Sempiternal: • Contaminated • || BOOK 3#

3. Approaches for the future

Namjoon takes occasional glances to the right, where Jungkook eats apart from the rest of the group. It's not unusual. The situation has not changed his shyness. Quite the opposite, he might say. Namjoon bites his cheeks with his head to the front How to talk to him? Even if he tries not to explode at the slightest, Jungkook is quite surly and seeks to anger him. Attack him on the points that hurt him and thus prevent the discussion from stretching. Namjoon have never had this problem before. Jungkook is exceedingly calm with him.

He must also admit that Jungkook in his silly puppy crush allowed to put any idea and receive his support. Whether it was a bad idea or not, Jungkook's support would be assured. Having lost his privileges is a weight on top of the many more to his credit. Taehyung sits next to Namjoon, bundling up with a huge blanket on top of him.

"He's not eating much."

"Huh?" Namjoon turns to Taehyung, who is keeping an eye on Jungkook.

"He didn't take much food and yet he's taking too long to eat," says Taehyung who shivers and squeezes into himself. "It happens all the time now and it worries me."

"He always eats well. The usual." points out Namjoon and Taehyung shakes his head.

"Every time he faces infected or kills them, he doesn't eat much. Every time we came out of the pit, I had to feed him because he didn't want to" Taehyung explains quietly and opens his arms to receive Yeontan. His pampered dog, full of cold because of the bad cut he got. No one here was a dog groomer. Namjoon furrows his eyebrows, trying to make a memory in what Taehyung shrieks at his pet. "I don't know why it's that way, but it's getting too often and it's starting to get thin."

"And he hasn't given you any hints?"

"No. We haven't talked about it."

Namjoon feels that indirectly, Taehyung is giving him a way to get closer to Jungkook. A topic of conversation that isn't Jimin and at the same time can help restore even a little bit of what they had. Being at each other's throats and separated is terrible. Much worse now where they need to feel that they have someone. That they are not alone. Jungkook is quite detached at times, not so inwardly. He loves to have them close. Companionship is almost urgent for him. Yet here he is, isolated from the others like an outcast.

Dinnertime is over, everyone scatters along the train. That way the heat they generate won't attract another herd. As is customary, they take an entire wagon and thus have their privacy. Jungkook stands at the entrance of the next carriage. It is empty and he can use it if he wants to. He nods with narrowed eyes, sitting on one of the blue seats and looking at the cloth-covered window. The absolute gloom makes him uneasy and shiver.

The cold, unbelievably, sneaks through the smallest open cracks so as not to suffocate inside the train. He gives a silent exclamation for feeling someone beside him.

"You didn't eat much." Namjoon goes straight to that point. Before Jungkook gives some inane comment and pretends to start another verbal fight. The younger one shrugs his shoulders.

"I wasn't very hungry." Jungkook excuses disinterestedly. Namjoon slides a little in the seat.

"I'm surprised, considering you didn't eat much at any point during the day yesterday either." says Namjoon. Taking Taehyung's words for granted. They also dealt with infected yesterday. Therefore, Jungkook consumed a poor ration of food. "You've been giving up eating for a while now."

"What's it to you?"

Namjoon decides not to answer that question. It would bring only an argument. Jungkook shivers with cold and rubs his hands, feeling them full of cracks and scratchy skin. Namjoon breaks the silence again: