hostage // minsung

3

Less than an hour later, everyone was back at the townhouse, sitting at the dining table for their post-mission meeting. They looked down at their hands folded above the table as they processed what had happened.

Changbin was filling them in on what happened after the others had scrammed. "We made a decision to ditch him there. We didn't think we'd be able to get him and get away in time," he said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it," Chan said. "You did the best you could. We'll just have to plan to get Jisung before Lucifer does."

Minho said nothing, his ears red, convinced that they were all thinking about his moment of weakness, and resisted the urge to defend himself. He could've held onto Jisung and had him knocked out, without there being any need to abandon him at the scene of the crime. But he'd slipped up. Again.

Chan left to double-check all the locks and peeped out the windows for any sign of trouble and came back. "Rest up everyone," he said. "We're going to be here for a while."

Minho stayed back as the others left to go to bed or game or fuck, knowing that his presence was required after meetings.

"Minho," Chan said seriously, and Minho forced himself to look up. "You know better."

"I know, I'm sorry." He bowed his head in apology.

Chan sighed. "We'll talk about this later. We're going to have to go after Jisung tonight."

"Now?"

"Yes. And it has to be just the two of us." This was an especially dangerous part two to their mission with the rival gang likely to be about, and cops swarming the area.

They didn't know how long Jisung would be knocked out for, and they couldn't lock the garage door and be sure that he couldn't untie himself and escape, so it was crucial to get to him quickly.

"Okay, if he's awake, we can just threaten him to come with us."

"And if he's still out?" Chan asked.

They thought hard about how to make this plan work. There was no way carrying a limp body would fly. Even if they pretended he was their drunk friend, they would certainly be stopped and questioned and found out.

"Let's rouse him," Minho decided. "We can force him to go with us."

Chan nodded in agreement, recognizing it as the only feasible plan they came up with.

Minho looked at the other members who were still downstairs in the living room. "Stay safe, okay? Stay away from the windows and don't make a sound if anyone comes by."

They looked up at him from lounging around, playing board games and video games, unconcerned. "We'll be fine! Worry about yourself," Changbin said. Chan glowered at him, not liking the idea of leaving him alone with Felix.

"Yeah, just bring the kid back soon."

"Jeongin, he's older than you."

Chan and Minho left, carefully locking the door, and casually made a very late night run to the grocery store. They were running low on food for their seven of them, plus they had to account for this eighth unwilling arrival.

Also, carrying the bags of food were more objects to distract from the bottle of ammonia smelling salts in his pocket. It wasn't illegal to have, but still strange, something they didn't want to draw attention to themselves. They figured if they were stopped, those bags would be searched more than themselves.

They got in and out of the grocery store quickly, the cashiers' glazed eyes barely glancing at them at the end of their long shifts. Minchan's own eyes reflected theirs, the too-bright lights of the grocery store making the shadows under their eyes even deeper.

They found themselves at the abandoned garage where they'd stashed Jisung, nervously looking around for anyone or anything like cameras. But this was quite a run-down neighborhood, and the people who lived there didn't have the means to afford expensive security.

They slipped into the garage, finding Jisung right where they'd left him, behind a stack of musty cardboard boxes. Chan kneeled, setting down the bags of food, and untied the ropes and the cloth from Jisung's face. He shook him awake, slapping his puffy cheeks. "Hey, get up, we're going."

Minho nervously looked around. No streetlights were on, which gave them cover, but he was still on edge for any sign of danger.

Jisung groggily blinked his eyes open. "Or what?"

"We taze you," Chan said simply.

They were bluffing. They didn't want to alert people with Jisung's electrocuted screams and they had already decided that they couldn't carry back his limp body. They were banking on Jisung being too far gone to protest.

They begrudgingly admitted that he was one of the cleverest, but he was still clearly a rookie if he'd let himself get kidnapped. That meant he had some sort of weakness that they were determined to exploit.

Little did they know that Jisung let himself get kidnapped to pass information from this rival gang to his own. And even if he wanted to escape, he was not in any position to object to the deal, waves of nausea passing through his body with just the movement of lifting his head. As for being tazed, didn't think he could tolerate more pain, so complied, letting Chan and Minho support him as they walked down the sidewalk.

With every step, his head throbbed, and after fifteen minutes, Jisung stopped to heave, leaning over to the roadway. This is not what I signed up for.

Minho looked at Chan, panicking. "Are you going to be sick?"

"I don't know, and if I do, it's completely your fault," Jisung spit.

Minho's mouth twisted at these words, but he stopped himself from snapping back. He didn't think he would enjoy being suffocated with chemicals either. And anyway -

"We really need to get back," Chan said, mirroring Minho's thoughts.

Minho glanced around for any suspicious-looking undercover cops or unmarked cop cars, but there were none in sight. He readjusted his grip on the bags of food. "We're almost there, let's just carry him."

Chan took Jisung under the arms and carried him over his shoulder, gripping his waist. Jisung's head bobbed against Chan's back as they speed-walked, his eyes closed. His fluffy blue hair flopped around, and Minho felt an urge to run his fingers through it.

They arrived back at the hideout, Minho fumbling with the lock and ushering Chan and his load through, and quickly pulling the door closed behind them.

Seungmin looked up at the arrivals, alarmed. "What are you - ?"

"Talk later," Chan grunted, carrying Jisung upstairs. Jeongin's eyes widened, looking horrified as they passed over the blue-haired boy.

Minho set down the bags of groceries in the kitchen for the younger members to attend to and clambered up after Chan, hoping the sound wouldn't carry to their neighbors. They had planned to tie up Jisung, but he immediately collapsed on the floor, curled up and moaning in pain. Minho and Chan looked at each other, grimacing.

"Let's just leave him alone and lock the door," Chan whispered.

"Shouldn't we bring him food? Or at least water."

"Yeah, for sure. We're gonna need something for him to go to the bathroom in too."

"I have my old cats' litter box," Minho suggested.

"Are you for real?" Chan said incredulously.

"What, do you have another idea?"

"No," Chan admitted. "Fine, I'll get the food, you get the litter box. When he gets better, I can just chaperone him to the bathroom."

They both gave each other tight smiles and went to collapse on the couches, exhausted and ready to pass out from the long night.