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Namjoon was hungry as fuck.
Everyone else was out and about while he was stuck at home on Friday night after a long, grueling work week. Not only was he stuck at home by himself, but somehow the group had managed to eat all the food in the house throughout the week with almost nothing left, and they wouldn't be grocery shopping until the next day.
Namjoon roamed through the kitchen, shuffling things around in the fridge and cabinets (more than once, in hopes that checking a second or third time would present new food items) but only found bags of chips with nothing but crumbs left, some expired leftover pizza, and stale bread.
The members had plenty of money for food, the issue was they usually never had time to buy it, and generally ate out more often than not because of their hectic schedules. They didn't keep too much in the dorm, which was why they ate through what they did have so quickly. Nothing beat Jin's home cooked meals when he had the time to make them, but unfortunately the eldest wasn't home at the moment to cook.
Damnit.
His attention diverted to the window when he heard the rain outside intensifying. Raindrops slammed against the glass panes while the wind was howling, causing the windows to start creaking. He walked over and gazed outside, realizing that his second option- which was to go out on his bike and pick some food up from a local restaurant- was also now out of the question. The weather was too intense.
He sighed as his shoulders slumped.
Double damnit.
His final resort was to order food online and have it delivered. He generally didn't like doing that because it seemed like every time he did, part of his order would be forgotten, there would be issues with his credit card in the app, or the delivery person would leave the food at the wrong address. Needless to say, it was usually a hassle.
But Namjoon was currently starving and desperate, so decided he'd risk doing the online delivery thing again in hopes that this time things would go smoothly. He logged into the app and scrolled through different menus for various restaurants, deciding he was particularly in the mood for some braised pork belly and ramen noodles. The order seemed simple enough, so he figured there shouldn't be any issues with his card or delivery. He added the items to his cart and checked out, holding his breath while the payment was processed, and letting out a sigh of relief when it had gone through successfully. The app allowed for "special instructions" in which he wrote to have the order be contactless - meaning the food would be delivered at his door and the door dasher would leave.
Namjoon liked his privacy.
The app said his order would be ready and delivered within the next thirty minutes, but Namjoon wasn't sure he'd last that long. What if I waste away to nothing by the time the food is here? He clutched his stomach as it growled, almost as if his stomach was agreeing with him. Aish.
Thirty minutes had never felt so long, but when he received the text that his food had been delivered outside his door, life felt worth living again. He jumped up from the couch and sprinted to the door, opening it to reveal his bag of food in all its glory. The real question now was if it had everything he'd ordered. He bent down to snoop through the bag, but before he even had time to stand back up, he felt something smash into the back of his head, sending him falling face first into the ground, knocking him out.
As Namjoon's eyes opened, his vision was blurry and he instantly felt his head aching badly. He went to lift his hands to put pressure on his head, only to realize he couldn't move them. They were tied behind him somehow.
Wha-a-at the hell?
He tried pulling his hands free but his body felt too weak, and the harder he tried, the tighter the grip of whatever was holding his wrists only cut deeper into his skin. "Ssss." He winced when he felt his skin breaking.
He blinked away the blurriness from his vision and was met with the sight of a man sitting at his kitchen table, eating the food he had ordered. The man was quite buff...buffer than Namjoon and Jungkook combined, even. He had a faint shadow of stubble along his chin, and he had a buzzcut. Namjoon didn't recognize the guy at all.
"Oh, hey Namjoon." The man sat at the table, eating nonchalantly, as if he hadn't just knocked Namjoon out and broken into his house to tie him up.
As Namjoon finally came back to his senses, terror reigned through him.
"Who the hell are you?!" He tried to desperately break free again but couldn't. He looked behind him to see that his hands had been tied behind him and attached to the kitchen table with various ropes and belts. The ropes were what was cutting into his skin more and more every time he tried to move, and he noticed drops of blood slowly dripping off his wrists and onto the floor. He tried using his adrenaline induced strength to drag his wrists to the floor and somehow get it free from the kitchen table leg, but the table itself was too heavy to move, and his restraints were so tight he could barely do anything.
"Let me go! I-I-I don't know who you are or what's going on but whatever it is I-I...do you want money? Is that it? I can give you money or-or-or I can-"
Namjoon's words were cut off by the man laughing as he placed his chopsticks down. The man was sitting right next to him, looking down at him while smiling.
"What, you don't see me for a few years and you suddenly forget who I am?" The man tapped Namjoon's forehead. "Looks like fame is getting to you."
Namjoon couldn't comprehend how he could possibly know this guy. Especially if he was some sort of criminal. He didn't particularly engage with people of the sort. He furrowed his brows as he stared at the man, looking for any trace of familiarity, but nothing was ringing a bell. He didn't know what else to do except to continuously beg to be let go. He figured this had to be some kind of mistake, but the guy knew his name, so that didn't make sense either.
"Who are y-you?" Namjoon asked as tears trickled down his cheeks.
"Who am I?" The man stood up from his seat at the table and hovered over Namjoon, glaring down at him. He chuckled. "You really don't remember? Think about it, Namjoon. Wasn't there someone a few years ago who was supposed to be the leader of BTS, until you showed up?"
Namjoon searched his memory for who that could have been. He did remember taking someone's place at no fault of his own when it came to being the group's leader, but the man in front of him didn't look like the man he was remembering.
The man saw Namjoon's look of confusion. "Think about it, Namjoon. Who did you replace?"
"Kienro?"
"Ding ding ding! We have a winner!"
"But you're not...you can't be..."
"Kienro? I mean, I suppose the fact you don't recognize me is a good thing. I've worked hard to get my looks how I wanted them." He grabbed at his own muscles. "Bigger than you, even. Physically speaking, anyway."
Namjoon stared at him in silence. No fucking way.
The memories flooded in more clearly now. Kienro was the original first member of BTS, and was destined to be the leader. Namjoon had entered as a second trainee, but once he started to audition he ended up knocking Kienro out of his leader role, and it was Namjoon that had him kicked out of the band completely. Once more members had shown up, Kienro had still presented so much hostility towards Namjoon, and even the others, that Namjoon had the CEO fire him from the company. Especially after one time he had gotten angry and hit Jungkook and Taehyung. Namjoon knew that would be the first and last time, because there was no negotiating after that. Kienro had to go.
Terror and anger consumed Namjoon. "What the fuck do you want?!"
None of them had seen Kienro in years. As far as they all knew, that man had been long gone ever since being kicked off the team. They never thought he'd be an issue again.
It definitely wasn't expected that the guy would work for a food delivery service now and he'd show up to hurt Namjoon.
Kienro walked over to the cabinet and pulled out a tea kettle. "I don't want much, Joon. I just want my spot in the band back." He started filling the tea kettle with water, and then put it on the stove burner, turning the temperature up to high. Namjoon wondered why the hell the man would be making tea or something in the middle of all this.
"Your spot in the band back? Hah!" Namjoon scoffed. "You and I both know that won't happen. You lost your spot in the band a long time ago and you know exactly why!"
While the water heated on the stove, Kienro started rummaging through the kitchen drawers, grabbing the first knife he had set his eyes on. After grabbing it, he rushed at Namjoon, causing the boy to flinch and attempt to back away, but there was nowhere to go. He was trapped where he was.
Kienro held the knife to Namjoon's throat, pressing it against his skin hard enough to make it hurt, but not quite bleed. "What I did back then was necessary! First you took my role as leader, then you were letting those two stupid brats get away with anything and everything. You didn't deserve to be the leader! You were failing in front of everyone! I had to step in and help control those two when you wouldn't!" Now Kienro pressed the blade deeper, letting blood from Namjoon's neck trickle out, causing him to whimper. "And yet somehow, I was the one told to leave. I was the one who had to say goodbye to my dream, all because you showed up and had to play the good guy!"
Despite his trembling, Namjoon tried to remain as still as he could. He knew any harsh movements would send the blade of that knife digging even deeper into his skin. He bit his bottom lip, unsure of what to say. Clearly the man was angry, and he didn't want to upset him further because that would be a death wish. He figured his only way out of this was to play nice.
"I'm sorry." Those were the only words Namjoon could force out of his mouth. His throat was burning and his nose was clogged from his crying induced snot. "I-I'm really s-s-orry."
Kienro snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure you are." He took the knife away from Namjoon's throat when he heard the tea kettle start to whistle from the stove. Hovering above Namjoon, he smiled down at him again, letting the whistling become more ear piercing by the second. "And now, the real fun can begin."
What the fuck does he mean by that?
Namjoon watched Kienro make his way to the stove, remove the tea kettle, and instead of grabbing a cup to pour the water in, which Namjoon was desperately hoping would be the situation, he saw the man start making his way back over, gently swinging the kettle back and forth in the air with each step closer.
Namjoon felt his chest tighten. "What...what are you doing with th-that?" His words were shaky as his body trembled even more. He could feel sweat dripping down his back and forehead. The sweat around his wrists was causing them to become even more raw as he fought against the ropes and belts. He winced with every movement, but at this point his adrenaline had picked up again and he just wanted to break free so he could at least make a run for it, if anything.
"Oh, I don't know," Kienro said as he made it back to Namjoon. He looked at the tea kettle in his hand and watched the steam come out of the spout. "I've always believed in creativity, you know. Which includes different and creative forms of persuasion."
"Get away from me!" Namjoon tried kicking Kienro back, but the man dodged the impact from Namjoon's foot.
Kienro lunged forward and splashed some of the burning water onto Namjoon's leg. He could feel it seeping through his pants, and as soon as it touched his skin he screamed out in agony and pulled his leg as far back against him as he could. He couldn't even hold his leg to help ease the burning, which only added to the pain. He continued to scream as he felt each particle of the liquid chewing away at his flesh.
"Pl-lease, Kienro. I'm sorry! Stop this! I really don't know what you want from me, but please stop!"
"What I want from you? Hah! Is it really not obvious?! I want you to leave the fucking band, Namjoon. Leave the band, and give up your leadership role to who it rightfully belongs to. It was supposed to be me!" He took the kettle and threatened to splash more burning water on Namjoon.
"I-I-I-" Namjoon was completely lost for words. The last thing he would ever do is leave the band, especially not for Kienro to take his place.
Kienro splashed the water right into the side of Namjoon's face, and now that it landed on his bare skin with no clothes to even give slight protection, Namjoon lost his voice with how loudly he was screaming. The tears mixing with the burning water on his cheek only made the sensation feel a million times worse.
"Stop! Kienro you need to fucking stop!" Namjoon spit at him, hoping it would make the man back up even if just a little bit (it didn't).
"Give up the damn position, Namjoon!" Just as Kienro was drawing his arm back and getting ready to send another splash of water at Namjoon, Jungkook came barreling in through the door.
Kienro turned to Jungkook and in a panic chucked the burning water at him.
"Jungkook watch out!" Namjoon screamed.
Jungkook dodged it right in time. "Hyungie?!" He shouted when he saw the state Namjoon was in. A mess of sweat and tears with red marks on his face, while his hands were tied behind his back to the leg of the kitchen table. He stared Kienro dead in the eyes as he tried to make his way to block his hyung. "Who the fuck are you?! What the hell is going on?!"
"Jungkook-ah be-be careful!" Namjoon warned.
"What? You don't remember an old friend?" Kienro smiled and put his hand out like he wanted Jungkook to shake it.
Jungkook still wasn't sure who this was, but that didn't matter because all he felt was a murderous rage rising within him. "You...hurt...my...hyung."
Namjoon tried fighting through his pain as he still desperately fought against his restraints. He wasn't all that worried about himself anymore, but he was worried as hell about Jungkook. He knew at this point that Kienro would absolutely do something to hurt Jungkook, forcing him to watch.
"Jungkook-ah it's Kienro!" Namjoon screamed. "It's Kienro!"
As soon as Jungkook heard that name, he could see red in his vision. He instantly remembered the hell that man had put them through when they were younger, and now he was back hurting his hyung?
Jungkook didn't even need to think about it. He instantly lunged at Kienro and tackled him to the ground. Despite the fact he was twice the size of Jungkook, that didn't stop the maknae.
Nothing was stronger than the love he had for his hyungs.
As Jungkook tackled Kienro, the tea kettle smashed to the floor. In a stroke of good luck, the hot water splashed in the opposite direction of where they were fighting.
"Jungkook!" Namjoon screamed. He felt like he was trapped inside a nightmare with no possibility of waking up. First Kienro was hurting him, and now he was attacking his maknae. He didn't think it was possible for his heart to sink any lower, but when he saw Kienro land a hard punch right into Jungkook's face, sending him flying backwards, his heart sank to the depths of hell and shattered on its floor.
"Kienro...please...stop..." Namjoon begged.
To Namjoon's surprise, Jungkook didn't let the blow to his face stop him. He charged forward and elbowed Kienro right in the nose, sending blood spewing out of it. The next second the two were on the ground again tackling and punching each other.
"Stupid motherfucker, nobody hurts my hyungs!" Jungkook didn't even let a second go by between using one fist and then the other to lay down his punches.
Namjoon didn't even know Jungkook was capable of fighting like this.
Holy shit. He smiled. He was so damn proud. That's my maknae right there.
While the two were beating the hell out of each other, the rest of the members came barging through the door. Before they even had a chance to ask what the hell was happening, Jin, Jimin, and Hobi ran to separate Jungkook and Kienro from each other while Taehyung and Yoongi rushed to Namjoon to untie him.
Taehyung grabbed Namjoon's cheeks in his hands, making sure his fingers didn't touch where he could clearly see burns and welts forming on Namjoon's face. "Hyung," he whispered through tears, "what happened?"
"Call the police!" Namjoon demanded. He didn't care which one of them did it, he just needed them to show up now. Now that he was free, he was able to gently caress his wrists. He was in absolute agony all over due to the burns, bleeding, his raw wrists.
Taehyung was completely sobbing when he noticed there was blood on Namjoon's neck. "Hyungie, what's going on?!" He turned to see the others had Kienro in a choke hold while Jungkook and Jin were now tying him up with the belts and ropes while Hobi was currently on the phone with the police, his words stumbling over each other while he tried to quickly explain the situation they were in.
Once Kienro was tied up, Jungkook looked down at him. "You already tried to ruin our lives once. What the hell brought you back?"
Taehyung and Namjoon were hugging each other while they cried together, with both of them trembling in each other's arms. Yoongi wrapped his arms around both of them. "Can someone please explain what the fuck we just came home to?!"
"Kienro," Jungkook replied while still staring down at the man.
Kienro didn't say a word. With him now being the one defenseless and tied up, he suddenly wasn't the brave bad ass bastard he had tried so hard to be.
"Kienro?!" the members shouted in unison.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Jimin yelled. "You did this to them?!" He pointed to Namjoon and Jungkook. "Oh, you're fucking dead." Jimin stepped up to Kienro and kicked him right in the ribs.
Kienro let out a huff of air when Jimin's foot collided into his side. He huffed and puffed, but didn't say a damn thing.
Yoongi stepped in front of him and grabbed his face. "What, cat got your tongue? What the fuck are you doing here and what the hell do you think gives you the right to put your hands on my members?"
Kienro spit in Yoongi's face, and in return, Yoongi punched him right in the mouth, causing his lip to split in half. When he turned around, he saw Hobi and Taehyung tending to Namjoon's wounds. Jungkook, Jin, and Jimin were standing in front of Kienro, ready to finish the job Jungkook had started if he even dared to move.
"Are you okay?" Yoongi asked Jungkook, eyeing the blood all over him.
"Don't worry about me, hyungie. I think most of the blood is his, not mine. But Namjoonie..." Jungkook walked over to be with Namjoon. He pulled his hyung into a hug and could still feel him trembling and trying to catch his breath. Now that he finally had his hyung in his arms, he broke down right there with him. He buried his face into Namjoon's neck. "I love you so much, Joonie hyung. I'm so sorry I didn't get home sooner."
"We're all sorry," Jimin added.
Just then, the police made their way into the house. They didn't even know what to make of the scene before them. The first man held up his badge and introduced himself as Mr. Lee. "What seems to be...going on here?" He looked between Kienro and the members.
The members realized how bad this looked. Kienro was the one tied up, not any of them. They all pointed to him at the same time.
"It was him, officer! Anything we did was in self defense to protect ourselves and make sure he couldn't get away!"
Surprisingly, it didn't take much convincing. Mr. Lee began to free Kienro from his restraints and put him into even better ones - handcuffs!
Now Kienro started fighting back. "They're lying! These motherfuckers are lying! Did you not see that I was the one tied up?! I was just delivering food and Namjoon grabbed and trapped me in there!"
"You can explain that to the judge, then." Mr. Lee grabbed Kienro by the collar of his shirt and started pushing him outside. Paramedics were on the scene not too long after Mr. Lee had already taken Kienro out, and they began escorting Namjoon and Jungkook out to the ambulance.
Jungkook was reluctant to go, but the members reassured him that they'd be following right behind the ambulance.
"And you'll be with me," Namjoon said in order to reassure and persuade him. That was all it took to get Jungkook moving. He didn't really care about himself, but he wanted to be close to Namjoon and make sure he was alright.
None of them noticed Namjoon had a limp when he walked until they were standing behind the ambulance.
"What's wrong with your leg?" Jimin asked.
Namjoon lifted his pant leg to reveal more burns on his lower calf, but not as bad as the burns on his face.
"Oh, hyung..." Jimin pulled Namjoon into a hug. "I'm so sorry." The two stayed like that for a moment, with Namjoon holding Jimin tightly, finding a lot of comfort in his warm presence.
The paramedics booted Namjoon and Jungkook into the ambulance, saying they had to get going. On the way there they were both treated for various cuts. Jungkook needed stitches on the back of left hand and right above his right eyebrow. He was so full of adrenaline he hadn't even realized he'd been cut that badly.
A special cream was being applied to Namjoon's burns and it made him wince when the gel touched his skin, but after a few minutes he felt a cooling sensation that truly helped begin to ease the pain.
Things had been so fast and chaotic in the house that Jungkook never got an answer about how Namjoon ended up in that situation. Namjoon explained how he had ordered food and Kienro just happened to be the one delivering it, and then he had been knocked out.
"Oh," was Jungkook's only response. His heart broke into tiny fragments as he thought about how he still wished he had gotten home sooner. "I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault, Koo." Namjoon reached over and caressed Jungkook's cheek. His maknae kissed the bandages wrapped around his hyung's wrist in return.
While Namjoon and Jungkook were dealing with all of that, the rest of the members were in fits of tears driving right behind the ambulance. Jimin was going off about Kienro being one son of a bitch while the others agreed that the man had another thing coming to him.
They arrived at the hospital and met the boys outside before they all walked in together. Namjoon's leg still hurt, despite the gel, so Jin held his arm and let his dongsaeng lean on him to walk. All of them were escorted into a rather large Emergency Room, equipped with plenty of seating areas for the members, while Namjoon and Jungkook both had access to their own separate beds.
While the two were getting cleaned up and given some painkillers, things had started to settle down. The anxiety was still there, but there was solace in them all being together in one room, and being somewhere safe.
"What the hell happened?" Taehyung asked.
Aside from Jungkook, so far none of them had time to get any real answers until right now. Back at the house they'd all been too preoccupied with getting the situation under control.
Namjoon explained again how everything happened, and the members all felt so shitty for not being there.
"Don't beat yourselves up over it, none of us knew something like that would happen. I sure as hell didn't."
They talked a bit more before Jungkook had to be taken away to get some X-Rays done on his arms. Thankfully nothing had been broken, he was just severely bruised up. When he returned to the room and the members saw him again, Namjoon was the first to start crying- not from seeing Jungkook hurt, but from realizing what Jungkook had done for him.
"You risked your life to save mine. I can never repay you for that." Namjoon's eyes softened as he looked at his maknae. He didn't know what he did to deserve someone in his life who cared about him that much.
"Repay me by feeling better, hyungie. That's all I care about." Jungkook took both of Namjoon's hands in his and kissed his bandages on his wrists a second time. He would have kissed the bandages over Namjoon's burns but he knew the touch might have made them sting too much.
The rest of the members walked over and embraced each other into a group hug, glad that despite the absolutely terrifying night they'd had, it hadn't turned out worse.
--
It had been about two months since the incident happened.
Mr. Lee turned out to be such a saving grace for the members. Something about the members made him know that they hadn't done what they did to Kienro for no reason. He fought for them in court and was able to prove that what they had done was all in self defense.
None of them were ever charged with anything.
Kinero, on the other hand, had been charged with a shit ton of stuff. A deep investigation had unveiled a lot. He'd been secretly stalking the members for a while so he'd know their daily routines. He purposely got a job as a food delivery driver after learning that the members sometimes ordered from the specific restaurant that Namjoon had ordered from that night. He had researched various ways to assault, and if necessary - to kill- someone. He'd been charged with numerous counts of stalking, assault, and even attempted murder. Although he was locked up in jail for a long, long time, and wouldn't be a bother to the members anymore, the members were still dealing with some issues at home.
Namjoon had PTSD and anxiety now. On top of that, he also wasn't aware that he'd be dealing with some after effects of a concussion. On the bright side, his burns were healing up nicely and soon enough there wouldn't even be scars left. Not physical ones, anyway.
Jungkook also had anxiety, but it wasn't nearly as bad as Namjoon's. He would have a nightmare now and then and was a bit overprotective of not only Namjoon, but all of his hyungs. They all just accepted the fact that he was a bit more clingy than he used to be. There was nothing they could really do about that.
Namjoon on the other hand suffered bad night terrors multiple times a week. He'd started therapy sessions which helped sometimes, but not always. He'd be jumpy when he'd hear a loud bang or screaming. He made sure the members put new locks on the front door to their house. He couldn't order food delivery anymore because he was way too terrified that the same thing would happen to him twice. He was confident that there were other people from his past who wouldn't mind showing up and doing the same thing to him all over again.
All of the members decided nobody would stay home alone anymore, at least not for a little while. Just for safety measures.
More weeks went by and Namjoon's night terrors were slowly subsiding, and the special gel that was given for his burns had made them clear right up.
Hooray for advanced medicine.
The anxiety was finally calming down, especially after months of no more issues happening in their lives. Namjoon was less focused on what could go wrong and more focused on a hopeful future.
On top of that, it was now getting to the point where the members could make light hearted jokes about the situation without hurting Namjoon's or Jungkook's feelings. Yoongi would joke about how clearly Kienro was just super hangry that night and wanted Namjoon's meal so badly that he tied him up so he could eat it. The rest of the members would play off that and come up with other bizarre reasons as to why Kienro did it.
Jin couldn't help but laugh. "All that over some damn ramen and pork belly." He squeezed Namjoon's shoulder as he started laughing even harder.
"Why's that so funny, huh?" Namjoon's question was lighthearted.
"Well, just thinking about what you and Jungkookie endured after that. It's...you know..." Jin broke out into his windshield wiper laugh before he could finish his joke.
"You had to pay quite the delivery fee!"
[The End]