RANSOM - 3RACHA

Sixteen

25 days before Chan was taken:

"Happy birthday kiss!" Jisung shouted, pecking Chan's cheek as soon as he walked into the kitchen that morning.

"You forgot the happy birthday hug," Changbin reminded Jisung. He was sat at the breakfast bar, shoveling cereal into his mouth and watching Chan's reaction with amusement. Seeing him jump back in shock was entertaining.

"Oh yes!" Jisung remembered and wrapped his arms around Chan's waist. He giggled as he looked at Chan's questioning face. "Now you will have a good birthday!"

"Hmm, I don't know about that. I have to work," Chan reminded Jisung and ruffled his hair. He pushed past him to grab the cereal box Changbin had previously used.

"Skip it," Jisung suggested, following him to the counter and hopping on it.

"No, my dad will play hell. We have a big meeting today and I doubt he remembers it's my birthday," Chan said, pouring the cereal into the bowl and grabbing a spoon from the draw, "it's not an important day anyway, sweetheart."

"Not an important day!?" Jisung gasped, "excuse me, mister but today was the day the world gifted us you and that's an important day!"

"There was a lot of days in that sentence," Chan mused, winding Jisung up further, "there are a lot of birthday's today. Mine isn't that important."

Jisung huffed, "well is mine not important either?"

"Of course yours is important," Chan said, taking a seat next to Changbin who was doing a good job of ignoring the conversation. Jisung swirled around to face them and crossed his legs. "Yours is important because you actually care about it. Mine is unimportant because I don't care about it."

Jisung rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You're off work tomorrow anyway. I'm going to make you go somewhere to celebrate with us!"

"No-"

"Yes! No arguments. We're doing something."

-

Jisung and Changbin held up Chan as they struggled towards his bed where he was to rest for the next few days. Chan was taller than Changbin and more muscular than Jisung, making it a difficult task but they'd done it before.

Chan finally fell onto the bed and the other two fell beside him, panting. Chan laughed at the two as they sat up, still out of breath. "You're going to get cold," Jisung said, picking up the edge of the duvet and trying to pull it out from underneath Chan. He failed and frowned, "move, you rock."

"He can't move, you dumbass! He's injured," Changbin flicked Jisung on the forehead.

"I can move," Chan assured them and started to shuffle to the side with only a brief wince of pain crossing over his face. Jisung was able to pull the cover up and throw it over Chan who gave him a grateful smile.

"Do you want us to leave you so you can rest?" Changbin asked, starting to climb off the bed.

"No!" Chan grabbed his wrist. The sudden movement surprised Changbin and he looked up to meet Chan's desperate eyes. "I mean, I don't really want to be alone. I feel like I've been alone for so long...can you and Jisung stay with me?"

"Of course," Jisung smiled, wrapping his arms around Chan and snuggling up against his chest. It hurt Chan at first but he soon got used to the position. "Can we watch movies?" He asked, fluttering his eyelashes at Chan.

Chan agreed and Changbin crawled into the bed on the other side of Chan. The bed was big enough to fit them perfectly. After selecting their film, Changbin moved closer towards Chan until he was leaning against him like Jisung was. He couldn't help it, Chan was like a teddy bear and he'd been gone too long. Changbin needed to hold him again.

Chan wasn't particularly interested in the film, but he didn't care what he was doing when he was with Jisung and Changbin as they made anything enjoyable, or chaotic depending on the day. Jisung seemed more relaxed than usual and Changbin was as calm as always, making Chan feel safe as he leaned against the pillows and closed his eyes. Jisung and Changbin still clung to his side and rested their heads on a shoulder each. It brought a smile to Chan's face.

It wasn't long until Chan had started to doze off, leaving Jisung and Changbin to watch the film alone. It was a film they'd watched a dozen times before though, and both lost interest pretty soon after he fell asleep. Jisung turned to Changbin and whispered, "hey."

"Hey," Changbin whispered back, turning to face Jisung and using Chan's chest as a rest.

"Do you think Chan will go back to work once he is better?"

Changbin looked up at Chan's sleeping face and sighed. He always looked so much more relaxed when asleep. When he was awake, no matter how much he laughed or joked around, Changbin could see the stress being his eyes and knew it was all piling up until one day he would inevitably explode. "I hope not."

"Me either," Jisung mumbled, "I wonder if his dad will visit him."

Changbin scoffed, "judging from last time he visited, I really hope not...Don't you think it's weird that Chan's mum didn't do anything about the ransom though?"

"She used to make us really nice cookies!" Jisung remembered, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips, "she cares about Chan doesn't she? She always seemed to."

Changbin shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm tired so I'm going to sleep," he explained and turned over so he was facing the wall instead of Jisung and Chan. Jisung would have tried to sleep too, but his head was swirling with thoughts, mostly about Chan, his family and work. Chan always came home miserable from that place...

When unconsciousness finally did claim Jisung, he fell asleep and dreamed about something he'd dreamt of a lot recently: Chan dying due to his own decision. Jisung couldn't help but feel like that's what would happen if things continued, but he wouldn't let it. He was going to make sure Chan was happy. He was going to keep Chan safe.