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His brown hair shone under the dimly lit bar, his eyes sparkling as he downed the shot."Say, I- I heard you say something about... about, um... shooting?" He said, awkwardly nudging towards the other male."Yeah? Why?" He replied, running a hand through his silvery hair."I was just... you know, since I, um, generally don't get to meet many people in the same line of work as... as me, hoping that- hoping that we could have a chat...?""Ah! You could've just said so! You had me thinking I was going to be politely told to change the topic with the way you were phrasing your words." He laughed, the beautiful ring of his voice resonating in the air."Ah, really now? People often- people often say that I seem a b-bit intimidating at first." His brown hair bobbed as he moved closer towards the other man. "What's... um, your name?""I'm Taehyung, you?""Jungkook.""Jungkook..? I feel as though I've heard that somewhere before.""I don't know, maybe? I guess... I guess I'm a sort of celebrity where I work, but I don't really dare to think that I'm popular, honestly.""Ah, whatever." Taehyung pauses to grin at Jungkook, his smile boxy and innocent. "Anyways, there's this question that I always enjoy asking other people in this line of work, it always just seems to break the ice, you know?""Oh? Let's hear it then.""How do you take the perfect shot?""The... perfect shot, huh." Jungkook sniffed delicately, deep in thought.That is a great ice breaker, he thought. You can really tell what someone is like just by the way they line themselves up to shoot, or even just how smoothly they reset themselves after reloading."I think," he said, thinking back to his first contract. "The way you line yourself up has a lot to do with the end result, but also the angle where you shoot from and even the small things, such as how firmly you hold your equipment.""Oh! We think so much alike!" Taehyung's eyes were practically shining, alight with cheer and brimmed with emotion. "You know, one thing I always enjoy doing is having a nice chat with my subject before the shoot, it helps to get to know them, you know?""A chat? That doesn't seem like the sort of thing people do in the business, but it might just be me. I mean, I really don't know how to talk, so, like, and this is the longest I've held with a stranger to date.""Aww, how come? You're just so cute, there surely must be so many people who wants to know you. I've only just met you, and I already feel like we could be good friends."Jungkook's face flushed lightly at that statement. Has he ever been praised for his looks before? Wait. Has he ever even taken off his mask and cap when meeting clients before?Probably not.This is pretty much the first time he's had his face all out in the open like this, happily chatting to a bubbly, social, stranger, especially with that stupid stutter and all."Me? Cute?" He marvelled. "You rea-really are hilarious! As if I could ever be cuter than you."And those words Jungkook spoke had a ring of truth to them, as upon closer inspection, Taehyung really was a handsome man. The way his large eyes complimented his face so well, the way his mouth goes all boxy when he smiles, and when he laughs, the way his eyes sparkle with joy. Even those faint moles scattered on his face are attractive.Oh wait, Jungkook thought, that's beyond intimate. Begone, thought.Taehyung began giggling like a maniac, rocking back and forth and slapping Jungkook's thigh. Jungkook noticed that even Taehyung's laugh was deep, it was smooth and velvety just like his voice."Jungkook! You are such a ridiculous person!" Taehyung said. "You are the cutest thing I have ever set my eyes upon, and can I just say your stutter makes you even cuter!""I- um," Jungkook started, just a smidge surprised that anyone out there would like his inconvenient stutter. "Thanks! I don't believe anyone has ever complimented my stutter before. I'm sorry if it- if it bothers you at all, I just- just kind of start stuttering when, um, I get a bit... a bit nervous. Especially in social situations. Kind of. Yeah.""Don't worry! You are doing just amazing sweetie. You know what? I'll give you my number. We can hang out later if you want!" Taehyung said, pinching the phone out of Jungkook's hand and sticking on a sticky note with his number on it. "Oh! Good lord, it is late. I have to get back before my curfew!""You have a curfew? At your age?" Jungkook marvelled."Oh, of course I do. It's something my job requires of me. Don't worry, I'm not an escaped mental asylum patient.""Okay then, could I- could I walk you out?""Oh no, it's okay, you really don't have to."Jungkook hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should insist. It would be a shame if he were to just let Taehyung go by himself, but would it be rude to keep insisting? Would Taehyung begin to find him annoying, so soon after they had met?Then again, Jungkook thought, it's better to utilise the opportunities given than to regret it later on."Oh, um... then, maybe just to the parking lot?""...Sure thing."Taehyung began walking, Jungkook following close behind. They finished the last of their drinks before stepping out the door, shoulders bumping together. When they walked into the parking lot, Taehyung began walking at a sleek black limo, and Jungkook almost was about to keep walking, away from the limo, when a person (the driver, perhaps?) stepped out and opened the door.Jungkook started, and out the corner of his eye he swore he could see Taehyung's eye twitch."Jungkook?""Oh! Y-yeah?""This is where I have to leave now, bye. Feel free to text me anytime."Without waiting for a response, Taehyung slid into the car and slammed the door shut, almost taking a few of the driver's fingers off.The car began moving as soon as the driver went into the car, the engine so silent Jungkook almost didn't realise Taehyung was leaving. He waved slowly at the leaving car, unsure if Taehyung could even see him through the tinted windows."...bye...?"
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Taehyung practically strangled the driver with his words. For the entire duration of the ride, the only thing that could be heard was the furious, raspy voice of him berating the shit out of the poor driver, and the occasional sigh, followed by a monotonous reply from the driver."How many times. How many times have I told you. Do not come within 50 meters of me when I am with someone. I don't want to be associated with the likes of you, you... filthy dogs of the government. If I lose yet another friend, it will be all your fault.""With all due respect, sir, you were 6 minutes late for the meeting.""Meeting? What a joke. That is no meeting, it's just a place where you sick freaks gather and share your pictures of mutilated corpses. I don't want to work there anymore. Get me away.""You signed a contract, sir. You know you can't back out now.""I didn't agree to this. I never agreed to any of this! When I was 'asked nicely' to join your fucking organisation, I thought it was just a strangely big branch of the photography business, not this- this... underworld criminal ring!" Taehyung was on the verge of tearing out his hair at this point. He looked out the window, at the rain splattering on the glass. How hard would it be to just... to just jump out there? What if he just opened the door and dashed the hell out of here, away from everything? He has his phone, his camera, and a large sum of money from the last job he took. Who's going to stop him? Not the driver, that's for sure. He'd be an easy one to kill, even for an amateur like Taehyung. Taehyung only takes photos from afar, never intruding on the scene. But even so, the stench of blood and brain matter (and even guts and flesh, depending on how utterly insane the killer was.) would always stick with him, like the smell of chlorine did when he used to swim regularly. Now he can't even touch a pool without the water turning crimson and the bones of his chest threatening to cave in. "Sir."Taehyung chose to ignore it."Sir. We're here.""What the fuck. No the fuck we ain't. Turn this car around.""I legally can't, I'm bound by a contract."The car door opened, and Taehyung was forced to remove himself from the seat by 2 security guards, who then escorted him into the main lobby. They accompanied him for the entire duration of the walk - which was only like 40 meters - giving Taehyung no chance of escape at all. They stuck to his side like toffee and braces.Taehyung kept his bitch face on the entire time, as he walked onto the glamorous maroon carpet and through the clean white doors decorated with a soft rose-gold. A single 5-carat blue diamond sat in the right column, a way of asserting their wealth and dominance to the outsiders.'Look at us, we're so rich we can have the most expensive jewel in the world just sitting in the doorway.' What crazy rich people.They turned a corner, arriving at yet another set of doors. This time it was a beautiful mahogany, stained many shades darker and varnished to an almost glassy extent. Legend has it a ghost's reflection could be seen reflected in the door if the viewer was high enough.The guards stepped forward to open the doors, revealing the same scene Taehyung had seen so many times before; a group of no less than 10 people - dressed in various levels of formal, from slacks and a coat to a sleek, ironed suit - spread evenly across a rectangular table, laughing and chattering away like utter fools. Every now and then, someone would throw another picture onto the projector, and the crowd would not hesitate to let their remarks be known."Ah, Taehyung." One of them turned to him, pulling out a chair. "How nice of you to join us! Come, sit down, I always look forward to your photos."Taehyung followed said instructions silently, sinking down into the cold leather. The rest of the committee adjusted their seats accordingly, making the seating spread evenly again. "Well, since you're here, why not show us some pics?" A chirpy female voice sounded, urging him to pull out those vile photos."Sure." Taehyung said as monotonously as he could manage, trying his very hardest to hide the smile creeping up. There wasn't really much he could do except comply. He pulled out a USB from his camera bag, plugging it into a slot on the underside of the table. Almost instantly, a gallery of his own photographs covered the previous ones.A chorus of 'ooh's and 'ah's could be heard, accompanied by a bunch of voices talking over one another."See, I told you that coming here would be a good idea. Tae has the best photos ever.""Oh, girl, that attention to detail is just killing me! Just look at those artfully placed splatters! Those bits and pieces of flesh on the lenses! Gosh, I'm gonna get a lady boner.""What camera do you think he uses? The crispness is an art form in itself, I swear.""Man, maybe if I weren't such an old man I'd've married him already.""Yeesh, you old pervert. We're gonna kick you out if you keep saying things like that."Yeesh indeed. I would personally file a restraining order.The more Taehyung mingles - well, pretends to mingle whilst keeping as much distance as possible - the more he finds these people normal. It scared him, the fact that he could feel so involved, so comfortable, and even when he pretends to not enjoy this, he always feels at home here. But Taehyung really shouldn't be, especially not when he almost projectile vomited on the table the first time a higher up dragged him to a meeting like this.A knock on the door."Mr Kim." A young woman peeked her head in."Yes?" An older man with greying hair answered, as well as the 3 other Kim's in this room, including Taehyung. "Oh- apologies, I didn't realise there were so many Kim's here. Mr Taehyung, I meant. The head of mission allocations requests an audience with you."Taehyung modded. He pulled out the USB, much to the disappointment of the audience, and put his coat back on, following the woman out the door and through the hallway. They turned a few corners, past many flights of stairs, and finally arrived at yet another set of mahogany doors. An engraving told that that was the mission report room.The woman opened the door for him, letting Taehyung step through it first before following suit."Miss Lee, I have brought Mr Kim.""Good. You may leave."The woman nodded and silently closed the door behind her."Taehyung, I'm sure you've figured this already, but you've got another mission. I understand that it is in very close proximity to your previous one, however the demands are high in this industry.""Why me, Sunmi? There are more than enough personnel here, and you know it. Why does it have to be me who's constantly being dragged onto missions?""Have you not seen your own photos? They're marvellous, Taehyung. The entire underworld loves it. But because of that, you've lost your say in what you can and can't do."Taehyung sighed, letting his eyelids flutter shut. "What's the mission?""I'm glad you asked." Sunmi grinned, passing a card stock bound file to Taehyung. "The underworld is hungry, Taehyung. They love your photos, but that isn't enough. They want to see a body counted under your name."Taehyung froze, staring wide-eyed at Sunmi. He couldn't. He could not do this. He could never! Kill someone? Not in a million years. "I-I-I-I can't- I can't do this. Sunmi, you know I've never killed anyone before. You can't let me do this. I'll screw it up. I can't.""But of course you can! I've seen the way you handle knives, at the way you flay the skin from flesh and flesh from bones. Your guns could be handled better though. You'll do this beautifully, Taehyung. Believe me. Besides, the target is someone very famous here, a beautiful young boy. I'm sure you'll have fun dissecting him."Taehyung was almost about to cry, and he doubted that finding out who the target is is going to make him feel better. But he had to, it's no use arguing here. Either he takes this mission or take his own life, and any rational human can tell which one is better. So with shaking hands, he opened up the files to the very first page, pulling out an information sheet.A doe eyed boy smirked at him, his chin tilted up and his eyebrows raised mockingly. Below that, on the very first line, was two words.Two words that read: Jeon Jungkook.
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Jungkook sat down at his desk, frustrated beyond belief. He took out the files that had been mailed (so old school, right?) to him earlier this morning, trying his best to resist the urge to rip it into pieces right here and now in his pristine office. He flipped it open to the first page, looking wordlessly over the printed black text for what seemed like the millionth time already. At the top, it read: lol bro you got urself onto the hit list. In the middle, a brief summary of the mission: just avoid getting killed. Down the bottom, a hand written note and signature by Sunmi Lee, head of whatever the name of the place where agents receive missions is called: Congrats, the underworld loves you no more. Jk, they're just sadistic and watched too much hunger games. Best of luck, may the best hit man win. Call me if you got questions. xx Jungkook sighed. How is Sunmi so casual about this? He brushed his slender fingers through his hair, groaning inwardly about the fact that she even took the time out to write up the mission brief herself. He shifted his hands over the desk, reaching to the phone. After dialling a few numbers, he waited until the call was picked up. Sunmi's voice sounded cheerily on the other end. "Kook! How's my favourite little bunny boy doing?" "Sunmi, please, can you explain what's going on? Why am I being targeted? And why is the mission brief so strange? I would laugh, but April fool's is months away." "Oh yeah, about that." Jungkook heard Sunmi take a sip of her drink. He wasn't sure what it was, but he was more than certain that it contained caffeine or alcohol of some kind. Maybe both. Probably both. "Bout time you called me. I was starting to think you might've dashed out the country." "Who do you take me for? Maybe a year ago I would've, but let's just say Overwatch has trained more than just my FPS skills. I'm competitive as hell, no way would I ever back out of something like this. I just want an explanation" "Okay, long story short, people think you're some kind of genius sniper because of how absolutely beautifully you carry out your kills. And so they want to see you dissected. Well, more specifically, they want to dissect your brain. I'm sure there's some other way of analysing brains, but I guess we're just uncultured like that." "Th...that's... that's it? That's the whole reason? They want my brain? Bold of them to assume I have one?" "I know right? Anyone with a working nervous system would know that Jeon Jungkook, peak millennial and top sniper has absolutely zero brains. Well, you do have a brain, but it's missing the wrinkles on it. Also, they want your dreary death to be photographed and videoed in 4K HD resolution. They're all thirsty for a beautiful corpse, kook, it's been so long since we had the death of a beautiful young man, and your physique is perfect to them." "Ah, the perfect family film." Jungkook snorted. Hilarious. "So... do I get to know my killer?" "Of course not, that just ruins the fun! But I can tell you, it's someone from this company, and that someone has the best photographs in existence. Like, legit, I can feel those photos." "Sounds amazing. I'd love to meet him one day. Oh wait, I suppose I will, when he- or she? Can't be assuming any genders here, right?" "Of course not! That's both rude and unnecessary. He's a man, by the way." "Ooookay...? Can I know anything else?" "Alright, all I can tell you about him is that he is a man, an excellent photographer, good with knives - like, really good, and that he has, ooh girl, he has the most soothing voice to listen to. Also his hair is the softest thing you'll ever feel. And under a light source, the moon especially, he looks... just gorgeous. I wonder what haircare he uses? Silver hair is terribly hard to keep up." Silver hair? That sounds oddly familiar. "Great! I totally know who he is now! Amazing! Do I get anything if I live to tell the tale?" "You get a 5k cheque." "Only 5k? That's like, one months rent. Yes, I know I don't rent, but still. Shouldn't I get more for surviving an assassination?" "Dunno, depends on the bidding pool. 5k was the starting bid for you dying, but people only think you're good at sniping, not surviving death, so if you survive, there's bound to be more. Hold on, lemme check the bids." Jungkook heard a few clicks, and he couldn't see, but he could swear that Sunmi was looking at her screen with wide eyes right now. "Jungkook." "Yeah?" "Change of plans, so many people think you're gonna die that if you live, you get about 2.3mil and... a solid gold playboy bunny with 24karat diamonds for eyes...? This one other guy and like five girls also offered their virginity, but I don't think you'd be interested in that." "Yeah, nah. But the bunny and the money? Hell yeah. When do I start." "Well, it depends. The assassin has until the end of the year to kill you, which is less than 2 months, and he's already got permission to start." Sunmi paused for a second. "Oh! Someone else just added a bid. They're offering an extra 100k if you manage to kill your killer." "You gotcha. Bye Sunmi, it was lovely talking to you." "Anything for my baby boy." She cooed. A click signalled the end of the call. Jungkook leaned back in his soft leather chair, swinging his feet up on the desk. He had a very small hunch as to who it may be, but there's no solid evidence yet. His mind went back to yesterday, when he met that silver haired man for the first time. Maybe Jungkook could give him a call, they could meet up for a coffee or something. "Kim Taehyung... was it?" Jungkook said, a finger hovering over the directory. Before he could press down on the call button, or even construct a coherent sentence in his mind, a notification startled the living daylights out of his empty soul. He fumbled with the phone in his hands, almost dropping it onto the floor and adding a crack to the polished surface. You have one new message. - Kim Taehyung: Jungkook, I know this is sudden, but can we meet up? - Jungkook raised his eyebrows at that. Why did Taehyung suddenly want to meet up? And with that tone of voice too? Jungkook wasn't very certain about his people skills, but he was sure that Taehyung was the kind of person to add emojis or 'lol' or some kind of casualness to the end of his texts. - Jeon Jungkook: sure, what's up? Kim Taehyung: nothing much, there's just some things I want to get off my chest. Jeon Jungkook: Okay, same place we met? Or somewhere else? Kim Taehyung: actually, I was kinda hoping we could go for a walk? You know, where there's not so many people. This is kind of a private matter. Jeon Jungkook: sure, is xx Park okay? Kim Taehyung: Yes, that's fine. 7pm tomorrow? Jeon Jungkook: all good. I'll see you then. Kim Taehyung: see you then. - Jungkook shrugged his shoulders, standing up and preparing to go home. He packed away all of his belongings into a briefcase, then slid his coat on, then took a chocolate from his candy stash, then dash back after forgetting the files, and then - finally - he leaves. A limo was already waiting for him outside the grandeur entrance, a boy rushing to open the door for him. Jungkook stepped into the spacious car, grabbing a light drink from the mini fridge. He leaned nonchalantly out the window, sipping every now and then.
Well, at least that saved me having to ask Taehyung to meet up.
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Taehyung was shaking all over. He opened his collection of perfectly polished butterfly knives, selecting the one with a gorgeous purple hue and an amethyst embedded in the handle. He flicked it open with practiced ease, the shaking stopping the moment he began to move the knife, twirling it artfully around his slender fingers as he moved to pick out another. He sharpened it one last time on the finest whetstone he owned, then sheathing and placing it in a pocket in his coat. Taehyung selected another one, this time a sleek silver switchblade. He looked at it fondly, sliding that through a loop on the inside of his coat. He didn't want to take so many knives with him, but they all carried so much meaning. From his first ever training knife, which he kept in a glass cabinet along with his other prized weapons, to the tactical knives he was gifted when his first mission came along. Not for killing, no, it was just there in case things got sticky. None of his collection had ever killed a person, and Taehyung had intended it to remain that way for as long as possible. But soon after he joined the organisation, the chances of remaining innocent amongst the hordes of murderers and swindlers and general criminals became slimmer and slimmer with each passing day. Taehyung would often end up carrying around a flexible butterfly knife, hiding away in the bathroom during the day and playing with it to ease his anxiety. He had been lucky so far, having a person as understanding as Sunmi to allocate missions. Even though Sunmi never outrightly showed it, she always made sure Taehyung never got any of the missions that required killing. But then again, he did only join a few months ago, and things are very susceptible to change. He checked over his weapons again, making sure each and every one of them is properly sheathed and placed in their correct loop. Taehyung undid his watch, flicking out the small blade hidden under the gold plated exterior. He dabbed a bit of oil onto it, flicking it in and out of its place in the watch. With one final check over everything, Taehyung slid on his sturdy black boots, then shut down his entire house and left through the back gate. *** Jungkook paced the arsenal of his house, thinking long and hard about whether or not he should bring weapons. There's a possibility that Taehyung really just wanted to have a talk, that he has nothing to do with this whole underworld business. But maybe he should bring a knife? Just in case? It's not going to take up much space, unlike guns, but Jungkook wasn't very confident with his knife skills as of yet. He hasn't touched one in forever. Jungkook eventually decided to bring only the simplest of weapons; a grippy black karambit and a small blade, tucked just beneath the hem of his shirt. It would suffice in an emergency, regardless of his wielding skills. Jungkook also decided to take one of his handguns; a Beretta nano, both easy to hide and lightweight, as well as being one of the very few guns Jungkook was comfortable with handling at close range. He took out a small rabbit charm - a necessity for all missions, small or big - from his drawer, attaching it to a hook on his necklace. One of his favourite lucky charms, it's survived through fires and heartbreaks and even stayed in shape after shielding him from a bullet. Jungkook also took out a little gold tiger, and a key and locket charm, deciding that he'd rather be safe than sorry. If he died tonight, then at least he'd die with some of his favourites. He walked over to the table, picking up a heavy fountain pen. Jungkook looked over his will for what seemed like the billionth time this month - he couldn't help it, it was a busy month mission wise - crossing out some lines and rewriting other parts of it. After he was done and dusted, Jungkook put on his coat and left the house, making sure to turn off all appliances. Last time he was on an overnight mission the bills skyrocketed, leaving him even broker than he was before, so since then Jungkook has never forgotten to give everything a once over before leaving. *** Chocolate brown eyes greeted Jungkook when he arrived, rushing forward to envelope his broad figure in a warm hug. It was only their second time meeting, and yet it still made Jungkook so happy. "Jungkook! You made it. I was starting to think you forgot about me." "No! Never! I would not e-ever forget about you. There was a bit of traffic on the way, that's all." Jungkook was strangely flustered for some reason, a pink tint creeping up his cheeks. He didn't know why, but he began to feel more and more guilty of the fact that he was ten minutes late, as though he would rather give up his soul than see Taehyung unhappy. "Aww look at you blush. I was just teasing, don't worry!" Taehyung said, squishing Jungkook's cheek. "So... what did you want to talk about?" "Ah yes. That's right. Come with me, let's start walking." Taehyung began to walk first, Jungkook following close behind, then speeding up to match the pace of the silver haired man. The greenery unfurled before them, as Taehyung lead him deeper and deeper into the park, to the places that only couples would hide away to when they felt like a quickie. "Hey Kookie- I can call you Kookie, yeah?" "Yeah, Kook is also fine." "So Kookie, about the thing I've been meaning to talk about..." Taehyung directed his gaze away, fidgeting with the hem of his coat. "Go ahead, I'm lis-listening." Jungkook looked at him with big doe eyes, the blacks of his pupils like an endless void. A warm, homely void. Taehyung almost blushed; it was as though he could feel himself fall through it. How am I meant to kill this cute little bunny? "Sorry, I'm going to be ranting a little. About my job, you know, it's been pretty good so far. I've got some great colleagues, great shoots, and the income is enough for me to yeet myself to another country without a visa. Probably. Anyways, the thing is, apparently people enjoy my shoots so much that now I have to take this job that I don't want to, because publicity is more important than my wellbeing. I'm getting paid really well for this, but like, I can't stand the sight of blood. Really. I've only really had a few jobs taking carcasses, and all have resulted in me crying in the tub afterwards. I enjoy photography, yes, and this company gives me so many opportunities, but if this is what it comes down to, I think I'd rather quit and freelance. They're not letting me because of my contract though, and I'm really feeling as though I'd like to just fake my death and leave the country." "Wait, hold on a second, I've just got a quick question-" "Sure, go ahead?" "Aren't you... weren't you... you know, an assassin? What's this about photography?" "What?" "I- oh, sorry, never mind." "No, no, it's all good, repeat your question please?" "Um... are... are you an as-assassin?" Taehyung stared Jungkook dead in the eye. "Photographs, Jungkook." "Oh... so... you're no-" "I take pictures. Pictures! Not lives!"
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Taehyung shook his head and grinned.Jungkook stared at him with wide eyes."It's okay. Don't worry about anything. I wasn't offended by that." Taehyung ran a ringed hand through his fading silver hair, picking up his walking pace again. Jungkook began walking again too, placing himself back in the spot next to the man. "I'm sorry I ever thought of that... but... um- aren't you- surprised in the l-least?""Don't worry Kookie, I already knew that you were in the organisation. Remember when we first met, how I said you seemed familiar? Turns out that's because I had seen your kill streaks on that massive bulletin board they have, and everyone talks about you anyways. About how scary you are when you get in the mood, even when you look as cute as you do, about how they would physically pay for you to step on their faces, the likes. Even a newcomer like me would be able to tell.""Oh, I see... I didn't realise I was talked about so often.""Aaaand, that brings us to my next point- oh, we're here!" Taehyung gestured excitedly to his left, letting Jungkook's gaze trail over to where he was pointing.It was a nice little area, secluded and a fair bit away from where the two originally began walking from. The lush plants covered almost every inch of the place, except for the path where they walked here on. Taehyung pulled Jungkook over to a statue, speaking in an ever so slightly hushed voice."Kook, I found this place by pure chance one day, and I think it's honestly perfect for privacy. But please don't make too much noise as you go in, I don't want people to know of here.""Sure, but in all honestly this place is kinda open... there's not as much privacy as you make it out to be.""No, no. Not here. In there." Taehyung prodded the bush next to the statue, pulling apart the branches to reveal an opening. Jungkook gaped at it, wondering just how exactly was two grown men - and not to mention rather buff - was meant to fit through that tiny space. His question was quickly resolved though, as Taehyung picked up the entire bush by a stump on the bottom, and just straight up moved it out of the way. He then shimmied his way through the now larger hole, gesturing for Jungkook to follow once he was through. Jungkook slid through the opening quietly, barely even disturbing the leaves. He stared at Taehyung once he was in, who whispered for him to replace the bush. Jungkook groaned internally, sticking his torso out the hole to pull the bush back.Once he closed the hole off, Jungkook took the time to actually stare at his surroundings. It was beautiful, to say the very least. By this time there was only the streetlamps from the path outside illuminating it, but the little light it casted still made the rustling leaves look as though it was pulled from a dying sunset. The entire area was like a little dome, closing in on all sides but not quite, with the top free of any vegetation. He could spot the moon through there, and it seemed unusually dim today. Jungkook almost jumped when Taehyung suddenly began talking again, his deep voice cutting through the air with a new feeling attached to it. It felt hostile, and Jungkook couldn't help but raise his guard. He placed his hands inside his pocket, feeling the Karambit tucked inside the double lined pocket."That's right, as I was saying before, I have to take up this job I don't want to now. And I feel so bad, because I know I'll screw it up, and then Sunmi will get really mad, because apparently people feel things when they see me in action."Taehyung stared at Jungkook, his eyes not quite revealing what he was feeling on the inside. Jungkook always prided himself on being able to read people like a book despite his shy exterior, but this shell that Taehyung was hiding behind really irked Jungkook."What mission is it? A phot-photographer l... like you shouldn't really get many jobs unrelated t-to that.""I don't think you want to know, Kooks. It's disgusting and highly immoral, but you know the way thinks work. Either you take the mission or you leave, which is just code for 'we'll track you down and kill you'.""True. Now th-that I think about it, I haven't actually not followed through with a mission I've been given b-before."Jungkook could physically feel the atmosphere around them get heavier and heavier as the time stretched on, and at this point in time he was almost completely certain that Taehyung was the killer sent to end him. Jungkook sighed internally. He would've loved to get to know Taehyung more, but the organisation comes before a stranger he's only met twice, counting today."You've been in the organisation for a very long time, yeah? I remember seeing your name when I was going through files from 2013.""Yeah, I was 'scouted', I guess you could put it. I-I was really young back then and didn't know what was right and wrong, and I had wanted to get out of school any means nec-c-cessary, so I somehow decided on taking this offer. Dumb decision, but to be honest, I don't dislike it.""Hm. That's so much more different from me, honestly, I was literally on the verge of vomiting during my first meeting with everyone. Fond memories."The tension in the air was so thick Jungkook might as well just pull out his knife and slice it in half. He could tell Taehyung was building himself to pull out the weapons hidden in his coat, which Jungkook only spotted by chance when a gust of wind had blown it up a little."But still, can I know what mission it is that has you so stressed?"Taehyung sighed.The air around him almost crackled, like static electricity. Jungkook felt goosebumps creeping up his neck."I..." Taehyung bit his lip. "Was sent to kill you."And it was in that moment that everything went downhill.
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The tension in the air practically snapped.In a flash, Taehyung had ripped a purple butterfly knife from his coat, the jewel embedded in the hilt sparkling underneath the dim light. He flicked it open with practiced ease, gripping it in reverse and thrusting it forward, his other hand reaching for what Jungkook imagined to be another knife.Jungkook felt the blade whisk past him, having dodged out of the way with mere milliseconds to spare. A hair of his fell slowly to the ground, sliced through by the blade. If he weren't so on guard the entire time, he was sure that Taehyung would have gotten to him already. Jungkook only realised now that Sunmi wasn't kidding when she said he had amazing knife skills. Taehyung was fast. Much faster than Jungkook, in terms of knife handling at least.But Jungkook had a reputation, and he was not about to let himself die in the peak years of his career. Hell, he still had a million dollars and a bit more saved in the bank, which he was planning to invest in a large villa.Jungkook's inner tactician activated, and it was almost as though the world around him was on a timer that slowed down ever so slightly. Jungkook took this time to breath out, knowing he only had less than a second to decide what to do next. He pulled his hand out of his pocket, the Karambit grasped firmly in his hands.Taehyung furrowed his brows, surprised by just how fast Jungkook had dodged out of the way. He was betting everything on that one slash, on the finishing blow that would save him so much time, and more importantly, keep his teetering morals from halting this mission.Taehyung wanted to get it all finished today, because if he didn't, he would never have the guts to again.It was those eyes, it had to be. Those big doe eyes that practically oozed out innocence, even though he was well aware that Jungkook was anything but the precious, stuttering bunny he appeared to be.Jungkook paused, waiting for Taehyung to make another move. He was confused. Why hadn't Taehyung relentlessly attacked him like a regular hitman? In all his years as a sniper, Jungkook has never seen a single knife wielder who didn't hack and slash like their life depended on it. This felt like a turn-based game, as though Taehyung had just finished a roll and was now calmly waiting for Jungkook to throw his dice.Jungkook turned his karambit around, gripping it in the same way as Taehyung. He could feel the lump that was the gun against his thigh, strapped in and hidden under his coat. If he were to have any chance at all against Taehyung's insanely quick knife skills, Jungkook would have to save the gun until last, when the both of them would be weary and he would have the best chance of taking Taehyung down.He also mentally noted the small blade underneath his shirt collar, his final line of defence if everything else goes to shit.Jungkook stepped forwards meekly, unsure of whether or not he should place himself in the direct line of fire. Snipers like him generally stay hidden, the whole point of them being taking down enemies from where they could not be seen.Taehyung answered his question by lunging forwards with incredible speed, leaving Jungkook with no choice but to dodge. This time Taehyung didn't stop after the first slash, instead he continued to hack away at the other assassin with two knives now, who kept letting out frustrated groans at being able to do nothing but dodge.But even Taehyung couldn't keep it up, because he slowed down by just a fraction after what seemed like the millionth swipe. Jungkook was slow, he himself knew that, but he was fast enough and smart enough to know that if he didn't use this opening, it would be a while before another opportunity would come by.So he threw the knife. As hard as he could. Of course that would've be a terrible idea in this circumstance, the surroundings providing absolutely nothing for the knife to be stabbed into (apart from the bushy foliage, which would just let the knife travel into it and be stuck there forever, much to Jungkook's dismay), but luckily Jungkook wasn't aiming at the lush walls.The karambit's curved blade caught on the thick fabric of taehyung's coat, the sheer force of the throw knocking Taehyung back a few steps. Jungkook lunges forward, digging the knife through the coat and into the ground, his face reddening in exertion as he pushed through the concrete, almost to the handle of the knife.Taehyung laid there, utterly shell shocked. He didn't know the baby boy could have so much strength in his arms, nor the speed to outwit him like this.Jungkook stripped off his coat, chest heaving as he tried fanning himself with his hands.Taehyung's eyes travelled to the younger boy's chest, trailing to his shoulders, and down his arms, and he instantly took back his previous thought. Muscles were practically rippling underneath his skin, carved right into the flesh of the boy. Taehyung didn't even notice before, and he practically screeched at himself for that.Fucking coats. He thought, cursing the clothing.Jungkook turned to the other, pulling out the Beretta Nano from his thigh holster. He then proceeded to point the muzzle straight at Taehyung.Taehyung simply laughed, his deep voice cutting through the night air softly. He was scared, of course, but that fear didn't broadcast to his exterior. He didn't want to die, but it wasn't as though he wanted to kill Jungkook either, so dying by Jungkook's hands was, he supposed, the better choice."Go ahead, do it. You want the money, don't you?" Taehyung grinned."Why didn't you t-t-try harder? I know what you... y-you can do with those hands o-of... y... yours." Jungkook cocked his head."I'm scared. I've never killed in my life."Jungkook's eyes widened, staring at Taehyung incredulously. "Y-you've... never killed...? N-nothing, a-at... at all?""No, but..." Taehyung slid out of his coat. "You'll be my first!"He chucked his purple knife at Jungkook, who promptly dodged to the right. Taehyung smirked and took the mere milliseconds of Jungkook's toppling to push him to the ground. He didn't hesitate as he dug his other knife - the switchblade - into the corner of Jungkook's shirt, who winced as he felt his neck get cut. Blood seeped out onto the concrete, making Taehyung want to retch at the sight.He's just a stranger. I don't care if he dies. Taehyung repeated those two sentences over and over, as though that would somehow convince him to end this quicker. He could- no, he needs to stab Jungkook right this moment, or else he was sure that fate would fuck him over yet again.But Taehyung didn't- or, rather, he couldn't. He froze the second he saw those big doe eyes (now pressed into an angry glare), his knife becoming unstable in his own two hands. He just couldn't bear to do it.Fuck. I knew this would happen. I should've ended this ages ago, I shouldn't've hesitated after that first strike.Jungkook gritted his teeth, and after remembering the blade under his collar, he shoved his hand in his shirt and pulled it out. He couldn't risk firing the bullet right now, not when it could possibly shoot through him as well. Jungkook stabbed the small blade into Taehyung's arm, dragging it harshly down the length of it. Taehyung screamed, immediately jumping off Jungkook, who felt practically no remorse as he stepped on Taehyung's chest with his hard boots and pointed the gun at him again.Taehyung felt tears clouding his vision, scared to pull out the blade in case he bled too much and died here. It felt as though Jungkook has cut through muscle and tendons, digging straight into his bone.He didn't understand this new surge of fear. Before he was scared, sure, but that in no way affected him. He was still the cocky little social butterfly, chatting away even when death pointed it's face at him. But now, he was scared for real. His arms were shaking, the stabbed one more so than the other, and he couldn't stop the constant stream of tears down his face.Jungkook placed his finger against the trigger, his eyes utterly cold and drained of all emotion. Taehyung, in this moment, knew that Jungkook was the epitome of a prim and proper killer. He knew that Jungkook wouldn't stop, now now, not ever, but in a last futile attempt to save his life, he gasped out through his pain."You won't do it. You're too good for this."Jungkook simply laughed. It was a cold laugh, and the words he spoke next were even colder. His stutter was completely gone now, sending a rather nasty shiver up Taehyung's spine."But Tae, don't you think it's far too late now to label me as 'good'?"And then he pulled the trigger.
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Taehyung watched as his life flash before his eyes. Jungkook frowned, pressing the trigger again and again. "Um..." was all Taehyung could manage to whimper, his bleeding arm still trembling. "Oh! That's right! I forgot to cock the gun." Jungkook slapped his head lightly. "Silly me!" The lack of stuttering really unnerved Taehyung. He watched as Jungkook raise his hand to cock the Nano, half shutting his eyes as the gun was brought to his head again. Jungkook pulled the trigger once more, only for it to click disappointingly without any kind of bang. Jungkook practically tore apart the gun, ripping out the magazine. There was not a single bullet in it, and when he checked the chamber, it was also empty, like his soul. "Lucky charm my ass." He said, scowling at the rabbit charm under his shirt. He threw the magazine down in frustration (but not the gun, that was expensive), and kneeled down next to Taehyung, placing both hands on the Karambit and heaving it out of the concrete. "Get up." Taehyung did so silently, clutching his arm gently. He furrowed his brows, wondering what Jungkook could possibly be up to now. "You know what, you can go. I don't feel like killing you anymore." "I... Okay?" Taehyung bent down to pick up his knives, tucking them both into his belt loops. He then picked up his fallen coat, staring dejectedly at the gaping hole in the fabric of the sleeve. That thing cost him a fortune, and even though he wasn't low on money, this is still an entire physical attack. Taehyung didn't know where he got this newfound bravery (or was it stupidity?), but after sighing at his arm and his coat, he decided to flick open his butterfly knife once again and throw it straight at Jungkook. Jungkook clearly wasn't expecting that, because he didn't manage to dodge fast enough. The knife flew into his arm, leaving a shallow cut. Taehyung then lunged forwards with his switchblade and dug the sharp edge into the younger man's arm, earning him a pained screech. Jungkook didn't bother pulling the knife out. "I'm so sorry, I am actually a very nice person, but I just had to, you know, after you, you know." Taehyung gestured to his injured arm. "So payback, yeah." Jungkook groaned and bent down to pick up his coat as well, before going over to pick up the magazine he threw away and shoving all his weapons - minus the one stuck in Taehyung's arm - back into his coat. "Jesus Christ. Just go." "Won't you walk me back? You're just going to leave an injured maiden like me to walk home in the dark? What if I get jumped?" Jungkook stared at Taehyung. Taehyung stared back at Jungkook. Finally, Jungkook gave in. "F-f...fine. B...but promise t-t-that there'll be no m..more stabbing." "Oh! Your stutters back! I'm so glad, do you even know how scary it was to see you threaten me with a gun and perfect speech?" Taehyung leant in to squeeze Jungkook in a hug, before remembering that his arm was still bleeding. He then resorted to an awkward one armed hug, which Jungkook reciprocated hesitantly. "Oh yeah, don't worry, no more stabbing until we both heal, yeah?" "Yeah." The two of them walked in a light silence the whole way, Taehyung occasionally joking about how they both failed as assassins - well, a photographer turned assassin and a sniper. Jungkook would laugh gently at those horrible jokes, and say things such as 'you sound exactly like Jin', and speak of how much he wanted Taehyung to meet the squad. It was as though the previous few hours didn't even happen. They were lucky that by now, the only people walking in parks would be rapists and thieves, because if anyone saw the two of them with knives still in their arms, they'd 100% dash out of there and call the cops. Which would be inconvenient, to say the least. It wasn't as though being in the underworld was illegal or anything, right? The two of them reached the park gate, turning to each other awkwardly. "So... uh, I guess this is goodbye? Until the day we start killing each other again?" Taehyung said, staring Jungkook right in his big doe eyes. Jungkook took out his necklace from under his shirt, unclipping the tiger charm. "Yeah, but I-I um... want y-you t-t-to have this." "Oh my god? For me? Really? But why? I literally just tried to kill you, for your information." "I know, b-but still. So y-ou c...can remember me. Return I-it to my grave if I d-die an unt-t-timely death." "Then I should give you something too. It's not fair that only I get stuff." Taehyung searched in his pockets for something - anything - to give Jungkook, but to no avail. Why did he choose today of all days to empty out his pockets. "Ah, you know what, just keep the knife. It's already in your arm anyways. And same as you, if I die an untimely death you'd better offer that blade as tribute on my grave." "Okay. H-how are you get-t-ting home... um... just curious? Because... uh, if possible... I- could I g-get a lift?" "Motorbike." Taehyung gestured to the motorbike parked nearby. "My trusty steed. I'm going that way, you?" "Oh! Same h-here." "Lovely! Hop on!" Taehyung sat down on the seat first, placing one foot down on the floor. He put on his helmet as best as he could, with his one hand, then gesturing for Jungkook to get on. Jungkook slid in on the small backseat, clinging softly onto Taehyung's waist. "P-please don't go t-too fast." "Not like I can, with this arm and all." *** The two had parted ways a while back, at the last intersection. Taehyung had hopped off to give Jungkook another awkward one armed hug, which- again, Jungkook reciprocated hesitantly. Now, Taehyung was back home, squishing the length of his bicep - now cleaned and disinfected - into a roll of bandages. It pained him to put pressure on the wound, and it also pained him to see the awful job of wrapping he did. Absolutely horrid, if he must say. Why didn't he take Jungkook's offer to go back to the organisation's medical centre? Taehyung stripped off his clothes, changing into something far more comfortable. He was in no way going to be going out again for a while - or so he thought - especially not with everything that had just happened, so Taehyung just simply rolled into bed (after washing up, of course) and began browsing on his phone. A notification suddenly set off a loud ring, making Taehyung drop the object onto his face and curse himself for taking it off silent. Upon closer inspection, he saw that it was a message from Sunmi, and by the message preview alone, it was clearly not going to be a good thing. - Sunmi: Taehyung. This is urgent. Please call me as soon as you can. - Taehyung stared at the message, confused. What could possibly be so urgent? Nevertheless, he went and clicked on Sunmi's contact, placing the phone on speaker as it rang. Almost instantly, Sunmi picked up. "Tae. You have to hear this. Something terrible has come up, and I'm so sorry t-" Sunmi spoke fast, with a sense of increasing urgency as she spoke on. Her breathing was heavy, and she doesn't sound like her usual self at all. "Wait, um, can I get some context first? What's happened? Why do you sound like someone just ran a blade through your lungs?" "Ah, just shut up and let me talk. Questions at the end please. So, as I was saying, I am so sorry to bring you - a newcomer - into business as confidential as this, but I need you to join BTS. You know them, yeah? Even if you choose to quit after this mission, I still need you to do the paperwork and be considered a part of that unit for at least until the end of the year. Someone saw you, Tae. They saw you and Jungkook fight it out in the park today." "What- I- Sunmi, you can't just- and what does someone seeing us have anything to do with this? Can I get proper context? Annotations and diagrams are appreciated. And isn't BTS that really famous trio or something? On par with even the White Death?" "Ugh, can you just trust me for now? I don't have time to explain, this is a matter of life and death, Tae. I can't talk any longer. Pack for a week and meet me at my office tomorrow by 7am. You have an overnight flight." "I- Sunmi? What do you mean, fligh-" The call got cut off in the middle of his sentence. Taehyung jumped when a series of text tones ringed again, trailing his eyes to the growing cluster of notifications. He clicked on one, and was instantly hit with a series of rather alarming texts. - Sunmi: Can't talk rn. Sry. Sunmi: bring weapon tmr. Just in case. Dotn let anyne see u go t my office. Sunmi: cover ur face. Security s compromised. Sunmi: if u have a will, nows t time t update it. Sunmi: call ur fam an d tell them u love them or smth. Sunmi: pack ur important sht n make ur house have no trace of any living in it. Taehyung: sure, but why so urgent? - Sunmi never replied to that last text. Taehyung felt a sudden twinge of dread pool in his stomach, forcing him to roll off the bed and heave himself to the bathroom, where he promptly began to feel acidic bile rise up his throat. The vomit never came, however, leaving just him and the disgusting taste in his mouth. Taehyung sighed and pulled out a large suitcase. A weeks worth of clothes. As if I don't wear the same two shirts every day. He began emptying out his wardrobe, first deciding on his fit for tomorrow; black trackkies and a large tan hoodie, over a set of compression clothes, with the same heavy boots he wore today, as well as a cap and scarf. He was unsure as to what made him take out those tights (his mission 'gear') after so long, or what made him feel as though he had to erase himself from the living plane, but something in Sunmi's voice just sounded like she couldn't be joking. Not in the slightest. Taehyung laid out tomorrow's fit on his armchair, then began packing. First he shoved probably a years worth of tracksuits and hoodies and plain shirts into the suitcase, rolling them up as tightly as possible so as to save space. Next, he took out another pair of boots and shoved them in the side, groaning at the amount of space they occupied. After that, of course it's the underwear. Under no circumstances would Taehyung even need to bring 20 pairs, but what if he shits himself twice everyday? Gotta be prepared. *** It's morning. Taehyung was up at the crack of dawn, getting ready with sleep still in his eyes. He hastily packed away the toiletries after he was done washing up, then walked over to his Arsenal. His purple butterfly knife is always a must. Even if he were to never use it, it's still an essential part of his packing. It's like medicine - a drug, even - at this point; Taehyung was reliant on it, so much that he can't go anywhere without the knife, or else the anxiety sets its fangs deep into his delicate heart. He was about to reach for the switchblade, before seeing the empty loop and remembering that he had given it to Jungkook as a tribute to the fight yesterday. Taehyung drew his hand back and scanned the shelf once more, picking up a plain Swiss knife and a black tactical knife, both of which were gifts from Sunmi. He picked up a small blade, inspired by Jungkook yesterday, tucking it under a fold in his pants. Taehyung's eyes trailed to the single handgun he had in his arsenal, and he picked the thing up, looking at it softly. "Sorry I never touch you. I just don't like guns." He then placed it back down, sweeping another handful of knives into his suitcase. He took one final blade, sheathing it and putting it into his shoulder bag, before clearing his arsenal into a box - as per Sunmi's 'don't leave any trace of living in your house' instruction - and placing it under a loose floorboard. Taehyung looked at his house, clean for the first time in forever. For once, the floor wasn't covered in ramen packages or sandpaper scraps or cheap whetstones, it was clean. Not even a single speck of dust remained. He smiled contented at the space, then walked out the house, suitcase trailing behind.
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Taehyung walked his way to the office, not wanting to have to leave his motorbike in the shady parking lot for an entire week. He dragged his suitcase along, the wheels screeching horribly in the gravelly paths. At one point, the wheels completely stuck, and Taehyung almost contemplated just carrying the suitcase before lifting it and giving up immediately. He looked up at the sun, just beginning to rise up and paint the sky in pastels. He had to wake up at god forsaken hours this morning, up before the sky was even light. It pained him so much to hear the same radar ringtone of his alarm, to have the memories of high school relished in his brain again. Taehyung arrived at the doors at quarter to seven, greeted by the same two morning guards as always. They nodded gruffly towards him, then resumed their role of standing like a bear and looking intimidating. He walked in the doors as though he owned the place; confidence is key in an underworld organisation. After passing by the same polished doors for what seemed like the millionth time, he arrived at the corridor to Sunmi's office. Don't let anyone see you. He recalled her text. He looked around for any particular threats, and checked to see if there were any security cameras around. Unsurprisingly, there was a security camera, but very surprisingly (and suspiciously), there was already a piece of paper taped over the lenses, rendering it useless. Taehyung reached for the butterfly knife in his pocket, slowly creaking open the door whilst rolling his luggage silently along the carpeted floor. The instant the door was wide enough for Taehyung to slip through, he flicked open his knife and moved into a loose fighting stance. Taehyung almost screamed, but his voice refused to come out. A broad man clad in black from head to toe sat on the table, his back towards Taehyung. One sleeve was rolled up, revealing a bandage and lines of black ink strewn in elegant patterns. The sun filtering through the half curtained window hit the man's silhouette, flaring off the many piercings he donned. Jungkook jumped when he heard the door creak. He whipped his head around, turning to face a shocked Taehyung, who seemed as though he could start yelling at any time now. Jungkook leaped off the table, his feet landing on the floor without so much as a creak. Quicker than humanly possible, he moved uncomfortably close to Taehyung and pulled him in, placing a large hand over his mouth. Taehyung dragged his suitcase in, kicking the door closed with his heel, but Jungkook grabbed the door handle and slowly edged it closed instead. "Tae! What t-the fuck?" He said, finally removing himself from Taehyung, who promptly moved to place his suitcase next to what he assumed was Jungkook's. "What do you mean, what the fuck? I should be the one asking! The fuck are you doing here?" "Sunmi t-t-texted me!" "Something about BTS?" "Y-Yeah!" "Right then, we're probably here on the same accord, then. It's almost seven, how long have you been here?" "S-since 5. She said that... that I should b-be here by 6, s-So yeah." "That is ungodly. By 6. What even. She isn't even here. I was told to come at 7." "Y-Yeah." An awkward sort of silence fell upon the two as Taehyung walked around the office, Jungkook perched atop the table like a cat-turned-hawk. After what seemed like forever, Taehyung began talking again. "You scared me, by the way. I swear to hell that those piercings and tattoos weren't there yesterday. How many piercings is that? 4? 5? "O-oh, I have 7. A-and yeah, I wasn't wearing ear... earrings yesterday, and t-the tattoos I got just last night." "They look hot. I like it." "I- oh- t-than...nks." Jungkook felt his face getting warm, so he turned around and busied himself with a particularly fascinating tile on the scrabble board nearby. After yet another impromptu silence, the two were interrupted by a sudden change in atmosphere. Both of them felt it; the chill crawling down their spines, the hairs on their necks standing up, and the temperature dropping by at least a few hundred degrees. Both of them jumped into a stance of some sort- Taehyung crouched right down, whilst Jungkook stood in more of a boxing style. They pressed against each other, their backs watched over by the other. It was like a storm had brewed in the corner of the room. A dark figure appeared from the shadows; none of the two even heard it, let alone see it. It appeared, silent, and lunged forwards with an exceedingly beautiful - almost seraphic - form. The two snapped apart at the last second, only dodging by a hair's breadth. Taehyung swore he could see three knives juggled between the defined hands of the enemy, despite that being an incredibly rare thing to be handling; people rarely ever even took two knives at once, let alone three, which is far too bothersome for a human with only two arms to handle. "The fuck." Taehyung had yelled, a knife flying millimetres next to his face. Jungkook saw the face of the figure as it turned for a split second, pale skin peeking out from under his vivid blue hair. He stepped lightly, throwing up his shiny silver blade and changing the grip midair. Jungkook could only hold his breath and sidestep as fast as he could, hoping that the shorter male wouldn't hit him with the sharp thing. Sadly, the uppercut caught his jawline lightly, leaving a shallow cut from his jaw to his cheekbone. Jungkook winced, moving to throw his own knife at the assailant, who deflected it by throwing one of his blades at it, driving both their knives into the wall. Taehyung moved behind the blue haired man, his switchblade now in hand. He brought his hand down sharply, only for it to be blocked by what seemed like the millionth knife the blue haired man had thrown. Taehyung fell to the ground, hitting his knees trying to avoid the fast flying object. He took this chance to slash at the man's legs, slicing through the fabric of his jeans and cutting deeply into his pale, slender leg. The blue haired man hissed, shoving his foot onto Taehyung's chest. He reached into his coat for another knife, pointing it right at Taehyung. "Tae!" Jungkook yelled, whipping out his Karambit. He pointed it at the pale man, who just glared at him with an intense coldness in his eyes. Jungkook shuddered, eyed widening as he tried his best to not shake. "Get your knife off Tae." "Or what?" The man spoke, his husky voice slicing through the air. It was not the same kind of husky as Taehyung - it was more drawling, more cold, and rougher by far. "I'll kill you." The man laughed, reaching his other hand into his pocket to pull out a gun. He cocked the gun in front of Jungkook's face, pointing the muzzle right in the centre of his forehead. "Try me." Jungkook's breath hitched, glancing down at Taehyung, who was shaking his head profusely, hands coming together to make an 'x' shape. The three of them stood in that position for at least a century, before Taehyung shoved his hand into his pocket to reach for a blade. The blue haired man immediately noticed this, however, raising his foot to stamp on Taehyung's arm. Taehyung groaned and glared at the man, letting his arm go limp again. Silence enveloped the trio, the three of them staring at each other in varying levels of annoyance and anger. "Yoongi, my kitten, and both of you two lovely gentlemen, y'all should really get a room." The man who spoke appeared from nowhere, surprising Jungkook yet again. At this rate, he was going to die of a heart attack before Sunmi even gets half the paperwork ready. "Hoseok, we've talked about this. I am a fierce creature of the night, and you dare label me as kitten?" The blue haired man -Yoongi, as he was called - was practically radiating annoyance at this point, shooting knives from his gaze. If looks could kill, Jungkook would've already died thrice and once more. "Yeah, whatever. Come on, two knives in the wall? Last time your paycheque - and half of mine - was spent fixing the two entire buildings you wrecked. Don't you ever learn?" "Obviously not. You two should remember that it was me who bribed the officials and got a discount." Another new voice, appearing from thin air. Jungkook swears that by the end of today he's going to need some intensive therapy to even feel vaguely sane again. "Joon!" Hoseok - the cheery man with auburn hair - grinned, running over to cling on to his back. "How was it?" "Don't worry, Sunmi's gonna live to fuck up another day." "Oh! What happened? Last night she called me and sounded like she had a knife stabbed into her lungs." Taehyung exclaimed, still pressed under Yoongi's foot. Speaking of which, he still had his gun raised at Jungkook, and a knife pointed at Taehyung. Hoseok seemed to notice the discomfort, and began talking again in the same cheery voice. "Yoongi, shouldn't you get your foot off? You're gonna scare the kids!" "If they get scared by this much then I highly doubt they're even vaguely qualified." He scoffed. Yoongi removed himself from Taehyung nevertheless, tucking his gun back into his pocket and going around the room collecting his knives. Jungkook swore he counted at least 20 of them, each with a different coloured handle. "Right. I removed my weapons. What's my reward." Yoongi clearly meant that as a rhetorical question, as a statement said jokingly rather than a command, but Hoseok just laughed and walked over, taking Yoongi's face in his hands and pressing a soft kiss on his lips. Yoongi's eyes widened for just a brief second, then brought his hand up to trace a slender finger gently along Hoseok's jaw. Jungkook turned his head in embarrassment, his cheeks flushing pink. Taehyung whistled, yelling at them to get a room, whilst 'Joon' simply shook his head. "Jesus, yet another day in the life of a third wheel." He said. "Keep your pda in check, I swear to hell." "You love us Joonie, and you know it." Hoseok pecked Yoongi one last time on the cheek, smiling to himself. "It's times like this that makes me want to file a lawsuit." "Um..." Jungkook said, leaning over to pick up Taehyung, who took his hands and held them far too delicately. "Who a-are y-you guys, by t-the... the way?" "Oh, hi, sorry we forgot to introduce ourselves." The person who Hoseok has referred to as 'Joon' said. "I'm Namjoon, nice to meet you." "Hey! I'm assuming everyone here heard my question, so where's my answer?" Taehyung pouted, shielding himself behind Jungkook when Yoongi looked over at him indifferently. "Oh, yeah, Sunmi decided to fuck up an enemy base herself and got stabbed, the poor girl." Hoseok kindly informed them, though the information was anywhere near kind. "Joonie just flew over for a smidge to check on her." "Right. Thanks. So now back to Kook's question, who are you guys again?" "Righteo, I'm Namjoon, the leader, I guess you could say, and these two ridiculous shits are Hoseok-" "Hello!" "And Yoongi." "Hi." "I think you two might know us as BTS, perhaps?" "Holy-" Jungkook breathed. "Shiiit." Taehyung finished.
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Taehyung could not control himself. "Holy actual fuckening shit is this real is my life real am I having a lucid dream can I just say how much of a fan I am your corpses are always so much fun to photograph let me tell you the attention to detail is just ugh I can't even that one time I was sent to Jeju Island and I got to firsthand witness the body of that rapist or something with a knife wound through each eye and his entire skin flayed from collar to balls I just couldn't I love you three so much and I will gladly take a bullet or two for each of you thanks for coming to my TED talk love you all." All three of them grinned. Even Yoongi, although he just turned around flustered and covered his face whilst Hoseok slapped his back and laughed. "Yoongs! That was your unofficial contract in Jeju from a looong time ago, wasn't it? 2012? Can't believe they actually listened to you and preserved the body." "Y-Yeah. It was." Yoongi sighed, but everyone in the room could see his small smile behind his hands. That corpse was one he was particularly proud of, one of the rare ones he actually conversed with. It was hilarious, to say the least, when he nearly shit his pants after Yoongi casually started twirling his pocketknife whilst making a speech about how much he would love to cut up a human and roast it medium rare, and even more hilarious when Yoongi jerked him off with his knives, slowly peeling the skin off layers at a time. But then again, he was a rapist - and one who screwed an underaged boy in an alleyway late one night, too. Yoongi felt no remorse for people like him. The boy was sitting tearfully, huddled into a tiny ball and shaking from head to toe in the lobby of Sunmi's quarters after she had found him sobbing two miles away from where he was raped. It took almost an hour to convince the boy that Yoongi wasn't there to hurt him, and even more to just barely coax him into a shaky conversation. Sunmi had begged for Yoongi - who was only 19 at the time - to kill the rapist personally, even though it wasn't an official mission. Heck, Yoongi wasn't even in the organisation yet. Yoongi would've tracked the rapist down in a heartbeat, but even if he wouldn't, he still had no rights to refuse, not after everything she had done for him. Jungkook was staring at Yoongi with wide eyes, his hands trembling without even him knowing it. Yoongi stared at Jungkook strangely, as though he were trying so hard to recall a buried memory. "Alright, Sunmi isn't going to be able to make it today, because, you know, she's stabbed, so instead we're gonna take you to her. Paperwork can be done after you get off the flight." Namjoon began looking around the room, stacking papers and folders back into their respective places. "Ah, hey, what if we don't want to? Shouldn't there be some kind of democracy?" Taehyung pushed himself up, going to pick up his suitcase. Namjoon smiled at him, raising an eyebrow. "Didn't Sunmi already tell you? You can't just object. The paperwork is all done anyways, we just need your signatures. You're all welcome to leave afterwards, but this mission must be carried out first." "Okay. Kook, you gonna join?" "Y-Yeah, Sunmi already has my w-w-word." "Alright then, if you're doing it then I'm fine with it too." Taehyung gripped Jungkook's hands cheerily. He then turned to the trio, looking at them with questioning eyes. "Anyone else joining apart from us?" "Oh yeah, this boy- wait, I meant man, sorry - called Gin or something is coming too, and this other dude called- uh- Jimmy...?" Hoseok trailed off, looking to the other two for help. "Sorry, Hoseok is fucked in the brain. He means to say Seokjin and Jimin." Namjoon shook his head in amusement. "O-oh! Jin is coming t-too? He never t..told me...?" Jungkook pouted. Taehyung had to physically restrain himself from squeezing the hell out of Jungkook's cheeks or hugging him to death. "You know him? Now ain't that lovely. Well, whatever the case, can we leave? You guys were meant to be in the car like 20 minutes ago." Yoongi mumbled under his breath, already at the door. Everyone instantly went to their watches (and Jungkook on his phone), staring at the numbers in shock. Taehyung and Jungkook both ran over to the door with their bags in hand, and was quickly stuck in an endless loop of 'you go first' and 'no, you can'. "Jesus Christ. Kids these days have too much manners." Namjoon said, tugging them both through the door. "Be glad we have a private jet." Yoongi scoffed. "We have a private jet?" Taehyung said. *** Taehyung was half asleep in the spacious cabin even more luxurious than first class, snuggled closely next to Jungkook. It seems like no matter how much bed room there is, Taehyung would still find a reason to cling on to someone. Even if that someone just tried to kill you a day ago. Jungkook bunched himself up in an awkward ball, not used to so much genuine human contact. It wasn't like he minded, it just felt kind of awkward. They have barely talked (in Jungkook's opinion. If you asked Taehyung, surely he'd say they were besties), and only really interacted when they were trying to kill each other. Where's the coffee shop visits after work? Or the 2am 'I'm drunk and forgot my keys' visits? Or the movie nights or the sitting in silence next to each other browsing through twitter? Hoseok looked over at the two, smiling gently. "Hey Yoongs, don't you think they look like lovers?" He whispered. "Yeah, pretty cute, I know." Yoongi replied. "Jungkook seems kinda awkward though." "True." The couple resumed their silent browsing, occasionally whisper yelling at the other to 'take a sip of this tea, betch'. Jungkook suddenly realised he had no idea where they were even going, and was about to start asking Taehyung when he realised he was asleep. Poor thing must've been tired. Taehyung was snuggled even more closely now, his head resting in the crook of Jungkook's neck, and one hand draped loosely over Jungkook's stomach. Jungkook couldn't help but blush at the intimacy, but brought his hand up to tousle Taehyung's hair anyways. It was soft and silky, not a trace of the bleaching and dyes evident in the texture. Jungkook looked over at Yoongi, who was still browsing on his phone, but now with Hoseok's head lying in his lap. He looked to Namjoon, who still wasn't in his seat. Probably talking with Sunmi over the phone like he had been for the past hour. Jungkook took a breath and stood up, quickly shoving a pillow in Taehyung's arms so as to not wake him. He walked over to Yoongi quietly, tapping lightly on his shoulder. Yoongi glanced up at Jungkook indifferently. "What is it, kid?" "C-c-could I... um... t-t...talk to you?" "Sure. Here?" "I-it's kinda a p-private mat-t-ter." "Alright then, come with me." Yoongi stood up and shook Hoseok's head off, much to his dismay, but Yoongi assured him that it will only be for a little while. Hoseok just grumbled and latched onto the pillow instead. Yoongi led Jungkook to the far back of the plane, into a room that was smaller than everywhere else but still spacious. It was dimly lit, with a few couches strewn across the place and a round wooden table in the middle. He sat himself down on a single seater, and Jungkook did the same on another couch. "So, what is it?" "A-about t-t-the Jeju cont-t-tract you... you said you took... earlier... um..." "Yeah? Continue, I'm here to listen." Yoongi wasn't sure what was making him so soft towards the boy; if it were anyone else, Yoongi was sure that he would've brushed them off already, but there was something about Jungkook that stirred something within him. A parental instinct? "I- I just... I want to t-th...thank you... for... um- for helping m-me back t-t-then." Jungkook directed his eyes downwards, his voice trailing off near the end. He wasn't even sure if Yoongi remembered him, but he just had to thank him. After he had gotten over the guilty phase, where he woke up in cold sweat nearly every single morning mumbling things like 'I killed him' and 'it's my fault, I should never have told anyone', Jungkook realised that the death of his rapist meant the world to 14 year old him. It calmed him to see the person who violated him dead. Yoongi finally stopped looking at Jungkook with those heavy, brooding eyes, but rather, with recognition. His eyes widened, and he almost knocked over a shelf or two standing up. "Shit, kid. I knew you looked familiar." Yoongi immediately kneeled down in front of Jungkook, grasping one hand in his own and the other reaching to brush Jungkook's bangs. "How have you been? I'm so sorry I haven't kept in touch all these years, you kinda just ran away after I took my eyes off you." "I- I've been fi- fine, t-thank you." Jungkook didn't know why, he wasn't even sure if he had any more tears at this point in his life, but he just couldn't stop the streams coming out of his eyes. It was like an ocean was overflowing; he just couldn't get it to cease. Yoongi settled next to him, pulling Jungkook close to his body. He gently wiped away Jungkook's tears and listened silently to the boy's sobbing and occasional words. Yoongi was a listener, a quiet person who seems stoic and cold at first, but is actually the kindest human being on earth when he feels like it. Jungkook curled up into Yoongi's chest, unsure of what made him feel so close to the man in such a short time. "Seriously, I- I can't t...thank you enough." "You don't have to thank me for that. You never had to. I would've murdered that shit even if Sunmi didn't ask. He deserved to rot in hell for what he did, alright? I would take a whole bullet for you, kid, and that's saying something." "N-no, b-but I- if- if there's an...anything I can do t-to repay you, p-please tell me." "Don't worry about it. Just think of it as a greeting." They settled into a comfortable silence, Yoongi occasionally brushing his fingers through Jungkook's hair. They exchanged a few words occasionally, usually followed by Jungkook's hiccuping and quiet sobs. The two of them stayed like that until Jungkook stopped crying so hard, and his eyes were no longer as red. "You should get back to Taehyung, yeah? He's probably missing you right about now." "O-oh, s-sure." "We'll have plenty of time to catch up later, alright? I'll grab your number if you don't mind, and maybe we could get a coffee some time?" Yoongi said while ruffling Jungkook's hair. "Y-Yeah, I'd like t-t-that too." And so the two exchanged numbers. Jungkook hesitantly unlatched himself from Yoongi, as though he would somehow lose the older man if he took his eyes away. Yoongi reassured him that everything will be fine, for him to go back to Taehyung again and make sure he doesn't get lonely. Jungkook doesn't seem to know why everyone says (or, well, implies in a very obvious way) that he and Taehyung look like lovers, but he wasn't gonna complain. Taehyung is comfortable to be around. He's social, he's cuddly, he's everything Jungkook didn't know he needed. Jungkook left Yoongi in the room (he said he was gonna do some work) and went back to his seat, coming face to face with a pouty Taehyung. "Koooook! Where were you?" "I- I'm... bathroom." "For thirty whole minutes?" "W-was on my p-p-phone and... uh... f-forgot...?" "Ah, whatever. Come cuddle with me again. A pillow just isn't the same thing, you know." Taehyung rolled over onto his back, arms stretched out in front of him like a very cheery zombie. Jungkook stifled a soft smile, walking over and collapsing into his arms in the same awkward position as before. Taehyung leaned his head against Jungkook's chest once more, falling asleep practically on cue. Jungkook wishes he could do that. Nevertheless, he buried his face into Taehyung's hair, sleepiness beginning to settle in him as time went by. For the first time in what seemed like forever, things seemed like it was looking up.
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"BABY BOY!" "J-Jin!" Seokjin rushed forward and latched himself onto Jungkook, kissing him straight on the forehead. He squished his cheeks between his hands, crooked fingers pinching the soft flesh and then moving to ruffle his hair. Taehyung didn't know why, but that act of affection made him just a little bit jealous. "I've missed you so much! How have you been these past few months?" "I-I've b-been doing great, t-t-thank you." "Oh! Kookie! Your stutter is getting so much better!" "Y-Yeah, I guess it is." "Alright you two, as touching as the family reunion is, we gotta get to the base." Namjoon broke the two apart goodheartedly, smiling at the motherly vibe practically oozing off Seokjin. Seokjin poked his tongue out at Namjoon, still holding on to Jungkook as though he would disappear if he let go for even a second. Namjoon just let Seokjin do as he wish, leading the rest of the squad to an inconspicuous van waiting nearby. "Hop in. I know y'all just got off a flight, but this is going to be yet another 3 hours, so get comfortable." Hoseok opened the door to reveal a very spacious interior, something you would never have guessed from just seeing the outside. He hopped in first, shifting the chair so that he would have a footrest, and then Yoongi followed him in, placing himself facing Hoseok. Yoongi placed his legs up against Hoseok's, then whipped out a blanket and went straight to sleep. Like Taehyung, he was asleep immediately - something Jungkook would not have believed if it weren't for the light snoring coming from the quiet man. "Sorry about him, Yoongs only got a couple hours of sleep last night." Hoseok whispered. The rest of them piled on one by one, Seokjin still clinging on to Jungkook. Jungkook was practically lying in his lap at this point, stretched out in the back of the van. Taehyung sat a seat in front of them, opposite Namjoon. "Oh yeah, what about that Jimmy guy? Where's he at?" Taehyung asked. "He's already at the compound. Seokjin here just wanted to meet Jungkook as soon as possible, so he somehow managed to charisma his way through." Namjoon replied, chuckling to himself. "Being hot is also a talent, you know." Seokjin scoffed lightheartedly, now completely sprawled on the back row of seats with Jungkook lying on him, torso squished in his arms. "Righteo, whatever you sa- oh shit." Namjoon dived behind his bags, pretending to be asleep, or something like that. Everyone wondered what exactly was it that made Namjoon act like that, and their questions was soon answered as their eyes set on a particular blue haired male. It was Yoongi. Yoongi woke up. It was scary, scary by far. Taehyung could now officially put on his resume that he faced death and walked backwards into the MV of 'Staying Alive'. Yoongi didn't even have to say anything - just the mere presence of his groggy self was enough to silence the entire vehicle and probably a 10km radius around him. Jungkook literally uprooted Seokjin from his seat and hid behind him, arms squeezing Seokjin's waist tightly. Taehyung just sat there, frozen in his own cursed skin, inwardly crying and cowering underneath the sharp gaze of the devil known as Yoongi. It was Hoseok who saved them all. Hoseok. Oh, of course it was Hoseok. Light of their lives, saviour of the species. He just laughed, that fearless man. He laughed and pulled himself into the seat next to Yoongi, cuddling up to the small angry cat. He pressed light kisses to Yoongi's cheeks, nuzzling his face into the crook of Yoongi's neck. "Don't worry baby boy, just go back to sleep." Everyone would've cringed at that PDA if it weren't for the annoyance still radiating off of Yoongi, but thankfully it was beginning to subside. Yoongi curled up once again, this time into Hoseok's side. Like a cat, really. He just bunches himself up into the cutest, tiniest ball of seething anger and went back to sleep, eyes narrowing at everyone in the car before closing them again. Hoseok wrapped his arms around Yoongi, kissing the top of his head softly before uttering a quiet apology to the squad. "Sorry guys," he whispered, " Yoongs can really get quite aggro when he's tired." "Yikes, we could tell." Taehyung buried himself underneath a large blanket he found (stole) from Namjoon, pouting underneath the fabric. The rest of the ride was very silent, only broken up occasionally by somebody moving to get something. Taehyung, about halfway through the ride, decided to move to the back and cuddle up with Jungkook once again. He was still tired, and just couldn't find the means to fall asleep without a human teddy bear. Seokjin was reluctant at first, arms wrapped around Jungkook protectively, but soon warmed up and pulled Taehyung into the impromptu group hug session. The three of them leaned against each other in a tangle of limbs and pillows and blankets, eyes soon closed and asleep. It was, perhaps, the warmest that Taehyung has felt in ages. *** Yoongi grumbled, half asleep, at the prospect of being babied, but soon screwed it and allowed Hoseok to carry him bridal style into the compound. A blonde no taller than Yoongi sat at the makeshift waiting room, browsing through his phone. His eyes flickered upwards when the sound of footsteps echoed through the spacious room, and he stood up to greet the squad. They seated themselves at a chair around the circular table in the next room over, Namjoon leading the discussion. "Welcome, everyone, I'm sure you already know why we're gathered here today. But first, let's begin by introducing ourselves." Oh shit. Introductions. Jungkook began to mentally prepare a speech, going over each word in his mind over and over again. He knows that he's going to stutter and start crying, but he might as well try. "I'm Kim Namjoon, 24 years old. I'm the leader of these two dumbasses who's coincidentally in BTS with me, and I'll also be leading the rest of you until the end of the year. It's very nice to meet you all." Yoongi and Hoseok introduced themselves next, but with the way they were finishing each other's sentences they might as well have introduced themselves together. "I'm Jung Hoseok, or y'all can feel free to call me Hobi, and this is my little kitten-" "Yoongi. Who's most definitely fiercer than a kitten-" "He's already halfway to fifty, so like, Yoongs should be turning into a grandpa cat or turtle anytime soon now." "Yeah, well you're gonna be 25 next year anyways so I don't wanna hear none of that shit when your birthday comes." "Whatever. Me and Yoongs-" "Yoongi and I-" "-are dating, as y'all can probably tell." Hoseok stopped to stick his tongue out at Yoongi, shooting him a quick 'grammar nazi'. "Nice to meet everyone. I hope you enjoy your time here." Yoongi smiled quickly, the edges of his lips curling up ever so slightly before resuming their positions in a pouty frown. "Same here! I'll be sure to take y'all out for street food if we ever get to go to Tokyo together. I'm already missing that lady's takoyaki on a stick." Next it was Taehyung, though he just kind of popped up and began ranting immediately, giving the rest of them not much of a chance to intervene. "Oh! Me next! Hi everyone, I'm Kim Taehyung! I'm a 95 liner, photography major, and could probably just barely pass for an assassin, though I'd much rather stick to the shooting the corpses than actually killing them. I also like to cuddle and watch movies in my spare time. So nice to meet you all." Then Seokjin piped up, leaning back in his chair and flashing a wink at all of them. He then proceeded to whip up a finger heart; something Jungkook was used to by now. "Well hello there, I'm Kim Seokjin. Three Kim's in this one room, wow! I may be old, but at least I have more brain cells than all of you combined. I'm 25, going on to 26-" "Oof yikes, and here I thought Yoongi was the definition of a disabled elderly." Hoseok clapped his hands amusedly. "Um, excuse me, respect your gotdamn elders thank." Seokjin snapped his fingers in a 'z' formation, raising his eyebrows. "Anyways, I'll be feeding all of your sorry asses and stealing the class of healer as well. Oh hey, what is a cow's favourite colour?" Jungkook inwardly groaned. He could practically hear the windshield wiper laughter coming from Seokjin already, leaning his entire body over and clapping like a retarded seal. But it wasn't Seokjin who got the last laugh, but, rather, Jimin. "BURGERndy!" Jimin said, latching onto Seokjin's arms and doubling over in laughter, the edges of his eyes crinkled adorably and his entire body shaking from the wheezing that Jungkook assumed was laughter and not asthma. "JIMIN I LOVE YOU!" "Oh, dear lord, t-t-there's two of you?" Jungkook shook his head. "Aaah, you'll get used to it soon enough." Jimin breathed out, his cheeks red, then began introducing himself. "Anyways, I'm Jimin. Park Jimin. 23 years old, dance major, and according to... uh, Sunmi, was it? Sorry, don't really know names well since I'm new and all to this whole underworld illegal thing. Anyways, according to her, I'll be the person who twinks my way in and out of everything. A nicer way to put that would be a bard or rogue, I do suppose. Thanks for having me, I'll be in all of your cares." Jungkook died a little on the inside. Now with Jimin finished, it was his turn to introduce himself. He could already feel the gazes turn to him as his words fail, the syllables stuck somewhere between his throat and a set of functioning social skills. The speech that he rehearsed in his brain was already forgotten, so Jungkook just decided to screw it and go. "Um... h-hi, I'm Jeon J-J-Jungkook. I'm 21 y...years old, and... um, I'll be joining y-you guys for the remainder of the... the year. I'm a- a sniper, been one s-since 2013, and I like... I like playing Overwatch. Nice to m-meet you all, I hope... uh... you guys can d-deal with my st-t-tutter." Somewhere in the middle of his terrible display of public speaking, Seokjin's hands found their way around Jungkook's, gripping gently. He was drawing circles on the back of his hand, which calmed him only slightly. Just enough to suck it up and keep talking without breaking down in tears. "So you're our Hanzo!" Taehyung stated, a childlike glint in his eyes. "Nah, he's a mid-range marksman." Jimin replied matter-of-factly. "Jungkook sounds more like an Ana." "O-or Widowmaker." "Ah shit, now there's three of you?" Seokjin groaned. "Alright children, as fun as this watching the over game sounds, we gotta get to our rooms. This compound was an old military base I 'borrowed', so there should be a ton of rooms available. Crash anywhere within the vicinity and we'll meet here tomorrow at 10." Namjoon finally got everyone back on track, as someone with actual brains should do. "What about a map? Last time I checked, which was like, 3 minutes ago, this place is massive and the only real indicators are the fencing around it." Hoseok asked. If even the members of BTS don't know their way around here, then that's kind of a cause for concern. "What, you think I'm smart or whatever? I'm here for the first time too, you know." Namjoon dug around his backpack for something, pulling out a stack of worn booklets and dishing it out to everyone. "Here, guides from the 60s. Have fun."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Taehyung was lost, and he wasn't going down without dragging Jungkook along with him. The two had been walking for near an hour now, after the younger was dragged out of bed at 3am in the morning after his nightmare woke Taehyung and he insisted on a walk to clear their heads. Not that Jungkook minded, as he was already awake anyways, and it's always better to walk around at 3am with someone else to sacrifice in case of a serial killer on the loose. It's just that he knows he's not going to be able to go back to sleep again, and by the look on Taehyung's face, it seemed like he wasn't going to either. The both of them were layered up in piles and piles of clothes, mixing and matching from the other's wardrobe, unwilling to be taken by something as trivial as the cold. Jungkook had decided to room with Taehyung after Seokjin finally stopped flexing about himself and stared an apathetic Namjoon right in the eye, then promptly decided he was in love. He just ditched Jungkook and crashed in Namjoon's room, dragging his entire wardrobe and a large collection of skincare into the space. Namjoon didn't mind, hell, he even welcomed- encouraged Seokjin to move in. Jungkook knew he would occasionally get nightmares that would leave him breathless in a very unsexy way at unholy hours in the morning (he realised that the dreams would never leave, always hidden in the back of his mind after a particular bout of constant screaming a few years back), and the fact that another person in the room would make him feel better, so he turned to Taehyung, who was already looking at him with puppy eyes and one hand raised to tap his shoulder. "Could I please room with you? I'm sorry, but I'm- I just can't sleep by myself..." Taehyung had asked, somehow looking embarrassed at asking such a trivial thing. Of course, Jungkook agreed without so much as a second thought. He didn't want to room by himself - he wasn't an independent person like Jimin, who practically begged for everyone to not even think about rooming with him. Some personal reasons, he mentioned. Yoongi also offered Jungkook a spot in his room, out of concern, Jungkook thought,but it was obvious that he would just be intruding on Yoongi and Hoseok if he agreed. Jungkook declined as politely as possible, going off with Taehyung after receiving a reassuring pat on the head from Yoongi, who also left arm in arm with Hoseok. And of course, it just had to be the very first night that his nightmares decided to make a loving guest appearance. Jungkook woke up covered in cold sweat and screaming, yelling for help, for someone- anyone, for anyone to save him. He felt powerless, like his limbs were nothing more than stiff uncooked pasta that could snap at any second, like the world around him was slowly crumbling as he ran maniacally, panting and crying and screaming for somebody to wake him up, to stop the hands crawling up his torso and the invisible crowd forming around him. He knew it was only a dream, but to hell with it if he wasn't going to get triggered. Taehyung shot up no more than a minute after Jungkook emerged screaming from hell, staring wildly at the pitch black room. He scrambled off his side of the room when he heard Jungkook sniff - not in the flu way, it was obvious that it was the crying kind of sniff - and fell right on to the other mattress they laid out on the floor. The two of them had moved every single bunk in the room to the sides, dragging the mattress and blankets onto the ground to create the ultimate franken-bed. Luckily the two were situated in a branch of rooms far away from all the others, so Jungkook's scream didn't wake up any more people than necessary. It would be rather scary if Seokjin decides to get angry; he radiates off that kind of momma bear vibe sometimes, especially when Jungkook is looking kinda vulnerable. And so the two of them went for a walk around the compound, obviously without their guides (because 'we're not gonna stray far', as Taehyung said), and that's how they ended up stranded in some empty, abandoned, army equivalent of Area 51. It was dusty, it was barren, it was far more creepy than Taehyung would've liked to admit. Jungkook was shaking under his layers and layers of clothes, clinging on to the side of Taehyung. Taehyung was also attempting to attach himself to Jungkook, staring wide eyed at every single possible movement in the environment. A particularly creepy rustle made the both of them yelp and huddle even closer together, faces practically pressed together at this point. Normally, Jungkook would've already died twice or said something highly offensive at the closeness (all thanks to his Great Social Skills), but in a situation like this, complaining would simply be harming himself. So he just stayed like that, melting into Taehyung's large coat and dragging the both of their steps. "Uh- um- like- s-s-should... should we t-t-t-try t-to... head back?" Jungkook whispered into Taehyung's ear, as though if he spoke any louder a boss monster would appear. "Well, I'm- that's what we've been trying to do for the past hour or so, but like, sure!" A crunch in the gravel path. When the two whipped their heads around, there was not even a shadow to be seen. But Jungkook swore he saw a flash of a figure, holding something suspiciously like a box cutter, turn towards them and promptly dash away. Why are there no streetlights in this place. Jungkook tugged on Taehyung's coat with heightened urgency. "W-we have to g-g-go... back, please." "I know! I'm scared to fucking death here and I just, ugh!" They walked quickly, trying so hard to find something familiar, both of them turning and jumping at any and every sound in the scene. Every single building looked the same, it was just so plain and uniform. Why, of all places, did the compound have to be at an abandoned military base? Somehow, the two of them had managed to reach the barbed wire fencing, and according to the guide that Jungkook had practically memorised (everything except for the layout of this goddamned place), they must have walked at least 7 kilometres by now. It's only thanks to the gods that this compound wasn't particularly large - it would be absolutely deathly to have to walk around a 660 square kilometre area of land every single day. They followed the fence for what seemed like an eternity, before finally reaching the broken poles and fencing that was the entry. They breathed a sigh of relief, then turned around to see the area in which the squad had gathered the day before. "Oh, finally! Kooks, we're gonna live after all!" "Y-Yeah, I know, r-right?" *** It was morning, and everyone except for Jimin had gathered at the rendezvous point. It was Namjoon who had commented on their appearances first, furrowing his eyebrows and wincing. "Ooh, yikes. Did you two sleep at all last night?" Then it was Seokjin, who somehow teleported from Namjoon's side to Jungkook's, already fussing over him. "Kookie, look, if you couldn't sleep you should've come to me! You know I always have sleeping pills on me." And of course, the holy motherly trinity would not be complete without Yoongi, frowning at Jungkook from across the table. "Kook, you really should've slept instead of building that giant mattress bed with Taehyung." "Wait, you saw?" Taehyung exclaimed. "Passed you guy's room this morning when I got lost trying to find this damned place." "Ooohhh." A creak in the floor made everyone turn towards the door, revealing a thoroughly dishevelled Jimin. "I'm so sorry! First I slept in and then I forgot my hoodie and then I didn't bother looking at the map and then I got lost and I just-" "Don't worry kid, you're not gonna get chewed out. Take a seat." Yoongi reassured the frantic boy, who sat down apologetically next to Jungkook. "Alright, now that everyone is here, let's begin." Namjoon gestured to the plates of food on the desk. "Feel free to eat whatever you want, I know most of you guys probably haven't had breakfast yet." As the rest of them dug in to the food, Namjoon began making his speech. Well, it was simply a mission brief, but this man has the ability to make anything he says sound formal and commanding. How powerful. "So, you guys all know that we're gathered here today because of a mission. Just so you guys know, Sunmi was meant to greet everyone when we arrived here at the compound, but as she was stabbed, she's resting in the makeshift medical department of this compound. I'm sure you all want to know why she was stabbed, so here's the story. The enemy base that she decided to fuck up a few days ago wasn't just any old base, it's the most dangerous organisation that has ever existed in the underworld." "Oh, ain't that the weird group with the logo that looks like Nirvana and Team Skull had a child?" Hoseok said, chewing on a piece of French toast. "Yeah, it is." Namjoon continued. "They supposedly went out of business quite a number of years ago, but somehow started up again last year. Nobody thought it was going to be dangerous, so nothing was done to remove them. We all assumed that it was just a bunch of misfits trying to look important, but guess not. Some veterans bonded and started it up again and now they have nearly a quarter of their previous members again." "What're they called? I know who they are but nobody really ever bothered to teach me about this stuff." Taehyung asked. "Dunno, I think they changed their name to Noire a couple months back. They were previously nameless, but everyone referred to that group as the Pied Piper from Hell 'cause they trafficked so many kids." Jimin replied. "I mean, they did commit other crimes, too, but like, trafficking was their speciality." "Ouch, nasty." Hoseok said, and Jungkook agrees with him. "Right, and cutting to the chase, we gotta destroy Noire completely before January 1st, because that is when they plan on firing a shit load of nuclear weapons onto the earth. They want to wipe out civilisation and take over the world. How evil." "Uh, no offence, but I thought that this organisation is also evil and aiming for world domination?" Taehyung asked. "Sorry, I'm kinda new to this whole criminal life." "Son, we may be evil, but at least we're lawful evil. Besides, I don't wanna die yet, especially not from some crackhead's shitty nuclear weapons." Yoongi retorted. "No way, we're like, chaotic neutral. Noire is most definitely chaotic evil, and I don't want to be aligned anywhere near them." Seokjin bit down into his third croissant. "I think we're more neutral evil. Like, none of us are in here for the sake of it, ya know? Everyone here joined because there's something in it for them, and speaking from experience, no one takes jobs that doesn't benefit them." Hoseok analysed, thoughtfully nodding to himself. "Right, are none of you guys worried about the whole January bomb threat? There's like, 3 months not even left of the year, and you guys are here arguing about D&D alignments?" Yoongi finally brought the conversation back on track, thank the lord. "U-um..." Jungkook started. "Aren't b-bio...biological we-weapons more l-l-lethal than nuclear s-stuff? Why bother... w-with bombs?" "Yeah, Sunmi told me yesterday that they're gonna send off a chimera a week after the bombs to kill off everyone is who's still alive." Namjoon said. "Wait, like, an animal chimera? Or some weird science chimera?" Jimin asked. "The disease type of chimera. I think she said something about smallpox combined with Ebola or something. Dunno." "Ooh, that's really nasty." "Anyways! You guys are all finished with the food?" Namjoon stared at the empty plates, then continued. "Yep, seems like it. If you guys are still hungry, the food cupboard and fridge is right here in this building. We aren't gonna have set times for food because that reminds me of school, and there's no set meeting times either. The one date you all have to keep in mind is 2 weeks from now, on Wednesday, every single person has to meet here at 6pm. We're gonna scout the closest enemy base and hopefully gather some intel. Got it?" "Oh! Wait, guys, before you go, can I quickly grab everyone's phone numbers or Instagrams or something?" Taehyung brought out his phone. Everyone took out their phones as well and began exchanging numbers, sending off texts and calls to make sure it was right. At the end of the session, Taehyung made a group chat, and sent a quick 'hi!' to everyone. "Alright, free time. Off y'all go!" Hoseok chanted.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It's shocking just how fast two weeks can fly past. Jungkook was never the one for socialising, but under the guidance of Taehyung, who was most definitely a social butterfly, he had managed to establish a somewhat on and off relationship with every single person at the compound. His stutter still hindered him from a proper social life, but Taehyung practically adopted Jungkook (well, co-adopted with Seokjin and Yoongi, who are the chaotic wine mum and vodka aunt) anyways, so there wasn't much to worry about. Taehyung had suddenly remembered something, running off to the medical centre where Sunmi was at. He had returned looking quite dejected, and after quite a long negotiation, Jungkook managed to get Taehyung to spill the tea. "So like, Sunmi told me that somebody saw us fight it out that night, yeah? And she said that that's why I had to join BTS. Of course it didn't make sense, but I kinda forgot about it until now, and I just went to ask her about it." Taehyung paused to sigh and shove his hands into his pockets. "She said that she saw a file of us with a big red stamp on it or something in Noire's base, and apparently we're on the kill-before-nuclear-bombing list. I think she mentioned that it's because of our 'dangerous assets that could prove to be a hinderance to the bomb plan'." "Oh, w-wow. How... how lovely." "Aahhhh, that's not the pointtttt! She means that I should join so I can be protected! As if I can't do that myself. Ugh. I don't hate her or anything, but I feel like a child like this. I'm honoured to even be speaking to BTS, but still!" "Hm. T-true. It would m-make m... me feel like- like I'm use-useless, h-honestly." "I know right! You get me! You wanna go for a round of Overwatch?" And so the subject was just changed like that, but it wasn't as though Jungkook was gonna question him anyways. It would make things awkward and he'd miss out on a whole entire round of Overwatch. It's been physically ages since he last touched a gaming device (he could only pray that Taehyung was a PlayStation player). Phones don't count - only noobs play mobile. The two sped all the way down the compound, back to their shared franken-bed cabin. Maybe it was telepathy, maybe it was a connection, because both of them simultaneously reached for the mini fridge and, of course, their hands brushed together. How romantic. Jungkook stuttered his way out awkwardly, while Taehyung simply beamed as always and made a joyful remark about how the both of them went straight to the food first. Nevertheless, they took a whole lot of food and drinks from the fridge, practically emptying it, into the next room, as well as a couple blankets and stuff. Jungkook wasn't sure how Taehyung managed to get the TV to work, or even how he managed to bring it here, but he wasn't going to ask. They both made a silent agreement to rage all night and crash until dinner the next day. Taehyung never would've guessed just simply by Jungkook's appearance, but boy is he a violent gamer. Luckily they both enjoyed dissing Xbox, which is a plus, because if Taehyung had to go through non-stuttering, immersed-in-the-game, killer-glare Jungkook on a daily basis, that would shorten his lifespan by at least three decades. Jungkook rages silently - it's his aura that changes completely. His demeanour, his gait, all of that changed when he's immersed in something. It's scary just how much a poor stuttering boy could trash talk whilst not even prying his eyes from the screen. Truth be told, Taehyung thought that Jungkook looked so, so, beautiful in the moment. The concentration as he shot an enemy in the face from 200 metres, no scope. The murmurs and swears and utter nonsense as he shook his head at one of their team. Everything about him was just so bright. It's been blinding since the day Taehyung met him. Taehyung laughed when an enemy came towards him, now within range of his Death Blossom move (he's playing as Reaper). That was a rather uneventful fight, as the enemy died instantly. Taehyung didn't even need to wait until they were right up next to him - seriously, where's their healer gone? The two played round after round, smacks diminishing as the hours crawled past. At one point, Jungkook almost fell asleep, but refused to quit until Taehyung was just as equally exhausted (Taehyung was so tired he could just fall over and die on cue, but what can he say, he's a great actor). They were equals in stubbornness, and kept their adrenaline pumping until the sun was almost peeking out from the horizon. They promptly looked at each other with half-lidded eyes, making a telepathic agreement to just give it up and sleep. Then they fell atop each other with nacho crumbs still on the corner of their lips, eyes closing and falling unconscious with the game still on. They got kicked from the game half an hour later. And that's how they spent their first day. *** Every single day is just so bland. The first night was eventful, sure, but that was only under the influence of a straight 11 hours of games, leaving the both of them drained and too tired to notice the time trickle away from them. Besides, it wasn't until almost dinner time that Seokjin forcibly dragged them out into the undesignated designated common room, despite the promise of 'no set mealtime', and a few hours later they went back to sleep again. That alone took away pretty much two days. He mothers all of them so much, Jungkook swears that he wasn't like this before. Jungkook was lying around, as usual, mentally complaining about how bored he was whilst Taehyung laid next to him, verbally complaining about how bored he was. They ranted on an off for perhaps an hour, before Taehyung sprung to his feet and made a suggestion: "Hey, wanna go polish our weapons? Like, the scouting is in like a week, and I'm just really bored. We're gonna need to do this sooner or later anyways." Jungkook nodded, heaving himself up from his side of the mattress, dragging a rather large briefcase out of his suitcase. Taehyung did the same, and they both moved into yet another room. At this rate, the entire branch is going to get occupied by them. Jungkook and Taehyung already have two rooms each (which they rarely use), the franken-bed room, the gaming/movie room, and a sparring room. Now, another room is getting added to their collection - a weapons room/arsenal. They each took one half of the conveniently furnished room, pulling out a musty blanket from god knows where. Jungkook laid it over the mattress, then placing his whetstone and various gun maintenance supplies out, as well as a display of all the weapons he brought. Taehyung took the other bunk in the room, smoothing out the lumpy bed as much as possible before laying out his supplies as well. He took one look over at Jungkook, then realised he probably brought far too many weapons with him. Jungkook barely took up half the bed, whilst he was struggling to fit them all on to the one mattress. They brought a couple weapons into the centre of the room, where a large rounded table sat. Jungkook, after placing down his maintenance supplies, began taking apart his prized rifle - the McMillan TAC-50 - and setting the parts out. It wasn't his favourite gun, not by far, but it was with this rifle that he carried out his longest kill to date, at 2900m. Since then, he had made a promise with himself to always keep this gun spick and spam, just in case a mission required a long distance kill. (Long distance in Jungkook's opinion is just insane. The dude believes that anything under 2.5km isn't considered a prize worthy kill) (Taehyung agrees with him though - he managed to shoot a target, bullseye, from 700m away with only a 4x scope despite his shaking hands) The two worked in silence, mostly. But it wasn't an awkward silence, no, it was comfortable and warm. That was the one thing they never seemed to run out of; comfortable silences. It must've been a good few hours before they finished, standing back to admire the well polished weapons. Jungkook smiled contently at his many rifles, all nice and clean. He couldn't remember the last time he even bothered with maintenance for the most of them, apart from his McMillan TAC-50 and the Accuracy International AWS (his absolute all time favourite). Taehyung ran his finger along the blade of his butterfly knife, more than happy with the sharpened blade. He whisked it through the air, slicing cleanly through a couple of old plastic bottles. They packed away the weapons neatly, covering up and wrapping some in clothes so as to not get dust on it. The two then made their way down to the common room, where many of the squad already was. There wasn't a set mealtime, no, but it seemed that they all silently agreed to still eat at times that matched up with those of a normal human being anyways, also known as the hours around 7pm. Seokjin had made a whole heap of food, knowing that no one else bothers cooking and he refused to let them eat ramen every single night. "Jiiiiinn! Can I just say I love you so much!" Taehyung yelled as he entered the room, sliding the door shut behind him. "I told you I'm gonna be your healer, so the first thing I gotta do is make sure no one dies before the scouting even happens." Jimin walked in a few minutes later, dressed in yet another set of hoodies and trackkies. His wardrobe is practically identical to Jungkook's, except with less white shirts and more black trackkies. Yoongi walked in right as the food was being served, conversing calmly with an angry male over the phone. He hung up on him, just as the opposite end was in the middle of a long line of rather vulgar words, inciting an uproar from the squad. "Hung the fuck up on that little bitch, you did!" Hoseok cheered. "You're doing! Amazing! Sweetie!" Seokjin gave Yoongi a thumbs up after setting down a plate. "Whatever, you all are so melodramatic." Yoongi scoffed, smiling a little. They dug into the food, clearing the entire table in record time. Jungkook is sure that he's gonna get stomach problems later tonight, but screw it, there's food. As he laid back in the franken-bed with Taehyung later tonight, Jungkook wondered just how time could go so fast. It's a new feeling for him; before, it was always a test to survive until the end of the day, to stare at the clock as the numbers stand frozen. Taehyung sleepily rolled over into Jungkook's torso, softly draping an arm over his chest. It's been so long since he had a nice cuddle buddy; for as long as he could remember, the prospect of having to sleep in the same bed as another male seemed to deter many people from Taehyung, and he would often get teased for sleeping with a plushy. They would amusedly call him a 'fag' for that, but when they found out that Taehyung wasn't kidding when he wanted someone to cuddle, the teasing turned into straight up bullying. No amount of counsellors nor authority figures could do anything to help, not that they bothered anyways. Thus, the situation that the both of them were in at the moment seemed to all just be a stroke of luck. Neither of them wanted to admit it just yet, but it seems like nothing was needed. Despite the way they met, despite the little time they have had together, Jungkook accepts Taehyung, and Taehyung accepts Jungkook. It's an unspoken agreement.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
A large stack of papers were set before Taehyung's ever widening eyes. "I- you mean-," he stuttered out, "I- I gotta, uh, read... all of that?" Jungkook squinted his eyes at the papers as well, chewing on his bottom lip. There was no way in hell that the first thing Sunmi would do upon seeing them was to drop a stack of papers straight from Dante's inferno. He adored the girl, sure, but this was simply too much. Not to mention that it seemed like half the papers were in English, and he scored a whole 4/100 on his test back in high school. Sunmi had shot up as though nothing happened just a few days before the scouting, then proceeded to move with such speed that nobody would suspect she was stabbed a mere few weeks ago. The first thing she did was to drag out a few large briefcases, pulling out four different folders for the four new members of BTS. Then, she gathered the four of them in the common room, placing a folder in front of them each. She didn't say much, but every single person in the room could sense the hours of torture to come. They groaned as the folders were placed before them, running a hand through their hair. Jimin was the only person who actually was on track, surprisingly. He seemed like quite there carefree person from just a glance, always going along with the flow and saying nothing much to object anyone. "Alright. Are these files all the same?" He turned to Sunmi, who nodded. "First eight chapters are the same, and the next two are specific to each person." She said all that real quickly, trying to sound like she's not dying internally, but everyone could tell that she was trying far too hard to not wheeze. "Alright then. We'll each take two chapters, and then share anything of importance in..." Jimin took a look at his watch. "An hour, 'kay? I dibs first two chapters." "Dibs on next two." Seokjin said. "Five and six for me thanks." Taehyung piped up next. "T-then I'm t-t-taking seven... and eight." Jungkook said after everyone else. "Right. Let's aim to finish this before dinner." They all slouched in their seats, lying around in various positions. Jungkook rested back to back with Taehyung, leaning absentmindedly against the couch. Seokjin sat cross legged on the floor, Jimin lying on his lap. How Seokjin always manages to adopt every single sparkly eyed person he meets, Jungkook doesn't know. The family is ever growing. They finished a little before dinner, where they just feasted on ramen and pickles from the comfort of the couch. Seokjin mostly disproved, but to hell if he wanted to cook after reading a good 30k words. Sunmi apologised for the word count, sure, but that wasn't going to stop him being salty about it. *** "Everyone ready?" Namjoon said for the billionth time, with Seokjin checking over their clothes yet again. Jungkook looked to the handgun strapped into his thigh, hidden under his sweatpants. He twirled a switchblade in his hand, other hand playing absentmindedly with his necklace and charms. Taehyung was also playing with his knives, purple handle glinting from the burning sunset and other set of green handles in his pocket. He touched the tiger charm given to him by Jungkook, smiling to himself. Jimin didn't have anything. He says he plays spy, not fighter, so his weapons are mostly just small surgery blades for backup. After a short round of arguing with Seokjin, Jimin sighed and chucked a Swiss knife into his pockets. Seokjin was busily looking over the small collection of various explosives and one single knife he brought. There were so many knife handlers in this group that he didn't think it was necessary to bring another, but protection is always good. The original BTS all have their own specialities, though not too different from the rest of them. Namjoon enjoys handling explosives and various contraptions. His pockets are filled with smoke bombs and grenades and lots of annoyances, though he still carried a handgun in case everything goes to shit. Yoongi is a knife handler. Of course. The daggers he wielded is perfect for his light approach, like a ninja. His hands are full with daggers of mute colours, each with its own unique handle. Hoseok, as cheery as he is, is scary when he gets his hands on a gun. Handguns, rifles, the sorts. Today he carries a handgun on his thigh, not bothering to strap the holster under his clothes. It's visible, but only when he takes off his coat. Hoseok also has a collection of small explosives at his disposal, not lethal, but definitely not safe. It's a good while after 6 that they arrive at the scouting point, Sunmi on the phone with them. She instructed them to stay away, away from the commotion. To not engage if possible, as they were all lightly armed today. The squad stood in silence shortly after they hung up, simply taking in their surroundings from the conveniently placed hill around the base. This place was a mere 1km away from their compound, and thus should be taken down fast in case they were spotted. 1km can be crossed in less than 10 minutes, even faster if they ran. The night air was crisp, a 'snacc', as Jimin put it. They were all glad that Seokjin pestered them to put on a coat, and he was staring them all down with a 'told you so' kind of look. Annoying, but unfortunately not opposable. Namjoon began speaking in a hushed voice. "After today, we'll wait another week before the real deal goes down. First off, what do you guys notice about this place that could be of advantage to us?" "It's small." Jimin said. "Kinda old." Seokjin mentioned. "Looks half abandoned." Taehyung chortled. "Good. Glad you guys aren't oblivious. What I'm thinking of doing at the moment is to just go in and kill everyone. It's too close to us to set off any big bombs, although we could plant a couple small frags." "How about we disarm the weapons first? Like, split this mission into two halves: first we disarm all their guns and shit ASAP, and then go in to kill everyone." Hoseok said, glancing over at the base. "Also, wouldn't it be helpful to get a head count first?" "Good thinking. But I'm thinking that the most effective would be to blow their power generators at night, and do everything quietly. There isn't a lot of people, but it's still likely that they might be able to get backup from another base." Yoongi chided, low voice vibrating in the air. "Everyone has great ideas, but- shit, down!" At the panicked voice of Namjoon, every single person ducked without a question. The hill they stood upon provided not much coverage, but their dark clothing and the relatively tall grass seemed sufficient enough to deter whatever it was that startled Namjoon. Jungkook had his face pressed down into Taehyung's back, for lack of better places to face with everyone bundled together like that. He could feel his peripheral vision brighten though, and could only assume that it was a light of some sort that passed his face. Namjoon stood up after a small while, dusting off himself and everyone else following suit. Taehyung spoke quietly, in contrast to his loud personality. "Uh, should we be worried?" "Well," Namjoon began, "I was actually here a couple nights ago, and it seemed dead enough to scout. Maybe they have lookouts now, or maybe it's something else. Whatever the case, this just means we gotta destroy this base even faster now." Seokjin continued on from Namjoon's point. "Would it be too soon to come back tomorrow, or even the day after? I think we should just split into two groups and have one infiltrate for documents or whatever, while the other plants some bombs and then we all gtfo and blow this place up." "I agree. Originally, I was going to have us come back a week later, after preparing some more, but it seems we don't have much time. If even this place is on guard, then we have every reason to think that the main base is tense." Namjoon said. They left after a good hour of scouting, scanning for weaknesses, infiltration points, taking shitty grainy photos on their phones. Taehyung somehow convinced everyone to take a group selfie, blurred and barely visible under the darkness. That spawned a whole 10 minutes of aggressive photo taking, each refusing to participate in the ruckus but also unwilling to back down. Jungkook is proud to say that he has quite some nice blackmail to go around. Once back at the compound, everyone gathered in the common room without so much as a word, tired and drained from what was meant to be a chill mission. Namjoon then dismissed them, after a short debrief and impromptu debate on whether or not they should use dung bombs for 'funsies', as Jimin so kindly put it. *** Jungkook awoke drenched in cold sweat. Something was so dearly wrong. He could feel his guts twist themselves together and his stomach drop, the need to vomit becoming almost unbearable. What is it? What, what, what? He looked to his side, Taehyung sleeping with his mouth half open and an arm thrown around his face. Taehyung was still here, so that's one down. One more person that he can breath a sigh of relief for. Jungkook slipped out of Taehyung's embrace, shoving on a coat and runners. Put a knife into his pocket for defensive purposes, and a gun just in case. Something was wrong, and Jungkook wasn't going to take any chances. He sprinted to Seokjin and Namjoon's room, peeking his face through their conveniently open window. Still there, thank the lord, albeit a bit awkward, now that Jungkook realised they were latched together like a puzzle piece. It was cute though, at least. Went to Yoongi and Hoseok, knocking gently on their door. A muffled 'come in' sounded, and Jungkook stepped inside tentatively. Both of them were awake, despite the clock displaying '3:00AM' in neon letters. Hoseok was buried in Yoongi's arms, which was pretty cute, but upon closer inspection, they really weren't just cuddling for the sake of it. Hoseok was shaking and teary and trembling like a leaf, mumbling under his breath. "H-Hoseok...?" Jungkook called. "A-are you... you o-okay?" "Had a nightmare, probably. Screaming and crying that something was wrong." Yoongi replied in place of Hoseok, running a hand gently through his hair. "I- oh- I- s-same... so I was, was just c-checking on- on ev-everyone... just in- in case." At this, Hoseok suddenly stood up and stopped crying, though his eyes were still red and his face somewhat puffy. "They- he- they just! Jungkook, if I was to hypothetically not be around anymore-," "W-Wait- uh- co-could you... explain wh-what you saw? I- I didn't have a v-vision, just a b-bad feeling." "Everyone's dead, Jungkook. Every single one of them. All of them! Gone, dead, I don't know! You, me, I just- I can't! Save them, please! Don't let anyone out of your sight. Nobody believes me, but you have to, please, Jungkook." "I-I b-believe y...you, don't w-worry." "Thank you. Thank you, thank you! That reminds me, does anyone here happen to have pink hair? I dunno if it's important, but like, I have a bad feeling about it." "N-not that I- can r-remember." "Alright. Okay, that's good. Now get some sleep, kid. I'm sorry for keeping you up." "O-okay, good... goodnight." "Night." Jungkook waved goodbye, stepping out and closing the door. He was tired, so tired, but didn't want to go to sleep before checking on Jimin first. Everyone else was safe, which was great, but Jungkook still had the horrible feeling in his stomach. Walked quickly to Jimin's room, cursing at himself for dressing so lightly despite the obviously freezing weather. He saw the light still on, dimly filtering past the curtains and a small voice, humming some random tune. Jungkook raised a hand to knock gently on the door, but was suddenly overcome with a dreadful sense of nausea. Something was definitely wrong here. Jungkook drew out his gun, loading two bullets into the magazine and placing it back into his pocket. His other hand grasped the knife tightly, hiding it underneath his oversized sleeves. Knocked lightly on the door, and suddenly all was quiet. The humming stopped, and the lights dimmed. Jungkook wasn't sure if he should call out, bust through, or just leave, but he had to make sure Jimin was alright. Maybe then the feeling would go away. "J-Jiminie...? A-are you... you okay?" At that, the door creaked open slowly. Jungkook swears his heart would burst at any second now, it was thumping so hard in his chest. "Who is it?" A voice called, but it sounded as though it came from behind him. No, from his side? The voice was coming from everywhere, everywhere but inside the room. "I-it's Jungkook." "Oh, come in Jungoo. Thought you were someone else." Jimin never called him 'Jungoo'. No one ever called him 'Jungoo'. Jungkook lightly made his way inside, keeping one foot on the door and a hand on each weapon. He was not about to let himself be in the first five minutes of a Supernatural episode. A petite figure sat on a stool, facing a mirror. Jungkook didn't know what, or why, or how, but his stomach was practically begging to be thrown up as he looked at the figure. The figure turned around, a small smile plastered on. "Hey Jeon, whatcha up so late for?" There it was again, that disembodied voice. 'Jimin's' mouth was moving, but the sounds were coming from everywhere but there. "J-Ji-Jimin, why's y-yo-our hair... p-ink?" "What do you mean? I've had this colour for ages now. Is it really that bad? You're stuttering so much. And how many times do I need to remind you to call me Minnie?" But Jimin hates being called 'Minnie'. "I- oh- never mind. I sh-should go t-t-to bed now. S-see you t-t...tomorrow!" "Night muscle bun." Jungkook stepped out and closed the door quickly, sprinting as casually as possible back to his room. Back into Taehyung's embrace. Back, back to where it's safe. He was crying now, head aching and chest burning. Scared beyond belief because that wasn't real. It couldn't be, it wasn't real it was a dream and everything will be okay in the morning. He'll wake up in Taehyung's face or pressed against his back and go down to the common room for breakfast and Jimin will come, blonde hair and grey hoodie, 10 minutes after everyone and apologise profusely for being late despite there being no set breakfast time. That Jimin, the one with pink hair, that wasn't real. That wasn't Jimin.
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Jimin was cold. It was so cold and barren and disgustingly empty. So blank, so spacious. The gaps between his thoughts are thin lines of empty space, bleeding out into the crevices. His hair, overtaken by a sweet shade of shitty pink dye. His eyes cloudy, yet somehow focused. Jimin didn't know what was happening. His voice doesn't sound like his, his face didn't feel like his, and his mind didn't think like his. When was his hair pink? Last time he remembered, it was blond. A colour so vibrant, so far away from pink, a colour that can only be described as though the sun fell for sea. A bright blond shade with tinges of coolness, not anywhere near the strawberry colour on his head. He can't remember. He can't remember anything. But how could it be? He's taken his meds, he's gone through the therapy, it hasn't taken over in years. Nothing even remotely traumatising has happened in the past few years. Jimin made sure of that. Nothing triggering has even been let into his sight, so why is it showing up now? 'Jimothy', as he dubbed it. His main personality switch. Creepy and cocky and polar opposites to Jimin, but also a real smooth guy who enjoys being called chummy nicknames. How a personality could be bipolar is a mystery in itself, one that Jimin is not willing to bother with. The biggest problem at the moment however, is not how he would show up to breakfast tomorrow, pink hair and faded memory, but rather what he was doing outside Jungkook and Taehyung's room at 3 in the morning. Jimin had no recollection of what happened from the moment they came back from the scouting, all the way until this moment, where he stood in a pair of boxers and a T-shirt, freezing his ass off. Maybe Jimothy didn't get cold, but Jimin sure did. And to hell with it if he wasn't going to complain, even if it's to himself. He didn't want to look like a creeper (although he already does), so Jimin just kinda... backed away and went to his room, thinking of what to say to everyone tomorrow. It was there that he found his old bullet journal, open to a new page and a whole essay of words sprawled onto it with a horribly drippy pen. The book sent the buried memories back into his brain, of a time when he was constantly switching personalities. Jimin had devised this as a way to keep track of his thoughts, because he couldn't remember anything and living life with holes all throughout often isn't fun. He would write what happened into this book, and keep it on him at all times. That way, if he were to suddenly change, there would be a memory bank at the ready. Jimin hasn't written in it for a while now, having not switched for a few years and thinking he was cured. Bad move, but the hope, the joy, the rush of happiness he got from the illusion of health was all the worth it. His eyes traced over the spotty page, growing more horrified as the words went on. - Jimothy here. I still think it's a stupid name, by the way.I see you haven't written in here for a while, Jimin. - To any normal person, this would be incredibly unsettling already. But Jimin made a pact with himself to only write as though the other personality was a whole new person, to not refer to it as himself, as 'I' or 'me'. It's more fun to act as though you're pen pals with yourself. - I kinda missed you, honestly. It's gotta have been a good few years since I was sentient, yeah? My memory has a huge chunk of black in it from that time after you half concussed yourself. Anyhoo, it's great to be back. I see you're still wearing those horrible hoodies? Why. It's only 16 degrees, for heavens sake. T-shirt and shorts are the way to go!Also, I didn't like your hair so I made a few modifications. Nothing big, I'm more surprised that you even had hair dye in your bag. - Yeah, why exactly did he have dye in his bag in the first place? - Your friend, the Jungkook guy, he came around at like 3 this morning. Dunno what for, kinda asked you why ur hair was all pink and stuff. I felt like being creepy so I pretended I always had this colour, then his face paled and he dashed tf outta here.Did you do something? That kiddo was practically hyperventilating. He looked worried, Minnie. - God, there's that horrific nickname. Minnie. So disgusting and childish. What was he, a Disneyland mascot? Disneyland has traumatised him enough already. - If I were you I'd go check on him tmr. And you should tell them about me. I'm not gonna go away if you just pretend I don't exist, sweets. I literally am you.He's realllll pretty though. I'm gonna go try find him and take a few pictures. Or maybe jump him. Probably jump him.I'm kidding! Maybe just a peck tho. Peace out, ya boi truely. - Right. So that's why he was standing like a stalker outside Jungkook's room just then. Thank the lord that he switched back, because who knows what would've happened if he had stayed like that for just a bit longer. It's nearing 5 now, ever so slight peeks of sunlight glowing from beyond the horizon. Jimin only just felt the exhaustion tide over him, practically dragging him onto his bed. He'll deal with all this tomorrow. *** Both Jungkook and Hoseok were looking really uncomfortable. "Chim! Your hair!" Taehyung cheerily yelled as always, running over to jump on Jimin as soon as he came through the door. "Yeah, I- um- I dyed it last night because I felt like a change. You know, in case something happens to me. I wanted to have a slay hair colour at least. Yeah, that's it." "Chiiiimmm. We are all going to come back from this alive, okay! It's not even a big base, and there's like, what, 20 people all together? We'll be fine. Don't worry." Seokjin came out from the kitchen with a plate of toast and Namjoon wrapped around his waist, earning quite a few whistles from everyone. From Hoseok especially. "Jiminie! You look like a mochi! Can you not be so cute! I'm dying!" Seokjin gasped, setting down the plate to squish Jimin's face. Jungkook had breathed a sigh of relief when Jimin came in, clad in another black hoodie and sweatpants like he always used to. The hair still unsettled him though, although Jimin was acting more normal now. No trace of the disembodied voice or unfocussed eyes. As everyone sat down and began eating, Jimin suddenly coughed and stood up. "Um, so you know how we're gonna be raiding later tonight? I just, um... thought you guys should know something about me first." "You sound tense. Sit down and have a drink, you don't have to worry because we'll accept you no matter what." Namjoon gestured for him to sit down. "So long as you're not into incest or pedophilia." "Yeah, everything is chill. Are you okay Chim?" Taehyung added, puppy eyes at the ready. "Yeah, it's just, I-... well, just thought you should know that I have a mental disorder. It's not- it's nothing- nothing big, I just- it's just- it suddenly acted up again yesterday. I- I didn't- can't think of anything that could've triggered it, but- um- please..." Jimin trailed off at the end of that, suddenly ashamed to be facing everyone. Jungkook still had a horrible feeling in his stomach, but he thought that he shouldn't be making wild accusations without the facts first. He had a theory, but it's best to confirm it officially. "Um... c-could you, b-by any- any chance... have- um- multiple p-p-personalities?" "Oh, yeah, I- yeah. Dissociative Identity Disorder. Please don't hate me, it wasn't like- like I wanted to keep it from you guys, I just- I just kinda didn't think it was necessary because it hasn't happened in so long. I'm sorry. I swear I-, I thought I was cured." "Oh, I- I see. Th-thank you. I just- I had a h-horrible feeling l-last night and when I went t-to your room y-you s-sounded like a d-disembodied voice- voice and I was j-just really- really scared." "Oh, I- I'm sorry. I'll try to get Jimothy to tone it down." "Guys I think I'm psychic. GUYS. I had a vision last night that someone was gonna have pink hair. Y'ALL." Hoseok yelled, conveniently leaving out the 'everyone's dead or missing' part of his vision. "Lovely. We don't care about your vision Hoseok. Anyways Jimin, thank you for telling us this. Just as a precaution, is there anything particularly dangerous about your disorder? Say, you have a third hidden personality that's murderous- oh, I'm sorry. I think that sounded kinda insensitive." Namjoon coughed awkwardly after his last sentence. Jimin didn't particularly think that Namjoon was coming off as rude, but he was thankful for such a thoughtful person as his leader. Usually people would just tell him to fuck off until he's back to being Jimin again. "Oh, so far I'm pretty sure that Jimothy is my only alter. He's a kinda cocky guy, so I apologise in advance. Jim is a good guy at heart though, I hope. He's more aggressive than me in terms of fighting, and handles explosives whereas I prefer negotiating with knives. I don't really think there's anything dangerous about him, the only thing really is if I suddenly switch during the mission, because I can't remember things that happen when I am my alter." "Chim, it's okay if you don't want to talk about it, but what triggers your switches? Like, I know that this personality game is caused by trauma, but I have no idea how you switch personalities afterwards. Does something have to trigger it or can you like, call it?" Taehyung furrowed his brows, picking at a splinter in the wooden table. "Right, so, my thing happened a long time ago so I'm somewhat fine with talking about it, but most people don't like being asked that. You didn't do anything wrong though, I'm just saying. I tend to switch when I'm stressed or feeling real strong emotions, which is pretty much why I'm single. Can't stand the whole love thing and then Jim takes over, which generally isn't appreciated by the Jimin lovers. Also the smell of alcohol and blood really gets me down. That's all that I know so far." "W-Wait, um- how did- did y-you switch last n-night, if you- you don't mind me as-asking?" Jungkook said. "Cut myself while I was sharpening my knives, then Jim took over and did this shit to my hair." "But you're slaying it though!" Hoseok cheered. It looked like he wasn't nearly as uncomfortable anymore, now that Jimin has told everyone about his disorder. "Aww thanks queen!" "Yikes, the language nowadays." Namjoon laughed and shook his head. "Well, everyone should dig in and eat lots. We're going out again at 6pm so make sure to stock up on food. Here's hoping that we finish by midnight." After the food was wiped clean from the plates, everyone resumed their activities back in their rooms. Jungkook, being the fit gym hoe he is, went for a quick run around the compound. Taehyung cheered him on from within their room, yelling through the windows when Jungkook ran past. 5 kilometres and 20 minutes later, Jungkook walked through their doors and began polishing the rest of his guns. Taehyung brought out a can of deodorant as soon as he realised Jungkook was back, and began spraying him, yelling at him for tracking body odour into their holy cabin. He then casually went back to sharpening his knives, chatting every so often with Jungkook. The hours passed fairy quickly, everyone gathered up again in the common room in no time. Namjoon, once again, began giving a pep talk that was closer to a speech, which nobody really paid full attention to. It wasn't like they were gonna die or anything, right? Soon later, they stood outside the enemy base, on the same hill they scouted at. "Y'all ready?" Hoseok asked.
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"Ready as ever!" Jimin announced with a grin on his face. He seemed to have recovered quite well from the whole stuttering mess he was earlier."Alright. Y'all know what to do, yeah?" Hoseok turned to ask them. Then, without waiting for an answer, he pointed to the gates and continued. "Split up and check back after each stage. Stay quiet otherwise.""Alright. Go in on 3." Namjoon said, counting down casually.As the numbers went closer to zero, Jungkook couldn't help but grimace. The bad feeling was back again, and this time worse than before."W-Wait. I- I don't f-feel... feel too good a-about this. Could- could we- we all j-just... b-be careful? P-please.""Oh, so it wasn't just me who was on the verge of vomiting." Hoseok cringed. "I have a super shit feeling too. Y'all please be careful - watch your backs at all times. I saw someone get kidnapped before, last night, in a dream. And it wasn't just a dream, okay? It felt so real, and I literally was crying when I woke up. Didn't even realise I was dreaming for a good 10 minutes.""Alright then. Everyone, just because this is a small scale invasion doesn't mean you can drop your guards." Namjoon looked each member in the eye one by one, having taken Hoseok more seriously than before. "Now, let's go."Jungkook set out with Taehyung, the two of them going in the same direction. He stopped a few hundred meters away from the gates, beginning to set up his rifle."Tae, p-please be c-care-careful. Don't d-die o-on m-me.""I won't. I've got your charm, see? I have to return it so I can't die!" He waved, almost tripping down the hill but didn't.Jungkook wanted to scream that it was okay, that he didn't need to return it, but the words wouldn't come. He didn't know why a small scale invasion like this was tapping his wires so much, but it just was. He really had a horrible feeling about this.After setting up his rifle, pulling out the magazine for the millionth time even though he knows that the ammo is in there, he laid down in the grass and turned on his intercom."J-Jungkook here. R-read-dy to snipe."Taehyung followed shortly with a similar message. "It's Tae, I'm just out the east gates. No guards. Ready for instruction.""Jin here, all good at the west gate. No guards and no lights." He said, a good couple minutes later.Hoseok and Yoongi tuned in later, each at their respective gates."Hobi on the line. Ready as ever. Watchtowers are clear, but I had to take down a dude. He ain't dead tho.""Yoongi. I've got the south gates. All clear."Namjoon took the longest to reply, though not by that much."It's Namjoon. I'm all good here."Jimin was the last to reply."Right, Jimin here. Play the 'help me I'm dying' card, yeah?""Yeah. Everyone else, wait for Jimin's cue." Namjoon said.Jimin was at the north gate, ready to cry his way into the control room. He left his mic on, just for funs sake, so the rest of the squad can hear what's going on. Jimin made sure to hide it in his pockets though."Going in now. I'm leaving my mic on." He said, then began limping towards the sole guard at the shittily barred gate.Jimin whimpered, a fat tear rolling down his face as he wiped it away with a dirty hand. As soon as he was close enough to be heard by the guard, he began to tremble agonisingly and drag himself towards the guard."P-please. Can you- do- do you- I- please- help." He cried, straining his neck to look at the guard, who seemed to be having a mental debate as to what to do."I- uh-," he reached into his breast pocket to press a button, presumably for his mic. "Bro? There's an injured dude at north. What do I do?"Jimin breathed heavily, exaggerating his shaking by tenfold. "I just- can- I need- need a- just a place- t-to lie for a bit. And maybe- some p-painkillers."The guard pressed his lips into a thin line, hand on his earpiece. Jimin took this time to slowly pull himself into a sitting position, leaning heavily on the guy's boots. That seemed to be the breaking point for him, as he knelt down in front of Jimin and gently put a hand on his shoulder."Uh, right. I'll- um... bring you to the health centre. Just, can you- um... stand up?""I- Ye-yeah, I'll-," Jimin said, making sure to act as though he was choking back tears. "I'll try."He then pushed himself up shakily, hanging tightly onto the man's arms. Jimin clung on to the taut muscle beneath the bomber jacket, placing his head onto the guard's shoulder.As they came closer to what Jimin assumed was the health centre, he gently fingered the small blade up his sleeve, ready to call for Jimothy as soon as the coast was clear. The guard bought Jimin into an empty room, set with a few beds, then turned his back to make a call.Before he could even reach for his radio, Jimin calmly walked up and pricked him in the neck with a fast acting tranquilliser, then a muscle paralyser once he had heaved the man onto a bed. Jimin felt really bad taking people down, so his way of fighting was to simply just knock them out.He took the jacket from the guard, as well as his weapons and radio. Jimin didn't want to keep the radio on him, in case it's bugged, so he quickly pried it open with a knife and cut every single wire in it. Then he just chucked it in the trash."I'm sorry man, you were real nice." Jimin whispered, patting the guard's cheeks.He padded his way through the hallways like a cat, quiet and nimble. More than once he had walked past someone who didn't even look at him, either because he was wearing the clothes he stole from the guard, or maybe Jimin was just that good.He struggled quite a bit to find the control room, whispering 'sorry' through his intercom whenever he got the chance, blaming the delay on himself. 10 minutes and what seemed like at least 20 kilometres later, Jimin came across a heavily protected door that's labeled 'control' in big, white, letters. How convenient.Jimin placed his small hands onto the lock, turning his head to watch for any incoming people. He fiddled with it for a while, before giving up and whipping out the machinery (a bolt cutter). He, as quietly as possible, snapped the chains on the lock, sliding his way through the small gap the heavy door left."I'm in." Jimin whispered, turning a corner to find the room empty. "But wait a bit longer."He walked up to the large panel, eyes immediately drawn to the big, red button. Without even thinking twice, he pressed down on it. That's when he realised that maybe, just maybe he should've checked what the button does first, before pressing it.Luckily it was the exact thing he was looking for - the one that disables every single power source apart from the emergency ones.As the room around him shrouded in darkness, replaced by the dim emergency lights soon after, Jimin turned on his mic again and strapped it back onto his face. "It's done. You guys can all proceed.""Excellent." Namjoon said.Yoongi was gone in a flash, sprinting around the base as though he was on drugged ice skates. He practically glided through the place, graceful and deadly. Unfortunately, Yoongi wasn't one to leave any traces behind, so all who came across him were silenced through death. But a quick death (knife straight through their brain stem), because Yoongi isn't that evil.He was in and out of most of the rooms in a matter of minutes, finally finding the stash of confidential files behind a hidden doorway, masked by a bookshelf. A classic.Namjoon met up with Seokjin soon enough, only giving a curt nod before setting out on their own paths again.Namjoon took the entire eastern side of the base, walking through the concrete paths as though he owned the place. Every now and then, he would turn around to throw a remote controlled explosive down, pressing them into the dirt.Seokjin was handling the western side, going smoothly as can be before a man came before him."Who are you. I don't seem to remember your face." He said, voice laced with suspicion."Here to deliver medication. Could you be so kind as to point me the way to your medical station? I seem to have gotten quite lost, unfortunately.""We shouldn't have any deliveries today. What is your purpose.""No, seriously. I have medication. Here, don't believe me?" Seokjin reached into his coat and pulled out about a thousand different vials, some filled with a colourful liquid, others with powder. Of course, most of them were small, handmade explosives, but it wasn't as though the guard was going to know, yeah?As the man stared at him with venom in his eyes, Seokjin couldn't help but groan. This clearly wasn't going to end without a fight.So he slapped the man on the back goodheartedly, sticking a small electrical bomb onto his back. Seokjin pressed a button inside his jacket, and looked on contentedly as the man fell before him.Seokjin continued on cheerfully, throwing bombs behind him and occasionally kicking some over with dirt.Taehyung was on the same route as Yoongi, also searching around for anything that could be important. He wasn't met with many enemies, which was great in itself, however he couldn't help but think that everything was going too smoothly.Perhaps the most bored of all of them were Hoseok and Jungkook. Hoseok paraded atop the walls, walking to each watchtower again only to find them obviously empty, then sliding in through the windows in order to disable any potential alarms.There is only so much that he can do, as Namjoon didn't want any guns around in case the noise alerted anyone. Although Hoseok argued that he had a suppressor equipped, he himself knew full well that a suppressor barely silences anything.Jungkook was even more bored. He was told to just hang on the sideline and watch through his scope, giving people instructions if they required. He couldn't shoot anyone, he couldn't afford to not focus, and he couldn't just join the rest either.Sometimes he regrets being a sniper, though mostly he doesn't. Distance gives him an advantage that others can't have, which is perfect for someone who can't stand touches from strangers. Jungkook was also in the same situation as Hoseok, where the noise from the gun was surely going to compromise their mission. Although rifles are much quieter than handguns, it was still pretty useless when it comes to missions like these, where silence is their best friend.Jimin was still sitting inside the control room, waiting for everyone to signal their finish, which then he would interfere with the database and wipe everything from the connected networks. A sound from behind him made the hairs on his neck stand up as he turned around, hands ready to be thrown."Now, now. What are we so aggressive for? It's me!" The figure said, walking into a ray of blue emergency lights. A face much resembling Jungkook's came out, though not quite. Jimin couldn't put a finger on what it was, but he was sure that this person isn't Jungkook. He's dangerous."Oh, Kookie. It's just you." Jimin smiled, playing along with the fake Jungkook. "You scared me there.""Ah, sorry about that. Anyways, Namjoon wanted me to tell you to start shutting everything down now. They're almost done with the bombs."Right. This kid is lying, and he's a horrible liar too.But Jimin wasn't sure what his purpose was, so he could only really play along at this point. "Oh? The west side too? I thought he said to leave it clear in case something malfunctions?""Oh, yeah, nah. West side is all empty.""Right. I'll get started then."Jimin kept an eye on fake Jungkook all the while he was hacking, purposefully making errors in his code to see if Jungkook would pipe up. Jungkook always took every single chance to tease Jimin, still sounding sarcastic over his stutters.But of course, fake Jungkook didn't."Shouldn't you go back now? I thought you said you never left your bazooka alone? Besides, Joon told you to stay on watch out." "Bazoo-? Oh, yeah. Don't worry about it. I made sure to hide it well."Jimin was 100% sure he wanted the fake Jungkook away now. If not away from everyone else, then away from him at least. This Jungkook was giving him the creeps."Right bitch. Who are you really? Because you aren't the Jungkook I know for sure.""I- what do you mean? I am Jungkook.""Then you should've known that today is our 2 month anniversary. I've been waiting for something all day now!""Oh- uh- sorry... babe...? I'll give you something later tonight, promise.""And where's your accent?""Oh, so it's my fault I speak differently depending on the situation, huh?"Jimin shook his head. "Your dumbass couldn't even get some decent information before impersonating him? Do you really think that his straight ass would date a guy? Kookie literally stutters so badly, and he would probably die before taking a bazooka on a mission.""I- what- ugh. You know what, you got me. I really aren't Jungkook." Fake Jungkook said, stepping closer to Jimin again. The ever increasing closeness of the two unsettled Jimin. He had to get away, because as soon as fake Jungkook was within grabbing range, Jimin was sure that he would try to tranquillise him or something."Great, so who are you?" Jimin suddenly remembered his mic, and thought it would be a good idea to turn it on. He scratched his face, other hand sliding onto his hips to press the button.“Ah! We can’t have you pressing buttons here, now can we?” Fake Jungkook said, hands going inside his pockets to pull out a set of darts. The tips were coated in a dripping liquid, something Jimin could only hope was not venom.Jimin smashed his hands down onto the mic, turning it on and yelling with desperation as a dart flew in his general direction.“Fuckguyshelpmeimbeingattac-,” He didn’t get to finish his sentence despite the speed at which he talked, as a dart flew lovingly into his neck.Jimin’s world swayed around him, speckles of black dancing in his vision as he fell to the floor, the voices of the squad coming through all at once.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Jimin tried to cut himself.As soon as he woke up, fake Jungkook was there in front of him. His back against the wall, his small frame trapped underneath fake Jungkook's muscular arms, and most uncomfortably of all, fake Jungkook's thigh pressed against his own."Good morning kitten, had a nice nap?"Jimin almost physically cringed.He felt for the small blade up his sleeve, more than ready to call Jimothy out to take over, only to find it gone. Fake Jungkook must've noticed Jimin's expression, though he really did try to keep a poker face, as he just ran his finger along Jimin's jaw and whispered hotly into his ears."Oh kitten, we can't have you hurting yourself, now can we? The merchandise should be kept absolutely flawless.""May I have your name, fake Jungkook? I'd rather not have to associate you with a dear friend of mine." He said defiantly, trying to somehow melt into the cold wall behind him. Maybe Jimin should consider taking up transfiguration in his next life."Well, I'd rather you not have my name, but you're welcome to refer to me as Zeus. I do identify with him quite a lot.""Oh, a womaniser? Okay then, I think I'll call you Dickweed from now on."Zeus remained silent at that, eyeing Jimin with a dark storm in his eyes. It was at that moment that Jimin knew he fucked up, but at least, in his heart, he went down gloriously.Zeus walked over to the large monitors, which leaves Jimin with the question of 'where the hell is he?', because although this place looks like the control room he was in before being kidnapped, Jimin was almost certain that Zeus wouldn't do something so amateurish. Jimin knew he wasn't perceptive enough to figure out where he was just from a few monitors and a closed window that was probably only the size of his hands anyways, so he just resorted to staring at Zeus's casual typing.Strings of numbers and incoherent letters flashed on the screen as Zeus typed away, the neon lights hurting Jimin's eyes. He could make out a few commands with what little coding knowledge he had, because, at the age of 12, Jimin genuinely wanted to be a hacker.All he could make out from those never ending scripts was nothing, unfortunately. Nothing that could be of use to Jimin.Jimin yawned, attempting to stretch out his limbs and hopefully make some noise by kicking the furniture around him. He wondered why Zeus didn't tie him up, like the kidnappings always present in dramatic plays, but he soon realised that there was no need to. Jimin couldn't bring his limbs to move at all. He was practically paralysed from the limb down."Hey Dickweed, just a question, how did you paralyse every part of me except for my torso and head? Im asking for scientific purposes.""Figure it out yourself."And that's what Jimin did, and pretty quickly too. He soon dragged his eyes across a few totally not obvious needle marks, complete with purple blossoms and red spots around his biceps, and Jimin could assume from that that there were more of those on his legs too.Zeus turned to Jimin and walked over, radiating a highly threatening aura about him. He pulled Jimin up and sat him in the leather chair, right on top of his lap.Jimin grimaced. It's time to call out the Jimothy.Of course, with practically everything paralysed, there wasn't much he could do to draw blood except to bite himself, so Jimin bit down on the inside of his mouth hard enough to bring tears to his eyes. It was painful, but it worked.Red spots filled his vision as he struggled to breath, his heart beating at what seemed like an impossibly fast rate. Drops of cold sweat began forming on his forehead, and his mind went blank as a figure, Jimothy, fist bumped him mentally.Zeus furrowed his eyebrows as he hesitantly paused the video call he was making to what hopefully was the members of BTS, prodding Jimin in the side."You... um... you okay?""Good as new!" Jimin (Jimothy) said, very unaware of what was happening and why he was sitting in the lap of someone who looks like Jungkook but isn't and where he was but he still played along to the best of his abilities."Right then." Zeus resumed the call, typing away with one hand to disable any firewalls their phones may have.Soon enough, the call connected, and frantic faces of everyone showed up on the big screen in front of them."Jiminie! Are you injured anywhere? Are you- you're- sitting in his... lap?" Taehyung said, pressing the phone against his face."Nah, all Gucci." Jimothy said, finger gunning internally as he soon realised he was paralysed in every limb. "Just paralysed from the neck down. And I was forced to, for your information."That totally set Taehyung off, and so Seokjin took the phone gently away from him, connecting it onto a bigger monitor whilst Yoongi holds Taehyung's camera steady. He had insisted on recording the video call, in the case that something could be of use to them. The squad was all gathered in the control room of the now empty enemy base, having exterminated pretty much everyone just an hour prior.Namjoon then proceeded to do most of the talking, in a way that sounds far more dignified and formal than a situation like this calls for."Alright, before things spiral out of control, what is your name and purpose here?" Namjoon said, smiling from his mouth but not his eyes."His name is Bitchface." Jimothy chimed, eager to let his thoughts be known. "And he would just love to be referred to as that.""Oh, so I've upgraded from Dickweed now? Anyways, I'm Zeus, and I'm sure y-,""Okay Bitchface, why do you have Jimin?" Taehyung asked, eyes narrowing.Zeus glared at him, continuing his speech but this time with the guest appearance of a totally not dangerous knife in his hands."So, you must have already guessed that I have your little friend here with me. Rest assured, he's being treated fairly well, but I cannot guarantee that if you do not meet a few of my conditions.""Don't listen to him, Bitchface is too scared to hurt even a fly. I'll be the one fucking him when I get my limbs back." Jimothy turned his head around to fake a bite on Zeus's neck, but his actions ultimately failed when Zeus played along and kissed him full on the lips for real."Don't even think for a second that I won't rape you just because you're a guy." Zeus spat, maintaining a voice loud enough for everyone on both sides of the call to hear.At the mention of that, Jungkook began to tremble and disappear from the video call's field of vision. Upon noticing, Yoongi immediately bent down to comfort Jungkook, a gentle hand rubbing circles into his back.Jimothy cried internally."Dammit. And I was saving that kiss for a hot girl too."Zeus continued on with his threats, ignoring the remark that Jimin just made."So anyways. My conditions. You guys have a few choices in this, although everything will lead to your eventual demise. First off, you give up what you're doing. Stop interfering with my god damn domination plans, and fuck off somewhere to await your fate. If you do that, I'll return your boy.""You say 'your' plans, but everything considered you're just a poor little pawn for Noire, aren't you?" Hoseok remarked, still maintaining his million dollar grin despite the situation.Actually, everyone was taking this situation extremely lightly. Everyone except for Jungkook, who was still having a slight attack. Jimin was joking around despite being threatened with rape, Hoseok looks as though he would start laughing any moment now, Namjoon is exasperated but not serious at all, Yoongi's still Yoongi, Seokjin's just chilling in a seat he stole, and Taehyung-Oh, Taehyung's gone.A brief moment of panic ensued for Namjoon, because despite the little time he's spent with the boy he knows for sure that Taehyung is the daydreamer type of person. A wanderer, if you must. The slightly air headed kind of people who gets lost easily, who seem low maintenance but drain you in a way that is silent yet deadly.But then again, that is also a virtue.Not long passed before Taehyung's sharp eyes and soft gaze showed up in the background of the video call, his figure melting in with the shadows. Zeus didn't notice, he's a dense little fucker, but Jimothy sure did.Zeus continued with his totally threatening words, still completely oblivious to the smiling Taehyung slowly creeping up towards him."Second, you come over here to offer yourselves up as test subjects for our loving scientists. Naturally, he-," Zeus pointed at Jimin with the hilt of his knife. "-is going to be one as well."Taehyung was almost right behind him now, his hands clasped on an open butterfly knife."And finally, you can continue on with your mission, but ultimately fail and end up dead. I'll give you a few minutes to discuss your choice, but-,"Then Taehyung lunged forwards, slashing clean through Zeus's right tricep muscle. That earned him a pained screech, and laughter from the squad. Taehyung took this moment to pull Jimin off of Zeus's lap, sitting him down somewhere nearby.He then stabbed a little something into Zeus's neck, pushing the needle into an artery. He injected the entire syringe of clear liquid into Zeus, and stepped back as his body struggled for a bit but quickly fell lifelessly to the ground; not dead, just unconscious."Oh yeah, do I kill him, take him, or leave him?" Taehyung said, turning to the video call."Girl! You are slaying this alright?" Jimothy piped up from the corner, still unable to move.Taehyung finger gunned, winking exaggeratedly at Jimin.“If you can, take him with you. We’ll meet you at the north gate.” Namjoon said. “Do you need any help getting them both?”“It’s okay, my legs are regaining their feelings.” Jimothy said, managing to wiggle his legs ever so slightly. “Gimme a couple minutes, and I’ll also let Jimin take over now.”“Alright then. Stay safe!” Hoseok said.Taehyung waved at the screen, watching as it faded to black after the call ended.“Jimin? Or are you still Jimothy?” Taehyung asked.“Still Jimothy. Minnie Mouse isn’t convinced that things are safe, so I’m gonna keep going for a bit. By the way, how did you know where we- I was?”“Oh, I lost my phone. I didn’t want to bother other people so I just pickpocketed Kook’s phone, and located it. Then I tapped the speakers and realised that you were literally 2 minutes away. And before you ask, I didn’t want to tell the others because I wanted to use them as a decoy, and they were already chatting with Bitchface anyways.”“Damn son, that’s really impressive.”“Your leg’s back yet?”“Yeah. Help me up for a sec, my arms are still not okay.”Taehyung gently took Jimothy’s limp arm over his shoulder, hoisting him up by the waist. Jimothy shook out his legs, looking quite strange with his arms hanging lifelessly off the side of his torso.“Take the bitch, I’ll be fine walking.”“You sure?” Taehyung asked, picking Zeus up over his shoulder once Jimothy nodded.Together, they walked in something that was practically the opposite of an awkward silence. Taehyung seemed to get along so well with Jimothy, and Jimothy with Taehyung. It was like they just clicked together somehow, in a platonic way at least. They were talking and talking, all the way until they reached the gates.“Ah, you guys made it back in one piece!” Seokjin cheered.“Y-you had me w-w-worried for a s-second t-there.” Jungkook grinned, patting Taehyung on the shoulder.Taehyung felt his face flush, and thanked the gods that it was dark. He made a mental note to start maybe wearing foundation around Jungkook.The squad then proceeded to make their way back to the compound, but barely even made it a third of the way before both Jungkook and Hoseok suddenly froze.Jungkook bent down, clutching his head in what seemed like excruciating pain. He groaned under his breath, falling to his knees and having a small panic attack.Hoseok wasn’t any better off either, positively sweating buckets as he flinched at every sound, no matter how small. He breathed heavily, becoming numb to the arms comforting him.“I- Kook, Hobi, what’s going on?” Taehyung asked. He threw Zeus onto the ground, but kept him nearby.“Hold on, I’m getting a very bad feeling about this.” Jimothy said, looking around uneasily. “There’s seven of you guys, yeah?”“Yeah, I’ll do a headcount.” Taehyung scanned his eyes across the squad, counting them one by one until he came to a halt.Someone’s missing.“Chim- wait, you’re still Jimothy, yeah?”“Yeah, it’s me. Am I blind or is there only six of you guys left?”Namjoon soon joined their sides, Hoseok and Jungkook now feeling slightly better. Still messed up, but not as badly.“Alright, so I’m here, Seokjin is too, there’s Jungkook and Hoseok, you and Jimi- Jimothy, and Yoon-,” Namjoon stopped short, bringing his hand up to do another count.Jungkook stumbled over to them, clutching onto Taehyung’s shoulder for support.“G-guys, w-whe-where’s... where’s Yoon-Yoongi?”