I go down & down, at this point, I’m just a fool

Whatever I do, I can’t help it

Namjoon had lost count on the amount of cars he had filled up with fuel at the gas station. His part-time job didn’t pay much, but he needed the money. The clock ticked closer to closing hours and he wished no more cars would drive by to stop for a refill, he was tired of this.

He heard a car close in and cursed to himself. It was a black car, quite expensive.

    “Fill this up for me, I’ll be right back,” the driver said without looking at Namjoon as he stepped out of the car. The driver walked into the little store of the gas station and Namjoon started filling the car. He threw a look on the clock and noticed it was past his working time, and the driver still hadn’t returned.

After a while, the door of the store slammed shut as the driver walked out, with a woman in his arms. Namjoon remembered the woman as a worker in the store. They got into the car and as the engine started, the woman tapped the driver’s shoulder and pointed at Namjoon. The driver started digging through his pockets and threw money at him.

    “Thanks kid,” the driver said as he drove off. Namjoon hated customers like him the most, arrogant ones thinking they were better than everyone else.

He walked towards his own car, parked in the corner of the parking lot. His car was cheap, but it worked. He mumbled along to the songs on the radio as he drove off towards the hideout. He hoped Taehyung would already be there. He had quite a long ride in front of him, the gas station was very far away from the old factory building, it didn’t matter, since Namjoon enjoyed long car rides. They gave him time to think.

Namjoon’s thoughts went first to the boys. All of them had huge troubles in their lives, if you thought about it, Namjoon probably had it the best. He was clearly the poorest, working three part-time jobs to be able to make sure his family had food, and to make sure his sister was happy.

Namjoon thought about his sister, he loved her a lot. Tears came up to his eyes as he thought about her, he wanted her to live a happy life. Being poor was hard, Namjoon had never really cared about it, but his sister had taken it harder. He could hear her crying at night, probably because she didn’t have money to buy all the pretty things her friends had.

He reached his destination and parked his car closest to the entrance of the hideout and turned off the engine. The boys probably had heard him coming. He could hear the fire cracking as he closed in. Seokjin and Jungkook were seated in one of the couches, Taehyung sat on the other one, while Jimin, he guessed, sat wrapped in a blanket on the floor with his back turned towards Namjoon.

    “What’s up guys?” Namjoon said as he sat down next to Taehyung. The couple on the couch nodded at him and Jimin whispered hi from under the blanket. Taehyung only smiled at Namjoon.

    “I missed you,” he said while he put his head against Namjoon’s shoulder. Namjoon wrapped his arm around Taehyung, and hugged him with one arm.

    “I missed you too. Is everything ok at home, you seem a little bit worried,” Namjoon worried about the younger one. In fact, he worried about the other boy more than he admitted.

    “Nothing more than the usual, don’t worry about it,” Taehyung answered and shifted a bit, hiding his hand inside his sleeve. He hid it too a second too late since Namjoon had already seen the bruise forming on the other one’s knuckles.

Namjoon felt bad, he couldn’t really help Taehyung, or his own sister. Whatever he did, seemed like it got him nowhere. He knew the best he could do was be there for both of them, the people he cared the most of. He hoped things would get better as he closed his eyes and smiled, he was happy for the moment, with Taehyung by his side. He knew the rest of the boys would show up soon, and they all would do something stupid, but it would make him happy. That’s all that mattered, happiness.