"Is the treehouse open?" Yoongi's voice is quiet like the whisper of the wind outside and broken like the glass on the floor. Through the phone, Namjoon can only hear how pained he is, not able to see his best friend, but feeling the upsetting vibe through the sound waves.
    "Of course, bro. Come over whenever you want." Glancing at the clock, Namjoon expects Yoongi to show up at his window in about ten minutes- five minutes to pack the necessities of an overnight stay and five to walk over to his house and slip in through the broken panel in the cracked wooden fence. It should be 1:45 AM when he arrives.
    "I'll be there soon." And then there's silence.
    Namjoon grabs sleeping bags, pillows, snacks, and an electric camping lantern and hauls them up to the treehouse. He waits for Yoongi on the tire swing and checks his watch. At 1:45 on the dot, the panel in the fence moves and Namjoon runs over to Yoongi. It's a good thing that it's nighttime or someone might see the long bro hug they share, the hugs that Namjoon reserves for nights like this when Yoongi is in a bad state.
    "Got any band-aids?" Namjoon nods and shoves a pack of them at him, helping him clean the blood from his hands and chest. His parents are not the best of people. They're certainly not fit to be parents and every time Yoongi comes by with injuries- both physical and emotional- Namjoon swears he'll see to it that Yoongi will always have someone that will be there for him- himself or someone otherwise. 
    Up in the tree, they can see the stars and moon through the window, lighting up even the darkest parts of their lives. "They never stop fighting," says Yoongi, annoyed. "And hyung is gone most of the time so it's not like I can just talk to him." He looks out the window of the treehouse where he can see the neighborhood. "I just want to get out of this town."

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

    "...so you do the top half of the review and I'll do the bottom half so we can compare notes later and-" Namjoon is cut off by his cell phone ringing. "Hang on," he says to Hoseok as he answers the phone. "Hello? Yoongi? Dude slow down, what-" He listens, eyes widening. "We'll be right there."
    "What's wrong?" asks Hoseok as Namjoon hurriedly shoves his books and papers into his bag.
    "He's up a creek and we have to go help him out." And with that, the two break into a run for the back gates of the school. 
    "Yoongi!" Hoseok shouts as he and Namjoon race towards him.
    "You think you're so tough? Prove it," says the punk who has him by the collar. 
    "Let him go," says Namjoon, though he's already shedding his hoodie, getting ready for a fight. Two other guys step forward and Namjoon looks angry enough to take on both of them- and win.
    "Who're you? And what makes you think I'll give in so easy?" Namjoon rolls his eyes.
    "The proper term is easily," he corrects. "Adverb. And who am I? I'm the person who's gonna make you let go of my friend." The other kid looks annoyed, both at Namjoon's threat and him being a smart-.
    "Yeah? Or what?" 
    "Or in five minutes you'll be spitting up dirt and blood." His voice is calm but with a sharp edge. While he holds their attention, Hoseok sneaks around behind them discreetly, waiting on Namjoon's signal. Yoongi, the only one who notices him, also waits.
    "This mothering punk-" he starts angrily.
    "Now!" Namjoon shouts and they spring into action, Hoseok kicking the boy from behind as Yoongi elbows him hard in the ribs, causing him to release his hold. Namjoon goes for the boy on the right, landing a well-place kick to the chest while Yoongi jumps for the other one, bringing him to his knees with an easy er punch.
    They circle the three boys- all of whom are injured on the ground- and Namjoon gives them the biggest -eating grin that Hoseok and Yoongi have ever seen. "Let's get out of here," he says, just as another voice- one that sounds authoritative like a teacher or administrator- yells, "Hey, what are you kids doing?"
    The three exchange wide-eyed glances. "Run!"

    "Thanks for bailing me out, guys," says Yoongi as he rubs his neck, sore from where the bully had gripped him.
    "No problem, bro," Namjoon replies. The three sit in the treehouse, trying to recover with sodas and food.
    Hoseok takes a gulp of root beer and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. "We have your back. But it's pretty early in the school year to be getting into fights, don't you think? I thought we'd make it through at least half of freshman year without anything getting ugly. It's been less than a week."
    "Haters gonna hate," says Namjoon as Yoongi delivers his classic line of, "I don't give a ."

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

    "Dude, you're so stupid!" In the corner of the hallway, the boys hang out and laugh. They've made it through the first week of high school and they're already becoming infamous- the troublemakers of the school.
    "Easy for you to say, you're the genius!" says Yoongi, shoving Namjoon Ho shoves him right back, a little too hard and he stumbles right into someone else. He catches himself, but takes a moment to look at the person he's run into. A girl. 
    Large glasses on her face, and a huge backpack probably piled with textbooks on her shoulders, she blinks up at him from where she's been knocked to the ground. "Are you alright?"  he asks, holding out his hand to help her up. She takes it and her hand spreads warmth through his.
    "I'm so sorry, I-I should've been watching where I was going instead of reading, but the book was so good and I just, I couldn't put it down but-" His laugh cuts her off as he hands her the book that she'd been reading. The Hunger Games, he mentally notes, smiling at her.
    "Don't worry about it." He reaches out involuntarily and fixes her glasses which are sliding down her nose. "You're okay, right?"
    "I-I'm good," she stutters and he smirks at her dazed stare. How cute.
    "Take care of yourself," Yoongi says, winking. He then turns, an unfamiliar, but not entirely unpleasant, grin on his face.
    
    "Who was that?" asks Namjoon when he comes back.
    "I don't know," he says, staring after her, "but I plan on finding out soon."