The minutes dragged by slower than they ever had before as Mingi sat in the corner of the small bedroom. He had his knees drawn up, elbows jabbing his legs, and hands holding his forehead.

It was a positions of acceptance and defeat.

All he could think about was the way Hongjoong had looked at him... that hatred was so strong...

If he couldn't feel it pounding in his ears, Mingi would think his heart had disintegrated right there.

He had always known Hongjoong was going to be the hardest to convince once he figured out that the older was dealing in some shady business, but this... Mingi never thought it would go like this.

A ragged sigh shook his entire body.

"How the hell did you convince the others to believe you stupid story?"

Mingi's head shot up and he noticed Hongjoong staring at him from where he was tied up on the bed. The hatred was back but there was a spark of curiosity as well.

"Y-You heard?" Mingi tried to swallow the lump in his throat.

Hongjoong snorted and kicked his legs so he could sit up and lean against the wall. "Your boy needs to learn how to hit harder. Pathetic. All of this. I demand you let me go and leave before you have to deal with me when I'm more than just angry."

After his stomach flipped several times, Mingi let his head fall back against the wall. "I can't do that."

"And why not?"

"Because we need you."

"You have no idea what's good for you, you fool. I'm the last person you want to cross." Hongjoong snarled. "You really think telling me about this 'fabulous life' we had together in some other world or time or whatever the fuck you were talking about is supposed to make me just swoon and come back to you?"

Each word ripped Mingi open a little more, and yet he endured it. At least, he tried to. "Peter Pan." He whispered.

Hongjoong blinked and started grinding his teeth together.

"You had never read it before until I read it to you. You used to like those moments, saying you never had time to read for yourself. It also reminded you of when your dad used to read to you when you were little."

At that Hongjoong kicked his legs forward to throw himself off the bed. "Don't you DARE act like you know me!" He yelled as he stormed over to Mingi. His arms twisted back and forth while trying to free them, but that didn't stop him from kicking Mingi's hands apart and pressing his shoe against Mingi's neck.

And Mingi let him. He had no fight left, even when Hongjoong pressed harder and started to cut off his airflow. "But I do know you. You know you better than you know yours-"

"SHUT UP!" Hongjoong pressed harder. He swayed in place to keep himself balanced on just one leg.

It would be so easy for Mingi to knock him off balance... Oh so easy... but he couldn't find the strength to move his legs. Part of him was ready to let Hongjoong finish the job.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" The older growled. "You're really not going to fight back?"

"N-No..." Mingi forced out. He looked up at the horrid scowl Hongjoong was giving him and felt his eyes start to sting with tears. "I c-could n-never fight you."

Slowly, the pressure on Mingi's neck lessened and Hongjoong scoffed. "How could I ever be with someone as pathetic as you?" His voice was deadly.

This was it, this was where Mingi felt himself hollow out. He had to. How was he supposed to endure this? "Because I showed you what it was like to love again after your father died." His voice was barely above a whisper. All of Mingi's limbs went limp. His heels scrapped across the floor as his legs straightened out and his arms flopped uselessly to his lap.

But Hongjoong stumbled back and shook his head. "No, you're not going to get away with this with me. You've been following me, haven't you. For how long?"

"Since the day I remembered what happened. It's a burden I've had to carry for years. How did he die here? By the time I found you, he was already gone. What happened to him?"

Mingi could have sworn he saw Hongjoong's eyes turn red with rage. His entire body shook and he pinched his lips together.

"Before... Your father was the Chief of Police. You used to speak so highly of him." Mingi closed his eyes and smiled every so slightly when he pictured how the older's face would light up when he spoke of his father. "You loved him so much and wanted to do everything you could to make him proud. He died in the line of duty a few years before we met, but that didn't stop you from doing everything you could to live up to his name. All you wanted to do was help others and be a good officer. It was when you were given his job that we met. You wanted to make the world a better place. That's what I love about you so much." Mingi ended with a whisper.

When the room stayed silent for several minutes, Mingi opened his eyes and was shocked to see Hongjoong sitting on the bed again. He was staring at the wall with a blank look on his face but his cheeks were wet with tears.

Mingi's first instinct was to run to him and hold him and make sure he was ok, and it took every ounce of restraint in him to not do that, but Hongjoong needed to work through this on his own if there was any chance of this working.

The seconds ticked by, second after second after second...

Until Hongjoong's voice pierced the thick air like a bullet. "They killed him." He swallowed a couple of times. "The Pack. They killed him, as a demonstration."

Mingi sat up a little straighter. A weight fell on his shoulders that told him he wasn't going to like whatever was going to be said next.

"He had be openly defying their rise to power, trying to get the police on his side as well as the public. It was just before the Pack took over, so he actually had a pretty large following. But... Mercer... he ambushed us one night when we were out shopping. I was seven. They held us overnight in some storage shed." Hongjoong's eyes ghosted over the more monotone his voice became. "I think Dad knew it was over because he spent the entire night telling me stories and making sure that I stayed calm... We were ripped apart in the morning and I was forced to watch as he was dragged into the middle of a crowd at the center of town. Mercer gave some grand speech on how this was going to be the start of a new world, and that this is what happened to traitors... Then he shot my father, right between the eyes."

Silent tears continued to roll down Hongjoong's cheeks. His shoulders started to shake and he tried to keep himself under control.

Mingi couldn't handle it anymore. He scrambled over so that he was kneeling in front of Hongjoong and reached around him to until his hands. After tossing the rope aside, Mingi slowly ran his hands down Hongjoong's arms until he was holding the older's hands.

He knew better than to say anything, so he just let his thumbs drift back and forth over the smooth skin beneath them.

Then to his surprise, Hongjoong slowly leaned forward to rest his forehead on top of Mingi's head. His hot tears fell one by one into Mingi's hair. "H-H-He killed h-him... Without an-ny sign of remorse or... or... He's a m-monster." Hongjoong started to squeeze Mingi's hands. "He deserves to die."

Mingi sighed and nodded. "He does. I'm... I'm not one to decide who should live and who should die. But after what he's done to all of us, we all have a reason to want to kill that man. I know you don't trust me yet, but I swear, Joong, I swear I will do everything in my power to help you kill him."

Hongjoong sat up and pulled his hands back so he could wipe his face. Then he shoved his tongue in his cheek and turned his head to the side. "I still don't believe your ridiculous story."

"That's fine. I can't make you believe anything."

"Are you always this noble?"

Mingi let out a breathy laugh and sat back on his heels. "You bring out the best in me. Every since day one."

The older shook his head. "So what's your plan?"

"This is as far as I've gotten." Mingi admitted. He felt so ashamed that he didn't have more. How were they supposed to take down 'the big bad wolf' without a plan or any course of action?

Hongjoong snorted and scooted back on his bed. "So a rag-tag team of eight wounded people are supposed to come together to save the day."

"We almost did it. Mercer just had everything fall into place."

"Well, we just need to be better." Hongjoong clapped his hands together once, then leapt off the bed. He hurried out of the room, leaving Mingi to look after him for a moment before the younger hurried after him.

His mouth fell open when he jogged into a room full of crates, boxes, and even just lose weapons and other gadgets laying everywhere. "What is all this?"

"My stock." Hongjoong started flipping through pages on on a clipboard. "I need to run inventory again to see what we have to help us. I can order some more stuff if we need it." He started muttering to himself. "We have a hacker, you're good at locks... San is... San. He can do pretty much anything. Seonghwa's going to have a little bit of everything under his belt. Jongho and Wooyoung... we will have to find a place for them. But maybe... just maybe..."

Mingi watched Hongjoong work with precision as he darted through the room. The tiniest of smiles touched Mingi's lips and he fell back against the wall. In this moment, he could see his Hongjoong. The focus, the determination, the scrunched eyebrows and pursed lips. It was exactly how Mingi remembered Hongjoong being whenever they were researching for a new mission.

"Well?" He asked after several minutes.

"It's going to be risky, but if Seonghwa can give us a map of their hideout we can sneak inside? Either that, or we need to try and lure them out and ambush them. We will need to ask him and see what he thinks. But we also need to be prepared. He's a snake in the grass, I don't think we should trust him easily."

Mingi cleared his throat and stepped forward. "This is only going to work if we have some semblance of trust. Something we all accepted before is that we all have a past and we are all at different levels of acceptance with it. Not all of us are proud of our past, but... we all deserve a second chance at the life we want."

Hongjoong stopped his scurrying around and turned to face Mingi directly. "You know, you have a point. I'll give you that." He crossed his arms and licked his lips. "Alright. Everyone here has a chance to prove themselves to me. But one wrong move and it's over."

"Thank you." Mingi said softly. He only got a nod in response, but it was enough. When it was obvious that Hongjoong had nothing more to say to him, Mingi's eyes flicked to the floor and he slipped his hands into his pocket and left the room.

He took his time walking back to the room he had chosen.

They were so close, so close... and yet he still felt like they were still so very far away.

He prayed that this team of misfits could mesh together in some semblance of a team.

It was their only chance at a real life.