House Rules (BTS fic)

Rules: HoJoon

"Higher! Higher!"

"No."

Namjoon was weird in the way he "woke up with a start." He didn't do the normal, quick and sharp inhalation or jerk of his body into a sitting position as his eyes moved to and fro. Usually, he kept his eyes closed and body tense and still as his insides churned to butter. In those senses, he wasn't a very outward person, not unless people wanted him to be...but who would want that?

Namjoon tried to move his head up, only having a few minutes of lasting strength before it crashed back down to the neck pillow he used as a normal pillow. He was trying to see where Hoseok was, knowing he was lingering somewhere in their man pile. Namjoon thought at one point the pile was just for safety and warmth in the cold, but now he saw it as more of a tradition.

Namjoon could feel the memory coming to fruit, manifesting somewhere in his temporal lobe, a memory of Hoseok.

This is our chapter, he thought.

"Don't go too far Jimin," Namjoon ordered, watching his friend closely as he was mid-run, groaning and collapsing on the sand instead. Namjoon turned away to go back to looking for crabs and fish, slushing around in the water. He shivered, the old breeze they knew once becoming something more distant and, well, cold.

Very, very cold.

Hoseok watched as Namjoon's head turned away, turning to watch Jimin as he laid in the sand. "Where were you going?" he asked, catching Jimin's scattered attention.

Jimin shrugged with only one of his shoulders, his wispy hair covering parts of his forehead and leaving the rest open for tanning. It seemed like Jimin and Yoongi were the only ones not tanning violently, not that it mattered anymore as the sun became less and less bright. "I wanted to help Jeongguk and Tae hunt."

"Oh, well then go."

"Well, I mean Namjoon—"

"Don't worry about it," Hoseok interrupted him, helping him up. "Go and help them, Namjoon and I got it." So Jimin went, not thinking thrice about it.

Next thing Namjoon knew, Jimin was gone and Hobi was asking what needed to be done. Joon sighed, nearly choking the fish in his hand to death. "Hobi," he spoke gently, carefully selecting his words. "That bag is full of fish," he pointed toward the book bag, indeed, full of fish. He then pointed to two, bulkier book bags next to it. "And those are full of rocks. And we have to walk over a mile to get to the cliff to then deliver said necessities."

Namjoon thought about saying, I love you, but you are not what I need right now.

"I need Jimin, not you," was what came out, Joon trusting that the hurt in his eyes would fade eventually. "Oh," Hobi said. "Sorry." Namjoon was getting ready to say it was fine when he kept on. "Guess I'll just have to pull my weight then, as long as you don't overdo it." He held his hand out to Namjoon, still standing in the freezing water. "Come on, it's too cold for you in there."

Namjoon wanted to slap the hand away, but he knew he wasn't better than that, there had already been two incidents to use as evidence of that. Instead, seeing Joon's hesitance, Hobi turned his hand into a fishing pole, trying to mime-rope Joon back to shore. "Oh, oh!" he shouted. "I think we got a big one here!" The corner of his face lifted as Hobi pretended to struggle. "Come on! So close!" With a rather boring and non-fish-like response, Joon stepped out of the water and onto the warm-in-comparison sand. Hoseok let his breath go, fake-panting as he clutched his knees. "Phew!"

"Shut up," Namjoon said, pulling him closer as they walked back to the bags, picked them up, and made their way back to camp before the sun completely set.