Warnings: unbetad, character death

The heavy atmosphere lingered for a bit more. Usually, Junhong would be the one to lightened up the mood. He's always been the brightest of them all eventhough sometimes he's almost as serious as Yongguk. "You're a bad influence, Yongguk hyung." Youngjae used to teased the elder. They all laughed at that.

"We're here guys!" Yongguk shouted, shaking Youngjae awake from his train of thoughts.

"It's time! Just a little bit longer Junhong-ah..." he heard Himchan whispered. Youngjae too, was extremely worried for the younger. He's learned that eventhough Junhong put up a strong facade a lot in front of the others, he's still just a fragile little kid. Junhong was always a little bit more open to him than the others. Yes, he would go talk to Himchan whenever he had problems, hanging out with Jongup casually and helping both Yongguk and Daehyun obidiently whenever they requested for his assitance. Junhong's close to all of them, but not as close as he is to Youngjae.

Youngjae was up all night doing research on his current experiment. He's always been fond of science. If that bastard didn't ruin his entire life, he would've passed the college entrance exam by now. Probably continuing his studies in Seoul National University.

He spotted a fluff of blonde hair and familiar looking brown orbs peeking in between the door to his room and without a doubt, he knew who that person was.

"Come in Junhongie." he walked towards the said person's direction and ushered him inside, not forgetting to lock the door afterwards as he didn't want anyone to disturb the two of them while he was working on his experiment. Junhong would come over to his room everyday, watching him as he fiddled with tons of worksheets and reports regarding his research. Youngjae appreciated the younger's company, he seemed a bit less a loner than he did before Junhong joined them. He used to isolate himself from the others often, locked away in his own room either playing 'games' on his computer or fast asleep. He didn't contribute much, thus being labeled as an outcast by the infamous blabbermouth Jung Daehyun. God knows how much he hated that jerk.

"What are you thinking about hyung?" Junhong's words shook him back to reality. Youngjae looked at him, a small smile curving its way on his plump lips. "Nothing..." was his simple answer. "Just some back story of mine..." he continued later as he avoided eye contact with the younger, embarrassed that he was caught staring blankly at the piles of paper in front of him.

"Oh really? Tell me, tell me!" Junhong prompted, curiousity was laced all over his soft voice. Youngjae was hesistant, he's not comfortable of telling others how he feels. He usually kept himself busy in order to distract him from feeling anything. From the loneliness of his everyday life with B.A.P to the longing of warmth of his deceased family members. But Junhong was persistent as ever, so he gave in and told him the story. His story.

"You see Junhong... the other guys didn't like me that much at first except for Yongguk. It was partly my fault because I didn't socialize with them enough for them to like me. The only reason I'm living with them here is because Yongguk didn't let me leave. He's a distant cousin of mine and the one who found me wandering aimlessly on the streets of Seoul. He brought me in and introduced me to the others. They were nice but they gave up easily on knowing me. I was awkward and I didn't talk much. Yongguk could tell that it was hard for me to blend in so he tried his best to make the others understand but even he gave up after a few tries."

Junhong glanced at Youngjae sympathetically. It must be really hard for him. He could relate to Youngjae a lot. He wasn't that well liked when he first joined them either. It took him some times but he tried to get along as best as he could. Back then, he noticed how Youngjae would excuse himself whenever they're gathered together in the living room or anywhere in their home and wondered why so he tried to aprroach the elder. Youngjae seemed distant at first, but Junhong never gave up even when the others told him to. He tried and tried and tried until they became as close as they're now. When you got to know him better, Youngjae is the most talkative, caring and fun person he's ever met. That's why Junhong would stick to him like a magnet. He's the least serious member and a good friend. Opening up to him wasn't really that bad if you actually try to do it, Junhong thought to himself.

"Hyung..."

"Yes?"

"As long as I'm here, I'll never make you feel lonely ever again. I promise..."

- - -

"That's enough!" Daniel's voice filled the narrow spaced room Junhong was in. His cousin was still tied up but he's no longer sitting on the chair. He's on the floor, bleeding and losing a huge amount of blood with every seconds that passed. If Daniel didn't know his cousin very well, he would've been frustrated over him not showing any signs of hurt or pain. "We need to keep him alive, remember?" Daniel warned his men who were previously ordered to beat the hell out of that brat.

Gunshots were heard all of a sudden as the members of B.A.P made their way towards the place, bursting the door open by force. Since Daniel's gang would most likely outnumber them, the B.A.P members decided to call for back-ups. "Thanks Namjoon." Yongguk tapped the latter's shoulder before proceeding to join the others. "No problem hyung. My boys and I can take care of the ones outside. You guys just go ahead!" Namjoon shouted. Yongguk gave him a thumbs up before disappearing into one of the corners of the huge, abandoned building.

"Well... well.. well... It's about time you losers arrived. What took you so long?" Daniel mockingly said as he walked outside of the torture room with Junhong in tow.  "I think I might've broke your precious maknae..."

"H-hyungs.." Junhong called out weakly as he dropped to the ground, feeling exhausted.

"What did you do to him?!" Himchan snapped, clearly furious at Daniel for the damage that he did to Junhong. Their Junhong.

"Calm down, Himchan. He's still alive, right? And besides... I wouldn't want to kill my own cousin..." he emphasized the word 'cousin' and all of them stared at him like he's an alien. "What are you talking about?" Yongguk questioned, unsatisfied by Daniel's statement.

"Choi Junhong is my cousin. I killed his parents so that I could own Blue Dragon. Happy now?"

All of them gasped in shock. No wonder Junhong's not comfortable of telling them his past, his origins. He's ashamed of being related to a total nutjob.

Junhong hissed in pain as he tried to wiggle his way out. Daniel kicked his side, forcing a groan out of the younger's mouth.

"Stop it! Stop hurting him and tell us what you want!" This time it was Youngjae who snapped. Daniel smirked, already liking where this was going. "I think you already know what I want, Yoo Youngjae. I know you're all here not just because you wanted to save Junhongie... You wanted revenge, each and every one of you and I'm giving you a chance. Choi Junhong was just a tool to heat things up."

That made Youngjae's blood boiled. He fished out his gun and pointed it at Daniel's direction. "So that's how you want to play, huh? Fine."

"Youngjae wait!" Jongup shrieked as Youngjae pulled the gun's trigger. Daniel was fast to take cover and ordered his men to attack them.

"Daehyun! Go and help Junhong. We'll cover for you!" Yongguk instructed and Daehyun obidiently did as he's told. Not that he needed anyone's permission to do it anyway but Yongguk is their leader and he respected the former for it. Swiftly avoiding the chaos in front of him, Daehyun ran towards the injured maknae. Helping him up to move him into a safer place. Little did he realized that Daniel was watching them both, gun pointed directly at Daehyun's head.

"Jung Daehyun, look out!" Himchan yelled from the other side of the room, Before he could even turn around, the gun was fired. He closed his eyes tightly as he fell to the ground, waiting for the pain to struck him but it didn't.

"Y-youngjae hyung..." Junhong spoke.

Youngjae?

He opened his eyes widely and stared at the male who was soaked in blood beside him. Youngjae's left arm was injured badly and Daehyun felt guilty for it eventhough he's a bit relieved that Daniel missed his target. Youngjae was clutching onto his side, desperately wanting to get up.

Yongguk noticed that Daniel was distracted by the whole thing so he took this chance to aim his gun at him and pulled the trigger. Daniel fell on the floor, dead.

"Jongup!" Daehyun shouted. Jongup came running to him. "Yes, hyung?"

"I need you call Taehyung over here to help me patch up these two. The situation's a bit under control now so I guess it's okay for him to come."

"Alright!"

He watched as Jongup ran outside to fetch Taehyung. As soon as the latter disappeared from his sight, Daehyun turned around to look at Youngjae. "Are you stupid? Look at what you've gotten yourself into!"

"At least this is better than having you dead, Daehyun."

"But why? I thought you hated me for calling you an outcast."

"Doesn't mean that I want to see you die. You're all very important to me. I couldn't imagine living a day without any of you by my side..."

Tears started to form in his eyes but Daehyun quickly wiped it away without being noticed by Youngjae.

"You know what Youngjae?"

"What?"

"You're okay for a person who doesn't socialize much"

"Took you that long to realize, huh?" Daehyun giggled at Youngjae's remark.

"Yeah... I kind of feel stupid now and... I'm sorry. For everything that I've done to you."

"Apologies accepted."

They smiled at each other for the first time in a few years of knowing each other. Daehyun saw Jongup and Taehyung headed towards their direction and quickly settled Youngjae down beside Junhong. The chaos died down some time after Daniel was shot. All of his remaining men fled the scene after witnessing their leader's death. Himchan was tending to Yongguk who injured his legs during the fight.

"Taehyung, you and Jongup take care of Junhong. As for this guy..." Daehyun pointed at the half concious Youngjae. "I'll take care of him."

"Yes, hyung!" Jongup and Taehyung said in unison.

- - -

It's been a few years since that incident happened. And it's also been a few years since Junhong last stepped his foot on the grounds of Korea.

The tall male was walking towards the door to their house with luggages in tow. He's feeling a bit nervous because he's been away for quite a long time. He kept in touch with all of his hyungs but still, the nervousness was still there. He took a deep breath before knocking on the wooden door. Yongguk was the one who opened it and let him in. The house have not changed at all. It's still the same, smelly and untidy house as it was before.

The others pounced on him as soon as he walked into the living room, saying things like "We missed you so much!" and "We hope you're back for good". Junhong laughed.

The hyungs're still the same too.

Junhong learned that Yongguk, Daehyun, Himchan and Jongup all signed up at the same agency. Yongguk debuted as a solo rapper, Daehyun as a solo singer, Jongup as a background dancer and Himchan as an actor. The youngest found it funny that these 'gangsters' decided to involved themselves in the entertainment industry. As for Youngjae, he's currently furthering his studies in Seoul National University and now on a semester break.

After he recovered from his injuries, he's been thinking of what he should do next. He's never fond of the idea of going back to school so he decided to travel for a bit using the fortune that his parents left him. Travelling was fun, discovering new places and meeting different people.

But he missed his homeland the most, and his hyungs back home.

They're all connected by the same string. A string that couldn't easily be cutted off. That's why eventhough years passed, they're still the same old them. The bonds that they've created between them remained strong.

During his long period of travelling around the world, Junhong thought about a lot of things. One of them being that no matter how far this journey took him, he would always went back to that exact same place.

That smelly, untidy and loud house that he and the others had learned to called home.

THE END

A/N: AHAHAHA finally! this story is finished ;_; Actually I wanted to write a 1K something fic for this part but idk how it ended up being 2000++ lol. I hope you enjoyed this story and sorry if it's a bit confusing. sorry again if there're a lot of grammatical errors in this fic. i tried huhuhu. i even left some blanks for you to fill on your own hahaha i'm a nappeun authornim. i guess that's all for now? feel free to browse my other stories. ppyong~