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Blood and Steel

Chapter 2: Part 2

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Hoseok flicked the switch on the music box, cutting of the song mid refrain. “Enough.”, he panted, forcing the others to stop to, collapsing on to the floor, as if somebody cut his strings.

“Ahh, I’m sore.”, complained Taehyung, turning his head and glaring at Jimin, who only raised an eyebrow.

“It’s almost a whole hour later than usual. Why do we need to practice so much?”, Yoongi’s voice was a mere whisper, his body to tired to produce anything louder. Spread like a starfish, limbs askew in every direction. Jimin scoffed, the only one still standing, “Because we all need it. At least now, we don’t look like stumbling toddlers anymore.”

“And why didn’t Jungkook need to do the extra exercise?”, asked Seokjin from his place on the far right.

Namjoon chuckled, “Because or golden boy can move his body better than us old people.”

“That’s not fair!”

“Shut up, Tae. Speaking of, where is Jungkook? Shouldn’t he be back by now?”, asked Jimin, sitting down too and looking at the clock on the wall, “It’s been two hours already.”

“Maybe he got stuck in traffic.”, came the cheeky reply from the currently youngest.

Eyebrows drawn together, lips pressed into a small line, Jimin glared at Tae. “He walked.”, he deadpanned.

“You know how he is.”, Namjoon made a gesture with his hand, that Jimin interpreted as something, “Jungkook’s probably already home.”

“But his bag is still here.”, Taehyung pointed out, sitting up. And he was right, the black bag sitting in the corner of the room, seemed to mock them. Namjoon frowned, standing up and stretching his arms. “Maybe he forgot it?”

Hoseok interrupted them. “Guys? Have any of you checked your phone in the last hour?”, he held up is own smartphone. A quite high number of unanswered calls popped up, every single one of them from their youngest.

The others made a confused sound, finally getting up, to check their own.

“He tried calling us. Do you think something happened?”, asked Taehyung, slightly scared undertone in his voice. Normally Jungkook was a pretty independent man. Choosing to master his own problems, without asking for help. Him trying to reach out to them, was almost every time the last resort. And that scared them because the number of times he had called promised nothing good.

Nervous energy made itself known in the room, blanking them in an almost trance of worry. The fatigue from dancing forgotten. “What do we do now?”

“Well, his message is everything but helpful.”, contributed Seokjin with a sigh.

“What did he write?”, asked Namjoon, still without phone, because it seemed to have slipped pretty deep down in his bag.

“Listen: ‘Can anybody answer? I need a guardian to pick me up.’ What does he mean with guardian?”

“Maybe it’s a joke.”, Namjoon gave up on his phone and walked up to look at Seokjins, “Seven missed calls.”

“For what do you need a guardian?”, Taejhung asked confused, “It sounds almost like official business.”

“School, Police, Hospitals, …”, came a quite answer from Jimin. Eyes wide and skin pale. He looked at his own phone, probably reading the same message.

“Do you think-“

Just call him.”, interrupted Yoongi, still half dead, sitting beside his own bag, sounding almost like he was speaking to children. He probably would roll his eyes if he still had the energy.

Seokjin dialed Jungkooks Number, the others huddling around, trying to listen in. In rung a few times, before somebody answered. A relief flittered through the people in the room, but that was short lived, because Jungkook didn’t sound right.

“Hello?”, he sounded like his nose was clogged. That hadn’t been the case a mere two hours ago.

Jungkook! Where are you? You should’ve been back by now!”, Namjoon tried to keep his anxiety out of his voice, succeeded moderately and shared a look with Seokjin. Hiding his worry was moot point, in the faces of his friends he could almost make out the underlying terror, radiating like heat in the summer.

“Ah about that- Namjoon-hyung can you pick me up? You have like guardianship over me, right?”

Partly. But why do you need a guardian? Where are you?”, it had been literal years since the topic of guardianship came up. Manager-nim had originally been the only one responsible for the minor in their group, but with hectic schedules and long days, Namjoon offered to take some responsibility too. Like minor things, going to parent-teacher meetings at his school or if he needed to deal with slips for fieldtrips or similar. It was easier getting him to sign, than needing to call Manager-nim every time.

There was a moment of silence on Jungkooks end. Voices in the background were talking, but neither of them could understand what they said.

“Uh, don’t be mad, okay? I’m at the police station.”, Jungkooks voice was small, almost shy and laced with something else. Pain.

“Why are you at the police station?”, surprised out of his mind, Hoseok looked up, meeting the equally confused faces of his friends.

“That’s a long story. But please, can Namjoon-hyung pick me up? I want to go home?”

Jungkook didn’t normally sound so whiny, and it send alarm bells ringing in Jimins head.

“Are you hurt, Kookie?”, fear made his voice higher, the others stilled.

“Maybe a little bit?”, the question mark at the end of Jungkooks sentence didn’t alleviate his concern in the slightest. But Jimin tried not to think about possible worst-case scenarios. If Jungkookie was at the police station and not the hospital, it should probably not be too bad? Right?

“What does a little bit mean?”, Jimin took the phone from Seokjin.

“Nothing bad. I have a headache and everything kind of hurts.”, Jimin could almost accurately guess that Kookie rolled his eyes at his concern. That brat.

“What happened?”, Taehyung wanted to know, glaring at the phone. Not in the slightest happy about Jungkooks lack of selfpreservation. It wasn’t the first time, Jungkook hurt himself rather badly and brushing of any concern.

“I- ehm, got into a fight. But it’s okay! I helped this old lady and those two thugs tried to- ow!”, a muffled curse followed.

“You alright?”, Namjoon tried to keep his brain working, because Jungkook didn’t sound like he regretted getting beaten up. What.

“Yeah, I kind of forgot that moving is bad.”, he confessed sheepishly. Not wanting to attract more attention to his wounds. Jimin narrowed his eyes, seeing the evasion as it was and opened his mouth to argue but a hand on his arm hold him back. Namjoon shook his head, already knowing that pushing their youngest would only end hiding even tighter behind his walls.

“You against two thugs?”, asked Yoongi breathlessly, like he got punched in the gut, eyes wide open and disbelieving.

“Uh, yes?”

Kookie!

I’m sorry, but I couldn’t let them hurt the old lady!”, he tried to defend his actions.

Okay.”, answered Namjoon, trying to get them back to the original track, it wouldn’t do getting into shouting matches right now, “Can you give me the address of the police station? I’ll get you.”

A happy sound was heard, and the room took a collective breath. Jungkook rattled of the address and promised them that he was okay.

But before Seokjin could end the call, Jungkook stopped him, “Wait! Can you get Namjoon-hyung to bring a new shirt with him?”

Seokjin stopped, his whole body went rigid.

“Why do you need a new shirt?”, he asked slowly, already afraid of the answer. The others looked up, confused.

“Because I got blood on mine and it’s all sticky. See you soon!”, before the others could stop him, the call ended and left them alone in the training studio.

Blood?”, asked Taehyung, his voice barely above a whisper, “Why does he have blood on his shirt?”

“And why was he fighting?”, piped in Jimin frustrated.

Namjoon buried his face in his hands, groaning loud, “I don’t want to know. Let’s just get him home and he can explain everything.”

Already walking towards Namjoon, Seokjin turned to the others. “It’s probably better, if not all of us go.”

Protests were loud and fierce and only ceased, when Namjoon ordered them to get home. Getting to the police station was bad enough and if everyone of them turned up it was almost certain that somebody of the press would get wind of it.

Namjoon just hoped it wasn’t Jungkooks blood.

 

 

It was Jungkooks blood.