Shirtless Hoseok was hands down the best way to start the morning. It would have been better if Jimin could have touched Hoseok's bare chest, but he was fairly sure that fell outside of what was acceptable even now they were being oddly cuddly.

Hoseok sure didn't seem to mind Jimin looking, though. When he caught Jimin he smiled, and after that Jimin didn't even bother to pretend not to peek. Perhaps he should have, maybe doing it lots would be interpreted differently from doing it once or twice. He didn't know. The rules here seemed to be even more muddled and difficult to understand than normal social rules. Maybe Hoseok just liked the attention or maybe he thought Jimin found his muscles impressive in a completely not gay kind of way? All Jimin knew was that he was getting away with it, and that was pretty good.

Breakfast, by this point, wasn't the big deal it had once been. Not when he was starting the day feeling relaxed and refreshed, anyway. The real issue would be meals and activities that came later in the day. Everything, every little stress, added up, and the problems started when Jimin ran out of steam. The key was careful management, developing coping strategies and knowing when it was time for him to call it quits before things boiled over. He'd become pretty good at that over the years, he just had to adapt it to this new situation.

Their morning activity was hiking, and Jimin was relieved to see that the boys who had tormented him yesterday were not there. Whether they'd been excluded from activities for a day, moved to a new house, or evicted from the camp entirely Jimin didn't know, but for just then he didn't care. In truth, he'd been more concerned about how Hoseok would respond to them than about them bullying him again. That kind of drama was definitely something Jimin could do without.

People were looking at Jimin more today, or perhaps he was just noticing it more. It put Jimin on edge, but Hoseok seemed as relaxed as ever. They sat and waited for the rest of the boys to gather at the meet spot so that the hike could begin.

Jimin twitched when Hoseok ran a finger down his arm but didn't pull away.

"You're not wearing sunscreen," Hoseok pointed out. "You forgot when we went canoeing, too, and you ended up all pink."

"I didn't forget," Jimin insisted. "I just don't like sunscreen. It feels all slimy."

"The stuff the counsellor has is good. You can barely even feel it on your skin."

"You can't," Jimin told him. "Fine, but I'm not putting it on my face."

Hoseok grinned as he jumped to his feet. Apparently, proper skin protection was very important to him. "Back in a moment."

Jimin was better at understanding facial expressions than he used to be, but he still wasn't sure how to interpret the little smile Sungha gave him as Hoseok dashed off to retrieve the sunscreen. It was intended to communicate something, some point, Jimin just wasn't sure what.

Hoseok jogged back over, sunscreen in hand, and Jimin admired his long legs and steady gait. Jimin just looked silly when he ran, but Hoseok had grace.

"Sunscreen," Hoseok declared as he dropped back down next to Jimin. He squirted some into his hand. "No face. Neck okay?"

"I guess," Jimin agreed. He wasn't fond of the smell of sunscreen or the feel of it on his skin, but his objection was more a matter of him being fussy than a potential cause of a crash. At this point, anyway. It would add to his stress meter if only a little.

Jimin squirmed away when Hoseok touched the back of his neck gently with his sunscreen coated fingers. "Don't— It feels tickly. Don't do it softly."

Hoseok tried again, this time pressing down firmly as he applied the sunscreen to Jimin's neck. "Like this?"

Jimin nodded, leaning forward to allow Hoseok better access. It felt nice, almost like a massage.

"Gaaay," Sungha murmured.

"Don't," Hoseok said, just a simple word said without so much as a glance in Sungha's direction. There was a threat in it, though. Even Jimin could sense it.

Sungha didn't respond, didn't argue or apologize, but the way he averted his eyes and rocked his body back slightly as he tapped a rhythm on his knee was a clear enough sign that he was backing down.

Even so, Jimin had expected Sungha's words — or word, he supposed — to make Hoseok self-conscious and less conspicuous in his actions. They didn't. Though Jimin could have easily reached most of his body, Hoseok continued to apply the sunscreen until every bit of exposed skin but Jimin's face was protected.

Somehow, it didn't feel like Hoseok was babying him. It felt like something else. Given Sungha's commentary, Jimin wondered if maybe Hoseok's actions were exactly what they seemed.

That didn't make any sense, though. The idea of Hoseok being gay wasn't so outlandish, but him being attracted to Jimin... that was just odd. Was he just being polite? Did he just like flirting? Jimin couldn't imagine Hoseok's intentions being at all shady. Or maybe he just had a thing for taking care of people, and Jimin was simply defiant enough of social norms to let him. This wasn't the kind of thing people asked about, though, so Jimin didn't.

Jimin was thin — underweight if anything — but he wasn't exactly in shape, so he was grateful that, when they started hiking, Hoseok patiently kept pace with him rather than urging him to go faster.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" The question came out sounding natural enough, Hoseok thought, concealing the fact that he'd spent the last ten minutes wracking his brain for topics of conversation. "I told you what I wanted to do, but I forgot to ask you. Sorry."

Hoseok waved away the apology with one hand. "I don't know exactly. My dad's always wanted me to be just like him, so my aspiration has always been to say fuck that and be my own person. A better person. Beyond that... I wouldn't mind studying business, maybe starting up my own small company like something with dancing or whatnot. My dad's a douchebag and his business practices are shady as hell, but I have learnt some useful things from him."

Jimin was glad he'd asked the question. Hoseok's words felt precious, important. It would have been easy to brush Jimin off with a shorter answer, but that he valued Jimin enough to give him a proper response meant something. Whether that something was more or less or just different from cuddles and sunscreen coated fingers Jimin didn't know. Maybe it was just another aspect of the same whole.

"If your dad's not a good person, I don't think you could ever be like him," Jimin told Hoseok. "You're too nice."

Hoseok gave Jimin a smile. "I find when you're nice to people they're generally nice in return. It's a good life strategy."

"Yeah, except for me. I shout at you and throw things when you try to stick up for me."

Hoseok patted Jimin on the arm with a slightly sweaty hand. "And look at all the hugs I've gotten in return. Seems like a fair trade-off to me."

Jimin let out a dramatic huff. He didn't understand the hugging thing well enough to rebut that.

When they reached the next tree they stopped for a rest and to pass the water bottle between them.

"Man, your face is so pink," Hoseok said as he reached out a hand. "You should at least wear a hat next time."

The hand made contact with Jimin's cheek and he grimaced and pushed it away. "No face. And I don't like hats."

"Sorry. You don't like many things, do you?"

"No," Jimin admitted after a moment of consideration. "Just a few things very much."

As they continued walking, Hoseok pulled his shirt off over his head. Casually, like stripping in the middle of a trail was completely normal. Jimin kept his eyes very firmly on the ground. Hoseok didn't seem to mind being looked at, but if the others noticed Jimin's fixation...

"Hoseok, put your shirt back on!" the Counselor shouted as they neared the end of the trail. "You'll scare the wildlife."

"But it's sweaty and gross!" Hoseok called back.

"Your whole body is sweaty and gross," the Counselor said, his voice only slightly raised now as Jimin and Hoseok neared where he was waiting at the end of the trail. "I hope you plan to take a shower before your afternoon activity. Teenage boys smell awful."

Hoseok laughed. "Jimin, do I smell awful?"

Jimin opened his mouth, ready to make some kind of general comment on what he knew of Hoseok's scent from all of their cuddling, before realizing how that would sound. He shook his head instead. "Not from here."

"I think I'll take that shower anyway. Coming back to the cabin?"

It wasn't really a question. Where else was Jimin going to go all on his own? Hoseok seemed to actually be waiting for a response, though, so Jimin nodded.

Their afternoon activity was dodge-ball, something Jimin hadn't considered going to for even a moment, so while Hoseok showered Jimin ate some of the leftover vending machine food. If he wasn't doing the activity, he wasn't going to lunch, either. The two were connected in his mind. Go to lunch, go to their afternoon activity from there.

"Not going to dodge-ball," Jimin said as Hoseok emerged from the bathroom clad only in a towel.

"Okay. Mind if I go?"

"I think I can manage on my own for a few hours."

Jimin didn't know why he kept watching Hoseok. He knew what came next. It wasn't until Hoseok dropped the towel and Jimin was faced with the muscular curves of his ass, though, that Jimin averted his eyes, his face flushing brighter than his sunburn could disguise. He had to turn to face the wall completely to resist the temptation to take another peek. Not appropriate, Jimin.

When Hoseok was dressed and ready to leave, Jimin mumbled a goodbye without turning around. He could not look at Hoseok just then.

After Hoseok left Jimin did his best to distract himself with a book, but that plan backfired when he reached a sex scene. Jimin threw the book down dramatically and let out a sigh. He was sweaty from the hike. Maybe he needed a shower too.