Chapter Text
There is a goat in their hideout.
It's been five weeks since the outlaws went underground. Five weeks since Hongjoong had decided that their best course of action was to lay low, biding their time until everything was perfectly arranged in order to pull off what could be their greatest heist yet. Five weeks since the members were split up into pairs and scattered across the city under strict radio silence. Five weeks since Ateez said their solemn goodbyes before setting off on their own individual missions to bring freedom back to the world.
And now there's a goat in the hideout.
For roughly three and a half minutes the only thing Mingi can do is stare at the animal. He watches as it plods its hooves through the masses of papers Hongjoong has been scrawling heist ideas onto, occasionally bending its neck low to chomp on some of them. It lets out a few bleats as it meanders around, unconscious or perhaps simply uncaring of the absolutely befuddled gunslinger a few feet away. After a particularly loud cry from the goat echoes throughout the space, a voice calls out from the next room.
"Yeah, yeah, I know! I've got food right here, little guy!"
Mingi's gaze is finally torn from the goat as his head jerks towards Hongjoong's voice. A few seconds later, his captain rounds the corner, entering the room with a large grin and holding a large bowl with an assortment of fruits and vegetables that Mingi recognizes from their fridge. He practically skips over to the goat's side, setting the bowl down in front of the animal then enthusiastically rubbing the top of its head.
Hongjoong gives no indication that he is aware of Mingi's presence, instead cooing at the baby goat as it starts eating the lettuce that Mingi had been looking forward to eating with some meat later. He briefly considers voicing a complaint but remains frozen, watching this strange tableau before him.
The goat bleats contentedly as Hongjoong pets it underneath its chin. Hongjoong is smiling wide, with a relaxed, happy expression Mingi has not seen on him in ages. He's sitting, cross-legged, giggling like a child and trying to use the food to entice the goat to step into his lap.
When it becomes clear that Hongjoong will continue to coddle the goat unless interrupted, Mingi awkwardly clears his throat.
As soon as the sound leaves his mouth, Hongjoong freezes in place, eyes widening, though he doesn't raise his head to look at Mingi. He rises slowly to his feet and Mingi waits patiently for him to explain the insanity that he has just stumbled into.
Instead of doing that though, Hongjoong grabs what looks to be a leash of black leather attached to the goat, turns around, and begins to slink away, leading the goat in front of him as if trying to hide it from Mingi's stare.
At first, Mingi thinks to be offended as he watches Hongjoong attempt to sneak back to the bedroom without a confrontation, as if Mingi is either stupid enough to have not noticed an entire animal in their home or enough of a pushover to not question the presence of a new four-legged roommate.
"Hongjoong?"
He can see his captain's shoulders tense up at being addressed, but Hongjoong makes no move to turn around. Mingi carries on anyway.
"Why is there a goat in our bunker?"
Hongjoong spins to face Mingi, his body language teeming with an embarrassed kind of guilt as he shifts from one foot the other.
He lets out a shaky chuckle then says:
"What goat?"
----------------
Hongjoong is sitting upright on the sofa, hands folded meekly in his lap, white-knuckling the goat's leash, as Mingi paces in front of him.
When he had considered the various challenges of being separated from his other members with only one person for company while anxiously preparing for a high-risk infiltration, he'd never imagined that one of them would be needing to act as Hongjoong's voice of reason. He has no idea how Seonghwa has managed it for all their time together, but it has been exhausting for the 20 minutes Mingi's been doing it in this conversation.
"Hongjoong, why on earth would you bring a goat here?! We're supposed to be laying low! Not sticking out like sore thumbs because we have a pet goat of all animals!" He punctuates each argument by gesturing wildly at the creature that has started to bite at the edge of the couch. "Where did you even get it? Why did you even get it?"
"We need him… for the plan," is all Hongjoong responds with, voice firm despite the obvious lie.
"What plan, captain?!"
"The plan."
Hongjoong won't meet Mingi's eyes which causes the other man to throw his hands up exasperatedly.
"We all created the plan together, Hongjoong, and I certainly don't remember including any baby animals in it!"
Hongjoong's mouth shuts and he glares angrily at the floor. Mingi pauses to breathe heavily, then leans back to consider his captain for a moment.
It was no secret that the past few weeks have been stressful for Hongjoong. Being the leader of their ragtag rebellion and feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders was something Hongjoong had struggled with from the beginning, though normally most of the pressure was mitigated by the presence and help of Seonghwa or Yunho. He knew that Hongjoong has been growing increasingly agitated as the weeks passed with not knowing how the other members are doing, as well as the uncertainty of whether or not this plan would work or if it would all end in disaster for them.
He watches Hongjoong reach out to pet the goat's side. The rhythmic motion of his hand looks comforting and he tries to push down the warm feelings that rush through him as Hongjoong's lips curve up in an oddly bitter smile.
"Is it really so problematic that we have him?" The captain hugs the goat closer and buries his head in its side. "Can't we at least have this?"
Mingi falls silent at his words. He recalls how happy Hongjoong had looked playing around with the goat, prior to noticing that Mingi was home. The separation of the group had been hard on both of them. It was the longest they had all been separated since this whole mess with the Cromer and Strictland started. They were both suffering from being apart from their friends, their family, and it seemed that, however strange, Hongjoong had found a respite from that aching pain through his new pet. He has no idea how Hongjoong bonded with a literal animal this fast but Hongjoong has always been the type to prioritize connections, no matter how seemingly superficial.
Mingi's thoughts are interrupted as Hongjoong releases the goat, getting up solemnly, gaze downcast and looking as if he's about to relent and agree to return the goat to wherever he had gotten it from.
Before he can do so, Mingi lets out a low sigh.
"If it's going to stay here, you're the one who's going to be taking care of it."
Hongjoong's head snaps up and he finally makes eye contact with Mingi. His eyes are shining with so much hope that Mingi has to look away after only a few moments.
"I mean it, Hongjoong. I'm not going to be cleaning up after a farm animal. And you better not feed it any of our good food again. It's a goat, which means it can eat literal garbage, so I don't want to see you giving it the vegetables I was planning on eating for dinner, okay?"
Hongjoong's face splits in a massive smile and he picks up the goat, spins it around, and dashes back towards his room.
"You're the best, Mingi!" He calls out over his shoulder. "I promise I'll take good care of it, you won't have to worry about a thing."
Mingi shakes his head as Hongjoong's giggles fill their bunker. He collapses into the couch and stares incredulously at the ceiling.
"Yeah, I'm sure I won't."
After all, how much trouble could one goat be?