House Rules (BTS fic)

House: Namseok

"Yes, can I see the green ones, please?" Namjoon asked, reaching his demanding hand out for the employee to place the apple in. "Hm," he uttered once it was in his hand. The hand squeezed the fruit, unsure if it was disappointed by it. "Can I see another one?"

At that point, Hobi's eye roll was a reflex more than anything. He sighed heavily too, heavy enough for Joon to take notice and, of course, comment. "Jin only eats green apples. What do you want me to do, not get them?" was his argument. Jum didn't actually say anything back, but the look on his face said plenty. "You didn't have to come."

"You asked me too," were the first words out of Hobi's mouth, leaning heavily against the crate of oranges. They were in the produce section of the grocery store down the street from their neighborhood. It wasn't as big, but it was local, something they needed. It was Sunday, meaning the grocery store list was finalized and Namjoon was receiving it. But still, it was usually a two or three-person job. Somehow, whenever he went to the grocery store with anyone else, things were even more stressful.

"Joon, can we get this too?"

"Joonie, they don't have the cereal I want."

"Joon, this place smells like toast. Should we be buying from a place that smells like toast? Ooh, bread."

"Joon, how much longer?"

"Namjoonie, I can't find the toiletries. Oh wait, there's a sign."

"Joon, I broke something. They're saying we have to pay for it now. Ooh, bread."

Hoseok was the only soul in the household that he didn't uniformly want to kill on a grocery trip. Joon sighed, realizing that none of these apples lived up to Jin's standards. "Any chance you have more in the back?" Joon asked the man assisting him. Despite having stood by his side for over ten minutes helping him with minuscule things, he faked a smile, nodded, and ushered. "Get the other stuff, please Hobi?" Joon handed him the list and walked away before could Hoseok could even think of saying "no."

Hobi sighed again, muttering. "I hate the grocery store."

"I hate the grocery store," Joon complained, driving down the freeway. "Like, how is it that they don't have Jin's special brand of flour or a pink mini fridge. I mean, these are essential things." He adjusted the glasses on his face. "They're gonna kill me."

"Joon, you're overexaggerating." Hobi placed a hand on his shoulder, genuinely surprised at how tense it was. "Wow, okay. Look, it's just food and some other stuff. If they really wanted something else then they could get it themselves."

"Yeah...sure..." Joon thought, although not taking it to heart. "Did you get the strawberries for Jimin's cupcake thing?"

Hobi froze, thinking it over. "Uh...?"

Luckily, Joon had already gotten off the freeway before he slammed on his breaks and pulled into a laundromat's parking lot. "That's clearly Hoseok for 'no,'" Joon finished for him, going around to exit again. "What's happening?" Hobi asked.

"We're going back to get the strawberries," Joon said, ready to turn when Hobi grabbed the key and turned the car off. Namjoon's neck snapped as his head turned to stare at Hobi. "What?"

"Joon, stop. This is stupid. We are not going all the way back to the grocery store to get strawberries because Jimin wants to bite off the tips and shove them on his fingers and pretend that he has strawberry fingers—Why would you even feed that idea?"

"...Because his mom never let him do it as a kid," Joon reasoned, although now that he thought about it maybe it wasn't the greatest reason. "Why are you even bringing this up now? Hobi, none of that matters. We just have to go up the street—"