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Soobin, as he's found out about himself over the years, tends to do things without thinking.
Ever since he was young, it's been a constant issue. His mother was the first to discover it and constantly accuses Soobin of being the reason her hair grows gray so quickly. She doesn't appreciate his comments on genetics. But it's true nonetheless: Soobin fails to consider his actions, usually only thinking about the consequences after he's done the thing.
Most of the time it's harmless; like taking the stairs because he doesn't look for the elevator (on the plus side he lost a lot of weight just from getting to his apartment, but it was pretty weird to nearly black out from exertion the first time) or decorating a Christmas tree with orange tinsel instead of gold (which was just plain embarrassing and caused Kai to mock him for months).
Other times, like when he dropped Beomgyu's Go-Pro into a glass of water because he heard him talking about a different camera that was waterproof, it doesn't end well. But even then it's not something that affects him horribly, and Beomgyu was angry only for a couple of weeks until Kai instructed Soobin on how to get back into his good graces. With that kind of incident under his belt, Soobin is glad that he's surrounded by friends that'll for the most part get him out of the worst of troubles.
And then there are things like this, Soobin thinks, eyeing the blade in the mugger's hand and the exasperated look on the handsome stranger's face. Maybe jumping in completely unprepared on an armed robbery truly wasn't the best of his ideas.
To his credit, he was taught to always help someone in need! And there was barely a split second to choose after he spotted the man pushing Handsome (he feels shy just thinking it, but that really is the best descriptor for the red-haired man) into an alley with something sharp in his hand. He just didn't consider doing anything but following them inside, even though now he knows that he's just made the situation worse.
"Who're you?" the robber mumbles, eyes switching between the stranger and Soobin. He looks at the stranger and motions towards Soobin with the hand holding the knife, which makes him a little nervous, "Friend of yours?"
"I don't know who this man is," Handsome says pointedly, throwing his head a little towards the mouth of the alley. Ouch. Soobin is a little hurt, but he's not lying...
"Then what's he doing here? You lying to me? Didja call him up?"
"Oh yeah," Handsome says flatly, "I called him. Not like my phone is on the floor in pieces or anything. No sir."
The robber squints, flashing the knife, "You getting smart with me?"
"Uhm," Soobin raises a hand as he interrupts, reminding him of when he's in class, "Listen, uh, dude? I think-"
"Don't," Handsome hisses at Soobin, turning to face the robber, "I don't know him, so he can get out of here."
Soobin can understand where Handsome is coming from. He might be tall, but his limbs are more reminiscent of sticks of spaghetti than anything intimidating, and unless he has a hidden superpower making him resistant to knives then there's absolutely no way this will turn out good for him.
That doesn't stop him from sticking his foot deeper into his mouth, "I just think it's better if we all just walk away from here."
"What are you all going on about?" the robber spits, "No one's moving unless they want a shank to the gut."
"Does that include you?" Handsome pipes up, before his face twists in the thought of 'why did I say that', and Soobin can't help coughing out a laugh as the thief grits his teeth and uses his free hand to grab at Handsome's button-down, pressing the knife against the man's neck close to where his bright red hair falls.
"Hey now-" Soobin tries, sobering up, but the mugger shushes him, sending some spit onto Handsome's face. Handsome visibly shudders, and Soobin sends him a mental apology.
"This is what we're gonna do," the robber says, "Yer gonna pull out your wallet, you'll hand it over, and nobody gets hurt."
Handsome grits his teeth, but his hand burrows into his back pocket to search for his wallet. Soobin, for his part, is left uncomfortably standing there, watching the thing he was trying to prevent happening right before his eyes.
Soobin's mind, abruptly, flashes back to something in middle school. When he, Kai, and Beomgyu were merely squirts at the mercy of older children after the other two had been caught hugging in an empty classroom and had rumours started all over (whether they ended up being right was less than the point). He recalls an afternoon on the day of the science frog lab, of encountering two elder boys harassing Kai and Beomgyu by rubbing the two with dead frogs all over until their clothes were soaked with mucus. He recalls calling out to the bullies and grabbing the frogs out of their hands, throwing them back in their faces and causing them to run off. He recalls the satisfaction of it, even though his hands smelled a little from the mucus too.
Soobin comes back into his own body as he's already moving forward, hooking a hand under the mugger's wrist and wrenching it away from Handsome's face with all the leverage he can muster. The robber swears, wrestling with him for a few seconds before he seems to get a grip on himself and holds on to the knife as Soobin tries to take it away.
He realizes then this is nothing like in middle school, and a knife is nothing like a limp, slippery frog, and that this might be his most horrible idea yet.
The fighting barely goes on for a minute until Soobin pulls as the robber pushes, and he feels the wind knocked out of him as the blade buries itself in Soobin's side and sends him sprawling to the ground with his hands wrapped around the handle. The robber pales, hand opening and closing on empty air, as Soobin takes a moment to consider his own stupidity.
"He did that himself," the robber mumbles, turning towards Handsome who gapes like a horrified fish, "You saw it, he did it himself. I ain't do nothing."
Handsome just nods, though he's starting to look a little green around the edges. The robber falls out of his stupor as Soobin gasps in a breath, grabbing the wallet in Handsome's hand and running out of the alley. Soobin sighs.
He looks down at his stomach, and the slowly reddening area around the knife handle, and blurts out an "Oh," as his vision goes dark. He never was the best at dealing with blood.
Soobin wakes up to feeling a distinctly breezy sensation all over his body, even before he opens his eyes. When he does, he has to resist audibly screaming at a bright light fixture sitting on the ceiling just in front of his head. He wonders what kind of architect would decide to put a light where it could burn unsuspecting people's corneas before the previous events catch up to him and he properly opens his eyes and avoids the light, gasping for air.
"You good?" Handsome asks from the bedside, standing up carefully, looking exactly as perfect as he did while getting mugged. "I wouldn't move if I were you."
Soobin blinks rapidly, vision swimming in and out as he takes in the dull white hospital room that he's lying in and the explosion of pain in his abdomen.
He groans, feeling his blood rush into the tips of his ears as well as try to escape his body and his bad decisions, "Oh my God. Oh my God."
"I'm guessing that means you're not good."
"Oh my God."
"No," Handsome clicks his tongue, "I'm Taehyun. Not that I have any way to prove that anymore."
"What?" Soobin blanks, before realizing, "Oh, your wallet-"
"Yeah, don't have that anymore," Taehyun shifts, putting his hand under his chin and leaning on his knee, "The cops got prints off the knife, though, so I'll be getting it back soon."
Soobin grimaces, looking down at his hospital gown, "I'm sorry."
"It's fine," Taehyun shrugs, lips twisting into a half-smile that should not be beautiful in these circumstances, "You were just doing whatever."
"You tried to get me away, though," Soobin insists, because he's an idiot that can't let things go, apparently, "And you even had to get me here."
"To be fair, I just had to drag you a few blocks to a payphone," Taehyun says, "Then I just called an ambulance."
"Oh," Soobin says smartly, "I'm sorry."
"I said it's fine," Taehyun laughs, a little 'hehe' that makes Soobin want to blush all over again, "Besides, it was sweet. Even that last thing."
"Getting stabbed?" Soobin tilts his head.
Taehyun shakes his head, looking a little sheepish, "No, I mean-Trying to fight the guy off. It was sweet, even if it was unnecessary."
"Unnecessary," Soobin frowns, then, "He had a knife to your neck."
"Oh, you mean-" Taehyun's face goes a little slack, "You saw his knife was upside down, right? He was using the blunt end."
Soobin wants the earth to swallow him whole. No, actually; he'd rather it ground him to pieces, so he's no longer capable of anything. "It was? I didn't see it. That's..."
Before Taehyun can respond comes a loud clattering outside, three sets of voices arguing over each other as the door opens to reveal Beomgyu and Kai fighting with a blond-haired man with round cheeks.
"I don't know who you are, but-" the blond starts, face seething, before his eyes land on Taehyun and his whole face brightens, "Taehyunnie! You're okay, right? They said you were, but-"
"Hyung!" Kai interrupts, bowling past Blond and to Soobin's bedside opposite of Taehyun with Beomgyu lagging only a few steps behind, "What happened? How did you-"
"It's a long story," Soobin answers, hoping that will deter them. But as Beomgyu opens his mouth to speak-
"He was trying to help me," Taehyun says softly, smiling in Soobin's direction. Is this what Nirvana felt like, or was it just the pain drugs? "I was getting mugged, and he stepped in. It's thanks to him I'm fine, Yeonjun-Hyung."
B-Yeonjun seems to deflate at that, turning to face Soobin with eyes full of gratitude, "Really? Thank you for helping him."
"Should've left it be," Beomgyu murmurs, getting an elbow in the side from Kai, "Ow. Look at him! I bet he was the reason he got himself hurt. You know how Soobin-ah is!"
Taehyun and Soobin exchange a short look, making a small unspoken agreement that Soobin is infinitely thankful for, before Taehyun speaks up again, "Soobin...Hyung, then, is it?"
"Ah," Soobin starts, nodding a mile a minute, "Yes!"
"I want to say thank you for this," Taehyun's eyes glimmer a little mirthfully, "incident. Maybe we could...grab something to eat? After I get my wallet back, of course."
Soobin's brain stops its slow functions, "Sorry? Come again?"
"Oh," Taehyun's smile freezes on his face. Soobin feels a total of three pairs of eyes glaring at him heavily, one more threatening and the other two more condemning. "Am I getting ahead of myself?"
"No!" Soobin backpedals. Taehyun's smile turns into a confused grimace, "I mean, I'd love to go. Out. To eat. With you, I just wasn't sure about you wanting to go with me."
Taehyun scoffs like he knows something Soobin doesn't, "That won't be a problem."
"Well," Soobin flushes a deep red, "Then can I pay? For the trouble?"
The three watching give Soobin matching thumbs up as Taehyun beams at him, teeth glinting sharply, "If you want to. It's a date, then."
As Taehyun starts a conversation with Beomgyu and Kai, Soobin thinks that, while he should think things through, maybe this time it wasn't so bad to just do something.
That is, until he thinks of the hospital bill.