Free Will

One Question, Two Question

About a mile from the closest town, in a forest near the dirt road, the boys set up camp. They figure out pretty fast that Jimin is just a little bit too clumsy to put together the tents, taking after Namjoon in that way, so they decide to put him on stick-pick-up duty.

It's boring to say the least, but it gives Jimin time to think. From what he understands of the men, they seem to already have a pretty stable system in place. Hopefully he won't disrupt that system. They all seemed to want him to join them, except Yoongi- but he seems to always the exception. Still... what if they actually start to think things through and realize what a nuisance Jimin will be to them? What if they decide they don't want him tagging along anymore?

Jimin shouldn't be letting himself think about this, he knows better. It hard though, to keep your mind steady when you're in such uncertain circumstances. He doesn't know these men, other than Jin, and Jin doesn't recognize him. He's a stranger in their midst, and it's only going to take so long for them to want rid of him.

The only question is, how long does he have? Days? Weeks? Months? Surely no longer than that, people get more uncomfortable the more they're around Jimin. They start to realize something is off, that he's just a little bit too different. When it reaches that point there's two options, either explain everything or just walk away.

Jimin always chooses the second option.

Even as he walks back to the camp, arms full of sticks. Even as he hears the laughter from the boys, he knows he can't stay. It's been such a short amount of time and already Jimin knows he loves these men- that's just the way he is -but it's precisely because he loves these men that he can't stay once they start to notice. Jimin can't put this weight on them- they don't deserve it.

"Hey Chim!" Tae walks over, "Need some help? I can rope Hoseok into it if you need me to!"

"No you can't, we're heading into town!" He calls as he walks past the pair.

"Damn." Jimin starts at the language coming from the youngers mouth, but Jin berates him before Jimin has to. "I guess I could rope Jungkook into helping instead." He says, ignoring the elder.

"That's okay, Tae, I can handle a few sticks."

"So brave! So strong!" He coos as Jimin carries the sticks over to the fire pit Jin is building. "My hero. The incredible Chimchim, savior of us all, leader of the cuteness revolution-"

"Hey Taehyung?" Jungkook calls.

"Yes bun-bun?"

"Shut up."

He adopts a scandalized expression on his face and walks off to yell at Jungkook, leaving Jimin along With Jin. Jin smiles up at the small man in front of him. "You can put those wherever you want, just not in the pit." He jokes.

"O-okay." Jimin blushes, his stutter is back. He tries to just move past the moment by putting down the tinder but Jin had definitely noticed.

He doesn't say anything about it, just invites Jimin to sit next to him while the boys prepare to leave for town. "Hey, Chim, wanna hear a joke?"

"Um... okay?"

"What did the painting say to the other painting?" He pauses in suspense. "I heard you got framed!" He starts laughing and playfully slaps Jimin.

Jungkook stops running away from Tae to shake his head disapprovingly at Jin. "Look, you've gone ahead and ruined Chim."

Jimin blinks at this proclamation, before realizing he's the only one that had been laughing, even if we wasn't laughing all that hard.He blushes, hanging his head so that they can't see his face. Jin glares at Jungkook and wraps an arm around Jimin's shoulder.

"One: I didn't ruin him, I welcomed him to a world of laughter! Now at least I have one child with a good sense of humor! Two: Chim Hyung, you brat!" He tosses a stick at Jungkook, who easily dodges it.

"Yeah, sure." He rolls his eyes at the older boys. "Hey, Yoongi Hyung? When will you guys be getting back?" There's a moment of silence as Yoongi blatantly ignores the younger.

"Late." Namjoon answers instead. "Take care of the pretty boys for us, okay Jungkook."

Jin rolls his eyes at Namjoons nickname for the others as Tae coos. "Ah, Hyung thinks I'm pretty, that means so much to me." He winks. "Don't you worry, we're in Kookies capable hands!"

Jimin turns to Jin. "A-are Yoongi Hyung, Namjoon Hyung, and Hoseok Hyung a-all leaving?"

Jins eyes shine. "So respecting, calling your hyungs by their titles." He proceeds to pout, "But yes, they are. It'll be so lonely with just the four of us here, Chimmy."

"B-but... I thought that Yoongi Hyung usually stays behind?"

"He does," Hobi calls as he approaches, "But sometimes the three of us go out. We'd take Tae but... he's better off here. Don't worry though, you guys'll find plenty to do while we're gone. Tae will fill up the silence with his incessant chatter." He sticks out his tongue at the boy.

Tae, in retaliation, begins to go on a rant about how he's not always talking, which only succeeds in proving Hobi right. Halfway through a sentence Yoongi interrupts him.

"Lets go," He says.

The others nod and proceed to work their way through the brush, leaving four men behind.

"If you're wondering what we're gonna eat, don't worry about it. Even if none of the boys go hunting for us they are going job hunting. They'll find something that pays enough money for a good dinner and lasts for a while after that." Taehyung says.

"What k-kind of job p-pays like that?" Jimin wonders out loud.

"You'd be surprised." Jin says as he stands up, "Now hop to it, there's work to be done!"

Jimin frowns as he stands, remembering his experiences with jobs. None of the short term, short notice jobs that the men will likely be taking will pay that much. Now another question plagues Jimins mind, where do they get the money?