moonchild // namjin

20

jin pov

"i knew one," i answer and my dad looks at me in shock, "and you did too. you quite liked the boy."

"w-who?" he asks in shock.

"remember sejun? he didn't move, he was captured," i say with pain filling my voice.

lim sejun, my childhood best friend. i've never really had any friends before him as everyone was affraid of the presidents son and honestly, they still are. sejun was the first person to look past that fear and decided to talk to me. we were 6, he didn't know any better. he'd never been told that he'll probably get taken away if he spoke to me, it's like his parents never cared. i'd go over to his place and he'd come to mine. he was truly my best friend. one day when we were 12, i went to go see him as he wasn't at school that day but i was met with his parents, tears running down their cheeks. they told me what had happened and told me to tell my dad and everyone else that they just moved away. i did what i was told and around that same time i met andre. he didn't have the power to break him out but he'd tell me how my best friend was. one day though, the reports stopped as i learnt that the scientists starved him. he never knew better and i blame myself every day. i've always been against what's happening to moon children but after that, i became more angry at the world and decided that it was something to fight for.

"w-why didn't you tell me? i c-could've-"

"you couldn't of and you wouldn't of. he didn't know any better and we took his whole life away. he was 12 when he got taken and 15 when he died. i'm not letting anyone else go through the pain he and i went through. you're taking innocent souls away from the people they love and it's fucked up and until you realise that, i'm not coming back," i say and go upstairs, tears falling from my eyes.

i pack my bag and grab everything i need before leaving the toxic place. maybe this is how i'll get through to him. i walk back to namjoon's house, tears falling from my eyes as i remember all the memories me and my best friend once shared. i decide to enter a convenience store to grab an iced coffee. i pay and leave, opening the beverage as i begin walking again. i catch a red light out of the corner of my eye and stop, looking towards it. i walk up to it and see my best friend.

"s-sejun?" i ask in disbelief and the man looks up at me.

"j-jin hyung," he says breathlessly and hugs me.

we cry into each other's shoulders as we hold each other. i pull away and touch his face.

"i-i thought you were dead," i whisper under my breath as he shakes his head.

"i had to make it seem like i was dead to get out of there. if a moonchild dies in captivity, they're taken back to their families to have a proper burial. andre and i planned it out and i told him not to tell you, i'm sorry," he says.

"don't be sorry. how are you? what have you been doing these past couple of years?" i ask as i help him up.

"i'm ok i guess, as for what i've been doing, i've been hiding. when i went back, my parents didn't want me anymore, they said i caused too much stress on them. i've been hiding in that alley ever since but it's become a lot harder since i changed," he replies, "where are we going by the way?"

"to my boyfriend's house. he's nice and so are his family," i reply and he tenses up.

"i-i c-can't," he stutters, "h-humans a-a-are dangerous."

"he's a moonchild, you'll be the 3rd moonchild there so you won't be alone. everyone else there are ally's and know their stuff," i say.

"h-how c-can i t-trust t-them?" he asks as he shakes.

"namjoon's dad is a scientist who's made things for both jungkook and namjoon and is currently working with andre to supply foundation and contact lenses to every moonchild that he's helped escape which is all if them. he's made it possible for the boys to learn as much as they can about where they're from and is working hard to find their biological parents so that they can have a relationship. the other humans there are their brothers. you can trust them, they know how to keep a secret," i reply and he relaxes a little.

"o-ok," he says and we continue walking.

we reach the house and i walk in, namjoon's face lighting up as soon as he sees me.

"sorry i took so long, some things happened," i apologise.

"it's ok honey," mrs kim says.

sejun hides behind me and i turn around to see him shaking.

"h-hyung i t-think this is a b-bad idea," he stutters.

"hey it'll be ok, you're safe here," i say and he nods. we walk into the house, sejun staying close to my side, "guys is it alright if sejun stays here? he doesn't have anywhere to go."

"of course it is," namjoon says cheerfully, "i'm namjoon by the way."

"i-it's nice to meet you," sejun says and namjoon smiles, "what happened to your leg?"

"sun crystals," namjoon replies and sejun's face turns into one of shock.

"s-sun crystals? how are you still alive?" sejun asks.

"he almost wasn't. how do you know about them?" i ask.

"in the lab, if we did something wrong they put sun crystals on us and when we turned 15, they'd test how far we could go. i've never touched it but i've heard it's extremely painful and a lot of moon children have died from it," he replies, "you must be strong namjoon."

"you were in the lab? i'm sorry you had to go through that," namjoon says sympathetically while hugging sejun.

"i-it's ok. i have a feeling that my parents ratted me out. when i escaped, i went back to them and they wanted nothing to do with me. t-they left me for dead," sejun explains as a tear falls from his eye.

"we can be your new family if you'd like," namjoon's dad says, "we don't mind."

"really?" he asks in disbelief.

"of course."