Rythmic drumming against the plastic planes above their heads lulled Jungkook into a mindless state.

It was pissing it down ever since they left Jimin's shrine, which was as always greatly inconvenient because acidic rain was Jungkook's arch nemesis - something he could not yet get rid of by swinging his scythe around a little.

On top of that was it chilly and the rain hadn't allowed them to make it that far, so now they were hiding under the brittle, untrustworthy roof of a roadside kiosk, out in the open. If there were any Prowlers hiding nearby they'd be dead meat, for a fight in the rain could end up crucial even for Jungkook.

Y/N was sitting on the ground next to him, tensed up with her knees dragged against her chest, eyes roaming to either side of the long road that led down Jimin's hill.

Even now - pale and tired, a little bundle of nerves on the ground - he still thought that there was nothing in the world that compared to the portrait that she painted. Right now - no actually whenever he looked at her - he was filled with this deep adoration. One that he was unable to properly express at times, even if he wasn't shy of putting it in words. He just lacked the vocabulary to bring across what he really meant.

Actually, Jungkook doubted that there were words capable of describing his feelings.

She shifted a little when she felt him look at her, a tiniest acknowledgement of his attention.

She was upset, Jungkook knew it. He would've known it without looking at her, but right now the thin line her lips described, the empty eyes that tried so hard to hide their distress or the fiddling hands, fingers picking at skin, made it even more obvious to him.

Jimin had kicked them out, to put it simple.

"Y/N, Hyung I love you two, but please don't stay here. I- I can't live like you do. There are CORPSES rotting away behind the house. CORPSES!"

Jungkook understood it. Jimin was a pacifist. Hot-headed and sassy, yes, but he was the type of person that would catch a spider with a glass and a piece of paper to gently bring it outside. Jungkook would simply crush it.

He also knew that Y/N understood it as well. She simply adored this little blonde more than she should've - they were bound to leave him and if it was by him throwing them out, then so be it.

"Hey, Chibi-" Jungkook started, crouching down to face her.

"Hm?"

"We can go back one day. He won't cuss us out. Shorty doesn't hate you."

She nodded, "I know. I'm not... I just regret, because I feel like I never properly thanked him. While you were gone... well I think I was being kind of complicated. I regret that I never really showed him how grateful I feel."

Jungkook smiled, one hand coming up to softly stroke down the side of her jaw. She wasn't looking at him, eyes still stubbornly trained onto the road.

"Are ya mad at me? If I hadn't killed these guys maybe Jimin woulda been more calm."

She shrugged, "What else were you supposed to do?" She sounded helpless as if trying to convince herself.

Jungkook lacked that kind of empathy Jimin held toward these men who had tried to kill him, so it was hard for him to understand this struggle his girlfriend was going through.

Essentially, she wasn't much different than Jimin in that aspect - both felt empathy toward strangers. Y/N's experiences had just made her adapt a more realistic view onto these things.

She had said it herself once: "It's either us or them."

"Right." Jungkook said, "What was I supposed to do."

The hand on her jaw wandered up to cup the back of her head, gentle fingers sprawling out when Jungkook leaned down to press his lips against hers.

Her lips were cold, skin dry. His tongue darted over a cut where she must've bitten herself, eliciting a protesting sound.

"You-" She glared up at him when he leaned back again, dopey grin on his face while a pair of expressive eyes shot daggers at him. "You really need to learn how to read the room, Jeon."

"At least ya don't look sad anymore~" He grinned, flicking her forehead playfully. Jungkook sucked at comforting people, he knew that - hell, he'd never believed he would be the one doing the comforting one day.

"Come on now," He dragged her up by the arm, "The rain's stopped for now. If we hurry we can make it into town before it starts pickin' up again."

"Wait, no, let's wait, if it starts raining while we're in the open, we'll- JUNGKOOK YOU LITTLE SHIT I SAID WAIT-!"

"We still have so much left to do~!" He whistled over his shoulder.

___

"What is that?!"

Jungkook gaped, horror in his eyes indescribable. It reminded me of that one time my dad had found half boiled eggs that had been rotting away in the back of the fridge for three months - the expression of utter terror was about the same.

"What. Is. That?"

"Tha- That's a Furby, Jungkook."

"A what?"

"A Furby. It's a children's toy, so would you please put your scythe down."

Skeptically (and still terrified) Jungkook put his weapon down, reaching out to grab the incredibly dusty toy off the shelf.

"It's so ugly."

"Please don't touch that." I grimaced at the cloud of dust puffing up around the doll.

Unsurprisingly, going in a toy store with Jungkook was just down my lane of humor - poor man's never had a childhood to begin with so seeing him discover the terrifying truth that kids do play with Furbies was kind of entertaining.

"AAH-" Jungkook dropped the toy that had suddenly started talking and moving, one heavy combat boot coming down to end the innocent doll's life, "IT FUCKING MOVED."

"That's what they're supposed to do." I bit my cheek trying my damn hardest not to laugh at his distress, "Hm. I'm surprised that it still works."

He shook his head incredulous, "Did you play with shit like that?"

"I... no, actually. I was more the Monster High doll type, if you know what I mean."

He blinked. I looked down awkwardly. Right, he didn't know, "I'll show you if we pass by one." I cleared my throat, before walking past Jungkook, eyes searching for a glimpse of my once beloved Frankie - or even better, Draculaura - dolls.

Our trip to this toy store was quite pointless since the only somehow useful resources to find here were Look-O-Look candy, but I understood that it was my boyfriend's silly attempt of cheering me up.

Honestly, I hadn't needed any cheering-up. Getting kicked out by a friend simply hurts and it takes some time to get over it, but hey, live goes on.

"Up there!" I pointed at the top of a shelf, where the familiar face of Clawdeen Wolf grinned at me, jumping up and down on my tip toes to get a hold of it.

"Really?" Jungkook snorted, voice a mixture of incredulous and fascinated. He bent down slightly to hook his arms around my knees, lifting me up so I could reach the packaged doll with ease.

"Ahh this takes me back." I giggled, ogling the fluffy hair and pointy teeth once I'd gotten a hold of it, "They even have the older models."

I was still kind of seated in Jungkook's arms, rummaging through the messy shelf.

"Sheesh, look at those prices." I mumbled while looking for more dolls of the same brand.

"S' that a lot?" Jungkook looked up at me, arms tightening around my legs.

"For a kids toy? Yes. Especially the old ones. But they're - were - really popular." I broke into a smile, "Look, that's my favorite!" I reached for the package containing a blue haired doll.

"What's her name?" I tapped against the large name printed on the lower part of the package, wanting Jungkook to read it out loud. Honestly, it was a little mean of me to test Jungkook all of a sudden. We hadn't gotten to practice in ages, but I was feeling light hearted and kind of giddy.

- My boyfriend was holding me up so I could take a look at my favorite toys from childhood days. What else could a girl possibly want.

"Geu-..." Jungkook scowled, "Gl-ia."

I laughed, "Almot. It's pronounced like the 'oo' in 'pool'"

"Ah." He nodded. I understood that he didn't feel comfortable with trying this all of a sudden.

I put the dolls back, neatly from where I got them as if this store were still open and we'd get in trouble if I just left them laying around.

"D'you not wanna take one with you?"

"What? Oh-" For a second I'd forgotten that this store was in fact not open for business, "-sure." I took the Clawdeen doll back, clasping it against my chest before Jungkook let me down again.

Once my feet were back on the ground again I straightened up, ready to leave, til I noticed Jungkook looking at me. He had his head slightly cocked to the side, slightest smile making his face look younger than usually. I smiled back confused, "What?"

He grinned, breaking out into soft giggles, "You're cute, Chickie."

"Huh?" I nudged his side with one elbow, hands occupied with holding the still packaged doll, "All of a sudden?"

His grin deepened, one hand coming up to pinch my cheek, "Hope ya enjoy the doll, Chickie. We got a lot of work to do."

Ah.

Right.

I wedged the doll under my arm to reach for the paper slip in my pocket.

"This is so fucking stupid." I mumbled, crumpling the note in my fist.

"It was your idea, Chibi!" Jungkook whistled from further away. Damn his super-hearing, "All in the name of science, am I right?"

My eyes fell on the doll's face grinning up at me confidently, "We can't go back on out words now, can we, Clawdeen?" Clawdeen resolutely didn't answer.

___

I'M SO SORRY GUYS I THOUGHT I HAD PUBLISHED THIS CHAPTER LAST WEEKEND BUT I FORGOT??.?

Imagine the fumcking heart attack I had when I saw that it was still saved as draft

anyways, take this Monster High doll scene as an extra, hope you liked it :')

xx