Jungkook wonders if he should take the plunge, raise the idea to Jin of coming back — maybe exactly a year from now, something that all of them can hold onto. He wonders if he's the only one for whom these dates matter; he already has so many etched into his mind, stepping stones leading him to freedom.

Someday, the passing of the days won't be something he has to worry so much about. Someday, they'll all have the freedom to decide their own fates, and it won't matter what the adults say. But until then, he has them filed away in his mind. This year's graduation ceremony. Each one of their birthdays. Christmas, next Christmas, when Jungkook will demand for all of them to crowd together in Jin's apartment again, which always feels wide and spacious until they're all bundled in together.

And maybe, next year, February ninth again.

A small grin spreads on Jungkook's face as he watches Hoseok carefully lower his hand, watches the starfish's legs all curl up in surprise before it tentatively crawls its way off, back to the safety of the pool.

"I wanna go to the countryside," Jungkook declares brightly, reaching his arm around Hoseok's shoulders and pulling him close again, now that they don't have to worry about disturbing the starfish. "Somewhere way out there, where there aren't any high-rise buildings, where you can stare for kilometers and kilometers and just see fields and mountains and... ahhh, don't you think it'd be great? To be somewhere that space isn't so limited. We could laugh, scream, play around without worrying about disturbing neighbors."