They were currently ignoring the elephant in the room.

They just had breakfast, stuffing one bag full of the equipment they needed for later. Checking around the room to make sure they had everything, Taehyung followed suit as Jeongguk walked out of the room, locking the door.

Reaching their parked car, they hopped in, the tension around them so thick Taehyung wanted the ground to swallow him whole.

When he woke up this morning, he had hoped to see Jeongguk at least next to him on the bed; but instead he found him sleeping on the couch. As if that wasn't bad enough as it was, he silently prayed that due to the amount of alcohol Jeongguk had in his system, the latter would've forgotten everything that happened between them.

But to Taehyung's utter gut wrenching horror, the mere amount of words that were shared between them said enough.

This entire trip stood in the light of them sharing this adventure as best friends, he would've never thought in the middle of it he had to reconsider what they were.

He couldn't lose Jeongguk; it wouldn't matter if he has to supress his true feelings towards him, pretend as if this never happened. Jeongguk meant too much to him, years of friendship couldn't just end up in the trash can like that.

He was so caught up in his thoughts, he visibly flinched when the route planner announced they'd reach their destination within an hour.

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"Here we are." Jeongguk said, turning off the engine. They sat looking at the tower for a moment, Taehyung forgetting to breathe for entirely different reasons.

His eyes bulged out of their sockets, his body shivering in fear.

"Jeongukkie, I don't think I can do this.." He looked at him with wide eyes.

The ravenette looked at his absolutely mortified face, memories of last night flooding back in.

"It'll be okay, Taehyung. I promise. Like I said, I'll take care of you, alright? I won't let you down."

Taking a deep breath, they got out of the car. Jeongguk got the bag with equipment, opening up the zipper to grab the climbing gear.

He took out ropes, the special harnesses that were supposed to fit around their hips and legs, and all other kinds of things that were going to provide their safety.

He took the things meant for Taehyung and walked back towards him, squatting down.

Taehyung looked down -he imagined this position in his head quite a few times in different situations, but that aside- and he lifted one leg so Jeongguk could help him get ready.

The ravenette strapped him in tightly, adjusting it so it'd fit him perfectly. He handed him a rope and whilst he held that, he watched as Jeongguk got himself ready.

Tehyung locked the car, handing Jeongguk the keys so that he could put them in the bag which he then strapped around his shoulders.

Once they were all set, they looked back up at the tower.

They had to crane their neck in an uncomfortable position in order to look all the way up, and still they couldn't see the very top.

"No, no I really can't do this." Taehyung stammered as he wobbled after Jeongguk, entering the middle of it and standing right in front of the rusty, metal ladder.

The entire thing looked very, very old, very unsafe, and once again, very, very tall. It was, let's be frank here.

Jeongguk clasped his hands, bouncing once before grabbing a hold of the ladder, taking two steps up.

He then looked back at Taehyung whose heart was leaping miles inside of his chest, genuinely feeling like he couldn't breathe properly.

"It'll be okay, Taehyung. I promise." He stuck out his hand, waiting for Taehyung to take it.

When he finally did, he pulled him up, now both of them lifted off the safe surface earth, holding onto the first metal bars.

Jeongguk went first, climbing up steadily. With shaking legs and profusely sweating hands, Taehyung climbed after him, telling himself to only look up.

When he did, he tried to mainly focus on Jeongguk and his reassuring words, or on the rest of the tower.

Bar after bar and after what felt like forever, he slowly looked down since his neck started to hurt.

Big, big mistake.

He gripped the bars so tightly, his knuckles turned white. At this point it looked like he was hugging the metal, tears welling up in his eyes which he quickly blinked away.

They weren't even that far up yet; they could still see the car in detail, and mostly everything on the ground.

Taehyung and Jeongguk's harnesses were connected with a rope that gave them around fifteen metres of length to climb between them. The moment one of them lacked too far behind -which was continuingly Taehyung- he would feel pressure and he would start to lift a little, making it harder for Jeongguk to climb up as he then had to pull up a bit of Taehyung's weight.

"Gguk, I don't feel so good.. can we take a break?"

The mentioned halted his actions,
"Of course, here." He clipped himself to one of the side bars, hanging in between that and the ladder which made Taehyung gulp nervously.

Jeongguk handed him the bottle of water, watching him take it with a visibly shaking hand.

He chuckles, "It isn't that bad, is it? We're not even halfway yet.. I think if we continue climbing at this rate, we'll reach the top in about two hours."

Taehyung, who was hugging the ladder as if his life depended on it, handed Jeongguk the water bottle and muttered a "Oh god, if I end up living after this I'll promise to always neatly make my homework and study for exams and-"

Snorting at that, Jeongguk clipped the backpack in its original position, swinging himself effortlessly back to the ladder.

"You are absolutely insane, did you know that? Look at you thriving on this shit, how in the world, even?!"

The ravenette laughed loudly at that, an even bigger smile appearing on his handsome features.

"We're strapped in safely, Taehyung. Nothing can or will happen. I can guarantee-"

"-Please tell me I am wrong, and I do not see the safety clip dangling around in the air, which means we're not connected to the tower, which means if I slip, you slip too, and we'll free fall to the ground, and we'd be dead and-" He rambled on and on, breath hitching at the sight and thought of it.

Jeongguk looked at it, nibbling on his lip.

"Pfft- thAt- it's nothing, don't worry about it."

He wasn't going to admit he forgot to clip themselves back to the tower, no.
Poor Taehyung would die on the spot.

Silently he cursed at himself, pretending as if that never happened whilst he secured them back properly.

"Ready to continue?" He looked back down, glancing at Taehyung, waiting for an answer.

"Absolutely not."

"Great, let's get it!"

Oh dear heavens.