Hoseok feels blood dripping down his face. That's the odd sensation he wakes up to, the lukewarm droplets thickly sliding down his cheek from the stinging cut above his eyebrow. The sting of the cut is nothing compared to the dull but persistent ache in his head, though. He has to strain himself to open his heavy eyelids, and when he does, the fluorescent artificial lights hurt his head even more. It's only when he comes to his senses and processes that the place he woke up to is not, in fact, Taehyung's apartment, that he realizes that everything is wrong. He's bleeding, and his head hurts, and he's groggy and kind of nauseous, and he's in a gray room with dull gray cement walls, with unfinished gray cement floors to match.

Only then does he remember what happened. Only then does he remember stopping to tie his shoe in the hallway of the news building, Yoongi just a few feet in front of him. Only then does he remember the sharp pain of a blunt object connecting with his forehead, and then, vaguely, beefy hands under his arms, the feeling of carpet dragging beneath him as he was pulled away. Hoseok's drowsy, clumsy fingers go to the scar of his bullet wound on his stomach, the same way they always do when he feels that dreadful sinking feeling in the it of his stomach. Panic finally sets in.

He sits up abruptly, and immediately regrets it as the room begins to spin, just a gray blur before his eyes. Hoseok tries to calm himself down enough to assess the situation by reminding himself that things have been worse and he has made it out in one piece, but it doesn't do much to comfort him. This just feels different. The way Mrs. Choi methodically picked each of Jeongguk's friends off one by one is more strategic, planned. Jeongguk had managed to negotiate his way out of their last altercation, but Hoseok can tell that whatever comes out of this interaction will be finite. This is non-negotiable. 

"Oh, good morning, Hoseok." A voice echoes. Hoseok looks around frantically, searching for the source of the voice, but finding there's no one else in the room. He briefly questions if he's losing it, but then there's a melodic laugh. That's when Hoseok locates an old speaker in the ceiling, like something connected to a PA system. "Settle down. I am not with you. Solely watching you from afar." That sends a chill up Hoseok's spine.

"What the hell do you want?" Hoseok asks, struggling to keep his voice even. He subconsciously keeps his hands over his bullet wound, a defense mechanism and a habit that makes him feel less vulnerable.

"Oh, you are not that dense, are you, Hoseok?" The voice asks. The PA system is so old and out of date that the voice comes through muffled and staticky, to the point that Hoseok can't even tell if he's talking to a man or a woman. "You know exactly what we want. I had assumed you would have other inquiries upon realizing where you are. For instance...are you not curious as to where your other companions are?" 

Hoseok's blood runs cold. Taehyung, Namjoon. He hadn't even thought about them yet, too preoccupied with the mysterious voice and the impending panic.

"Where the hell are they, you sick bastard?" Hoseok asks, wincing at the way his cut stings when he furrows his brows.

"Do not worry about them, Hoseok. Let us talk about you." The voice says, a sly edge in it's tone. Hoseok rolls his eyes, smiling humorlessly. Of course he wouldn't get a straight answer to that question. "Does your cut hurt?" 

"I've had it worse. Now, tell me where my friends are." Hoseok tries again.

"Oh, that is right. You have been shot, correct?" The voice asks, and Hoseok scoffs indignantly.

 "Don't act like you people aren't the ones who pulled the trigger in the first place." He snaps, filter gone at this point.

"We have?" The voice asks, and it sounds genuinely confused. This perplexes Hoseok. The bouncer is the one who shot him, and he works with Mrs. Choi. Surely they both would know, right?

"Not the point." Hoseok digresses, head aching too intensely to think about it too hard. "Now, tell me where my friends are, or I'll--" Hoseok is cut off by that laugh again.

"Quite amusing, you are. Threatening me when you are the one with everything to lose." The voice says, the fact that he knows something Hoseok doesn't painfully obvious in his tone.

"Just tell me they're alive. That's all I want, please." Hoseok resorts to begging, feeling too weak to hold his resolve.

"So persistent." The voice muses. "Fine. I shall not disclose everything, because what fun would that be?" The voice giggles. "I shall tell you one thing: you shall join your friends soon." Hoseok feels tears spring to his eyes at how grave that sounds, how implicative of the very thing that Hoseok was praying wouldn't be true. He feels as if the wind has been knocked out of him, and he slumps back down onto the ground, his body wracking with sobs. The voice just laughs at his anguish.

"Oh, I cannot wait to see Jeongguk. This is going to be so much fun."

+++

"That was fun." Haneul deadpans breathlessly.

"Exhilarating." Jeongguk agrees, nodding in confirmation. He looks down at her where she lays on his bare chest. The upper half of her body that isn't covered by the sheets is naked and covered in a sheen of sweat that makes her look like she's glowing. She smiles up at him tiredly, still unable to quite catch her breath, but the sparkle in her eyes makes Jeongguk fall in love with her all over again. After they had been left alone, they both couldn't resist one another after months of yearning and solitude.

"Exhilarating?" She asks, raising her eyebrows at him. "You're a dork." 

"Hey, well you just fu--"

"Okay, relax. Relax." She cuts him off before he can get through the rest of his vulgar statement. "You've gotten bold, Ggukie." 

"Maybe the Italians are rubbing off on me." Jeongguk replies, pinching the bare skin of her side gently, but with just enough pressure to make her squirm and laugh into the crook of his neck. A warm and comfortable silence engulfs them then, the fatigue and momentary contentedness catching up with them. Haneul relishes in the sound of Jeongguk's heartbeat beneath her ear, the way his one arm loops securely around her waist perfectly. Jeongguk can't get over the gently brush of Haneul's fingertips as she traces the inky swirls and sharp lines of his tattoos, the way he has a lovely view of her freckles from this angle.

"What are you thinkin' about?" Haneul asks him, shining eyes glancing up at him once more.

"Honestly?" Jeongguk asks. Haneul nods. "Your freckles." He states, and Haneul chuckles quietly.

"Oh, really? What about them?" 

"They've always been my favorite part of your face, to be honest. They're just...you. The way you fill up the empty space when you walk into a room, the way you filled up the empty space in my soul...that's what your freckles do with the empty space on your face, if that makes any sense at all. And your name means 'sky,' so it's only fitting  that your freckles are like stars, like constellations--" Jeongguk pauses when he realizes Haneul is smiling at him so incredibly fondly. He can feel his cheeks going red, so he averts his eyes. "I'll shut up now."

"You really put a lot of thought into my freckles, huh?" She says. The comment feels almost anticlimactic after Jeongguk's mushy words of adoration, but he knows Haneul isn't good about taking compliments when she's flustered, so Jeongguk just tightens his hold around her waist and presses a kiss to her temple.

"Mmhmm." He hums, keeping his nose in her hair and his arm around her waist blissfully for what feels like forever and no time all at once-- 

And then his phone rings. They both let out simultaneous groans. They don't need to know who is calling or why-- they both know it means that this little piece of heaven that they have found will need to be relinquished for the time being. Back to their unfortunate reality. Jeongguk finds his phone his eyes skim the caller ID. Seokjin.

"Hey, sir." Jeongguk answers amicably.

"Jeongguk, can you get to my apartment as soon as you can? Don't leave Haneul, make sure she's with you at all times." Seokjin prefaces, and Jeongguk sighs quietly, that sense of doom that's beginning to become familiar at this point resurfacing.

"What's wrong, Seokjin?" 

"It's Wooseok. He's been two-timing us this whole time, working with Mrs. Choi and the bouncer. A double agent, that son of a bitch." Seokjin says bitterly, and Jeongguk mutters expletives under his breath. Haneul sits up, hand on his shoulder in worry.

"We'll be right there." Jeongguk says, and hangs up. One look from Jeongguk, and Haneul knows it's not good.

Back to reality, and it has never felt worse.

heyyyyy everyone surprise update i hope you enjoyeddd

lmk if you have any questions or feedback, i'd love to hear it!

thanks for bearing with me <3