Chapter Text
The boy from Three was drawing flowers on his arms. Taehyung’s fire-making was starting to get boring, so he wandered over for a closer look.
“Those are really good.”
The boy looked up, wide-eyed, and quickly looked down again. “Thanks.”
Taehyung sat down on the floor next to him. If he was going to die in a few days, there was no reason not to make friends. And people had alliances all the time, didn’t they? “I’m Taehyung. District Eleven.”
“I know.”
Taehyung made a face. “What, have you been stalking me?”
“N-no?” The look of genuine alarm made him regret his attempt at a joke. “Everybody knows who you are.”
“I was kidding. Who are you?”
“Jungkook,” the boy mumbled. “District Three.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” said Taehyung. “Will you teach me how to draw like that?”
Jungkook just looked confused.
“That’s okay. My mentor told me not to bother anyone, I hope I’m not bothering you.”
“No…”
“Well that’s a relief. I’m gonna go back to trying to not to throw the fire-making stuff across the room.”
Jungkook nodded, and Taehyung went back to his station, where Yuuna looked scandalized.
“You’re not supposed to talk to anyone,” she hissed.
“We can talk to people. Just not people who might want to kill us.”
“Everybody wants to kill us.”
“Then I guess we shouldn’t talk to each other either.”
“I guess not.”
They worked in stony silence for a while, and Taehyung got a decent little flame started at last. He looked up to see an archery station open, and since that took a long time to master but he was definitely more likely to be good at it than at actually fighting another person, he headed there before anyone else could.
Using a bow and arrows wasn’t complicated, but it was harder to get the arrow to go at the exact level Taehyung wanted it, and sometimes while he was busy aiming, he’d forget about his draw hand, so the arrow only bounced pitifully from the string when he let it go. He could feel eyes boring into his back, and then someone laughed.
“Looks like his Victor boyfriend couldn’t buy him any skill.”
Taehyung scowled, but he’d broken most of Yoongi’s rules already, so he didn’t turn around.
“I mean, he wouldn’t be out of place in District One,” said someone else. “Style over substance, as they say.”
“Hey!” exclaimed the first person, presumably from District One.
“Well, look at you.”
They went bickering away, and Taehyung went back to trying to hit closer to the center than the very outer edge of the target. If they hit the target at all, all his arrows struck either the very bottom or the very top, depending on which had happened previously and made him adjust his aim.
Quiet as a shadow, Jungkook slipped into the station next to him and picked up the bow to examine it. He could have been either an expert checking its quality or someone trying to figure out what it was and what it was used for, with the careful way his eyes moved across the smooth metal. Taehyung hoped the drawing of wood sorrel on the inside of his forearm wouldn’t get too smudged.
Finished with his examination of the bow, Jungkook selected an arrow, examined that, too, nocked it, and eyed the distance to the target. Taehyung examined him, too, curious. Jungkook drew halfway, seemed to realize he was being stared at, and glanced almost guiltily at Taehyung.
“I’m just watching.”
“Okay.” Jungkook licked his lips and turned his attention back to the target, beginning to draw again. “Um. Please don’t watch me?”
“Okay, I’ll close my eyes.” Taehyung did, and heard the swish of an arrow through the air a few seconds later. “How’d you do?”
“Not great…” Jungkook laughed slightly.
“That’s okay. I’m not a very good shot either. Can I open my eyes now?”
“Sure.”
“Oh wow, you hit the target on your first try?”
Jungkook fidgeted with his bow.
“I kept hitting the floor, but now I can hit either the top or the bottom, but never anywhere in between.”
“Heh.” Jungkook turned away to pick up another arrow, and Taehyung looked politely away while he drew and released, and the arrow drove into the top of the target with a solid thunk .
“Nice job!” Taehyung clapped. “Watch this.”
He probably had a fifty-fifty chance of hitting the target at all, and to his surprise, it was actually a solid shot, landing squarely in the outer ring once again.
“Nice,” said Jungkook quietly, and picked up another arrow.
They practiced side by side without further conversation, and Taehyung snuck glances with no small amount of envy as Jungkook’s shots moved steadily closer to the center of the target. Taehyung applauded when he landed a hit on the very center.
“I think you’re a natural at this!”
Jungkook blushed.
“What’s your secret?”
“I just heard somebody talk about exhaling right before you shoot.”
“I’ll try it.”
If it helped his aim, it was only a very little bit, but Taehyung was pleased with an increase in consistency, at least.
“Now it’s only fair for me to help you with the plants. That’s something I am good at.”
“Now?”
“If you want.” Taehyung shrugged. “Or another time, whatever you want.”
They spent the rest of the morning working together at the edible plants station. Taehyung invited Jungkook to eat lunch with him, which he declined. Maybe he thought Taehyung was marking him out as a target, which was a sad thing to think, so Taehyung left him alone for the rest of the day and struck up a conversation with the girl from Nine instead.
“I made a friend,” he told Jimin that evening when he asked him how it had gone.
“A friend?”
“Yeah. Jungkook from District Three. He got perfect at the bow without even trying.” Taehyung pouted. “I could barely hit the target, but he showed me a trick.”
“That’s nice…”
“He’s really shy. It’s cute.”
Jimin still looked concerned. “Didn’t Yoongi say don’t draw attention to yourself?”
“People are already paying attention to me whether I draw them or not. Some of the Careers laughed at my archery. But then they argued with each other, so it was fine. Jungkook is really drawing a lot more attention by being so good at everything.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t draw his attention to you ?”
“I just got lonely.”
“You can call me if you get lonely,” said Jimin. “Or talk to Yuuna, I guess.”
“I think she kind of hates me.”
“Yeah.” Jimin sighed. “Please be careful, Tae. This isn’t really the place to make friends. I got literally stabbed in the back for it.” Taehyung winced at the reminder. “Jungkook’s not going to be around after a few weeks anyway.”
Taehyung reeled back. “I’m not going to kill him!”
“Probably not, but someone will.”
“Well he might win, you never know.”
Jimin inhaled sharply. “Don’t say that.”
“It’s true.”
“Don’t.”
Sighing, Taehyung let himself flop over and rest most of his weight on Jimin, and Jimin’s chilly hand wrapped around his wrist so delicately that he might have been made of glass. They didn’t talk for several minutes.
“I know,” said Jimin finally. “But I knew about me, too, and… things can happen. I don’t want to lose you just because you talked to the wrong person when maybe… do you get what I’m saying?”
“I do.”
Taehyung talked to Jungkook again the next day anyway. The younger boy actually looked happy to see him, breaking into a small, bashful smile when Taehyung joined him in building a shelter. Together, they constructed something decent and crawled inside.
“My siblings would be impressed,” said Taehyung, ignoring the twinge in his chest that came with thinking of them.
“How many do you have?” Jungkook asked.
They talked in their shelter until Taehyung remembered where they were and what they were meant to be doing. “I wasn’t kidding when I asked if you’d teach me how to draw like that. Are you any good at camouflage?”
“I don’t know…” Jungkook worried his bottom lip between his teeth. “I really need to ask one of the trainers to practice with a sword or something with me.”
“I won’t watch you.”
Jungkook chuckled and made no move to get out of their shelter.
“So are you going to go?”
Jungkook looked awkward. “This is going to sound so stupid.”
“I bet it won’t,” Taehyung challenged.
“Well… I kind of don’t want to ask.”
Taehyung nodded sagely. “I can ask for you.”
“You would?”
“Sure, as long as you teach me all about camouflage after lunch.” Taehyung crawled out of the shelter and offered Jungkook a hand to stand up.
“Do you still want to have lunch together?” Jungkook asked softly as they walked.
Taehyung couldn’t stop the smile that stretched his face. “I’d love to.”
Jungkook was just as impressive at fighting as he was at shooting. At least Taehyung thought so, in the brief glances he got during his own training. He was strong and sure when he moved, and he picked things up quickly. Taehyung’s own lesson went okay, and he rejoined Jungkook a little high on success and sat down smiling.
“You looked good out there.”
“Thanks for asking for me.”
“No problem.” Taehyung slurped the most delicious noodles he’d ever had, thin, clear ones in rich sauce.
“You know, maybe we shouldn’t be helping each other this much.”
Taehyung considered this. “Well, maybe we could be allies.”
Jungkook’s eyes darted toward him.
“You can protect me, and I can find food for us. It’s smart.”
The beginnings of a smile played around Jungkook’s lips. “I’ll have to ask my mentor…”
“Mine won’t be happy. Actually, I don’t know who’s really my mentor. Jimin won’t be happy.”
“He doesn’t want you to have allies?”
“He’s just weird about it.”
“I guess everything’s weird here.”
They didn’t discuss it further, but went on to the camouflage station together once they finished their lunch.
“How did the plant studying go?” Taehyung asked while Jungkook smeared a heavy layer of clay onto his arm.
“Pretty good. I don’t know if I’d trust myself enough to eat anything I found, though.”
“Guess that’s why you need me.”
“Guess so.” Jungkook applied a small amount of moss next, and Taehyung followed along. “Hmm.”
“What?”
“Can I try something?”
“Okay.”
Jungkook leaned studiously over Taehyung’s arm, and suddenly Taehyung couldn’t resist poking the tip of his nose and leaving a smear of mud behind. Jungkook blinked at him, round-eyed and confused, before his face broke into a grin and he wiped the berry juice on his hand over Taehyung’s cheek. Snickering, Taehyung squirmed away.
“What was that for?” Jungkook asked, wiping mud off his nose and just leaving a wider smear in its place.
“I don’t know. You missed it all.” Taehyung grabbed one of the provided wipes and swooped the mud away while Jungkook went a little cross-eyed trying to follow his hand. “There.”
Jungkook’s shyness seemed to ebb and flow, and after boldly getting Taehyung back, it seemed to be coming back again. He smiled softly at the floor.
“Even if we’re not allies, let’s be friends.”