Chapter Text
“Rise and shine!” Jin shouted, his voice echoing through their new, open concept apartment. The company had just purchased and renovated the upscale apartment to suit the members’ needs now that they are officially back to living together and preparing for comeback. The much-needed break living apart helped each of them to grow as individuals, to spend time enjoying life with family and friends and work on solo projects and hobbies. The time apart was not without turmoil, however, and after fourteen months, each member was more than ready to jump back into group projects and perform. With the pandemic restrictions lifting in most countries, concerts could now be planned, and the members were excited to see their fans in person again soon.
The door to Yoongi’s room swung open. Light from the main room spilled in to shine directly in his eyes. “Whaa … fuck!” Yoongi groaned and burrowed under his comforter.
Jin walked over to the burritoed man, pulled the covers off his face, and flicked him gently on the forehead. “Language Yoongi-yah!” Jin clicked his tongue, shaking his head. “Time to get up. The van will be here to pick us up at 5 a.m. for the video shoot.”
Yoongi cracked open his eyes and whined. “Hyuuunng whyyy! Why so early?” Rolling out of his comforter nest, Yoongi sat on the edge of the bed bent over with his head in hands grumbling.
Jin shook his head and smiled at his grumpy dongsaeng, then turned and left the room to look into the others’ progress in waking up for the day ahead. He saw Jimin leaning heavily on Taehyung who was trying to put his clothes on. Jin rolled his eyes at the two friends. “Jimin-ah, wake up and get dressed. You have less than an hour to be ready. We will pack you in that van on time even if you aren’t done, so let’s go! Chop-chop!”
Taehyung grinned at Jin. “Don’t worry hyung. I will get him moving.” Taehyung elbowed Jimin gently causing him to sit up and look around blearily, eyes puffy from sleep and his hair standing out in all directions.
“I don’t wanna. Want to sleep.” Jimin pouted and whined while snuggling back against his best friend.
Jin laughed as he walked away from their room. “I will leave him in your hands Tae. Remember 5 a.m. out the door ready or not.”
Walking down the hall Jin saw Namjoon staggering towards one of the bathrooms. Gone were the days of fighting for bathroom time. The new apartment had three full bathrooms and one half bathroom off the laundry room. Getting ready on time with one bathroom was an incredible feat on its own in their early years as a group.
Looking over to the kitchen from the hall, Jin could see Hobi and Jungkook slumped over the table watching the coffee maker spewing out life-giving brew into the pot.
Moving into the kitchen, Jin started rummaging in the fridge looking for quick to-go breakfast ideas. He brought out the travel coffee mugs for Hobi, Jungkook and Yoongi. He brought out their cooler and packed it with energy bars, bottled water, juice packs and some fruit. The set director had people in charge of food, but they always brought extra for the driving time.
“Jungkook-ah, you fill the coffee mugs for the three of you please. Seok-ah, give me a hand to throw together breakfast sandwiches.” Both men nodded sleepily at Jin and moved to help.
With the breakfast sandwiches and coffee ready, the other members slowly trickled into the kitchen. Each grabbed a sandwich with thanks to Jin. Yoongi took his prepared coffee inhaling the scent with an appreciative groan. Namjoon closed the cooler and rolled it to the entrance.
All the members put their shoes on and shuffled to the elevator. Jin came out of the apartment last after turning everything off, then locked the door and headed to the waiting elevator. The boys descended to the parking garage level where the van was waiting to take them to the shoot location.
In the garage was a large black van. The driver was waiting by the open side door to help the members into the van. A bodyguard lingered off to the side, watching their surroundings. After the members and their bags were loaded up, the bodyguard and driver got into the vehicle, and they were on their way.
The streets of Seoul were quiet at this time of the morning. There was still traffic, but not enough to delay them as it would if they had left later. Namjoon was sitting in the first row, so he turned in his seat to talk with the other members.
“Ok, so here’s the deal for today. The video director the company hired wanted to shoot our music video for our new song, Better Together, at the old granite quarry in Pocheon-si. It is a beautiful park now, and we have permission to use a part of the property that is closed to the public. The site is about an hour and a half drive, and we only have today to shoot the video. The daylight hours are shorter now that it is October so that is why we have the early wake up call.”
Yoongi stuffed his neck pillow around his neck, leaned up against the window and closed his eyes. “Fine. Wake me up when we get there.”
The members all laugh at their hard working, perpetually sleepy bandmate. Chattering quietly amongst themselves, they watched the scenery pass by eventually dozing off leaning into each other.
~~∞~~
Gradually the members started to wake as they felt their van leave the smooth pavement for gravel. Looking around they could see the beautiful trees in their autumn splendor. There were so many trees as the forest line thickened the further the vehicle moved down the dirt road. At a fork in the road, the signage pointing right directed travellers to the park office and entrance. The left sign said for authorized personnel only. Their vehicle turned down the left road.
Namjoon looked back at the members. “This is the way to the site we are authorized to use. The video crew should already be there and set up. I’ve been told that this route is pretty spectacular if we keep looking to the right.” Namjoon smiled as he watched the younger three unbuckle and scramble over each other to see the view.
Soon they could see the trees thinning out on the right and the road followed closely to the quarry cliff edge where the boys could peer over and see the steep drop and rushing water flowing through the reservoir.
Jimin gasped. “Wow! That is so beautiful!”
Jin moaned and closed his eyes. “Why are we driving so close to the edge. Who puts a road on the edge of a cliff? Who?”
Hobi and Yoongi both laugh at their hyung’s discomfort, while Taehyung rubs Jin’s shoulder in commiseration. Jungkook simply stared out the window, eyes wide and sparkling and poking at Jimin in excitement.
The van started turning away from the quarry edge and turning towards a clearing. The boys could see large tents, vehicles, various equipment boxes and people moving around.
Pulling up along the largest tent, their vehicle stopped, and the driver put the vehicle in park. The bodyguard got out and opened the side door for the boys to get out of the vehicle.
Once everyone was out, they could see a man approaching with several harried looking crew members following close behind.