《stray together》

Rooftop

Orange and yellow hues, with the smallest touch of blue, danced in the wind as Changbin held the lighter up to the cigarette in his mouth. Jeongin already lit his, and was inhaling a generous amount while watching the shorter male in a tense silence.

"Who hurt him?" Jeongin was quick to ask, his eyes piercing with a need for vengeance, and his voice was filled with a grit that exposed his fragility.

"Guy's already dead." Changbin started, the nicotine stick in his mouth bouncing with his words as it finally caught fire. "But it was Vernon."

A frustrated sigh escaped Jeongin, which was exaggerated with smoke flowing out in all sorts of shapes and swirls. "Because of me, isn't it?" His voice expressed his guilt, as he knew he was the reason Vernon disliked the Stray Kids in the first place.

"I can't explain why Vernon did what he did. Maybe, but he was also just an ass." Changbin shrugged, taking a puff of his cigarette and letting the warmth fill his throat.

After a brief pause, Jeongin needing time to put his thoughts into words "Changbin-hyung. Seeing him like that..." the younger boy sighed, "I saw Joon again. Well, kind of. I saw Joon, and then I saw Lino-hyung, and felt like I'd lose him too."

Just then, Han pushed open the heavy door to the rooftop, the wind instantly messing up his hair. The harsh smell of the city's pollution hitting his nose. "Can I join you guys?" He honestly felt uncomfortable in the base after the events that took place, and was like a little duckling, looking for someone to follow.

"Yeah. Want one?" Jeongin asked, lifting his cigarette momentarily, before taking another puff.

"Sure." Han simply said, approaching the other men, retrieving his offering that Jeongin then lit while it hung between his lips. Although the youngest had done so, Han still walked to the other side of Changbin to put him in between himself and Jeongin.

It was quiet for a moment, as Han didn't want to pry, Changbin didn't want to expose anything Jeongin didn't want known, and Jeongin was in his thoughts. Just the three men taking puffs of each of their cigarettes as they stared out into the distance, the city lit up with hundreds of lights. Breaking the silence, Jeongin blew his latest inhalation out, tossing his shoulders up, though neither of the other men were looking in his direction. "I don't know why I let myself get attached. I guess I was just some lost kid looking for someone to fill that fresh gap."

"Hell, he's like a brother to me too." Changbin stated, feeling the burn of the cigarette in his nostrils as he exhaled through his nose.

Only after a moment did Jeongin actually take into consideration that Han was new and didn't have any idea of what they were talking about. "Ay, Han, I know you don't know much about me. To give you some context, my older brother was murdered years ago. I got revenge, and obviously couldn't stick around town, so that's how I ended up here." The youngest explained, still looking straight ahead into the bustling night life.

Letting the words sit in his mind for a moment, Han processed the revelation. It was just another reason to add to the list of why Jeongin intimidated him. "Revenge, so you killed the guy who did it?"

Blowing out the smoke through closed teeth, the wind seemed extra sharp to Jeongin all of a sudden. "Uhh... see that's where I wish I had done things maybe a bit differently." He admitted, not really wanting to reflect on his past actions, though they did cross his mind.

Han and Changbin stayed quiet. It was as if they were giving him the space to talk about it, if he wanted to. But also, neither were going to push for anything further.

Maybe it was guilt, maybe he was warming up to Han, or maybe he was a bit more vulnerable after everything that had transpired within the last few hours, whatever the cause, Jeongin continued. "I killed his entire family, and left him alive. I wanted to hurt him the same way he hurt me, but I didn't think about how his family was innocent, and did nothing to deserve it, like Joon. I didn't consider it until finding out about Lino-hyung's past and innocence weighed heavy on my heart." At the end of his sentence, he wiped his cigarette across the concrete wall that they were all leaned against, a trail of ash being made.