A symphony of unfamiliar noises surrounded Taehyung as he walked through the trees to try and track down where Jungkook had disappeared off to. He tried to look for a trace of him, but his surroundings had a way of keeping things unseen. Taehyung's nerves were pushed to the extreme as he cast his eyes about him.

'You're fine. You're absolutely fine,' thought Taehyung as he jumped at the sound of a branch snapping off to his right.

"What are you doing?"

Hearing Jungkook's voice suddenly after having walked through the dense undergrowth for the last several minutes, Taehyung came to a pause. He turned in a slow circle, still unable to see where Jungkook was.

"Look up, doofus."

Taehyung stopped spinning in a circle, looking up to see Jungkook sitting up in a tree several feet off the ground. He looked semi-relaxed sitting there as if he was used to sitting around in trees. He had his back up against the tree trunk; one leg bent up on the tree bough he was sitting on while the other dangled loosely through the air.

"What are you doing up in a tree?" asked Taehyung; a small smile of amusement appearing on Jungkook's face at his question.

"What are you doing out here?" asked Jungkook in return instead of answering Taehyung's question.

"I came to find you," said Taehyung.

"Why?"

"You just...you disappeared after Namjoon talked to you..."

"So, his name is Namjoon."

There was a slight hum that followed Jungkook saying Namjoon's name; his eyes turning away from Taehyung to look through the branches at the shaded sun. Taehyung watched him from where he stood, bringing one hand up to shade his eyes to see Jungkook better.

"Do you know him?"

Jungkook still kept his eyes toward the sky at Taehyung's question, letting animal chatter fill the silence between them. Eventually Jungkook looked away from the sky to look back down at Taehyung. When he did, Taehyung saw a brief flicker of pain that Jungkook failed to hide. It was then that Taehyung made up his mind about what he had to do next. Taehyung walked over to the tree, fully intending on climbing up it after Jungkook even though he had never climbed a tree in his entire life. Taehyung tucked the knife in his hand into the waistband of his pants as he stared at the trunk before him.

"What are you doing?" asked Jungkook, looking down at him. "You're not seriously about to try to climb up here, are you?"

"Well, you did it. Why can't I?"

Jungkook opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but then shut it as his eyes instead watched Taehyung try to figure out how to start his ascent. Jungkook watched him struggle for a few moments before saying, "This is just painful to watch. Stop for one minute."

Taehyung - whose latest attempt was to more or less bear hug the tree - paused as Jungkook said. He looked up at him to see that Jungkook had found some sort of rope like vine and was looping a large circle in the end. After Jungkook had given the knot he had tied a few tough tugs to make sure it was secure, he dropped it over the side of the bough and lowered it down to where Taehyung stood.

"Sit on it like a swing. I'll lift you up," instructed Jungkook as he managed to swivel himself on the bough to tie the other end of the vine to the trunk.

"You're not going to be able to do that."

"Fine. Stay down there. I don't care."

Taehyung sighed, finding himself semi-reluctantly sitting in the crude swing lift that Jungkook had just made. He clutched tightly to the vine with his hands, not able to stop himself from thinking how painful it would be to fall if it were to snap or if Jungkook were to let go. Taehyung screwed his eyes shut as he felt himself slowly get lifted up into the tree. He only opened his eyes again when he heard Jungkook's grunt nearby. Even then, Taehyung only cracked open one eye to see that he was face-to-face with Jungkook who was currently gritting his teeth; the muscles on his arms prominent from being put to such use.

"Get onto the bough," said Jungkook through his teeth as Taehyung did what he was told, soon straddling the tree bough and sitting across from Jungkook who let the vine drape across the branch behind him.

"We're really high up," said Taehyung who foolishly looked down at the ground below them, gulping at the height.

"We're safe enough up here. Probably safer than down there anyway," said Jungkook as Taehyung turned his eyes from the ground to look back at Jungkook. Jungkook wasn't looking at Taehyung and was instead looking at a speck of dirt on one of his arms.

"Jungkook, why did you run off?"

"I didn't run off."

"Well then, why did you walk off?"

Smirking, Jungkook looked up from his arm and over at Taehyung.

"Why do you care?"

"Because...because you remind me of myself," said Taehyung finally, parroting the words back at Jungkook that he had said to him the night before. "I used to think no one cared about me and that my feelings weren't valid. It led me to my statued fate..."

"Hold up. Statued fate?"

Taehyung nodded his head.

"I was frozen into a statue by this person named Guy. Namjoon and his friends saved me and showed me that I was important; that I was worth it. I want to show that to you."

Jungkook didn't say anything as he went back to looking at his arm.

"Jungkook, you can trust me. I'd like to think that - even though I obviously annoy you with my lack of survival skills - that we might actually be able to be friends. Besides, you saved me several times over. Let me save you from the secret you're carrying by yourself."

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"You're just going to have to trust me like I did you."

"You're really annoying, do you know that?" asked Jungkook with a small grin before he sighed, "But yes, to answer your earlier question, I know Namjoon. At least sort of."

"How though?"

"As that annoying brooding one assumed, I'm not from this time. I'm actually from Namjoon's time. I got trapped here."

Taehyung knew this story was painful for Jungkook to recount considering how Jungkook kept refusing to look at him and kept finding other things around him to focus his eyes on. Taehyung kept wanting to prod Jungkook to continue but figured that the best way to get Jungkook to keep opening up was to stay silent.

"I was born with deformities," said Jungkook, "I was born with these ugly welt-like scars on my body. My parents - who were well-off in society apparently - didn't want a marred child. They only wanted perfection. Because of this I was put into an orphanage. I stayed there for a long while, no one adopting me because they only ever seemed to be able to see my imperfections instead of me. The longer I stayed in the orphanage, the more my outlook on life became just as ugly as my scars. I went into the orphanage when I was just a baby and was adopted when I was fifteen. The man who adopted me didn't seem like the fatherly type, but I didn't care at that point. I was rebellious and already had my outlook on the world formed. I had a drive in me to be perfect at everything as a way to show the world that I was worthy of existing."

The pause Jungkook took this time showed Taehyung how vulnerable he was feeling right now. Taehyung was surprised to see the walls that Jungkook had built were let down ever so slightly; the pain of his past written on every line of his face.

"The man that adopted me worked for this company that was experimenting with the idea of time travel," continued Jungkook. "That was how I ended up meeting Namjoon's grandfather for the first time. Namjoon was with him, but I doubt he remembers me. We only crossed paths once - and when we did - Namjoon was deeply invested in the book he was reading. Namjoon wasn't there the day that the time travel device actually worked. Only his grandfather, my adopted father and I were. It took us all back to this time period. We were all shocked it worked but didn't have time to think about it too much before Captain and his crew found us. We looked rich to them, so they tried to strip us of our valuables. In the end, my adopted father...he made a trade. Me for the time travel device."

Taehyung couldn't hide the look of horror on his face at what Jungkook said. Thankfully Jungkook didn't notice it since he was looking up at the sky again.

"I tried to fight back, but I was outnumbered. Namjoon's grandfather was the only other one that was bothered by the trade, but he couldn't fight back against them either. He tried to persuade them to let me go. It didn't work though. Captain was fascinated with everything about me and took me back with him to his ship. The rest...well, it's history I suppose."

"Jungkook..."

"Look, if what you're about to say is some sort of sappy crap, I don't wanna hear it. I don't want pity."

"I understand you don't want pity, but what about a home?"

Jungkook arched a brow at Taehyung's question as he moved his head to lock eyes with him.

"You don't have to be stuck here anymore," continued Taehyung. "You can come with us. You can have a family like you've always wanted."

"I thought I said no sappy crap."

"That's not even the sappy crap I was thinking of saying."

"Do I even want to ask what is sappier than what you just said?"

"Before I was going to say - you spent your entire life thinking that you needed to be perfect - but to be perfect, you just need to be yourself."

Jungkook moved a hand towards his face and Taehyung was surprised to see Jungkook madly brushing a tear or two away.

"You tell anyone any of this and I kill you, understand?"

"I understand," said Taehyung, not afraid of Jungkook's threat as a soft smile crossed his face. Taehyung leaned forward to put a hand on his knee. "Jungkook..."

Jungkook locked his eyes with Taehyung's again as Taehyung said, "Come become a part of our family. We want you."