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Chapter Text

To be quite honest, Hoseok had really thought this through. 

It all started 4 weeks ago; one single wrong delivery had gotten him on the wrong side of town, way off his usual route, loaded with money and drugs but no dealer, all because the guy got himself shot by the docks. He could panic, but life taught him better, so he laid low for a few hours, put everything in a safe spot, and went out for hot dogs.

He didn't sell drugs, he didn't shoot anyone, ever. He was a delivery boy, on the wrong side of town, looking for a fucking hot dog. And praise the Lord he met Señor Ramírez, an old Nicaraguan dude with a beat up hot dog cart that sold that cheapest - not the most clean or delicious - hot dog, and he got Hoseok hooked. So that's why he came back three days later, during the day, to have his fix.

And that's when he sees it. From across the street, coming out through a reverse door, are 4 men in suits, looking as sharp as they come. One in particular stands out the most: he's broad and calm, looks like somebody's son, one that was going to inherit a shit load of money and become one of those '30 Under 30' for Forbes. Hoseok analyzes while the other four men wait for a car on the other side of the street.

"Maybe that's a triangle formation, and they are protecting the golden boy," he muses, taking a bite of his hot dog. "Or they are the mob," he teases himself and almost chokes at his own inside joke. Mad banters with himself.

A few days later, there he is again, eating a hot dog, being miserable, watching the now only 3 men wait for a car. 

"Yeah, he has to be some kind of young CEO," and, coming to that conclusion all by himself and with nobody else's help, Hoseok decides that maybe, just maybe, a Rolex could get his rent paid for a few months, and he would have a safe place to stay for another season. See, Hoseok really had thought this through.

He observed the men, how they moved, their schedule. He understood that the best day to strike would be on a Thursday, because it would only be the young CEO, the small guy and the buff kid. So, if he doesn't fuss much, he can even get a new wallet in one strike. He has always been fast when pickpocketing, but he will have to be faster. So he trains for about a week in parks: takes a bunch of cellphones and different watches that he ends up selling at the pawn shop to buy himself clothes and a bag. He needs to be invisible.

And invisible he would be.

So when he crosses the street, bright yellow beanie on his head to have something to disrupt any attention, he aligns with the men waiting for the car and bumps into them like he is just another clumsy college student in a hurry. All of them take a step back and the young CEO does as it is expected of him: tries to help.

"So sorry, man, I didn't see you" Hoseok says while gathering his papers that fell and summons the brightest smile he has to give the man. He just needs a hand shake.

Standing back up, the CEO is so sweet looking he almost thinks about letting it go, but then his brain gets the best of him and he offers his hand for the handshake.

Now, you see. Taking a watch is not difficult. It's even easier when you've been doing this for quite a while. The piece falls open easily and Hoseok can slide his hand back in a normal and acceptable time, now with way more money. He is safe, with food and a house for another 4 or 5 months.

At least that's what he thinks. If you ask him, he would going to tell you he heard the click of the gun first, but that's a lie. He is about 10 steps away from the three men when a single gunshot cuts the air and everything seems to still for a second. Instinctively, Hoseok ducks and looks back. Pointing the gun up and looking Hoseok dead in the eye is the young CEO. The buff kid has his blazer pulled back a little, and Hoseok can see another gun, meanwhile the small one just looks straight up pissed.

"Hyung, what the fuck?!" The small one hisses but doesn't move.

"That is a Vacheron Constantin. It's been in my family for about 40 years, I am gonna need that back," the clearly-not-young CEO demands, still looking at Hoseok.

"Give me back my fucking gun!" The small man hisses through his teeth again.

"I am sorry I took your gun, Yoongi," the clearly-not-young CEO says as if he was talking to a kid.

"Don't pull these kinds of stunts!" He mumbles again, and something crosses the taller man's face.

"Hyung said he is sorry, Yoongi. Didn't you listen?" To which the smaller man just rolls his eyes, turns his lips into a thin line and straightens his back.

During all that, people seemed very much not fazed by any of it. Not the gunshot. Not the gun. Not the scene. That's when it finally hits Hoseok.

"Now you really outdid yourself, Hoseokie. They are the fucking mob, you wrote your own death certificate. Great life, man. Got no children, planted no tree, just went around trying not to fuck up enough to get killed, only to go and do EXACTLY the opposite and get killed. Great life."

So, the only answer is: running. The thought really crosses his mind. Running away, entering the building, hiding, whatever. But before he can move, the man speaks again:

"The first one was up. The next one is through," he says calmly and cocks the gun again, probably more for show than necessity. "My watch," the man orders.

Hoseok doesn't really have many options this time, to be honest. He can die or get killed. So he drops his metaphorical tail, tucks it in and walks back toward the man, hoping he wasn't about to get shot in the middle of the street.

He isn't the most prideful; pride gets you nowhere, Hoseok knows that. So he just glues his eyes to the ground and hands the watch back.

"What do we say?" The man asks in the same leveled tone and Hoseok has to look up, because he can't be serious right now. He may not have much pride, but he is human at the end of the day. "I asked you a question." 

It sends shivers down Hoseok's spine, and embarrassment burns his face when he answers. "I am sorry," he murmurs.

"I am sorry, what?" The other man presses, a slight smirk on his face.

"Hyung?" Hoseok tries, remembering hearing the smaller man call him hyung, and the man smiles while fastening his watch back on.

"Good boy, much better." He looks at his wrist and gives the gun back to the other. "May you accompany this man to the house?"

The smaller man looks uncertain, but says nothing and just nods while putting his gun safely at his back.

"So call yourself a car." 

The buff kid opens the door to the car that Hoseok always see picking them up, and they both enter. There's a beat of silence and then the other man calmly informs: "Hyung gave you a warning shot. I don't give out those. If I were you, I wouldn't fucking pull anything on me."

So Hoseok just stands there.

He's not in any handcuffs, blindfolds or gags. He's just sitting inside a black Sedan, speeding up through the outsides of the city, closer to the countryside more than anything.

"I don't do the mob," he decides to say. The man sitting by his side looks at him, cocks a brow and tilts his head a little. It would be cute if Hoseok wasn't so afraid of dying.

"Pretty sure you tried to steal hyung's watch."

"Yeah, but I don't fuck with the mob," he reiterates, and the other man snorts.

"Yeah, well we don't fuck with you, either," the other says while looking at his phone.

"Aren't you going to blindfold me and all that movie jazz?" Hoseok snaps, because if he's going to die anyway, why not?

The man chuckles. He really chuckles and shakes his head. "There aren't many talkative people sneaking out of the house." And the blood in Hoseok's veins freezes, his stomach turns and his vision blurs a little. "So, we are not really worried. We're not afraid," the man, Yoongi, simply says, and looks back at his phone.

It's about a minute of pure silence before a sickening smile spreads over Yoongi's face and he is speaking again: "So, if you are thinking about making a run for it, I would advise you not to. But, if against the odds, you are still thinking about it, remember: don't run on lower floors. Jungkookie hasn't missed a shot in about 10 years. If you can hit the gardens, then I suggest you run in zig zags."

He runs a hand through his hair and looks at Hoseok again. "Joonie is a very good tracker, knows the house better than hyung. Tae-ah is just batshit insane when it comes down to it. And I would keep my ears listening for arrows."

Hoseok feels like throwing up. He can't even fire a gun. He is going to die. He is as dead as they come.

"And you?" His voice shakes as he sees the bright lights of a really big European style house getting closer to them.

"Oh, don't worry. I won't let you hit the gardens."

He enters the house with Yoongi by his side. They really aren't afraid. The not-CEO guy, or whoever the fuck he is, is in the foyer, near the end of a staircase with the man who was missing in their mission today.

The buff kid is there too, and that kid, that kid specially, sends chills down Hoseok's spine. He looks like he could pet a bunny with a hand and strangle a man with the other without breaking a sweat.

"I can't believe it, hyung. Really, now?" The tall man says as 'hyung' signs some papers.

"Yes, as I said." He keeps his face down, reading the papers in front of him as Yoongi stops, Hoseok a few steps away from him. "Everything is handled."

The man that was missing looks flabbergasted, rolls his eyes and bores holes into Hoseok's skull when he stares at him. "It doesn't look like it," he hisses.

"Hyung, you're back!" A cheerful deep voice comes from somewhere in a higher floor and Hoseok listens as feet quickly hit the ground and the person runs down the stairs, only to slow down and walk the last part.

Don't run on lower floors.

Hoseok is met with one of the most beautiful sights he has ever seen. The boy is tall, built, lean, and tanned, his white button-down shirt and black jeans scream style, and he has these really soft light caramel locks bouncing over his face as he walks down the stairs slowly, carefully eyeing Hoseok.

There's something about his eyes, though. He looks calm but, at the same time, really tense, feeling the atmosphere around him, like a tiger. Ready to pounce if needed.

"We got visitors?" He asks directly towards the man, 'hyung.' The man just hums and signs the last page in a folder before looking up to meet the other's eyes.

"Yes, we do. Can you find him, TaeTae?"

Hoseok doesn't even have time to process the pain or barely react to it before he has his head pulled back, his neck exposed and both his hands trapped behind his back. The whimper that leaves his mouth is based on pure surprise.

He doesn't have enough time to even try to look away; suddenly a phone is up in his face, and the boy seems to be taking pictures of him. "Yup, sure can. But can we eat while I search?" The boy retreats and Hoseok feels a little give on his neck, not too hard. "I am starved, hyung."

"Haven't you eaten anything?" Yoongi asks from his side, completely unbothered.

"No, I was waiting for family dinner. Unlike someone." And the boy points at Hoseok. For a second he gets really confused, but then, the buff kid holding him protests: "I didn't eat! I had a snack, that's not eating!"

The new boy cocks a brow at that.

"You had a full pancetta sandwich not 20 minutes ago, man," he muses while clicking on his phone. He puts it in his pocket and smiles. "That's eating, Kookie."

The boy huffs and lets Hoseok go, stepping aside and unbuttoning his cuffs.

"Jesus Christ, man. Don't yank me," Hoseok protests, feeling the skin at his nape burning. The buff kid, Kookie, looks at him calmly, still paying attention to his shirt.

"I'd gut you."

That's the most simple, crude, gorey and fearful sentence Hoseok has ever heard. He feels his blood draining from his face when the 'hyung' chuckles.

"Stop with the cat fighting. Let's eat."

The 'hyung' turns around, and the others seem to all move accordingly. Hoseok really doesn't know if he should move, so when the tall man turns around to look back at him, he reasons that there's a 50% chance he is about to get shot.

"Namjoon,"  he says simply, and Hoseok doesn't understand, so he does what he knows best: smiles. The other man tilts his head and pulls his glasses off. "My name is Namjoon."

"The Mafia shouldn't go around giving out their names, I guess," Hoseok really ponders aloud, no malice in his comment.

"It's not like people don't know who we are." Namjoon snorts to himself, and kind of cants his hip to the side. "Hyung said it's time to eat. You are alive and in full capacity of eating, so I suggest that you enter the kitchen with the rest of us and eat." Namjoon weirdly sounds genuine about it.

"I feel like you all are gonna shoot me any given moment, and I rather die quickly than stress over it, to be honest, man," Hoseok finally confesses, still standing in the foyer. Namjoon snorts again.

"If hyung wanted you dead, you'd be dead and cold, maybe even cut up. But, for some reason, you are here. Don't piss anyone off and nobody will shoot you, I can guarantee you that."

A guarantee from the mob. The amount of bullshit Hoseok's life has become.

"Oh my God," he whispers. He is stricken in place as he enters the kitchen. 5 people are looking at him, one of them being Park Jimin.

"Is that Park fucking Jimin?" He whisper-shouts at Namjoon, who is by his side like they are friends or something. He must be having an acid trip or something, oh my God, he doesn't even use drugs. Maybe he died.

"Oh, Jimin! A fan! It's been some time!" The amazingly beautiful kid says as he scoops some kind of puree into his mouth, still looking at his phone.

"Of my cooking?" Jimin smiles, eyes turning into little crescents. He beams. He looks ethereal. He looks alive, more than anything. Hoseok feels like sitting down would be a good option, so he does just that and sits on the floor.

Yoongi snorts at him, cutting something on his plate and handing it over for the buff kid.

"By the looks of it, of your Olympian ass, Chims," Yoongi retorts and the smile on Jimin's face drops into a pout. He walks around the table and comes to sit on the 'hyung's' lap, but the other coos and says softly "no, no, lower floors," to which Jimin just pouts harder and sits instead on another chair.

"I thought you were dead… like, the world thinks you're dead…" Hoseok says, still in disbelief. Jimin turns sour at that and glares at him.

"I am more alive than you are at the moment."

Namjoon crouches by his side and Hoseok looks at him. "Just shut up, okay? I told you to not piss anyone off," he says.

"He was dead! I saw the news!" Isn't that self explanatory enough? Namjoon just sighs and shrugs.

"Hoseokie?" A voice calls from the table, and Hoseok looks around to find the 'hyung' looking at him. How does he know his name? The other boy - what was the name? TaeTae? - is also looking at him. "Come sit at the table. Jiminie, fix him a plate, dear."

Jimin moves in silence, and Namjoon helps Hoseok up. He sits by Yoongi, right in front of Kookie, and watches as Namjoon serves orange juice to everyone around the table. Everything seems so very normal; it creeps him out.

"Jung Hoseok," the boy in front of the 'hyung' announces, "freshly 23. No connections, barely any police history," he reads from his phone, still eating without looking up, but then he pulls a gun out of thin air, and Hoseok has both his hands up before he takes another breath.

"Namjoon said nobody was gonna shoot me!" Hoseok pleads, head spinning.

"Who are you?" The boy asks, gun still pointing at Hoseok.

"Hey, kid. No guns at the table," Yoongi says, but he also seems tense.

"I'm a delivery boy!" Hoseok says and somehow, that boy, of all of them, looks like the one who is the batshit insane. Maybe it's the gun. The apparent hacking skills. The smile. The calmness in his shoulders while everyone else is tense.

"And then you just decided to rob hyung?"

"Yeah?" Because it's the truth. The boy tilts his head like a dog and the 'hyung' taps the table, lightly, in front of him. He runs his tongue slowly over his lips, never letting Hoseok's eyes go as pulls the gun down.

"Yep, it checks out," he says, and smiles. Namjoon drops his head on the table and sighs, while Hoseok just feels nausea coming on and his vision start to cloud. 

"I'm gonna pass out," he warns, before hitting the ground.

Everything is kind of light green and white around him when he wakes up. It's hard to remember the last time he slept in a fully made bed, with covers, pillows and sheets. It's comforting, in a panic inducing way, even more so when his eyes meet somebody else across the room, and he cowers in fear.

"People don't usually cower in fear around me," the man says, and Hoseok just feels like bolting. "Are you feeling better?" He doesn't answer. "Hyung asked you a question, Hoseokie."

He shivers. That's panic. He wishes he would have been shot on the street. The man stands up and Hoseok shrinks even further. Jesus, just kill him already. He never wanted to get involved with the mob.

Life fucked him up along the way, that's why he was a delivery boy. If he could, he would be delivering pizza or working as any other ordinary person. Now, living under the bridge or close to a dumpster feels way better than trying to snatch that damned watch. The other walks closer and Hoseok can't control the whimper that leaves his lips. The 'hyung' stops and puts his hands to his hips, pulling his shirt up, showing his bare body.

"I don't have a gun, see?" He lets his shirt go and sits by the end of the bed. "I won't shoot you."

"Namjoon said nobody is going to shoot me," Hoseok repeats, and, for some weird reason, he trusts Namjoon. "He gave me his word," he mumbles, and looks down when the other smiles.

"Well, if Namjoonie gave you a guarantee over your life, nobody is going against it, right?" He smiles again. "Are you feeling better?" Hoseok nods, looking at his own fingers. "Hoseok, may you look at hyung for a second?"

Nobody is going to shoot you, just don't piss anyone off. Those were Namjoon's words, so he looks up, because he doesn't want to get shot.

"You usually don't do what you did yesterday. Something tells me you were at the wrong place, at the wrong time," the other says, and Hoseok feels like crying. Because he is dumb. So he nods.

"I am really just a delivery boy, hyung. I swear!" He pleads as tears come to his eyes and start to make tracks down his cheeks. "I swear I would have never tried to take your things if I knew who you were, I swear." He hiccups and tries to clean his eyes with his palms the best he can.

Hoseok feels so tired. Tired of this, of life getting him down, of feeling like he has to hustle everyday and end up scared and alone again. He feels despaired. "I thought you were just another stuck up bastard loaded with money," the words leave his mouth before he can shut it, and fuck, he just insulted the mob again. 

"Oh my God, I am sorry, I didn't mean that, please don't shoot me, I don't have anywhere to go, but I want to live," he ramblers, and cries harder.

The other snorts and comes closer. "Hey, deep breaths, please," he instructs, and Hoseok does as he is told. "That's it, good."

He waits so Hoseok can calm down a little more before continuing. "I'm not going to kill you, I already told you that. You got Namjoonie guaranteeing your life. I am Kim Seokjin," he says, and Hoseok shuts his mouth before looking up. Everything goes wild in his mind, but he doesn't move; he stays still, barely breathing until Seokjin chuckles. "Welcome to the Kim household. You may call me hyung, Hoseokie."

Hoseok looks around. Kim Seokjin, heir of the main mob family in Asia. Known as "The Hyung." He tried to rob him. And he is alive. Not eating dirt six feet under. That's what Hoseok classifies as a miracle. He looks to the open door and sees Yoongi resting against it. He has a gun; Hoseok can see it in the other's coat. It makes him shiver.

"I am so sorry," he whispers, and Seokjin just shakes his head once more.

"There's something about you, you know?" He says, pulling a leg up the mattress and sitting facing Hoseok. "I saw you for the first time two weeks ago, but then I knew it was way too late. I thought you were trying to kill me, but you didn't. You never moved over the street. Until you did." Seokjin shrugs and plays with the watch on his wrist. "You got everything down: the planning, the waiting, the distraction, but what really threw me off was that you really had no idea who I was and you smiled so honestly while taking a fortune from my hand." He sighs and smiles at Hoseok. "Quite literally."

Hoseok looks down again.

"I will give you two choices, okay? One, you can stay and work. Yoongi will supervise everything, and hyung will take care of you. You don't need to get back on the streets and all that. The other option is that you have a nice meal, and a car takes you to the side of the city you work at," Seokjin explains.

"Free?"

The other man chuckles. "You are free in both options. You are not a prisoner. I am offering you a job that costs trust, but pays well. You can say no."

"Why are you offering?"

Seokjin stands up and stretches his back. He looks almost soft under the warm light coming from the window. "I don't know? Dad always said I had a good eye for people. I haven't been completely wrong until now, so I'm following my gut. There's something about you." He shrugs and walks towards the door, where Yoongi steps aside so he can cross the threshold.

"Hyung?" Hoseok calls and his voice wavers a little. Seokjin turns around to look at him again, the buff kid appearing by his side, Yoongi's sharp eyes also on him.

"Yes, Hoseokie?"

"I will take the job."

And that's how Hoseok's life changed.

Chapter Text

To be quite honest, Yoongi had really thought this through. He was going to wake up, brush his teeth, watch TV while having breakfast, and help his mom until it was time to set the table. But that morning it all became a little confusing.

His dad came and dressed him up really pretty, saying he was a good boy. He knew that. He knew how to write his name, he knew lots of games, and songs, too. But his dad gave him a lot of pats and took him on a car ride, so he was happy. 

They went to a big house. Like, so big. It had stairs and so many people inside. Yoongi held his dad's hand and entered a room to find another kid inside. He was standing in front of an adult, too, who was talking to him until they both looked over at him.

"Come closer, mister Min," the man called, so they moved closer. "Are you Yoongi?" He asked, but Yoongi didn't answer.

So his dad shook his hand lightly. "Yoongi, answer."

"But, dad! No talking to strangers!" Yoongi argument, and the man laughs while the kid puffs his cheeks out.

"Dad is not a stranger! He is a Kim!" He answers with his brows furrowed like it somehow explained anything to Yoongi. But it didn't. Yoongi didn't know any Kims.

"Seokjin, we are in the wrong. Let's introduce yourselves, first, shall we?" The man smiles and pushes the other kid a little further up. "You go first, young heir."

The kid puffs his chest like he is some kind of chicken and Yoongi feels like laughing. How silly. Yoongi likes him.

"I am Kim Seokjin. I am 6 years old, and I am a Kim," he says, and looks at his dad, who smiles at him.

"And I am Kim Sanghun. I am Seokjin's dad, and your father works for me." He smiles again. "Now that we are not strangers anymore, are you Min Yoongi?"

Yoongi blinks twice, feeling his ears burn before answering. "I am Min Yoongi. I'm 5, but I am almost 6! And, and, and…" He looks at his dad for a second, before looking at Seokjin again, "I think sharks are super cool."

Seokjin laughs and his cheeks turn a shade of pink Yoongi had never seen before; and he knows colors pretty well! He hopes to see that color again soon.

"I'm your hyung! You can call me hyung. Right, dad?" Seokjin asks and his dad stands up, still smiling.

"Whatever you feel comfortable with, boys." He nods and a nice looking lady comes near them. "Jinnie, why don't you take Yoongi up to play in your room while miss Sujin takes his bags?"

His bags?

Yoongi looks back and there are two bags on the floor, with a lot of other things. Something feels wrong. While Seokjin skips over hand in hand with the nice lady, dread washes over Yoongi as he looks at his father.

"Dad, I'm going up to play, but I am coming right back down, right?" He whispers.

"You're a good boy, right, Yoongi?" He pats Yoongi's head again and kisses his forehead. "Mom and dad really need to go on a very boring trip, and we can't take you."

"But I want to go, dad " Yoongi feels his eyes burn as he hugs his dad. He doesn't want to be here.

"But you can't, sweetie. So dad asked mister Kim if you could be Seokjin's best friend. What do you think?"

"I don't want to be Seokjin's best friend, dad." Yoongi just cries harder. "I will be really quiet, dad. I won't change the songs in the car, you can take me. I'll be a good boy," he pleads, small hands grabbing everything he can of his dad.

"So be the greatest boy and be Seokjin's best friend for daddy, please?" He whispers.

Yoongi throws a tantrum. He shakes and cries until his small body can't take it anymore and sleepiness eventually takes over him. He knows once he opens his eyes, his dad won't be there. 

So when he finally does, everything hurts, especially his eyes and his head. He is in some kind of tent with fairy lights inside, and he turns around and finds Seokjin sitting there, puffy cheeks, tears tracks on his face and his eyes red but glued to his Nintendo.

"Why are you crying?" Yoongi whispers and Seokjin jumps, almost dropping his device.

"'m not" he mumbles and sniffs, looking away. Yoongi doesn't say anything more. He's just so sad, and he doesn't want to talk. Seokjin crawls closer to him and sits right by his head, almost on his pillow. "Yoongi?"

"Hm?"

"You know I am your hyung, right?" Seokjin asks quietly, almost afraid, looking for words inside his mind. Yoongi just nods, because his dad said he was supposed to be nice. He feels like crying again. "So, as your hyung, it's my duty to take care of you."

Yoongi doesn't know how Seokjin got to that conclusion, but if it makes sense to Seokjin, it may make sense in the grand scheme of things. Seokjin crawls out of the little tent and Yoongi listens as the other runs around, muttering under his breath and dropping things by the entrance. He re-enters with a plastic plate with chicken nuggets shaped as little dinosaurs in one hand, and a sippy cup with some black liquid in the other, sitting by Yoongi again.

"We don't have any shark plates, sorry. But we got some really nice dinosaurs ones, and I asked miss Sujin if we can have the shark ones later," Seokjin explains calmly. "She said yes, but only on Monday." He puts the plate down and looks at his hand, bringing four fingers up. "We have to sleep four nights until then."

Yoongi sits up and starts munching on a chicken nugget.

"We can only have Coke on special occasions, okay, Yoongi? But I told miss Sujin you were really sad. " He stays silent for a second, looking at the cup. "Hm, do you share?"

Yoongi hands him the cup and Seokjin smiles a little. He looks like a hamster, Yoongi thinks. They stay silent after that; Yoongi doesn't speak, and Seokjin doesn't press, they just munch on the nuggets and drink Coke from the sippy cup.

"Why were you crying?" Yoongi finally asks and Seokjin looks at him. And, even under those poor lights, Yoongi can see the pink color of his cheeks.

"I am a little mad at you, Yoongi. So I cried." Seokjin is so honest that Yoongi feels put off balance. "You said you don't want to be my best friend, so I got sad and I cried."

Yoongi thinks about defending himself. Seokjin seems really nice, and he never wanted to make Seokjin cry, but he did. And he felt horrible because of it now, his eyes filling with tears again.

"Oh no, Yoongichi!" Seokjin crawls over and hugs him, pulling him closer and patting his back. "Hyung is not very mad. I just got sad because I don't mind being your best friend, but dad said you were sad, so you didn't mean to be mean, and that I should take care of you 'cause you would take care of me."

He pulls back and there, under those fairy lights, something weird tells Yoongi that he is safe. That he is sad, but he is safe.

"Will you protect hyung, Yoongi?" He asks and Yoongi nods, making Seokjin giggle. "Good boy. Hyung will also protect you. Don't worry!" He stands up and Yoongi feels suddenly very alone, reaching for the other's hand.

"Where are you going?" Yoongi asks and Seokjin tilts his head at him and looks at his astronaut watch.

"To bed, silly." He giggles and Yoongi pouts. It breaks Seokjin's heart. "Hm, do you kick when you sleep?"

"I don't know?"

"If you promise not to kick me, you can come with me," Seokjin offers, and pulls Yoongi up and out of the tent with him. Both kids climb onto the bed and snuggle under the covers.

"Here, you can hold my hand" Seokjin offers, and Yoongi looks away.

"I don't need that."

"I do. So, give hyung your hand, please, Yoongichi?" So Yoongi does as he is told, and sleeps way better because of it.

Time is a weird thing when you're a kid. You don't really see it passing, it just does. Life with the Kims is full of events, Yoongi soon discovers. Everything Seokjin does, he does too. If Seokjin goes to piano classes, he goes too. Horse riding? Yoongi goes too. Painting? Tae Kwon Do? Swimming? Everything, anything, Yoongi tags along. 

The only time that Seokjin is the one tagging along is when Yoongi goes to meet with Dr. Lee. She's a nice doctor Yoongi has to see twice every week because he sometimes misses home too much and gets really sad. So Seokjin goes and waits with miss Sujin while Yoongi draws and plays games inside.

When Yoongi almost turns 7, Mister Kim calls him and tells him he is taking some crazy classes, and he can invite Seokjin to tag along or go by himself. Things like rock climbing, archery, chess and some kind of game that looks like tag. It seems fun, so he invites Seokjin and they have a blast rock climbing that year. Chess becomes mandatory for both of them soon enough, too, as well as the tag game.

He has his own room but spends most of the time with Seokjin, so he basically just sleeps in his room. Miss Sujin, Seokjin's nanny, is always really nice to him too. Sometimes he and Seokjin end up fighting; it happens every now and then. But they hold hands and apologize before going to sleep, because they promised to be best friends, and they can't live together while hating each other over chicken nuggets or something.

So it's a huge shock to Yoongi when he is almost 9 and walks inside the study with Seokjin, after being called by mister Kim, to find a fucking bamboo-looking-like boy standing there. Yoongi doesn't even know the kid, but he hates him already. Yoongi hates his guts.

"Seokjin, this is Namjoon." Yoongi feels even more pissed because now what? Is he invisible? He huffs, but says nothing. Mister Kim cocks a brow at him and Yoongi feels like he misstepped, so he lowers his head and steps back a little.

"Hi, I'm Kim Seokjin. I am 9 years old and I am a Kim." He smiles proudly.

"I'm Kim Namjoon. I am 7 and I'm also a Kim," the boy answers, and Yoongi feels like mimicking him. But he doesn't, because he surely doesn't want to be scolded. Even more so in front of the fucking bamboo boy.

"Namjoon is a different kind of Kim. He will be living in the house. Can you be a good hyung to him, Seokjinnie?"

"Yes, dad."

"And you, Yoongi?" Mister Kim calls, and Yoongi looks up. "Can you be a good hyung?" He smiles at Yoongi.

"Yes, sir," he answers shortly.

"Will you take care of both of them, Yoongi?" Mister Kim presses and Yoongi looks up again, his eyes going from Namjoon and lingering over Seokjin before looking at Mister Kim again. The older man winks at him. "Good boy, Yoongi."

Namjoon is a pain in Yoongi's ass. Jesus Christ, he is a pain. He tags along to their activities. He knows how to ride horses, like, really fast. He was born with two fucking left hands, so he bumps into things and he never shuts up. Like, never. Yoongi hates his guts.

Half of the time, Yoongi is glaring at him. The other half, mimicking him behind his back, and in front of him sometimes, too. Ugh, Yoongi just hates him. But he can't tell Seokjin that. Because, guess what? Seokjin loves that bamboo looking kid!

There's only so much Yoongi can take of "look Yoongi, hihihi" and "aww, my Namjoon is so smart, isn't he Yoongi?" and, the worst, "aww, isn't he cute, Yoongi?" Because, first: no, he isn't. He is a tragedy. A bamboo looking kid. He isn't even that smart. Yeah, he does really well in school and reads big books, but what else? What's left of him? Not much, in Yoongi's qualified opinion.

So Yoongi decides to take matters into his hands and beat the living shit out of Namjoon on Friday after school, when they all have Tae Kwon Do classes in the house. Namjoon is a big kid, but Yoongi is fast - and feisty.

So he kicks the protection around Namjoon's chest really fast, but misses one and ends up kicking Namjoon's arm super hard. Namjoon's arm does this weird move and makes a weird sound, and Namjoon clutches it close to his body, stepping back, eyes filled with tears. Yoongi is stricken in place. Namjoon looks at him, then at his arm, pouts and walks back up to Yoongi, and that's the last thing Yoongi sees before Namjoon gives him a black eye.

All of them are in time out because Yoongi and Namjoon can't be friends and got into a fight. So when the door to Yoongi's room opens, he thinks it's his time to have the scolding of his life, but it's Seokjin coming inside, dragging Namjoon by his good hand, the other covered in some kind of bandages. He pushes Namjoon against Yoongi's bed and stands there with his hands on his hips, looking at them.

"What was that?" He inquires, and Yoongi swears Seokjin sounds just like his dad.

"Hyung kicked me really hard!" Namjoon whines while trying to defend himself.

"And you decided you should just knock him out, Joonie?" Seokjin spits back, rage in his voice, and Namjoon cowers. Yoongi stares at Seokjin, almost as a challenge. "And you, Yoongi? If I can't trust my best friend, who should I trust?"

"So now I am your best friend?" Yoongi spits back and squares his shoulders, glaring up at Seokjin. "Because it doesn't look like I'm anything half of the time."

"What the heck are you talking about?" Yoongi doesn't have time to point out that Seokjin used a bad word because Seokjin shakes his head and pushes Yoongi. Yoongi pushes back and Seokjin stares at him, affronted.

Yoongi knows that if it comes down to it, Seokjin will lay him out flat. But he's just so mad he isn't thinking straight. But, different from what he was expecting, Seokjin doesn't surge at him.

"Joonie this, Joonie that, Joonie, Joonie, Joonie, Joonie, Joonie! It's all about him!" Yoongi yells, and feels his body shaking. The other boys are both looking at him, and he can't even leave his room because he is in time out. 

Seokjin raises his hands very slowly and comes closer to Yoongi, placing both hands on his shoulders. "Breathe, Yoongichi."

He does as he is told, calming down slightly, and lets Seokjin sit him down on the bed by Namjoon. Both look down, and Yoongi just wants to be alone, ashamed. He really hurt Namjoon, and made Seokjin mad; he feels like trash. He wanted to win, not to hurt Namjoon. It was an accident. He just wanted to be praised, not to be hurt, ashamed, sad and in time out all together.

"Can you guys give your hands and apologize, please?" Seokjin asks and waits.

Yoongi feels fingers close to his, as if searching for his hand, to fit into the space between his fingers, so he looks at Namjoon. Namjoon, that fucking bamboo kid, is crying silently and trying to hold hands with him. So Yoongi gives in, sighs and holds his hand.

"I am sorry, hyung," Namjoon mumbles and sniffs. Yoongi shrugs but looks at Seokjin who has his brow cocked at him, waiting.

"Hyung is sorry too, Namjoon-ah," Yoongi whispers back and feels a weight he didn't know he was carrying leave his chest. He breathes out freely for the first time in months.

"I just want to be friends, hyung,"  Namjoon whispers again, and it fucking breaks Yoongi's heart. Damned bamboo kid. He slides closer to the younger boy without saying anything, letting their legs touch. He looks at Seokjin and nods to the bed beside him, motioning so the other can sit with them.

"I can't sit." It's a simple phrase and Yoongi is confused to why. He and Namjoon see the exact moment Seokjin shrugs his shoulders and says, nonchalantly: "I took a whopping."

Yoongi is up in no time, coming around him, Seokjin turning along with him, maintaining his position to keep the boy away from his back. 

"Let me see, hyung," Yoongi demands.

"You are not seeing my bum, Yoongichi. Don't be weird." He keeps on turning until Yoongi grabs his arm, holding him.

"We shower together. We change together. I see your bum all the time, hyung."

So Seokjin turns around, lifts his T-shirt up and pulls his sweats down a little. His lower back is a shade of pink that is really not beautiful, but the side of his bum looks worse. Yoongi and Namjoon wince at it while Seokjin covers himself.

"Why, hyung?" Yoongi whispers, almost afraid to touch Seokjin; suddenly, his black eye is nothing, nothing close to the bruising on his friend. Seokjin shrugs again.

"I am the hyung. If you suffer, I suffer. I should keep things under control, right?" He shrugs again, and Yoongi suddenly hates shrugging. "One day I will be responsible for everyone and everything under the Kims, on my own. So, if I can't make my boys happy and safe, can I do anything? That's what dad said, at least."

It dawns on Yoongi. He was 10 when he realized he wasn't responsible only for himself anymore. He's got Seokjin, and now Namjoon. He has a role. He needs to be good at it. There's no slacking in it.

The boys stay in Yoongi's room until dinner time, when miss Sujin brings them food and pretends not to see them all together. When they are leaving later, Seokjin comes back inside the room and hugs Yoongi.

He rests his forehead against Yoongi's and lets their noses touch lightly, eyes sparkling. They don't move. 

"Yoongichi, can you keep a secret for your whole life?" Seokjin whispers, and Yoongi has trouble breathing.

"Yes, hyung."

"Even if they kill you?" Seokjin smirks.

Yoongi makes an "x" mark over his heart without moving much, nose still touching Seokjin's. When Seokjin kisses his cheek and pulls back quickly, it's almost as if it didn't happen.

"You will always be hyung's favorite boy, Yoongichi. Because you were always here."

He smiles and leaves. Now, almost 17 years later, when Seokjin kisses him good night, he still whispers that Yoongi is his favorite boy.

Chapter Text

To be quite honest, Namjoon had really thought this through. He would enter the kitchen, get snacks for himself, Yoongi and Jungkook, and begone, like nobody had ever seen him. That was the plan; he lost rock-paper-scissors against Yoongi, and Jungkook couldn't run errands because Seokjin said so. Seokjin had said many things, lately. 

Seokjin was at some class they weren't supposed to go to, and Jungkook was already back from school, so he and Yoongi kidnapped the kid and hid him inside Yoongi's room so they could play video games and not go to chess, or whatever. Really, Namjoon hates chess at this point. So he sneaks into the kitchen, ducks under the counter and almost crawls into the pantry for a heist. It's a shame his eyes come to face a very well known pair of Nikes. He looks up and finds Seokjin looking down, face stuffed with ice cream. They stare at each other for a few seconds until the older swallows his dessert and laughs.

"Well, that's weird," he comments while shoving his finger back inside the tube and scooping more ice cream, while Namjoon stands up. Seokjin is 17, and boy, did his teenage years do him good?! Namjoon always muses about it. Silently and secretly, obviously.

"Weren't you supposed to be at some important class?" Namjoon says as he pulls snacks into the little makeshift basket he created with the end of his T-shirt. "Something about young leaders, or political shenanigans? Something like that?"

Seokjin just pouts and eats more ice cream.

"Don't you have my schedule, Namjoonie?" He whines and Namjoon uses his hand to clean the other's face. Seokjin blows him a raspberry, just like a kid. "Weren't you supposed to be at chess?"

"Me and hyung skipped," Namjoon says and looks at his snacks happily before looking out of the pantry. "Now, if the young heir allows me, I will go up and play video game until my brain gets fried."

Namjoon calls him young heir just because it makes Seokjin pissed. Seokjin holds him back. "Aren't you inviting hyung, Namjoon-ah?" He asks, clean hand around Namjoon's elbow.

"You're too loud, hyung," he teases and Seokjin feigns being stabbed. "Wanna come up?"

"Can't we all go to the pool? Pretty please?" He pleads and Namjoon looks out the pantry again before putting the snacks back, and Seokjin hops in place.

"Let me get my phone from off the table," he informs, but Namjoon pulls him in the other direction, silently opening the kitchen's back door that goes directly to the pool. He walks just a little, and stands under a tree before whistling. Loudly.

Seokjin's ears ring from the whistle, and he's more than a little confused. He looks at Namjoon, who is still looking up to the windows on the third floor. He smiles when Yoongi's head shows up on the other side of the glass, hands up, as if asking what's wrong. Namjoon points at Seokjin and motions with his arms, stroking as if he were swimming. 

Yoongi makes an okay sign and puts his hands behind his head, fingers up like rabbit ears, and Namjoon answers with some nods before making a 2 with his fingers, making a round motion and pointing down. Seokjin looks at them like they are speaking Latin. But apparently Yoongi understands, and leaves the window.

"What the hell was that?" Seokjin asks.

"Just telling him where he should come from with Jungkook, so we don't get time out, or worse." The last part is almost a whisper. Seokjin got a lot of whoopings through the years. They did too. But they are always harder on Seokjin, because he is responsible. So now they try their best not to be caught.

Yoongi and Jungkook get to them in less than two minutes, and Namjoon high-fives Yoongi, both of them laughing. Seokjin waits until somebody - anybody - greets him. Jungkook comes close to him and hugs him quietly, burying his face into Seokjin's chest.

"Hey, Jungkookie," Seokjin greets, and runs his hand through Jungkook's hair. "How was school?" Jungkook mumbles a "good" without moving much, and Seokjin laughs. That's when his eyes meet Yoongi's and the younger smiles lopsidedly at him, coming close and hugging him and Jungkook, pulling them closer.

"You're crushing me, you pig monster," Jungkook whines as he pushes back so he can get out the hug, while Seokjin wheezes in Yoongi's embrace. Then there's that moment that always gives Namjoon a weird feeling in his stomach. Seokjin and Yoongi look at each other for two seconds too long, before Seokjin kisses his forehead, something they do when they greet each other and are away from everyone else. Yoongi closes his eyes, sighs and smiles.

"So, pool? Pretty please?" Seokjin says as he turns around and looks at the other boys. They end up with about 20 minutes playing inside the pool before the first car pulls up to the entrance, and they have to run inside like some kind of ninja on a mission.

They sit on the floor of Seokjin's bathroom on the third floor, panting like mad men when Yoongi looks at Jungkook and pales.

"Where's your shirt?" All of them look at Jungkook bare torso and gape. Best case scenario: by the pool. Worst case: somewhere inside the house. Jungkook looks like a startled animal, particularly like a deer caught in the headlights of a car.

"Oh, we are fucked," Namjoon whispers, but then Jungkook closes his eyes, clasps his hands in prayer and says:

"God, if you're listening, I hope the hamsters eat my shirt. Amen."

They are silent for a second before Seokjin is almost screaming in laughter, both Namjoon and Yoongi trying to cover his mouth. Life in the Kim household is weird, but Namjoon wouldn't change these boys for anything.

There's something that happens between Seokjin's 17th and 18th birthday, and Namjoon feels the change in his skin. All of them have to wake up super early, even Jungkook. They are up at 5 in the morning to run, like some army crap. They run a whole hour everyday, before breakfast. It's fucking insane.

Their classes also change drastically. Chess? Nope. Horse riding? Nope. Seokjin has some hard ass classes, like philosophy, economy and lots of secret things that are blank spaces in his schedule. Not even Yoongi tags along. Yoongi also takes a fucking blow with his classes; he gets a lot of physical work to do. So he has stuff like krav maga, swimming, more running. Also, mister Kim puts both him and Yoongi in a shooting range. When you are 16 and holding a gun, it does things to your head. Namjoon had some classes like cartography, language, and he also took martial arts, but, frankly, he thinks everybody does. It's just like a basic subject. And they still have to do well in school. As in, like, the normal school.

But who gets it the hardest is, by far, Jungkook. Nobody knows what he does; his schedule on the main board is always open. Jungkook is gone during the week. He only comes home on weekends, sometimes covered in bruises. When he does come home, he sleeps, clinging on to Seokjin and whining, barely moves and gets soaked in water for hours, sometimes sleeping inside the tub so his body gets better. But he's just a kid.

It's when the reality hits Namjoon: they are not a rich family. They are training to keep Seokjin safe. They always have been. They are mob kids, Seokjin included. When it hits him, he actually throws up, and soon after crawls into bed with Yoongi, crying himself to sleep with his hyung reassuring him that everything is going to be okay. They just need to trust one another, and Seokjin.

He goes down the stairs one Sunday morning to find Seokjin and Jungkook literally tied by their ankles, backs pressed against one another, trying to walk in sync. Jungkook looks pale and his legs shake, but he tries to keep walking. Yoongi is standing in the hallway, watching the scene, guarded by one of his trainers. Namjoon feels sick again, so he runs the last steps and goes closer to them, but Seokjin laces his arms into Jungkook's and turns the boy away from Namjoon.

"Back off, Namjoon," Seokjin warns coldly and Jungkook's knees buckle. Seokjin lowers his body and lifts Jungkook against his back, making them bend in a weird angle. The trainer by Yoongi's side moves, and Yoongi moves along, putting himself between the older man, and the other boys. The trainer pulls out a single bamboo stick and swings at Yoongi's arms repeatedly. The boy just locks his teeth together and makes no sound, looking straight up.

"Who do you answer to, Yoongi?" The trainer asks and hits Yoongi's arms again.

"Mister Kim," Yoongi answers through his teeth and prepares for another hit, but Namjoon hugs him and pulls him back, Seokjin stepping in front of him, without Jungkook on his back.

While Yoongi got hit, Namjoon untied the feet of the other two and put Jungkook safely on the ground, so Seokjin could move again. And Seokjin was mad.

"He answers to me," he hisses through his teeth, squaring up to the trainer, walking up to him and using his body to push him back. "He answers to me. I am the hyung."

And if Namjoon thinks back about it, that's when Seokjin's title as 'The Hyung' was created. When Seokjin stood up for what was most important to him.

"You back off, right now." He is furious. Ready for murder, if the situation calls for it. 

"Yoongi, Namjoon, and Jungkook answer to Mister Kim, young heir." The trainer pushes back, and Seokjin pounces him before the boys can react. He gets a good four or five punches before the trainer immobilizes him on the ground, and suddenly Yoongi is over them, locking both of the man's hands behind his back, while Namjoon pins his legs down. They struggle for a second before something shining bright passes Namjoon's eyes, and Jungkook speaks softly:

"You know I will kill you if you don't stop, right, hyung? You trained me for it." He is on his knees by Seokjin's head, knife at the trainers throat, as Yoongi is frozen in place. As they're all frozen in place.

"Jungkookie," Seokjin calls softly, but Jungkook doesn't even look at him. His eyes are trained and locked on his prey. "Hey, bunny, look at hyung, please? Will you?" That seems to work because he looks down at him, and Seokjin smiles. "Good. Very good. Good boy," he praises, and Namjoon stands up as he sees more men coming into the scene, as well as Mister Kim himself.  Namjoon glues himself to Yoongi's back to cover him, staring at everybody and still defending the others.

"Can you put the knife down, please?" Seokjin calls calmly, like he doesn't have three full grown ass adults over him. Jungkook pouts but doesn't move. "You can do that for hyung, right bunny?" Jungkook sighs and lowers the knife. "There's my bunny," Seokjin praises again and glares at the other man who tries to come closer. He looks at the trainer one last time before saying, very calmly: "get off me before I shoot you myself in front of my boys."

The trainer smirks and shrugs Yoongi and Namjoon to the side like they weigh nothing. Seokjin sits up, Jungkook sitting by his side while Namjoon and Yoongi rest against his back. He looks at his father.

"What a scene," Mister Kim comments and tilts his head, a small smile on his face.

"I am going up, I am going to soak in hot water, and they are going up with me. And we will be going back to our schedules as soon as Jungkook can stand up again," Seokjin says, no open for bargains or suggestions. "But until then, we are not doing anything out of my room."

His dad smiles more. "As you wish, young Kim."

The boys drag Jungkook up the stairs to the third floor, and as soon they reach the right room, Seokjin bolts to his bathroom and throws up. Namjoon sits on the floor and Yoongi lies Jungkook down with his head on Namjoon's thigh.

"What was that?" Namjoon whispers, giving his hand to Yoongi so it can be held. "I am sorry." The sobs hurt, but seeing Jungkook so tired that he passed out hurts even more.

Yoongi looks up, and tears run down his face, as well. He makes no sound, just lets his emotions overflow from inside him and crash, bringing everything out. They listen to things being dropped inside the bathtub, and soon after Seokjin comes out of the bathroom without his shirt, his whole face flushed and his breath smelling like mint. He is also spotting different bruises along his torso, which is very concerning.

He kneels in front of them and rubs his palms over his eyes, trying to find his footing again. He takes a deep breath before looking at Yoongi, before pulling him closer and kissing him. Like, really kissing him. Tongue and all. Namjoon feels like this one day has dragged on for fifteen years, because nothing makes sense. He is so shocked he doesn't know what to feel, so he just stands there like a fucking creep, watching his hyungs make out.

Seokjin pulls back and Yoongi keeps crying, but significantly less. So when he looks at Namjoon, it's not an understatement to say he doesn't know what to do. Seokjin moves and stands in front of him without saying anything, and it's then that he realizes he is still holding Yoongi's hand.

"Namjoon-ah, may I kiss you?" Seokjin whispers and Namjoon looks at Yoongi, looking for an answer.

"I am okay with it," Yoongi also whispers, so Namjoon looks back at Seokjin and nods before letting their lips connect. It's fast and messy but, somehow, Namjoon needed that. His head feels a little floaty but he feels a little better.

"Let's soak and pretend nothing happened downstairs." Seokjin stands up and tries to pull Jungkook up, but Namjoon and Yoongi need to help him. All of them sit clothed inside Seokjin's ridiculous bathtub, holding Jungkook up against Seokjin's chest as the water swirls around them, aloe vera steam filling the bathroom.

Namjoon looks at Yoongi. 

"Hyung, may I kiss you too?" He whispers and Yoongi's ears turn really pink before he nods and bends over to peck Namjoon.

It's all fucked up, but Namjoon wouldn't change a thing about them. That night, sitting in warm water, completely clothed, Namjoon decided: he would be the best he could so these boys would have everything. He would use his flesh and bones to be the best he could be, and he would protect them with everything he had.

Chapter Text

To be quite honest, Jungkook had really thought this through. He would come back from school, have lunch and change. Do the running he had to do as the schedule called, report on the main board and be back in the kitchen by 5pm so he could do his homework with his hyungs. That's a simple plan and it usually works, but today it's 5:45pm, and he is almost crying over some dumb math assignment while Namjoon looks through some kind of blueprints of a building, and Yoongi reads a book in Japanese while drinking his coffee. There's no sign of Seokjin. It's a Friday.

So, matter of fact, Jungkook is pissed. Since they all entered college, dragging Namjoon along, he spent the days doing runs around the house, chores, training and homework. He was supposed to be defending his hyung. He was supposed to be together with them, not at 'home,' reporting to the main board. When he cried his concerns to Seokjin, his hyung hugged him and said that soon he would be able to tag along, just not for now. And that he needed Jungkook to be a good boy and work hard. So he made these 'fun Fridays,' when they could be together, work on projects, have dinner, talk and play games a little later. But Seokjin was nowhere to be found.

Yoongi senses Jungkook about to bang his head against the tabletop before it happens, so he lifts his cup of coffee and smirks at Namjoon, watching as his compass does a weird turn over the blueprint. Jungkook only groans louder when Namjoon runs his fingers through his hair, trying to calm him down.

"Where is he?"

"In a meeting downtown with Mister Kim," Yoongi mutters while turning the page on his book and grabbing Jungkook's pencil, to probably underline a word he doesn't know.

"Weren't you supposed to be there, then?" Jungkook collects himself and stares at his homework again, praying God will overlook all his wrong doings and work some miracles on that.

"I would if I was needed," the older says back, and somehow, it sits wrong in Jungkook's stomach.

"Soon I will be Seokjin hyung's first man," he challenges, and feels his chest burst with joy when both Namjoon and Yoongi freeze mid-action, cautiously looking at him. 

"Come again, Jungkook?" Namjoon asks, still very calm and Jungkook feels powerful. His hyungs know he will be important.

"Yeah, I will go everywhere with him and my only duty will be to ensure his safety," he answers proudly, but soon deflates when Yoongi snorts at him.

"You might wanna rephrase that, bunny boy," he comments with a grin, and Namjoon snorts, before shaking his head and pushing Yoongi while muttering under his breath "shut up, hyung."  Jungkook feels out of the loop on some big inside joke, but is saved by the bell when Seokjin enters the kitchen.

"What are you laughing about?" The boy kisses Jungkook's head and hugs him, making cooing noises. Jungkook will never admit it, but he really likes when his oldest hyung does that.

"Nothing, hyung." Yoongi spares him a glance before smiling, "Just the pretty boy saying pretty things about his pretty future." Namjoon full on laughs at that, and Jungkook just pouts and kicks him under the table.

Seokjin hugs him closer against his chest and pulls him away from Namjoon before they start kicking each other harder. "And you two are being pretty lame, that's what you are," Seokjin chides back and pats Jungkook's head again. 

Jungkook arrived at the Kim's when he was 6, basically half the age Seokjin was at the time. He was never in the same classes, but Seokjin always made him feel at home. He only felt really at home near Seokjin.

He was 13 when training took a hard turn on him. A whole year getting beat up like some dog, sleeping in weird places and not having nice food. But every time he got home, before it was morning, Seokjin was there to open the car door, help him out and up the stairs. Seokjin never failed him. They cried together in the bathroom while trying to mend anything they could with Jungkook's wounds, all before anyone else was up. Seokjin would help him change, then they would eat and go to bed and sleep the whole day. Jungkook never understood at the time, but maybe Seokjin was also coming back from some training.

But Seokjin was getting older and Jungkook wasn't keeping up with it. Seokjin entered college and took with him Yoongi and Namjoon, while Jungkook was just barely into highschool. That summer, Jungkook tried to bargain everything he had with Mister Kim so he could drop out of school and just do his runs and training. But Seokjin was resolute in his own answer: "Jungkook answers only to me, and, as I said, he goes to school, he reports to the main board and continues training until he can come with me."

So, yeah, they had these 'fun Fridays' events, but it soon dissolved into nothing because they never could be home at 5pm, and Jungkook always ended up with one or two hyungs, feeling a little miserable, a little dumb, a little sad and very, very lonely. So Jungkook also stops coming to the stupid 'fun Fridays' events.

It takes 3 weeks not going until he is having his lunch alone in the kitchen when Namjoon finds him there.

"Where have you been?"

"Busy," Jungkook replies, eyes glued to the manga resting on the table by his dish. Namjoon cocks his eyebrow at that, pulling it away and feeling amused when Jungkook whines and glares at him.

"Hyung doesn't like it when we have things on the table during meals, you know that, Jungkook," he reprimands, but is not ready for Jungkook to yank the manga back, almost pouncing on him. Namjoon takes a step back to collect himself, still carefully looking at the younger one.

"And I will not put anything on the table when I have company. As you can see, hyung, I have my meals by myself," he spits back, shoving a forkful of food inside of his mouth and getting back to his manga.

Namjoon knows something is wrong, so he tells Yoongi first. Because once Seokjin knows something is wrong, he will come back home and demand answers. And, at the moment, none of them have any to offer. 

Jungkook is finishing his final lap around the grounds when he spots Yoongi at the kitchen door. Yoongi wasn't even supposed to be here, he has classes to attend to, places to be or whatever, Jungkook doesn't care. So he stops in his tracks and turns around, running all the way back and away from Yoongi. He runs another lap before coming back to find the door unattended. Figuring he's safe, he skips upstairs to shower and almost faints when he finds Yoongi sitting inside his room.

"That was a dumb move, kid," he comments and throws Jungkook a key. "I had to steal hyung's key to open your room, because, somehow, you are now too adult to leave your door open." Yoongi stands up and Jungkook steps back, trying to stand his ground.

Here's the thing. Namjoon may be big, but Yoongi is scary. 

"Why aren't you coming by on Friday?"

"I am busy," he answers and Yoongi raises his brow at that.

"No, you are not. Because I see hyung personally making your shifts and cleaning your Fridays out so you can be in the kitchen when we come back, because you cried about feeling lonely. But then, somehow, you're never there." Yoongi corners him against the closed door. "So tell me, what are you doing?"

Yoongi's words sting more than if Yoongi had slapped him. Jungkook feels awful and even more lonely. He won't cry, he won't, even if his eyes burn, he won't.

"Jungkook," there's a change in Yoongi's tone and he really feels like punching him, but settles for pushing him away. Yoongi stumbles back with a gasp.

"Shouldn't you be somewhere else? Protecting hyung, or being useful?" Jungkook tries to be venomous back, but he feels like he's failing at it, too. "Why are you even in the mansion? Don't you have some grown up gangsta shit to do downtown?"

Yoongi doesn't say anything. Just walks out the door and leaves Jungkook alone. Jungkook doesn't go downstairs this Friday.

Sunday night he sneaks into the study to access the computer on the main board, so he can change his schedule. He logs in and tries to book a run for Friday. It blinks and disappears. He tries and fails again. He crawls under the table to check the cables but everything seems fine. He tries again and a single message pops-up on the screen.

Kim Seokjin:

what the fuck are you doing

He panics, shuts down the computer and bolts out the room, running full speed towards the stairs, but before reaching the first step to freedom, Seokjin comes out of the kitchen and Jungkook slams against him, hard. They stumble a little, trying to focus until Jungkook sees Yoongi helping Seokjin up and he is bolting again, three steps at a time. He reaches the third floor in record time, putting his chair against the door and hiding under his covers.

The banging on his door doesn't fail to arrive, though.

"Open this fucking door, Jungkook!" Seokjin must be punching the door off its hinges, but Jungkook doesn't move.

"I swear to God, Jungkook. If I go back downstairs, I am bringing Kwanhee up with me," Seokjin threatens. "He will pull this door down and I will give you the whooping of your life," he warns, still a little out of it, but the mention of Kwanhee does make Jungkook move.

Kwanhee is Mister Kim's personal wall of defense, what Jungkook was supposed to be to Seokjin. Kwanhee is gigantic and he is amazing at anything; he can even do some army extraction moves. So yeah, Jungkook's bedroom door will be nothing to him, and Seokjin has pretty big hands, he can and will whoop Jungkook within an inch of his life.

"Back off of my door, I will open it."

There's an exasperated huff on the other side and the banging restarts.

"Did you tell me to back off, you fucking brat?" Seokjin must be glued to the door because it is shaking under his strength. It's the first time Seokjin yells at Jungkook. "You don't tell hyung what to do, Jungkook! You must have got yourself twisted!"

"Hyung, shut up, please," Jungkook hears Yoongi saying and that's the wrong response because Seokjin seems to lose it even more.

"What? What did you say, Yoongichi? You got yourself twisted too?" There's a silence when Jungkook knows Yoongi and Seokjin are in a silent staring contest until Seokjin can get his footing back.

Jungkook had already pulled the chair back, so when he turns the lock on his door, he doesn't really expect Seokjin to bodily slam against it. They are both on the ground, looking up when Yoongi says from the open door: "I am going to stay in the hallway. I will comeback if you two decide to punch each other. Remember who you fucking are." And he slams the door shut again. Jungkook doesn't know who he was talking to, but whatever. 

They look at each other for a second before the younger gets up and climbs back into bed silently. He just feels like hiding, or running, or anything, he just doesn't want to be inside his room with Yoongi guarding the door. He hides underneath the covers as if he tries hard enough, Seokjin will also go hide, away from him.

But so much for his luck. Jungkook soon feels a hand pushing insistently against his ribs.

"Move, Jungkook." Seokjin pushes him harder and climbs on the bed by his side. "You already got my patience wearing really thin, bunny."

Jungkook really whines at that. He doesn't want to listen, he doesn't want cuddles. He doesn't want anything. He doesn't need anything. So, if he scrambles away from Seokjin as if he was burnt by him.

"Jungkook?" Seokjin's voice is laced with worry, and Jungkook misses the yelling and the door slamming extravaganza. He could deal with that, but the broken and disappointed tone? Not so much.

"Stooooop," Jungkook really cries out, because what else would he do? So Seokjin pulls the covers back and looks at him. Really looks at him, looking for anything out of place.

"Tell me what's wrong." It's not a question, it's an order. "Talk to hyung, bunny, so I can fix things." He pulls the younger into a hug, hands running up and down his back.

"Don't call me that," Jungkook whispers and, for the first time in some time, Seokjin freezes. He backs off to look at the other.

"You don't want hyung to call you bunny?" Jungkook nods. "But you are hyung's bunny, Kookie. Just like Yoongi will always be Yoongichi, no matter how old and boring he gets," the older explains, trying to understand what's going on.

"Nobody calls me that anymore, hyung." Jungkook literally pouts and hides his face in Seokjin's chest. Seokjin feels like punching a wall.

"I call you that all the time!"

"What time, hyung? What time? You are never fucking home. Nobody is ever fucking home." Jungkook pulls away and turns around. He won't cry. But his hyung is not having any of it, so Seokjin climbs over him and lies facing him again, both his hands cupping Jungkook's cheeks.

"I am sorry, Kookie," Seokjin whispers and Jungkook feels like he has been slapped. "Hyung is sorry, okay? College is a pain and I have so many things to do with dad, and I know," he sighs, "it must look like I am just running around with Yoongi and Namjoon and that I don't want to take you, but, believe me, bunny, I can't do that."

"But, hyung, I was supposed to protect you!" He protests, but Seokjin just pulls him closer.

"I am well aware of that, everybody is well aware of that. Namjoon and Yoongi are almost counting down the hours until they don't have to do it anymore, so you can take your stand and they can take their own roles fully." Seokjin chuckles and runs his fingers through Jungkook's hair. "I am sorry for leaving you, Kookie. Hyung never wanted you to feel like that."

Jungkook tries really hard to hold it in. Because he trained for it. He had hours doing stuff people would never imagine, so he shouldn't cry but, at the same time, everything around him feels like it's drowning him and choking him, dragging him down. So when the first hiccup hits the surface and the first tear runs down his face, he is, at least, pretty shocked.

"Oh no, my poor bunny," Seokjin whispers and pulls him incredibly closer, kissing his forehead. Jungkook actually begins shaking, but Seokjin doesn't let him go, just holds him and cradles him lightly through it.

It takes a few minutes until Jungkook feels like himself again, and when he does, he feels drained. Like he ran all the laps of a week's worth in a single day. But Seokjin is still there, keeping him centered.

"I think somebody was really way overdue a good crying session," he comments lightly and Jungkook's ears burn, but Seokjin's soft chuckles make it a little better. "Are you feeling better, Kookie?" He nods. "Can hyung go back to calling you bunny, or are you still mad at hyung?"

"Still mad," Jungkook mumbles, but hugs Seokjin nevertheless. "Still hyung's bunny." The last part is just a whisper but Seokjin smiles at that.

"Let's make a promise, yeah?" He suggests and raises his pinky so Jungkook can see. "Hyung will take care of you until you can take care of hyung. How about that?"

Jungkook ponders.

"When is that?"

Seokjin's face turns funny as he tries to find a good answer. He hums and looks up, searching for anything.

"Can you shoot with both hands?" 

And here's the thing: shooting is not Jungkook's thing. It's loud, it smells kind of bad, you have to be far away from people… He does so well with so many other things, he is a teen, for Jesus tap dancing Christ. So, yeah, no, he can't. But he won't tell Seokjin that. He just presses his lips into a thin line and the other smiles.

"You know the open shooting range? Once you beat Yoongi's mark, shooting with both hands, you can protect hyung."

"Hyung, that's not fair!" 

Seokjin pouts back at him and blows him a raspberry.

"I don't need to be fair, I need to be safe." And that... That's is true. If Jungkook is really going to protect him, he has to be the best. His lips turn into a thin line again and Seokjin pokes his cheeks before stretching. "So, hurry up, hyung wants to be spoiled."

Jungkook laughs at that and pokes the older's ribs in protest, making him squeak and laugh. "I am serious! I won't shoot a single bullet once I get settled."

"It's not like you are going around shooting people now, hyung. You're the young heir. It's all politics."

The look on Seokjin's face is fond, but holds so much more. Like there's a world Jungkook is yet to meet. "Yeah, keep that mindset, bunny," he whispers back and boops Jungkook's nose. "May I call Yoongi in? He must be jealous."

Jungkook cleans his face the best he can and does an okay sign before Seokjin calls Yoongi's name. There's a single knock on the door before his other hyung is inside.

"Is Joon-ah back?" Seokjin almost manhandles Jungkook while turning them, so they can open some space for Yoongi.

"No, hyung. Nor is your dad." Yoongi stands by the bed and offers his hand to Jungkook, silently.

"It's late." Seokjin's eyes flicker in the semi darkness of the room and Yoongi holds his stare. They must be having a telepathic conversation. "Tell him to come home."

"Already did, hyung."

"So he is coming." Seokjin presses and a shiver runs down Jungkook's spine.

"Kwanhee said they are almost done." Yoongi answers and Jungkook senses something in the air. He squeezes Yoongi's hand and the other looks at him before winking. "Did you two punch each other?"

"Yeah, with feelings." Seokjin sighs and pulls on Yoongi's arm so he climbs on the bed and lies with them.

"Ew, I hate those the most, don't you, Kookie?" Yoongi says as he gets comfortable on the mattress. "And hyung has a talent for delivering every single jab right where it hurts, right?" Yoongi whispers and hugs Jungkook. He whines but says nothing, just lets himself be embraced. But then he remembers.

He pulls his hand up and shows his pinky to Yoongi, and the other looks at him quizzically. But, eventually, Yoongi hooks his own pinky around Jungkook's.

"What do you want to promise?"

"I will take care of hyung someday," Jungkook states.

"No doubts there," Yoongi reassures without making fun of him.

"But until then, can you do it?" It's a rare sight to see Yoongi's gummy smile, so it gets Jungkook off balance when it happens. The other ruffles Jungkook's hair, still smiling.

"Sure can, bunny. Hyung will take care of Jinnie hyung, Namjoonie, and you. Until hyung takes care of everybody."

Seokjin rolls over them, body pressing them down while he wriggles in different directions, and Yoongi pokes his ribs in retaliation. Soon enough the older is slapping his hands away.

"I already take care of everybody. You ungrateful cunt, Yoongichi! I shared my chicken nuggets with you!" 

"Oh my God, stop being petty, hyung! It was just chicken nuggets! You could ask miss Sujin for more!" Yoongi answers back, laughing and pulling Jungkook over himself to dodge Seokjin's slender fingers aimed at his torso.

"They were dinosaur chicken nuggets, you uncultured swine!" The older protests and drops his body onto the dog pile again.

"And we were 5, hyung! Let it go!"

Seokjin pouts, looking at Jungkook.

"I hate sharing food." Yoongi tangles his fingers into his hair and he sighs, dropping his head against Jungkook's shoulder.

"I know, and yet you do it for us. So, thank you, whiny baby," Yoongi says as he adjusts and nuzzles Jungkook's other shoulder. Then something growls.

"Tell me that wasn't your stomach, hyung," Yoongi asks unimpressed. But Seokjin just whines and curls into himself as Jungkook bursts into laughter.

"I am just craving chicken nuggets so much right now," he explains, but Jungkook can't stop laughing. "Do you think they still make dinosaur chicken nuggets, Yoongichi?"

"Don't know, hyung. But we can hit the store on Wednesday, after class so your dad won't even notice we are late."

Jungkook doesn't mean to pout at that, but he also wants chicken nuggets. But he was not invited, so he stays silent. Seokjin senses it.

"Turn that frown upside-down, Jungkook." He warns briefly and Yoongi makes gagging noises at the sentence. "Hyung will buy chicken nuggets and bring them home, so we four can have a fun dinner on Friday. Deal?"

It's set.

Jungkook is freezing his ass off at the docks, watching containers being put on a ship and marking them down on his tablet, when his group chat buzzes.

jinnie hyung:

THERE'S STILL FUCKING DINOSAUR CHICKEN NUGGETS

jinnie hyung:

OMG I SHOULD INVEST IN THIS, NEVER LET THIS CLOSE, I SHOULD BUY THIS COMPANY

joonie hyung:

OMG! the ones we ate when we were kids? where did you find it?!

jinnie hyung:

Yoongi found it ~ we love a resourceful man in this household!

me:

we stan!

jinnie hyung:

I knew I could count on you, baby! just gonna google real quick if it's possible to die from eating too much chicken nuggers

me:

chimken nuggers

jinnie hyung:

heckin delish bro

me:

do me a bamboozle

yoonie hyung:

you two REALLY need to stop watching those damn dogs on youtube

yoonie hyung:

one more and it's on sight I swear

joonie hyung:

milkshek delish

me:

potats

jinnie hyung:

imsolent, do me a disrespecc

yoonie hyung:

…

Yoongi does really get home around 4:30 on Friday, so he helps Jungkook with some Japanese lessons and they head down to the open range until 6 because everybody is running late. But that's okay. They are back in the kitchen sorting through a lot of sauces when Namjoon and Seokjin arrive. Jungkook turns to greet them but comes face-to-face with one of Namjoon's forearms covered in bandages, his knuckles scratched. Before he can figure it out, Yoongi is already moving.

"What the hell happened to you?" He cups Namjoon's face and then glares at Seokjin. "You said you didn't need me."

"And I didn't, Yoongi. I am alive, can't you see?" His answer is way colder than any of them were expecting. But Yoongi doesn't budge.

"Joon-ah?"

"Hyung, I am fine. Just… shit happened?" He passes Yoongi and drops his body over Jungkook's, wincing a little. "I really just need to nuzzle this specific baby, have about two hundred dinosaur chicken nuggets and watch a movie. Can we do that? Without us being questioned until tomorrow morning?"

If Yoongi's eyes could throw daggers, they would all be dead by now. So Seokjin comes around and hugs him, whispering something into his ear, but Jungkook can't catch it. When he pulls back, he gives Yoongi a small smile, and Yoongi nods.

"Good boy, Yoongichi," he praises, and comes closer to Jungkook. "Let's have a lot of unhealthy food while playing in the main room, because dad is having his poker night in the Royale, so it's just us. We can play Tomb Raider on the whole stereo system," the older beams and the others just give in.

They are almost done with preparing the nuggets when Seokjin grabs Jungkook by the hand and tells the other two they will be settting up things. Once the kitchen floor is behind them, the older taps Jungkook, giggling, and says:

"Tag, you're it, Kookie," and skips away like a kid, shaking his hands around. Jungkook waits no time to tap back. 

"Hyung, you're it!" 

Seokjin huffs.

"Okay, I will tap you back, but then you have to give time to run, or else we are just going to slap each other all the way upstairs," he mulls, and yeah, makes sense, so Jungkook lets him have it. They run down the hallway but Seokjin does this abrupt stop, sliding on the rug and falling on the ground. That's when Jungkook sees why. There are three men he's never seen in the foyer, the front door open, and they are all looking at Seokjin.

Seokjin scrambles back as fast as he can, putting some distance between them. Something is wrong. The men's eyes harden and Seokjin stands up, collecting himself. 

"Mister Kim is not available right now," he informs, and makes a hand gesture Jungkook would recognize with his eyes closed: "close to me."  So he does, and glues his body to Seokjin's.

"Oh, Jin-ah, we know," the man grabs a fistful of Seokjin's hair and pulls his head back. Jungkook hears the blood in his ears as he starts to move, but a cold hand stops him.

"Easy, Jungkook. Stand in position," Seokjin says, without breaking eye contact with the man holding him. The man scoffs and looks at Jungkook.

"That's what we came to see?" He scoffs again.  "That's fucked up, even for your family, Jin-ah."

"I sincerely advise you to drop the gun and walk away from the young heir, Yongcheol." Namjoon's voice cuts the air and Jungkook wants to look back, but he won't, because he has to stand his position. He hears the click of a safety pin and he knows Yoongi won't miss it. Yongcheol lets Seokjin's hair go, and the other doesn't move, still challenging the men there. Yoongi stands by Seokjin's side, Namjoon on the other.

"This is the kid from the docks," one of the men says, and Seokjin's eyes harden at them.

"Business must be brought directly to Mister Kim, Yongcheol," he warns, and takes a step back, moving Jungkook along with him. "Yoongi and Namjoon will accompany you and your men to the door."

Namjoon and Yoongi step forward, but Yongcheol tsks at them.

"Let hyung talk to this kid, Jin-ah. He saw something incorrectly, hyung just wants to make sure he doesn't report anything wrong to your dad."

There's this silence that makes Jungkook's hair stand up, because he doesn't remember seeing anything different at the docks. Everything seemed normal the whole week. He is pulled out of his thoughts when Seokjin bodyslams Yongcheol, throwing him on the ground and turning around to sprint.

"Run!" He yells and pulls Jungkook's hand, making him go in front of him as a gunshot echoes inside the house.

"DON'T SHOOT SEOKJIN!" Yongcheol yells back, and his men stop. 

Seokjin makes a turn in the hallway and stumbles over Yoongi. Both of them trip on the floor, missing a table by centimeters, but continue running until they reach the far back study room that has a winter garden connected to it.

"RING THE ALARM!" Seokjin demands Namjoon, in full panic as he pulls a table in front of the door. He turns around and cups Jungkook's face. "What did you tell my dad? Think, bunny!"

"Nothing, hyung!" Jungkook answers fast. "I just counted the containers, took note of the ships and handed in my report."

"So why is Yongcheol here?" Yoongi says, almost whispering.

"Your dad is coming, hyung," Namjoon informs and a cold shiver runs down Seokjin's spine. Yongcheol will try to enter the room sooner or later.

"I think he either killed the guards or bribed them," Yoongi offers, and they listen to people coming closer to the door.

"Seokjin-ah." Yongcheol's voice comes into the room like flames, slow, but surely deadly. "You know hyung doesn't want you hurt, right? I just want to talk to your kid."

Yoongi looks at Seokjin and stands in front of him. Seokjin pulls Yoongi, and they start moving without making a sound until they get inside the small garden. 

"How long until dad is here, Joon-ah?" He whispers.

"40 minutes tops?"

"And our best chance without opening the door?" Namjoon looks out the glass and into the darkness before sighing.

"If we run into the woods."

That's why Yoongi and Seokjin throw a big house plant against the glass wall, and the four of them sprint out of the house, running barefoot across the land, hoping to not get shot before they reach the line of trees close to the edge of the property.

And they run. Because even though it's dark, Namjoon knows this house better than anyone. They run because they run every morning until their lungs almost give in. They pass trees and branches but they don't stop until the lights of the house can't reach them anymore.

Jungkook sits on the ground and tries to catch his breath. They have trained for this, so when Seokjin sits, Jungkook goes to take his position, but the older stops him abruptly and hugs him. A broken sob escapes Seokjin's mouth before he can cover it.

"Hyung almost got us all killed twice," Seokjin sobs, and Yoongi pats his back lightly. "I am sorry, I was so afraid. I am sorry, bunny. Yoongichi. Joonie. Hyung is sorry." He hiccups and hides his face in Jungkook's neck.

"That's okay, hyung. You did what you had to do. Mister Kim will find us in a few hours." Namjoon offers, caressing his hurt arm, and Jungkook doesn't fail to notice how Seokjin said 'twice.' Yoongi notices too, but doesn't say anything.

Jungkook gets to hold Seokjin for what feels like hours, his body against a tree and Seokjin close enough not to give them separation anxiety in a situation like this. Namjoon and Yoongi sit one on each side. 

"When that house is mine, one of the rules will be that you can't run on lower floors unless there's an emergency," Seokjin whispers to them. "So when we see one of us running, we know something is wrong."

Jungkook doesn't think much of it at the time, but it turns out to be very hanpful years later, when Seokjin is 'The Hyung' and they have to keep a lot of people safe. Jungkook will follow any rule Seokjin makes.

Kwanhee comes to find them some time later, only to be put at gunpoint by Yoongi for getting too close to them without identifying himself first. Yoongi gets a knock in the head because of it.

"How is the house?" Seokjin asks as Kwanhee pulls him onto his back to give Seokjin a piggyback ride and take them all back.

"It's a blood bath, master Kim," Kwanhee answers simply. "Your father saw the gun shots to the wall and was not happy about it. But everything is taken care of."

Jungkook walks up to them and tugs at Kwanhee's arm. The older wall of defense looks at him.

"I can take Seokjin hyung, hyung."

Kwanhee snorts and adjust Seokjin on his back.

"I am sure you can, kid. But I can do it faster, and Mister Kim is worried about all of you. So the sooner young Kim is inside the house, the sooner you all are safe."

That night Jungkook sees that there's so much more to this life than what is shown to him. There's a part of Seokjin he still can't reach, but he would be damned if he wouldn't try like crazy. And now, when he looks back at it, it all worked out.

Chapter Text

To be quite honest, Taehyung had really thought this through. He could just call Seokjin and try to settle it. So that's what he does.

"Hey, Seokjin hyung!" He greets cheerfully, glancing around. There's a brief silence on the other side.

"Who's this?"

"Me, hyung!" Taehyung feels the first droplets of sweat forming on his forehead. "Taehyungie, your roommate," he tries again and, once again, is met with silence. Seokjin is a weird fucking dude.

"How do you have my number?" 

Taehyung wants to hit his head against the wall, but he can't. He knows he can't. He needs to think clearly and, right now, as he stands, the best he can do is to come clean and pray Seokjin is as dumb as he is handsome.

"That's a funny story, I will tell you pretty soon, hyung. But, I have a very quick question: you are loaded, right, hyung?"

The silence again. Taehyung is running out of time.

"Like, you got money, right hyung? The thing is, I... kind of got arrested? Really funny story, hyung, and these fu-" Taehyung's eyes meet the guard's eyes staring at him, so he changes the approach, "funny gentlemen are not letting me have access to a computer with an internet connection so I can bail myself out," he explains in a hushed tone, hoping Seokjin is keeping up. "So yeah, can you do a bro a solid and lend me a fiver or something for a few hours? Once I get back online I will pay you back. Also, can you come bail me out?"

Silence. Jesus Christ, Taehyung is going to get arrested for shoplifting when he gets real bread online, that's what poetic justice sounds like.

"Are you downtown?" Seokjin asks and Taehyung sighs in relief.

"Yeah."

"I'll be there."

"Thanks hyu-" and Seokjin hangs up. Taehyung looks at the phone, then at the guard and then back at the phone. "Hyung is coming to pick me up."

Seokjin enters the police station about 30 minutes later with the other two boys who are always with him. They are, like, really weird. These fucking rich kids. But Taehyung is cuffed to a table, so he doesn't have that much dignity to defend himself right now. He even tries to wave to Seokjin, but again, cuffed hand.

"Oh, but that's unnecessary," Seokjin comments, and 3 of the 5 people in the police station turn to him. They follow his eyes and they land on Taehyung, and in a second, the guards are standing up.

"Look what the cat dragged inside," the chief calls as he walks towards the three other boys from his room, while Taehyung follows everything with his eyes. Seokjin smiles.

"Hello, Woojin hyung," he greets with a brief bow, and both the boys follow suit.

"You look big, Seokjin-ah. Your boys too." The chief ruffles the hair of one of them. "So, what is the young Kim doing here?"

Seokjin smiles again and points at Taehyung. "Came to collect a rogue sheep." 

There's a second Taehyung thinks the chief is going to call Seokjin on whichever bullshit he is pulling, but he sets for asking: "Kim Taehyung?"

"Yes, sir. I came to bail him out."

The chief cocks a brow at Seokjin, analyzing him quietly. "He was shoplifting."

"That's why I said he is rogue. I came to bail him out and take him home, hyung. Let me take this out of your hands, will you?" Seokjin presses and Taehyung is almost turned on. Damn, we love a man who can hold his ground.

"Is he yours?" The chief asks Seokjin one last time, and looks at Taehyung in disbelief.

"I am hyung's." He shrugs and pouts, making a show out of it. Seokjin shakes his head and grins at him.

He is out of the police station in 10 minutes. He has to pay Seokjin back. He is not some cheap fuck who shows no gratitude over grand actions.

"Hey, hyung. Sorry for everything, all this mess, but thank you for bailing me out. Really. I will explain everything to you when we get back to the dorms." Taehyung makes a little reverence in the middle of the sidewalk. "How do you prefer being paid? Like, I can transfer you money, bitcoin, maybe I can get stock market shit if you are into that…"

"Whatever is easier for you, Taehyungie." Seokjin's tone is so fond and nice while he opens the door of his car so Taehyung can hop in.

"No, seriously hyung. You are the best, thanks for coming downtown and- what is this?" Taehyung has both his hands up as Seokjin closes the door, sitting by his side, and one of the boys has a gun pointing at him. "I would like to go back inside the police station, please. Cuffed and alive, please," he says.

"So, who are you?" The boy sitting in the driver's seat asks as he pulls into traffic.

"Kim Taehyung, 19, vegetarian, I study programming and share a room with Seokjin hyung in college," he spills his guts, praying, but the gun at his side doesn't go down. "Can you put your gun down? I don't do well under pressure and that's… a lot of pressure."

"See, Yoongi! You too are the same age. Isn't it amazing?" Seokjin muses by his side, and Taehyung just knows he did something way worse than getting arrested.

"Who are you, for real?" Yoongi, the boy holding the gun, asks again, eyes hard and unmoving. "I don't give warning shots."

"From this distance you will shoot Seokjin hyung too," Taehyung spits back, hands still up, and Yoongi's eyes narrow. "If your car is bulletproof, you will kill all of us, don't be stupid."

The one in the front seat lets out a laugh at that. Then Taehyung feels Seokjin's chest against his back, and he's falling back into a hug, hyung's arms around him. Something really cold goes right under his jaw.

"Easy, easy. Hyung's got you," Seokjin soothes him as Yoongi finally puts his gun down. The knife in his throat makes him stay still, just barely breathing. "Now, tell hyung who you really are, Taehyung-ah."

What does Seokjin want to know? That he's a fuck up? That he jumped from one place to another to get through during life? That hacking got him a new identity and put him into college, so he could have a place to sleep where police wouldn't come barging in? That he is not 19, but did what he had to do to keep living? That he really doesn't do well being under pressure?

"Hyung… I really don't do well under pressure, I am going to pass out. I will pay you back, I swear." Taehyung feels the cold shivers running down his back, his mind getting a little fuzzy on the edges, and he can't faint right now because if he does, he is going to die. "I can pay you back double," he whispers, hand coming down to touch Seokjin's in a silent plea that he pull away the fucking knife.

Wrong move, because Yoongi pulls his gun back up and Taehyung groans, feeling his whole body getting cold.

"Oh my God, I am a fucking hacker!" He says as tears spill down his face and both his hands come back up. It's weird because when the police has him, he knows he can get away with it. But inside this car, going God knows where, he doesn't. "I can't engage in physical fights, if I get nervous I talk a lot and I will throw up inside this fancy ass car."

Yoongi looks at Seokjin before lowering his gun again, and the older moves his body away from Taehyung. His face looks so serene when he talks again.

"Okay, Taehyung-ah. Hyung will give you that chance. But now, before we hit the gardens, you tell hyung who you really are."

The beginning of the semester is the perfect time to slide in, blend in with the system and ensure a - mostly - safe place to live for the whole year ahead. That is, as far as Taehyung knows. So he breaks into the university's system as quietly as possible while half a city passes him by in a cafe downtown, signs up for a few subjects, divides the student fees' among a lot of people so they won't notice, and starts looking for his new roommate.

He never goes for freshmen. Never. They draw too much attention, they party too much, and he needs to lay as low as possible. So, when Taehyung stumbles on a weird empty spot, fourth floor, near the stairs… he feels something is up. Or maybe he is just lucky. 

He makes his stuff up - photoshoped family pictures, and purchases clothes with other people's credit cards - and, when classes are about to start, he is sitting on his bed, computer on his lap and the feeling that he will have a place to sleep for another year. There's a slight bump to it when his roommate arrives. Fucking Adonis himself or something, looking like some fine meal in a pair of black jeans and some gay looking hair. Taehyung is gay, horny, and so confused.

"Hi, I am Taehyung!" The sentence just materializes outside his mouth without his permission. The other stops and turns around, smiling.

"Hi, I am Seokjin," he greets back, way more cool, and Taehyung feels a little off-put.

"So, hyung, what do you study?" He prompts from his bed, and the other turns around again. That's funny. Taehyung knows what Seokjin studies: he majors in law, minors political economics. But none of Seokjin's documents have any pictures.

"How do you know I am the hyung?" He finally answers and Taehyung grins back.

"Because clearly I am not."

They don't interact much, but Taehyung doesn't really care. Seokjin is usually quiet and walks around with two other boys. These fucking rich kids and their summer-camp-for-young-leaders friends that have to stick together, otherwise daddy will get pissed or something. Yeah, Taehyung gets it, he'd seen lots of those.

Turns out, to Taehyung's surprise, Seokjin is not stupid, nor innocent. Namjoon and Yoongi are not his summer camp friends, and there's a reason why they're all living on the same floor, rooms very close to an emergency exit staircase. Taehyung spends almost two months terrified, alone and basically fearing for his life after discovering that Seokjin is the heir for the main mob family in Asia. The older kept it very simple when talking to him, a smile on his face: "let's get back to the dorms, shall we? You can't leave the country, though. You can do that, right?"

So yeah, Taehyung goes to classes, comes back to the dorms, doesn't leave the country, and tries not to get arrested again over something stupid, like trying to steal a fucking sweater because online shopping couldn't deliver it. When Namjoon knocks on his door, almost two months later, it's not an understatement to say he almost faints after being pulled so taut these past couple of weeks.

"Pack a bag. Hyung said to bring you home."

"I am home." Taehyung's body is still shaking a little from the scare, but it won't take him down. Namjoon almost sighs at that.

"Yeah, not anymore."

Three hours later, Taehyung is sitting on a different bed, in a different room, in the same fucking mansion he saw once, briefly. He looks around trying to make sense of things when somebody almost coughs a lung outside of his door. The sick person doesn't take long to cross the threshold and lock his eyes onto Taehyung's. The boy looks weirdly like Seokjin.

"Holy fuck, are you hyung's brother?" Taehyung blurts and the boy just stares at him, breathing slowly and heavy. Then he coughs again, and it pains Taehyung a little.

"Jungkook, if you can't stand your ground, you tell hyung that and go back to your room." Namjoon's voice is cold but when he comes closer; he ruffles the boy's hair and pats his back. And then he whispers: "Hyung knows you're sick, that's why we are home, just go back to your room, baby."

Taehyung really feels like he is intruding on something, and, even if intruding is kind of his thing, he wants nothing to do with people's personal lives. He just needs money to pay his bills, he doesn't look for people's secrets. That's the moment the boy's eyes meet his again.

"The fuck is this dude doing here?" His voice is a little bit too loud for someone who looks that sick. Namjoon is quick to pinch him in retaliation.

"Watch your mouth, Mister Kim is in the house," he says in a hushed tone, and there's the sound of feet hitting the ground, accompanied by Yoongi's voice calling after them in a low manner.

"Jin-ah, just fucking wait." But Seokjin enters Taehyung's new bedroom, and everything goes silent, not even the sick boy's breathing makes a sound. Seokjin has half of his bottom lip bruised and cut, and the side of his face looks like something, or someone, hit him really hard. His eyes are kind of red, but his posture remains impeccable. Yoongi stands by his side once he reaches the room.

Seokjin claps his hands once and smiles, a line of blood covering his perfect white teeth.

"Welcome to the Kim Household. This is your room. This is Jungkook," Seokjin speaks almost mechanically, and Taehyung stands up.

"Hyung, are you okay?" He needs to ask because no one else is doing so. Seokjin only smiles brighter.

"I am lovely. Such a great time to be alive. Ahm…" He looks around the room and his eyes fill with more unshed tears. Namjoon takes a step closer, only to be chided and shooed away. "Step back, Joon-ah. You know how it is." And Namjoon does step away, but Taehyung is livid.

How come nobody is helping this man? Are they dumb? So he does what he knows: walks over and hugs Seokjin. There's a gasp in the room, but he doesn't pull away.

"What are you doing?" The oldest finally asks.

"Comforting you." Taehyung pulls him closer and hooks his chin over Seokjin's shoulder. There's this silence again, that kind of envelops them and makes the air all electric, or something like that, almost painful to move.

"Yoongi, close the door, please," Seokjin almost whispers, and there's a click of the door closing before Taehyung feels the weight over his body doubling, and he has to hold Seokjin up, Namjoon suddenly by his side with his hands under Seokjin's arms trying to help him stand up.

"What the fuck did you do?" Namjoon snarls to someone in the room while Taehyung desperately tries not to let Seokjin fall. Jungkook is already lying starfish style on the floor, looking up.

"What did you want me to do, Namjoon? Shoot hyung, or shoot his dad? Tell me, dimwit, because I will do it!" Yoongi bites back while sitting Seokjin on the floor. "And you! What's got into you? You want to get shot? You have a death wish?" 

But Seokjin doesn't answer, he just looks down, and it makes Yoongi's blood boil. "Jin-ah, answer me or I will have to hit you again."

Namjoon stops moving. Jungkook sits up. Both of them have eyes the size of saucers and their jaws hanging low. 

"You better correct that sentence, hyung." The warning in Namjoon's voice is clear, and Taehyung is torn between pulling Seokjin closer or hiding. Taehyung holds Seokjin's hand in his as Jungkook crawls over to the eldest, eyes set on Yoongi while fitting his legs protectively around Seokjin. 

Yoongi hisses and clicks his tongue.

"I was made to! It was either me or Kwanhee, and do you think hyung would have his pretty teeth in place if Kwanhee hit him? Do you think he would have his bones intact?" Yoongi snarls back, eyes sharp on Namjoon. "So yeah, I hit him. And I wish I could have let myself get beat instead."

Seokjin turns his head towards Yoongi and looks at him for a few seconds that drag longer than they really are. He scans his face silently, then looks at his fingers, playing with Taehyung's that are still holding onto him as if he lets go, Seokjin would disappear. It's cute.

"You will never do that again," Seokjin mutters. 

"Hyung, I can't let you-" Yoongi tries to defend himself, but the other just shakes his head.

"Joon-ah, can you bring me my bag, please? And Jungkook's clothes, and some meds too?" He blinks slowly, resting his forehead against Taehyung's arm.

"Jinnie, you can't ignore me," Yoongi tries again.

"I said you will never do that again. What do you say after I say that, Yoongi?" His eyes remain closed.

"But, hyung-" Yoongi sits on his feet by Seokjin's side, not touching him, but close enough.

"What do you say, Yoongi?" Taehyung then realizes Namjoon didn't leave the room yet, standing close to the door, waiting. Yoongi sighs and huffs, like it hurts him.

"Yes, hyung."

Seokjin moves almost faster than Taehyung can see, his hand grabbing Yoongi's chin and pulling him closer.

"I have never raised my hand to you. To any of you," the eldest says, eyes brimming with tears again. "But you did. You did without thinking twice."

Yoongi doesn't move, just breathes harder through his nose, his eyes turning red as tears come to them. Seokjin doesn't let go, and doesn't give the other any space to move.

"I still can't believe you hit me. With your hand. Meaning to hit me. To hurt me. Me, Yoongichi." Seokjin hiccups, and a high pitched whine breaks from Yoongi's throat. Taehyung ponders about the hiding spot again. 

Seokjin finally lets him go and turns to Taehyung. And, well, that's a lot of attention right now. He may seem like he's got game, but in all reality, Taehyung is just a ball of anxiety and an uncontrollable need to dance to silly music. He's got no game, and those were really big emotions in a small period of time.

Seokjin's hand caresses his cheek lightly, and Taehyung almost leans into it, but he is no weak bitch (he actually is, or he thinks he is, but that's not the time).

"You are really something else, aren't you?"

"I'm really not, just normal." Taehyung shrugs and smiles. It's comforting to see Seokjin smiling back.

"You really are, petal."

Taehyung soon gets the hang of it all. He walks around with Seokjin when in college now, comes back to the Kim's on Friday. He also gets forced to run every single day with them, and he blows everybody's mind when he wins every single chess match in their room.

"How did you learn how to code?" Namjoon asks, the three losers looking at the board in front of them.

"I don't know? I just read it and it made sense. So I did it more and more, and bought myself things," Taehyung explains and Seokjin claps his hands many times, laughing. 

"Teach him blackjack! Let's get some honest, but not that honest, money."

And that's what they do. For a whole month they go to every single college gathering, meeting, and party, cleaning table after table in different card games, but Seokjin wants to step up. So they walk up to a restaurant near the traditional market on a Friday night.

"I don't think Jungkook can be here," Taehyung comments while scooping some of the ice cream Jungkook was served when they walked in through the kitchen.

"Neither can you, minor." Namjoon grins back and Yoongi snorts. Taehyung flashes them his ID saying he's very much 21. Jungkook pulls his one out, his face smudged with strawberry ice cream and his huge eyes, but the identification says he is also 21. Taehyung tilts his head and Jungkook goes back to his ice cream in silence.

"Hyung moved," Namjoon informs, and all of them fix their shirts. Jungkook has the decency to set his bowl of ice cream down and clean his face. 21 my ass. "Let's move."

They walk closer and Seokjin motions toward the spot Taehyung should sit at. They rehearsed it. Loses three, wins one. Loses one, wins two. Never let them see. It works well for a while, then a girl serves them a glass of something, but Yoongi and Namjoon are pulling the glasses away before Taehyung can even see them clearly. Jungkook doesn't even move from his place standing behind Seokjin.

"Don't you want a drink, young heir?" An old man offers again, trying to serve the glass, and Yoongi, again, rejects it.

"No, thank you. Just came to play a little," Seokjin answers while another man shuffles the cards. Taehyung looks at the deck, and then hears a click. He turns around, and there's a gun pointing at him. Seokjin said before, 'if there's a gun pointing at you, do not put your hands up; you are not a bystander anymore, if they want to shoot you, they will,' so he just faces the man.

He feels Namjoon's hand around his arm and Yoongi's leg touching his back. Taehyung glances back, and Seokjin is keeping the same serene aura, but Jungkook has two guns pulled out, one on each side of Seokjin. Taehyung has never seen any of them fire a gun.

"Why are you aiming at one of my boys, Chanhae?"

"Because you are cheating," the man answers, red in the face.

"Taehyung, may you open your shirt so Chanhae can see you are not cheating, please?" Seokjin motions his hand in Taehyung's general direction. So Taehyung does as he is told. He looks down to open the first button, and suddenly there's a loud bang. Followed by another four gunshots. It's not more than 3 seconds, he swears.

He looks up and there are girls running around, hands on their ears, and the men looking at them, stepping back. Chanhae is not at the table where he was earlier, but on the floor. He looks back in time to see the look of pure shock on Jungkook's face when Seokjin stands up, his own guns in both of his hands, and walks around the table. With every step he takes, the men in the room take one step back.

He sits on the edge of the table, puts one of his guns down by his side and rests his chin on his free hand, looking at Chanhae on the floor. The man moves, and Seokjin cocks his gun again.

"Breathe in and out," he instructs, smiling, and the man hisses. One of his men moves and Seokjin barely looks at him. "Yoongi."

Two shots.

Seokjin rests his cheek against his palm again and puffs air out as if bored. "Why did you point a gun at one of my boys, Chanhae?"

He doesn't answer at first, just glares at Seokjin.

"You are not your father, Seokjin," he finally says, and Taehyung sees the moment something turns inside Seokjin's soul. Something ugly, venomous, and, most of all, dangerous. He stands up and steps on the man.

"Then, tell me, Chanhae, who am I?" Seokjin speaks quietly, almost a whisper, and Taehyung catches Jungkook in the corner of his eyes, almost reaching to stop Seokjin. But it's too late, because Seokjin squeezes the trigger and splatters blood everywhere.

The ride home is silent. That night, Taehyung gets acquainted with a mob whooping. He almost doesn't make it to see another day. He gets beat within an inch of his life before being literally dropped inside his room.

He remains on the floor, fearing moving, lest break something else. So when the door opens, he is sure his life is coming to an end, but, instead, Jungkook kneels by his side.

"Hyung, can you move?" He whispers and cups Taehyung's face. He is so cautious and careful that it makes Taehyung cry. "That's okay, hyung. I know, I know. It hurts, right? I know." Jungkook sounds just like Seokjin and, for a second, Taehyung's mind is sure that Seokjin is there. "I will help you up, okay? Just try not to throw up, okay?" Jungkook pulls Taehyung to him slowly, and stands up, dragging Taehyung along.

They walk down the hallway and, near Seokjin's door, Yoongi comes out and supports Taehyung's other side. "I'm sorry, Taehyung-ah. Hyung will make it better, just keep breathing," he whispers, dropping a kiss on the top of his head, and Taehyung can barely make it out, but sees that almost half of Yoongi's arm is covered in ugly red marks. 

Inside the room, Namjoon limps around, arranging an assortment of pills and ointments. 

"Joon-ah," Seokjin calls, and Taehyung's eyes snap to Seokjin sitting on the floor with his back against the side of his bed, mouth covered in blood, a black eye, and even more damage. It really does make him want to throw up. "Joon-ah, just check that I have all my teeth, please."

Jungkook and Yoongi put Taehyung on the floor, and the youngest kneels beside Seokjin, carefully tilting his head to the side.

"I am sorry, hyung, but it's gonna hurt like a motherfucker." Jungkook rubs one of his fingers on his shirt to wipe it off, and pours a few drops of alcohol on it. 

"Careful," Seokjin warns, and Jungkook nods before putting the digit inside Seokjin's mouth and running it along the other's gums, checking to feel for any loose teeth. Seokjin winces, and Jungkook pulls his hand back a little.

"Your teeth are all here, hyung. Your gum is fucked, maybe it's bruised," he informs, and Seokjin spits in a bowl by his side before humming.

"Let's soak," Yoongi says, and Namjoon walks over Taehyung, opening his shirt.

"Hyung is going to take off your shirt and we are going to soak for awhile, okay Taehyungie?"

"How are you not dead?" Taehyung whispers, and Namjoon gives him a sad smile.

"We are just as hurt as you, we just… got used to it," he explains and helps Taehyung up. They walk inside the bathroom, and there's a gigantic tub half full of water.

"Do you mind taking your pants off?" Namjoon asks and Taehyung just shakes his head. "Okay, that's better. The water will help your body heal, it's not weird, we do it to soothe pain."

Jungkook pulls Seokjin inside the bathroom and does the same to the eldest, who now seems to have something inside his mouth; looks like cotton. They help Seokjin in first, his body covered in bruises, mainly close to his ribs. He shuts his eyes and hisses when the water hits his hips.

"Pull Taehyung inside, he's hurt," he mumbles through the balls of cotton against his gums, and Yoongi helps him in. The water is literally green, smelling like aloe vera and medicine. Hurts the same as pouring salt on an open cut, though.

Slowly they all find a spot to sit inside the tub, tangled legs trying not to press into one another and cause anymore pain by accident. Seokjin then looks at Taehyung.

"They would have shot you," he says, and a cold shiver runs down his spine. "Only over my dead body, though. You're hyung's, aren't you?"

It was at that moment, Taehyung knew. Yes, he would always be hyung's.

Chapter Text

To be quite honest, Jimin had really thought this through. He would smile at people, greet who the coach told him he should greet, and retreat to his room. If he can, he will smuggle a bottle of champagne along, and nobody needs to know. So that's what he does, smiling through a sea of people with his coach's hand guiding him by his hip.

But you know that moment something just feels off? Like that game you need to find the piece that doesn't belong to the scene, and it starts off very easy but then it gets really hard? Jimin knows what a made up persona looks like; he himself made one, after all, but the young man standing across the room at this crowded Olympic celebration really is out of place, somehow.

He is one of the most beautiful people Jimin has ever seen, a glass of water in his hand and a polite smile, almost cracking under the strength jetlag can have. He makes his mind up, deciding to make himself known, and walks over toward the young man.

The men stop talking as soon as he arrives. Jimin smiles and greets everyone.

"Mister Park, my son, Kim Seokjin," one of the older men introduces the really handsome one. Jimin almost beams. He offers his hand, and Seokjin takes it.

"Hi, I am Jimin."

Seokjin chuckles, and looks at him. "That's what the announcer said when you climbed the podium." He smiles politely once again and straightens his back.  "Congratulations. Now, if you would excuse us." He bows lightly as is Asian courtesy, and Jimin finds himself doing the same. "Namjoon, come," Seokjin says, and walks off.

Jimin has never been more intrigued by a single person in his life.

"So, tell me again why can't I go?" Taehyung lies down on Namjoon's bed, hugging one of his pillows, and pushing Jungkook to the other side to make more space for himself.

"Because Mister Kim said hyung can only take me." Namjoon is looking torn between two identical black ties, but Taehyung decides on not engaging. "Also, I already have two people throwing daggers at me, I don't need you two on the bandwagon, as well."

Jungkook perks his head up and furrows his brows at Namjoon. "I hope Yoongi hyung beats your ass when you come home."

"Yoongi is so mad at me that if you go to the kitchen, you can hear the gunshots all the way down from the open range," Namjoon comments and Jungkook hops off the bed, almost knocking Taehyung off along with him.

"Fuck! Why didn't you say something sooner, hyung?!" Jungkook almost bolts out of the room.

"So… why only you can go?" Taehyung sizes Namjoon up again. The older one just shrugs as an answer. 

"I guess because I went to London. Maybe Mister Kim wants to keep the same team, so people won't get suspicious."

"Don't get me wrong, okay?" Taehyung starts, "But, aren't you alone… a little… too little… to be hyung's security?"

Namjoon looks at him and sighs.

"I am. But I am smart enough to take him out of there alive if I need to, without shooting anyone," he explains. "Things you, but especially hyung and Jungkook can't do."

"Your boy is here, hyung," Namjoon whispers close to Seokjin's ear, and they both look towards Jimin, who is entering the room.

"You're my only boy here, Joonie." Seokjin sips his drink and grins when he sees Namjoon's ears turning red.

They stay silent until Jimin inevitably walks over to them.

"Ah, Seokjin hyung! What a pleasure!"

"I would say the same," Seokjin answers and offers a smile, scanning the place to find his father. Jimin follows his eyes.

"Are you looking for someone, hyung? Am I not entertaining enough?" He pouts and Namjoon holds his laugh in from behind Seokjin. That's a little… weird.

"You are just enough, Jimin," he responds, and points towards the balcony. "Ahm… want to get some… air?"

Namjoon really stops and looks at Seokjin. What the fuck is happening. Jimin fucking giggles. He giggles!

"We have plenty of air here."

They stare at each other for a second before Jimin smiles, one that takes over his face, that makes the air feels lighter. It almost makes Namjoon take a step back.

"Hyung, I know who you are," he says without breaking the smile, but all the magic disappears. Namjoon comes closer to Seokjin, ready to pull him out of here.

"Do you now?" Seokjin teases and the other nods, still brightly.

"Yeah, everybody has these crazy secrets, right?" He walks closer and takes hold of Seokjin's hand. "I was pawned off to you, young heir."

The words make their way to their ears, but they don't quite make any sense. Seokjin can't believe what he is listening to right now.

"I didn't know you in London, but I got informed why you were there. Not actually you, but your father. So, if you could not let go of my hand, and walk out of this party with me so I can keep my sponsors, that would be nice," Jimin talks about it like he is going on about the weather, and not about athletes being prostituted to the mafia. "Don't worry, Namjoon hyung, I don't put up much of a fight without my bow." He smiles again, and Seokjin feels like his life just turned upside down.

"You are a national hero," Seokjin almost whispers, but doesn't let the other's hand go.

"Nah, I just got a golden medal in a sport nobody will remember. And I could come here, seduce you, lay myself out for you or something like that... or come here, tell you what I was supposed to do and hope for the best," the younger boy deadpans.

"I could turn you in," Seokjin comments, still looking at the boy.

"Yeah, you could. Best case scenario, I would finally have a way out of this without being hurt. Worst case, somebody kills me," Jimin deadpans again.

"Oh my God, you can't be serious right now," Namjoon hisses.

"Wanna go up?" Jimin flashes his hotel key to them. "You are also invited, Namjoon hyung. I don't think I'm laying myself out, so we can eat everything in the minibar instead."

They stay in silence for a second before Seokjin speaks: "Yeah, let's do this."

Jimin has been practicing archery since he was 6. Actually, he has been practicing a lot of sports since he was a kid, through a lot of different social projects. Tae Kwon Do? Black belt. Gymnastics? He did it for two years. Swimming? Track? Basketball? Jimin did it all, and it was so fun. But archery had his heart. And he was bloody good at it!

He got into competing, started winning things; people started getting interested in him, and then he is 13 and signed off to train like an adult. So he leaves home behind and goes after his dream. But there's something nobody tells you about practicing a 'rich people's sport:' they are expensive. And money, eventually, runs dry. So you do events, and things like that, try to score campaigns, but it's really difficult.

Jimin is 15 when an old lady holds him against a wall and tells him how cute he is, and that she will make some calls. She says he'll get sponsored while she kisses his neck. He does, in fact, get sponsored for that season. No shower can make himself feel clean enough.

After that, everything kind of snowballs downhill. He moves to the main training center, works out like a dog, and shoots more arrows than he can remember. His coach is a lot sketchier, and, at least once a week, he sees an athlete leaving the dorms, only to enter some fancy car waiting outside. They're being sold as meat in a shop.

So Jimin tries to tell his parents.

And things go so wrong. So inexplicably wrong.

Somehow, he is the one to blame. Somehow, he is responsible for these things happening, and it disgusts his parents, who have 'fought so much for him.' Jimin can't remember all this fighting they are talking about, and can't see how he is to blame for being abused, so he gets livid.

He decides to be the best. He is going to train more than anyone else, and buy his way out of this fucking mess that his life became. He turns sour, angry, irritated, almost violent, and very difficult to be around. But he becomes a great athlete, so sponsors pay to see him shoot arrows.

When he gets his golden medal in London, he really thinks that, at the tender age of 17, he will end this hell. He will quit. He will move back to the countryside, find a nice simple job in a restaurant, and maybe even study to be a chef someday; who knows, right?

But when his coach tells him Mister Kim himself liked him a lot, Jimin knows there's no end to it. It hits him really hard, the feeling that he will forever be caged inside this fucking life, no place to run, nowhere to hide, and the feeling of desperation sinks into his skin, into the pit of his stomach. So, if he tells Seokjin every single detail that night, he thinks it's because he has no other option. He has to end this.

Jungkook comes home from the docks with Taehyung just to find Namjoon's car parked in its spot. It meant they were home. Hyung has been dealing with so many things, running around like crazy, everybody working like mad men. Even Taehyung, who usually doesn't do runs outside the house, has been put tagging along with Jungkook to the docks.

They look around the house, looking for the others, but find no signs until Taehyung eventually calls from the second floor, saying they are at the open range. So all the way down to the open range they go.

There's this boy standing at one of the shooting slots, holding a fucking bow and arrow. Jungkook almost skips down the little road to see closer.

"That's completely messed up." He chuckles and walks near the boy, and startles when the other gets defensive. "What? Don't be weird, I just wanted to see this… thingy."

"I will lay you flat," the smaller one warns, pulling his bow back and turning to face Jungkook. Yoongi snorts by Seokjin's side, and Taehyung just looks around.

"What's going on?" He asks, coming closer to them and letting Seokjin pull him into his chest.

"Nothing, petal. Hyung just likes to see Jungkook getting his ass whooped from time to time." Yoongi true to God giggles at that, and turns his body away while Namjoon just keeps looking through his phone.

"What the fuck is this, hyung?" Jungkook points at the other boy who is still standing at the open shooting range like he is royalty or something. The youngest has been going through a difficult phase regarding language. Seokjin must address that soon.

"This?" The other boy repeats and narrows his eyes at him, trying to be intimidating. It doesn't work; he looks like a doll. On his worst days, he may look like a pouting Polly Pocket doll, Jungkook thinks to himself.

"Are you Yoongi hyung's new sparring thing? You look to be about the same height," he muses, and Yoongi gives him a look.

"You got some big words in you, yeah Jungkook?" Yoongi challenges from Seokjin's side, eyes hard on Jungkook. "Come at me, bunny. Let's see who calls for hyung first." He steps forward but Seokjin laughs and pulls him back by his wrist.

"Not today, Yoongichi. Behave."

"Did you just call me a 'thing?'" The boy almost whispers. Jungkook has the time to look over at him before he feels his legs leaving the ground, leaving a nice space so his back can hit the ground with all the force gravity can muster. He looks up, the boy over him, knee on his chest and that fucking bow and arrow pointing at him. He is stunned. He looks at Seokjin, who is wheezing while holding Taehyung, tears running down his face as he laughs, and Jungkook feels his face reddening.

"What kind of Hawkeye Marvel shit is this, hyung?" But Seokjin just laughs louder, wiping his tears away. The boy over him doesn't budge, but Seokjin didn't tell Jungkook to do anything, so he doesn't, but he is getting a little pissed. His shirt was clean, he ironed it himself this morning and now it was covered in dirt. "Get off of me, man!" He demands, but the boy just glares at him harder.

He pulls the cord tighter, closer to his face, his eyes trained and set. Jungkook looks at Seokjin, almost pleading for him to do something, and it calms him down to see that the older is not laughing anymore. But then the boy over him moves the bow, and points it in the other direction, aiming directly at Seokjin. Then it all happens very fast. Yoongi only steps up in front of him, without saying anything, while Namjoon moves Taehyung to his side and stands by Seokjin.

Jungkook pulls both his guns out, one on each side of the other boy's body.

"Bunny, down," Seokjin orders immediately, but Jungkook only aligns both guns on the other's torso, one right against his ribcage and the other right under his jaw before pulling the safety pin back. "Jungkook, hyung told you down."

"Tell him down first," Jungkook says through his teeth, and from the corner of his eyes, he sees Yoongi with his weapon ready to shoot if he has to. It gives him some kind of security, so he lets the pins go back in place, but doesn't move beyond that.

"Jungkook," Yoongi warns as well, "be nice to the visitor."

The two boys enter in a staring contest before the Hawkeye cosplayer says: "You are fast."

Jungkook only huffs at that. Of course he is fast.

"I will put my bow down now, hyung," he informs and lowers his arrow, stepping off Jungkook's chest. He stands up and glares at Yoongi too, daring him to do something.

"Oh, you're in for a wild ride if you think being on my bad side is a good thing, doll," Yoongi bites back but the boy only smiles, eyes turning into crescents and puffing his cheeks out. He walks past Yoongi, missing his shoulder by a hair, and almost preens when Seokjin pats his head.

"We'll talk inside," he whispers, and the boy nods affectionately at him before making his way back to the house, taking his bow with him. Yoongi's eyes linger on Seokjin, but the older averts the gaze like a pro, so Namjoon comes to the rescue.

"Taehyung, sweetie. Do you mind going up for a second?" He says and motions Taehyung towards the little path too, not giving him any chance to protest.

Seokjin doesn't move as he watches Yoongi help Jungkook off the ground; Jungkook's eyes are red rimmed and his cheeks pink. He feels betrayed.

"You did very good, bunny," Seokjin comments like it solves everything. But Yoongi is not having it either, so he pulls Jungkook closer to him and furrows his brows at Seokjin, almost hissing. Jungkook feels a little floaty, so he lets Yoongi hold him for a little longer. He could use some cuddles, too.

"What are you doing, hyung?" Namjoon stands with his hands on his hips, his coat pushed back. "I thought he was visiting to please your father!"

"Nothing."

"So now we lie to each other. Got it," Yoongi snaps back, and the glare he receives in return is enough to shut him up.

"That's Jimin," Seokjin explains shortly.

"No shit, Sherlock," Yoongi deadpans, and he knows he is testing his limits but fuck it. He doesn't care.

"He is staying." Seokjin looks at Namjoon when he says it. Thank God he wasn't looking at Yoongi or Jungkook, because he doesn't think he would be able to see their reaction. Namjoon shakes his head and blinks several times at the information.

"He is staying? In the household? At the Kim's estate?" He repeats because that is the utmost bullshit he had ever heard. Yoongi, Jungkook, Taehyung, and even himself living inside the house made sense, because nobody would miss them. But Jimin was a whole different story. "Let me get this straight. You are telling me that you, heir of the main house of the fucking mafia in Asia, will bring a fucking Olympic medalist to live inside a mob house?" Namjoon tries to be very clear.

Seokjin just stares at him.

"Yes."

Yoongi groans and Jungkook rolls his eyes. Namjoon just gapes at him; it can't be true. "You have to be fucking with me, hyung," Namjoon tries again, but Seokjin just shakes his head.

"No, he is staying. He will be inside the house, but can't go out without supervision, can't be seen, and trains like anyone else; does the runs, and studying is mandatory." He stops and looks at Namjoon, questioning. "Shouldn't you be writing this down somewhere?"

"Shouldn't you be not treating me like your secretary, young heir?" Namjoon claps back and Seokjin shuts up for a second, clearly taken aback. Namjoon lowers his head and breathes in and out a few times. "I'm sorry, hyung."

"You know, hyung," Yoongi starts, arm still secure around Jungkook's hips, keeping him steady and upright, "you can do anything you want with your life, your empire, your businesses: at the end of the day, it's all yours, anyway." Yoongi sounds tired, and it makes Seokjin's heart clench. "But, when you put yourself at risk, it concerns us. And I am not even saying you're putting us in danger, because we would take that burden from you, you know that. But how, in the hell, do you plan to keep a superstar inside a mob house?"

Seokjin sighs, and he just wants to hug them and ask for a cuddle pile, but there are so many people out and about, so he can't do that. He needs to get back inside so they can just lie down and pretend life isn't falling apart around them.

"We'll kill him."

Seokjin can't buy Jimin's freedom. He asked about it. So he does what he has been practicing all his life to do: do things the way the mafia would.

They stage a scene. They make Jimin walk into a convenience store in which Taehyung has all the cameras hacked. A robbery goes wrong, and Jimin is shot to death. It gets on national television pretty quickly, and somehow - magically - all the newspapers have a copy of the footage.

Mister Kim almost kills Seokjin because of this.

Yoongi, Namjoon, Jungkook and even Taehyung intervene in the beating, and they all end up pretty fucked up. But now Jimin is dead to the world, and Seokjin promised he would take care of him. Mister Kim said Jimin was the last one. Any other new boy would be shot, or he would start with the oldest, so if Seokjin wanted another boy, he will gladly make Yoongi go away. Seokjin lowers his head, bends his knees, apologizes and thanks his father before standing up and leaving the room with the promise of nobody else joining his entourage.

Jimin is on lockdown until he gets new orders. He can deal with that; he trained all his life going from shooting range to dorms, and repeating. The shitty part is that Taehyung ends up on lockdown with him.

"So what do you want to do?" He asks from the table in his room.

"I don't know, I have never had this much free time," Jimin offers back, because that's true. If it was just him, he would be running in the gym, or go down to the shooting range, maybe even go swimming, though he is not sure if he can use the pool. But Taehyung has gotten tired of those things and complains, and they both need to 'walk around with a buddy," -Jungkook's words-, because he is, somehow, the specialist for time outs and lockdowns.

"Do you want to see what's in the cinema right now?" Taehyung suggests, and yeah, it could be fun. So they find some films that are out right now, Taehyung works his magic and they sit on Taehyung's bed watching them until Jungkook walks into the room.

"What are you doing?" The boy asks from the door, still in his school uniform.

"Being gay, having a cuddle sesh in time out," Taehyung supplies, but stops himself. "Sorry, that was a joke; I already got into a fight in school for one of those, but I was just joking," he quickly explains and pulls his body away from Jimin. Suddenly Jimin feels really alone.

"But we were having a cuddle sesh…" Jimin mumbles, and Taehyung smiles. He hugs the smaller boy and smiles even brighter.

"Did you have food already, Jungkook?" Taehyung asks finally, and Jungkook nods, but says nothing. Taehyung doesn't understand all this mafia shit yet, but he doesn't need to. But what he does know is an angsty teenager when he sees one. "Wanna have a cuddle sesh, Jungkook? Watch some films and maybe nap?"

So if Jungkook climbs up the bed silently and sleeps the whole afternoon, nobody says a thing.

Namjoon gets home around 11 and finds Yoongi in the kitchen, frown on his face and book in hand. He looks half pissed, half tired.

"Hyung, where's everybody?" Namjoon asks while closing the kitchen door behind himself. Yoongi just huffs and says nothing, so the younger walks around, hugs him and kisses right under the other's ear.

"You're gonna get ourselves killed," Yoongi mutters, but relaxes against Namjoon's chest.

"So the cat didn't get your tongue, I see." He chuckles as Yoongi pouts. "What's got you pouting in the kitchen at almost midnight?"

"Hyung has a stick up his ass and is being a bitch about everything," the smaller one complains, closing the book and crossing his arms over his own chest. "Jungkook had a free afternoon, so when me and hyung got home, we found all of them sleeping in a dog pile inside Taehyung's room. And, I mean, who wouldn't?" 

"And that's why hyung is being a pain?" Namjoon drags his nails over Yoongi's scalp, feeling content in seeing every single shiver running through the other.

"I don't know? I think he got jealous? So I took my shower, right? Got my tea, got hyung's tea, my book, my glasses, and I was climbing on the bed, and hyung comes and says with that voice he uses when he doesn't want us to talk back: 'sleep in your room, Yoongi,' just like that!" Yoongi sounds almost hurt, and it bothers Namjoon. 

"Hyung, are you insecure because of the new kids?" 

Yoongi remains silent, not moving. Just breathing.

"Hyung, that doesn't even make sense. You know that's not how it works…" Namjoon tries to work some sense into the conversation.

"I know, Joon-ah. But think, try and see my point, will you? They were personally picked. We were gifts," Yoongi almost whispers the last part. "Hyung doesn't know his life without me, maybe I am just still here because that's hyung's comfort zone."

"Oh, that's bullshit." Namjoon is quick to put that idea down. "Now you are just projecting things that don't exist into the situation, and trying to make them feel right so you can be pitiful by yourself. You were just cockblocked by kids, hyung." 

Yoongi snorts at that. Namjoon pulls his hand and makes him stand. "Come, let's sleep."

They are on the second flight of stairs when Seokjin meets them. 

"What's up, hyung?" Namjoon greets and lets Seokjin kiss his forehead in the dark atmosphere of the house. "We were just going up to sleep."

"Will you invite hyung, Namjoonie?" Seokjin teases, but stops soon enough when Yoongi glares at him. He sighs. "I am sorry, Yoongichi," he mumbles under his breath and interlocks his fingers with Yoongi's. Namjoon smiles.

"Yes. Let's go upstairs, hyung."

Slowly but steadily, Jimin starts making food for the house. He can't leave, so he better make himself useful. He and Taehyung ask Seokjin if they can have online classes, and Seokjin is on board as long as no one knows who they are.

Easy peasy; Taehyung blends them in and both of them start having lots of lessons during the day. While Jimin cooks and learns anything he wants to, Taehyung sits by his side and codes.

It takes about a year and a half for both of them to be able to leave the house again. Yoongi takes them to the supermarket, skin completely covered with clothes and masks, because Jimin wants to make Italian food for Fun Friday dinner.

Life sometimes is pretty hectic around the house. They train, they learn how to shoot, they play chess, and even though Taehyung always wins, it's nice. A lot of things are also changing inside the Kim Estate, with many people coming and going, and sometimes a lot of trucks come to the house. It scares Jimin the most when any of the boys get hurt, but he knows the drill: fill the tub, drop everything in, soak. When Jimin turns 18, they have a simple party inside his room, but they have cake, candles, and even party hats. It's like life got around to being fine in the end.  

But no.

He and Taehyung are finishing their laps around the property during their 4:30am run (before ordinary people got up, so Jimin could run without a mask on) when, almost in front of the house, somebody whistles to them. Both Jimin and Taehyung stop and look around.

There're two men leaning against one truck, looking at them, near the main delivery area. Inside the Kim's Estate.

"Did we get cat called?" Taehyung muses and pulls his hair back, squinting his eyes to try and see far enough without his lenses.

"I don't want to know, just let's get inside." Jimin walks faster, trying to reach the side of the house and get away from the eyes on them, but he hears somebody running.

"Hey, hey! Good morning!" The man calls, and they stop, because what else are they going to do? They are already home, they don't have anywhere else to go. The man looks all smug while sizing them up, and Jimin feels like throwing up. "You two work here?"

"Work?" Taehyung laughs a little. "Not quite. So, if you'll excuse us," he politely excuses them both, but the man takes hold of him by his arm. Jimin's mind goes wild.

"Please don't touch us." He takes the hand from Taehyung's arm and pulls him closer. The man looks at him and tilts his head.

"Don't I know you?" The man asks and reaches for Jimin, who takes a step back. 

"I don't think so," Jimin murmurs and pulls Taehyung closer again. "Excuse us."

Seokjin said: don't engage when alone. Get inside the house and be safe. If things get any worse, don't panic, and tell the people not to touch him and that he is hyung's. Just do that. So he tries to do as he was told. But the guy grabs hold of him again.

"You look really cute."

"Isn't it a little too early to be trying to hit on a guy?" Taehyung mocks, making it clear that this is getting on his nerves already, and the guy doesn't take it very well.

"And who are you to be talking?"

"Me?" Taehyung really snorts at that, all his teenage courage in his chest. "I am hyung's"

"And?" The guy answers back, and both teenagers get confused. It was supposed to be enough. The guy walks a step closer and something snaps inside Jimin's mind.

"Don't come closer."

"Oh my God, chill man, what the fuck?" The man spits back and, to be honest, Jimin doesn't know exactly what happens next.

me:

hyung

me:

anyone, help

me:

we fucked up

me:

really, help, anyone

meow hyung:

omw

joonie joonie:

wtf tae????

me:

Mister Kim is gonna kill us

Seokjin and Yoongi enter the house 34 minutes later, on the clock. 

"Taehyung! Jimin!" Seokjin calls while Yoongi walks by his side. "Tell Namjoon to pick Jungkook up."

"We don't know what happened," Yoongi argues, checking his phone again. While doing so, he doesn't see that Seokjin stopped walking, and walks past him like a dumbass just to look up and face Mister Kim sitting in the main room, Taehyung and Jimin standing by his side.

"Seokjin," he calls, and Yoongi walks back to let his hyung through. Seokjin gives him his phone and walks closer to his dad. "Do you want to tell me why, 6 in the morning, I find not one, but two of your boys in a fist fight in the backyard with a delivery boy?"

Seokjin gapes and looks at them. They must have a reason, so for now he just needs to get them out of the room to discover whatever the hell happened.

"I will handle it upstairs, dad," Seokjin tries, but Mister Kim just clicks his tongue. Seokjin feels Yoongi moving more than he actually sees it, so when there's another body close to his, he is not startled. "I am sure they are sorry."

Mister Kim lifts his hand very calmly and points at Taehyung, shaking his finger a few times. "You know, Seokjin-ah… This boy right here." His gaze almost burn Taehyung. "If you don't take care of him… he will end up with a bullet through his head." He makes a finger gun and 'shoots' Taehyung, eyes never leaving him. He then proceeds to look at Jimin and smirk. "But this one… this one is feisty." Mister Kim stands up, and both boys keep looking at the ground. "But just as a dead weight as the other."

Mister Kim walks close to Seokjin and Yoongi involuntarily squares his shoulders when they hear to the front door opening, quick feet coming in their direction. Namjoon and Jungkook enter the room, and just as quickly drop their heads, still walking to stand by Seokjin's side.

"Seokjin-ah, what did I teach you? You need to be safe, not fair." Mister Kim sighs. "You do whatever you want with this circus you turned your entourage into. If you get shot, believe me: I will not save you over some boys," Mister Kim says. "I'll let you die."

Taehyung and Jimin basically sell their souls to the devil after that.

So if they train 6 times more, there's the reason for that. And it's in that time after Taehyung's birthday, but before Yoongi's, when things get a little messy. 

Jimin is going through a list of things he still has to finish when Jungkook enters the kitchen as pale as a ghost, making Taehyung stop scooping his parfait mid action. He then proceeds to walk inside the pantry, open a can of Coke and down it in one go. Without greeting either of them.

Jungkook looks fine, just pretty shocked. But when he sits on the ground, Jimin worries.

"Kookie, you good?"

Jungkook looks at him like Jimin himself materialized there in that second.

"Chims, a girl kissed me," he almost whispers, completely shocked. Taehyung sits by his side on the floor and stuffs his mouth with a spoonful of strawberry parfait.

"Eat some parfait, you sound like you need it more than me." Jungkook hums and gets his own spoonful.

"How did that happen?" Jimin smiles at him and watches as he munches on the crunchy parts of the dessert. Then he remembers Jungkook didn't have lunch yet and wasn't supposed to be eating dessert already. But after Mister Kim calling  Taehyung and him 'dead weight,' they have been training too much, and it hurts a lot, so, sometimes, they would just sit in silence and eat sweets until Seokjin and the others come back home.

"Truth or dare," Jungkook supplies.

"Did you French kiss her, or it was like PG13?" Taehyung mocks and Jungkook shoves at his shoulder, giggling.

"That's weird, I always thought you were a mob kid?" Jimin comments, and Jungkook looks at him like he grew another head.

"First, not very polite to point that out. Second, yes, I am a mob kid." He smiles almost proudly, and Jimin pushes to the back of his mind how fucked up it is. "What does that have to do with this?"

"I don't know, athletes do drugs and go out with hoes. Or are the hoes." 

Taehyung clicks his tongue at Jimin.

"Hyung hates when you talk like that, Jiminie," Taehyung warns, but quickly drops it. "But yeah, I thought you would be going out to strip clubs, and all that stuff." He finally shrugs.

"No, man. I studied, trained and had runs all my life." Jungkook frowns at them. "Hyung is the heir, we can barely even drink!"

"Yeah, but with the relationship hyung has with Namjoon and Yoongi…" Jimin trails off because he thinks it's not his right to talk about it.

Jungkook looks at him. Really looks. Analyzing, almost as he is speaking some language Jungkook doesn't understand.

"What relationship?" The boy tilts his head and Taehyung gapes at him.

"They are like a couple, right?" Jimin insists and Taehyung motions him to cut it out, desperately. Jungkook looks stricken.

"What?"

"Jimin had too much sugar, don't listen to him," Taehyung dismisses him, but Jungkook dodges it him and looks at Jimin again. And when Jimin averts his eyes, it's like molten lava runs through his lungs.

Jungkook stands up and marches out of the kitchen, Taehyung stumbling behind him, trying to hold him back.

"Hey, bunny. Easy. Jimin is high. He's nuts. He would get a low score at that doping test," he mumbles, with Jimin pulling on Jungkook's other hand.

"Low score in a doping test? Are you really a genius?" Jimin fires back while trying to turn his body around so that he can use his strength better, but it becomes useless as Jungkook drags them to the main hall and faces Seokjin.

Jungkook shakes both of them off, and Seokjin looks at them funny.

"What are you doing?" He asks with a smile while looking back at his phone and taking his shoes off. "Is my dad home already?"

There's this silence where Jungkook just breathes and sizes Seokjin up, and Taehyung is pretty convinced they are going to fight it out. Jimin hums, but doesn't really answer, so Seokjin looks at them again and, true to God, Jungkook goes beet red and blurts out:

"A girl kissed me in school. Not PG13. French kiss."

Jimin's eyes double the size because 1) Jungkook didn't say that before, 2) he doesn't know what to expect from Seokjin, and 3) Yoongi, who is standing on the stairs, looks even more shocked than himself. Seokjin tilts his head and gives them a smile.

"And did you like it, bunny?" His voice is so sweet, so calm. Almost comforting. Jimin knows he is lying. He knows a shaken persona. Jungkook opens and closes his mouth about 4 times before nodding. "That's nice, then. Is she from your class?" The boy nods again, and Seokjin mirrors it. "Lucky her, bunny. Who wouldn't want to kiss you, right?" He hands his phone to Yoongi and climbs the stairs.

Yoongi looks at Jungkook funny, kind of amused, before turning around and following Seokjin. Jimin releases a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Oh my God, I don't know if I was closer to death during my first whooping or just now," Taehyung whispers with a hand over his chest, while the other rests against the wall, keep him stable.

"He didn't even care," Jungkook mutters, and Jimin finally looks at him. He seems lost, like someone just told him that Santa is not real. Jungkook sighs and pulls his phone up, types something and heads in the direction of the main board.

"Where are you going, Kookie? You have to eat." Jimin walks with him as the other pulls down the keys to the range silently. "Kookie, talk to hyung a little, will you?" 

Jimin stops him and Jungkook feels broken, there's a hurting tone in every breath he takes, his eyes go out of focus and come back. Namjoon said it could happen. Jimin snaps his fingers twice, and Jungkook follows the motion.

"I will eat later, hyung," He says slowly, dragging his vowels. "Just going down for a second."

"Hyung's going to be your buddy, okay, bunny?" Jimin takes the key from his hands and turns around, making Jungkook back hug him so he can make them walk in a silly waddle to the range, trying his best to soothe the other without calling Seokjin down.

Jimin is not even fazed when Seokjin leans shirtless against his door that night. Taehyung does gasp for a brief second, but Jimin is ready for this battle of wits. Seokjin takes a step in and Jimin fires: "If you walk closer, will I live to see another day?"

Taehyung, who is sitting by his side on the mattress, turns his head and looks at him while Seokjin's eyes just harden.

"If I wanted you dead, you would be dead, Jimin," Seokjin snarls back, and Taehyung looks from one to the other like in a tennis match.

"I'm already dead, hyung. Nobody will miss me. Nor they will miss Taehyung."

They stare at each other in silence.

"You got yourself twisted, Jimin," Seokjin answers and walks to the mattress, standing by the end of the bed. Jimin's eyes never leave his. "I don't know what you think this is, but it is not what you are making it to be." Seokjin chuckles and smirks. So that's how he is going to play. So be it.

Jimin pushes Taehyung a little, out of the way, and crawls over to where Seokjin is, standing on his knees, chest to chest with the elder. He let the sweet smile cover his face before bringing his lips close to Seokjin's ear.

"Two years ago, I told you I needed help, and if you want to collect this favor because you're sad and frustrated that you have some grand moral values that won't let you deflower an almost 17 year old teenager, no matter how many people you or him have already killed in cold blood, that's on you, Jin-ah." Jimin whispers against Seokjin's ear, lips lightly touching the skin. "Remember that you picked us, hyung. If you want to do this, I am all for it." He licks Seokjin's ear, and the other hisses. "You're hot as fuck, not gonna lie. Not that Taehyung-ah is less handsome than hyung, mind you. But if we become a target in the morning, is it really worth it? If so, prefer not having anything, then." Jimin pulls back and sits on his feet, looking up at Seokjin.

Seokjin takes a few deep breaths, still looking at Jimin. There's a hand holding his chin and turning it up before he can really realize it, Seokjin analyzing him, eyes almost cold. It sends shivers down Jimin's spine.

"You are a perfect mixture of batshit insane, genial, and courageous like a lion, aren't you, doll?" Seokjin muses and Jimin whines without fighting back. The hand on his face leaves, and both of Seokjin's hands find their way to his waist. "Tell hyung what you want, Jimin."

"I want to be safe, hyung," Jimin answers very surely. "I want to belong. I want in, I want it all." He stops for a second before adding. "I want to really be yours."

Seokjin smiles and shakes his head. "I knew the moment you walked over to me in London that you would fuck me over. I just knew," Seokjin whispers and hugs him.

"Your crush is showing, hyung," Taehyung comments and Jimin just laughs. He lets go of Seokjin and crawls back to his spot, patting the space between him and Taehyung.

Seokjin climbs up and feels himself being enveloped by two bodies, legs tangling with his own, thighs dangerously pressed to each other. Then it clicks.

"You feel each other up!" Seokjin accuses, and Taehyung snorts against his nape.

"I can neither confirm nor deny that accusation," he mocks, but Seokjin slides his hand down and cups his dick in a firm squeeze, making Taehyung stiffen behind him.

"Do you have anything else to say, petal?" Seokjin sing songs, feeling the other's breath against his hair. Taehyung just shuts his mouth and shakes his head. "That's what I thought." And Seokjin lets it go, laughing under his breath. But then Jimin silently kisses the base of this throat, and makes a trail upward until he reaches under his ear, his hands pulling Seokjin closer as he finds his own space against the other's chest.

"Let's sleep for today, hyung." And there's a smile on his face, because he knows. That night Jimin confirms that no matter what happens, he will always be hyung's. And he will kill anyone that stands in the way.

Chapter Text

To be quite honest, Seokjin had never really thought this through. He wakes up with Yoongi entering his room and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Hyung, please wake up." 

He knows what happened. It was supposed to happen sooner or later. He gets up, lets Yoongi hug him, and hums. He showers and when he walks back in his room, somebody has already put his clothes on his bed for him. Seokjin dresses up and puts on his shoes, not minding the people standing by the door. He looks at them, and all of them, dressed in black from head to toe, don't say a word.

Seokjin walks out of his room, Jungkook almost glued to him. Yoongi takes his right side. Namjoon stands almost in front of him, while Taehyung walks behind Jungkook, covering his back. Jimin holds Seokjin's left hand and walks along with him. The perfect diamond formation.

For the first time in a very long time, everything is silent. Everybody stands close to the bottom of the stairs as Seokjin's entourage comes down with the youngest mob leader in Asia.

He stands straighter, squaring his shoulders to look bigger than he already is, still a few steps from the end of the stairs, and the boys stop walking to open some space around him.

"It's sad that we have to do it like this," he starts as everyone looks at him, "but as you may know, my father passed away." He takes a deep breath and looks around. "I believe all of us have already met, but if not, I am Kim Seokjin, young Kim, the only heir, and, currently, the head of all of Kim's corporations, enterprises and businesses."

There's a collective silence, and nobody really knows what to do. Seokjin also doesn't know what he wants them to do, so, whatever; he continues.

"For today, we say our last goodbyes and pay our respects to my dad. Tomorrow morning, I will be taking over everything." He breathes in again. "This is Yoongi, Namjoon and Jungkook," he lists, but doesn't point them out individually. Right now, Seokjin just feels like going back to his room. "The other two pieces of my entourage that you may not know, are Taehyung and Jimin," he continues, and looks around the room. "Any information regarding businesses will be discussed tomorrow. Hope you have a good day."

Seokjin concludes his speech and turns around, almost breaking Jimin's fingers in the process, but the other doesn't even flinch. Yoongi stays back and sorts everybody out as the others take Seokjin back to his room. The house is filled with security, because it's the perfect moment to try and kill Seokjin, the only one that can possibly lead the Kim family now.

When they reach the room, Taehyung enters first and closes all the blinds before Seokjin feels his body finally giving in, sagging. Jungkook scoops him up silently and carries him to the bed, lying down beside him afterward. Seokjin immediately curls into him.

"I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it," he repeats as a mantra into Jungkook's shirt, while Namjoon serves him some orange juice and Taehyung and Jimin come to snuggle around him.

"Hyung, everything is going to be fine," Namjoon says as he passes the glass over, Seokjin rejecting it, but Jungkook takes it and makes the elder take it to drink it.

Seokjin sits up, legs crossed as if a kid, holding his glass with both hands. He looks up and sees Yoongi standing by the door. He has to do it. It's now or never. He takes the deepest breath he has ever taken before speaking.

"You are free," he says, looking at Yoongi. "All of you. You don't need to be here if you don't want to. I am not my dad, and I will not force you to stay here. I will make sure you all can go anywhere you want to go."

Seokjin looks around and sees Jimin's bow in the corner. If he feels afraid enough to bring his bow up to the room, how will Seokjin protect these people outside this house?

"You have a plane, right?" Taehyung's voice brings him back. He feels a tear falling down his face. Taehyung is going away. He nods.

"We can't take Jimin out of the country without a private plane. He's technically dead." Taehyung grins at his own joke and shrugs. Yoongi hugs Seokjin's shoulders, standing in front of him and swaying to a melody only in his mind.

"Hyung," he calls and Seokjin nuzzles at his tummy, because if this is their last hug, it better be a good one. "Nobody is going anywhere, hyung." Yoongi pushes him back lightly.

"Yeah, hyung. We've been here all along. Might as well stay around now that you are the most powerful man in the underground of Asia." Namjoon smirks, and Taehyung gives him a double thumbs up, his boxy smile brightening the somber atmosphere of the room.

"They are going to try to kill you," Seokjin explains, but Yoongi just shrugs and lies over Jungkook, hugging the boy and smiling as the youngest starts petting his hair.

"They can try," Jungkook answers, and Jimin whistles.

"I think we can give them a good run for their money, don't you think, baby?" He asks, and Namjoon smiles.

And, in that moment, Seokjin tries to remember the exact moment he fell desperately in love with each of the men inside that room.

Seokjin can't recall ever not being in love with Yoongi. And, if you really stop to think about it, it is only natural that he fell in love with Yoongi. His eyes, his smile, the way he can move a crowd around himself with a few words and pointed looks. There's this kind of determination in Yoongi's eyes that always drew Seokjin close to him.

As a kid, he was fascinating, and he was always there to hold Seokjin's hand, go to classes and hide away when the house got too loud. As a teen he was a pain in the ass, but he was Seokjin's pain in the ass, so it was all good. They share every single first time they have. Sometimes, Seokjin thinks they don't even need to talk, they just need to look at each other.

If you ask Seokjin the best memory he has with Yoongi, he won't tell you about any Disney trip, any empire conquering or stories about a beautiful future whispered to one another while in bed. Seokjin will only hum and smile, because he can't tell you about being covered in blood, on the verge of a panic attack by the docks, when Yoongi, barely 18, looked at him and said "hyung, I will race you into the water!" as he sprinted across the small pier and jumped into the freezing ocean water. Giggling like a kid, all gums and eye smiles. That cold water has nothing on Yoongi.

Namjoon was a surprise, actually. He has this ability within his blood that makes him fit. He just fits, anywhere. He will mold himself, reshapen, and when you realize it, Namjoon is there, set in stone. He was a lanky boy, and Seokjin loved every part of that kid and he had the urge to nibble him 24/7, but Yoongi always gave him the stank eye.

But there was a time, too, when Namjoon got too smart, too cool and too handsome to be Seokjin's. And Mister Kim saw that. Seokjin felt that it. He was going to lose Namjoon. And it scared the shit out of Seokjin. Call him entitled or something, but he wasn't going to give Namjoon up. If life would be better for Namjoon by not being there, then, well. He would let him go. Because Namjoon deserved the world.

Seokjin was 17, sitting down with Yoongi in the study room when one of his father's men walked in, holding a phone.

"Young heir?" Seokjin looked up from his book as Yoongi stood up. "One boy in your entourage was hurt in a gun fire exchange. Mister Kim wants to know if you would like to accompany him?"

Yoongi and Seokjin just blinked at the man. "Excuse me, what?"

"If you feel like staying home, the boy will be patched up and sent back here as soon as possible."

Seokjin sees red, his blood rushing in his ears. Thankfully, Yoongi answers. "The young heir would like a car, please."

When they arrive to the hospital room, with a guard tagging along behind Yoongi, Namjoon is sitting on his bed. He looks at Seokjin first, but says nothing, just feels the guilt wash over him.

"May you excuse us for a second, please?" Seokjin politely asks the guard that drove them there. "I need to talk to them, and soon we will be back home. I just need a few moments."

The guard looks at Yoongi and nods before leaving the room, closing the door. Seokjin sighs as Namjoon's shoulders drop, and his bottom lip quivers.

"Is anything hurting, Joon-ah?" Yoongi almost whispers, and Namjoon shakes his head, still looking down, Studio Ghibli-worthy tears on his face. Seokjin holds his hand and kisses his forehead before Yoongi asks the dreaded question:

"Are you afraid?"

And Namjoon whimpers. Really whimpers. Because he is hurt. Because his leg was shot. Because he is not an adult. Because Seokjin wasn't there. And because his stupid mind was so afraid of dying, even if he only got shot in the leg. He wasn't going to die, everybody knew that. But he felt desperately alone, afraid, and he just wanted to go home, to be close to Seokjin.

Seokjin climbs on the hospital bed carefully and hugs Namjoon, maintaining a safe distance from his leg. And if he cries his eyes out, nobody says a thing. Because Seokjin himself was afraid. Afraid to lose Namjoon. To never see him smiling again, not being able to listen to him rambling about escape routes, or this interesting movie he watched yesterday. He was afraid he would never have Namjoon close again.

And Seokjin decided, in that moment, that Namjoon was going nowhere without him. Because he doesn't know what to do without Namjoon to be the compass in his life. Call him egoistic and selfish, but if Namjoon asked for the sun, Seokjin for sure would get it for him.

Loving Jungkook is a process developed through time. Seokjin remembers the exact moment his kind of love shifted from something very pure and innocent, like holding hands in the dark, to something way darker and fast paced.

Jimin is making dinner in the kitchen while Taehyung points at things on his tablet for Seokjin and Namjoon, explaining something about a delivery malfunction and how to sort the issue out. Yoongi eventually enters the room too, resting his head against Taehyung's arm and waiting for the food to be ready.

Jungkook has been having a fucking difficult year. He doesn't listen, he talks back, he tries to push his limits all the time. Usually, Jimin is the one to lose it first with him, being followed really close by Namjoon, who isn't putting up with his shit anymore. But, Seokjin waits. Because his time will come, and when it happens, Jungkook will surely reap what he sowed.

What he doesn't expect is Jungkook entering the kitchen, clad in tight black jeans, sneakers, a loose t-shirt and a jacket over it. 

And suddenly, Jungkook is big. Like, big big. Big, like, Seokjin big. Tall and built, black belt in different martial arts, bench pressing two times his weight, shooting almost as good as Yoongi, big. And Seokjin feels small. Because that fucking bitch of a boy is suddenly a man, and Seokjin just realized that.

"Where are you going?" Jungkook stops and looks at his watch for a few seconds before looking at Seokjin.

"I have a run in the old market."

"You have a night shift?" Seokjin looks at Taehyung and pulls the tablet from his hands to check the board. "Who let you do that?"

Jungkook snorts and cocks his eyebrow at Seokjin.

"You do know that I am 18, right?" The tension thickens as Seokjin stands up and walks around the table. He still towers over Jungkook. Good.

"Aren't you my wall of defense, too?"

Jungkook takes a step back and looks behind Seokjin, a petulant smile on his face as he points to the other people standing there.

"Your schedule says you're staying home. You have at least 5 people to protect you, hyung." He shrugs and walks past Seokjin. "But if somebody tries, and you feel like all these very capable men won't do, you call me, and I will come back to die with you. Like I promised I would."

Seokjin burns with rage. He wants to punch Jungkook in the face and yell at him, but that wouldn't make any sense. And it's cruel to ignore him just to get under his skin, to see him break. Seokjin never wants Jungkook to suffer. So he does what his heart demands him to do: be as stubborn as Jungkook.

That doesn't work, either. Jungkook doesn't bicker back, doesn't get into petty fights, just brushes Seokjin off and does as he pleases. And that! That hurts him on a different level. So, about a week later, Seokjin is miserable, sitting on his floor, hiding from the world so he can let all his anxiety crush him, and feel every single ounce of control he thought he had leave him.

Suddenly, his door is slammed open, and a very displeased Taehyung appears with Jungkook in a perfect Judo arm lock around the younger's neck. He steps aside and Yoongi, who is coming inside the room too, literally steps on the back of Jungkook's knees, buckling both and making him kneel, still in Taehyung's lock before Yoongi pushes Jungkook with his feet. Taehyung lets him go. Seokjin just stares at them.

"Well, that was dramatic," Taehyung comments with his hands on his hips, and Jungkook moves to stand up but Yoongi kicks his shins twice. Sometimes Seokjin forgets that even if Yoongi can - and would - rip these boys a new one, he won’t. He still opts to kick their legs, so they can’t stand tall over him. It’s cute.

"I said down!" He hisses and Jungkook almost growls at him. "I am not afraid of you, bunny. I have beaten you to a pulp not once, not even twice. I will add to the count if you two don't talk this shit out."

They stare at each other before Jungkook huffs and lies on the floor with his palms open flat against the ground, looking away from Yoongi.

"Good fucking boy," Yoongi growls, and then looks at Seokjin. "Now, you be a great boy and talk to him." 

"Yoongi?" Seokjin calls and Yoongi, who had already turned around to leave, turns back to face him. "Call me a great boy again and you won't live to see another day."

"I saw that I misstepped far too late. Sorry, hyung," he apologizes and finally leaves the room, dragging Taehyung along.

Seokjin half expects Jungkook to pout, or start a fight again. What he doesn't expect is Jungkook sitting beside him and just… waiting.

"Aren't you going to sass me, Jungkook?" Seokjin asks, and sighs because he is just truly tired. And yeah, if Jungkook wants to do whatever the fuck he wants, Seokjin will think about doing something about it soon. Not now. Not tonight. But Jungkook just shrugs.

"Nah, we are having a fucking horrible night as it seems, already."

They fall back into that kind of silence that has been spreading between them for a while, and Seokjin tries to remember when he looked the other way and lost track of one of his boys.

"Wanna see something?" Jungkook mumbles, the tip of his ears turning bright red. Seokjin only nods, and feels put a little off when Jungkook pulls his phone from his pocket.

"Your phone was supposed to be downstairs, Jungkook," he says as the other opens a spreadsheet app and hands it to him.

It's pretty simple. There're dates, there's his name, and Yoongi's. Seokjin scrolls through it and, about 5 months ago, the numbers changed, turning Jungkook's side green. He can shoot faster than Yoongi.

"You… didn't tell me that," Seokjin whispers. He comes to the conclusion that Jungkook doesn't want to protect him anymore, not really.

"You don't trust me, why should I trust you, hyung?" Jungkook mumbles back, and Seokjin would rather have been punched in the face. He tries his best to school his expression before continuing.

"What did you get stuck in that mind of yours, Jungkook?" And if Seokjin sounds as broken as he feels, he doesn't think about it, because he can use a little bit of vulnerability being close to his boys.

Jungkook snorts lightly and rests his face on his knees before looking at him again, those big doe eyes analyzing Seokjin. "Hyung, why don't you call me bunny anymore?"

Seokjin's breath hitches, and his chest contracts a little. It all feels heavy somehow, but Jungkook snorts again.

"All the emotional truthfulness you have with hyungs, and you just… can't have it with me." Jungkook's eyes fill with water and Seokjin's lungs almost close. He is the one responsible for this. "So I will do ourselves a favor, okay hyung? Because I am way overdue for a good crying session, and I am just so sad and hurt but, mostly, I'm tired. I am physically tired of this, and you look the same. The necessity of a crying session included."

It's just a whisper, but yet Jungkook sounds so loud when he adds: "Is it okay if I love you, hyung?"

Seokjin feels a mix of dread and the sheer need of punching a wall. But he just stares at Jungkook for seconds too long, letting it sink in him, to understand that sometimes you just gotta have time. And be truthful. And courageous.

"Open up a space, I wanna sit." Seokjin pouts and pulls at one of Jungkook's legs before crawling in between them, his back against the inside of Jungkook's thigh to keep sitting up without being tired, his side against the younger's chest. When his nose touches the other's throat, Seokjin breathes in, and feels like he's home.

"I would like to have that very necessary crying session now, please, bunny."

Taehyung is a fucking wild card. He looks like he has game, like he is a charmer; he will talk to you, make you believe whatever he wants you to. At the same time, he will be goofy around people he likes and, most of the time, he is insufferably blunt.

"Hyung, wanna make out?" Seokjin stops chewing to look up at the boy who just asked if he wants to make out. Namjoon, who is also in the room, mirrors his expression.

"Any good offers to go along with that?" Seokjin sips his tea and waits while Taehyung thinks, looking up at the ceiling. He did snuggle Taehyung from time to time, but bluntly asking to make out is something else, a bold assumption.

"Not really, hyung," he concludes, and looks back at Seokjin while smiling. "I just got this really fluffy new blanket, and I showered," he tells Seokjin like it is all very simple. "And I just want to go and lie down under the sun on that round garden sofa, you know? Is that a garden sofa?" He looks up again, and then at Namjoon. "Is 'garden sofa' a real expression?"

"I don't think so…"

"But do you know what I mean, hyung?" He inquiries Seokjin again. "I wanna go there, lie down and make out. Mister Kim is not home, wanna go?"

Taehyung is a force to be reckoned. He has his own center of gravity, and Seokjin is just happy to veer closer to him everyday.

"Yeah, I could go for a couple hours of lazily making out and reading." The smile on Taehyung’s lips makes it all worth the risk.

Jimin is physical. He touches, he hugs, he holds hands, and he needs the reassurance of touch when things get fuzzy in his mind. His style of fighting is also physical, very elegant, but still somehow very touchy. So Seokjin gets used to being touched unexpectedly, not flinching away when it comes from Jimin.

There wasn't a time Seokjin wasn't head over heels for Jimin, and they all know that. Jimin is the closest Seokjin got to almost losing rational thought and going full-on teenage-like love. They all know, and Jimin bathes in that attention every single day. But there are three things all of them discover with time:

• Don't push Jimin too far. He doesn't do well with being pressed.
• Jimin kills from afar.
• Jimin is cruel. Almost in a psychotic way. So, don’t let him get to his bow if you want to live.

And Seokjin swears he remembers the moment he felt he couldn't go anywhere without Jimin, more than he already had gotten himself into. Seokjin has never wanted Jimin to be involved in any mob activities except as a part of his entourage. But for that to happen, they had to walk around together, and that's how Jimin ended up caught into it, too. Not that he himself minded, but Seokjin kind of did.

"Can you actually get that?" Yoongi says as he bends his body over the balcony, watching the other building that has its windows open. Jimin huffs and glares at him. "Okay, okay. I just asked. We could always shoot them, you know?"

Jungkook stands in front of Seokjin, hiding the elder’s body in the shadows inside the room, but still leaving space so Seokjin can watch the mission unfold. Taehyung sits by Jimin's feet with his laptop, coding something while Namjoon waits by his side. Jimin's bow is massive, and he pulls the arrow back, with it pointing up slightly, before aiming at the other side, using the little help gravity may offer; Seokjin feels, at least, proud.

"How many can you shoot, Chims?" Taehyung asks without looking up, and Jimin rolls his shoulder, making a snapping sound.

"One perfect shot, at first. A semi good one about four seconds later." 

Taehyung hums. In the other building a man turns the lights on and comes closer to the window. Namjoon makes a sign, and Jimin shoots. 

It's brutal. Seokjin has seen brutal before, but an arrow through the brain really delivered a different kind of message. 

They stop for a second as the man bleeds to death, and Yoongi just kind of gapes at Jimin. He puts the bow down and turns to face Seokjin, who is still behind Jungkook. "Did I do good?"

The lack of remorse. The whole trust Jimin had in Seokjin. Seokjin would give him the world, and more.

"You did, doll." Seokjin opens his arm and Jimin enters back into the room to snuggle against him. He almost purrs. "Let's get some dinner? I feel like I could treat my boys to something good."

Yoongi chuckles while pulling Taehyung and Namjoon up from the floor before kissing Taehyung's forehead, reassuring him that he also did a very good job.

"You better, we're starving."

Seokjin really did spoil his boys.

Chapter Text

Hoseok watched as the three men stepped fully outside the room and closed the door. What the hell was he doing? Why did he say yes to this? His stomach turns and nausea clogs his mind, a single reminder that he is still drenched in sweat, dirty and afraid. He ponders about leaving the bed and taking a shower, but the idea of roaming the house makes it impossible. So Hoseok just sits there for what feels like hours, looking at the white covers and the window by his side.

There’s a soft knock on the door, and he looks up to see Namjoon standing there, holding a tray.

“You didn’t eat,” he supplies, and Hoseok has to shake his head. What is up with these people and eating? Why are they so worried about it? Namjoon comes closer to the bed and passes the tray to Hoseok before sitting down. There are small sandwiches and a tall glass of juice, to which Hoseok just stares at until Namjoon shrugs and sighs. “We are not trying to poison you, oh my God. Do you know how difficult that is?”

“No?” Hoseok answers simply, because he doesn’t. “Never killed anyone, wouldn’t know how to do that with finesse, either.”

Namjoon gives him a small smile before picking a triangular sandwich and munching on it. He proceeds to drink two big gulps of the juice. They look at each other for a second before Hoseok finally starts eating silently.

“Usually it’s not me doing this…” Namjoon pulls his leg up and turns to face the other better. “But hyung said that apparently you are frightened, and seem to trust me. So, here I am. I need to ask you a few questions, okay?” Hoseok only nods before drinking his juice and grabbing another piece of bread.

Namjoon asks the weirdest questions: like, does he have a heart problem? Well, not until today, at least. Does he have any family? Is he addicted to anything? Does he know how to play chess? And he goes on and on, though Hoseok knows that some of those questions do make sense. 

“And you are a pickpocket, right?” It sits wrong in Hoseok’s belly to be called that to his face, but, in all honesty, yeah, he is. So he nods. “Can you rob anything?”

“What do you mean by anything?”

“Like, from what I heard, you are almost a con artist. I want to know if you can get cards, access, jewelry, and information,” the blond explains.

Hoseok wouldn’t call himself a con artist. Con artists had their ways to get through situations, while he just marked a target, took what he needed, and walked off as quick as possible. “I mean… I am not a con artist? I just did what I had to do to get close to a target.”

Namjoon cocks his eyebrow at that and a single cold shiver runs down Hoseok’s back. “The watch! The watch was my target! I don’t intend on killing anybody!” He hurriedly explains and shakes his hands, trying to keep Namjoon away in case he moves. But he doesn’t, he just looks at Hoseok calmly.

“I didn’t say hyung was your target. Taehyung scavenged the internet for you, Hoseok.” Namjoon keeps his voice calm, without moving much. “Unless you’re a hacker… In which case you need to pack and move into one of the support houses, because we already got a really good one inside the mansion.” He smiles and takes the last sandwich from Hoseok’s tray.

“I am not a hacker,” he defends, and Namjoon’s smile gets bigger.

“We know that. So, this is how it’s going to be.”

Jimin is propped against the sofa alongside Taehyung when Seokjin comes back down with Yoongi and Jungkook. The elder doesn't even spare them a glance before making a turn and moving in the direction of the main board. Jungkook makes the same turn to follow him, but Yoongi raises a hand, signalizing for him to stay.

The youngest glares at him, but Yoongi isn't affected the least. Jungkook glaring at him is just another part of his day. Seokjin walks into the study and Yoongi accompanies, turning around to look at the other three standing there, nodding his head towards Jimin before closing the doors.

"Come, we got things to do," Jimin comments almost absent mindedly, pushing himself away from the sofa. Nobody moves with him. "Didn't you two hear me?" He inquires while crossing his arms over his chest, daring the others to challenge him. Taehyung snorts and rolls his eyes, but shrugs and goes his way, picking up his phone and one of his many pairs of headphones that are always scattered around the house.

Jimin squares up his shoulders and taps his foot in front of Jungkook.

"What, Chims? What do you want?" Jungkook barks back and Jimin's eyes harden.

"I want you to move like I told you to," he answers and waits, but Jungkook is as stubborn as a hungry toddler, but with the skills of a hitman. "You saw Yoongi hyung telling you to stay. Don't make me knock on that door to have hyung tell you to go to work." 

Jungkook huffs and walks towards the stairs, but Jimin is hot on his heels, pulling him back and turning him around in the direction of the door. "Let the boy be, Jungkook. Hyung will take care of this."

The youngest half sighs, half huffs again, letting his shoulders relax before hugging Jimin's waist. "Why is hyung bringing another person inside, Jiminie?" He whispers against Jimin's hair. "What if this boy is a killer? I won't be able to sleep until I am sure he won't kill all of us, but mostly hyung." He sighs again as Jimin runs his fingers through his hair.

"Do you really think hyung wouldn't have shot him in the middle of the street if he didn't know that the terrified man on the second floor wasn't a threat?" The smaller one asks. "Hyung had a clear shot, he had you and Yoongi hyung. As far as I am concerned, this Hoseok person was at the wrong place, at the wrong time." Jimin pulls back and smiles at him. "And hyung trusts you, we all do. Just trust hyung back, okay?"

Seokjin sits on the chair behind his table and stares at Yoongi, who's standing by the door. There's a single unique click as Yoongi turns the lock, locking the door before walking over to where Seokjin is currently sitting.

"How are we going to do this?" Seokjin says as Yoongi sits on his lap and looks at him, silently. "Are you going to give a bunch of crap and tell me I'm going crazy?"

Yoongi just pouts and shrugs, nosing along Seokjin's jaw. He pulls back and looks at Seokjin again.

"What are you doing, Jin-ah?" He whispers without letting Seokjin look away. Yoongi needs him to look into his eyes. "Hyung, talk to me."

"I don't know, Yoongichi," Seokjin finally responds, his hand drawing small circles against Yoongi's hip. "It just felt right? Like, there was this pull telling me I needed that boy."

Yoongi ponders this and sighs, letting his body rest against Seokjin's chest while his legs hang from the side of the chair. He noses Seokjin's jaw again and hums when the first shiver appears. The elder runs his hand up and down Yoongi's back, something they do before sleeping, a gesture that makes both of them relaxed. Maybe it is something about the proximity, or the security, who knows. 

"You know that Namjoon will get everyone out, and I will kill him if he is not who he says he is, right?" Yoongi's lips brush against Seokjin's ear as he says it. The mob leader sighs and smiles.

"That's my boy."

Turns out: Hoseok is a mess. That's what he is. Yoongi is responsible for him, and he feels like it's a Namjoon situation all over again. The first run they have, Hoseok stops and dry heaves a while before he throws up. Jungkook looks at him with so much disgust that Yoongi almost feels sorry. But then Hoseok straightens up, cleans his face and goes back to running. Though, that's not actually a 'Namjoon situation' because, as Yoongi knows, Namjoon is refined tracker, smart, and throws a punch that hurts like a motherfucker. But Hoseok… Hoseok is straight up a masochist.

"Don't let the 95s get into your mind," Namjoon warns him during their chess match as Hoseok looks at the pieces like they are offending him. He puts his hand over a bishop and looks at Namjoon, who just shakes his head, and Hoseok feels like throwing everything on the floor. "Also don't pick fights with Jungkook, nor Yoongi hyung. They have a short temper, and fast hands." Yoongi snorts from his chair across the room as Hoseok puts his finger on a knight, and Namjoon nods. He smiles and advances the piece on the board.

Namjoon stands up and smiles. "Hope your training goes well." He turns and walks towards the door.

"Uh… aren't you going to finish playing?" Hoseok asks, still looking at the board, confused.

Yoongi also stands up and stretches his back while yawning. "You lost, pumpkin," he supplies, and Hoseok looks at the board again. "Get up, we got things to do."  

Truthfully, nobody is mean towards him, but Hoseok feels like one of those kids in American movies that got into a new school in the middle of the year, and has a difficult time feeling comfortable. He gets scolded by Yoongi, at least, four times about locking his door. But he can't sleep with it unlocked.

So, if he pulls a chair beside the door to sleep on and ties a small bell to the handle, nobody needs to know. It goes well for about 4 days, until Taehyung opens the door and Hoseok jumps out of the chair, scrambling away and pulling everything in his way to the ground, making little obstacles so the person inside the room won't follow him.

Taehyung stands frozen by the door as Hoseok glues his body to the window. The younger one shakes the handle a little, testing, and looks at the little bell rattling. Hoseok feels the dread washing over him, but instead of getting angry, Taehyung looks at him again, softer than ever.

"I spent three months barely sleeping," he comments, still holding the handle. "Then I got my first whooping, and spent another two feeling completely paranoid about dying." He points at the door, and his eyes get a little out of focus. "You come from the streets… Me too. I used to tie empty pop cans to the door before getting my way into college." He sighs and scratches his shoulder. "That was when I felt the fear of getting, I don't know, molested, or burned alive inside a shed, start to disappear."

Hoseok stares at him. Taehyung doesn't look like someone who came from the streets.

"I am sorry I scared you," he explains sincerely and lets the door go. "Breakfast is served,"  he comments and turns to leave, but changes his mind at the last second, looking back at Hoseok. "And, Hoseok hyung?"

Hoseok almost missed the 'hyung,' as Taehyung is the first to call him that hete. "I will tell nobody to enter your room without knocking. Please, sleep in your bed."

Taehyung is a great buffer; he makes things so much lighter around Hoseok. And, where there is Taehyung, there's Jimin.

"May I ask a question?" Hoseok asks as he watches Jimin cutting the cake that he just pulled out of the oven. He can hang out in the kitchen with Jimin when he doesn't have training sessions to attend to. Jimin nods, but keeps his eyes on the cake.

"How can you kill people?" He almost whispers, and Jimin stops, frozen in his place. 

"I was abused, used, and prostituted, hyung," Jimin explains as he goes back to his task. "Seokjin hyung didn't want me shooting people either, but there's a message to be sent, and now, they know it's hyung's territory, if one of them ends up with an arrow through the head..." He shrugs. "I just feel like it's me paying back what happened to me. Karma."

Hoseok stays silent for a few seconds.

"I wish life would have been easier so you wouldn't need to do any of this," he comments, and Jimin looks at him again, softly. Hoseok is being honest, and it touches Jimin's heart.

"I wish life had been easier for you too, hyung."

They are waiting inside the car for a man to leave the building they're watching when Yoongi looks at his watch, tsks, and pulls a container out from a backpack in the backseat. Hoseok watches as he opens it, looking at the baby carrots, grapes, cheese cubes and chicken nuggets. Yoongi, literally a fucking killer, pops one carrot into his mouth, snaps a pic of the open container, and hands it to Hoseok.

"Eat it."

Hoseok picks a nugget and really looks at it. They have chicken nuggets once a week, at least. Or something that looks like that.

"What's the story behind you all and chicken nuggets?"

"Hyung bought the company when he was 20 so he doesn't have to stop eating stupid dinosaur chicken nuggets." Yoongi shrugs, but smiles and fishes one out for himself. "As the company is a Kim Company now, we just have it from time to time. Call it emotional memory."

"And why are you so obsessed with food?" Hoseok ponders and Yoongi pouts looking up.

"Hyung likes food, it's important for him. Not the food itself, but it's a moment to be with people you like, and not have to work." Yoongi ponders and munches on a cheese cube. "So Seokjin hyung never schedules lunch meetings, or anything like that." He picks more food from the container. "And when Jimin started cooking, hyung just adjusted our routines so nobody would be eating shitty, ending up with malnutrition and so not being able to defend themselves."

Hoseok wonders a little. "I didn't think os the mafia like this. You guys look like a family."

"We are," Yoongi answers and shrugs again, looking back at the building. "Eat, but keep your eye out; I can't have you getting shot."

Hoseok snorts and Yoongi looks back at him to find the other poking a grape, his eyes watering, but nonetheless, Hoseok is smiling.

"A family, huh?" He nods and looks at Yoongi. "Okay."

"So, I have a mission for you." Seokjin smirks as he puts a picture of all of them on the table, and Hoseok takes a moment to look at it. The elder taps Jungkook's ear twice on the picture. "Can you see it? This is a rose gold diamond earring in Jungkook's ear," Seokjin explains as Yoongi rolls his eyes. "I need it."

Hoseok looks at him like Seokjin is speaking a language Hoseok can't understand. The confusion inside his brain must be visible, because Seokjin smirks again and asks, "what?"

"With all due respect, Seokjin hyung," he starts and checks to make sure he can maintain a safe distance from Seokjin's hands - Hoseok has already seen those same hands moving really fast to drag any of the boys by the ear, or by the chin, when they give answers Seokjin doesn't want to hear -, "if you want the earring, you can walk into Jungkook's room and get it. I'm not stealing from him."

Seokjin cocks his eyebrow at Hoseok and realizes the large distance he's placed himself from the table. Clever motherfucker, Seokjin thinks. "Don't you trust yourself, or are you afraid?" He challenges.

And then Seokjin sees something crossing Hoseok's face, like a new emotion he hasn't yet shown them. Hoseok analyzes him quietly before speaking again.

"I think I can, it's not about that," he explains, "I am not exactly afraid of Jungkook, but I hope to stay on his bright side. He may not trust me fully yet, but I won't give him any reason to be suspicious about it either." He breathes in and lets his body rest against the back of the chair. "And lastly, hyung, you think so low of me? That's a rose quartz cut in diamond shape. It's too milky to be a real diamond."

There's a click, and something cold touches the side of his face. Hoseok turns his head to see Yoongi still sitting, but with his gun against Hoseok's temple. It's amazingly fast, how Hoseok presses down against the other's wrist, making Yoongi open his hand so Hoseok can get the gun, disarming him. 

With the gun now in own his hands, he opens the clip release and pulls the bullet clip out, putting the gun on the table while still holding the loaded cartridge. Yoongi laughs and puts his hands up.

"Here, a gift," Seokjin says calmly before putting a small red box on the table by the gun and pushing it towards Hoseok. "You don't have your ears pierced, so we figured something else would be better."

The letters on the box reads "Cartier," and inside there's a bracelet, simple and shining. The first instinct is to wear it, but Hoseok refrains. It may still be a test.

"Did Taehyung steal this? Will I go out and get shot?" Yoongi laughs again, but Seokjin gapes at him.

"No, I bought it with my money. To congratulate you? Ungrateful much?" He looks at Yoongi, his face still shocked. "Can you believe it, Yoongichi?"

"You can always give me that instead," he offers, and Seokjin glares at him.

"The pair of really rare diamonds in your ears tell me I can't, no." To which Yoongi just smiles and touches the stones adorning his lobes.

"Is this mine?" Hoseok whispers.

"Yeah, Jungkook said you are safe. As far as I am concerned, you're good to be an active part of the entourage," Seokjin tells him, and Hoseok can only laugh.

"Thanks for telling me today!" He almost vibrates watching the bracelet. "I have a sparring session with Jungkook this afternoon, I am so going to kick him!" Seokjin and these sadistic boys he has.

It starts off small. Just like every little thing. Hoseok is so focused on wrapping his legs around Jungkook's body as he tries desperately to pull away the hand pressing down his neck, that he just notices the commotion when Jungkook, who is not even breaking a fucking sweat, clicks his tongue and turns his head in the direction of the chairs.

"Can you two please be quiet?" He calls out, and Hoseok sees as an opportunity to pull his hand up and bite it. Jungkook true to God yelps and pulls the hand away. Hoseok launches onto him, but the younger man just deflects his attack and locks Hoseok again in a new position, using his legs as leverage. The more Hoseok squirms, the harder Jungkook pins him down. "Hyung, you can't bite me! That's a no-no!"

"Let my hand go so I can tap out, I don't want this anymore," Hoseok pleas, and Jungkook chuckles, bringing his knee up and against Hoseok's ribs. Hoseok stops then, because he had already got a knee to the ribs before, and that shit hurt. Then he hears the increasing volume of a discussion. Jungkook sighs and opens his legs so Hoseok can sit up, and both can finally see what's happening.

"I MAKE DONATIONS, JIMIN!" Taehyung is standing up, face flush, basically yelling at Jimin, who is right in front of him, almost shaking with anger.

"THAT DOESN'T CHANGE ANYTHING, TAEHYUNG!" Jimin screams back, and Jungkook sighs by Hoseok again. "YOU LIED TO ME FOR A YEAR! A WHOLE YEAR! ME!"

Hoseok looks at Jungkook, who seems pretty much unaffected by the yelling. "What is happening?"

"Probably, they started picking on each other as a joke and then struck a nerve," Jungkook explains as he lies down on the mat. "Pretty common, actually. Soon one of them is gonna say he is going to call hyung. Just wait."

"DONATING TO DOG SHELTERS IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM BEING A REAL VEGETARIAN!" Jimin stomps his feet and huffs. "YOU LET ME COOK WITHOUT MEAT ONLY FOR YOU FOR A WHOLE YEAR, TAEHYUNG!"

"First, I didn't know you were making special food just for me, AND I TOLD YOU THAT ALREADY!" Taehyung ends up yelling back. Hoseok thinks they look just like two kids in kindergarten.

"OH MY GOD, YOU'RE SO DUMB!" Jimin's whole body shakes as he stands in place, trying to square up to Taehyung.

"AND YOU ARE DEAD!" The moment Taehyung yells back, he knows he did something wrong. Jungkook stands up so fast it startles Hoseok. Jimin is shaking even harder.

Then a single battle cry leaves his mouth and he pounces. Or tries to. Because Seokjin's arms come around his waist and pulls him back as Yoongi pushes Taehyung the other way.

"LET ME GO, HYUNG! LET ME GO!" Jimin kicks and screams in Seokjin's embrace as he watches Taehyung start to kneel by Yoongi's side, his ear bended in half and red from the strength Yoongi is using pull it.

"Yah!" Seokjin says calmly and both boys go silent. "Have you two spent too much time together? Do you want to have runs in the old market? That's what you want?"  Nobody says a thing. Yoongi lets Taehyung's ear go, and the other almost cries as he pulls away and covers it with his hand to hide it from any further abuse. "Answer me."

"No, hyung," Jimin mutters, and seems to be calming down. Seokjin looks at Taehyung and waits. They stare at each other in silence.

"Yoongi," Seokjin says, and Taehyung leaps to his feet, covering both his ears.

"No, hyung!" He is fast to answer.

"Say sorry, now," Seokjin demands, and puts Jimin down. They walk closer. "Anytime now, boys. I came to have a sparring session, I can always take down one of you two."

Jimin kicks back at him and Seokjin takes a step back, smirking. "Shut up, hyung." His cheeks burn in a bright pink as he looks back at Taehyung. "I'm sorry, TaeTae. You are not dumb."

"I'm sorry too, Jiminie. I shouldn't have said you were dead, that was wrong of me," he whispers back. "And I will eat anything you cook." He concludes, and Yoongi snorts.

"Good boys," Seokjin comments and looks over at Yoongi. "This house is worse than a mental facility gone rogue."

"Don't even tell me." The other chuckles and looks at Jungkook. "You were about 3 seconds late. If hyung and I hadn't come through the door 5 seconds before, they would be clawing their faces off."

"If they are going to cat-fight, maybe leash them," Jungkook says nonchalantly, but has to dodge a pen that passes really close to his face. Jimin is glaring at him.

"You are lucky that wasn't a knife." And Jimin smiles sweetly at him. Maybe the house is a mental facility gone rogue.

Seokjin takes his sandals off and walks closer to Hoseok. "Hey, sunshine."  Hoseok smiles at him. "I came down to be your sparring buddy."

"You never do that," Hoseok comments and walks to the center of the mat. He sees Namjoon arriving to the gym too, a loose t-shirt, shorts, and his large rimmed glasses. "Special occasion? Why is everyone here?"

Seokjin moves so fast. So fast. If Hoseok was afraid before of Seokjin's hands moving fast, his body is languid, and somehow faster. Jungkook is strong. Yoongi is determined and fearless. Namjoon is strategic. Taehyung climbs you, clings and rams you against the floor with his weight. Jimin is wild. But Seokjin is fast.

Before Hoseok can react, he is kicked twice and feels arms around him, one pulling his leg up and the other holding his head. His back hits the floor, but Seokjin lets his hand take the impact from Hoseok's neck hitting the ground. He straddles Hoseok, hills poking his lower back and making him try to arch his body from the floor.

"Hyuuuung, my back," he whines, and Seokjin laughs at him. One year of training, and Hoseok is just so sure that he will never be as good as them. Any of them.

"Oh, poor baby," Seokjin coos and jabs his elbows against Hoseok's arms. "Does it hurt, baby?" He coos again, voice saccharine and sadistic. Now, let's not be prudes here. There's a palpable sexual tension going on, and Hoseok is not an idiot. He is gay, confused and very much liking it. But getting hit is just not his thing.

He relaxes his body, and Seokjin stops jabbing at him. He breathes in once, twice. And then, he decides to play dirty: he pouts up at Seokjin.

"Yes, it hurts, hyung," he whines, and Seokjin's ears go scarlet red. He shakes his head and snorts, before tapping the ground by Hoseok's head three times.

Seokjin climbs off him and smiles. "Hyung is sorry, baby. Are you okay?" Hoseok smiles back, and can hear the muttered "pussy" Yoongi calls out, but he doesn't care. He just wants to be hyung's too.

And that's exactly what he is.

ALMOST TWO YEARS LATER.

"So… let's go through it once again," Seokjin starts, and Jimin pours him his tea. He goes to pour Yoongi's but Seokjin's hand covers the teacup, still looking at Yoongi, never letting Yoongi feel free from his stare. "Yoongi doesn't want any tea."

Yoongi doesn't say a single word. Just stands there.

"You lost a whole ship?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to explain how that happened, Yoongichi?" Seokjin prompts, and puts his teacup down.

"Not yet, hyung." 

Seokjin tries to breathe in and out a few times, to calm himself down. But it doesn't work, so he hits the the table with his fist, causing Taehyung's laptop to jump up. He breathes in and out again.

"This isn't fucking battleship, Yoongi!" Yoongi almost reels in place, but doesn't move. 

"Found it!" Taehyung chirps and stands up with a smile that doesn't fit the whole atmosphere going on, almost elbowing Jimin in the face with the movement. "It's… in Japan?"

Chapter Text

hey! what's up? it's me, your bunny!
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