Stealth and Smoke pt 2
Genre: || Romance || Action || Humor || Drama ||
Word count: 5395
Warnings: Violence and swearing
Summary: The SVT gangs reign as the most notorious gang spanning across all of Korea wasn’t for nothing. But no one really knew the mastermind behind the gang, except for those within it. As a new gang member, your job was to hold a gun, fire when necessary, and keep your mouth shut. This operation was different, placing you as 1 of 4 main members in a rather risky heist that couldn’t just land you in big trouble…it could land you 6 feet under.
A/N: I remember reading a post about how people hate having to scroll through really lengthy stories on their dash so, i am adding vvvv so others won’t have to scroll through the whole story. Also, feel free to comment if there are any mistakes or if something is off. Enjoy!
The sound of your alarm rang throughout your room, earning a monstrous groan from you as you turned onto your back and grabbed your phone, shutting off the alarm instantly.
You hesitated to open your eyes, finding it too tiring to even do that much.
But, you said you’d get coffee with Jihoon...and you’ve got a mission at noon.
You sighed heavily as you pushed yourself up from your bed, your eyes still not open, you run a hand through your messy bed head and snicker to yourself.
You were a complete mess, but you were a cute mess.
You pulled your blanket off your legs and shivered at the chill of the early morning. You could see the dusty blue light of the early morning shining through your curtains, making you smile at the aesthetically pleasing visual. Of course, the sun was only just poking its head out.
You finally pulled your legs over your bedside edge and hopped up, stretching your arms over your head as you made your way to your bathroom.
A quick shower before going to see Jihoon.
As your morning routine went on, the Sun's rays slowly intensified until they were completely bright. By the time you finished, it was very quickly turning to 9 am. You neatly fixed your hair and smiled, finally you grabbed your gun holster and gun, hiding it under your shirt. You grabbed your casual Brown backpack and packed only your essentials. You know, your phone, headphones, a hat, your wallet, two knives and 6 vials of poison....for protection.
You closed the door behind you, locking it before activating a small camera you had installed at the entrance of your door. With that, you went out on your way. You pulled your cell phone and headphones out of your bag quickly before taking the case of it off, showing a small piece of paper.
Jihoon’s number.
You held the paper carefully, almost as if you feared you might lose or tear it. You looked down at your phone and then at the piece of paper again.
You turned your phone on and pulled up the keypad, eyeing it carefully before dialing the number. As you approached the end of the 8 digit sequence, you could feel a bead of sweat roll down the side of your head. Why were you nervous? You didn't have to be nervous. It was just….coffee….like friends. Or something.
No, you had to be professional about this. You didn't need to be getting in trouble for strolling into Jihoon’s life.
With a firm nod, you put the paper into your pocket and continued to walk, pressing call as you did so.
“Hello?”
“Jiho- Ah, Woozi. It’s (Y/N). Um...I just, hah.” You felt confident when you pressed call, what was choking you up?
“(Y/N)...Hey.” The roughness of his voice and the soft whisper behind it put you off. Had he just woken up?
“Oh. Sorry, sir, did I wake you? I didn't mean to-”
“No, thanks. I suppose my alarm clock didn't wake me up. Is it 9 yet?” He asked casually, a shuffle behind his phone made it seem as if he was just shuffling out of bed.
You blinked in confusion and honestly tried a little to not chuckle. You looked back down on your phone and checked the time. 8:54 am.
“Well sir, You’ve got six minutes till it'll be 9.” You replied simply, hopping down a few flights of stairs as you did so.
“Okay, I'll go pick you up.” He replied, earning a scoff from you.
“Sir, you've for six minutes. If you got ready that quickly, I'd be concerned about your forms of hygiene.” It wasn't until your comment left your mouth that you finally processed what you had said.
“...Are you saying I'm Dirty?” Jihoon asked calmly, his voice rising in pitch now that he was properly waking up.
“...NO. I-I’m saying that, if you got ready to go on a date so quickly, I would be seriously wondering what sort of magi-”
“Date?” He stopped you, almost making you stop in your tracks. Thank goodness you hadn't, or else that would have been a long fall down the stairs.
“Date? Did I say that? I don't think I said that you must have misheard me or something.” You covered up quickly, earning a light chuckle from the male across the phone.
“Sure. Okay. Well, fine, I'll see you in fifteen minutes for our not-Date. Bye (Y/N).” He replied, his amusement almost hidden, but you caught just enough to have you smiling. With that, his line cut.
You looked down at your phone and smiled, staring at the number that now resided in your phone. Jihoon’s number. Oooooh. You didn't know if you were starstruck or nervous as hell but, seeing his number there only had you in smiles.
Finally putting your phone away, and allowing the previous conversation to sink into your psyche you ran your hands through your hair as your face began to heat up.
“I totally did not just call our outing a fucking DATE!” You exclaimed at no one but, it very clearly echoed throughout the stairway. You sighed, trying your best to just let it go. Jihoon isn’t the kind to rub that sort of stuff back in your face, like Soonyoung.
But still, Maybe...Just maybe...This could be a friendship. A REAL one. Well...You shouldn't get your hopes up, after all...He is the Captain of the Stealth unit. A cold-hearted killer.
Jihoon took a little under fifteen minutes to find you. You lived rather far from the base so, just the thought of him finding you in so little time had you wondering if he lived close to you. Or had just tracked you.
When he pulled up, you didn't recognize the car one bit. It wasn't the black car he had had last night. Instead, it was replaced with a beige and brown convertible with its top pulled back. Inside, Jihoon sat with a pair of glasses and in casual clothing. You took in what you were looking at and laughed audibly, shaking your head.
“Good morning, (Y/N).” Jihoon called, nodding his head as a greeting.
You smiled and walked over to the car, looking at it back and forth. “Good Morning, Sir.” You replied before pointing to the car. “Is this really yours?” You asked, almost playfully.
Jihoon pushed his glasses up and smirked, “What, do you like it?” He asked. It was almost like one of those scenes in a greaser movie.
The cool guy pulls up in his nice car, looking hot as heck.
Except, Jihoon just looked like a guy who worked in a shop down the street in his attire.
You snickered and pulled the car handle and hopped in beside him, placing your bag between your legs before closing the door and fixing your seat belt.
You looked at him with a friendly smile, “So, Captain, where are we drinking?” You asked casually before he turned back to the wheel and drove out. “First off, don't call me Captain. I don't run a ship.” He replied casually, earning a nod and an airy laugh from you.
“Okay, Noted.”
“Secondly, We're going to a local coffee shop. An old friend of mine has his cousin running it, so I know it. Unless you have some other place in mind?” He asked, glancing at you momentarily. You shook your head and looked to your other side, taking in the sights and shops of your neighborhood.
“(Y/n)?” He called, turning your attention back to him. “Yes?”
Jihoon slowed his car at a red light before looking at you, eyeing you up and down. “Where are your weapons?” He asked openly, making you subtly panic.
“U-Uh...Sir...we are in pub-”
“Jihoon. Just call me Jihoon. I don't know why you feel like it's suddenly important to call me by an honorific.” He cut you off. Okay, that cutting off thing was starting to get on your nerves.
“J-Jihoon. We are in public. Should we really be discussing that so...openly?” You asked, gritting your teeth almost.
Jihoon sighed and turned his attention back forward, “...Okay. Well, What sort of small talk do you suggest?”
“That was your attempt at ‘small talk’?” You replied, shaking your head in disbelief.
“Well, what do you suggest we talk about then?” He replied.
“Well, Normal people usually ask...How did you sleep? Or, How is your family? You know, basic simple things.”
Jihoon raised a brow and looked at you, almost as confused as you were with him. “...Okay….Well, How did you sleep?” He asked hesitantly. You smiled a little, you didn't really expect him to ask. “I slept fine. I had a weird dream, but that's about it. How about you?” You continued, but Jihoon wasn't about to let you speed past what you had just said.
“Weird dream? What happened?” He asked, just as he was pulling into a small shopping mall. You didn't know if you should tell him what really happened since your dream wasn't weird. It was...awful.
Jihoon pushed a button allowing the cover to come over the top as well as pulling up the windows. He turned the car off and looked at you as he pulled out the key. You had stayed silent to his question.
“..(Y/N)?” He pestered you once again.
You grabbed your bag and slipped it over your shoulders before scoffing.
“I'll tell you when I've had my morning boost of energy.”
Jihoon shrugged and pushed out of his car, fixing his outfit.
When you walked over to his side, you took in his outfit.
A casual white t-shirt and a pair of jeans with a black belt tucking in his shirt. Along with his glasses, he looked like a casual College or High School student. Well, compared to you at least.
For the first time, you were seeing your scary superior as a more vulnerable human. In fact, his small frame was startling. After all, this man could take out a whole squad of men by himself but he could barely reach your shoulders.
You hadn't even noticed how spaced out you were until Jihoon waved his hand In front of your face. You blinked suddenly and shook your head, returning to reality.
Jihoon stood in front of you, hands on his hips, with a small smirk. “What is going through your head, (Y/N)?” He asked, almost like a rhetorical question, not actually expecting a response.
You grinned playfully before walking ahead of him into the nearby shop, taking in the air conditioning and the soft smell of coffee beans. The people at the front cheerfully greeted you before asking who would be with you.
A waitress showed you two to your table, leaving a small menu of the coffees’, cold drinks, and teas they served. Honestly, the shop was much nicer than any other coffee or tea shop you had been to. You looked down at the menu, settling for a simple Mocha Latte while Jihoon set his mind on the peppermint hot chocolate with cream.
As your orders were sent in, Jihoon turned his attention back to you.
“So….You were talking about some dream…?”
You pulled your bag off and scoffed, hoping he would have forgotten but...eh, guess not.
“Heh, well. It wasn't very interesting. It was just about some past places I've been to. Some places are new or like...forgotten?”
Jihoon leaned back into his chair, staring at you intently before crossing his arms. “I’m listening.” You bit your lip as you tried not to show just how irritated you were. Did you REALLY have to tell him?
You scoffed and nodded, glancing down at your hands before looking back at Jihoon. “I dreamed about my older brother. He and I had a special friendship and...” You found yourself pausing.
“And?” Jihoon repeated for you, causing you to shake your head. “I had a dream about him and me in our old home. That’s all.” You finally said, leaning back into your own chair.
Jihoon finally shifted, pushing himself from his chair so he could lean on the table, his palms acting like his shelf to rest his head as he spoke, “Now, don’t go telling other people.”
You looked at him with shock, a question mark rising in your head as he continued to speak. “You’re an easy target.” He said, shaking his head. Your eyes widened a little in realization. You had told him about your brother. He may not know him but, now he k n o w s you have a brother.
“Why?” Jihoon asked, continuing his conversation. You already knew what the answer was. “Because...Now you know I have a family. It makes them and me easy targets.” Jihoon smirked and nodded. “Correct. Honestly,” he continued just as your drinks were arriving. The waitress placed the drinks down and Jihoon thanked her before she once again left.
Jihoon waited for her to be a safe distance away from you two before he continued. “I always thought you didn’t have anyone.” He said before working on sipping away at his hot chocolate, careful to not get any cream on his nose.
You fixed your eyes on the cup of coffee in front of you, feeling a little on edge. “Are you always so delightful?” You asked sarcastically, finally picking up your own drink to sip.
“Only when I’m on the job,” Jihoon replied nonchalantly. You scoffed loudly, “We have two hours before we have to be on the job. Why are you testing me on a da-” You cut yourself off from your statement.
Jihoon placed his drink down and crossed his arms again, raising a brow. “Do you want this to be a date?”
You felt yourself freeze for a moment.
This scenario is a bit like a date when you really thought about it. “The...basic principles of a date are here but-”
“So why not call it a date?” Jihoon added, cutting you off for the umpteenth time. You looked around nervously and chuckled, “Sir, I don’t think that’s quite appropriate. You’re my superior and-”
“But we’re not on the clock, remember?” Jihoon replied, a smile growing on his lips. You chuckled, raising a brow at him, “Are you trying to date me?” You asked jokingly. Jihoon’s response is what really caught you off guard.
“Would it be a crime if I said I do?”
Your silence was definitely the last thing that Jihoon expected.
You looked down into your coffee cup and a million thoughts ran through your head, last night’s mission, how today’s might be, the past and the future all jumbled up in your head and you found yourself feeling only one thing, shock.
Jihoon sighed loudly and leaned back into his chair, crossing his legs before looking away from the table. “Listen, it’s not a life or death question.” Jihoon finally said, clearly sounding a little bothered.
“You can say yes or no, it won’t hurt you or me.” He concluded, picking up his cup of hot chocolate and sipping it again.
You gripped your cup a little less now, still not looking up at him. “I….”
Jihoon groaned, rolling his eyes at your reaction. He leaned onto the table so that he was only a few inches away from your face. He carefully slipped your cup out of your hand and placed it aside. He folded his hands in front of him and he looked directly at you.
“Look at me.” He said firmly, finally causing you to look at him, meeting his dark eyes. You breathed out a stifled breath you didn’t know you held and for a long moment, you felt your shock fade away, “I’m not going to hurt you. I won’t hate you. And I definitely won’t put you out of a job.” Jihoon explained flatly, your attention still on him. “All I’m asking is that you take me up on a proper date. One where we won’t have to look over our shoulder.” His voice lowered a little along with his gaze.
You gulped down hard as you nodded, listening to him carefully. You didn’t HAVE to say yes. You could totally leave him with a no. But...something in your head told you you should. He had risked his life to protect you and he arranged a coffee meeting which was way more than any other guy had done for you, even Soonyoung had never properly asked you out.
“Hah...alright, fine. I accept.” You replied, finally breaking your shocked cocoon and instead smiling at him.
Jihoon’s own expression changed, giving you a very soft smile. Something so warm, your coffee probably felt cold compared to it. “Great. Hah, G-Great, yeah.” He replied, stuttering over his words.
The atmosphere went awkward very quickly as he sat back, nodding at your response. It looked as if he was trying to process that you had actually said yes.
As the atmosphere grew even more uncomfortable, you found it almost second nature to take out your phone and check the time.
It had only been about 20 minutes in total. Incredible, truly.
You put down your phone and looked over at Jihoon, his eyes now catching yours. “What?” You asked.
“Nothing, Nothing. Just trying to think of some conversation topics but, I’m….not very good at the whole…’ small talk’, thing.” He replied before going in for his drink.
You snickered softly, “Ah, well, that makes two. But, here, I’ll start. So, are you excited about work later?”
Jihoon scoffed at the question, shaking his head, “Excited for what? To watch ugly men unnecessarily assert their masculinity over trivial things? Hell no.”
Not expecting that answer, you couldn’t help but throw your head back in laughter. Who could have thought Jihoon was actually quite funny.
“Oh man, that had me floored.” You replied between short chuckles. “Ah, I didn't think it was that funny but, I guess,” Jihoon replied before sipping his drink again. You settled yourself, also sipping your drink before you each looked back at each other. Although you both had eye contact, it wasn’t quite as uncomfortable.
“So….what, are you excited about the job?” He asked, leaning back into his seat again and crossing his arms over his chest.
“Me? I mean, it’s not the whole team for this job. Whenever we don’t have everyone, I do get a bit...um, I don’t know if ‘excited’ is the right word I’d use to describe how I feel about it.”
“Apprehensive? Anxious? Bloodthirsty?”
The last one had another chuckle come from you, along with a smile from Jihoon.
“Ah, I don’t know about that last one, but yeah, Anxious and Apprehensive can sum it up well.” You replied. Jihoon shook his head again, “You’ve got no reason to be. If you feel so nervous, maybe we should ask Seungcheol if he’ll take you out.” He replied, but you were quick to speak.
“Um, no? Why would we do that? It’s not like I’m going to chicken out at the last minute, that’d be ridiculous!”
Jihoon raised a brow, “If you’re nervous, you’ll react like you did last night.”
Suddenly, you felt your whole stomach in your chest, or maybe, the other way around? Either way, it was like just saying that had completely guilted you into feeling sick.
“Ah...Last night…”
“I’m not saying it will happen every time but, we couldn’t risk losing someone like you from the team. If anything, staying behind might be best for you. You clearly don’t trust the team enough to still be scared after all this time.” He replied, almost as if spitting facts.
You looked down into your drink, staring back at yourself as if expecting something.
You furrowed your brows as you continued to look down.
‘No, that’s not it.’ You thought before looking up at Jihoon.
“My anxiety won’t get in the way again. I’ve seen too much to still be affected by it.” You replied firmly, but Jihoon only sighed.
“Well, regardless, you shouldn’t be so nervous over today’s job. We’re only delivering, we’re not risking too much here.” He replied simply before leaning forward onto the table, placing a hand on your shoulder.
“Trust me and trust the team, we’ve always had each other’s backs. It’s not like we’re gonna stop anytime soon.”
Your chest and stomach found a new home in your throat rather quickly as you took notice of Jihoon’s laid back and (dare we say) warm approach to this type of conversation.
“I-I will! Of course, I will, I trust you with my life!” You exclaimed quickly, causing Jihoon to move back with a half-smile.
“I’m not sure if I’m glad or not,” He replied, sipping down his last bit of chocolate. “Regardless, I am happy to see you’re fired up. Maybe save that fire for later tonight, I’m sure Seungcheol has the ‘party’ planned for tonight.”
You nodded sharply before returning to finish your own drink.
As soon as you gulped the last of your mocha, you two made your way to the base. Obviously, as soon as you walked in, there was dear Soonyoung to kiss your feet (not literally).
“(Y/N)!” He called out before jogging up to you two. “Good afternoon! I’m glad to see you’re one of the first ones here!”
“Yes, and if it wasn’t for Jihoon, I probably would have been late.” You replied simply, which caused Soonyoung to eye Jihoon. “I see. Good afternoon Woozi, how ya doing?” Soonyoung asked, placing a hand on said person’s head before ruffling up his blonde hair.
You felt all the hairs stand up on your body as soon as Soonyoung finished. If you didn’t get hurt or die from this small job, perhaps you’ll be injured or added as an accidental casualty to Jihoon’s list.
Jihoon looked up at Soonyoung with a scowl, “I was just fine before I got here. (Y/n) and i had a very relaxing morning together.” He replied and judging by Soonyoung’s barred teeth, he wasn’t too happy to hear Jihoon had been with you.
“I see, so what information did you extract from them?” He asked with a low tone. “Or perhaps you tricked them and got more than they were expecting?” He said slowly, his eyes narrowing in anger. Jihoon’s own eyes narrowed as he starred up, ready to bark back.
“He didn’t extract jack squat from me Soonyoung, just leave him alone.” You cut in, placing yourself between the two.
Soonyoung stepped back with shook clear on his face.
“You two clearly have somethings you need to settle but don’t make this about me. Go get some guns and blow each others brains out or something!” You exclaimed, huffing at both of them.
By their expressions, they both seemed rather shocked at your outburst, but...you were so tired of Soonyoung always harping at you like a dog does to meat. And Jihoon? G/d knows he believes he’s such hot shit that he can say anything to anyone.
“I don’t want to see or hear from either of you for the rest of this job or so help me I will shoot you both myself.” You barked once more walking away from the two, leaving them shocked, speechless, and gawking.
They had really done it this time, pissing you off like that. I guess you were getting more comfortable with Jihoon since you clearly grew a pair so big, you actually threatened Jihoon. You know, leader of the stealth unit? The living, breathing embodiment of death? Yeah, that guy. Still, you didn’t waver in your thoughts at all as you took a seat in between two of your members. Thank goodness your good friend Joshua was to your left.
“You seem tense.” He cooed sweetly as if he hadn’t just heard your whole outburst.
“Ugh.” Was your only reply before throwing your head forward on the table, but not before Joshua could add his hand to soften the landing.
“Thanks.” You said quietly into the table.
“Don’t thank me, just talk to me when we get the chance, alright?” You looked up at him from the table with a confused expression but, judging by Joshua’s gentle smile, he clearly just wanted the details on the tea.
It’s not like you weren’t going to tell him anyway.
