The Bangtan Blood have multiple hideouts across the country, Hoseok comes to discover. They carefully load Jungkook into the back of the van and climb in, letting Jimin navigate them to a new location before Hoseok's professor comes in for the day. The abandoned warehouse that was blown to smithereens was the one that felt most like home, however, according to Taehyung, the honey blonde haired man who has hardly let go of Jungkook's hand since he got hurt. Now that Jungkook is stable, Taehyung is smiling, despite the apparent emotional drainage they all experienced. They all have an affectionate way towards Taehyung, almost equivalent to the way one feels when they see a small child. They recognize and appreciate his maturity, but as soon as he smiles, it's infectious.

Hoseok feels isolated, unfamiliar with the dynamics of their relationships with one another. The idea of the Bangtan Blood members not being the vicious, ruthless people the general public knows them to be is still odd to him. Not to mention he still feels as if he's walking on thin ice with the leader of the group. He tunes out of the conversation they're having about a past experience he wasn't there for, glancing across the van at Iseul. She listens to the conversation, and a smile is on her lips, but it doesn't reach her eyes. Her fingers fiddle with her gun, as if it's a habit. The way she holds such a deadly weapon so casually unsettles Hoseok, and he sits on edge, despite the embrace they shared after he saved Jungkook.

That's another thing Hoseok is still struggling to wrap his head around. He saved Jungkook. He isn't licensed or experienced, and he could get in worlds of trouble if anyone finds out he did this, but he did it. He has always been mediocre at medical school, especially considering it isn't where his real passion lies, but the feeling of saving him makes him feel like all those years of school paid off a little.

Finally, after a good hour or so of driving with Hoseok being sure to check on Jungkook every ten minutes, the van slows and comes to a stop. Jimin throws open the doors with a small smile, allowing them all to climb out the back. The hideout of the Blood's isn't anything like the one that got blown up. It's a house, painted a light blue color with white trim around the windows— and from what he can see, it's in the suburbs. There's a white picket fence out front and well kept flowers in pots on the porch. A garden is in the corner, flourishing. His confusion must show on his face, because Namjoon laughs.

"Yoongi hyung likes to garden. Can you tell?" He says, and earns a hard slap on the shoulder from the shorter, dark haired man—Yoongi, Hoseok infers.

"No, I don't. I need to keep up our image to the neighbors so they don't suspect anything. This way, we're the weird family with a botany habit, not a gang." Yoongi explains sourly, but the tips of his ears are red with embarrassment.

"Suuure." Namjoon says, and leaving a fuming Yoongi behind, he leads Hoseok into the house, after the others enter carrying Jungkook. Though the outside is picturesque in that it looks like the home of a nice family with a couple kids and a dog, the inside doesn't look like it belongs to a family at all. The walls are bare of any art or any pictures of the members of the Bangtan Blood, unlike the home they used to inhabit. In fact, there's no touches of what makes these gang members family at all here, no personal flair whatsoever. There's a gray couch, a couple folding chairs and a long wooden table, a small TV but no cable box. A layer of dust coats everything; Hoseok can tell they haven't been here for a long time.

Their faces reflect that which they lost. Yoongi looks around, his normal frown even deeper. Seokjin opens the fridge, only to shut it in disappointment when no food can be found. Jimin sits down on the couch, shifting as he tries to find a comfortable position, only to give up and stand once more.

"We put Jungkook in the last room down that hall." Taehyung says softly, clearly as disconcerted as the others. Iseul leans against the doorframe leading to the hallway. She's the only one who doesn't seem to be as bothered by the loss of their home.

"Okay. I don't know how the...rooming situation works, but I think it's best that I stay with him for the rest of the night." Hoseok says, before realizing he might sound like he's ordering them around. "I mean ifthat'scoolwithyouguys." He rushes out, earning a small smile from Namjoon.

"That's fine, Hoseok. Thank you for everything." He says, but then Iseul clears her throat.

"It's fine, as long as I stay with you." She says. Hoseok gulps nervously, eyeing the knife she's still holding.

"Come on, Iseul." Seokjin explains, still always the one to call the girl out. "Put the knife away, you're gonna scare the poor guy half to death."

"Need I remind you that he's still virtually a stranger? That he only saved Jungkook because I was holding him at gunpoint? He's still liable to hurt us, we can't just leave him alone with Jungkook!" Iseul says, and Hoseok is itching to defend himself, but he bites his tongue. The last thing he wants is to make an enemy of this girl.

"Whatever. You and I both know it's bullshit. But if you lay a finger on him we're going to have issues. I'm going to bed. I love you all." Seokjin announces, before retreating into a room down the hall. Hoseok almost laughs at the obscure parallels—scolding to loving in a matter of sentences.

"Okay, I should go check on Jungkook now." Hoseok breaks the silence, approaching the hall, Iseul following him, to his dismay.

"Hoseok?" Jimin calls.

"Yeah, what's up?" He says over his shoulder.

"Don't let her scare you. She's all bark and no bite." He says, somehow still playful in their collective exhaustion. Iseul rolls her eyes.

"I, uh, beg to differ. Almost lost a finger to her. And, uh, also, my life. Almost." He says awkwardly, and a small smirk replaces the annoyance on Iseul's face.

"Yeah, about that." Yoongi chimes in. "Take a shower, would you? You look like a tampon after use." He says, gesturing to Hoseok's blood covered body and clothes. They all make similar faces of disgust, some of them making noises of disapproval.

"That's...that's foul but, um, will do, I guess." Hoseok responds, and with that, he's entering the room Jungkook is in, with probably his least favorite person. First, he checks on Jungkook, checks his vitals and his stitches. Then he makes sure he's comfortable, or at least as comfortable as he can be, arranging the blankets around him. Jungkook lets out a low moan of utter agony, and Hoseok brushes his hair off his forehead gently, murmuring apologies and reassurances into his ear while Iseul leans against the wall, watching. When he's finally asleep again, he looks over at Iseul cautiously.

"Can I—Is it alright if I—?" He stutters, pointing towards the bathroom door.

"Go. You smell." She says bluntly, and Hoseok cringes, rushing into the bathroom. He goes to shut the door, but then all of a sudden she's across the room before he can blink and her hand is gripping the other side of the handle, her dark eyes intense. "No closed doors."

"Oh! Oh, okay. My bad. My fault." He rambles, stepping away from the door. "What am I gonna do, fashion a weapon out of shampoo and shaving cream?" He mutters under his breath.

"Heard that." She says blatantly, and Hoseok chokes out an apology. Stepping as far away from the door as he can, he undresses down to his underwear, debating how he's going to go about removing those with her watching him. But then he looks up, and sees himself in the mirror, and his stomach lurches. There's the cut on his temple, the blood mixed with sweat and tears in tracks down his face. There's the shallow cut at his throat, the ring of blood around his neck where the neckline of his shirt began. His forearms are covered in the stuff, some his, most Jungkook's. His pinkie is sore and still mildly bleeding where Iseul cut it. Blood is caked in his hair and under his fingernails, and he feels nauseous looking at it. Swallowing the taste of bile on his tongue, he steps into the shower, pulls the curtain, and tosses his boxers out over the top.

He sets the water on cold to wake himself up, because he knows there's no way he's sleeping tonight. He showers quickly but thoroughly, scrubbing his body until the crimson of the blood is replaced by the shade of red that comes with rubbing the skin. Finally, feeling as clean as he's gonna get, he shuts off the water and fumbles for the towel he left sitting on the ground next to the shower. He dries his hair and chest before wrapping the white towel around his waist, stepping out of the shower. Iseul is where he last saw her, but now she holds a stack of clothes probably a size too small.

"Here. Jimin brought you some fresh clothes." She says, and Hoseok takes then from her. He would typically feel awkward or self conscious about his body in front of anyone, let alone a girl, but he has a feeling Iseul doesn't care. Ducking back into the shower to put on his boxers and then coming out to put on the rest of the clothes. When he's finished, he looks up at her, only to see her eyes aren't on him for once—rather, on Jungkook. Emotion is on her face rather than indifference. He thinks of the hug they shared after he saved Jungkook, the threats to avenge each of the gang members; each member of her family.

She's just protecting her family. She cares, even though she doesn't act like it.

"I didn't just save Jungkook because you were making me. I would have done it anyways. Somehow." He blurts out, suddenly feeling the need to inform her, and feels relieved when she smiles instead of another less fortunate reaction.

"I know." She says, and glances over at Hoseok.

She doesn't verbalize her gratitude, but she doesn't need to. Her eyes say it all.

yay update uwu