Namjoon turned down a side road that would lead him to where Jungkook was waiting. He had just picked up Yoongi, who he had to wake up from a nap. A tip from the salmon haired, never wake Min Yoongi up, it's not a wise decision. 

As of now, Yoongi was looking slightly dazed out of the car window at the streets that surrounded them. This portion of town was a place that Namjoon didn't have the pleasure of saying he knew. It was a bit farther out near the suburbs of Seoul, which was quite different to the town he grew up in, Ilsan. Namjoon had been brought to Seoul by Baekhyun, who had insisted that they could start a new life together there. The then brunetts just 18 year old packed up everything he owned from his family's house and said goodbye to his loved ones and friends before getting in Baekhyun's car and never looked back. Their love had still been in the honeymoon stage at that point, still so full of passion that they were blinded and put into a naive position where nothing the other could do would ever be wrong. Thinking about it now, Namjoon had to have been in the honeymoon stage their entire relationship. Nothing ever seemed like it was wrong right up until the older had walked out, leaving Namjoon to realize that this whole multi-year relationship had been the least right thing in his entire life. 

The drive hadn't been too bad, traffic had been a nightmare but they had each other to keep company. Their first apartment had been small, three rooms, sort of like Jungkook's old place but slightly larger. It had been rough those first few months. Namjoon had entered into a highly ranked Seoul University for a business degree and could barely keep his one job. The boss seemed to hate everyone and would've preferred to work completely solo. He threatened to fire every one of them at least two, sometimes three times a day. On the other hand, it almost seemed like no one, not even crappy bosses who wanted nothing more than to get rid of their employees, wanted Baekhyun. 

It was a surprise when a job with a considerably high for their current situation paying job wanted the non-college educated male. He had accepted the job and soon was making more than enough to support the two. Namjoon found a better job where the employees were far nicer and the boss actually wanted to have said employees. The two moved out of their crappy apartment and into a spacious six room, upper level apartment with a Seoul skyline view. It had been happy for so long. Far too long. 

Then, it happened. Baekhyun had been invited out for a drink by his workmates. It had been the start of what Namjoon would call the older's addiction. He slowly started coming home less and less, started becoming someone else more and more. He wasn't Baekhyun anymore and Namjoon had been foolish enough to give that new person the same name. 

Just as oddly as it had started, it was over and Namjoon had had to manage the rent on such a nice apartment all alone. He didn't have Baekhyun's income to back him up anymore. He started restricting how he spent his money. Water became his only source of food, unless a friend offered to give him something, due to expenses, he couldn't replace broken things as easily, luxuries became few and far between. In those months of downcast, the then brunette earned his business degree. It had taken less than two weeks of having that diploma for the male to be approached by an older friend and classmate who asked for the younger male to be his business partner. Namjoon had eagerly accepted. So, Got Jams? Café was born. 

Namjoon had quit his job a month after the pink space opened. He soon made enough to eat and cover any expenses that aroused. He didn't know why he kept that old apartment or why he even stayed in Seoul to begin with. He could've left the second Baekhyun did. Returned to the comfort of Ilsan and his parents and sister. Instead, he remained, got a degree, opened a business, formed a 'family' of his own rather than go back to his birth family and work a dingy dollar store job. Of course the latter sounded horrible, but it also sounded familiar, comfortable, something that Namjoon had done before and grown to feel okay with being a part of. It was something that he could've gone home to and known that he had to support himself with and had zero added risk rather than be unsure if he was going to have enough money to have a roof over his head that night. Yet he stuck around. Was still stuck there. Still very much stuck. 

"This'll be JK's first trip to a fair." Namjoon said, glancing at a street sign.

"Ever?" Yoongi sleepily asked.

"Ever."

Yoongi hummed.

"Don't you think it's just a bit weird?"

"Talk to me about these kinds of things when I'm awake Namjoon."

"Aish, the one time you aren't overly curious."

"I am never overly curious."

"You keep telling yourself that."

"I will, thanks."

Namjoon shifted in his seat, "How was your day after work?"

"Great until you woke me up from my nap."

"So you'd have preferred me only take Jungkook to the fair?"

Yoongi groaned, "Don't make me choose between you two and my naps, Namjoon."

"Is it that hard of a decision?"

"Very hard. I've known naps all my life but I feel closer to you and Jungkook. It's like making me choose between two of my best friends."

"One of which is not an actual person."

"Hey, don't insult my sleep. If sleep was a person, I'm sure we'd be great friends. Maybe we'd have our tough times, but we'd work it out."

Namjoon hummed.

"Sorry, that sounded weird."

"Not at all. I'm sure we've all had metaphorical friendships at some point."

Yoongi laughed, "That makes it sound even weirder."

"You said it, not me."

"I mean, I think our friendship is more important. I could go days without having a good proper relationship with sleep and still consider this one the one I want more."

"Thanks, Hyung. It means a lot that you think that way."

"It should. I think pretty highly of sleep and to have actual people come before it is uncommon."

Namjoon laughed a little, "Alright, Hyung."

Yoongi sat up a bit in his seat and stretched, "What do you think we'll do first when we get there?"

"Well, I think we should end the night with the Ferris wheel. That's the only thing I've properly thought about. Is there anything you'd want to do?"

"I heard the fair's funnel cakes are good considering they're a foreign recipe."

"So, you want to eat?"

"Yeah."

"You're starting to sound more and more like Seokjin as the days go by, hyung."

"Why do you make that sound like it's a bad thing?"

"Because it is. Before you know it, you'll be making stupid Dad jokes and have a windshield wiper laugh and then you'll regret ever thinking that sounding like Seokjin was a good thing."

"Unless I trade minds or do some kind of body switch, I doubt that I'll take on any of that."

"You don't get it, do you? Seokjin-itis is a very serious disease and will infect your brain. Just you wait."

"I really don't think it's that serious."

"That's because you haven't witnessed the disease first hand. You know Hoseok, that chef at the café?"

"Yeah, he's a friend of mine."

"Really?"

"Yeah, we don't talk much anymore."

"Why don't you?"

Yoongi shrugged, "Get on with your synopsis, Namjoon."

"Right, Hoseok started hanging around Seokjin and doubted me just as much as you do and you know what happened to him?"

"What?"

"Started cracking the worst Dad jokes ever. It was unbearable. Even he agreed with that. Said it was like something in his brain was forcing him to say those things."

"Did his laugh change?"

"Surprisingly not. I guess his laugh was too prominent and unique for Seokjin-itis to take over."

"True, Hobi has got quite the laugh."

"That he does." Namjoon adjusted his rearview mirror, "About the fair activities-"

"Let's worry about that when we get there. It'll be more fun for Jungkook, I think, if we just wing it and make decisions spur of the moment. He'll get to decide where he's going and we can point things out as we go."

"Yeah, that sounds good. We're about there anyway so there's not too much time to plan."

"Where are we meeting him?"

"Outside of this old clothes shop on the corner of Hot Place and Holland."

"HISTORY? Why there?"

Namjoon shrugged, "Closer to the fair anyways."

"True." Yoongi shifted a little, "How far away is it?"

"It's about a street away, maybe a little less."

The car went silent as the two kept their eyes out for the young boy that they were going to pick up. Knowing him, he was going to be in all black despite it being quite late outside and there being very little light coverage. The old Hyundai pulled up to the curb where they could find a space which was about two buildings away from HISTORY. Yoongi rolled down his window and looked the street up and down. Namjoon glanced out the back window.

"Isn't that him leaning against the building?"

Yoongi leaned out the window a bit farther, "Yeah, I think so."

"Call for him."

"Yo! Jungkookie!" Yoongi shouted, making the boy, whose hood was up, jolt his head upward.

The boy glanced at the car before standing and making his way to it. The boy pulled his hood off and revealed a slightly tired looking Jungkook.

"Hey." Namjoon smiled.

"Hi." Jungkook murmured as he opened the car door and slid into the back seat.

"Hey, Kookie. How was your day?" Yoongi asked.

"It was good."

"Was the wifi too much of an issue?" Namjoon asked.

"No, I got it sorted out for him."

"That's good, I'm sure he appreciated it." Yoongi said as Namjoon had explained to him why Jungkook had left early when he picked him up.

"Yeah."

"Well, is there anything that you're looking forward to the most at the fair, Kook?" Namjoon said, starting the car.

"Um, the funnel cake sounds nice."

"A man of my own heart." Yoongi smiled, "I'm looking forward to the funnel cake too."

"You too?" Namjoon groaned, "He has Seokjin-itis as well."

"He hasn't even met Seokjin, Namjoon." Yoongi turned a little in his seat, "Don't mind him. He's just being weird."

"When is he not?" Jungkook mumbled but loud enough for the two in the front to hear.

Yoongi burst out laughing while Namjoon furrowed his eyebrows and exclaimed, "Hey!"

"Honestly Joon, you had it coming." Yoongi said, mid laugh.

"I can't believe innocent little Jungkookie said that."

Jungkook shrugged.

Namjoon sighed, "Other than the funnel cake, is there anything else that you're looking forward to?"

"Um, the prizes, I guess. I'd like to win an- One. I'd like to at least win one."

Yoongi hummed, "That's a reasonable goal that I think we can achieve."

"Yeah, I think that's something we can do."

Namjoon glanced at the rearview mirror to see Jungkook smiling warmly towards the two in the front. The salmon haired put a smile of his own on and glanced over at Yoongi who was also smiling.

"Hey Jungkookie, which street is yours?" Yoongi asked, gesturing out the car window towards the streets of houses.

Jungkook paused, "Mines back there on Seesaw street."

The answer seemingly didn't satisfy the mint haired whose eyebrows furrowed slightly at hearing that they had already passed the younger's house, "Ah, okay."

"What's your house like, Kook?" Namjoon said, cutting the awkward tension that the question had brought up.

"Well, it has a yellow door and it's two stories. My Mom and Dad's room is on the far right after you've climbed the stairs and my rooms on the left, next to," Another pause, "next to storage. Downstairs there's a kitchen and living room which are attached and through a door in the kitchen is the dining room. We don't eat there often."

"It sounds nice. I'd like to see it sometime."

"O-Oh, my parents don't really like visitors."

"Oh, okay. That's fine."

"Um, how long until we get to the fair?"

"About five more minutes. You can see the lights from here actually." Yoongi said, looking out the window.

"I'm really excited to get to go with you, hyungs." Jungkook said, his voice overflowing with excitement.

"We're really happy you wanted to come." Namjoon said, making a turn.

The fair came into view with that turn. Baekhyun had mentioned wanting to take Namjoon to a fair once. It hadn't been much more than that though, simply Baekhyun saying it and then never fulfilling it. 

The older had always been like that. He was a dreamer with so many dreams yet never dreamed about how to make them become a reality. He'd rather live in a fantasy than the world he had been given. He'd like to imagine that Namjoon was a partier and that they were perfect together. That they went on perfect dates and were everyone else's idea of a perfect couple. That when they fought, they always figured things out and never held grudges. That he didn't have to go out and get drunk to be happy. 

Yet he never worked to achieve what he so desperately dreamed of having. He kept convincing himself that all of those ideas and wishes were true to the point he'd drink to stop from comparing this world to the one he held so dearly in his head. He'd drink so he could avoid seeing the world as dull as it was and let the drunkenness swirl it in a way he could at least somewhat enjoy. 

Namjoon supposed that soon enough, Baekhyun realized that being drunk shouldn't bring him the most happiness. That he deserved his fantasies in real life and knew that he could never start fresh with the younger. He'd already left a sour impression and knew that this would always be held against him. By friends, by family, by even Namjoon. He didn't want to try and change knowing that his past would always grip him by the throat and say "this is what you did and can never cover up". Even Baekhyun, who had done only what he wanted and took no notice to the effect it had on others must've known that there was too much to fix and that it was highly unlikely to ever be what it was in the beginning. Their relationship could never be as amazing as what he had dreamed and somehow, they both knew that. 

They both knew everything was coming to a close weeks before Baekhyun had finally packed up and gone. Namjoon hadn't wanted to admit it and instead buried the feeling down so deep that not even he realized he knew until months after the apartment was solely his. So, Baekhyun, on a mission to finally achieve his dreams, called a "friend", though Namjoon always knew that something more must have been lurking around the corner, and packed everything that belonged to him and drove away. 

Maybe they went to another city, another country, maybe even just a different apartment building, but they went far away. So far that Namjoon had never seen either of them ever again and was glad for that. He didn't want to see them. Too scared of how he would react upon seeing them happy in a way their relationship never made them feel. Namjoon could only hope that they were some place where things were easier and they could be together as them. He hoped that Baekhyun had stopped drinking, at least less than he had before, and that they were together whenever they could be instead of one being one place and one the other. He wished them the best and was steadily moving on.

"Now then, who's ready for a night at the fair?"

Word Count: 2731

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Wow! Thank you all for five thousand reads! This is the fastest I've ever achieved that. Thank you so much for reading this story. I love this one so much and it makes me so happy to see that you all enjoy it too.
In a tad bit, I will be posting my Christmas story, "Twelve Days". OG readers of this account will know that I posted a story of the same name last Christmas that I unpublished. Well, this is the refurbished edition! There will be daily updates (oooo ahhhh)! I hope you all will check it out!
Thank you so much for reading and I'll see you all next week!

(A/N: Can me two years ago get some applause for the final Namjoon/Baekhyun revelation? That was epic, me!)