Chapter Text
Everything comes to a head one late summer afternoon, when their smiles outshine the sun and they’re in the mood to do something worse than usual; the world doesn’t give a fuck and neither do they.
Jungkook is restless- there’s a fierce, nervous sort of energy humming in his bones as he attempts to read a book Jimin recommended him a few days back. He’s been on the same page for at least five minutes now, trying his best to focus on the story so that when Jimin asks about it later he’ll have actually made some progress, but the words simply aren’t sticking in his brain.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, Jungkook snaps the book shut and tosses it to the opposite end of the couch. He hasn’t been right since that day on top of the shopping center, the day he’d realized.
I’ll just act like nothing’s wrong, he’d thought at the time, and although it sounded easy enough in theory, in actuality the past few days have been almost physically painful to get through. Everyone’s so sweet and affectionate and Jungkook can’t take it, not when every smile and gentle brush of fingers scrambles Jungkook’s brain into awkward, nervous mush.
He has to tell them soon, before he ends up cracking and doing something stupid like distancing himself from the six of them just to preserve his sanity. Even if they reject him, even if they laugh at him and his silly, surely unrequited-feelings, Jungkook cannot lose the best thing he’s ever had his life.
Something outside rumbles, the sound so loud it practically shakes the floor, and there comes the distinctive sound of tires crunching on gravel.
Snapping back into awareness, Jungkook tilts his head and instinctively glances towards the train’s entrance. Confusion is the first emotion that trickles into his awareness, quickly replaced by a creeping sense of dread. No one comes anywhere near the railyard in any kind of vehicle, not when the roads leading to it are rough and overgrown, practically more pothole than pavement.
There’s only a handful of possibilities of who might have just pulled up to their train, and Jungkook really doesn’t like the thought of any of them. Anxiety begins to tug at his gut, leaving him tense and already halfway in fight-or-flight as he mentally prepares for the fight that’s likely just around the corner.
Slowly, he stands up. Most of the train’s other occupants aren’t home today- it’s just him, Namjoon, and Jin. While he’s thankful the others will be safe from whatever might come next, they’re also much less capable of defending themselves than they normally would be.
Jungkook squares his shoulders and takes a deep breath. No matter how messy this may get, he’s prepared to fight tooth and nail to keep his home safe. He won’t let anything hurt his best friends- not the Shadows, not the cops, not anyone.
He’s about to take a step forward and meet his fate with dignity when Namjoon appears behind him with his face set in a worried frown, brushing past and somehow managing to make Jungkook feel infinitely better without even opening his mouth.
“You think it’s the cops?” Jungkook asks, voice hushed in nervousness, like if he talks too loudly the police will bust in and arrest them on the spot.
Namjoon slips out towards the front door, steps quiet and slow, and Jungkook follows close behind. “No idea.” He pauses right as he’s about to crack open the front door and turns to Jungkook. His expression is stony. “If I tell you to hide, do it, okay? No matter what happens.”
Jungkook crosses his fingers behind his back and nods. For all of his smarts, Namjoon’s an idiot if he thinks Jungkook’s going to just abandon him to whatever’s out there.
Quietly, carefully, Namjoon does undoes the latch on the train’s door, movements so slow Jungkook almost wants to yank the door open himself just to put an end to the suspense coiling around his lungs, starving him for air as he forgets to breathe in his anxiousness.
When there’s finally a crack in the door wide enough to see through, Namjoon sticks his face up to the tiny beam of light, squinting as he tries to make out what’s outside. When he does, he mutters something under his breath too softly for Jungkook to make out and throws the door open to leap out of the train.
Jungkook stumbles into the light provided by the now opened-door to stare outside, confusion and worry and shock all making his heart seize in his chest as he takes in the scene before him.
The first thing he notices is that there’s a truck parked haphazardly in front of the train. It’s black and generally unimpressive-looking, its exterior dull and scratched and its windshield dusty. Not a police car, clearly, but if they haven’t been found by the cops, then who-
The second, much more important thing Jungkook picks up on is that there’s a person sitting in the bed of the truck, and as he catches sight of mint-green hair he immediately does a double take because Yoongi of all people is somehow involved in all of this.
As Jungkook stares, utterly uncomprehending, Jimin pops up next to Yoongi, hair tousled and eyes visibly sparkling.
“Hi, hyung!” he shouts to Namjoon. To Jungkook, he offers an excited wave. “Hi, Kook-ah!”
Jungkook can do little more than wave awkwardly back as Jimin runs a hand through his hair, succeeding only in dishevelling the orange nest atop his head further.
What the hell-
The front door of the truck swings open and Taehyung hops out, idly twirling the keys of the truck on one finger and grinning like he’s just won the lottery. Hoseok trips out of the passenger seat after him, rubbing his face and smiling. His lips look redder and fuller than usual, almost like he’s wearing lipstick.
“We’re home!” Taehyung sing-songs, clearly taking great delight in the utter shock on Namjoon and Jungkook’s faces.
Something touches Jungkook’s back and he jolts, whirling around, but it’s just Jin, rubbing his eyes and clearly fresh from a nap. He stumbles outside, and Jungkook finally jumps out of the train himself to stand with the others in front of what’s apparently their new truck.
“Where did you get a truck?” Jin asks, voicing just one of the many, many questions currently rattling around in Jungkook’s head.
Taehyung shrugs, tosses him the keys. “Never said it was mine.”
“How did you even-” Jin says wonderingly, then shakes his head. “Are the cops after you?”
“Please,” Hoseok scoffs. “We lost them six blocks ago.”
Yoongi giggles from the bed of the truck, and it’s then that Jungkook realize all four of them have the same gleam in their eyes- one of sheer, unabashed euphoria, the kind of high that only comes from doing something very much illegal and getting away with it.
“Don’t you all have work?” Namjoon asks, clearly baffled.
“They’re taking long lunch breaks,” Jimin laughs.
“We’re going on a joyride,” Taehyung informs them, “and you’re coming with.”
With an offer like that, how could anyone refuse?
Jin, apparently fine with driving, retains his hold on the car keys and climbs into the driver’s seat without complaint. Everyone else not already in the bed of the truck clambers in, hopping from the truck’s back tire over the sides.
There’s a pair of garden shears in one corner for reasons unknown -where on earth did Taehyung steal this truck from?- and the bed of the truck is dusty but not otherwise uncomfortable. It’s a small space though, definitely not large enough for six people to be lay comfortably, so they end up sprawled over one another in the first comfortable position they can find. Jungkook couldn’t move his legs if he tried without shoving at least two people off of him. It’s the most comfortable he’s been in a while.
With some effort, mostly thanks to Jimin and his absurd arm strength, they manage to pry the truck’s back window open so the seven of them can talk to each other freely. As they pull out of the railyard, conversation flows quickly about mundane things like their grocery list and work shifts for the rest of the week, but there’s an almost palpable atmosphere of excitement in the truck. They’ve never done anything quite like this before- it feels special, an experience they’ll doubtlessly never forget.
They hit a gas station first. Hoseok takes care of filling up the truck following a terrifyingly competitive game of rock-paper-scissors, and everyone else extricates themselves from one another to troop inside the tiny adjacent convenience store.
Jungkook grabs himself a couple of chocolate bars and moves to wait next to the checkout counter for everyone else, watching with vague amusement as Taehyung grabs enough snacks for ten people. He pays for it all without comment despite the strange glances he receives boeth from everyone else and the poor cashier who has to ring it all up.
Jungkook, with his mostly free hands, ends up carrying a large portion of the food back into the truck, tossing the bags of food into the bed of the truck before vaulting in after them.
“I hope you’re going to share,” he sniffs, though there’s no real annoyance behind his words.
“I was planning on it,” Taehyung hums, but instead of starting to eat he simply gathers all of his snacks into a pile not unlike a dragon’s hoard.
It’s odd, but no one questions it- sometimes Taehyung just does things beyond their immediate comprehension.
Once they’re back on the main road, Taehyung sticks his head in through the window and whispers something in Jin’s ear as everyone else watches curiously. Upon finishing, he leans back and looks at Jin expectantly.
There’s a pause wherein Jin seems to be thinking very hard, and after a moment he shakes his head as if to shake himself out of a daze. “Oh, what the hell,” he says to himself, and takes a sharp turn down a main road.
“What did you say?” Hoseok asks.
All Taehyung does is grin, sharp and excited. “You’ll see.”
After a few more minutes of driving, a tunnel comes into view. Jungkook’s been there before on foot- it’s not a bad place to hide from the cops in due to its interior being so poorly-lit.
“Here?” Jin asks, twisting his head around just enough to make eye contact with Taehyung in his peripherals.
Taehyung nods. “Yep.”
“Are you going to tell us what you’re planning?” Yoongi asks, suspicion creeping into his voice.
“Of course, hyung,” Taehyung replies, face lighting up in a smile. “We’re going to shut the tunnel down.”
It’s a stupid idea. There’s no point to it besides screwing over as many people as possible, but, well- that’s the point. It sounds like it’ll be fun, so long as they don’t get arrested on the spot.
And besides, don’t they deserve something like this? Society likes to spit on them, likes to call people like Jungkook “delinquents” and “bad people” instead of trying to help. Upsetting a few people won’t make up for years of scorn and abuse by just about everyone, but it certainly won’t hurt.
Their agreement is unanimous and immediate.
So, not two minutes later, it begins. Jin manages to parallel park in the tunnel flawlessly, which is quite possibly the most impressive thing Jungkook’s ever seen another person do. The cars pile up quickly while the seven of them wait.
Horns start honking almost instantly, especially as the drivers closest to the truck realize that the inconvenience being caused is a deliberate one. When it reaches a crescendo, when the whole tunnel seems to be filled with honking and shouting, they exchange glances, biting lips and covering faces to hide their manic grins.
“Go get ‘em, babes,” Jin shouts, and with a battle cry everyone else leaps out of the back of the truck.
What follows is chaos in its finest, most intoxicating form.
With arms loaded full of snacks and drinks, the six of them throw themselves into the lanes of stopped cars, kicking tires and throwing soda on windshields and generally causing as much havoc as possible. Jungkook flips off more people in thirty seconds than he ever has in his life as he races between the cars, splattering tiny cups of yogurt onto every windshield he sees.
Yoongi is engaged in a shouting match with someone leaning angrily out of their window. Taehyung is pressing his face against the windshield of a sedan and yelling. Wasted food and drink litters the asphalt below the cars, crunching as Jungkook runs.
It’s indescribably enjoyable to do something bad just for the hell of it, to finally fight back against a system that’s been choking Jungkook his whole life. He feels on top of the world, like he could fight every member of the Shadows and win, like every second of his life before now has just been leading up to this- commiting a ridiculous act of vandalism with the six loves of his life by his side.
They don’t get long to enjoy themselves. The echo of police sirens quickly begins to fill the tunnel, and although the cops will have to fight through a herd of angry commuters to get anywhere near them, someone yells, “run!” and they bolt back to the truck.
Jungkook throws himself into the shotgun seat of the truck with an unnecessary amount of force, nearly smacking his head into the seat’s armrest. Reaching out blindly behind him, he manages to slam the door shut. There are several loud thuds from the back of the truck, combined with some incredibly high-pitched cackling, and Jungkook can’t help but break into hysterical laughter of his own.
Holy shit, that was amazing!
Jin slams the truck into reverse and turns out of the tunnel, immediately gunning it as they turn onto the empty road in front of them. The sirens blaring behind them grow quieter for a moment, then begin to pick up in volume again.
“The cops are after us!” Hoseok announces, unhelpfully.
Jin hisses a few choice words under his breath and speeds up further, swerving around the few cars they encounter as they race down the city streets.
“Where are we going?” Jungkook dares to ask.
“No idea,” Jin replies distractedly, and all of a sudden he’s laughing. “This is insane,” he murmurs, almost to himself, and takes the next turn so fast Jungkook is pretty sure they leave skid marks.
“Don’t kill us!” Yoongi shouts from the back.
“No promises!” Jin calls right back, and everyone laughs, drunk on the exhilaration that comes with crime and potentially life-threatening experiences.
Jungkook loves the six of them with every fiber of his being, so much that it's almost painful. So much that it feels like his body will combust from the sheer force of his adoration if he doesn’t run or scream or just do something.
He can’t take it anymore. Between peals of laughter in the truck, Jungkook leans over and kisses Jin on the cheek without even thinking. It’s so easy and natural for a second he wonders how he’s never done it before.
If anything, he’s kind of mad. Jungkook had stressed about admitting his feelings constantly over the past few days, and that was all it took? He could’ve saved himself hours of agonizing over how to confess perfectly if he’d known it would be this easy.
Belatedly, he realizes the truck has gone silent, and there’s a tension he’s never felt before crackling in the air.
“Jungkook, do you-” Namjoon doesn’t seem sure how to continue.
“I know,” Jungkook blurts, still half leaning over Jin. He takes a deep breath, knows there’s no going back after this. “About the six of you, I mean.” There’s varying reactions. Heartbreaking uncertainty and nervousness from Namjoon and Taehyung; an instant wariness from Jimin and Yoongi. For a second, Jungkook wonders show many other people they’ve told, how many terrible responses they’ve received for such fear to be their default. It’s a sad thought.
“Well, we weren't exactly good at hiding it,” remarks Hoseok. He alone seems to lack any sort of worry in his eyes as he looks at Jungkook.
Yoongi shoots him a glare. “What a helpful observation,” he deadpans. “Really what we needed right now.”
Jungkook can't help it- he starts to laugh. Even in moments like these, while they're running from cops and he's halfway through a love confession, the six of them are still the same. He loves them so much it’s stupid; he can't imagine even going a day without seeing one of their smiles anymore.
He looks each of them in turn and finds his own feelings mirrored right back in soft smiles and affectionate expressions, and his cheeks hurt with the force of his own grin.
“Go on, Jungkook-ah,” Namjoon says gently, everyone else nodding around him, and it gives Jungkook the courage to continue.
“Six people is a lot,” he begins slowly, trying and failing to stop smiling, “But if you’re open to a seventh-”
He can’t even finish his proposal, can’t even wonder about their answer, can't even blink or breathe before Taehyung lunges forward and kisses him. It’s awkward and strange- there’s a leather seat and a window frame between them screwing up the angle, and Jungkook kind of desperately needs oxygen the whole time, but it’s quite possibly the best five seconds of his life.
When they break apart, Jungkook gasps unattractively like he's just come up from underwater, and Taehyung laughs at him. “Let me breathe first next time,” he says in an attempt to save face.
“Ooh, next time,” Jimin coos with a dangerous smirk on his face. “Nice, Tae-yah.”
Jin, who’s been driving pretty intensely up until this point, finally cuts in. “This is genuinely adorable and I’m glad I can finally kiss Jungkook-ah every time he does something cute,” -Jungkook chokes upon hearing that- “But might I remind everyone that we’re currently running from the cops?”
“But we’re not running, we’re driving,” Taehyung points out, and the resulting glare he receives from Jin is powerful enough to vaporize small villages. Taehyung doesn't seem particularly bothered.
“Joon-ah, can we throw him out the back?” Jin asks sweetly. “That’ll probably make the cops stop chasing us.”
Jimin is laughing so hard at all of this from where he’s collapsed on the truck bed that his giggles are now entirely manifesting themselves in little squeaks.
“You can’t throw me out of the car,” Taehyung reasons, casually moving Jimin’s head into his lap so he can laugh more comfortably. “I haven’t even gotten to properly go tagging with Kook-ah yet.”
They take a particularly sharp turn that throws Jungkook into the passenger seat window of the truck. “What do you mean, properly?” he calls as he sits back up again. “We go tagging together all the time?” Taehyung shoots him a look, and suddenly Jungkook realizes exactly what he’s been missing the whole time.
“Oh,” he says weakly. Tagging next week will be interesting (to say the least) if they don’t all get caught by the cops.
“We’ll talk when we get home, okay Jungkook-ah?” Hoseok asks. He leans forward to press a delicate kiss to Jungkook’s cheek, and all Jungkook can do is smile so wide his cheeks hurt as they head down yet another back road, the sound of sirens fading in the distance.
~0~0~0~
After finally shrugging off the cops, they eventually ditch the truck in a parking garage Jungkook couldn’t find again if he tried and sprint the rest of the way home.
Through some strength Jungkook didn’t know he had, he manages to throw the train’s door open with trembling arms and throws himself inside, stumbling into the main car and immediately collapsing onto the nearest beanbag chair.
He wants to sleep for a week. Or at least until his body stops feeling like it’s recently been gutted from the loss of the nonstop adrenaline high that’s been keeping him going for the past hour.
Various groans and sighs can be heard as everyone else comes in and falls down in various places around the room. For a few minutes they’re quiet, simply taking a moment to recover from running nonstop from the cops for an hour straight.
“Well,” Taehyung says matter-of-factly, the first to break the silence, “that was-”
“Incredible,” Jimin fills in, snuggling into his side.
“In more ways than one,” Jin agrees, shooting a smile Jungkook’s way that turns his insides to jelly.
“We should probably talk about that,” Namjoon says.
Jungkook pulls his protesting body up into a sitting position and takes a long look at the six of them. “I meant what I said, back there,” he tells them. “I really do want to be a part of- this, if you’ll have me.”
“We’d love that,” Yoongi says, and the smile he gives Jungkook is so soft and loving he can barely stand it. “It’s a lot of work and communication, but as long as you’re willing to try and talk through anything that comes up, we’d be really happy to have you as our boyfriend.”
Boyfriend. The very mention of the word makes Jungkook’s heart melt into a puddle of goo in his chest.
“I just have one question,” he says slowly. Hopefully he’s not about to ruin everything they’ve just gained, but it’s been bothering him for a while now, a little itch in the back of his brain. He needs to know.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jungkook bursts out.
There’s no need to ask clarification- everyone knows exactly what he’s referring to. The one thing they’ve kept from him, the only part of their lives they’d kept him from seeing.
Jungkook isn’t upset, really- dating six people at once is quite a big secret to tell anyone, no matter how much you trust them. He’s hurt, true, but on some level he understands. Sometimes it can be hard to trust people no matter how much you care for them.
Like their minds are connected, like maybe they’ve had this discussion a million times over and are trying to summarize it for him, the six of them explain themselves in bursts, words flowing so quickly it almost seems desperate, like they’re begging him to stay, to understand.
“We didn’t want to freak you out,” Hoseok begins, something akin to guilt shining in his eyes.
“You were so cute,” Jimin adds almost mournfully.
“-and sweet,” Yoongi says.
“-And we just didn’t want to scare you off,” Taehyung continues.
“Lots of people don’t understand what we have, and ever fewer accept it,” Namjoon explains. After a second, his eyes widen and he backtracks. “That’s not to say we didn’t trust you or anything! We just didn’t want to make you feel weird while you stayed with us.”
“So to make sure you stayed comfortable, we all agreed to tone it down with each other for a bit,” Jin finishes. “And the whole time, we all tried to see if you might be interested in- well, any of us, but we were all hoping.”
“I’m not mad,” Jungkook reassures them, and he’s immediately rewarded with six relieved smiles. “But I’m confused- when did you try to see if I was...interested?”
The six of them exchange a meaningful glance that goes completely over Jungkook’s head. There’s a pregnant pause.
“We’ve been flirting with you since you got here,” Yoongi says at last, sounding almost exasperated.
“You what? ” Jungkook squeaks out. When? Where was he? They’ve never once tried to-
“We’ve all been taking you out on dates like once a week for the past two months,” Hoseok says, a fond sort of amusement in his voice. “You didn’t know that?”
Oh.
“Wait, those were dates?"
Several sighs thick with affectionate annoyance can be heard around the room. “Yes.”
“I told you,” Jin hisses to someone -Jimin, maybe? “I pinned him up against a lamppost and he still didn’t get the hint.”
Jungkook knows his blush is likely cherry-red by now, and he buries his face in his hands.
“I’m so stupid,” he moans.
“Yeah,” Jimin says cheerfully, but we love you anyway.”
~0~0~0~
Less changes than he’d expected.
Jungkook still lives in a train with his six favorite people in the world. He still goes tagging and has piano lessons and fights Jin at the arcade once a week with an intensity that never ceases to amuse everyone else.
However, now he gets to wake up every morning to kisses and cuddles and truly cringe-worthy flirting -Namjoon is such a sap - and Jungkook’s whole world feels like the sun is shining on it every single day.
Tagging is a lot more fun now that he gets swept up in adrenaline-fueled kisses every time they finish a hit. So is everything, really- there’s a surprisingly small list of things kisses won’t improve.
And sure, things aren’t perfect. There’s still budget struggles and Jin still works too much and Jungkook still feels left out by the six of them sometimes, but they make every effort they can to work things out. They’ve been through enough by now that Jungkook knows there’s no problem they can’t solve as long as they talk about it, and it makes him the most optimistic he’s been in a long time.
Then everything changes- but for once, it’s for the impossibly better.
When Jungkook walks into the train one day not a month after they’ve started dating to find everyone sitting in a circle, looking serious, his first instinct is nervousness. But then the six of them smile at him, and Namjoon pulls him into his lap, and Jungkook relaxes immediately. “Why are we having a meeting?” he asks curiously.
Taehyung shifts from where he’s currently resting against Yoongi to collapse against Jungkook and Namjoon. He continues holding Yoongi’s hand regardless.
Jin grins, eyes bright with excitement. “We finally saved up enough.”
“Enough for what?” Jungkook asks, tilting his head. What more could they need?
“An apartment!” Hoseok crows. “Big enough for all of us!”
Jungkook’s jaw drops. Apartments, especially one big enough to hold so many people, are incredibly expensive. Saving up enough to actually move into one probably took years.
“I’m so happy for you!” he cries, yanking the nearest person -Jimin- into a hug. “That’s amazing, you guys are gonna love not living in a train anymore-”
“You’re gonna love it too,” Yoongi cuts in. “There’s space for seven.”
Jungkook stares at him because, in all honesty, for a second he’d forgotten he was a part of all of this. “Are you su-” he begins, because no matter how much they tell him they adore him on the daily, sometimes his first instinct still wins out.
“Yes,” six voices say immediately, so synchronized it’s a little scary.
“Absolutely,” Namjoon adds.
“It wouldn’t be home without you,” Hoseok finishes.
And If Jungkook’s eyes well up with tears and he spends the next five minutes being cooed over by his six boyfriends, the absolute best people in the world- well, that’s no one’s business but his own.