Camp Counselors | vkook

05 | day 17

WARNING: viewer's discretion severely advised - some of you may not make it out of this video alive

It was the annual summer talent show, and the mood around camp had shifted - lighter and brighter than usual.

Campers buzzed - the show was an initiation of sorts. Regulars already had their cliques and the newcomers had to prove themselves; mentioning how good they were at singing or dancing wasn't good enough. The older campers sat on the back benches of the amphitheater, arms crossed over their chests. They were usually the leaders of their groups and they took the talent show very seriously - they were going to be passing out of their camper stages by the end of the summer and they had to continue their legacy somehow.

Locking and popping used the get the loudest applause, even a standing ovation at times. It was rumored that campers who didn't dance learned slaved during the off-season out of the hopes of being able to make it into the biggest group once the summer came around again. But, over the years, the audience got tired - the moves were repetitive, and the soundtracks even more so. The singers with their original songs started to make rise. Contemporary dancers with their slow sensuality and tight spins were more popular. Duets, whether dancing or singing, were the most popular.

It wasn't that all duet performances were good. It was the way the performers performed with each other, girl and boy or boy and boy or girl and girl, that made the audience roar with approval.

The amphitheater's only lighting came from the sunset and, after that, the match-lit lanterns hanging from the trees. Under the orange glow, the blush in both performer's cheeks was iridescent. With singers, one looked at the other with awe, as if each time they listened to their other harmonize was like the first time they heard them sing all over again. They wore gentle smiles on their faces as if the rest of camp wasn't watching over them - like they were back in their practice room with each other, and each other only. When it came to dancers, it was the way they clung to each other, chests rising and falling quickly, that made the camp swoon. They held each other and nuzzled each other's necks and kissed each other's cheeks as if there wasn't any chemistry there.

The talent show was the night ships set sail. Couples were theorized and solos were dedicated out to audience members. Crushes were developed as even the most innocent of the campers swooped their hair back and ground their hips and growled into microphones. It was a night of revelation - if a friendship didn't shift that night, it didn't shift for the rest of the summer.

Jungkook and Taehyung held talent show night close to their hearts, even if they didn't admit it to each other.

Jungkook was excited for what was to come with his first talent show as a counselor, given how exciting the previous year's had been with his last year as a camper. But as he led his set of kids into the amphitheater, his heart dropped when he spotted Jin, a look of near-disgust on the older's face. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing as he tried to get his share of campers seated, Jin's narrowed eyes trained onto the small of his back. It took all of Jungkook's self-control to keep from yelping when Jin grabbed him by the curve of his ear and dragged him out of the amphitheater, mumbling about his four year sob story under his breath.

Though Jungkook had control over what he said, he couldn't keep the embarrassment from coloring his face as he watched people point at the two of them, laughing at the way Jungkook let Jin manhandle him.

Instead of warming his hands at the hearth of the bonfire at the front of the amphitheater, Jungkook was shivering next to a dying fan Jin had set up just for the two of them. Instead of watching as a blank ink bleed into the colors in the sky, Jungkook was sitting under harsh lamplight, the oils in his hair and on his face glistening. Instead of being sandwiched between Jimin and Taehyung like he normally would be, Taehyung's arm wrapping loosely around his waist, Jungkook was across from a seemingly unimpressed Jin, who didn't look happy to see him.