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A case file was slapped onto the table in front of Yoongi, making him glance up from his phone.
"Got a new one for you, hyung," Hoseok said, an uncomfortably large smile on his face.
Yoongi groaned and set his phone down, looking between Hoseok and Namjoon standing expectantly above him. He noticed that they both wore uncomfortably large smiles. "Didn't you say I'm done for the rest of today?"
"This one is important," Namjoon said, sliding the manila folder closer to his brooding hyung.
Yoongi's gloved hands picked it up and opened it to find only one sheet of paper with the criminal's sparse bio inside. The guy's villain name, occupation, and villain costume were left blank and his physical description was short. A photo of a handsome, smiling boy with brown hair looked up at Yoongi, with the name Jeon Jeongguk typed under it.
Flipping over the paper, he found a long list of crimes he's committed. "All of this?" he muttered to himself, eyebrows raised in surprise. "How old is he?"
"22 years old, according to the file," Namjoon replied.
"It may be long," Hoseok supplied, "but take a look at his offenses. He wasn't convicted or even caught for any of them, and they're all pretty minor."
Yoongi's eyes flickered from the folder to Hoseok. "Breaking into and stealing from multiple people and critically damaging a company's building is considered minor to you?"
Hoseok shrugged. "No deaths or major injuries, though."
Yoongi rolled his eyes and tugged at the jacket over his suit. Typical Hoseok, ever the optimist. "Yeah, no deaths. Why're you giving him to me if he's a minor villain?"
"Because he's not." Namjoon pointed to the last line of Jeongguk's offenses. "Read this."
Caused a hero to step down after one day of conflict.
What the fuck?
"What the fuck?" Yoongi said, eyes bugged out.
"Yeah," Hoseok sighed.
Namjoon pulled his hand away and shut his eyes, focusing on his telepathy. He, Taehyung, and Seokjin shared the power, and it sure made their company hide and seek games completely unfair. "Jimin should be here soon, he knew the kid better than any of our other higher-ups before he stepped down."
After a few seconds, Jimin knocked on the door and let himself in. "Sir, I'm- oh good, it's just you three." Jimin strolled over and sat down at the table, placing his coffee down gently before glaring up at Namjoon. "Still hate that you make me call you that, by the way."
Yoongi huffed and shoved his phone in his jacket pocket. "Shut up, we know you both get off on it. Want to explain what you're here to explain?"
"Damn, who pissed in your coffee today, hyung?" Jimin pushed his drink encouragingly towards Yoongi.
Yoongi slouched even deeper but took the coffee nonetheless. "I don't know, ask one of your boyfriends who sprang this random case on me." Jimin laughed and Yoongi looked to see both Namjoon and Hoseok making heart eyes at the empath. Gross.
"Anyway, the hero that was assigned to Jeon was a rookie- his first ever villain. He never displayed any signs of evil, and was a very strong and loyal student during training. I tried texting him after I heard the news, but my phone said the number didn't exist." Jimin took his coffee back from Yoongi and leaned back in his chair while taking a sip. Jimin's hero mask layed lazily on his neck, and he wore an open button down and pants over his suit. "He seems clever, and so are you, so I thought you'd be able to handle him."
"But..." Namjoon started, looking at Hoseok expectedly.
Yoongi quirked an eyebrow as Hoseok started to look nervous. "Um, hyung," Hoseok started, "we want you to bring V and Jin with you."
Yoongi stood up abruptly, making Jimin almost spill his coffee and fall back in his chair. Gripping the manila folder, he shouted, "I don't need anyone else to help me with this minor villain! You both know I'd never give up on serving the correct side of justice!"
Namjoon hesitantly placed a hand on Yoongi's shoulder, pushing him to sit back down in his chair. "Hyung, of course we understand that you would never betray us, but that doesn't mean we want to take any chances. We all care about you and want to keep you safe and on the right side, so please, just let them join you."
"They won't even go in with you," Hoseok said with a nod. "Taehyung will stop halfway to keep a connection to Namjoon and Seokjin will stay outside the building to monitor the events. No intervening at all."
Yoongi held his head in his hands and tried to will away his impending headache. He could deal with it as long as no one interfered, but Seokjin was known for sticking his nose in everything. Of course, he had positive intentions, but that doesn't mean it was any better for Yoongi.
"As long as Seokjin stays 20 feet away from Jeon's lair at all times and Taehyung remains only at the halfway point, I'll do it."
Namjoon made brief eye contact with Hoseok and Jimin before reaching out and shaking Yoongi's hand. "You got yourself a deal, hyung."
After Seokjin telecommunicated with Taehyung to make sure everything was okay on his end (and Yoongi received a rather violent clap on the back) Yoongi was finally free to approach the villain's lair. He wasn't even sure he could call it that- it looked more like a science laboratory used for schools than a lair.
Yoongi heaved a deep sigh and walked up to the door. He lifted his leg and kicked it down, as required for first-time visits to every villain. Yoongi heard a small yelp as he walked in, seeing a young man standing with wide eyes, blowtorch in his hand and goggles strapped to his face. His shoulders were hunched with fear and surprise.
However, he visibly relaxed as recognition spread over his features. "Oh thank God, it's just you, hyung," he said, his small lisp creeping into his words, presumably from shock.
"Huh?" Yoongi said, thrown off guard by the familiar honorific. "Do I know you?"
The villain set down his blowtorch. "You only know whatever they told you in my case file, which I made sure isn't that much. I know you, though." He grabbed another pair of goggles off of a rack and tossed them to Yoongi, who jumped to the side to avoid them. "Put those on, there's dangerous chemicals in here that could harm you."
Yoongi glared at the villain with suspicion. "All I know is your name and your offenses, Jeon Jeongguk. How the hell do you know me?" Yoongi ignored the goggles on the floor and walked forward, trying to pressure the man.
Jeongguk simply picked up his blowtorch and continued burning something he held in his gloved hands. "Many ways, hyung," he said. "Cameras, wiretapping, social media- all very easy for a college student like me to access." Jeongguk looked up from the flame and widened his already doe-like eyes once again. "Hey, watch where you're going!"
Yoongi looked down to find he was toeing the edge of a yellow line that spread horizontally across the lab they were in. The line even spread across the walls and ceiling, vibrant yellow covering the space like a ribbon on a present. Yoongi rolled his eyes, exasperated. "So what, it's a fucking yellow line."
"Yes, and it means you must be wearing goggles past that point! Unless you're going to wear them, you're not allowed any closer," Jeongguk said with a frustrated expression. "Why are you even heroes if you don't know basic lab safety," he muttered to himself, setting down the blowtorch and dropping the substance into the machine in front of him.
Yoongi looked between Jeongguk and the cabinet full of goggles. So far, the villain seemed harmless, but he didn't even know his superpower yet. What if it was activated by the goggles and he would be under his control? Was that how he lured the other hero to step down? Yoongi stepped back slightly and crossed his arms, already getting frustrated with the villain. "Guess I'm not moving any closer, then."
Jeongguk hummed in recognition and opened a drawer, pulling out a beaker and filling it with a clear liquid. "So, hyung-"
"Don't talk so casually to me. You're my enemy."
Jeongguk smirked. "Ah, enemy. Such a strong word." Yoongi blinked in confusion at Jeongguk's response. Before he could get a word in, Jeongguk continued. "Anyway, hyung , what are you guys trying to get me in trouble for this time?"
Yoongi thought back to the long list of offenses on Jeongguk's file. "Don't act like you don't know," he said vaguely.
Jeongguk squatted down, level with the long table, and stared at his beaker. With a sigh, he stood back up and rummaged through his drawers, the clang of glasses filling the room. "Well," he started, "as far as I know, my file has a long list of offenses, doesn't it?"
"Hey!" Yoongi scolded. "It's illegal for a non-member of the Hero Committee to have access to anyone's files."
Jeongguk rolled his eyes and walked past Yoongi, out of the lab area. He continued searching through drawers in the makeshift kitchen. With a chuckle, he replied, "That's something else for you to add to the list, then."
Yoongi was shocked at Jeongguk's nonchalance. "We need to know what you did to that young hero," he stated coldly, getting straight to the point. He didn't have time for villains like Jeongguk, those who beat around the bush and whom he often had to fight with to get information. He was tired and very ready to go home and cuddle with his dog.
Jeongguk's eyes widened once more, and this time they glistened like they were full of stars at the mention of the young hero. Yoongi's heart did some strange things before he caught himself. "Oh, Soobin? He's such a sweet boy, he- oh!" Jeongguk gasped in surprise as he pulled a black hair tie out of the drawer.
Yoongi backed away, hand reaching to his pocket where he kept his taser. "What is that?" he asked defensively.
Jeongguk let out a giggle (a fucking giggle ) and pulled his hair away from his face. "It's just a hair tie. It won't hurt you, Yoongi-hyung."
Before his mind could process that Jeongguk somehow knew his real name, Yoongi's brain latched onto how beautiful it sounded spilling from Jeongguk's lips. He would not mind hearing that voice for the rest of his life. After mentally slapping himself, Yoongi asked, "How do you know my name?"
"Please, hyung. You think I don't know your name after researching you for hours?" Yoongi rolled the thought around in his head before coming to the conclusion that, yeah, that was reasonable.
Jeongguk finally tied up his hair, his small bun sitting on his head of dark, thick locks. Yoongi was only slightly entranced. Jeongguk was admittedly handsome already, but him putting his hair up made him even more gorgeous. Briefly, Yoongi wondered if his beauty was his superpower. "What's the bun for?"
Jeongguk walked back to the lab and squatted down once again. "I have to read the measurement of how much HCl I'm putting into this mixture and my hair always falls in my eyes. I can't read it standing up while lifting the glass because then the measurement won't be precise. The meniscus will also be blocking my view. I have to be eye level with the solution to properly..." Jeongguk chuckled awkwardly. "Sorry. I'm rambling again."
Yoongi wanted to reassure Jeongguk that he was actually quite interested in what the man was saying, but he held himself back. It seemed like this interrogation wasn't going anywhere, so Yoongi decided to indulge in the villain. "What did you mean earlier- how enemy is a strong word?"
Jeongguk slowly rose from his crouching position and a smug smirk appeared on his face (that definitely didn't do things to Yoongi’s heart, nope, not at all). His demeanor seemed to have flickered from something playful and mocking to something serious and proud, like someone had flipped on a light switch.
"Glad you asked, hyung." Jeongguk stood with his back leaning against the front of the table closest to Yoongi, his arms crossed. He examined Yoongi, almost like he was sizing him up for a fight. Jeongguk let out a heavy sigh and stared into the glaring fluorescent lights above them. "We all pretend to be the heroes on the good side."
Yoongi rolled his eyes. Despite Jeongguk's beauty, he had had enough of this existential deep bullshit from other villains. He came here to find out what happened to that young hero and how to prevent it from happening again, not to listen to this college student monologue.
Unfortunately for Yoongi, becoming a hero meant he heard more monologues than an actor in a Shakespeare play. He definitely wasn't in the mood for one.
As he stomped towards Jeongguk out of frustration, a rope came out of seemingly nowhere and wrapped tightly around his ankle, making Yoongi stumble. A drawer flew open and out came a hair tie, which wrapped itself around Yoongi's wrists. He tried to pull hard enough that the tie would snap, but it wouldn't break. The rope stayed tight around his ankle. Yoongi looked up into Jeongguk's smug eyes and realized what superpower Jeongguk kept hidden.
Telekinesis.
"You motherf-"
"I told you not to go past the yellow line," Jeongguk said with a shrug.
Yoongi glanced down and noticed that, yes, he had taken a step past the obnoxious yellow line on the floor. He should have just put on the fucking goggles.
"Take a look at that," Jeongguk said, catching Yoongi's attention. Jeongguk was pointing at an egg-shaped machine sitting on one of the lab tables. It was small and was a matte lilac color. "That, right there, is an invention I'm creating for my friend. He suffers from insomnia, so much so that he barely gets enough sleep to stay out of the hospital." Jeongguk's eyes started to tear up, looking like he was remembering a tragic time in the past. Yoongi felt bad for the kid, and he didn't even know him.
"Sorry about that," Yoongi said, feeling a little weird about pitying this villain's friend while he was currently tied up, helpless.
Jeongguk took a look at Yoongi and smiled gratefully, but it didn't reach his eyes. Instead, Jeongguk turned back to the invention. "I’m creating it so I can help find a way for him to sleep better." Jeongguk turned back to Yoongi and gave him a cold stare. "You came here to arrest me, hyung. Do you know what that would mean?"
Yoongi kept silent and tried not to break his gaze with Jeongguk's hardened eyes. Rule number one of hero training: don't show weakness in front of the enemy.
Yoongi's lack of an answer caused Jeongguk to heave a sigh. He stepped forward just enough so Yoongi couldn't reach him.
"You arresting me, hyung, would mean I couldn't help him anymore. He's a college student like me. He doesn't have enough money to pay for hospital bills again."
Yoongi continued to stare as Jeongguk bit his lip and put an absurd amount of sorrow into his next words.
"Who's the villain now, hyung?"
Yoongi's breath stilled.
Me. That would make me the villain.
"Fuck."
Jeongguk chuckled. "Yeah, fuck is right."
Yoongi was about to apologize, (apologize to a fucking villain, is this what his life has come to?) but Jeongguk interrupted him.
"Of course, I didn't tell you it's made up of mostly stolen materials. The ones I didn't steal, I bought with stolen money."
Yoongi's jaw dropped as Jeongguk wiped the leftover tears from his eyes. Noticing his wide open jaw, Jeongguk reached out and pushed it back up to normal. "Close your mouth, pretty. Not everything is black and white in this world."
Yoongi blushed an amount that was way past a healthy business flush. Jeongguk smirked and walked away, looking more like a model than a villain, but you didn't hear that from Yoongi.
"That would have been a great moment to use your pathokinesis, by the way."
Fuck, he's right. Yoongi is supposed to be a superhero right now.
As Jeongguk walked back to his lab station, Yoongi pulled at his restraints yet again. "What do you want from this?"
"Well," Jeongguk started, swirling a rod in the cup of liquid, "you're obviously too in your head with the hero mentality for me to even remotely recruit you to my side."
Jeongguk wanted to recruit him?
"Also, I have class in like," Jeongguk paused to stare at the clock above a nearby sink, "20 minutes, and it takes 15 just to walk there."
"You're... too busy to fight me? Haven't heard that one before."
Jeongguk laughed (and Yoongi's heart did not flutter, no, not at all) as he started putting away his lab materials. "Hyung, you get paid! I don't!"
Yoongi, strangely, had never felt this comfortable tied up. Jeongguk didn't seem to want to hurt him, at least for right now, and he talked to him like a normal human and not some world-famous superhero. He doesn't get to feel like that much. "So, you going to take me out of these restraints, or...?"
"Oh!" Jeongguk gasped, accidentally dropping a beaker. Glass shattered on the floor as Jeongguk jumped away. "Oh my God, I'm such an idiot. Sorry." Jeongguk spoke hurriedly as he made the pieces levitate towards a trash can. "Yeah I'll- I'll get you out of those in a second. Kinda gotta focus right now."
After a few moments of Jeongguk intensely staring at the floating glass pieces, he stood in front of Yoongi. His eyes were wide and shiny, lips pink and pouty. "Can I make a quick deal with you, hyung?"
Yoongi eyed him suspiciously. "Um-"
Jeongguk's pointer finger rested on Yoongi's lips as he shushed him. "I'm going to be late, so let me just-" Jeongguk seemed to realize that his finger was on his lips and pulled it away, blushing slightly. "Sorry. I didn't- yeah. Anyway, can you come back tomorrow? Just like, one hour earlier, so I can still make it to class on time."
"Yeah. Sure." Yoongi was too lost in Jeongguk's uncharacteristically flowery scent to say anything else. God, why did he get himself into these situations?
"Great!" Jeongguk said cheerfully as he ran into a small side room, leaving with a sweatshirt and backpack in hand. As he closed the door to the room he just left, the rope on Yoongi's ankle loosened and the hair tie on his wrists stretched around and away from his hands, flying back into the open drawer that slammed itself shut. Jeongguk rushed forward and gently touched Yoongi's wrist. "Your hands okay?"
Yoongi blinked and looked down, rubbing at his wrists. "They're fine. Thanks."
"You have someone outside waiting for you, right?" Jeongguk asked, slinging the backpack over his shoulders.
Ignoring his question, Yoongi replied, "Why aren't you restraining me? I'm a superhero, I could kick your ass right now."
Jeongguk sighed, obviously annoyed that he was going to be late. "Listen, hyung. You definitely have more of a hero complex than Soobin did- but you two are still good people. I haven't hurt you yet, so you have no reason to hurt me. You know that. You might not consciously think that, but you know it."
Yoongi blinked a few times in the lull of silence that fell over them. Jeongguk was right, Yoongi had no reason to hurt him- it's not like he wanted to. In an effort of seeming indifferent, Yoongi hummed in a non-committal manner and faced the door. "Well, I guess I should get going," he stated.
As he made his way over to the door, Jeongguk grabbed his wrist. "Yoongi-hyung?"
Yoongi's heart clenched with the tenderness in which Jeongguk said his name. "Yeah?"
"Please don't tell anyone about today. Whatever information you give them, they'll probably storm over here, and I have a lab report due tonight, and I still need to finish that machine for my friend, and my brother is going to call later, and-"
"You don't need us in your hair?" Yoongi asked with a chuckle. Jeongguk nodded sheepishly. "I won't tell them, Jeongguk-ah."
Yoongi had no clue where his confidence came from to say Jeongguk's name that casually, but nonetheless, he pulled his wrist from Jeongguk's lax grip and left the lab, hearing a small thank you behind him.
Yoongi could hear his concerned co-worker’s whispers through the bathroom door. The trip back from Jeongguk’s lair had been a quiet one, as Yoongi kept his word and didn’t say a thing about Jeongguk to Seokjin or Taehyung. He had returned to the office to change out of his suit (still in the bathroom, they’ve yet to get a changing room after seven years of being open).
Cracking open the door, he was met with everyone’s widened eyes. Yoongi chuckled and set his suit on a rack to be cleaned.
“Um, Yoongi-hyung,” Namjoon started, “you... doing alright?”
Yoongi nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. How are you?”
Namjoon swallowed in the tense atmosphere. “Good, good. Uh- Seokjin-hyung and Taehyung-ah mentioned you were sorta... quiet on the way back from-“
“Do I have anything scheduled for five pm tomorrow?” Yoongi asked, interrupting Namjoon.
There was a pause as everyone’s eyes flickered between each others’. Finally, Hoseok spoke up. “Yeah, we have our weekly group meeting tomorrow.”
“Damn,” Yoongi shrugged, picking up his keys and opening the front door, “guess I won’t be able to make it to the meeting, then.”
As Yoongi stepped through the door, he heard Hoseok say, quietly, “Is he- did he set up a date with his villain?”
Yoongi shut the door and smiled.