Chapter 17: 6.2
The blood dripped from his fingertips when he twisted his wrist to open the door, putting his bag slowly on the floor; Seokjin tried to keep quiet. He groaned in pain when he touched his ribs, maybe some of them were broken. He licked the corner of his lips, regretting it second later because it stung.
Pounding hearts, blood rushing in ears, weak legs, hazy vision; having a comfortable life dulled Seokjin's fangs. But well, the opponents were much bigger than him and it was one against three, so there's no way he could win without getting any harm.
The older hybrid wiped the blood from his lips, he needed to treat his wounds before the children awake, "Appa...?"
Seokjin cursed underneath his breath, frozen on his spot when he heard soft stepping approaching him; they shouldn't be awake at this hours. Worsened the situation, when he looked up; both Taehyung and Jungkook were standing not too far from him and the light from the kitchen helped the children to see the dripping blood from his bruises. He leaned to the wall beside him, smiled weakly even though he tried to look okay. He wasn't okay.
"W-What-" Taehyung stuttered, a hundred scenarios playing inside the tiger hybrid's head, Jungkook dashed to Seokjin's side with eyes brimmed with tears. It's been a while, lastly, both of them saw too much blood when Taehyung was three years old.
"A-Appa?" he cried, small hands reaching for Seokjin's bruised face, "T-Taetae hyung?" the bunny hybrid looked back with wide eyes, like questioning his older brother what's going on but the tiger hybrid also didn't have any idea. Seokjin's fingers started to hurt, the numbness shifting into pain. The same old pain Seokjin used to but never fail to make him groan in pain.
"Hey-" Seokjin fell to his knees when the pain shot the moment he tried to talk, both of the children jumped, horrified faces gazing at him. The older hybrid supported himself by one hand on the wall while the other hand pushed against his ribs.
Seokjin tried to fake a smile, "I-I met some bad guys," he didn't want to lie to them, "so I kicked them but I slipped and injured myself too," he chuckled, sitting on the floor because he was too tired to walk to the couch in the living room. Jungkook helped him taking off his dirty sneakers full of wet dirt, Taehyung took his bag and put it on the table in the corridor.
The children helped him walk to the couch even though they didn't help much since Seokjin was a tall man and heavy for a kid; he walked limply with a lot of struggles. The older hybrid settled down on the couch, he was glad that he could hide most of the pain from the children. He could walk without wincing after every step, he asked Taehyung to grab the first aid kit from the bathroom.
Jungkook cried when Taehyung helped Seokjin took off his shirt, black and purple bruises painted his father's body, the skin ripped and the dried blood made it look uglier. The bunny hybrid gripped the bloody shirt before Seokjin took it and tossed it far away from his eyesight.
"Oonggu-ah, Taetae, it's okay," Seokjin called softly, trying to calm both of his sons. The bunny and the tiger hybrid snapped their head up with furious eyes, glaring to him with pure anger. The older hybrid looked a little surprised a little when they glared at him furiously like he just throws away their favourite plushies.
"It's not okay!" Taehyung shouted, eyes wet with tears. His cheeks were wet just like Jungkook's, "don't say 'it's okay' with bloody knuckles like this!" the small boy scolded him, pulling his hand gently despite the fact that he was upset with him. Taehyung's voice cracked at every edge, Jungkook sobbed while he wiped the blood messily.
Five years old tiger and three years old bunny, they scolded Seokjin like they understand all words they said. The older man pulled them into a hug, didn't care about his bruised ribs, "I'm sorry," he mumbled with heavy breathing. The children stopped talking and hugged his neck tightly, they trembled and Seokjin felt like a bad father.
Seokjin kept trying to focus his gaze, didn't want to faint when the boys were awake, 'just a little bit more,' his breath stuttered when Taehyung helped to clean his wounds, 'I need to stay awake for them.'
Being the only one who hid his face when he was in the Hell's ring made Seokjin sure nobody knew his face, he always used a mask when he went to the night club to 'play' with some people. Just Chanyeol, his best-friend that knew his real face without any mask.
Unless someone took a picture of him when he put down his mask, the last battle in the Hell's ring. That was because someone took off his black mask and burnt it in front of him, triggering him to accept that challenge. He kept his hoodie on though, maybe the one who took his picture was incredibly good with finding a good angle.
Nothing legal in the underground area, people could take anything including Seokjin's picture without his consent, that's the risk. The older man never really care, not until today when he realized it wasn't just about him anymore.
He needed to call Chanyeol, yeah, he needed to know about this. Why people find out his real self, he was sure nobody knew about his life beside his best friend.
"I-I don't like it, like this," Jungkook mumbled after Seokjin fixed the bandage Taehyung wrapped for him. The red liquid drenched some spot of the white cloth, the older man looked to his right side where Jungkook sat. The bunny ears were flat on the little boy's head, the tip of his nose was a little bit red after crying.
Taehyung put everything back to the kit box, "you don't like what?" Seokjin raised his hand to pat Jungkook's head, the youngest boy caught his hand and squeezed his crooked fingers lightly.
"Don't fight," Taehyung whispered like completing his younger brother's words, "I-if you meet bad guys again, just run! Run as fast as you can like what you said to us if we encounter a stranger!" he shouted, eyes wide and brimmed with tears. Both of his sons were a crybaby, Seokjin wondered how to explain this properly.
"I will try," the older man answered instead of explaining the real deal.
Both of his sons nodded, satisfied with their father's answer. The tight feeling inside their chest made them looked restless, walking side to side with ears twitching non-stop, "stop biting your lips," Seokjin told Jungkook and Taehyung. His thumb lightly brushed against their swollen lips.
Taehyung's tail curled, wrapping like a fur chain on Seokjin's left wrist. The older man often used his left hand to punch someone so the left hand's knuckles were more bruised than the right one.
"I'm scared …" the tiger hybrid whispered, took one step closer to his father. He irked when he smelled the blood from his father, the comforting scent of cinnamon was losing to the thick scent of fresh blood. It made him remembered his night when he was still one of the experiment subjects back then.
Seokjin hummed, taking both of the boys and put them on his lap; since his upper body took most of the impact, his lower half was mostly okay beside several purple bruises, "I'm afraid too," Jungkook wiped his tears with his pyjama's sleeve, Seokjin kissed the top of his head softly.
"Both of you need to sleep, tomorrow both of you need to go to your nursery school," the children nodded, refusing to sleep except Seokjin also sleep with them.
They ended up sleeping on Seokjin's bedroom again instead of their own bedroom, the older hybrid took a bath first; ignoring the stinging pain when the water or the shampoo touched his bruises. He didn't want to smell like a shit when he goes to bed.
The children were hugging their father tightly but trying their best not to touch any bruises. Jungkook nuzzled to his neck while Taehyung buried his face to Seokjin's chest, avoiding to touch the older hybrid's ribs, "Appa," Taehyung called.
"Hm?" Seokjin opened one of his eyes.
Taehyung got up, staring down to him, Jungkook followed his older brother, "what's wrong?" Seokjin sat up.
"I Love Appa," Taehyung hugged him, Seokjin was speechless.
Jungkook embraced him too, "I love Appa too," he whispered, leaning to his father and closed his eyes slowly. They laid back to the bed, closing their eyes and fell asleep still hugging their father.
The older man gazed to the window, staring at the starry night from the window, "I'm afraid too … I'm scared too, Taehyung-ah, Jungkook-ah" Seokjin whispered to the sleeping boys inside his embrace, he curled a little; puling both Taehyung and Jungkook closer to his chest. For the first time, Seokjin was so scared of being himself.
People could hurt him
But please
Please; leave his sons alone.
Don't touch them.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
angstburrito
angstburrito It's getting late (°◡°♡) for Jin to come I guess
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone