"ah yes that's us! how far are you? okay.. okay yes, yes near the station.. yes thank you so much!"
hyunjin sighed as he looked towards the excited bolde haired boy who had just got off the call with the delivery guy. beside him, he could feel jeongin stealing glances at his tablet. he smiled at the younger who smiled sweetly, back at him.
"hyung when will you finish the drawing? it looks really good so far!"
hyunjin laughed slightly as jeongin cuddled near his free arm, the one he wasn't using for drawing. "soon innie, i promise you'll be the first person to see it okay?" jeongin let out a small dolphin squeal which caused hyunjin to keep his tablet on the spare table and tackle the younger in a hug which messed up his hair.
seungmin, jisung and lee know were in the kitchen making lee know's salad. hyunjin and jeongin could hear them laughing as lee know lunged towards jisung. the latter let out a short scream and laughed even harder. lee know smirked. he loved troubling his juniors. he shared a look with jisung before glancing at seungmin. "yess! hyung aim for his head, noo not there, the back of his head there yea- "
seungimin barely finished his sentence when he was tackled to the ground by a very heavy lee know. the younger let out a yelp as he fell to the floor, his hyung still on top of him. "aargh get off me you dem-" aaaahhh!"
jisung shook with laughter as he sat near the corner of the kitchen, recording the fight on his phone. it was turning pretty intense, neither side wanting to back down. jisung knew that seungmin or minho would never intentionally hurt each other but that didn't stop him from telling both of them to stop, which they did after seeing how worried jisung was.
all of the members of stray kids then gathered at the table. it was 9:30 pm, their usual dinner time. at this time, every single one of them, all 8; had to be present at the dining table. it didn't matter if they were fighting with each other or didn't want to spend time together, it was a rule they had to follow. the only exception was if one of them was sick or injured, which led to the other members taking care of that person.
call it chan's 'dad instincts' or the fact that all of them relied on each other like no other group did; even the issues they had with their past be it big or small-
stray kids was a group where every member was special.
"oh he's here! i hope the food's hot!" felix's excited squeal led all the members on the table to look up.
changbin shot hyunjin a confused look, he had only just come from his bath, also he didn't check the messages on the groupchat terming it to be 'a waste of time'. hyunjin sighed as he explained their dinner plans, chinese food from a restaurant and rice and salad made by lee know.
changbin shrugged. he honestly didn't care.
food was food, right?
felix left the table in a hurry, eager to get to his food. the delivery guy stood outside the door scrolling through his phone, looking up when felix opened the door with a large bang.
"a-ah you must be l-lee yongbok?" "mhmm that's me! sorry if i startled you by the way!"
the man shook his head and smiled slightly, not used to the amount of attention he was getting. "it's fine.. have a good night!" "you too!"
"aish i thought he was gonna invite the poor dude inside!" jeongin narrowed his eyes at felix who chuckled softly.
"well.. if he wasn't in a hurry i would have hey don't look at me like that!" hyunjin laughed as he engulfed the people closest to him, jisung and changbin, in a bone crushing hug, one which both of them were desperate to get out of.
"okay kids food's done." lee know entered the room with a pan of salad and rice from the cooker.
he placed it on the table, beside the bowl of noodles that felix had unpacked from its packaging. he took his seat beside jisung who was now gasping for air and massaging his throat while sending hyunjin dirty glares. "now we sit"
"and wait"
"i have arrived!"
the leader of stray kids shot inside the house and rushed into the bathroom to wash his hands.
it was 15 minutes past 9:30, he hated keeping his kids hungry. quickly, he dried his hands and put on some clean clothes. his work bag and shirt lay forgotten on the bed, he could always keep them in their place later,
the members were his main priority now.
⏱
"soo... chan hyung what took you so long? you usually come home by 9:15.."
chan looked up from his plate and finished chewing. seungmin, jeongin and jisung were having a whispered conversation in the corner, lee know was trying to hear it. changbin was eating quietly, enjoying his food as he kept taking seconds of everything. hyunjin was glancing between felix and chan while participating in their talk.
"hmm.. well guess it was just a long day at work.. what 'bout you guys? what did y'all do at home?"
lee know stretched like a cat as he eyed his finished plate in front of him. "uhh i was in my room all dayyyy. didn't feel getting any work done."
hyunjin nodded as he looked up from his plate as well. "for realll i'm so glad we don't have any hostages, they usually scream so loud during this time-"
chan sighed as he shot both of them a glare. "what did we say about talking about criminals at the table?" "sorry dad"
dinner time was actually a good time to forget that all of them were actually related due to business like a gang.
chan sometimes wondered how different his friendship with the members would be if they hadn't met through woojin because of a gang. he hoped that someday, they would get this business over with and still stay friends, through all they went through and did together. for some reason, that thought didn't seem to sit well with him..
"well, hostages are usually hungry during dinner time that's common sense." changbin spoke up as hyunjin's eyes fell on him. he nonchalantly continued, ignoring the shocked looks felix and chan were giving him.
"they're stressed by the days activities not to mention the fact that they know they're going to die in a dark basement. we also torture them often, throughout the da-" "okay changbin that's enough" the raven haired boy shrugged and stood up to keep his and lee know's plate in the kitchen.
chan now turned towards the silent group on the table. just because he wasn't talking to seungmin, jisung and jeongin didn't mean that he couldn't see what they were doing.
they were huddled around each other, whispering and occasionally shooting looks at chan and felix. the older frowned. this was pretty unusual, considering that the three of them were quite open with whatever they had to say.
so what was it that they wanted to hide so badly?
⏱
"you ask him!" "no you!"
the dinner was complete. the members were huddled in their tiny kitchen. lee know and hyunjin were washing and drying the plates while changbin was wiping the table. chan was sitting on a chair nearby, reading the day's newspaper; he rarely got time in the morning.
felix was sitting in the counter, twiddling strands of his blonde hair between his fingers. he looked up occasionally and smiled when he met chan's eyes.
chan smiled back, not knowing what else to really do.
jisung, seungmin and jeongin were still in their corner. they hadn't moved after dinner, which led lee know giving concerned looks to chan. none of them had spoken to any of the members except the other two that were with them. chan wasn't bothered at first but he was now, when jisung pointed at him, directly.
"okay you three what's going on?" chan saw the group break apart and his eyes meet jisung's. he watched the three of them share a nervous glance and turn to him.
"uh so firstly-" "cut to the chase idiot stop fucking expanding it"
lee know's annoyed tone made jisung bite his lip in frustration. felix sighed and climbed down from the counter.
he picked up his phone from the table and aggressively tapped at the screen before walking to chan, pulling jisung behind him. he held out his device in front of the older, showing him something. chan squinted at the screen before letting out a small gasp.
felix gulped. "yeah, th-the new pub is opening downtown. we, i mean; me, jisung, seungmin and jeongin, we wanted to go. y'know try it out?" he laughed weakly. jisung was leaning against the doorframe, staring at the floor. seungmin and jeongin hadn't left their spots near the didn't table.
on the other side, chan was confused. his children, his kids wanted to go to a pub? at this time?
he wouldn't mind them going of course, but without supervision no no that wouldn't work. it wasn't a lie that he was pretty protective over his juniors. they were already exposed to so much because of the gang culture.
he didn't want them to get hurt or even worse, while doing something they would probably regret later on. the nerves in his stomach tightened. he quickly shook his head to get rid of the thoughts before looking up to be met with felix's saddened expression.
chan jumped as he felt a hand on his shoulder. "its a yes from me" "huh?"
he looked up to see lee know gazing at the four youngest of the group before glowering at him.
"well, i think its time for them to grow up hmm? they can't stay babies forever now can they?" the second oldest chuckled at the shocked expressions on the youngers' faces. behind him, hyunjin smiled softly before turning to changbin who was too busy observing the scene to notice.
chan sighed and held his head in his hands. damn.. this was a tough descion to make. he didn't want his members to get hurt but as lee now said, they weren't really kids anymore. he took a deep breath before giving his final verdict, fully aware of the stare on him at the moment.
"you can go" jisung and felix turned to each other gaping as they realised they could finally go. jeongin let out a squeal and latched on to seungmin who was too shocked to say anything.
lee know glanced at chan, reading the expression on the older's face before sighing as he knew what was coming next.
chan cleared his throat. the members looked at him in anticipation. he glanced at the four youngest before shaking his head and looking away.
"you can go.. just not all of you." "huh? hyung what do you mea-"
"jisung, felix, both of you can go. seungmin, innie. please stay home."
jeongin let out a small noise of disapproval before glaring pointedly at chan. seungmin sighed. he knew this was coming, chan's earlier predicament was too good to be true anyway.
hyunjin wore a sad look as he stroked jeongin's hair, the younger mumbling curses under his breath. changbin also gave the two youngest a small smile and a quiet 'it's okay'.
lee know shook his head in exasperation and shot chan one last disappointed look before making his way up the stairs. the members heard a door shut, he was officially done for the night.
felix and jisung shared a look with each other. then, they looked at chan.
"are you sure?
the older looked up slightly and sighed before going back to his newspaper.
"positive"
⏱
"okay first of all no accepting drinks from strangers. you never know what they're capable of, okay? then, you come back home at 12 sharp. also no going anywhere apart from the club, your live location will be on too! if we're clear with this the-"
"calm downnn hyungg! we'll be fine!"
felix shot the older a wide smile. him and jisung took around 15 minutes to get ready, which was pretty surprising considering the fact that they usually took an entire hour to bathe. chan looked at them nervously before looking away.
hyunjin stared at his kids with a proud look on his face. behind him, changbin yawned sleepily. he had been forced to stay up to say goodbye to the two younger boys.
felix smiled at all of them. jisung on the other hand was checking his bag for money, cards and guns. it was his first time in a bar...
"you better tell me every single fucking detail." jeongin hadn't quite recovered from his grumpy mood, glaring at chan pretty frequently, the older ignoring him.
seungmin rolled his eyes at the younger and gave felix and jisung a faint smile and thumbs up.
felix took a deep breath. "okay! we're off!" beside him, jisung waved at a sleepy lee know who was staring out of his window.
chan felt the nerves in his stomach tighten. he gave them one last final calculating look and closed his eyes tightly.
is this how parents felt when their children moved out?
"relax they'll be fine." chan felt someone hold him close as he heard the sound of a car speeding away and jeongin's small goodbyes.
he looked up at the taller man who smiled at him comfortingly. "they're very capable of taking care of themselves, hmm? so please, don't worry yourself."
the older sighed and spoke softly. "thanks hyunjin" "anytime don't worry."
slowly, the remaining members of stray kids started heading back home. hyunjin walked slowly with changbin who was whispering something to the taller. seungmin and jeongin shared one last sad look before leaving quietly.
chan stared out at the road, letting his eyes wander across the houses. he was worried, it wasn't surprising. if anything happened to his juniors, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself, like last time...
he shook his head quickly to get rid of the thoughts. he had to be positive, if not for the members then at least, for himself.
"they'll be fine" he said quietly, letting out one last sigh before turning around and walking back home.
anyways, what was the worst that could happen?
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: why does chan want jeongin and seungmin to stay home? :
home; skz
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