"You're coming with us today." Min Yoongi said, throwing a duffle bag at Jimin the second the door to Jimin's apartment opened. He was given a place in the same building as Yoongi, one that was probably owned by Jungkook. In the three months he'd been living in it, Jimin barely made any dent to the space. Nothing was out of place, nothing too lived in, no dishes out or personal souvenirs on the shelves. As if at any moment Jimin might pack up and leave.

"What is with you Jeons and throwing clothes at me?" Jimin said as he opened the bag to find a black suit similar to the one he wore on Kim missions. The material was thick and would hug his skin, equipped with neck and face coverage to keep him hidden and hard to cut in a fight. There was a pair of combat boots and a belt to hold knives or a gun in there too. The strength of homecoming nearly knocked him back. It'd been a long while since he'd seen clothes like that.

"Maybe we're just trying to help your fashion-sense." Yoongi said, letting himself into the apartment. Jimin eyed the older, assessing the way he seemed to always roll his shoulder like a past injury bothered it.

Since the night Jungkook took Jimin to the bar, his time with Yoongi dramatically increased. He shadowed the right-hand on anything combat or protection related, getting to see the inner ropes of the Jeon gang. It also meant that Jimin ran into Jungkook more often.

Neither of them talked too long with each other. Jimin needed the space, friends or not. It was dangerous to get close to someone he might get called in to kill - even if The Kim's hadn't contacted him once since he arrived in Seoul. That was the other thing too, Jungkook made Jimin question Busan as a whole which could never happen. Jungkook felt warm, he was so playful and hopeful and just naive in a way that made absolutely no sense to Jimin. How do you live in a world of crime, lead it even, and do that with any sort of kindness?

"Congratulations kid, you're graduating. We have a job tonignt and you're coming with." Yoongi said with a clap on Jimin's shoulder.

"Do I get any more details than that?" Jimin asked as his front door swung open again and Jungkook's advisor, Kim Seokjin, walked in. Jimin had only spoken with Seokjin a couple times. The older was a man with wide shoulders, power in his walk, and a confidence Jimin could only ever dream to reach. Yoongi grinned at a poorly covered hickey on Seokjin's neck. Seokjin ignored him.

"Don't get yourself killed tonight." Seokjin said, checking himself out in the entrance mirror as he walked past it, making sure his lips were still as crimson as his suit. Jimin found it endearing how no matter which reflection Seokjin walked passed, he never failed to make eye contact with himself.

"That'd be easier to do if someone told me what's going on." Jimin said and he felt Jungkook enter before he physically saw him. It was like something shifted in the air; a power suddenly pushing through the space.

"We're meeting with The Parks today." Jungkook explained, throwing his dark eyes at Jimin. Jimin saw them widen at his messy hair. He'd been napping before Yoongi busted in, loungeing in a long grey t-shirt Taehyung had given him years ago and some boxers. A blush grew on Jungkook's cheeks. Jimin grinned, swallowing a laugh that all it took to throw the mob-boss off guard was a little bit of bed-head.

"Surprised I sleep, Jungkook?" Jimin teased and Jungkook ran a hand through his thick curls. Jimin traced the movement, watching how Jungkook's tattooed forearm seemed to flex. Jungkook was wearing a simple black-t shirt tucked into a pair of cream pants with a matching suit jacket around his arm.

"I thought all you did was stab things and stare at yourself all intensely." Jungkook said.

"That does take up most of my time." Jimin shrugged. He looked again at Jungkook's tattoos and caught Jungkook staring at Jimin's legs under his t-shirt. Both men cleared their throats. Yoongi gave Jungkook a shit eating grin and Seokjin pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Jimin, go change." Yoongi ordered. "We'll tell you what's going on after."

Jimin nodded, turning to walk into his room and smirked when he heard Yoongi tease Jungkook not to follow.

It felt strangely nostalgic to strap up in the body suit. The material hugged his body, thick where it needed to be and flexible too. He grabbed his personal knives, sliding them into the belt and sighed at the familiar weight against his waist.

It wasn't necessarily the killing that he longed for from Busan, the blood was annoying to scrape off and all the fucking stares and touches and assumptions of him wanting anything out of his targets was unbearable most of the time, but the rush of confidence in his skill was always worth it. That feeling of being good at something and feared for it too felt euphoric. Like a singer standing alone in a stadium full of people singing back their song to them.

"Hurry up, pretty boy!" Yoongi's voice echoed, his hand banging against the door.

Jimin couldn't help but smile. Shit, he was starting to feel like part of the team.

When Jimin walked out, his eyes immediately went to Jungkook who was snacking on some of Jimin's food. Jungkook's chewing stopped and his brows flicked up, trailing Jimin's body. Jimin felt a rush. Without any of these men really knowing it, they were seeing the truth of who he was. An assassin. A killer. A tool.

"Damn, your ass looks better in that suit than mine does." Seokjin pouted and Yoongi barked out a laugh. Jimin couldn't help but join in and both Yoongi and Jungkook blinked at it. Was that the first time Jimin had laughed in front of the group of them?

"We got a run to do tonight, Jimin." Yoongi explained while he opened up another duffle bag Seokjin had brought and lifted it onto Jimin's kitchen table. He started putting together a gun and looked over at Seokjin to explain further.

"Yoongi tells me you're a pretty good shot." Seokjin said.

Jimin shrugged. He'd use some more colorful wording, but pretty good would do.

"The Parks meddled with a Drive drop off." Seokjin explained. "We had a crate from the Kims we were supposed to transfer to our dealers last night but The Parks interfered before I got there. Looks like we've been underestimating them."

"The crates gone." Yoongi said with a frown. "We think they might have dumped it in the river."

"There was over twenty-thousand dollars worth of drugs in there." Jungkook clarified. When Jimin glanced over at him, he could have sworn the younger boy's eyes darkened like he was admiring a blade. "And we're working with Busan on this, so it's money not only we're losing, but The Kims too. The last thing we need is a gang war from a whole different city."

"We need you to shadow us tonight." Yoongi added, finishing up with the gun and handing it to Jimin who blinked. "While we deal with this."

"You ever kill anyone?" Seokjin asked.

"Yes." Jimin answered honestly, taking the gun and slipping it into the strap on his waist.

Seokjjin eyed Jungkook who blinked in surprise. Yoongi, to his credit, didn't show any shock on his face, but he did flick his brows up at how fast Jimin had answered.

"I can lie and say no, if it makes you guys more comfortable."

"No, it's a good thing." Seokjin said with some hesitation. "Basically, we're meeting with their right hand tonight and she's supposed to have the twenty-thousand they owe us. Either they hand the money over and we look the other way, or-"

"We kill them." Jungkook said mid-snack.

"We can't let this slide since it involved The Kims." Yoongi said, starting to zip up the duffle bag before pausing, going over to Jimin's cabinet and pulling out more untouched snacks and throwing them in there too before zipping the bag up and slinging it over his shoulder. "If Jungkook doesn't have Seokjin and I by his side, it'll tip The Parks off that something's up. They're dumb but not that dumb. So, we need you to shadow instead. If anything goes wrong, shoot Hwasa and get Jungkook out of there. Got it?"

Jimin raised his brows, looking directly at their boss. Jungkook was clenching his jaw, like he didn't fully agree with the plan, but Jimin wasn't sure which part. Jungkook was young for a gang boss, and he didn't seem like the type to get his hands dirty too often. Maybe he hadn't had many reasons to. From everything Jimin saw, Seoul seemed to sit in some sort of cold war between all the gangs. Like a pot that was just about to boil over with no one making the first move to turn the heat up.

"Lot of trust in handing me a gun." Jimin said and Jungkook tilted his chin. They stared at each other and Jimin's already small apartment felt suddenly smaller. Jungkook looked like a kid to Jimin usually, but in that moment, he looked like a real fighter. Shadows flickered across his sharp face, his dark hair a storm on his head, and he stood with the confidence of a man in his element.

There was real challenge in Jimin's eyes, waiting for Jungkook to turn on him. He wanted the Don to stop his kind act and reprehend Jimin for stepping out of line. Could Jungkook initiate a beating? Would he be the one to do it or would Yoongi? His act had to end at some point.

"Do I have a reason not to trust you, Jimin?" Jungkook said, crossing his arms and Jimin heard his voice like it was brushing down his spine.

Seokjin suddenly got incredibly serious and the warmth in his usually kind face was gone. "We'll kill you if you turn on us."

"But. You're a Jeon after this." Yoongi added, his voice more reassuring than Seokjin's. "You with us?"

Jimin felt a scream coil through his head, balancing flashes of working under the Kims for his entire life with the three pairs of eyes now looking expectedly at him. It felt important, this moment, though he couldn't explain why.

"I'm with you." He said.

"Good. Then let's shoot this motherfucker." Yoongi said. Seokjin rolled his eyes at that which caused Yoongi to clap him on the back before they headed out the door.

Jimin lingered behind in his kitchen. Jungkook stayed leaning against Jimin's fridge. His hair was in his eyes and his arms were crossed against his chest. They stayed like that for a moment and Jimin was left with a storm crashing in his chest as he realized Jungkook was trying to find any lies in Jimin's words. When Jungkook nodded, seemingly not finding one, Jimin could only blink and follow him out the door.

* * *

Seokjin threw Jungkook a sympathetic look and Yoongi raised a brow as the three of them walked under a metro line, the train roaring as it passed overhead. Lights flickered around the semi open area of long steel beams and cargo carts creating two walls on either side of them with the Han River at the back.

Jimin had disappeared the second the four of them were on the site of the meeting. Jungkook's eyes met Seokjin's untrusting own at that. No one moved that silently: it was like Jimin had simply blended into the shadows around them. Their only tie to him was the earpiece that connected Jimin to Yoongi, and Jungkook swallowed the strange envy in that connection.

This past month Jungkook tried his best to run into Jimin as often as he could, looking up Yoongi's patrol routes so he could just happen to walk into them both. He'd thought about finding Jimin at the gym almost weekly, had even walked up to the door a couple times, before feeling so incredibly stupid that he always left without opening it.

The only reason he knew Jimin hadn't abandoned them now was because he felt him near. Like a different texture in the dirty city air or a sweet smell mixing with the River's salty own. He rolled his shoulders back and the breeze felt like his mother's hand squeezing his shoulder.

Yoongi touched his earpiece and frowned, looking over at Jungkook with a puzzled expression.

"What?" Jungkook asked and Yoongi just shook his head.

"Nothing. Jimin must have clicked it on accident. It went silent."

Seokjin sighed. "I can find him and kill him if he bailed."

Yoongi rolled his eyes. "Jin, no. He hasn't left. Probably isn't used to the earpiece, that's all."

"It's a bad idea you two brought him in the first place." Seokjin said.

"Thanks for your incredibly helpful input Hyung." Yoongi said. "Your timing is specifically a treat."

"Well someone didn't let me know we're bringing a brand new kid until an hour ago." Seokjin sassed. "What if he messes up? He doesn't have any experience!"

"Because someone was MIA all day when we talked about it this morning. Jin, whoever this mystery man taking up your attention is, I'm happy for you, but you've been gone for a lot of meetings. You can't get mad at us for making a decision without you. It's exactly why we need another on the core team."

"Can you two save this for literally any other time?" Jungkook said, running a hand down his face. His older members gave each other a look. Yoongi scrunched his brows.

"What now?" Jungkook asked.

"Just...don't freeze up out there, that's all." Yoongi said.

"I won't." Jungkook snapped back and Yoongi lifted his hands up in defense.

"What he means to say," Seokjin cut in. "Is that we all have your back here, Jungkook."

"I'm not going to freeze up." Jungkook grunted, ignoring the concern in both of their eyes. The last time he confronted a gang like this was over a  small territory dispute with The Jades two years ago and that one ended with Yoongi shot through the shoulder. Jungkook stretched his fingers out, the small gun concealed on his hip burning into his side. "Besides, nothing is going to go wrong. It's just a money drop off."

His mother was always better at meetings than he was. Cross-gang negotiations were always unpredictable. His dad's tactic was brute force when he was a Don, but his mother believed in peace. Jungkook was still trying to find his own balance between the two. He wished he could see Jimin; watch that strange calm that overtook him when he assessed any space he walked into or new person he met. He could use some of that.

"Boss." Seokjin said as a dark van pulled up between the cargo crates with a small gold snake at the bottom right door marking it as a Park vehicle. Two men stepped out the side wearing standard black jeans and some hoodies. They looked to be in their late twenties, maybe early thirties, and Jungkook felt a pit start to form in his stomach. Neither of them were The Parks right-hand.

"We do this quickly, yea?" The shorter man said, pulling out a single gray case as he got out of the car.

Jungkook frowned, glancing from the first man to the stalky Park behind him who was lighting a cigarette.

"They sent runners?" Jungkook scoffed. He cocked a brow and crossed his arms. "Where's Hwasa."

"Busy." The shorter said and his friend behind him snorted. Jungkook looked back at Yoongi, fixing the cuff of his sleeve as he did so. Yoongi gave him a slight nod and Jungkook instantly swung his elbow up, rotating his shoulder and with a single step rocked a fist across the runner's cheek causing him to stumble back and the case to drop from his hand.

"Fuck, what the Hell?" The runner said, spitting some blood as he cupped his cheek. Jungkook hit him again, blood covering his knuckles as the runner coughed, lifting his hand up to get Jungkook to stop.

"The Parks owe us twenty grand for the Drive you idiots destroyed. That case looks like it can barely hold ten." Jungkook said.

The runner smirked. "So what? You don't want it?"

"Careful." Jungkook said. His friend puffed his cigarette without so much as blinking.

"Give us back our men, we give you back your drugs." The runner with the cigarette spat. "Ten now, ten after we get them back."

"What?" Jungkook said.

"Don't play dumb. Give us back our men." The second runner said, a scowl crushing his square face.

"Jungkook." Seokjin said, clearly catching on that the runners were too calm. Too willing to take a beating. "Do you hear a clicking sound?"

"Jihyo, Ji Young, Taehyun, Somi, and Chaeyoung. Five of ours you beat up at your warehouse a couple months before they fully disappeared. So give us our fucking people back first. Then we give you your drug-money." The runner said. The friend behind him frowned, looking over his shoulder like he was waiting for something.

"Does Hwasa know about this?" Jungkook asked. "We had nothing to do with losing your men."

"Jungkook." Seokjin said again as the second runner let his cigarette drop to the ground, reaching behind him. "I swear, it sounds like a timer. Where the hell is that coming from?"

"We make this even a different way, then." The Park said. He spit on the ground before reaching for his hip.

"Jungkook, DUCK!" Seokjin yelled and this time Jungkook listened. Before either of the runners could so much as shift into motion, a dagger flew from behind the metal beams holding up the metro system and landed straight in the smoking runner's neck. His hand twitched and the gun he was reaching for dropped from his hand, clattering on the ground.

Park Jimin walked out from underneath the steel beams then and Jungkook froze. Jimin's entire face was covered by the combat suit except for his eyes - eyes that were clouded over in that strange calm Jungkook had yearned for earlier, only to be scared shitless by it now. Jimin walked out of the shadows like he bled of them, a second dagger flying out of his grip landing in the neck of the second runner. That's when Jungkook noticed Jimin was already covered in dark splashes of blood, though they blended in with the dark combat clothes.

His eyes met Jungkook's and for a moment Jimin seemed to hesitate before the taller runner weakly reached for a gun at his hip. Jimin moved swifter than any dancer Jungkook had ever seen. He crossed the few steps left between them and with a single turn he was behind the runner, hand in his hair. He slipped the young man's throat, cutting off the gurgling scream trying to escape it. With a second step, he finished the job on the other one, this time leaving a dagger piercing the man's chest.

"The case." Jimin said. When Jungkook didn't move, Jimin grabbed the silver box and tossed it above the river and away from the Jeon men. He flipped his gun in his hand and with perfect aim shot the middle of the case. Yoongi lunged and Seokjin yelled at Jimin to stop, saying that they needed that money for The Kims. When the clicking noise stopped and the entire thing exploded above them, they all quickly shut up. The case had been a bomb.

Strings of debris floated down into the ocean around them as blood pooled from the runners on the ground. Yoongi swore and Seokjin immediately ran to The Park's now empty van.

Jimin reached Jungkook's side. He slowly, carefully, pulled Jungkook's own gun out of its holster. Jungkook felt like his muscles lock into place. The whole Park meeting was a set up. Jungkook would have brought that case in the car with them - and then the bomb could have killed them all. Was Jungkook shaking? When was the last time he shook? When his mom died, probably. He had been the first one to find her when the fever took her.

He couldn't lose more people. Couldn't find more people he cared about dead.

"It needs to be your gun." He heard Jimin's voice like a distant echo. Jimin hesitated reached for Jungkook's frozen hand and gave it a slight squeeze. "This was an attack, Jungkook. They had hit-men hiding in the metro. It needs to look like you killed them, not me. It'll show that you survived, that you won. No one will try anything for a while if you do."

Jungkook was frozen, his ears ringing as streams of fire were still falling into the water at his side, the sound of the explosion a white noise. Instantly he was thrown back to two years ago when The Jades had ambushed them. Yoongi and Seokjin were walking with him, it was supposed to be a quiet night, get Jungkook's spirits up after a brutal encounter with his now Politician dad, when everything turned bloody in an instant. His ribs were broken, his friend shot in the shoulder, and Seokjin left on the opposite end of the fight when they were forced to run to get Yoongi out of there alive.

Jungkook couldn't move, staring at the bodies of the runners. Again. The blood. So much pouring out of them. And their eyes? His mom's had glazed over the same way. Jungkook's men were staring at Jimin who was still holding onto Jungkook's hand. "It has to be your gun, Jungkook." Jimin said, his voice so soft and so kind. "I think the bomb was meant to be a cover up after they killed you. Show them they were wrong to even try."

Jungkook focused on the feel of it, Jimin's calloused hand in his, so much smaller and more delicate than he thought it would be, and the feeling started to ground him. Yoongi was live. Seokjin too.

Seokjin high-jacking The Park van before the explosion alerted the police to inspect it. Yoongi started scouting the area in the meantime, pulling two other dead men out from behind the beams. Each of them had slit throats and emptied thin guns near them.

Is that what Jimin tried to say on the ear piece? That he found hit men? They died so silently.

"Look at the right one's wrist." Yoongi said.

Jungkook blinked, looking at the dead man's wrists where a small tattoo of a two red lines, a mark for Jade members, was tattooed on his skin. Jungkook's eyes went wide, going to Seokjin who was looking at him with equal concern. The Parks and Jades were working together?

Seokjin's frowned. "This is bad." He said and the engine roared to life to the van.

"We have to get out of here." Yoongi said, staring at Jimin.

"Jungkook." Jimin said his name softly, it was a whisper off his tongue. Jungkook's hand was still shaking. "Look away." Jimin ordered softly and to this, Jungkook finally reacted. He turned and listened as Jimin took Jungkook's gun and shot bullets into both dead men's hearts to get the message across when The Parks found them. Jungkook heard first the loud boom, second the ripping sound of flesh as it tore through the dead man's chest, and third the silence that followed.

Jimin gave Jungkook back his gun and his fingers brushed out of Jungkook's grip, slowly, unsure, and then Jimin's hand was gone.

__________
A/N:
Happy end of summer!! Hope you all have good semesters coming up if you're students and a good fall if you're not!!

Things are escalating, huh?

- Violette