ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʟᴇᴀʀ ᴇɴᴇᴍʏ || ᴊ.ᴡʏ + ᴄ.ꜱ

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗

At the break of dawn, the soldiers disassembled the tents and packed up to head out and hike back to their own camp.

Wooyoung had battled with mosquitos all night since they seemed to be drawn to Mingi. One had even bitten him in the middle of his forehead, among many other places, and it didn't go unnoticed.

"Those mosquitoes really molested you last night huh?" Mingi giggled at the red dot that Wooyoung was angrily itching at and making worse.

"Don't talk to me." Wooyoung pushed past the tall boy to grab his pack and line up. He hoped they never had to share a tent ever again.

"Are you sure you can't smell anything?" San asked Taehyung for the fourth time that morning, constantly getting a whiff of the orange they'd shared last night.

Taehyung shoved his hat back onto his curly black locks and huffily answered, briefly squinting at the other because of the rising sun shining in his eyes, "For the last time, no San, I can't. Now move it or I won't hesitate to make an example out of you." 

The older couldn't hide his moodiness that spurred from their conversation last night and clearly couldn't deny that San had a point—that him opening up to the boy and letting out his soft side was becoming too easy. Before this point, he wasn't even sure he had it in him anymore, but the frustrating boy in front of him was proof that he'd been wrong.

San saluted and did as he was told, taking his lead soldier at his word since he'd never been one to not follow through with his threats. Plus his moodiness meant the whole team would suffer so it was best to ward against it as much as possible.

"Do you smell that? A kind of citrus smell?" Seonghwa walked up beside him, everyone getting in order to start their hike back.

San shrugged his shoulders and kept walking, silently cursing his leader's carelessness, hoping that eventually his own sweat and everyone else's would cover it up.

Stupid Taehyung.

"Do you think them starving us has made me delirious?" Hwa joked in all seriousness and the two shared a laugh as Taehyung and San's brother made their way up to the front and the torturous walk back began. It was almost worse than the walk there since they'd had a shitty night of sleeping on the ground. San's shoulders felt terrible from the hard ground so the extra weight from his bag and gun on top of them was pure torture.

San took notice of Wooyoung's predicament and it seemed he wasn't doing much better considering the bugs had eaten him alive, leaving a huge red bite stamped on his face. The supposed tough guy looked hilarious as he scrunched up his face continuously on end, dying from how much it itched, giving San and Seonghwa some entertainment as they trudged along the dirt road with miles ahead of them.

Once they'd stepped foot back into the training camp, the soldiers had some soda ready for them after they'd handed in their guns. It was the bright light at the end of a sweaty and dusty road, ice-cold and the freshest thing they'd had since getting there. They all took small sips as they sat in the lunchroom, not taking a single one for granted, able to feel each tingle of the tasty drink slide down their dry, dehydrated throats.

Wooyoung sat with his sleeves pushed up and tattoos on full display, drinking casually, looking like he'd come straight out of a commercial, apart from the miniature-sized dodgeball in the middle of his forehead that was making everyone at camp crack a smile.

"I can't believe I've never noticed how amazing this shit is before!" Soobin had his head lazily lying against the table, only lifting it the tiniest inch to take another sip.