He felt Jeongguk freeze beside him, his breathing became laboured, and his fists clenched painfully against Taehyung's body. Instantly Taehyung regretted telling the two men who were responsible for the death of his family, what if Jeongguk didn't believe him? Or worse, didn't care? He attempted to move away from the young heir only to be pulled closer to his firm chest, that may or may not have appeared in multiple dreams hovering over him, and a string of apologies was whispered into his hair. Jeongguk was shaking with rage, and his hold on Taehyung only tightened as the seconds passed. Taehyung had never felt safer than he did at that moment with two arms that could rival a bear's strength wrapped around his shoulders and waist, he pushed his head into the crook of Jeongguk's neck and breathed deeply. Jeongguk's smell was intoxicating; it was manly and woody yet still warm and sugar-sweet; it brought Taehyung so much comfort that he never wanted to leave Jeongguk's side, never wanted to be released from his hold.

~

However, all good things must come to an end; Jeongguk released him but didn't push him away and sat up against the headboard followed closely by Taehyung, who curled up against his chest like a cat,

"I'm so sorry," Seokjin ogled him curiously, "I don't usually care what my father does, mostly I just go along with it but what he did to your..." Jeongguk's head hung low, and his hair covered his eyes, but Taehyung could still see the pain in those dark orbs, "Your brother and sister should never have been included and neither should you, none of you had any idea what your parents had done. Your only crime was being their children," Seokjin smiled, there was hope. All this time everyone was afraid that when Jeongguk took over from his father, he would turn out to be even more ruthless, that he would run the empire the same way he committed murder, but now that was not the case. Jeongguk was able to pick out the innocent from the guilty and set them aside out of harm's way; he understood that just being related to a snake didn't necessarily make someone a snake too. This gave Seokjin great courage, and he would follow Jeongguk to the end of the earth and back with full faith that he would only punish those who deserved it and offer help to those who needed it like he was with Taehyung now. Seokjin watched the way he instinctively brought Taehyung closer like he was the most precious thing on earth and allowed him to snuggle into his neck, Taehyung was no longer scared despite what had occurred only moments earlier. He was finally starting to see the real Jeon Jeongguk.

"What about my parents?" Taehyung sounded smaller than a mouse when he spoke, and the way he hid his face from Jeongguk proved how hesitant he was to utter those words. Jeongguk sighed bringing a hand up to card through the other's lilac locks comfortingly,

"I'm sorry V," Taehyung flinched and tried to move away again but the sinewy arms caging him prevented it, "it's how the empire works. If someone doesn't pay up or goes against us then we have to get rid of them, it's the quickest and easiest way to avoid any more trouble they may cause." Taehyung sniffled and asked Jeongguk what he meant by that, "imagine if your parents had called the police to try and avoid paying what they owed," Taehyung nodded in understanding. However, there were still minuscule sniffles coming from the junction of Jeongguk's shoulder. "I'm sorry."

~

Something in Taehyung flipped, the usually quiet and passive male gave way to a much fierier person beneath; he wrenched himself from Jeongguk's possessive hold and scrambled off the bed. Seokjin attempted placing a hand on his shoulder to calm him but he was only greeted with a harsh glare and his hand being thrown away, Taehyung was breathing heavily and if looks could kill Jeongguk would have been dead ten times over, each time more horrible than the last.

"What do you think gives you the right to decide someone is worthy of death? My parents owed you money, they hadn't killed anyone nor had they ratted you out or threatened you," his voice was rising steadily accompanied by his body shaking violently as he tried to stop himself from attacking the man still sat on his bed, "had you given them more time-"

"We gave them five years," Seokjin interrupted him,

"What?" Now he was stumped, why hadn't they been able to pay it back? Was it because of him?

"We gave them a five-year extension to pay us back after the original deadline because of you and your siblings," guilt swarmed Taehyung's body. He felt his knees grow weaker, "they had already been given three years prior, but they had barely coughed up a quarter of what they owed." Seokjin's voice had lost nearly all emotion as he deadpanned the information to Taehyung as if he was reading from a script,

"How much?"

"One hundred million," Taehyung's family were definitely not well-off, but they weren't scraping by either, both his parents had been in well-paying jobs, and they had savings that had gone untouched since before Taehyung was born, surely they would have been able to pay back that much especially with the extension.

"I don't understand,"

"Neither did we, your parents should have been able to pay us back, and they would have walked away unharmed, they would have been under surveillance as is anyone who comes into contact with us, but your family would be untouched and alive," Jeongguk had shifted to the edge of the bed to sit in front of Taehyung, he was aching to reach out and pull him into his lap, but he understood that he was angry and confused so he needed the space for now, "We looked into their finances and found that they had actually had the money sitting around since the first year but had never alerted us,"

"How do you know all this Jin?"

"I found it when I did a background check on V," in any other scenario Taehyung would have been angry at the prospect of having a background check done on him, having his privacy completely invaded; but with the swirling storm of emotions brewing inside him, he barely registered it being said.

"That means they had been refusing to pay us back the whole time knowing full well that it endangered you and your siblings," Taehyung lurched at Jeongguk.

The pair fell backwards on the bed with Taehyung thrashing wildly, desperately trying to take his anger out on the younger beneath him,

"No, you're lying!" his arms came up to bat at Jeongguk's face and chest, but they were caught before he felt himself being lifted and flipped onto his back with Jeongguk on top of him once again. Taehyung's face scrunched in rage, "Get the hell off me you bastard!" his knee came up which Jeongguk barely dodged,

"V calm down,"

"Calm down? You fucker! How dare you say that?" Taehyung's limbs showed no sign of stopping and his face was becoming redder with every insult he fired. Jeongguk was genuinely considering drugging Taehyung at this point, so he didn't hurt himself, but he knew that it would only lead to further problems once he woke up. So he stayed hovering over the dancer with his wrists pinned above his head with one hand and the other stroking his hip. The view Taehyung had was magnificent, and somewhere behind the blind rage, he was enjoying his predicament, being dominated so quickly was a major turn on and Jeongguk's distinct good looks weren't helping. So much so that he had to be very mindful not to rub his crotch against Jeongguk's muscular thigh; any friction would have meant the end for him.

"V please," Jeongguk's lips lowered so that they barely brushed his own; shock waves rushed through the elder's body at the contact, his heart screamed at him to lean up and press himself into those soft pink cushions that were just calling for him. Instead of listening to his heart, he listened to his brain and turned his head away. Still, his body had lost all its fight and now lay limp beneath Jeongguk; he noticed that Seokjin had left sometime during his outburst – he wasn't sure whether this made him happy or terrified to be alone.

~

There was a gentle rapping that interrupted the rare silence that had washed over Namjoon's office, he sighed, pulling a hand down his face, and leaning back into the high back of his chair. He felt the chair move with him slightly allowing him to continue his moment of relaxation before calling out to whoever was on the other side of the door. As the door opened and light pooled into darker room Namjoon sighed again, but this time a smile was present with it,

"To what do I owe the pleasure hyung,"

"I thought you had gone long enough without being blessed by my presence,"

"It's been three hours,"

"I am aware," Namjoon huffed out a chuckle as he watched his friend make his way over and stand behind him, a hand landed on each of his shoulders gently pressing into the tight muscle there. "You've been over-working yourself again, Joon," Namjoon hummed but said nothing, enjoying the small massage.

"Why are you really here Seokjin hyung," Seokjin began to answer, but Namjoon cut him off, "other than to admire my muscles and whatever else you like looking at,"

"Your cute dimples are a big pull," Namjoon shrugged him off. However, he couldn't hide the shy smile and blush painting his cheeks, he'd never been good at receiving compliments, "it really is such a shame that you're straight," Seokjin threw himself onto the two-seat sofa to Namjoon's right dramatically, the brown leather showing off the way his suit hugged him perfectly.

"I'm sure you manage hyung,"

"Oh, I do, but not even a little experimenting? Not even a drunken kiss?" Seokjin was goading him now, trying to get any reaction out of the younger man and the added wink wasn't helping.

"Not even a heavily drunk high-five hyung,"

"Oh come on, that's just not true, you hugged me once," the pair both laughed at the statement, while the words were not strictly true - both perfectly aware of Namjoon's tendency to hang off of Seokjin the moment he put his second drink down - the sentiment still stood firm. "I'm here about Jeongguk."

Immediately any laughter dispelled from the air, and smiles were wiped from faces, the atmosphere deadly severe for both men were extremely protective of the young heir.

"What happened? Is he okay?" Seokjin hesitated thinking of how to word his answer.

"Yes, he is physically fine, and I think mentally, too, but something's different; you must have seen it. The way he is with that boy," Namjoon nodded, he had noticed a difference, "Taehyung had an outburst earlier," Seokjin raised his palms placatingly, seeing how Namjoon had tensed, "he didn't hurt anyone, though not for lack of trying. We'd been discussing his family, and I told him what we'd found,"

"Hyung..."

"Hush, he needed to know. However, as you can imagine, he was understandably upset, and he tried to take it out on Jeongguk."

"Did Jeongguk hurt him?"

"No, that's the thing. Jeongguk was so incredibly gentle with Taehyung, yes he pinned him down to stop him hurting anyone, but Jeongguk was intent on making sure he was okay and getting him to be calm again, it was almost like he was worried about him."

"Worried?" Namjoon didn't think he could remember a time Jeongguk had ever been worried about anyone,

"But that's not all before all of that Jeongguk had been holding him, they were near cuddling on the bed." Namjoon raised an eyebrow questioningly, "Taehyung asked to go outside again, and Jeongguk got a bit rough with him, but then he actually apologised, he explained the dangers to Taehyung, but I dare say there was an element of fear from Jeongguk, though I don't think he quite realised it himself. But yes, he held him the whole time we spoke, and he comforted him,"

"He really cares about that boy, have they had sex?"

"No, I don't think they've even touched each other," now that was strange, the only times that had been remotely similar to this was when Jeongguk found a particularly good toy and became protective and possessive over them like a child. Although this sounded much deeper than that. "I think Taehyung could be good for him if he accepts it,"

"I do too, but I doubt Taehyung would ever accept Jeongguk, he's not living right now hyung, he's just surviving because Taehyung's existing in a dangerous world, I mean Mr Jeon killed his family, he's never going to come even remotely close to having a connection with Jeongguk no matter how much we may hope,"

"I don't know Joon, I think Taehyung might surprise us all, he's strong, and he'll learn that it's safe to live here and not just survive,"

"To be honest, I don't think he knows how to live anymore," Seokjin sighed and came back behind Namjoon, he slung his arms around the other and held him in a warm hug. They both dropped the subject, praying that things would work out for Jeongguk yet also for Taehyung, the pair had grown fond of him during his time in the penthouse.

With a single pressed into the side of Namjoon's hair, Seokjin pulled away and left the office.