—
dinner is supposed to be a relaxing and formal time where you talk about the events of your day and laugh at dumb jokes with fellow family members.
well unless you are part of the mafia.
everyone has some sort of weapon next to their plate (minus taehyung of course), and the air is always tense and lingering with anger. despite having only three people at the dinner table, it is rare that a conversation is struck up unless it's the beginning of some sort of argument.
"it tastes lovely, baby." jimin whispers with a small, gently pressing a kiss to his boyfriend's hand, who brought him seconds of the rich meal he had prepared tonight for them. that is all he was good for anyways, according to hoseok — cooking and cleaning. but, he was a person that required constant affection, and jimin was the only one to give it to him.
"thanks.." the youngest shrugs and sits down on the opposite end, facing his boyfriend. hoseok always sat in the head seat, because he was the boss after all. everyone was inferior to the leader, and you couldn't speak against that fact.
it was still extremely tense, more than usual, and honestly it seemed to drive taehyung insane. he tapped the ends of his chopsticks on the rim of the bowl before blurting out the first thing that came to his mind.
"shouldn't we feed jeon-"
hoseok paused from where he was about to take a large slurp of soup from the spoon he held up, eyes immediately darkening and the edges of his lips twitching. jimin held his breath and looked over at his lover with a look that could kill.
dammit tae, don't you know when to shut up? this was all jimin could think now as he nervously glanced between his lover and his boss.
"no." and that would be the final answer. well, apparently that didn't sit well with the youngest because he stood up from his chair and grabbed his own almost full bowl. his appetite was never large anyways, even though his boyfriend constantly force fed him more food.
"fine...then i'll go and feed him myself." he barely was even able to take one step before the gun was pressed to his head again, and now the room became silent.
"don't tell me that you need yet another reminder of who is the boss, because fucking hell, kim taehyung, i will teach you myself instead of letting your boyfriend do it. and it will not be light." but the younger man was stubborn and he just ducked away from the range of the gun, slamming his bowl down onto the table top again.
"i knew you still didn't trust me..." taehyung finally murmured and clenched his fists into tight balls, taking shaky breaths as he gained the courage to look up at the mafia leader who was also fuming.
"i was just like him too, hoseok. three years ago. you still hate me...but you hate that kid even more." the boy said, cheeks flushing a bit with shame that made his boyfriend's eyes widen, grabbing his hands carefully.
"hey, tae, we said that it's the past now. come on...why don't you just sit down and eat. we can all talk, yeah?" taehyung's eyes welled up with tears that he couldn't control, but he shook his hands away and turned to face the mafia leader again. he still has his gun clutched in his hand, knuckles white as he tried to contain his anger inside rather than lash out while jimin was still here.
"you only tolerate me 'cause of jimin...you only speak to be because of jimin...you keep me alive because of jimin." hoseok was a bit surprised at those words, even if they did happen to be true, he did not expect something like this.
taehyung sniffled before he continued. "kookie has no one here for him...there is no one who will save him f-from people like..like you." he jutted a finger into the leader's chest, which any other day he would've easily regretted and gone to his boyfriend for help, but not today. without any more words, he let out a soft sob and quickly turned, running upstairs to his bedroom.
he wouldn't let hoseok break the jeon kid.
—
taehyung didn't visit that night, but jeongguk didn't necessarily care nor was he concerned about the bubbly male's absence. he had heard some yelling, but perhaps it was just a dumb argument between them (wouldn't be a surprise).
instead of focusing on his slight loneliness, the jeon kid took out the card deck from its hiding place underneath the mat hoseok had gifted him. he had been teaching himself card tricks that taehyung showed him, and hey, it did pass the time pretty fast.
his stomach constantly twisted and growled with hunger, but he chose to ignore it and focus on making a perfect bridge with the deck of cards. jeongguk laid on his stomach, feet in the air and tongue poking out slightly, a habit when he was in concentration. the pain from his punishment from the previous day was practically gone, but the humiliation and memory in his mind burned there worse than hoseok's hand slapping his bottom.
taehyung didn't seem to make fun of him though, which he deeply appreciated. they were both, slightly, in the same boat, making it easier to be less humiliated by the situation. although clearly, hoseok is planning to do much worse...with that satanic and devilish smirk, it was almost terrifying. almost.
"please know that i'm only staying alive for you, dad...otherwise i would've killed myself already.." jeongguk whispers as he picks up one of the four king cards, sighing softly and letting it fall down with the other ones in the deck. "whatever jung wants...i'll do...maybe...just with a little extra kick-" he huffed out a laugh and rolled over to lay on his back, staring up at the stone ceiling.
"ew...i can't even say i'll submit to that man...makes me gag.." the boy's features twisted into a look of disgust, hands folding on top of his stomach, chains clinking softly at the subtle movement.
do whatever it takes to stay alive.
"dammit...i never listen to you, dad...why am i listening now?" jeongguk huffed with a small frown on his lips, curling up on the mat to face the dark stone wall now. white, uneven lines were scratched in, the jeon kid's own doing of course. even lacking a watch, he memorized the routine of the jung mafia and could tell when it was morning and night finally.
so far, minus the time he was passed out, it had been eleven days in this dungeon. he could feel himself getting slightly weaker from lack of proper meals and water, after all, he only had about four or five real meals this entire time, mostly from taehyung. the other times were snacks and small gulps of water before the male had to leave again.
"befriending" taehyung wasn't a regret the kid had now, but he had a small pang of guilt for basically sucking up to the male just for small bits of information, food and trust. He did seem like a genuine and kind person, but everyone in the jung mafia was surely insane.
and soon, jeongguk would inevitably be a part of that.
—
Written by -mooniris
