The sharpness of Seokjin's gaze sliced right through the wall Taehyung tried to put up to shield his emotions from Seokjin, yet Taehyung failed with a single glare from the older and revealed the guilt merging with his features. Taehyung ducked his head, not being able to hold the string of eye-contact for even a second longer, but those small pebbles of time were enough to provide Seokjin with the shameful answer he needed.

"Uhm.." The hesitant mumble from Hoseok barely breached the bubble the two gangsters had placed themselves in. Hoseok eyed them both cautiously, noticing the suppressed emotion buzzing through the air and zipping across their skin, "We should discuss this later, Taehyung is sick and needs medical attention." Hoseok stated under his breath- aware that if the volume of his voice rose, he would pop the bubble trapping the kittens and release the flood of hostility they were currently holding at bay.

"Right..." Seokjin drawled without removing his eyes from Taehyung, he lifted his hand in the direction of Solar and gave her a flick of his wrist, "Solar, can you please lead Taehyung to Hwasa?" The question came in the form of a masked command, which wasn't that hard to pick up on.

Solar's lip curled and brow raised, she spared a small glance at Hoseok as she bound over to Taehyung and wrapped her arm around him, "Careful, Jin." Solar breathed while brushing past him and tugging Taehyung with her on her way to their base, "You're starting to act like you're in charge." The girl teased with a roll of her eyes, earning herself a twitch in the lips from Seokjin.

"Aren't I?" Seokjin called out in return without expecting an answer, surprisingly receiving one in the form of a laugh. Seokjin merely smiled at the sound, knowing very well that he wasn't in charge here and that he was a mere guest among this group of girls. Perhaps even a rescued kitten that was taken in off of the streets.

Seokjin's eyes dragged after the pair- mainly staying focused on Taehyung and every little movement he made. The drag of his feet against the concrete ground, the harsh pants he puffed out, and the smallest droplets of sweat hanging off of his temples, were all picked up by Seokjin. He noticed it all- the way Taehyung had tensed up and didn't bother to look back at Seokjin as if he was ashamed to face him, and the way he had been more trusting of Solar than he should be.

"We need to talk..." Seokjin's words dripped with the bitter honey of seriousness and face hardened with liquid steel as he addressed Hoseok. His eyes remained on Taehyung until he disappeared behind the metal door with a small bang echoing through the alleyway and reaching the end of it, where a crowd of people were walking by.

Seokjin twisted around on his heel and peered down at Hoseok with an unimpressed gaze. The sun blinked down at them from over the edge of the building encasing them, casting its Sun-rays across the slope of Seokjin's nose and allowing them to swim along the seam of his plump lips. Seokjin straightened, connecting his hands behind his back as he drank in Hoseok's sharp features and caramel locks.

"Your name." The kitten demanded after realising that Hoseok was too uncomfortable under his stare to comprehend that Seokjin was expecting him to introduce himself.

Hoseok immediately perked up and offered a nervous smile, his eyes lingered on Seokjin before trailing off to the side, "Hoseok." He managed to slide his tongue against the edge of his teeth in order to create the words.

"Right, Hoseok." Seokjin mocked with a roll of his eyes and a growing smile, eyeing Hoseok with a fleeting glance before tilting his head and nodding at the metal stairs going up the side of the building, "Let's have a little chit-chat."

≫ ──── ≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫ ──── ≪

A cup of steaming coffee was placed on the table in front of Hoseok with a small clink. The steam peeled off of the surface of the light brown coffee and climbed through the air, fleeting across Hoseok's nostrils before scrambling into his lungs. The latter greedily sucked in the scent of roasted coffee, finally noticing how parched his throat was from not being able to drink for more than a few hours.

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