Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A long day at the company had Bang Chan beyond exhausted. It had been several nights of working late and tonight he finally convinced himself to go home with the others. It felt wrong to be heading back to the dorms this early. Working himself to the bone was what he was used to but his oldest dongsaeng had given him no other choice and he found himself caving. For once, there wasn’t anything more he wanted right now than a hot shower and some real food. 

“Why is he so friendly with you?” Minho had asked him after pulling up to their dorm. The two of them were alone, the rest of the kids having already made it back to the dorm an hour before. He was so glad that he had stayed late after dance practice because it gave him the chance to drag Chan out of his studio. 

Chan rolled his eyes at him and awkwardly fixed his rumpled hoodie. That wasn't the first time he or some of the others had made that same comment. Their usual driver was out on leave and their new one was nothing short of an asshole the past few weeks that he had been driving them…except for when it came to Chan. 

Minho didn't comment on Chan's silence. He had seen the uncomfortableness in his hyung each time the man was around so he knew he wasn't overreacting. “I mean, we try to be nice to him too but we either get the silent treatment or short answers. We have all but given up at this point.”

It was just the two of them tonight and despite that, he really didn't want to try and figure out their driver's reasoning. “Korain isn't being paid to talk to you, Min’. What’s this really about?” Hopefully Minho did want to talk about something else. Probably not though. Korain had just offered to give him his cell number for whenever he needed it. 

Minho shrugged at him. He really didn't want to say anything to worry Chan. Maybe he was overreacting? It just…it didn't feel right. “You barely say anything to him and he jumps right into conversation. It's like his entire mood shifts for the better.”

“You can't be serious.” From the way Minho was looking at him though, he was. And was that concern there? His dongsaeng usually buried his concerns until it was really bad. “Min’?”

“I just think he’s creepy, that's all.”

“Creepy?” Chan had never picked up that vibe. Sure, the man seemed to prefer him over the others but that was because he was the Stray Kids leader, right? “Did he say something to any of you?”

“No,” Minho sighed. “I just get a weird vibe. That's all.” Korain was a huge guy towering right around six feet and extremely muscular. He had the frame of someone who worked out regularly too but Changbin's efforts to discuss gym routines with him had always ended in failure. There was just something very off about him. 

A weird vibe? “That…Minho, Korain is just a driver. People deal with me more than any of you on a daily basis. Maybe he’s afraid to do or say the wrong thing around you all. Or, maybe I'm just nicer than you,” he teased.

Their conversation was forgotten the moment they stepped into the warm confines of the dorm. He had made it a point to talk to the others to see if they felt the same way but it never crossed his mind again. Not until next week. 

Minho was definitely right. 

Today, it was him, Changbin, and Jisung on the way to the company together. Jisung sat in the passenger seat and he was asking their driver if he thought it would rain today. Chan looked outside of the window at the dismal clouds that seemed to be choking the sky. 

Despite the season, it was uncharacteristically warm but the winter grey sky outside made it seem like it was freezing. Dry leaves blew across cracked concrete and the rest of the world seemed to hold its breath at the ominous feel the weather was giving off. Even it seemed confused on what it wanted to do.

“Maybe,” Korain huffed in a clipped tone. 

Chan watched Jisung turn in his seat and shoot him and Changbin a look before turning back around, the uncomfortableness of the ride silencing the rest of his words. “It’s really warm out today,” Chan tried. “I feel like a storm might be coming.”

“You know,” Korain said enthusiastically, “you might be right! I can pull up the weather when we get to JYPE. If I need to I can be sure to pick you up early to avoid the worst of it if the skies decide to open up later tonight. I wouldn't want to risk you getting wet and then sick.”

You. He kept saying ‘you’, and not ‘you guys’. Changbin caught his eye and shot him a tense look. He had picked up on it too. Had he been talking to Minho or has it been that obvious? 

“Chan might be working late tonight so he would have to call another nightshift driver,” Changbin told Korain. “Han and I will be done around 7 or so tonight though.”

Korain flashed a quick look to Chan in the rearview mirror and his smile slipped into a frown. “I’ll be sure to stay available. Wouldn't want anyone else out in any nasty weather. Depending on what it does, I can switch shifts or you can call me directly.”

“Th-that’s not necessary,” Chan told him. “I’m sure the weather will be fine.”

As he promised, Korain checked the weather for them when they stopped. It really wasn't necessary because by then, fat globs of rain had begun to fall out of nowhere. The sky had darkened entirely too quickly in the short drive over. 

The other two 3Racha members shot from the car as soon as it was in park to dart into the building but Chan was left wrestling his gym bag and backpack into his arms to follow. 

Korain wasted no time in exiting the car and circling around to his side, opening up his large umbrella and pulling the door open for him. “Thanks, but I can —”

“Nonsense,” the man told him with a wide smile. “Wouldn’t want you to get all wet.”

The way he was looking at him made him nervous and for some reason he wished that Minho was here. Despite that, he ducked out of the car and huddled under the umbrella to escape the chasing rain. Korain leaned in close and Chan could have sworn that he heard the man inhale deeply against him. Maybe he just liked his cologne? It was the hand that came to rest on the small of his back that had him second guessing himself. 

When he finally made it in the building though he found that his dongsaengs had waited up for him. None of them were even thinking about Korain anymore and by the time they made it to Chan’s studio, he wasn't either. 

As previously discussed, the younger two 3Racha members left sometime around 7 that night after their gym workout and left Chan all alone after their showers. He didn't mind it, he was used to working late all of the time. It was sometime around midnight when he decided to call it quits. His eyes were indignant at continuing to work and they burned against the brightness of his laptop. 

Even though he had Korain’s number, he found himself calling dispatch instead for a car and then collected all of his things, shoving his prized laptop into its protective bag last. Thoughts on who might still be awake at the dorm swam to the surface of his mind as he rode the elevator down. He also needed to figure out dinner but Minho had probably left something for him in the refrigerator. He usually did. 

The moment he stepped out of the building, anxiety shot through his veins like rocket fuel when when he saw who was waiting for him. Korain. It wasn't even raining anymore so why did he switch shifts? He stayed silent and only gave him a short nod. He felt his heart rate increase when the man got out from behind the wheel and jogged to grab the door for him. The passenger door. “Th-thanks,” he said out of politeness. 

“My pleasure!”

Before he could even duck into the open space, a soft cloth was shoved over his mouth and nose from behind and he panicked. He dropped his body on instinct to escape it but a rough arm wrapped around him and hauled him back up. His bags went scattering and he fought through the terror on what the hell he was supposed to do. Throwing his head back into Korain’s nose was the next thing he tried and an angry, pained roar told him that he had at least succeeded in hurting him. 

Chan was ready to suffocate as he struggled against Korain’s hold. This man was massive, and he was strong. What the hell was he doing? Why? He should have listened to Minho. His dongsaeng was usually right about the vibes he got about people so why shouldn't this one have been any different?

And what the hell was on this rag?! The smell was sharp when his body would force him to take a breath. It was somewhere between seaweed brined in molasses and pool cleaner chemicals but the meaning of it shot fear straight into Chan’s heart. This man was trying to knock him out. 

He tried to refuse to breathe but his body eventually betrayed him. The need to bring oxygen into his lungs won against his mind and soon his vision started to waver more than it was when he was staring at his mixing program just a few minutes ago. Before long, he was out. 

Things got more confusing from there. Chan numbly felt his cheek against the cold car door, the way it would bounce along with the grooves in the road. Streetlights pulsed through his closed lids, repetitive as they traveled to who knows where. He heard himself groan into the silence and then felt rough fingers grab him by the jaw to force his face towards his captor. 

“You broke my fucking nose.”

Emotions hit him hard. Fear, terror… anger. He jerked his head out of their grip only for them to slam his head against the window. The crack against the unforgiving glass shot even more dizziness through his already sluggish system. The world around him started spinning, spinning, spinning, even with his heavy lidded eyes still squeezed shut.

“Don’t make this any harder than it needs to be.”

He knew that voice. Oh yeah, Korain. Korain kidnapped him. He had shoved a chemical soaked rag over his face and knocked him out. “F-fuck you,” he spat angrily. Chan’s body lurched forward when the man veered off of the road and then slammed on the brakes. At least the man had the decency to buckle him in. 

Icy cold air filled the cabin of the car when Korain got out but he still couldn't move much. Well, he could, but the signals he was trying to give his body wouldn't communicate very well with his brain. Chloroform? Was that still a thing? Was this something else? Whatever it was, it made him weak and exhausted. 

More air rushed in when the passenger side door was wrenched open and Chan felt himself falling over only to be stopped short by his seatbelt. It burned as it caught him and then Korain pushed him back into his seat. A brief flash of satisfaction when through him when he noticed the mans purpling nose. Chan could only stare daggers of hate at him while he was forced to watch him pull off his tie. The hate left, and then fear took back over when he grabbed at his hands and used the tie to bound them together. 

“Just so you don't get any ideas, kid.”

“Not going to hold me. For long.” Chan’s words game out garbled and weird as he inspected the fabric entrapping his wrists. 

Korain sighed. “You’re right. Not for what I have planned later.”

Chan didn't like the sound of that. He also didn't like the sound of the trunk being popped open when the man left him alone again. Using those few moments to figure out where he was proved to be futile. They were in the city, sure, but where? 

They were pulled next to a construction site but he didn't recognize it. Tall buildings were far and few between so he thought that he might be near a residential neighborhood somewhere? Some sort of a store was being built that they were pulled up next to, the skeletal structure of it reminiscent of a convenience store but efforts to finish it seemed to be halted. It screamed abandoned as thorny vines choked the overgrown foliage and snarls of barbed wire protected the perimeter.

Korain returned moments later with a pair of bolt cutters. He gave Chan a warning look and then sauntered off to who knows where around the fencing. Chan tried to escape then. He really did. He tried to shift his hands around to get out of his binds but his limbs still wouldn't cooperate. Bringing them to his aching head instead, he found that it was bleeding from where it was slammed into the window earlier. Shit. 

What did this man want with him? Was he going to hold him for ransom? JYP sure would pay a hefty sum to get him back most likely. Either that or to protect his image after one of his most popular idols was kidnapped right off of JYPE property by one of his staff. There would be fan and media outrage if he didn't. 

Korain suddenly popped back next to him as he was lost in his helpless thoughts. A bundle of that barbed wire hung loosely in his hands and he gave Chan a long look that said ‘don't fight me and I wont use it’. The silent threat hung over him like gallows and suddenly he didn't mind the tie around his wrists. 

The man disappeared again and he heard him throwing things back into the trunk. Appearing once more, Chan’s heart dropped to see the cloth back in his hand. He didn't want to be knocked out again. For some reason that seemed more terrifying than being awake. “No. Please don't."

“Shut up. We're almost home.”

Home?

Chan came to in a haze with the feeling of his body being shifted around. Well, man handled was more like it. Fingers dug painfully into his side and bruising strength gripped his arm to keep him upright. He tried to get his feet under himself to avoid being dragged but he only succeeded in stumbling every step of the way, his legs feeling like wet cement. 

His hands were still bound and the moment they stopped, his body threatened to hit the ground. He heard keys jingle and then realized that he still had his eyes closed. Opening them shot pain into his head as the soft light had it pounding. His head hurt so bad. 

They got inside and Chan found himself on the cold floor after being shoved there. His shoulder crashed into it and he failed to keep from crying out in pain from the impact. A rough boot collided with his stomach and drove the air from his lungs in the next second and he was left gasping for breath, confused and in agony. 

“Stay there,” Korain growled at him. 

His tone was so different from what Chan was used to. Gone was the softness and chipper mood he had around him. It had taken a darker turn now. Korain went back outside and Chan fought to get to his feet, chest still heaving with the effort to oxygenate himself again. His legs were like jello now as he pushed off of the ground with bound hands and struggled to stand and stay standing. He wasn't about to listen to this man now that he could move. 

This had to be Korain's house. It definitely looked lived in. There was a small grey couch to his right against the wall with a recliner closer to the kitchen. A glass table next to him came up to his knees and it was littered with a ton of magazines…all with articles on Stray Kids. That made sense though. He was one of their drivers after all. Had he just taken the gig to get closer to him? That thought hit him hard.  

What the hell am I doing? Chan came to his senses and looked around for a weapon instead of at Korain’s interior design choices. The drugs were making him not think right. He ran out of time because in the next second he heard the man's boots thumping back to the front door. His only option was a candlestick in the center of the coffee table and he grabbed it awkwardly between his hands and brought it up to protect himself. 

Korain came back in with the barbed wire in hand. Their eyes connected and Chan could see the amusement passed the darkness in his eyes as they raked over his pitiful choice of a weapon. 

“What are you going to do with that, love?”

Love. Being called that made his stomach roll. “What do you want with me?” In other words, what outrageous number was Korain going to give him as his ransom?

“I want you, Bang Chan. Nothing more, nothing less. Just all of you.”

“W-what?” He couldn't keep the waver from his voice. Was his head still messed up? Did he hear Korain right?

Korain smirked at him and tossed the wire to the side. “Drop the candlestick, love. As much as I would love to play, I've waited too long for this —”

Chan didn't let him finish his words before he lunged. He swung hard but Korain ducked the weapon and slammed a fist into his ribcage even harder that had him doubling over in agony. Did he hear a snap? Probably, it felt like glass under his skin but he couldn’t let himself explore the damage. Recovering less quickly than what he liked, Chan still managed to right himself and dug his knee into Korain’s gut hard, drawing out a pained breath from the man. 

But, he staggered on unsteady feet and Korain caught him only to throw him into the coffee table. The glass shattered in a crystal explosion from the force of the shove and icy shards bit into his arms. The man leaned over and grabbed him again from the pool of glass, wrenching him up brutally and then slamming a fist into his face that immediately opened up a cut on his cheek. 

Chan saw stars as he spit out a glob of blood. His vision swam and darkness threatened to pull him under as Korain grabbed him by the back of his neck and shoved him towards another door. It was kicked open and Korain threw him to the ground again. A sharp bolt of agony jarred his body and the world blinked out for a few seconds. 

This time, something sharp pricked into his neck and heat immediately shot through his veins. His vision cleared just in time to see a syringe being tossed to the side and discovered that he was in a bedroom. “Wha’ was that?” he panicked. What was in that syringe? Why were they in his bedroom?

“Just something to make you a little more compliant, love. I want to take my time with you.”

“What?” Korain jerked him off of the floor and slammed him into the dresser. He was doubled over it, his rib instantly screaming at him and telling him that yes, it had to be broken. Bottles of cologne toppled over and other items went rolling across the wooden surface he was pinned to. 

Korain forced his body forward and pressed Chan’s cheek into the soft wood. The man pinned him there with his body and threaded his fingers through his hair before grabbing his locks and wrenching his head back. Chan clenched his blood stained teeth together and put as much fire into his eyes as he could despite the bone gnawing terror that weighed him down. 

Korain leaned into his neck and laughed, drawing in a deep breath against his skin and struggling to keep in a moan of pleasure. “You smell like vanilla. So sweet, Bang Chan.”

Chan growled. He was more than terrified but tried not to let it show. He was starting to understand what Korain wanted of him. He jerked under Korain’s pin but that was the wrong move. It only seemed to excite the man and he pressed against him harder, especially with his hips. It was then that Chan felt him. “Get off of me!” 

“Okay then,” Korain said mischievously. 

The moment the man backed off, Chan’s legs failed and he was left trying to grab onto whatever he could with his bound hands to keep from hitting the floor. His fingers wrapped uselessly around the runner on the dresser's surface and only succeeded in dragging it down with him. Bottles and other items crashed down onto the floor around him and he was left in a disoriented mess. 

His mind clouded and his body felt like lead. He realized then that Korain had been holding him up. “What was in that syringe,” he mumbled. A strange tiredness stalked him nerve by nerve as he teetered on the line of unconsciousness. It wouldn't let him cross into the dark though. It just…held him there like he was dangling over the edge of a cliff. A very dangerous cliff. 

Korain didn't bother with answering him. He had Chan right where he wanted him. More gently this time, he pulled the boy up from the floor and shoved him over to the bed. 

“S-stop!” Chan begged as his anger from before disappeared entirely. Terror and understanding what was about to happen to him was all that remained. “Don’t do this. Please!” He got no response as Korain forced him down and smiled hungrily at him. Tears fell from his eyes and blurred his vision as the man left the room only to come back moments later with the barbed wire. “What —”

“This is for breaking my fucking nose earlier,” Korain snapped. “You’re a fighter. I'm not taking any chances.”

The tie around his hands came off and then Chan couldn't keep the cries of pain out of his throat when the barbed wire began to wrap around his wrists instead. It bit into him harshly as it wrapped around his delicate skin several times, his body unable to move to get away. It cut when his arms were jerked towards the headboard and the wire looped and tangled securely near a bar close to his head. All of it was blood and agony but it was nothing compared to what was to come. 

“Jus’ stop,” he begged. His words were losing all sense of coherency as the effects of that shot coursed through him. “Hav’nt done ‘nything yet. Can say I was mugged. You’d car trouble.”

“No thanks. I've been looking forward to this for weeks, love.” He climbed onto the bed with Chan and rolled him onto his back, savoring the cry he gave when those sharp spikes in his wrists dug into him. “I’ve had to imagine what you tasted like until I made my move. This is the first night in a while that you were left alone to get home. Now, you're mine.”

Chan was panicking now. Korain climbed over him and hovered over his unwilling body. He tried to bring his knee up to hit him in his groin but his limbs wouldn't work anymore. The twitch his body made though caused Korain to flinch in reflex so he promptly straddled his legs to keep them still as his eyes hungrily drank him in. Then, Chan was powerless to stop him from crawling forward up his body, hands disappearing beneath his shirt and running up his stomach and then chest. 

“Fuck, Bang Chan. You feel so good.” 

Korain shifted forward and Chan tried to look around for anything that could help him escape. Only, even his head couldn't move anymore. He was paralyzed under the effects of whatever drug was injected into him. Hungry hands gripped his shirt and then it was ripped away from his body along with his sanity. The chill hit him hard and stayed with him even as Koran lowered himself on top of him. The pressure over his aching stomach and ribs was bearable. What wasn't was when those hands from before began exploring his body. 

“These abs are beautiful, love. You don't know how long I've waited to see them this close up.”

“S-stop.” Korain’s tongue joined in with the exploration. It trailed over his abs and littered it with kisses. He found his chest next but then Korain was at his neck. His hungry mouth licked at his throat and then moved when the man buried his face into the cook of his neck. Teeth nipped at his skin and drew out even more cries of pain and terror. Chan tried to crane his head away from him but still, his body was an unwilling victim. “Hate you.”

Korain gave a dark laugh and pulled off of his neck to look into his eyes. “Does it look like I care?”

After Korain’s gaze flicked towards his lips, Chan felt his mouth crash into them as his tongue was forced down his throat. Harsh tears carved paths down his face as he was forced to take it. Bite. Bite, bite, bite! If he could talk, he could bite so when he did, he succeeded in making Korain scream. 

A rough hand around his throat had him releasing him and then a hard crack across his jaw punished him for his actions. Those same stars from before came back and then he saw galaxies when another cruel hit split his lip open and then a fist rammed into his nose . He struggled through the vacuum of space as something was wrapped around his head and then shoved into his mouth, effectively keeping him from trying that bright idea again. It had to be that tie from before because he recognized the pattern on it. Korain had used it to gag him. 

“Fucking shit, Bang Chan!” Korain screamed at him. He prodded at his tongue and his fingers came back red with blood. It tasted like copper in his mouth and he spit onto the boy beneath him. “Try something like that again and I'll make you wish you were dead.” He could see the pain swimming in Chan’s eyes as well as the disorientation he was sporting. “There goes shoving my dick in that pretty mouth of yours. You’re ruining things!” There was no indication that he had even heard him. 

Chan heard him though. He just couldn't respond as he tried to fight off the waves of dizziness so he could track the man's movements. Trying to simply breathe was another issue because his nose was gushing blood. He had no clear airway and he briefly wondered how tonight ended up like this? He wanted his friends. He wanted Minho. A choked cry escaped from around his blood stained gag when a hand suddenly gripped his throat. Korain's lips brushed his ear next as oxygen became a foreign concept. 

“I’m going to ruin you.”

Chapter Text

Chan couldn't move. His limbs felt disconnected from his body and his mind was a confusing, terrified and muddied mess as Korain made good on his promise. He was going to ruin him. 

Korain was behind him after that threat and he was shoved onto his side, barbed wire slicing deeper into his wrists from the movement. The man was angry. Excited? Probably both. He could feel it in the way his hands gripped the waistband of his sweatpants. The way his other hand squeezed his throat so tight, nails digging into his soft flesh and marking it with tiny half moons. He couldn't breathe.

His pants were gone in the next few seconds and he was left exposed. He was further filled with dread when Korain let go of his throat just to take his own clothes off before pressing flush against his body. The man was already hard. He had been for a while now because Chan had felt him against the dresser. Now, his dick was pressed into the small of his back while his hands dug into his thigh. His mouth came back into play and tasted along his neck again as Chan cried against the gag. 

God he wanted to die. 

Korain began grinding against him, desperate for Chan’s body as he used him. His scream against the gag was weak and pathetic. He wanted nothing more than to not exist anymore as this man assaulted him. He was in agony and terrified beyond belief. Never before in his life had he felt so helpless. 

Chan felt his heart nearly stop when he felt Korain’s fingers near his entrance. A wave of panic washed over him and he tried to move away. Tried to fight back as the man prepped him. He was a prisoner locked in his own body though and all he could do was try and dissociate to try and save himself. 

Getting into that headspace though seemed near impossible as pain and panic kept bringing him around. He found himself longing for the man’s hand back around his throat. He wanted the lack of oxygen to knock him out. 

He felt Korain line himself up with him entirely too soon and then a shudder of dread went through his body when he felt the man’s cock press against his entrance. The slow push in was unbearable. There was no acclimation to his intrusion. All there seemed to be was pain as a bruising grip dug into his waist as Korain kept going. Agony as he buried himself within him. Shame when the man moaned into his neck. 

When he was fully in, that was when the hand gripped his throat again. Korain used it to brace himself and drag Chan closer if that was even possible. It was, because the sharp bite of metal  pulled at his wrists in response. Warm blood twisted down his arms and soaked into the sheets beneath him. He felt teeth bite into his shoulder and he knew it broke skin. None of that mattered though when Korain began thrusting into him. 

The pace in which Korain rutted into him was wild and frantic at first. Feral moans were forced into Chan’s ears while black rimmed his vision again from the lack of air. The violent thrusts became more rhythmic and Chan felt like he was going to pass out and so desperately did he want to just to escape this hell for however long it took. 

He was denied that escape when his throat was released and his body forced himself to breathe through his bloody nose. The hand holding him dragged down his body and then gripped his hip in desire. Korain adjusted Chan against him for better purchase and then wrapped his arms around his shoulders, gripping them hard to pull himself in deep and fucked him at a more brutal pace. 

Now back at his throat, Chan almost cried in relief when he couldn't breathe again. The hurt in his body was too much and he was ready to blink out of existence. The thrusts into him sped back up and became erratic. Korain's teeth bit back into him. Moans of pleasure from raping his unwilling body were breathed into his skin and when it all almost pulled him into the realm of unconsciousness, Korain came. 

He felt the warmth coat his insides, staining him forever. If his mind weren't such a drugged, foggy mess, he had no idea how he would feel right now. None of this felt real. None of it. So when a loud bang sounded from across the room, he didn't think anything of it. Not even when angry voices began screaming. 

“Something isn't right,” Minho mumbled for the dozenth time. He was trying and failing at watching a movie with Hyunjin and Changbin while waiting up for Chan. They didn't usually wait up for him but he had called and texted him earlier that Jeongin was sick and he hadn't responded. Even when Chan was buried in his work, he always checked his messages.  

“Call him again,” Hyunjin worried. “I know it isn't life and death that Innie is sick but Chan never ignores us like this. You made sure to say that he had a fever?”

“Yes,” Minho groaned. “I told him that he had a fever.” The pit that had formed in his stomach seemed to grow even more in the last hour. 

Changbin rolled his eyes at them all. “Like I said, his phone probably died. It’s almost one in the morning now so he’s probably going to be rolling in any minute.”

“You sure about that?” Minho argued. “Do you want to bet his life on it?”

“His life?” Changbin asked incredulously. “Minho…nothing is wrong. Chan stays late all of the time. His phone probably died and he forgot his charger. Simple. Quit overreacting.”

Minho’s anger quickly rose. Sure, it could be nothing, but nothing was making sense. “Chan always has an extra charger. He keeps one in his bag. Then there’s the one that lives in his studio. If both of those options fail, we all have one in the dance studio. Something. Is. Wrong.”

“His laptop!” Hyunjin exclaimed. “He has that air tag on it. We can at least see if he’s still at the studio or on his way home.”

That was brilliant! Hyunjin may be the head of PaboRacha but Minho knew he was smart. “Changbin, go get your laptop and see where he is. He put the tracking program on there, didn't he?”

Despite his annoyance, Changbin went to get it. If it would shut them up then he was all for it. Settling back into the couch between the others, he powered it up and then searched for the ping. 

“Why is he all the way out near Cheonho-Dong?” Hyunjin asked. “Is that a residential neighborhood?”

Now, Changbin got uneasy. “Maybe he met up with someone? Did he mention having a date?”

“No, Bin’.” Minho was borderline terrified now. “I knew something was wrong. He’s not answering our calls or texts and he’s all the way out there without letting anyone know where he was going. Chan doesn't do that.”

“So what do we do?” Hyunjin was borderline panicking. Maybe it was the lack of sleep? “Can…can we go get him? Or at least find out if he’s okay?”

Minho was already up and pulling on his shoes before Hyunjin could finish his sentence. He threw a heated glare at Changbin and dared him to say something about it while Hyunjin tugged on his jacket next to him. 

Changbin didn't catch the look, especially since he was already jotting down the address. “I'll drive.” 

The three Stray Kids found themselves pulling up to a small house at the dead end of a street. It looked like a normal dwelling. Plants on the porch, a scaped front entrance…the only thing throwing off the look was the car in the driveway. They recognized it. 

Hyunjin noticed it first. “Is that…is that Korain’s car? Our driver?”

They scoped it out from the safety of Changbin’s car. It definitely looked like it. But why would Chan be here? 

The pit was now in Changbin's stomach but he tried to think rationally. “What if Chan just left his laptop in it?”

There was no way and Hyunjin knew that. “Chan doesn't go anywhere without it. That doesn't make sense. None of this makes sense. Even if he did forget it then Chan would be home, and he’s not. Was anything off with him this morning? Or with the driver?”

“He’s creepy as fuck,” Minho spat. “We’ve all noticed how Korain acts around Chan. He worships the ground he walks on.”

“You think he did something to him?” Hyunjin asked, eyes wide and fear etched into every corner of his face. 

Minho wasn't sure. Yes, the man was creepy, but to hurt an idol? If he didn't at least investigate this before going home empty handed then he would never forgive himself. “I’m going to go knock on the door. Maybe he knows something.”

Hyunjin and Changbin followed Minho out into the night despite him telling them not to. It was cold out and the smell of rain in the air told them that it wasn't far off. They crept up the dimly lit driveway, cringing at every crunch of a leaf each step and then peered into the backseat of Korain’s car for a glimpse of the laptop. It was definitely there along with Chan’s gym bag. Phone flashlights out, they kept looking. 

“Min!” Hyunjin all but yelled. “There’s blood!”

The two oldest rushed to the passenger side window where Hyunjin was looking and saw the large smear of blood against the glass. Was it Chan’s? It had to be. There was no sense in Korain being in the passenger seat and their leader was missing. Changbin had mentioned how he wanted to drive Chan home.

Minho ripped up the rest of the driveway and prepared to pound on the door but he froze when he saw even more blood. Hand hovering over the wooden barrier, his eyes locked onto the crimson drops at his feet. Chan had to be inside and if he weren't careful about this, then someone could get hurt. 

He held the others back and motioned to what he saw on the ground. Eyes wide in fear, he hated to imagine what could have happened to their hyung. Changbin and Hyunjin looked just as terrified as he was. “Key,” he whispered. “Look for a key.”

They looked everywhere. Under the mat, in the rocks, under planters…nothing. It was only when Changbin threw his head back in frustration did he get an idea. “Jinnie, reach above the doorframe. See if you can feel a key there.”

It was there. 

The three boys were in the house in seconds. They noticed the shattered coffee table first, red staining the icy glass crystals. More blood littered the floor here. All three of them were shaking at what could have happened to spill it all. There had definitely been a fight. 

And when they heard the moans coming from down the hall in the bedroom, horror threatened to overwhelm them. 

Chan

They exploded into the room fearing the worst and it was pushed past that point. Chan was gagged and bound to the bed by his wrists, naked and coated in blood and bruises.

Korain rutted into him equally as naked, one leg hooked around his hip with his hand wrapped possessively around Chan's throat. The bastard was in the final throes of an orgasm as he shuddered through uneven thrusts into their helpless friend. It was very clear that Chan was unwilling in this scenario.

 Korain was raping him. 

“Get the fuck away from him!” Changbin screamed.

They watched in horror as Korain pulled out of Chan and struggled to cover himself with the nearest article of clothing, which happened to be Chan’s ripped shirt. Changbin rammed into him, the two of them hitting the ground hard while Hyunjin jumped in to help. As for Minho, he went for Chan. 

Ripping off his jacket as he climbed onto the bed, he covered his hyung with it and then tried to figure out the state he was in. Chan was coughing and struggling to breathe around the bloody gag so he started there, gently pulling it down with shaky hands before trying to untie it. “Shhh, Channie. I'm here. It's Minho. I'm here.” He choked around a sob as he tried to get the words out. 

Chan seemed out of it and it only scared Minho more. Checking on his dongsaengs, he found that they were thoroughly beating the shit out of Korain and were trying to force him into the bathroom to lock him in. “Chan look at me,” he cried. Still, Chan wasn't all there and his eyes weren't opening. It was then that he realized that he wasn't just tied to the bed. He was bound by barbed wire!

“Guys, hurry up!” Minho yelled in a panic. Focusing back on Chan, he felt helpless on what to do. He settled down by his face and tried to touch him without hurting him. There was just so much blood. It was coming from his nose and lip. His cheek was busted open and there was an open wound over his temple. His wrists were bleeding bad and he worried that the barbaric spiked metal binds had cut too deep. None of this was good. “Channie please,” he begged. “Open your eyes.”

When his lashes fluttered, a bit of hope entered Minho. “It’s Minnie, Chan. It’s Minho. You're safe now.” His words were still tortured and wracked by sobs but Chan heard him. His eyes cracked open at his familiar voice but the disorientation told Minho that there had to be something else going on. “Can you hear me?” Nothing. “Chan, can you hear me?”

“M-Min’?”

Minho forced a smile onto his face for Chan’s sake and let out a relieved cry. “Yeah. Yeah, it's Minnie. What can I do?” Tears slipped from Chan’s eyes and Minho’s heart broke even more. He reached out and ran his hand down his cheek to try and comfort him and that was all it took for Chan to start slipping back into his mind as feeling returned to his limbs. 

His hands pulled against his torturous binds and punched out a deep groan of pain through his gritted teeth. He moved his legs as if he could crawl right out of this hell hole but it was a weak attempt. Hardly understanding what he was doing to himself, he pulled harder against the metal trapping him to the bed as blood snaked down his arms and a desperate cry tore from his chest. 

“Stop!” Minho panicked. He grabbed below the unforgiving binds to keep Chan from moving his hands. “Chan stop. You can't move. You…you can't move. Please.”

“Hurt’s,” Chan cried weakly. His face was contorted in pain from the fire in his veins burning him alive. Everything hurt. He didn't know where the agony started or ended as he drowned in it. “Minnie h-help me.”

“Shhh, shhh,” he tried to calm him. He ran his fingers soothingly through his hair and tried wiping the neverending tears away as they streaked through the blood. Chan was pleading with him to help. Begging. “I’m here. You're okay now. What can I do? What do you need?”

“You fucking bastard!” Minho heard Changbin yell. He had tuned them out up until now. “You’re going to fucking rot in prison for the rest of your god damned life! Stay the hell in there!” Minho looked up briefly and saw Changbin screaming at the bathroom door. A chair was forced under the handle to keep Korain in and Hyunjin was on the phone with the police. 

Chan squeezed his eyes shut again as sobs wracked his body. “Don’t leave me.”

“I won't," he promised. “I swear.” Chan was shivering in shock and cold. He didn't know what to do. The blanket on the bed was stained in Korain’s filth and Chan’s blood. His jacket was covering his hyung’s waist. “Can I hold you?”

Chan nodded his head desperately and Minho wasted no time in maneuvering himself around Chan and pulling him up as gently as he could. It still punched out a pained groan from him and he choked back a cry at being the cause of it. Now, his hyung was leaning against him and Minho wrapped his arms protectively around his shaking body, careful of the piercing barbed wire still cutting into him. It had more slack now that Chan was in his arms. 

“Is he okay?!” Changbin had forced his rage down to focus back on the others. 

The rapper took Minho’s previous spot and Chan jumped at the intrusion into their space. He was scared and it made Minho mad. “Back off,” he warned him possessively. 

“Min…”

It was Hyunjin this time appearing at Changbin's side. His terrified face forced down that anger and he melted at the sight of them both as Chan shook against him. They both had split lips and busted knuckles but overall looked okay. “I’m sorry. Don't scare him.”

“Channie hyung, we're here for you,” Hyunjin said as his voice wavered. Chan looked beat to hell and terrified. There was no way he could begin to imagine what he was feeling right now. Not after what they had just walked into. “The police are on their way with an ambulance.”

Minho watched as Chan kept his eyes closed and bit his split lip in anxiety to the point where it drew blood. He swiped his thumb across it in a desperate attempt to keep him from hurting it any worse. “Chan? Is there anything we can do for you?” There had to be something apart from just waiting. He felt helpless. 

Another few sobs ripped out of Chan’s chest and he hid his face against Minho. “P-pants.”

“Of course,” Minho cried. “Can Binnie help you? I don't want to let you go but I can if you want me to.”

“Bin’.”

Minho tried to distract him with reassurances as he watched Changbin look for his pants. Hyunjin moved on to inspecting the barbed wire to see if could loosen it or at least unravel it from the bed frame. When Changbin froze across the room and then bent to pick something up from the wreckage on the floor near the dresser, his heart dropped. Changbin flashed a syringe at him and he understood why Chan was so weak. “Did he drug you?”

Chan nodded against him and Minho bit his lip to keep from slinging curses towards the bathroom door. He didn't want to scare Chan any more than he already was. 

“Shhh,” Minho whispered to him again when Chan fell back into quiet cries. “Just try and breathe for me.” He knew it would be hard from the way his nose had been bleeding. 

They were all ripped from the horror when Minho’s phone started ringing. Pulling it from his pocket, he saw that it was Jisung and he froze. He contemplated not answering it but then he remembered that Jeongin was sick. Something could be wrong. “Sungie?” he answered. 

“Hyung? Where are you guys? Where did you all go?”

What the hell was he supposed to say to that? Was he supposed to tell him that they found Chan being raped by their creepy driver? “Is Innie okay? Did he throw up again?”

“No,” Jisung said. “He’s still sleeping but I think his fever went down some. Where are you?”

Fuck. “We…we met up with Chan. Take care of Innie and we’ll see you guys a bit later, okay? We won’t be home tonight.”

“Minho…”

*Click*

“Innie?” Chan choked out. He had forced himself to be quiet for the sake of the call but he couldn't anymore. It put too much of a strain on him and it had him coughing into Minho. The movements pulled at his wrists and burned his stomach and ribs from where Korain had hit him. Despite gritting his teeth against the pain, a small scream still slipped though and he tried to yank his hands back to cradle the source of the agony. His pain level soared to new heights but then Hyunjin’s hands around his arms had it dipping back down as he forced his wrists still. 

“He’s okay,” Minho reassured him as terror gripped him hard. He felt so powerless right now as Chan writhed in his arms. Hoping that it didn't scare him more, he adjusted his hold around him to keep him from moving. “He has a stomach bug but he’s okay. Everyone is taking care of him.”

“Minho,” Changbin hissed. He had found Chan’s pants. 

Taking a deep breath, Minho secured his arms just a little tighter around Chan protectively. “Binnie is going to help you get dressed. Are you okay?”

“J-just do it,” he sobbed. 

Changbin helped him into the sweatpants as quickly and gently as possible. They found that Chan had even more bruising on his hips and thighs, and claw marks raked across his skin. And, he was bleeding from where Korain had brutally defiled him. 

Changbin had to lift Chan by his hips to slip the pants on and Minho found that the rapper was crying the entire time. Hell, they all were. “Okay, jagi. What else do you need?”

“Hands.”

“We can't," Hyunjin cried. “I'm so sorry, hyung. The barbed wire is tangled up and I don't want to hurt you trying to unravel it from your wrists. The police should have something to cut it off.” His arms were already bleeding so badly, fresh blood snaking around the dried vines of crimson already shed. He was pretty sure he had glass embedded into his skin as well. The coffee table. 

“Where is he?”

“Locked in the bathroom,” Changbin growled. “I checked. There are no windows in there so he isn't getting out. He’s going to rot in prison and I'll kill him if he is ever released from there.” As if on cue, they heard sirens off in the distance and they only seemed to grow closer. 

“We’ve got you, Chan,” Minho promised him. “Everything is going to be okay.”

Changbin's heart broke. And to think that he almost brushed Chan’s earlier absence off. “We won't let anyone hurt you again, hyung. I’ll break their fucking necks.”

Still holding onto Chan’s arms to keep them from moving, Hyunjin rubbed his thumbs soothingly against him. “No one gets through us. Not ever again.”

Chapter Text

Chan was a mixture of numb and overstimulated as he left the hospital hours later. Numb because of the pain and anxiety medicine, and overstimulated from flashes of the night assaulting him every time his walls fell down in his exhaustion. 

They had to give him something when he had first gotten there despite his protests. As whatever Korain had injected into him started to wear off, the panic came back in full force and only Minho could calm him down enough to let the nurses and doctors help him. Chan didn't want anyone near him until his oldest dongsaeng got through to him. 

He didn't even know where Hyunjin and Changbin had gone when Minho shooed them from the room but for some reason it helped to relax him further. They probably went to talk to their manager anyway, the police too. Minho had threatened murder if anyone else besides the doctors talked to him when he was still so freaked out.

Chan broke when he was in his right mind enough to take stock of his many violent bruises. They marked his jaw and his cheek. His torso and stomach bore yet more marks but it was the fingers that had dug into his hips and his neck that made Minho cry. Hell, maybe he had been crying this entire time but that was when he first noticed it. 

Like he thought before, his rib was broken and it screamed at him when the overwhelming emotions the assault left him with made him throw up. Probably the concussion too. His stomach burned and his head pounded. The entirety of his body was like an anxiety ridden live wire as he was forced to show these people here so they could fix him and run their tests. 

No, not forced, convinced. Minho had convinced him to let them record the evidence so that they could put that monster behind bars for a long time. He let Minho take over for him so that he could dissociate for a while for most of it. It was the only thing he could do to try and pretend that none of this was happening. That it hadn't happened. 

They threaded so many stitches into his skin after they had stopped taking pictures of him. Minho held him the entire time but he had already slipped back into his mind and he didn't feel a thing. He probably scared his dongsaeng when he had stopped flinching. Maybe. He didn't know. That part of the process wasn't something he remembered. 

He did remember Minho telling Hyunjin and Changbin what they did when they came back into his room later. There was something about them having to remove a few bits of glass from his skin. Changbin said something about a coffee table and then he suddenly remembered being shoved into one. Korain’s. The feeling of the glass exploding beneath him as terror crushed him from above sank its unforgiving claws into his mind. A violent flinch went through his body at that uninvited thought and Minho wrapped his arms around him in response. He zoned out again after that. 

Now, he stood near Changbin’s car after being discharged. The sun was just starting to come up and the parking lot was bathed in a much warmer light than the harsh streetlamps that were still on. The unnatural buzzing from the old ballasts seemed to vibrate deep into his bones but maybe it was just the thoughts from the night creeping up on him. Some would say that the sunrise was pretty but all he could think about was the darkness still wrapped into the early morning as he stood frozen in fear several yards from the white car. Korain's car was white too, and the same noise seemed to have followed him from the company to here. A grim reminder of what would happen if he got even an inch closer. 

“Chan?”

He couldn't breathe. He was closer when the chemical soaked rag was shoved over his face. When Korain knocked him out and forced him inside of his car. He wasn't sure where his mind had gone but he jumped when a hand found his shoulder and hissed in pain when he moved too fast away from it. 

Minho was here. It was just Minho. He focused him. Worried, soft brown eyes studied him over and a look of understanding calmed him in seconds. Of course Minho understood. He had burst into Korain’s room with Changbin and Hyunjin and found him being hurt by Korain. Assaulted. Raped. 

Chan cast his eyes down to the ground after finding it too hard to look Minho in the eye. Trying to read whatever else was in his expression was too hard. He did notice his dongsaengs shoes in his line of sight and they moved closer, only for him to subconsciously take a step back away from him. Uncomfortableness under their stares was an understatement. It was…fear. Despite it being fleeting, it popped up randomly even though he knew he was safe with his boys. 

Now, his arms and wrists burned like hellfire as the fabric of Changbin's jacket over his bandages rubbed uncomfortably. The rapper had wrapped him in it before they left and he pulled it tighter around him while trying to shake off the jumpiness he was exhibiting. He wasn't in danger anymore. There was no reason for him to act this way. 

“Are you okay?”

Who asked him that, he didn't know. He couldn't meet their eyes or put any energy into deciphering the soft voice, so he instead focused on the sharp bite beneath his sleeves. He remembered too white bandages wrapped from his wrists towards his elbows. 

Clean. 

Sterile. 

They seemed too out of place on his filthy skin. The bandages stopped short midway from the bend in his arms but even more bandages covered the punctures from the glass all the way up to his shoulders. Maybe even a few on his back but he was still quite numb and he didn't have the mental strength to take stock of it all yet. He felt like he could feel the pull of the threads holding him together if he really thought about it. They were doing a much better job at it than his own sanity. 

“He doesn't want to get in.”

Had the silence after that last question stretched for too long? Was he that easy to read? Did he look freaked out? He sure as hell felt like it. His heart pounded behind his ribcage like it was fighting to break out. He felt dirty and less than human right now as he squirmed inside of his own skin. Terror still skimmed beneath the surface and it was taking entirely too much energy to try and figure out the right way to act about this whole thing. 

The rape. 

He didn't feel the tears leaking from his eyes until someone stood in front of him and gently wiped them away. Minho. Minho was here. It snapped him back to the present and he felt the way his body was shaking. He wasn't cold though. Or was he? He was just too confused. “‘m fine.”

Even he didn't feel convinced as he forced that phrase out. He wasn't fine. Far from it. It was just something you said to people so that they would stop worrying about you. It was easier than breaking down and concerning someone over something that couldn't be changed. Too much work, guilt, and pain. 

These were his brothers though. They were worried. He didn't need to lie or skirt around his feelings for them because they actually cared. They loved him, so he let them in. Besides, it was too hard to try and think about it anymore so he went with the easiest option and said at least something. Otherwise, how the hell else were they going to understand the problem when the car was freaking him out right now. “He knocked me out closer to it. Chemical on a rag he shoved over my face before he dragged me into his car.”

God, now they were all staring at him. Well, it wasn't like they weren't before but now his words had twisted their faces into something even more sad. So, he stared at the ground again. It was easier than seeing the pain he had plagued upon them. Somehow, that was worse than what he was feeling. 

“How do you want to do this? What’s going to make you the most comfortable?”

That was Minho. He didn't have an answer for him though so a shrug would have to do. And fuck, lightning crackled into every cut and stitch he had when the motion pulled at his skin. Answers were hard right now as his head swam with dizziness and something not totally foreign, but not something he visited very often. Hopelessness? “‘m tired,” he said again. He felt it in his bones as he stood there still yards away from the car he couldn't bring himself to get closer to. 

“Binnie, go start the car. Hyunjin, climb into the front. We’ll be right there.”

He heard them shuffle away but he couldn't watch them go. The ground was much easier to focus on as little ants scurried around his feet. At least he had shoes on. Hyunjin didn't though. He had given him the pair off of his own feet without question before they left that freezing cold exam room. Where his were, he didn't know. He didn't even remember when he had them on last so they were either in Korain's car or at his house before his clothes were ripped off of his unwilling body. 

A violent shudder rocked through him when Minho slipped his arm around his back. It was gentle and he felt safe. A shaky breath slipped out of his chest and he leaned more into his dongsaeng out of instinct. 

“Don’t try to be strong, hyung. Scream and cry if you want to.”

Chan shook his head. “Don’t want to. Don’t want to do anything.” He felt Minho drop his head onto his shoulder and a sob climbed into his bruised throat. He choked on it.

“Do you want me to make the decisions for you? Is it hard to think?”

He nodded this time and felt his lip tremble. How did Minho know exactly what to do? It was scary how easy he had been reading him from the moment he found his abused body bound to that nightmare. Nevertheless, he made it easy from there. Minho guided him along and he didn't fight against the warning his mind was trying to give him. He painfully crawled across the back seat and when Minho was in and had pulled the door closed, he laid across the long space and put his head in his dongsaengs lap. It took the pressure off of his aching body. 

“What do we tell the others?” Changbin asked at some point during the ride home.

He didn't know how long they had been on the road home or how close to the dorm they were. It was a struggle even trying to make sense of the question because it was hard. He hadn't even thought about the others and what they would think. It was hard enough having his three oldest worrying about him. 

Again, the silence stretched between them for another minute. Were they waiting for him to answer? Or, was it just something put out there because they were all probably wondering too. They probably thought he was asleep so the question may not even have been directed to him at all. 

Chan gave himself away to Minho when he subconsciously squeezed his knee as more tears spilled from his eyes. Minho probably had a sorrowful wet patch on his thigh by now. At least his dongsaeng let him pretend to be asleep as he carded his fingers soothingly through his hair and answered for him. 

“We don't tell them anything for now. Channie hyung can make that decision when he gets some rest and has time to process things.”

“They’re going to see his face,” Hyunjin worried. “If anyone is awake, they are going to see the bruises and stitches in his cheek. At least the jacket is hiding the rest.”

The sound of stretched leather told Chan that Changbin was probably gripping the steering wheel too hard. He worried for him, especially after noticing earlier that him and Hyunjin had busted knuckles from fighting Korain. 

“Let me worry about that,” Minho told them. “We’ll keep his hood up and if they see, so be it. No one tells them though. No one says a word about this until I say so.”

“How’s he doing?”

How am I doing? The panic wasn't there like before. The ache of what happened was though. If he thought about it too hard, he knew that it would all come rushing back. Distractions were what he needed. He squeezed his hands into fists to remedy that. The flex of his arm muscles pulled at his stitches but he wasn't expecting how much the pain would bite into his wrists. It burned and he gasped against it .   

Minho noticed what he was doing though. Hands pulled his fists open and the dancer threaded his fingers gently into his. His thumbs brushed over the top of his hands, over and over and over in such a soothing way that it stole his focus and distracted him from whatever had bothered him in the first place. He focused on that rather than the answer Minho gave them. 

Chan let himself be guided inside once they got to the dorm. He caught the word ‘sedative’ at one point and then understood that he still had in his system whatever the hospital gave him. Or, was it just left over from what Korain had forced into him? The concussion? All of it? He wasn't sure but it was the reason the others kept so close to him as he dragged himself along. All he knew was that he felt as if he were floating as he slipped in and out of his mind. It was probably concerning the others but he couldn't bring himself to care at the moment. He was too tired as he let Minho lead. 

Someone had pulled up his hood when they paused outside of their dorm door. There was noise coming from inside and he heard Changbin curse under his breath. A sort of nervousness began to fill him and Minho pressed closer to him. Hyunjin guarded his other side. Protective. They were being protective of him and he would have scoffed at the idea if he weren't so out of it. Maybe the cocktail of drugs everyone kept forcing into him had something to do with it. 

The door opening was missed by Chan and when he found himself inside, instincts had him immediately trying to check on his kids. Seungmin was awake and so was Jisung. Felix must still be asleep and when he didn't see Jeongin, the phone call Minho got when he was chained to Korain’s bed forced its way to his mind and he froze. 

Korain, Jeongin. 

Jeongin, Korain. 

Both of them fought to be in the forefront of his mind and only one of them terrified him. He didn't even have to understand that his body began to shake when Minho and Hyunjin held him steady. 

“Where the hell have you guys been?!” Jisung all but yelled when the group paused in the middle of the living room. 

Chan jumped and Minho tightened his arm around him. He noticed Hyunjin move, putting his body in front of him while Changbin tried to push Jisung back.

“Innie gets sick and you all take off? Who the hell does that?”

“Drop it, Sungie,” Changbin growled. “We can talk about it later. We’re tired and need some sleep.”

This time, Seungmin questioned them and Chan peeked at him from beneath his hood. Both of them looked angry and for some reason, it scared him. It didn't make sense.

“Why do you all look so freaked out?”

“Relax,” Hyunjin told them. “We’re tired and cold.”

Hyunjin probably wanted it to seem like nothing was wrong. Everything was wrong. A gentle tug from Minho told him that he needed to move and Chan realized that they were standing in the middle of the living room because of him. He wasn't moving. He had been the one who made them stop to become targets for the younger boys.  

“Channie hyung,” one of them said with a bit of bitterness on his tongue. Seungmin maybe? “What the hell is going on with all of you?” 

Nope, it was Jisung. His head was all screwed up. His feet began to move with Minho as he left that question unanswered until Jisung's next words had him stopping in his tracks again.

“You haven't even asked about Innie. Are you all fucking drunk? Did you all go out and party while I was left taking care of our sick maknae? You all are a bunch of assholes, you know that?”

“I-Innie?” Chan tasted the weakness on his tongue as he tossed that barely audible, question laced name behind them. 

“Oh, now you care about him?” Jisung spat. “Are you so fucking wasted that you can’t even look at me?”

He didn't even know how he could still cry after tonight but he felt hot tears carve their way down his face and burn into his stitched cheek. If only he was drunk. Maybe he wouldn't have remembered as much as he did if that were the case.

“Fucking look at me!”

A rough hand gripped around his wrist and started to pull him back. Before it could, terror crawled out of his chest and burst out of him with a desperate plea. “Don’t touch me!” He ripped his arm out of Jisung’s grip as his hood fell back and agony made his vision go black. Someone wrapped their arms around him and before he could slip into an odd, unknown state of panic, Minho’s voice calmed him down. 

“Chan, you’re okay. I'm here.”

He let himself be guided as the pain from beneath his bandages made his knees weak. 

“Oh my god!” he heard behind him. “What happened to Channie hyung?!"

“You’re a fucking asshole, Jisung,” he heard from his other side, another hand pressing into the space between his shoulders as Hyunjin helped. That comment was directed right at Jisung but it made him feel even worse. He didn’t know. 

Only two sets of footsteps joined him as they shuffled down the hall. At least he thought it was the hall. His vision was still black and he cradled his burning wrist against his chest. Changbin probably stayed back to run damage control but Chan hardly thought about that when all that existed was pain. 

“Let me see.”

He didn't even realize that he was in his room. The one he shared with Changbin. He somehow found himself sitting on his bed and a more intimate kind of pain shot into him. It was manageable but unavoidable. Hands tried to push his sleeves up but the blindness made him momentarily panic and he pulled away. 

“Chan, it's me. It’s Minnie.”

“I kn-know,” he said shakily as he found his voice. “Can’t see.”

“What?!” Hyunjin panicked. “You can't see? Minho, what —”

“He’s just hurting,” Minho said gently as he brushed his thumb across Chan’s cheek. “It’s the pain.” There was a brief moment of hesitation as he thought about it and then he tried to make sure. “It’s just the pain, right?”

Chan nodded and tried to stop his body from trembling so much. How did Minho know that? Someone sat next to him and it smelled like Minho. Summer rain and citrus gave him something to focus on as he tried to breathe slowly to get his heart rate down. It felt like sharp burning knives slicing into his right arm. To his left, the bed dipped and Hyunjin's floral scent chased away some of the spots in his vision. His left arm only felt like less hot, burning knives. 

Several minutes passed by and Chan grew more uncomfortable in the heavy silence. The pain wasn't going away and he realized that it was going to be days of this. Weeks. When his vision finally cleared, Changbin made it into the room and Chan forced himself up and across the space away from them all just to avoid the overwhelming pressure of everyone trying to smother him. He was fine. 

“I got his meds and bandages we left in the car.”

“Don’t talk about me like I'm not here,” Chan growled. He didn't mean to say it and instantly tried to take it back. They saw him about to profusely apologize and their faces morphed it to one of concern. Of sadness. He hated it and said nothing. Why did this have to happen to him? “I need a shower.” 

He wanted nothing more than to scrub the filth off of his body and melt under the scalding hot water. He wanted it to slough off his skin before he crawled out of it. To wash away the hands he still felt on his body and the tongue that tasted him before Korain did the unthinkable. 

“Chan,” Minho frowned. “You can't. You can't get your stitches wet.”

Tears bloomed into his eyes for the millionth time and he turned away from them to hide it. He didn't have to though. They still saw the way his shoulders shook with the effort to keep from making a sound as he cried like some weak, broken person. 

He then realized that he had his arms positioned awkwardly away from his sides to keep them from touching. To keep the pressure off. Getting them wet would probably make him scream but he didn't care, pain was better than feeling him still on him. “I can't do this. I need him off. Minho, I need him off of me.”

Still, he refused to look at his three boys. Not after what he had just said and what they had seen of him today. It was the truth though and he felt his skin crawl with ghosted fingers drifting across it. Korain’s scent still clung to him like a dark shroud, thick and suffocating. Blood too. He felt dirty and disgusting and worthless and —

“Okay.”

Again, Minho killed those thoughts when he appeared right in front of him. He was always doing that, chasing away the bad things. The dark thoughts. Minho was keeping him from spiraling. How the hell did he always know what to do?! Drifting from the worthlessness and confusion he felt, he thought about what just happened in the livingroom. He had scared his kids. 

Minho studied him as if trying to figure out a game plan but Chan let him. It was so much easier letting him take charge because he saw what needed to be done and anticipated how he was going to react. He saw the runaway thoughts in his head and snagged onto the one that had just been swirling around. 

“The boys are fine,” he assured him 

Chan knitted his eyes together in confusion before realizing that he must have dissociated at some point. Changbin and Hyunjin were gone. When did that happen?

“Binnie told them that something happened tonight but didn't go into any detail about who all was involved or what went down. Only that you were hurt.”

Chan watched him move away and begin grabbing clothes. He pulled open drawers and found loose, comfortable things for him. He let him only because he didn't have the energy to remember what he even owned let alone where they were. 

“They’re scared but know that you’re…fine.”

Fine. He wasn't fine. 

“Wrong choice of words,” Minho mumbled as he bit at his lip. 

Chan knew that he was mentally kicking himself but he didn't comment on it. 

“Jeongin is better, Jisung said. His fever broke just before we got home. I sent Changbin and Jinnie to check on him.”

“Jisung?” He hated how freaked out he must be right now. He had screamed at him. Freaked out.

“He saw your face,” Minho admitted. “Him and Seungmin. He’s not mad at you in the slightest and Binnie said that he wants to apologize for what he said. He wants to know what…”

Chan knew what he wanted. Not today though. He couldn't think about that today. It was all too fresh in his mind.

“Are you going to tell them?”

Minho was back in front of him with two pills in his hand and a bottle of water offered to him. He hesitated before taking them and hated that he did. He saw the look Minho gave at his tentative step back. A fear response.

“Pain meds and a mild sedative,” Minho explained.

Of course Chan knew that he wouldn't try to drug him. It was just…trauma, or whatever the doctor had said. There was supposed to be a lot of that in the coming days. He swiped them and swallowed them down his burning throat, his body threatening to gag and expel them in the next second but he forced it away. “Not now.”

Minho nodded but was still unsure of Chan’s meaning behind the words. He braved asking for clarification. “Not now as in you won't tell them now, or not now this conversation is over?”

Chan was tired. “Just…not now.”

There was still no clear answer but Minho accepted it nonetheless. He wasn't about to push him but he still understood. More than anyone else ever would. 

“Now what?” There was an unreadable look in Minho’s eyes and it made Chan nervous. He didn't like not being able to read him. 

“We…you can't shower, Chan. We can try a bath though but you can't get your arms in the water. I know it's not what you want but it's the best we can do right now. I won't deny you that. The doctor didn't even want you to take a bath but —”

“We. You keep saying ‘we’.” Please don't come in there with me. Please. 

Minho looked at him sadly, knowing that he understood what had to happen. “You have so much in your system, Chan. And not because of what I just gave you. You…you can't be left alone or you could get hurt.”

“You don't have to burden yourself, Min’. I'll be fine. I want to be alone. Need to.”

“Christopher Chan,” he said sternly. “You are not a burden. What if it were me? No matter how much I wish it were me instead of you, would you see me as a burden?”

“N-no —”

“Then shut up.” Tears welled up into his eyes and he refused to wipe them. He wanted Chan to see them and understand. “I need to feel useful, hyung. I need to feel like I'm helping you or I'm going to walk right out of this dorm and kill that bastard with my bare hands. I'll drag it out too and make him suffer. God you don't even know how many ways I’ve imagined doing it since we found you. You don't want murder on my record, do you?”

Chan neglected to say anything. 

“It’s not just for me, Chan. I…I’ve been there. In your spot.”

“What?!”

“Not now,” he said with a smirk before his face fell again. “Before I knew you. Any of you. It happened to me, the circumstances a bit different…a lot different…but it still happened. Trust me when I say that you need support and help even when you think that you don't need it or deserve it. Let me in, Chan. Let me help. Please.”

Chan had so many questions and they burned on his tongue. He got angry for Minho. Sad for him. He wanted to kill the bastard who had hurt him and he wanted to help him… He wanted to help him. Help him. Like he was trying to do. He understood. Minho knew exactly what he was going though. “Is he locked up?”

Minho nodded. “Prison.”

“And you won't talk about it?”

“I’ve moved past it as much as I could. With therapy. It gets better but the feelings never go away. If I had friends back then like I do now then maybe things would have been a lot easier. Maybe I'll talk about it one day but I need to help you first, Chan. I just want you to let me in because I understand. Don't hide your feelings away from me or it's going to eat you up inside and become unbearable.”

Through the growing fuzziness in his head, he tried to contemplate what Minho had just told him. He had been raped too. Defiled. Assaulted against his will. He had been right where he was standing at one point in time. With tears misting his eyes that he didn't try to hide this time, he caved. His voice came out weak and shaky. It was down right pitiful as he pleaded for Minho to get him through this hell. “Please help me.”

Minho gave him a gentle smile and wrapped his arms around Chan and pulled him into his chest. The closeness of someone trusted always helped. Direct eye contact helped. A steady voice in his ear was a focal point when he was spiraling and someone else taking charge made everything so much easier.

He could get Chan though this. Together, they could try and heal from the hells their monsters had dragged them into. 

“I’ve got you, jagi.”

Chapter Text

Minho was right. He couldn't do this alone. The meds hit Chan hard by the time they made it to the bathroom and he was so dizzy and unsteady on his feet that he would have hit the floor if it weren't for his dongsaengs arm around him. 

He sat on the floor against the tub now with his jacket pulled off. Well, Changbin’s jacket. This was the second time he really saw the bandages covering the lower part of his arms and the uncomfortableness only seemed to increase the longer he stared at them. They were already stained through with blood and he hissed in pain when he bent his right wrist. That was where Jisung had grabbed him.  And then he did it again just to make sure that it still hurt. It did. 

“Channie, stop,” Minho warned him gently and grabbed his hand. “Stop moving your wrists or the stitches will keep pulling and bleeding.” Chan didn't seem to hear him as he zoned out, fixated on the reddened bandages or dissociating. He wasn't sure. “Shirt first, then we can take the dressings off, okay?” Despite not knowing if he was listening, he still walked him through what he was doing. 

Chan let him work. There really wasn't anything he could do himself as he was forced to uselessly hold his arms away from touching his body. The pain from the contact alone would probably kill him. Chan zoned out while Minho plugged the drain in the tub and then turned on the tap to get it ready for him. He was hardly aware of himself as his dongsaeng then gently helped him out of his hospital shirt, delicately pulling it over his arms and keeping it from brushing against the damage Korain had done to him. 

The world came back into focus with a snap when the dressings started to come off. As Minho peeled back the bandages over the damage from the bits of glass first, he noticed his bruised torso. Deep bruising had settled against his skin like spilled wine from where that monster had hit him. From where he had kicked him. The spot over his rib was a nauseating mosaic of purples and reds and flashes of when he earned them drew out a thin cry that Minho gently shushed. 

Minho hummed some kind of song that Chan had never heard before when he started to unwind the layers of wraps hiding the damage from the barbed wire. It kept the panic down when one of his arms was free. Deep cuts and punctures held together with sutures stood out barbarically as the wounds criss crossed against his skin. They still bled and Minho quieted his fears by telling him that they would for a few days. The skin beneath the stitches was thin and on an area of his body that was bound to be jostled around. 

He settled for watching a vine of red ooze from a deep cut in the bend of his wrist and slowly snake down his arm as Minho worked to free his other wrist. It moved so slow as it tested the imperfections in his skin and made friends with gravity. It spilled down his arm and he watched it go. A stitched cut barricaded it for a few seconds and then it overcame the obstacle and moved around it, only to run into another line of sutures. It was determined to get to wherever it was going because it ran straight over those stitches and kept going. 

Down. 

Down. 

Down. 

And then it was gone. The world snapped back in place again and he met Minho’s worried and concerned eyes. He had wiped the blood trail away and Chan never got to see where the rest of its path would have led. For some reason, he cried at that loss. 

Once his other arm was exposed to him, a tortured sob finally broke free at the sight of seeing them side by side. He was going to scar so badly. There was always going to be a grim reminder of what that man had done to him. 

“You probably don't remember it,” Minho said softly as he worked, “but you have a consultation with a plastic surgeon in a few weeks. If you want, he can reduce the scarring as much as possible but it's not going to be at a hundred percent.”

At least there was some good news. 

“Are you ready?”

For what? Oh. The bath. He forgot that was the reason they were in here. “Did you need help?” he asked in a tired voice. Why did he ask that? Did he ask that? Maybe he just thought it. Despite his confusion, Minho gently pulled his drugged body off of the floor and distracted him by answering. Maybe he did ask it out loud because mind reading wasn't a thing. 

“No. I wasn't hurt as bad as you.” Minho helped to work Chan out of his pants and then pulled off the last bandage off of the claw marks on his thigh. His stomach rolled at the sight of what Korain had done to him. 

“What did he do?”

“I’m not going there, Chan,” Minho warned him. “We made a deal. You let me help you through this and then we can talk. You need to focus on yourself, hyung. I want to help you heal first. Helping you is helping me.”

Another distracting song started up in Minho’s throat and Chan drifted for a minute. He was hardly aware of it when the bloody mesh underwear the hospital gave him was gone and he was being helped into the tub. The warm water chased away any embarrassment he might have had and he almost slipped beneath the water to drown out the aches in his body. Or maybe to drown himself. Either way, neither of those acts sounded too bad right now. Minho didn't let him though and held his hands, pulling him forward to lean over the tub as much as he could to keep his stitches from getting wet. 

“Arms, jagi,” Minho reminded him. “Keep them dry.”

By this point, the combination of pain meds and sedatives had him slipping into his mind for good. He remembered nothing from that point on as Minho washed the blood and filth from his body. His dongsaeng had called Changbin in to help him out of the bath and then together the two of them got him dressed again and then re-banaged before they got him into bed. 

The rest of the morning passed without incident as he slept and Minho stayed, guarding him against any nightmares that tried to stalk him. Changbin popped in a few times in between calming the younger ones and Hyunjin even checked on them a few times too, bringing fresh ice packs to soothe his beaten body. All three of them took care of their hyung. 

A couple of hours before Chan woke up by himself, Minho managed to get him to take his next dose of medicine as he hovered between wakefulness and sleep. It knocked him back out hard but the doctor had advised them to keep him as calm as possible and keep him on a medicated schedule. Moving around too much would cause his cuts to heal slower. 

It turned out to be a problem when Chan came to alone in his room sometime after that. His mind was a disoriented mess as he climbed out of his bed in a drug induced state. He felt like a zombie, head spinning and pounding as he stumbled to the door for reasons unknown to him. What happened to him was still within reach so he knew why he was drugged up and confused but he wasn't sure why he was leaving his room. He was confused, alone, and he wanted Minho. 

He tried not to trip over his own feet as he stumbled down the hall, his loose jacket sticking to his sweaty body for some reason. It was uncomfortable, just like the itch beneath his sleeves were and the pressure in his head. It felt like an ice pick was shoved into his eye sockets. Voices drifted towards him as he neared the living room and he wondered if Minho was in there, no thought in his aching head of the others seeing his damaged face. There were a lot of things he wasn't thinking about, courtesy of the medicine he was on. 

“Chan?!”

Uh-oh. Someone sounded worried. A blurry face hurried towards him and he realized that maybe his vision hadn't been so clear since he got out of bed. Every movement his head made had things spinning and now that he was focusing on whoever this was, the world spun more and he stumbled. 

“What are you doing up? Let me get you back to bed. Where’s Min’?”

“N-no,” he mumbled as someone took him gently by his hands. The smell of roses hit him and the name ‘Hyunjin’ came to mind. “No bed.” Just the word ‘bed’ shot fear straight into his soul and he shivered against it. He couldn't go back there. He couldn’t. That was where he was touched. 

Held down.

Raped.  

“Please,” he begged. Fuck that sounded pitiful. 

“Chan —”

“He’s going to fall if we walk him back that way.” 

He still couldn't make out their faces but the earthy scent screamed Changbin. A strong arm slipped around him and pulled him forward and even if he wanted to, he was powerless to fight back. He felt too out of it. 

But wait. He was home. Korain wasn't here, and he wasn't there. 

The medicine. It was messing with him. He tried to hold onto that thought and he made the effort to do so. He was safe, at home, and with his boys. 

Changbin and Hyunjin helped settle him into the couch and then he picked up the voices of the others. There were a lot of voices in here. Some were shushing the whispers, one was consoling another's sobs. They all sounded worried and he didn't want them to be. “s’okay.” Whatever was making them upset pulled at his heartstrings. 

He couldn't do anything else to make them feel better because he somehow found himself leaning against Hyunjin on his right side while Changbin took his left. Maybe Minho could help them while he rested. He was just so tired and found his eyes slipping shut. 

“Shit! Minho!”

Something was shoved against his nose and he panicked. Was Korain back? Was he trying to take him again? Whatever it was, he fought and already his limbs were failing to respond like he wanted them to. It was only a matter of time before the chemical soaked cloth knocked him out and Korain raped him again. “No!”

“What the hell are you doing to him!?”

Chan cried when he recognized Minho’s voice. The warm body to his left disappeared and another took his place. Summer rain and citrus. Minho. “Don’t let him! Min’ please. Don't let him touch me again!”

“Chan, shhh. I won’t. I won’t let him. I need you to listen to me. Can you do that?”

Chan found that he was still fighting against the hands that were no longer touching him. When had they stopped? “Minnn…” His name dragged out so slowly and desperately from his lips and he panicked as he tried to unscramble his thoughts. If Minho was here, then everything was fine but he didn't feel fine. Nothing felt right.  

“It’s just us. Chan, it's just us. I need you to take a deep breath through your mouth but it's going to taste bad. You're not in danger.”

The breath he took was choked with the tang of blood. He didn't panic though because Minho told him that they were safe. He was safe. Confused, but there was no danger as his mind struggled to make sense of things. “Help.”

“Your medicine has you mixed up, jagi. I think you came looking for me but I was in the bathroom. You're in the living room now and you have a nosebleed. Binnie tried to help but I think he scared you.” There was a long pause as he tried to make sense of things. “Is your head okay? I don’t think you should be bleeding like this. Bin’, bring me the discharge papers about his concussion.”

That…made sense. Why he was confused, that is. So much medicine. The facts hit him harder than Korain had and he calmed down. The pressure in his head had lessened and he felt like he owed Minho an explanation so his dongsaeng wouldn't worry too much. The poor thing was combing through a stack of papers. “‘s’okay, Minho. He hit me in my nose after I bit him.”

A low murmur of voice startled him but Minho stole his focus back. “I’m so sorry, Chan.” Worries about his head injury faded and they all took a relieved breath. “Can…can I hold a tissue to it? It's still bleeding.”

Chan tried to nod but that ice pick of pain prevented him from doing too much. “Yeah.” He felt like he was a little more in his right mind now.

Minho pressed the tissue against him and fought not to cringe through Chan’s shudder. The look Hyunjin gave him as Chan still leaned against him broke his heart as did the looks in the rest of them still in the room. “Chan?”

“Mmmh,” he grunted as he rested his eyes. The light in the room wasn't helping his headache any. 

“The boys are all still in here. I'm sorry. I told you that it was just us.”

Surprisingly, he didn't care. Maybe it was the medicine in his system, or maybe it was Minho’s voice in the back of his head telling him what he had told him earlier. ‘If I had friends back then like I do now then maybe things would be a lot easier.’ “s’kay,” he mumbled in a haze. “You can tell them.”

“Not now, Chan.”

A tense silence passed. 

“You can't be in here when I do.”

That wasn't fair. This was about him but now he was thinking more about how uncomfortable he was to care. “‘m hot.” He still felt the jacket sticking to him and his arms burned beneath his bandages. 

“Let’s get you back in bed. Do you feel up to moving?”

Not really. His stomach churned and he was dizzy as hell. Moving wasn’t a good idea. “No. Gonna throw up.”

“Jeongin, grab that trash can,” Changbin said from somewhere in front of him. 

Chan realized that he still had his eyes closed. He didn't even remember the last thing that he saw. The blurry faces as they met him at the hall maybe? Wait, Jeongin? “Innie? Are you okay?”

“Me?!”

He sounded surprised. “You were sick.”

“I…I'm fine, hyung. Are you okay?”

“Hot.”

“Can you take his jacket off?”

That sounded like Felix but his suggestion sounded heavenly. “Off.

“Chan, your arms,” Hyunjin worried. 

Hyunjin. He had forgotten that he was next to him. He was leaning against him, and leaning made it hard to get a jacket off. “Off,” he said again and shifted forward. A low, painful groan slipped from his lips when he did and his hand shot to his side as if it could dull the pain. 

“Don’t, Chan.” Minho was at his wits end and dropped the tissue to steady him. “You have a broken rib.”

“Broken rib? Minho, what the hell happened to him!?”

Chan was tired of the conversations because no one was fucking helping him. He was hot and his skin crawled beneath his bandages. “Minho get this fucking jacket off of me!”

“Okay, okay!” Minho hated this. He hated everything Chan was going through and he hated how freaked out the kids were. Sending them to their rooms now would do more harm than good as their thoughts would spiral. Keeping them here if they wanted to be was in their best interest. 

So, he grabbed onto one of Chan’s sleeves and gently worked his arm out of it. Hyunjin helped him on the other side and when he was free from the garment, they were assaulted with panicked questions. 

“What happened to him?!”

“Where were you guys this morning?"

“Why is Chan so freaked out!?”

“Is that blood on the bandages?”

“Did he try to kill himself?!”

Chan couldn't take the onslaught anymore. It made his head hurt worse and he hated how they had no idea what was wrong. And that last question…did he try to kill himself? Minho was trying his best to calm them but Chan knew that the truth would be better than the half lies Changbin and Hyunjin were trying to spout off. 

“He was attacked.”

“He called us for help.”

“His medicine is making him confused.”

He couldn't take it anymore. “Shut up,” he mumbled, exhaustion from the past 24 hours still gnawing into his bones. No one heard him over the yelling and he felt his panic start to rise as their voices got louder. Minho had tuned them out and was focusing back on him. He recognized the fear start to take back over and tried easing him out of it. There was only one way to do that though. 

“Shut the fuck up!” he yelled. The room went dead silent and he collapsed back into Hyunjin. Minho still held his hands and he squeezed them for the strength this was going to take. He still felt uncomfortable though and he was too fucking hot! “Get it off me. Hot,” he whined. 

"Let's take the dressings off of him,” Changbin suggested. “His stitches need to breathe and as long as he isn't sleeping the doctor wants them off anyways.”

“Please,” Chan pleaded. He hated how helpless and weak that word sounded. 

“Fine,” Minho said softly. He eyed the others in warning, silently threatening them to keep their mouths shut and then carefully undid the protective gauze. 

There was deafening silence as they took in the damage to Chan’s arms. Stitches. So many stitches everywhere in short lines and dotted along his skin. It was the worst around his wrists and horror coursed through them along with the questions that begged to be answered. 

What the hell had happened to Chan?

“Hyung?” someone asked. Chan thought that it might be from Felix. “Did someone do this to you?”

“Yeah,” he breathed. Strangely, he was calm as he said his next few words. “K-Korain drugged and kidnapped me.” More silence. Shit, was he loud enough?

“O-our driver?” Jisung asked. 

Chan nodded against Hyunjin and the boy slipped his arm around his shoulder. It grounded him. “Chloroform or something. Knocked me out at the company. I broke his nose first.” 

“You don't have to do this,” Hyunjin whispered softly to him. They all heard it though. 

“Need you guys. Can't live like this.” Luckily, his eyes stayed closed and he had no wish to open them to see the boys. He would crumble if he saw their faces. The blindness kept him numb. “Woke up in his car. Slammed my head into the door.”

“We saw the blood,” Changbin said. “On the window.”

“Yeah.” Them seeing it made it more real in some way. “I made him mad and he pulled over. Cut the barbed wire then.”

“Is…is that what happened to your wrists?” Seungmin asked, horrified. “How bad is the pain?”

Chan shrugged. “Not good.”

“Did he ask for a ransom?”

“No.”

“Then what —”

“Jeongin, no,” Minho warned him. “Stop with the questions everyone.”

Jisung ignored him and asked one more. “But then what did he want?”

Chan froze even though he had committed to doing this. Hyunjin felt him tense and squeezed his shoulder. He leaned into him more and breathed in his comforting scent. Minho moved too and pressed into his side. Any more and it would push into his rib. The closeness was fine. “Me.”

“That doesn't make sense —”

“He dragged me out of the car and I woke up more,” he continued. “I fought him when I got inside but the drugs…I couldn't. He threw me through the table.” 

“It was shattered,” Changbin said. “I thought you would have been cut up more.”

“You were there?” Seungmin asked. “I thought you would have met him at the hospital or something.”

“You noticed it too, Seungmin,” Jisung snapped. “Binnie and Hyunjin have busted knuckles. They fought him at some point.”

“We were there,” Minho confirmed. “I knew something was wrong. We thought that the creepy ass driver who was obsessed with Chan had something to do with it when we figured out that he was missing. We tracked his laptop and found it at Korain's house.”

“His house?”

Chan swallowed against a sob and forced out his next words, effectively stopping their runaway questions. “Dragged me into the bedroom.”

Silence. There wasn't even a breath as a heaviness settled into the room as the weight of what those words could mean hit them hard. “Injected me with something. In my neck. Couldn't move. Couldn't fight back.”

“Chan?” Jisung asked hesitantly. “What did… what did he do to you?”

Even though he had gotten this far, Chan hesitated. He couldn't say it. He didn't want to. The feeling of Korain's body against him had him wanting to crawl out of his skin. Moving away from Hyunjin and Minho terrified him. They were keeping him calm right now but he couldn't leave his dongsaengs hanging. He had promised Minho that he would heal, but he was stuck. He couldn't breathe right. “Minnie. Help me. Please.”

Minho crumbled. He wished with all of his heart that he had friends like this years ago when he was going through the same horror. Getting Chan though this though was a vow that he intended to keep. “We got into the house,” he began. “We saw the table and the blood, then we heard Korain.”

“Say it,” Jisung cried. “I think we already know what it is?”

It was already out there. One look at Chan had him bursting into tears and he knew it scared everyone. He never cried like this. Never. “We found Korain raping him.”

Sobs and unbound horror filled the living room but Minho tuned them out. He read Chan, understanding how rigid he lay against Hyunjin. His body shook. His hands clenched and unclenched in his grip and he knew that he was using pain to ground himself. Still, he kept his eyes closed, a coping mechanism of some sort. “He…he was still doing it when we burst in. Korain…he... God I can't do this. I can't."

“He pulled out of him and Hyunjin and I beat the shit out of the bastard.”

Minho tried to shoot Changbin a deadly glare at the bluntness in which he said it but there was pain and anger written into every line of his face. He was suffering too. “He…he had Chan bound to the bed with fucking barbed wire around his wrists and he was gagged, choking on his own blood while that monster had his hand around his throat.”

“We locked Korain in the bathroom,” Hyunjin added. “We…we couldn't get Chan free because of the barbed wire cutting into his wrists. He had to lay there until the cops came. We couldn't move him.”

“My laptop.” That was all Chan said and he didn't even know why he said it. He had drifted away from the conversation as it went on around him and he thought of his laptop. “Where?”

“What?!” Jisung sobbed. “Chan, you got…you were raped and you’re worried about your laptop?”

Oh yeah. Why was his mind so weird?

“He’s got a concussion,” Minho snapped before softening his tone. Chan jumped. “I guess from the window of the car?”

“We get it back in the next few days,” Changbin told their confused leader. “The cops have the car and will release it when they are done with it. Our manager said either tomorrow or the next day.”

“Management knows?”

Minho looked over to Felix and nodded. “Yeah. JYP is pissed and already privately pressing charges on Chan’s behalf. He’s on a rampage. If —”

“Chan?” Hyunjin had noticed him dissociating and digging his nails into the palm of his hand. He wasn't even aware that he was doing it most likely. 

Finally, Chan cracked his eyes open and the room came into focus. He looked to his left, passed Minho, and saw the crowd of horrified Stray Kids. They looked at him with so much love and concern that it cracked his heart in half. He had to be dehydrated because immediately, he burst into tears for the hundredth time that day. 

They streamed down his face and he curled into Minho this time but Hyunjin followed. He was sandwiched between them and it eased the pain a little. Pressure at his legs unveiled Changbin leaning his head against him. The couch dipped at his back and he startled against the arms that came to loosely rest over his chest. Jisung. Jeongin and Seungmin joined too, crawling across Minho’s lap and curled around Hyunjin. 

They were all touching him. They all cried ugly tears and sobs filled the living room of their dorm. It didn't hurt as much anymore. It was all still a nightmare and he knew the ache and pain in his soul wouldn't be gone anytime soon but right now it eased just a little bit. He had help. They would help him heal. Hell, they already were. 

“Thank you,” he whispered to Minho. Those words held so much meaning. Minho had given him the means to let the others in so they could all heal together. Still though, there was a piece of their family that still hurt. Chan knew that he did. More than anyone. 

“Your turn.”