♡
Yoongi wanted sleep and solitude, so the two accompanying boys had no choice but to leave the infirmary. Minjun, with Hoseok's hands under his arms, stumbled across the hallway as the man was shorter than some of the other gang members.
He was put down on the armchair that Namjoon and Jimin had taken the night before, and pleasantly ran his fingertips over the silky armrests.
"Ho-Hoseok."
Hoseok looked down at the boy, humming in acknowledgement of his call.
Out of anyone, it would have been Hoseok who put it in me.
"I, uh, I only wuh-wanted to ask- I, I won't try and guh-get it out, I just, i—"
"Minjun, calm down, it's okay—" The medic squatted so that he was closer to the frequently unsettled teenager, rolling his hand comfortably against his calf to console him— "try again."
"Wh-Where is the truh-tracker?" Minjun buried his face behind crossed arms, cringing and whimpering when he felt the quietness that pursued his question.
Hoseok guffawed, "tracker?"
"Pluh-Please don't get m-mad," he sniffled, "I, I just couldn't fuh-find a scar."
"Minjun, do you have a fever?" The medic feathered his calloused fingers over the boy's forehead and snickered, "our Namjoon gave us strict instructions to not treat you as a prisoner, what makes you think I'd put a tracker in you?"
"H-huh—? Seokjin..."
Hoseok sounded and let out a whimsical laugh, "Jin was scaring you." Although it was a relief to the boy, he felt a concerned clench around his ribs as he disgested that the man he trusted most had lied to him.
"Don't get so worked up, kid. He just didn't want you to try to run away and get punished, but of course, that happened anyway," Hoseok said.
Minjun nodded, eyes glued to his lap once he let his aching arms slacken from shielding himself.
The medic sighed, "why did you try anyway? Even if we didn't find out before you got out, you thought you had a tracker."
"Was-Wasn't thinking about that," Minjun admitted.
Hoseok stood up and made a meagre noise of happiness. He stretched a little, transporting his phone from his pocket to the arm of the chair and motioning for Minjun to elevate his arms.
Hesitantly, he did so. Then, Hoseok lifted the boy and sat in his place, Minjun sideways on his thighs. The boy spontaneously fidgetted in discomfort but released a sorry wail when he unintentionally kicked his ankle.
"Calm down," Hoseok sheltered the boy between his arms, "you have to learn to be comfortable around us otherwise no progress is going to be made."
Minjun stopped moving altogether and mutely stared at Hoseok with distressed eyes.
"We aren't the baddies, you need to understand that," Hoseok cooed. He took his phone from where he left it and opened it up, "do you want to watch something on Netflix?"
"Puh-Pororo?"
The mechanic, while grinning to himself at the boy's submissive tranquillity, displayed his screen to Minjun and like Seokjin, allowed him to fall dormant in his arms while enjoying the cartoon.
Once the boy stopped blinking rhythmically at the screen and let his head roll onto Hoseok's chest, the medic locked his phone and closed his eyes. Minjun's consecutive puffs lulled the medic into a half-sleeping state.
He only wished he had been able to unwind before Taehyung shattered into the room looking for him.
He kept his voice low to prevent scaring the boy into consciousness but made Hoseok aware that they would need to leave as soon as the three absent members returned.
"It looks like they're following in Mamamoo's footsteps," he said, a line of sweat travelling over the stressed furrows in his forehead, "but Namjoon said that recently they've been spotted in one of our bars, two or three of them at a time."
"What does Namjoon propose?"
"We're going to pick up whoever visits the bar tonight," Taehyung smirked, "Joon said I can seduce them if there's one or two."
Hoseok rolled his eyes playfully, "good for you."
"I need to go and prepare Jungkook! We need you there so get that kid ready too, he'll have to be cuffed to the car or something, I don't know yet."
The mechanic-stroke-medic nodded and stared pitifully at the dormant teenager in his arms before cooing at him. He tapped his fingers against the creamy skin of his forearm, not too far from the bound wrist that seemed to be mended well.
"Hey, Minjun? Can you wake up?"
The boy screwed his face up and let out a cloudy sigh.
"How long, uh, h-have I slept?"
"Not long actually, I'm sorry," Hoseok said with a gentle tone, "we all need to go out and you need to come with us."
Minjun's eyes, filled with diminishing trust, searched the man's face.
"I could leave you with Yoongi but—"
"I'll c-come."
The boy sat up, thrusting his hands against Hoseok as he tried to force himself away from the warmth of the hug.
"Look—" Hoseok released a huff when Minjun dropped onto his stomach— "there's a good chance that this is going to be much more dangerous than what happened before. We're going to one of our bars and understandably, there is lots of gang activity inside. I can convince the others not to leave you cuffed in the car if you can promise me that you will not leave our sides."
He continued, "you should know now that we don't mean you any harm and I can promise you that we will protect you if we have to but if it comes to it and you try and disobey us in such a dangerous situation, you will get hurt- killed even.
Listen to me carefully. You will hold one of our hands at all times. If someone talks to you, you do not acknowledge them and you will tell whoever is with you. What else- right. Each of us has a very important role and if for any reason you are passed to Jungkook and you decide to act u—"
"I won't."
"Okay, come on, I need to get ready."
Hoseok carried the teenager out of the living room and began stepping down the hallway when Taehyung and Jungkook appeared from one of the many doors. The youngest gave Hoseok a brief simper before loping towards the living room clad in dense, towering boots, rattling with studs and chains.
"Got more info," Taehyung stopped the pair, "the gang is called Stray Kids and they're staying not too far away from here, although we can't tell which room exactly. Looks like we were next on their to-do list."