Stranded | vkook

Four

Taehyung came to slowly. So did all of his senses. First he noticed how hot everything seemed to be. Then he noticed how bright everything was behind his eyelids. Followed by the sound of the ocean. The last thing that hit him was the pain. Excruciating and everywhere. He struggled to take a breath. His entire body ached like never before, and it was not helping that he was on a rough platform.

When Taehyung finally gained the energy to sit up and open and his eyes, everything that had happened in the past-what was it? twenty-four hours? forty-eight hours? hit him as well. Blinking, he was greeted by the sight of Jungkook, who was sitting by the opposite edge of the platform as Taehyung. He wasn't doing anything, just looking out at the water with a sad expression on his face. Taehyung cleared his throat pathetically. Immediately Jungkook's expression was guarded again, the familiar sneer firmly back in place.

"Thankyousomuchforsavingmefromdrowning. Also, where is the water?"

Jungkook tossed him the backpack, not even acknowledging the first statement. Taehyung took a few sips before sighing and looking around to take stock of their situation. They were still surrounded by debris, but the little cluster of materials seemed to be the only thing for miles around them. Taehyung was dreading having to heave his body more than a few inches, much less feet, but he knew that they would need to scavenge the wreckage around them to find potential supplies. The most important seeming to be some sort of cover from the sun.

"Ummm Jungkook?" He gave a little grunt of acknowledgement. "Do you want to maybe, umm, search this wreckage with me to find supplies? We will need it if we want to make for more than a day out here. My two water bottles won't last forever."

Jungkook gave a noncommittal jerk of the head and tried to get to his feet. As soon as he made an effort to move, however, he winced and fell back onto the deck. "Oh Jungkook, I forgot! Your cut. It must be so painful. Let me help. I promise I won't take advantage of you."

"What can you possibly do to help this at all? Newsflash, we don't have anything out here," Jungkook groaned. Taehyung grinned triumphantly and lifted up the backpack. "It's called backpack power baby! I've got a first aid kit, some food, water, a pocket knife, a flashlight, a rape whistle, and more!"

"Funny that you think you are so desirable that someone would want to touch you," Jungkook seemed determined to hate Taehyung, even when they were evidently going to have to rely on each other for the foreseeable future. Taehyung's smile disappeared.

"Alright jackass, I won't help you then. God, you are such a prick."

A couple minutes of silence, then, "Taehyung, I'm-I'm," Jungkook was struggling to get the words out. Taehyung raised his eyebrows, unimpressed, but, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. Please help me out here."

Taehyung silently and reproachfully crawled over to Jungkook, yanked up his shirt, and took out a Hello Kitty first aid kit. Ignoring Jungkook's judgmental look,  he opened up some alcohol wipes and cleaned the cut.

"This looks pretty deep to me. Not enough to kill, or you would probably already be dead, but it would be ideal if you could get stitches for this. I have a sowing kit in my bag, but it is for simple repairs, like putting on a button. If you don't want that, there is nothing that can be done other than allowing the cut to heal on its own. Your choice though."

"I am okay without the stitches. I have had cuts similar to this before. I will be fine."

Taehyung did not want to delve into whatever that was supposed to insinuate, so he just shrugged. "Suit yourself. I will do my best to help it without stitches then."

Taehyung proceeded to remove his over shirt, which was a short-sleeve blue flannel with different kinds of flowers all over it. Beneath this, he had a plain white long-sleeved shirt on. Using the small scissors from the sewing kit, he cut the flannel in half to use as a make-shift bandage over Jungkook's stomach. Taehyung was internally crying over the fact that he had to rip up his favorite shirt, but he refrained from whining under the impression that Jungkook might shove him off of the platform again. Maybe Taehyung would accept that. Anything was better than the silence they were currently sitting in. When he was finished, he bowed with a little flourish and exclaimed, "Nurse Kim Taehyung, at your service."

Jungkook gave a little half smile before seeming to remember who he was with and dropping it back into a straight face. "What else have you got in that backpack of yours?"

Taehyung quickly unloaded everything and lay it across the platform. There were several bars, two water bottles, a rain jacket, a pocket knife, a block of flint, an emergency tent for two people, money, a sewing kit, a small first-aid pack, a jar of peanut butter, and a phone. Before doing anything else, they tried out the phone. It was water-logged and useless. Taehyung told Jungkook that he was 90% sure the emergency tent for two, which came in a palm-sized package, was useless as well, but that his mom had made him carry it with him. Everything else seemed to be in good shape though, and would definitely be of use at some point.

Taehyung was exhausted, but he refused to let Jungkook move, assuring Jungkook that he was perfectly fine looking among the surrounding litter himself. There was an object that had some semblance to a bed, where Taehyung managed to scavenge a comforter, sheets, and a bedraggled pillow. He tossed these onto the platform, and then continued his search. After about two hours of hopping from one mangled object to another, Taehyung had managed to score three metal rods, a short length of rope, and a bucket.

By the time he was finished, the sun had dropped below the horizon, and the temperature had dropped with it. Soon both Taehyung and Jungkook were shivering, but the comforter was still soggy and they refused to share body heat. The wind had picked up, and Taehyung had to scrambled to get things back in his backpack before his rain jacket made like his dad and disappeared across the ocean. Instead, they split one of the chocolate chip z-bars with peanut butter on top. In silence.

They proceeded to "get ready for bed." Taehyung took the rain jacket back out and folded it nicely to put under Jungkook's head. Only because he was injured of course. Then they unfolded the flimsy but semi-dry tent and draped it over themselves to imitate a blanket for warmth. Once again, in silence. Jungkook hadn't even thanked Taehyung for the makeshift pillow moment, which was a moment of genuine kindness. Taehyung supposed that it would be like in one of the cliche romance stories. "Silence" would be Taehyung and Jungkook's always.

As they floated along in the darkness, in silence, Taehyung swore he was one of the most unlucky people alive. Out of everybody in the entire town, it had to be his enemy floating practically dead in the water. Now they were stuck together for who knows how long, and Taehyung was not looking forward to it.