He’s not sure where to start when Taehyung leaves him with a sober Namjoon, but Jimin has a feeling that the guy has a lot on his mind. He reminds Jimin of himself; his own mind and dark thoughts are mirrored in Namjoon’s expression, allowing him to relate more than anyone.

                  “… You know,” Namjoon starts, kneeling over Hoseok’s broken console. “After I got suspended, all I got were hate messages. On Facebook, as texts… I’m kind of used to it. I’ve heard worse than what Hoseok told me just now, so it’s okay.”

                  “Why is it ‘okay’?” Jimin asks, a persistent frown on his face.

                  “Because I deserve it.” He starts rearranging the pieces. “I only painted the school to make a point. My robots were programmed to cover walls, not people. I didn’t want to hurt anyone, but… It’s my fault. I ruin everything. I had friends, but I ruined them. Now I don’t have anything.” He sighs. “I ruin everything I touch.”

                  “No, you don’t—!”

                  “It’s okay. It’s the truth.”

                  “S-Stop saying that!” Jimin retorts, annoyed. “All you ever said today was ‘it’s okay’ and let people step all over you. Stop saying it’s okay. You never meant to hurt anyone, and you didn’t. So what if we got a little paint on our hands? It doesn’t justify why you’re treated like an o-outcast.  It’s not okay if people throw trash at you. It’s not okay if people ignore you for no reason. You didn’t hurt anyone, so w-why are you the only one getting hurt?”

                  Namjoon hesitates to say anything before finally uttering, “To be honest… If I still had friends, even if it’s just one… then maybe the bullying would be easier to get through.”

                  The door opens. Taehyung and Hoseok walk in, red bruises marring their faces. “… Namjoon,” the latter starts with a stoic face. “… I’m sorry for what I said.”

                  They stare at each other for a couple moments before Namjoon bursts into a great big smile. “Here!” He hands him his console, which miraculously looks good as new; no scratches, no dents.

                  Hoseok’s eyes look like they’re about to bulge out of their sockets. He turns it on, and the usual music starts up like it hasn’t been smashed to pieces just a couple minutes ago. “What the—? You fixed it?! How did you—? And in such a short time?!”

                  “I’m not the leader of Robotics for nothing,” he says, light returning to his eyes. “Something like this is—”

                  Jimin screeches. “Did you two fight?!”

                  “Huh?” Taehyung stammers, covering his left cheek. “I fell.”

                  “For the love of rabbit shoes—! So you both ‘fell’ and have the same fist-prints on your faces?”

                  Hoseok cries, “HE PUNCHED ME FIRST!”

                  They start squabbling like a bunch of feral chickens, and amid the noise Namjoon quietly tears up laughing.

--

                  Jimin greets the next morning with a mouthful of orange hair and Taehyung’s limbs wrapped around his waist. The other boy must’ve slipped out of his mattress and went looking for the next heat source. “… Tae.” He pats the guy’s face, stirring him awake.

                  “… Whuh?” Dazed, Taehyung blinks before settling into the crook of Jimin’s neck. “Sleep…”

                  “Tae, your bruises are turning purple…” he says, poking one.

                  Taehyung winces in pain. “ing ow. My mom’s gonna kill me…”

                  “You shouldn’t have started a fight…”

                  “I did it for the sake of friendship…”

                  A dark figure hovers over them, blocking sunlight from the window. “Time to get up, princesses.” Hoseok yanks the blanket off of them, leaving the two to face the morning chill in bare shorts. “Staff called us to breakfast like ten minutes ago. Get off y’asses!”

                  Jimin rises immediately while Taehyung just lies there, stiff as a corpse. “Leave me…” he groans, shriveling into himself.

                  Hoseok rolls up his sleeves. “I’ll get his arms. Namjoon, you get his legs.”

                  “Alright,” Namjoon laughs, grabbing his ankles. “It’s a beautiful morning!”

                  “ YOU GUYS,” Taehyung shouts when they lift him off the floor and dump him outside. “WHAT KIND OF FRIENDSHIP IS THIS?!”

                  Jimin snorts, fleeing for the bathroom while shaking his head.

                  When the group finally enters the dining room for breakfast, Namjoon is hit with the usual dirty looks when he strides past the tables. A couple students have the audacity to shout ‘cyborg’ within earshot, but he doesn’t mind it too much when Hoseok jokes about how many of their tea cups they can poison later.

                  Other than that, breakfast is a casual affair. The students are tossed out into the fields a couple hours later, with not much other than a pair of gloves and baskets. Apparently, they’re supposed to forage tea leaves for lunch.

                  Taehyung takes their group up into the hills, which is a little less popular with the other students. “This is so damn beautiful,” he breathes, looking down at the valley that stretches for miles. All they see is green, a wonderfully mystical color in the light of an orange-tinted autumn. “… Alright, let’s pick some ing leaves!”

                  Jimin follows him a bit further up, both friends sniggering over a plant that kind of looks like s. Namjoon paces until he’s walking alongside Hoseok, who is a lot quieter than the dumb duo in front of them. The latter is studying the right leaves for picking.

                  “So how long have you known them?” Namjoon asks, arbitrarily ripping leaves from their stems.

                  Hoseok hums, as if to give some sentimental thought even though he already knows the answer. “I met Taehyung in eighth grade, so three years, give or take.”

                  “And the other one?”

                  “The day after.”

                  “Nice.” There’s a brief pause, where they both listen to the animated chatter Jimin and Taehyung are emitting meters away. “So what does it mean when they say weird like ‘rabbit shoes’?”

                  Hoseok shrugs, chuckling. “I don’t know mate, it’s probably another inside joke. See, look—” He turns toward them and shouts, “WHERE’S THE PIZZA?”

                  The pair in front of them look at each other and explode into a giggling fit.

                  He gives Namjoon a look. “I don’t even know what that means. They’re just that close. No one understands them but each other.”

                  The other boy pushes up his glasses, observing the two with fond eyes. “True friendship is the one light that burns everyone else out,” he recites.

                  Hoseok snorts. “You get used to it.”

                  “It must be nice.” Namjoon picks up a fallen leaf and blows on it. “To have friends, I mean.”

                  “… Is this the part where I say we should be friends?” He laughs awkwardly. “Everyone has friends, mate.”

                  Namjoon looks at his basket. “… I like your leaves.”

                  A sharp shriek pierces the air and the two of them whip their heads toward Taehyung in alarm. “What happened?! Is there an animal there?”

                  “UM,” the guy stammers, hiding behind a surprised Jimin. “NO, BUT IT’S JUNGKOOK.”

                  They stare blankly as freshman Jungkook appears from the plants, donned head to toe in farming gear. He has a basket in either hand, filled to the brim with fresh leaves. He says ‘hello’ in his usual monotone before walking down the hill.

                  The group exchanges mortified glances with each other. “… I thought this was a second-year only trip,” says Hoseok, still shocked.

                  “That’s because it is,” Taehyung replies. They look at each other, and then at the kid who quickly disappears into the leaves.

                  Namjoon blinks. “Weird.”

                  After they’ve collected enough leaves for the army, the students are called back into the main building. The other groups spend time playing games while theirs is sent to the kitchen. There, they’re taught the art of brewing tea and Taehyung thinks the info would be useful if he ever drank tea (read: never). They set up their whole grade’s worth of tea cups, diligently pouring piping hot green tea into each of them. Namjoon has to physically stop Hoseok from spitting in some.

                  After they’re done wearing their arms out for the second time, the four boys share some laughs over a cup of tea to themselves. And if Jimin had to be honest, it was probably better than playing quiz games with the other students anyway.

                  They’re headed back to the city that same day, and that bus ride is a little more relaxed with all four of them playing Mario Kart at once; Hoseok spends a good hour trying to explain to Namjoon how the game worked, before giving up and seeing him win the game right before his very eyes (‘are you sure you don’t play games?’ he screeches when he sees Namjoon’s high score).

                  When they return to their homeland, everyone picks their bags off the bus and goes home, bidding their friends a goodbye. Jimin and Taehyung are headed the same direction, but they make sure to turn around and shout, “KIM NAMJOON IS ALWAYS WELCOME AT OUR LUNCH TABLE!”

                  Namjoon turns from his way home as well, waving back at them with a biggest smile they’ve ever seen on him.

                  “KIM NAMJOON IS WELCOME,” Hoseok shouts from his mom’s car. “AS LONG AS HE DOESN’T BREAK MY !”

aww c:
I ACTUALLY FOUND A PIC OF THESE FOUR SHARING A HOTEL ROOM TOGETHER I'M
thank you for all the lovely comments ;U;
oh wait was I supposed to continue the pepero kiss
well