chapter six / yuk
24/7 = Heaven
(006)

The warmth of my jasmine tea seeps through the glass mug I'm holding. The heat is a little too intense, so I pull my wool sweater over my hands to act as mits so I can more comfortably hold the cup. Not to mention, it gives me major cozy autumn vibes. I bring the cup up to my mouth, breathing in the flowery scent of the liquid before taking a sip.

"Wren!" A shriek rings through my ears. Startled, I accidentally spit out my tea across the table. I cough while looking for where the scream originated from. My eyes land on a boy who's smile shines brighter than the simulated sun out the cafe window.

"Hobi!" I give him a warm smile, despite how startled I was a second ago, and motion for him to come join me at my table. Normally, if there are only two people sitting at a table, you would sit across from each other, but Hoseok gladly takes the empty seat next to me and embraces me in a tight hug, taking away my ability to breathe.

"Are you the only one here?" He questions.

I nod my head and take another sip of my tea. "I guess I came too early," I chuckle slightly.

"That's okay, I never get to spend time with you without the others, so this is nice," he grins at me, his eyes disappearing as they crinkle up into crescents.

He's right. We're almost always in a group. I haven't had the opportunity to have one on one time with most of the boys. Jungkook invited all of us to join him for a game of Mario Kart. We, of course, gladly accepted, but it was kind of strange since this is the first time he's contacted us since the zombie apocalypse game. Maybe he really did find a way to deal with his dad. Whatever the case, I'm glad we'll get to see him.

While we wait on the others to come here, Hoseok orders an impressive amount of food. In front of him is a turkey club sandwich, a salad, chicken noodle soup, a cupcake and some sprite. I can't help but gape at the food in front of him.

"Are you feeling alright?"

Hoseok glances up at me, his mouth full from the huge bite of his sandwich he just took. "I'm starving. I didn't have time to eat today," he mumbles while chewing.

"Why not?"

"I accidentally overslept because I was up so late studying, I spent my lunch break at school cramming in more studying for an exam I had today. After school I had dance practice, and as soon I got home I went online. I didn't wanna be late meeting you guys."

"Hobi," I frown, "this only tricks your brain into thinking you've eaten. It's not good to go all day without eating, especially since you dance."

"You sound like my mom," he laughs.

"I know. I just don't want you to skip out on eating to play with us. You could've sent a message saying you'd be late." He only shrugs in response and continues to scarf down his virtual meal. Once I'm done nagging him, I start to smile. "You dance?"

Hoseok puts his food down just for a moment, my question sparking excitement in his eyes. "You didn't know?"

"I guess I don't know anything about you, except that you have quite the hatred for snakes and zombies."

Hoseok snorts. "Well now you know about something that I love. I've danced for as long as I can remember. It means everything to me."

"Do you think I could watch you sometime?"

"Of course," he sings, "I have a dance competition coming up in a few days. I'll have my mom record it so you can be a part of my audience."

I bounce in my chair with excitement. "I can't wait! I'm know you'll do great,"

He laughs. "You haven't even seen me dance. What if I'm terrible?"

"I can see how much passion you have for dance, and from what I've heard you work hard, you have to be spectacular. Hard work will never betray you." Hoseok gives me a soft smile right as Yoongi walks up to him.

"Sit on the other side of the table," he commands.

"What? No, I'm sitting next to Wren!"

"Please," Yoongi pouts. Hoseok glares in response, but reluctantly gives his seat up to Yoongi. The boy smirks because of his victory before flopping down in the chair next to me. "Ya know, I found out something really interesting about this game," he brags.

"Oh yeah?" I lift an eyebrow at him. "What's that?"

"If you lay down and close your eyes in the game, your brain will go into rest mode, which means you sleep in the real world too."

"Is there a reason you're telling me this?"

Yoongi sighs. "Yeah. Can I use you as a pillow?"

"That's why you wanted my seat!" Hoseok points an accusing finger at the drowsy boy. Yoongi only shrugs in response.

"Sure, go ahead," I laugh and turn my legs to the side so he can rest his head on my lap. He gives me an appreciative smile before laying down on me and closing his eyes. I run my fingers through his mint green hair and he lets out a satisfied hum in response.

"Don't spoil him," Hoseok crosses his arms.

"Wren can do whatever she wants, so don't be jealous, you walking fire hydrant," Yoongi says, referring to Hoseok's fire red hair.

Hoseok glares. "If you don't apologize for calling me that, I'm gonna call Jin Hyung."

"Oh please, I'm an adult, "Yoongi scoffs, "I can do whatever I want. I'm not afraid of Jin."

"Alright then," Hoseok pulls up his holopad and taps on Jin's contact to start a video call. Yoongi's eyes widen once he realizes he's serious.

"No, Wait! I'm sorry, okay? Just don't call him." Hoseok gives a triumphant smile and closes his holopad, satisfied that he won this round with Yoongi. Yoongi grumbles as he lays back in my lap and goes to sleep. Even though they get annoyed with each other, I find all the bickering amusing. It's like watching brothers fighting all the time.

Not long after Hoseok finishes his food, the rest of the boys show up at our meeting place.

"Noona!" The three youngest boys all gather around me and hug me around my neck, smothering me in the process. Yoongi stirs a bit in his sleep, being slightly bothered by all of the commotion. When Jungkook hugs me, I pay careful attention to try and catch any possible signs of distress. Strangely, this is the brightest he has smiled in quite a while. There's a certain lightness in the way he steps, as if he hasn't a care in the world. I wonder what changed.

We all go to the race tracks and pick out our vehicles. Apparently the creators of Elysium and Mario Kart are partners, so that's why a Nintendo game is in here without there being a major court case.

I choose a blue and red motorcycle. It's nothing fancy, but I predict that it'll be a lot easier to dodge attacks from the others in something small like this instead of a big racecar. The boys decide to play on teams. As soon as the word 'teams' is spoken, Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook rush to my side. They sprint so fast to me, that before anyone even blinks, they've disappeared from their previous position to a new one. When the older boys look up and see that they've sided with me, they all blink in surprise.

"Well I guess we've got out teams," Jin laughs, "the Maknae line vs the Hyung line."

"I wanted to be on teams with Wren," Hoseok wines.

"It's your fault for being old and slow," Jungkook taunts. Hoseok doesn't seem to find his comment very funny.

"It's okay, we can team up next time," I reassure him. I just hope the next game we play together isn't anything scary, Hoseok doesn't do too well in those games. When it's time to decide the race track we use, Jin suggests that our team pick the first one.

"I'll leave it up to you guys," I say, "just please don't pick rainbow road."

Jungkook's finger haults, hovering overt the one place that I absolutely didn't want to go. The cursed rainbow road. It may be aesthetically pleasing, but that place is what nightmares are made of. I sigh in relief as he lets out a chuckle.

"Alright, Noona," he concedes, "only for now." I just grumpily tromp through the doors to the racing area, knowing I'll eventually have to race in the demon possessed place. I slide on my helmet and other safety gear and make my way to my motorcycle. Yoongi gets into his sporty car and revs his engine, showing off like he does. He rolls down his tinted window of his sleek, black car.

"Nice bike, but you really think it's a good choice for a race?" Yoongi laughs at me in a judgemental way. I only give him a petty smile as the countdown for the race starts. Yoongi smirks at me as he continues to make the engine of his car pur. I twist the handles of my bike and ready myself for the race.

Once the light above the starting line flashes green, signalling us to go, I speed ahead, going as fast as I can. As I speed ahead of Yoongi's car, I lift my middle finger as high as possible to make sure he can see me.

"Eat my dust, turtle boy!" I yell at the top of my lungs. I take a chance at glancing behind me to see a smirk on Yoongi's face. I guess he appreciated the petty comment. I know I sure did.

I use my small bike to weave through everyone else's cars and motorcycles, narrowly avoiding colliding metal to metal. I take sharp curves easily, leaning left and right to turn my bike whichever way I need. Soon enough, we begin to approach our first row of power ups. I make sure I'm not directly behind anyone so if they grab the power up in front of me, I won't be left without anything. As soon as the tip of my bike touches the glowing box, the screen on my window shield lights up and shows it flipping through all of the power ups until it finally slows down and lands on a green shell.

At the moment, I'm in third place, directly behind Jungkook, currently in first place, and Hoseok who is riding right on my teammate's bumper.

"Sorry Hobi, but all friendships disappeared the moment we were put on seperate teams," I apologize into the microphone, insincerity obvious in my voice.

"You'll regret this later," he assured me, knowing there was nothing he could do to avoid his fate. I make sure that my bike is pointing in the direction of his car, then press the button on my handle bar to launch the green shell towards him. Curses directed at me can be heard from the speaker in my helmet when the shell collides with his green car and throws him off the track.

Me and Jungkook are taking the lead, when a loud beeping sound pierces through our ears, getting faster by the second, signalling that a blue shell is coming straight for the driver in first place. Jungkook probably won't be able to get anything from his inventory that he's hacked into the game to use quick enough to save him.

"Put some distance between us or you'll get caught in the explosion," Jungkook directs me. I nod as I slow my speed down. I don't worry about anyone passing me because they'll be doing the same to avoid damage. The blue shell flies over me and lands straight over Jungkook. A large explosion goes off, and after, all that can be seen is smoke. I can't even see where Jungkook was blown off too. Looks like it's up to me now to keep first place.

I twist the handles of my bike, adrenaline floods through my veins, making me feel even more serious and determined than before. As far as I'm concerned, this is a life or death matter.

"What place are you in now, Kookie?" I implore as I cross the finish line, starting on my second lap.

"I got knocked down to seventh," he reports back, "right in front of Jimin. He seems to be having trouble."

"I picked the wrong car," he whines, blaming the lack of skill on his vehicle.

"Where are you Tae?" I take a sharp turn, doing my best to avoid several banana peels that had been placed on the black concrete.

"I'm in fourth, but I can see you from here," he informs me, "Jin is coming up on you, Yoongi's following close behind."

I nod my head and take a quick glance in my rearview mirror. Jin is in a pink sports car. I have to admit that it looks quite spectacular. It's a good thing that you can't destroy the vehicles you use in this game. I'd hate to turn it into a piece of scrap metal when I destroy him.

"Try and do something about Yoongi, I'll take care of Jin," I command.

"That's funny, Wren, you must not know that Mario Kart is my specialty," Jin interjects over his microphone. I ignore his comment and swirve my bike to take the power boost that Jin was about to pass over. I can make sudden movements because of my small bike, but Jin's car will make it impossible to turn quick enough to grab a different power boost. The corner of my mouth tugs up in a satisfied smirk. When My power boost is selected, that smirk fades into a disappointed frown. It's three banana peels. I won't get any good power boosts while I'm in first place anyway, so I decide to hold onto these banana peels. If I keep them with me, it'll act as a shield for anything that's sent to throw me off course. I'd rather lose a banana peel than my spot in the lead.

Right as I pass over the finish line, starting the third and final lap around the course, a green shell is hurtled towards me. The banana trailing behind me takes the blow, consequently disappearing along with the shell.

I glance behind me and smile at Jin. "Nice try, but it'll take more than-" before I can finish my sentence, my wheel starts to spin and slide, slowing down my speed completely. I ran over a stupid banana peel. That's what I get for not looking in front of me, I suppose.

I rush to twist the handles of my bike to accelerate and gain my speed back before Jin passes me. By the time I do, Jin is already right by my side, the position of first place going back and forth between us as his car struggles to pass me. He turns his wheel and rams his car into me, causing my bike to jolt. I struggle to stay on the road as he continues to push me farther and farther. Since I can't push him back with this small bike, I fear that he'll run me right off the road, but before he can, a beeping noise rings through our helmets. I peek down at my screen to see a bullet heading straight towards us. My jaw drops when I see that it's Jimin.

Jimin speeds right over Jin's car, stopping it right in it's tracks as it's flattened by the massive weight of the bullet.

"Good job, Chim Chim!" I praise him, this being the first good thing he's done this round. I laugh when all that can be heard over the speakers is Jimin's loud cheering, happy at his accomplishment of taking first place. I don't mind that he took it. We're on the same team, his points are my points too. Second is just as good in the team situation since we hold the two highest spots. It's now my job to protect his and my spot. If we can at least keep first and second place, I'm pretty sure we'll win no matter how badly Taehyung and Jungkook do, not that I'm worried about the two of those gaming geniuses doing badly.

We all pass over the power boosts, and I'm sure this will be the last time we'll get any of those for this race. I groan at the power boost I got; a mushroom. With this, I'll only be able to get one speed boost. This won't protect me or Jimin from anything.

"Whatcha got, boys?"

"I got a red shell," Jungkook replies.

"I just got a thunderbolt." I can practically feel Taehyung smirking because of the sly tone in his voice. If he just got his power up, that must mean he's far behind us. I look down at my screen to see that he's in last place. Someone must've landed a pretty hard hit for him to fall so far back.

Frustrated screams and groans can be heard from the boys on the other team as dark grey storm clouds loom above them. A bright flash of lightning strikes down, accompanied by a loud boom of thunder. I don't want to risk looking behind me again when we're so close to winning, but I can imagine that they've shrunken by now.

Jimin passes over the finish line, letting out a copious amount of whoops and hollars. Not long after, I cross the finish line too, finishing the race. The six boys behind us follow close behind, and I smile as the scores comes onto our screen.

Me and Jimin hold the top two spots, Jin is in third, Yoongi in fourth, Jungkook behind him, then Taehyung, Hoseok, and Namjoon in last place. With the scoring system, that gives our team thirty-seven points, and their team, twenty-one.

"I demand a rematch," Jin glowers, crossing his arms.

Jungkook shrugs. "If you want to be beat again that badly, then sure."

Jin flicks the younger boy's forehead in response, and Jungkook flinches and hisses in pain. I realize now that Jin doesn't take losing very well, but then again, who does?

We play round after round. All of the fondness we have for each flying out the window as we mercilessly attack each other to gain the lead for our own teams. Although things grow intense, insults fly left and right, and we're all at each other's throats, this is probably the best bonding time we could possibly have. Playing Mario Kart with someone either makes or breaks a relationship, and ours toughed it out, so I think it can survive anything that's thrown our way.

After someone chooses to race on rainbow road, and I fall off of the course about one hundred times, each time that I'm lifted back up making me more and more annoyed, I decide that I no longer feel like racing. Rainbow road takes the fun out of Mario Kart quite easily. For people that have no problem with it, they find it quite enjoyable, but for those of us who stay in last place because we keep falling off of the cursed road, well, it isn't so great.

"I think I'm burned out on Mario Kart for now," I groan as I take my helmet off.

"Aw, c'mon, Wren! You're just grumpy because you got last place," Hoseok laughs, beaming as he was the lucky one that ruled this course. I should've known. Rainbow road is set in space, so the walking sun, Hobi, should feel right at home here.

"That's alright," Namjoon claims, "I've got studying to do tonight."

"Yeah, and I've gotta get dinner ready before my parents come home from work," Jin declares. We all thank Jungkook for inviting us to the game, and say our goodbyes to each other.

I open my holopad along with the others. The only one who doesn't open their holopad is Jungkook. "Are you staying?"

Jungkook nods in response, "Yeah, for a bit."

I wave goodbye to him and tap the log out button. Usually, I'm immediately taken out of the game and open my eyes to be back inside my bedroom, but nothing happens. I try tapping it again, but I'm still standing in the virtual world of Elysium. I tap again and again and again, but the outcome stays the same. I look up to see that everyone else is still here too, mirroring the puzzled look that I'm sure I have on my face.

We can't log out.

__________

A/N -

And so it begins. The beginning of the end. Hahahaha jkjk it's not THAT serious. They won't die.... or will they?

Tell me your favorite BTS fanfic, so I can check it out. It's not like I have enough in my reading list *scrolls through hundreds of saved fanfics*. My current favorite is Sober, by silverspoongi

Hope you're all doing well. Until next time my dudes!