5

Jungkook rushes over to the window and slowly peeks out, eyes widening when he finds Mr. Kim’s car in the driveway. The man steps out and stares at the police car parked a few feet away along the curb, his jaw clenching in clear displeasure.

Jungkook inwardly curses. 

Mr. Kim then wordlessly moves to the back of his car and opens the trunk. Mrs. Kim exits the passenger side and meets him in front of the trunk where they together start to unload grocery bags. 

Jungkook’s hands are a little shaky when he pulls his phone out of his pocket and sends Jackson a quick message. 

SOS. 

Jackson’s reply is instant.

WHAT

Jungkook bites his lip and quickly rushes over to the door, hastily throwing it open to haul except he is met by something solid and stumbles backwards. 

Taehyung’s eyes are wide and he frowns, rubbing his shoulder while taking in Jungkook’s panicked state.

“Wha-”

“Not now.” 

Jungkook claps a hand over his mouth and pulls the boy out of the bedroom, closing the door behind them before rushing over to Taehyung’s room. Taehyung stumbles over to the bed and Jungkook slams the door behind them, fingers reaching for the lock except there is none. 

“Why the hell don’t you have a lock on this damn thing?” 

Taehyung’s frown is deep and confused, but there’s also worry in his eyes as he straightens up. “There’s no need for it. What is going on? What were you doing in my parents’ room?” 

“I got lost.” 

“The bathroom was to your left,” Taehyung says, frowning, “you ended up on a completely different floor, officer.”

Jungkook blinks and then shrugs.

“I’m very bad at directions, sue me.” He then narrows his eyes. “I thought I told you I’m not an officer?”

“You did,” Taehyung mutters, as if only then remembering it, his cheeks going pink. “Sorry, I for-”

“No worries, hey, could you do me a quick favour?” 

Taehyung’s face is instantly clouded by worry and anxiety. “S-sure.”

“Great, your parents are about to enter the house in ten seconds, I need you to go down and pretend Jackson is the only officer in the house.” 

Taehyung looks like his soul just left him.

His eyes widen and his jaw drops slightly, panic and pure fear shrouding his features, and Jungkook finds a spark of annoyance jump in his abdomen. 

“Oh no, oh no no-”

“Hey, now is not the time for a panic attack,” Jungkook mutters, quickly stepping closer to the boy, “go down and tell your dad Jackson came by to relay new information regarding the case, tell them he arrived five minutes ago and that he’s about to leave.”

Taehyung stares at him in bewilderment. “I-I can't  just lie to him, officer, that is not right! And even if- and even if I did he would instantly know that I'm making it u-”

“Hey.” Jungkook firmly grasps Taehyung’s shoulders and gives him a light tug when the sound of the main door opening reaches them. “You’re twenty two years old right?"

Taehyung slowly nods, brows furrowed deeply, and Jungkook grins, gently squeezing his shoulders as if he's calming down a crying child.

"Yes, twenty two entire years old, which means you’re too old to be scared of daddy, so get your head in the game and do what I told you to do, okay?”

Despite the fear marring his features, Taehyung still manages to look offended, but Jungkook doesn’t leave any room for arguments and gives his shoulders another firm shake.

“Go. Tell him you needed to put your stuff away and that you’re done talking to the officer. Jackson will play along.”

Taehyung looks scared out of his mind, and for some unfathomable reason Jungkook finds himself moving his hand from the boy’s shoulder up to his head, quickly ruffling the fluffy mop of hair before pushing him away. 

“Go. Now. Before Jackson opens his big mouth and ruins everything.”

Taehyung is caught off guard by Jungkook’s actions, and the detective takes advantage of the situation and pushes him out of the room, quickly closing the door after him. 

He closes his eyes and leans against the door, trying his best to listen in on the conversation that is about to ensue downstairs, and he feels his heart freeze when he realizes that the boy on the other side of the door hasn’t moved an inch.

“Oh, for the love of-.”

Jungkook opens the door a fraction and squeezes his arm out to push Taehyung towards the stairs.

Taehyung jumps in surprise but manages to hold onto the railing before he falls over, and he sends Jungkook an angry scowl while ripping his messenger bag off his shoulder. Jungkook opens the door a little wider and easily catches the bag thrown harsher than necessary at him, but he doesn’t complain because Taehyung turns on his heel and quickly jogs down the stairs.

Jungkook sighs in relief after closing the door and leans his back against it. 

He quickly sends Jackson another text, explaining the situation, and then hopes for the best while waiting.

Miraculously, Taehyung actually manages to grow a pair and can be heard calmly explaining the situation to his parents. Two minutes later, Jackson’s enthusiastic goodbye rings all the way to the second floor of the house and Jungkook sags against the door when the sound of the police car pulling out of the driveway reaches him through the open window. 

Jackson sends him a text a few moments later. 

good luck finding yourself a ride jeon u almost got me involved in

Jungkook closes his eyes and sighs.

Yeah, he needs to figure out how the hell he’s leaving the house, and Taehyung, despite having handled the situation surprisingly well, will definitely be of no substantial help. 

Jungkook’s theory is proven right when Taehyung barges into the room a few minutes later, face a mask of panic and distress, and Jungkook tries to ignore the pang of anger he feels. 

Exactly how much has Taehyung's father been terrorising him for him to be on the verge of a mental breakdown just from lying to him?

“They’re gonna find out,” Taehyung whispers frantically, “you can’t leave without them noticing, mom is in the kitchen right now and father is-”

“Hey, stop, stop.”

Jungkook thinks it's because he wants to calm him down, offer some assurance that everything will be alright since he got the boy in this situation to begin with, but a part of him knows that the reason he is once again grabbing Taehyung by the shoulders is to, you know, simply touch him.

Jungkook doesn't like how desperate he has become at this point and gives Taehyung an irked look to save his bloody dignity.

Taehyung might swing for the same team, but for all Jungkook knows, Taehyung doesn't necessarily feel the same way about him.

Hell, the boy doesn't even look like he has done anything remotely ual.

Jungkook harshly forces away the sudden thoughts that enter his head and squeezes Taehyung's shoulders once more. 

“Stop worrying. It’s giving me a headache.” 

Taehyung looks flabbergasted. “What do you mean, ‘stop worrying’, they’re literally right there and you’re stuck-”

“No I’m not,” Jungkook snaps, successfully shutting the boy up, “I’m not stuck here, okay, I’m gonna leave before anyone notices so you can stop worrying your pretty little head and let me do my thing.”

Miraculously, Taehyung listens to him and steps away, but the worry never leaves his gaze. Jungkook nods in determination and turns towards the door.

Yeah, he’s got zero idea how to leave without being seen. 

He does, however, have his shoes now. Taehyung is still clutching them to his chest, lost in his thoughts, and Jungkook mentally thanks the boy for actually owning a few braincells. 

"The shoes," he says, and Taehyung startles before realization hits him. 

"Oh, yes, here you go."

He quickly hands them over to Jungkook and then steps away, awkwardly dusting his hands off while Jungkook pulls the sneakers on. Jungkook straightens up and briefly wonders if Namjoon will bother to take his side if Mr. Kim sends Boss Bang a complaint. 

"Your friend left you,” Taehyung mutters after a few moments of silence. “or did you tell him to leave?”

“Yeah, I did,” Jungkook lies, quickly racking his brain for ideas.

Jackson is one stingy piece of when he wants to be, but it isn’t his fault in this case because Jungkook knows the older male is threading on thin ice for his lack of brain to mouth filter around his superiors. This incident would only topple the weights and have him suspended. 

Taehyung doesn’t say anything after that and stares at Jungkook while the detective runs a hand through his hair.

Yeah, this was never part of the plan.

Jungkook was supposed to be met by the parents and then force them into handing the footage over, but Jimin has yet to respond with the necessary paperwork. Tricking Taehyung into letting them inside and then illegally going through the rooms was not supposed to happen, and Jungkook wholly blames his curiosity and impatience for landing him in this situation to begin with. 

“Okay, so you said not to worry.” Jungkook closes his eyes and bites back a string of curse words. “But it has been more than five minutes and you’re still here-”

“I would ask you to distract them while I haul ,” Jungkook interrupts, turning to glare at Taehyung who shuts up, brows furrowing, “but you’re too scared of daddy dearest to even consider that an option.” 

The room is engulfed by silence. Palpable, thick silence filled with tension that has Jungkook’s lip twitching in annoyance.

God, why do emotionless, toxic and abusive fathers exist?

None of this is Taehyung’s fault, Jungkook is aware, but still, he can’t help the slight anger he feels at the prospect of said boy allowing such mental torture to carry on for so long. He’s done with college soon for God’s sake, and just the mention of his father has him flinching. 

“Sorry,” Jungkook sighs. “I didn’t mean it.”

“You clearly did.” 

Taehyung doesn’t look up from where he’s staring at the floor, and Jungkook feels a pang of regret and guilt shoot through him. Okay, so this is definitely not something Jungkook wants to deal with right now. 

“The footage from the security camera, do you happen to know where I can find that?”

Taehyung’s features are still clouded by bitterness that seems more aimed at himself, but he nevertheless looks up and offers Jungkook a small frown. 

“What security camera?”

“Oh ,” Jungkook curses, biting back a groan.

Yeah, Mr. Kim is on top of his list of suspects for sure. 

“Hey, what do you mean by secu-”

“Nevermind,” Jungkook says, turning away from Taehyung.

He doesn’t really have a choice, plus it’s not that far up. He has had experiences with worse heights before, and look at him - completely whole and alive.  

“Hey, what’re you-”

“Thanks for letting us in today,” Jungkook says, stopping in front of the window. He opens it all the way up and looks down, feeling his gut drop slightly at the sight before him. At least there are bushes to soften his fall. 

“Are you seriously going to jum-”

“Also, nice job handling the situation.” Jungkook throws Taehyung a quick grin over his shoulder. “Would love it if you could keep that up. Stand up for yourself, Taehyung. It’s about time, no?”

Taehyung’s lips part in surprise at his words and his brows furrow deeply, pain flitting across his face, but Jungkook just winks and hoists himself up before jumping directly out of the window. 

A panicked yelp can be heard behind him but Jungkook doesn’t really register it as he’s too busy trying not to land on his ing face. Past experiences come in handy the second Jungkook lands, and he quickly pushes himself forward so he moves onto his knees, the pace of the fall giving him a slight kick as he rolls on the ground and jumps to his feet. 

It doesn’t hurt, at all, because the pain spread evenly with no specific focus point, and Jungkook sighs in relief as he turns to throw the window a quick look. 

Taehyung is staring at him, upper body halfways out of the window, eyes wide in shock and mouth agape. Jungkook grins, cockily, and points to his lips, and Taehyung’s blushed cheeks can be seen all the way from there as the boy quickly snaps his mouth shut. 

Jungkook finds himself biting back a snort and turns on his heel, moving towards the bushes where the camera angle doesn’t seem to reach. Jungkook has dealt with break-ins and escapes more times than he would like to admit, so avoiding cameras is quite literally a talent of his. 

Jungkook grins smugly when he finally leaves the front yard before breaking out into a jog. 

The rush from having escaped in the nick of time dies down, however, when he realizes that the security camera caught him staring directly into it, play the Star War’s theme on the doorbell, and then talk to Kim Taehyung before entering the damn house on tape. 

So much for being a camera-avoider pro.

Jungkook pretends he’s not seconds away from pulling his hair out of his head as he calmly walks past a lady with a stroller, and when she’s out of earshot he prepares to shout a bunch of colourful swear words until he remembers that Taehyung invited him in. 

Okay, so technically he invited himself in, but Taehyung opened the door for him and allowed him and Jackson inside. Mr. Kim can sulk all he wants, but the security footage won’t be enough to cover a possible lawsuit. 

And then, suddenly and out of no-ing-where, Jungkook, for some unfathomable reason, finds himself worrying a little about Taehyung and whatever he will have to suffer through after his father has checked the footage. 

A small part of him hopes that Mr. Kim continues to keep the security camera a secret from his family, and if he does find out about Jungkook having been there, the detective finds himself strongly wishing that Taehyung isn’t home when that happens.

Jungkook forcibly pushes back the sudden memories that resurface, his jaw clenching.

Yeah, the red flags in his mind no longer pertain to Taehyung’s lips and only.

Jungkook dejectedly realizes that he might just have to solve this case next week if he wants to avoid falling deeper into whatever hole he has started digging for himself, and it really ing does not help that Taehyung is, unknowingly, digging it along with him.