Paradise

5

"How about we make things a little more... interesting?" he suggested as he wiggled his eyebrows.

Jimin POV

"Interesting how?" I asked.

"Let's make it a tag team race. See which duo can make it to the top first," Tae proposed as he folded his arms. "You two down?"

"I mean, I'm down..." Jungkook answered. "What about you Namjoon hyung?"

"Sure. Although you and I are pretty experienced at this. I'm not sure those two would-"

"Oh don't worry about that. You would each be on different teams," Taehyung cut in with a smug grin.

"Oh. So then how do we decide who's on which team?" the bosun questioned.

"You two play Kai Bai Bo and whoever wins gets first pick."

Both of them nodded in agreement as they turned to each other, their right hands balled into fists. They rapidly chanted the saying before they held out their signs:

Jungkook chose rock.

Namjoon chose cloth.

Namjoon pumped his hands in the air excitedly as he turned to look back and forth between me and Tae. He squinted his eyes in deep thought, his hand rubbing his chin slowly as he analyzed Tae first. I secretly hoped that I wouldn't be on a team with Jungkook so, when Namjoon shifted his attention to me, I tried my best to silently communicate to him that I wanted him to choose me. When I glanced over at Jungkook, our eyes met for a split second before he turned his gaze back to Namjoon who looked like he had finally made up his mind. I bit my lip as he broke the silence.

"...I choose Jimin!"

I breathed a sigh of relief at his words and I gave him a sincere smile as I bowed my head to him. Even though I only wanted him to choose me so I wasn't paired up with the hot lead deckhand, I was appreciative of the fact that I was his first choice. I could feel Jungkook's eyes boring a hole in the back of my head as I walked over to join the older male who caught me off guard when he wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

"There's no way I wouldn't choose you after that sick performance you did on the trampoline," he reasoned with a warm smile that showed off his adorable dimples. I ducked my head bashfully at his praise, totally missing the annoyed eye roll and tongue in cheek that he received from his lead deckhand.

"Well that's fine with me. That means I get to be paired with Mr. Macho," Tae joked as he hooked his arm with Jungkook's. I lowered my gaze to their joined arms, confused about the weird pang I suddenly felt in my chest. "We got this for sure! Am I right, Jungkook?!" he inquired.

I instantly shifted my gaze to Jungkook to hear his response, a bit flustered to see that he was already looking at me. I couldn't tell what he was thinking though, his expression unreadable as he stared at me. After a couple of seconds he turned his attention back to Taehyung, a bright smile taking over his features.

"You bet we're going to crush it!" he replied, his voice exuding confidence. "I'm very competitive, so I won't go down without a fight," he added with a smirk. I giggled at his comment, loving the optimism coming from the opposing team.

"We'll see..." I muttered as I quirked an eyebrow, earning a bunny-like grin from Jungkook.

After the two crewmen equipped themselves with harnesses, we went over the ground rules and discussed which person would go first. It was decided that Namjoon and Taehyung would be the starters, so that left me and Jungkook to be the anchors for our team. Each team had to climb up the rock wall and touch the couch before their teammate could begin. And whichever team had their anchor touch the couch first would win it for their duo.