Jinki shifted against the solid metal wall, biting his lip as he eyed the ragged, scrawny male next to him. The clickety-clack of the train wheels on the track drowned out his heart as he took in the bruises littering Minho’s body. Jinki scooted forward and gently traced a hand down Minho’s cheek, biting his lip when he saw how Minho flinched before he relaxed again.

 

What the heck was he doing? Jinki shook his head and in a deep breath, he’d always been told he was smart but he didn’t feel that way now. Not when they were stuck in a container, trying to escape from the biggest corporation ever. Jinki didn’t want to think about the fact that he had ‘kidnapped’ Minho either.

 

There has to be a way to get out of this mess. Watching Minho stir, Jinki jerked his hand away if it burned, shifting back just in case Minho woke this time. After a few moments Jinki glanced over and was surprised to see Minho’s eyes were open, the large brown eyes peering around the container and Jinki wondered if he had forgotten.

 

“We’re… still here.” Minho rasped out, and Jinki could see his chest heaving, and the effort it took for Minho to sit up.

 

“Yeah.” Jinki frowned slightly, where else would they be?

 

“I dreamt… dreamt they caught us.” Minho’s lips quivered as he spoke, and Jinki could see the building moisture in Minho’s eyes, the way Minho sniffled caught in Jinki’s chest and it took all of his efforts to just sit there and not pull Minho into his arms. Minho didn’t like being touched though, Jinki dug his nails into his hands until it hurt.

 

“They hurt you, badly.” Minho sniffed louder, inching closer to Jinki, his hands shaking as he collapsed on the wall next to Jinki, a tiny gap between them now.

 

“It was a dream, Minho.” Jinki smiled across at Minho, “Don’t worry, we won’t get caught.”

 

“How do you know?” Minho scooted closer, making Jinki freeze in place when he felt Minho’s bony shoulder poke his arm. Jinki gritted his teeth reminding himself not to throw an arm around Minho’s shoulder to comfort him.

 

“I don’t know,” Jinki admitted letting his head drop down, “But we’ve vanished off their radar.”

 

“Have we? Don’t I have a tracker inside of me?” Jinki saw the way Minho bit his lip, his forehead creased.

 

“We destabilised it, and there is a copy of it heading in a completely different direction.” Jinki admitted, “on the fast train. So they should be searching in the wrong place.” To Jinki’s surprise that made Minho fall silent for a little while and they sat there listening to the train whistle.

 

Jinki was almost asleep when he heard Minho shuffling around in the dark, and Jinki lit a candle leaning forward to see what Minho was doing. It sounded like it was raining and it took Jinki a few seconds to realise that Minho was pissing in the can, he smiled when he saw Minho turning back to frown at him.

 

“Don’t… watch me.” Minho whispered and Jinki laughed wondering how many more times Minho would say this. How long it would take before Minho was comfortable or at least used to peeing in front of him. It was cute, Minho was cute Jinki thought to himself when his skinny companion settled next to him, shoulder pressed against him.

 

Jinki realised for the first time he had no regrets for rescuing Minho. Even if he was killed, at least now Minho had the chance to be free. It wasn’t right the way they had chained Minho up, draining away his soul and spirit to capture the special essence that meant he would live longer than most people. Jinki felt sick to think he had worked there for so long, but he hadn’t known what they were doing to Minho.

 

“I’ll never let them capture you,” Jinki vowed and against his better judgement, he slung an arm around Minho’s shoulder and pulled him close. Minho was bony but warm against his side, and Jinki grinned when Minho nodded and settled against him without a word of protest. 

 

“Thank you,” Minho whispered, “thank you,” Minho’s head dropped against Jinki’s chest, and Jinki realised he was probably too tired to protest or move away. But Jinki took comfort in holding Minho close, in the way his short hair felt against his skin, holding Minho close soothed his urged to protect and defend Minho. Jinki let his eyes slide shut too, unconsciously pulling Minho closer as he let himself drift towards sleep for the first time in days.

 

Jinki believed they would wake up in the same condition, he was sure the trackers wouldn’t find them here. But he had no real way to know, he just had to hope that his friends would find them before then. But Jinki was too exhausted to worry about it, he would just have to hope that his instincts were right, that they would be safe to sleep.