“You really expect me to believe that?” Youngjae growled, already pacing the floor. “That’s utter bull! That can’t be true! You’re lying and it isn’t funny!”

“Why would I lie to you about this?” Jaebum asked calmly, his tone completely juxtaposing Youngjae’s, as he leaned against the doorframe of the bathroom.

“This is my dad we’re talking about! I know he would do nothing like this. You’ve got this all wrong,” Youngjae insisted as he yanked on his uniform shirt. Buttoning up the shirt proved to be a difficult task as his hands trembled from the anger and his vision becoming more and more blurry from his desire to cry out of frustration.

“There’s evidence,” Jaebum said. He was already in his uniform and actually ready to go, but Youngjae had been dragging this about all morning.

“Evidence that was just mysteriously dropped on Jackson’s desk! Did you even check to make sure that the evidence was accurate before you guys just started coming to random conclusions?” Youngjae turned to face Jaebum with a look on his face that was more pleading than angry. Despite his yelling, it was obvious to Jaebum that a large part of Youngjae was more hurt and hoping that what he just heard wasn’t actually true.

Jaebum sighed. “Yes. Mark checked it. All of it was accurate evidence, Youngjae. There’s pictures, financial records, database files and everything against him.” Jaebum’s voice was firm yet calm as he spoke to Youngjae.

But Youngjae gave no response. He just latched onto the sides of bathroom sink and kept shaking his head in disbelief. Refusing to believe any of it. “This-This is some bull!” He repeated and gripped the ceramic tiles of the bathroom sink even harder and clenched his teeth.

“Babe-” Jaebum had taken a step towards Youngjae, wanting nothing more than to comfort him.

“Go away. Don’t come closer,” Youngjae gritted, his voice wavering.

Jaebum stopped. He could only imagine the anger coursing through his lover’s veins as his entire image of his father was shattered completely.

To Youngjae, his father was no longer that amazing policeman that saved so many children from going down the wrong path. No. He wasn’t that hero anymore. Youngjae couldn’t help but feel nothing but brainwashed and betrayed. This man was the sole reason he wanted to be a cop. He wanted nothing more in life than to be like his father.

Everything felt like a lie.

When he thought about it, he felt a hundred times worse. Youngjae’s entire childhood was possibly paid for and funded by bribes to keep young kids in abusive homes. Youngjae couldn’t stomach it.

“Youngjae-”

“Go wait in the car!” Youngjae hollered. “I- Please! Please. Just go warm up the car. It’s cold outside… so it probably needs to warm up. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Even while he talked, he never turned to look at Jaebum. Just stayed hunched over the bathroom sink with his eyes shut tightly.

“You sure?” Jaebum whispered.

“Didn’t I just say that I wanted you to go?” Youngjae snarled indignantly.

Jaebum nodded once and turned around to gather all of his things in his bag that he usually carried to work. With that, Jaebum left the apartment to go warm up the car and wait for Youngjae like he’d asked.

 

Jinyoung had sent an email to their small team of seven to remind all of them about the mandatory meeting that he requested at 9 o’clock sharp. Having completely forgot about that, Jaebum was forced to drive as fast as the speed limit allowed to get to the station in time. It was unfortunate having Youngjae in the car who refused to even utter a word to him, but Jaebum couldn’t worry about that at the moment.

They arrived at the station five minutes before nine.

“Is this meeting about my dad?” Youngjae spoke suddenly as Jaebum began to grab his bag from the back seat. When the question fell from Youngjae’s lips, Jaebum faltered a bit. Meeting his intense gaze, Jaebum sighed deeply.

“Yeah, it is,” Jaebum confirmed shortly.

“Oh.” Youngjae sighed. His body became rigid and stiff but when Jaebum pushed open the car door to get out, he did the same. He couldn’t afford to sit here and be consumed by his thoughts about what his father did.

Because he was sure his father wasn’t. So why should he?

 

When Jaebum and Youngjae entered the meeting room, the rest of the team were already taking their seats at the wooden oval table. Jinyoung and Jackson were standing at the front though. Both of them giving a smile in relief when they seen Jaebum enter. That smile was short lived as they seen Youngjae with his lips pursed in anger as he all but stalked towards the table.

Yugyeom and BamBam (his name was literally so hard to pronounce that he himself came up with the nickname) chuckled to each other, seeing the little limp in Youngjae’s step from the previous night’s escapades between him and Jaebum. Their plan must’ve worked. They were instantly ready to tease the older about it. But similar to Jinyoung and Jackson’s reaction, their smiles dropped feeling the heavy, forlorn aura surrounding Youngjae. So for now, they’ll leave all of the banter to themselves.

Jaebum sat in his usual chair at the end of the table while Youngjae took a seat between BamBam and Yugyeom, pretending not to see the questioning looks they were giving him in his peripheral.

Jackson, being the annoying, childish prick he was, gave Jaebum a knowing look, even chuckling a bit. He could only snarl at Jackson, wanting nothing more than to punch the out of him. Jaebum was used to Jackson being an that pressed all of his buttons but Jackson took it a bit far this time. This wasn’t a joke to Jaebum.

Having witnessed the entire silent altercation between the two of them, Mark cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “I think we should start the meeting. now”

“Agreed,” Jinyoung said shortly. “Now, I’m sure all of you know exactly what this meeting is being held for. Today, we’ll be giving you a few more details about what we know. Our goal is that by the end of this, we would have decided what to do about this situation.”

“Decide? What are we trying to decide?” Youngjae asked quickly.

“You’ll see in a bit,” Jackson replied softly. “Anyway, like any other meeting we hold, these manilla folders are everything that we will be discussing today. It contains all of the evidence that has been presented to us and what we’ve found ourselves. You all can take one.”

Youngjae was reaching for one before Jackson could even finish saying that they could. Everyone definitely noticed but didn’t pay it any mind as they all reached for their own. They all knew this was Youngjae’s father they were talking about it. It was the elephant in the room. So ing obvious but no one dared say a thing about it.

“Okay,” Jaebum said. His voice cut through the tension in the air. “Get started.”

“Right. Well, we’ll start with the basics of the matter,” Jinyoung said before passing it on to Jackson with a slight gesture.

“About a week ago, some files were placed on my desk anonymously. I looked through them to find some of Jae-Wook’s financial records from about ten years ago all the way up to recently. Both men and women. There were also some pictures of Jae-Wook meeting with some unidentified people. These photographs had a date on the back of each one of them, also dating back as far as ten years ago up to recent times. Jinyoung and I are sure that the dates matching up is intentional.”

The entire time Jackson spoke, he avoided direct eye contact with Youngjae. Even though the latter was staring at him with an undeniable intensity to his gaze, Jackson, faltering just a bit every once in a while, refused to meet the stare. It wasn’t until Jackson mentioned the dates matching up on the pictures and financial records did Youngjae redirect his gaze down to the contents manilla folder.

“The evidence was pointing towards Jae-Wook accepting bribes, correct?” Yugyeom asked with a furrow of his brow while looking at the financial records closely. Even though Jaebum had seen the files previously, he looked again.

“Yes,” Jinyoung confirmed. “The dates of these pictures being taken match up the dates of large sums of money being deposited in Jae-Wook’s account with about a one or two day difference. However…” Jinyoung paused for a second. Unlike Jackson, he wasn’t afraid to look Youngjae in the eye. Jinyoung wanted the rookie to know exactly what his father did and didn’t want Youngjae denying the obvious simply because this was his father.

So Jinyoung continued to speak while looking in Youngjae’s direction, his gaze shifting to BamBam and Yugyeom occasionally as to not make Youngjae uncomfortable. He wasn’t looking to make him feel uneasy. Just wanted him to face the truth. Look the truth right in the eye and accept it.

“Jackson and I definitely considered the fact that this evidence could be fake or tainted with for the intention of simply ruining Jae-Wook’s career so we called Mark. We asked him to go into the databases and look into his files and gather all of the information he can about the places he was dispatched to within a ten year period. Mark also did us a favor and recorded the cases where Jae-Wook was dispatched but nothing ever came of it. Let’s just say… we found that the evidence was true, but there was more to it than some bribes. You can flip pass the financial records and photos to find what I’m referring to.”

Jaebum knew this was coming. This morning, he hadn’t told Youngjae the entirety of the situation. He’d completely left out the fact that Yoongi was involved and that there was a high possibility that his father is actually Min Yoongi’s target. He didn’t want to be the one to have to deliver that type of news.

“... Min Yoongi?” It was BamBam’s voice that asked it. Only the three rookies were unaware of this. Mark, Jinyoung, Jaebum, and Jackson already knew. While BamBam and Yugyeom shared a shocked glance with one another, Youngjae’s gaze shot to Jaebum. Asking him if he knew about this all along.

Jaebum gave an inaudible sigh as his answer.

“What is all of this saying?” Youngjae questioned shakily, his stare snapping to the two officers standing at the front of the room. Jinyoung had his arms folded with an expression that showed that he wasn’t bothered at all. Jackson seemed a bit concerned though. “Say something!”

“Why don’t you see for yourself?” Jinyoung scoffed. “It’s simple. These dates also correlate with the pictures and financial deposits. Your father has been accepting bribes from abusive families for years. Leaving innocent children in abusive homes for a couple hundred dollars. And yes, one of those kids was Min Yoongi. That poor boy called nine times in the span of a month and a half and nothing ever came of it. He is the reason Yoongi is who he is and-”

“Jinyoung, that’s enough,” Jaebum snapped. “I think he gets it.”

“No,” Youngjae said. “I don’t get it. But, it’s true.”

At that, Jinyoung smirked. Excited that Youngjae easily accepted everything without refusing to believe it.

But what Jinyoung didn’t know was that Youngjae was most definitely having trouble accepting all of this. It wasn’t as simple as just accepting it. It was deeper than that. All of the thoughts he’d had about his father had been destroyed and replaced by some corrupted… son of a . That completely disregards his job for money. This was not hhihs father.

Mark, always being the one that wanted to keep the peace, motioned to get Jackson and Jinyoung to continue. “You mentioned at the beginning of the meeting that there was something that we had to decide. You should discuss that.”

Jaebum couldn’t be more grateful to have Mark here. There’d be a disaster without him.

“Ah, yes,” Jackson began quickly, seemingly eager to get shift the conversation to something else before realizing that moving the conversation along only meant digging that hole that they were all in with Youngjae even deeper. “Well… before that, we have to discuss something else. We know that this information is from Yoongi. There’s no doubt about that fact.”

Jaebum remembered the little note that Jinyoung had showed him a few days earlier. He really hoped that Jinyoung wouldn’t show that to the rookies and keep that hidden. For now at least.

“This is personal to Yoongi,” Yugyeom began with a gentle yet firm voice. “He knows that Jae-Wook is the officer that left him there with his uncle. These pictures show that he’s been plotting against Jae-Wook for an incredibly long time. I mean, the first photo was taken about a month after Yoongi’s last call to the cops… To put it simply, Jae-Wook’s in danger.”

“Right,” Jinyoung said. “And that leads us to our decision. We have to choose whether or not we protect Jae-Wook or leave it all alone.”

“That’s easy, right? Just protect him?” BamBam said with an uneasy chuckle. But it was more like a question than a statement. Confusion etched into his tone rather than relief.

“But it isn’t that easy,” Jaebum pitched in. “Because if we choose to protect Jae-Wook and put him into witness protection or have some other cops stand guard around his house, we still need to give reasoning for this. Meaning that we would have to present all of this evidence to our higher-ups to show them why Jae-Wook needs protection. It’ll end up with him in jail for a long time and his reputation completely tarnished but at least he’ll be safe and away from Yoongi.”

“ Or… we act as if we don’t have any of this evidence at all… And we allow whatever may happen to Jae-Wook… happen.” By the sound of Jinyoung’s voice, it was obvious which choice he preferred. Jaebum wanted to jump in again but decided that this was Youngjae’s battle. Not his.

“You mean allow Yoongi to kill him?” BamBam squeaked. “Because we all know that’s what’s going to happen.” Youngjae just stared at Jackson and Jinyoung, his right eyelid twitching from the stress.

“I mean at least he’ll still have his reputation, right? Well… that’s not even guaranteed,” Jinyoung scoffed in amusement.

At that, Youngjae snapped.

“What the hell is your problem!?” Youngjae yelled bringing his palms down as hard as he could onto the table as he stood up to stare right back at Jinyoung. And while everyone else in the room were a bit startled by the suddenness of it all- hell even Jaebum jumped a bit- Jinyoung stayed stationary. Returning Youngjae’s menacing glare with one just as threatening.

“You think this is funny? This is my father we’re talking about. Have some goddamn respect!”

“I don’t give a about respecting that man!” Jinyoung shot back with just as much fire and anger in his voice, if not more. “I’m from an abusive home, myself. But I was saved. Given a family that actually cared about me. All kids deserve that! I honestly don’t think this guy deserves anything but a ing kick in the balls. He’s shattered the hopes of children that put their full trust in him! To save them! To help them! But he didn’t! He took bribes and turned the other way. That’s bull and I don’t care if he’s your father! He’s a son of a ! I don’t think he deserves anything less than death. It makes it all the more perfect that the person who will get to kill him is one of the children he’s wronged.”

The room was silent. So Jinyoung did have a personal connection to this; he was from an abusive home too.

“Both of you,” Mark stood and spoke. “Just calm down… Since this is Youngjae’s father, we should give him the choice with all of this. Right?” Mark looked between the two of them, beckoning the both of them to agree to his agreement.

Jinyoung just shrugged before rolling his eyes. “Yeah, he should do the honors of choosing what happens to the bastard… Ain’t like whatever he chooses will end good for his father.” His voice was maliciously sarcastic.

Mark looked to Youngjae. “You can choose. If you want us to protect him, we’ll give this evidence to the higher-ups and they’ll put him in jail and will most definitely have his reputation dragged through hell and back but he’ll be safe. Or, we do nothing. It’s up to you.”

Jaebum knew even though Mark had given Youngjae ahold of the reigns on the entire situation, it must be a huge burden for Youngjae to carry. Deciding the fate of his father. It had to be weighing hard on him right now. So he promised himself that he’ll be here right here for Youngjae through it all.

He really loved this rookie.

“Okay,” Youngjae whispered.

Mark nodded and sat back down, looking to Jaebum to just end the meeting already. Jaebum couldn’t be happier to do so honestly.

“Alright… Meeting dismissed.”

 

Yoongi was in the kitchen sitting at the island watching Jin cook and Namjoon attempt to help out- it was quite relaxing and amusing to watch if Yoongi was being honest- when their older sister, Hyuna, arrived at the penthouse.

Hyuna was four years older than Namjoon and if anyone had a strict childhood, it was her. Even more than Namjoon did and that was saying a lot. Bon-Hwa pushed Hyuna to farther feets than Namjoon because she was a woman and Bon-Hwa felt that she needed to do more to prove that she was worthy. Yoongi had watched her experience more than just a few mental breakdowns and panic attacks when they were younger.

Yoongi used to worry about her. A lot. But now here was no need.

Hyuna was the reason Bon-Hwa hired women. After he’d seen just how powerful, intelligent, deligent Hyuna had become, he had a newfound respect for women in general. Realizing that with enough effort and determination, a woman could become just as strong as a man despite all of the physical shortcomings.

She was an incredibly strong woman that prefered to work in the shadows of the mafia than being public with her power.

About 80% of the men associated with the 7 Point Syndicate had never even seen Hyuna. They knew about her though and, quite frankly, they never desired to see her in person anyway. Because when you saw Hyuna, you knew there was trouble somewhere. There were countless stories that circulated around the mafia about how ruthless Hyuna was when she had to been called from the shadows to deal with something.

To put it simply, she was the Byun Asami of the 7 Point Syndicate.

But for them, Hyuna was just their big sister that they didn’t get to see very often. Plus, Yoongi would be damned if he allowed himself to be afraid of his sister.

“Joon! Yoongi! Kook! Your beloved sister is here since you so desperately needed me,” she sang. Yoongi was sure she her egotistical tone was just her way of being annoying. “Meet me in the living room.”

Yoongi was the first to stand and make his way towards the living room after laughing at Seokjin pushing Namjoon out of the way and whispering, “Go. You’re too clumsy to be in the kitchen.”

“Tch. You’re so ing mean to me, Jin,” he said, his voice borderline whiny.

“I love you. Now go.”

When Yoongi entered the living room, Hyuna was already sitting on the couch with a cocky smile. Since it was literally one o’clock in the morning, she wasn’t wearing anything too flashy like she usually did when she came to visit or went anywhere else that wasn’t her home. Instead, she looked like she’d just got out of bed when Namjoon called her. Wearing some black sweatpants and an oversized shirt they were sure belonged to her boyfriend. That long hair of hers was tied into a half-assed bun and there were a few traces of acne on her cheeks.

But even looking like that, his sister still carried herself like she was dressed in a million dollar dress and an additional million dollar accessories. “I was called by my little brother so I got here as soon as possible. Oh, you have no idea how much I missed you.”

“Of course, I missed you too,” Namjoon said, hugging her briefly and sitting on the loveseat across from her. Hyuna directed her gaze to Yoongi when he didn’t give her the reply she had been looking for.

“What the hell are you looking at me like that for?” Yoongi questioned when he felt her gaze on him for a little bit longer than he’d like.

“I said I missed you,” she reiterated, her voice lower this time. Yoongi rolled his eyes at her childishness.

“I missed you too, Hyuna. Damn.” He muttered the last part loud enough for her to hear but she didn’t seem to care about his frustration as she smiled wide and pat the spot next to her on the couch with a sense of childlike excitement, telling him to come sit next to her.

“I’ll stand,” Yoongi said.

“You’ll sit,” she corrected, narrowing her eyes at him in warning.

“Fine.”

Yoongi reminded himself a few times that he only listened so easily because he hadn’t seen her in a few weeks. When Yoongi did sit down, Hyuna sighed. “So, where’s Kook?”

“Gone. The mission tonight went completely awry and Taehyung lost a lot of blood from a wound. He’s fine but he needs to go one of our physicians to get treated. Jungkook just had to follow,” Namjoon sighed in irritation, a slight tilt to his lips as he remembered trying to reason with Jungkook that he needed to stay there and wait for Hyuna.

If it hadn’t been Seokjin intervening and just allowing Jungkook to go along with Taehyung, Namjoon probably would have exploded. Which was rare.

“Ah, love. What a beautiful thing,” Hyuna sighed whimsically.

“No. Jungkook doesn’t need to be in love. Especially not with Taehyung,” Namjoon said.

“And you know exactly why,” Yoongi added.

“Ugh, whatever. I’m not having this conversation with you two again. I’ll just say this, Jungkook is not a child anymore. He’s gonna have to handle the truth one day.”

Not waiting for Namjoon or Yoongi to respond, she quickly moved the conversation along with a wave of her hand. “Anyway, let’s move on from that,” Hyuna leaned forward and fixed her shirt that had been falling off her slender frame. “This code blue you called me about, I already thought about everything we should do while I was on the way here. You should call Seokjin and Hoseok down so they can listen to.”

Since he was literally in the next room over, Seokjin heard his name and softly announced that he would be right there and that he only needed to take the last pot off of the stove before he went anywhere.

Hoseok was supposedly upstairs helping Jimin into Yoongi’s bed.

Of course, Yoongi put up a fight and openly expressed how much he didn’t want the stupid boy sleeping in his bed. But he had forgotten all about the fact that Jimin had that disease and needed to be in the cleanest environment possible.

“If you feel like driving thirty ing minutes to bring him home then feel free to ing do so,” Seokjin snapped when he decided that he’d had enough of Yoongi’s useless whining about the situation. “Your room is probably the most clean right now so that’s where he’s going to be sleeping. He has CVID and he saved Taehyung and Jungkook’s asses tonight, the least you could do is lend him your bed for the night.”

Yeah, Yoongi had lost that argument so Jimin would be sleeping in his bed tonight whether Yoongi liked it or not.

Yoongi was already getting ready to stand and go get Hoseok from upstairs himself, but the sound of footsteps descending the stairs stopped him.

“Jimin is all set and in bed,” Hoseok announced. “I feel a bit bad for him. He’s in a pretty bad shock. He wouldn’t even talk that much.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine. Tonight was a lot for him though,” Seokjin said as he entered the living room from the kitchen. He smiled sweetly to Hyuna who blew Jin a quick kiss as a silent greeting before sitting on the love seat with Namjoon. Well, on Namjoon.

“Had to be a lot if he asked for sleep of all things for a reward,” Yoongi scoffed. He shifted around on the couch to allow Hoseok some space to sit.

“Don’t break the boy before he could contribute anything. I heard he had a lot of potential,” Hyuna said seriously, alternating her gaze around to look at everyone. Starting with Namjoon who was sitting across from her and ending with Hoseok who was sitting next to her.

“Of course,” they all agreed.

With a gruff clearing of , Hyuna’s tone shifted from a teasing seriousness to a tone that was stern and tyrannical. Almost like she ran this whole thing. But even Namjoon would admit with some reluctance that to a certain extent, that claim was true.

“Like I was saying before, this has to be serious for a code blue and I already have some ideas about how to deal with it.”

“So listen closely,” she said. “First, out with the old and in with the new. Daddy’s gonna be over the empire for maybe the next five to ten years before he officially retires and leaves everything to you. So over the course of these five to ten years, we gradually get rid of Daddy’s men that keep challenging you and train some new, fresh recruits. We can’t just purge though, we have to do it slowly but surely so no one notices. Give those es that keep challenging you one warning. Keep a close eye on them and if something happens then… oops, they’re gone and replaced in an instant. Got that?”

“Keep a close eye on all of the men we suspect to be in any foul play and aren’t loyal to us and gradually get rid of them,” Namjoon reiterated. “Got it.”

“Don’t just go on a killing spree though,” Hyuna said. “We need this to go smoothly. So give em a warning and if they still choose not to be loyal, then that’s it. They die. Also, get Jungkook to talk to Daddy. We all know Jungkook’s his favorite and if Kook talks to him then he’ll be open to anything we do.”

They all knew this was true. Bon-Hwa loved Jungkook the most and it wasn’t just obvious because of how much their father spoiled the youngest but also because he quite often says it. Just so blatantly.

“Kookie, my favorite son.” he would say.

Yoongi and Namjoon chuckled.

“Okay, what else?” Jin said as he nodded.

“Second one is for Yoongi.” Hyuna turned to look at Yoongi pointedly.

“What?” He answered. “What about me?”

“It’s about Jae-Wook. Get rid of him. Quickly. I know you wanted to watch his downfall and all that but he’s causing too much trouble. I want him dead in the next few days. Alright?”

Yoongi rolled his eyes and sighed. He was looking forward to watching Jae-Wook’s world crumble around him while he got to laugh from the sidelines as Jae-Wook tried to fix it. But he could see what Hyuna was saying. Jae-Wook was causing too much ing trouble for them and he just needed to be buried six feet under already.

“Alright,” he agreed without a fight. Hoseok gave a silent look at how easily Yoongi gave in. He wasn’t expecting that.

“Better start planning that perfect method of murder right now. I expect a nice, detailed story about exactly what you did to end that er’s life. It’s about time he paid for what he did to you,” Hyuna chuckled with an encouraging smile.

Hyuna nor anyone else in that living room besides Yoongi had any connection to Jae-Wook. Hell, half of them had never even seen the man in the first place. But if Jae-Wook hurt Yoongi in some way, then they all had a problem with him.

“You know it.” Just hearing the smirk in Yoongi’s words made the other chuckle a bit.

“That leads to the third and last point. You guys need to figure out who the hell Jae-Wook is working with and figure out if there are any others we need to worry about so we can deal with that immediately. We don’t need trouble on the inside and outside.” Hyuna paused for a moment seemingly allowing everything she said to just settle in everyone’s minds first before she made a startled sound like she had forgot to say something.

“Oh! I also want to meet Jimmy.”

“Who the hell is Jimmy?” Yoongi asked.

“She means Jimin,” Namjoon said. “And he’s upstairs. Should be sleeping so you’ll have to see him another time.”

“Aww,” she said with a light pout to her lips. It was odd to see her lips not glossed over and colored with some type of lipstick but it was refreshing too. Glancing up at the clock on the wall above the archway leading back into the kitchen, Hyuna sighed. “Well I’m tired. You guys remember those three things and we’ll get this code blue under control in no time. So for the next 22 hours or so, you guys get a day off. Because tomorrow… we’re gonna be really busy. So prepare. And prepare little Jimmy too.”

“Jimin,” Namjoon corrected.

“Jimmy,” Hyuna said again as she stood. “Come, come, Seokjin. Walk me to the door, please. You’re my favorite.”

Jin didn’t give it a second thought. He jumped from Namjoon’s lap so quickly that the latter was actually quite offended. And with that, Jin and Hyuna were ambling towards the front door, talking quietly amongst themselves. Probably just gossip.

Because Yoongi knew how the two of them were. Hyuna and Seokjin alone, always meant gossip.

Yoongi chuckled to himself and stood up to stretch out his muscles that had cramped up from sitting down for so long. That’s why Yoongi prefered to stand but, no, Hyuna just had to be… her.

“Where you going?” Hoseok asked, standing from the couch too.

“To bed. I’m ing tired.”

“Well make sure you-” Namjoon began, but Yoongi groaned before he could finish already knowing where this was going.

“I know, I know. You and Jin have been telling me that same all night.”

“Alright and if you don’t do it, you’re gonna face the consequences.”

Yoongi was feeling childish at the moment. Very, very childish. So he just ignored Namjoon and stomped away and purposefully stomped his way all the way up the stairs just so Namjoon could hear how much he didn’t care.

 

Jimin woke up to the sound of a door closing and the overwhelming smell of cleaning supplies suddenly wafting into his nostrils. He grimaced at the smell and pushed his face into the cloth of the pillow case. He didn’t recognize it as his own bed and immediately moved to get out of the unfamiliar bed, but then his thoughts finally caught up.

This was Yoongi’s bed. Yoongi’s room. And if he remembers correctly, these pajamas he was wearing were also for Yoongi. It made Jimin shiver in discontent.

As soon as Jimin had uttered the fact that for his reward, he only wanted sleep, Namjoon quickly called Hoseok downstairs, after he was presumably done cleaning up Taehyung’s wounds, to take Jimin upstairs. Jimin was so out of it that he couldn’t even recall anything that he did. The one and only thing he does remember is when he was ushered into a soft bed while Hoseok whispered the words, “all of this is for Yoongi. According to Jin, it’s most likely the cleanest room.” When Jimin was situated in bed and snuggled under the thick, freshly washed blankets, he was lulled into the deep sleep that he truly needed.

Jimin groaned quietly into the pillow at the disgusting smell that smells heavily of bleach. What the hell were they cleaning? And why the hell were they using so much? His mind instantly drifted to the possibility of cleaning up blood. Human blood. A dead body.

The smell and thought alone made Jimin’s stomach turn dangerously. Luckily he didn’t have his pollution mask on since Hoseok insisted he removed it, so if he did feel the need to vomit, he’d just run to the nearby bathroom without having to worry about the mask blocking everything.

Jimin began shifting around in the bed to get more comfortable in order to successfully will the thoughts of blood and a dead body out of his mind. He ended up in the same position he usually slept in: the fetal position. Half of his face covered by the blankets as he curled into himself, thighs pressed against his chest and head touching his knees.

Looking forward, he realized that Yoongi had a large window in his room too. It was overlooking the skyline of Seoul with the full moon high in the sky. As he stared out of it while he laid here in this unfamiliar, large bed that didn’t belong to him, he was reminded of his last day at home. In his own bed.

And just like that night, Jimin got the urge to cry.

But his thoughts were interrupted when the door opened once again and light from the other side of the door spilled into the dark room. Since Jimin was lying with his back facing the door, he couldn’t see who it was or what they were doing but he could definitely hear their voices.

“Be careful. Don’t wake him,” Seokjin’s voice hissed quietly as there was a light, high pitched sound, sounding a lot like a spoon hitting a bowl ever so softly.

“I got this.” That was Yoongi’s voice. Jimin decided that while Yoongi’s voice was pleasant and had the potential to be quite calming, he did not like Yoongi’s voice. That voice had only spit insults at him all night and did nothing more than hurt his feelings.

“God damn, Gi. How much disinfectant did you spray? I told you to spray a bit on the surfaces and doorknobs, not drown your room in it. He might still get sick from all of these ing fumes.”

The cleaning supplies was for him? Were they really cleaning because of Jimin’s supposed ‘disease?’

“You were the one who kept ing about how he has CVID and and how I need to get rid of most of the germs,” Yoongi snapped back, his voice a little louder than Seokjin’s whisper. “So there you go, no more germs.”

“Whatever. Just wake him up and make him eat some of that food. He needs it.” And with that, the door closed.

Jimin wondered if Yoongi had left with Jin but that question was answered when the bedside lamp was clicked on all of a sudden. He quickly closed his eyes at the close shuffling that was happening just behind him. Soon after, the shuffling halted and there were a few heavy handed taps on his shoulder.

“Hey, wake up. Eat this food,” Yoongi said gruffly.

Naturally, Jimin moved to stretch out his muscles that had become stiff over time and to emphasize the fact that Jimin was ‘sleep’ just seconds before. “Food?” Jimin croaked, his voice rough from its disuse, while he turned to lie on his back.

“You’ve been stuck in your house for almost your entire life, but I’m sure you know what food is.” That sarcasm in Yoongi’s voice was heavy.

Jimin maneuvered into a sitting position, the black and grey patterned blankets falling to only cover his legs now, and muttered, “Yes, I do know what food is.” Jimin was still rubbing at his eyes when there was something heavy placed in his lap.

“Well eat. I suggest you eat all of it because if you don’t Jin will throw a fit,” Yoongi said. While Jimin looked down at the delicious looking meal- he hadn’t had japchae in a while- he noticed that there were two bowls and two sets of chopsticks.

“This is for me,” Yoongi said, more to himself than Jimin, before taking one of the bowls and chopstick sets for himself. Jimin grunted and continued to just look down at the steaming bowl of japchae.

Of course it wasn’t poisoned or anything like that, it was obvious that the 7 Point needed Jimin, but Jimin couldn’t help but feel a bit delighted that Seokjin took the time to cook him something to eat. He hadn’t eaten all day. Not only did Seokjin cook for him, but he ensured that the room was clean and disinfected for him. Even if it was just because they needed him to stay healthy and content so he could stay loyal to them (Jimin was well aware of this), it was polite of Jin. To Jimin, while the cleaning was more for this fake disease of his, this dinner was something of a gift.

Jimin felt a little bit of warmth in his chest.

The left side of the bed shifting was what caught Jimin’s attention. Looking over, his eyes widened just a bit as Yoongi sat on the bed and propped his legs up on the mattress as he focused on picking up a few vegetables with his chopsticks.

This was Yoongi’s bed and room so it wasn’t much of a surprise that Yoongi would lay there. But it surprised Jimin that Yoongi would even want to lie in his bed while he was laying right next to him. There was a sofa and comfy chair situated in front of the window and Yoongi could easily sit there. But he sat here.

Jimin didn’t pay it any mind and picked up his own chopsticks to begin eating. But he almost dropped the damn chopsticks when Yoongi’s suddenly spoke up, most likely seeing how much time Jimin had spent just looking at the food.

“If you’re worried about germs because of that disease you have, CVID, right? Whatever. Anyway, you shouldn’t be worried because Jin got these dishes fresh from the dishwasher for you.”

Yoongi’s voice was a bit reassuring. Jimin gave a tight lipped smile. “Thanks.”

“Thank him, not me,” Yoongi said, deflecting the praise almost robotically. “It’s all because of him that I took literally the hottest shower in my life, brushed my teeth for about thirty ing minutes, put on the newest pair of pajamas that I have, and disinfected the hell out of my room. All because he didn’t want you to get sick. That jackass.”

Jimin couldn’t help but grin at how annoyed Yoongi sounded. This annoyance in his tone wasn’t the same as earlier when he was insulting him though. This was a more endearing and friendly annoyance.

“Eat,” Yoongi demanded. And just like that, the light familiarity in his voice was gone.

Because he was talking to Jimin, it was replaced by a forcefulness that only succeeded in intimidating Jimin and made him want to leave the room.

But he didn’t. He wordlessly obeyed like a good recruit would.

They began eating in silence and for the first few small bites of japchae, Jimin didn’t even taste it.

He didn’t like this. Not one bit. Jimin hated it. Hated feeling like he wasn't human around Yoongi. Like he wasn’t worth it. Like he was trash. Like he wasn’t doing a good job. He wanted to do good.

Without even thinking first, just working off of pure instinct and emotion, Jimin swallowed his bite of food and cleared his throat to catch Yoongi’s attention. And even when he did, Jimin didn’t look to Yoongi, just kept looking at the japchae that was cooling by the second.

“I’m quite surprised you’d actually follow his direction and do something like that for me. Especially since you practically ing hate me and think of me as trash. I would think you would want me to die by some simple disease. It would be easy for you, right?”

Jimin knew it was stupid of him to say. For him to just provoke Yoongi like that simply because his feelings were hurt. It could possibly get him killed.

But he deserved death, right? He’d killed someone else so he guessed that it was only right for him to suffer the same fate.

With a silent but deep sigh, Jimin continued to eat. In his peripheral, he watched Yoongi chew and swallow slowly before turning to look at him.

It wasn’t until Jimin swallowed the vegetables he was eating that Yoongi reached over to grab Jimin; pressing his index finger and thumb hard into either side of Jimin’s face to turn his face towards him. The sudden action made Jimin shriek as he looked into Yoongi’s eyes that were so angrily staring back at him.

“If I hated you…” The pressure on Jimin’s jawbone increased as Yoongi pressed harder and continued to talk. “You would have a bullet in your forehead by now. If I saw you as useless trash, your corpse would be in a dumpster somewhere.”

“S-sorry.” Jimin’s voice was small.

“Good.” When Yoongi said that, the pressure on Jimin’s jaw persisted for a few more seconds, almost like a reminder, a reminder for what would happen to Jimin if he talked that way to him again, before it let up and those same fingers that were so forcibly and dominantly pressing into his face just seconds ago were picking up the discarded chopsticks so Yoongi could continue eating.

Jimin felt the tears prickle and burn the rims of his eyes but he refused to let them fall as he forced himself to say something else. “S-so you don’t hate me?”

“I already answered that. Use your common sense.”

“Do you?” Jimin persisted.

“No!” Yoongi snapped. Jimin watched his hands grip the sides of the bowl and wondered briefly if Yoongi would pitch it against the wall. But luckily he didn’t. “I don’t hate you. You just annoy me with how… naive and weak you seem to be. You have too much potential to act so ing weak, Jimin. I hate it.”

Jimin forgot all about the food and just looked to Yoongi, mulling over his words a few times. Potential? Potential… Yoongi saw something in him. Something that wasn’t weakness and innocence.

Now that Jimin was thinking about it, it seemed that all of them here believed that Jimin had something… Potential as Yoongi put it. At home, with his mom, dad, Baekhyun, and Jongin. Jimin was nothing more than the youngest son that needed their protection and love to stay afloat. At home, they saw potential in Jimin but not enough. No matter what, at home, he would always be under his brothers.

But here… he could be anything. Be an equal.

“Will you help me get stronger then…” Jimin whispered.

Yoongi turned his head to return Jimin’s gaze with a raised eyebrow. The previous anger in his eyes was gone. “You’re already strong. You just gotta see it as much as we do. Then maybe you won’t be as annoying.”

If Jimin was seeing correctly, there was just the smallest hint of a grin there on his lips. Even from the small bit of praise, Jimin was ready to combust.