A/N: Random note for this ch: If you're not familiar with Korean currency, think of 1,000 won as roughly $1 USD.

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Jongin feels the need to put everything he’s been told on the table, hopefully to make it easier on Kyungsoo. “Baekhyun told me a few things, before I could make him stop. He said your mom owned the house, but she went missing 11 years ago. And that it was, uh, just you two.”

“Ah, Sunmi was always careful about that.” Kyungsoo gives a half-smile.

“Sunmi?” he asks, confused. “Was she not…”

“My mother. She is. Was. I’m not s--” Kyungsoo stops, pursing his lips together and dipping his head down a moment. He raises it with a tight-lipped smile, and it’s the saddest one Jongin has ever seen.  “I should start at the beginning.”

His chest tightens, seeing Kyungsoo look so solemn. Suddenly, he feels awful for pulling this out of him, forcing him to retrace what are must be painful steps of his past. “Hey, you don’t have to do this. I was starting on breakfast before I came in. I could--”

“No,” Kyungsoo holds his hand tightly. “I want to tell you. I just haven’t told anyone this before, so words aren’t coming to me easily.” He takes a deep breath and lets it out in one big puff before facing Jongin and starting again. “I knew my father, Jongin. He and Su-- my mom were married before I was born. I grew up in a mostly normal, happy family.”

“Can I ask why you call her by her name?”

“She never really wanted to be called ‘mom.’ That’s just her… way. I don’t think she’d ever wanted children.” Kyungsoo seems to realize how that sounds and stops to clarify. “Not that she disliked kids. She’s just… an extremely anxious person. Cautious to the point of paranoia. Which is why she never registered her marriage, or my dad as my father. Didn’t like records being kept on her, or tying other people to her. She always wanted to minimize that kind of thing.”

“Why?”

“I have a hunch she was in the industry before I was born. The spy industry, I mean. I don’t know for sure, but it makes the most sense.” Kyungsoo shrugs. “My dad was an agent, too.”

Jongin’s eyes go wide with surprise. “Do you know which company?”

“The very biggest,” Kyungsoo smirks. “I’m sure you’ve heard of it. It’s called The Blue House.”

Holy . A true government spy. “Damn,” Jongin mutters, impressed.

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo sports a proud smile. “He was the best.” The smile slowly fades, and he clears his throat to continue. “Anyway, the first thirteen years of my life aren’t all that remarkable. I grew up like most kids, with the exception of having a kinda cold mother who preferred I address her by name. She took good care of me, made me do my homework and use good table manners, all the usual parent stuff just… from a safe distance. I was a lot closer to my dad.” A wide grin returns to Kyungsoo’s face. “We’d hang out every weekend he wasn’t away for work. He used to make me close my eyes and point on a map, and wherever my finger landed, we’d go to that area of the city and try to find the best place to eat. It was always an adventure, with a lot of laughs. But he also taught me a lot on those trips, like how to get around the city, how to read people. How to fight.” Kyungsoo over his lips before shooting Jongin a mischievous look. “Sunmi didn’t like that one.”

“I think my mom would’ve objected to that, too. Not that my dad would’ve known the first thing about grappling,” Jongin snorts, trying imagine his banker father doing anything even close to fighting.

They share a smile, and then a silence builds. They’ve been leaning against one another, shoulder pressed to shoulder, but Kyungsoo shifts, scooching down so he can lay his head on Jongin’s shoulder.

Jongin nuzzles into Kyungsoo’s hair, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. He stays there, trying to be a comforting presence. Because he knows the next part is unlikely to be easy to share. “What happened when you were 13?” he prompts gently.

“My dad didn’t come home.”

Oh. Jongin’s eyes well, but he doesn’t speak. No words seem good enough for this.

“We didn’t talk about it the next morning, him not being back from work. I think we were both afraid that talking about it would make it real, and maybe he was just delayed a day because of a big job or something. But…” Kyungsoo trails off, a limp gesture of his hand indicating that’s as far as that story goes.

“I’m so sorry,” Jongin whispers.

Kyungsoo