road beside them, feeling his eyes on him for a moment longer. "You're not mad, are you?"

"Over beer? No."

"Over everything," Jimin said in a quiet voice, and when he looked back over at him he saw from his face that he felt bad about the incident at the hostel even though he had no need to: the way he nibbled on his inner lower lip and how he reached up to fiddle with his backpack straps. He briefly remembered that the boy was so used to being blamed by his father for every possible thing that it was no surprise that he was already blaming himself for this situation too.

"Not mad," Seokjin replied as he reached over and attempted to flatten his messy hair. "Just tired and kind of hungry." After putting up with his patting for a few seconds Jimin bounded off to catch up with the other kids at the front and he watched him go all the while thinking about what Yoongi had said just last night about bad influences.

Only when they were passing a freeway on their way out of Seoul did Yoongi decide to announce that it was 1pm and that was when it hit them that they were in for a long day of walking to get into the next city; stomachs empty, running low on water and fucks to give. In the near hour it had been since leaving the hostel there had been little talking and rather just solid walking, passing abandoned and soon to be converted buildings, desolate streets on which their footsteps echoed, random rundown housing areas or the occasional store that looked a few days away from being closed for good. Seokjin couldn't recall ever being in areas like this before even with all of his life so far spent in the city. It was likely because he didn't stray very far from the bustling centre and when he did it was always by way of vehicle: subway or coach, or in the passenger seat of someone's car. On foot everything seemed much more different, more visible to his eyes than a soft blur of grey and concrete out of the window beside him. He realised that people lived this far out and just how very large the city really was, and that made him wonder how far the next one was. Whether it would be just a few hours on the road after all, or whether Taehyung was just being very optimistic.

The boy walked in the lead once more, very much a self-appointed leader of this ragtag bunch, and no one questioned his directions today because he had been correct yesterday. He walked with a pace that showed confidence and surety, and he didn't once pause to read street names or check whether it was a left or a right. Had he have done so that might have hinted that he didn't have a clue where they were going and therefore made them at least stop and think about it all, but luckily he didn't and he actually managed to get them to the outskirts without a single spot of trouble. Which was really a relief because they had had enough trouble for the day so far.

Just like yesterday they walked in a loose formation to fit on the sidewalks, occasionally fanning out onto the road if it was empty before darting back onto the curb when a truck suddenly hurtled their way with a tremendous rumbling noise. Taehyung at the front with the other two youngest either side of him, Namjoon and Yoongi flanking them and Hoseok just a few feet in front of him. Seokjin observed the back of his head for some time, lengths of black hair peeking out of the back and his pale neck visible over the neckline of his black tee. He wasn't exactly dragging his feet but he was close to it and he had stayed at the back just to keep an eye on him. He wouldn't assume that the others would carry on walking and let him fall behind but it was better safe than sorry. After watching him for a few minutes Seokjin picked up his pace so that he could walk beside him.

"Are you OK?" he asked, studying his face as he did. He saw that the brim of their friend's cap had sweat darkening the grey material just around the brim, where it would have been against the boy's forehead.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, I'm OK," Hoseok replied after a moment, not nodding because the movement would have aggravated his headache even more. It seemed that he hadn't had one yesterday but it was present as ever today. Seokjin glanced over at their friends before looking back at him.

"Another headache?"

"Maybe a migraine," he pulled the cap off for a moment to run a hand through his hair, which he noticed was also damp with sweat. The day seemed a little cooler than yesterday but looking at him it would have been hard to tell.

"I know this is a stupid suggestion but...have you seen a doctor over this?" The boy confirmed that he had with a soft noise. "Any diagnosis?"

"The pills they gave me cause the headaches," Hoseok said before putting the cap back on. Seokjin realised that the answer wasn't exactly what he had been expecting: because by telling him the medication caused the headaches it meant that he had been at the clinic for another reason entirely. One he didn't know about at all that had nothing to do with the headaches. He let this hang in the air for a moment and then quietly asked him if he needed a break. "No, I'm fine really."

"You don't look fine," he held out his hand. "Let me carry your bag at least." Hoseok went to argue against this but he just shook his hand firmly at him until he relented and handed him the holdall with a heavy sigh. "I'd offer you a piggyback ride but you would kick me, right?"

"Really hard," he agreed with a soft smile. "I'm not one of the kids, you know? I know you guys call me it but I'm starting college soon. Not a kid."

"You'll still be a kid to me when you're in a rocking chair and I'm, well, I'm dead." Seokjin shifted to slip his own holdall up onto his shoulder, carrying the boy's bag in his opposite hand to balance the weight out. "How's studying for the entrance exams going? Are you as nervous as I was or?"

"Truthfully?" Hoseok stopped walking for a moment and he copied him, holding his gaze as he waited for him to carry on talking. "I haven't been studying." Seokjin didn't even have time to blink, never mind question this statement, before the boy started walking again and left him standing beside the road dumbly. He had just opened his mouth to stutter something out when Jimin started shouting about a gas station at the top of his lungs; a loud distraction.

The rest of the gang were quite a distance in front of them, at the top of a soft curve of hill that they had been walking on for some minutes now. There was a sparse scattering of grass but the ground below their feet was mostly soil that was dry and dusty and looked pretty dead to his eyes. They had stopped for them both to catch up and so they hurried up the last stretch of hill, breasting it so that they were once more on level ground. Seokjin looked along the length of road to see a building not too far their location. It was a wide ground floor building that was vaguely square-shaped. Concrete ceiling and lot around the exterior, walls mostly made of glass windows that were filled with fliers and posters. There were a few vehicles parked around it and he had just observed the automatic doors opening to let a trucker out when the boys started racing towards it. He thought about his wallet and inwardly winced before quickly walking after them. As he got closer he felt that the A.C. was on, a cool breeze that actually made him shiver as he stepped inside.

The interior contained rows and rows of shelving units, covered in various goods in colourful packets that demanded the eye. Cans, bottles, boxes, packets, he could do nothing more than stare at all of them without really seeing what they were. On the opposite wall to the door were the tills, cigarettes behind them along with dirty magazines and there was a red rack with newspapers on just to the side. Along the length of window there was a stretch of counter with stools neatly tucked underneath for use. He could see plug sockets for charging devices like phones and a container filled with chopsticks and utensils. A small queue standing at the tills already, and his friends browsing the aisles eagerly. Seokjin sighed and then crossed the station to get to the fridges and collect a bottle of water. He eyed them before choosing the largest option because he could just store it in his bag whilst walking rather than buy a couple of smaller ones and have to do the same. Then he went over to look at the food. Cheap and instant shit, cooked food already prepared with just a day before expiration, it all looked to contain no nutrients whatsoever. He had just picked up a packet of kimbap and was reading the ingredients when he heard Yoongi calling out about a basket and he turned to see their friend waving a blue plastic basket around.

In several minutes they had filled it with an ample amount of food and liquids and were at the till, everyone pulling out cash and making a pile of crumpled notes and coins to pay with on the wooden surface. The young lady scanned the items whilst glancing between them in turn and he wondered if she looked at them and saw that they had been on the road for a day, rolling out of bed and getting dressed on the street whilst spitting mouthfuls of toothpaste in the gutters. Or did she look at them and just see a bunch of kids skipping class in early celebration of the upcoming summer break whilst their parents had no clue; likely having seen other handfuls of kids all day long? And their parents really didn'tknow or at least most of them didn't. He knew that Taehyung and Jungkook's certainly didn't, seen as the former didn't even live with his parents and rather in a hostel across the capital with a bunch of other runaway kids. There was a chance that Hoseok had told his just to get it sorted and avoided unneeded trouble, but he wasn't so certain about Jimin. The boy hadn't even gotten changed before showing up at the coach station with a packed bag, so there was a chance that he had ran off too to save a couple of hits across the back of the head.

"Would you like a bag?" she asked as she gathered the notes and collected the change.

When they left the gas station there were two plastic bags in their midst, medium blue just like the basket and current shade of sky overhead. They could have stayed inside at the counter but they still had miles to go and therefore it meant food on the move instead. He had a feeling that the incident at the hostel this morning had made them a little weary that someone might just call the police on them whilst they were in the middle of eating, unable to run off because there were no back doors or windows to sneak out of when the sight of a squad car pulled up at the lot in front of them. So that meant eating whilst on the road even if he thought that Hoseok really needed a little break. He had even been tempted to suggest one but he knew that the boy would refuse to take a break because he didn't want to cause a scene. Sipping at sodas, juices and water, snacking on various junk food whilst happily walking down the dusty side of the road. Seokjin had picked at his kimbap sparingly because he felt a little bad about the trouble from this morning. He almost felt like it was his fault and he had just eaten the first piece when he saw Yoongi eyeing him from a few feet ahead. He raised an eyebrow to ask 'what?' as he chewed it and the young man slowed down to walk level with him.

"What's with the face, huh?" he asked. "You look like you've just been told your dog died or something."

"Just thinking," Seokjin replied as he looked at the packet and considered eating another piece.

"About this morning?" Yoongi tossed a bottle of iced tea from hand to hand, yellow lid revealing it to be lemon flavoured. "Jimin was right, you did do the right thing. We were just too pissed off to realise it at the time but what else could you have done?" He noticed that his friend wasn't picking at any food and that didn't mean he hadn't bought any.

"I feel like it's kind of my fault," Seokjin said as he picked up another roll, "because I should have checked the rates properly last night, or at least woke us all up and got us out before the owner got pissed off at us." He popped the piece in his mouth and offered him one and surprisingly enough his friend accepted a roll before glancing over at the others in front of them. "It's probably stupid, but I still feel it's my fault." Yoongi chewed on the kimbap for a moment before cheeking it so that he could speak.

"We won't make that mistake again, right?"

"Hopefully not," he pulled the last roll free and scrunched the packet up before stuffing it into his jeans back pocket. "Lesson learnt." His friend chased his mouthful of food down with a sip of iced tea and then sighed.

"If we keep needing the bribe assholes to not call the cops then we're gonna run outta cash pretty fucking soon." Yoongi shoved the bottle into his jacket pocket and then pulled out his packet of cigarettes, stick between his lips as he patted his jeans down to try and locate his lighter. "...Shit, left it in the fucking room!" Seokjin didn't even have one to offer him. "Anyone got a light?!" He called and a moment later Taehyung was waving a box of matches overhead before tossing them back to him. The box flew in a perfect arc before Yoongi caught it, it making a soft rattling sound as it landed on his palm. He muttered his thanks as he slipped a match free and lit the end of the stick. He stared at the little flickering head for a few seconds before shaking the match out and tossing it aside. "And running outta cash has gotta be the worst thing to happen, right?"

"I don't know," Seokjin leaned over and spoke in a low voice, "Tae could probably figure out how to make some." Yoongi breathed smoke out his nose with a soft laugh before shaking his hand at him, stick between his middle and ring finger. "Don't joke about shit like that," the gesture said. He grinned at him and then looked over at the road, seeing a couple of vehicles passing them by, exhaust fumes pluming out of tailpipes just like his friend's cigarette smoke escaping his nose. "We won't run out if we use our brains wisely."

"Not a lot of brains here," Yoongi muttered as the stick went right between his lips again.

"Maybe not in your head," Seokjin remarked and the young man laughed again. The other boys were loudly talking about something food related from what he could hear, and he decided to take the plunge whilst he had the chance. "Planning on eating lunch today or not?"

"Not very hungry."

"Smoking suppresses the appetite."

"Guess it does..."

"In this heat you shouldn't go hungry, we don't want you fainting though it wouldn't be too hard carrying you these days." At this comment Yoongi's lips tightened around the cigarette stick. "I understand the stress from working so much these past few months but you're not working right now."

"It's hard to break a habit."

"I know."

"And stressing myself the fuck out knowing that when we get back to Seoul I don't have a single job, never mind three..." His friend sighed, dragon smoke pluming from his nose as the stick bobbed, and then reached up to brush his red hair back off his brow. "Yeah, no wonder my appetite's fucking suppressed."

"At least you slept last night," Seokjin said quietly and the young man agreed with a nod. He stepped on a packet that one of the boys had dropped and eyed it in annoyance, knowing that they would leave a Hansel and Gretel litter trail all the way along the side of the road: soda cans, wrappers, ice cream sticks on which ants were already crawling all over the sticky pink remains on the wood. "Even if the settee wasn't comfortable."

"I get the bed next time!" Yoongi declared.

"Let's play fair: rock, paper, scissors," Namjoon called back, turning to look at them with a lollipop stick in his mouth just like his friend's cigarette. "We do live in a democracy after all."

"Here comes the deep shit," Yoongi muttered, furl of ash dropping off the end of the stick to land on the ground. "I've already drawn the short straw, you two can play the stupid game."

"You see, that's the important part: the shortness." Namjoon pulled the lollipop free to point the pink and white swirled orb of sugar at him. "You're the only one that's short enough to fit on the settee." Yoongi glared at him and seemed to be thinking his own biting retort over. Seokjin took a sip of water before shoving the large bottle back into his bag, shrugging it onto his shoulder with a sigh. "So that's why you sleep on the settee."

"Am I a fucking dog?"

"Woof woof!" Jungkook barked from the front of the formation, packet of seaweed crisps in hand that looked large enough to feed an entire army. There was a smirk on the boy's face that showed he was in no way affected by the earlier events of the day, rather he looked chipper and ready to piss everyone off as always. "Such a cute little puppy."

"Your ass is grass," Yoongi intoned menacingly and this just made him grin more widely.

After several minutes of walking Taehyung decided to stroll off the main road and in the direction of a large copse of trees that looked to grow for miles and miles in length without a break. It was the direction that they were travelling in and yet he wasn't certain that wandering off the road was a good idea. They had a clear path to follow like a map and if they went too far from the road then there was a chance that they might just get lost. Of course the kids would love that, that would turn it all into a real adventure and there would be more chances of trouble to get into. But the boy declared that the shade would be a blessing from the heat and they all gladly agreed and chased along after him. And when they got through the first few feet of trees it became apparent that it really was cooler under the thick foliage over their heads. The air had a heady scent to it that was a mixture of sweet grass and flowers and it made his nose a little itchy. Unlike the roadside path, with the arid dead soil, the soil underfoot was a deep brown that was almost black and it was soft and looked rich and full of nutrients that no doubt nurtured the shin length grass that spread out in front of them. Seokjin eyed the trees to see thin but sturdy-looking branches and gnarled trunks, burrows in them that could have been squirrel dens or perhaps even belong to nesting birds. The plants were a random assortment: from large leafy ferns with no flowers, to thick growths of vivid coloured petals in whites and yellows and purples, to straggly bushes with berries growing on them. He caught the kids looking at these and no doubt wondering if they were edible and he told them to wisely avoid them but he couldn't be certain that they hadn't tried a quick sample or three.

Then Taehyung stumbled across the old train tracks.

Seokjin had just been happily strolling through the wooded area, listening to the occasional tweeting of birds or the crisp snapping sound of twigs being broken by their boots in the undergrowth. Drifting was probably a better word, for he hadn't really been paying attention to the sights in front of him at all, but when he had heard the loud and sudden exclamation he was brought back to reality sharply. The boys' voices excitedly talking about something, he could hear Jimin's easily because the sound carried well in the quiet of the woods. There was a gap in the trees just a few feet in front of him and to his right, and Namjoon disappeared through it just as he noticed it. He picked up his pace to step through after him and when he did he saw another path leading off into a clearing of some kind, so he followed his friend and they stumbled into what looked like a break in the copse of trees, a small field.

"...and what if a train comes along and runs you over, huh?" Yoongi asked. He glanced around before seeing the wide set of tracks that cut across the field: metal lines and wooden slats across them.

"It's abandoned," Taehyung said. "One look shows that, idiot."

"It's just like the trainyard," Jimin added.

"Exactly, it's a sign we should follow it." A few feet away Hoseok pulled roughly on a thick tangle of moss and ivy and revealed the original barricade that used to be at the end of the tracks: a wooden post with faded yellow and black paint along the length. Somewhere under the undergrowth they would likely find the station platform too. "Why it's...it's..." Taehyung held both hands up in front of him, palm outwards, and he declared in an ecclesiastical voice. "It's a sign from God."

"The only sign I'm getting is you're a dumbass," Yoongi muttered as Jungkook jumped onto the wooden slats.

"Are you sure it's not in use?" Seokjin asked and the boys groaned before calling him 'a dumbass' too, and 'a chicken' and 'an idiot' just for good measure. "I just want to be sure."

"Area looks abandoned," Namjoon remarked, "and I dunno any lines that stop all of the way out here. Twenty years ago maybe, back before all of the renovations in the centre and the subway lines but not now. I think it's not in use too. Just look at this place, it's damn ancient." And just to prove his point the boy bent down and hovered his hand over the metal line. Even if the chances seemed to be that the line wasn't in use he still told him to stop messing around. Jungkook laughed and called him 'a pussy' before pressing his palm down on the rail. He pretended to get electrocuted rather terribly and the flailing arms made most of them laugh except for Seokjin. "I think we should follow it, it should lead us where the road does."

"We'll follow it 'cos God wants to lead us," Taehyung said in his best baritone preacher voice. "The road to salvation is wrought with many obstacles."

"Like what?" Hoseok asked as he wiped his hand on his jeans to clean away any moss that had clung to his skin.

"Like having to look at Dumbass' face."

"Hey," the other boy whined as he prodded the metal rail with the toes of his boots, "stop picking on me! Why is it always me, huh?"

"One reason really," Taehyung said as he patted him on the back. "It's so easy." He stepped onto the tracks and turned to look back at them all.

"You forgot another reason: it's so fun." Jungkook got upright and Jimin just muttered under his breath grumpily. "Come on, we're not gonna pass up on this, right?" He ran his eyes over them each in turn and then echoed the other boy's words again. "It's totally a sign."

Seokjin didn't particularly believe in signs, be they of the God-delivered or just plain secular type, but he just agreed to walk the train tracks because it stopped the kids from complaining. It was really no different from walking along the road but at least the tracks ran back into the woods again and offered continuous shade. Even with the scattering of clouds present the temperature was still considerable and it seemed to get warmer rather than cooler as time went on. He found his water depleting and he wasn't surprised at all. Between the wooden slats on the tracks there were great chunks of pebbles rather than just soil and they had been utilised as projectile weapons until a pretty sharp one had smacked Yoongi's arm and left a graze on his skin deep enough to bleed. In the end Jimin had taken responsibility but Seokjin had a sneaking feeling that he had taken the fall for Jungkook, like always. As a result of the narrow track they had to walk in pairs but Yoongi abandoned this to walk alongside in the grass instead, and Taehyung managed to perfect walking on the thin metal line rather nimbly, one hand held out to keep him steady and the other occasionally reaching out to slap the back of whatever boy's head was closest to his. So they walked the length of the tracks and for some minutes it was silent until the boy decided to start the military shit again, this time in the form of a cadence.

"Left, left, left right left," he kept chanting it over and over until they joined in in an attempt to get him to stop but it just encouraged him to continue. "I don't know but it's been said," he declared as he pseudo marched on the rail, waiting for them to repeat his words.

"I don't know but it's been said," they copied wearily.

"Park Jimin pisses the bed." They had only just started laughing at this when he continued. "Left, left, left right left." Another series of repetitions. "I don't know but I have heard." They copied the chant and he finished. "Jeon Jungkook's a fucking nerd. Left, left, left right left."

"Left, left, left right left."

"I don't know but I've been told!"

"I don't know but I've been told!"

"Kim Seokjin's too fucking old!" they all repeated this back except Seokjin who bent down to retrieve a pebble and toss it at his back. "Left, left, left right left."

"Left, left, left right left."

"I don't know but I'll deduct!"

"I don't know but I'll deduct!"

"Kim Namjoon's shit outta luck!"

"That doesn't even rhyme!" The young man complained but they all repeated it anyway.

"Left, left, left right left."

"Left, left, left right left."

"I don't know but it's been said!"

"I don't know but it's been said!" they all parroted, waiting to see who was next on the boy's list.

"Jung Hoseok gives real good head!" Hoseok kicked out at him with a laugh but the boy managed to dodge, still on the metal line and not falling off it. ""Left, left, left right left." After they copied him he added. "I don't know but I will bet!"

"I don't know but I will bet!"

"Min Yoongi's not strictly het!"

"Left, left, left right left," Yoongi took up, expression showing that he had his own retort planned out perfectly whilst he waited for them to finish chanting. "I don't know but I'll agree." They echoed his words in anticipation and he grinned widely. "Kim Taehyung fucks for a fee!" At this rhyme the two younger boys burst out laughing and Seokjin had to suppress his own laughter because it was very childish.

"Shit, that's a good one," Taehyung muttered. "I should've thought of that."

The water filled the bathtub up slowly, the pipes clanging rather loudly underneath the gushing sound coming from the tap, and he tipped a small amount of detergent into it. The purple liquid stained the water almost instantly, foaming slightly where the water poured out and rippling across the tub. He stuck his hand inside and swirled it around for a few seconds to help it bubble some more before reaching up to twist the tap off. The scent of lavender wafted up from the surface and he tossed a handful of clothes in. He had already cleaned most of the messes up, leaving the kids' clothes until last because it had taken that long to wait for them to wash up and settle down like yesterday and he needed the bathtub to be empty before he could use it. He left the clothing to soak for a couple of minutes whilst he went into the other room, leaning against the open doorway.

Two single beds which the four boys were sharing: Jungkook and Hoseok closest to the door, Taehyung and Jimin beside the window and a side table separating the beds with a lamp on it, which was turned on and glowing a deep orange like a streetlight bulb. He could see that the youngest boy was asleep, or at least drifting off enough so that he might as well have been asleep, and the others weren't much more awake. Jimin was sitting up against the headboard with a pillow hugged against his chest, head nodding every now and again as if he was moments away from unconsciousness. The covers were mostly on the floor because Taehyung was lying on the bed and he had knocked them off, on his stomach as he smoked one of Yoongi's cigarettes and flicked through a magazine he had found under said bed: one that was likely full of naked women or men, or both. There was a massive strip of missing wallpaper just by the bed and it looked to have been torn free and when he looked at Hoseok he saw that the boy was drawing on it, just like the napkins and receipts. Had he torn it free? Or had one of the other boys? He was hunched forward with the triangular strip on his bare thigh and the pen in his hand as he hastily scribbled across it.

"Everything OK?" Seokjin asked and the two awake boys made noises in agreement.

"Huh... what?" Jimin jerked and opened his eyes. He repeated the question and he thought it over. "Hmm... it's 'kay."

"That's good," he moved to sit down on the edge of the bed by the door. "Headache gone?"

"Mostly," Hoseok replied without looking up. "Tae gave me a head massage and it kind of helped. Hopefully it'll go away by tomorrow but I'm not too hopeful." He reached over to ruffle his hair and he carried on scribbling on the wallpaper piece without stopping. Seokjin glanced at Jungkook to see that he was most certainly asleep, face burrowed against the pillow and back rising and falling softly as he breathed, grey tee clashing against the cotton just as much as his dark hair. He turned his attention back to the other boy and studied his expression, seeing that he looked sleepy yet was too busy doodling to rest just yet, likely because there was very little time for him to do so during the day. And so he resorted to drawing on old wallpaper that was musty and seemed to be older than he was. "Where to tomorrow?"

"We're finally outta the capital, give it another hour and we'll be in the next city," Taehyung explained as he shoved the cigarette stick into his mouth and turned the magazine around to look at a spread, eyeing it with great interest. "And then the world is ours."

"What does that mean?" Jimin asked groggily and the question made Seokjin smirk. He had a point, that wasn't really an answer at all. The boy put the magazine down and a quick glance at it revealed that the spread wasn't a nude one at all but rather that of a car.

"It means shut the fuck up, how would I know?" Taehyung breathed a smoke ring at him and then turned back to the page in front of him. "I got us outta the city, that's all I know. We're all gonna have to band together and figure out the rest together." At least he had admitted to this and he deserved some respect for doing so rather than bullshitting about how he knew everything like usual.

"Day three on the road," Seokjin said softly.

"On an adventure," Taehyung corrected as he dabbed ash over the side and onto the carpet.

"Sure, that too," he said as he got to his feet and crossed the room to go into the bathroom. He eyed the clothing floating in the tub before kneeling down beside it and reaching in to start scrubbing at the tees and socks and underwear, rubbing handfuls together roughly so that the detergent foamed and cleaned them thoroughly. Once that was done he rinsed the suds free and wrung the water out to leave the items on the porcelain side of the tub to dry over the few hours of sleep. When he was finished his hands were faintly red and the scent of lavender stuck to his skin like lotion. He hastily dried his hands on the ends of his vest and then exited the bedroom to see that Jimin had finally succumbed to sleep, slumped over to lie on the other boy's pillow. Hoseok was still drawing but he was on the very end of the strip and he looked nearly done, eyelids drooping heavily as he blinked, and Taehyung had tossed the magazine aside and was on the last few drags of cigarette, bored expression on his face. He told them to try and get some sleep and then left the room to go along the walkway to the other one.

He opened the door and stepped inside before quickly locking it. As he placed the keys down on the table he looked over his shoulder at his friends. Namjoon was lying on the settee with the other man's phone, playing music and seemingly a game judging from his tapping fingers, perhaps both at the same time: loud hip hop blaring from the tiny speaker.

"Cinderella has returned," Yoongi remarked, lounged on the bed by the door. "Or should I say Jinderella?"

"Wow, you've been thinking of that the whole time I was gone?"

"Maybe," he shifted to sit upright with a groan before rubbing his lower back. "The kids?"

"Settling down, Jimin and Kookie are already asleep for once."

"He hates that nickname," Namjoon said, head bobbing in rhythm with the beat.

"Yeah, and Jimin hates being called 'Dumbass' by him so I ain't gonna stop calling him it," Yoongi commented.

"I also hate being called 'old' and having eleven year olds ignoring me," Seokjin said as he went to sit down on the end of the other bed. "So we're even. Hoseok was doodling and Tae was smoking and looking bored as hell, and that's better than them screaming and destroying the room any day."

"Nothing new there," Yoongi leaned back on his wrists and looked between them both. "Drawing on napkins again?"

"Old wallpaper," he explained before suddenly remembering something. "Oh, actually, I forgot to say this earlier, it just slipped my mind. Hoseok said something to me today." At this he felt both pairs of eyes on him and the music stopped, plunging the room into silence. "He didn't look too good so I asked him if he was OK and he said that he had another headache. So I said something about going to see a doctor and he replied that he had, and that the pills he had been given caused the headaches. I'm paraphrasing of course, but that was roughly what he said. Which means..."

"He got them for something else."

"Yes Namjoon, but what exactly?"

"You're kidding, right?" Yoongi fiddled with a lighter he had found in the side table but there was no cigarette in sight. It was a habit now it would seem. "Isn't it obvious?" But they both looked at him blankly. "I've been thinking about it and... remember in high school there was that girl in my class, Soyou? The really quiet girl with the glasses, pretty cute?"

"What about her?"

"She had headaches too. One day her bag broke, the strap snapped and all of her shit spilled out over the stairs," he explained, "and I was on my way past so I rushed down to help her. I didn't mean to look but I grabbed a bottle of pills and the label just jumped out at me. Prozac." At this Namjoon also sat up, putting the phone down on his lap. "She was on antidepressants."

"No shit?" Seokjin asked dumbly, mouth hanging open.

"Yeah shit, just like Hoseok. I'll bet he's on Prozac too, maybe Xanax or something like that."

"Antidepressants do cause strong side effects," their friend agreed with a soft nod, "it could be something like that. What happened to her? I remember always seeing her hanging on the steps of a morning and then she just...disappeared. Did she move school?"

"She killed herself," Yoongi replied without missing a beat, flicking the lighter on and off again and staring at the flame rather than look at either of them.

"He said that he wasn't studying," Seokjin said quietly after a moment of silence. "But then the gas station came up before I could ask him about it all. Do you really think he's on those things?" They both could only shrug in reply because they weren't certain at all, but it did sound right to him now when he thought about it. It was almost obvious. "Why wouldn't he tell us?"

"How many people wanna admit to things like that?" Namjoon asked. "Depression? Anxiety? Things like that, people don't wanna admit it 'cos someone will say-"

"It's pretend, it's for attention, you're just sad," Yoongi continued before scoffing loudly. "All of that shit." The other young man nodded in agreement. "I can't blame him. I mean, I wish he felt that he could tell us without the guessing game but I understand. I wish I didn't, but I fucking do."

"We need to keep an eye on him," Seokjin said as he folded his legs up on the bed. "Just in case."

He waited to see if either of them asked him to clarify this statement, if they would argue against it or deny it or say something positive, but after a few minutes neither of them did; the hostel room just deathly silent save for the distance drone of traffic coming in through the open window.