Chapter Text
With his hands restrained by a rope behind his back, shoulders sore and back aching from the stretch, Chan could not help the whimpers that leave his lips. The pathetic sound echoes in the hollow warehouse they’re being held in. He feels the chastising look from beside him. His boss is not a very forgiving man. The man might have taken him off the streets and put a roof over his head after Chan ran away from his last foster home, but the act had not been out of the kindness of his heart, to say the least.
The look is threatening, warning him against display of any form of weakness before these men that have captured them. Chan has seen pretty awful things, carrying out deals on the streets for the man, but he’s never faced it head on this way before.
Being captured by the members of a dangerous mafia clan has to be the worst possible situation Chan could have possibly ended up in. He’s certain that it will also be the last mistake he ever makes.
Chan hardens his expression, turning to the group of men before them. Five burly, tatted men are stationed all around them – lackeys, clearly. Another, dressed in a dapper suit sits at the table, teetering on the back two legs of his chair out of boredom.
The last man – if Chan could call him that, because he looks delicate enough to pass for a woman – leans against the table, arms crossed before him, scrutinizing Chan’s boss from all the way across the hall.
The man in the chair sighs, loud and exaggerated.
“He’ll be here soon, Mingyu-yah…” the androgynous man says, not looking away from Chan’s boss for even a moment. “And when he gets here, this will stop being so fun for you, Hanchul-shii…”
Chan’s boss bares his teeth, sneering. He wonders if he will ever grow up to be as fearless as him.
The seated man – Mingyu – lands on all four legs of his chair again, making the pretty man turn to him.
“I am perfectly capable of doing this myself, you know?”
“You’ve got soft lawyer hands now. Besides, I think our guest here deserves some special care for all the things he has spouted tonight, don’t you think?”
“I can wring your neck with these soft hands.”
“And then what? Frolic away happily into the sunset?”
Mingyu rolls his eyes, folding his arms on his chest. “He’d sniff me out before I turn the corner down the road.”
Pretty man chuckles. Chan is so focused on the back and forth between the two that he forgets to hold his back straight to lessen the pressure on his bound wrists. The sudden movement to correct this makes him whimper in pain again, earning the dirtiest scowl from his boss. Chan doesn’t understand how the man can be so intimidating while still tied up.
“Oh somebody loosen up the boy’s binds, please…” pretty man says casually, not even sparing him a glance. The lackey closest to Chan hurries over to him, fiddling with the rope around his wrist until it is loose enough for him to be able to slouch over.
Chan breathes a sigh of relief, afraid to look beside him at what must be another threatening scowl.
Another couple minutes pass and the tense silence is beginning to settle over them once again, when the shutters to the warehouse begin to rattle as the smaller door is thrown open and a shadow appears, backlit by the headlights of a car. Chan squints against it, trying to stay alert and get a look at the man they’ve all been waiting for. Very slowly, the dark figure is illuminated by the fluorescent light inside the warehouse as he approaches them, shrugging off his jacket and folding up his sleeves.
He doesn’t say a word, but Chan feels the atmosphere in the room shift dramatically with his presence. Everyone in the room stands a little straighter, keeps their gazes a little lower, all except the pretty man.
The newly arrived man is the leader obviously and he has a stern expression on his face as he takes in the scene, eyes falling curiously on Chan for a second too long.
“Oh thank God, I was afraid I was going to miss my dinner plans…” Mingyu exclaims, standing up. Chan hadn’t quite noticed before in his frightened state as they were dragged back here, but he sees that this man is quite tall, looming over the two by a full head.
Chan watches as the leader finally reaches the pretty man, who relieves him of the jacket on his arm before that same arm wraps around the pretty man’s waist, pulling him closer to – much to Chan’s bewilderment – press a kiss into the side of his head.
Pretty man has a smile on his face for the first time today, from what Chan can see from this position, as he returns the kiss to the side of the other’s head.
A much friendlier greeting than Chan had been expecting for ruthless mafia clan members that were gearing up to kill him and his boss tonight.
“Came as fast as I could. Didn’t think you’d need me here…” Seungcheol says, looking back at Chan, jutting his chin out towards him. “What is he, twelve?”
“In the teens at least, Cheol-ah…” pretty man says, laughing. “He hasn’t said a word since we brought them here. Hanchul-shii here, on the other hand, could not stop talking until Mingyu brought out your toolbox of fun and laid it all out for him to see…”
“You let your whore run your business for you? Can’t say I’ve met a more incompetent mafia boss…” Chan’s boss spits out, struggling against his restraints. All the drugs must have really fried his brain for him to be acting this thoughtlessly. That, or he really is that brave. Chan should have been learning to be this unafraid from him if he wanted to survive in this underworld. But it’s all too late now anyway. He’s going to die tonight before he’s even had a chance to have a life.
The leader bristles with quiet rage, though the pretty man seems quite unaffected by the taunting words.
“How much has he said?” the leader asks him in a lower tone, busy removing the ring on his third finger and sliding it onto the pretty man’s forefinger.
“He slipped up on a detail about receiving his goods from Incheon. That narrows it down a lot for my search. But you have a more important job here. We need to get a hint of the bigger picture, starting with how far along their operations in our city are. Focus on that, okay?”
Chan doesn’t know what they’re talking about, doesn’t understand why his boss starts to look fearful only then. As if he’d just realised his mistake. Chan really doesn’t see a way out of this for himself now, he has no useful information to use to bargain for his freedom. He only does as he’s told and keeps his head down the rest of the time. As long as there’s food in his belly and a warm bed to go to at night, he thinks he has no business poking his nose around.
Chan is in the middle of having an internal panic attack when he looks up to find another jarring sight. The leader kisses the pretty man, fully on the mouth, as they say their goodbyes. He hears his boss beside him hurl hateful words their way, his insanity building with every passing moment. He understands that the two men were obviously more than just partners in the business.
What he doesn’t understand is the tenderness of that kiss in a place like this, in a situation such as this.
“I’ll keep dinner warm for you, baby…” pretty man calls out as he is leaving, patting the taller man on the shoulder as he passes him by.
Chan’s eyes fall back onto the leader, preparing to face his death with as much courage as he can muster.
Chan squirms uncomfortably against the hold that squeezes around his arm, leading him into an elevator in the fanciest apartment building he has ever laid eyes on. He is filled with awe by the opulent lobby they pass through, filled with fear from the contact of the hand that he just witnessed commit acts of violence beyond his wildest imaginations – and this was only including what he witnessed before he was pulled out of the room altogether. Filled with confusion as to how he escaped a similar fate as his boss.
Chan is filled with emotions both overwhelming and numbing because he is still alive, despite all odds suggesting a different end to this night.
He follows silently as he is brought up to what seems like the highest floor of the building, where the elevator opens directly into an apartment, it looks like.
“Jeonghan-ah…” the leader calls out, slipping his shoes off, commanding Chan to do the same wordlessly with a harsh shove.
“-running late, so I had to call Wonwoo to explain-”
Pretty man – Jeonghan – stops mid-sentence as he appears from one of three identical doors, carrying a small, white dog in his arm. He puts the dog down gently as he comes closer, surprised by the sight of him, obviously.
“Okay, so you’re late and you brought a guest. At times like this a phone call would do wonders in preparing someone for the situation, you know…”
The hand around his arm finally lets go as the leader heads into the apartment, unceremoniously passing the documents that they’d just ransacked some office building for, into the pretty man’s arms.
“You asked for a hint…” he says, smiling brighter than Chan would have thought he is capable of.
“And you brought me the whole picture,” Jeonghan says, beaming. “This is what took so long, huh?”
His face reflects the other’s smile, though it is dimmer as he checks the leader’s face in concern.
“Courtesy of our young friend here…” the leader replies, and the both of them turn to Chan. Chan backs away, pressing back up against the elevator door. He presses incessantly on the button to open the door, knowing he’d never be able to get away quickly enough but trying, nonetheless.
“You need a code for that, I’m afraid…” the leader says casually. He sports a gash on the bridge of his nose that continues onto his brow. If Chan had been a little more forceful, he would have caught the other’s eye in his slicing motion. But alas, he’d been too weak to cause any real damage.
“That’s why we had him tied up, baby…” Jeonghan scolds, clicking his tongue disapprovingly as he checks on the wound.
“I know, I know. I’m gonna hop in the shower before dinner. Sort him out, will you?”
An hour later, Chan had been offered the opportunity to take a shower in the bathroom attached to what seemed like a home office. He’d been offered fresh clothes that are too large on him, and offered a hearty bowl of pork stew that he is allowed to eat by himself in the office.
Chan doesn’t know what these people have planned for him, but after seeing what his boss went through before, he’s not prepared to let his guard down. No matter how accommodating they are being. People always want something when they’re this nice. If they thought Chan would have any more information to contribute to them, then they are going to be sorely disappointed.
Jeonghan comes to the office after sufficient time had passed for Chan to finish his dinner and for him to have exhausted his search for a weapon of any kind in the room, resorting in the end to pocketing a paper weight and a couple pens, just in case. The man brings with him some extra beddings to help set up the pull-out couch in there.
“Do you have a name you tell people to call you?”
Chan notices that pretty man doesn’t actually ask him for his real name. Still, he doesn’t want to give anything away to these people, not even a fake name.
“My husband has taken a liking to you, you know? He says you remind him of his little brother. It’s the reason your arm is still very much intact after what you did…”
Chan doesn’t say anything yet again, somehow more afraid of retaliating against this lithe man than he is with the stronger, much scarier seeming leader. It brings back memories of getting into trouble with his parents when he was much younger, back when he still had them.
“There, that’s ready for you to sleep in here. If you don’t feel like talking, that’s fine. But I’m gonna sit here for a bit, okay? I need to do some reading. And if you happen to feel the need to talk sometime, then we’ll talk…”
Jeonghan says, picking up the documents on the table to settle into an armchair in the corner of the room. He stays true to his words as he makes himself comfortable in his seat and gets to shuffling through the files.
Chan sits down awkwardly on the make-shift bed, wary of the other’s presence. But after some time, the comfortable pillow by his side along with the exhaustion from the long day, threatens to pull him under. He settles down into the covers, pulling it all the way up to his face, watching the other through sleepy eyes inconspicuously.
The door to the study opens and Chan tenses up, closing his eyes, trying not to draw attention to himself.
“Ssshhh, I think he’s finally asleep…”
“Come to bed, baby…” the leader says in a hushed voice.
“In a while, almost done here…”
Chan keeps his eyes closed as he hears the door shut and the other shuffle into the room.
“You have something of mine, I’m gonna need it back…”
Chan peeks over his cover to find the leader leaned over the pretty man in his armchair, arms braced on either side of him.
“Ask nicely, puppy…”
The leader chuckles, lowering himself to take a seat on the floor, perching his head on the other’s lap.
“Light of my life, bane of my existence, my lethally addictive moonflower, will you please do me the honour of placing my wedding band back on my hand?”
The pretty man is beaming down at him with so much affection that it induces cognitive dissonance within Chan. These were dangerous men. Chan just witnessed the one seated on the floor currently, demanding the other’s attention with playful hands, crack two of his boss’ knuckles earlier that night. Even thinking about it now makes him queasy all over again.
“Sure, only because you’re asking nicely…” Jeonghan says, leaving the file he’s reading on his side to slide the ring from his forefinger and returning it to the other man, kissing the spot where it rests afterwards.
Chan finds himself feeling more and more intrigued by the two. The last time he witnessed this much genuine affection between two people, he hadn’t been rendered an orphan yet.
“Found anything interesting in there?”
“Mm-hmm, whoever it is, they’ve been doing a very good job at cooking the books. It’s fascinating…”
A few moments pass and Chan’s eyes feel as heavy as the leader’s eyes look, lulling to sleep on the other’s lap with the fingers running through his hair.
“Cheol-ah, what are we gonna do about the boy?”
Chan’s hand closes around the pens in his pocket.
“Dunno. Didn’t wanna leave him out in the cold…”
“Even if he almost blinded you? Even if he stole your glass paper weight to clobber me to death with? At least I think that’s the plan…”
Chan hates that the other has noticed. He hates that he has lost the element of surprise. Pretty man’s fingers trail a little lower, touching a band-aid on the other’s forehead.
The leader chuckles tiredly. “See what I mean when I say he’s a little too optimistic about his options. Just like Mingyu…”
“Still…”
“I can handle myself with little boys acting out, Jeonghan-ah. I think we can help him…”
“I think it’s because he’s a little boy acting out that he’s so dangerous to you, my delicate rose…”
Chan almost feels flattered that the man calls him dangerous. But they also refer to him as a little boy, so he doesn’t know if he should be considering it a compliment.
“But if you think we can help him, then that’s what we’ll do. Plus, I kinda owe him for giving you this sexy slit in your brow…”
“Yah, I was bleeding from the wound not hours ago…”
“Doesn’t make it any less sexy…”
“Yeah? You’re into that now, huh?”
“What if I am? What’cha gonna do about it?”
Chan almost groans out loud from the cheesy exchange, but manages to stop himself. Instead, he resorts to turning around in his place on the couch quite loudly, alerting them to his presence in the room so that this torment of a different kind would stop.
“Okay, now I think it’s really time for bed…”
“It was time for bed hours ago.”
“Who’s fault is it-“
Chan listens to the rest of the hushed bickering as the two let themselves out, letting go of the pens in his pockets as the light is switched off. He knows these are dangerous men and he knows that he should not be letting his guard down so easily.
But these dangerous men have provided him with food in his belly and a warm bed to go to sleep in. He thinks he’ll take advantage of the kindness they’ve shown him just for tonight, even if he doesn’t understand it.
One day at a time, it’s what has worked best for him so far, after all.