#t.k chapter

"jung wooyoung." he grinned, "trying to play hero and save the doc, huh? thought you'd have a better plan. but now that you're here, why don't you join him. unless you'd be oh so kind to give me the info i'm looking for." 

"like hell i will." wooyoung spit at changsik's face, grinning gently when the man flinched in disgust. 

changsik grunted, "fine." he turned to his coworker, "take care of these two, bring some buddies if you want. if you get anything out of them, report to me." he received an affirmative nod before walking away. 

as he made his way through the hideout, thinking lightly on what he should do with this visitor of his. he's probably not even worth much…

"heeseung, correct?" he watched the boy jump, "sorry, didn't mean to scare you." 

heeseung shook his head, "it's fine. is…" he looked around, a small frown lingering on his features. "y/n really here?" 

"why? are you doubting?" changsik laughed as sincerely as he could. "he's here, i assure you. come on, i'll take you to him so you can see you’re worrying for nothing." 

he started walking the opposite direction of where y/n is, heeseung following tentatively. 

"how much do you know of y/n?" changsik asked while thinking of which room to use for his little execution.  

"i would say a lot, but lately it's felt like i know nothing…" 

"i see…" changsik nodded to himself. yep, definitely useless. "well just walk in here and y/n will arrive…" he gestured to the shorter, who walked in uncritically. "but in your next life, probably." 

heeseung paused, confused at what changsik said. he turned around to verbally question him, only to be met with the end of a gun. 

"alright, so what have you got?" 

"nothing really, sir. they're not talking." 

changsik frowned, walking up to wooyoung who was tied to a pillar. "not talking, eh? you really prefer getting every bone in your body broken over spilling a few sentences?" 

wooyoung grunted in pain when changsik kicked him in the stomach. he could barely curl up in pain and changsik enjoyed his frantic struggling. 

"i'll give you about ten minutes to carefully reconsider. it's not treason if you're doing it to survive." changsik crouched down, patting wooyoung's cheek and laughing as the boy flinched. 

by now, y/n's blindfold was off. it was bothersome to see the state wooyoung was in… but who knew how bad his own was? for sure he looked worse than the younger. 

as soon as changsik and the other three left, y/n directed something to wooyoung. 

"what are you playing at here." 

wooyoung looked at him through heavy eyes, it felt more like a glare. "what do you mean?" 

"from what i've seen these past weeks, ateez decides as a group. you guys work as a group. you're pretty stupid to come out here alone, you know. and that makes me assume something’s up." 

wooyoung sighed, resting his head against the pillar. he winced, squeezing his eyes shut as his head throbbed. “fine, you’re right. i’m stupid for wanting to make my best friend happy again with no plan whatsoever. and for ditching my team. the day jongho came back claiming you ran away, san denied it saying you would never do that.” his lips quivered as he tried to ignore the pain.

"they went back and forth, fighting every chance they got. the team’s falling apart with the accusations— and they’re mostly from san’s part. no one’s getting why you’re so special to him…” wooyoung opened his eyes and locked them with y/n’s curious ones, “except me, because san tells me everything.”

y/n’s heart picked up in pace at the sound of wooyoung’s tone. he was almost afraid to know what he meant; “what... do you mean by that.”

“he likes you.” wooyoung smiled gently, ignoring the pain in his busted lip. “as in, he likes likes you.” he took in y/n’s flustered face, “and he’s going crazy not knowing where you are. but he’s impatient, stubborn and that’s driving the others mad.”

“...but what do they want from you?”

“dongwoo?” wooyoung glanced at the door, “in ranks, ateez is first, dongwoo’s group is second. the one time we try to work together they try to pull something which failed on them, but either way, they’re still trying. i can only guess that they want to know how to push us under.”

just as he finished explaining, changsik and his buddies came walking through the door again. this time, with weapons. y/n felt bad for the sigh of relief he almost let out when they approached wooyoung. 

“now, while our boss is informing yours about a few things, we’re going to have some fun beating the shit out of you two.”changsik untied wooyoung’s ropes, watching the boy fall to the floor, barely catching himself. “unless, you know, you tell us where your hideout is, what businesses you’re running and where and give us access to your database.”

“the answer’s still no-” wooyoung cried out in pain as changsik shot a bullet at his thigh. 

“well then,” changsik crouched down next to him, “we’ll be here for a while.”

“don’t make that face.” hongjoong threw san a glare.

they had finally finished the details of the plan, having gone over them so no one missed a detail. yeosang was to stay at the hq incase dongwoo’s men were ordered to try anything if they found it, along with hongjoong. the others were to go bring wooyoung and y/n back, while san was also to stay behind. 

“i’m practically useless in this plan!” san argued, while pointing aggressively at the mapped out plan on the paper hongjoong drew. 

“you’re injured, of course you are.” jongho commented while rolling his eyes. 

san glared at the younger, ready to start yet another fight, but seonghwa intervened. “that’s enough.” he glared softly at san, “what exactly do you want to do then.”

“let me go with you.” before they started arguing with him, he continued. “i’ll stay in the van.”

yunho laughed, shaking his head. “of course you will.”

hongjoong sighed, “fine. now go get ready, i want you to leave as soon as possible.”

they all nodded, excusing themselves. hongjoong grabbed seonghwa’s hand before the older left. seonghwa eyed him worrily. 

“what’s wrong-”

“i need you back here… alive.”

seonghwa smiled smugly, “you doubting my skills, kim?”

hongjoong rolled his eyes, “hwa.”

“fine fine, but what makes you think i’ll leave you?” 

"i'm just telling you i want back here alive. i'm not willing to give you a funeral so soon. i don't have the funds for it." 

"funny." now it was seonghwa who rolled his eyes, he intertwined his fingers with hongjoong's while continuing. "of course i'll come back alive, you guys would starve to death if not from food poisoning by trying to cook." he laughed softly when hongjoong made a face of agreement, "plus, if i die it better be with you." 

"how touching." hongjoong grinned, pulling seonghwa down a bit. "see you later then." he kissed seonghwa gently, the older one returning it with a smile. 

their moment was disturbed when san's voice came through their ear piece. "seonghwa-hyung~ can i get some snacks for the road~? you know what, i'll decide for you. so, yes."

after seonghwa excused himself with a heavy sigh, they began to prepare for their journey. although the province dongwoo was in only took an hour or so to get there, it felt like very little time to mentally prepare.

"alright you guys." hongjoong watched mingi close the trunk. "your mission is to get y/n and wooyoung, i don't care how you do it as long as police do not get involved. even if they do, yeosang can take care of it, but you know it's safer to keep things under control. as long as you have each other, everything will go great. don't doubt yourselves unless the others doubt you as well. so go out there and show dongwoo and his men ateez will and can never be brought down." 

"also," yeosang locked eyes with san. "dongwoo said once he gets info out of the two he'll make a move. assuming they're loyal, they'll withstand any torture. so although we've seen some nasty injuries, be prepared for something you might have never seen. and i'm sure all of dongwoo's men, including dongwoo himself, will be in one place, so do what you seem fit."

"got it!" 

at the approval, the man nodded, “name’s changsik, by the way. what do you work as? i’m assuming you’re also in the medical field.”

they walked along the aisle of the cough syrups, ointments, and the few other medicines to turn and make their way to the exit door. y/n furrowed his brows, about to ask why they were exiting until changsik made another turn, walking towards the staff room. 

“your assumption is correct, i’m a surgeon…” he replied belatedly, trailing off as he stepped foot inside the room. his eyes trailed on the shelves full of unopened boxes, more prescription pills, and—bingo! the supplies he’d written down on his list. 

for a split second, the memory of san handing it to him flashes across his mind, blinking it away as he turned to changsik. “wait, how are you able to access this?”

“i’m a regular.” he glanced across at him, looking past the window. “and also the perks of having a pharmaceutical license,” a hefty laugh left his mouth, “took some convincing though.” 

“huh,” y/n squatted down, inspecting a box that was on the floor, “i guess that makes sense.”

“just put what you need in a box and take it out. i’ll just say you’re helping me take it back.” changsik smiled, watching y/n nod and do so.

after a few minutes, y/n finished and announced he was ready to check out. changsik’s eyes met one of the cctv cameras before settling on y/n. 

“alright, let’s go check out.” 

as they walked toward the front, they reached the hallway that led to the exit. just as y/n was going to walk past, toward the checkout counter, a hand forcefully grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back. he looked behind him, in a startled manner, thinking changsik had just forgotten something. however, a deeper fear struck when changsik’s hand moved to clench at the back of his collar. 

“don’t make a sound.”

the second the cold blade touched the skin of y/n’s neck, the surgeon knew to stay quiet. there was a burning in his throat as he struggled to swallow, scared to trigger any abrupt movement. his frantic mind jumbled about, words of scolding placed toward himself and the situation while trying to get a grip. he thought of using the in-ear to alert jongho, but it would risk exposure of the communication device: in any case… he’d be dead by then.

“what is taking him so long?” jongho grunted, tapping his foot in impatience. it’d already been about 10 minutes since y/n entered the store—it shouldn’t take that long for a surgieron to find equipment that’s of medicinal standard!

tapping his in-ear and calling out the doctor’s name, he got no response. placing his face mask on, he rushed into the store, beckoning the cashier. “have you seen a man, about 6’3” with h/c hair?”

the cashier stared at him with a shocked look, “yes, but he went back toward the restrooms. is he dangerous?”

jongho shook his head before running toward the back of the store. he shoved against the restroom door, shouting out the older’s name as he threw open each stall door. finally admitting the fact that the older had disappeared, he tapped his in-ear once more, calling out for anyone.

“jongho, what’s going on?” hongjoong had intercepted the connection, hearing jongho’s worried voice.

the bodyguard had no time to register the primal fear that would settle itself in his bones once faced with the leader, “it’s y/n, hyung. he ran away.” 

jongho returned to the headquarters after scoping out the area once more and had just entered through the front door when he was met with the sight of the whole group. 

hongjoong was staring at him with his jaw clenched and an almost empty whiskey glass settled in his lax hand. jongho had never seen a look so severe in hongjoong’s eyes—he’d never messed up this bad. and apparently, the leader wasn’t the only one emotionally affected by his mistake, because before hongjoong could even physically express his own anger, san had snatched the glass from his hand and launched it at jongho, missing his head by less than an inch.

everyone was shocked at his silent outburst, san even going as far to ignore the immense pain in his abdomen and on his shoulder, but hongjoong simply sent the younger a look, causing him to cower back in the slightest. jongho, however, was enraged at what had just happened. what gave san, who had no superiority over him, the right to do that?

“what the fuck was that?” he had stormed over to the boy, grabbing his shirt with both fists. san didn’t back down, sticking his jaw out toward the youngest.

“how could you lose y/n?”

“i was told no matter what to avoid cameras, so i stayed outside! i didn’t exactly think the fucker would have the balls to run away!” 

everyone watched the two, eyeing when to step in and pull them apart. but hongjoong let them run their mouths. the longer someone talks, the more something is revealed. what he was looking to be revealed, he didn’t know; but something would come up.

san pushed back against jongho, “y/n hyung wouldn’t run away. he’d never do that!” 

‘oh,’ hongjoong perked in interest.

the younger scoffed, “what makes you so sure?”

san’s next words came as a bit of a shock, leaving the others with silent questions, “he promised he’d come back.”

bingo!

an awkward silence filled the room as they all stared, speechless at how hopelessly fond their brother had become for their hostage. as much as some of them hated to admit it, y/n was only a hostage to them at the end of the day. and for san to fall into a reversal stockholm syndrome of sorts was nothing short of  a disappointment. however, that couldn’t be the main focus, y/n was missing and they didn’t know how strong his resolve would be in the event of torturing.

“run us back on what happened, will you?” hongjoong told jongho, trying to get a clear picture on what went down because the first thing they needed to know was why y/n was taken, much less, who took him. was it by the same person who’d been running their mouths in the streets? 

and right in the middle of his explanation, an alarm went off on yeosang’s phone; it was a message. the others kept talking, figuring yeosang could handle whatever message he’d received. 

it was when he promptly stood up that all attention had been placed on him. 

“it’s him! it’s dongwoo!”

a soft whimper sounded as y/n was thrown to the ground, hands bound and eyes blinded by some piece of cloth.

“boss,” y/n’s kidnapper spoke in a submissive wave, causing y/n to assume the guy had straightened his spine and was saluting him in some way.

a moment later, a gruff voice broke through the eerie silence in the room, “and who is this?” his voice wasn’t angered or bewildered at all, and that’s what scared y/n. he sounded intrigued; like even he wasn’t expecting to be a part of this situation.

“someone with connections to ateez— saw that bodyguard walking around with him.” 

the other man hummed, “the bodyguard didn’t follow you, did he?”

“no, no. i found them by the pharmacy; i know the area pretty well because i do the runs for sowon— i knew the camera blindspots!” his abductor seemed to be a bit on the simpler side when it came to this “boss” of his, y/n concluded. this was a completely different personality than when he was being abducted at the scene…

“good job. and you know what, changsik-ah,” his voice seemed to be getting more intrigued, y/n’s heart beating even faster in response, “since you bought in such a valuable hostage, i’ll let you have the honors of obtaining information from him.”

y/n felt the air beside him shift, changsik bowing a full 90 degrees at his boss’s blessing, “thank you!”

a sickeningly hearty laugh resonated and the creaking of a chair sounded before the boss’s next words seemed to be the final straw for y/n’s pounding heart.

“i want him alive.” 

“he better be alive,” san growled at jongho.

“we might get to him alive if you two would quit bickering. we’re wasting time because of you two, so shut it and sit down!” hongjoong had had enough of the two. he knew it was a sensitive time for san and jongho, different reasons for both, of course, but they would only get nowhere if they weren’t level-headed.

the two boys bowed their heads at their leader, san still sending a side-eyed glare at the younger before sitting down in his chair. 

it’d been two days since y/n was kidnapped and they still hadn’t been able to come up with a plan to get y/n back. 

wooyoung tried to trace where the text message came from within the first minute it was received, but surprise, surprise! it was a burner phone— so back to square one; checking all of the cctv footage in the area and trying to spot a suspect that wasn’t even visible from the first frame. 

the cameras in the pharmacy showed only y/n, the pharmacist, clerk, and four other customers. of those four, only one person never entered through the front door. and within those 48 hours, he’d managed to single out a vehicle that had arrived in the frame of one of the street cams showing the alleyway behind the pharmacy, and left the same way not even 5 minutes later. it was a suspicious vehicle too; white van, no windows in the back, and paper license plates. the paper plates hinted that they were most likely changed recently or are changed frequently.

and so after hours of having to witness his best friend be so uncharacteristically frantic and down, wooyoung, unfortunately, decided to do what he thought was smartest—save y/n himself to make his best friend happy again.

his intentions may have been well, but in stories like these, doesn’t something always go wrong?

“help me set the table guys,” seonghwa cleared his throat, hand on his hip as he stirred the soup on the stove. the steam from the boiling liquid sent another cloud to his tired face, a sheen of sweat and condensation forming.

“i really don’t understand why we are acting like we have the time to set a table and eat home cooked meals when we don’t!” san exasperated, pacing around the dining room. 

mingi gave a sympathetic smile, patting him on the back before going to help seonghwa. 

while mingi was more on the understanding side of san’s worries, jongho disagreed, “how exactly do you expect us to find him if we don’t take care of ourselves?”

“all i’m saying is food and sleep shouldn’t be this consistently on your minds when we’re all in this situation!”

jongho scoffed, finding the utmost absurdities in san’s words, “why are you acting like he’s so important? he doesn’t know anything about us or our weaknesses— for fuck’s sake, it’s not like we can’t just get another doc—”

a fist had flown toward jongho’s cheek, cutting off his words, before san’s thrashing body was being pulled back by mingi and yeosang.

“go to hell choi jongho!” san screamed, trying to force his way through the barrier the two had made with their bodies. the boy could feel his stitches tearing as he fought, but he didn’t care. jongho had been a bitch since the very first moment y/n was around, and for what reason?

“cut it out, san!” yeosang hollered, voice brute as he pushed against the boy.

“no, let me at him. he wants to keep being a little shit, i’ll show him shitty!”

“stop it! you haven’t even noticed, have you?”

san didn’t stop trying to break the barrier, focusing on getting to jongho and the other’s words, “notice what?”

“wooyoung’s missing,” yeosang began, san whipping his head toward him and trying to disagree, but yeosang was having none of it, “and you haven’t done anything but antagonize everyone here for not doing their jobs at your pace!”

“oh, excuse me for trying to be as quick as possible in finding him!”

“yeah, and who ever said quick was the efficient route to go? we’re dealing with people we know nothing about, but they seem to know a little too much about us, no? so stop getting on everyone’s asses and—”

“shut the hell up! please!” seonghwa had slammed his hands down on the table, screaming at the top of his lungs. every person in the room had immediately gone silent, words left on the tips of their tongues in a desperate attempt to fly about.

“you’re all going to shut it, sit down, and eat this meal like the civilized people we are and come up with a plan to get y/n back as safely as possible,” he gave a quick glare at everyone, blowing a puff of air at the lock of hair that had settled over his eyelids.

“am i clear?”

seonghwa perked up, arms tightening around himself, “that means old business is talking.” hongjoong nodded, letting him know they were both on the same page.

after a moment of silence, hongjoong sucked his teeth and looked up at y/n, eyes holding an emotion the older couldn’t read. the two held eye contact for barely 3 seconds before hongjoong spoke in yeosang’s direction. “i want you to stay here with y/n,” at those words, the younger gave a look that explained his feelings very well, y/n thought.  

yeosang thought this was bullshit, but he couldn’t speak out on it because he trusted hongjoong knew well enough. “don’t take it personal, i don’t trust y/n fully. we don’t know what can happen.”

yeosang could only nod, deciding against disobeying hongjoong’s orders. 

“alright, everyone get ready. we leave in an hour, i wanna get there early. scope out the place.”

y/n felt ashamed and angry. 

ever since the group left for the mission, almost an hour ago, yeosang has been rude and treating him like he was the cause of all his problems. he felt ashamed because yeosang’s bruteness made him feel, somewhat, small and embarrassed, like it was his fault they were in this situation.

“get out of my way,” yeosang had shoved y/n on the way to the kitchen. the older stared dumbfounded, patience wearing thin.

“a simple excuse me would’ve been nice.”

yeosang scoffed, opening the refrigerator. if there was one thing that bothered him, it was being on babysitting duty. 

“yeah, well i’m not exactly in the mood to play around and be all goody-two-shoes. so you know what would be nice?” he directed a sharp glare to y/n, not giving him a chance to answer his rhetorical question, “if you would fuck off.”

y/n bit his tongue, sizing up the smaller. his thoughts blocked his irritation, taking in the fact that yeosang was a gang member. he’s pretty sure size wouldn’t inconvenience the younger when handling a physical situation, much less a verbal one.

the doctor went to walk away as yeosang placed a plate in the microwave, until he noticed red markings on the skin of yeosang’s wrist, his shirt sleeve sliding down as his arm lifted. “are you okay?”

“last i checked, i didn’t ask for some psychological evaluation. so for the love of god-”

“no- i meant your wrist… is your wrist okay?”

a barely noticeable blush covered yeosang’s ears, “i’m fine. it’s nothing.” 

y/n’s head tilted, an unsure look on his face.“do… do you mind if i take a look at it?” 

yeosang stilled, the low hum of the microwave filling in the silence. he hesitated, but decided against it, knowing yunho had told him he needed to get it looked at because there wasn’t much he could do.

his eyes drifted to y/n, his arm slowly gravitating in the direction of y/n, a silent approval. the doctor carefully walked forward, gently grabbing yeosang’s hand and pulling the sleeve slightly. a small gasp left his mouth, the sleeve barely pulled back but the wound already looked pretty bad. “do you have a first aid kit?”

the metal lid of the small trash can clinked as it swung back and forth, ointment-clotted swabs and bandage wrappers crinkling within the confinement. “thank you,” yeosang’s voice was small, his upset mood dissipating as time went on. 

“it’s no problem,” y/n finished wrapping yeosang’s wrist, careful not to make it too tight, “that was a second degree burn though… how’d you get it?”

yeosang looked down, a blush settling on his cheeks. his head dropped and his feet swung under the medical cot he sat on. he mumbled something, biting his lip afterwards, and y/n’s eyebrows furrowed. “i’m sorry, what was that?” and yeosang mumbled once more, y/n still not hearing what he said. “huh?”

“i said i burned myself trying to help seognhwa hyung make your meals!”

y/n blinked, “oh.”

and for the next few moments, it was deadly silent, the ticking of the wall clock echoing. y/n couldn’t take the awkwardness any longer, clearing his throat, “well, next time you get hurt, please don’t be afraid to come to me. it’d give me something to do, i already feel pretty useless and lonely here, to be honest.”

yeosang looked up, his feet no longer swinging, and a confused look on his face. “you’re not useless. we wouldn’t have kept you alive if you were.”

at that moment y/n inhaled, not knowing how to respond to that. “uh, jeez, that uh… hm, that makes me feel better… i guess?” a moment passed before the two chuckled, a comedic break turning out to be a lot more comforting than they expected. 

minutes passed, their conversation dying down into light replies and subtle smiles when yeosang asked a question that threw the doctor off. “do you know anyone by the name of heeseung?”

dozens of thoughts raced through y/n’s mind; why does he want to know? is heeseung okay? did he do something he wasn’t supposed to? 

“. . . yes.” but y/n couldn’t ask any further because before he knew it, yeosang had nodded and gotten down from the cot, walking out of the infirmary area.

meanwhile, miles away the others had arrived at the meeting spot, every member cautiously looking out for anything strange. seonghwa began pulling in closer to the black van adjacent to theirs, letting hongjoong and wooyoung scout to make sure this was the man they were meeting with.

after confirmation that this was dongwoo, they holstered their weapons within the waistbands of their trousers and exited the van. 

“have you got it?” hongjoong cut to the chase; he was quite a brute person when it came to work. and dongwoo and his people wanted to make a good first impression? he’d see how well he could handle him.

“yep, got a truckload of ak-47’s, m16’s, and a couple 9mm’s. all smuggled from america.”

hongjoong pursed his lips, an impressed nod making dongwoo’s ego subtly inflate. word on the street said no one had successfully managed to smuggle weapons, specifically guns, to ateez without the korean law getting too heavily involved. the trader always got caught, and ateez always made sure to utilize their connections and silence those who they couldn’t trust to keep their mouths shut. 

hongjoong had to go to some expensive lengths just to get the glock 17’s they used now. the quality of the gun proved its worth though, they learned. however, it was rare that they resorted to guns—they didn’t rely on them unless they themselves were in danger or if someone needed to be silenced quickly.

“looks good to me,” hongjoong complimented, turning his head slightly toward wooyoung, “bring out their payment.” 

wooyoung nodded briefly, bringing his hands from behind his back, a large herbal drink-branded bag being showcased. dongwoo raised a brow, peeking over and catching a glimpse of the rolls of cash that filled the bag to the brim.

“thank you for your service,” hongjoong beckoned wooyoung to hand the bag to dongwoo, before he went to step toward his shipment.

“wait, what?”

at dongwoo’s abruptness, san stepped forward, “what do you mean ‘what’? take the deal or leav—” his words died down and he cowered back when hongjoong’s sharp glare met his eyes, immediately silencing him. 

the leader clasped his hands behind his back and made a sharp turn toward the man. “is there something wrong?” his head was tilted and a curious look was on his face, there shouldn’t have been anything wrong with this offer and if there was, there was only a problem on dongwoo’s side. call it being ignorant, but hongjoong didn’t say he never had a problem because he wanted to be cocky and egotistic. it was simply the truth. 

out of every issue he and the others had encountered with a deal, none had gone wrong on their part. it was part of the reason their group was at the top—they were efficient business partners and leaders. something only went wrong when non-mutual expectations weren’t met.

“there’s no ‘we’re looking forward to doing future business with you’?”

a small smirk had taken over hongjoong’s lips, hidden by the hanging of his head. “mr. yoo, we further business with those of the same intentions as us. do you, perhaps, know what those intentions are?”

dongwoo stood dumbfounded; of everything he heard about ateez and their leader, he didn’t think to find out just what their goal was.

“it seems you don’t know, so i’ll tell you. we, ateez, have come this far from one thing and one thing only—loyalty. when i heard your proposition of your first impression leading to cheaper traders, something was a little off,” his eyes squinted and he bought his pointer finger and thumb to barely touch, “you know a little too much, don’t you think?”

dongwoo’s eyes widened slightly but he recovered, however, it was noticeable. “what are you talking about?” 

“someone’s been talking, haven’t they? leaking information about us that they, most certainly, weren’t warranted to give, but you probably don’t know much—you’re not the loose tie that needs to be cut off,” he looked dongwoo dead in the eyes as his own narrowed, “i hope.”

his intimidating stare lasted for a few moments more before a light smile covered his face, eye lightening. “take your payment, we’ll be taking our things and leaving.”

hongjoong gave a nod of his head, him and the rest of ateez splitting up to hook the small weapon-filled-trailer to their own vehicle, dongwoo and his men pulling off once it was unattached. 

“boss, i don’t feel so good about this right now. i think we should hurry and get out of here.” yunho spoke, a hand rubbing at the hairs that stood on the back of his neck. hongjoong didn’t question further, sharing the suspenseful feeling that creeped up his spine, giving a prompt nod.

after 5 minutes were spent attaching the trailer and making sure they were ready to go, seonghwa started the engine and waited for everyone to get in. just as san and mingi were about to get in the van, the screeching of tires sounded nearby.

“get down!” and bullets went flying.

“do you like raisin bran?”

y/n gave a slight nod, folding his hands in front of him. “sure!” yeosang held the box in the air, stopping mid-grab.

“aren’t you a doctor? raisin bran has a lot of sugar…”

y/n shrugged his shoulders, standing to get bowls for the both of them, “i’m a doctor, not a dentist. besides, i’m quite the sugar addict. with the injuries i see and multiple hour surgeries i perform, i need some type of a high—so sugar high it is!”

yeosang laughed, shaking his head and setting the cereal box on the counter before grabbing the milk from the fridge. “quick question doc,” yeosang began and y/n looked at him, setting the bowls and spoons down. “milk first or cereal?”

yeosang held a laugh in when y/n had a visibly offended look on his face, a hand pressing to his chest. “yeosang, please tell me you put cereal fi—”

“shit! y/n where the fuck are you?!” someone had frantically shouted from the front of the house, yeosang and y/n giving each other a worried look before tripping over their own feet to reach the living room.

“oh my—what happened?!”

“fuck,” hongjoong let out a belligerent roar, “get him to the infirmary!”

y/n panicked, grabbing onto the injured man and hoisting him up into his arms, rushing to the infirmary. he looked down at the paled man in his arms, huffing out a breath of air, “don’t worry san, i’ve got you!”

san lies on the medical cot, eyes still and closed and chest rising and falling in a calming pattern. y/n is sitting next to him, checking his vitals every few minutes and making sure his labs are okay. after verifying everything is stable, he sat the clipboard down, closing his own eyes and lying his head in his arms on the cot, dozing off. 

it’d been about 3 hours since san was bought in like this. y/n could’ve laughed at how freaked out he was earlier—san’s injuries weren’t even the worst he’s ever seen or treated, but your emotions and professionalism change when the person lying on your operating table is someone you have a nice relationship with… and when said patient’s fellow gang members are breathing down your neck, reminding you that there’s no other option than survival for him...

“how is he?” hongjoong’s voice startled y/n out of his exhausted haze, the older jumping in his spot.

“he’s fine now. if you’d have been any later, he would have coded… and i can’t do much for coding outside a hospital.”

the leader nodded his head, his chest and shoulders dropping slightly as if he could finally breathe. y/n watched him, watched how hongjoong toed around the cot, staring san’s unconscious form down.

y/n fumbled with his fingers, running over his next words in his head before just blurting them. “is it hard?”

“what do you mean?”

he shrugged his shoulders, looking at the shorter, “being a leader… having to watch over everyone,” he held eye contact with the leader, trying to read his expression, “it must be suffocating when something happens to one of them.”

hongjoong’s tongue swiped over his teeth as he stared the taller down. the air around them was tense—hongjoong knew y/n meant good by his words, but he’s not the type of person to just get emotional with people, especially those who aren’t exactly close to him. the others may see y/n as someone more than a hostage, but to hongjoong, he was just that. a person they were taking advantage of—a person who was only cooperative because his life was on the line.

“we’re going to head back to the shooting scene and see if we can find anything that’ll lead us to dongwoo, son-of-a-bitch. wooyoung and yeosang will stay with you and san… so let them know if you or san needs anything.” y/n cleared his throat, giving a curt nod before standing up and walking toward the cabinets, desperate to escape the awkward and tense aura. 

when he heard the door to the infirmary shut, signaling hongjoong had left, he let out a sigh before starting to occupy himself again. he opened a cabinet, grabbing a roll of gauze—it was time to change san’s dressings.

as he made his way back to the cot, he noticed san was now awake and it caused him to stop in his tracks. “when did you wake up?”

“unfortunately, when it got awkward,” san watched y/n’s face fall, a look of embarrassment overtaking his tired features. he held back a teasing smile, leaning back on his arms, although hissing in pain and sitting back up when the pressure sent a stabbing pain through his side and shoulder. he watched y/n walk toward him and lift his clean shirt to start snipping at the dirtied gauze anchored around his naked shoulder.

a few moments went by of y/n re-bandaging and wrapping san’s wounds before the injured boy’s head tilted to the side. he didn’t know if it was because he was high off pain meds or if it was because he’s been so deprived of seeing an unfamiliar face… but y/n looked really handsome and flattering. even thinking about feeling that way sent a drunk feeling to san’s head, his mind getting lost and going blank in the echoing cavity of his skull. it was no secret to himself that he was rather flexible when it came to his romantic relationships and feelings, but he was still foreign to it.

he decided to push it to the back of his mind, feeling rather rushed and irrational at the moment, “y/n hyung… are you feeling better now?”

the older turned to look at him, an eyebrow raised in confusion, “i should be asking that—you’re the one who got shot in the shoulder and stomach,” he pulled san’s shirt back down, careful not to put pressure on his shoulder. he turned around for a moment before turning back and wrapping san’s arm in a sling.

“thank you,” the younger softly spoke, before continuing, “i just noticed you’re more at ease with all of...this. it’s almost a complete 180 from when we first met.”

the doctor’s hands froze against his own lap, a sigh leaving his mouth and his eyes fluttering in a blink of realization, “i guess so.”

“they’re not here—”

hongjoong sighed through his nose, looking rather composed; and the others thought it wasn’t much of a deal until the leader kicked the seat in front of him, scaring seonghwa, who was in the driver’s seat. “call yeosang.”

“been here for a while, what’s up.” said male spoke through their communicator, sounding calm and unbothered.

“can you please stop doing th—can you find anything about dongwoo’s whereabouts?”

“give me a sec,” the boy registered, the clicking of a keyboard sounding into the communication device.

“alright so while yeosang’s doing what should have been done, please tell me why there wasn’t an extensive amount of research on this client?” hongjoong was pissed. not only did their transaction end in a one-sided gunfight, it ended up with one of their own having more than one bullet wound.

wooyoung swallowed, knowing damn well the question was aimed at him. “hyung, i did do research. i made sure to look up what links he has with other businesses and everything that i could think of. i’ve never failed at doing so-”

“then why did you fail this time?”

it got heavily quiet, seonghwa looking at his boyfriend through the rear-view mirror. no one uttered a breath and looked away from a fidgeting wooyoung.

“aight i’m back.”

hongjoong ignored seonghwa’s prompting  gaze, “what did you find?”

“nothing. they’re good at covering their tracks and maybe that’s why wooyoung couldn't find much. usually, we resort to hacking, but i’ve never seen these sorts of codes before and if you want me to break the wall down it will take longer than what you’d want.”

the leader sighed once more, pinching the bridge of his nose while bouncing his right leg. “No it’s fine, we’ll just hope dongwoo and his crew don’t appear again.”

“but hyung, isn’t that a little reckless-”

“you shouldn’t be one to speak right now.” hongjoong turned to glare at wooyoung, the younger male pursing his lips and nodding. “everyone get in the car, we're going back.”

“...so i’m not going to try and hack this? aw.”

“what’s wrong?” san frowned as wooyoung sulked while sitting next to him on the cot.

“hyung’s mad with me…”

y/n had his back facing them, trying to arrange the mess that was on the counter where all the ointments and supplies were. yunho had came in earlier to apologize for not keeping it organized, his exact words being “i just clean up their wounds as best as i can, and i’m not really in here unless it’s an emergency.”

san lingered a glance at y/n as if the older would do the same. “is it because of dongwoo?”

the younger nodded with a pout, leaning on san’s side. “mhm, and he hasn’t talked to me since.”

“well you know joong-hyung, he’s…” san thought for a few seconds, and when he couldn't find the words, he bit the inside of his cheek. “ he’ll get over it, just give it time. or talk to seonghwa-hyung, he’ll know what to do, he always does.”

wooyoung whined, “i already did! and he said ‘i can’t do anything’ with that pained smile of his!”

san blinked, “what? you’re lying, hwa-hyung would never fail us-”

“no no, i was there. he talked to hongjoong-hyung before wooyoung came up to him...or at least tried. joong-hyung isn’t talking to anyone right now. that’s why hwa-hyung told you he can’t do anything.”

“yeo, i swear you’re the nosiest person ever. like, please, i’m not sure if that’s good or bad sometimes.” san grimaced after processing yeosang’s comment through the earpiece.

“as far as i know it’s done us more good than bad. plus, it’s my job to be nosy, remember? we all get paid for things, and i get paid for sticking my nose up yall’s business.”

“wait you do that 24/7?” wooyoung frowned.

“uh, no. sometimes i don’t even intend to do it, ya’ll loud as fuck so sometimes i don’t even need the communicators. and i only comment on things that mean something. and before you ask this did not mean anything, i just wanted to join in the conversation.”

san snorted, “then why didn’t you just walk in here?”

“cus i’m busy right now.”

“doing what?” wooyoung grabbed san’s hand and played with his friend’s fingers.

“doing what i was not authorized to do—hack that wall.”

“won’t you get in trouble?”

“maybe,” the sound of him smacking his lips sounded, “but at least i won’t be given the silent treatment.”

wooyoung sat up. “yah! yeosang i will come down there and kick you!” when he heard no response he jumped off the cot and walked out the room, “yeosang i warned you!”

while hearing his best friend yell down the hall, san laughed. his attention returned to y/n who had his head tilted and a confused look on his face. “what’s wrong, hyung?”

“how...were you two talking to yeosang?” 

san hummed, smiling while tapping the clear earpiece in his ear. “we have them on unless we’re showering and sleeping or something. but when we’re on duty we have them on, speaking of that, i’ll tell jongho to get you one-”

y/n shook his hands in front of him as san was about to move, “you shouldn’t move too much, you might reopen a wound. i’ll call him…” y/n’s voice died down when he realized what he was volunteering to do.

at the sudden look of horror on y/n’s face, san laughed. 

“don’t worry, jongho’s just a buff teddy bear unless in danger. but for now, i’ll call him over.” san raised his hand to his earpiece, making y/n question why he couldn’t do that before. “jongho, can you bring an earpiece for y/n?”

san nodded when the younger agreed, saying he’ll be there shortly. he lowered his hand and rested it on his lap. “have you gotten along with anyone here yet?” he tried to spark conversation with the doctor, highly interested in him and feeling the need to know more about him.

“aside from yeosang, seonghwa and you, uh, not really. maybe yunho? i mean, he’s never showed any sign of hatred towards me so i guess we get along decent too...but i haven’t really had a chance to meet the others.”

the younger nodded, “well we may look tough and all, but i promise we’re all chill. hongjoong-hyung is only tough and straightforward when he’s on the lookout. just give him some time and you’ll see how nice and caring he is.”

y/n hummed, “i guess..”

“i have arrived with the product~” jongho smiled while walking inside the room, a box in hand. “once you put it on it will send yeosang a message and he’ll grant access to it.”

san watched jongho gesture y/n to grab it, but he took it before the doctor did. “here, i’ll put it in for you.”

jongho did his best to not snort or laugh, leaning against the wall instead. he watched san help y/n with setting up the earpiece, amused at how san seemed interested in the doctor.

“ok done, yeosang should grant access soon.” san smiled at y/n, the doctor returning it with his own.

a few minutes of quiet tension passed and jongho felt the need to do something; he pressed the button on the side of his earpiece. “yeosang-hyung, are you not going to-”

“give me a second, i just kicked wooyoung out. if he goes up there with a black eye don’t question it, he’ll say what happened without you asking.”

“you didn’t actually give him a black eye did you-”

“if he did then that can easily be taken care of…” y/n commented while watching jongho roll his eyes.

“yeah i did-”

“no he didn’t.” wooyoung butted in, it sounded like he was munching on something. “it was the other way around-”

san chuckled, shaking his head at his friend's bickering. he realized y/n’s earpiece was successfully connected when he saw the older grin. 

“i bet they both have a black eye.” y/n nodded to himself.

jongho rose a brow, a grin prominent on his features. “and how much are we betting?”

y/n hummed, “thirty bucks.”

“i wanna bet too~,” san grinned, “let’s check it out then. can i move now?”

“hmm...i’d say no but you probably wouldn’t really listen to me so... as long as you don’t make sharp movements.” 

san cheered, extending his free arm to get help in getting off the cot. “let’s go then!”

“hello?” 

“mrs. l/n! how are you? it’s heeseung...lim heeseung.”

the woman on the other end of the phone gasped in what sounded like happiness, “heeseung! It’s been a while since i last heard of you, is something wrong?”

the nurse leaned back into his couch, “well i called to ask if you've seen y/n…”

“i see...well we haven’t heard of him for quite some time now. we thought it was because of work you know? but you two are close aren’t you, i assumed you would know about his whereabouts”

heeseung sighs softly, “well we were close before we broke up...i called because he hasn’t appeared at work for almost two weeks now. everyone knows y/n is a workaholic so it’s rare for him to miss days. and i wanted to ask if i can go to the police and file a report.”

“have you checked his apartment? you do know where he lives right?”

“i do...”

“well if he isn’t there then yes, go to the police station. please let us know if you find anything!”

“of course, thank you.” heeseung smiled painfully to himself, bidding farewell to y/n’s mother before hanging up. soon after he turned off his phone and sighed, he really hopes y/n is at his apartment and only took a vacation.

y/n couldn’t help but bust out laughing when the three of them walked inside the kitchen. wooyoung did indeed have a black eye and so did yeosang. 

"darn it." jongho huffed as y/n ended up winning the bet.

seonghwa stood there confused, spatula in hand as he's setting out their plates for dinner.  "and what's this about?" 

san grinned, "we made a bet to see if yeosang and wooyoung gave each other a black eye or not. and luckily y/n ended up winning." 

"would that be called a doctors intuition?" yeosang rose a brow while glaring at the plates seonghwa handed him. 

"good question." y/n chuckled while walking up to the second oldest. "need help?" 

"oh, yeah, thanks." seonghwa smiled while gesturing to the drinks. "set them on the table, everyone will serve their own drinks."

"got it. oh, and after dinner, i'll need you two to come with me so we can take care of those shiners." 

wooyoung saluted, walking off. he made his way down the corridor, spine at ease, but pace hasty. as he passed bedroom doors, he tapped on them, each door three times; signaling the time limit. for extra measure, once he reached the end of the hall, he swiftly turned around and cupped his hands over his mouth.

“prepare to leave in 30!” 

the sound of a door opening caused wooyoung to turn his head, making eye contact with his best friend. “what’s going on?”

“parts came in, we’re gonna check ‘em out.”

the boy nodded his head, turning back around to go get ready. wooyoung went to follow him, but he remembered he had to do something else. “hey, san,” he called out, the boy looking back, his eyebrow raised, “in my closet, can you get my briefcase from the top shelf?” san jerked his head giving an ‘ok’ sign.

it was his client briefcase. wooyoung carried that briefcase with him every time he went on a mission. he believed it was a smart thing to do because if they have a client that wants to pull something, there’s records. 

wooyoung doesn’t play around when money is involved, none of ateez do.

seonghwa pulled into the empty parking lot, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. “they said they’re about to pull up,” wooyoung read off the message he’d received.

hongjoong nodded his head, looking out the passenger mirror. another minute or so passed before hongjoong spotted the semi pulling up behind them. he let out a whistle, letting the boys know he was getting out. seonghwa left the engine running, grabbing his handgun and silencer from the glove compartment.

“yunho, take the wheel, just in case. san, come out to make sure they’ve got the right stuff and jongho,” he looked back at the boy before angling his head, “come out in case they try to pull something.”

the three boys followed his orders, grabbing their own choice of weapon. wooyoung was already out of the van, knowing he’d be needed either way. “what did you bring, dohwan?” hongjoong asked, arms crossed and waiting for a response.

the man beamed, smiling as if he were talking to a close friend. hongjoong eyed him, finding his behavior odd. what is he up to?

“i’ve got 2 cars from overseas. those rich bastards in gangnam really don’t know how to protect their assets,” he chuckled. he was acting odd and talking strangely—he was going to pull something.

hongjoong changed his stance, becoming more tense and straight. “hwa,” he called out. seonghwa immediately knew what he was signaling, his arms raising, aiming the gun at dohwan’s head.

dohwan’s eyes widened, hands raising. the two men behind him had their guns aimed, but they were outnumbered.

hongjoong let out a chuckle, his head tilting back, “you know, dohwan,” his eyebrows quirked up, an amusing smile on his face, “you get fidgety when you’re nervous. and we’ve done business before, so something tells me,” he stopped smiling, “you’re fucking around.”

dohwan just stared at him before he spilled. “i swear! i wasn’t going to do anything! i just—i don’t think the pay is good enough this time.”

the leader let out a hum, sucking his teeth and looking at his shoes, “this time?” he looked up, “meaning you’ve been satisfied with the pay the other times. what made you change your mind, then? give me one good reason why your pay isn’t good.”

dohwan stumbled over his wording, “you—i got you luxury cars from overseas and you’re only paying me 35 grand. those are the prices of the korean cars i give you!”

“ah,” the leader held a finger up, letting out a regretful sigh. “you see, that would have been a good reason. except,” he paused, “where on our agreement does it say i’m making you steal luxury cars? you chose to steal them yourself. you,” he pointed at him roughly, “you got greedy. you thought i’d give you more money because you went out of your way to steal an overseas vehicle? boo-hoo.”

dohwan stood in anger. “you know, you could at least be fucking grateful! i’m helping your business and those sell for way more than what you normally get, you son of a bit—” seonghwa’s gun went off, and before dohwan’s men could register, they both were shot down.

“jongho, wooyoung, please clean this up,” hongjoong pinched the bridge of his nose. he turned to seonghwa, but noticed he was focused on something else. “hwa?”

all of a sudden, the eldest had cocked the gun, stalking toward the back of the hospital building. he walked a few more yards before reaching the dumpster. he walked behind and the others watched, waiting for him to return. a few seconds went by before he emerged, holding someone in a chokehold.

the man was struggling against his grip, pulling at seonghwa’s arm, but once the man had tightened his grip on the weapon, he let himself be dragged to the group. 

“i promise, i didn’t—“

“shut up!” seonghwa growled, stopping in front of his members. 

hongjoong eyed the man, “who are you and what were you doing over there—and do not lie. i will have him put a bullet right through your skull.” by now, everyone had exited the van, helping jongho and wooyoung get rid of the bodies, but san, mingi, and yunho had been standing nearby.

the man looked around, gulping. he took a second to think, deciding not to lie because, quite frankly, he rather not have a bullet in his skull!

“i-i’m a doctor at the hospital—y/n y/l/n. my shift ended, s-so i was going to my car!” he frantically blabbered.

“why didn’t you go to your car then? why were you watching something you shouldn’t have been?” y/n looked at the man with wide eyes.

“i- if you heard something, wouldn’t you go check it out? i heard yelling, it could’ve been someone in need of medical assistance! how was i supposed to know it was...whatever this is?!”

“he’s got a point, boss,” mingi muttered but immediately lowered his head when hongjoong glared at him.

“well, dr. y/l/n, sorry. but you have to go,” he raised his right arm, loading the gun. y/n’s eyes squinted, flinching back into seonghwa’s hold. he had two guns aimed at him, he didn’t know which one would go off first, but he hoped it was the one closest to his head, to be honest.

just as hongjoong was about to pull the trigger, “wait!”

“i-i’m sorry for speaking out of turn, hyung,” he bowed his head, “but wouldn’t he be of use to us?”

hongjoong looked at him, “ and what makes you say that?”

“h-his tag. it says he’s a trauma surgeon. he’s much more advanced than yunho—not that yunho hasn’t helped us at all—but wouldn’t he be qualified enough to help us if we have worse injuries?”

hongjoong thought about it for a moment before turning to their medic. “how do you feel about it?”

yunho looked at the doctor, noticing his pleading eyes. he then looked at his boss, “i don’t doubt my abilities, but i don’t think it’s bad to have an extra medical hand on board, especially if he’s as advanced as he is.”

the leader nodded his head, “tie him up and get him in the van. the rest of you, clean up this mess.”

y/n said nothing, watching the other slide in a tray of steamy fresh food. “i noticed you eat a few things more than the others so i tried to give you bigger portions.”

“thanks,” y/n accepted the tray with no expression and seonghwa pursed his lips at the short answer. 

at the tense atmosphere, seonghwa excused himself. he wasn't sure if he felt pity for y/n, but either way, he just wanted y/n to grow used to this new environment because one thing was certain and that was that y/n could never go back to his old life.

seonghwa sighed softly, "good morning."

y/n tilted his head at him, looking up at the second in command with dull eyes. he simply hummed in greeting, clearly not in the mood during the past five days. 

the blonde gripped the tray, his patience running low with the older’s behavior. he's meaning well, he understands y/n, he does, but no one will get anywhere if there’s constant passiveness between the two.

 “i threw in an extra cookie,” he gestured to the pastry, “i figured you’d like some extra sugar in your system.”

once more, y/n hummed, nodding his head lightly.  it made seonghwa's blood boil—clearly, y/n wasn't vibing with him, and the last thing he thought of in this situation was the way y/n was being affected.

"hey, listen. your little silent treatment isn't gonna do jack here. you either socialize or stay down here, which isn't gonna happen because sooner or later they'll drag you up there. keep in mind you won't have anyone else to socialize with—forget your friends, family, everyone you had around before this. you'll be around us for as long as needed, maybe until your last breath."

y/n scoffed, looking away from seonghwa, something the older didn't take very nicely until he heard y/n’s meek reply, "you say that like it's easy."

the younger sputtered, handing y/n the tray of food, "i know it's hard, but just know each of us gave something up too. but, eventually, we all learned how to live with it,” seonghwa squatted to y/n’s level, “and you will too." 

the doctor swallowed, taking the tray and finally making eye contact with seonghwa. they shared a small pained smile, and seonghwa made one last comment before heading back, "make sure you eat up—don't want you dying on me after i took all that time to make such delicacies." 

y/n smiled to himself as he heard seonghwa shuffle to turn around. "thank you…i'll see you later…"

"sure will…” seonghwa’s chuckle ricocheted off the walls as he walked down the hall to the metal door. he pushed it open, making his way up the stairs and to the living room where a few of the others were gathered.

“hyung! just on time, we were talking about this upcoming mission we might have in a few days,” san commented as soon as he saw the older.

“is that so?” seonghwa mumbled in response as he sat down next to hongjoong, the other sipping iced bourbon from a glass cup.

“i’m not sure about it yet,” hongjoong set the glass down on the coffee table in front of him, “wooyoung still needs to gather more info before i verify anything. can’t be careless, remember?”

“totally, hyung. i’ll dig more into the client and have the info needed before morning.” wooyoung gave a reassuring smile to their boss, who simply hummed in return.

“by the way hwa,” hongjoong glanced at his boyfriend, leaning back into the leather couch and crossing his legs, “how’s the doctor?”

seonghwa blinked, “he’s fine, a bit down but he’ll get over it. so, in short, he’s behaved well these past days.”

hongjoong nodded, “that’s good, we’ll let him out tomorrow then. but right now i need you to go with san to the mechanic shop, make sure business is flowing well—which i don’t doubt. maybe visit mingi and yunho and see how well the loaning business has been. if i recall correctly, mingi said something about a few people not paying back on time; tell them not to get aggressive, we aren’t monsters after all.” there was a playful lilt to his tone, but they picked up on the seriousness behind it.

san got up, nodding at hongjoong’s orders, “we’ll tell yeo if anything happens.”

seonghwa followed suit, “we’ll see you later then,” he waved farewell without looking back at them.

wooyoung slid the folder over to hongjoong, the older raising a brow while taking it in his hands. “i gathered some info, it’s all in there—but to put it simply, i think we’ll gain lots of benefits after signing a deal with him. his name is yoo dongwoo, lives in seongnam.”

“that’s a bit too close to us, don’t you think?” hongjoong hums as he sets the folder down, resting his elbow on the armrest and his chin on the palm of his hand. 

“yeah, it is. but i think it’d be worth it. he seems to have lots of connections, and so far he’s never had an issue with payments, transportation and business—” wooyoung’s attention is taken when the door leading to the basement is pushed open.

“people!” yunho blocks y/n, capturing the attention of the others in the room. the tallest holds his arms out in a way of grand gesture, bowing, “i present you, y/n-”

“that’s...not necessary…” y/n can feel his skin grow warm under the tense and awkward atmosphere. luckily it’s broken by the one and only choi san.

“well we haven’t properly introduced ourselves if you think about it,” he pushed himself into y/n’s space, the doctor tensing up a bit at the close intrusion. yunho watched san, stepping aside to give the two some more space,“i’m san! nice to meet you! i’m sure we’ll get along just fine.”

the cheerful boy grinned widely, dimples making an appearance while his eyes did the opposite. y/n blinked, processing how close san was before taking a small step back. he didn’t reply verbally, giving a small smile and a nod instead,

“you know me already,” yunho said while taking a seat at the table.

"you know me too," seonghwa walked in with a tray of cookies, baking gloves protecting his hands.  "and take a seat."

y/n glanced at the table, not sure where to take a seat, but he guessed it didn't matter as long as he didn't sit near the boss.

"i'm hongjoong, the boss in case you didn't know," hongjoong watched the tray seonghwa placed on the table, waiting to grab a pastry.

"i'm mingi!" said male smiled as y/n hastily took the seat next to him. 

"i'm wooyoung, but call me woo if you want!" wooyoung was on the other side of y/n, making the doctor sandwiched between him and mingi.

"yeosang," the said male sat across from y/n, an intensely bored expression taking over his features. 

"did we miss anyone?" seonghwa rose a brow while taking off the gloves. 

"oh right, jongho! he's our bodyguard," san gestured at the buff male that stood by the door. 

y/n turned to look at him, jongho gently nodding his head at him and y/n doing the same. 

hongjoong clapped his hands, capturing everyone's attention. "great, now with that out of the way, let's get down to business."

everyone nodded at his words, taking a cookie from the tray seonghwa placed on the table. y/n accepted the one san handed to him, smiling a bit at how caring the male had shown to be so far. 

"we're heading out in the morning, i need everyone to get back to their usual jobs by evening so we'll try to make the exchange as quick as possible. everyone except y/n and yeosang will go, we need info and updates from the outside. 

before we leave i need yunho and mingi to make sure all the parts we'll hand over are correct. i don't want mistakes. wooyoung and i will take care of the talking, san and seonghwa will stand by the nearest exit to make sure everything is in order. jongho you'll be with me and woo." 

all nine of them nodded at hongjoong's orders. y/n voluntarily nodded, remembering seonghwa’s earlier words, “each of us gave something up too. but, eventually, we all learned how to live with it.” he knew he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so he figured he’d make it a bit easier for himself.

"and i need you all to wear bulletproof vests under your clothes just in case. your guns must be locked and loaded, got it?" 

"guns?" y/n blinked, capturing everyone's attention, "why are you guys willing to blow your organs out?" 

wooyoung smiled, his head tilting a bit, "why are you willing to work for people who’s organs have been blown out?” 

y/n opened his mouth before closing it and nodding in defeat, "fair point. i get paid for it, at least..."

they were all quiet before chuckling, the atmosphere feeling more warm and calm than what it was when they first gathered.

"has anyone seen y/n?" 

his peers shook their head, speaking of the last time they saw said male. the doctor he worked with mentioned something that made the nurse worry even more. 

"last thing i knew was that his car was towed since he never picked it up. didn't hear anything else though, but don't worry heeseung, maybe he picked it up afterwards." 

heeseung, the nurse that had asked about y/n's whereabouts, sighed. "right...i hope so...see you guys tomorrow!" 

his peers returned the smile and farewell. 

as heeseung took a seat on the bus, he pulled out his phone. the first thing he did was go to the messaging app and open his and y/n's chat. 

'hi :] 

after multiple failed attempts of entering the passcode to the door, he bent down to search for the spare key, remembering where y/n placed it. he always thought y/n chose the most foolish spot to leave a means of entry into his home—under the doormat—but now he couldn’t help but feel relieved when the little scrap of metal touched his hand. he went to unlock the door when a voice called out to him.

“hey, what are you doing?”

the nurse jumped in shock, dropping the key as his hand flew to his heart, feeling the thrashing of his heartbeat. he looked over, seeing an elderly woman standing a few doors down. “do you know y/n? i’m looking for him, have you seen him?”

“you haven’t seen him either—the last time i saw that young man was two weeks ago!”

heeseung ran past the other pedestrians, not caring about the curses he’d received from bumping so harshly into them. his mind was in a state of frenzy—not even y/n’s neighbors had seen him. where is he?

he suddenly stopped, bending over to catch his breath, hands on his knees and lungs screaming for air. “maybe- maybe he just went on vacation!” he mumbled to himself, but he let out a frustrated cry, “no! y/n wouldn’t just leave like that. come on heeseung, you knew him more than you knew yourself at one point! he wouldn’t just leave,” he made his final decision, standing straight to walk into the police station in front of him.

“i’d like to file a missing person’s report.”

the officer at the desk looked at heeseung before clicking onto a new program on her computer, “what is their name and when was the last time you saw them?”

“y/n l/n and i saw him about two weeks ago.”

“excuse me, but why are you just now filing a report then, sir?” another officer walked up, overhearing the conversation.

heeseung looked shocked, not knowing what to say. maybe he had put too much faith in believing y/n was okay. maybe he should’ve come sooner, but now wasn’t the time to patronize himself.

“he’s a surgeon. we all figured he took a break or something—”

“sure, one second. let me go check if we have him in the system.” heeseung stared in irritation. did the officer not hear him? y/n is a surgeon, why would he be recorded in the system?

he waved down the officer, shaking his head. “nevermind officer, i’ll just go to the next division station and report it.”

he let out a rough sigh as he gripped his hair, kicking his feet as he walked out the station. “please, y/n, please be safe—”

his phone suddenly rang and he fumbled with it in his pocket before pulling it out and looking at the caller id. it was a number he didn’t recognize, so he went to ignore it when a nagging feeling compelled him to answer.

“hello?”

there was some breathing on the other end of the line before a voice spoke up, “hello? hi, yes, is this lim heeseung?”

heeseung didn’t recognize the voice, but if he knew his name, he must’ve been calling for a reason. “yes this is… may i ask who i am speaking to?”

“oh, hello, yes i am changsik. i’m a friend of y/n’s—”

an audible gasp left heeseung’s mouth, his feet carrying him to a less crowded place. “really? do you know where he is—is he okay?”

“oh, he’s fine! i’m actually calling you because he asked me to. he wanted me to let you know he was okay. i’m letting him stay at my house for a bit—he wanted to take a break, he’s turned his phone off. that’s why no one can reach him,” heeseung listened on, each word causing his mind to be put more at ease, “he actually asked me to call you a while ago, but i’ve been so busy with work, so i’m very sorry!”

heeseung frantically spoke a mantra of “no,” telling the man that he was fine and thanking him for telling him about y/n.

“here, how about this. i’ll send you my address and you can come and surprise him with a visit this weekend!”

“of course! thank you so much, i’ll keep in touch!”

“mister hongjoong… sir,” y/n fumbled over his words as he confronted the man. hongjoong looked at him with a raised brow, waving a hand slowly, urging him to continue speaking. “uh, i’m running low on supplies… so i was wondering if someone could come with me to get more from the store…”

the leader stares blankly at him for a moment, causing the doctor to almost become weak in the knees, before he taps his in-ear, “jongho, come here please.”

a few seconds later, jongho enters hongjoong’s office, bowing his head before waiting for hongjoong to speak.

“y/n says he is running out of supplies, so i want you to go with him to the pharmacy down the street, okay?” jongho only nodded his head, bowing before asking y/n to follow him.

as they made their way down the corridor, jongho tapped his in-ear, “i’m going with y/n hyung to get some more medical supplies. san hyung can you bring me my wallet and gun. we’re headed toward the front door.” there’s a hurried yes on the other end, heard in both jongho and y/n’s ears. 

when they reached the front door, san was already standing there, a batman wallet and gun in hand. y/n eyed the wallet, “wow, jongho. who would’ve thought you were into batman—”

san choked on a laugh as jongho just huffed, opening the front door. “oh, one second jongho, please. let me just go get the list of supplies i need!”

jongho nodded his head, shutting the door behind him. y/n went to go get the list from the infirmary when san’s hand landed on his forearm. “i already grabbed it… hyung,” the younger was staring up at him with a worried look, “be careful.”

y/n went to thank him when he noticed a subtle blush painting his cheeks. “are you okay san? you’re not coming down with a fever, are you?” he placed a hand against his forehead and then his cheeks.

“your wounds are probably infected! i told you no sharp movem—” his words were cut off as a pair of lips touched his almost as fast as he could blink. his eyes widened in shock, body freezing as he stared down at the younger whose face transitioned into a burning red. 

y/n bought a hand to his mouth, delicately prodding at the area that was tingling. he remained like that for a few more moments, san’s demeanor slowly becoming more ashamed and embarrassed. san went to apologize and run away when y/n bought a hand to his hair and ruffled it. “we’ll be back before you know it.”

y/n didn’t know how to feel as he followed jongho down the sidewalk. what san did was so sudden—sure they’d grown remarkably closer over the past couple of weeks, but he just couldn’t help but be shocked. maybe it was because the boy was in his younger twenties and y/n was almost thirty. maybe there was some sort of generation gap when it came to the developmental speed of friendships and relationships.

all he knows was he couldn’t shake it from his mind as he walked into the pharmacy, jongho waiting outside to avoid the cameras.