Life's a Bumpy (and Bruising) Ride | NamKook

Discovery

"You really need to consider finding a roommate," Hoseok sighed upon first entering Jungkook's empty dorm, slipping his and Jungkook's shoes off. "That way, you can just call them up whenever you're in situations like this and can have some actual company around for once in your life."

Jungkook let out a mock scoff of offense as he spread his body across the entire expanse of the dorm's creaky couch. "I don't need a roommate, hyung. Because..."

He gave pause and only waited until Hoseok finally looked away from his rampant rummage in the freezer, and toward Jungkook in mild confusion, lips tugged down into a puzzled frown.

"I've got you, after all," Jungkook finally continued, lips pulled up into a cheeky grin.

Hoseok struggled to stifle his laugh, only half-succeeding in doing so as a wheezy breath of laughter pushed past his tightly closed lips. "You're such a little brat sometimes, you know?" he chuckled lightly, head shaking in a disapproving manner.

Jungkook hummed in acknowledgment, having grown accustomed to the trademark response he managed to gain from all of his friends after doing something mischievous.

"Who do you think I got my attitude from, hyung?" Jungkook fired back, grin broadening.

Hoseok sputtered indignantly before stomping over to the living room and slapping an ice pack onto an unsuspecting Jungkook.

Jungkook yelped out in surprise, not because of the sudden temperature change, of course. It was more like an instinctive reply toward having someone mistreat his body, regardless if he could feel the effects of their treatment or not.

He gave Hoseok a dirty glare with no real heat behind his eyes, causing the junior to laugh brightly at his apparent discomfort.

"Hey, don't you glare at me, brat," he said, laying on a thick tone of authority that was a tad too fake to be taken seriously. "I'm doing this for your own good; we need to slow the swelling of your toes down before they turn into mini sausages."

Jungkook glanced down at his foot, eyeing his flushed, throbbing toes with a slight grimace. "Might be a bit too late for that," he muttered mournfully.

Hoseok snorted, no real humor behind it, and adjusted the ice pack so that it covered the rest of Jungkook's exposed toes. "Just keep that on you for, like, ten minutes, and the swelling should be gone."

"And if it isn't?" Jungkook immediately fired back, relishing in the disdained look gained from the junior.

"Then your toes are probably broken, and you need to go to the hospital," is all Hoseok responded with before taking his leave back toward the front door, toeing his shoes back on. "Don't move around too much, too," he tacked on off-handedly.

Because he refused to give Hoseok a break for once in his life, Jungkook responded to his helpful advice with a pouty, "Not like I can."

Hoseok sighed exasperatedly. "Goodbye, Jungkook-ah."

"Bye, hyung," Jungkook giggled back, smile faltering as Hoseok finally closed the door behind him.

The silence was an overbearing presence that haunted Jungkook for all of ten seconds before he finally whipped out his phone, desperate to shoo away the unwelcomed quiet with some sort of distraction.

His first distraction, his friend group's group chat, happened to hold a whopping fifty notifications on his lock screen, shocking the freshman since their group chat had been pretty dead for the past few days due to everyone's conflicting schedules'.

Figuring that something big must've happened to get everyone active again, Jungkook tapped on the first notification and unlocked his phone, soon greeted by a rapid-fire discussion happening between Taehyung and Yoongi.