Work Text:
It was the best of times, the worst of crimes
-
A pair of keys soar through the air, carving out an arc against the purpling sky. A fist closes around them, snatching them from out of the air.
“You know the drill.”
She nods once, a subtle tilt of her head and in return, receives one of her own. An exchange made, a price agreed.
“Don’t get a scratch on my ride.”
“When have I ever?” comes the amused reply, the corner of her lip twitching upwards at the ridiculous notion.
“Touché.”
-
She leans languidly against her ride, legs crossed at the ankles and hands buried in the pockets of her trousers, cutting an inconspicuous figure amongst the assortment of people—albeit important people—milling around the area. She seems nonchalant, bored even by her company, unintimidated by the fast cars they drove, the expensive jewellery or designer brands that they adorned. She cares not for these ostentatious displays of wealth but rather, wonders if their wealth served as an armour of sorts, hiding their flaws and identities behind the bright shimmer of diamonds, an impenetrable barrier to outside eyes. As she mulls over this thought, she decides they might have something in common after all.
Her lips quirk, curving into an amused smile.
Though everything about her seemed lax and uncaring, her eyes are bright and sharp, scanning the crowd, darting back and forth, resting her attention of each one of them long enough to confirm their identity before moving on to the next.
Glancing down at the watch upon her wrist, she notes that she is early.
(She always is.)
Half an hour has passed since she’d first gotten here, but it didn’t matter, she was patient—in her line of work, she has to be.
The second-hand ticks steadily, sweeping across the white clock face that is etched at logical intervals with black bars. Although it was part of the requirements, she would’ve worn one anyway, she enjoys the simplicity of an analogue watch too much.
Her attention returns to the crowd, and finally spots the individual she’s been waiting for.
Kicking off the side of the sleek Maserati, she tilts her neck from side to side and rolls her shoulders, stretching out the sluggishness that had gathered there from her idleness. Fingers slide down the front of her tailored suit, gliding across expensive fabric and smoothing out its creases.
It was time.
-
Two bodies collide. An arm slides around a slim waist, whilst slender hands grip at the lapels of her jacket in return. The two of them, entangled like a pair of dancers, frozen in the final pose—as though entangled in a choreographed dip.
“You should be more careful.”
Dark cat-like eyes regard her with care. She feels as though she was staring into the night star, full of a dark alluring mysteriousness, filled with secrets she will never understand or be privy to. The woman’s perfume, something with floral undertones and no doubt expensive, permeates the small space between them, leaving her strangely light-headed.
“I should.” The woman’s gaze dips, glancing at the watch strapped on her wrist, then back to her own eyes again. Something flickers in their depths, an acknowledgement of her identity, like the exchanging of a secret. “You have good taste.”
“Then we’re a match.” She says as her gaze finds a watch of the same model and brand strapped around the woman’s wrist, and as cheesy as the line was, it is to be repeated word for word—another requirement.
“So, you’re my date for tonight—Taeyeon, right?”
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Jessica.”
The corner of the other woman’s lip twitches, and she steps back, but not before pressing her palms to the front of the Taeyeon’s suit jacket, straightening her lapels and smoothing away the creases that had marred the fabric from where her hands had been twisted in moments prior.
Jessica arches a questioning eyebrow, “Oh? You know me?”
Taeyeon doesn’t answer immediately, instead opting to hold out her arm, bent at the elbow and offering it to Jessica. Without missing a beat, Jessica gracefully slips her hand under Taeyeon’s arm, and loops their arms together. The action is natural, smooth and it feels familiar even though it shouldn’t have. They are strangers, yet they move together as though they had rehearsed these steps before, fluid in the movements of this well-practiced dance.
They blend amongst the crowd, slowly filing into the great hall. It is an annual party of sorts, a congregation of the nation’s wealthiest invited by an exclusive society. The night promised an opportunity to socialise, meet other high profiled individuals and of course the chance to purchase highly sought-after items of immeasurable value.
“Who doesn’t know you.” Taeyeon says finally, when they stop to listen to the opening address to the attendees, making sure to lean close enough to whisper the syllables against the shell of Jessica’s ear. She knows it’s achieved it’s intended effect when she sees a shiver run its course down Jessica’s spine.
Jessica’s long silky hair falls over a bare shoulder as she turns her head and fixes Taeyeon with a coy smile; though the rest of her expression, like cards held close to her chest, remained unreadable.
Taeyeon hides a grin. Jessica is indeed as interesting as they’d said.
Dressed in a fitted black off-the-shoulder dress, Jessica effortlessly embodies everything that this party was, fitting right in. She reminds Taeyeon of a diamond, timeless, expensive and extremely desirable—except her eyes gleamed brighter than any of the precious gems on display, ones that Jessica were no doubt, intimately familiar with.
“You’re giving me too much credit.”
Or maybe not enough, Taeyeon muses to herself, following as Jessica led the way, threading through the crowd with a practiced ease, her palm warm against Taeyeon's. There was something mysteriously alluring, inherently dangerous about the woman and her awareness of this fact ignited Taeyeon’s senses, sending them into overdrive. Her instincts of self-preservation were telling her to stay as far away as possible, yet her duty and obligation to her occupation kept her close.
Seven teams covering the floor. Camera installations at frequent intervals. Three exits.
Jessica plucks two champagne glasses off a tray, shooting a waiter a gracious smile that leaves him a stuttering, blushing mess and pushes one of the glasses into Taeyeon’s hand, breaking her from her observations.
"You're thinking too much. It's distracting."
“Do you always drink on the job?” Taeyeon asks, after letting the golden hued liquid smoothly slide over her tongue and down the back of her throat.
“Just starting the celebration early.” Jessica replies easily, her lips finding the glass again. “Go enjoy the party, leave the rest to me. I'll find you after I'm done."
"Are you sure you don't want me to come with?"
Jessica shoots her an incredulous look, as though she was almost insulted by the suggestion.
"I only asked for a chauffeur."
Taeyeon shrugs, feigning nonchalance, though she wondered if she'd set herself back with the question. Jessica's expressions were tighter now, more refined, her true intentions hidden behind a reticent mask.
Trust was hard to come by, and money could only buy loyalty only if you remained the winning bid outright.
"Got it." Taeyeon says, nodding slowly.
"Good." Jessica says, before handing Taeyeon her champagne glass and turning to walk away, slipping into the crowd.
Taeyeon takes one more sip of the expensive champagne, before passing both their glasses off to a waiter.
All she could do now was wait.
-
When almost two hours passes and Taeyeon is getting bored of making small talk with people she frankly had no interest in, she decides that Jessica shouldn’t be the only one having all the fun. She waits another five minutes. Jessica doesn’t show up unsurprisingly and Taeyeon decides to seek out instead of being sought out.
This was still in her job description, she reasons.
Slipping past the guards was too easy, she knew Jessica probably had done the same hours ago.
Ascending the stairs and walking down the long corridors, she leaves behind the mindless chatter, the sounds of conversation gradually dying down into faint whispers.
The sheer size of the building meant that Jessica would be in theory hard to locate, and Taeyeon would be more than likely to run into wandering security, personally escorting items from where they'd been temporarily stored into the great hall for auctioning. It’s Jessica that finds her first, the cold metal muzzle of Jessica's gun kissing her temple in an impersonal greeting.
Taeyeon curses at herself for being so preoccupied with navigating the hallways that she had allowed herself to be ambushed. Feeling her blood run cold, she freezes up. From what she’s been told—and she’s been told a lot—about Jessica, she had no problem pulling the trigger, especially if she deemed Taeyeon a threat.
"What are you doing?" Jessica questions coldly, voice hard and unrelentingly demanding.
"Looking for you."
"Why?"
"I missed you—you were gone for too long."
The gun lifts from her temple, the slit in her dress parts to reveal the smooth milky skin of Jessica's legs, and the gun is slotted back into the holster hidden from view. Taeyeon knows the action shouldn't have been as attractive as it is.
"You have a shit sense of humour, Taeyeon. What if you'd come across security?"
"I'd just say I was looking for a fancy toilet."
Jessica actually laughs at this. The sound is awfully melodic, pleasing to her ears and Taeyeon has to remind herself that this was same woman that had held her at gunpoint moments earlier.
"You're an idiot."
Taeyeon has had several near-death experiences, but none had made her heart race like this, hammering the insides of her ribcage with its thumping; yet for some reason, she had never felt more alive. She tries to count her breaths, attempting to slow the breakneck pace at which her heart ran on at, reasoning that the juxtaposition between life and death must have heightened the thrill.
"Are you good to go?"
Jessica nods.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps accompanied by the crackling of voice through a radio alerts them to the compromising position they were about to be found in. The security must have finally been made aware of the malfunctioning cameras in this section of the building.
They didn’t have much time.
“A standard unit has six guards. I can’t take out that many by myself.” Jessica says, frowning and slowly reaches for her gun. “Not without casualties.”
Taeyeon’s eyes widen at the implication and she pushes forward, closing the distance between them and hastily places her hand on Jessica’s halting her movements.
“Good thing you’re not by yourself then.” Jessica’s gaze flickers down her where Taeyeon’s hand was still covering hers.
“What?”
Taeyeon has no time to respond. Six suited men, all stocky in their build, round the corner, eyes zeroing in on the two of them. They halt a metre away, one of them, presumably their leader steps forward.
“What are the two of you doing in a restricted area?”
“My girlfriend and I were looking for a place to…” Taeyeon deliberately brings an arm to scratch at the back of her neck, looking sheepish. “Sorry, we didn’t know.”
The man seemed to be convinced by the mortified, almost indignant look that spread across Jessica’s face, at Taeyeon lie. Jessica’s eyes sharpen, sending a glare in Taeyeon’s direction, though she remains mute and ducks her head, playing the role of the blushing maiden.
“Consider this a warning. We will escort you to the main hall.”
They exchange glances, nodding subtly at each other, and fall into step behind the waiting unit. Jessica reaches out, gently touching the inside of Taeyeon's forearm, before sliding her hand down to lacing their fingers together, her touch leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake. Taeyeon doesn’t let it bother her, it shouldn’t, this charade of girlfriends was her idea anyway, and if anything, Jessica was just keeping up the pretence, cementing their alibi.
When Taeyeon catches Jessica’s gaze, she raises her eyebrows, and Jessica looks away, hiding a smile. They were literally walking right out of danger, and being escorted too.
Except, things never go the way they expect.
“Lockdown. Security compromised. Item missing. Apprehend all suspicious persons.”
The leader’s radio crackles, then jumping to life, transmitting an urgent message.
The entire team having gone rigid at the first word immediately turn to face the two women.
“We’re taking you to a holding room. Precautions.” Says the leader.
Jessica’s hold on her hand tightens briefly.
Taeyeon's mind races, but she can only foresee one solution to this current predicament. There was no way she should continue to let the men escort them to the holding room. If they did, neither of them will be able to freely walk out of the establishment (and Taeyeon will not get paid).
Jessica’s mouth pulls into a thin line. It seems she has come to the same conclusion.
Tension blankets the two of them, the revelation setting them on edge.
It’s Jessica that makes the first move, pulling her hand away out of Taeyeon’s grip. Her fingers curl into a hard fist, flying through the air to land with a dull thud against the nearest man’s face. He stumbles back, doubling over and clutching at his face. She follows up with a swift blow to the back of his head and he falls like log.
By then, the rest of the men had recovered from their shock. They wide eyes and gaping mouths morphing into grim looks, guarded stances and closed fists.
"Don't let them get away!"
The roles they were playing are shed with ease, slipping into skins they were well accustomed to in their daily lives.
A fist contacts empty air, exactly where her head had been seconds ago and Taeyeon ducks again, deflecting a punch in the process. She clenches her teeth as she feels the bruise beginning to form.
"A warning would be nice, Jessica."
"Sure, whatever..." Jessica responds, her elbow driving into one of the men's stomach. "At your nine o'clock, Taeyeon."
"Thanks." Taeyeon says dryly, evading the man's poorly coordinated attack, which left his front exposed. With a feint, another deflected blow and an uppercut, Taeyeon takes him out. "I had him already."
Another guard fills the space of his fallen teammate, rushing at her with the intention of tackling her to the floor.
She spins to the left evasively, before crouching down and sweeping her leg, destabilising him. The guard stumbles and seeing the opportunity, Taeyeon immediately jumps on him, using her weight to keep him on the ground as she delivers calculated blows to his exposed torso, neck and face.
He, like his two comrades, falls unconscious.
When she looks to Jessica, she finds her facing off with the last remaining guard, who happens to coincidentally be the leader. Eyeing them apprehensively, he makes the decision to cautiously back away, trying to stall for time now that the odds weren't in his favour. There was no doubt that backup was on the way.
Taeyeon drops her stance, shoulders relaxing and fists uncurling.
"He's all yours, I'm not getting paid enough for this."
Jessica shoots her a dirty look.
"You've got to be kidding me."
And instead of chasing after the retreating guard, Jessica stalks, almost angrily, away in the opposite direction, heading back towards to the main exit.
"You're just going to let him get away?" Taeyeon calls out at Jessica's retreating back, jogging the other woman to catch up.
"It'll make your job later harder." Jessica says when Taeyeon sidles up beside her a few seconds later.
"What the hell? You're crazy!"
Stopping abruptly, Jessica studies her with an amused expression, lips curled into a semblance of a smirk. The clarity in her eyes takes Taeyeon off guard, leaving her feeling exposed, as though she was privy the secrets hidden in the depths of Taeyeon's mind.
"You like it." She says bluntly, then pushes forward again, leaving Taeyeon stunned and mouth agape, rooted to the spot.
Shit. She's right.
-
She's mildly annoyed at Jessica.
Taeyeon checks her rear-view mirror, finding five cars tailing them and is sure that there were only that many courtesy of Jessica's little antic of letting that security guard go. She views them more of an inconvenience than an extra level of difficulty like Jessica had claimed.
The flashing reds and blues cast an eerie glow on the interior of the car, stretching long shadows over the plains of their faces, and lending them a ghastly appearance.
Sirens cut through the air, signalling an urgency that precedes their arrival, traffic slowing to a premediated stop. It both helped and hindered the pursuers, as the slowed traffic allows Taeyeon to weave in and out between cars, leading the tailing vehicles on a wild goose chase.
One by one, the numbers dwindle down, unable to follow the movements of the Maserati—their getaway car for tonight.
Beside her, Jessica seems unfazed by the high-speed manoeuvres Taeyeon is doing, unworried that they will be caught and instead opting to admire the massive gem she'd managed to acquire through tonight's events.
"Are you having fun, Taeyeon?"
"As much as you are." Taeyeon deadpans, as she brakes then accelerating, drifting around a sharp corner. Her every move remains calculated and completed to perfection. It has to be, because the margin of error, the difference between a wreck and a turn, existed within the realm of milliseconds.
"That's the last of them." Jessica comments casually, surprising Taeyeon with the fact that she'd been counting. This time, Jessica turns back to watch the car tumble and flip over itself, the driver having overcompensated on the turn.
"Where to now?" Taeyeon says, slowing down, blending in as they merged into local traffic, opting to remain as discreet as possible now that they had lost their pursuers.
Jessica's striking profile is beautiful even in the soft glow of the evening light.
"Anywhere, just keep driving."
Without a destination in mind, Taeyeon takes them onto a state highway, cruising towards the border, heading somewhere yet nowhere at the same time.
-
Bright white fluorescent lights shine upon her face and she resists the urge to shield her eyes. Instead, she sits ramrod straight in her seat, eyes forward and attentive.
"So, you made contact with the target... You know the endgame, right?"
The voice is deep and gravelly, holding the weight of authority. The man sitting across from her in the leather backed chair steeps his fingers, eyes boring into her own with a serious intensity.
"Yes, I am aware of it, sir."
"Good, don't disappoint me, Agent."
His tone lets her know she's been dismissed. Efficiency had always been his mode of operation.
-
Taeyeon exits the small confined space of the elevator and enters a large underground garage. The open space was reminiscent of an aircraft hangar, though instead of aircraft, it housed vehicles—from the exotic sort to various overland vehicles.
Craning her head, Taeyeon finally spots her colleague, Hyoyeon, inspecting the engine parts of a sleek silver sports car. Always the hard worker, Taeyeon thinks as she made her way over.
"I hear you've requested by the one and only Jung tonight …again." The blonde woman says without sparing Taeyeon a glance. Instead, she holds out her hand, with her palm up.
“Spanner.”
Taeyeon picks up the aforementioned tool, handing it wordlessly to her colleague.
“How many times does this make it, Tae? The third?”
“The fourth actually. I think she’s made off with millions already.”
“Of which, a portion is going into paying you—and technically me too.” Hyoyeon points out, stepping out from under the hood. She dusts her hands and wipes what grease she could off on the fronts of her slacks.
“So much for our confidentiality clauses, Hyo—news spreads fast around here.” Taeyeon quips as she chuckles lightly, and despite her words she still made no attempts to drop the topic, knowing Hyoyeon would find out one way or another.
“Can you blame them? It’s not every day that we get to play Bonnie and Clyde with a renowned thief. It’s the biggest case we’ve had in a while. You’re just the unlucky—or lucky—agent. From what I’ve heard, Jessica is quite the looker.” Hyoyeon retrieves a pair of keys from her pocket. “Besides, I’d say you’re doing well…she’s warming up to you.”
Like always, a set of keys are tossed her way and like always, Taeyeon catches them with practiced ease.
“Not enough. I haven’t yet witnessed the theft of classified information yet, which is what we need to bust her for—to bring her in under some espionage clause.”
“As if stealing massive diamonds alone aren’t enough to warrant our involvement.” Hyoyeon says with an amused smile curling upon her lips.
Taeyeon shrugs, uncaring. She had never been uprighteous enough to care. It reflected in her career choice—she preferred to dwell within the shades of grey, slipping between the rigid black and white of the law.
“We’re not the cops, Hyo.”
“Good, I always hated donuts anyway.” The blonde woman jokes easily.
Taeyeon rolls her eyes. Hyoyeon’s humour was questionable sometimes.
“Don’t sc—”
“—scratch the car, I got it.”
-
Dressed in all black, balaclava pulled over their heads, Taeyeon stands on the rooftop, watching as Jessica unhooks herself from the rope that had served as their insurance from tumbling to their deaths, had they misstepped.
This took her (limited) experience of theft to new heights—literally.
"I know the view's great but you're not getting paid to just stand there." Jessica quips, raising an eyebrow knowingly and Taeyeon realises she'd been caught staring. Heat crawls up the back of her neck, hidden from Jessica's keen eyes by the fabric of her balaclava and she's suddenly grateful for the damn thing, even if it was starting to chafe at random places.
Taeyeon frowns, internally cursing herself for taking the Bonnie and Clyde thing a bit too literally.
But then again, Hyoyeon hadn't been wrong, anyone with eyes could tell that Jessica was gorgeous and this meant that she was unfortunately, distracting.
"If your skill set is limited to punching people and driving fast, I'm reconsidering letting you come with me."
"I just scaled a building for you!"
She realises how stupid it sounds when the words leave her mouth, and immediately snaps her mouth closed before she could further embarrass herself.
"Plenty of people would do that for me." Jessica says dismissively, and Taeyeon has to reel in the unsettling feeling of jealousy bubbling in her stomach. She tells herself that it didn’t mean anything, that she wasn’t getting too involved and that it was attributed to the fact that she couldn’t afford to fail now, not when she has gotten this far in gaining Jessica’s trust.
"Don’t forget, you owe me Jessica." Taeyeon says, referring to the night they’d first met.
She turns away, pulling off the balaclava in the process and begins to gather up their duffel bags and equipment.
“Is that a threat?”
“No, it’s a friendly reminder, partner.”
Jessica remains uncharacteristically silent.
Eventually, she moves to Taeyeon’s side, gently touches her on the shoulder and relieves Taeyeon of half of the items—taking her share of the load.
Later, just as they are about to infiltrate the building, planning on climbing through the window that they had pried open, Jessica murmurs a quiet Thanks, partner into Taeyeon’s ear.
Taeyeon has fight to keep the shiver from running through her body.
They don’t speak much afterwards.
The excuse: try talking when you’re in the middle of committing burglary.
(The truth: Taeyeon doesn’t know what to say in response to her racing heart and sweaty palms.)
-
The light from her torch cuts through the thick darkness. Taeyeon has no idea what they were looking for, this time, in a museum of all places. It seems like her torch doesn’t either and her light has a propensity to illuminate creepy figures and taxidermy animals.
“Which one of these whacked up displays are we taking home tonight?” She whispers loudly, and it’s only a short while later that Taeyeon realises she had used we and home, as though they were a couple out shopping for furniture or stock standard paintings from IKEA.
A couple.
Taeyeon frantically, scratching the term from her thoughts, madly scribbling over it with black ink, burying under other terms like: target, professional obligation, false identity.
“None of them, we’re not stealing anything, Taeng.” Jessica says from beside her, simultaneously, too close, yet not close enough.
Taeyeon’s breathing hitches.
“What?” Her eyebrows knit together, unable to fully comprehend the sudden honesty behind Jessica’s words.
“I’ve always wanted to wander around a museum with someone like this.” Jessica says offhandedly, as though they hadn’t just gone through all this effort to just get inside a museum that had free admission during the day.
Taeyeon’s head spins a little.
“Like…on a date?” Taeyeon says, a little breathless, and if the sirens blaring in the back of her mind were anything to go by, she was in a lot of trouble.
Jessica hums softly, lips pulling into a small smile.
“Something like that.”
Later, they leave the museum empty-handed as Jessica promised, but Taeyeon knows she had let Jessica steal something else that night.
-
“Have you gone back to her place yet?” Hyoyeon asks casually, but the inappropriate images that flash through Taeyeon’s mind make her almost choke on her own saliva.
“N-no.”
“So, you haven’t seen her goodies?”
Taeyeon actually chokes this time, and ends up devolving into a coughing fit.
Hyoyeon makes no move to help her, in fact, she seems to ignore her plight and continues, “Like does she store them or does she pawn them off on the Blackmarket™.”
Taeyeon keeps coughing.
“Yah, Taeyeon, don’t die on me yet!”
Taeyeon holds up her hand, signalling for Hyoyeon to wait, because, goddamn, couldn’t this woman give her a break.
When she finally recovers, Taeyeon takes her time to compose herself again, ignoring the way her cheeks were probably still tinted with pink, and shoves her hands into her pockets, “I don’t know. I’ve never been to her place.”
“Shame,” Hyoyeon responds cheekily. The teasing gleam in her eyes so blatantly obvious that Taeyeon thinks she definitely knows about Taeyeon’s small (read: massive) crush on her target.
-
It’s another midnight escapade, this time they’re inside the massive vault of some bank. Considering, they’d gotten in without much trouble, Taeyeon wonders if they security everywhere was just bad or if Jessica was just too good. She makes a mental note to never deposit her life-savings in this particular bank.
"I hate rich people." Taeyeon says as she wades around in what seems like an endless sea of bank notes—all hundreds—that had spilled out when Jessica had knocked one of the brief cases off the shelf.
Stepping over the last of the scattered notes, she looks over in Jessica’s direction, curious as to what the other woman was searching for – if not for cash. They were in a bank after all.
"Well, I love them. They keep things like this in places like this."
Jessica draws back, cheeks flushed, looking radiant and triumphant.
“What is that?”
“Keys.”
“To what?”
“My heart.” Jessica jokes, and Taeyeon swears she almost trips over herself. Jessica seems to spot her stumble and rolls her eyes before tossing the keys in Taeyeon’s direction. “No, you idiot—It’s to one of those fast cars that I know you like so much. I just happen to know where this particular one is parked."
Even though the keys were already soaring through the air, Taeyeon tells herself that she really shouldn’t catch them.
Catching them, meant accepting Jessica’s ‘gift’ and accepting her gift meant crossing a line—something that could not be undone so easily.
And most importantly of all, it jeopardises everything Taeyeon had been working for.
(Her fist closes around the keychain.)
-
In hindsight, Taeyeon really didn’t mean to kiss Jessica like that.
But she did, and they’d managed to avoid getting caught.
(When had she ever been this afraid of getting caught?
It’s only later that she realises, that what she’d been afraid of was Jessica getting caught.)
"Fuck."
“What do we do?”
They were running behind schedule and there was a high likelihood that the approaching footsteps belonged to a member of security. They have no chance of sneaking past him or her without arousing suspicion. Now, it was just a matter of what they were doing when they got caught.
Taeyeon exchanges a glance with an equally panicked looking Jessica, the other woman’s eyes wide and her lower lip pulled between her teeth. That’s when Taeyeon realises her gaze had lingered on Jessica’s mouth for too long.
Because, of course, the only thing that would be appropriate in this situation was to think about kissi—
An idea forming in her mind. Her dumb crush on Jessica might actually have saved them.
PDA makes people uncomfortable, it’d make a good excuse.
Taeyeon swallows thickly. “I—”
Had Jessica always been standing this close?
“What…?” Jessica whispers, her breath ghosting over Taeyeon’s lips and that’s all it takes for her self-control to slip.
"You can kill me later." She says, before pushing Jessica backward, pinning her up against the nearest wall.
Jessica surprises her by leaning forward and closing the gap between their lips.
Taeyeon kisses back, pretending that this wasn’t something she had wanted to do for a long time, pretending that she didn’t actually have feelings for the other woman. She kissed like Jessica was her oxygen; something she couldn't and didn’t know how to live without.
And Jessica kisses back—just as hungry and as desperate, as though nothing else mattered.
The kiss deepens, tongues sliding between parted lips to press against each other, and Taeyeon bites back a moan.
They don't know how long they make out in that corridor, but when someone does catch them, it's not a guard. It's a cleaner who coughs awkwardly and looks away, clearly uncomfortable.
“You guys shouldn’t be here, this is restricted to staff only.”
The two of them break apart, jumping back as though they hadn’t just been flushed against each other, hands entangled in each other’s hair and the world around them forgotten; that they hadn’t gotten carried away and pushed the boundaries of their tentative relationship yet again.
“Sorry,” Taeyeon says sheepishly, maybe to the cleaner and maybe a little to herself. The cleaner shifts on the spot.
Taeyeon runs a hand through her now messy locks, trying to slow the rate of her breathing. “We’ll leave.”
“We’re really sorry,” Jessica says again from behind Taeyeon as they walk hand-in-hand past the dumbfounded man.
There's something about Jessica looking genuinely flustered and dazed that sends a dangerous frisson through Taeyeon's entire being.
(All she can think about is how much she wants to kiss Jessica again.)
-
She doesn’t hear from Jessica in 2 weeks that follow, nor can anyone seem to track her down.
Her superiors freak out.
To Taeyeon, it feels a little bit like heartbreak.
-
Jessica’s eventually spotted again and Taeyeon is called in for an emergency meeting.
“We’ve decided to fast track the plan. Everything is being brought forward. Jung’s disappearance, though temporary, has alerted us to the fact that we could lose her too easily. The false ‘intel’ is being delivered as we speak. Jung should take the bait and make her move in the coming weeks. We’ll set up the trap and catch her in the act. ”
Taeyeon nods.
She ignores the small spike of happiness she feels when they mention that she’d be hearing from Jessica again soon, gritting her teeth and reminding herself that Jessica was her assignment; that this was business and her personal feelings had no place in any of this.
“I understand.”
(It doesn’t help that Taeyeon has never seen Jessica go near anything remotely related to this so called classified information.)
-
They fall back into their old routine, neither bringing up the fact that Jessica had disappeared for two weeks without a word.
Taeyeon doesn’t want to ask, scared that she’ll end up opening a conversation she can’t close. It was easier to focus on her job when she didn’t know that much about Jessica outside of what she had told Taeyeon during their time together.
Cutting the engine, silence envelopes them. Taeyeon lets her hands slip from where they’d been gripping the steering wheel.
Through the windscreen, her eyes pick apart the blinking neon sign of the old motel. The sign looked as run down as the building itself, standing all alone out here in the middle of nowhere.
The roads too were quiet, and they seemed to be the only customers in sight.
"Are you ever going to kiss me again? Jessica says out of the blue, as though she was asking about the weather or directions to the nearest bus stop.
Taeyeon blinks dumbly as Jessica unbuckles her seat belt, twisting around to face Taeyeon fully.
"What—?"
Her mouth opens then closes. Her mind still having difficulty processing Jessica’s words.
She meets Jessica’s unwavering gaze.
“Or do you need another excuse?"
"I-"
One of Jessica's hands find purchase on the front of her shirt, tugging her forwards and over the centre console.
Taeyeon’s body finally catches up with her mind and she closes the rest of the distance, slanting her mouth over Jessica's. She feels Jessica smiling into the kiss.
Jessica tastes sweet, and like everything she has ever dreamed of and Taeyeon doesn't want to stop kissing her, but her lungs burn for air, so she has to reluctantly pull away.
Taeyeon might be dazed, but it’s in the best way possible. She's sure she's wearing the dopiest smile right now.
Their hands have somehow laced together and rest on the centre console, fingers entwined as though they were reluctant to let go of each other.
"Jessica?"
Jessica smiles at her softly, then points to the rundown building, "I’m going to ask if they have any vacancies…are you coming?"
Taeyeon gives Jessica’s hand a gentle squeeze, before reaching for the door handle.
-
It slowly…escalates; kisses becoming a lot more and like the addicts they were, they kept coming back for more, kept letting it happen, chasing the high that they could only experience in each other’s presence.
Taeyeon wonders how it had become a celebratory ritual of sorts—one that was hot, dirty and wildly inappropriate—only ever happening after their heists together.
Warm breaths were panted into her ear, nails scratched ecstasy laced lines down her back and Jessica's delicate voice pitched to its breaking point as she comes, walls clenching around her fingers.
The two of them a mess of sheets and tangled limbs, as they collapse together, both boneless and spent.
But that too, like everything else between them, eventually changes.
The rituals sometimes becomes nights spent laying in each other’s arms, spooning in, tucked away in another motel room; hidden away from the outside world.
And as these nights begin to accumulate, Taeyeon begins to question everything she's doing.
-
Her best-friend-slash-colleague, Tiffany, pulls her aside one day at work, dragging her into an empty office and shutting the door behind them.
“Taeyeon, what’s going on?”
“Nothing?”
Tiffany pinches the bridge of her nose, exhaling loudly, as though simultaneously expressing her frustration with Taeyeon and steeling her resolve for something.
"You're sleeping with her, aren't you?" Tiffany says, though it more of an accusation with the way her eyes are narrowed and lips are pinched together disapprovingly. No further clarification was required on the identity of Taeyeon’s lover, they both knew who Tiffany was referring to. "That's not a good thing. You make for a horrible fuck buddy because you're messy as fuck, with your feelings and whatnot."
Tiffany rakes her hand through her hair; maybe a bit panicked and maybe a bit exasperated.
"Don't look at me like that, Tae. You're hot, I would've bedded you ages ago, had you not had this flaw that made us incompatible."
"It's just sex." Taeyeon says weakly, though she knew, with all the doubts filling her head whenever she'd been with Jessica, that there was truth to Tiffany's words.
"Not for you, it's not." Tiffany quips, looking sceptical. "You have feelings for her. Even if you don't realise it now, you will...Look, I just don't want you forgetting that this is business, not your personal life. Plus, this isn't the ideal career to find a girlfriend, especially a wanted criminal at that."
"Tiff, I'm sleeping with her to gain her trust."
Tiffany doesn't look convinced and Taeyeon bites her own lip. She didn't blame Tiffany, because she didn’t believe the statement herself.
"I'm just saying, be careful...At this rate, I'm going to need to help you fake your own death."
Taeyeon looks at her colleague in surprise.
"You would...?"
"I still think it's better if you resign and get off the case...It's not good for you."
Taeyeon sighs.
It was too late, she was already in too deep.
-
The next time they met up, there was no stealing was involved, and it was practically a date (though neither of them are brave enough to call it that).
After they'd watched the sunset from the rooftop of some government building, Taeyeon had taken Jessica back to her place. As in, her actual place, her home that contained personal aspects of herself that she shouldn’t even be mixing with work.
But Jessica was blurring the lines, feeling less like work and venturing more into the personal territory; becoming something Taeyeon felt as though she had to protect from work.
Jessica rests her head in Taeyeon's lap and Taeyeon slowly threads her fingers through Jessica's long hair.
Jessica closes her eyes and sighs softly.
"My real name is Sooyeon...” She says quietly, stretching out her hands and picking at her fingers, fidgety, filled with a nervous energy that Taeyeon hasn’t seen in the other woman. “It's what my family call me…and I-I just wanted you to know."
Her fingers still and Taeyeon feels something welling up inside her chest, wanting to spill forth into soft kisses that would be pressed into Jessica’s hair, peppered across her cheeks and over her pink lips.
"I go by Jessica when I'm—you know—stealing things." She chuckles lightly as she says this, nose scrunching up adorably.
Her heart tugs, and Taeyeon can no longer ignore the feelings she had once refused to acknowledge.
"Sooyeon-ah." Taeyeon says, testing the syllables out.
Jessica shivers. Her fingers find purchase on the fabric of Taeyeon's sleeve and tightens its hold.
"Say it again, Tae."
"Sooyeon-ah." The sound of the name tumbles off her tongue naturally, sounding as beautiful as the woman lying in her lap looked.
Taeyeon gently brushes her fingertips over the curve of Jessica's cheekbone.
"You're so beautiful."
A pink blush colours Jessica's face.
"You're not so bad yourself." The woman mumbles, pulling at a loose thread on Taeyeon's sleeve.
She's quiet for a moment before speaking up again.
"I went to visit them you know?—my family. I miss them. What I do is great and all," Jessica glares at Taeyeon's raised eyebrow, "What? It's got its perks!"
In an attempt to placate Jessica, Taeyeon just nods and signals for her to continue.
"But still, sometimes I wonder what I'd been doing if I lead a different life—an ordinary one... I think I'd rather live like that instead.”
Me too, Taeyeon thinks, me too.
-
"You're leaving." Hyoyeon says bluntly when Taeyeon next steps into the garage, "After this gig, you're resigning."
Taeyeon smiles at her friend wistfully, "I think it's time for me to move on. What I wanted all those years ago...It's changed."
"Where are you going?"
"I haven't decided, but I just know it'll be away from...here."
Hyoyeon winces, hearing the defeated and dejected tone of Taeyeon's words.
"I don't think I'll be able to trust anyone else with my vehicles like I did with you. I'll miss you, Tae."
"I’ll miss you too, Hyo."
Hyoyeon pulls her in for a one-armed embrace.
-
The set-up is ready. If everything went to plan, Jessica Jung would be apprehended tomorrow night and Taeyeon would be able to retire from the field. She would be free to leave this place and leave this life behind.
(She would also leave behind her love.)
-
Jessica visits her the night before and Taeyeon should've seen it coming, should've known Jessica knew who she'd been all along.
She opens the door and a gun is pressed to her chest, place right over where her heart was, the muzzle digging into her ribcage. Despite this, the organ still beat strongly, defiant in the face of the weapon that threatened to stop its rhythm.
"Agent Kim."
"Jessica Jung."
Jessica’s a reflection of the first night they’d met; impersonally cold, having detached her emotions from the business she had she about to do—it was what Taeyeon should’ve been, then they wouldn’t be in this position.
"Tell me why I shouldn't just shoot you now."
"Because I love you, Sooyeon."
Jessica's grip falters, her eyes waver.
"You don't. You can't." She hisses, stepping forward with so much force that Taeyeon has to take a step back.
"But I do."
"You’re going to betray me and you still have the audacity to say that? I don’t want your love."
Taeyeon clenches her jaw.
Her hands fly up to grip the gun, fingers curling around its barrel, her knuckles turning white.
Taeyeon’s eyes lock with Jessica’s.
"Then shoot me and be done with it. I want to quit anyway, this will be a good way to go down and I will have learned my lesson—to not fall in love with you."
It’s silent, the air between them, thick with tension.
Jessica’s finger moves from the trigger. She tears the gun from Taeyeon’s grip.
It clatters to the ground, deafeningly loud in their ears.
“Don’t.” Jessica says, voice cracking, as she sees Taeyeon looking towards the fallen firearm.
Taeyeon ignores the command, instead, she bends down and picks the gun up, holding the grip out for Jessica to take again.
“Here.”
“You’re fucking crazy, Taeyeon.” Jessica breathes, and there’s none of the hard-edged anger she had come storming into Taeyeon’s apartment with. “Do you want to die?”
“That’s not the question we should be discussing,” Taeyeon says, staring back at Jessica calmly, “It’s a matter of whether or not you want to kill me. Isn’t that what you came here to do? Tie up loose ends and leave before they can catch you?”
Jessica shakes her slowly, regarding her with soft, sad eyes.
“That’s not what I want.” She says before surging forward and crashing their lips together.
“Sooyeon-ah,” Taeyeon starts, but Jessica steals her words from her, kissing Taeyeon like it was goodbye; desperate, unrestrained and with a hint of sadness; mouth ridiculously gentle over Taeyeon’s.
They stumble backwards into the apartment, blindly, allowing their hearts to lead, finally acknowledging the feelings that had always existed between them. Their lips never leaving each other’s, hands roam, tangling in each other’s hair, slipping under the hems shirts to touch smooth skin—and maybe this was what a perfect choreography looked like; their last dance together.
(In a way, a goodbye is exactly what this was.)
-
Taeyeon wakes up alone. A single note, folded once and tucked under the corner of a pillow, greets her.
The space beside her is empty and long cold—though Jessica’s scent still lingered.
Prying open the paper, she finds that it simply reads:
Thank you.
—Sooyeon
Sighing, Taeyeon traces the letters with her finger, realising that in the end, she wasn’t all that different from the countless people Jessica had stolen from—except Taeyeon’s case, it was her heart that Jessica had made off with.
It’s only later, when she finally turns the note over, that she realises maybe Jessica hadn't stolen her heart, but rather, given Taeyeon her own in exchange.
(Because how else was Taeyeon supposed to interpret a one-way plane ticket out of the country, leaving tonight?)
Jessica had practically asked her to elope.
At this thought, Taeyeon lets her amusement spill over into an uncharacteristically bright laugh.
-
In the following weeks, a lot of stolen items are mysteriously returned and the police cite a reformed thief with a newfound conscience, though no one has identified or found the thief in question.
Sitting in a quaint café, somewhere in the busy city of Seoul, Taeyeon gently rests her chin on her girlfriend’s shoulder, reveling the smell of her perfume.
“What is it Taengoo?”
Taeyeon shifts, allowing the other woman to turn around and face her. Bright cat-like eyes regard Taeyeon curiously.
“I love you, Sooyeon.” Taeyeon confesses easily, having practiced saying these words many many times in her head.
Sooyeon looks down, blushing.
“I know.” She says quietly, eyes filled with tender affection and a hand comes up to gently brush fingers against Taeyeon’s cheek.
“I love you too.”
-