After his talk with Yoongi, Namjoon decided to go down to the weapons room, grabbing a few blades to practice his precision while waiting for the others to return from their outing. He knew that he had to get answers as soon as possible, so he decided that he was going to be upfront and just confront both Jungkook and Charlie about their relationship once they got back.

As soon as he heard multiple footsteps coming from upstairs, he went to go get the blades out of the target dummy, taking a moment to put everything back in its place before he made his way to his room, hoping Jungkook was there.

However, he was not in their room, but there were plenty of bags set in the corner, untouched. He went to the next place he figured the newest member would be, walking down the long hall to reach Charlie's room.

Her door was wide open. Namjoon knocked on it before walking in, seeing Jungkook laying down on her bed while she was still organizing her clothes into her dresser drawers.

"Perfect, you're both here," Namjoon said, closing the door and turning back around only to be met with confused faces. "In this house, we appreciate transparency. We understand everyone has secrets, but if those secrets affect the other members of the household or this team in any way, then they need to be shared." Namjoon paused, waiting for a response, but both Jungkook and Charlie said nothing. They exchanged a glance with each other before turning back towards the blonde haired man in front of them. "How long do you two intend on sleeping together?" Namjoon asked, his eyebrows raised, indicating that he expected the truth from them both.

Jungkook sat up on Charlie's bed letting out a loud sigh. "I told you this morning that we are not together. We have slept next to each other every night for the last couple of months while living on the streets and used to sleep in the same room at our old foster home," Jungkook said, clearly irritated. Namjoon turned to look at Charlie to see what she had to say.

"What he said. He's my best friend, there's nothing romantic between us at all," she added before turning back to her dresser, wanting this conversation to end.

"So, let me get this straight. You two have known each other for a few years, have matching tattoos, sleep together, and basically have been by each other's side every single day, and yet, there is nothing romantic going on?" he inquired, trying to make sense of the whole situation. Namjoon was suspicious and made it clear that he didn't believe them. Jungkook stood up and walked closer to Namjoon.

"Why is it that a guy and girl can't just be friends? The reason why we are so close is because we had to be in order to survive, to stay safe and warm, something you would never understand." Jungkook looked Namjoon up and down, scoffing at how nicely dressed he was. He probably had everything handed to him and lived in a nice house his whole life, with no worries of wondering when his next meal would be.

Namjoon walked closer to Jungkook, causing Charlie to take a couple steps forward, worried about what was going to happen. "You don't know anything kid. We're a lot more alike than you think," he calmly replied. Namjoon turned to Charlie briefly, a small smile on his lips. "You got yourself a good friend, it's not always easy to find one that you can trust and depend on."

"I know," she said, trying to read the strange man. "How about you, got any good friends, Namjoon? Someone you can depend on?" she inquired, curious to hear his answer.

His smile widened, dimples making an appearance on his features as he stared at her. "Everyone in this house actually, especially Yoongi, since we've been through a lot together," he answered. "Well, dinner will be ready soon and it's never good to keep Jin waiting, so I will see you two downstairs," he said before leaving, making sure to close the door behind him.

~☾~

Everyone was finally seated for dinner, and it definitely felt strange for Jungkook and Charlie. Even when they lived in the foster home, they never really ate together. In fact, the Hellhounds rarely ever cooked, so Charlie would either end up making something for them or they would grab whatever they could find. The middle of the table was full of food, and both Jungkook and Charlie had to restrain themselves from grabbing everything. Once everyone had a chance to fill their plates, Namjoon, who was sitting across from Jungkook, spoke up.

"Let me officially introduce you to everyone and give you a rundown on the roles we all play in Bangtan." Namjoon started, gesturing towards the ringleader, who sat at the head of the table. "Yoongi, as you already know, is our boss. He tends to stay behind the scenes, so anyone outside of this group doesn't know that he's the one who pulls all the strings, but that doesn't mean that he isn't out on the field risking his ass. He's done many assignments before, only when it's something that he personally needs to handle though," he shared.

"Then, you have me. I'm the underboss, sort of like his right-hand man. I help Yoongi out with things and make sure that everything runs smoothly. If there's a problem, I take care of it, and I report back to Yoongi on any issues that we might have in our territory. Anything that I can't handle goes directly to him," Namjoon explained.

"Now, Bangtan stakes a claim in quite a few places in the city, and we have our small territory on the East side, but the main ones that we tend to focus on are the casino and the club. House of Cards, the place the two of you tried to rob, is run by Hoseok and Jin. Jin works on maintaining the legal side of things and making sure customers are satisfied with their experience at our lovely casino while Hoseok runs the underground operations in our hidden rooms, including gambling and... pharmaceuticals," he shared, gesturing towards the orange haired man who was taking a bite out of his food as he nodded in agreement.

"There are a few other establishments that help with storing and transporting our product, but the casino, as you may have figured, is our main source of revenue. Jin also works with experimenting on creating different kinds of, you could say, drugs, while Hoseok spends time on his days off from the casino perfecting our weapons, mainly playing around with making smoke bombs and explosives that we use on our missions," he shared, causing Charlie to glance at both Jin and Hoseok before returning her focus back to Namjoon.

"Now, Jimin runs Cliff Hangers, our... gentlemen's club," Namjoon said, pausing as he noticed Charlie's reaction. The girl's eyes flitted over to Jimin, who wore a playful smile before winking at her.

She scoffed at him, rolling her eyes. "Of course you would be in charge of a gentlemen's club, pervert," she muttered while Namjoon cleared his throat, hoping to continue explaining. Charlie apologized for interrupting, returning her focus to him as he spoke again.

"The club serves more as a place where we can gather intel. The girls there learn a lot through their interactions with customers and share what they discover with Jimin, which we then investigate further. And finally, as you already know, Taehyung deals with the tech side of things. He invents gadgets we use in our missions and makes sure we're safe. He monitors the base and all of our establishments and keeps track of all our intel. Am I forgetting anything?" he inquired, glancing at Yoongi who shook his head in response. "Any questions?" he asked, glancing at Charlie and Jungkook.

Jungkook shook his head while Charlie turned her attention to Yoongi, curious about how someone who looked so young was in charge of a notorious group. "How did you end up becoming the leader?" she questioned.

Yoongi glanced at her, forcing a smile onto his lips. "My father made sure that I was groomed and trained for this position and had been preparing me to take over for him since I was five," he shared.

"So he passed it down to you? Where's your father now?" she asked as she took another bite of her food.

"Probably burning in hell," he answered, causing her to slightly choke on her food at his blunt response. Jungkook quickly handed her a glass of water, which she gladly accepted before looking back at the leader. "He overdosed two years ago, so Bangtan wasn't really handed over to me, I was forced to step in," he added.

Jungkook's eyes widened while Charlie was speechless.

"Yoongi and I grew up in this life, we've both been training for this and preparing for our roles since we were kids. We didn't ask for this and yet, here we are, trying to make the best of a difficult upbringing," Namjoon stated, making sure to lock eyes with Jungkook, who quickly avoided his gaze. Charlie glanced between Yoongi and Namjoon, feeling pity for them since she knew what it was like to have your childhood taken from you, granted their circumstances were different.

"Since we're asking questions, I've got one," Hoseok chimed in, glancing towards Charlie and Jungkook. "What are the two of you doing here?" he inquired.

Jungkook and Charlie exchanged a glance before Charlie straightened up. "Well, we had snuck into the casino and Jin-"

"No, I know about that, I want to know why you're here. How the hell did you end up on the streets?" he asked.

Jungkook and Charlie looked at each other, wondering how much they should share since they still didn't know much about the men sitting around them. As much as she wanted to trust them and open up, it wasn't easy to do. Charlie still felt a little guilty for the altercation that took place in her room earlier with Namjoon, so she decided to at least share a little bit about where they came from.

"Umm, well, we lived together in the same foster home for a couple years before we turned 18 and were legal adults. Didn't want to live there anymore, and with no money and no place to live, we did what we had to in order to survive. Got busted breaking into your casino and after being offered a place to sleep and good food... how could we say no?" Charlie finished, hoping her story was enough to satisfy their questions.

"So did either of you know your biological parents?" Jin chimed in and asked.

"Not really," Jungkook said. "They died in a car crash when I was about 3." All eyes then turned to Charlie, who really didn't want to talk about her mother abandoning her or her father, who got taken away from her when her fucking teacher reported him for being an unfit parent. Her father loved her and he struggled to get by, but he always made sure Charlie felt safe and loved.

Taehyung noticed how uncomfortable Charlie was and assumed that this was a touchy subject, especially after looking through her file. Knowing the answer to the question himself, he decided to ease the tension by sharing his story.

"I never knew my parents either," he spoke up, earning a look from Jungkook. "I was told that my mom had me when she was very young and couldn't take care of a baby, so she dropped me off at the adoption house in town, where I lived until I was kicked out at 18. Lived on the streets for a little bit too before I ran into this weirdo," Taehyung shared, nudging Jimin, who was sitting next to him.

"Hey!" Jimin shouted, pretending to be offended by his words while Taehyung simply laughed. "You're lucky you're my best friend," he uttered before smiling at him. "Well, my situation was different, and I'm probably going to sound like a spoiled kid," Jimin shared, chuckling as he took a drink from his water before setting it down. "I grew up with parents who liked me, for the most part. I had a roof over my head and could get anything I wanted. My dad's a businessman and taught me some stuff about running a business, which is why I'm able to run the club smoothly. I still keep in touch with him, but he doesn't know about the details of my life," he admitted. He looked at Taehyung again before resuming his story. "Anyway, one day, I met this crazy kid. He would always be hanging around the arcade, I would sometimes go too with my friends after school, so we became friends fairly quickly. Found out he was living on the streets and kinda let him live with me for a bit. He was always breaking things apart and piecing them back together. He would even use my computer to do his weird, hacking shit," Jimin teased.

"That hacking shit is the reason you are here," Taehyung interrupted, turning back to Jungkook and Charlie to explain. "Namjoon saw what I could do and recruited me. Offered me all the tech I could want so I agreed, but as long as Jimin could come with," he said while Jimin nodded in agreement.

"Why join the mafia if you already had everything though?" Jungkook asked Jimin.

"I may have had a cozy life, but it never had meaning until I came here. I feel like I can actually help people here, be a part of something more," Jimin said, sounding serious for the first time since Jungkook and Charlie had met him.

Charlie's eyes moved over to the next member who hadn't spoken, Jin. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath.

"Well, I wasn't exactly recruited. My family was in some trouble and needed money, which I didn't have, so I went searching for it in all the wrong places. When I first met Yoongi, he beat the shit out of me because I almost ruined his mission," he shared. Both Jin and Yoongi chuckled a bit, remembering the old memory. "I practically begged him to let me in so I could help my family. Thankfully, he accepted and decided to put me in charge of the casino." Jin looked over to Yoongi. "Do you remember what you said to me that night?" he asked before Yoongi smiled and nodded.

"I said that people like you don't survive in this business and that I didn't want to take the risk," he replied.

"And here I am...still alive," he said, staring at the leader. Jin and Yoongi chuckled while Charlie couldn't help but to smile, looking at Jungkook who had a small smile as well.

"What about you Hoseok?" Charlie turned towards the last member who had barely spoken all night. She was dying for answers after he practically tried to kick her out. He looked up at her with an uneasy expression and the mood shifted.

"I just did what I needed to do to stay alive," he uttered. Hoseok looked back at his plate and continued eating, letting everyone know that he was done talking.

The tension in the air was evident, so Jimin decided to be the one to break it, wanting to change the topic.

"Hey, good fight today," he complimented. "The two of you did a lot better than I expected, I'm surprised the both of you were able to get back up so quickly," he added, smiling at them.

"We ummm," Charlie started, but paused. Everyone looked over at her, waiting for her to continue, but for some reason she couldn't get the words out. She felt a hand on her knee as she looked over and saw a small smile from Jungkook.

The two exchanged a look. He knew what she wanted to say, and he knew exactly why she was hesitating. It was not an easy topic to discuss, and they were both worried about sharing too much since they were still learning to trust the people around them. Jungkook could tell that she wanted to at least mention what they've been through, so he glanced at her one final time to make sure it would be okay for him to continue while she subtly nodded.

"Charlie and I are pretty good at taking hits, we had to put up with it for years at our foster home," he admitted.

Hoseok, knowing what it was like to be in a foster home himself, looked between the two. "Your foster parents hit you?"

"Yeah, they were pretty strict on discipline," Jungkook replied.

"Why the hell didn't you say anything?" Hoseok asked.

"Our foster mom said that no one would believe us anyway. Besides, she threatened to make the situation worse if we said anything and told us that if anyone did believe us, we would be split up. We were only 16, what the hell were we supposed to do?" Jungkook argued.

He could recall the first time he found out about what was happening to Charlie, the memory still ingrained in his mind.

Charlie looked at her reflection in the mirror, willing herself to keep it together and not let the tears fall. She pulled off her t-shirt and turned so she could see the back of her shoulder. On her shoulder blade was a bright mark that was already starting to turn a shade of purple. She winced as she moved her arm to get a better look at it. She turned in the opposite direction, looking at her side where the same coloration was present. She turned back and leaned over the sink, taking deep breaths.

"Char, what the hell happened?" Jungkook said, standing in the doorway of the bathroom. Charlie quickly reached for her shirt.

"Fell off the roof when I was trying to sneak out," she said. Charlie tried to play it off as if it was nothing, even giving a slight chuckle. She reached her arms up to put her shirt over her head, but she moved too quickly and pain shot up through her side.

Jungkook rushed to her side as Charlie pulled the shirt back off her, dropping it to the floor.

"You're sneaking out without me now?" Jungkook asked, trying to get a real answer from her. She kept quiet, the pain still present throughout her side. "This looks new though," Jungkook commented as he took a minute to think over everything. He tried to get Charlie to look at him, but noticed she was avoiding his gaze. "Please tell me what happened," he pleaded, extremely concerned. He knew their foster parents were not the nicest people and he had seen how angry they would get at Charlie for the dumbest shit. He was obviously thinking the worst had happened. Charlie finally met Jungkook's gaze and her face hardened.

"Nothing you need to worry about," she gritted. Charlie grabbed her shirt from the floor and walked to her room.

"Charlie stop!" Jungkook called as he followed her. She tried to close the door, but he was too quick and was already in her room. He closed the door behind him as Charlie sat down on her bed.

"Get out of my room Kook," Charlie demanded. He walked over to her and knelt down in front of her.

"What happened?" he asked again, emphasizing each word.

Charlie was still trying to hold it together, but her friend was making that very difficult. She shook her head and closed her eyes, wishing he would just leave her alone.

"Let me help you," Jungkook said, placing his hands lightly on her knees. They had never really touched each other, always keeping a comfortable distance since their friendship was still new, but he wanted to comfort her.

"Why? You barely know me," Charlie spat out. The two had only known each other for a couple of months. Yes, they had fun sneaking out together and would sometimes talk to each other at school, but they barely knew anything about the other. Their only commonality was that they shared shitty foster parents.

"It doesn't matter how well I know you or not, no one deserves to be treated this way," Jungkook said. Charlie finally looked at him, realizing that he was putting the pieces together. He reached up and grabbed the shirt that was on the side of the bed. He handed it to her and helped her put it on so she could be more comfortable. He sat down on the bed next to her and placed his hand on top of hers. "Which one?" He asked.

Charlie laid her head on Jungkook's shoulder and took a deep breath. "It was mom this time," she said sarcastically.

Jungkook reached up and lightly placed a hand around her shoulder, carefully not to hurt her.

"They will never hurt you again as long as I'm here," he promised.

After that night, Jungkook made sure to always sleep in Charlie's room to keep her safe. He remembered when he punched his foster father after he came into the room one night, and Jungkook swore that he would never let him hit Charlie ever again. He ended up getting in a lot of trouble for that one, taking quite a beating from his foster mom, but it was worth it. Jungkook tried to shake the memory away, noticing how everyone was staring at the two of them.

"We dealt with it in our own way, sneaking out and getting into way too much trouble." Jungkook chuckled while Charlie rolled her eyes. "I swear, I was never this wild until I met her," he added.

"Well it's a good thing you keep us safe then," Charlie responded.

Yoongi stared at the two, before speaking up. "I just want to make it clear right now that no one will ever lay a hand on you here, I can promise you that," he said, focusing on Charlie since he knew that she had been in that house longer, recalling her medical records as everything finally clicked. I knew she wasn't clumsy.

"Well this was all very touching, but what I want to know is how these two crazy kids fit into our weird family," Jimin chimed in.

Yoongi cleared his throat, glancing at his men and their new members. "We'll figure that out later. For now, I want the two of you to focus on training. Namjoon will set everything up and work on helping the both of you perfect your skills. Once we feel like they're ready, we can determine their roles," he shared.

The rest of the evening was more light-hearted. It was weird to be a part of a "family" dinner, but Jungkook and Charlie had to admit that they really enjoyed it. Everyone shared stories of funny things that happened in the house as well as on certain assignments while Jungkook and Charlie started to open up a bit about their late night adventures.

Taehyung was in charge of doing the chores for the day, so he stayed behind to wash the dishes while Jimin offered to help. Yoongi muttered something about going over some intel before shuffling to his office while everyone else trudged up the stairs to go to sleep, eager to call it a night after a long day.

Hoseok and Jin disappeared into the room across from Charlie's while Jungkook slowly followed Namjoon down the hall, glancing back at his best friend. Namjoon seemed to notice and let out a light chuckle before patting the kid's shoulder.

"Look, if you want to stay with her, it's fine," Namjoon said. "You want to make sure she's safe, I get it. After everything the two of you have been though, I'd probably do the same thing, so go," he encouraged, watching as Jungkook smiled before turning around, knocking on her door and disappearing into her room.

Charlie, hearing her door open, turned to see a smiling Jungkook walk into her room, making sure to close the door behind him.

"You ok if I stay here again?" he asked.

"I would like that," she replied, walking over to him and wrapping her arms around his waist. Jungkook put his arms around her and held her close, resting his cheek on top of her head. The scent of the floral shampoo made him smile as he couldn't remember the last time the two of them had actually had a decent shower. Jungkook felt Charlie's arms tighten around him just a little.

"I think we're going to be ok," she said quietly.

"Me too Char," he mumbled. For the first time in a long time, Jungkook finally felt optimistic for their future.

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