He directed men and women running for their lives in his direction by motioning with his arm. The path behind him was clear and they should be able to make it a safe distance away on foot. He could hear gunfire very close by and when he turned a corner and happened upon a man with a gun half raised, his instincts kicked in. “DROP THE WEAPON! DROP IT!” his voice boomed as he aimed his gun at Yoongi.
The officer immediately held his hands out to his side, showing his compliance as he slowly started to raise them. “Suga…” Zico spoke up, tearing his eyes off of the back of the officer’s head and meeting Yoongi’s when he looked over his shoulder in shock after hearing his voice. The officer turned his head too and Zico caught one glimpse of his profile and all the color drained from his face.
Zico took a step back, eyes wide. The officer had caught a glimpse too and with arms still raised, turned around to face Zico. It had been years since the two brothers had seen each other and now, here they were, with Zico pointing a gun at his hyung’s chest.
Yoongi's heart was racing. The officer was a lot stronger than he was and no matter how desperately he tried to escape, he'd managed to keep a good hold on him. The soft clink of metal as the officer pulled out his handcuffs sent a chill down his spine. This was it. He was going to be arrested and he hadn't done a single thing.
Yoongi's mind started racing. He could always lie and insist that he'd found the gun just laying on the ground and had only picked it up because he was scared. The problem was that he had no idea when the officer had first spotted him. If he had seen someone hand him the gun, witnessed their brief conversation, it would be obvious that Yoongi wasn't an innocent bystander, someone that was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
While Yoongi had been busy trying to think up solutions to his dilemma, he suddenly felt the officer remove his hold on him. Yoongi was determining whether he should take the opportunity to run or not when he heard Zico's voice. Yoongi gasped, knees weakening at the sound of his boyfriend's voice. He looked back over his shoulder, tears of relief glistening in his eyes. Not only had Zico come to rescue him, but most importantly, Zico was okay. He wasn't laying dead somewhere on the festival grounds.
When the officer started to turn around, Yoongi bent down and grabbed the gun off the ground. It still had his fingerprints all over it after all. He darted over toward Zico, hiding behind him a little as he got a good look at the officer for the first time. Even though his brain registered there were similarities, in all the chaos, he didn't fully understand the importance of that.
When Zico didn't move right away, Yoongi grabbed his other hand and gave a firm tug on it. "Come on, we gotta go," he insisted, his hand trembling as it held tightly to Zico's. "Oppa please, let's just get out of here..."
He parted ways with his friend, worrying that in the midst of all this chaos it might be the last time he saw him alive, but there was no hesitation about who he needed to be with. He pushed his way through the crowds, shouting Yoongi’s name as he tried to find him. When he felt himself being pulled aside, Zico was alarmed until he recognized the man’s face. He didn’t think he could feel any worse, but a feeling of dread washed over him when a gun was thrust into his hands.
Jiseok stared in disbelief at the carnage surrounding him. There was so much going on that it was hard to process it all. He knew what his orders were; to help evacuate citizens trapped in the crossfire, but should he need to use it, lethal force had been authorized. He held his gun in his hand, his grip firm and steady. He wasn’t a violent man and he hadn’t killed before, but criminals that operated on this scale made it a lot easier to consider pulling the trigger.
He directed men and women running for their lives in his direction by motioning with his arm. The path behind him was clear and they should be able to make it a safe distance away on foot. He could hear gunfire very close by and when he turned a corner and happened upon a man with a gun half raised, his instincts kicked in. “DROP THE WEAPON! DROP IT!” his voice boomed as he aimed his gun at Yoongi.
When he heard shouting in his direction, Yoongi turned, his gun then pointed at the man in front of him. The minute his mind recognized that the stranger was a police officer, Yoongi lowered the gun and immediately paled. He hadn't even done anything, yet he knew that already things looked bad. There was complete chaos surrounding them and here he was holding a firearm.
He'd never stared down the barrel of a gun before. His first instinct was to run, but he was terrified that the officer would shoot before he even got more than a few steps away. Yoongi did as he was told at first and set the gun down on the ground near his feet. He never once took his eyes off of Jiseok. He raised his hands up, wincing when the officer grabbed him. Terrified, Yoongi started to resist. If he could just get away, he could find Zico and together they could far away from there.
"Lemme go! I didn't do anything! You're making a mistake!" Yoongi growled, trying to wriggle out of Jiseok's grasp. He didn't care if he was technically resisting arrest. There was just no way he could get taken in.
Violence erupted onto the streets out of nowhere. Explosions, gunfire, screaming and sirens polluted the air and added to the havoc that had suddenly begun. It was safer for Zico to stay with Mino. Mino was capable of adequately defending both of them. He didn’t have a problem killing; it was his job, but Zico was different. He hadn’t needed to go that far yet. He didn’t want to be a killer, but he knew that at some point the need might arise.
Frantically looking around the streets now, Zico was struck with the realization that tonight might be that night. He didn’t see Yoongi anywhere and that terrified him more than he wanted to admit. He had to find him. He couldn’t deal with this by himself. He could shoot anyone dead from behind a computer screen in a simulated environment, but in a real life scenario there was no way he could cope. Yoongi shut down in situations that were too overwhelming and this definitely qualified.
He parted ways with his friend, worrying that in the midst of all this chaos it might be the last time he saw him alive, but there was no hesitation about who he needed to be with. He pushed his way through the crowds, shouting Yoongi’s name as he tried to find him. When he felt himself being pulled aside, Zico was alarmed until he recognized the man’s face. He didn’t think he could feel any worse, but a feeling of dread washed over him when a gun was thrust into his hands.
It wasn't a date, not really. For two people trying to keep their relationship a secret however, it was as close as they were likely going to get to a real one. They kept a respectable distance apart, despite how Yoongi longed to just reach over and take Zico's hand. It wasn't as if he wanted to celebrate for the same reason as everyone else at the festival, but a part of him wished they could enjoy a normal date for once.
With camera in hand, Yoongi snapped off a few photos here and there of the cheerful crowds. He could likely sell them to the newspaper in the morning since he was sure the festival would once again be making the front page. Yoongi was considering what he might want to eat when Zico informed him that he'd be back shortly. Yoongi couldn't help feeling annoyed. It wasn't a real date, he knew that, but it had still been nice to pretend.
Yoongi found a nearby food stall and sat down, glaring daggers in Zico's direction since he'd been ditched for someone else that evening. He knew it should have been no big deal, and yet he felt really upset about it. Yoongi didn’t have any other close friends like Zico did, so he just naturally felt jealous when there were other people that could steal Zico’s attention away from him. For a moment Yoongi considered just going home. After all, he looked sort of pathetic just sitting there waiting for his boyfriend to come back.
The sudden explosion caught Yoongi by surprise. Utter chaos erupted all around him and without a doubt Yoongi knew exactly who was behind it. Yoongi wasn't naive. He knew what kind of people made up the majority of the Cottonmouth members. That just wasn't who he was. He was in over his head, but more importantly, how was he ever supposed to find Zico with so many people running and screaming all over the place. The smoke from the explosions and the bullets flying every which way deterred him as well. Still, Zico was somewhere out there. He needed to find him and they needed to get out of there before either of them got hurt.
He tried to get out of the way, get out of the crowd before he accidentally got shot, but the clasp on his camera's neck strap snapped and his precious, expensive camera hit the ground and quickly got lost amongst the stampede of terrified citizens. Heartbroken, Yoongi knew his safety still had to come first. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, hands trembling as he tried to pull up the GPS on Zico's phone so he could find him. The next thing he knew however, one of the other Cottonmouth members spotted him and shoved a gun against his chest. He was told to make himself useful, but how was he supposed to do that with a gun?!
Zico was the one that did most of the dangerous work in their profession. Yoongi was always safely hidden behind his computer screen far away from any immediate threat. This however, was far too real. Yoongi stared down at the gun in his hands. It felt much heavier then he imagined one would. He tilted his head back, fighting back frightened tears before he properly took the gun in a shaking hand.
Was he even holding it properly?
Yoongi desperately looked through the crowd, but how was he ever supposed to find Zico when every panicked face looked the same as the next. His mind immediately started thinking the worst, that maybe Zico was already injured somewhere, laying there and needing his help while he was standing there too terrified to move.Yoongi lifted the gun a little thinking maybe people might clear out of his way if they saw him as a threat. No matter what, he had to find Zico.
Zico grinned, covering the expression with his fist as he tried not to chuckle. He crept to the door, waiting further until he heard the shower curtain and knew Yoongi was trapped. He flung the bathroom door open, wicked grin fixed on his face as a cold gust of wind flooded the steamy bathroom. “Well, well, well…what do we have here?” he asked as he placed their underwear on the side of the sink and shut the door behind him.
The moment that Yoongi drew the curtain back and realized the shower was actually empty, he felt a sudden cool breeze waft into the room. The sound of Zico's voice sent an embarrassed chill running through him. Although the rest of his body was quite cool, his cheeks felt like they were burning up. He turned quickly, despite having taken one step into the tub already, nearly tripping as he yanked his foot out and made a desperate grab at the nearby towel rack.
His face was beet red, mortified about being caught, especially after he'd made it seem like he wouldn't join him. His hands could barely open up the towel, moving so frantically that they just wouldn't work properly. Finally he managed to wrap the towel around himself and cover up. It had only been seconds but to Yoongi it had felt like an eternity standing there with Zico just staring.
"J-just forget it! Let me out!" Yoongi demanded, stalking toward Zico and trying to push him aside so he could get to the door. Embarrassed tears started to brim his eyes and Yoongi hurriedly tried to blink them away before Zico noticed. "God, you're such a jerk. I can't believe I felt bad for you for even a second!" he complained, struggling to hold his towel closed and wriggle past Zico at the same time.
[...]
He resisted the urge to bestow a firm smack on Yoongi’s ass as he walked away to remind him who the actual boss around here. He was pretty sure if he did, he’d have to go without eating until they got to the festival. Instead, he followed Yoongi out of the studio and into the kitchen, making a complete nuisance of himself. He stood behind the shorter boy, resting his chin on Yoongi’s shoulder or burying his face in Yoongi’s neck as he tried to cook. He slipped his fingers under Yoongi’s shirt, teasing and caressing soft skin as he stood as close as humanly possible to him and cooed silly aegyo talk to him. No amount of elbowing or threats or whining budged Zico. He didn’t care if whatever remaining undried paint that was on his upper body got onto the shirt Yoongi was wearing - it was HIS shirt after all.
“Take a shower with me…” Zico whined as he reached around Yoongi to the stove and turned the burners off repeatedly. “Come on…I’ll never get all this paint off myself,” Zico whispered, offering Yoongi a logical reason with a seductive tone. “We can eat later…Suga… ”
Yoongi at least made an effort to get started on their dinner. It didn't help that Zico was hindering rather than helping. He scolded his boyfriend, trying to wriggle free of his hold or elbow him in the side to get him to back off a little. Feeling Zico's rough fingers slip underneath the shirt and graze his bare skin was just about reaching the limit of Yoongi’s patience. Of course, that ridiculous aegyo didn't help either. The worst part being that Yoongi somehow managed to find it even the slightest bit endearing. Not that he would ever tell Zico that.
He was about to question Zico on whether he actually wanted to eat anything at all when Zico reached around him and actually turned off the burner. "Fuck off..." Yoongi growled softly, reaching out to turn them back on and go back to his cooking.
He hadn't missed Zico's proposal. He was going to need a shower anyway if they were going out, but he was already in the middle of something and he was sure that Zico had much more than just cleaning up in store if he gave in and joined him. When Zico reached out yet again, Yoongi smacked his hand but it didn't deter Zico from once again shutting the burner off. For nearly a minute they went back and forth that way until Yoongi was ready to just turn around and smack Zico to get him to stop.
Yoongi really hated the way that his heart always raced whenever Zico called him by his nickname. Even though Zico had been the one to give it to him, it was how everyone in Cottonmouth knew him. Except...there was just something, still, about the way it sounded when Zico said it that never failed to send a shiver through him.
"If you don't go right now I'm going throw this pot of boiling water on you. I'm sure it'll easily help to get that paint off..." Yoongi threatened, softly and slowly. "Now stop screwing around and go already," he growled, grabbing Zico's hand as tightly as he could to stop him from turner off the burner yet again. When Zico finally relented, Yoongi breathed a heavy sigh, listening as the water started running in the bathroom.
"Don't you dare..." he muttered to himself, taking a deep breath and trying to focus back on dinner...except he couldn't. Yes, Zico's interference annoyed the shit out of him but when he wasn't around he missed him. He felt lonely, and he was guilty over just forcing Zico away. "Just finish dinner..." he told himself but his resolve was already wavering. Yoongi reached over and grabbed the pot lid, turning off the burning and covering their dinner. If it ended up being ruined because of Zico, he was going to kill him.
Yoongi quietly slipped into the bathroom, cheeks already lighting up from just thinking about joining his boyfriend. He undressed, seriously contemplating just going back to his dinner because it wasn't like Zico would ever know. Eventually Yoongi relented and gently pulled the shower curtain back and stepped in.
“Did you know snakes don’t die until the sun goes down, babe?” Zico asked. He didn’t actually know that for a fact. He’d seen it on a documentary at some point…or maybe it was an old American Western film? It didn’t matter. He knew a snake that had lost its head could still fight…for a time. If it really wasn’t until darkness covered the sky; all the better. The citizens of Seoul were doing them a favor with their stupid celebration.
“Thanks for leaving the fucking lights on for us.”
Before he opened his eyes, one thin, pale arm stretched across to the other side of the bed and Yoongi gave an annoyed groan when he realized no one was there. It wasn't like he should have been surprised. He usually slept late as it was but last night he'd found himself woken up in the middle of the night. Even if he could no longer recall the conversation (had there even been one?) he could tell that at the time, something had been wrong.
Yoongi sleepily lifted his head from his pillow and while squinting one eye open he peeked around the room just to verify that he was, in fact, alone. After confirming it, Yoongi slid over a little and buried his face in Zico's pillow instead. A dull ache throbbed in his heart as he lay on his side and pulled his knees up to his chest. Even though he wasn't there, the faintest scent of Zico's cologne still lingered. It was a bit terrifying just how strong his feelings had become for the other male. Even if such attachments were risky in their business, Yoongi couldn't imagine being without him.
Finally Yoongi managed to drag himself out of bed, mostly because he worried Zico might walk in on him at some point and never let him hear the end of it, although he continued to struggle with keeping his eyes open. "Selfish ass...waking me up when I'm sleeping...next time I'll tell you to just manage things yourself..." Yoongi grumbled, stumbling a little as he leaned over and tried to grab his clothes from last night off the floor. He managed his own shorts but ended up with Zico's shirt instead. Yoongi spent about five seconds debating whether he'd keep looking for his own before just getting dressed with what he'd found.
Yoongi shuffled into the kitchen, mashing a few buttons on the coffee maker until it started to respond to him. With half open eyes he managed to determine where Zico had ended up. As he slowly opened the door to Zico’s studio, Yoongi was briefly hit with a feeling of regret. He should have brought his camera. That image of his boyfriend staring at his magnificent piece of finished artwork, especially the moment right before Zico realized he was there, would have made for an amazing photograph.
Yoongi's eyes lingered on his boyfriend's tattoo and paint covered, bare upper body at first. Sometimes Yoongi really hated just how attractive he found him. It didn't help that the minute Zico smiled at him, Yoongi felt a rush of warmth across his cheeks. No matter how much his words might try to play down his feelings, his natural reactions always revealed the truth. He gave his eyes another rub, scrunching his face up in confusion as Zico began speaking. Why was he talking about snakes? Who was leaving lights on?
"Yah...have you been drinking already?" Yoongi scolded as he walked a bit further into the room, mostly to get a better look at the incredible painting Zico had done. Despite what they both really did for a living, there was no denying that Zico's art and his talent were unbelievably good. Of course once Zico filled him in on what exactly had happened while Yoongi had mostly slept through all of it, he too couldn't help feeling extremely pissed off. Sure Zico had always been closest to their boss, but at the moment they'd also lost their place to belong.
"We still have to go you know," Yoongi pointed out, eyes drifting from the canvas back to his boyfriend. "As Yoongi and Jiho," he added just be clear. They'd done pretty well up to this point at keeping their professional and personal lives separate, meaning that very few people even knew of their illegal activities or connection to Cottonmouth. Yoongi worried that if they missed the celebration, it might end up drawing unwanted attention their way.
"Just use it as a chance to gather information. I'm sure everyone will be there," he considered, lifting one hand to lightly trace one of the thin red lines that he’d not-so-accidentally left down Zico’s back a few hours earlier. “Go get cleaned up while I make dinner. And before you even ask, no I’m not taking requests. You’ll get whatever the fuck I decide to make,” he said matter of factly, leaning in toward a paint-free spot on Zico’s arm and placing a quick kiss there before heading back out toward the kitchen.
“And don’t you dare take that down until I get a picture of it.”
Using your skills, please find out any negative information or dirt you have on a member of the police who has been notorious for taking bribes from Wolfsbane. Any information you can get to sabotaging him is helpful, and please don’t hesitate to infiltrate the police’s computer system to further help you in your research. Once you have the information, please use and confront the male ( whether it be in person, or through some other form of contact is fine! ), and let them know the information is at risk of being leaked. Please alert them that you will not hesitate to expose it, but that can be changed if he helps out a few members of Cottonmouth that are currently being held in the detainment section for questioning. Do your best, best of luck—and be careful not to get caught.
The silent treatment: stopping all forms of communication with someone in order to show disapproval or disappointment.
In Yoongi’s case, it was just a really good way to let Zico know he was pissed off.
So far it had only been a day, but he wasn’t about to forgive him yet. He could use the excuse that flirting with the man’s daughter had been the easiest way, but Yoongi was fairly certain that given enough time he could have figured something else out. In his mind, Zico had just been far too eager to flirt with some young, pretty girl in order to charm his way inside her house. When another job for them came in from their boss, this time Yoongi kept it to himself. He wasn’t ready to deal with Zico again just yet.
Yoongi read the orders over a couple of times. Sure getting the information would be a breeze, but confronting him? That was Zico’s area of expertise, not his. He usually sat safely behind his computer assisting him sure, but he’d never been the one to initiate it. Yoongi leaned back in his chair, torn between believing he could do this and hearing that nagging voice in the back of his head insisting that he needed Zico’s help. After a moment, Yoongi used his foot to kick off from the floor and rolled his chair over toward the door, pushing it closed and turning the lock.
This one he was going to do alone.
A few hours later and Yoongi had multiple monitors grabbing numerous tidbits of information. He knew he needed something solid if he was going to confront the man and force him into agreeing to his terms. Criminals often left an easy trail that Yoongi could pick up on but this guy was a cop. He was smart and he knew exactly what information often led to a criminals arrest. Sure he was taking bribes, his spending habits made that abundantly clear, but there wasn’t a single paper trail. Hours of work and still Yoongi had very little to show for it. His frustration was growing.
Although he was running a scan of contacted numbers from the man’s phone, Yoongi was pretty sure he’d probably been using burner phones to keep in contact with his Wolfsbane source. Taking a moment to try and focus himself a bit, Yoongi took a deep breath, rubbing his face with his hands. He turned to a different monitor and delved into the police’s computer system. Sure enough, it seemed like any Wolfsbane members that were unlucky enough to get caught managed to walk away. The excuses seemed to be different each time: charges dropped, evidence lost, etc, and sure enough the paperwork all traced back to his target. Yoongi downloaded hard copies of all the data, including the case reports with his target’s signature.
It was a start, a decent one at least but he knew he needed more. As if someone somewhere was giving him a helping hand, the monitor on the far side of his desk gave a tell-tale chime. Yoongi spun his chair around to see a specific phone number highlighted on the screen. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad after all. Sure the officer was smart, but Yoongi was banking on the fact that he could still make mistakes. Sure enough, almost a half hour later Yoongi had tracked the GPS from the Wolfsbane member’s phone to the areas where the officer’s personal phone shared the same coordinates. Obviously the officer hadn’t used his phone for contact, but he also hadn’t remembered to turn it off when he went to get his money.
With a few sets of GPS coordinates to work with, Yoongi pulled up a list of security cameras in thpse areas and scrolled back through their footage to the appropriate times. He’d been locked up in his private room for over half the day, but a few screen grabs from the security camera footage later and Yoongi was already starting to think of some snarky comments he could make to his boyfriend once this all worked out. Yoongi packaged up all his evidence in a small little file he could easily transfer to the target’s cellphone, attaching a small virus to the file that would give Yoongi full access to the officer’s personal phone but also make the file and messages impossible to trace back to him.
He had all his evidence and a fool proof plan but still, Yoongi hesitated. This was where he usually handed over all the information to Zico and let him handle the rest. Yoongi stared at his computer screen. He felt nervous and anxious and his hands had started to feel a bit sweaty. He paused, rubbing his hands on his pants briefly, before sending the first message.
[✉ - Outgoing —> I know your secret.]
[✉ - Outgoing —> I want to make a deal.]
[✉ - Incoming —> i don’t know what you’re talking about. you’ve got the wrong number]
Yoongi scowled. He was off to a bad start. He wasn’t good at these sorts of interactions. Since it seemed like talking wasn’t getting him anywhere, he opted to send through the data he had. Maybe scaring the guy a little would open up some lines of communication.
[✉ - Incoming —> what the fuck is this]
[✉ - Incoming —> who put you up to this?]
[✉ - Outgoing —> You don’t get to ask the questions here.]
[✉ - Outgoing —> If you do something for me, that file disappears completely…]
[✉ - Outgoing —> If you don’t…well, you’re smart enough to figure that out.]
[✉ - Incoming —> you fucking asshole]
[✉ - Incoming —> i’m not doing shit for you]
Yoongi’s fingers tapped away at his keyboard and sent the email. With another monitor hacked into the police stations security cameras, he watched as the target jumped the minute the email notification came through at his desk. Yoongi had attached one of the images to the email with the message: See how easy this was? The next one goes to the entire department. He could see the panic come over the older man, yet somehow it didn’t give Yoongi the sense of satisfaction that he thought it would.
[✉ - Incoming —> fine. just stop sending me this shit.]
[✉ - Incoming —> what do you want?]
[✉ - Outgoing —> Those Cottonmouth members in your holding cell will be sleeping in their own beds tonight.]
[✉ - Outgoing —> How you do that is up to you.]
[✉ - Outgoing —> You have 5 hours or that file goes public.]
[✉ - Incoming —> fine]
[✉ - Incoming —> once they’re released i want proof you deleted those files]
Yoongi leaned back in his chair, watching as the officer seemed to already get straight to work on the paperwork that would release their members. A minute later Yoongi had deleted the messages from the officers phone, erasing any sign of contact between them. He should have felt an overwhelming sense of satisfaction or a rush of excitement at completing the job, but there was nothing. In fact, he actually felt a little disappointed.
Yoongi got up from his desk and unlocked his door, hearing the television from the other room. There was a soft tug on his heart and as much as he didn’t want to give in, he really didn’t like the idea of working on his own. Everything was just different, better, when they worked together.
Yoongi didn’t say a word as he approached the couch. He didn’t make eye contact with his boyfriend as he sat down next to him. He just lifted up Zico’s arm and then tucked himself underneath it. “I really don’t want to make dinner. Just order something,” Yoongi insisted, closing his eyes as he rested his head on Zico’s shoulder. At least for now, Zico was forgiven.
