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+ Chapter 20.0

One more chance.

Those were the terms.

Only it felt far more like a death march than a victory lap.

...

The irony wasn't lost. Literally all of them understood exactly what the lyrics meant. Knew where they had come from. Had all, in their own way, contributed to the story that was being told.

It was less a masterpiece and more a swan song, all of them mentally preparing for this to be it. For this to be the end. Knew that their time together could be counted in days and weeks where before it had always been years that stretched out before them.

It wasn't that they were unwilling to change. Because they could already see the little ways they had all grown. Small things that eventually added up in ways they had never expected. No one could become entirely different over night. Long standing views didn't change just because they were confronted. It was a constant work in progress.

They were a constant work in progress.

...

"Seokjin Hyung?" How long had it been since Namjoon had actually addressed him that way? So full of respect and the type of deep affection they'd once held for one another.

"What is it, Namjoon-ah?" They were still trying to decide. Weather they should walk away or keep going. Continue fighting, standing by each other's sides or break apart.

"I just -" He could see how much of a struggle this was. Because Namjoon was used to making these kinds of decisions himself. But this was part of reaching out, trying to bridge the gap that had been formed between all of them. "I've been thinking."

"I thought I saw smoke coming from your room." It was corny and misplaced, but it was enough to make the other laugh. To lighten the heaviness that had fallen over them. Slowly, he pushed himself up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed before patting the place next to him. "Come on. Talk to hyung."

He watched with amusement as the other actually glanced over his shoulder through the open door, as if someone afraid that Jungkook was going to pop up out of nowhere and wring his neck for getting too close to his omega before actually following through. Reaching the place that had been offered and sitting down carefully.

"It's just -" It was quiet. Like he didn't want to actually say what he felt. "I don't want this to end, Hyung. We've worked so hard for all of this. I don't want to just walk away."

None of them wanted this to be the hill that they died on. The thing that sent them all in different directions. For this to be their legacy.

"But I don't know how to fix it." And maybe that was the problem. That none of them knew how to fix it. How to make it feel the way used to.

And maybe, that was what was at the heart of all of this. That they kept going through each day wondering when it would go back to feeling like it had. When they would start finding wonder and excitment in everything again. Their success was already so far beyond any of their wildest dreams that it didn't feel real.

They had lost sight of that. Lost sight of their direction. Their purpose. That was what they needed to find again.

"I don't think any of us do." There was no magic switch they could hit that would transport them back. That would suddenly have the light shining in their eyes and the determination sparking in their hearts. "But that's okay. We don't have to have all the answers. We just have to want it."

"What if one of us doesn't? What if -" There were so many variables. So many things that could go wrong.

"We could waste all the time in the world asking what if. It won't change anything." Wouldn't convince anyone to stay if they wanted to leave.