Sick Heart

Where Jeongguk is a paid assassin who's extrememly good at his job. Never fails, always succeeds wihtout flaw. Until he;s hired to kill on oblivious Kim Taehyung's father. Taehyung doesn't even know who his father is at first, but he still manages to get in the way and scoots himself into Jeongguk's life, and his mind. Thrown off by the boy, Jeongguk is stuck.

Notes:

For my babies in my twt gc<3 love u.

This was originally a Twitter au, but i usually post them on to ao3 later. Hope you enjoy<3
i beta'd but i'm almost positive there's still errors. Just pretend you don't see them :)

Work Text:

"I need you to kill one more person for me." The voice says, the roughness making him shiver.

"Who is it?" He asks, watching as the older man stamps out his cigarette and leans back in a cocky way. The older smirks, and taps his fingers, "A Kim. You can handle that can't ya'?"

The younger smirks in return, "I can handle anyone. /Especially a Kim/." The man laughs a boisterous laugh, "Oh! He's quite confident!" His eyes shine as he surveys the younger.

"Trust me, Sir. He won't be a problem." The younger begins, lifting a hand to remove the mask covering his nose and mouth, "A Kim is one person I have no problem ending."

#taekookau where Jeongguk is a paid assassin who’s extremely popular for always succeeding without flaw and is paid to kill rich boy Kim Taehyung’s father, Kim Daehoon, but taehyung gets in the way. Guess Jeongguk Isn't as sneaky as he thinks.

____________

The man sits in the shadows, the only thing visible in the dull light being his shoes and the lit part of his cigarette. He takes a long puff before sighing loudly. “I’m surprised, kid. You did it quickly.” Jeongguk, with his face covered, nods, “I don’t fool around with my jobs.” The man grunts and motions to a woman standing near his chair.

She walks forward with a paper bag in her hand and hands it to the assassin. The boy raises a brow and accepts it before opening it to look inside. Cash. “What happened to good ol’ suitcases full of cash?” He jokes sarcastically, rolling the top of the bag back up.

The man grunts in a chuckle and shakes his head, “That mouth of yours probably got you into plenty of trouble.” Jeongguk nods, “Let’s just say the cops know my name and I'm banned from most bars.”

At this the man guffaws loudly, “I like you kid. Say.. You wanna do another job for me?” Jeongguk thinks about it for a second. Normally he doesn’t do more than one job for someone twice in a row, but this guy pays well, and Jeongguk needs the money. He can’t think of anything that could go wrong, so he agrees, “Sure. What’s the mission, captain?”

“I need you to kill one more man for me. Can you do that, boy?” The man’s voice is suddenly filled with a vengeance, his anger seeping into his tone. This is important to him, which means Joengguk could try to get more money out of him.

“Who is it?” He asks, leaning forward to rest his forearms on his knees. His head tilts to the side as he waits for the man to speak again. The man stamps out his cigarette and chuckles, “It’s a Kim. You can handle that, can’t ya?”

Jeongguk smirks, he’s been waiting for this moment. “I can handle anyone. /Especially a Kim./” The man laughs a boisterous laugh, "Oh! He's quite confident!" His eyes shine as he surveys the younger.

"Trust me, Sir. He won't be a problem." The younger begins, lifting a hand to run a hand through his hair and readjust his hood casually, "A Kim is one person I have no problem ending." The man hums in delight.

“But I have a request to make.” The man chuckles low, “I expected it. Spit it out.” Jeongguk keeps a close eye on the man’s shadow, “I want you to triple the pay for this one.”

The man sighs heavily, “Normally i’d shoot you dead for even making a request so idiotic. But as said before, I like you kid, and this is an important mission to me, so fine. I’ll triple it.” Jeongguk sits back in contentment, “Then you got yourself a deal. This mission won’t be as quick. It’s going to take a bit more time, but I'll get it done.”

The burly man shrugs nonchalantly, “Whatever kid as long as you get it done. You know the deal though, no money until it’s done.” Jeongguk nods sternly and rises to his feet. I’ll begin soon then. I’ll reach out to you when I've begun moving, and when the job is done.”

------------------

Jeongguk sits at his desk in his small rooftop apartment. It wasn’t that he couldn’t afford something bigger, he most definitely could, but his whole career focuses around being unsee, and discreet. What’s more discreet than a small, cheap, run down apartment?

He has all his planning supplies out, ready for notes as he pulls out his laptop. He logs on as his mind races, thinking of possible outcomes of different plans. “He has way too many guards with him all the time. I wouldn’t be surprised if I wasn't the only one after his head.” He mutters annoyed.

“Why can’t he just be stupid and careless like other wealthy corporate leaders? Not like he has a family- oh he has a family. That’s shocking.” His eyes widen in surprise. There have been rumors that Kim Daehoon was alone. No wife, no girlfriend, not even a side piece.

But the government system says differently. Jeongguk scrolls through Kim Daehoon’s official file. Reading every piece of information the government has on the man. Jeongguk is pleasantly surprised at how well he was able to keep his secret family hidden.

Spouse(s): Han Mirah(Born January 28th, 1965) - 56; Married for 20 years, divorced in March of 2019; Located in Gangnam; owns a small restaurant.

Divorced? Jeongguk chuckles at the information, not even money could keep her around? Seems like he married someone too good for him. He rolls his eyes and continues scrolling. His eyes widen at the next list. It was long.

Offspring: Kim Seokjin (Born December 4th, 1990 [30]) - Oldest offspring; In relationship with Min Yoongi (Born March 9th, 1993 [27]) - Located in Gwacheon; Works at Angel Hotel as Housekeeper.

Kim Leena (Born August 21st, 1991 [29]) - Twin of Kim Hyunji; Single; Located in Seoul; Owns clothing brand called Lee’s Fashion.

Kim Hyunji (Born August 21st, 1991 [29]) - Married to Im Jaebum (Born January 6th, 1989 [31]); one child named Im Dongseok (Born July 16th, 2015 [5]); Located in Seoul; Works for Lee’s Fashion as COO.

Kim Namjoon (Born September 12th, 1993 [27]) - Single but close to Park Jimin (Born October 13th, 1995 [25]); Located in Ilsan, Lawyer at Ilsan Firm.

Kim Taehyung (Born December 30th, 1995 [25]) - In relationship with Park Bogum (Born June 16th, 1993 [27]); Located in Daegu; Works at Starbucks Cafe; Does not know who his father is; Illegitimate child. Mother Yoo Minhee (Born May 26th, 1978 [43]); Younger brother Ahn Taesoo (Born April 25th, 2009 [11]).

As Jeongguk writes down the information, his subconscious mind works quickly, putting pieces together. What’s the best way to ensure a successful, famous business man’s downfall? To bring his illegitimate child to light.

There are no pictures of his family, nothing but the information he has written down, but he assumes it should be too hard to find them. He wants to at least physically see all of them, to take a look at their lives and find any useful information.

With that though he opens another website. Gangnam Police Station lights up his screen and illuminates his room. He’s going to begin with Han Mira.
------------

Jeongguk shimmies around on the hard seat of the bus, his annoyance growing at a fast pace. He's been inside the damn thing for hours now, and if one more person looks at him with that stupid suspicious look, he's going to flip out.

Yes, he knows he looks shady, covered in all black, even equipped with a black bucket hat on top of his grown out hair and his black face mask covering his mouth and nose.

And /sure/ the resting glare on his face is a little scary, but do they have to stare at him so /intently/? He sees the teens head move slightly from the corn of his eyes, turning in his direction slightly /again/.

He finally has enough and turns towards the kid quickly and glares harshly, "Is there a reason you're staring at me? Didn't your guardians teach you it's rude to stare?" He snaps.

The girl jumps in fear and quickly turns back to face forward. He rolls his eyes as he turns back to the window and leans his head against the glass and sighs, only thirty more minutes until he reaches Gangnam.

He pulls out his phone and opens the notes. Last night after hacking into the government and police station websites, he was able to find more information on her. Her social media, her phone number, her address. Now all he needed was a reason to see her face to face.

That wouldn’t be too hard though, she owns a restaurant, all he had to do was get food. His thoughts are interrupted by his stomach letting out a low grumble, making him shiver. Yeah, eating sounds like a good idea.

Forty minutes later he’s standing outside a small ma-pop shop. He looks closely at the building, noting the vines growing up the sides and the amount of customers sitting inside. The place looks a bit run down and old on the outside, but the amount of people going in and out lets him know this place is pretty popular.

Disregarding his mission for a minute, he becomes eager to try the food so without much more hesitation, he pushes open the door and enters. He’s surprised at the amazing state of the inside. It’s polished, clean, and quite authentic looking. He looks around in pleasant surprise. Now this is more what he was expecting.

“You look surprised, dear. I know the outside isn’t much, but I'm working on it, I promise!” A voice jokes. He looks over and sees a woman around the age of his own mother. She smiles warmly at him. “Do you own this place, ma’am?” he asks, his head tilting to the side in mock innocence.

She smiles again, wider if possible, “I absolutely am! Welcome to Mirah’s! Come sweetheart let's get you seated. Are you alone?” She asks, gesturing to him to move. He nods, “Yes ma’am. Just me.” She frowns a bit, “No one should eat alone, love. Here take a seat, here’s a menu. I’ll be back in a bit for your order, alright?” Jeongguk smiles kindly and nods, watching the woman speed walk away.

Jeongguk scans the menu, but allows his thoughts to run around. He’s surprised once again by the woman. She doesn’t act anything like what he thought she would. He assumed that after living with unmistakable wealth for who knows how long, that she’d be snotty and ignorant.

But the woman’s smile was scarily genuine. She didn’t give him any looks that were less than kind. She has been nothing but sweet since he arrived, nothing like the people in Seoul.

A few moments later the woman returned with a notepad in hand and a smile on her face, "Do you need more time?" Jeongguk shakes his head at her question, “No that’s alright. I’ll just have samgyeopsal please. Water as well if you can.” The woman smiles brightly, “One of our best dishes! Sit tight, it’ll be out soon. I’ll be right back with your water.”

Jeongguk nods and watches the woman walk away. He begins to wonder if the woman would be sad if she found out her ex husband was killed. His head tilts, maybe travelling and meeting his family members isn’t such a good idea, but he’s not one to change plans.

The next hour and a half is filled with him enjoying a fresh meal (which hasn’t happened in a while) and chatting casually to the woman who was seemingly hovering near his table. As he’s finishing up, she walks by again, this time jeongguk stops her, “Excuse me?” The woman stops in her tracks and walks over quickly. “Yes, dear? Is everything okay?”

Jeongguk notices her concerned eyes and tries not to show his confusion. “I was just wondering why you seem to be sticking around me?” He questions. Her eyes widen a bit and she begins to flush, “I didn’t realize I was that obvious.” She chuckles embarrassed.

Jeongguk shakes his head, “You weren’t, I'm just really observant.” He scratches the back of his neck. The woman smiles, “I think it’s a motherly thing. I see you sitting here alone and it makes me feel sad. I know what it’s like to be alone, to eat alone. Loneliness is a horrible feeling that no one should have to feel.” Jeongguk smiles at her, it’s emotionless but she doesn’t seem to realize that, “I appreciate the sentiments, but I came here alone willingly, I prefer being alone.”

The woman seems to relax, “That’s relieving!” She notices his empty dishes, “Are you ready for your check?” Jeongguk nods at her question. “Alright, I’ll have one of the waiters bring it over to you.”

---------

Jeongguk collapses back on his bed, exhausted from the long travels. He picks up his phone and scrolls through the notes, erasing the name Han Mirah. He looks at the next name on his list. Oh. /Names/ . Kim Leena and Kim Hyunji. He feels his body relax as he glances at their locations. Seoul. He won’t have to travel too far for this one.

He looks up Lee’s Fashion, and grins when he sees that it’s a physical store. He scrolls through their website and notices a social media page. He clicks the instagram icon and is brought to the official page. After scrolling through a bit, he exits out of the app and goes back to the web search page and copies the address and pastes it in his notes. Tomorrow he’ll go there.

----

Jeongguk walks out of the shop with a huff of relief. He wasn’t prepared for how convincing and energetic those girls would be, and now, as he walks to the bus stop with four bags full of clothing that he didn’t even want, he’s cursing himself for getting distracted. He sits on the bench and hears a snort next to him.

He looks over and sees an older man grinning at him, “Was that your first time in there?” He asks with his brows raised. “What gave it away?” Jeongguk asks. The man laughs and nods to the bags, “No first timer ever leaves there without at least four bags. Be happy that’s all they forced you to leave with. Those two are a force to be reckoned with. I’ve never met anyone as good at selling things as they are.”

The bus pulls up as the man finishes speaking, Jeongguk stands, “Well I can imagine they don’t have to worry much about not getting business, that’s for sure.” He says before stepping on the bus, the man lets out a chuckle behind him.

The bus ride is short, a little over twenty minutes, and as soon as he steps foot into his rooftop apartment, the bags drop from his hands and he collapses on the small couch.

He pulls out his phone, crossing off the names of the twins before scanning his list. The more he looks, he realizes something. He needs to focus on getting rid of Daehoon, but he was never told he couldn’t destroy his life first. Jeongguk grins.

So, Jeongguk thinks. If he were a rich tycoon, what would destroy his image? He scrolls through his list as he thinks, and suddenly an idea arises right as he scrolls to the end of the list and catches sight of the name there.

Kim Taehyung. Illegitimate child.

Jeongguk grins. Tomorrow he’s visiting Daegu.

-------

Jeongguk gets off the bus and stretches, his limbs extending to their full lengths, almost smacking someone in the face. He pulls his arms in quickly when the person shouts a quick, “Hey!” And bows apologetically, hiding the fighting grin on his lips.

His trip to Daegu was surprisingly pleasant, not too much of a bumpy ride, no teenagers staring him down, and he was even able to nap for a while. He smiles as he begins to walk, pulling out his phone. He’s not sure which Starbucks he works at, there being about seven in total in Daegu (Let’s not point out my lack of knowledge about the size of Daegu or the locations of Starbucks).

He pulls up his GPS and types in starbucks and starts to walk to the closest one, kicking rocks on his way. It’s times like this Jeongguk becomes thankful that he’s fit, because walking isn’t a bother, depending on the length of travels.

He makes it to the third one, ready to give up in annoyance. He walks into the third store, an irritated scowl on his face, ready to order /another/ coffee he’s just going to throw away. He pretends to look at the menu for a bit before going up to the line. While he ’scans’ the menu, his eyes bounce around the shop, looking at nametags. He sighs quietly when he doesn’t see anyone with the name Taehyung.

---

Taehyung is scrubbing the counter in front of him clean of spilled coffee when the door opens again. He sighs quietly. Wiping his forehead with the back of his hand before putting on a fake smile and glancing up. His face heats up and his smile falters a bit when his eyes fall upon the new customer Before he smacks himself lightly. Bogum, Tae.

He’s definitely never noticed the man here before, he would remember. Taehyung’s face heats up his own thoughts so he shakes his head as he watches the man glare at the menu. He notices the annoyed look on the man’s face and makes a quick decision.

He grabs one of their wrapped cookies and places it on the counter, and begins to draw a small doodle on the wrapper. He draws a cute little smiley face, and a stick figure handing another stick figure a coffee with the writing with a small grin on his lips. He caps the marker and smiles happily at his work. This is sure to put a smile on the man’s face.

He’s so proud of his work and analyzing it so intently that he doesn’t notice a man approaching the counter until he hears a throat clearing. He jumps and almost drops the marker as he looks up with wide eyes and sees the man from earlier. He doesn’t look as annoyed, instead he looks amused. “I hate to interrupt your artistic escapade, but I'd like to order now.”

Taehyung feels his face heat up, “Yes of course. S-Sorry. What can I get you?” Taehyung asks, his palms feeling sweaty all of a sudden, he curses himself, feeling a bit guilty. The man chuckles and looks back to the menu. “How's your Peach Green Tea Lemonade? Sounds kinda gross but I’m not really an expert.”

Taehyung makes a face, “Is your heart set on that or can I suggest another one?” The man chuckles a bit louder at the way Taehyung scrunches his nose, “By all means, please.” Taehyung turns towards the menu, “Hmm...I really like the Classic Chai Latte, but I also really like the Berry Hibiscus.” He turns back, only to catch eyes with the man.

He blushes as the man smirks a bit, “No coffee references? At a coffee shop?” Taehyung giggles, “I hate coffee, believe it or not.” The man nods in understanding, “Fair enough, it’s only purpose is energy. I’ll try the Berry Hibiscus one.” He says, pulling out his wallet. Taehyung nods and puts his order in. ONce the man pays, Taehyung hesitates, making the male notice.

“Is something wrong?” He asks, dipping his head a bit to look at taehyung’s face with a frown. Taehyung bites his lip and shakes his head, “No, but..when you walked in I noticed you looked a little..annoyed? So I..” He slowly moves the cookie over closer to the stranger.

The man looks down and picks it up, looking closely at the drawing. “What’s it called when you steal someone’s coffee?” He reads. He looks up at Taehyung with a confused look, to which Taehyung responds with a sheepish smile, “A mugging.”

The man blinks at him, looks down at the cookie, and then looks back up. They stare for a few seconds before the man is laughing. Taehyung slowly grins, “So? It’s good, right?” The man nods, “Yeah, it’s pretty good. Thank you.” Taehyung smiles.

“Oh, I’m going to need a name for your order.” He remembers sheepishly. “Jeongguk.” The man says. He goes to hand the cookie back to Taehyung, who shakes his head, “It’s for you. Enjoy it, Jeongguk.” Jeongguk smiles and pockets the cookie carefully. “Thank you..”

Taehyung quickly realizes he forgot his nametag when he pats his chest where it normally sits, “Oh shoot.” He makes an embarrassed face, “Uh, Taehyung.” He says. Jeongguk freezes for a second, making Taehyung confused, “Is something wrong?” He asks, reaching out to rest a tentative hand on Jeongguk’s shoulder. Jeongguk shakes his head quickly, “No! Not at all, that’s just, uh, a nice name. That’s all.”

Taehyung blushes and retrieves his hand, “Oh, Thank you.” There’s a few minutes of silence while Taehyung begins to clean his area again and Jeongguk waits by the pick up counter. When his drink is finished, He begins to walk out, but stops and quickly turns back and stops in front of Taehyung’s station, making the boy look up with wide eyes, “Yes?”

Jeongguk clears his throat, “Do you have a piece of paper and a pen?” Taehyung’s head tilts slightly, but retrieves the marker from before, and a blank piece of receipt paper and hands them to Jeongguk.

Jeongguk doesn’t speak again as he leans over and begins to scribble quickly on the paper, when he’s done he hands the marker to Taehyung and holds the paper, “I would like to be your friend, Taehyung. I hope you feel the same.” He pushes the paper towards the Barista, “This is my number. Me giving this to you gives you the option of texting me or throwing it in the trash. Do as you please.”

He leaves quickly after handing it over, not giving Taehyung a chance to respond. As Jeongguk Leaves, Taehyung stands staring at the door, his face bright red, and his fist crushing the paper. He got a cute boy's phone number.

------

Jeongguk sits on his bed back in his apartment, switching between staring at his phone and typing at his computer. He’s trying to write down a game plan for bringing the company down, but he’s going off the assumption that Taehyung actually texts him. He’s also assuming that he’s Kim Taehyung and not some random Taehyung that just happened to also work at a Starbucks.

He’s typing out possibilities of getting Taehyung into the company when he hopefully agrees to meet his birth father, when his phone beeps loudly, indicating a text message. He grabs his phone quickly, almost knocking his water bottle off his desk in the process, and curses. He fixes the bottle before carefully maneuvering his phone into his hand.

He grins when he sees an unknown number across his screen with the words, ‘Hello?’ Underneath. He quickly unlocks his phone, and decides to play it cool.

*Texts between jjk and kth*

Taehyung tosses his phone with a loud squeal. He begins to kick around in his bed until his door is opened quickly, making him freeze. “Tae...What’s going on, buddy?” Taehyung looks up with a guilty pout on his face. His shoulders drop and he sighs loudly. “Hobbit..”His friend's face went from worried to blank, “Forget it, suffer alone.”

“Hobi no! I’m sorry okay, I really do need your guidance in this time of confusion,” He calls, holding his hand out dramatically. Hoseok rolls his eyes and walks ovr, plopping himself on the bed next to his best friend, “What’s the goss?” Taehyung makes a face, “Let’s not do that.” Hoseok shrugs, “Hater. Anyway, what’s up?”

At this, Taehyung pouts again, “Remind me why I’m dating Bogum again?” Hoseok raises his brows, “Uh...because you like him? And he helped you get back on your feet after your family lost everything?” Taehyung whines loudly, “God , I’m such a bad person.”

Hoseok pats his back, “Hey, what's going on?” SO Taehyung tells him. About Jeongguk, about the messages and the cookie and the prospect of a hangout. “Making friends doesn’t make you a bad person Taehyung.” Taehyung sighs, “I /know/ that. But I got so giddy talking to Jeongguk and we literally only met today! I’m horrible because I get blushy and flip out over a simple selfie from the guy. I /never/ got like that with Bogum. It’s making me question myself.”

Hoseok makes a face of understanding, “This guy threw you through a loop, huh? I’m going to tell you one thing, okay? I’m not going to tell you what I think, because my thoughts don’t matter, but I will say- Don’t stay with Bogum just because you feel like you owe him. If you don’t see him romantically, don’t drag it out more than it already has been. You don’t owe him anything, he did what he did out of the kindness in his heart. He never expected anything from you and you know that. Bogum is extremely understanding, all he wants is your happiness. Plus, I'd be surprised if he didn’t already get the feeling you didn’t like him like that, you guys barely kiss.” Hoseok snickers.

Taehyung chucks him with a shoulder, “Shut up. You’re right though, this whole situation threw me off, who knew a dude i met mere hours ago would make me question my relationship. I need to do some serious thinking. I never realized how unfair I'm being towards him.”

Taehyung places his hands on his head, “I’m really horrible, aren’t i?” Hoseok wraps his arms around his best friend, “No! You aren’t a bad person, Tae. You can make bad calls, that doesn’t automatically make you bad. People make mistakes. But it’s your job to make it right. You can turn this around.”

Taehyung feels his eyes water and hugs Hoseok tightly, “Thank you, hobi. You’re really the best best friend in the universe.” Hoseok hugs back with a bright smile that makes Taehyung feel warm, “Of course I am.”

--------

Jeongguk, on the other hand, is quickly back to work after throwing his phone down. He’s on like six different sms websites, typing in the name Kim taehyung to see if any of the people who pop up are the taehyung he met.

He sighs heavily when he gets hundreds of matches for the name taehyung. He’s scrolling through, bored out of his mind with no luck, when an idea pops into his head. He leans back to grab his phone quickly and is quick to connect it to his laptop with a cord. After a few clicks, he's able to upload the picture that was sent from the barista and is able to try a picture match with the profiles pulled up on his browser.

It takes a few minutes for the program to search through all the profile’s pictures, so he gets up and goes over to his fridge. He pulls out some leftover food from the night before and begins to heat it up in the microwave. As he’s waiting, his eyes fall to the cookie from earlier in the day. He stares at it for a second before rolling his eyes and grabbing it, tossing it into the trashcan next to him.

Right ast the microwave is about to hit one, he opens it and grabs the steaming bowl right as his laptop chimes, letting him know that the program found a match. Not caring about the scorching from the bowl, he grabs it and quickly makes his way over to the devices and smirks at the picture of a familiar face smiling with a dog in his arms. So he is a Kim.

He clicks the account associated with the picture and begins to scroll through. He stops at a few pictures, one with the caption: “Ain’t no bestie like my bestie” above it a picture of Taehyung with whom Jeongguk assumes is his best friend. A guy with way too bright of a smile. He clicks the tagged profile which leads him to one Jung Hoseok. A dancer, apparently an honorary sunshine according to the biography.

He rolls his eyes again, but adds the name to his notes, and clicks back to Taehyung’s profile. He scrolls through again, before stopping on another picture. Jeongguk glares at the unknown guy in the picture, trying to figure out where he’s seen him before. He shakes his head and looks at the caption: Best date ever! Can’t wait for the next one!

Jeongguk raises an eyebrow. He scrolls through the comments, and finds one that confirms his assumptions: You guys are so cute! I need a relationship like this TT. Jeongguk leans back with a curse. He’s going to have to go with a different approach now that he knows he’s in a relationship. He sits forward, he might still be able to get close to him as a friend instead of a love interest.

He scrolls back up and clicks the tagged profile. This time it leads him to the profile of Park Bogum. He looks at the following he has, and whistles low, “Okay, Mr. Popular.” He starts looking closely at his biography and sees his workplace. Park&Co? Jeongguk sits back carelessly.

That’s why the man looked familiar. Jeongguk laughs humorlessly and shakes his head, “Well, this story is full of plot twists, isn’t it?”

----------

Taehyung’s scrubbing hard at one of the tables in the cafe when he sees Jeongguk again. It’s been two weeks now and they’ve been texting back and forth, but they haven’t hung out since Taehyung brought it up. He’s mentioned it a few times, but Jeongguk lets him know that his schedule has been pretty packed lately, due to an issue with a project they were working on, so he’s been having to work extra hard to get it completed and turned in on time.

Taehyung understands, of course he does, and he can’t help but to relate the situation to his boyfriend. Bogum works /a lot/ which is normal for the new CEO of Park&Co, so he understands. However, with all the messages from Jeongguk, Taehyung realized that until two days ago, he went almost three weeks without a single call from his boyfriend, only one worded texts here and there.

He knows he’s busy, but a simple text wouldn’t completely throw his schedule off. Taehyung even tried sending a few messages, not getting a response in return. It annoyed him. He was already having a bad day. From waking up this morning to only a text from Hoseok telling him he went to the studio early to practice, and nothing from his boyfriend. He sent the messages two days ago at this point.

Then, he almost missed the bus that would take him to work, having to rush to get ready and run from his apartment all the way to the bus stop. Then the seats were full so he had to stand, and apparently the driver felt careless because they hit every pothole and bump possible, making Taehyung almost fall multiple times. Then, when he finally got to work, his boss chewed him out for forgetting to turn off one of the coffee pots the night before like he was supposed to, so he apologized profusely.

As the day went on, it seemed to get better, and finally Taehyung felt like he could relax. He was going around sweeping the floor when disaster struck again. He was trying to sweep his dirt pile into a dustpan, when he accidentally swung the handle back, and knocked a customer's drink over on one of the tables, drenching the surface, floor, /and/ customer in iced coffee (thank god it was iced).

Taehyung bowed multiple times apologizing, while the customer yelled and dabbed at his shirt roughly, going off about a business meeting, and how he was going to have to change his shirt at work now, and that taehyung is lucky he keeps changes of clothing at his office.

This led to his boss chewing him out yet again, and making him give a refund for the man's coffee with his own personal money. Now, Taehyung kneels next to the angry customers table, cleaning the coffee off the floor, while the customer tries to shove his shoe in his face, demanding he clean the spill off of it.

Taehyung takes a deep, calming breath, before lifting his hand to the man's shoe. Right as he’s about to put the rag on, it’s snatched out of his hand. He looks up and stands quickly when he sees Jeongguk, throwing the rag in the man’s face, “Clean it yourself, you’ve got working hands. His job is to clean the establishment, not entitled rich fools that probably don’t even know /how/ to clean a spill.”

The man practically growls, “Listen kid, I’ve got an important meeting soon, and I can't be walking in there with a stain on my Saint Laurent shoes!” Jeongguk gets in the guy’s face, “Then I guess you better go clean them, “He whispers the next part low, “You shouldn’t test me, Mr. Im. I can bring your company down with one shot.”

Taehyung can’t hear what's being said, and he can’t see Jeongguk’s face, but the absolute fear and confusion on the man’s face makes him stand up. “Hey, it’s okay! It was my fault it spilled anyway.” Taehyung clarifies, taking a light hold of Jeongguk’s arm. He doesn’t budge as he stares down the business man, “Really, Guk. It’s okay.” He says softly, tugging his arm a bit.

Jeongguk looks over at him, and Taehyung almost stumbles back at the sheer /mean/ across his features, and he would have if it didn’t soften the second he looked at the Barista. “Fine. Fine, I'll back down.” He says and raises both hands, stepping back. Taehyung smiles a little at the other, and turns to the man, “Allow me, sir. I apologize again for the inconvenience.”

He goes to kneel again, but the man steps back abruptly, “Forget it! I’ll clean it my damn self!” He hollers before taking one last fleeting look at Jeongguk and turning around to exit the building. Taehyung looks around quickly, thankful the cafe is mostly empty, and that his boss is back in her office.

He spins to look at Jeongguk, his kind smile gone, “Are you trying to get me in trouble, Mister?” Jeongguk blinks, “Huh?” Taehyung huffs loudly, kneeling back on the floor by the spill, “You can’t just come in here and threaten a customer because of /my/ mistake! He had every reason to be upset!” Jeongguk kneels next to him slowly, “But..didn’t it make you upset to be talked to like that?”

Taehyung looks over at him softly, “It did..And i appreciate what you were trying to do, but there are some things that we can’t argue about. I made a mistake, and I had to deal with the repercussions of it. No one likes getting yelled at, but the feeling of making things right feels a lot better than arguing and getting the last word. Trust me.”

He goes back to scrubbing as Jeongguk takes in his words, he’s so used to people immediately wanting to get revenge and fight. Hell he’s killed someone just because they embarrassed his client at a gala. Something Taehyung said got his attention though, “How’d you know I threatened him?” He asked, looking at the boy's profile.

Taehyung snorted, “The look on his face was a dead give away. He looked fucking terrified. I don’t know what you said, and quite frankly, I don't want to. But you can’t just threaten people all willy nilly, you could get yourself in trouble.” Jeongguk almost snorted at his words. Taehyung has /no/ idea.

It's silent for a few moments as Jeongguk thinks and Taehyung cleans. Jeongguk peeks at him out of the corner of his eye, “Hey, Taehyung.” The other doesn’t stop his scrubbing, nor does he look up, but he hums, telling Jeongguk to continue. “What time do you get done?” He asks, trying to make himself sound shy.

Taehyung looks up for a moment, “At five,” He glances at a clock on the wall, “So in about an hour. Why?” Jeongguk hums, “Did you drive here?” Taehyung shakes his head, “No, I don't drive. Normally I take the bus, or an uber if I miss the bus.” He answers, assuming Jeongguk is just trying to make small talk.

He almost yells at the other when he picks up a napkin and begins cleaning one of the legs of the table, but Jeongguk speaks again, “Can I take you home? As an apology for almost getting you into trouble? Plus I came today to see if you wanted to maybe, I don’t know, hangout after work?”

Taehyung looks at him in surprise,”You want to hangout with me?” He asks. Jeongguk stops what he’s doing and looks at Taehyung with furrowed brows. /He does?/ Jeongguk questions himself, but nods at Taehyung, “Of course I do. That project is finally done and turned in, So I finally have some free time and I know you’ve been wanting to. That's assuming you still do, of course.”

Taehyung grins widely, “Of course I do! I can’t wait, yes of course you can take me home! We can play video games or watch movies! Oh you can finally meet Tannie too! Hoseok will probably be home, so I hope you don’t mind. He’s really friendly so you don’t have to worry about him much!” A thought occurs to him, “Unless you were thinking we go out. We could go to karaoke, or the arcade!”

Jeongguk watches as Taehyung rambles off ideas for their hangouts, taking in the smile on his face, and the excitement lighting up his eyes. He practically squeals in excitement just at being able to plan a hangout between the two. Jeongguk doesn’t even notice the soft smile on his own face as he responds to the barista’s excitement, “Video games sound fun. I haven’t really played much recently, but I used to play all the time when I was younger.”

Taehyung giggles, “You say that as if it was a long time ago! You’re only twenty-three Jeongguk, you’re still young! We both are!” He exclaims, elbowing Jeongguk lightly. Jeongguk chuckles genuinely, surprising himself, but nods, “You’re right, you’re right.”

-----

They walk out of the building together, Jeongguk listening as Taehyung quietly complains about his day so his manager doesn't hear. "And of course, even if you’re /seconds/ late, that's a travesty and you should /definitely/ be bitched at. Even if it's not your fault."

Jeongguk tilts his head, "I don't agree with that. Shit happens, she should have at least allowed you to explain why you were late." He says, shoving his hands in his pockets. Taehyung giggles and bumps their shoulders, "I was joking, silly. I understand why she has to be strict with tardiness, but I at least would have liked to explain so she didn't assume it was me slacking off, you know?"

"Oh." Jeongguk feels his ears redden, "Right, yeah that makes sense. What about the rest of your day?" He asks, changing the subject. Taehyung sighs lightly, "It was good up until that one customer. I hate people like him. Conceited jerks." He growls.

Jeongguk nods in full understanding, "Trust me, I get it. They're the worst. We'd be better off without them." Taehyung looks at him in shock, the dark tone of the other's voice surprising him. "Wow, you really feel strongly about this, huh? That explains the way you handled the guy." He says to himself.

Jeongguk sighs heavily, "You have no idea." Taehyung looks at him again, but doesn't question his words. They stop in front of the bus stop in silence, but Taehyung looks over in confusion, "Why'd we stop here?" He motions to the bench. Jeongguk looks at him, "So I can take you home."

Taehyung blinks, "Don't you have a car?" Jeongguk stares at him, "No? Why would you think that?" Taehyung scoffs and rolls his eyes, "When you said you'd take me home, I thought you meant in your car." He laughs, "You know, to avoid public transportation because it's dangerous?"

Jeongguk shakes his head, "Nope, no car. But you'll be safe on the bus with me on it with you. Trust me." Taehyung raises his brows, "Oh, confident are we?" Jeongguk looks at him with his own raised brow, "I have every right to be- no one can get through me. I'm invincible. Like Iron Man." His face is serious but his words make Taehyung laugh out loud.

"Okay Mr. Superhero! You better keep me safe then! I'm trusting you." Jeongguk smiles a bit, but his mind is running wild. Did he just crack a /joke with /Taehyung/? He's a part of his plan, not his friend Jeongguk needed to remember that. Friends just make things difficult in his job. People are too nosey for their own good.

The bus arrives minutes later, and they board, talking about anything and everything on the way to Taehyung's. Jeongguk perks up when Taehyung brings up his parents, "I used to live on a strawberry farm with my mother, it was just us until my step dad came along. Then they got married and had my brother-he's eleven- and then a few years ago I moved in with Hoseok."

Jeongguk pretends this is new information, "Oh wow, really? A farm, huh? Sounds hectic. So your mother remarried?" Taehyung's ears redden, "Well..kind of? Not really. My mom and my biological father never married. They were both young when I was born."

"Was your real father not ready?" He asks, Taehyung thinks for a moment, "My mother told me he wasn't aware I was born. She never told him. She told me it wasn't because he was a bad guy, he just had a busy life and so much going for him that she didn't want to get in the way of that. Not to mention his parents were really mean and horrible people, and she didn't want me to grow up in such a hateful environment."

Jeongguk hums, "I can understand that. What do you think about it?" Taehyung furrows his brows, "Usually I'm okay. It's not like I grew up unhappy without him in my life, but there were times I got angry. Growing up and seeing all the kids do stuff with their dad always set me off. I hated that I didn't have one, that I couldn't do normal father son stuff with him. And people talked. Constantly."

Jeongguk gives him a second to collect his thoughts, "My mom was judged a lot for having a bastard baby, and through school I was asked a lot about where my dad was and why my dad didn't come to sports day, or art shows." Jeongguk puts a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. Taehyung smiles at him though, no sadness on his face.

"That's why I love my Step Dad. He really lives up to his name. He steps in where my father should have been. It was later than I'd like, but he did the father son stuff, and went to sports day and my art shows. In fact he was my biggest fan. He really made up for the lack of a father figure."

Jeongguk smiles back briefly, "But.. If you had the chance to meet your real father, would you?" Taehyung shakes his head immediately, "I don't think I would. I like my life right now, and I love my stepdad. I have my family. But.." He stops for a moment, "I'd also like to know him too, I suppose. See where I get my looks from, see if I look more like my mother or him."

He gets a look on his face that tells Jeongguk he's thinking. "No..No I don't think I would. Even if I got his name, I'd just leave it. I'd like to keep things how they are." Jeongguk curses in his head, but nods and says, "I get it. I'm glad you were able to find the happiness you were looking for when you were a kid."

Taehyung smiles, "Tell me about your family." He says happily. His mood quickly drops when he sees Jeongguk's expression change. "My family.. isn't a family. I have a little sister, she's fifteen. I'm the one who raised her though. My parents were never home when we were younger. Always working. My father's a high position Lawyer for a stupid company that I won't even mention. My mother is his secretary."

Taehyung gasps, "Is that why you hate rich people?" Jeongguk chuckles, "I don't hate rich people, not /all/ of them suck. I hate entitled, selfish money hungry mongrels." Taehyung nods his head, "Are they still.. Absent?"

Taehyung notices his stop coming up and stands, Jeongguk following his lead, "They don't even exist anymore. When I was eighteen they kicked me out of the house, and sent my sister, Haeun with me. Not that I mind, I wouldn't have left her there alone anyway, she was ten she couldn't be left alone."

"It took me a while to get on my feet. The only money I had was from what I pulled out of their bank account before I left. They didn't even notice, but that didn't surprise me. Those assholes have more money than they know what to do with. It was enough to pay off three months in an apartment- though we didn't have any furniture other than what they let us take from the house."

They get off the bus and begin walking, "I found a job pretty quickly though. I became a busboy at a bar for minimum wage. It wasn't much, but we got by. When I was twenty and she was twelve, she got sick. I had to get another job and work extra shifts before I could take her to the hospital though, because of the bill. Thank god a sweet old lady lived next door."

Taehyung looks at him sadly. "The money didn't matter though. Because there would be a lot more debt-" Jeongguk is interrupted, "Tae?" Taehyung looks over as Jeongguk pauses a bit, his mind reeling.

He can't believe he just told taehyung all of that. Where the hell did his filter go? Taehyung now knew more about him than anyone else, and that threw him through a loop. He's in disbelief.

"Bogum? What are you doing here?" Taehyung asks, taking a few steps towards the man standing at the entrance of the building, most likely waiting for Taehyung. Bogum furrows his brow, glancing quickly at Jeongguk, "Didn't you get my text? I'm free this evening so I came to take you to dinner."

Taehyung pulls out his phone quickly, "I.. Don't have any texts from you. Are you sure you sent it to me?" Bogum begins to pull out his own phone, "Yes, I'm sure. I even told you to meet me here. I sent the location too just in case there was any.. confusion..?" Bogum stares at his phone screen. "It never sent."

Jeongguk snorts, "You always get the newest type of phone on the market and your service still sucks?" he says sarcastically. Taehyung whips around with wide eyes, "Jeongguk!" Bogum looks up in surprise. "Jeongguk?" Bogum quickly walks closer, "It is you. What the fuck?"

Taehyung looks at Bogum in confusion, "You two know each other?" Jeongguk shrugs, "Briefly. I had business with his company before it was his." Jeongguk says, giving Bogum a shit eating grin, "Been a while Bogum. How's it feel to finally be in the top position?" Bogum looks irritated, "It's great. Just a lot of work." He says through gritted teeth, while Jeongguk smiles.

Taehyung looks at Bogum in surprise, "That was a little aggressive Gum." Bogum sighs at this, "Sorry, Sorry. I've just been stressed out lately." Taehyung nods, "Well then maybe you should use this evening to fully rest at home. I had plans with Jeongguk anyway, so it works out."

Bogum looks surprised, "Plans? What plans could you possibly have with someone like Jeongguk?" Jeongguk gives him a warning look, which Taehyung misses in his moment of offence, "'Someone like Jeongguk'? What's that supposed to mean? He's my friend." Bogum side eyes Jeongguk before shaking his head, "Sorry, stressed, remember? You're right, I'll go. We can plan something next time I have off." He kisses Taehyung's forehead, "I'll see you soon."

Bogum leaves, throwing a glare Jeongguk's way. The assassin raises an eyebrow as if to say 'you really want to challenge me? after knowing what I've done?' Which gets Bogum to finally turn and leave. Jeongguk and Taehyung watch his car go before Taehyung spins to look at the other, "Overwatch?"

----------------------

“You’re cheating!” Taehyung hollers as he leans over toward Jeongguk, his arm swinging to mess him up. “Hey! I’m not! It’s not my fault you suck!” The other argues, moving his hands out of reach of the menace. Taehyung gasps loudly at his words, “I do not suck! I’ll have you know that when Hobi and I play /I’m/ the one that wins!”

“Only because I let you, baby.” Hoseok says and he puts on his coat and grabs his keys, “I couldn’t be bothered listening to you whine.” Taehyung looks offended for a moment before tilting his head, “You going somewhere Hobi? I thought you were going to hang out with us?”

Hoseok smiles apologetically, ”Ahh, I'm sorry Tae. Jack called and he finally came home today. I was going to spend the night there. Is that okay?” He asks, fiddling with the sleeve of his jacket. Taehyung gives him a surprised face, “Hobi you don’t have to ask my permission, what the hell? I was just asking!”

Hoseok smiles, “I just didn’t want you to be disappointed because I changed plans so suddenly.” Taehyung shakes his head, bringing his arms up to wave them dismissively, “I’m not, don't worry! I can bother Jeongguk more this way.”

The mentioned turns quickly at the two, "Whoa, whoa. This isn't turning into 'How quick can I annoy Jeongguk’.' I'll get up and leave." He says quickly, acting as if he was going to get up. Taehyung quickly grabs his arms, "No! I'm just kidding, don't go!" He pouts, keeping a firm grip on the other arm.

Hoseok laughs at their antics as he slips on his shoes, "Well you two have fun, I'll see you later Tae, okay?" Taehyung pouts a bit, but nods, "Bye." He mutters. Hoseok just rolls his eyes with a smile, "It was nice meeting you Jeongguk, I hope we can meet again soon." Jeongguk smiles and nods with a small wave.

The two on the floor watch as Hoseok leaves, and stare at the door for a few seconds after it's closed and turn to look at each other. "Now what?" Jeongguk says. Taehyung tilts his head as he thinks, "Hmmm. Not sure." They think for a few moments, before Taehyung gets an idea, "I got it!"

Jeongguk looks at him with a raised eyebrow as Taehyung smiles widely at him, not elaborating. "Well? What is it?" He asks. Taehyung frowns, "I was hoping we'd have one of those 'You thinking what I'm thinking' moments, but okay." Jeongguk rolls his eyes, "I don't get out much, Taehyung, I don't know what people do while hanging out."

Taehyung sighs dramatically, "I guess I forgive you. Anyway! Let's build a /fort/!" He says excitedly. Jeongguk looks at him with wide eyes, "A..A fort? How do we do that?" Taehyung gasps loudly, "You've never built a blanket fort before?" He quickly gets up on his knees and leans on Jeongguk, his hands on the other's shoulders.

"That's absolutely unacceptable." He practically growls. Jeongguk stares at him with wide eyes, "You're scaring me. And it takes a lot to scare me." Taehyung sits back and a second later he's throwing his head back in boisterous laughter, slapping Jeongguk's knee as he giggled away.

Jeongguk smiles, but looks confused, "Why are you laughing so much?" Taehyung settles down, "The look on your face, you looked so terrified! Does building a fort really sound that scary?" Jeongguk shakes his head with a chuckle, "I'm not scared of building the fort, dork. I'm scared of how /evil/ you sounded talking about it."

Taehyung begins to laugh again as he stands. Once he's stable on his feet, he reaches both hands out, "Come on, fraidy cat, let's build a fort." Jeongguk nods and lets him pull him up. They begin to walk back towards Taehyung's hallway closet, "We can watch movies in it when we're done, we just have to put it over the T.V. somehow."

Taehyung mumbles the second part of his sentence, and Jeongguk looks over at the living room trying to figure out how they could make the fort. "I don't know how we'd get it to stay on the T.V. the blankets would be too heavy, won't they?" He says, turning back to taehyung and allowing him to pile blankets in his arms.

Taehyung nods with a pout, "Yeah. And the T.V. is too thick for us to use clips to keep it up." He frowns, "Man, I really wanted to watch movies in a fort." Jeongguk looks back over, and when he can't think of a way to use the T.V. he comes up with another plan. "You have a laptop, don't you?"

Taehyung looks over at him, slightly confused as he closes the closet door and motions him towards another room. "Yeah, why?" He opens a door, leading them into his bedroom. Jeongguk looks around for a second before answering, "Do you have a small-ish box or anything? Like the box of a package?"

Taehyung thinks for a moment, "I think I have two shoe boxes in my closet? Why?" Jeongguk smiles, "That may work. We can use the boxes as a small T.V. stand and put the laptop on top and watch movies in the fort that way. It might be more comfortable like that, too."

Taehyung smiles widely at the idea, and almost runs to his closet, "That's brilliant! I'm so excited!" He pulls three shoe boxes out and tosses them on the bed and grabs the blankets he threw on the floor, "Let's get these blankets out to the sitting room then we can come back for more stuff!"

He runs out before Jeongguk can respond, and the other just stands there for a moment. He closes his eyes and sighs heavily, feeling his annoyance grow. He can't help but curse himself for getting into this. He hears Taehyung call for him, so he begins to walk, forcing a smile on his face.

--------------

"Okay, so the best parts about watching movies at home are building a fort, setting up a movie, and the last thing, snacks!" Taehyung cheers happily, running into the kitchen. They just finished putting the fort together, Jeongguk getting annoyed at the fact that it kept falling. Jeongguk watches him go, his face blank.

When he's out of sight, Jeongguk sighs and plops on the floor next to their fort. He stares at it for a while, even as his phone goes off and he pulls it out, he's still analyzing the fixture. Once his phone is out, he looks at the screen with a frown, unlocking it.

What he sees makes him get up quickly and jog to the front door, throwing his coat and shoes on. Hearing the commotion, Taehyung comes out of the kitchen with a frown on his face, "Jeongguk?" The assassin looks over and freezes in the middle of zipping his jacket, "Tae.." The other tilts his head in confusion, sadness beginning to show on his features, and for some reason Jeongguk's heart squeezes as he sees the bowl of popcorn in his arms.

"Are...Are you leaving?" He asks quietly. his feet shuffling as he eyes Jeongguk's jacket and shoes. Jeongguk makes an apologetic face, "There was an emergency at work. I'm really sorry Taehyung. I'll make it up to you though, okay? I promise." He finishes zipping his coat.

Taehyung nods shallowly, "Yeah...Yeah that's fine. Just let me know when you have off next?" Jeongguk nods without hesitation, "Of course." He doesn't know why, but he quickly walks over and awkwardly hugs Taehyung around the bowl of popcorn, before pulling away and smiling for more time at him before he's gone, Taehyung's door closing behind him.

Taehyung looks down at the bowl in his arms sadly, and walks slowly back to the kitchen. He looks around at the candy and soda cans he had set out while the popcorn was cooking, and begins to put it all away.

Once he was done putting the rest away, he walked back over to the bowl sitting on the counter, and walked it over to the trash can. He stared at it for a few seconds with a frown on his face before he took the lid of the garbage and dumped the now cold snack away. "What a waste." He mumbles as he puts the lid back on. He walks to the sink and begins to wash the bowl, the frown not leaving his face for the rest of the night.

----------

"It's been quite a few weeks, boy. I figured you'd have the job done by now." The gravelly voice says, the intake of air following as he takes a hit of his cigar. Jeongguk just stares ahead, not looking into the man's eyes, "I should have explained my plans to you, I apologize. It won't be much longer, sir. I've been getting too comfortable. It ends now."

The man chuckles at his words, "I like you kid, don't make me regret it." Jeongguk nods once, before he's escorted out of the room and back into the busy room of the club, the music automatically shaking his bones. He rolls his eyes at the feeling, never being one for clubbing and dancing and music. He was definitely a stay at home kind of guy.

He exits the building, the bouncer sending him a nod, which Jeongguk barely returns. He begins his walk home. It was pretty far, but Jeongguk isn't one for taking his car very often. He rarely uses the thing, it's mostly for show more than anything. Plus, the long walk and breeze helps him think.

He needs to stop wasting time with Taehyung and begin trying to convince him to meet his father. As he walks he decides that the next time he sees Taehyung, he'll do his absolute best to convince him.

-------------

Three days later, Jeongguk thinks it's the right time to fake a day off, so he texts Taehyung, and isn't surprised to receive a reply almost immediately.

*texts between tae & jk*

"You know, I'm actually impressed. That was /exactly/ fifteen minutes since you sent that message.`` Taehyung says as he sits down in Jeongguk's car with a grin. Jeongguk shrugs nonchalantly, "I'm extremely good at timing." He claims.

Taehyung looks at him as the car is put into drive, "That's a weird flex, Guk." Jeongguk shrugs again, but with only one shoulder, "Still a flex." Taehyung laughs at this and leans towards the radio, "To the mall, please!" He says happily, buckling his belt. "Can we listen to music?" He asks, looking in Jeongguk's direction with wide eyes and an unintentional pout.

Jeongguk glances at him and immediately turns away from the pout, "Yeah sure, just stop making that face." Taehyung begins to fiddle with the knob, his brow furrowing. "What face?" He asks as he searches through the stations. "That pouty face." Taehyung giggles, "I didn't even realize I was pouting."

Jeongguk isn't sure why it happens, since he's heard Taehyung giggle before, but his heart picks up at the sound, and his cheeks redden. He decides to ignore the reaction and focus on driving. It’s only a few seconds that he’s focused before Taehyung finally finds a song and turns it up, singing along to the tune.

You'd think Jeongguk would be unaffected by it, but as Taehyung's smooth baritone voice reaches his ears, he can't help it when they stop at a red light and his gaze finds Taehyung, who's singing while looking out the window like he's in a sad music video. Jeongguk stares and feels his heart beat throughout his whole body, and his palms grow sweaty.

It only gets worse when Taehyung looks over at the assassin and smiles widely, leaning closer and beginning to sing to him, holding his hands out dramatically, and closing his eyes at the high notes. Jeongguk is in a trance until Taehyung turns to look out the back window, and glances in front before tapping Jeongguk's shoulder a few times.

Finally Jeongguk snaps out of it with a "Huh?" To which Taehyung giggles and points forward, "Lights green, Guk." Jeongguk quickly faces the front and begins to drive, not uttering another word for the rest of the ride to the mall.

When Jeongguk parks, Taehyung barely lets him turn the car off before he's exiting the car. "Tae! Wait until I turn the car off! I barely had it in the park!" He scolds, making Taehyung laugh. "Sorry," He snickers, "I just get excited coming to the mall!"

Jeongguk raises a brow, "What's so great about the mall? It's crowded, and smells weird." He argues, his nose scrunching as he looks at the building. Taehyung rolls his eyes and elbows him, "It smells like the food court, dork. Plus, when you walk past Bath & Body Works it smells really /really/ good." He sighs happily.

Jeongguk looks at him, "What the hell is Bath & Body Works? Sounds like the name of a spa. Is it a spa?" He asks as they reach the front, holding the door open for Taehyung to pass through. As they enter there's immediately too much noise, and too many people, making Jeongguk frown.

"You've never been inside a Bath & Body Works? It's like the most satisfying and nice smelling store ever built. They sell lotion, body wash, candles, and sanitizers. Everything you can think of that's scent and bathroom related." Taehyung explains, grabbing Jeongguk's wrist to pull him in the direction of the store.

Jeongguk lets himself be dragged as his eyes scan the building intently, glaring at anyone he meets eyes with. He's learned in his life that almost /no one/ can be trusted. He's not paying attention, until he's suddenly pulled to the right, and almost trips. He catches himself right as his nose is hit with a strong fruity scent, making him sneeze loudly.

Taehyung pauses and swings around to look at him, "Bless you. Anyway, Welcome to Bath & Body Works!" He announces, swinging his arms out to gesture to the store. Jeongguk sighs, "I hate it." Taehyung gasps, "What? Why?" Jeongguk begins to look embarrassed, and avoids eye contact, "Just don't."

Taehyung narrows his eyes, "Liar, What's the real reason?" He says, stepping closer to analyze Jeongguk's expressions. He watches as the other's face gets brighter, the red spreading, "That /is/ the reason. Just look around." He mumbles, shoving Taehyung back lightly.

The other doesn't move, "No, tell me. Are you uncomfortable? We can leave." Jeongguk rolls his eyes, "I'm fine, let's just look arou-'' He's interrupted by another sneeze, which is followed by two more. Taehyung's eyes widen in realization, "Are you allergic to perfumes?" He asks worriedly, beginning to pull Jeongguk out of the store.

Jeongguk shakes his head, but lets himself be pulled once again, "No...I just, uh...Have a sensitive nose." He admits, his face heating up again. Taehyung pauses when they finally get out of the store and looks at him with a frown, "You should have told me, silly. I wouldn't have even gone in! Are you okay now?" He asks quickly.

Jeongguk does feel a lot better, so he tells him, "Yes, much better actually. Sorry if it’s putting a damper on your shopping." He apologizes, looking almost sheepish. Taehyung waves him off, "You didn't put a damper on anything, don't worry! I do have to get a few things in there though."

Jeongguk nods and walks to a bench near the entrance, "I'll wait here, go ahead and get what you need." Taehyung nods, "I'll be quick." He calls before jogging back into the store to get whatever it was he needed. Jeongguk Just sits and waits, looking around at the other stores in view. He's looking around for a few minutes before a woman is walking over and sitting next to him, way too close for his liking.

He scoots away from her, as far as he can on the small bench, and leans forward placing his elbows on his knees. He feels the urge to run when the woman also scoots, and sees her eye him out of the corner of his eye. "Are you waiting for someone too?" She asks, tilting her head down to see his face.

He glances over briefly. "Yes. He should be out soon." He replies, obviously letting her know he doesn't want to be bothered. She grins way too widely and scoots even closer to him, "Your brother? I'm waiting for my sister." She giggles. "Feels like they take forever, doesn't it?" He sighs, "If you don't like how long it's taking, why don't you find something to keep you entertained?"

His voice was monotone, quiet but stern, and very obviously disinterested, but the woman didn't seem to catch that. "Well, you seem to be pretty entertaining." She smirks, leaning towards him in a way that makes him back up. "Uh, what?" The girl smiles widely, "Was your mother a beaver?" He looks at her confused, "A what?" She smirks again, "Cause /damn/." She drawls, her eyes scanning the length of his body.

He looks at her with wide eyes, "Please don't." She just tilts her head, a smile still on her face, "I guess it's handy that I have my library card, because I'm totally checking you out." She says, scooting just a little closer. She reaches out to put her hand on his arm, when a voice stops her.

"Jeonggukie!" Taehyung calls, a bright smile on his face as he stops in front of the pair. He holds his hand out for the other to take, "I'm done! Next store? I only need to go to one more than we can go watch that movie!" He giggles. He glances at the girl, whose arm is hovering in the air as she looks at him, her mouth agape. "Oh my." She says.

Taehyung tilts his head as Jeongguk gets up quickly, putting a distance between himself and the stranger. The girl is looking between the two of them now, her eyes bouncing back and forth. They land on Taehyung again before her hand shoots out towards him, making him jump and Jeongguk prepares to floor the girl, but her hand doesn't reach him, she holds it out and speaks, "Can you touch my hand?"

Taehyung looks uncomfortable, "Excuse me?" She bats her lashes and looks down, "I want to tell my friends I was touched by an angel." Jeongguk rolls his eyes and expects an unsure reaction. "Oh" Taehyung says before bringing his hand to his face and covering his mouth as he starts to giggle. Jeongguk watches in awe as the other's face turns red as he acts coy.

"That's so sweet, oh my gosh. Thank you." He says, covering his face. "I think you have something in your eye." She tries again, looking up at him shyly. Taehyung removes his hands, "My eye?" He blinks a few times, "It doesn't feel like it." He says, confused. She smiles kindly, "Oh, sorry. It was just a sparkle. You've got stars in your eyes."

Taehyung gasps loudly, covering his face once more. Jeongguk rolls his eyes before putting an arm around him, and begins to lead him away. Taehyung lets him, but giggles the entire time, choking out a quick goodbye before they're out of hearing range. They stop once the girl is out of sight, and Jeongguk pulls Taehyung's hands away.

"Are you kidding? /That/ made you all blushy?" He teases, his brows raised mockingly. Taehyung punches at his chest, "Shut up! It's because it was unexpected! Plus, I don't get complimented by strangers very often, it flustered me a little bit." He mutters, his head down. Jeongguk snickers quietly, "I wish I were cross eyed so I could see you twice." Jeongguk says with a grin, watching as Taehyung's face reddens again, "W-What?"

He doesn't answer, just keeps going, "This must be a museum, because you are truly a work of art." Taehyung keeps his head down, and clenches his fists, feeling his body ignite at the compliments. Jeongguk raises his hand to Taehyung's chin, and lifts it up, making their eyes meet. He tries not to smile at the bright color of his cheeks, "You're so beautiful you made me forget my pick-up line." He breathes out.

He didn't mean to say it out loud, and he didn't realize he did until Taehyung raised his hands quickly, knocking Jeongguk's hand away as he buried his face in his hands and walked into Jeongguk's chest, whining loudly. "You can't just say things like that! That's so unfair!" He whines, face planted in Jeongguk's chest.

Jeongguk lets it happen, but his eyes widen and his heart stops. Why did he say that? /Why did he say that?/ His mind races as he panics, not understanding what came over him. He quickly pushed Taehyung away lightly, putting distance between them, "You're right, I'm sorry. That was rude towards Park Bogum." Taehyung's face drops at the mention of his boyfriend. How could he forget about him like that? Taehyung felt like a horrible person.

"Let's just forget it happened, okay? I was just messing around anyway. Let's head to the next store, yeah?" Jeongguk says quickly, ushering for Taehyung to start walking. Taehyung nods, "Yeah, Yeah. Let's go."
----------

A few days later, Jeongguk is sitting in Taehyung's living room again, his laptop sitting on Taehyung's coffee table. Taehyung sits on the other side, his own old laptop cracked open as he types furiously. Jeongguk raises an eyebrow at the furious sounds of the keys. "Who angered you?" He asks teasingly.

Taehyung stops suddenly and glances up, "Huh? How'd you know I was angry?" He asks in astonishment. Jeongguk chuckles, "Well. the vicious pounding on the keyboard kind of gave it away." Taehyung frowns, "Oh."

Silence, "Tae?" The older blinks before sitting up straighter, "Oh! Well I was looking through the news page, and there was something on here about a big company being involved in a money scandal and I've been trying to keep up with it, but apparently the company was proven not guilty, but it's so obviously he got out of it with money!"

Jeongguk raised his brows, "Who is it? What company?" Taehyung begins to turn his laptop around, "Kim Daehoon of Kim Corporations. An absolute tool if you ask me." In front of Jeongguk sat a very familiar face, One he's starting to see even in his sleep. He is staring at the photo shown, and is beginning to realize how much Taehyung actually looks like his father.

He uses this as an opportunity, "Tae.." He starts. Taehyung looks at him in question, his head tilting to the side slightly, "Guk." Jeongguk looks at him seriously, "Did your mother ever tell you what your dad does for a living?" Taehyung pauses.

"No.. Just that he was a busy man. Why?" Jeongguk looks back at the screen and allows his eyes to dart between the photo and the man in front of him. "Because, you look an awful lot like Kim Daehoon." He says quietly, staring at Taehyung to gauge his reaction.

The older one just sits there for a minute, thinking before he speaks again, "I.. I don't know. I guess I could call and ask her. She might tell me about him. She's never really been secretive about it, I just haven't shown much interest, you know?" Jeongguk nods at his words.

With that said, Taehyung pulls out his phone and dials the number, While he waits for her to answer, he stands up and heads to the kitchen for some privacy. Jeongguk watches him leave, and once he's out of sight, he pulls out his phone and opens the notes app, unlocking his protected note.

He begins noting his progress, typing his new information and taehyung's reactions. He pauses when he thinks about the discomfort on the older's face at the prospect of Kim Daehoon being his father. A frown finds its way onto his face, and he finds himself feeling bad for the barista.

He feels a little guilty as he locks his phone. Taehyung didn't ask to be involved in any of this, and it's not like Jeongguk to drag innocent people into his mess. He watches the kitchen entryway with his heart pounding, hearing small mumbles drift out every now and again, wondering when he began aching to hear Taehyung's voice, when he began to get giddy just at the thought of seeing the older.

When he began to feel guilty for involving him in this mess, when he began to question his work and wondering if it's all worth it. There are so many other ways to get money, so just why exactly did he decide to kill people? Because his parents suck?

As he watches Taehyung exit the kitchen and make his way over to the couch, throwing a smile towards him that only makes his beaten look more apparent, Jeongguk begins to wonder when he began to like Taehyung. He thinks this with a start and widens his eyes. He tries to change the subject, "You don't look too happy after that conversation."

Taehyung sighs heavily, falling into the couch, "I was right, she didn't hide anything. He's my father. Apparently as he's gotten older he's turned cruel and unrelenting according to mom. I can't believe I'm related to someone like Kim Daehoon. No one ever has anything good to say about him."

Jeongguk nods along, "Well...What are you going to do now?" Taehyung thinks for a while, another sigh leaving his mouth, "I thought that if I knew who my biological father was, that I'd be fine with not ever meeting him, that I wouldn't really care. But this bothers me a lot. Knowingly being related to someone so.. so gross."

Jeongguk watches him in silence, allowing the other to collect his thoughts, "I almost want to meet him in hopes that he's not as bad as people say." Jeongguk makes a face at that, "I don't know if that's a good idea, Tae." The older one nods, "I know it's not, but I'm going to feel sucky unless I do." He finally looks over at Jeongguk, and the youngert tries to ignore the flutters in his heart at the small motion, "I feel like I /need/ to."

Jeongguk bites his lip and looks away for a moment before releasing it, "I'll support you, since I can't stop you anyway. You're a grown man, so you can make your own choices." He says. He looks back into Taehyung's eyes, "But don't get your hopes up, okay? And I'll be here if you need me, cool? Moral support."

Taehyung finally smiles at his words, it's a light, almost fond smile, but Jeongguk doesn't catch that. "Cool. Thank you, Guk. I'm really happy I met you."

--------------

Two weeks later, Taehyung waits outside for Jeongguk to approach in his car. When the younger one pulls up, he puts the car in park and waits for Taehyung to get in a buckle up before he begins speaking. "Are you sure about this? You really don't have to." Taehyung rolls his eyes and playfully glares at the other, "Guk, you've been trying to convince me not to do this since we found out. My answer is still the same. I'm sure. I want to do this."

Two weeks ago they began to plan a way to get Taehyung into the building and right into the office of one Kim Daehoon. They had prepared for a difficult planning, but it had actually been quite simple to get in with Jeongguk's computer skills. One simple hack into Daehoon's scheduling software gave him the man's schedule for the next two months.

They decided that Taehyung was going to pretend to be a reporter named Kim Yugyeom, who was scheduled for an interview with Daehoon about a charity he 'participated' in. Truthfully it was a charity his secretary donated to using the CEO's name.

They planned to get there fifteen minutes before the allotted time, that way he could beat the real reporter to the interview.

"Okay." Jeongguk says, placing his foot on the brake and switching to drive, "Off we go then." It was a decent drive to get there, almost forty minutes, but they got there almost exactly fifteen minutes early, just like they were hoping.

Taehyung stares for a second, before grabbing his things. "I'll be out here, ready to go the second you ask, okay? And you have your phone. Call me if ANYTHING goes wrong, okay?" Taehyung giggles and reaches over, pinching one of the younger's cheeks, "Yes mom, i will. Promise." He sends Jeongguk one last confident smile before he exits the car and disappears inside the building.

Jeongguk stays double parked right at the curb just in case, and about twenty minutes go by before someone approaches the vehicle, "Sir, is there a reason you've been sitting here so long?" Jeongguk looks over and sees a man in a suit. He tilts his head, "IS there an issue with me being here?"

The man sighs, "Kind of. Because of your car I had to walk out of my way to get to the doors from the parking garage. Can't you park there like a normal person?" Jeongguk rolls his eyes and relaxes in his seat, "Get away from my window. If you can't stand walking a couple extra steps then maybe you should do a little more physical activity, hmm?"

The guy huffs and rolls his eyes before walking away, mumbling. Jeongguk lays his head back on the head rest and closes his eyes, feeling his fatigue hit him. He was up most of last night talking to Haeun on her phone. She couldn't sleep because of pain so he talked to her until she felt good enough to sleep.

He feels himself begin to drift off, his eyelids flutter as the exhaustion really hits him. He felt like he was asleep for no more than two hours before he's awoken by the sound of a car door slamming. He awakens immediately and responds according to reflex and swings his arm toward the passenger side.

Thankfully his eyes are just as quick and he realizes it was only Taehyung and stops himself before hitting the older boy's face.

Taehyung stares at Jeongguk with wide, red rimmed puffy eyes as he sniffles and rings his hands. "Wh-What?" Taehyung asks shakily, not understanding the sudden swing.

Jeonnguk pulls his arm back quickly, and grips it to his chest, "Shit, sorry Tae. I was sleeping, you scared the hell out of me. Why are your eyes red? You been crying?"

Taehyung shakes his head quickly and looks down at his fingers, "No! No. Well, not yet." He says, his voice shaking with emotion. Jeongguk leans forward, trying to get a glimpse of his face. "Tae?"

"He yelled at me, Guk. Told me I was being ridiculous and that such a disappointment could never come from his blood. When I mentioned my mother, all he did was call her a whore and a liar." He begins sobbing, covering his face.

"I've never felt so humiliated in my life, I feel so pathetic." He cries. Jeongguk sits still for a while, staring at Taehyung. Briefly his eyes shift towards the building, his eye twitching for a split second before his focus returns to Taehyung.

"Hey, Hey. No. You're not pathetic Tae, not in any sense of the word. The things he said, he said them out of fear. Men like him? They're scared of change." He states, turning himself in his seat. He taps the back of Taehyung's hand, making the older boy look up, "He was afraid?" Jeongguk nods without a thought, but Taehyung just shakes his head.

"No, I don't think he was. He was calm, like he expected this to happen at some point. He didn't really raise his voice. God, he's horrible, Guk. That was the worst experience of my life." Jeongguk lets his gaze wander back to the building one last time before giving Taehyung a pat on his knee and turning back to sit in his seat properly, "Let's get out of here, yeah? Buckle up."

Taehyung nods silently but listens and puts his seatbelt on. He gently rests his head on the cool window and closes his eyes, "I can't wait until he gets the karma he deserves." Taehyung mumbles. Jeongguk glances over at him as they slow at a stop sign and sighs lightly before facing forward and continuing the drive. He'll make sure Daehoon gets what he deserves.
-----------------

"Can I ask how you found this information? This isn't something you hear just by overhearing a conversation. You supplied /documents/. You have solid proof. What, do you work there or something?" The voice asks over the receiver. Jeongguk rolls his eyes and clicks out of his browser tabs. "Or something. Why's it matter how I got them? Your job is to make articles, not analyze how you get information. Just publish it."

The girl on the other end mumbled about him being rude, but agreed before thanking him and hanging up the phone. Jeongguk puts the device down and stares at the blank screen of his laptop. tilting his head to the side and thinking.

He's thinking of random things before Taehyung pops into his head. How his hair sits cutely on his forehead to the smile he gets on his face when he's happy. How he yells when they're playing games, or his habit to cuddle up next to Jeongguk when they're watching movies. Jeonnguk doesn't even realize he's smiling until he hears his phone go off and picks it up and sees his reflection on the screen. He wipes the smile off and opens the message.

His smile comes back as he reads the message and replies quickly before getting up and grabbing his jacket.

About forty minutes later he finds himself parking in front of Taehyung's building. He jogs up the stairs to the elder's apartment and feels the smile wipe off his face as he notices Bogum standing at Taehyung's open door, Taehyung tilting his head to the side with no emotion on his face. He can't hear what Bogum is saying, but not much needs to be heard when he watches Bogum lean down and capture Taehyung's lips on his own.

He sees Taehyung raise his hand and decides now is a good time to turn and leave. As he does so he accidentally kicks a pot next to one of the other residents' doors, and curses out loud, making Bogum and Taehyung break apart and look over. "Jeongguk, you're here." Taehyung calls, his voice sounding chipper and that smile on his face. Jeongguk doesn't look at him.

"You invited Jeongguk? What about me?" Bogum asks, annoyed. Taehyung sighs and shoves Bogum lightly, "I didn't know you were coming, Bogum, nor did I want you to. We broke up, showing up unannounced and kissing me without consent certainly isn't going to change that. I'm sorry I hurt you, but we barely saw each other. Not to mention, I felt like I /had/ to be with you after all you did for me."

Jeongguk looked up at them as Bogum opened his mouth to speak but Taehyung held up a hand, Jeongguk looked at him in awe. He wasn't used to seeing Taehyung take charge in a situation like that, never seen him look so /stern/. After his thought earlier, Jeongguk wasn't sure how he felt about it.

"I'm not done. You constantly made comments about how you'd go to the end of the earth for me, and made backhanded jokes about how I owed you, and let me be clear when I say I /know/ they were backhanded. Before I agreed to go out with me, you asked me out constantly, and I kept saying no. After a while you began to use the money against me, and that pressured me. That was unfair to me, but I guess I was being unfair to you as well, Bogum. I never loved you like you claimed to love me, and I never will, and that's just something we're /both/ going to have to come to terms with, okay? Get home safely."

Taehyung then reaches past Bogum and grabs the arm of Jeongguk who slowly moved closer as Taehyung was speaking, just in case Bogum reacted badly. They both paused however, and watched as Bogum silently moved away and began to head towards the stairs. He stops at the top and looks back at Taehyung, "I was in the wrong, and I'm sorry. You deserve better than that." He glances at Jeongguk, so Taehyung does too, and he smiles slightly, until Bogum speaks up, "But he's not it." Taehyung looks back with furrowed brows, "You don't know him personally, Bogum. You have no say in whether he's better for me or not."

With those final words, Taehyung pulls Jeongguk lightly, making him stumble a bit as he pulls him through the door. Jeongguk is pushed past him so Taehyung can close the door. Once it's closed, Taehyung leans his back against it and closes his eyes and sighs, resting his head back. "I'm sorry about that Guk. We broke up about two weeks ago and he's not taking it very well."

Jeongguk doesn't answer so Taehyung opens his eyes and sees him looking at the floor, brows furrowed. "Guk?" Jeongguk looks up, barely meeting Taehyung's eyes. "Hmm?" Taehyung tilts his head and sighs again, taking a few steps to stand in front of the younger, he pokes his ribs, "Don't pay mind to what Bogum says, he'll say anything to keep me within his grasp. I'm smarter than that though, his words won't affect me, not anymore."

Jeongguk looks into his eyes, sees that they’re truthful and so full of life. His brows furrow again. Taehyung smiles lightly, "I think you are good for me. I'm not lonely since I met you, even when you're not here the thought of you makes me happy. You've become real important to me Guk. It's hard to find good people anymore, god knows the world needs more of them. But you? You're good, Guk."

Jeongguk feels something he's never felt before as those words leave Taehyung's lips. It's so overwhelming he doesn't know how to react, but his body is quicker than his mind for once, and he feels his arms reach out, one wrapping around Taehyung's torso, the other capturing his chin. They pull lightly, but not much force is needed as Taehyung catches on quickly and begins to move synchronously, his own hands wrapping around Jeongguk’s torso.

Finally their bodies collide and it feels relieving, then their foreheads meet and it feels so, so perfect. Then their eyes meet for a split seconds and Jeongguk feels like for a seconds everything finally makes sense, and with his mind finally on the same wavelength as his body, he allows their lips to meet and Jeongguk feels his body slump, like everything in the world just fixed itself, like theres no problems anymore. Because he has his Taehyung.

They pull apart, breath mingling as they catch their breath. Taehyung has his eyes open, his gaze set on jeongguk, a smile dawning on his face, one that would certainly become one of Jeongguk’s favorites. Jeongguk keeps his eyes closed, his mind still racing, his heart pounding madly. "So that's what it feels like." Taehyung whispers. Jeongguk lets his eyes flutter open and connect with Taehyung's as he lets out a small, "Hm?"

Taehyung smiles a little wider, "To kiss someone you actually like. I've been with Bogum for so long, and before that it was only boyfriends that weren't serious. I really like this feeling, Guk. The feelings you give me, they make me feel like I'm finally living. I like you so much, Guk."

Jeongguk gulps and nods, "I-Uh. I'm not sure what's happening right now. I've never been- uh- been in a situation like this before, these emotions and feelings, they're-they're all new to-to me. I don't know what I'm feeling, I'm sorry, I'm so confused, I-I-'' Taehyung removes his hands from Jeongguk’s hips and lightly takes hold of his face, "Guk, Jeongguk. Calm down, it's okay, I'm not mad, okay? I understand. This isn't me forcing you to accept my feelings, or reciprocate them okay? Kisses happen in the spur of the moment sometimes, I get it. I was saying some nice things about you, which you probably haven't heard in a while, right?" Jeongguk nods, closing his eyes tight.

"See? It's perfectly normal." Taehyung giggles as Jeongguk scrunches his nose at the feeling of breath hitting his face. Taehyung brings his face closer to lightly bump their foreheads before he steps back and drops his hands, taking Jeongguks as they fall. He kisses the back of them and lets them fall gently.

He looks back up at Jeongguk with a shit eating grin on his face, "Wanna play Overwatch?"

-----------

Jeongguk's eyes blink open to a dark room. He's confused for a moment, and sits up quickly to analyze his surroundings, and calms when he sees Taehyung snoring away on his recliner. He stretches his arms and yawns, realizing they must have fallen asleep while watching movies.

He grabs his phone to check the time and stands. FOlding the blanket that was laid over top of him, no doubt by Taehyung, he places it on the arm of the sofa and walks over to Taehyung gently tapping his shoulder, "Tae." Taehyung grunts and goes to turn away, making Jeongguk snicker, "Taehyung." He says again, shaking his shoulder this time.

Taehyung lifts his head quickly, one of his eyes still closed and his lips pouting, "Huh?" Jeongguk chuckles and stands back up straight, patting Taehyung's head, "I gotta head out, it's almost five A.M. Duty Calls." Taehyung stares at him with his one open eye, then nods quickly, "M'kay. See you tomorrow." He mumbles, laying his head back down.

Jeongguk shakes his head with a smile, "Tae, let's get you to your bed, okay?" Taehyung whines but gets up and trudges to his room. Jeongguk chuckles again and shakes his head, before leaving through the front door, making sure to turn the lock on the doorknob before exiting and closing the door.

As he walks to his car, he moves his head side to side, sighing as it audibly cracks. It's a quick drive back to his apartment, seeing as there's not very much traffic on the roads at this time, and when he gets home, he groans and falls face forward into his bed.

Four hours later he's waking up to the sound of his phone ringing. He blindly searches for it, and answers the call, not bothering to look at the I.D. "Hello?" His voice is scratchy, giving away the fact that he was asleep only seconds ago. "Oh, Guk were you sleeping? I thought you were working?" Jeongguk is about to respond but Taehyung speaks again.

"Uh, forget it. Have you seen what the tabloids released? They completely unleashed on Daehoon. Money laundering, fraud, drug trafficking, and get this, I'm not his only kid! He has /four/ other kids! I just happen to be the youngest and-Oh, wait." Jeongguk is fully awake now, "What is it?" He asks.

Taehyung is silent for a few more beats before speaking again, "It says here, illegitimate child. Jeongguk. This is me. This says my /name/. How do they know about this? I only just found out! Oh god, this is going to cause so many issues. '' Taehyung says, sounding upset. Jeongguk curses himself, "Have you had any issues so far this morning? You're at work aren't you?"

Taehyung sighs heavily, "Yeah I'm at work. Nothing has really happened, But someone came in and saw my nametag and asked if I was /that/ Kim Taehyung. I'm afraid of what the rest of the day is going to bring." Jeongguk pinches the bridge of his nose, annoyed that he didn't think about how this all would affect Taehyung. "Would..Would it make you feel better if I came to your work? I can do my work there."

Taehyung is silent for a bit, "You'd do that for me? really?" Jeongguk laughs breathily at the words, "You're still questioning me, huh? Of course I would. Last thing I want is you being uncomfortable while trying to work. If I can help with that, then I'm more than willing."

He gets up and gathers clothes to get dressed when Taehyung agrees to let him come, and hangs up after thanking him. Once the call drops, Jeongguk sits on his bed and puts his head in his hands, questioning himself. He thinks about the fact that questioning himself is all he seems to be doing anymore. Ever since he met Taehyung.

He sighs one last time before getting up and finally getting dressed, ready to drive to the cafe that Taehyung works at.

------------

"Thank God you're here. Every second waiting for you i felt like paparazzi was going to burst through the door and start swarming me." Taehyung said, flopping down into a chair across from Jeongguk. The latter looks up at him and raises an eyebrow, "I guess I'm your Knight in Shining Armour." This makes Taehyung laugh aloud, throwing his head back in glee. "Yeah. Yeah, i guess so." He suddenly grows quiet, "Want to know what's weird?"

Jeongguk pauses his typing and looks up, "What?" Taehyung bites his lip, staring at his hands sitting on the tab;e before replying, "I kinda feel bad for him. He's obviously not the best person, but that's his private life, and obviously there was a reason it was kept hidden, you know?"

Jeongguk closes his laptop and looks at Taehyung, his face one of understanding, "I understand, it's normal to feel that way, you're human. He is your biological father, it's be weird if you didn't feel for him. But you gotta remember Tae, he /hurt/ you. Plus, if all that stuff in the tabloids is true, he was doing bad, bad things. He deserved to be exposed for that."

Taehyung shakes his head, "Maybe those bad things are /why/ he kept his family hidden, maybe that's why he refused to reconcile with me. Maybe it was fear, fear that the things he's doing with come back and cause troubles for us." Taehyung reasons, his fingers tapping restlessly on the table.

Jeongguk is shocked by his words, "You really believe that, Taehyung? If that were the case, he could have stopped a /long/ time ago. He could have avoided doing those things in the first place." Jeongguk whispers harshly, not understanding how Taehyung can defend such a guy. "He's dangerous, and now that's caused you to be scared at work, Taehyung. He's a bad man."

Taehyung looks at him incredulously, "What if he's not a bad man? What if he's a good man who made a bad decision and got stuck? LIke bad decisions with a good intention. Why are you so sure he's a bad person? Why are you trying to convince me he is?" Taehyung asks, glaring at Jeongguk. "As my friend, don't you want my mind to be content? Would it kill me to just believe the possibility that my biological father isn't some cold-hearted criminal?"

Taehyung stands up, his chair scraping against the floor loudly, "You can think what you want, but don't try to convince me otherwise." He begins to walk away so Jeongguk reaches out and grabs his hand, "Tae-" taehyung pulls his hand away, "Don't. Let me cool down. I'll see you when I'm done working."

Jeongguk watches him walk away and groans quietly, letting his head fall into his hands. He massages his temples and tries to clear his mind. After a few minutes, he lifts his head again and searches for Taehyung. Not seeing him, he deems it safe to open his laptop. He finds the hidden file where he's keeping all his notes and finds the documents he gave to the tabloids and begins to move them to another, more secure folder. Once he's finished he closes the files and pulls up information for the case he picked up for after he's finished with Daehoon.

He stares at the notes blankly, wondering to himself how he kept this up for so long, how he continuously killed people and lied without it coming back to bite him in the ass, like it is now. How he continuously lied to his sister, and still continues to do so. He rubs his eyes and tries to clear his mind once again, and begins to focus on his new case. Though, he can't shake the guilt that's seeping into his heart from all the lies and betrayals he's caused.

Taehyung stands back quietly, not more than six feet behind Jeongguk, watches him as he opens a file labelled 'Work". Feels his heart drop as documents open and his father's name pops up. He looks closer, seeing bank names and wanted drug dealers. He watches as he moves them to a folder which needs a password to unlock. He stays until Jeonguk closes everything, sighing.

He finally walks away, his heart feeling like it's in his feet. He wants to cry. /God/ he wants to cry so bad, but he can't. He feels so clueless, so stupid. He knew the second his shift ends, he's going to confront Jeongguk. This isn't just something he can forgive and forget. With that thought in mind, Taehyung turns around and walks back the way he came, and forces himself to put on a brave face and get back to work.

A few hours later, it's closing time. Taehyung is scrubbing down the last table as Jeongguk approaches him, "Hey, almost ready? I'll take you home." Taehyung pauses his actions briefly, before nodding, "Yeah. Last table. I'll meet you outside." Jeongguk nods, and places a hand on Taehyung's shoulder, giving it a few rubs that were surely supposed to be comforting, but only angered Taehyung more, before exiting the building.

Taehyung stares after him, his face blank but feelings of anger, sadness and heartbreak swirling around inside him. He feels a tear roll down his cheek, alerting him that he's crying. He doesn't try to stop it though, let the tears fall, lets his cries rack his chest. He knows he is only going to be sadder when he confronts Jeongguk, he knows things are going to end, and it feels like he's dying.

He finally finishes the last of the duties, and exits, locking the door behind him, his tears still rolling down his face, though his sobs have subsided. "Hey. ready?" He hears Jeongguk ask him from behind. He doesn't move, keeps his back facing the boy who's squeezing his heart in the worst way at the moment.

"Jeongguk." His voice cracks as he speaks, and immediately Jeongguk knows something is wrong. He takes a step closer. "Tae? What's wrong? Are you still mad at me? I'm sorry. Really. I'm so used to hating and blaming my own parents because i suck at emotions, that it's hard for me to understand someone who can see it from multiple points of views."

Taehyung swings around, angry. "Of course I'm angry! Where the hell do you think you can try to tell me how I should feel? Especially when you're the reason all this is fucking happening!" He explodes. "God, you're such a- a liar! You had me fooled." Jeongguk is looking at him with wide eyes, "T-Tae? What are you talking about?" He feels his heart falling, feels like he's having a heart attack.

'Was this your goal from the very beginning? Get close to me to confirm who I was? So you could gather information to bring down his company? You used me! You selfish prick!" Taehyung pushes him, feeling his eyes water again as he begins to let out heartbreaking sobs, "You used me and my heart! You led me on only to destroy my family! I hate you!"

Jeongguk lets him beat on him, the guilt only growing by the second. He feels his own eyes grow wet and the punches make his chest ache. "I'm sorry." He croaks. Taehyung stops and backs up so quickly he almost trips, "It's true. Oh God it's true. I was hoping you'd tell me I was wrong, I was hoping I was just being emotional and that I misread what I saw."

"I won't lie anymore, Tae. I was using you to get information on your father, but believe me when I say /nothing/ has gone as planned since I met you. I didn't plan on getting so close to you, I didn't plan on telling you about my family, or getting involved in your other life affairs, or to feel so damn guilty. I didn't plan on my heart breaking just watching you cry knowing it's because of me. You have to believe me."

Taehyung shakes his head and continues backing away from him, "I can't. I can't believe you, i can't /forgive/ you. This is too much, it's way too much." He cries. HE shakes his head again, "I need to go. I'll get a cab home, but please, just don't follow me, don't call me, or text me, or come to my house. Just-Just leave me alone." He turns and begins walking away.

And as much as he hates the fact that his mind does this, he silently begs for Jeongguk to stop him, or follow him. He hopes for him to keep trying to keep fighting. But jeongguk doesn't. He doesn't move from his spot, he watches with tears falling from his eyes as Taehyung turns a corner and disappears.

-----------------

It's been two weeks since Jeongguk and Taehyung last spoke, and Jeongguk has been a mess since then. He's been closely watching as Daehoon and his company completely fall apart, and he should be feeling content and victorious about his accomplishment, but all he can think about is how this might be affecting Taehyung. His sweet Taehyung.

Within the sadness and rethinking he's done of his life, Jeongguk has come to terms with two things. First, That he underestimates his sister, secondly (with the help of his sister) that he has deep, romantic feelings for Taehyung. This revelation only led to more sadness and guilt on Jeongguk's end. He's never in his life regretted taking a job and finishing it, but now that all this has happened, all Jeongguk does anymore is regret.

Two months later, Daerhoon's company has completely crashed and burned, as well as his sister's law firm after it was revealed that she was involved in just as bad scandals. He felt a little joy for the first time in a while as he read the news about the LAwfirm shutting down, knowing that it caused an inconvenience for his own horrible parents.

Jeongguk still hasn't heard from Taehyung, nor has he made any moves to contact him, afraid of what could happen. He knew what he did was wrong, and that Taehyung has every right in the world to hate him, and he fears Taehyung will absolutely despise him if he knew what Jeongguk's real job was. He fears meeting him again because he knows the next time he sees Taehyung, he /has/ to come clean.

Jeongguk has been figuring out ways to contact his current client to try and quit this assignment. He doesn't want to be the one to kill Daehoon anymore, the guilt is too strong. The issue is, the number they gave him isn't going through anymore, and he feels exasperated.

As if the universe hated him, Jeongguk is walking down a street in Gwacheon when he hears a familiar laugh mingle with an unfamiliar and loud one. His head shoots up and immediately his eyes land on Taehyung, who is moving towards him unknowingly. Next to him is a familiar face which Jeongguk quickly realizes is Kim Seokjin, Taehyung's oldest sibling. He stops abruptly in his walk, a few people cursing at him for doing so, and watches as they keep moving towards him, laughing and smiling.

He feels his eyes water at the sight of Taehyung's smile. His favorite sight in the world. He was so afraid that Taehyung was still devastated and not smiling that the relief he felt seeing him happy sent a few tears to his eyes. He must have been too obvious standing still in the middle of a walkway in dark clothing with a hood covering his head and eyes with not many people around, because he sees Seokjin glance at him out of the corner of his eyes and lean over to Taehyung to whisper something.

Almost immediately, Taehyung's eyes dart towards Jeongguk and their eyes lock. He sees Taehyung let out a gasp, and sees him take a step forward, but Jeongguk finally moves and takes two backwards, not ready to face what he knows is coming. He doesn't get very far though, because after a third step, his arm is gripped by a man walking past him, and he's pulled back and into an alley where there are a few guys standing.

Jeongguk quickly gets himself free, and readies himself for defense and opens his mouth, "Who the hell are you? What do you want?" No one answers, but a body steps forward and into his line of vision, using the setting sun as a mask, "Been a while, kid. How are ya'?" Jeongguk recognizes him as the client he's been trying to reach.

"Sir." He stands straighter. "I've been trying to contact you." The man chuckles. "I know that. The job isn't done, and I didn't want to hear from you until it was, but you were taking too long. Then I found out Daehoon's company was exposed for a lot of /bad/ things. Was that you?" He asks, his face blank.

Jeongguk clears his throat, "Yes sir. I had a personal vendetta against his family and used this as an opportunity to get revenge." Jeongguk barely finishes his sentence before his head is sent to the side by a rough hit. "I'm not paying to to destroy his fucking business. I hired you to /kill/ him. You know what could happen if they keep uncovering other people involved in that shit? /I'll/ get exposed.' he delivers a swift punch to Jeongguk’s cheek.

"You better hope to god you kill him before he snitches. You understand?" Jeongguk coughs as he's punched in the gut. "I don't - I don't want to do this anymore." The man is silent for a moment, before he lets out an obnoxious laugh, "You want out? That's not how it works, kid. You know, I really liked you at first, you've changed. I don't like it. My friends here will show you exactly why you're finishing the job."

The men surrounding him begin to move closer as the guy walks into a dark section of the alley. He stops for a moment, "Oh and kid? You're finishing this job at half price. Think of it as compensation for trying to screw me over. And if you try to screw me over /again/ i will have you killed. Got it?"

He leaves as the guys land a couple hits on Jeongguk. Thankfully they leave without causing too much damage, but Jeongguk's ribs feel bruised and his cheeks are swollen. He sits in the alley way for awhile, his head leaning back against a brick wall behind him. His eyes are closed as he tries to catch his breath when he suddenly hears a gasp and quick footsteps.

In a flash he has his pocket knife out, pointing it in the direction the steps arrived from. His eyes are still closed as a headache rings throughout his skull. It's not until he hears a scoff and feels a hand pushing the knife down that he opens his eyes. He's thrown off by the image of Taheyung squatting in front of him, a look of sadness on his face.

Jeongguk sags, "No please," Jeongguk starts, his voice cracking, "I can't stand you looking at me in sadness anymore. Please." He begs. Taehyung doesn't move though. "You were hired to kill Daehoon? My dad?" Jeongguk hears this and feels completely hopeless. For the first time in years, Jeongguk begins to sob, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't want to, I'm stuck. I want to stop."

Taehyung doesn't respond. Instead he throws down a napkin he was holding on to Jeongguks lap and walks away silently, his head down as he leaves the Alley way. Jeongguk sits there for hours, crying and clutching the napkin, still apologizing, even if Taehyung is gone and can't hear him anymore. Jeongguk has officially broken, and it's all his own fault.

-----------

A month later, Jeongguk finally works up the courage to finish his job. He gets rid of Daehoon, and he gets his money. He's miserable, knowing that Daehoon is dead and Taehyung knows it's because of him. He pays off the rest of his debt and gives the hospital the money for his sister's treatments, and watches as she improves day by day, and waits. He waits for the cops to show up, he waits for his client to come back and try to take the money back.

He smiles as he watches his sister run around the hospital lobby with a friend she made recently who was also in recovery. She laughs loudly as they chase each other around, just happy to be able to move so freely. After a while they calm down a bit and decide to draw and look at magazines together. Jeongguk watches as they giggle at things in the magazines.

When the day of Daehoon's funeral comes, he goes. He feels guilty, but he felt like he had to go. He stayed in the back, a hood over his face as he watches the services go on. He sees Daehoon’s children all at one side, talking. Their mother and Taehyung are off to one side, holding each other's hands in comfort as they spoke quietly. He doesn't look for Taehyung, afraid of being noticed.

He leaves not long after he arrives, not wanting to linger for too long. He goes directly to the hospital and smiles as the nurse greets him. He removes his hood and walks to his sister's room. She's watching T.V. When he arrives, her eyes glued to the screen. She notices his arrival though. "Hey, guk. Did you go to the funeral?" She asks.

Once she started feeling better, Haeun began questioning where he got the money, and where he used to keep disappearing off to. Jeongguk told her the entire truth, not wanting to lie anymore. She was thrown off, and gave him the silent treatment for a few days, but after a while she forgave him. She understood why he did it. She was truly mature for her age.

He told her about his last mission, and how Taehyung was involved (which she hit him for) and began to cry as he spoke, telling her how much he regretted it and how much he missed Taehyung. That was when she hit him again and told him he loved Taehyung. He felt weirdly relieved when he repeated it to himself. Rather than just liking him or having a crush, Jeongguk /loves/ Taehyung.

It made him feel relieved and more guilty at the same time, if that was even possible. He hasn't heard from Taehyung in so long, and he didn't expect to hear from him ever again. What he did was unforgivable, and if he could take it all back, he would. He wishes he met Taehyung a different way.

"Yeah. Was sad." He responded, removing his sweatshirt and lying it on a chair. He walked over and sat next to her, watching the show she had on. "Did you see Taehyung?" He's quiet for a moment. "No. Didn't look for him." She finally looks over at him, "Why not?" Jeongguk thinks about his answer for a few beats before answering, "I was afraid of what would happen if he knew I was there." Haeun nods, but doesn't say anything, just lays her head on his shoulder.

They get through an entire episode of the drama that's on before she speaks again. "I think if you told Taehyung what you told me, like why you chose this life, and why you /had/ to go through with your job, he might understand you a little better. Won't be as mad." Jeongguk looks over at her, feeling lost, "And if he doesn't understand? If he's still mad? No matter the reasons Haeun, what I did was still wrong. What I've done is still unforgivable. I've done a lot of bad things."

" But would you say you're a good person who did something bad for a good reason and got stuck?" The siblings both turn quickly to the door at the voice, and Jeongguk almost breaks down the second his eyes meet Taehyung's. Haeun gets up and walks towards him, "Taehyung?" Taehyung smiles at her and nods, "That's me. You must be Haeun. You look just like Jeongguk." He leans closer to her and whispers, "But you're much prettier."

Haeun giggles loudly. "Silly! I'm going to go watch T.V. in Nae's room." She announces as she leaves the room leaving the two boys alone.

It's silent for a while until Jeongguk breaks it. "T-Tae." He cries, getting up and walking towards Taehyung. The older one knows they have to talk, he knows that, but he can't help but open his arms and accept Jeongguk as he practically falls into him, crying. "I missed you so much, I'm so sorry. I wish i could take it all back, i wish i wasn't so stupid. I'm so sorry."

Taehyung lets him cry for a while before pulling him away to see his face. "Explain it to me, Jeongguk. Tell me why this started and what made you begin to do this. Tell me why you went to the lengths you did to bring Daehoon to rock bottom."

So jeongguk does his best to explain that he was young and so desperate for money for his sister and the debt he owed, that he needed money to live comfortably with enough space for his sister when she got better, and money for food and transportation. He explained how he was having a hard time finding a job that paid well enough for someone without a college degree.

He told him how he tried so many other jobs and none of them would work out, how it was a last resort. He told him how he cried after every kill, and how after a while he just turned numb. He couldn't give it up, because he was finally making money, and his sister was finally able to begin her treatments.

He then began to explain How he came about getting the job for Daehoon, and why accepted. He told him how he asked for triple pay, and about his parents and how they worked for Daehoon's sister and that Daehoon's sister is the reason his parents never had time for him and Haeun, because she piled work on to them. How he wanted revenge and hated them for kicking him and his sister out, and how subconsciously he hated that they left him with such a big responsibility and no money.

He then told Taehyung about how he searched for him and met him so that he could confirm if he was Daehoon illegitimate child so that he could bring him down, but they started to feel things he hasn't in a long time because of him, and how he started to second guess himself and feel guilty for what he was doing.

Taehyung only interrupted to ask questions every so often, just letting Jeongguk tell his story. He was completely silent when Jeongguk began talking about his feelings. HOw He was confused by what Taehyung made him feel, how overwhelmed he was when they kissed because he didn't understand why he liked it so much.

Taehyung let his tears fall when Jeongguk told him that after their fight, he realized he had feelings for Taehyung, and that it only made him sadder. And when Jeongguk told him that he recently realized those feelings were love, Taehyung let out a sob, and grabbed Jeongguks hand.

"I'm so sorry for all the pain I caused you, taehyung. I'm sorry." Taehyung shook his head, "I'm disappointed that you chose this path for yourself, but I understand why you did. I wish you wouldn't have let your anger and vengefulness cloud your judgment, but what's done is done. It's going to take me a while to come to terms with the fact that you've killed people, and I don't think I'll ever be fully okay knowing that. As for Daehoon, I'm still upset that you went so far, and i'm angry that someone hired you to get rid of him, but i learned something about him, and i can't help but think that he got what he deserved."

Jeongguk furrowed his brows, his hands shaking and eyes wet, "Wh-What do you mean?" Taehyung sighs and rests his head against Jeongguk's shoulder. "I wasn't planned. I was conceived by that absolute monster /assaulting/ my mom, Guk. He hurt her so badly and I know I should feel bad for being thankful that he's dead, but you were right. He's a horrible man, and men like that don't deserve to live." Jeongguk hugged him tightly, "I'm so sorry, Taehyung. No one deserves the things that man did to people."

They speak for a while after coming clean about everything, and Taehyung admits to having feelings for Jeongguk as well, but the two agree that they need to start over and get to know each other again as they are now, since so much has changed. "I know I'm in no position to even ask, but can I make one request?"

Taehyung lifts his head off of Jeongguk and furrows his brows at him, "What is it?" Jeongguk bites his lip, "It's been so long and i've missed you so much, and i know we just agreed to take things slow, but i really want to kiss you." Taehyung stares at him with his mouth agape. "Well?" he asks, confusing Jeongguk.

"What?" Jeongguk asks, shuffling in his seat. Taehyung raises an eyebrow, "You gonna kiss me or not?" Jeongguk doesn't waste a second before surging forward enthusiastically and attaching their lips together is a fiery kiss. Jeongguk's arms wrap around Taehyung, pulling him as close as possible in their positions, and Taehyung's follow suit, wanting to get as close as he can as well. Their lips move perfectly, a balance between want, need and relief.

They pull apart a while later, gasping for breath. "Shit," Taehyung starts," Going slow is going to be really fucking hard," Jeongguk laughs lightly and pulls him back in, pecking his lips a few times before their interrupted. "Does this mean you guys made up?"

The boys look over at Haeun and they back at each other, and they smile widely. "We're getting there." Taehyung says with a laugh. Jeongguk smiles wider at the sound, "I'll wait as long as it takes." Haeun smiles and skips over, plopping herself between the two, "Great! Now let's watch T.V. together." The boys smile at her, "You got it kiddo." Jeongguk says, Leaving back.

The three watch T.V. together and laugh, and Jeongguk realizes this is everything he's ever wanted. He couldn't be happier

END

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