"Fight or flight?"

"Flight," Seokjin replied without hesitation.

"That's what it seemed to me," Jungkook scoffed as he held out his hand to join him on the very thin windowsill. "Don't be scared, I'll help you."

"I'm not scared," Seokjin lied grabbing his hand and joining him on the windowsill. He was used to his adventures with Jungkook now but he would never have had the courage to act this way without him, that was for sure.

"Right," Jungkook said. 

The two were now on the windowsill and saw that a few meters down the street, women looking the same as Youngim and Eunjung, were looking at them in surprise, one of them screaming that they were about to fall and attracting the attention of other passers-by who crowded down to watch them.

They could not escape down below. Looking up, Jungkook saw a solid-looking gutter and above, the hastily made and far too old roof that matched Saengson's overall architecture very well.

Letting go of Seokjin's hand, he grab the gutter with the whole hand and check its solidity. Seokjin, left to himself, took the time to find his own balance on his trembling legs from being positioned as a tightrope walker on a very small ledge. 

He knew he shouldn't look down to keep up his courage, but the screams of the people below made him look down despite himself and without realizing it, he turned slightly.

"Oh!" he cried, suddenly feeling himself falling.

If he fell from here, he might survive if he didn't wring his neck because it was not so high, but he wouldn't come out unscathed and he wouldn't be able to come back to raise hell with Jungkook at Saengson as he wanted to continue to do. 

That's what he told himself every time he took risks. He wanted to get through it, to start having fun again and again. At each time, he was scared but that feeling gave him a rush of adrenaline that he enjoyed.

"JIN!" Jungkook exclaimed, immediately grabbing his arm and preventing him from falling.

That was why Seokjin's fear never lasted long. Because Jungkook was always there to cover his back and make him feel safe. And that was why he wouldn't stop coming to Saengson despite the danger. Because he was putting himself in danger but having fun doing it and felt like with Jungkook, nothing bad could happen to him.

In the bedroom, he saw the door ready to give way under the shoulders of the boys from the Sanghoon gang.

"They're almost here," Seokjin told Jungkook who nodded.

"Is it okay if I don't hold you anymore, have you regained your balance?"

It was Seokjin's turn to nod and Jungkook let go of his arm.

"Come on, let's get out," Jungkook announced, leaping up and grabbing the gutter to pull himself up onto the roof by the strength of his arms under the admiring gaze of Seokjin.

Once on the roof, Jungkook urged Seokjin to do the same, but Seokjin didn't have as much strength as Jungkook in his arms and even though he managed to grab the gutter, he struggled to lift himself more than a few centimeters. Seeing that, Jungkook had to pull him by the arm to help him lift himself little by little, to leave the windowsill.

It was time. No sooner had his feet left the thin platform than the door was forced into the bedroom and a group of boys tumbled inside. They paused as they saw the bewildering scene unfolding before their eyes, namely half of Seokjin's body, still visible, hanging in the air.

Seokjin didn't see them coming but he felt hands gripping around him and he felt his pants, that he hadn't relaced, slipping slowly.

"My pants!" he shouted in panic, letting go of the gutter with his right hand to hold up his pants.

If Jungkook wasn't already restraining him by his left arm with all his might, Seokjin would have fallen. 

Yet, instead of being alarmed, Jungkook burst out laughing when he saw Seokjin holding his pants back more forcefully than he held his hand, as if he valued his honor more than his life.

"I have a feeling of deja vu..." Jungkook quipped, recalling the scene the day before where Seokjin pulled on his belt and nearly knocked his pants off before letting him drop into a pile of fish intestines.

"Now is not the time for revenge!" yelled Seokjin, who felt a public humiliation coming, because he risked losing his pants in the void as people continued to observe him by the dozens from the street.

He kicked his legs so that Ihnkyang, the teenager who was holding him, let go of him, as Jungkook pulled him with all his might to pull him up onto the roof without falling with him. The teen soon lost his balance and fell off the window sill, clinging to Seokjin's legs.

"Let go of me!" Seokjin shouted at him as the teenager's weight dragged him down and gave Jungkook all the trouble in the world to hold him back.

"Don't count it!" Ihnkyang warned, having no intention of falling alone.

"You're too heavy, the three of us are going to fall!"

"I don't care, if I fall, I'll take you too!"

Seokjin inwardly cursed, understanding that the boy would not give in on his own. Looking at him carefully, he saw that Ihnkyang had a very strange haircut and seeing the rage in his eyes, he understood that Jungkook was no stranger to this visible hole in the middle of his hair which was probably going to have his head completely shaved if he wanted to keep a minimum of hair honor.

Seokjin turned again to Jungkook who laughed to see him make this discovery. 

"He wanted to steal the jacket you gave me and he made fun of the haircut you gave me," Jungkook explained, "oh, and he and his buddies called you a cheapskate."

"I'm not a cheapskate!" Seokjin exclaimed, outraged.

"That's what I tried to tell them but they really don't like you, it's stronger than them," Jungkook regretted in a fake sorry tone. "So, no need to be soft on him. By the way, you'll never be more ridiculous than him after today. You know what I mean, right?"

Yes, un fortunately, Seokjin knew what Jungkook meant by reading his gaze who silently told him with a smile what he should do. They had spent so much time together that in critical times like this, they communicated and understood each other with disconcerting ease.

"I'll get you for that, Jungkook!" he warned.

"I can not wait to see it," Jungkook scoffed.

Seokjin stuck his tongue out at him then, he suddenly let go of his pants which immediately slipped, carried away by the grip of the teenager who was clinging to them and fell in a cry with Seokjin's pants before crashing in a deaf noise several meters further down.

Jungkook burst out laughing when he saw Seokjin, dispossessed of his pants, sticking hanging over the void.

"Get me back up right away, what are you waiting for!" Seokjin shouted at him, flushed with shame, as laughter erupted from the street to accompany Jungkook's.

"I wanted to let them admire Grand Admiral Kim's son in all his glory."

"If you don't get me back up right away, I'll drop us both next to my pants!" Seokjin threatened, clutching his arm with both hands.

Freed from the weight that was dragging Seokjin down, Jungkook had no trouble lifting Seokjin up to find the safety of the roof by his side from where they slumped on their stomachs to watch the street below. 

Down below, the boy who had fallen had gotten up unscathed and was waving his pants like a trophy, giving a mocking smile to Seokjin.

"You lied saying he would be more ridiculous than me: from this moment, people will just remember the admiral's son hanging in the air without his pants!" Seokjin told Jungkook as he pinched his skinny stomach. "If I didn't need you to get off that roof I would have pushed you to get my pants!"

"You deserved a good lesson for going to a brothel," Jungkook retorted.

Before Seokjin could ask him what a brothel was, they were startled to see a stone crashing down on the roof next to them and breaking off a piece of it.

"Ouch!" Jungkook shouted, immediately after, receiving a projectile in the brow bone which instantly began to bleed profusely.

He was so startled that he lost his balance and almost rolled over the edge of the roof. Seokjin restrained him immediately to keep him from falling. Ihnkyang and the other boys who had returned to the street were trying to knock them off the roof by throwing rocks they had picked up from the ground. But soon, empty glass rum bottles started flying too, some very close to the two boys perched on the roof.

"Jungkook!" Seokjin cried, worried, as Jungkook had clapped his hand over his right eye.

"I'm fine," Jungkook told him, "let's not stay here."

Seokjin nodded and helped him to his feet. Carefully, they advanced to the other end of the roof from where they could jump without difficulty on the next roof which was lower and from there, they regained the street. 

As the cries of their pursuers echoed further and proved that they would not leave them alone, they fled quickely towards the docks.