Chapter Text
“Joong?” came a soft voice from beside him. Hastily jerking his head up, Joong looked around for the source of the voice and smiled when he saw it: Seonghwa. He had just arrived at their table in the coffee shop with, God bless him, two teas, cookies, muffins and a bar of chocolate. Joong raised his eyes slightly in mock astonishment,
“Not a very healthy breakfast there Hwa!” He taunted, and in response Hwa just stuck his tongue out at the shorter boy before placing the tray on the table, swinging his worn out leather bag onto a chair and plonking himself down opposite the other male. He looked so much like a child whose mother had told him off when he did that and Joong couldn’t help smiling again.
“What?” he asked, cocking his head to the side and furrowing his eyebrows slightly as he tried to figure out what was amusing. You look so beautiful Joong thought to himself, Go on Hongjoong, tell him that. No. Instead Hongjoong just shook his head, no point trying to explain it to him. He’d just think Hongjoong was weird, which he probably was. If Hwa noticed his slight weirdness he just shrugged it off and dug into one of the muffins. He watched as his blue eyes light up and sparkled with delight as a slow grin spread across his flawless face.
“They’re still warm” he mumbled with his mouth full, tiny flakes of muffin floating down to his plate. The shorter of the two smiled and reached for his own muffin, not taking his eyes off of the others face. But his hand found nothing; looking down at the plate in surprise Hongjoong saw that the muffin was gone. Strange. That was when Seonghwa emitted a faint giggle and he looked back at him to see Hongjoon's muffin was grasped in his one hand, the other was covering his mouth to hide the childlike grin on his face.
“Hwa……” Hongjoong said and he giggled more, shuffling his chair slightly away from the red headed boy. Fine. Hongjoong let him sit there for a moment and try to control his giggles before leaning in quickly and tickling his tummy. He pulled back, trying to get away but the shorter boy was too quick for him and he eventually submitted and handed the other the muffin.
“You’re such a child sometimes Seonghwa” Hongjoong said through fits of laughter as Seonghwa fought to get back up onto his chair, which he had fallen off promptly after the tickling had ceased.
“Not funny Hongjoong” he cried as he finally righted the chair and sat on it with a sigh. He glanced around slightly apprehensively, almost as if to make sure no one had seen what had just happened. Hongjoong chuckled to himself, before biting into his muffin. His eyes lit up. Now he could see why Seonghwa had loved his, it was warm, soft and delicious. The flavour was blueberry and it seemed to just melt on the tongue. He looked up at Hwa to tell him what he thought but the look on Seonghwa’s face made him freeze.
He was sitting very still, his pale face whiter than usual, his expression that of terror. His eyes seemed unfocused and distant, like he was somewhere else, but his stare held a spot behind Hongjoon. Slowly, he turned in his chair, doing his best to act casual and failing. The red haired boy followed Seonghwa’s stare to the back of Starbucks where a man in a black suit and tie stood, there was something about him that seemed off, but Hongjoong couldn’t quite tell what. Maybe it was the way his suit was too perfect, or the gleam in his eye that looked slightly malicious, but mainly it was probably due to the fact that he was staring back at the two of them, or to be more specific: he was looking straight at Seonghwa, a slight smile forming at the corner of his lips.
Who was this man? Why was he staring at Seonghwa? Whoever he was, Seonghwa obviously didn’t feel safe, that was obvious from the way he had started to shake slightly behind him.
Hongjoong managed to get him up and out of the shop as quickly as was humanly possible, which wasn’t very quick but trying to manoeuvre your friend through chairs and tables when he’s twice your height, frozen stiff with fear and still refusing to break eye contact with the man in the corner was not an easy task.
Once on the street the shorter dragged the taller into a hasty walk away from the shop before stopping and turning Seonghwa to face him, only now realizing that he is trembling. Without any hesitation the shorter wrapped an arm around him and brings him close to his body, not caring who was watching. Whoever that man was, he must have a very good reason for making Hwa react like this; he almost never had a meltdown in public. Almost never….. NO HONGJOONG! Don’t think about that now, think about the shaking boy under your arm, you have to get him out of here.
Carefully, Hongjoong steered Seonghwa in the direction of the underground. He stumbled at the stairs and in the red haired boys effort to help his friend regain his balance, Hongjoong ended up looking back the way they had come. There, standing by the entrance to the coffee shop, was the man; still staring intently in their direction. Shit.
“Come on Hwa” he muttered, dragging the taller boy down the tube steps. Luckily their train had just got in so Hongjoong hauled Seonghwa onboard, vaguely aware that he had begun to sob silently. But that didn’t matter right now, what mattered was getting back to their apartment and THEN Hongjoong could sort Seonghwa out.
All the way through the train journey and the walk to the apartment, Hongjoong didn’t once take his arm from around Seonghwa. When it had gotten awkward on the tube Hongjoong still didn’t, because even though he didn’t know what was wrong, he knew he had to help, and although he didn’t want to admit it to himself, it was also because Seonghwa looked so sweet and adorable tucked under his arm. It was only once they were home and Hongjoong heard the satisfying click of the ‘state of the art’ lock on the front door that Seonghwa had insisted on them getting, that he finally relaxed enough to consider removing his arm. He regretted it immediately because the moment his arm moved away Seonghwa fell to the floor like the only thing holding the shaking boy up had been Hongjoong.
“You need to call Yunho and Mingi” Seonghwa muttered from the floor. Hongjoong looked down at him in surprise; surely he must be joking, what could they do? But he could see from his best friend’s eyes that this was no joke. Hongjoong nodded and Seonghwa silently handed him his phone.
He quickly brought up Mingi’s contact and dialled. The other end picked up almost immediately.
“Seonghwa, Sir?” said a voice that sounded like Mingi but couldn’t be, why would he be so formal?
“Mingi?” Hongjoong asked, suddenly unsure about who he was calling, since when did Mingi address Seonghwa so professionally?
“Hongjoong hyung?” what are you doing with Seonghwa’ hunts phone? Is he alright?” Hongjoong thought for a moment, was Seonghwa alright? He was just sitting there staring at his hands.
“I…no. He wanted me to call you” Hongjoong said and, after a whisper from Seonghwa added “He says to tell you ‘he found him’ whatever that means” Hongjoong shot a questioning look at Seonghwa but he didn’t respond, just nodded slightly in acknowledgment.
“Are you in your apartment?” Mingi asked suddenly.
“Yeah….”
“Stay there, do not open the door, do not answer the phone, and most importantly DO NOT LEAVE SEONGHWA ALONE!!” and with that, the line went dead leaving Hongjoong just standing there in confusion. What the hell just happened? Seonghwa… Don’t leave Seonghwa alone. Mingi’s last words rang in his head. Where was Seonghwa? The corner his friend had collapsed in was now empty.
“SEONGHWA?” Hongjoong called out, even though he somehow knew Seonghwa wasn’t in hearing range. Where the heck was he?
“Joong….” Came a quiet voice. Hongjoong’s head swivelled round and he hesitantly headed towards where the sound had come from. He had almost reached the kitchen when he heard a clatter and a bang came from behind the door. And then Seonghwa’s voice, crying out:
“Hongjoong, don’t come in here!” his voice pleaded. Like hell Hongjoong thought to himself as he shoved the door to the kitchen open. And stopped dead in his tracks, he certainly hadn’t been expecting to see that. Seonghwa lay in the middle of the room, clearly passed out.
“Seonghwa!” Hongjoong cried out, running forward and landing harshly on his knees beside his friend. His mop of ebony hair was clumped together due to sweat. He looked peaceful, even kind of beautiful in Hongjoong’s eyes. And then he saw the rest of the room. It was completely trashed. Every single cupboard door, shelf and drawer had had its entire contents poured out onto the floor and then abandoned. There were holes in some of the cupboard doors that looked as though someone had punched them. Just then Hongjoong had an uneasy feeling, what had happened here? He’d only been on the phone for five minutes, unless…. Unless this had happened whilst they were out. Yes, that must be it; no way could this have happened without Hongjoong hearing it.
Below him, Seonghwa stirred and whimpered slightly. Hongjoong whipped his head down and gently stroked his forehead, whispering to him that it was alright, that he was there and that nothing bad was going to happen. Gently, ever so gently, Hongjoong pulled Seonghwa into his arms and lifted him carefully up from the floor.
“Joong…..?” came Seonghwa’s soft voice as his eyelids fluttered open to reveal his beautiful blue eyes. But there was something about them; they seemed to have less light that usual, an almost haunted look plastered on the older boys face.
“I’m here Hwa” Hongjoong smiled down at him, which in turn caused Seonghwa to let out a relieved smile as he gazed up at Hongjoong. He’s still shaking Hongjoong thought furiously, got to get him to bed.
“Let’s get you into bed shall we Hwa, you’ll be nice and safe with toothless”. Seonghwa smiled at the mention of his favourite soft toy but when he realised what Hongjoong had said before he shook his head violently, eyes wide with fear.
“N..n….nNo” Seonghwa stuttered, “We need to get out of here Hongjoong” The urgency was clear in his voice. Too worried about his friend to argue, Hongjoong carried Seonghwa to the door, grabbed his keys and left, shutting the doors firmly behind him.
Hongjoong dropped Seonghwa down gently and helped him to stand up. The older boy seemed to have calmed down a bit now they were in the hallway and, turning slightly, he fixed his piercing blue eyes on Hongjoong’s chocolate brown ones.
“Did you call them?”
“Yeah, they’re on their way…. Seonghwa?”
“Hongjoong”
“What just happened?” Seonghwa scrutinized Hongjoong, almost deciding if he could trust him. Finally, he nodded and took a deep breath.
“That man we saw, he’s……” Just then there was a ‘ding’ from the lift, cutting Seonghwa off, and the metal doors slid open to reveal Yunho and Mingi. Rushing straight over, Yunho took one look at Seonghwa’s still worried face before enveloping him in a warm hug. Seonghwa was grateful for this but slightly annoyed that he hadn’t been able to tell Hongjoong what had happened. He didn’t know if he’d have the courage to try again. Once Yunho pulled away, Mingi started talking;
“Are you two alright? Why are you out here? Is there someone in your apartment?” He paused for a moment, but before either boy could respond, Mingi seemed to notice Seonghwa’s expression. “Hwa? You still with us?” He asked; concern in his voice.
“There’s someone in there” Seonghwa whispered, gesturing to the door behind him. Yunho and Mingi exchanged glances before ushering Hongjoong and Seonghwa out of the way and letting themselves into the apartment. Mingi started to close the door behind him but Yunho caught it, looking back at the two boys; “stay here” he warned and then let the door close.
Seonghwa couldn’t stop shaking, no matter how warm Hongjoong’s arm around him was making him feel. How could he just stand here, whilst Yunho and Mingi were potentially walking into danger? They didn’t know, didn’t know how dangerous HE could be, no one did; and no one ever would.
Shuffle shuffle. Seonghwa’s head turned sharply towards the stairs, eyes wide with alarm.
“Hongjoong….” He whispered, and the younger boy turned to him.
“What?” Hongjoong asked, also whispering having picked up on Seonghwa’s fear.
“There’s someone coming up the stairs. We need to move”. Saying this, Seonghwa jumped to his feet, ready to run for miles if it got him away. But Hongjoong wasn’t reacting the way Seonghwa needed him to, he wasn’t picking up on the urgency of the situation.
Shuffle shuffle.
The footsteps were getting nearer and nearer. Seonghwa silently pleaded with Hongjoong, hoping his eyes would convey the message. They had to run, NOW.
Just then, Seonghwa heard the familiar squeak and squeal of the Lift starting up. Damn it. Why wouldn’t Hongjoong listen to him? He considered banging on the apartment door to alert Yunho and Mingi but that could put them in more danger. He could feel his fight or flight instinct rising, but he already knew which one would win out, it was part of the reason he was in this mess.
Without warning, Seonghwa leapt forward, startling Hongjoong and knocking him over but there was no time to react, his primal instincts had taken over and they were refusing to listen to his brain. Seonghwa was down the corridor and had just reached the corner when the lift doors clicked open. Seonghwa froze when he saw two men holding guns emerge. He was like a rabbit caught in the headlights, torn between running and his concern for Hongjoong’s safety. One of the men moved towards Hongjoong, who was still on the floor, and yanked him up roughly by his collar. The other man held his gun to Hongjoong’s head and whispered in a voice that was meant only for Hongjoong but Seonghwa heard clearly;
“You’re going to come with us now or else the men in your apartment are gonna die, understand boy?” The first guys voice was menacing and left Seonghwa quaking as he read the underline meaning of his threat.
“No”, came Seonghwa’s voice, startling both him and the men at the other end of the corridor. And before he knew what was happening, Seonghwa was hurtling back the way he had come, back toward Hongjoong. He wasn’t going to let this happen. As he got closer he tried to slow down his pace, but his body was completely out of his control and, as a result, he slammed straight into the arms of the first man.
Winded, Seonghwa fell slightly but the man caught him in a firm grip and deftly swung him over his shoulder in one fluid move. Seonghwa craned his neck to see Hongjoong and saw, to his dismay, his best friend being carried into the now open lift and worst of all; he didn’t seem to be moving.
“YUNHO!!” Seonghwa cried out as loud as he could, praying he would hear through the closed door. Seonghwa felt something collide with the back of his head and the last thing he saw was the entrance to his apartment, the place he had felt so safe in for so long, before his vision went blurry and the darkness enveloped him.