“Stay away from him.”

“Who?” Shira her head to the side innocently, trying to ignore the reminiscent sparks on her cheek left by Taehyung’s soft lips.

“Kim Taehyung. He’s no good,” Jackson growls, yanking off his fake police officer badge and throwing it to the back of the car with more force than necessary. “He’s going to end up exposing you. You can’t deal with someone in both of your main identities.”

“I know,” Shira murmurs, her forehead pressed against the window and she attempts to avoid the topic. If she mentions that she nearly had a panic attack, Jackson would have been off the walls. “How did you get rid of Taemin?”

“Seunghyun called us, saying that Taemin was on the university turf, and that we were the only ones who could take them out at the moment. Jaebum accepted for some cash and new shipment of weapons.”

“Yes, but how did you do it?”

“Patience.” Jackson just shoots her a teasing smile. “We went through the employee entrance because it was open, went through the storage of the back kitchen, and hid behind the counter, and Jaebum and Mark together shot him four times before he fled. Two shots connected.”

But he probably isn’t dead. If he was able to get away, then he probably got away to safety. The very thought chills Shira to the core, but she had known Taemin’s survival was highly likely. It takes a lot to kill the monsters of SHINee.

“He was screaming for ‘Red’ to face him, and that he would use the people in the coffee shop as hostages.” Jackson murmurs, expression turning serious. “He was saying that he would kill you the same way that you killed Minho.”

Shira chews on the inside of her cheek. It had been a long time since she was called Red. A long, long time. She always wants to leave the memories of that name behind, but the name and the associations are too deeply engrained in her being.

“Taemin used to be the quiet one. He turned insane.” And that is probably her doing, but she doesn’t say that. He is the youngest of SHINee, and he would have probably taken the death of a member the hardest. Maybe enough to go completely off his rocker.

“Insane people are the hardest enemies,” Jackson murmurs.

Somehow, Shira thinks of the Joker from Batman. Hardest enemies indeed. But her thoughts keep flashing back to Kim Taehyung and how he so willingly helped her through her panic attack without asking for anything in return.

“You’re thinking too much again,” Jackson flicks the side of her head, and Shira scowls.

“Stop abusing me. I’m already sick and traumatized.”

“Then tell me what you were thinking about?”

“I was thinking about how much Kim Taehyung confuses me,” Shira murmurs, turning back towards the window.

“He kisses you when you’re Sophia, dances with you when you’re Watermelon, and touches you when you’re Sonha. Who knows what he’s doing with other girls?”

Jackson didn’t know that Taehyung had kissed her cheek, but regardless, he offers a fair point. Taehyung’s actions occurred on three separate occasions, and Taehyung does’t know they are all the same person. So what is stopping with doing the same with other girls?

“Jackson, why did you kiss me that day?”

“Because first kisses aren’t supposed to be when you’re acting like a e.”

“Really? I didn’t know,” Shira shoots back sarcastically, head twisting to look at Jackson. It was clear that Jackson isn’t saying the full truth, but Shira didn’t usually have to pry information from him.

“And because, at the moment, I wanted to.”

Silence. Shira doesn’t know how to respond, and Jackson doesn’t offer more of an explanation.

“Oh,” Shira disrupts the silence after a few seconds. “Just at that moment?”

Jackson breaks at the stoplight, face turning towards Shira. Something unreadable flickers across his face. “I don’t know.”

“What do you know?” Shira presses gently, knowing that he wouldn’t really want to talk about it later if they dropped the conversation now.

“I know that you’re a friend who keeps me grounded and sane, and you pull me away from the gang world even though you’re part of it too.” Jackson murmurs, blinking back at her. “And that I care about you.”

“I care about you too.” Shira squirms a little in her seat, not comfortable talking about emotions, but it has to happen.

Jackson just shakes his head slightly, as if she didn’t get it, and she has a feeling that she really doesn’t.  He steps on the accelerator again.

“Is this about Mark?”

And suddenly, Jackson’s expression completely changes. “What?”

“He looks like he likes you a lot,” Shira murmurs. She remembers how Jackson had looked worried when Mark stood up at the previous gang meeting, and how Mark reassured Jackson by brushing the latter’s blonde strands out of his face with a tight smile.

Jackson tries to change the subject. “Seunghyun said-”

“I don’t care about what Seunghyun said. I care about you.”

A pained look slides over his face. “Not now, okay?”

Shira just nods, realizing he wasn’t ready. “Okay.”
 

“What the hell?” Yoongi asks as Taehyung assures Namjoon that he has no injuries.

Taehyung just sighs, repeating the informa