You walked with Kibum out of the Rogue Court headquarters, him laughing at a joke that you had just told. You spotted Sungmin a little ways away from you and waved.

“Oppa!”

Sungmin didn’t hear you. He was on his cell phone, talking anxiously to someone on the other end.

“How many time have I told you…” he yelled, waving his arms and gesturing angrily. He turned, saw you and Kibum watching him, and abruptly shut his mouth. He changed direction and walked into an alleyway, disappearing from view.

You looked at Kibum, troubled. “He used to be such a happy-go-lucky flirt,” you said quietly.

Kibum shook his head. “Being a Rogue changes a person.” He looked at you, concerned. “You won’t change, will you? I like you this way.”

You smiled at his worry. “I’ll stay the same if you will,” you told him.

You and Kibum continued walking in peace, until a ring interrupted the silence. You picked up your phone.

“Yeobosayo?”

“--------? It’s Ryeowook.”

“What’s up?”

“I’m just making sure that you didn’t tell anyone else except for the Heads and Donghae that Henry is the hidden spy. You didn’t, right?”

You nodded, even though Ryeowook couldn’t see you. “No, I didn’t tell anyone else. Is that it?”

Ryeowook sighed. “Unfortunately, no. Look, I’m really sorry to interrupt your date with Kibum, but I need to tell you that Yesung isn’t letting me do any more work on that microdot that you got from the violin.”

You paused. “What? Why not?”

Ryeowook hesitated. “Well, Yesung says that I got the majority of the information off the microdot already. He needs me to do some other techie work for Kangin. For now, the microdot goes to Key, my trainee. He’ll do some more research to see if there’s any more information.”

You frowned. “I don’t trust Key. He started off as a hacker before he got into the training program.”

“I’m sorry, -----------. There’s nothing I can do.”

You set off again with Kibum, a frown on your face. He grinned at you. “Look, cheer up, ok? Try not to focus on work matters when you’re not at work.”

You smiled ironically. “Can’t. It’s just the way I am.”

========================================

Kibum took you to a small, sophisticated eatery, where the two of you ordered some food and drinks. You were in the middle of quietly arguing about the proper way of cleaning a long-distance rifle when two familiar people walked in. It was Kyuhyun and Jaejoong, both with their arms around some VERY scantily clad women.

Immediately you and Kibum tensed up. To preserve the secrecy of the Court of Rogues, Rogues were not allowed to associate outside of work. Yesung had made an exception for you and Kibum, of course, since you had done so well on the Raid Assignment.

“Do you think they’ll come over?” you whispered to Kibum.

He shook his head. “No, Kyuhyun knows the rules. He won’t acknowledge us.”

Just as Kibum said this, though, a familiar voice drawled, “Well, well. Look what we have here. A couple on a date. How freaking adorable!”

It was Jaejoong.

“Do I know you?” you politely asked, clenching your fist under the table. If Jaejoong wasn’t going to follow the rules, you certainly were.

“Don’t give us that B.S. You know exactly who we are.” This was from Kyuhyun, who had made his way over to your table as well.

“Go away,” hissed Kibum. “Before someone sees us.”

“And you don’t think people haven’t already spotted you two, cozying up to one another?” asked Jaejoong. He leaned close enough to you so that you could smell the alcohol on his breath. As if that wasn’t enough, you glimpsed a half-full bottle of soju in Kyuhyun’s hand.

“You’re both drunk,” you stated coldly.

Kyuhyun glared at you. “No. I can hold my alcohol.”

Jaejoong looked at you through eyes that you noticed were blood-shot. “Yesshh,” he slurred. “I can hold my liquorrrr too.”

The women that Kyuhyun and Jaejoong had brought with them giggled. “Oppa,” one woman purred. “Maybe you shouldn’t drink so much.” She giggled when Jaejoong hooked an arm around her waist, which was barely covered by a thin scrap of fabric.

Kyuyhun laughed and toasted Kibum with the soju bottle. “Jealous?”

“That my date’s not a ? Hardly,” replied Kibum with a scowl.

Kyuhyun just sneered and lifted the soju bottle to his lips.

Kibum’s hand landed on Kyuhyun’s arm, preventing him from taking a swig. “Don’t,” he growled. “We both know what happened the last time you drank too much.”

Rage flashed in Kyuhyun’s eyes as he yanked his arm away. The bottle fell, smashing to pieces on the hard wooden floor. “That was a long time ago,” muttered Kyuhyun, anger lacing his words.

You looked at both Kyuhyun and Kibum, shocked. What had they meant?

“Gentlemen? Is there a problem here?” a waiter asked.

“No, no problem,” you told him. “We were just leaving.” You took Kibum’s hand and practically dragged him out the door, before Kyuhyun or Jaejoong could say something else.

==========================================

You and Kibum walked back to the Court of Rogues headquarters in silence. Once you got inside, you started talking.

“Okay,” you said firmly to Kibum, crossing your arms. “No way you say something like that to Kyuhyun and not expect me to notice. What the hell was that all about?”

Kibum sighed. “It’s a long story.”

You shrugged. “So start talking.”

“Alright,” said Kibum. “Kyuhyun’s been in Rogue Court for a while now. I’m not sure exactly how long it’s been, but enough to make him bitter as hell about the whole business.”

You raised an eyebrow. “THAT is what's been making him act like a jerk?! He’s tired of being a Rogue?”

“Let me finish,” said Kibum. “Now, a couple years back, there was a spy in the Court. Just like now. At the time, Kyuhyun was working as a Rogue in the Pusan station, not the Seoul station. So, this spy, he sees Kyuhyun getting stressed out, and he takes Kyuhyun out for a drink. Kyuhyun can usually hold his liquor, but this time, he was so stressed out that he kept on drinking more and more.” 
Kibum sighed. “You can guess what happened next.”

The answer dawned on you. “Kyuhyun told the spy…everything.”

Kibum nodded. “His next mission, his code name, a whole bunch of other stuff. Luckily, though, the spy was caught before he could do any damage.” He grimaced. “I think Kyuhyun asked for a transfer out of the Pusan station so nobody would remember what he did.”

You shook your head. “So he transferred out of the Pusan station so nobody would recall his mistake?”

“I think so.”

You suddenly brightened. “No wonder he got so mad at you when you said that. He’d been trying to make sure no one remembered that he wasn’t perfect. Isn’t it ironic that Kyuhyun was once tricked by a spy, and now he’s a spy himself?”

“Maybe Kyuhyun wasn’t mad. Maybe he feels guilt over his error. We don’t know that Kyuhyun’s a traitor yet, ----------,“ Kibum gently reminded you.

“The key word there is YET. I don’t have proof yet,” you replied. You remembered something. When Leeteuk was binding up your ankle after your practice fight with Kyuhyun, he told you to watch out for Jaejoong. A thought occurred to you. “Could Kyuhyun be doing to Jaejoong the same thing that the spy once did to him?”

Kibum frowned. “You mean, get Jaejoong so drunk that he tells Kyuhyun all of our information?”

“It’s possible.”

“Or,” Kibum added. “It could be the other way around. Jaejoong could be getting Kyuhyun drunk.”

The topic of your conversation suddenly entered Rogue Court headquarters. Kibum fell silent as Kyuhyun brushed past. He glared at you for a moment, obviously NOT intoxicated at all, and strode to the elevators, where he disappeared from view.

The other topic of your conversation, meanwhile, was outside and still standing only because of the two barely-dressed women near him.

As you and Kibum watched, Jaejoong burst into a loud, off-key rendition of a famous song.

“You got the wrong numbah! You got the wrong numbah…so don’t call me no MOOOOOOORE!!!!”

“Yunho tells me Jaejoong actually sings very well when he’s sober,” you informed Kibum.

“Ah’m sorry youuu got the wrong numbahhhh…”

You and Kibum winced. “Well, now we know who’s drunk and who’s not,” Kibum said thoughtfully.

You rubbed your aching forehead. You suddenly had a massive headache, probably because of stress…and Jaejoong’s singing. “This whole business of spies…it’s too much.” You were suddenly aware of how much you missed Henry. You and him had been so close during the training days. He would have known what to do with Kyuhyun.

As if reading your mind, Kibum suddenly smiled and hugged you. “Thinking of Henry?” he asked softly. “Think of the good, not the bad. He did a good job with telling us the information on that Rogue Guild warehouse.”

You were startled at first when Kibum hugged you, but relaxed and hugged him back. It felt good to have someone for support. It meant you weren’t alone.

“YAH! What the heck are you doing hugging my best friend? Did I say you could?” a voice demanded.

You laughed and turned around to face a scowling Donghae.

“I’m sorry, appa,” you said teasingly, “Can I hug Kibum?”
Donghae grinned but played along. “Hmmm…I’ll think about it.”

Kibum hid his smile behind his hand.

Later that night, when you went to bed, you kept picturing Kyuhyun’s defiant expression as he walked past you and Kibum. Was Kyuhyun maybe feeling guilty because of his mistake?

Or angry that someone had remembered it?