Archive of Our Own

His new assignment was one of the harder, more dangerous ones, but he didn’t mind. Yoongi’s assignments were usually dangerous, and life-threatening but he’d gotten used to that. Matter of fact, it was odd when his missions weren’t dangerous. He was confident he would get the job done easily, he was quick, able to do things with high precision, in a short amount of time. Yoongi liked to think that’s what was special about him, what made him stand out.

To simplify his assignment, he was ordered to kill someone; another dangerous boss. His boss never gave him details as to why these people needed to die, and Yoongi didn’t really care. He only cared about doing his job perfectly, and not getting caught. The one thing he didn’t do with utmost perfection was remember his victims' names. It was easier to not humanize them and just think of his mission as an act, or a concept. He understood that this whole organization was made by corrupt people, who hurt other corrupt people, who in turn hurt innocent people. He understood that it wasn’t their place to decide who gets to live and who doesn’t, it wasn’t their place to set the rules and boundaries, decide what is just and what isn’t.

He knew that he was a part of the problem, not the solution; but he also knew that he didn’t have much of a choice. He’d been here for as long as he could remember, ever since he was picked up from the streets by them, taken under their wing as an orphan, and trained to become a dangerous assassin. An agent. He never thought of any of the people he worked with as his family, just a temporary solution to a temporary problem.

On his mission he went, to a large housing complex that was heavily guarded. He’d been studying its map for a few days, laying out his plan of action carefully, color-coding the spaces within, labeling every hallway, every entrance, and exit until he memorized them by heart; and of course, he was successful. He skillfully slipped through security and navigated his way around the mansion without trouble. He was able to accurately predict where the guards would be stationed and where it would be clear for him to go through. Yoongi made it to the main office, where his target was scheduled to be. As suspected, two security guards were on lookout duty outside, but that didn’t phase Yoongi, he knew exactly what he needed to do. He was hiding in the corner of the hallway just out of the guards' sight. He took his gun out and took his shot, instantly killing the first guard, and before the second one was able to react, Yoongi took him out too. He knew he had less than a minute to complete his mission before any of the alarms went off, so he sprinted to the office where his target was, unaware of the two dead bodies outside his door. Within seconds, the seemingly harmless old man, Yoongi’s target, was shot and the alarms went off. Of course, Yoongi planned for that. He knew exactly how to get out of the building, and out of the complex through a specific point on the fencing that was low enough for him to jump over, where agent Kim was waiting for him in the getaway car.

Agent Kim Seokjin was one of the few agents that Yoongi trusted, if not the only one. He was like him in a way, they both knew that they were part of the problem, but they had to stay. Agent Kim was a good man, he seemed to care for Yoongi, but Yoongi could never fully reciprocate. He could never let his guard down around him, even when Seokjin did. He knew that none of the agents, none of the workers had any loyalty to the organization, they always put themselves first, or put whoever paid them more first. “Mission comes first” Yoongi always reminded himself, and was sure the others did too. He secretly hoped he would never be put in a situation where he had to go against Seokjin.

By the end of the night, they reported success back to their boss, their target was taken out with minimal casualties, and no evidence was left behind. Yoongi knew better than to leave any evidence behind, even the truck he went to his mission with had been scrubbed clean of all fingerprints or any other traces that might lead back to them. His boss wasn’t one to praise or show any sign of satisfaction with the work that his agents did, but Yoongi had worked for him for so long, he knew that his slight nod meant that Yoongi did a good job.

***** 

Yoongi was woken up by the harsh sunlight that had entered through his curtain-less windows. He glared at it, as if the sun knew what horrible act it had committed, and put a hand over his eyes to shield them. It took him a few moments to get used to being there, in this new place. Even after spending a whole 8 hours awake there last night, organizing everything he brought with him according to what others might consider an unnecessarily specific pattern, and about 12 to 14 hours sleeping, it was still unfamiliar. He was surprised he’d gotten a good night’s sleep considering he hadn’t really gotten a bed yet. A used mattress thrown on the floor wasn't a bed, not technically. He grimaced at the thought of what brought him there, to this new apartment in this new city. “New employer, new mission” his boss at HQ had told him. “He needs you to be stationed there for now. He’s got high expectations”, and Yoongi never disappointed. He was good at what he did. “Mission comes first” he always reminded himself, no matter how hard, how cruel, or how illegal. The mission must always come first. He isn’t necessarily proud of what he does, of what he’s done, but it’s all he’d ever known. It’s all he could do.

He thought long and hard about what to do on his first day there, of all the ordinary, mundane things he should do, like getting groceries or furniture, or even plants or other decor. There was one problem, he didn't know where to get any of those things. He didn't know where anything was, except for the little coffee shop down the street he had spotted the previous night, and maybe it was a good place to start, to get breakfast and ask someone for help. Except Yoongi wasn't one to socialize, after all, his job never required any kind of communication skills, just get your job done and don’t get caught.

Reluctantly, he went to the coffee shop. It was small and cozy, it smelled of fresh baked pastries and coffee, just the right things to wake anyone up. Yoongi noticed a couple of people sitting at the small tables scattered across the small area, and the two baristas working behind the counter, a boy and a girl that looked a little younger than he was. 

“Good morning,” the boy smiled at him when Yoongi approached the register. “What can I get started for you today?”.

Yoongi was about to answer when the boy interrupted him, “Iced Americano?” The boy’s grin was almost obnoxious. Almost.

Yoongi furrowed his eyebrows. “Uh.. yeah.”

The boy just giggled and went to prepare Yoongi’s coffee, not bothered to take his full order. A few minutes passed and the boy came to Yoongi’s table with a cup of coffee and a plate in his hands. “You’re new here, right?”

“Yeah,” Yoongi was still taken aback by him, he couldn’t decide if the boy was rude or overly nice. Yoongi wasn’t used to talking to strangers, even back in his hometown, he never went out of HQ for, well, anything besides his missions. He was well out of his comfort zone, and talking to new people was a very foreign concept to him. He rarely interacted with newer agents unless absolutely necessary.

“Is that all you can say?”, the boy laughed as he took the seat across from Yoongi. “Well, here’s your coffee, and a pastry, too. I hope you like them”

“I didn’t-“, once again, Yoongi was cut off by him.

“It’s on the house”, the boy smiled and Yoongi couldn’t decide if he liked his smile or wanted to rip it off his face. He couldn’t decide, yet. “I’m Hoseok, and my coworker is Haejoon. You should know since you’re going to come here often”

“Yeah, okay”, was all Yoongi said. He didn’t think he should give out his name to this stranger, no matter how many times he would come here. He needed to keep a low profile, after all, he was there for his missions, but then again, was there really any harm in making Hoseok’s acquaintance? He shrugged the thought away and took a bite of the pastry, it was warm and really, really good.

“Yoongi”, he said after a few minutes of silence. “My name. It’s Yoongi”, he didn’t understand why was he so flustered, why he spoke like he was a foreigner trying so hard to learn the language. Was it the way the younger boy looked at him with interested eyes, or was it his warm smile? It shouldn’t matter, it didn’t matter. Yoongi reminded himself of why he was there, of his mission.

Mission comes first.

He wasn’t there to make friends, he was there to do his job. But he needed to get by. Maybe this wasn’t so bad.

“Oh my god, you can speak”, Hoseok joked. “So, Yoongi, what brought you here?”

“Work”, Yoongi replied, “I’m an accountant”, of course, Yoongi had to lie, but Hoseok didn’t need to know that. Nobody asks a lot of questions about accountants.

“No way”, Hoseok said sarcastically, or at least, Yoongi thought so. “Accountants work in big cities, live in fancy neighborhoods and they definitely don’t go to small cafes for breakfast”.

“They need accountants everywhere, even small cafes could use an accountant’s help”, Yoongi said matter-of-factly.

“Well, we aren’t hiring right now”, Hoseok smiled, to which Yoongi only rolled his eyes as a response. The thought of him working there as an accountant, which he knew little to nothing about, was funny. He simply couldn’t see himself doing something so simple. Their conversation went on for a while and Hoseok turned out to be pleasant and easy to talk to. He told Yoongi where to find the stores he needed, a cheap furniture shop, a grocery store that wasn’t too far, and the best-fried chicken joint in the neighborhood, and he went on with his day, running his mundane errands before his real work began.

A week passed before he got an assignment from his new boss. He was needed to pick up a package, which Yoongi thought was absolutely ridiculous. He wasn’t some over-glorified personal assistant for rich bosses, was he? Or was his new boss just putting him to the test, which wasn’t any less ridiculous, since the organization Yoongi worked for is one of the best in the country, or so he’d heard. He still went to pick up said package, with several weapons hidden under his civilian clothes. He should be prepared for anything, he was sure that the package wasn’t something you purchased off of Amazon, and he was sure that whoever gave him the package would be just as armed and ready as he was.

He was greeted by two large men in black suits, accessorized with earpieces and sunglasses despite the fact that it was well after midnight, but that didn’t mean they weren’t on guard. He just nodded at them and they understood, handed him two metal briefcases and he was on his way, not a single word spoken. His missions after this weren’t consistent, some were just as boring, and others were exciting. Even though he wasn’t proud of his work, he still loved some parts of it. He loved proving his strength and skill, mostly to himself. With every successful mission reported back to his bosses, he’d gotten praised, he’d been told that he finished in record-breaking time, with out-of-this-world precision. He already knew that, the organization rarely sent their agents far away from their city, only those who were the best of the best, which Yoongi knew he was.

One thing was consistent, though, his daily morning visits to the cafe, and it was definitely because of their warm pastries and good coffee, not because of Hoseok. Definitely not because of Hoseok. Not because of his smile, not because of the way he radiated warmth. Not because of how innocent and naive he was, or how easy it was to just talk to him and, for the first time ever, for Yoongi to be himself around someone, no, definitely not. Just coffee and pastries.

Yoongi learned a lot about Hoseok, how he worked there because he liked it and hoped to buy the cafe one day, and not because he needed the money. How he was an amazing photographer, and how he graduated from a well-renowned fashion school just a few towns over. Yoongi thought Hoseok could pull off being a model, he had the face for it, and the body, and the face. 

Oh, the face.

Yoongi also learned that Hoseok is the one that opened up the cafe every day, from 6 in the morning and stayed until the afternoon, and Yoongi definitely didn’t take note of that, instead, he just asked him when his shift ended today.

“Well, it depends on why you’re asking?”, Hoseok giggled.

“I just am”, and that wasn’t a total lie, Yoongi wasn’t so sure why he wanted to know, there wasn't any harm in knowing, was there?

“I usually get off at around 2, but I’m closing up today so I’ll get off around 6:30-ish?”

Yoongi thought about it for a moment, but couldn’t get himself to say anything. 'Mission comes first', a little voice inside his head reminded him.

“I'm going out for dinner with a couple of friends after work if you want to come”, Hoseok interrupted his train of thought.

'Mission comes first', the little voice in his head repeated.

Mission.

What mission, exactly? His employer didn’t need anything for tonight, at least not yet, and if something came up Yoongi could always leave early, say it was a work emergency, which wouldn’t be a complete lie.

‘Mission comes first!’ The little voice was almost screaming now. “Shut up”, Yoongi told the voice, only realizing he’d said it out loud when Hoseok started apologizing to him. “Oh..”, Yoongi’s brain felt mushy. “Not you, I wasn’t- I... Of course, I’d love to come”.

“You know, you don’t have to”, Hoseok’s expression was a little concerned.

“Yeah, I want to... If you still want me to?”, Hoseok just nodded and Yoongi apologized again, told him he’d meet him here by closing time, and went back to his apartment, cursing himself. He tried not to think about it, there wasn’t anything wrong with going out with someone he knew for dinner, even if it wasn’t part of his routine. Even though Yoongi had realized that routines change, new routines can be made, it still wasn’t a thing he was used to. He tried to convince himself that it wasn’t wrong to have friends here, he might need them if things ever went south, or not. It didn't matter. His focus was on his mission, but as of right now there was no mission. Right now it was 6:30 and all he had to do was walk to the stupid cafe down the street and meet with the stupid barista and his stupid friends and eat stupid food and go back to his stupid apartment. It was all so stupid.

Yoongi never felt anything, never had sympathy or compassion, he never even made any friends, just colleagues, and comrades. Some of which he trusted, like agent Kim, and some he was indifferent about, but never any friends. Never had any partners, never had a family. He was always alone. He must’ve had a family at one point in his life, he knew he was an orphan, and orphans had to come from somewhere, but he didn't remember much, just vague memories of a small house that could have been an orphanage. It didn't matter, it was all in the past, and his past didn’t matter. All he’d ever known were the organization, his bosses, his colleagues, and his missions. Always his missions.

“You came”, Hoseok noted as Yoongi arrived at the door of the cafe, shaking him away from his thoughts.

“Yeah, look I’m sorry about earlier it-“, Yoongi started to say before Hoseok cut him off for the god-knows-how-many time.

“I’m glad you came”, Hoseok’s smile was as warm as it always had been, it showed Yoongi that all was forgiven. Forgiveness wasn’t something he was familiar with. Failure, no matter how insignificant, was never forgiven in the organization. He couldn’t understand how people forgave each other so easily. “Just let me lock up and we’ll go. God, I’m so hungry. We’re going to this all-you-can-eat BBQ place not too far from here. Taehyung and Jungkook, my friends, will meet us there”.

They walked together, ignoring how their hands brushed against each other often. Ignoring how Hoseok's laugh made Yoongi’s heart skip a beat every single time, and definitely ignoring the fact that he couldn't keep his eyes off him the whole night. Taehyung and Jungkook were nice, Yoongi was almost sure. He hadn't paid them much attention, not that he wasn't interested, he just couldn't. He couldn't understand why he was so focused on Hoseok, there wasn't anything special about him. Not the way he grilled the meat for everyone, not the way he put it directly on Yoongi’s plate, and definitely not the way he placed a piece of the meat on a perilla leaf with some kimchi on top, rolled it, and ate it all in one big bite. There certainly wasn't anything so amazingly special about the way he poured soju, or the way he drank it, or the fucking way he kept looking at Yoongi and made sure he was okay, if he was eating well, if he even liked the food, if he was having a good time. What was this feeling, anyway? Yoongi couldn't figure it out. His heart was racing, but that must have been the alcohol in combination with the heat from the grill.

It was all so new to him, he never really had a meal like this before, surrounded by people that weren't colleagues, with this amount of talking. It was a lot of talking, a lot of really loud talking, and a lot of laughing. Yoongi wasn't used to any of it, most of his colleagues back at HQ weren't ones to make small talk, much less have any other type of conversation.

“Yoongi?”, Taehyung called out. “You’ve been staring at your plate for the last 5 minutes, are you alright?”

“Huh”, Yoongi hadn’t realized that he zoned out. “Yeah, I’m just.. thinking about how good the food is.”

“I’ll order more, then”, Hoseok laughed.

“No!”, Yoongi interrupted a little harsher than he had intended to. “I mean, It’s not necessary. I think I should get going”.

“You live near the cafe, right? Just give me a minute and I’ll come with you”.

“You don’t have to”, Yoongi tried to argue but Hoseok just waved him off. They said their goodbyes and were on their way, walking towards the cafe in slow steps, both of them seemed to not want this day to end. They kept walking, even after reaching their previously agreed-upon destination, they eventually reached the end of the street and Hoseok claimed that this is where he lived, but Yoongi just shook his head.

“Quit lying”, Yoongi rolled his eyes in what one can only assume was a playful gesture, he didn't know. “That’s not where you live.”

“What do you mean?”, Hoseok laughed. “Why would I lie? It’s not like you’re a dangerous stranger that will kidnap me or murder me in my sleep, are you?”

Yoongi couldn’t help but laugh, the irony of him actually being a dangerous stranger that could kidnap or murder was a little too funny. “No, you can’t live here because I live here, and I’ve never seen you come and go so it’s just not possible.”

“So you’re saying that you know everyone that lives here?”, Hoseok raised his eyebrow at him.

“More or less”, Yoongi shrugged. “But not you, you don’t live here.”

“I could just bring you up to my apartment to prove it to you, but then how will I know that you actually live here and not just stalking me?”, Hoseok’s tone was sarcastic, but there was something so... What’s the word for it... Charming? At this point, Yoongi wanted to scream.

“Quit flattering yourself.”, He waved Hoseok off, but Hoseok just grabbed his hand and dragged him inside, to the elevator, and up to the seventh floor, to the apartment on the right, which coincidently -and conveniently- happened to be right below Yoongi’s apartment.

“Do you believe me, now?” Hoseok asked as he walked inside, inviting Yoongi to follow.

“No.”, Yoongi smiled. He took a quick look at the apartment, which was so similar to his own, yet so different, it was very fitting to Hoseok’s personality. It was colorful but not overwhelming, he had many plants that seemed to be surprisingly well taken care of, and many posters and album records were hung on the wall. It didn’t necessarily fit Yoongi’s perception of what an apartment should looked like, it wasn’t organized according to Yoongi’s patterns, but it was still nice and cozy. He saw Hoseok set a new bottle of soju with two glasses on the coffee table and gestured for Yoongi to take a seat on the sofa next to him.

“What about now?”, Hoseok asked.

“I guess”, Yoongi shrugged and took a sip from his glass. “It’s just weird that you live right below me.”

“I guess it is”, Hoseok agreed. “Tell me, what did you really think of my friends tonight?”

“They’re okay, yeah, they’re nice”

“But?”, Hoseok pressed.

“There’s no but!”, Yoongi laughed. “I’m just not really used to it.”

“Used to what? Going out with people?”, He joked and Yoongi might have flinched. He was embarrassed by it now, it never hit him how important to others socializing was. He drank the rest of his soju as he would a vodka shot and quickly got up, telling Hoseok how it had gotten late and they both needed to get some sleep. Hoseok looked disappointed but simply nodded and that made Yoongi feel weak in the knees. Why was Hoseok disappointed in him? He didn’t want that, he wanted Hoseok to be happy and smiling and laughing.

He didn’t get a blink of sleep that night. The thought of disappointing Hoseok was like a knife to his chest, or his back, or anywhere. It was painful and he wished he could understand why. Why was he so bothered by it? He never felt weak before, but the sad look in Hoseok’s eyes made his knees buckle and his heart ache, it made taking a breath seem harder than fighting two armed guards while being shot at by a third. Why was that? Why, why, why? He needed an explanation but no one offered any. No one was around, no one knew.

He couldn’t get himself to get out of bed before 2 pm, he was exhausted, but he couldn’t stay in bed the whole day, because he had a mission tonight. Not a boring mission, unfortunately, a big mission that required his full strength and attention, which he didn’t have today. He still wanted to go to the cafe, even if there was a possibility that Hoseok wasn’t there. His heart sank a little but he dragged himself out of his apartment and went downstairs, only to full-on crash into someone in the lobby of his building.

“I’m sorry I didn’t see-“, and of course, he was cut off by a familiar laugh and a warm presence. “Hoseok. I didn’t see you.”

“You didn’t come to the cafe this morning”, Hoseok noted, dismissing any embarrassment that could have come from this situation.

“Yeah, I overslept”, Yoongi rubbed the back of his neck. Hoseok didn’t need to know that Yoongi was up all night thinking about him, no one needed to know. “I’m actually heading there right now.”

“If you wait for me to just go change, I’ll come to keep you company”, Hoseok suggested, a little too eagerly. Yoongi didn’t have the heart to tell him that he couldn’t stay for long, he couldn’t see him being disappointed in him again. He just couldn’t.

“You shouldn’t bother yourself with it, Hoseok. I can’t stay for long, I’ve got a work thing in the evening that I need to get to.”, Every word felt like a tiny needle poking at his chest.

“Nonsense!”, Hoseok smiled, and his smile took the pain away. “I’ll be quick just wait for me”

He did wait, and walking down to the cafe with Hoseok was so nice, he could barely remember how tired he was. He couldn’t really feel anything besides warmth, it was all worth it. They stayed there for longer than Yoongi had anticipated. Losing track of time wasn’t something Yoongi was known for, but when he was with Hoseok, it was like he was a whole new person. They talked, and talked, and talked some more. The tiny voice in Yoongi’s brain that always screamed ‘mission comes first’ was, for the first time ever, not heard. That alarmed Yoongi, because it had gotten late and he needed to get going on his mission. Hoseok wasn’t disappointed when Yoongi left, he just wished him good luck and gave him a warm smile. That was enough to keep Yoongi going for the whole night. He got ready for his mission, which required a lot of equipment, some of which needed to be assembled on site. He still carried it all and got into the car that his boss had assigned to him for the duration of his stay there. He didn’t use it often, only for missions and when he thought it was necessary, like when he’d gone to buy a lot of groceries when he first moved there.

Yoongi hated the wait, but that was part of almost every mission he’d been on. Waiting for the right moment to make a move, to attack with the least amount of consequences possible, to act with the precision he was well known for. His target was in the building across the rooftop where he set up camp, just a couple of stories below. The perfect angle for him to take his target out quickly. One shot, one kill. But that was almost never the case. His targets always had a whole team of security guards and systems, it wasn’t as simple as he would’ve hoped. Yoongi waited, and waited until the right moment finally came after what felt like ages. One swift shot and his target was down. He had about 30 seconds to pack up before he needed to run, before the enemy guards figured out where the shot came from and came to hunt him down. He did, within a minute he had packed up and was already out of the building, but his mission wasn’t over yet. He still needed to infiltrate his target’s apartment and take the valuable documents his boss needed. That was the hard part.

As soon as he made it to the building, security surrounded him, but that was okay, he was trained for that, and it would have all gone smoothly if he had gotten a good night’s sleep. He cursed his luck when the first punch hit his face. It was his first big mission with his new employer and he just had to screw it up. He tried to focus, ‘mission comes first’ he reminded himself and started moving, dancing in a way he’d always danced with enemies, no matter how out of rhythm they were. Soon enough, he was able to reach his target’s apartment and not to his surprise, there were more guards there. He considered taking his gun out and ending it right then and there but before he could even think about it, a fist connected to his middle that sent him a few feet backward. He jumped back up and charged at the guard closest to him, stabbing him with a poison-dipped knife he was hiding and went on to finish off the other one. He dropped to the floor as soon as he was done and tried to catch his breath.

He’d never been this clumsy before, this slow. For the first time, he worried about his employer’s reaction when he reports back to him. He hadn’t failed the mission but he was usually better than that. He tried to shake the thought away and finished his job. As expected, his employer wasn’t too pleased to see him all bruised up and bloodied, but Yoongi did get the job done, so he wasn’t in any sort of trouble, at least not yet.

It was already past 5:30 in the morning when Yoongi reached his apartment, the little voice in his head told him that Hoseok was opening the cafe soon, and maybe that was the one thing he needed after a long night and a not-so-successful mission. Was it the same voice that always yelled at him that the mission comes first? No, maybe it was another one, a new one. Yoongi decided to listen to it and headed down to the cafe, limping, barely able to keep his eyes open.

It was 5:45 and the cafe opened at 6, he knew that, but he decided to wait outside anyway, leaning on the window. It was still dark outside, but Hoseok noticed him and with the biggest smile on his face, opened the door for Yoongi. His smile soon dropped after he noticed the bruises on his face.

“Oh my god, Yoongi what happened to your face?”, Hoseok asked, and Yoongi felt a million times better just by hearing his voice, hearing him say his name.

“I might have gotten a little too drunk at my business event and fell down a long stairway”, Yoongi lied, a sheepish grin appeared on his face.

“I’m taking you to the hospital”, Hoseok was obviously concerned, and Yoongi’s heart melted away. “Haejoon should arrive shortly, we’ll leave then.”

“I’m fine”, Yoongi wasn’t lying, not really. He’d been through worse during his training and on the first mission he’d ever gone on. “I just need a coffee, please?”

“How exactly did you fall down the whole stairway?”, Hoseok asked, his concern slowly fading away.

“I’m just really clumsy these days.”, Yoongi sat there with Hoseok, for as long as he could keep his eyes open and his body up straight. When he couldn’t keep it up anymore, Hoseok took him home, his arm wrapped around Yoongi’s waist for support. They reached Yoongi’s apartment and Hoseok gently laid him down on his new, proper bed. If Yoongi had any energy left in his body, he would have probably dragged Hoseok into bed with him, not for anything, he just needed the warmth.

“I’ll come to check on you after my shift today, okay?”, was all Yoongi heard before falling into a deep sleep.

He woke up to the overwhelming smell of warm, delicious food. He rubbed his face, trying to figure out why it smelled so good in his house, when he heard a familiar voice that made him jump up from his bed.

“You awake?”, Hoseok’s voice was loud, but it was coming from somewhere outside his room, which made him sigh in relief. Hoseok didn’t need to see his messy hair and probably drool-stained face. He hurried to the bathroom hoping Hoseok didn’t see him, and quickly washed his face and tried to fix his messy hair.

“When did you.. or how did you come inside?”, Yoongi asked, only now realizing how odd it was that Hoseok just showed up in his apartment.

“I took your keys when I left this morning, I hope you don’t mind.”, Hoseok grinned and Yoongi had already forgiven him, which surprised him a little, as he wasn’t used to forgiveness. “I got you some noodles with black bean sauce, you like them right?”

“And how did you know that?”, Yoongi asked as he took a seat next to him in his living room.

“The same way I knew about the coffee”, Hoseok unwrapped the food and put it in front of Yoongi, handing him utensils.

“Thank you, Hoseok. You really didn’t have to do this.”, Yoongi was truly grateful. Hoseok had done so much for him and he hadn't done anything in return. He made a mental note to get him a gift, just as soon as he figured out what a good gift would be. Hoseok hung out with him all afternoon, gave him ice packs to put on his bruises, and made him warm tea and it was really nice, hanging out with him like this. Alone in his apartment, no other factors, just the two of them. It was so nice, warm, and amazing. Every single aspect of it was perfect and Yoongi couldn’t feel his pain anymore. All he felt was happiness.

The night eventually came and Hoseok left, told Yoongi to rest, and if he needed anything he was quite literally one phone call away. He told Yoongi that if he didn’t visit the coffee shop tomorrow morning he would come knock his door down with a single kick, but Yoongi doubted his ability to do so. Yoongi promised he’d come and he kept his promise for the next day and the rest of the week. His employer didn’t assign him any new missions for a while, and Yoongi really thought he blew it, but when his new assignment came Yoongi had recovered 100% of his strength and his focus, he was sure that he wasn’t going to mess up any more missions. He needed to succeed, to stay safe, for his own sake, for Hoseok, and to figure out what all the things he was feeling meant.

He still managed to mess up his mission, though. It wasn’t a complete failure but he still was clumsy and managed to get caught by the enemy and get beaten up. He still managed to get the job done, but only barely. He was embarrassed by it, how he still screwed up after all his hard work... No, something was definitely wrong with him, it was as if he had sabotaged his own mission, like he shot himself in the foot. Of course, his employer found out when he reported back to him. He was pissed but didn’t yell at Yoongi for it, after all, he had brought back what he was sent to take and that’s what really mattered.

“Don't screw things up for me, Min.” His employer threatened, and Yoongi just wanted to roll his eyes. He wasn’t one to mess up missions, sure he could stumble and fall, but never fail. ‘Never fail’. He scolded himself. ‘Mission comes first.’

He arrived at his building not too late that night and went upstairs to his apartment, only to realize he didn’t walk into his apartment when he saw Hoseok, Taehyung, and Jungkook all sitting in the living room. He didn’t really know how to explain that he’d walked into the wrong apartment because he was lost in his own thoughts. “The door was unlocked”, was all he could say. Luckily, he was wearing a suit and he could tell them how he’d just gotten back from a very long day at work. Unluckily, he still had a bunch of weapons hidden under his clothes that no one would notice if he was careful enough.

“Come on in”, Hoseok laughed and gestured for him to take the seat next to him.

“You okay, man?”, Asked Jungkook, he must have noticed how tired Yoongi was, how there were a few cuts and bruises on his hands and face.

“Well”, Yoongi thought a little about what he should say. He wanted to get some things off his chest, but he couldn’t tell them the truth. “Do you ever feel like you’re messing up your work, even though you’re really good at it?”

“Nope”, said Taehyung and Yoongi couldn’t tell if he was joking or not, even after Hoseok had laughed.

“I guess so”, Jungkook handed him a bottle of beer and Yoongi was grateful for it. He needed it to get the courage to continue telling them whatever nonsense he was telling them.

“It feels like I’m messing up on purpose, but why would I? I’m good at what I do, and I’ve done it for a really long time. I can’t figure it out.”

“Maybe you are doing it on purpose”, Hoseok said after a moment of consideration. “Maybe, deep down, you want to quit your job and start doing something completely different, like, I don’t know, work with me at the cafe?”, Yoongi could swear that Hoseok’s laugh had healing powers.

“Work with you at the cafe?”, Yoongi echoed, leaning his head back on the sofa and staring at the ceiling. He couldn’t imagine a highly trained agent like him working a very normal job like that.

“And get paid like, what, 5000 won per hour? Forget it”, Jungkook chimed in. “Weren’t you a rich accountant or something?”

Yoongi just shrugged. He thought about quitting his “job” but he didn’t think it was possible. Agents like him either died on the job or worked there until they were physically incapable of going on missions, they’d still work in management or recruitment or whatever desk job the organization needed them to do. Hell, even accountants, there was no quitting.

“I’m serious”, Hoseok tried. “Maybe not work at the cafe, but don’t you want to quit and do something else?”.

He did. He really wanted to quit and do something else, but he didn’t know how to do anything else. He felt stumped, lost, and a little miserable. He stayed there, staring at the ceiling for a while longer, barely noticing that Hoseok’s friends had left and that he’d scooted closer to Yoongi on the sofa.

“We’ll figure it out, you know.”, Hoseok’s voice was soft and comforting, Yoongi felt like he could melt into it.

“You think so?”, Yoongi sat upright and turned to look Hoseok in the eyes, and he immediately regretted it. His eyes were so beautiful, one could get lost in the galaxies hidden inside of them.

“Sure I do. It may take a while but, if you’re too unhappy about your job it’s not worth just staying there”

Of course, Hoseok was right but it wasn’t that simple. He wished it was, he wished he could just stay here with Hoseok and talk to him all night long.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”, Yoongi might have imagined it but he could have sworn that Hoseok got even closer to him. He could feel Hoseok’s slow breaths on his face, and his fingers hovering over his thigh, barely touching it and Yoongi was frozen in his place for a moment before his body switched to autopilot mode and started moving on its own.

“I think I should go get some sleep”, Those words left Yoongi’s lips without his own consent. “I’ll see you in the morning”

Hoseok’s face dropped but his smile didn’t waver, it was still warm and Yoongi wanted to punch himself in the face. He must have disappointed Hoseok once again and he didn’t think he’d be able to forgive himself if that was the case. He just left without waiting for Hoseok’s response and banged his head against the wall a few times before he slept.

Yoongi figured that if he successfully accomplished his next mission, he could prove to himself that nothing had changed, that he was still good at what he did, and that maybe the stumbling was because he’d moved away. It wasn’t a convincing argument, since he had moved away for employers before but never somewhere this far away from HQ, so it had to be true. Only he didn’t successfully accomplish his next mission. It was the first time ever for Yoongi to report failure to an employer, and of course, he was furious. He had barely made it out alive from the mission and his employer didn’t care, and his bosses at HQ didn’t care either, they just scolded him and sent him back to his apartment. He was surprised that they didn’t fire him, or worse, but then again Yoongi wasn’t any regular agent of theirs. He was one of the best, if not the best they’ve got. When other agents messed up a mission they had to deal with a lot more consequences than he did this time.

He had barely made it out alive from that mission and the only one that noticed was Hoseok, who bumped into him in the lobby of their building. This time he rushed him to the emergency room and forced him to stay there and get treated. He’d gotten a few fractured bones and some internal bleeding but that didn’t matter to Yoongi. Hoseok was there, next to him, worried about him and that was the only thing that mattered, the only thing that had ever mattered. Hoseok was next to him and his presence alone warmed Yoongi’s entire body, and his smile healed all of the broken things in him, and his voice made him the happiest man on the planet.

Yoongi was forced to stay the night at the hospital by orders of the doctors, and Hoseok didn’t leave his side. He hand-fed him his dinner and helped him drink warm tea, which wasn’t as tasty as the one Hoseok had made him the other night but it was still good. Even when he slept on the hospital couch next to Yoongi’s bed he looked like an angel. Part of Yoongi wanted to go sleep next to him, even if the couch didn’t fit they could both squeeze into the very uncomfortable hospital bed. It would have been nice but he couldn’t gather the courage to ask, or even make sense of this request. He still watched Hoseok sleep for a couple of hours before he finally fell asleep.

Weeks had passed and Yoongi hadn’t received a single mission from his employer, not even a text. That would have worried him if Hoseok hadn’t been taking good care of him. Visiting him every day, cooking for him, and feeding him. The little voice in his head that always said 'mission comes first' had completely disappeared now with the absence of missions, and it felt somehow comforting. A part of him didn’t want to heal, he didn’t want all of this to just stop like that, all the attention and care given to him by Hoseok, he wanted it all to himself. Still, things had to get back to normal, and Yoongi had to start his days by stopping at the cafe for his morning pastry and iced americano, despite how cold it had gotten. It had almost become a tradition at this point.

Yoongi liked consistency, liked routine. It was always ‘wake up, get the job done, don’t talk to anyone you don’t trust, report back success, go to sleep and repeat’ and he was used to that, he’d been doing it for years and never once complained, but his routine took a dramatic turn when he got there, it became more like ‘Wake up, go to the cafe to see Hoseok, fail your mission so that Hoseok can take care of you, spend more time with Hoseok, think about Hoseok, go to sleep and repeat’ and he’d never done anything like that before, he never developed a special interest in anyone like that ever, and he still didn’t complain. Part of him liked the new routine better.

There he was, at the beginning of his new routine sipping on his ice Americano as he watched Hoseok work. Yoongi was the type to pay attention to detail, and not just the details that surrounded his target but everything else as well. By now he’d memorized every little thing about the coffee shop, all the little scratches on the tables, all the plants scattered around the place, their types, the pots they were planted in, the sounds that the espresso machine makes. He could paint a masterpiece of this place from memory alone, he’d even taken note of all the different customers and when they usually came. There was one customer that bothered Yoongi, that was familiar in an unsettling way. He was about his age, and only started coming here three days ago, every day at a different time as if he knew that someone could keep track of his comings and goings. He never did anything suspicious, just sat there with a cup of coffee that he barely touched, with his sunglasses that he never took off, scrolling on his phone and casually looking up to the general directions of Hoseok and Yoongi. On the fourth day Yoongi knew better than to not be prepared, he packed some essential -at least to him- self-defense tools and went down to the cafe. Just as he expected, the stranger showed up not too long afterward and Yoongi knew he needed to act quickly and carefully. Yoongi made sure to sit facing this man, to track his every movement. He did nothing suspicious, not yet and Yoongi waited and waited until he noticed it.

He was holding his phone at an angle and it immediately clicked in Yoongi’s mind, why he thought this stranger was familiar even though he’d never seen him before, why he immediately was wary of him even though he hadn't done anything, but he had. A flashlight went off from his phone and Yoongi casually turned to the direction it was pointed, to Hoseok, and he knew better than to make a scene, he needed to be calm.

“Hey, Hoseok?”, He said in a low voice, smiling and Hoseok inched closer to him and smiled back. “I need you to listen to me very carefully and do exactly as I say.”

“What-“, Hoseok’s smile almost dropped but Yoongi shot him an urgent look and smiled once again.

“I’ll explain everything later, now listen. There’s a back door through the kitchen right? Take these keys and go back to the kitchen, wait for at least three minutes before you leave, and run to our building as fast as you can, my car is in the garage there, you get inside of it and wait. If ten minutes pass and I didn’t come you drive as fast and as far away as you can get. You go somewhere safe and just text me that you got there and nothing else, I’ll find you on my own. Now just thank me for visiting the cafe and go, keep smiling.”

“Thank you for coming to the cafe”, Hoseok smiled, but his eyes were filled with terror and his hands were shaking ever so slightly. He reluctantly went to the kitchen, taking a final glance at Yoongi before finally going in. As soon as Hoseok was gone, the man’s facial expressions changed. He stared at Yoongi in what he could only assume was a glare under his sunglasses, and started fumbling for his belongings before he got up to leave the cafe and Yoongi immediately followed him. When he took a turn at the end of the street, the corner of Yoongi’s lips rose into a smirk, thanking the building’s layout for being in his favor. Eventually, the man realized he’d gone to an abandoned back alley and not the backside of the cafe and it was too late because Yoongi had already charged at him and pinned him to the ground, making sure he was in full control. He started punching with all his might but all the man did was struggle under Yoongi’s grip. He tried to get information out of him, why was he there targeting Hoseok, but not a single word left his lips.

“I know that whoever sent you here has told you about me and if you know anything about me you know that I don’t show mercy, so you either speak or I’ll end you right here”, Yoongi threatened, his poison-dipped knife was already at the man’s throat begging to do what it was designed to do. The man tried to slip away but Yoongi tightened his grip around him and pressed his knife a little deeper into his throat.

“This is dipped in poison, you know?”

“Fine”, The man coughed. “I wasn’t ordered to hurt him, boss wanted to know why you keep messing up, thought maybe taking him away would make you focus better.”

Yoongi was seeing red, they were messing with him for the last time. They wanted to take his Hoseok away from him, and if someone dared to even breathe in his direction the wrong way Yoongi was going to hurt them in ways they’ve only ever seen on TV.

“You tell your boss to leave me the fuck alone, yeah?”, Yoongi dragged his knife along the man’s forearm, leaving a long scar behind. “You’ve got 30 minutes to treat this before it kills you.”

Yoongi said before he left, and maybe he shouldn’t have done that, that man tried to take Hoseok away from him, but then again, he was ordered to, he didn’t have a choice and Yoongi understood that. He was just like him, but that all changed, now Yoongi was going to make sure that he had a choice. He ran to his building, to his car where Hoseok was still waiting, Hoseok was still shaking with fear, and tears gathered in his eyes. Yoongi wanted to take him in his arms and tell him that everything was okay, but they needed to get away from here fast, make sure they weren’t being followed.

“It’s all okay ‘Seok”, Yoongi told him as they drove away so fast he must have gotten a lot of speeding tickets, but he didn’t care, he only cared that Hoseok was safe. “We just have to go away, to a safe place. I got a cabin just a couple of hours away-“

“No”, Hoseok interrupted him, and Yoongi wished that he was laughing, he wished his voice wasn’t shaking with fear, he wished that his beautiful eyes weren’t shedding tears. “No, Yoongi. I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what the fuck is going on.”

“Hoseok, please let’s just get to safety first”, Yoongi’s voice was shaking now. He’d never been scared, but right now he was terrified. The thought of losing Hoseok shook him to his core and he couldn’t do anything but drive.

“No”, Hoseok was sobbing now. “Man, how can I even trust you? You just- you just come here and tell me all those weird things and scare the living shit out of me.”

“Hoseok, I’m begging you. Trust me, just this once and after this is all over I’ll- I’ll leave and you won’t ever see me again, okay?”, Yoongi was hurt, his pain was beyond anything he’d ever been through and he honestly wished he was dead before he had to go through this. Hoseok’s silence just made it worse, he knew he wasn’t gonna say a single word to him, maybe ever again. It took almost all of Yoongi’s energy to reach the hideout, two hours of complete silence never felt this bad. He’d never experienced silence quite this loud. It was like canons and explosions and gunshots but only a thousand times worse.

He still reached the cabin and guided Hoseok inside, and the younger boy still refused to say a word.

“There's food, water, and drinks in the fridge”, Yoongi’s voice was low, choking on tears and held down screams. He’d feared that they would need this place so he came and stocked it up the previous day. Hoseok looked at him in disbelief and shook his head, and Yoongi couldn’t keep his tears in anymore.

“That man..”, He hesitated. How on earth was he going to explain it to him? He needed to tell him the whole truth and that made him sick to his stomach. “He was going to take you, Hoseok. He was gonna take you away and I have no idea what would have happened if I didn’t catch on. I’m so sorry, ‘Seok. I never meant for you to be caught up in any of this.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”, Hoseok’s voice was colder than ice, as sharp as Yoongi’s poison-dipped knives, and hurt just as much. There was no escaping it now, Hoseok deserved to know the full honest-to-God truth and Yoongi just hoped for the best. He explained who he really was, and what he did. He told him about his boss and his employers and Hoseok’s expression never changed. He looked at him as if he was a mad man, and maybe he was. Who in their right mind would believe that their neighbor was an ‘agent’, an assassin who would kill people just because someone told him to, someone who was so highly trained that he could figure out that he was in danger just by the way someone angled their phone. Of course, Yoongi told him about the man from today, how he only showed up because Yoongi had failed his missions, and how he’d failed his missions because his brain was too occupied, he told him how he fought him and injured him and how he’d confessed but Hoseok didn’t look like he cared. He looked like he hated Yoongi and wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

“I’m so sorry, Hoseok.”, Yoongi pleaded, forcing himself to look Hoseok directly in the eyes. Eyes that were usually so kind and inviting had now turned to stone. “I truly am. I hope that you find it in your heart to understand, maybe even forgive me. I was just trying to keep you safe.”

“Understand?”, Hoseok scoffed and Yoongi was never so glad to hear someone’s voice. “Keep me safe? Please tell me you’re joking. What I just heard was pure bullshit, wasn’t it? This is just some stupid fucking prank you’re trying to pull.”

Yoongi took out all the weapons he’d been hiding under his clothes, all the pistols and knives and throwing stars, he put them on the table for Hoseok to see. “I wish it was.”

Hoseok’s face was red with rage, the fire in his eyes was almost real as he charged at Yoongi knocking him back, his fist connected to his jaw and Yoongi just let him. He punched him some more, pushed him against the wall, and screamed at him and Yoongi didn’t dare say a word. Hoseok needed to let it all out and Yoongi understood that. When Hoseok finally backed down and Yoongi thought it was all over, Hoseok grabbed one of the pistols and pointed it at Yoongi. His whole body was still shaking and tears were streaming down his face.

“Get the fuck out of here”, Hoseok threatened. “NOW!”

Unfortunately for Hoseok, Yoongi’s instincts took over. With swift, well-practiced movements he knocked Hoseok to the ground, taking the pistol from him. He got on top of him and pressed the gun to Hoseok’s temple.

“Think you can threaten me, pretty boy?”, His voice was low and dangerous, and Hoseok seemed to know that. “You gotta stop this nonsense, Hoseok. We can’t turn against each other now.”

“Just tell me something”, Hoseok swallowed. He was still shaking and sweat covered his face. “Why did they come after me?”

“Because I failed my missions. Because of you.”

“What do I-“

“Because I love you, Hoseok. Because my mind was always occupied by you.”

Oh.

Oh.

He loved Hoseok, and he didn’t know what to do with this realization.

“Then stop pointing your gun at me.”, Hoseok’s voice was barely over a whisper.

“You pointed it first.”, Yoongi eventually told him and got up, helping Hoseok as he went and Hoseok was completely and utterly lost. He just went on the craziest roller coaster and he was terrified of it, nothing made sense. It felt like a fever dream and he wished he could wake up. Hoseok went into the bedroom and locked the door behind him, taking one last glance at Yoongi before he did. No matter how hard he tried he wasn’t able to make sense of it. Yoongi was some kind of an assassin, or an agent, or... His job description didn’t matter, what mattered was that Yoongi was a dangerous man and Hoseok had no idea what to do about it. No matter how he twisted and turned it, Yoongi was a dangerous man and Hoseok knew that he had to get away, far, far away. He wanted to believe that Yoongi was just trying to protect him, that he will never harm him but how could he? Yoongi had literally pointed a gun at Hoseok’s head and who knows if he would have pulled the trigger. Hoseok wanted to ignore the rational part of his brain that told him that he had pointed the gun first, but he was acting in self-defense, right? Well, maybe Yoongi was too.

Hoseok prayed for some guidance, for answers, he prayed and pleaded and cried. But he was still so lost and disoriented, all he could do was cry. He tried to think about who Yoongi was to him, the cute stranger that looked so confused and harmless the first time he stepped foot inside the coffee house. The Yoongi that listened to everything Hoseok ever had to say with a tilted head and interested eyes. The Yoongi that seemed so clueless as to how the world really worked, that made Hoseok want to shield him. The same Yoongi who had basically kidnapped him and threatened him in the name of ‘protection’. The same Yoongi that just confessed his love to him. Hoseok thought about all the times that Yoongi showed up bruised and bloodied, saying he just tripped down the stairs or had a drunken, brutal bar fight that ended with him being hospitalized, and Hoseok believed him, mostly because he wanted to and Hoseok took care of him, fed him and watched him sleep. He thought about how he’d gotten addicted to Yoongi’s presence, how he had wanted to spend every waking moment of his days with him, and every night sleeping next to him. How he had wanted to kiss him so many times and how he’d gotten so close to, but today had fucked him up so hard and he just wanted to get past it, he wanted to forget everything that happened and just kiss Yoongi. Even after everything he still wanted to kiss him, feel his body pressed against his and feel his warmth and be safe in his arms.

His prayers were answered in the form of a call from Jungkook and he was glad. If anyone could give him advice without asking too many questions it was him. He quickly wiped his tears away and cleared his throat, and if Jungkook could tell that something was wrong, he didn’t say. Jungkook wanted to see where Hoseok was, if he wanted to hang out tonight but Hoseok told him he had to visit his family in his hometown all of a sudden, and Jungkook didn’t press for information.

“Kook, can I ask you something on a serious note?”,  Hoseok had finally gathered the courage to ask, and even though he tried to hide it, he still sounded concerned.

“Of course, man.”, Jungkook’s tone was as it normally was and Hoseok was thankful for that. “Anything.”

“What do you truly think of Yoongi? Do you think he’s a good person?”, Hoseok asked and he knew that Jungkook was an excellent judge of character, he knew that if there was the slightest hint of bad Jungkook would immediately catch on.

“Why, you trying to hit?”, Jungkook’s laugh was cut short when he heard Hoseok scoff. “Seriously? Yeah, I think so. He seems good.”

“Would you trust him, though?”

“Man, you know him so much better than I do, and if you think you can trust him then sure, I do.”

He hated that Jungkook made sense, he wanted him to say that Yoongi was dangerous and bad and that Hoseok needed to run away right now but he didn’t. A part of Hoseok knew he should trust his gut, and his gut needed to get really drunk.

“Know what?”, Hoseok said, finally leaving the room to face Yoongi. “There’s no one coming after me. I’m not in danger, never was. I’m fine. You’re just a weirdo walking around with weapons for God-knows-why.”

“Hoseok, what are you-“, and of course, he cut off Yoongi. He was done listening to Yoongi speak. 

“No, no, no. I’m gonna go drink. In fact, I’m gonna go get really, really drunk, then I’m going home. Yes. I’m not staying here, now if you want to come you’re gonna have to drop all this bullshit. Or just don’t even bother.”, Hoseok was devastated and lost. He wanted things to be normal, and that’s what he believed, or wanted to believe.

Yoongi seemed at a loss for words as he watched Hoseok take the car keys, Yoongi’s car keys, and leave out the front door. Hoseok started the engine and waited for a few minutes, part of him hoped that Yoongi was going to join him, but he never did. Eventually, he drove away, out of the woods where the hide-out cabin was, to the small town pub he had glimpsed when they drove up here, and even though the sun was still out he went only to find a lonely bartender and not a single soul around. The place was dark, a few dimmed lights in a run-down place that didn’t seem to get a lot of customers, perfect for travelers or people running from their reality, much like Hoseok.

“You must be troubled”, The bartender told Hoseok after he’d asked for ‘whatever drink he felt like serving’ “What’s bothering you, bud?” 

After a few moments of consideration, and a few sips of whatever whiskey-colored drink that was poured into his glass, he decided to talk. It wasn’t the smartest choice but Hoseok needed to get things off his chest, he knew he couldn’t tell Jungkook, Taehyung, or any of his friends, but a bartender, who had probably heard stories even crazier than what Hoseok was about to tell him, was good enough.

“Brace yourself”, Hoseok brushed the hair out of his face, already feeling a little tipsy but that’s okay, it’s what he wanted. “I just had the craziest day and I don’t know how to make sense of it.”

“I’m about as ready as you are”, The bartender chuckled, and that oddly comforted Hoseok.

“You see, there’s this guy, I’ve known him for a few months now, we would spend time with each other, taking care of each other, you know? And out of nowhere, he comes up to me at work and tells me to quietly leave and trust him? Which I did, only for him to come back and panic drive me all the way here, saying bullshit about me getting followed and people wanting to kidnap me, can you believe it?”

The bartender laughed about how ridiculous it was and Hoseok agreed, it was really ridiculous, but then again, part of Hoseok could believe that he was in actual danger, he thought about his past, but he could remember much right now, his brain was hazy.

“That’s.. something”, the bartender said.

“Right?” Hoseok agreed. “And then all of a sudden he goes on about failed missions and how it’s all my fault! Me! I have nothing to do with them, and the most absurd thing, he tells me he loves me!”, Hoseok had a strong feeling he overshared and an even stronger feeling of dizziness, but he dismissed it. It must have been the alcohol. He took a few more sips, he needed it.

“That is absurd”, the two bartenders agreed with him. Wait, why were there two bartenders? Why were they standing so close to each other? Why did they look identical? Hoseok’s head was heavy, the room was spinning. “You see, unlike your guy, I don’t fail my missions.” Was all Hoseok heard before his head hit the ground and the world faded to black.

Yoongi waited, which wasn’t something he did voluntarily. He was still shocked and a little pained by what happened. He regretted snapping at Hoseok, he regretted even telling him the truth, he should have told him it was a prank, maybe Hoseok would have forgiven him, but he couldn’t. He was really concerned for Hoseok’s safety, even after he stormed out, Yoongi was still concerned. He contemplated following him, making sure he was out of harm’s way while still giving him the space he really needed. Part of him regretted letting Hoseok go, he wasn’t too sure that anywhere was safe, not even this cabin. Yoongi knew that his bosses wouldn’t stop until they had successfully taken away his distractions, it was their mission and they didn’t accept failure, which meant that they would find them sooner or later. He finally decided to go after Hoseok, just to make sure that he was fine. He was thankful for the tracking device he’d installed in the car when he first moved for his assignment, but not too thankful knowing that since his bosses gave him the car, they could probably track it too. He shoved that thought aside to focus on his new mission, on his new objective, protecting Hoseok. He saw that the car was parked outside a building that was a twenty-minute walk away, so he packed and got ready to leave. He had a bad feeling about this, a mixture of anxiety and anger fueled his body, made him faster and stronger. When he finally, finally reached the place where the car was parked, he immediately knew that something was wrong. He noticed that his car was the only car parked outside what seemed to be a pub, which wasn’t too unusual since it was the only building standing on this part of the road, but it still was unsettling. He walked around the building, checked its surroundings, checked all the entrances and exits of this place. Only two, he noted, the main entrance and a back one for employees. He decided to sneak in through the back, quietly check and if Hoseok was fine, he could leave or wait for him by the car.

He prayed that he was fine. The place was quiet, no music was playing, no sound of people drinking, or any drink pouring and if Yoongi knew anything about Hoseok, he knew that a place was never quiet if he was there. Yoongi readied his gun and inched closer to the bar, he saw a man but no one else seemed to be around, so he waited. A few seconds later the man’s phone rang and when he spoke, not only did Yoongi recognize his voice, he was filled with rage and started seeing red.

“I got him.”, Was all the man said before Yoongi attacked. Yoongi was not planning on showing him any mercy. Not only did he take Hoseok, but he worked for his organization, former organization because no way in hell was Yoongi going to go back to work with them, matter of fact, he was going to destroy them. He attacked, and they danced a dance they were both all too familiar with, after all, they had trained together many times in the past.

“Never took you for a traitor, Min”, The man, who Yoongi remembered as one Park Jaehyung, said as he dodged Yoongi’s punch.

“Is that how corporate sees me?”, Yoongi laughed. He trained with him, even trained him, since he joined well after Yoongi had, so they were able to predict each other’s moves easily. But Yoongi had one more trick up his sleeve. He was the son of a bitch who brought a gun to a fistfight. “What a shame”, Yoongi kicked him to the ground, finally having the upper hand in this situation, and pointed his gun to his head, not hesitating for a second, he took his shot.

“You could have been a good agent”, Yoongi knew that Jaehyung couldn’t hear him, but he said it anyway. Yoongi didn’t have time to catch his breath, he started running, frantically opening every door and checking every corner until he found Hoseok, all tied up in a supply closet in the back. He checked him for injuries and saw that his forehead was slightly bleeding, he then carried his unconscious body outside to the car and drove away. He knew backup was on its way here, he needed to find somewhere safe, somewhere the agency couldn't reach, or somewhere with backup of his own. He reached for Hoseok’s pocket, where his phone luckily was, and dialed out a number he had memorized long ago. A number he’d never dialed before because he never needed to. He couldn’t risk making a call from his own phone, and thankfully, his call was answered.

“Hey, Hyung. It’s me.”, Yoongi said. “I was wondering, do you want to go fishing today?”

‘Going fishing’ was a code word he’d agreed to use with one of the few agents he trusted with his life, it meant that they were in danger and the organization must never find out. It meant they were in a life-or-death situation.

“Yeah”, agent Kim Seokjin finally said. “I’ll meet you there”

A moment after he’d hung up, Seokjin texted the location of the hideout Yoongi was supposed to go to, it was a few hours away, but that’s okay, it can buy them some time. He finally remembered to throw out the tracking device he had planted in the car before and did a quick sweep of the vehicle to make sure that there wasn’t another one installed by the organization before he continued driving to his destination. After what felt like an eternity, Hoseok finally made a sound. He groaned and Yoongi let out a relieved sigh.

“Hoseok?”

Hoseok groaned some more before saying anything. “What?”

“Hoseok, are you okay?”, Yoongi was shaking again, he wanted to sob, Hoseok was alive and talking and that was the only thing that mattered for now.

“My head’s killing me”, Hoseok rubbed his eyes, trying to figure out what was happening, what had happened. “What’s going on?”

“We’re going somewhere else”, Yoongi stated, still in disbelief that his hideout was easily found. “And this time you’re not getting out of my sight, you hear me?”

Hoseok groaned in pain. “Are you-“, but it was Yoongi’s turn to cut him off.

“Do you understand me? You’re not getting out of my sight.”

“Tell me what happened!”, Hoseok pressed. “Why are people coming after me?”

“So now you believe me?”, Yoongi was yelling now, he couldn’t hide his anger anymore. He wasn’t angry at Hoseok, even though he let it out on him, he was angry at himself. He was angry he failed his missions, angry he let anyone get close to Hoseok, to try to hurt him. “You just had to go out? To do what, drink? When I told you it wasn’t safe, when I told you you were being followed, you still ignored it and went out to drink?”

“Who the fuck put you in charge of me?”,  Hoseok yelled back, and it broke Yoongi’s heart. He understood that he was being treated the way he was treating Hoseok, but it hurt just the same. “You didn’t even have the decency to tell me the truth, you still aren’t! Even after I took care of you, let you into my life with open arms! Just stop fucking around already, you owe me that much.”

“I did tell you the truth! You decided I was lying and got yourself in trouble, I was trying to protect you.”

“Then why didn’t you come after me?”, Hoseok was crying now, and Yoongi wanted to pull over and take him in his arms, but he couldn’t. He needed to get to Seokjin as fast as he could. He needed to get Hoseok to safety as fast as he could. “I waited for you to come out but you didn’t.”

Yoongi stayed quiet. He wanted to follow him, and if he did, or even if he went after him just a few minutes earlier then Hoseok wouldn’t have gotten hurt. He felt a tear go down his face for the first time since he was a little orphan on the street. He didn’t know what to say, there was nothing for him to say to make it better. The only thing he could do is take down this whole organization that turned him into a monster, the organization that did so much harm to so many people, the organization that hurt Hoseok. He was determined to take them out for good, and he needed all the help he could get.

“I’m sorry”, Yoongi said after a long silence.

“Sorry?”, Hoseok scoffed. “You know what? I’m sorry, too, for thinking you could be a friend.”

Yoongi could hear the hurt in Hoseok’s voice, he could feel his pain as if it was his own, and in a way, it was.

“I’m sorry”, Yoongi repeated. “I never meant for any of this to happen. I care for you, I really do. And I am sorry.”

“I don’t think I can forgive you”, Hoseok said after a moment of consideration. “I don’t know if you think you’re protecting me, but you’re the reason I’m in this mess, to begin with, and you’ll get me out of it.”

Yoongi simply nodded, choking back on his tears. Yoongi wasn’t used to feeling anything, but now he was feeling so many things all at once and he didn’t know how to deal with them. He was angry, hurt, sad, and confused. He wanted to cry and scream, but he didn’t. He kept driving without saying another word.

After an hour of complete silence, Hoseok finally spoke. He couldn’t bare the thought of not talking to Yoongi, even when he was mad at him. He was conflicted, the majority of him wanted to believe that Yoongi wasn’t dangerous, wanted to believe that he would protect him and get him out of this mess, but the rational part of him knew that forgiving Yoongi seemed to be impossible, at least for now. 

Hoseok had his fair share of violence in the past, his family wasn’t as perfect as he made it out to be. They were involved in a lot of things that Hoseok was strictly against, and he got away from them the first moment he could.

“You still didn’t tell me where we’re going”,  he couldn’t bring himself to look at Yoongi, but he still needed to know.

“To a safe house”, Yoongi said after a moment of consideration, and part of Hoseok was relieved that he responded. “There’s only one person I trust, another agent that works for the organization. We made a pact to protect each other if we ever found ourselves in this situation.”

Hoseok didn’t reply, he still felt sick from being drugged, and he felt even sicker from the situation they were in.

“His name is Kim Seokjin”, Yoongi said, obviously wanting to keep the conversation going. He longed to hear Hoseok’s voice, to easily talk to him, the way he was used to.

“I didn’t ask”, Hoseok snapped. He didn’t want to hear more. The more Yoongi spoke, the angrier he got.

“Hoseok, please-“, Yoongi tried, but Hoseok was fuming.

“Shut up!”, Hoseok interrupted. “I don’t want to hear your voice right now.”

“For what it’s worth”, Yoongi still responded against Hoseok’s wishes. “The Yoongi you know? That’s the real me, not… agent Min.”

“Pull over”, Hoseok ordered, and to his surprise, Yoongi did. They were parked by the side of the road, nothing but trees covered the lands adjacent to it. Hoseok got out of the car, and Yoongi immediately followed him this time, grabbing his wrist as soon as he caught up to him.

“Where do you think you’re going?”, Yoongi asked, his voice was low, but Hoseok could hear the anger in it loud and clear. Hoseok pushed him away, but Yoongi’s grip around his wrist tightened.

“Let me go”, Hoseok threatened, pushing Yoongi away once again.

“No”, Yoongi replied, and Hoseok managed to get out of his grip, and punched him in the face with all his might. This time, Yoongi did not hold back. He punched Hoseok’s middle, grabbed his shoulders, and pushed him back towards the car. Hoseok tried to charge at him, but Yoongi pressed him against the car, and Hoseok couldn’t move. He understood that Yoongi had the upper hand in this situation, he was very well trained and much stronger than Hoseok, but Hoseok had to try and fight. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he didn’t. They stayed there, pressed against the car for a moment before any of them spoke.

“What do you think you’re doing?”, Yoongi’s face was dangerously close to Hoseok’s. He could feel his breath on his face. He was shaking, but Yoongi was as still as a mountain. Hoseok gathered the last of his strength to do what he’s been wanting to do for over a month now, he grabbed Yoongi by the shirt and pulled him closer, kissing him as hard, as aggressively as he could. He didn’t understand why he kissed him. He was still angry, he, in no way, shape, or form, had forgiven Yoongi, but he kissed him anyway, and Yoongi kissed him back, letting go of his tight grip around his shoulders only to hold his face. If the situation was different, they might have enjoyed this kiss and cherished it for all times.

When Yoongi finally let go of Hoseok’s face, he rested his arms on either side of Hoseok on the car behind him, making sure that Hoseok didn't get away. They were both breathing heavily, and Hoseok’s grip on Yoongi’s shirt didn’t waver.

“Don’t leave”, Yoongi pleaded, his voice barely over a whisper. “Not yet... I need you.”

“I-“, Hoseok hesitated. “Fine. I just- I still can’t forgive you.”

“I understand. I just need to make sure you’re safe. I need to bring an end to all of it, for good. Then you can leave. You don’t need to forgive me, but all I ask for is trust. Please, trust me.”

Hoseok finally nodded, agreeing to trust Yoongi, and Yoongi was determined to not let him down. He kissed him again, this time softly, and Hoseok didn’t reciprocate, instead, he quietly got in his seat, waiting for Yoongi to drive away. 

They drove the rest of the way in silence, except for the slight taps on the steering wheel Yoongi did. He tapped three words in morse code over and over until they arrived, and if Hoseok understood, or noticed it at all, he didn’t show. ‘I love you' was what Yoongi tapped, and he meant it. He knew he couldn’t say it out loud, maybe ever again. He knew that Hoseok would never feel the same way, he knew he would never be forgiven. He wanted to convince himself that it wasn’t his fault, but he knew it was. He knew that just by interacting with Hoseok, just by making his acquaintance, he put him in danger, and he still did.

Agent Kim Seokjin greeted them at the door of their new hideout, which was a small wooden cabin not too far from a fresh-water lake. He had two fishing rods in his hands, smiling widely. He looked gentle, Yoongi could barely recognize him.

“You finally made it!”, Seokjin smiled a smile so bright it could light up the night sky. “Let's go inside.”

The cabin was smaller than Yoongi expected, but it didn’t matter. The smaller it was, the closer he was to Hoseok, the easier it was to keep an eye on him, to keep him safe. Hoseok was still quiet, he didn’t even greet Seokjin, or introduce himself, which was very out of character for him. Yoongi could understand that he wanted nothing to do with Yoongi or the people who worked with him. He silently made his way to the singular sofa in what appeared to be a living space and stared at his phone. Yoongi didn’t bother him, instead, he took Seokjin aside and explained their situation to him.

“I always hated Jaehyung”, Seokjin stated once Yoongi was done. “I knew that bastard would jump at any chance he got to fuck you over.” Yoongi raised his eyebrows, but Seokjin continued. “Either way, I found it odd that he didn’t… hurt Hoseok. That’s not how the organization usually operates. They usually eliminate the problem, but they must have their reasons. I’m gonna dig through it, you two go to get some rest, I did my best to prepare the bedroom.”

Yoongi thanked him and went to get Hoseok, who didn’t look at Yoongi, even after he’d called for him three times.

“Hoseok, you should go get some rest.”, Hoseok glared at him in response, but Yoongi was thankful to get a response out of him. He finally got up and followed Yoongi to the bedroom. It was a small bedroom with a queen-sized bed pushed against the two back walls, and a small dresser with drawers pressed against the third wall.

“Try to get some sleep”, Yoongi said after Hoseok laid down on the farthest side of the bed, his back facing the room. “Good night.”

He still stayed in the room with Hoseok, barely sitting on the edge of the bed, as to give Hoseok some space while still keeping an eye on him. He could hear the faint sobs that Hoseok was letting out, he could feel his body shaking on the bed, and all Yoongi wanted to do was take him in his arms, and comfort him, but he knew Hoseok wanted to be left alone. Eventually, he laid down next to Hoseok, slowly inching closer to him until he could finally take him in his arms. Of course, Hoseok tried to push him away, but Yoongi didn’t move. He needed this, Hoseok needed this.

“I’m sorry”, Yoongi said, he was crying now. “I know it won’t change anything, but I’m sorry.”

Hoseok’s sobs just got harder, his body shook more vigorously, and his gasps for air were louder.

“Can I do anything to make it better?”, Yoongi sobbed.

“Give me my life back”, Hoseok’s voice was low and raspy. “With you being my harmless neighbor, the regular at the cafe who ordered the same exact thing every day. Take all of this away.”

“I will”, Yoongi sobbed harder, and tightened his hold around Hoseok’s body. “I promise.”

They stayed like that the whole night, Yoongi holding Hoseok from behind, both crying until they couldn’t stay awake anymore. 

When Yoongi woke up the next morning, he was alone in bed. He immediately jumped out to search for Hoseok, anxious that the younger boy left when Yoongi was asleep. Luckily, he was just sitting on the sofa, sipping on a warm drink while scrolling through his phone. He noticed that Seokjin was nowhere to be seen.

“Seokjin went out to get food”, Hoseok said, not looking up from his phone, but Yoongi didn’t mind, Hoseok wasn’t ignoring him anymore, and that was the first step down the long road of forgiveness, or so Yoongi hoped.

“Did you sleep okay?”, Yoongi asked, a smile creeping its way to his lips against his wishes. Hoseok just shrugged. Yoongi didn’t fully comprehend his answer, but any answer was better than complete silence.

“I made coffee”, Hoseok said after a while, finally looking up at Yoongi, then towards the French press filled with warm coffee that was set on the kitchen table. Even though it wasn’t his usual iced Americano, a cup of coffee made by Hoseok was as close as he could get to his daily routine.

“I want to go home”, Hoseok said after Yoongi took a seat next to him.

“You can’t, it’s not-“, but Hoseok cut him off anyway.

“Not safe? I know. That’s why I’ll go home. To my parent’s home. It’ll be safe there”

“What if they find you? How can I protect you when you’re there?”, Yoongi sighed. The thought of Hoseok leaving was heavy on his heart. He couldn’t let him leave.

“I’ll be safe. You let me go and I’ll call it even. I’ll be out of your hair and you’ll be out of mine. That way you’ll focus on… whatever it is you’re planning to do, and I’ll be far away, where it’s actually safe”

Hoseok knew that if he went to his parent’s house he wouldn’t be safe, he’d still be surrounded by danger, but he’ll be protected from any physical harm from Yoongi's organization. He thought that if he stayed there for a while, he’ll be able to make a new plan, move to a different city, or a different country, far away from Yoongi and his organization. His heart ached at the thought, he wondered why it hurt so much. It was no secret that he cared for Yoongi, but could he have loved him? That had to be the case. Hoseok had denied it so many times, but when Yoongi admitted his feelings towards him was like the gears in his head finally turned and came to the realization that he loved him, too, but love wasn’t a strong enough reason for him to stay. He’d left that life behind him so long ago only for it to find him again.

“Where exactly is ‘home’?”, Yoongi finally asked.

“I won’t tell you”, Hoseok sighed. “It’s better to just part ways.”

“How will you go?” 

“I’ll fly there, it’s the fastest way.”

“Can I.. at least drive you to the airport? Make sure you’re safe”, Yoongi was on the verge of tears again. Hoseok wanted to protest, but Yoongi took his hand and squeezed it, pleading to allow him a final goodbye. Just then, Seokjin entered the cabin with another man, and the sight of him sent shivers down Hoseok’s spine.

“Kim... Namjoon?”, Hoseok couldn’t believe his eyes. What was Namjoon doing there, with these men?

“Jung Hoseok!”, Namjoon was just as shocked, he clearly didn’t expect to see his childhood friend there. They haven’t seen each other in so long, but Hoseok could recognize his friend anywhere. They grew up together, trained together, and spent most of their time in their hometown together. He didn’t think that Namjoon would follow in his father’s footsteps, but there he was, armed and ready to join the other agents' plan.

As the old friends were catching up, Seokjin took Yoongi aside to update him. “I called Namjoon after you came last night, he arrived this morning”, Seokjin explained.

Yoongi remembered seeing him around HQ, but never really talked to him, but if he was there, then he must be a good man.

“I did some digging on Hoseok”, Seokjin continued. “Do you remember the mission we went on a few years ago, where we were sent to Gwangju?”

Yoongi nodded, he recalled the first and only mission he’d gone so far from HQ before this one, they’d been sent there to protect a boss for two weeks. “What about it?”

“Hoseok is that boss’s son. That’s why they didn’t hurt him yesterday, they knew if they did, boss Jung would rain hell down on them. Still, an attempted kidnapping would do the job either way but-“

“What?”, Yoongi was shocked. He could understand why Hoseok freaked out about their situation, understood why he thought he’d be protected back home. “He wants to go home.”

“I get it, but it’s a long trip down there, it won’t be safe”, Seokjin said, confirming Yoongi’s suspicions.

“Yeah, it won’t be. But I can’t keep him here against his will, not for long.”

“You know…”, Seokjin hesitated. “It’s more dangerous to keep him with us. Even if we left him here alone, there’s no guarantee that he’ll be safe.”

Of course, Yoongi knew that. He hated listening to the voice of reason, but Seokjin had a valid point.

“I know that, but I can keep him safe here”, Yoongi insisted. “We can train him-“

“What’s it really about, Yoongi?”, Seokjin could see right through him. He wasn’t comfortable telling him what it was really about, but he didn’t know what else to say.

“I let him out of my sight once and he got hurt, I just can’t do that again”, Yoongi said, hiding the full truth but Seokjin knew better. Thankfully, he didn’t press Yoongi to say more.

“Well, let's hope Namjoon convinces him to stay.”

“How did you get into this mess?”, Namjoon asked, his voice had a hint of playfulness in it as if the thought of Hoseok being there was amusing to him.

“Long story short, Yoongi is a regular at the cafe I work at. Or… he was. He was also my neighbor, so naturally, we got close to each other”, Hoseok explained. “Yesterday this guy came to the cafe and apparently tried to, I don’t know, kidnap me? Then we went to a safe house and… we fought. I went out to drink and I got roofied, Yoongi found out, and now we’re here.”

Namjoon let out a laugh and that irritated Hoseok a little, he slapped Namjoon’s arm.

“Oh, little Hoseokie you should have been more careful. You’re not exactly naive.”

“Shut up. I’m older than you”, Hoseok joked for the first time in two days. Namjoon’s presence was comforting in an odd way, he was familiar, and Hoseok always felt safe around him. “Anyway, I was thinking of leaving today. I’m going back to Gwangju”, Hoseok continued.

“Are you sure? You left for a reason”, Namjoon stated, and he had a point.

“Yeah, but I still found myself in the same situation here”

“Sure, but I’m here now, I can protect you. And I worked with both Yoongi and Seokjin before, they’re very skilled, you know. We’ll keep you safe.”

“I know, but I think I’ll feel better once I’m home”, Hoseok sighed.

“Will you, though? Besides, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be safe on your way there”

“Can you stop making perfect sense, for once in your life?” 

Hoseok knew that he most likely wouldn’t be safe no matter what choice he made, but did he rather be completely unprotected until he arrived home, or be protected and stay with them? He couldn’t decide yet. He glanced over at Yoongi, who was talking to Seokjin, his expression was a mixture of sadness and worry. 

Hoseok wanted to look past everything, to blindly trust Namjoon and go along with their plans, he knew he could make it work. He knew he could muster up the courage and fight, the same way he’d fought most of his life before he moved away. He could be of great help, he knew his abilities, in fact, he never let himself get out of practice. He was constantly training, one way or another, whether it was at the gym, a gun range, or even paintball battles with Jungkook and Taehyung, he knew that no matter how far he ran he would eventually need his training. He admitted that he let his guard down around Yoongi, he was simply too interested in him to notice the little details about him that screamed ‘dangerous’. He wasn’t ready to forgive Yoongi, but he knew that one day he will.

“Fine”, He looked Namjoon in the eyes. “I’ll stay.”

They ate in silence, which wasn’t unusual for Yoongi since that was how things usually were back at HQ, but he hated it. He longed to hear Hoseok’s random stories, his beautiful laugh that once irritated him, he longed to see the twinkle in his eyes, but it was far gone.

“Have you thought of what we’re going to do about the organization?”, Namjoon asked once they were done eating.

“Here’s what we’re going to do”, Hoseok said, and Yoongi was glad to hear his voice. “We’re going to destroy them, burn their organization to the ground, kill every last boss, and leave.”

“Woah. Cool it, killer”, Namjoon smirked.

Yoongi couldn’t understand how was he joking at a time like this, but maybe it was good to have someone cheerful around. That was usually Hoseok, but the person sitting across from Yoongi only resembled Hoseok, he was calm, serious, and angry.

“I'm serious!”, Hoseok insisted. “They will stop at nothing to take me, they’ll hurt Yoongi and if they knew you were on his side, they’ll hurt you, too. The only way to stop them is to stop them, end them.”

“We’ll need help”, Yoongi said and all eyes except for Hoseok’s were on him. “We don’t have any.”

“But we do”, Seokjin said. “There are a few agents I trust besides Namjoon, and he’s got a few as well. But the most important thing is that you two won’t come along. If they see Yoongi anywhere near HQ who knows how they’ll react, and it’s too dangerous for a civilian to be around. You two should stay here, wait for our signal telling it’s safe.”

Yoongi knew Seokjin was right, if he went to HQ he’d instantly be killed. They don’t show mercy to those who mess up and Yoongi messed up more than once.

“Absolutely not”, Hoseok shook his head in protest. “I’m coming with.”

“This isn’t negotiable, Hoseok”, Namjoon disapproved. “You either stay here or both of you are going to Gwangju. Your choice.”

“Here”, Yoongi said, a little too quickly. He knew that if they went to Gwangju, Hoseok won’t stay with him, and he was determined to make things right with him. He couldn’t leave things the way they were. 

Hoseok shot him a glare, but he ignored it. “Fine, we’ll stay here.”

“Good”, Seokjin gave them a knowing smile. “We’ll need a few days to plan and gather everyone, so we’ll leave tonight to go to a bigger hideout and we’ll leave you two here, you’re not allowed to step a foot outside of this place, you hear me? And we’re taking your car, Yoongi. Just to make sure they aren’t tracking you.”

“We need clothes, food, water, we can’t just stay here-“, Hoseok began to say, but was interrupted by Namjoon.

“I’ll take care of that. Just make sure not to tell anyone where you are, and try not to go crazy”, He smirked. 

Yoongi could tell that Namjoon’s bond with Hoseok was strong, they were comfortable around each other enough to joke in a time as serious as this. They left shortly after to get Yoongi and Hoseok everything they needed, and they were left alone once again, with the silence that Yoongi dreaded a little too much. He didn’t know how to start a conversation in a situation like this, and if Hoseok had any intentions of talking, he didn’t show. 

Yoongi thought he should spend his time doing what he usually did when he was back at HQ, sharpening his knives. Not that they needed it, but the thought of sitting next to Hoseok and not doing anything, not even talking might actually drive him crazy. He thought about last night, how he slept holding Hoseok in his arms and how it was the most comfortable he had felt in his life, the most ‘at home’ he’d ever felt. He longed to feel at home. He tried to shake the memory out of his head before it ate him alive and went back to sharpening his knives, but he couldn’t. He was too consumed by it that he didn’t notice the blood running down his finger until Hoseok pressed a piece of gauze on it with enough pressure to shake Yoongi back to reality. All Yoongi could do was stare at him. He didn’t notice him get out of his seat, take the gauze out of a cabinet in the kitchen, or even sit on the ground next to him.

“It’s your turn to take care of me, you know”, Hoseok said, and even though his voice was cold, his expression had softened a lot.

“I will”, Yoongi said. “Can I ask for something?”

Hoseok studied his eyes for a moment before nodding.

“Can we… just be normal with each other?”, Yoongi couldn’t look Hoseok in the eye anymore, he knew he was asking for too much.

“Normal?”, Hoseok chuckled without a drop of amusement in his voice. “This isn’t normal enough for you?”

“We’re stuck here alone for who knows how long, ‘Seok. Can’t we just act normal to make things a little easier for us?”

“You’ve got some nerve, Min”, It was the first time Hoseok had called him by his last name. That was the furthest away from normal things had gotten.

“Look, I know you probably hate me, but can’t we just deal with that after we’re out of here?”

“I don’t hate you”, Hoseok’s voice was low, almost as if he didn’t want Yoongi to hear him.

“You don’t?”, Yoongi didn’t understand how Hoseok couldn’t hate him after everything that had happened.

“No”, A faint smile made its way to Hoseok’s lips, and Yoongi felt like he could properly breathe again. “Fine, we can be normal, for now.”

“You know, Seokjin and I worked for your father a couple of years ago”, Yoongi said after a while. They were still sitting on the floor, Hoseok was still pressing on Yoongi’s finger, even though the bleeding had stopped.

“That was around the time I started working at the cafe.”

“How did you start working there?”, Yoongi asked, eager to learn more about Hoseok’s past.

“You know how Taehyung and I went to college together, I came to visit him a little after graduation and he took me to the cafe and I liked it enough to move there.”

Their conversation lasted until Namjoon and Seokjin came back with everything they bought for them.

“I had to guess on the sizes”, Namjoon said as he handed each of them a bag filled with clothes and toiletries. “We also got some groceries, beer, water. Should last you about 3 days.”

“Thanks, Joon” Hoseok smiled at his friend.

“We also got some ammo, hopefully, you won’t need it”, Seokjin said as he handed Yoongi a small box filled with ammunition. He really hoped they wouldn’t need it, but he was positive that if it came to it, he would be able to handle it. He would be agent Min one last time. Agent Min that got his job done with great precision and record-breaking time, agent Min who never failed his missions, agent Min whose missions always came first.

“You know the drill, Yoongi”, Seokjin said when it was time for them to leave for their mission, their final mission. “No one in or out, be as quiet as you can, we’ll contact you once it’s all over, if three days pass without hearing from us, you leave to another safe location, and if anything, even the slightest thing happens you tell me.”

“Stay safe, Hyung”, Yoongi nodded to Seokjin, as Hoseok and Namjoon said their goodbyes. 

Hoseok wasn’t all the way back to normal yet, he was talking, but not laughing. That was fine, for now. Yoongi didn’t expect everything to be fine immediately, he knew it wouldn’t, but this was a start. He decided to prepare dinner for him and Hoseok, it was the least he could do, the first step to properly take care of him. They didn’t have much, but Yoongi figured out how to make a delicious meal out of it. Yoongi didn’t cook often, but he enjoyed it when he did.

“Thank you”, Hoseok said after Yoongi brought him his plate, not looking up from it.

“I’m just taking care of you”, Yoongi smiled even though Hoseok didn’t see it.

“Not bad”, Hoseok said after they were done eating, but he was quickly cut off by the sound of screeching tires not too far away. He and Yoongi shared a look and they both knew they’d been found. The organization wasn’t sparing any resources in their quest to find them, and he wasn’t sure if they’d come for him, or for Yoongi. It could be that they came for both.

“Go hide in-“, Yoongi started to say, but Hoseok cut him off.

“No, I can help. Now give me a gun and shut up. We don’t have much time”, Hoseok surprised himself when his instincts took over, and Yoongi must have been, too, because he silently gave Hoseok a gun and crouched by the door, while Hoseok hid behind the couch, both waiting patiently for someone to barge in. 

Soon enough, 4 men came through the cabin door. Surely, things turned to chaos immediately. Hoseok was glad he never let himself get out of practice, or he would have panicked again, or done something stupid, but he took his shot, taking the first man down. He didn’t wait to shoot the second, while Yoongi shot the third and had already tackled the fourth, about to shoot him right in the face when he screamed “WAIT!”

Yoongi’s facial expressions changed from absolute focus to concern, like he had come to a realization that he should have sooner.

“You have 5 seconds before I shoot”, Yoongi’s voice was as cold as ice. Hoseok went to stand beside him, pointing his gun at the fourth man’s head just as Yoongi did.

“Let me just pull out my phone and-“, the man tried to say, but Yoongi cut him off.

“Four.”

“Call Namjoon”, The man continued.

“Three”, Hoseok counted.

“Or, you call him. Tell him Park Jimin is here and if he trusts me, you’ll let me explain. If he doesn’t, you’ll shoot me”, The man, Park Jimin, explained.

Hoseok glanced at Yoongi, who simply shook his head. “Two”, He said after way longer than a second.

“I’m here to help, Yoongi”, Jimin insisted. “Take my phone out, it’s in my back pocket, and call Namjoon.” 

Hoseok knew that Yoongi wasn’t going to take the man’s phone out, or call Namjoon, so he reached for the back pocket where the phone was and dialed Namjoon’s number.

“Hello?”, Namjoon’s voice came through the speakers. “It’s Hoseok. There’s no time to explain anything, just tell me, can we trust Park Jimin?”

“Yeah, he’s actually supposed to meet us here. Is everything-“, Namjoon explained, but Hoseok cut him off.

“We’ll talk later”, Hoseok hung up and lowered his gun, but Yoongi didn’t follow his lead.

“Explain”, Yoongi said, he somehow still didn’t believe that Jimin was an ally. Even though he’d seen him with Namjoon around HQ before. He couldn’t take any chances at getting Hoseok’s safety jeopardized.

“Namjoon called this morning and told me to meet him but we were already on our way here, when I told him that, he didn’t say much, just to help you out”, Jimin explained.

“How do you plan on doing so?”, Yoongi asked, finally lowering his gun.

“I’ll do whatever you need”, Jimin reassured, but something about this didn’t sit right with Yoongi. He couldn’t trust him, yet. Jimin was on his way to kill Yoongi before Namjoon called him, how could he trust him just like that?

“I wasn’t going to hurt you, either way”, Jimin said as if reading Yoongi’s thoughts. “I was going to turn on the other agents and help you.”

Yoongi raised his eyebrow at him.

“I’m not an agent that simply turns on his comrades for money, my loyalty was never with the organization, but with my comrades, people I trust. And I trust Namjoon and Seokjin, so in turn, I trust you.”, He continued. “I could have hurt you as soon as you let your guard down, you know? I am capable of it.”

“Mhm, really convincing”, Yoongi joked, or, he thought he did. “Who are they sending next?”

“No one”,  Jimin grinned and Yoongi could tell he had a plan in mind. “We’re going to tell them that you’re dead. All we need is picture proof, maybe a tongue. They’ll believe that you put up a fight, killed the 3 other agents, then injured me and I killed you, they won’t care much for this guy after that, and they’ll leave him alone” he said, gesturing at Hoseok.

“You’re so good at coming up with shitty, last-minute plans”, Hoseok smirked jokingly, or flirtatiously, Yoongi couldn’t tell, he only knew that it got on his nerves.

“Let’s get creative!”, Jimin immediately went to work, taking pictures of the 3 deceased agents, cutting one of their tongues out. Hoseok went to the kitchen to make a blood-like slurry with whatever ingredients he could find. Soon, Yoongi was on the ground, covered in the blood slurry, pretending to be dead for a photo.

“Impressive”, Hoseok told Jimin after he took the pictures. “You really think they’ll leave us alone now?”

“They should”, Jimin’s smile irritated Yoongi for some reason. “They trust me, plus, I don’t think they’re willing to waste more of their resources and agents on taking this guy out.”

“Alright, time for you to leave”, Yoongi got up and patted Jimin on the back. “Get to where Namjoon is, and tell him what happened.”

“What about you guys?”

“I’ll take care of us. Bye, now”, Yoongi knew that he wasn’t the nicest to Jimin, he just wanted him out of here and as far away from Hoseok as possible.

“Alright then”, Jimin laughed as he walked out the door. “Stay safe.” But Yoongi just shut the door before he could say anything else.

“What’s wrong with you?”, Hoseok asked, his expression annoyed. “He was actually helpful.”

Yoongi rolled his eyes at him. “Anyways, we should-“

“Don’t ‘anyways’ me”, Hoseok scoffed. “Seriously he could have helped us get out of here.”

“We don’t need his help. What we need is to go somewhere safe, and I think we should go to Gwangju, to your parent’s house”, Yoongi brushed Hoseok’s comment off.

“So now you want to go to Gwangju?”, Hoseok crossed his arms. “Couldn’t we have gone before? You insisted on staying here.”

Yoongi couldn’t admit his reason behind deciding to stay here to Hoseok. “It doesn’t matter, what matters is getting to safety.”

“We’re safe here. You heard Jimin, they probably believe that you’re… dead, and won’t send any more agents after us.”

“I won’t take any risks based on mere possibilities, and I don’t trust Jimin.”

“Why don’t you trust him?”, Hoseok pressed.

“Why do you?”, Yoongi waited for Hoseok to respond, but he didn’t. “Go pack whatever’s left of our things and I’ll change into clean clothes. There’s a bus stop nearby, then we’ll go to the train station and head for Gwangju.”

Hoseok turned to go to the bedroom but stopped in his tracks. He couldn’t shake off the fact that no matter where they went, the organization found them. No matter how far, how remote their location was, they always found them.

“Hey, Yoongi?”, Hoseok called, his voice was low, and he couldn’t turn to face him, yet. “How do they keep finding us?”

Yoongi stayed quiet for a while, trying hard to understand how on earth they kept finding them. He thought they were tracking his car, but Seokjin did take the car and they still found them.

“They could be tracking our phones”, Yoongi said after a while. “But I did leave the phone they gave me in the cabin, and they shouldn’t know about my other one, or yours. But that has to be it.”

Hoseok didn’t know what to say. Shouldn’t Yoongi have thought about the possibility of their phones being tracked? He promised he’d protect Hoseok, why didn’t he take all measures to do so? Hoseok began to walk toward the bedroom, but Yoongi grabbed his arm and gently turned Hoseok to face him.

“Hey, we’re safe now. Okay?”, Yoongi reassured, but Hoseok could only look at Yoongi’s hand wrapped around his forearm. “It’ll all be over soon.”

Hoseok managed to nod, freed his arm from Yoongi’s grip, and went to pack. Yoongi came to change out of his dirty clothes, not bothering to go to the bathroom to undress. Hoseok couldn’t help but stare at his exposed body, covered in healed and fresh wounds. He wondered how long Yoongi had been living the dangerous life he’d been living. Why he kept living it?

Yoongi must have noticed him staring because he let out a slight chuckle. “What?”

Hoseok blushed and looked away. “Nothing”

Yoongi still laughed and came to help Hoseok finish packing their things.

“The bus arrives soon, we should get going. Oh, and we should leave our phones here, we’ll come to get them once it’s all over. Seokjin will handle everything else, so don’t worry too much, okay?”

They finished packing and left for the bus station in silence, and made their way to the train station in silence. It wasn’t until the train finally took off that Hoseok spoke.

“Where will you stay once we’re home? What will you do?”

Yoongi thought for a moment. He thought they’d agreed to wait together until it was safe, but Hoseok seemed to have some doubts.

“I’ll stay with you, keep my promise”, He finally answered.

“And after that?”, Hoseok finally turned to look Yoongi in the eyes, their usual spark was still absent.

“I’ll keep my other promise”, Yoongi smiled, but his heart ached. “I’ll leave, keep my distance, make sure you never have to deal with that again.”

“What will you do after the organization is… um… closed?”, Hoseok was trying to choose his words carefully, so as to not be overheard by the strangers sitting near them.

“Will you tell me your plan if I tell you mine?”, Yoongi wanted to tell him, but maybe it was safer to not tell him. He couldn’t decide, even if the organization is destroyed, would he really be free? Hoseok simply shook his head.

“I’ll go back”, Yoongi said after a long silence, and Hoseok gave him a confused look. “To the cafe every morning for my coffee and pastry. Even if they were prepared by someone else, I don’t mind. I’ll try to find a job, who knows, I might end up being an accountant for real. I’ll try new things I’ve never done before, singing, dancing, writing, filming, painting, sports, I don’t know. I’ll pick up a hobby. I’ll finally get to experience a normal life, and I hope you’ll be able to do so as well.”

Hoseok’s smile finally reached his lips, and tears made their way to his eyes. “I hope so, too.”

It wasn’t a very long way to Gwangju, Yoongi spent it looking out the window, with Hoseok’s sleeping head resting on his shoulder. He wondered if this was the last time he’d travel with Hoseok. He thought about what he told him, if he’d ever actually go back to the cafe knowing Hoseok won’t be there. If he’d ever get a mundane job, how would he be able to work a 9 to 5 knowing what his past was? Would he lie on his resume? How would he even write a resume? He didn’t know how, and he had no real friends to ask except for Hoseok, and Hoseok couldn't help him anymore. He could ask for Seokjin’s help, but Seokjin was like him, he doubted he’d know.

The thought of leaving Hoseok’s life for good made his whole body ache, he didn’t want to, even though he promised to leave. He still wanted to keep Hoseok safe, even after it was all over. He still needed Hoseok in his life. Yoongi knew that it was selfish of him, he knew that even if the organization was destroyed, there was no real guarantee that they’d be safe from them. Yoongi was shaken away from his thoughts when a sound coming from the speakers announced that they had reached their destination.

Hoseok didn’t speak again until they reached his parent’s house. It was a big complex, not different than any other complex he’d successfully completed a mission in. It was familiar, as Yoongi spent two weeks in it a few years back.

“We’ll greet my parents first, hopefully, they won’t recognize you”, Hoseok told him. “Then I’ll show you around and I’ll head straight to my room. You can stay in any of the guest rooms, just don’t wander around a lot.”

Yoongi simply shook his head but didn’t say anything, he didn’t want to argue with him now. Hoseok lead the way to the great room where his parents were sitting, they were kind and thankfully, didn’t recognize Yoongi when Hoseok introduced him as his ‘friend from work’. He told them that they were there on business and they wouldn’t stay long. Yoongi mostly stayed quiet, smiled, and thank them for their hospitality. He wasn’t sure how to act around other people’s parents, so he acted the way he would if he was talking to an employer. After all, he was talking to a former employer.  

They made their way to Hoseok’s room after being shown around the complex, and before Hoseok could say anything about where Yoongi would stay, Yoongi went inside and shut the door behind them.

“I’m staying here”, Yoongi stated. “That’s final. You’re not getting out of my sight until it’s all over.”

“Yoongi, what the hell?”, Hoseok was clearly annoyed, but Yoongi didn’t care. “We’re safe here, I don’t need you to babysit me.”

“I’m protecting you, not babysitting”, Yoongi waved him off.

“I don’t need your protection. Besides, I can’t keep pretending that I’m not mad at you. I need space.”

“You’ll get your space soon enough. You’re going to have to deal with it until we’re in the clear.”

“Deal with it?”, Hoseok stood closer to Yoongi, his face slowly turning red with rage. “You’re seriously telling me to deal with it?”, He shoved Yoongi back.

“Yeah. Fucking deal with it”, Yoongi snapped, but Hoseok shoved him once again. “There’s no need to make a fuss, Hoseok. We’re not alone.”

Hoseok didn’t care that they weren’t alone, he punch Yoongi in the face, and Yoongi immediately charged him. He punched the younger man’s middle, then his face, but Hoseok didn’t back down. Yoongi noticed a shift in Hoseok’s energy, he was stronger, faster, and he didn’t hold back. Yoongi didn’t want to hurt him any more than he already had. He finally managed to pin Hoseok to the ground.

“Stop it”, Yoongi threatened, but Hoseok didn’t budge. He tried to push Yoongi away, to kick at him, do anything to get out of Yoongi’s tight grip but it didn’t work, Yoongi’s grip only got tighter. “I said stop it.”

“Leave me the fuck alone”, Hoseok threatened back.

“Don’t make me punch you, again”, Yoongi held his position until Hoseok calmed down, but when he pulled away, Hoseok tripped him over and managed to get on top, pinning Yoongi to the ground for a change. He punched Yoongi’s face with all his might, and punched him again, and again until blood was coming out of Yoongi’s mouth, and his eye was bruised and tripled in size. He left Yoongi on the verge of consciousness lying on the floor and went out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Yoongi woke up to a cold feeling on his face. He was still lying on the ground, his mouth tasted like iron, and there was an ice pack dripping cold water sitting on top of his bruised eye. He gathered whatever was left of his strength to get up and go wash up, not paying any attention to Hoseok, who was sitting on the bed reading a book. 

Yoongi was in a lot of pain, he could barely feel his face, but his anger was like nothing he’d ever felt before. He couldn’t understand why Hoseok attacked him all of a sudden. He couldn’t understand how Hoseok could act like everything was fine and then switch in a matter of seconds. He tried to wash his anger away, but all he managed to do was to get the dried blood out of his face. Part of him was impressed that Hoseok was strong enough to bash his face in, but the majority of him wanted to strangle the little shit until he passed out. Maybe that part belonged to agent Min, not Yoongi. 

He got out of the bathroom after what seemed like an eternity and finally got a good look at Hoseok’s room. It looked nothing like his apartment back home, it didn’t feel like Hoseok. It was big, with a king-sized bed placed in the middle of the back wall, a desk on one side with a bookshelf next to it, and a sofa on the other end of the room facing a flat-screen TV. That was it, no decorations, no posters hung on the walls, no plants, nothing. It was as if Hoseok was hiding his true identity from his family through this plain room, or maybe he had taken everything away when he’d moved. Either way, Yoongi didn’t feel comfortable in it. He decided to lie down on the sofa, wait for his anger and pain to subside.

*****

The funny thing about working in an organization like the one he worked in was that every agent had one trusted agent. An agent they could count on if their lives were in danger, or if they were on a suicide mission to destroy said organization like Seokjin was. With Namjoon’s help, they managed to gather twelve other agents that would help them end it all, including Jimin, who told them what had happened to Yoongi and Hoseok. Seokjin was furious that he had to hear about it from Jimin instead of Yoongi, but he understood that in order for Jimin’s plan to work, for their bosses to believe that Yoongi was gone for good, they couldn’t risk contact.

“We’ll make our move tomorrow”, Seokjin told the thirteen other agents as they concluded their meeting. “We’ll start our day as normal, evacuate the innocent, then proceed with our plan. Any questions?”

“How can we be sure that our plan will work?”, Agent Ahn asked. He was one of the agents Namjoon trusted.

“It has to”, Seokjin replied. “It needs to. We can’t be doing people’s dirty work anymore. We’ve hurt, killed, stolen, and destroyed enough. It isn’t up to us, or to the organization, to decide who gets to live and who doesn’t, who’s innocent and who isn’t. It’s time for us to right our wrongs.”

“Let’s get some rest, we have a long day ahead of us”, Namjoon said. All agents eventually went to their own place, only Jimin stayed with Seokjin and Namjoon. They went over their plans one more time to calm Namjoon’s nerves down and when they finally did, he went to sleep, leaving Jimin and Seokjin alone.

“Did they get back to you when you reported success on your mission?”, Seokjin asked Jimin. “The mission of fake killing Yoongi?”

“I got the usual ‘okay’”, Jimin sighed. “I think we’re in the clear. Besides, Yoongi and the other guy are long gone now, they said they were leaving. They’ll be fine, they can handle themselves.”

“Yeah, Yoongi’s tough”, Seokjin agreed. “I guess I’m a little worried about Hoseok.”

“You shouldn’t be. He took down two agents completely on his own”, Jimin told him, and Seokjin couldn’t fully believe him. The Hoseok he met was very emotional, seemingly unstable, and reckless. Seokjin couldn’t fully process the thought of a calm and collected Hoseok taking down a highly trained agent, let alone two.

The morning came after a long night of anxious waiting. It surely wasn’t any of these men’s first mission, but it was definitely their biggest and last. Seokjin and Namjoon went in together, the others went in either in a group of two or alone, going about their normal morning routine, not making contact with any of the higher-ups. 

They knew their part, they made their way to the janitor’s closet. They had exactly fifteen minutes to evacuate all innocent workers before this whole place blew up, but that wasn’t really Seokjin and Namjoon’s job, they only had to evacuate the innocent janitors, change into their uniforms and get to their mission.

They parted ways, both dressed in janitor’s uniforms, with caps and masks to hide their facial features. Seokjin pushed his cleaning cart that was hiding a bunch of remote detonator bombs. He pushed his cart into the first boss’s office and pretended to take out the trash while he stashed a bomb in the nearly empty can. The boss didn’t pay any attention to Seokjin while he was in his office, just as he suspected. He had five more offices to get to, and he knew the others were doing their parts as well, he’d seen a few of them on his route and it put his mind at ease. He wasn’t acquainted with all of the agents on his side, so he’d had his doubts, but he needed to push these thoughts away, he needed to focus on his mission.

Only two minutes were left and he had one more office to get to before he had to leave the building. Only one more office, and he noticed other agents running towards the exit. He hurried to the last office, where the boss who was supposed to be sitting at his desk buried in paperwork was already standing up, ready to leave. Seokjin couldn’t let that happen, he needed to act quickly. He reached for the gun hidden under his clothes and quickly aimed at the boss, before he could make a sound, the boss was on the ground. Seokjin was thankful for the silencer he’d attached to his gun earlier, but the shot still made noise.

He spoke into the radio transmitter hoping any of the agents would pick up. “What’s going on?”

“Get out of there right now!”, A voice responded, and Seokjin didn’t need to be told twice.

It was as if the whole world had turned to chaos. Explosions, heat, and panic, but Seokjin didn’t look back, he ran as fast as he could. He was almost out of the gate when he noticed someone out of the corner of his eye. For a second, he contemplated leaving. What if that was one of the bad guys? But what if it was one of his colleagues that he needed to protect? He decided to give it one look, and his heart dropped to his knees. It was Jimin, stuck under the fallen concrete. Seokjin rushed to him, they had a few seconds before they burned with the rest of the building. He reached Jimin and started pulling the concrete away, screaming at Jimin to push.

He finally managed to pull Jimin free, but his leg was definitely broken. Seokjin didn’t have time to dwell on that, he carried as much of Jimin as he could, and started running, adrenaline powering his body. They miraculously made it out of the building, but that wasn’t enough. They needed to get further and further away, but he couldn’t go far on adrenaline alone. He still pushed himself to run faster. Suddenly, Jimin got lighter and Seokjin could move faster. He looked towards Jimin and found Namjoon carrying him with Seokjin. He should have been relieved, but he was irritated.

“Namjoon what are you doing?”, He yelled but kept running.

“Helping you idiots get to safety!”, Namjoon yelled back.

They ran and ran until they were, finally, at a safe distance to collapse on the ground. Seokjin let out a laugh, he almost couldn’t believe it was all over, really over.

*****

Yoongi was still furious with Hoseok. His face still hurt worse than any wound he’d ever endured in the past, even after a long night's sleep, it hurt. It was Hoseok that hurt him, Hoseok who had always been there to take Yoongi’s pain away was now the main and only reason for Yoongi’s pain. He wanted to take every book out of Hoseok’s bookshelves and throw it at his face, he wanted to punch his beautiful face, rip out his soft hair, kiss his luscious lips, rip out his stupid clothes and fuck him so hard he couldn’t walk straight for days afterward.

Huh.

What were those feelings that Yoongi was feeling? He looked over at Hoseok, who was lying in bed, his back facing Yoongi. He couldn’t tell if Hoseok was asleep or awake, but why should he care? Hoseok made it very clear that he didn’t want anything to do with Yoongi anymore. He thought about their train ride here, how Hoseok seemed doubtful, and upset when Yoongi said he’d leave for good. He didn’t want to leave Hoseok, especially when things were bad between them. He knew he couldn’t stay, but he didn’t know how he’d fix it, there was nothing he could say that could get Hoseok to forgive him, or stop being mad at him. Maybe leaving could fix it, maybe time could heal Hoseok’s wounds, pave the way for him to forgive Yoongi.

He was shaken away from his thoughts by a knock on Hoseok’s door. “Mr. Jung?”, A young man, who Yoongi assumed was a butler, said. “There’s a call on the landline waiting for you.”

“Landline?”, Yoongi scoffed. “You still use that?”

Hoseok just glared at him and got up to get the phone, thanking the young man.

“Hello?”, He spoke into the phone. Yoongi noticed the change in Hoseok’s expression from relief to sadness.

“Are you guys okay?”, He asked after a few seconds of silence on his end. “Are you sure it's all over? Alright, take care.”

Hoseok hung up but didn’t tell Yoongi what the phone call was about, yet. He just stared at the phone in his hand.

“That was Namjoon”, Hoseok finally said. “It’s all over. We’re in the clear.”

Yoongi should have been relieved, but for some reason, he wasn’t. He felt sad, almost disappointed. His job of protecting Hoseok was officially over, and he felt useless. For the first time since he was a kid, he was without a purpose.

“Are they alright?”, Yoongi asked, trying hard to ignore his feelings. “Did anyone get hurt?”

“Jimin broke his leg, but other than that, only a few minor injuries”, Hoseok’s eyes had gotten watery, and Yoongi couldn’t understand why. “Anyway, uh, it’s safe for you to go.”

Yoongi didn’t say anything. He was scared to say the wrong thing or to rub Hoseok off the wrong way. He didn’t want his last memory of Hoseok to be a fight. He just gathered the few things Hoseok had packed for him before leaving Seokjin’s cabin and headed towards the door. He knew he could figure his way out of the complex on his own, and he was about to leave when Hoseok’s voice stopped him in his tracks.

“Hey, Yoongi?”, Hoseok called for him, and Yoongi could hear his voice shaking ever so slightly. Was it anger, sadness, or something completely different? Yoongi wasn’t sure.

“Yes, Hoseok?”, Yoongi managed a faint smile. No matter how angry he was with Hoseok, he didn’t want to show it.

“Take care of yourself”, Hoseok rubbed the back of his neck, returning Yoongi’s smile, but he looked embarrassed about it.

“You too”, Yoongi felt a single tear go down his face as he walked the long hallway that lead out of Hoseok’s room to the rest of the house.

Hoseok was devastated. He still couldn’t understand why he lashed out at Yoongi the previous night. He thought about all it night long. Technically, Yoongi never did anything wrong. Yoongi never put Hoseok in danger. Sure, he fucked up his mission, but how could he have known that the consequences of that would fall on Hoseok. Even so, Yoongi did everything in his power to protect Hoseok, he knew that. Even when Hoseok acted stupidly, even when he put himself in danger, Yoongi protected him. He apologized multiple times, and he did everything in his power to make it right, yet Hoseok was still furious, but why? Why was he so angry with Yoongi? Why did his heart sink when Yoongi told him he’d leave when this was all over? Why did he sob his eyes out when Yoongi left his room? Why didn’t he run after him? Why didn’t he apologize for being so horrible to him? Most importantly, why did he keep attacking Yoongi? He wished he knew the answers, but he was lost. He couldn’t make sense of any of it, he couldn’t even talk to his friends about it.

His friends.

Fuck.

Hoseok just left without an explanation to his friends, he left without an explanation to his boss and Haejoon at the cafe, he left his house, and all of his belongings and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to go back. He wasn’t sure what he’d do. He knew he wouldn’t last a week in his parent’s house without losing his mind. He knew he couldn’t stay with Namjoon without having to explain everything to him, not now at least. He could stay with his sister for a while, but not for long. He could travel around, meaninglessly spend hundreds of thousands of his parent’s money without worrying about a single thing, it wasn't like any of them cared.

He thought about what Yoongi told him when they were on their way here. ‘I’ll try new things I’ve never done before, singing, dancing, writing, filming, painting, sports, I don’t know. I’ll pick up a hobby.’ Yoongi had told him. Maybe Hoseok should do the same, find a new hobby. Yeah, he would find a new hobby, he just needed a place to stay at.

Taehyung. He could stay with Taehyung until he figured out what he’d do with his life. Taehyung lived far enough from Hoseok’s apartment that he was sure he wouldn’t accidentally run into Yoongi, while simultaneously keeping an eye on him. Why did he need to keep an eye on Yoongi, anyway? Did Hoseok want to make sure he was okay? Did he want to know if Yoongi kept his promise? It was no secret that he cared for Yoongi, he might have even loved him, but he wasn’t sure what to do with these feelings. Maybe, one day, he would figure them out, but not today.

 *****

Several months had passed and Yoongi kept his promise. He went back to the cafe where Hoseok used to work, every morning for his iced Americano and fresh pastry. He got a job, well, an internship for an accountant’s position at a big company near his apartment. He would often reminisce about the times he had lied about being an accountant before. He tried dancing, singing, writing, and painting, and surprisingly, picked up painting as a hobby. He enjoyed it, it brought order into his messy life. Even though he was almost never in danger anymore, his life was still messy. He didn't feel like himself, the order, the routine he was so used to was nowhere to be found in his life anymore. 

Sure, the organization was destroyed, but traces of it would always be around Yoongi. For starters, he still went back to living in the apartment they had rented out for him. It was a good apartment, paid off for the whole year, and Yoongi needed a place to stay. But even if he moved, the organization was still within him. He’d been part of it for as long as he could remember, his only friends, Seokjin, Namjoon, and oddly enough, Jimin, were part of the organization. Everything he’d ever known was taught to him by the organization. He needed to make peace with the fact that it would always be a part of him, even if it was completely gone.

The one thing that hadn't changed, that would never change, no matter how much time passed, was that he always thought about Hoseok. He still worried about him, even though he was safe. He’d asked Namjoon about him multiple times over the months, and his response was always the same.

“He’s fine. Yeah, he’s doing okay”, That was all Namjoon ever said about his childhood friend. 

Yoongi never pressed for more, he knew that Hoseok probably threatened Namjoon to not say anything about him, but as long as he was okay, Yoongi was okay. He even ran into Hoseok’s friends, Taehyung and Jungkook, at the cafe one morning. They greeted him and were pleasant, just as they always have been, but Yoongi picked up on the uneasiness of their interaction. He didn’t ask them about Hoseok, though. He thought that would be crossing a line, or maybe they hadn’t heard from him since that day, and asking them would just make them worry.

He missed Hoseok, though. He missed him so much, his heart hadn’t stopped hurting since the day he left him. He still loved him, even after everything, even after not seeing him for months and not hearing his laugh in even longer, he still loved him. But what would his love for Hoseok do? He didn’t know, all he knew was that years could pass and his love for Hoseok wouldn’t wither.

More months had passed, and it started to rain often, but Yoongi didn’t mind. He liked the rain, it gave him a sense of relaxation and peace, peace he didn’t feel often, not anymore. He still made his trips to the cafe, it was the one thing he was determined to do every day, no matter the circumstances, no matter the weather conditions. He made his trip down to the cafe, an umbrella in one hand, the other hiding in his coat’s pocket. It was cold outside, but that wouldn’t stop him from getting an iced Americano, no matter how many times the baristas told him it was too cold for an iced drink.

He made it to the front of the cafe’s glass doors and froze in shock. He stared at the man standing in front of the register, ordering. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Should he go inside, or just walk away? He couldn’t move, he couldn’t decide, he couldn’t think. Not too long after, the cafe’s door opened, and a man took Yoongi’s hand in his, gently pulling him inside the otherwise empty cafe.

“I got your order, an iced Americano, and a pastry”, Hoseok smiled at him.

Hoseok.

Hoseok was here, in front of Yoongi. He was really here. Yoongi started shaking, he dropped his wet umbrella on the floor and kissed Hoseok, taking his face in his hands. He was surprised to feel Hoseok kiss him back, his fingers ran through Yoongi’s hair.

“It’s really you”, Yoongi whispered, pulling away from their kiss only to hug Hoseok tightly. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

“It’s been a really long year”, Hoseok laughed. The same laugh Yoongi longed to hear, the laugh that sucked his soul out of his body and breathed it back inside. “Let’s catch up, yeah?”