~<*>~ Pain in me ~<*>~

Chapter 1

Scoups sighs while he looks towards the gate. When that stupid metal thing opens, Scoups is free again. It feels weird to know that he will actually leave this place, he will finally get his life back. But is there still a life for him? Will his team still wait for him or did they forget about their leader? A hand that's placed on Scoups' shoulder pulls the black-haired male out of his thoughts.
"Are you ready?" Kyle asks smiling and Scoups nods gladly. The bald male has been Scoups' friend for the past few years and the black-haired male really enjoyed Kyle's presence.
"I don't know", Scoups admits. These past years have been rough for Scoups and he doesn't know if he's still that happy, little male he was before. But he has faith in his team, he's sure that at least one of them will be standing at the gates, waiting for him. Kyle sighs while he stares through the metal bars that separate him from his freedom.
"God, I almost forgot how it feels like to live there", he mumbles, speaking as if he will never get out of jail. Trying to comfort his friend, Scoups places his hand on Kyle's shoulder.
"It's okay, you have been here for a long time, but you're getting out in a year!" Scoups hypes his friend up, but Kyle stares at him disappointed.
"Two years", the bald male ruins the mood. Scoups raises his hands apologizing while he smiles at Kyle.
"I promise you that I will visit you sometimes", Scoups assures Kyle and the bald male smiles sadly.
"I hope that you can keep better promises than your so called friends", he grunts and Scoups sighs.
"They're lovely people, they're probably just busy", Scoups defends them, but deep down, the black-haired male knows that something else is happening. The first few months, Scoups got a lot of visits from his team and he was really happy with it. But after a year, the visits became rare and the last few months, nobody came to see their old leader. It stings that Dino didn't come once, but Scoups understands the brunette. His friend probably is pretty hurt and he's made it clear that he doesn't want to see Scoups. The black-haired male can only guess that the brunette was serious about it.
"All right mate, they're here", Kyle says while he looks over towards two cops walking towards them. A sudden nervousness rushes through Scoups' veins, would things have changed while he was away? Will he be able to adapt?
"I won't forget you Kyle", Scoups says thankful and the bald male throws him a smile.
"Enjoy the world out there and make it ready for me", Kyle says and Scoups nods.
"I will", the black-haired male responds as the two cops grab Scoups' arms. While they escort him past the gates, Scoups glances at Kyle, who's standing alone on the other side. It's pretty sad, but Scoups knows that his moment will come soon enough.
"Good, you're free from now on. Don't do anything stupid", one cop says before they both leave. Scoups blinks surprised, he didn't think that he would be left like this, but looking at jail from the other side just gives him a weird, but happy feeling. Kyle is right, you almost forget how life is like out of jail, but luckily, Scoups has some friends who can remind him again. Speaking of them, they should be right here, waiting for him with open arms. Scoups turns around, expecting his team to stand there, smiling, crying or both and that they'll have a nice little moment, but all he faces is dust and the street.
"Guys?" Scoups asks, but the only respond he gets is a dog barking somewhere down the street. Still in denial, Scoups looks around. Maybe they got the wrong address, or they are stuck in traffic?
"Come on, Scoups, stop fooling yourself", Chan's voice sounds in his head. Sighing, Scoups lets his head fall down. There's only one jail near and there aren't any cars driving by, which means that none of those options is possible. They simply forgot about him. They stopped caring about him. Scoups gets it, he's been gone for two years, but still, it hurts. With his hands in his pockets, Scoups wanders back towards the gate, but Kyle is gone too. The black-haired male walks off, sighing and with his head hanging low. He walks through the city that's almost exploding from life, but although there couldn't be more people surrounding him, Scoups has never felt so alone.

~<*>~

"Great work, guys! We did it!" Joshua yells satisfied. They just robbed a store with minor damage, but still a good amount of valuable things. The leader looks around their meeting room until his eyes look into a mirror. Joshua can see himself and he rushes his fingers through his red hair. He colored it, it's his way to honor Jeonghan. Joshua is pretty happy he did so, he thinks that he's good looking with this new look. Although he already has red hair for over a month, Joshua still admires his hair every day.
"Joshua?" Vernon's voice pulls the leader out of his thoughts.
"What?" Joshua asks confused. Vernon rolls his eyes annoyed, but a blonde guy gives Vernon a dirty look in return.
"You can't blame him, it's not easy looking after a whole group!" the blonde guy defends Joshua and the leader throws him a thankful smile.
"Thanks, Woojin", he says quickly. Woojin is a team member for almost a year now, Joshua let his eye fall on the blonde guy and he's a good man, so it's a pretty good decision. Woojin is a nice guy, clever as well and he seems to like everyone and everyone likes him.
"Good, I think that we have done a good job", Joshua changes the subject and all of them nod. Seungkwan wants to say something, but the door suddenly opens. Triggered, Joshua immediately grabs his gun and aims it at the intruder. No one unless the team is able to get inside, and since the whole team is inside, it has to be an intruder. Everyone in the team is triggered and the intruder stops his track in the doorway. He looks muscled and his hair is pretty short.
"Who are you?" Joshua asks firmly. The intruder seems to be startled and he scoffs in disbelief.
"Did you forget that too?" the male tries to sound jokingly, but Joshua can hear his voice tremble. The red-haired male stares at the intruder confused, he can't see his face because of the bad lighting, but something feels nostalgic. For a moment, they all stand in silence and Joshua's team is looking at their leader expectingly, waiting for him to do something. Joshua's mind is racing, where does he recognize this male from? Why does he sound so familiar? Because it's taking the team so long, Joshua sees the intruder's eyes change, it's like he's hurt. But it triggers something in Joshua's mind. Where did he see these hurt eyes before? And then, flashbacks hit him and Joshua drops his gun immediately to place his hand in front of his mouth shocked.
"Scoups", Joshua whispers in disbelief and he can see Scoups' eyes shimmer in relief while he runs over to his old leader to hug him tight. While he wraps his arms around the black-haired male, Joshua feels that there are more muscles in Scoups' body than before and it's only now that Joshua realizes how much he missed Scoups in those two years. The whole team except for Woojin gasp in surprise and head over to hug their former leader tight.
"Your hair is shorter!" Jun exclaims in disbelief while he brushes Scoups' black locks with his finger. Scoups chuckles while he looks his teammates in the eye.
"I had to cut my hair in jail, but it's already grown a bit. It can already reach my ears and I hope it reaches my shoulders again soon", he says smiling, clearly glad to see his team again. Joshua glances over to Woojin shortly, who's looking at Scoups with a puzzled look in his eyes, before turning his attention back towards Scoups.
"I totally forgot that you got your freedom today!" Joshua admits and he feels a bit guilty because of it.
"Oh my god, don't tell me that you've walked over to this place all on your own!" Vernon exclaims in disbelief and Scoups presses his lips in a thin line.
"I won't tell you, then", he says chuckling and guilt washes over the team.
"How can we make it up to you?" Seungkwan asks desperately and Scoups shrugs shortly.
"Just being here with me is enough. Where are the others?" Scoups asks while scanning the room, clearly ignoring Woojin at the moment. An awkward silence falls down between the males and Scoups' eyes darken.
"They didn't die, right?" he asks worried and everyone shakes their head in denial.
"Wonwoo and Mingyu are still in town, they just cut off all contact at the moment. Nobody knows why", Joshua explains and Scoups looks at him in relief. The former leader is clearly glad that his members are still alive.
"And Dino?" Scoups asks, suddenly a bit scared.
"He decided to move to Korea two years ago", Joshua continues because no one else decides to speak.
"Oh", Scoups mumbles, clearly disappointed and hurt.
"He said that he didn't want you to be the only one who missed a few years", Joshua quickly adds to comfort his friend. Scoups throws him a thankful look, but he still seems sad and hurt. Joshua can't help but feel sorry for him, that stupid brunette sure does make life hard for his former leader.
"Well, I think he's a dick", Woojin states and everyone looks at the blonde surprised. Joshua fails to hold back a chuckle.
"And you are?" Scoups asks, a little bit offended.
"I'm Woojin", the blonde introduces himself while he walks closer to the group gathered by the door between the dance room and their meeting room. Scoups' expression seems pretty mad and for a moment, Joshua is scared that Scoups will kick Woojin out or something like that. But to be honest, Joshua agrees with the blonde. He never really liked the brunette and he knows that if Dino returns, he will cause a lot of pain to Scoups and Joshua simply can't let him do that. He cares about Scoups too much. A long silence falls down before Scoups suddenly smiles.
"Scoups, nice to meet you", the black-haired male says while he shakes Woojin's hand. Joshua lets out a relieved sigh, things couldn't have worked out better.

~<*>~

"Yes, mom, I'm fine. I arrived home, by the way", Dino says and his mom sighs relieved.
"Okay, I have to go now", Dino states while he walks up the stairs, almost reaching his apartment again, "I love you, bye!" While he puts his phone away, Dino reaches the front door of his apartment. It feels odd to see it again after two years. Believe it or not, a lot of things have happened in here. Mostly with Scoups, but Dino doesn't want to think about it. Dino closes his eyes while he pictures the nice moments in his head. His time in Korea was nice, but the brunette has to admit that he missed America a lot, including the people living there. Opening his eyes again, Dino opens the front door and walks inside while he takes a deep breath in.
"Dino?" A familiar voice startles the brunette, but also makes him want to scream and jump in the air of joy. Oh, how he missed that voice.
"Scoups", Dino whispers. Although his whole body is excited, his mind is dull. Dino can't forgive the black-haired male for the hurt he caused Dino. Looking at his friend, examining his body, noticing his shorter hair and more muscular body, Dino feels the hurt again. The brunette almost regrets his comeback, but he's doing this for everyone else too. Scoups is looking at Dino full of expectations, but the brunette notices that his friend also looks tired, exhausted and drained. A lot has happened in jail, Dino guesses. A sudden feeling of guilt overwhelms Dino and the brunette drops his bags to play with his fingers nervously.
"I'm sorry that I didn't visit you", Dino apologizes quickly and Scoups smiles. He's clearly glad that Dino talks to him.
"It's okay, you already made it clear and apparently, you meant what you said", Scoups responds and Dino looks at his friend in disbelief.
"Are you serious? Don't start making me feel guilty, I'm not the one who killed a guy!" Dino yells angry, all his pity and excitement melts like snow in the sun.
"At least I didn't get kidnapped!" Scoups snaps back and Dino places his hands on his hips offended.
"Are you seriously acting like a toddler now!?" Dino scoffs and Scoups sighs annoyed.
"Oh, just fuck off!" the black-haired male yells frustrated as he leaves towards his room and slams the door shut. Dino massages his temples defeated while he stares down at his bags. This isn't going to be a nice stay, Dino can only guess how long they will be able to hold on.