DAY 783
Jimin may not have a clock, but he doesn't need one to know it's probably three in the morning. He's exhausted, sure, but tonight's been pretty alright. He got a warm, cooked meal for the first time in lord knows how long, cleaned and took a warm shower, met new people, and now he's here. With her. Y/n.
He turns to look at her, the girl leaning against the wall of the watchtower and peering down at the zombies that pass through the trees. They're only the basic kind, nothing to be worried about. They're not interested in Jimin or Y/n. Even if they were, they have no where to go to get to them. They're too high up to be in danger of being chomped on. Jimin softly smiles. He's actually safe.
"You're pretty quiet for someone who hasn't spoken to people in ages," Y/n says.
"I'm not allowed to enjoy the nice night?" Jimin asks.
She brings her eyes back to him. "Seems like you're enjoying looking at me more." Shit, he got caught. She chuckles and stands, taking her bag before sauntering over. Then, she plops down in front of him, sitting crisscross and shooting him a smile. "I brought all my hair stuff."
He raises a brow, scanning her up and down. "You want me to braid your hair?"
"Way to stereotype, Park. I want to braid yours."
"Mine?" he asks in a high tone.
She confirms that with a nod. "I left a lot of hair on for a reason. Yours is thick enough to make good braids out of. Pleaaase?"
Ugh, she's too adorable to say no to. So he scoots a bit closer, resisting the urge to take her hand. "Alright, go ahead." She hums and opens her bag, pulling out a small, black rubber band. It's tiny - like really tiny. "Will that be too small?"
She pats the air with her hand to signal a no. Y/n comes closer, not stopping until their knees touch. "Okay, now come closer." Although nervous, he obeys. She smiles and brushes her fingers through the front section of his hair, brushing until she gets a segment she's happy with. "Oh, and can you hold this?" she asks, holding the black band. He takes it, watching her get to work on his hair.
He knows a decent amount about braiding. He had a girlfriend a few years ago who always braided her hair. Jimin was never a big fan of the hairstyle on himself - he's a guy so he never cared - but right now, it doesn't sound so bad. After all, her delicate fingers parting the small section into three even smaller sections is tingly, if that makes sense. His scalp feels euphoric, same with his brain. It's like little waves of pleasure are washing over his body.
She hums while braiding his hair, her eyes focused on what she's doing. "How'd you get into hair?" he asks, unable to bear the silence any longer.
"Ew, your breath stinks."
"So does yours." Her eyes flicker down to his long enough for him to see the amusement in her expression. Oh lord, she's attractive. No - no. He can't trust this attractive stranger no matter how gorgeous she is. Those pursed lips, focused eyes, beautiful bod- okay Jimin, enough. Stop being obsessive over someone you met less than a day ago. She's just braiding your hair. That's it.
Y/n smiles while tightening the style. "It was a hobby I took up when I was younger. My mom was a stylist, so I learned a thing or two from her. Now here I am, the barber of the group. Good news is, I know how to use scissors. Who knew that'd be such a nice skill to have."
He snickers. "Almost perfect for you. You get paid with extra food and snacks I'm sure."
"Oh no, Namjoon would never show bias because of our professions. Speaking of, what about you? You have any special skills you can share with us?"
"Dancing. Maybe it's stupid, but I'd love to perform for everyone."
Her smile widens. "We don't have any entertainers. Not even many jokesters. It'd be nice to watch a five minute performance."
"Woah woah, let's not push it. Two minutes, my stamina isn't as good as it used to be."
She pretends to be hurt. "That's disappointing." Did... wait a fucking second, did she just flirt with him? Was a sex joke hidden in there, or is he hallucinating? Before he can question her, she holds out her hand. "Braid is done. Band now, Mr. Park?" He chortles and drops it in her hand. She's quick to tie his hair and lets out a satisfied tune when she sits back. "Wow. So simple yet so nice. You rock the braid, Jimin."
He touches it, amazed out how tight it is. There's no jarring hairs or anything out of place. It's like the perfect braid. "You learned more than a thing or two from your mom," he says, tucking the braid back a bit. Luckily, it's still loose enough to hang with the rest of his hair, so it's not getting in his eyesight.
"Years of practice. You know, I was going to go to school to be a cosmetologist. Long story short, I didn't, but I still know how to do nails pretty well. Can I do those next?" she asks.
"You have nail polish on you? Wait back up - where the hell did you get nail polish at all?"
"At the pharmacy we raided a while back," she says, pulling out a couple of vials. "I have black, green, blue, pink, red. What do you want?"
"Who said I agreed?" Y/n pouts, giving him big eyes. Fuck. No, not the puppy eyes. No. God dammit. "Black," he mumbles.
"What's that?" she asks with a grin.
"Black," he repeats, louder.
She laughs and comes over with two containers. "Put your hands on my thighs," she says, sitting on her knees. Well shit, who is he to say no to that?
Jimin places both his hands on her thighs, pretending his heart didn't jump at the feeling. She goes back to humming and applying a clear polish on first. "Are you painting my nails because you want to pass the time, or because you think I'd look good in black?"
"You're wearing black, we already know you own that color," she replies, focusing on the nails.
"Oh do I? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're complimenting me."
"And if I am?" she asks, glancing up at him for a split second before going back to work.
He keeps his eyes on her concentrated face and admires it. "I'd thank you then call you pretty," he whispers.
She finishes both his hands, pausing for a moment. He waits in silence. She peeps up, and finally their eyes lock, their faces inches apart. Y/n's eyes widen by half a centimeter, and the moment leaves as quickly as it came. "Wave your hands," she says, tearing her eyes away from his.
Regardless of his inner turmoil, he does as he's told and waves his hands back and forth like a fan. "You're a natural," she says, shaking the black nail polish container.
"Thanks for dolling me up."
She chuckles and unscrews the cap, checking to make sure the polish is good. "I enjoy doing it, especially for a newbie like you."
"Y/n whatever your last name is-"
"L/n."
"L/n. Did you invite me up here to bond?"
She sighs. "Didn't you say you were valedictorian at your high school?"
"Yeah, what does that have to- wait, are you calling me stupid?"
"A little. You just realized that's why I invited you here? I mean really, what other reason would there have been?" she asks with a huff.
"See what I'm like in action. See if I'm trustworthy," he replies.
She considers this, then shakes her head. "Nah. There's other ways to gain trust. See if you take orders well, see if you steal, see how well you make friends... the possibilities are endless, and none involve leaving you alone with someone at night with countless weapons," she says.
"You know for night watch, we aren't doing much watching."
"Well, you know as well as everyone else that if something happens, we'll hear it long before we see it."
Jimin observes her. She scoots closer again and places his hands on her thighs, putting the black polish on him. "What about people? Do you ever get any problems with any other groups?"
"Nothing major. We have this one guy who's been looking for our school for a while, but we haven't seen him in two months. My guess is he either gave up or died. He had a whole group with him, more than even the people here. Probably a good fifty people, they used to work for the Ranglers."
"Wait back up, who the fuck are the Ranglers?" he asks.
"Wow, you've really been alone a while. The Ranglers are a civilized group of survivors, well over a hundred people who are constantly recruiting. Built walls out of a container park and made their camp like a government. Their reach is dozens of miles, we've been offered to join more times than I can count, but I hear they get a lot of problems. More trouble than it's worth. They offer the same things we have: warm water, homecooked foods, protection, guns, medicine... things that used to be common before all this shit happened."
He gazes down at the polish covering his nails and finds himself smiling. "So there are governments out there," he mutters.
"Not really great ones. Some things never change," she says. "But at least they're trying to get back to regular life. I wonder how they deal with Howlers. That many people, kids too, even some babies. You'd figure they'd make noises, and the louder the noise, the more likely a Howler comes to get them. One Howler is dangerous enough, but more than that? Must be scary protecting all those people."
Despite the long explanation she just gave, Jimin feels his heart beating faster. "Did you say babies?" he asks in a hushed tone.
"Yeah, some women decided to settle down and give birth there," she says. "Apparently you can find love even in the apocalypse. A little inspiring to be honest." His joy reaches his eyes, a small laugh leaving his lips. "Someone's happy. Care to explain?"
"I've always wanted a baby."
"Really? You?"
"Really. A baby boy I can teach all the things I learned not to do."
She stifles her laugh. "That's either father of the year fuel or worst father ever fuel. Not sure which."
He gazes at his nails with longing. "I hope a bit of both. Apocalypse ruined every chance I have though, but gosh it'd be so amazing to have a baby girl too. A little princess I can hold and sing to sleep when she's young, then let the mom take care of her when she's a teen going through, um..."
Y/n looks at him and raises both her brows. "Going through what, Park?"
"I dug myself into a hole, didn't I?"
"A huge one," she teases, finishing off his nails.
"Sorry, forgot that I shouldn't talk about that with a woman," he replies.
"Well, two things: one, who else are you gonna talk about it with? My dog? A man? And two, I still don't know what you're talking about. Care to elaborate?"
Fucking hell, this woman is really trying to beat him to death in his own embarrassment. "Good point, and, uh..." He sighs. "Periods."
She pats him on the shoulder. "It's nothing to be so embarrassed about. It's a natural thing, isn't it? Just like sex. Things that are seemingly tabooed from talking about even though they're both perfectly natural. Lord knows I had lots of periods and sex when I was a young adult." Well, now he's even more embarrassed. "Your ears are red," she points out before blowing on his nails. He bites back his groan.
They go quiet while she tends to his nails. It's silent for a while. She's blowing on them and encouraging him to fan them out. After five minutes pass, she applies a top coat. "You know, I kinda like them," he says.
"You seem like a nail polish type of guy. Looks like you have a bit of a scar on both your ears. Did you have your ears pierced at some point?" she asks.
"For most of my life, then the apocalypse and y'know, hard to keep track of earrings when you're running for your life."
"Well, I can't blame you, but you want to know something cool?" He raises a brow. She comes a bit closer to whisper. "We have a tattoo gun."
"No fucking way."
"Yes fucking way, Jungkook lets me add new tattoos every other day. He's obsessed. I don't know if you noticed, but that man has a whole sleeve," she says.
"I didn't see, he was wearing a jacket."
"Him and that leather jacket have more separation issues than me with him," she replies. "He'd rather die than lose that jacket. Hell, he'll die in that jacket that's how attached he is to it."
"That's me with my locket."
She peeks at the chain that's barely visible in the low light. "Can I... Can I see it?" she asks.
He grabs it through the shirt he's wearing, breathing heavily for a moment. "I'm sorry," he murmurs.
"No, it's okay, don't apologize. I shouldn't have asked. Too soon, I get it. Too personal."
He releases it and sighs, scooting a bit closer to her. "Listen, I pride myself on honesty, I'll tell you that right away," he says. She accepts it, motioning for him to continue. She wants to listen to him? To hear what he has to say? It may be surprising, but fuck, it's refreshing as hell. "Every time I'm in a group, it goes sour. Every time. Sometimes because of zombies, sometimes because of the people." He pauses and dryly chuckles. "And then one time, we got raided by Howlers after making too much noise. We lit fires to try and see them better. Didn't work. They were too fast and..."
When he breaks, off she places a hand on his shoulder, brushing her thumb over his shirt. He sniffles and nods his thanks. "I lost a lot of people that day. Good people. And that's just the thing. That was almost a year ago. I don't remember the last time I met people and genuinely thought 'wow, these people are cool, I can fit right in no problem'. Now here I am, looking around and seeing teens running across the yard, a little boy and a dog, other people that smile and laugh. Life. I'm seeing life again, in a place that's been standing since the start of the apocalypse. I'm so fucking excited... but..."
"You're scared," she says for him. He gulps. She's not wrong, that's for damn sure. "Jimin." Her hand moves from his shoulder to his cheek, his body going still at the action. Their eyes lock moments later. "It's okay to be scared, and at the very least, I hope you'll somewhat trust me with your feelings. I don't care if I've known you an hour or a year, I want to be here for you. For anything. Okay? Whatever you need. Let's not rush you into this whole trusting thing. Let's slow down and handle it... together."
He places a hand over hers and gives her a precious look. One person. One woman. This one person who's known him not even a full twenty-four hours understands him better than anyone has in years. It's nice. Honestly, it's really nice. So, Jimin keeps his precious look and smiles. "Thank you. I mean that."
"You always have me, Park. I hope I can gain your trust." Before he can answer, she backs away. "Now go back to drying your hands and saying whatever comes to mind," she says with a twinkle in her eyes. He chuckles and obeys, waving his hands back and forth. However, his mind lingers on what she said. 'I hope I can gain your trust'. Jimin finds his heart beating faster.
If only she knew she already has.