Chapter Text
“Tell the others to not mess this up, alright? It’s a simple get in, take out the target, get rid of the evidence situation. I’m sure not even you idiots can mess that up, correct?”
The voice of his leader continued to lecture through the phone, and Hoseok had to use all of his strength to not simply throw the damn thing down the street just to get him to shut up. This was not their first rodeo, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be their last, so Namjoon seriously needed to stop worrying. That was Jin’s job anyway.
“Don’t let Yoongi hear you call him that, Joon,” he taunted, not caring that he could hear the ‘respect your elders’ tone slowly creeping into the others’ voice. “He might scorch your hair.”
“Don’t push me, Hoseok,” Namjoon warned through the tiny speakers. “You know just what nightmares I can make you see when you get back home.” Ah, he loved it when Namjoon tried to be threatening.
Hoseok merely grinned. “Gosh, Joonie. I’m simply quaking in my boots,” he replied, holding back mild laughter. When he heard the elder sigh, he straightened up a little bit, trying to act serious for once. “Don’t worry babe, we’ll all be fine,” he reassured with a sudden soothing tone. “All three of us will return with a minimal amount of damage taken. Besides, Tae will literally kill me if we get any blood on his Gucci jacket.”
He figured he’d succeeded in distracting Namjoon from his unnecessary worry, as he heard a few huffs of laughter resonate through the phone against his ear. “I don’t know why he always insists on wearing that for missions. It’s bound to get destroyed one day. Then what’ll he do?”
“He’ll be forced to wear drab like the rest of us peasants for the remainder of his days,” Hoseok said, stifling a giggle when Taehyung raised a knowing eyebrow at him. “Anyway, we seriously gotta go, babe. I promise we’ll be quick, as safe as possible, and tell Jin to put tea on whilst you’re here. I’m fucking starving.”
“Greedy,” was his only reply. “Will do. Please stay out of immediate danger, and for the life of me, at least try and prevent Yoongi from burning the whole estate down. It was unbelievably difficult to cover that up last time. Oh! And don’t forget- “
“Yeah, god, Taehyung’s just ran into the house. I’m gonna need to go after him. Love you, Joonie! I expect dinner when we return, bye!” He hastily hung up before another ten-minute speech ensued. They’d already wasted enough time as it was because of their leader’s unexpected phone call.
With the call ended, Taehyung decided to now saunter up to him. “Why am I the one getting the blame?!” he ranted. “It’s not my fault he’s such a worrier! He’s gonna go mad at me when we get back now, thinking I ran in unprepared.”
“Well, were you thinking about doing that?” Tae opened his mouth to retaliate, but then decided against it, simply pouting his lips in a cute fashion and crossing his arms. Hoseok laughed again, reaching over to press a quick kiss on Taehyung’s unsuspecting mouth. “There you go then.”
“Are you two quite done?” Both of the members turned around to face their third party, seeing Yoongi leaning delicately on the bricked wall with one foot resting against it, his arms crossed.
Taehyung bounced back, pulling Yoongi by one hand towards him and grappling him in a hug, a gesture Hoseok was positive was not appreciated by the other. “Come on, Suga. You can’t tell me you don’t want any of this,” Hoseok said, motioning to his body.
Yoongi looked him up and down with a bored expression, wriggling his way out of Tae’s hold. “To be frank, I’m not sure why I even agreed to go out with both of you in the first place,” he answered, smirking as their faces fell before making his way over to the front door of their target’s house.
Taehyung followed suit, whining as he did so. “Ah, hyung, you’re so mean! I know you don’t mean that!” Then he also placed a kiss upon Yoongi’s cheek, a grin finally appearing on his face as he did so, appearing ready.
“Shut up and let’s get this over with,” Yoongi growled, and Hoseok saw him duck his head down to hide the red blush that had taken over his face.
Smiling once more, Hoseok wandered over to where his two partners stood, nodding to the both of them with certainty written across his features. They knew what this particular job entailed, and they knew that this was the point where they had to allow their darker personas to take over; enhance every nerve to pull this off with unheeded efficiency.
“Remember,” Yoongi muttered, eyeing his boyfriends calmly, a fire lighting up behind his eyes. “Stick to the plan, and only use our nicknames in front of the client. He’s going to know just how wrong it was to try and mess with us.”
“What are we waiting for then, Suga,” Taehyung said, all playfulness devoid from his voice. Moments like these really made Hoseok painfully aware of how different they all could be in a flash, as he watched his youngest lover smirk with a deadly glint in his eyes, pupils looking more black and complete malice spread across his face, ready to unleash pure hell.
He’d never admit it, but goddamn it was hot.
Yoongi nodded his head towards Hoseok, and they began with their task. He closed his eyes, willing his molecules to begin vibrating; they shook faster and faster until the whole world was a complete blur, and with excitement coursing through him, he carefully advanced through the wooden door, barely making a sound.
Hoseok loved using his ability, he genuinely did. He loved the feeling of something solid unnaturally flowing through his flesh. Loved the stamina it required and the slight danger it brought upon him. Loved watching with a bitten smirk as everything thrown his way merely passed through him with little pain.
He loved it all. He’d never trade it for anything else.
The inside of the house was nowhere near as presentable as the outside looked. Bottles of alcohol were strewn across every inch of the living room- on the table, down the middle of the couch, broken pieces discarded on the floor. Hoseok grimaced at the smell of rotten food wafting in from the kitchen, and something else he couldn’t quite place, rubbing his nose silently before turning around and unlocking the door for the other two to enter as well.
“I’ll never get tired of seeing you do that, J,” Taehyung said the minute he stepped inside, one corner of his mouth slightly turned up to show some pearly white teeth. He watched the minute the scent hit them as well, Taehyung grunting under his breath and Yoongi’s eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.
“Be on your guard,” he whispered, voice steely. “That’s blood.”
None of them were a stranger to the sight of the substance, it was only natural in their line of work, but the fact that they couldn’t see it and yet still smell it all around them set a bad feeling deep within Hoseok’s gut.
Something wasn’t right in this house.
They moved on with practised silence, steps strategically placed so as to minimise their presence in the room and coordinated themselves accordingly, making sure they were spread out and had protection on each other’s backs, however still blocking all of the exits.
Heavy feet could be heard above them in one of the bedrooms, and in less than a minute thuds protruded down the staircase, a slight whistle accompanying the journey. How Hoseok wanted to wipe whatever look was on this man’s face.
Their target finally spotted them as he arrived at the bottom, whole body stilling at once, any cheerfulness he’d had dispersed off of his face. Maybe he knew what they’d come for. His entire posture became one of anger, and he advanced quickly on the nearest person he saw, which just so happened to be Hoseok.
Yep, he certainly knew all right.
Smirking (as if he could get an advantage on one of them was ridiculous), Hoseok whipped out an army knife he had stashed in his belt, twisting the client’s arm painfully behind his back, and with skills quicker than the eyes could follow, he roughly kicked him against the closest wall. He was feeling extra pissed off right now, so with a slight huff, he stabbed the man with the knife, so hard it went straight through his shoulder and stuck into the wallpaper behind him, rendering him trapped like a fly under their power.
“You little shits!” the man yelled, face contorted to one of pain, and Yoongi laughed deeply.
“Now, now,” he purred, strolling mindlessly across the room, eyes dark and unhinged. “You’re the one who never followed up with your payment, Mr Jeon. We’ve merely come to take back what’s rightfully ours. I’m sure you understand.”
Taehyung chuckled. “Aw, come on Suga. Tone it down a bit- can’t you see he’s scared.”
“I’m not scared, you piece of cra- "
His statement was cut short, as Tae’s eyes immediately changed colour, now glowing harshly with the glint of deep crimson, so penetrating in the dimply lit room he began to look like the devil himself, shaking everyone down to their very core.
As Taehyung stalked forwards, the target changed, knees buckling with sudden fear and bones shivering, pupils dilated and breath quickening.
He rasped out, barely managing to calm the stutter that had appeared in his voice. “Y-you have abilities. Fuck… fuck! Nobody told me this!”
“They shouldn’t have to,” Tae snarled, spitting in the man’s face, corneas flashing in anger. “You say you’re gonna pay us, then you. Fucking. Pay us.”
Yoongi stepped forward, placing a warning hand on Tae’s shoulder as a code to back off for a second. He complied, but not without another sneer and a slight twist of the knife that made the client cringe.
Suga stopped, lighting his right fist with fire the colour of the sun, and allowed them to gently caress the victim’s arm, a steady burn building on the flesh. “Here’s what we’re going to do,” he spoke, as if he was having an everyday conversation and not in the midst of torture. “Either you tell us where our money is, or you get to experience the consequences we have planned first-hand. And I’m positively sure you won’t like what they are.”
“You’re disgusting,” the man spat, twisting his face further as Hoseok embedded the knife deeper through his shoulder.
“Maybe so,” Yoongi drawled, slowly coming nearer to the target until he was face to face with him, a cold stare resonant in his eyes. “But you’re also the stupid fuck who decided that cheating us out of our money was a smart idea. So really, you’re the loser today. And every other day for that matter.”
And without further delay, he ignited his index and middle fingers with deadly blue flames, immediately sticking them in the horrified eyes of their target without hesitation. They all watched with sick satisfaction as his face agonisingly slowly melted away within his grasp, a silent scream permanently etched on his face.
Only when they knew he was dead, did Hoseok allow himself to get mad.
“Suga!” he shouted indignantly, releasing his grip on the knife and allowing the corpse to limply dangle off of the wall. “We were only supposed to kill him after he told us where the money was! Key word: after.”
Yoongi shrugged, wiping the excess flesh off of his hand. “He was annoying me.”
Taehyung laughed loudly at that, jumping Yoongi from behind to grasp him into a one-man cuddle again, eyes returned back to their usual hue. “That’s so like you, Suga. Although to be fair, now we have to spend more time actually searching for the cash in this dump, or Namjoon will get mad at us when we get back. We’ve really gotta work on your anger, don’t we, hot-head?”
He laughed again as Yoongi took a swipe at him.
Hoseok groaned at the prospect of additional work simply because someone couldn’t contain his obvious sadism. He whacked both of his boyfriends lightly to get them to stop bickering with each other, determined to get this done quickly and with little fuss so they could get the hell out of there. The bad feeling from earlier hadn’t budged despite the owners’ recent demise.
“Tae, you search down here, me and Yoongi will check upstairs. Yell if you find anything and take anything that look’s valuable.” When they both stood there for a second, he raised his voice in warning. “Move!”
They all got to work diligently, Taehyung moving deeper into the house whilst Hoseok led Suga upwards, pointing to the first bedroom they came across, letting Yoongi kick it down with little effort so they could search through it.
They both checked everywhere they could see. Wardrobes, underneath loose floorboards, behind paintings and in pictures. The only things Hoseok found were a couple of coins and a silver bracelet stuffed inside a coat pocket, which he took.
“I’ll go check another room,” Yoongi muttered in his direction, motioning to move.
"Oi! One of you get down here, now!" Tae called from deeper into the house, signalling his immediate attention. Hoseok sighed, abandoning the chest of drawers he was currently rustling through, leaving Yoongi to continue searching up there before following where he heard the younger's voice coming from.
His feet lead him to a set of rickety stairs, descending downwards to where he could faintly make out Taehyung's lean figure waiting not so patiently at the bottom of the steps in front of another wooden door, bolted up tight from the outside.
"What is it, V?" he asked, jogging down to meet the other. Tae was staring intently at the barrier to the basement like it held all of the secrets of the world behind it. Knowing Taehyung, he probably believed it did.
He gestured to the door, grinning. "I bet there's something special locked up in there. People don't tend to double padlock their basement unless they're hiding something, and knowing our client, this could be where he stashed all of his owed money."
To give the younger some credit, it wasn't such a farfetched idea (unlike some of the things that usually came out of his mouth), and so Hoseok decided to allow himself to divulge in whatever gears were turning within Tae's mind and play along. Just because he was bored, and because it was Taehyung.
"So, you want me to phase through and check it out?" he asked him, shaking his head when Tae nodded vigorously, eyes lighting up as he realised Hoseok was actually considering doing it. "Ugh, fine, but only because we need to do a full scoop of this place. It'll just be a quick look, though, so don't get your hopes up." But he smiled none the less, ruffling Tae's hair.
Twisting to the door, he focused his mind again, feeling the familiar tingle of shifting atoms run through his very being, separating himself apart nano-piece by nano-piece as he stepped through the hard material, forcing them back together like super glue once he'd reached the other side successfully.
The room was dark, uncharacteristically so, and Hoseok had to squint to see the few feet in front of him as his eyes adjusted to the sudden lack of colour. From what he could make out, there wasn't anything in there, no hidden money or stacked up bills, which was odd because Taehyung's instincts were normally bang on.
He took a step forward, cringing as it made a rather loud creak on the rough floorboards, trying to inspect as best as he could in the never-ending shroud of black surrounding him. But that's when he heard it.
A small, foreign, whimper.
Hoseok abruptly halted, ears twitching from the one thing he knew definitely shouldn't have come from the basement, turning his head around very slowly to the wall furthest away from himself.
He took out his phone cautiously, quickly turning the flashlight on and shining it towards the corner of the room, where he was positive the sound originated from. The glow immediately hit something, gradually illuminating what the darkness was concealing, and Hoseok nearly threw up at what he could now see. Or should he say, who he could now see.
"Shit."
It was a kid. He looked no older than 16 (from what Hoseok could tell, the boy was curled up in a foetal position), skinny arms curled tightly around his legs, trying to force himself to melt into the wall, which wasn’t working very well. His body was draped in a raggedy old t-shirt and loose pants, only just covering his thighs, but the pale skin he could see was littered with bruises of varying shapes and colours, cuts and scratches criss-crossing over themselves at random intervals.
What hit Hoseok the hardest was his face. Wide doe eyes stared back into his own, open and displaying the purest amount of deadly fear within their depths. His frame was shaking harder than a baby out in a blizzard, and his tiny mouth hung open as if attempting to gather any form of oxygen into his lungs.
Hoseok immediately held up his arms in a surrender motion, crouching down slowly to the kid’s height and softening the look of disgust on his face to one of openness. “Hey,” he whispered softly, not missing the immediate flinch the boy gave at the sound of his voice. “What are you doing here?”
He tried to cautiously shuffle forwards a step, but when the shivering of the kid’s body increased dramatically, he stopped, opting to instead reach one arm out closer and keep it there until the other was comfortable enough to hold his hand.
The boy hesitated, but then opened his mouth a little wider, inhaling a quick breath, as if preparing to reply to the question.
Then Tae started banging on the door.
“What’s taking you so long?” he shouted. “You found the money?” The kid crumpled further into himself at the harsh sounds, delicate hands covering his face and dark bangs falling like a curtain over his fingers, hiding himself from view whilst tiny mews of pain escaped his throat.
Hoseok had never wanted to slap Taehyung for his unbelievably terrible timing more so than now. The sight of the kid made him want- no, need- to scoop him up into his chest and cuddle him until the younger knew that no harm would be bestowed upon him. Not if Hoseok could help it.
“Tae! Quit it!” he yelled back. The pounding quieted down, returning the basement to relentless silence. The boy quivered at his raised tone, bare toes curling inwards and scratching harshly on the wooden floor. “No, no,” he said, lowering his voice once again, face falling. “I’m sorry, I really am. I had to get that idiot outside to shut up. I wasn’t yelling at you- I promise.”
At a very steady pace, the younger lowered his hands, those dark pupils shining out under the flashlight once again, making Hoseok’s heart thud heavier in his chest. God, this kid was gorgeous.
He licked his lips, taking a shuddering breath, chest heaving. “W-where’s my d-dad?” The voice was like honey, so smooth and quiet he barely caught the words said, but as he did his eyes narrowed, brain making all the necessary connections to figure it out.
The corpse upstairs. The finger shaped bruises on his skin. The absolute fear radiating off of him.
Suddenly, for the first time ever, Hoseok wanted to change his ability. He wished he had the power to resurrect that deadbeat motherfucker upstairs, simply to make him suffer a ten times worse fate the second time around. He wanted to watch the life drain from his eyes drip by fucking drip.
They went too easy on him.
“Kid,” he murmured, keeping his tone light and comforting. “Your dad, he’s dead.”
The boy’s posture stilled, tilting his head slightly to the side at his words. “Dead?” Hoseok nodded, still unsure as to how he would react to the news. “You’re sure?” Another nod. “Who killed him?” All questions were spoken with a hushed expression.
Hoseok took a deep breath. “We did.”
The revelation appeared to shock the kid more than the news of his father’s demise. He looked like he wanted to say something else to Hoseok, mouth opening and closing a few times, before he gave up with a mini slump.
Hoseok waited; he didn’t want to rush him. He didn’t know what he was feeling or how he now viewed the man in front of him, but nevertheless he refused to leave this kid like this. He’d wait all day if he had to.
Then, without warning, a dainty, ashen hand very guardedly reached out to Hoseok’s thicker one, which had rested a few inches in front of him the whole time. When the pale fingertips brushed over his middle finger like a ghost, Hoseok could feel an electric current shoot up the full length of his arm, kickstarting every fibre in his being the same way using his ability would.
That was when Hoseok knew he wanted to keep this child.
The door to the basement unexpectedly flew off its hinges, crashing into the opposite wall with a loud bang and startling both occupants of the room out of the comfort they’d accumulated.
The kid screamed, leaping up into the air and promptly passing out from the shock, his body unable to handle the onslaught of stress. Hoseok nearly had a heart attack, thinking the younger had just died on the spot.
“Hoseok! There you are!” Tae cried, hands ruffling through his hair in relief. “I had to get Suga to bloody drop kick the door down because I was that worried! You’ve been in here for ages! What’ve you been- “
“Who is that?” The voice was more commanding this time, and he knew it was Suga. At the light pressure of a hand suddenly on his shoulder, his thought was confirmed.
“Who is what?” Taehyung asked, moving over, and gasping at the sudden sight. All three of them crowded around the small, broken body unconscious beneath them, like a flock protecting its baby. “Oh god.”
“What the fuck,” Yoongi said.
Tae reached out without a thought, doing what Hoseok had wanted to do earlier and scooped the younger into his arms, the boy’s head lolling on top of his shoulder. “Fucking hell… he’s beautiful.”
Yoongi whacked him, earning a cry of annoyance in response. “Is that seriously the only thing you’re thinking of?”
“Not necessarily, I was just pointing out the obvious. Come on, I know you’re thinking it too.” A lack of a retort told Hoseok that Tae was right about that, and he couldn’t help himself when he laughed a little.
Tae adjusted his hold on the younger. “What do we do with him?” he questioned, using one hand to stroke the skin of the bare forearm that was dangling down to the floor.
Hoseok thought for a moment, a plan accumulating within his mind. “We’ve gotta take him with us. It’s as simple as that,” he eventually answered, looking at the faces of surprise he received. “What? We just killed his bastard of a father, so either we take him, or he dies here. It’s our choice.”
Yoongi sucked in a breath. “That explains it.” At the raised eyebrow Hoseok gave him- Tae too caught up in admiring the kid’s face to look up- he elaborated. “I found some records upstairs of the target having a son, but I just assumed he’d moved out or something because there was no trace of him living here. But, clearly,” he said, gesturing to the unconscious bundle. “I was wrong.”
All three of them exchanged looks with each other, almost guessing the others’ thoughts without speaking. Despite not even knowing the youngers’ name, they were all clearly attached already, and they didn’t want to let him go. Which left only one option.
“Okay, let’s go then,” Tae said, showing off his signature boxy smile, already making his way out of the basement and back up the stairway. Hoseok and Yoongi chuckled lightly before following in pursuit, occasionally glancing at the boy in their hold.
In the clear light (and not the crappy one from an iPhone 5) they could now see the true extent of his injuries. Horrid, black bruises shaped around the kid’s jawline, indicating strangulation, and as his shirt rode up slightly they could make out healing welt marks snaking their way up his stomach. His left leg was also facing an odd angle, bent awkwardly, and it was clear it was broken. The sight made them sick to their stomachs, Taehyung grasping him a little bit closer for protection.
As they reached the final few steps, the boy began to moan slightly, catching all of their immediate attention, and innocent eyes fluttered open as if awakening from a dream. When he caught sight of Taehyung carrying him bridal style away from his apparent prison, his panic shot up, and he rolled unceremoniously onto the floor and flittered away from them against the steps, limping heavily.
His breathing was erratic, and even without medical experience Hoseok knew that if he didn’t calm down quickly he’d merely injure himself further. But he didn’t know how to show the younger that they truly didn’t want to harm him, especially as it was becoming increasingly obvious that pain was all he was used to.
Tae marched forwards without hesitation, reaching out his arms to place around the boy’s shoulders lovingly, and Hoseok felt the urge to kick him for his insensitivity. However, the kid was now still, body laxing slowly down the banister, and Taehyung easily caught him again, carefully sliding him around until he was safe on his lap. When Hoseok saw Tae’s eyes, it clicked straight away.
They were a heavenly blue, electric and as sweet as the sky, Hoseok having seen them turn that shade enough times to know he was instilling waves of relaxation and calmness throughout the boy’s body as he smiled down at the younger.
Doe eyes blinked back up sleepily at them, mainly keeping contact with Taehyung’s own as he’d seen them transform- felt the effect- and a long, adorable sigh emitted from his lips. “Y-you have abilities,” he whispered softly, exactly like his father had beforehand, except the situations couldn’t be more different. “You’re…just like…me.” With that, his eyes closed once more, bones dropping their full weight onto Taehyung who accepted it openly, snuggling the boy up deeper into his chest now that he was passed out again.
They all stayed there silent, allowing the revelation to sink in. “Did he… just say what I think he said?” Yoongi asked quietly from behind them. No one answered; they just continued to stare down at the gift they had been presented, wondering how on earth any of this had happened to them of all people.
“He did,” Hoseok replied, carding his fingers gently through the mat of dark locks on the boy’s head. “Let’s leave. We need to get Jin to check him out.” At Yoongi’s smirk he groaned, grasping hold of his hand tightly. “Not like that, you mint ball. Just… let’s go.”
Trekking out of the house, Yoongi sent a flash of fire at the dead body he now despised, watching it quickly disintegrate before his eyes (Namjoon had said to get rid of the evidence after all), wishing he could do so much more before they had to leave.
But then they were clambering into the car, Yoongi pulling away in the driver’s seat, catching glimpses of the peaceful way the kid slept in Tae’s arms and the absolute lovesick way Tae was looking down at him and how Hoseok had one hand resting on the boy’s thigh just to ensure he was still there and that he was protected.
And Yoongi knew. He knew in the way his heart burned like the fire he created on his very own fingertips whenever he caught himself staring at the younger.
He knew that no matter how much Namjoon or possibly Jin or maybe even Jimin might object to this… development- absolutely none of them were letting him go.
And that was a promise.