Stray Kids || The First Recruits
âąthis is the second part to the semi-series based on 'The Interrogation'âą
"Changbin, we need to try and find some food. It's been, what, two days? We've had one meal in the last two days." Hyunjin's shoulders fell in defeat when Changbin didn't answer him. "Listen, I know you're frustrated, but use the two meals we found and spread over all last week as motivation. We can do that again! We just need to find food-"
"Hyunjin, please. Be quiet, you do this every morning when we wake up." The older's face was as hard and as lifeless as stone. "I thought you said you'd scout for some change lying on the ground, and here you are talking to me." Hyunjin shrank back slightly at his hyung's tone. He kept talking too much, but that was all he knew what to do. He couldn't just walk in silence, he would drive himself mad.
"I'm sorry, hyung." Hyunjin sniffled slightly, pulling his arms up to hug himself and rub his arms. "It's so cold, and it's almost May. Why is the world like this?" Changbin smirked at that.
"It's because the world hates us, Hyunjinnie. We've talked about this already." Hyunjin turned to him, his mouth open wide with disbelief.
"Hyung! You said you'd stop talking like that." The younger sighed and turned away from Changbin. "Fine, I'll stop talking. It's better than you talking, that's for sure."
A stone flew through the air from where Changbin was dragging his feet. "What do you want me to do, be happy? We've been running around with no where to go for weeks! Our families don't even care about us, and we almost got into a damn fight yesterday. How is that supposed to leave any joy in my life?"
Hyunjin opened his mouth for a second, but his words were lost in an instant when he caught the shine of a tear roll down Changbin's face. The older was too slow to wipe it away. "Hyung, no, come here." Changbin shook his head and shoved Hyunjin away when the taller went to grab his jacket sleeve. "Stop fighting me!" Hyunjin stopped walking and latched onto Changbin's entire arm, pulling him back towards him.
Changbin tired to hide his face, but Hyunjin was too smart to let anything slide. "Hyunjin, please, I don't need this-"
"Yes you do, and you know what? We need to stop pretending we're okay. You need to stop pretending you're okay. I'm sorry hyung, but you're not!" Hyunjin's face fell when he felt the man's body shake slightly with a sob. "No, no hyung, come here." Changbin didn't fight him as he was pulled to the younger's chest.
"I'm sorry, Jinnie. I was trying so hard to stay strong for you," he choked out, melting into Hyunjin's soothing back rubs. "I just don't know what to do. I feel so lost, and confused."
Hyunjin smiled at his honestly, the thing that he had been bottling up for the past two months. "It's okay to feel that way, why wouldn't you feel that way. The important thing to do is talk to me. That's the only way this is going to be bearable."
"What if we never make it out of this? Look at us! Look at me! I'm crying in your arms in the middle of an alley that smells like wet dog." Changbin took a deep breath to calm himself. "There's nothing we can do."
"Well, we have to keep moving, standing in one place for a long time is dangerous around here. I know you know that, we learned it back at the compound." Hyunjin smiled at Changbin when he pulled away from him, reaching up to wipe a leftover tear off his cheek.
"Yeah, before they kicked us out." Changbin grumbled. "I can't believe they did that."
"Honestly, anything is better than there." Hyunjin sighed as he followed along behind Changbin, who had started walking again. "Please, they treated us so badly. I'd rather sleep in a dumpster every night then on that thin sheet of bed they gave us."
"At least it was something," Changbin murmured as he peeked around the corner before leading the way into the open, busy street they fell upon.
"It became nothing after what they did to us. I was disgusted when I slept on that bed." The two men hurried down the street, ignoring the looks that they were given. They were used to that now, the stares, the disgust that was thrown at them. Not only because of their clothes, but because of the horrible things they were forced to go out and do in the community when they lived and worked in their former compound. They were surprised at first when they realized that some people remembered them.
That place was brutal. Abuse, neglect, torture, pain, starvation, you name it, they suffered it. As much as being on the street hurt, Hyunjin was right, it was better than that place. Even the food they found laying around outside was better than the stuff they were given.
"Do you think we could find some food around here, and then find some stacked chairs along the sides of cafés? We can take them and return them in the morning." Hyunjin suggested, and Changbin just shrugged, unsure of what to do.
"I guess we could, hopefully there's a secure place to stay." Changbin turned to grab Hyunjin's hand, encouraging him to move along quicker. Today was going to be a good day, he was going to make sure of it.
Over the next two hours, Changbin and Hyunjin managed to sneak some still well-put-together food off of tables that hadn't been clean yet. The found and dragged a nice, good-sized cushioned couch to an isolated area behind a building. The two men were proud of themselves, they never thought they'd have a good day after the tense morning they had.
"We did good this morning hyung, now sleep, we need to be well rested for this evening." Hyunjin smiled when Changbin tried his hardest to get as much of his body on top of Hyunjin as possible. "Yes, I could use you as a blanket, thank you."
"You're comfortable, what can I say?" The older sighed in content as he closed his eyes, his calm state staying with him as he focused on Hyunjin's breathing. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"
Hyunjin shuffled slightly from his comfortable position to pull out his watch from his jacket pocket. "It's about, one thirty p.m., when should we sleep 'till?" Changbin laid there in silence for a moment.
"Maybe 'till four?" Hyunjin nodded, and shoved his watch back in his pocket. It was a pretty fancy watch, so he thought it would be best to keep it hidden. He didn't want to get into a fight over it, and plus, it was the only thing he had left from his peaceful past, he couldn't loose it.
"Sleep tight hyung," Hyunjin whispered softly, and Changbin just whined in response. He couldn't be more grateful for him, and Hyunjin didn't know what he would do without his hyung.
Changbin promised him a good day, Hyunjin knew that. He knew that the older would do anything to give Hyunjin at least one peaceful day. But the interruption that the two faced while they were in the middle of their nap was unavoidable and unstoppable.
Hyunjin awoke to a struggling Changbin, and he just assumed that he was having another nightmare. It was only when the taller fully awoke that saw a man grabbing at Changbin and pulling him away. Hyunjin jumped up, aiming to grab his hyung and try to pull him away from the man.
"Hyung! Wait, let him go!" Hyunjin panicked as he attempted to reclaim the shorter man, who was failing to get the unknown intruder to release his grip on him. "Hyung-" Hyunjin felt hands start pulling on him. More people.
"Hyunjin!" Changbin choked out. They were both in trouble now, but Changbin couldn't think of anything else except getting to his dongsaeng. Before he could scream out again, something hard hit him on the back of his head. He couldn't do anything to stop his body from falling unconscious, but before he did, he saw the men with Hyunjin do the exact same thing to him. Hyunjin's body fell limp, and Changbin couldn't do anything about it as he fell limp in his intruders arms as well.
"No! They can't kick us out! What did we even do?" Hyunjin worriedly paced the room, his hands tugging violently at his hair in frustration. "We have no where to go, hyung! We can't just let them do this."
Changbin sighed as he slumped back into his spot on the bed. "Well, it's either obey them, or die. Your choice." Hyunjin groaned at Changbin's bitter advice.
"Hyung- you're not help anything right now. Do you not understand how bad this is for us? We were just settling in, our families were finally happy that we started doing something with our lives, and now they're just going to take it all away? And for what! That's what I don't get-"
"Jinnie, we will be okay, you know that. I won't let anything bad happen to us, to you." Changbin opened his arms out to the younger, motioning for him to join him on the bed. "We'll be okay." He said again when Hyunjin slumped into him.
"Promise?" Hyunjin whispered into his chest, and the older smiled to himself.
The straps around his arms brought back horrible memories as he tugged against them. Hyunjin had been in this situation before, it was the table of punishment as they liked to call it at their old camp. Only this time, it wasn't in the room that they usually held it in. His eyes passed along the walls, observing the many.. odd tools they had hanging on it. This didn't look like a normal room at all, at least not what he was used to.
The first thing that really caught his eye was the long, stiff-looking feather being held ever-so-gently against a velvet backing on the wall. Why was there a feather being presented like a trophy on a wall? Hyunjin was more confused than scared at this point, and he would have felt that way for longer if a groan hadn't cut through the silence of the room.
"Hyung!" Hyunjin whipped his head up from the table he was strapped to, and caught a glimpse of a shifting Changbin on a table similar to his. "Hyung, are you okay?"
The older tried to lift his head, but it was held down by the pressure of the massive headache that was pulsing through it. "I-I'm okay, Jinnie." He called out quietly, his voice rough.
"I wish they had water available, this isn't a nice thing to do to people they so kindly stole from a couch they were trying to take a nap on." Hyunjin sassed, tugging impatiently at the straps around his wrists.
"This room is so odd, why do they have plants in here? I guess it gives the room a homey feel." Changbin raised his eyebrows at his comment, even though Hyunjin couldn't see it.
"Why would they want a room like this to have a homey feel? People are getting tied down in here, it kind of ruins the mood." The shorter man said roughly.
"Oh, yeah, this isn't a room that we wanted to have a gloomy mood.â A person spoke, and both of the bound men jumped at the unexpected voice.
"Uhum, how long were you standing there for?" Hyunjin ask warily, moving to look up to see who the man was.
"Not long. I'm Peniel, and the first of my recruits will be joining us shortly. It's his training day, and he's going to be persuading members from other failed compounds to join us. It will help him build his team." The man explained.
"H-How do you know we were from another compound?" Changbin asked, his voice thick with stress and nervousness.
"Your clothing, of course! Why would you run away from a training camp without bundling up, especially if it was in the winter. And why wouldn't that clothing have a logo on it?" Hyunjin groaned at the man's words, and Peniel chucked slightly at his reaction.
"I told you we should have stole some new clothes! We wouldn't be in this situation right now if you let me go steal."
"Well I'm sorry I didn't want you to get caught and go to jail!" Changbin retorted, his face contorting in pain as another throb pulsed through is head. "I have the worst headache, why did your men have to knock us out like that?"
Peniel look at Changbin as if he was crazy. "Why would you have let my men take you? They told me you struggled as soon as they laid one finger on you, and you were apparently also asleep."
"Ahh, the beauty of trauma." Changbin smiled bitterly at the thought of the nights he had to endure at his former compound. "If you do know how broken our compound was, then you should know why we would need to be light sleepers."Â
"Yes, yes, and I'm sorry you had to deal with that. I really hope you'll like it better here." The man said, and both boys chirped out a 'what' at his words.
"Uh uh, no way am I trusting another one of these places. I highly doubt you're going to be any better than the last one." Hyunjin shot out, but the man stayed calm and collected as he spoke.
"Well, that's why we're going to persuade you. Speaking of we, here comes your soon-to-be-leader, Mr. Bang Chan!" Another man walked through the door. Hyunjin had to stop his mouth from opening when he caught a glimpse of his face.
"Great, another person." Changbin's complaint cut through Hyunjin's thought, and he regained focus on the situation at hand.
"I don't care what you do, I am not saying yes." Hyunjin finalized, and Chan chuckled softly.
"They don't know what's coming, do they?" He asked, and Peniel shook his head. "I've come first hand with this 'method of persuasion'. It's not that fun, but it's better than what y'all probably had to deal with." Chan walked up to Changbin first, who was finally starting to regain power over his headache.
"Is your head better, my love?" My love? Okay, this place was definitely not your ordinary assassin camp. Changbin stared up at Chan with confused eyes, why was he being so nice? Peniel walked up to Hyunjin, who had the exact same question on the tip of his tongue.
"Why are you guys being so nice to us?" Peniel smiled down at him, but his internal emotions were filled with sorrow. He wondered why they were so confused over the kindness they were being shown.
"You guys weren't treated very well at your compound at all, were you?" Hyunjin frowned at that, and shuffled uncomfortably on the table.
"I don't want to talk about it." He said softly, trying to push his mind away from the scary memories.
"Well, we don't have to, not yet at least. Right now is convincing time! And I think it will help distract you as well." Peniel spoke just as Changbin started squealing. Hyunjin's head shot up again as he tried to see past the two men who were blocking the view of his hyung.
"Wh-What are you doing to him? Don't hurt him!" Hyunjin pleaded as he frantically pulled at the straps around his limbs again. "You guys are so weird! Why are you so secretive? And now touchy!"
"The way your thoughts change so quickly amazes me. And there you were, just talking about how kind we were." Peniel frowned playfully before digging his hands into the taller man's hips. Hyunjin screamed as the man gripped onto him, hunger lacing through his movements.
"This, my good friend, this is the good stuff." Peniel directed his words over to Chan, who was busy with Changbin. His hands had found their way under his shirt, and he was currently tickling all over the shorter man's toned belly.
"I can feel it now, the want to do this. I remember how flashy your eyes were when you had me on this table for the first time. Almost scared me." He replied over the loud screams of the two helpless men. "You looked so... hungry."
"Yeah, hungry for a team to train. These two boys are gonna be the first of many men I want to save from other abusive compounds." Peniel walked his hands up Hyunjin's rib cage, and the bound man thrashed and screamed like a maniac as he tried to get away from the tickly touches. "Like I said, your team, including you, will be an eight membered group. These two will be your first mates."
"AHAHA NAHAHA-" Hyunjin cried out. "PLEHEHEASE- pleheheASE!" His body twisted to the side when his soon-to-be-boss hit a very sensitive spot on his tummy.
"Is your tummy ticklish? Aww, he's cute too. Chan, you're gonna have a great team." Peniel smiled down at the taller man, who was looking tinier than ever. He was all blushy and squealy. Just how Peniel liked them. "A man this sensitive? I would have never thought I'd find such good assassins to take in."
"Whyhy would you want sensitive assassin? And youhu cahahall this tahahaking iN?" Hyunjin wheezed out. "More like torture- WAHAHAIT!"
"I cahahan't- plehehease! StahahaHAHAhahahap!" Changbin giggled out a sentence the best he could, knowing that this wasn't going to stop any time soon. He arched his back with a pained laugh, his head shaking back and forth.
"You still need to tell us that you'll stay, so I'm guessing I won't be able to stop until you do." Chan informed him, smiling at the squeal he pulled from the bound man when he pinched his knee. "Ouu, we got a man with sensitive legs over here! Let's save those for later, how about we try this spot."
Chan moved toward the head of the table, where Changbin's arms laid strapped down. He reached towards the wall behind them, and grabbed a pair of scissors. Using them, he cut down the right side of the assassin's t-shirt, exposing his sensitive armpit and side. "There we go!"
Changbin stared up at Chan with pleading eyes, "please- don't do this! I cahahan't take it- AGH! YOUHU AHAHAHASS!" He screamed as Chan swirled his fingers very lightly along the younger's side.
"That's hyung to you." Chan scolded, putting more pressure into the tickling, causing it to have more effect.
"PLEHEHEASE- IHIHI'M SORRY! I'LL STAY I'LL STAHAHAHAY!" Chan immediately stopped his fingers and lifted them from his side.
"Wow, I didn't even get to his legs." Chan stood there and raked his eyes over Changbin's heaving body, admiring his work. "At least he said yes." Peniel smiled over at him as he continued to tickle their other almost recruit, his thumbs drilling into his hips.
"Very well done, my good sir!" Peniel cheered Chan on as he continued to tickle Hyunjin, this time on his thigh. "This boy over here isn't cracking anytime soon. Since you did so well, I'll give you permission to tickle him more. He gave up too quickly for my liking, and probably for yours as well."
"What-" Changbin looked up at Chan warily, and he just shrugged before walking up to him again. "Chan- hyung, boss, whatever, please don't! This ihihisn't fair! I answered your question!" Chan leaded forward, closing in on Changbin's face.
"I know, but I won't be able to rest well until I see how sensitive those legs of yours are. So you'll cooperate with me, will you?" He questioned, his voice playful but firm. "You don't want me this way for long periods of time, so let's get to it."
Changbin's eyes follow Chan as he walked around the table. He brought scissors to his side again, which was not a good sign at all. He bit his lip when he saw Chan was ready. Changbin was definitely not ready, and probably never would have been as Chan started prodding his right thigh.
On the table a few feet away, Hyunjin was still being tickled to tears. Peniel was focusing on a good spot, the area right under his armpits. It had Hyunjin screaming and bucking, and Peniel couldn't help but continue to smile down at the younger. "You're honestly so adorable." Hyunjin let out a whine through his laugh, shaking his head frantically as his boss squeezed down his side again.
"Peniehehehel! Ihihi'm sojohohorry! StahahAHAHAAH- I CAN'T-" Hyunjin had his answer on the tip of his tongue. He knew he had to say it, he knew he had to say yes. So he did. "IHIHI'LL STAHAHAHAY- AHAH!"
Peniel gave one more squeeze to the assassins side before letting up and pulling away. "He finished quicker than I expected."
Over on the other table, Chan had gotten to work. He had cut up his assassin's right pant leg, and turned it into shorts. "Today, you will be getting a massage." Chan said playfully as he dug his thumbs into Changbin's inner thigh, rubbing in a consistent and ticklish motion.
"Ohohohoho gohohohod!" Changbin pulled himself forward, his legs twisting as he tried to trap Chan's hands to keep them from moving. It was no use, because Chan had started moving his fingers along to his bare hip which was now a very accessible spot. âChan- Chahahahahan nohohohobplebeheASE!â
âYouâre so cute, why are they always so cute?â Chan asked louder when he heard footsteps come up behind him.
âI donât know, maybe itâs just because you end up with the cute ones.â Chan turned to see Hyunjin lean against the table.
Cham smirked, âI see someone was untied, how was the experience?â He asked casually, as if he wasnât making Changbin break under him again.
Hyunjin sighed, still tired from the whole event. âIt was horrible, but I survived I guess. Now itâs time to survive here.â Hyunjin startled when he felt hands on his shoulders, and turned to see Peniel behind him.
âYou will survive, you just need to trust us-â A squeal ripped through the room, and everyone turned back to see a red faced, teary-eyed Changbin twisting himself every which way on the table beneath him.
âHe is very cute actually.â Hyunjin smiled down at his helpless hyung. âBut maybe we should stop now.â
Chan pouted at his suggestion, mostly because it was true, he should stop and let him breathe. But he was so cute, and he didnât want to give this up. âFine.â A pause, then, âbut I need to do this again sometime. Your laugh made me feel better.â
âFIHIHINE- fihine! Just let me ahahahahahaout! Ihiâm dihihihiying.â The shorter man slumped back lifelessly on the table when Chanâs hand lifted off of him.
âYouâre right, he is cute.â Peniel snuck those words in, and was satisfied when he saw Changbinâs face redden again. Chan let his limbs free, Hyunjin helped with his feet, and together they heaved him off the table.
As the assassin heaved in breaths, he couldnât help but ask, âWhy?â
âWhy what?â Chan answered as they walked out of the room and down a rather large hall.
âWhy tickling?â He said through an exhale. Peniel looked over at Chan, whoâs eyes urged him to answer.
âWell, Iâve always wanted to find something that would fit the atmosphere of this compound. It needed to be light hearted, but something that people couldnât stand.â He explained. âI usually put on a mean face, but today I didnât for some reason. You guys were going to be part of Chanâs developing team, and I wanted to make sure that you felt as welcomed as possible to you can pass on good vibes to the next people we bring in.â Hyunjin nodded.
âSo, we wonât die here?â Peniel laughed at that.
âOh course not, my young assassin. Youâve been through too much in your life to understand what safety is, so we hope to bring you some peace here.â Peniel smiled, and Hyunjin smiled back.
Changbin coughed to clear his throat before speaking. âI want a nap now, since your men rudely interrupted us before. It was a good one too, we finally found a cushioned surface to sleep on.â
âWell, now youâll have a bed, and good beds to sleep in.â Changbin smiled at that.
âLetâs go to your rooms, shall we?â Both of the new assassins nodded, and Chan and Peniel happily lead them away.
More of the membersâ stories will come soon hopefully, for now, I hope you enjoyed reading about how Hyunjin and Changbin came to be assassins at Penielâs compound (i literally donât know what to name it)đ©ââ€ïžâđâđ©
I know this was probably a little too similar to Jisungâs situation, but I promise to try and change things up in future parts :) I LOVE YOU GUYS
