Isolated | Taekook

three

three

_____ 🌿 _____

Routine is weird, and some days Jungkook wonders why he even has a routine. There's no one around to tell him he has to do these things, and there's no one around to stop him from doing anything he wanted to do at any given time. Jungkook could do nothing all day if he wanted, or he could run around like an idiot and go exploring. He could set the world on fire if he really wanted to. But routine is normal, and Jungkook missed normal. So to fill the void of normality, he does things routinely. He can't go by a weekly routine, he doesn't know what day it is, he lost track within the year, so he goes by a daily routine.

Jungkook missed normality, and spent a lot of time reminiscing about his old routine as a child. Mornings were spent being dragged out of bed by Jihoon so he could get dressed for school and brush his teeth. Breakfast involved his mother making too much food, his father reading the newspaper or watching the news, and Jihoon packing their lunches. He likes when Jihoon packed lunch instead of his mom. He would always put an extra snack in for him because he knew he got hungry throughout the day. Jihoon would walk him to the bus afterwards. School seemed like such a distant memory to him now that he didn't bother trying to remember what that was like. He only liked to remember his family. He knew that coming home meant doing school work, and waiting patiently for Jihoon to finish his homework. He was fourteen the year it all ended, and Jungkook always complained that he had too much homework. Jihoon would try to entertain him afterwards until their parents got home and made dinner.

Why couldn't you have stayed with me. We could have made it together.

For all the time he spent remembering, Jungkook didn't like to think about them.

The first thing he does when he wakes up is draw back the curtains in his room, and open the windows just a smidge. Fresh air right as he wakes up helps put him into a good mood. There isn't much of a view to be seen - just rows of trailers on either side, but he's grown used to it. It's nothing like the views when he's hunkered down for the winter in one of the high rises. The city looked magical, covered in snow, especially during the sun set, but with no power to light up the city at night, the magic was usually lost as the sun went down. Some days it's easier to get out of bed, and others, Jungkook lies there and doesn't move for what feels like hours. But he knows that when he does get out of bed, he tries to make it to the best of his abilities. It's a little hard when he's worn the mattress down, and his blankets aren't long enough to stretch from one end to the other. He needs to find a longer blanket, especially if he's going to keep growing like this. He's getting too big. He missed being small.

The sun is shining brightly overhead today. The rain certainly didn't last long at all, which meant laundry and dishes were a go for the day. Jungkook smiled. He liked it when the sun came out. Rummaging around the small dresser that he had shoved in the back room with his mattress, he pulled out a pair of shorts and a tank top, ready to start the day.

Breakfast is the rest of his granola bars and water, while writing down in his journal the things he needs to do today: laundry, dishes, bathe, food. He was also going to have to check on his garden and remove the tarp so that the sun could get at it. He does that first - shaking off the excess water and storing the tarp away in a safe place. The ground was pretty soaked, but he didn't think it would affect the crops in any way, and with the way the sun was beating overhead, the ground should dry up enough that they wouldn't drown.

When he's done, he pulls the wagon out of the small shed that's next to his trailer, and carries it over to the front door. He loads the basket of clothes, and his bag of dishes into it along with a few towels, some dish soap and a sponge. The wagon was convenient. That way he didn't have to make too many trips down the hill, and he wouldn't be wasting daylight. It annoyed him that he couldn't tell what day of the week it was or what's the date today or even the time. Time passed too quickly for his liking in the aftermath, and he always felt like the day was wasted. He didn't get to do as much as he would like. He knows that he isn't going to get much done today either, laundry always took a lot of time, considering he had to wash his clothes, then trudge all the way back up to the park and hang them up so they could dry. It was a tedious task that he hated to do, but it was necessary if he didn't want to smell disgusting. Just because it was the end of the world doesn't mean he has to stop caring about personal hygiene.