Stranded | vkook

Ten

Taehyung felt awful. He had woken up that morning on the edge of the boat. His right side was completely soaked from the gentle waves coming just over the lip of the platform, to where Taehyung had been laying.

Sometime during the night, the thin sheet had been tangled up with the comforter, leaving Taehyung with nothing but a flimsy t-shirt, while Jungkook snuggled under multiple layers. Somehow though, Jungkook still seemed uncomfortable, frowning deeply in his sleep and patting around for something that wasn't there. Even though he seemed uncomfortable, Jungkook was still a lot better off than Taehyung, who was sick. 

He lay on the boat, trying to take deep breaths. This wasn't really working as he had to breath through only one nostril. The other one was blocked. He pinched his nose close and tried mouth breathing, but even this felt extraordinarily hard. 

If Taehyung didn't know better, he would have thought that it was just some head cold which would go away by the next morning. After all, that's how all sicknesses came and went for Taehyung. Except Taehyung didn't have a bed, proper nourishment, warmth, or access to treatment, so Taehyung did know better. His body was extremely weak from the lack of food and water, not to mention the constant exposure to the elements.

Taehyung would be lucky to survive this bout of sickness. There was simply no way his body had the energy to fight off an illness. It barely had the strength to wake up each morning. It was all Jungkook's fault. 

Despite the fact that Taehyung was quite literally dying, Jungkook had hardly spared the boy a glance since waking up. He was being so useless. Taehyung still had to get out breakfast on his own by thoroughly scraping the sides of the peanut butter. That is how much food they had been reduced to, not including the shark meat. Of course, despite being quite literally starving, the idea of eating repulsed Taehyung, especially the idea of dry, disgusting, meat. 

Taehyung had still been the one to make sure that they were both covered by the sheet. He was also the one who stayed alert, making sure that there wasn't any land or opportunities that they might miss with their heads under the sheet.

As he felt nauseous and was close to passing out, eyes fluttering every couple seconds, he cursed Jungkook from the bottom of his heart.

How selfish and lazy did Jungkook have to be allow a sick person to do all of the work? Not to mention that Taehyung was only sick because of Jungkook's pettiness. Taehyung regretted the feelings of care he had developed towards the latter, for now he saw that Jungkook was nothing but an arrogant, stuck-up prick who would be the cause of both of their deaths. He had known that before, too, so why had he let his guard down?

Taehyung glanced over at the said boy. He had his eyes closed, and if he weren't sweating like a pig, with his eyelids twitching and fluttering, Taehyung would have thought he was laying in the grass in front of a huge mansion, breeze playing with his hair as a maid brought him a drink. Taehyung was sure that was the sort of life Jungkook had led before getting stuck on this boat. He knew Jungkook's parents were extremely rich,  and it would explain why Jungkook seemed absolutely incapable of doing anything for himself, much less anyone else. 

As it was, Jungkook did not look very peaceful. His eyes were closed, but his brow was furrowed and his nose kept twitching as though he was in a serious argument with himself. Taehyung rolled his eyes, assuming that Jungkook was thinking about throwing Taehyung off the boat because his whimpering might be disturbing the prince's rest. And Taehyung was debating on throwing Jungkook off the boat, to get such a useless lump off of his back. But he was only keeping him there for the warmth at night, right?

Taehyung could not have been more wrong about what Jungkook was thinking about. True, it was about the fact that Taehyung was whimpering, but only because Jungkook couldn't stand hearing Taehyung in so much pain, on his account. At the moment, his inner turmoil was whether he should go over and comfort Taehyung using the little resources they had or leave Taehyung to fend off the sickness himself. 

Despite himself, Jungkook chose the latter, tuning out the sounds of pain and schooling his face so that it would seem as though he was asleep. Because he really didn't want Taehyung to be mad at him for not being helpful.

This was a mistake. Around thirty minutes later, Taehyung's grunts and whines stopped. Instead, uneven panting filled the stale air beneath the sheet. Jungkook's eyes snapped open and he sat up, looming over Taehyung.

"Captain?"

"Taehyung?!"

"Taehyung wake up this isn't very funny."

Jungkook didn't know what to do, so he raised his hand and slapped Taehyung across his right cheek. Still no response. Not that the slap had been too hard, given how weak Jungkook was becoming, but it should have been enough for Taehyung to be roused. 

So Jungkook did the next best thing. He took the edge of the sheet and dipped it into the cool salt of the ocean, laying it over Taehyung's forehead. This meant that the sheet was folded weirdly, and Jungkook was no longer protected from the sun. Regardless, he gently lay Taehyung's head on his lap, wanting the boy to be as comfortable as possible. 

Taehyung was still not waking up. Strips of white were visible just behind his eyelids. There were beads of sweat rolling down his face, probably exuding the little water left in Taehyung's body. He had started twitching strangely as well.

Jungkook, on the other hand, was freaking out. He had let this happen. It was his own stupidity and pride which had led him to push Taehyung away. He wanted to cry. His tear-ducts ached as they tried to generate tears that weren't there. 

And then Jungkook was slapping himself. He was wasting his time crying over spilled milk, when he should have been doing the most he possibly could to get Taehyung even marginally better. Throughout the rest of the day, he constant replaced the wet sheet on Taehyung's head to maintain his temperature.

Eventually, rather than looking as though he was passed out, Taehyung seemed to have fallen asleep. This made it easier for Jungkook to wake the boy up when it came time for dinner. 

When Taehyung was roused, he sat up sleepily, looking around in confusion. His throat was extremely parched, and he felt weak and dizzy. Fortunately for him, there were two arms encircling his waist and shoulders, keeping him upright. He looked up blearily, only to be met with Jungkook's own dark eyes, looking panicked.

But Taehyung was not having it. It didn't matter whether Jungkook's eyes portrayed some regret, he could go to hell. That was until-"

"God, Taehyung, I am so so sorry. I don't know why I pushed you, and now your sick, and-and it's all my fault."

And Taehyung was just too weak. Even though this was not even the first time Jungkook had hurt him, and he most likely didn't feel that sorry, he HAD apologized, which Taehyung didn't even think he was capable of.

So Taehyung forgave him. He took his frail hand and cupped Jungkook's face, before pulling the taller male into his embrace. Once again, they could go back to hating each other in a bit. Right now, soaking up the other's warmth, each boy felt content, and felt no need to move.

 When Jungkook finally pulled away, he wiped his eyes, as though he was expecting there to be tears.

"Shall we-shall we eat dinner?" He asked tentatively. This was the most unsure Taehyung had ever seen Jungkook. To reassure the boy, he pulled out a weak smile. 

"Sounds good to me. Well actually not that good, but I am starving."

And so they each helped themselves to some extremely tough, flavorless jerky, and the dredges of the peanut butter, washing it down with some water.

Taehyung spitefully crawled over to the edge of the boat to lay in the same position he had been in the previous night, but before he could get very far, he was yanked backwards by the waist.

Jungkook bundled the frail body into his arms, pushing them flush against each other. Taehyung struggled for a moment, but Jungkook held him tighter, muttering, "You're sick. You need to be as warm as possible."

And so Taehyung stopped pushing against the inevitable and snuggled closer, if that was even possible. Impossibly cozy given the circumstances, he drifted off to sleep, liking where he was with Jungkook despite himself.