“Hey, stranger!”

Semi very nearly didn’t recognise Kai when he popped up beside her on the plane, whacking her ankle with one of her crutches.  It was amazing the difference a pair of glasses, a different hair colour, and a different hairstyle could make.

“You’re not blond anymore,” she said in surprise, reaching out to touch his thick, brown hair.

“Blond is so last year,” he said as he settled in the seat next to her.  “These glasses make me want to sneeze.”  Seconds later, he did.

“But what are you even doing here?” Semi asked him.

“I’m going to be doing an internship with Seoul police department and improving my Korean.”

“Kai.”  Semi shot him a flat look.

“Ah!  It’s Kim Jongin now!”  He held up a finger with a goofy grin.  “What do you think?  Chose it myself – is it Korean enough?”

“It sounds like you took your inspiration from Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un,” she said helplessly.

The newly-named Jongin pouted.  “Now you’re making me seem totally uncool.”

“You never were cool, though,” Semi pointed out.

“But my job makes me cool!”

“Only when you’re tackling hitmen off roofs.”

“Or riding motorbikes.”

“You need a cool bike for that, though.”

Jongin paused to think about it.  “And what if I told you the password to get into most of the US’s federal security networks is Spongebob Squarepants with 5s for S’s and 3s for the E’s?”

“Now that’s just totally lame.”

“But it’s actually true.”

“Are you sure you should be telling me state secrets like this?”

“Okay, it’s not actually true.  The password had something to do with Squidward, but I think they changed it this week.”

“It still doesn’t make you cool.”

Jongin sighed.  “I’m regretting being assigned this mission now.”

“What, just because I think you’re not cool?”

“Well, that and I’m clearly going to be ridiculed on both sides of the ocean by you.”

Semi sat up a little straighter.  “You’d be cool if you told me what the mission actually is.”

He gave her a blinding smile.  “Nice try.  Since it’s actually related to you, I can tell you, but I think I won’t.”

A second later, he retracted that when he said, “It’s basically to ensure continuity for your case.”

“Why are you an agent when you’re terrible at keeping secrets?”

“I never leak the harmful ones and I’m good at leaking harmless ones that make me look like a bad agent so people think I’m terrible at my job.  It’s good at getting them to drop their guard.”

“Now that is semi-cool,” Semi admitted reluctantly.  “I hadn’t realised you were a manipulative little sh*t.”

They fell silent as Sehun joined them, carefully stepping over Jongin’s broken leg.  Semi’s brother looked tired and stressed, but he still managed a wan smile before settling into his seat and falling asleep.

Jongin didn’t speak again until they had been flying over the Pacific for an hour and a half.

“If I had my toolkit on me instead of the hold, I’d probably be able to take that window off,” he said, pointing to the reinforced plastic Sehun was leaning against.

Semi turned to stare at him.

“It would totally screw with the cabin pressure,” Jongin added.  “But isn’t it amazing that it’s only a bunch of screws and some welding that’s keeping this aircraft together?”

Semi’s stomach churned.  “Could you shut up?”

“I’ve actually done a parachute jump from a plane before,” mused the FBI agent.  “It wasn’t flying nearly as high as this, but it was really fun.  I was best in my class when it came to parachute jumps.”

“That’s cool,” Semi said weakly.  “Now can you stop?”

“I’m the youngest agent to have been sent on a foreign mission, too.  Is that cool?”

“Yes, Kai, now please shut up.”

“It’s Jongin.”

“Whatever.”

They were picked up from Incheon airport by a plain-clothed Jongdae.

“Kim Jongin?” he asked, scrutinising the unfamiliar face as he showed them all his ID.

Jongin grinned at him.  Jongdae stuck out a hand for him to shake.

“Chen.  We weren’t informed you were injured.”

Jongin grasped his hand enthusiastically.  “I jumped off a roof with Byun Baekhyun.  The landing was a little rough.”

Jongdae’s eyebrows rose, along with his respect for Jongin.  “I like you already.”

Jongin threw him a salute with his crutch and hopped to retain his balance.  Jongdae cracked a smile at him and tucked his ID away into his pocket.

“Cruiser’s this way.  I’m going to take you all straight over to HQ, and then you two can sit down and talk to Siwon and you can meet the guy you’re going to be working with while you’re here.”  He pointed to the siblings and Jongin respectively as they began to walk.  “He’s called Do Kyungsoo and he’s a bit serious, but if you can put up with Sehun pulling sour faces al