"That little piece of sh*t!", Jungkook fumed. "How dare he making me becoming like this? I ing hate him! I didn´t ask him to trigger these ing stupid feelings! Who does he think he is to make such a mess of me, huh? I better never see his sorry anywhere again! And he has my ing clothes!"

It went on like that the whole way back. Jungkook was still busy cursing as he got to the headquarter. He threw the door open and stomped right to his room, not looking left or right. Though he was being stopped as Yoongi shot up out of nowhere and grabbed his arm rather roughly.

"Brat, I need to talk to-"

But the younger only gave him a death glare before he pulled out of his grip and disappeared in his room, barely leaving his door intact as he banged it shut. Yoongi still stood in the middle of the hallway and stared at his hand in disbelief.

"What the- you better NOT treat me that way, you little brat", the second spat towards the closed door. As Hoseok came along just then, he hurried to the angry man with icy blue hair and gave him a calming squeeze.

"Let him be for now."

Eventually, Yoongi listened to him and calmed down. "What´s wrong with him these days?", he muttered.

"I guess he needs to sort himself out", Hoseok thought out loud. "Something is going on with him for a while now. He is changing and for the better if you ask me. But our maknae seems to be very confused right now."

The second nodded in agreement after he let it sink in. "And now? Should we do something? He hates it to get help."

The redhead smiled assuringly. "Give him an hour. Then I will go and talk to him. And after that... we will see."

So they waited, listening to their raging leader and counting the minutes.

Unaware of the talk between his hyungs, Jungkook walked up and down his room, jumped on the bed, boxed the matress, screamed into a pillow, threw his paper work from the table, kicked the wall, took all the blank sheets out of the printer and ripped them. Yes, he was mad. Mad at Tae. For the whole feelings thing. Mad at himself. For falling for it, for letting his guard down, for not getting the job done. Huffing angrily, he e more round then flopped on his bed. Eyes wide open, he stared at the ceiling above, searching for answers to the big 'Why' in his head.

Then there was a knock on his door. He didn´t bother replying. After some seconds, a familar red head appeared in the opened door.

"Are you done shredding your room and ready explaining to me what´s the matter?"

Jungkook grunted something incomprehensible. It seemed to be as good as an invitation to Hoseok, so he stepped inside, closed the door behind him and sat down on the matress next to the younger. The elder didn´t say anything, he just sat there and waited. It went on like that for maybe ten minutes before Jungkook opened his mouth.

"I´m becoming strange, hyung", he confessed. Hoseok only hummed.

"I´m becoming strange, acting weird like... like y´know, before. I´m starting to feel things again. I´m getting strange and funny and it´s all Tae´s fault. My life is slowly getting a mess again because of him. He makes me like this." And then, almost inaudible he mumbled "I ing hate this task."

"Aaaaaaah, I see where you come from." The redhead propped himself on his hand and joined the ceiling-staring. "But is it such a bad thing to get aqquainted to feelings, to change back to the you of before?"

He didn´t get an answer straight away but he hadn´t thought so either. The younger had to work this out just in time. So Hoseok left him alone again with something new to brood about.

Outside, Yoongi was already waiting. He might´ve seemed unbothered but the truth was the eldest was concerned about Jungkook too. He just hated to show it.

"So?"

Hoseok ruffled his hair. "Agh, he talks about feelings and not liking them returning. And the cause seems to be some Tae. That reminds me" with a finger on his chin, he gave the second a curious look. "Who exactly is that Tae again?"

Yoongi sighed deeply and squeezed his eyes shut. "This might be bad..."

"Huh, why?"

The eldest opened his eyes again. "Because Tae is a nickname for Kim Taehyung, the collateral and best friend of our current target."

"Oh....... Oooouuh! Sh*t!"

"Mhm, quite", Yoongi agreed. "It´s not gladly seen if we mess up our job because of personal stuff in this industry."

Hoseok gulped.

If one of their clients wasn´t content with the work they did he just had to run to the police, point with the finger at them and all hell would break loose. They weren´t supposed to make mistakes. Not if they all wanted to stay alive. Because even though their leader might´ve been a quite strong Blessed, nobody liked impure ones so most likely everybody would cheer at his loss. And being a Blessed under government´s protection wouldn´t save him as he had become a serial killer. With the both of them helping.

Then something else hit the redhead.

"Wait!" He raised his hands, eyes widened in shock and paused dramatically. "...Did you just say 'nickname'? Explain this to me please, hyung."

Yoongi groaned. He obviously didn´t want to have this talk right now, preferably never.

"...You know he always adresses the targets, their friends et cetera just like that - 'the target', 'the target´s friend', 'the collateral', 'the target´s lover' and so on?"

Hoseok nodded along so the elder continued.

"Well, he seems to do it to keep his distance, to not get involved or bond emotionally or however you´d name it. Because it makes it easier - the murder, I mean. He might seem to be a killer with a heart made of stone but we both know that´s not true. He built this wall to stay sane, to not break under his own Blessing. Maybe he doesn´t even realize anymore. Or didn´t, until now. Because first, it was 'the collateral', as always. But soon it turned into his actual name, 'Kim Taehyung', if we spoke about him. Since I know him that´s a first. Then 'Kim Taehyung' turned into 'Taehyung' and now it seems to be only 'Tae'."

Hoseok just looked at him, mouth agape and eyes big as plates. "Seriously?"

The second nodded firmly. "This might be either far worse than I imagined or turn out to save the boy."

"What do you mean?"

Yoongi lazily waved a hand. "Answer this for yourself."

There was some silence following, then...

"Our maknae might be falling for that Tae guy right now. And quite hard", the forger concluded. Receiving an acknowledging hum from the elder. "So what do we do now?"

"First, we need to make him realize his feelings. If we are right, that is. And then..." the small man with icy blue dyed hair shrugged and went away. "Then we might play a game that either costs us our heads or brings us out of this hell we call our daily life."

Jungkook was off.

How badly off he was, he realized as he sat on his bed and sniffed at the clothes he wore. The clothes Tae lent him. Tae´s clothes. He pressed the fabric of the foreign shirt against his nose and breathed in the scent lingering - Tae´s scent. It was a nice scent, earthy and at the same time light, airy. It smelled natural, positive, free. It smelled like home.

Jungkook froze, nostrils flaring. Did I - did I just ing sniff at his clothes?! Shocked and disgusted by his own behavior, he threw the shirt in the farest corner of his room, got out of the pants and underwear too, sending them right after. Now , Jungkook laid back on his bed and went back to staring holes in the ceiling.

And then he remembered... Sh*t! He stil didn´t have a plan how, where and when to take the target to a forced date. Meaning he had to get on good terms with Tae again so he could spill the beans about his best friend. Oh lord, please save me. But there was no way around. It´s just for the job. After it´s done, you never have to get in touch with him again. Still everything but peachy about it, Jungkook grabbed his phone and texted the brunette.

To: Tae

Subject: sry + project jikook (^^)

 

Message:

Hi Sparkling tiger, Killer bunny here.

Uhm... I don´t even know how and where to start. I´m just really really sorry I jelled at you like that. You didn´t do anything wrong, I promise! I just... had a bad day, I guess. Work is being very hard lately and then we were both drenched and cold and... I don´t know. I somehow snapped. But it was nothing personal, really, I had just so much pressure bottled up and... yeah. So, apologies? Pretty pleeeeease?

*regretfully bowing* Killer bunny over

P.S. Do you still want to help me with project jikook though, hyung?

He hated that message he wrote. The Jungkook didn´t do apologies. Well, normally. He waited for a reply but first, nothing happened. So he got up and put on some clothes again - this time his own. But he did not tidy up his room or anything. Then after maybe twenty minutes, his phone chimed.

From: Tae

Subject: sry + project jikook (^^)

 

Message:

Hey Killer bunny,

just to get to the point quickly: apology accepted! I am not one to hold grudges ^^. And of course I´ll help you! I promised, right? We just need to set a new date it seems as you ran away so spectaculary before we even got to it. So maybe we should meet somewhere else, where the nasty (actually nice) rain can´t bother you?

Sparkling tiger over

Jungkook laughed sarcastically. How could it even be so easy? He didn´t mean a word of what he had written yet Tae had immediately accepted his loosy apology. He quickly typed a reply.

To: Tae

Subject: sry + project jikook (^^)

 

Message:

Hyung, you are the best, thank youuuuuu!!!

Okay, I know just the location. I´ll text you the way. Maybe we could meet the day after tomorrow at 16:30? Btw why have you been late today?

Killer bunny over

The day after tomorrow should be fine, hopefully he had cooled down enough by then. And it shouldn´t sound too desperate though he slowly ran out of time to get the task done... There, a new reply.

From: Tae

Subject: sry + project jikook (^^)

 

Message:

Sounds good to me. What is that location, I´ve never been there. Now I´m very curious ^^

And just so you know, I spotted some dandelions and they were too beautiful to just pass by. I might or might not have lingered a bit to admire them...

Sparkling tiger over

Dandelions. Of course. Why could it never be a normal and ordinary reason with the strange brunette? He couldn´t help mocking him for that so he wrote:

To: Tae

Subject: sry + project jikook (^^)

 

Message:

Pffft, dandelions? Really now, hyung? Lol... Whatever. See you then...

Killer bunny over and out

There was almost immediately a response.

From: Tae

Subject: sry + project jikook (^^)

 

Message:

YAAAAH, Jungkookie, did you just laugh at me?! I will teach you at our next secret meeting, wherever you are taking me there! Better be prepared ^^

Sparkling tiger over and out

Jungkook chuckled at the message. And for a moment he forgot why he had even been mad in the first place.

Did you notice? How Yoongi went along with the steady changes of names Kookie gave to Tae and subtly adopted to it? #handing you a water bottle without looking bc secretly caring and noticing