FOOLS

Chapter 17

 Namjoon's eyes widened, breath hitched. He opened the door but remained where he was. "Hyung-"

The figure's eyes attached themselves to Namjoon's every movement. Namjoon saw the fire in them. He shrunk himself a bit. "Don't you fucken call me that." Hoseok growled. He jumped and grabbed Namjoon's collar.

"Hyung, please let me explain." Namjoon breathed.

"Explain what? Are you betraying us? Going behind our backs and plotting for something we don't know about. Aren't we a team, Namjoon?" His voice cracked, but the blaze burned on. Ruby fire in the obsidian sky. Namjoon thought of how fitting the situation was. He was about to lose everything at the hands of the person he trusts most. And that was what Hoseok must be feeling right now.

"Hyung,"

Hoseok's grip loosened around his collar. He felt numb, his feet staggered back. "I knew something was wrong the minute you stepped foot inside that temple. When you came back, you felt further away from us. It was like you were living another life and we weren't important anymore, we weren't brothers."

"You are so important to me, you and everyone on the team. You'll always be my brothers." Namjoon urged. He was being truthful. He couldn't imagine living without the 5 boys in his life, now 6 with the addition of Jungkook. But the team had been by his side since day one, they put all their trust in him when he hadn't believed in himself. They trusted his leadership when he had lost himself on the way to being perfections. He owes his life to him.

"I don't think you know what being brothers is anymore. It's about telling each other everything, all our worries, all our hopes and ambitions. You've been doing a lot of things by yourself lately, why?"

"I can't....I can't tell you right now." Namjoon answered, biting his lips. Hoseok scoffed loudly, clenching his jaws.

"And why the hell not?" Hoseok yelled, it shook the trees. Even the moon wavered a little bit, pulling the clouds closer to its body and shielding it from Hoseok's rage. Unfortunately, Namjoon couldn't do that at all. He was inches away from the fire.

"It's complicated, hyung."

"No, you just don't want to talk about it." Hoseok snapped back. "Nothing had ever been complicated before between all of us. We talked to each other about everything, there was no secret, no whispers, no complications. We knew each other since we were training, rock bottom. Don't you remember all of those? Did you find a new team to love?"

Namjoon said nothing and only shook his head. "Never. I just found something I wanted to protect along with you guys." It came out as a whisper, a light to Hoseok's ears. The elder one perked up, eyebrows arched like the mountains.

Namjoon walked over to the hood of his car, and hopped on. Hoseok watched his swift movements, they seemed more relaxed and light. The younger one patted the space next to him, waiting for his hyung to join. They used to do this after long nights at the station. Cracking open a can of beer and watching the city come to life. Hoseok hesitated, but jumped onto his normal spot. Namjoon joked about the dent he always leaves, Hoseok always kicked him.

"I've been lying to you, hyung. You and everyone. Even my family." Namjoon began. His heart was pounding, but it was the right thing to do. To tell Hoseok. The weight was too much for him and he was hoping Hoseok would help him carry it.

"That's pretty obvious but okay." Hoseok said, feeling a little annoyed.

"You asked if something happened with Adelfós that night, and I said nothing. That was a lie. He did reveal something to me."

"His face? His identity?" Hoseok questioned, hopeful to get answers for something that had been bothering him for weeks.

"Yes. And his relationship to me."

Hoseok felt the air stopping and the clouds seemed to have faded away as well. Moonlight cast itself down to Namjoon's face. "What does that mean?"

"Do you know what Adelfós means?" Namjoon asked instead of answering the question. He turned to face Hoseok. "It means brother in Greek. I don't know why it took me so long to figure out when it was so obvious. But if I knew that sooner, it would have solved everything."

Hoseok scrunched his nose and shook his head lightly. "I'm confused. What does that have to do with anything? I know you're an only child." There were many things Hoseok knew about Namjoon, more than he needed to and more than he'd like to admit.

"I thought so too. For so long I thought my life was normal. I wanted it to be. Even though my father was a piece of shit, I just wanted to believe that at the end of the day, we were still a family. Little did I know, he was having an affair, which led to a kid. But he didn't keep the kid to raise him, he sent the poor boy away to the orphanage then killed his mother." He took a long breath. "Do you get it, hyung?"
"Adelfós is your brother." Hoseok answered right away. "Namjoon, do you realize what you're doing is illegal and I have to arrest you for this? Even if your father killed a person, planting false evidence will also land you in jail alongside him."

"I know, and I don't expect any less from you. But please hear me out."

"Fine, you got 5 minutes before I put the handcuffs on you."

Namjoon nodded then told the whole story to Hoseok. From the minute Jungkook revealed himself, to confronting his father, then coming up with the plan. He could decipher the emotions on Hoseok's face as he was telling him the story. He was hoping that there would be signs like approval or disapproval. But there was nothing.

"I know he messed up, and so does he. But he did it for survival, the money all went to orphanages and feed families of his members. He never meant to kill anyone. I know what I did was wrong and I deserve to be punished, but I needed to save him. If it wasn't for me or my father, he would have gotten to live a better life. He was robbed of his childhood and that's something, no matter what I do, he won't get back. I just want to give him a better future, and he's working towards that too."

He waited patiently for Hoseok's response. The older one scanned the sky, hoping he would see an answer in the clouds. He finally opened his mouth,"So you think putting your father in jail will be enough to wash your brother's crimes away?"

"No, but it would give the world some justice."

Hoseok let out a groan and rubbed his face. "Fuck, I should arrest you right now. This is so wrong." he yelled into the distance. Namjoon nodded, already admitting this defeat. He was only sorry that he couldn't keep his promise to Jungkook. "But I won't."

"What?"
"I've known you for so long and this is the first time since you got promotds that you're so set on something. If this Jungkook guy means so much to you and you can vouch that he wants to get better, then I believe you."

"Hyung."

"But he will get punished, I can guarantee that. Let's focus on getting your father in jail first."

"Thank you, hyung." Then, out of habit, Namjoon pulled his hyung in for a tight hug. He crouched his shoulders in to make himself smaller in Hoseok's embrace. "Thank you so much." he said again, on the verge of tears. Hoseok sighed and patted his back. Just then, Namjoon's phone rang. It was Jungkook.

"Hello-"

"Hyung," Jungkook yelled, voice wavering. He sounded out of breath, like he was being chased. "Help!"