Chapter Text
“Yoongi, don’t forget to turn the sign please. We don’t need another group of drunk music students wandering in and ruining half of our instruments.”
”I already did that Jin hyung, but I’ll double check. Can we then go to bed please. I am exhausted. Whoever decided on late opening hours on a Friday… Shame on you. It’s the start of the weekend and we decide to work longer.”, Yoongi whines, “In my next life, I want to be a rock, or a sloth, or something else that doesn’t move. Living is exhausting.”
”Don’t forget about our gas station run tomorrow. We don’t rest Yoongs, sleep is for the dead.”, Jin smirks, knowing the younger is cursing inwardly.
”Why can’t we do these runs during the day though? Why do we always do them at night?”
”Because the queues aren’t as long during the day and at night, no one asks questions. We always rock up with 10 Jerry Cans, when the prizes are doable. During the day they might put a limit on the amount of gasoline per person, at night, nobody cares. They just want to be left alone and sell things.”, Jin replies, answering that question for the 100th time.
”Fine. Who will be joining me this time?”, Yoongi knows he is always the one joining the gas station run. He is the only one of the six boyfriends running the store that can easily defend himself.
”I was thinking, maybe Namjoon or Hobi?”
”Let’s go with Hoseok. Namjoon would accidentally break one of those hoses and get us kicked out with nothing or, even more realistically, he would find a way to burn down the place.”, Yoongi sighs. He loves the man, he really does, but he is a walking disaster waiting to happen, “What will you be doing in the mean time?”
”We’ll do the cleaning, inventory and the weekly money transfer to the store's savings account.”, Jin replies.
”Good. I don’t like any of those jobs.”
”Do you like anything at all about our store Yoongi-yah?”, Jin asks endeared, staring at his boyfriend lovingly.
”I love that I get to spend all my time with my boyfriends and that I get to play the instruments whenever I want.”, Yoongi replies honestly, “Everything else… Well, I just deal with it because you guys love it so much.
”Come on, let’s go to bed. Today was a long day. I’m exhausted. All I want is to hold you close and sleep.”
”And whose fault is that? The long day?”
”Ah. Definitely Namjoon. He wanted to open longer on Friday and even in the weekends.”
”Of course… What a workaholic…”, Yoongi mumbles, finally giving in to his foggy brain.
”How many cans have we filled so far?”, Hobi asks, filling the one he is currently holding.
”Without the one you are holding, seven.”, Yoongi replies,
Standing at the gas station, around midnight, working as fast as possible, the two men are as quiet as can be. While things might be easier now and definitely faster, they also know that a lot of noise can attract the wrong crowd. Especially at this place. The owner doesn’t care who comes around, he doesn’t even come in between disputes. If things go wrong, if you attract the wrong crowd, you are on your own. Most gas stations and convenience stores in the neighbour have a bulletin poster with missing people on them, but also a smaller section with people who are wanted by the police. Not this place. Their board is filled with numbers of prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, loan sharks and everything else that hides in the dark. Yoongi and Hoseok don’t like to come here, but with the gas being considerably cheaper and the no questions asked policy, this is still the best option. Unfortunately.
”Good, let’s hurry up then. This place gives me goosebumps.”, Yoongi admits.
”While I can’t change the speed of any of these machines, I do agree. Next time, Jin hyung can do it with Kook. They might not be as strong as you are, but they are strong enough.”
”While they are strong, they don’t have my powers Hobi. I will always be the one doing these runs, simply because I can keep these thugs at bay with a flick of my finger, if hyung and Kook-ah were here… The chance of them getting physically harmed is much bigger. Besides, they won’t stand a chance against guns, I do.”
”True… It’s nice knowing a mage, comes in handy.”, Hoseok smiles.
”You pretend like we haven’t been dating for 5 years now… Nice knowing? You make us out to be strangers. As if this night isn’t bad enough as it is already, you invalidating our relationship like this, isn’t making me very happy either.”
”Hyung, I’m not. I’m just saying… I’m glad we met when we were in high school and you stuck around long enough, to never want to leave. You told us yourself that mages are nomads, that you were planning to move again once you finished school. I’m just happy you stayed. I didn’t lie when I said you having powers comes in handy, but I am mostly relieved you fell in love with us too and didn’t want to leave. I love you for you, you having powers doesn’t change anything. I would love you just as much if you were human, like us.”
”Hobi, you know I hate it when you go all lovey-dovey on me. I love you too, but urgh… I know. I don’t need to hear it every minute of every day.”, Yoongi whines.
”Too bad hyung. If there’s one thing I enjoy doing, it’s throwing my love around. I thought you would know this by now. Just accept it, hyung. Embrace my love for you.”, Hobi giggles.
The two of them keep filling up the Jerry cans as fast as they can, then stacking them properly in the car. Walking into the small store connected to it, to pay for everything, they decide to make a quick snack run. Noticing earlier how their snack cupboard at home has drastically decreased in good food, they know they have to bring home a supply of their favourites, otherwise they will have to deal with their boyfriends and while dating them has been a joy, their grumbling and pouting can be extremely tiring.
Keeping their heads down, they walk towards the till to pay in cash, that way when they are robbed, they only lose a certain amount of money, while if they pay with card, they can be forced to give up everything in their bank account, and walk out quickly, each with two bags in their hands. If their boyfriends complain now about the lack of snacks, they can go shopping on their own. Throwing the bags in the backseat, Yoongi looks at Hoseok with a worried look.
”Did I hit you accidentally?”, the older asks.
”No? Why?”, Hobi looks at his boyfriend with a confused look. Not really sure what he is on about.
”Oh, I thought I heard you groan in pain and say something like, 'ouch'?”
”Nope, wasn’t me. Maybe the car just creaked?”, the younger suggests.
”Could be. Maybe I’m just hearing things, because of how eerily quiet it is here. Let’s just go home.”
For the next few days, the same routine as always keeps them busy. Opening the store, keeping it clean, luring people in by playing popular songs of the moment on their instruments, wait until people actually walk in, explain what the different instruments do and how to play them, close the store and repeat. On busy days, time flies by and they remember why they decided to open this story. Sharing their love for music and watching people walk out of their store afterwards with the biggest smile on their faces, excited to start learning a new craft, is what they do it for. On slow days, they are bored out of their minds and curse themselves for starting their own business.
Today is such a slow day, even slower than usual, so to make sure they do something useful during the day, Yoongi suggests to go to the supermarket and do the groceries they would normally do that evening. That way, he is busy and they’ll have a quiet night in. Everyone agrees and with a quick game of rock, paper, scissors, the men decide that alongside Yoongi, Jin and Jungkook will go to the grocery store with him. The three of them are the only ones who can make a proper meal in their household, so they guess it is faith helping them a hand here.
Not ready to go back to their music shop, they decide to walk slowly, properly look around in every isle. Who knows, maybe they’ll find something they haven’t eaten in a while or get inspired to cook a certain dish in the future. Bit by bit their cart is filled with meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, beverages, both alcoholic and fizzy, water, snacks, some cleaning supplies for both the store and the apartment they live in, matches, some new magazines and newspapers to put next to the toilet and new toothbrushes.
Placing a few bags in the trunk, they put the few that don’t fit in there on the back seat of the car. Their trunk isn’t necessarily small, but food for six men, for several days, takes up a lot of space.
”Hyungs?”, Jungkook closes the door, then walks closer to Yoongi and Jin, whispering lowly, “Am I seeing things or is there a boy in our car?”
”A boy in our car? Kook-ah, are you hallucinating?”, Yoongi asks gobsmacked.
”I think he stayed up too long, playing videogames again, even though we keep asking him to not to that.”, Jin replies.
”Hyung! How could you even say that?! Do you not remember that I got into bed with Namjoon hyung yesterday? We were both really tired, so we went to sleep at the exact same time? You can ask him! Call him if you have to! I didn’t play video games!”, Jungkook exclaims.
”Jungkook, we all know Namjoon’s weakness for all of us, he would save your bu-“
”Ehm… Jin hyung… There is a boy in here… A very small boy apparently, because how does he fit in between the back seat and the driver seat? That in itself isn’t even comfortable, but sitting on the floor, makes it even worse… Is he bend double? Knees against his chest? How? How can he manage that in such a small space?”, Yoongi is more baffled about the boy not complaining, than he is about the fact that there is an actual person in their car.
”Let’s take that bag of vegetables from his head as well… That has to be painful.”, Yoongi smiles at the stranger, who hasn’t even looked at any of them. His head has been hanging down, eyes closed, lips pressed together, “Hyung, can you put the driver’s seat forward so he can get out?”
”Sure Yoongs, just make sure he doesn’t fall over. God knows how long he has been in there. His legs might start to cramp the minute he gets out.”, Jin informs them.
Even with the chair pushed all the way forward, the younger stays seated. Only now, do they notice how much he’s shaking. Out of fear? Must be. If he was this afraid to get caught, why did he stay in the car? Why did he not get out? Why did he climb into the car in the first place?
Observing the boy, the few things they straight away notice is his small frame, he appears to be quite skinny, his skin is paler than theirs, though it’s still not fair, his hair is blonde with streaks of blue, pink and purple in it. If Yoongi were to describe him in one word, it’d be dainty. Sitting down on the floor next to the car, he slowly brings his hands closer to the boy, showing him that he has nothing that can hurt him. When he doesn’t move, Yoongi places one of his hands on the strangers’ chin and turns it towards him. Allowing for the mint haired man to see him, he turns his head slowly, but without resistance. While his eyes are still closed and his lips are still pressed together, they notice a few more things. There’s a big bruise on his chin, a cut in his lip and above his eyebrow. He is also sweating profusely. Placing his hand on the boy’s forehead, Yoongi immediately takes it back, the heat radiating off of the younger is hot, on the verge of being scorching. Maybe the shivering isn’t because he’s scared, but because of the high fever he is currently going through. Or both… That is an option too.
”Hyung… We should take him home… Try to see if he has more bruises, maybe put him in a bath, feed him something… If things get worse, we’ll take him to a hospital, but something tells me, he doesn’t want to go there.”, Yoongi looks at Jin, then at Jungkook. Both nod at him. Jumping into the car, the three men close the doors, buckle up, Jin moves his car seat a little backwards, while still making sure the stranger has enough room to move and drives off. All the while, Yoongi is holding onto the shoulders of the boy still seated on the floor, trying to keep him from moving too wildly and hurting himself even more.
Jin drives fast, as fast as he can. He tries to abide by the traffic rules and regulations, but on streets where there is no one, he goes faster than he is actually allowed to. Luckily, he is a good driver and has never caused or been in an accident, so he knows what he is doing. No matter how fast he is driving, he is never going to put his boyfriends in danger and for some reason, he just has to keep the young boy behind him safe as well. The bruises on his face just do not sit well with the older. Jin has always had a protective streak, his boyfriends often tell him he’s very overprotective, maybe a little too overprotective, but he doesn’t care. As the eldest and the most affectionate in the team, he feels it is his duty to keep everyone safe, happy and healthy. While sometimes he feels like it doesn’t get appreciated by his partners, he’ll gladly keep doing it.
Arriving at home, both Jungkook and Yoongi lift the stranger from the car. Walking up to their home, they notice that he doesn’t follow them. He’s just standing next to the car, his arms wrapped around himself, his lips quivering, his eyes closed, his chest rising rapidly. Fear paralyzes him, moving is just not an option, which makes him panic even worse. He recoils from their touch, falling to the floor, crawling in a little ball, sobbing silently. What has he gone through for him to be so afraid that he can’t even run away, that fear has such a grip on him, that he is rooted to the floor? Yoongi sends Jin inside to warn their other boyfriends and to grab their first aid kit. Jungkook stays behind with his mint green haired boyfriend, looking around, trying to keep an eye out for anything that can form a threat or might be dangerous. In the meantime, Yoongi is sitting next to the small boy, even smaller than they previously thought, rubbing him gently over his back. Something that takes some effort seeing as he can feel every rib and every bump on his spine. Shivers run through his body and he is on the verge of crying. If there is one thing Yoongi can’t deal with, it’s injustice, it’s unnecessarily having to suffer because other people treat you like shit and no one else stands up for you. Just like Jin, he immediately feels protective over the younger, so much so that he uses his magic to cast a shield around the three of them, something he hasn’t done in quite some time.
Jungkook looks at his boyfriend, immediately noticing the shift in the air, Yoongi’s light magic always feels like a comfortable, warm, fuzzy blanket that wraps itself around you. All of them enjoy being on the receiving end of those spells, even though they do accept that he doesn’t want to use his magic unless it is actually necessary. The elder never asked to be born with magic, especially not in a world, where anything magical is frowned upon, and having seen the discrimination towards his parents, he refuses to go through the same pain. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t use his magic at all, he just chooses carefully when it’s actually worth his effort.
Through the light golden haze of his spell, he notices his boyfriends run outside. He quickly allows them in, keeping all of them safe. This doesn’t even drain his energy, the spell is so simple, he barely feels it himself. Yoongi himself forgets often just how powerful he is, his boyfriends don’t. They have seen Yoongi in action a handful of times and are always in awe, something they would have been now too, if it weren’t for the younger on the floor. Noticing the extra energy in the bubble, he starts to whimper and crawls even more in on himself. His hands are now also covering his ears. Whenever Hobi, Namjoon or Tae comes closer his whimpering gets louder, to a point where they fear he’ll start screaming. It’s Hoseok who points out that outside of their magical bubble, the rain is pelting down, dark thunderclouds are forming and lightening has been running through the sky, which is weird, because the weather forecast didn’t predict any rain for at least a week, only sunny weather and a light breeze. They look up to the sky for a hot minute, watching the raindrops fall on the glistening bead around them. They quickly shake it off, weathermen have been wrong more, this isn’t all that weird.
Yoongi crawls closer to the boy on the floor and asks him if he can hear him, when he gets no reaction, he puts his hand softly on the stranger’s hand, allowing his warmth to radiate through him. He noticed before that the younger has no issue with the older touching him, so he hopes that is still true. Once the younger stops whimpering, Yoongi removes one hand of the boy’s ears.
”Can you look at me please?”, He asks the blonde softly, his fingers now combing gently through his hair.
The stranger turns his face a little to the side, revealing part of his face. Now that he can have a good look at it, at least part of it, Yoongi falls silent. There’s a beauty to this boy that he hasn’t seen before. He guesses it’s the eye, seeing it’s the first time he has one of them open. The iris is a soft silver, with darker silver woven into it, that glimmers in the light. It’s as if someone dropped a vial of liquid glitter in there. His lips, now that they aren’t pressed together, are soft pink and pillowy. The elder can’t wait to see how the rest of the boy’s complexion will change once he is healthy.
”Those men, you can trust them. They are my boyfriends. I have five of them. Crazy right? I agree. While they are many, they are also kind, generous, sweet, caring, funny, smart, wise… You name it and it fits them. Kookie told them about you and explained to them that we worry about you. I’m sure, seeing you on the floor like this, they are worried too. Will you allow us to take care of you.”, Yoongi asks, silently.
The boy whimpers again, crawling away from the mint green haired one.
”No no, not like that. We will not touch you inappropriately. We just want to make sure you get rid of that fever, those nasty bruises, have some decent meals and that you are safe. If you want to leave, you can leave, we won’t stop you and if you don’t want one of us to touch you, even if it is to just measure your fever or change your bandaids, we won’t. How about we take it day by day? Doesn’t a lukewarm shower, clean clothes and a soft bed sound appealing right now? A warm meal, some hot choco?”
The boy nods, it’s very fast and not as clear of a movement as the mage would want to, but he’ll take whatever he’s getting.
”Come on then, up you go.”, Helping the stranger up, he allows the blonde to cling onto him. Both his little hands are wrapped around his sweater and with every step they take, the boy nearly trips Yoongi with how close he is walking. The other five flank them, while Yoongi’s magic is powerful, they know, while it’s rare, there are still other powerful beings out there and they are not taking any risk right now. The older knows he’ll add a few extra protective layers around the house once his boyfriends are in bed.