Waking up felt violent. For the past six years, Park Jimin woke up apathetically. Back then, getting up felt the same as being drugged. Hazy and distant, but aware enough of his movements to watch his life blur around him. This, waking up next to Jungkook, felt like being electrocuted in comparison. A violent rush of joy sparked through Jimin's system realizing Jungkook had stayed the night. Not just a feeling of security, but actual joy.

The sun was slicing through Jimin's window, draping over Jungkook's body and the rustled sheets. It cascaded the grey room in gold. Jungkook's hair was a mess, a crown of deep black curls that covered his eyes. Jimin blinked, admiring Jungkook. His eyes trailed the dark ink tattooed on Jungkook's forearm, looking at the intricate designs up close. Jimin was surprised by how much color and whimsy was in them. Like the tattoos were simply another spark of joy and passion in Jungkook's life. He wanted to study them forever.

Jimin stifled a laugh as he sat up and dug his hands into the edge of the bed, looking out his window. He closed his eyes, stretching his neck and smiled so wide that it hurt his cheeks. It felt like his bed now. His room.

"Morning." Jungkook's sleepy voice mumbled and Jimin felt Jungkook's fingers trail down Jimin's bareback. The touch was soft, using the back of Jungkook's knuckles. Jimin leaned into it the way a cat would, curling his spine. His grin widened into a beam when he saw Jungkook's looking at him so warmly. He reached a hand to Jungkook's cheek, pulling him into a kiss and Jungkook chuckled before melting into it.

The kiss was long. Jimin didn't want to rush through it, didn't try to push and pull too fast or cause it to snowball into something neither of them could control. He kissed purposefully, trying to squeeze every ounce of feeling he could into each brush of their lips so Jungkook could sense Jimin's joy and his wonder throughout it. When Jimin pulled back, Jungkook was grinning.

"What was that for?" Jungkook said, sitting up against the bed's back frame.

"You're just so - bright." Jimin answered. He wanted to bottle Jungkook's light and keep it close to him. Everything about Jungkook felt precious. His laugh, his openness, his smile, his touch, his kindness. All of it was like a scarce gem Jimin managed to carve from the rock that was his life - and he was starting to grow extremely protective over it.

Jungkook put his hand on Jimin's thigh, noticing the intense shift to Jimin's eyes as his thoughts grew murderous against anyone who might take Jungkook away from him. Jimin looked down at Jungkook's fingers, at the tattoos inked on his knuckles and the way they grabbed his thigh, causing dips with in the muscle, before trailing his gaze up to meet Jungkook's serious own. The mafia leader's expression was stern, his brows furrowed in a way that felt almost shocking to Jimin who had rarely seen him so focused.

"Jimin, about last night." Jungkook started.

"You have notes already?" Jimin said, hoping for a laugh. Jungkook blushed instead, squeezing Jimin's thigh again. Jimin watched him swallow, that serious expression creasing his face and Jimin felt his heart sink. Was this it, then? Was this the moment Jungkook told Jimin he was done with him? Maybe all Jimin really was good for was sex. The Kims seemed to want to teach him as much, funny it would be a completely different gang to make him internalize it.

"I mean you definitely could bite me harder next time." Jungkook teased and Jimin rolled his eyes, glancing at the dark hickeys and bite marks all over Jungkook chest and throat. His mind flashed to Jungkook's lips on his own neck and Jimin shifted on the bed, surprised that he was starting to blush too. Was it bad that Jimin had liked it? Liked being with Jungkook in that way? Did it prove The Kims right? God, his head was starting to pound.

Jungkook's eyes darkened and his thumb rubbed Jimin's leg where he held him. Jungkook flicked his gaze back up to Jimin's then, really looking at him. "There's obviously no notes. Jimin, I just - I meant what I said last night. You're safe here with us. Your past is your past, it's what happens from now on that matters. I wanted to make sure I said that when we weren't in the middle of, you know, fucking."

Jimin's relief was so physical it felt like someone had punched him in the chest. Jungkook wasn't The Kims. He wasn't Taehyung or The Kim Don. Jungkook wanted him, too. Jimin wasn't sure in what way just yet, but hearing that he could stay felt like someone threw him a life jacket after noticing he was drowning. He wasn't in danger here. Jungkook wasn't a threat. He was warm and kind and - he was a new home. Maybe the first real one Jimin had found since his dad died six years ago.

Jimin smiled. The sun was hitting his back and his skin felt so warm. He tilted his head back, trying to soak in the feeling as he let the voices in the back of his head comparing the two gangs wash away. After a long second, Jimin replied: "Honestly, Jungkook, if for some reason you guys stop trusting me and decide to do something about my history with The Kims, I'm really okay with going that way. I feel - light. I feel like a person when I'm with you. Like I have autonomy and a voice." Jimin's smile turned sad in the way that watching a sunset makes you long for the morning. "I meant what I said last night too, I'm not going back to Busan. I'm not a threat to you or your family here. I'm not a - I'm not a Kim. I'm not their whore, I'm not their tool, and I'm not going to keep killing for them just because it's the one skill they celebrate in me."

Jungkook's hand brush up Jimin's arm before he leaned down and kissed Jimin's shoulder. "You don't have to be one thing here." Jungkook said into his skin. "I won't have you as an assassin. I want you just as a Jeon which means contributing as a three-dimensional person with flexible skills. If you ever feel like I or anyone on the team is trying to put you back in a box, I hope I've created a safe enough environment for you to tell me."

"You want me flexible?" Jimin cocked a brow and Jungkook snorted.

"Yes Jimin, very flexible." Jungkook rolled his eyes and Jimin laughed. Jimin loved how Jungkook's eyes lit up whenever Jimin made the happy sound - like he was surprised by it and needed to soak it in before it disappeared. Jimin felt like an addict, collecting and hoarding a growing list of favorite things about Jungkook.

Jungkook's bunny-like grin returned. Jimin smiled back as he leaned down to kiss The Don, shifting his legs so that they straddled Jungkook under the covers. Jungkook's hands went to Jimin's waist as Jimin got on top of him, tilting his chin so Jungkook could gently suck on Jimin's neck. Jimin's eyes fluttered and his hips to start rolling between them. As Jungkook's lips trailed up finally meet Jimin's own, all Jimin could think about was how violent happiness felt rattling in a body that had spent too many years without it.

* * *

Jungkook listened to Jimin's shower click on in the bathroom. He sat, desperately trying to replace the sound of his hammering heart with the drum of the water. His hand was shaking as he got out of Jimin's bed, heading for the clothes he'd thrown onto Jimin's living room. Even his walk felt off-kilter.

Fuck, no one warned him how sore good sex makes you the next day. His legs screamed and Jimin's nails made his back sting. The muscles in his shoulders cried as he rolled them back too. Like he had somehow simultaneously won and lost a boxing match. Memories of Jimin's lips on his chest, his teeth biting his neck, his legs wrapped around Jungkook's hips, immediately overshadowed that soreness. Jungkook pulled at his lip ring with his tongue, telling his body to stop it because the flashes were making him excited all over again. If that's how good sex felt, he wanted to be sore seven days a week.

Jungkook swiped his shirt off the ground where he'd thrown it on top of Jimin's hoodie and it shifted a sealed envelope on the ground. He frowned, looking down at the white envelope. Jungkook's parents had fallen in love while they were literally trying to kill each, so Jimin being an assassin didn't really ring that many alarms in Jungkook's head. They had been rivals, his parents, not much different than him and Jimin given the new context. And Jimin could have done it last night, could have killed him at any point. He was skilled enough to pull it off and Jungkook was vulnerable the entire time, but Jimin hadn't so much as blinked at him wrong.

Jungkook looked back at the door to Jimin's bedroom making sure the shower was still on as he grabbed the envelope off the ground and flipped it over in his hands. He trusted Jimin, but who was sending him letters? Who used the mail at all, actually? It's not like Jimin was paying taxes. The Jeons were equally a corporation as much as a gang, which meant tax evasion was at the top of their necessary skills. So, why mail? Jungkook itched to tear open the seal and read what was inside. He wanted to trust Jimin, he did trust him, but a secret, clawing voice, deep in the back of Jungkook's mind wondered if Jimin's affection was all an act.

Jungkook put the letter up to a window, having the light shine through it so he could make out any words without having to open it. Guilt completely erased the distrust as Jungkook saw Jimin's scars through the cracks of light instead of ink. Jimin had so many covering him: some tiny, some violent. There was a difference between being hurt on a job and being deliberately hurt as punishment - many of Jimin's scars seemed to fall into the second category. Jungkook frowned, now looking for a threat in the envelope to Jimin rather than one to himself. Were The Kims already after him?

Jungkook finally found the right angle with the letter, a message visible with in the packaging as the sun hit it just right. His frown deepened. There was barely anything written there. Jungkook flipped it over again and found nothing more than next week's date - the date of his dad's political gala - and two words following it: don't interfere.

Not knowing what to make of it, Jungkook placed the letter back on the table. He looked back at Jimin's room one more time, hesitating, before leaving the apartment to find Seokjin.

* * *

Jimin really had to stop using the shower to hide. Steam was choking up the room and his skin was red as he continued to turn up the heat. He'd woken up next to Jungkook - happy. The second emotion that hit him once he stepped into the shower was shock. He had just fucked the head of Seoul's Jeon Mafia. Multiple times, actually.

Jimin ran a hand down his face, shaking out his hair as the hot water hit his back. Thinking about leaving Busan was easy, actually following through with it would be hard. What was he going to do when The Kims inevitably came to get him? When Taehyung did? Would they let him walk away?

Shit. The letter.

Jimin shut the shower off, throwing a pair of boxers and a T-shirt over his half dry body as he raced out of the bathroom. Jungkook was gone from Jimin's bed and Jimin swore as he ran to the living room. He snatched the letter up from the coffee table, flipping it over and examined the back only to find that the seal remained unopened. Jimin let out a sight of relief, tearing it open and pulling out a note that had a date and typed message underneath printed in think black ink: Don't Interfere.

Don't interfere with what?

Jimin frowned, heading to the kitchen and using the stove to burn the letter entirely as he tried to decode its meaning. He had to figure out what The Kims play was so he could stop it, but the letter didn't give him much to go off of. Usually, Kim orders were a hell of a lot more structured. Imagine a business email - date, time, objective, method, and background - all clearly stated as concisely as possible with photos even attached. What the fuck was this letter supposed to be? It was written like a toddler playing spies.

Still, if Jimin wasn't meant to be 'interfering,' then that meant the The Kims were up to something with The Gala that they didn't want him to know any details about. But why? Were they sending someone else so Jimin's 'cover' doesn't get blown? Why have anyone else come to Seoul in the first place? Jimin couldn't wrap his head around it, but his chest sunk at the thought of either Hoseok or Taehyung showing up in Seoul. Jimin frowned, knowing that he wouldn't let anything hurt The Jeons, even if it meant facing either of them before he was ready.

Jimin pinched the bridge of his nose, wishing he liked coffee so he could chug a cup of it. He made some tea instead, sitting down and getting to work as he started to profile the two men he'd grown up with the same way he used to map out potential hits.

* * *

"And then I said 'you're a Jeon' and Jimin kissed me back. Hyung, you literally wouldn't believe it." Jungkook said as he was lifting and Yoongi spotted him. Jungkook had so much adrenaline he'd already upped his weight four times. "So we go to his room after that, right, which like holy shit I'm freaking out the entire walk over, and then Jimin starts crying." Jungkook said as he finished a benching rep. Seokjin was dying on the stairmaster next to them, holding onto the rails with rightfully dramatic flair.

"You made him cry?" Seokjin heaved, reaching for his water bottle. "Was this before or after you found me to tell me he's a Kim Plant."

"A what?" Yoongi asked.

"Remember that assassin I talked about?" Seokjin said, gasping on the stairs. "Jungkook-ie here has confirmation that Jimin was The Kim's assassin. And, he doesn't seem to be worried about it."

"Sort of seemed to gloss over that fact when you first walked into the gym, kid." Yoongi said with a frown and Jungkook rolled his eyes.

"He was taken advantage of by The Kims. I already put Seokjin on finding out everything we can about them so we can get him out of it. That's not the important part of this conversation." Jungkook said and Yoongi gaped at him.

"That's not the important part?"

Seokjin snorted and Jungkook just blinked at his hyungs.

"Yoongi I thought you were Team Jimin."

"I was team Jacob too before he kissed Bella outside the tent." Yoongi said.

"Strangest place to put a twilight reference, Yoongi." Seokjin said.

Yoongi sighed. "Jungkook, I am 'team Jimin,' but I'm upset you didn't come tell me after you told Seokjin. I shouldn't be finding out about this while you're bench pressing and Seokjin's sweating out a river next to you."

"It's more like a pond, actually." Jin said, reaching for a towel on the stair master handle to dab his forehead.

Jungkook frowned. "I knew you'd be on board once you knew. Besides, you have found out sooner or later. Seokjin gathers intel, I'm not sure what your guns would do to help in this situation."

"I can help Jimin more with this context, Jungkook. He works under me."

"He works under me, actually. And so do you." Jungkook said, sitting up. After a long second, Yoongi broke his eye contact, putting his hands up in defense. Jungkook laid back down on the bench.

"So you made him cry." Yoongi said, going back to the earlier conversation as Jungkook picked up the weight again and started another set. A shit-eating grin grew on Yoongi's face. "What, did you aim wrong?"

"It was in a good crying sort of way. We just talked about Busan and trust and I don't know it was super emotional. BUT - okay, okay so then I was like 'get on the bed'-" Jungkook said, finishing another rep and hissing through his teeth to push through it. Yoongi eyed the bar, hovering his hands under it, but Jungkook managed to rack it on his own.

"You what?" Seokjin said as he heaved climbing up the steps.

"No it was like, cool. Hyung. Come on. I was cool." Jungkook said, sitting up and reaching for his towel to get the sweat out of his eyes and dabbing the back of his neck. "It was like, a trust thing."

"I'm surprised he didn't kill you for that." Yoongi said and Seokjin snorted in agreement.

"Again, it was in a sexy way. It was cool, I was being cool." Jungkook said in a you had to have been there tone. "So we, you know, fucked multiple times then showered and I slept at his place and I don't know, now I'm really freaking out. This has never happened for me before. What do I do next? Do I get him flowers?"

"Where is he right now?" Seokjin asked, slowing his stairmaster level down.

"I left while he was showering." Jungkook said, grabbing a towel and patting the sweat off his neck.

Yoongi coughed and Seokjin almost missed a step.

"Jungkook. You idiot." Seokjin said.

"I didn't want to freak him out by over staying!" Jungkook blinked. "Sounded like he's been through a lot and I didn't want to be overbearing!"

"So you snuck out after fucking him?" Seokjin said and Yoongi snorted.

"Hyung! Come on, you guys are twisting this. Jin you have more experience with guys than I do."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Seokjin said. "I'm not experienced."

"There's a hickey on your neck." Yoongi pointed out and Seokjin shut his stairmaster down.

"That's from CrossFit."

Yoongi snorted. "Since when do you do CrossFit?"

"Since I decided I wanted to double the size of my shoulders."

"The military's good for that, thinking of leaving us for it already?" Yoongi said and Seokjin threw his water bottle at him. Jungkook intercepted and caught it, opening the bottle and taking a long swing.

"Thanks for the pep talk." Jungkook whined, water dripping down his chin that he pushed back with the back of his hand.

"Is that sarcasm? Jin-ah, I think the kid is being sarcastic." Yoongi said.

"Is that right Yoongi-ya? Never any manners with that one. Where did we go wrong?" Seokjin tsked back.

Jungkook rolled his eyes, literally and figuratively throwing his towel in causing his older brothers to laugh. Jungkook took Seokjin's water bottle with him, ignoring his protests as he walked out of the gym and headed for the first flower shop he could find. With The Gala in a week and the new background on Jimin, Jungkook wasn't fucking around about getting Jimin to feel accepted here.

__________
A/N:
Sorry this chapters shorter, it felt forced to over write it just to make it longer! I hope you all have good weeks. We're finally at The Gala next chapter 🫶. I know this chapter was a lot more chill but hopefully the fluffy vibes felt warm!!

- Violette