Down and Down Again

"Tae-ah."

Late at night, a few days later, Namjoon heard whimpers outside of his boxcar. He stumbled sleepily to the door, pulling it open. He saw rocks move and a small figure sitting on the train tracks. A rock was thrown, one after another, from the small figure on the train tracks.

Namjoon thought he was just waiting to get hit by a train, most people went there for that anyways, so he didn't pay much mind to the small figure. He inched closer to it anyways. When he finally got close enough to see it, the small figure was basically covered in harsh cuts and bruises. The small figure- no, the kid - looked no older than 15.

"Hey, kid," Namjoon sat down next to him. "Name's Joon. You?"

The kid looked up at Namjoon in surprise.

"Guk.." the kid wheezed out. "Jeongguk.."

Namjoon held out his hand to the kid, helping him up when he didn't react.

"You can stay with me, how 'bout?" Namjoon was never one to take in strays, he'd only ever done it once. "Guk? How would you like that? Staying with me?"

Jungkook nodded, it was all his tired little self could manage. Taehyung and Jungkook were very similar, both from abusive families, both started out at the bottom. Taehyung now works at a small store on the other side of town, staying there for a whole day then crashing at Namjoon's the next.

When Namjoon woke up the next morning, Taehyung was asleep on his couch, heavy bags under his eyes.

"Tae," Namjoon shook Taehyung by the shoulder, and the kid sat up almost immediately. "Didn't get no sleep last night, did ya?"

"Didn't get any sleep at all.." Taehyung said, and it was mostly to himself. "The third day now.."

"You haven't slept in three days?" Namjoon grabbed a drink. "What's up? You should be sleeping more, ya know."

Taehyung hummed, but didn't look at Namjoon.

"Something bothering you, Tae?" Namjoon sat down on the floor in front of Taehyung. "You don't have to tell me about it, but you can if you want to."

Taehyung shook his head this time, then opened his mouth.

"She found me," Taehyung said, finally looking Namjoon dead in the eye. "My sister.. She found me.."

Namjoon was at a loss, Taehyung had never said anything about a sister.

"Father sent her away, she'd said.." Taehyung sniffled. "She came to me with bruises everywhere, Joon-Hyung.. Everywhere.."

All Namjoon could think to do was hug Taehyung as tightly as possible.

"I dunno what I'm supposed to do, Joon-Hyung.." Taehyung was near the point of sobbing. Jungkook walked in. "Joon-Hyung.."

"It's alright, Tae-ah," Namjoon pulled away and motioned for Jungkook to come over to them. "Look, Tae-ah, this is Jeongguk."