Chapter Text
Life between the four nations was neither pleasant nor terrible. It was nowhere near the peace and harmony one would read in fairy tales. It wasn’t peaceful or falling apart at the seams, just like many other societies were.
But for the Earth tribe, things seemed to begin to lead towards the chaos many had only read in stories. It had started off as a few uncommon occurrences in which citizens began to complain over unfair treatment. They were being oppressed and wanted more recognition, the protestors claimed. They wanted easier conditions, more consideration. They would keep up their attempts in the hope of being heard until they were put to a stop by city guards. But what was once so uncommon began to grow in numbers, until protests were expected every few days. Those who were uninvolved assumed the matter would blow over, or their leader would interfere and bargain, and simply shook their heads at the drama unfolding. It came as a surprise to some when riots suddenly broke out. By the time authorities realized the seriousness of the situation they had ignored, it was too late.
The rioting spread like wildfire in what seemed to be an endless cycle. The more the riots would occur, the more bystanders would be swayed into joining or would create their own riots after being victimized by previous ones. As a result of the spread, the economy began to suffer. It hadn’t been in it’s prime days to begin with, but when damages began happening to property and the people, the descent down the barren hill gained momentum and suddenly changed into falling down a cliff of poverty and violence.
And that’s eventually how Kim Namjoon and Jung Hoseok found themselves fleeing from their own homes. They’d been in the capital, and as consequence they were in the middle of it all, regardless of them living along the edge of the city.
As childhood friends, Namjoon and Hoseok decided everything together. They’d become attached at the hip by the time they’d hit puberty, and they went through it all as a two-man-team. From the awkward voice-cracking phases, to the heartbreaks of being rejected from the girls they’d had crushes on, to the near-overwhelming and sudden realization of them truly having become men, and now the predicament of the riots.
When it became clear that the situation would not be improving any time soon, after a while of playing cautious among the streets they once played in, they began to plan. Perhaps it was wishful thinking, but the two young men truly believed that they needed to fix this. The most important factor they became aware of, however, was the fact that they couldn’t do it by themselves. They needed help.
The easiest solution seemed to be to leave north and west to search for recruitments. It would mean splitting up and heading into the other tribes, but to them it sounded like it was the best - and only - option. They’d already attempted to gather a few friends and acquaintances, hell, even random strangers they’d spotted in the streets, but it seemed that the other Earth Tribe citizens were too apprehensive. The two didn’t blame them (not Hoseok, at least. Namjoon was more reluctant to forgive.)
After placing a time limit on their adventure and creating a meeting place, they packed up and departed and split up. Namjoon took upon the responsibility of heading to the North, while Hoseok volunteered to go west and loop around. It would be a long journey, so they had to brace themselves and pray for the best.
To Hoseok, his adventure was hell. It was less of an “adventure”, as he’d optimistically called it before his departure, and more like a journey to the afterlife for the evil. After hopping islands and making it into Fire Nation territory, he had to travel through barren dirt roads and through mountains and over ledges and pathways that were so worn down it made him nervous of falling to his death or running out of land and facing the waters. He managed to avoid both of those, but he still wasn’t happy. He would happily admit to being a coward any day if it meant the situation could resolve itself without him landing in dangerous situations. Which was exactly where he was. The air around the mountains felt suffocating, and at times it felt as if his skin would burn off of his bones when he neared the hotspots and springs the land was famous for. They could have their hot baths all they wanted, but Hoseok wanted none of it.
On top of that, sleeping in opens spaces at night was most certainly not Hoseok’s cup of tea. It was where he most often found himself, unfortunately. In between towns he had been forced to walk until nighttime arrived, and then it was up to him to set up camp. Except he had no idea how to do that. Setting off on foot with no idea how to start a fire or even build the tent he didn’t have was not smart, he belatedly realized. After fighting with dry shrubs and rocks for more or less an hour, he gave up. He spent the first night shelterless, fireless, and scared out of his wits.
Needless to say, he slept fitfully that night, too caught up in his own paranoia to keep his eyes closed for too long.
After the first night with no fire, limited water, and less than couple hours of sleep under his belt, Hoseok more or less wisened up. He reached the next town and threw himself into preparation for his next night out in the wilderness. He stocked up on food and water, and just to make sure he wouldn’t suffer as he had once again, bought camping equipment. He took special care with not forgetting about a fire starter kit.
The looks on the merchant’s and other customers’ faces irked him a little. Yes, he was in the Fire Nation and couldn’t start his own damn fire. So what? He sent them mocking sneers, making sure to add a touch of silliness into his expression for the heck of it, before he left for the next town. Recruitment in this town hadn’t worked out, but neither had the previous town. And he can’t say he’s surprised, after the looks he’d been given, and not just for the fire-starter deal. Or maybe he was just grouchy and probably looked that way more than he’d realized. He certainly felt grouchy.
“I guess they expect me to bring the riots here,” Hoseok muttered bitterly to himself as he set himself up for another night, eager to rest his sore legs but not so eager to be out in the open and defenseless. His abilities could only get him so far, after all. If somebody truly wanted to rob him or kill him in his sleep, it probably wouldn’t take much.
It took a few more days of walking and pit stopping before Hoseok reached a town that was big enough to be considered a city. He didn’t think it was the main capital, in fact, it couldn’t be with how small it was in comparison to his own home town, but it seemed to be doing well regardless. Definitely well enough that he could rest for a bit and maybe get help. With destination in mind, he wandered through the busy streets. Of course, knowing what he wanted and finding it were two different things. It was really no surprise that Hoseok lost himself and ended up around the suburban and housing parts. But wasn’t this the best place to look for shelter for a day or two?
After more redundant wandering and very childish contemplations of just plopping down where he was and sleeping, regardless of the thieves that would surely come, Hoseok began to smell something odd in the air. It took a few seconds for his weary mind to make sense of it, but it smelled like… fire?
Yes, Hoseok learned very quickly, it is. It didn’t take long at all before he saw the cloud of smoke billowing into the air, and for no reason in particular began walking towards it. A more immature and dark side of him wondered if this was common in these lands. The sight that greeted him, though, was something he never would have imagined.
There was a small crowd that was gathering, but it was the two young men that were running around that caught his interest.
“Where the fuck is the water?! Does nobody around here carry water in their houses?!” The taller of the two hissed, and Hoseok cringed a little from the foul language. It wasn’t anything he could condemn, however, since he’d said worse.
“I’m sorry!! ” The other one, the shortest of the two, wailed repentantly. It seemed to be something that he’d been repeated for the past few minutes and had no intentions of stopping. The sight of him running around and pacing fretfully was more than a little pathetic. Hoseok felt a little sorry for him.
Hoseok reconsidered his pity when the taller seemed to have an idea. “That’s it!” He cried enthusiastically. He sped over to the rapidly growing fire - good God, that house wouldn’t stand for long at this rate - and shook his hands out in newfound eagerness. “JIMIN! I GOT IT!” He squealed, “Fight fire with fire!! That’s how it goes right??” Hoseok assumed “it” was the age-old expression. Without waiting for an answer, he began to go through the motions of fire bending.
Now, Hoseok had no idea if that saying actually worked in literal terms, but the dread building in his stomach served to provide him with the idea that no, fighting fire with fire is literally the worst idea he’d ever heard in his life, who let this kid off on his own?? Well, that and the fact that the shorter of the two - Jimin? - and the small crowd all simultaneously started shouting out protests.
That was all Hoseok could catch before the house more or less exploded into even more flames. He took a step back to get away from the heat it was emanating and cringed. Really, who would think of something like that? This kid, apparently.
“Oh my god…” Jimin moaned pathetically. “Jungkook, why…?” The newly dubbed Jungkook apparently had no answer in the form of words, because once he snapped out of his shocked stupor, he could only smile apologetically. At least until the panic set in again.
The crowd was finally starting to react to the fire, and they began to rush around, looking for water or something that would actually put it out. Just when Hoseok thought things couldn’t get worse, Jungkook found a measly bucket of water and threw it at the fire. There was a hiss followed by cloudy white steam that contrasted to the charcoal-like smoke, and nothing more. The look on his face was one of such defeat that Hoseok nearly laughed.
When the two men seemed to have run out of ideas (he didn’t really want them having ideas after Jungkook’s earlier stunt, to be honest), Hoseok stepped forward with a somewhat plan in mind. He paused for a moment to assess the right amount of ground that would be needed, before he began his earth bending. He couldn’t save what had perished in the fire, but he could at least snuff it out. And that he did. There was a little more damage dealt to the house once it was over with due to his own actions, but the fire was eventually put out.
There were a few seconds of silence before there were a few shouts of joy, but none was as loud as the one that escaped Jungkook’s mouth.
“You did it! That was amazing!” He cheered, and Hoseok felt a little embarrassed. Sure, he’d stopped a house from burning down to the ground, but was it really that big of a deal? At least their valuables were still intact, probably.
“It was nothing. Do you think you can fix it back up? You didn’t have anything important in there, did you?” Hoseok questioned. His suspicion flared immensely when the two men tensed up and slowly looked at each other, having a silent conversation through their facial expressions.
Should we tell him?
Heck no! Let’s just pretend.
But he’s going to figure out either way.
“Actually… That’s not our home.” Jimin quietly admitted, wearing a face of shame after their silent exchange. While the words were quiet, they weren’t quiet enough to escape the crowd’s notice, because the joy of saving the house instantly turned to disappointment and anger, if not a little bit of fear for getting caught up in the act that could most likely get somebody arrested.
“You… what?” That was all that could come out of Hoseok’s mouth. He’d truly been rendered speechless.
“It was an accident, I swear!” Jungkook tried to defend. He, too, looked shameful, but not nearly as much as Jimin. In fact, he looked more defensive than he did shameful, if the stiffness in his frame had anything to say about it. “We were just playing around and things got out of hand.”
It was then that Hoseok realized. He’d gotten caught up in a crime scene. He’d only been in this city for one day, and he got caught up in something like this. He didn’t have time to back out of it, however, because Jungkook’s head snapped to the right, and Jimin’s followed soon after. He followed their gazes and caught sight of the city police running towards them.
Good, this meant they could take care of things and he could leave and finally rest.
And, of course, things just had to become the opposite of what he wanted to happen. Hoseok didn’t even register the hand that closed around his wrist until he was being dragged down the street at an alarming pace. He gave a wide-eyed look to the one behind his potential kidnapping, and wasn’t surprised at all to see Jungkook being the cause of it. Should he have expected anything different?
“Hey, let go of me!” Hoseok scowled and tried to pull himself away. It was futile, however, and eventually he had to start running on his own to keep from falling. What really caused him to run, though, was probably the shots of fire, actual fire , being spewed their way. Why couldn’t he be spared just this once?
“Too late! You’re a criminal now.” Jungkook bluntly stated, though he did tighten his grip slightly as an apology. It didn’t do much to console him.
“No! He was helping us!” Jimin protested from Hoseok’s other side. He, too, grabbed Hoseok’s wrist and pulled him along. They seemed to know where they were running, at least.
“And that’s why he’s a criminal.” Jungkook retorted. If it were any other situation, Hoseok probably would have laughed at the look of sheer betrayal and frustration that briefly appeared on Jimin’s face, who definitely had to be offended with that kind of pout.
“-Hey! You can earth bend, right? Why don’t you do something to get us out of this mess?” Jungkook interrupted Hoseok’s thoughts. “Please?” He clipped on shyly as afterthought, and gave him a pleading look.
“No way. I’m not getting any more involved than I already have!” Hoseok scrunched up his nose, but he could already feel his will weakening.
“Pleaaaaase~!!” Now it was both Jungkook and Jimin drawing the word out. Being attacked from both sides via kicked puppy pouts was very rude. It should be illegal. Why not? Everything else they’d done today was illegal.
“...No…”
Roughly five minutes later of destroying public property had them posted in a dimmed room, slouched down on the furniture. He could only assume and hope this house was theirs. He couldn’t be sure after this fiasco with the other house. “I can’t believe you talked me into this. This is stupid.” Hoseok whined. He was supposed to be saving the Earth Tribe, not… whatever this was.
“It was either that or we get captured.” Jimin pointed out sheepishly. Hoseok saw the truth in his words, but he didn’t like it.
“How exactly do you catch a stranger ’s house on fire?” He continued, throwing his hands up in a show of exasperation, nearly swatting Jimin’s face in the process, who he twitched and shrank away. Jungkook was smart enough to have prematurely shifted.
“Like I said, it was an accident.” Jungkook huffed, though he seemed to soften around the edges a little as if to amend for his rudeness.
At Hoseok’s unrelenting stare, Jimin caved in with an awkward smile. “We were playing around. It’s really my fault, I got too upset at something he said.” So apparently fire was explosive according to emotions. Duly noted.
“Nah, it’s not your fault.” Jungkook shrugged it away casually. “The house shouldn’t have been in our way.”
“...”
“...”
“Jungkook, please.” Jimin sighed, looking like he either wanted to walk away or hit the taller. He seemed to have remembered something, because he turned back to Hoseok. “Right, we still haven’t had introductions. I’m Park Jimin and he’s Jeon Jungkook. Thank you for helping us out, by the way.”
Hoseok already knew their first names from listening to their conversations, but decided not to point it out to avoid an awkward silence that would surely follow. Instead, he focused on Jungkook’s cheeky grin and chuckled. “Jung Hoseok. It’s nice to have the names of the idiots who may get me jailed for doing the right thing.”
Jimin looked a little apologetic at the light-hearted reminder, but Jungkook had the audacity to snicker. “You love us.”
“Whoah there, isn’t a little bit early to be saying that?” Hoseok snorted.
“Love has no sense of timing.” Jimin remarked offhandedly. It was true, Hoseok had to admit. He’d verbally agree with it at any other time if it wasn’t being used against him. It was immature of him, but he would most likely always be like that.
“Hey, you’re not from here, right?” Jungkook interrupted the conversation that was awkwardly nearing domesticity. “Why are you all the way in the fire nation? Nobody likes this place.”
Jimin gave Jungkook a reprimanding glare, appearing to be almost offended. “I like this place! It’s home.” His voice gained a sulky edge to it that both Jungkook and Hoseok had to refrain from cooing over.
Hoseok completely forgot about his opportunity to embarrass Jimin, however, at the reminder of his situation. “Oh, right. I need your help!” He blurted out, then tried to amend himself when they looked thrown off by the exclamation. “Well, the Earth tribe does. You can help, right?” His sudden change of mood, regardless of his attempts, startled Jimin and Jungkook, who suddenly looked uncertain.
“Help another tribe? Is that… okay?” Jimin fumbled for the right word.
“Of course it is, idiot.” Jungkook snorted but toed Jimin with his shoe to show that he was joking. “But that would mean we’d have to actually leave this place. That’s a lot of travelling we’d have to do, and what could the two of us even do? And why do we need to help…?” He turned his attention back to Hoseok with an expression that was both curious ( why and how could somebody so tall look like a cute rabbit?) and guarded.
Jimin also shifted his gaze back onto Hoseok and pursed his lips in thought. He seemed much less cautious than Jungkook and more willing to offer help. There was a hint of doubt, though, reflected in his voice. “This is about the rioting going on, right? It sounds pretty bad, I don’t think we’d be able to stop it between just us.”
Truthfully, Hoseok hadn’t thought that far into the “what could we do? ” part of his - their - plan. But Hoseok was no liar, he wouldn’t come up with sudden answers to pacify them. “I don’t know what to do. All I know is that right now, there’s power in numbers.” He leaned back against the wall and looked around the room as he thought. His eyes focused on the dust particles he could see floating lazily around through the light shining in from the window. “I have a friend who’s doing the same thing I am. He went north, to the water tribe.”
Jungkook turned to Jimin, who met his gaze easily. Hoseok could only watch in an odd mixture of amusement, confusion, and anxiety as the two seemed to communicate with insignificant changes, from the twitch of an eyebrow or eyes narrowing or widening, to helpless smiles and pouts. When they finally finished the silent conversing that seemed to be a habit between them, Jimin had a face of glee and Jungkook looked defeated but content.
“We’ll go with you, if you don’t mind.” Jimin chirped and the smile that followed seemed to make his eyes disappear.
“-But! We need to know exactly what your plan is.” Jungkook intercepted. He rubbed his hands together as a nervous habit, allowing his thumbs to dip into the crevices of his knuckles. “We can’t just jump headfirst into things.”
Hoseok stared at the two in mild disbelief for a few seconds before the joy kicked in. A grin quickly spread across his face and without further warning, he threw himself at his newfound acquaintances and pulled them both into a hug. “Thank youuuuu! Of course, I’ll explain everything!”
Although it was the addition of just two people, Hoseok felt much better about his journey. He was certain he would become good friends with them along the way, and with some luck and effort, they just might be able to fix this predicament.