It was just as the first bullet hit him that Jungkook woke up with a start. It had been so long since he had last woken up in such a manner that he nearly jerked up into sitting position in shock and he actually heard the whistling intake of breath that he pulled in through his lips. His fingers didn't grab onto skin like he had been expecting, the soft and smooth skin of Jimin's arms, but rather his fingers snagged hold of silken bed sheets instead. That was strange and for a few seconds a hideous sense of disorientation lingered in his mind. Jungkook closed his eyes with a deep groan, just willing the room to stop spinning and for his racing heart to reach a more regular rhythm.

"Suh...shit," he moaned as he reached up to press the heel of his hand against his brow. His head was aching and he wasn't all surprised by this fact. He had drank way too much last night because he had just simply lost control. Jungkook would never had downed so much in normal circumstances but last night had been no such thing. It had been so far from normal that he was still trying to process it. The idea of moving to lie back down wasn't at all appealing because he knew that he had to move his sore head, but sitting upright was far too much for him currently. Jungkook let his breath out in a cracked sigh and then he dropped his head back onto the mound of pillows. He sank down into them and yet the softness didn't stop a dull ache from pounding in the middle of his skull, right behind his eyes like a sharp stabbing pain. He winced and bit down on his lower lip hard, feeling that it was rather dry against his teeth.

It had just been a nightmare of course, a hideous nightmare that had left him sweating, shaking and almost in tears. All that he had done was have a nightmare and there was nothing to worry about, it was perfectly normal to have them. He had had them in the past, he was no stranger to them, but it had been so long since he had last found himself so frightened that the experience felt alien to him.

Back when he had been a child Jungkook's nightmares had never revolved around the dark, around monsters slithering out of cracks in the closet or crawling out from under the bed to grab hold of his ankles. No, back then Jungkook's nightmares had been one of two things. Oftentimes he had found himself haunted by the hideous sights that he had once stumbled upon in his father's office when he had been just five years old, accidentally discovering a police file that had contained images of heavily mutilated bodies. In his nightmares Jungkook had had those sliced up corpses shambling after him, perhaps to mutilate him too, perhaps to dine on his flesh like strange zombies. If not the corpses then his nightmares had all centred around being abandoned; of waking up in an empty home without his mother, his father, even Xue-fang to answer his cries and bring comfort. The marble flooring and glass walls had just caused his sobbing to echo like a siren.

No monsters, just corpses and loneliness.

Upon becoming a young teenager Jungkook had found his dreams had twisted on him, had become strange in nature. Sometimes they had been harrowingly violent and yet he had woken up to find himself aroused; maybe even with wet sheets and underwear. Jungkook had never really understood why but it had just happened to him, and from that point onward his dreams had either fixated on violence or the prettiest face that he had seen for the day. Had he been unfortunate enough to not see a handsome prostitute then his mind had just been filled with faceless bodies instead: faceless bodies with soft skin but strong muscles underneath, with hard teeth and solid organs. The dreams had been better than the nightmares for sure but they had still left him feeling hollow. Until he had met Jimin of course, and the other man had managed to fill some of that void with his warm body and soft voice.

But now, an adult in his own right, Jungkook had had a nightmare about sitting with his father in the Ssangyong and being riddled with hundreds of bullets. He had never been shot before, had never been stabbed or suffered from a crippling injury in the past, but he had been around a great many men that had. The closest that he had come to such an injury had been an accident from his childhood, the scar on his cheek that had been the result of him and Jinwoo playing with an old hunting knife that had seen him almost lose an eye. But regardless of this fact Jungkook had felt the sensation of a bullet punching right through him, hitting him in the throat so that his head had jerked back and slammed against the headrest. That was why he had woken up gasping for air and convinced that he was actually dying, for in his nightmare Jungkook had very much found himself choking on his own blood. Choking on it whilst he had been clawing at his ruined neck. His blood and been so hot against his fingers that he had been rather shocked by the sensation; hot and thick against his bare skin as he had tried to cover the hideous wound.

But just as the guns had started letting rip on the car he had woken up, alive and very much able to breathe without coughing blood up all over his shirt. He had not felt the hundreds of bullets thumping home into his body just like his father and his chauffeur had. He had not been pumped with lead. Jungkook was alive much to Jinwoo's annoyance but his father was not.

Today was the first day of his life without his father being present. Not away on business for weeks at a time, coming home perhaps for a day before disappearing again - bringing gifts but not much more than that for most of his childhood. He was not even able to be contacted by way of telephone should he need to speak to him about a pressing matter relating to business. Jungkook no longer had his father, his beacon to guide him in the exact direction. Woo was gone too, second-best but still a good man for business and a helpful aide. Thinking about how much responsibility he now held was enough to make him feel rather cold. It was no wonder that he had had a fucking nightmare about it all.

Now he only had Taehyung to keep him afloat in Haedogje Pa. Bae was good but Bae was not an advisor. The man was an enforcer and he was fantastic at his job, but his skills did not extend to ruling an empire, just keeping a modicum of order and control. Jungkook had not realised just how woefully dependent he had been on his father until now and a part of him also realised why his father had held him back for so long; had stopped him from undergoing purges and attempting to seize hold of too many assets.

Jungkook couldn't possibly rule this empire and his father's dying thought had probably been filled with regret that he was his heir. Him, a boy that had less men that he could trust than fingers on a single hand.

Despite the bed beside him being empty Jungkook could feel another body against his back. He knew that it wasn't Jimin because Jimin had fallen asleep last night in his arms, so that meant that it was Taehyung of course. There must not have been much left of the mattress and yet he was squeezed onto the end, pressed up against him so that their legs were almost tangled together and he could feel his head balanced between his shoulder blades. What time had Taehyung gotten back to the apartment block he didn't know because he had been well and truly out of it from a combination of alcohol and exhaustion. But Taehyung had returned once more, loyal and good. Jungkook shifted so that he could reach down and feel for his arm, finding it loosely folded over his waist. His fingers brushed against cool cotton and that signalled that Taehyung was still fully clothed. The other man had likely crawled into the bed the second that he had returned. So Jungkook rolled over to face him and the movement disturbed his sleep.

"Hmmm?" Taehyung shifted on the bed with a series of tired grumbles, heavy eyelids lifting so that he could look at him for a second. He forced himself to keep them opening by blinking a few times and then he opened his mouth and wet his lips with his tongue. "Morning..." he managed to say as he rolled onto his back. Jungkook thought that that was a risky move for he could have rolled right off the bed and yet he managed to stay on the end.

"I think it might be the afternoon," Jungkook remarked as he watched Taehyung trying to stretch on the little space of mattress that he had. When he stretched his legs out his entire body almost shuddered. "I don't really know."

"Jungkook?"

"Yes?"

"Hmm, you smell like whiskey," Taehyung mumbled as he turned his head to look at him. He was still squinting at him slightly from his heavy eyelids. So he told him that the reason he did probably had something to do with the fact that he had drained nearly two bottles of it last night. Taehyung lifted his head to look over at the kitchen area, no doubt trying to locate said bottles but of course he wouldn't. "When I got back here there...there was a mess so I cleaned it up. You and Jimin were sleeping and," he turned his head back to him and then made a soft noise, "that's where the blood come from."

Jungkook let the other man reach over to take hold of his hand, holding it up to look at the rather thick application of bandages that Jimin had applied last night. He could barely move his fingers but that seemed like a good thing right now.

"You had an accident?"

"Less an accident more...a tantrum," Jungkook explained with a slight twinge of embarrassment. "I got upset and smashed the champagne bottle up, ended up cutting my hand on it. It was fucking childish and stupid so I regret acting that way. The only argument I have for my defence was the fact that I was drunk, which really isn't much of a defence."

"Nah, your defence was that you were upset, Jungkook," Taehyung said as he lightly stroked his thumb along his bandaged palm. "You were upset and you didn't really have any control over your actions. You don't need to explain anything to me. I've done some shit when...when I was upset and outta control too."

"Jimin told me that you went out to see Seokjin," Jungkook said as he watched the other man's fingers moving along the bandage, skin tone clashing against the white cotton wonderfully. "Did you find out whatever you wanted to know or?"

"Uh," Taehyung shifted to roll onto his side, letting go of his hand as he did. "No, there's nothing on Kim Jinwoo right now. According to Seokjin he's been outta the country for some time so following his movements is difficult. Probably easier to track him using account info but of course, all of the accounts Lee was sending cash to were bogus accounts not directly linked to him. Can't track him from that." Jungkook made a noise in agreement. He had been more than certain that Jinwoo had been out of the country for half a year now so not being able to track him was of no surprise. "He's underground right now which means he's scared, Jungkook. He's fucking terrified of you so I think after what's happened these past few weeks we might just find him disappearing outta sight for awhile."

"He won't risk his head after everything, you're right. He will go into hiding and plot his next attempt for a few weeks at least, which gives us plenty of time to plan ours. I'm not planning on giving him long enough to even create the foundations of an attack."

The suite fell silent at this, neither one of them wanting to break the silence. Jungkook waited to see if Taehyung would just so the pressure didn't fall on his shoulders yet the other man didn't. Rather he just reached up to brush his fingers through his hair for him.

"The funeral is in two days," Jungkook explained in a quiet voice, feeling Taehyung's fingers lightly brushing back the stray locks of hair from his brow. "I don't want to go, I don't want to move but I have no choice right now. Life doesn't just stop moving even when I wish that it would." The other man remained silent as he brushed the last lock back against the pillow and then proceeded to just stroke his fingers through the lengths of his hair. "Even today I still have work to do, matters to see to and fix. Bae is overseeing a lot of my men whilst I...come to terms with things," Jungkook sniffed and shifted on the bed, moving just that little bit closer to him. "It's hard for me to...to focus on things right now."

"It'd be hard for anyone to focus," Taehyung agreed in a quiet voice. "If my dad died like that shit, Jungkook, I don't think I'd ever recover."

"If daddy had died another way, something natural like a heart attack or whatever, then it wouldn't hurt so bad." Jungkook closed his eyes and let his breath out in a weary sigh. "But he was in stolen from me like that. He was murdered, Taehyung, and it hurt him and-"

"Jungkook."

"and I keep thinking about how much it must have hurt him," he spoke over Taehyung, "and that hurts me."

"Jungkook, you need to stop thinking about such things," Taehyung almost instructed, moving his hand down to his cheek and cupping it. "Thinking about your daddy right now ain't gonna change a thing. What you need to do is focus all of that anger, that hatred and pain, onto something else."

"On the men that killed him," he suggested.

Jungkook already knew that the police informant that his father had been planning on meeting to discuss raids with had sold him out to Jinwoo, had given his exact journey route to him so that he could coordinate an attack on him. Bae had found that out for him, had practically ripped the confession out of the man that was now floating in Han River somewhere. But knowing that the informant had sold him out meant nothing to him. That man was not Jinwoo, was not one of the several men that had been hired to murder him, and there were still so many more targets that he had no sight on yet.

"Yeah, on the men that killed him and the man that ordered it," Taehyung agreed with a nod. "Kim Jintae is gone, next it's Kim Jinwoo. We'll find that fucking snake, yeah? He can't hide forever and the second he lifts his head up...I'll cut it off."

"Figuratively?"

"Literally," Taehyung corrected. "I'll cut it off and toss it right at your feet where it belongs."

"Taehyung, I don't..." Jungkook paused for a moment, uncertain whether or not he should say this. But he had spoken to Jimin last night, like he had told him to, so it made perfect sense to talk to him too. "I don't think I can do this."

"Do what?" Taehyung asked in genuine confusion, brow furrowing slightly. "Go to...to the funeral?"

"No, I don't think that I can rule Haedogje Pa," he explained in a quiet voice, eyes shifting to look across the room rather than settle on his face. "I don't think I can. It's not weakness, I'm not weak ," Jungkook said rather brusquely, "but it's something else. I can't seem to figure it out but it's just there and I can't shake the feeling."

"You're the only man that could," Taehyung said without the slightest hint of hesitation. "No other man could take the helm, Jungkook, and you're not ruling it alone, remember?"

"...I have you," he said after a moment of thought as he looked back at him. Taehyung held his gaze for a few seconds before leaning forward and pressing a soft kiss against the corner of his mouth. "I have you and," Jungkook shifted to hook his arms around Taehyung's neck to pull him closer, "I only need you to help me rule. After all, daddy needed Jintae." The other man a noise in agreement at this and his breath was warm against his cheek.

Jungkook wasn't at all sure how long that they stayed like that, arms around necks and faces so close that every exhale was also an inhale, breath almost mingling together. It could have been just a few minutes in length or as long as ten but eventually he shifted to remove his arms and sit upright. Taehyung stayed in place on the bed rather than move and Jungkook climbed off it to cross the suite and get to the intercom system on the wall. Just walking was enough to make his head start hurting again and he couldn't help but groan as he half-walked, half-lurched over to the machine. He hit the button to turn it on and then pressed a hot key on the side to open the channel to the entrance desk.

"Dongjun, where's Jimin?" he asked as he leaned against the wall, weight balanced on one hand. He didn't think his legs would hold him steady and he needed the support.

" He hasn't left the building; do you want me to check surveillance, Master Jeon? " the man replied, eyes hidden behind his shades just like always. For once Jungkook actually thought they could have a use, after all he would greatly appreciate them right now to cut down the glare of sunlight coming in through the window.

"No, he will be in the gym," Jungkook muttered before hitting the button and turning the feed off. His head felt much too large and heavy to hold up and he found himself reaching up to hold it between his hands, almost as if he could squeeze it back to normal size. "Taehyung, never let me get drunk ever again."

"So long as you never let me snort a line of coke again," Taehyung retorted as he sat up on the bed. Jungkook held his aching head for a moment and then he dropped his hands to his sides again. "Y'know what you need?" The other man swung his legs over the side of the bed so that he could get to his feet. "Coffee and aspirin."

"I would much prefer Dom Pérignon and Adderall," Jungkook retorted as Taehyung crossed the room to get to the kitchen. "I have some calls to make."

"OK, I have some coffee to make," he replied with a soft laugh. Jungkook turned his head to track his movements across the suite and then he moved to go in the direction of the stairs, which he ascended to get into the first floor and enter his office. On his desk beside his computer he sighted the phone, still sitting in the cradle and fully charged for use so he picked it up and went through the contact list to find the first number. He hit dial and lifted the phone to his ear, listening to the dissonant drone of the dial tone whilst he waited. On the fourth ring he heard a static burst and then the other man's voice.

" I've been expecting this call, " Goohee said, clipped and to the point as always. " Before we get to any business matters I must ask this: are you alright, Master Jeon? "

"I'm...dealing with it," Jungkook replied, "I'm quite alright, Bae." He wondered if 'quite alright' was the correct term to use considering the fact he was standing in his office naked and hungover, sick to his stomach and as far from alright as possible. But the older man didn't need to know this fact for alright was good enough. "Business is the one thing I have as a distraction right now, so I would much prefer to get to it."

" There's been some trouble in various districts but mostly the reaction is one of abject anger and disgust. Your daddy's death was not welcomed by most of Haedogje Pa, Master Jeon, that much is clear. He was a good man, a fair man. " At Goohee's words Jungkook had to close his eyes and reach up to pinch at the bridge of his nose. " Some might say too fair considering how a traitor like Jintae and his son weren't brought to their knees sooner. He was a trusting man, and his trust was a shortcoming. "

"It was and I aim to not repeat his mistake," Jungkook replied. "Tell me about the districts."

" There was some minor rabbling here and there, men fighting with one another over deals and land whilst they thought that no one was watching. They were wrong, a lot of men were and are now solving these petty issues out. Most of the troubles were just petty but there was a slight issue in Dongdaemun-gu, in the form of Jo."

"Jo Byungtae, mmm? I'm not surprised. I did pull his nephew's teeth out so I imagine he would be pissed off with me," Jungkook remarked and down the line Goohee made an amused noise. "What kind of trouble?"

" He caused quite the trouble at a meeting in front of men by declaring that it should have been you that had been murdered instead, Master Jeon. "

"Beat the shit out of him with an iron bar," Jungkook replied without hesitation. "Do whatever you want with it, hit him, club him, insert it in places - I don't care just don't kill him. Let him know that I do have some mercy but pissing me off to find out how much is a bad idea."

" Coffee~" Taehyung called from the ground-floor in a fashion that was eerily similar to what Jimin would do seen as he wasn't allowed into his office without permission. Jungkook turned his head to look at the door for a moment and that was when Goohee spoke again.

" We have the rat that you requested, the one from Mapo-gu, " he explained down the line. " He's in our possession, what do you wish to do with him? Is your man going to collect him and handle the matter? "

"No, I'm going to handle the matter," Jungkook said as he moved to look through the doorway. Taehyung was still sitting on the bed, stroking Wangbi with his steaming mug of coffee in his other hand. "I have plans for him for the funeral. Bring him with you, I want to make an example of him."

" Are you sending out a message to any traitors? "

"A very strong message," Jungkook agreed as he watched Taehyung lightly tugging on one of Wangbi's ears to try and annoy her, her tail swishing at him in warning. "Exterminating a rat doesn't prove anything, but exterminating one of my father's murderers? That sends out a message. Doesn't matter who it is, if he's actually a murderer or not. No one will know."

" Lastly, I will need you at the weekend to discuss important issues, " Goohee said. " Mostly it's ensuring that the police are aware of the fact that they are still receiving their monthly pay packets. "

"Mmm, I'll be willing to increase it by one percent in all districts and in troubled areas, give them two percent more, that should shut them up just like always. Money always shuts men up. I assume another issue is in regards to our target?"

" Yes, it's very important so I will need to see you, Master Jeon. " If Goohee wasn't going to specify what exactly it was on the phone then that meant that it must have been something very important, and something that he didn't want to risk being recorded should their lines be tapped by anyone that might just sell them out for some easy money. But Jungkook knew one sure way to get a hint from him without him saying too much.

"Ah, before I forget I heard that you've been having trouble with pests lately, Bae, a rather bad infestation? You should get that checked out, my mother had to have the entire library refurbished because of pests."

" I have, Master Jeon, and I'm booked in to have the pests exterminated. It's rather cruel but one can't have them roaming around like that, destroying everything in sight. Termites, probably got into my home with that Chinese dining table that I bought."

Kim Jinwoo was in China and Goohee had him in his sights.

"Never buy furniture from China, always go for somewhere like Cuba, best mahogany," Jungkook remarked with a wide grin. "I will see you on the weekend, Bae." He ended the call and managed only to stop himself from shouting in joy because of his aching head.

Goohee hadn't broken his promise that day in the warehouse when he had told him that he would find Jinwoo but that it would take him a little longer than killing Jintae. Of course the other man had found him so easily, the dumb fuck had ran off to China to escape their clutches. Yes, there were a great many men in China that would try and cover him on behalf of his father, but several regions were still staunchly in his control and Goohee had some of the best connections possible with arms dealers all over the country. Someone had sold Jinwoo out to keep on Goohee's good side, maybe only a scrap of information but enough to give man what he needed to track him down. As he went back to his phone and went through the address book again he couldn't help but laugh under his breath.

Jungkook might just get his hands on Jinwoo and though that might not bring his father back being able to annihilate him was still well-deserved revenge.

"Jungkook, you'll be enjoying iced coffee if you don't get your ass downstairs!" Taehyung called again, amusement audible in his voice.

"Give me a moment!" he called back as he lifted the phone to his ear. From downstairs he could hear the other man talking to Wangbi. Jimin was clearly having a profound effect on him if he was now talking to animals like they were humans. Just like Goohee, Yoongi answered the phone relatively quick which was new. Usually he took quite some time to locate his phone and more often than not Jungkook had to call him multiple times just to give him enough time to find it.

" Y'hello? " he said, somehow managing to merge 'yeah' and 'hello' into one big word.

"Min," Jungkook said as he moved away from the doorway. "I want to apologise for my behaviour yesterday afternoon. Looking back on my actions it was wrong for me to have entered your office like that whilst in such an...emotional state."

"... Shit, Master Jeon, you were upset I understand, " Yoongi replied down the line. It was hard to tell if the other man was still drunk, hungover or sober for he always had that slurred way of speaking. " You don't need to say sorry. You needed somewhere to crash and- "

"Get wasted," he cut in.

" Not like there's many bars you can go to without risking your ass, y'know? And y'know that my place is always open. I couldn't say no to you, not after everything. " Yoongi paused for a moment and he could hear random cluttering sounds down the line. " Ain't gonna get mad over you getting wasted and leaving without any trouble. "

"I didn't cause any trouble?"

" Nah, " Yoongi laughed at this, " nah nothing like that. You, uh, you cried a little and got a little mad but not at me, you were just arguing with yourself, I think. Dunno what you said though I kinda shut my ears down when you started ranting like I...used to with my old man." Good, it was good that Yoongi was smart enough to not listen to the raving words of a drunk. Jungkook couldn't really recall what he had said to him, could remember only bits and pieces of the entire ordeal. He could have slipped up and said something very risky but it seemed like he didn't need to worry about that now. " Then you started talking about Jimin, like always. "

"That's not a surprise, that's all I ever do when I come and see you," he agreed.

" You asked for advice, actually... "

"I...I did?" Jungkook furrowed his brow in confusion and down the line Yoongi mumbled out something about talking to Jimin about his feelings. "Oh, oh yes I remember now. I did speak to him actually, Jimin told me that he was happy and that he loved me too, I mean, he could have just said that but...Jimin wouldn't lie to me, would he?"

"...No no, Jimin wouldn't do that he's an honest person," he replied in a soft voice. "I think he's telling the truth, Master Jeon. Not long after that you left, you were no trouble at all like I told you."

"OK, thank you."

" Just don't ever send Kim here, " Yoongi said in a quiet voice. It was almost as if he didn't want to be overheard, as if he was scared. " Please, Master Jeon, I don't wanna see him again after last night. "

"Please elaborate, Min?" Jungkook requested, not stern enough to be an order but clearly wanting an answer. What did he mean by 'last night' exactly? Hadn't Taehyung went to see Seokjin last night only? Or had he been paying Yoongi a visit too, a visit in the aims of getting his hands on something stronger than OxyContin?

" Look, Master Jeon, I want you to know that I ain't attacking you or Kim with my words, but this' the truth, " Yoongi explained rapidly. " Kim's an addict right now and I don't wanna be around him 'cos he's volatile. He showed up not long after you left, maybe half an hour after, and he demanded morphine from me. I said no, you hadn't given me permission but he persisted. There was violence involved. " Jungkook nibbled on his lower lip at this, listening to him talking. Yoongi's voice had taken on a rather anxious tone and he wondered if the other man was recalling all of the times that his father had gotten handsy when the withdrawal had started getting too strong. " I had to give him it, Master Jeon, I couldn't listen to him begging me like that it- "

"I understand, Min."

" made me think of my fucking old man and I just- "

"Min, stop," Jungkook spoke over him firmly, "I understand." Down the line he heard Yoongi trying to take calming breaths. God, the other man could be such a nervous wreck sometimes, especially when any mention of his fucking lunatic father were brought up. "Before I end this call I want to check: you haven't been tempted to start using again, have you?"

" Temp... Shit, Master Jeon, not a day doesn't go by when I ain't tempted to start using again, " Yoongi replied in that same breathless voice. " But no, I ain't touched that shit, I swear. "

"Good, my daddy put you through hell and I don't want to repeat that again."

" You'll have to with Kim, " Yoongi muttered under his breath.

Jungkook felt a little twinge at this as he ended the call. He didn't need reminding of this fact because it was something that he had already thought about many times. He knew that it was bad but what other choice had he had? Taehyung had needed the bullet removing that night and he had done everything possible to ensure that he would survive his injury. Jungkook knew deep down that it was his fault that Taehyung was now hooked on the morphine but blaming himself wasn't going to fix the issue. He leaned over to stick the phone back into the cradle and then left the office room to walk along the balcony and head down the stairs.

"Oh look, here's daddy now," Taehyung announced as he crossed the suite floor to get to the bed. He did so in a rather camp fashion, emulating Hodong to perfection. He was going to need the man to make him more suits soon enough.

"Keep calling me daddy," Jungkook remarked sarcastically as he reached down to ruffle at his hair roughly with the other, "and you might start giving me ideas."

"Hmm, are you gonna buy me a car first?" Taehyung retorted with a lazy eyebrow raise.

Jungkook could tell from a single glance that he was doped out of his brains because there was a glassiness to his eyes. When he dropped his gaze down to his arm he could see something on the inner sleeve of his shirt: several tiny dots of blood that had dribbled free and stained the white fabric of one of the shirts Jimin had bought him. Whilst he had been on the phone Taehyung had brewed coffee and likely shot himself up in the fucking kitchen.

"I'll buy you whatever you want, baby," Jungkook replied. "I own this fucking city now."

"Yeah but..." Taehyung shifted to place his mug down on the dresser and then he wrapped his arms around his waist. He pulled him closer and proceeded to plant a kiss right below his navel. "So do I." The other man's lips lifted in a hazy smile.

"Yes," Jungkook agreed as Taehyung's lips and tongue trailed downward. "Yes you do."

The sidewalks outside the church were so filled with cars that there was barely enough room for their vehicle to drive down the road. It wouldn't have been hard to imagine the side mirrors of the car scraping against the bodies of the others for there seemed to be little more than a few inches on either side. On his right Jimin was still and silent just like always when he was riding in the back of the car and beside the window Taehyung was also unseasonably quiet. Jungkook knew that they were going to a funeral, to the most important funeral that they would ever go to in their lives beyond their own, but he didn't like the quiet. He found that it needed to be broken just so he didn't have to be reminded of what was happening today.

Today Jungkook buried his father. It was much too soon, aged eighteen and forty-six respectively. He should have been burying the man well into his sixties at youngest, eighties at oldest yet here he was doing so today. There was something so fundamentally wrong about it that he couldn't possibly wrap his head around it and so he was trying his hardest to not think about it at all.

"Taehyung, I need you to keep an eye on Jimin for me this weekend," Jungkook said just to break the silence in the car. He looked away from the window to see that Jimin was looking at him attentively. "I have plans with Bae to sort several issues out and I want you care for him for me."

"He doesn't need a babysitter, Jungkook," Taehyung replied, tone light just to let him know that he was joking around.

"It's less babysitting more giving him attention," Jungkook retorted, seeing the smile slowly lower at the corners of his lips. "Staying with him, in other words and not leaving him alone." Did Taehyung know that he was talking about his impromptu visit to Yoongi to get drugs? Perhaps, for he shifted on the seat rather uncomfortably at his words. "Jimin gets very upset when left alone and I would prefer you keep him company during these unsettling times we're going through."

Care for Jimin? More like the other way around. Jimin would likely be the one caring for him when he started getting twitchy again, when he doped himself up and found that lying in bed all day was a better alternative to moving. Jungkook had no doubts that he would burn through the next vial of morphine quickly and need it replacing. Hopefully by that point the problem with Jinwoo would have been sorted so he could consider having him placed into care. But whatever the case so long as they were both together in the apartment block it didn't matter.

Jungkook didn't want to tell Taehyung that the real reason he wanted him to 'babysit' Jimin was so neither of them could get hurt whilst he wasn't present. Jimin already knew about that weakness and he didn't need anyone else knowing.

Yang pulled the car up to the curb in the only available spot in front of the church: his spot. Where his father's Ssangyong should have been parked there was now his mother's car instead: a Ferrari 488 in silver. The sight of it there made him feel a dull ache in his chest and he actually reached up to touch his breast for a moment. Then Taehyung was popping the door open and holding it for him and Jimin and so he shifted along the backseat to climb out the car. As soon as they were out the other man slammed the door shut and fixed his suit jacket automatically. Gone were the days when he would have stood there with wrinkles bunched around his stomach until he caught sight of him staring.

"God, I fucking hate churches," Taehyung muttered under his breath as he squinted up at the sight of the one in front of them. It wasn't the same one that Ahn's funeral had been held in but rather another church in Yongsan-gu. Jungkook knew that his family weren't particularly religious but his grandmother had been catholic and so it was only fitting that his father's funeral be held here too. His body wasn't going to be buried here of course, the church was just a venue for the event.

"You know how I feel about funerals," Jimin remarked as he also stared at the building.

"Yes well, too bad because we're going inside," Jungkook declared as he reached over to grab both of their wrists and pull them in the direction of the steps that led inside. Neither of them protested, dug their heels into the paving flags to stop him but there was still a sense of them being uncomfortable. As if his stomach wasn't currently knotting up tightly and making him feel nauseous. Walking up the steps wasn't that bad at all, it was only after stepping inside the church that he felt something.

The shiver that traveled down his spine had him tightening his fingers around their wrists involuntarily before he managed to let go.

Jungkook had to take a deep breath and hold it in his lungs to try and keep himself under control. The air was thick with the scent of incense and it turned his stomach. For a few hideous seconds he was almost convinced that he was going to vomit and he was even about to turn around and race out of the church when he managed to control himself. The entire church was packed with people, the pews completely taken and many men and women having to stand in the open spaces on either side because there was no more room. It only took one person to notice he had arrived before heads were turning and voices trailed off to near silence.

Right at the very back of the right pew beside the font Yoongi looked like he didn't want to be here at all. He wasn't wearing a suit because he didn't technically own one but at least his heavy overcoat covered this fact. It was likely not even his, nor would be the hat on his head. Sitting beside him was Seokjin, a rather interesting sight but Jungkook supposed that he might visit him occasionally to check up on other dealers. He looked much more at place in his black suit and shirt, prim and proper. As he moved to stand beside the pew Seokjin got to his feet respectfully but Yoongi did not, not at all a surprise.

"Terribly sorry for your loss, Master Jeon," Seokjin said as he gave him a deep bow, elbow bumping against Yoongi's head and almost knocking his hat off. "You have my deepest condolences."

"Thank you," Jungkook said in a soft voice. He noted that Seokjin's gaze slid over to discreetly look at Jimin before settling back on his face. Not at all like Yoongi, who was openly glowering at Taehyung. "You got my files about Mapo-gu, yes? You're looking into the men?"

"Of course, Master Jeon," Seokjin nodded at him. "I'll report back as soon as I have information on a single one of them."

"Good," he looked down at Yoongi and considered saying something but just settled for a nod to acknowledge him. The other man decided to stop staring at Taehyung and instead dropped his eyes to study the genuflection cushion at his feet. Jungkook gestured at Taehyung and Jimin to follow him down the main aisle with a slow curl of his fingers and they both followed after him diligently.

"Tae, is everything alright?" Jimin asked in a whisper soft-voice. When Jungkook spared a quick glance back at them he saw that he was holding the other man's hand securely, fingers entwined together. What a beautiful sight it was to see their hands together like that.

"Yeah, everything's peachy," Taehyung replied in a rather flat tone that was at complete odds with his words. His expression was neutral but Jungkook could see a little something in his eyes that looked like shame.

Jungkook escorted them across the church to the very front of the left pew and that was where they would be seated. There was room on the end specifically for them and only the most important people were seated at the bench. His mother and her parents, Goohee and his wife, and several other people connected to his mother that he didn't really know beyond faces.

His mother had most of her skin covered save for her shins and the tops of her feet. She was wearing entirely black clothing: a dress with a high collar that went right under her chin, the waist pulling in taught and the skirt grazing just past her knees, a dress suit jacket over this and patent heels. On her head, both as a sign of respect to the church and for mourning purposes, she was wearing a black hat too, with a veil that was currently pulled forward over her face. Even her hands were hidden from view by a pair of gloves but when Jungkook lifted her veil he saw that she still looked as beautiful as ever.

"My angel," she almost sighed at him, pulling her lips in taut just as he pressed a kiss against the corner of them. Jungkook could feel her trembling and it was enough to make his fingers snag on the veil.

Kim Jinwoo had caused this. He had caused his mother so much agony and he was the reason why his father was lying in a closed casket just several feet away. A closed-fucking-casket. He couldn't even give him a kiss like he had just given his mother, not even a final one.

"No no, you're the angel," Jungkook managed to reply through his tightly clenched teeth. He let go of her veil and she hastily fixed it back into place.

"Taehyung, please sit beside me," his mother said as she gestured at the available spot. She was ensuring that he did so first of course, before Jimin possibly had the chance to sit down instead. Taehyung looked over at him as if seeking approval and so he nodded at him, trying to not look at Jimin as he did. Even at his father's funeral she wasn't going to let it go. Jungkook wouldn't at all he surprised if she mentioned that Yoo-boy was present and would try and drag him over to start a conversation just to twist the knife that little more and hurt Jimin.

It was halfway through mass and after a dozen fucking hymns that Jungkook decided that he too hated both churches and funerals. Sitting there on that bench, Jimin's hand clenched tightly in his and the other snagged onto the material of Taehyung's suit jacket he could barely breathe and a part of him was convinced that he was going to faint. This was wrong. This wasn't supposed to be happening and he couldn't accept it. But he had no choice in the matter for his father was lying right there in that fucking casket. That made it hard to ignore reality in favour of fantasy.

Jungkook wasn't going to cry. He wasn't supposed to cry in front of his father and especially not when his mother was present.

It was his time to read the eulogy that he made sure to alert Goohee that had need of him. The man got to his feet exactly when he did, walking the length of the pew to enter the vestibule whilst he stepped up onto the altar and stood behind the pulpit. Jungkook didn't speak right away and instead held his tongue instead, let them all stew in the silence and under his gaze. When he had counted thirty seconds in his head he finally decided to speak.

"For nearly twenty years my father kept the peace," Jungkook explained as he glanced over the double columns of pews. He didn't really look at the faces in front of him, rather just swept his eyes over them for the sake of it. His voice was amplified off the high walls and ceiling with the aid of the mounted microphone. "Under Haedogje Pa he worked to unite us all like a global ambassador. My father didn't just keep the peace, oftentimes he created it. There have been a great many difficulties over those two decades, but with his guidance, his intelligence, and his perseverance, Haedogje Pa as we know it has stood strong and unbroken against the waves that caught to smash us against the rocks."

On the front row Taehyung was staring at him like he was Jesus Christ risen once more, expression absolutely mesmerised. Beside him Jimin was much too busy eyeing the vestibule wall to see where Goohee had went. His mother was dabbing at her eyes from under her veil but not making a single sound whilst she cried.

"But the peace has been broken," Jungkook said in a soft voice as he finally looked back at the congregation. "This empire has been brought to its knees by a certain group of individuals that want to destroy everything that has been built. But I'm not going to let that happen. I'm not going to let all that we have built, together, be destroyed."

Jungkook gestured with one hand, waving at Goohee in a signal for him to come back into the main section of the church. The other man exited the vestibule and as he did he dragged someone with him. The man had a burlap bag over his head and his wrists were bound behind his back with a thick knotted bundle of nylon rope. The sight of him caught only a little of the congregation's attention because most couldn't see the chancel clearly from their seating. Jungkook stepped down from the pulpit to go over to Goohee.

"This is man here," he explained as he dragged the man along to the centre of the chancel so that he was visible to all. His fingers were so tight around the man's elbow that he wasn't at all surprised to hear him let out a pained noise. "This man helped murder my father, and the best part is that he bragged about it."

There was a ripple at this, countless voices taking to the air in shock at this particular announcement. Jungkook pulled the man forward until he was standing right in front of him and then he kicked him hard in the back of his knee so that he could force him down into a kneeling position. With his head covered by the burlap sack and his hands secured tightly behind his back he could do nothing more than drop to his knees and stay in place. Jungkook knew that he was gagged underneath the bag and he could hear him struggling to breathe through the thick material. The front of it likely bunched up and then loosened with each gasping breath, showing the rest of the church just the hints of his facial features every single time.

"My father's death was a bragging right," Jungkook said, feeling a bitter taste flooding his mouth as he did. As bitter as the lies flowing off his tongue. "A fucking drinking story to share with other men. He didn't count on being caught out however. Traitors never do."

The other men and women were all staring at him, almost on the edge of the benches waiting to see what the hell was going to happen next. The air was heavy with the unmistakable tension of bated breath, thick enough to almost be suffocating. In front of him the man didn't even move, stuck on his knees. He knew that he had been heavily drugged to ensure his compliance, just to make sure that nothing went wrong and his planned message was sent out clearly.

Jungkook pulled the gun out of his holster, thumb sliding the safety back so that he could press the muzzle of the gun right against the back of the man's head. He wondered if he even felt the cold, hard press of the steel before he pulled the trigger and shot him. The bullet exited the chamber with a deafeningly loud sound, a roar that ripped through the air, and a fine mist of blood sprayed back to hit him. Jungkook felt the droplets hitting his trousers and shirt, landing on the back of his glove and even as far up as his face. Then the man slumped forward and hit the wooden flooring with a meaty thump and he lowered the gun.

There was a ripple of surprised screams across the pews and a few of the congregation jumped in shock. Quite a lot of the women dropped their heads, hands going over their hats instinctively in an attempt at creating a shield, and a few men rather stupidly jumped to their feet and made targets of themselves. Jungkook saw sudden movement from the front pew and when he glanced over he caught sight of Taehyung and Jimin right there on the end of the bench. Jimin was staring at the corpse at his feet, face devoid of anything close to emotions save for his eyes. They were wide open and yet his gaze seemed to be completely empty, glassy almost. It was Taehyung that kicked into action however, jerking on the bench beside him. Jungkook couldn't hear what he said over the temporary fuzziness in his ears, the results of the gunfire, but he was pretty certain that he could read Taehyung's lips from their short distance.

" Oh fuck- don't look, Jimin, don't -" was what he was certain that he said before Taehyung shifted and he lost sight of his moving lips. The other man practically dragged Jimin by his shoulders, twisting him sharply on the bench and forcing his face against his chest. His mother hadn't even flinched but remained still with her hands clasped on her knee.

"I'm sending out a message," Jungkook declared as he pulled a handkerchief free from his jacket pocket and dabbed at his face with it, wiping away any possible traces of blood. "And the message is: there is no place on this earth that is fucking safe from me. Any man that was involved in the murder of my father, they are dead men. Any men that sympathise with Kim Jinwoo are dead men."

From the front row of the pews he could see Taehyung and Jimin, the former with his arms still wrapped around the latter to shield his face away from the chancel. It really didn't matter because Jimin had seen it anyway, all it really was was a bad attempt at comfort. Jungkook watched the rapid rise and fall of Jimin's shoulders, his entire body trembling, and then he saw the way that the other man's fingers almost caressed the back of his head; smoothing his hair down. Taehyung's chin was digging into the crown of his head and he was staring at him with a rather hard to read expression. There was shock of course, but only mild because he had been caught by surprise. Taehyung wasn't shocked by the act of violence in the slightest rather just the suddenness of it. But underneath that was something else, something that he couldn't figure out right now.

The stink of burning hemp wafted up to hit his nose, mingling with the crisp scent of discharge from the chamber and the coppery scent of blood that was starting to spread out in a rather large puddle by his feet.

"Haedogje Pa is not broken," he announced as he shoved the Beretta back into his holster. "Haedogje Pa will not be destroyed. I'm going to seek out and destroy every single man and woman responsible for this coup and I'm going to restore peace to this empire because I am the fucking ambassador now!" Jungkook shouted at them, causing most of the congregation to flinch. "This is my empire and it is my responsibility to ensure that every single fucking asset that belongs to Haedogje Pa stays with Haedogje Pa! This is what will happen if you disagree with me!"

Jungkook cocked his leg back and he kicked the man's corpse hard, causing him to roll off the chancel altar and land on the flooring in a sprawled mess of limbs. His ruined head hit the floor with another thump and smeared blood in a thick streak across the light maple wood.

"For too long now select men have thought that their choices are more important than Haedogje Pa as a whole," he spat. "That's not how a fucking empire works."

Jungkook looked down at the man to see a spreading pool of blood all over the waxed flooring. At least there wasn't too much of a mess, he supposed. There would have been a lot more gore had the bag not been in place but luckily it had trapped most of it. He did have to take a large step to get over his body however, ensuring that he didn't step in the blood by accident.

"Please," he said as he placed his handkerchief back into his pocket and looked over at the priest, "continue with the rest of mass."

Unsurprisingly Taehyung had to drag Jimin off the bench and down the aisle so that they could leave the church. The other man had come across faint and couldn't actually walk and so Taehyung practically carried him, arm around his waist securely. Jungkook walked ahead of them to get the doors, feeling hundreds of eyes on him as the organ started playing once more for the next hymn. They climbed into the back of the car and Jimin rolled his head back against the headrest with a series of breathless whimpers.

"Yang, take us back to the apartment," Jungkook instructed as he slipped his arm around his neck and allowed the other man to rest his head on his shoulder. The engine sounded and a moment later they were pulling away from the curb and driving down the street.

The interior fell silent save for Jimin's uneven breathing as he tried to get himself under control. He made weak sounds, little whimpers, but didn't seem to succumb to unconsciousness. That was it, Jungkook had shown up to the funeral to make his statement and he no longer needed to stay in that cursed building another moment and listen to the miserable hymns a second longer. The relief that the freedom had brought was overwhelming and Jungkook could finally breathe without feeling like there was a weight on his chest crushing him. There had been no crying, no wailing and throwing himself on the casket to upset his mother. He had handled the situation like a true man would have, even when his jaw was aching from clenching it tight enough to make his head hurt again. But none of his men had seen him cry and that was all that mattered. Only when they were several blocks down from the church did anyone break the silence.

"Jungkook, that man you just killed," Taehyung shifted on the seat to look at him, leaning around Jimin so that he could hold his gaze. "Did he do anything that you said he did? Did he actually help murder your father?"

"No," Jungkook replied without the slightest hint of hesitation. "He was an example." He lifted his hand to place it on top of Jimin's head, patting at it. "I needed to make an example. Does it matter if that man murdered my father or not? He was a rat and that's all that matters. I solved two problems at once."

"...A rat?" Taehyung's brow twitched at this, furrowing just like the corners of his lips. "A rat for Jinwoo or-or the police?"

"Lim," Jungkook said as he turned his head to look at him. "The man that I just shot in the head was Lim Dongwoo, the man that brought you into Haedogje Pa. He was a police informant."

At his words all control that Taehyung had had over his expression just simply stopped. His mouth dropped open was so fast it was as if his jaw had become unhinged and a total slackness came over his features. It was an expression of absolute horror and Jungkook wasn't at all surprised to see it. For Taehyung, hearing that Lim was a rat would have been just like being told that Woo was a rat: inconceivable.

"A...a rat, a fucking..." Taehyung reached up with one hand to cover his mouth, forcing his jaw shut at the same time. "Fuck."

"His men had no clue, most of them had been working with him for years and they had no clue. He was good, really good," Jungkook explained with a head shake. "Just not good enough. He's been working with complete immunity this entire time, right under our noses. Being in a position like his, I should have expected it. Working property and shit like that, that kept him out of danger for a great deal of the time. The perfect place for a police rat to hide." He paused for a second before looking back over at him and he saw that Taehyung was still staring at him, unblinking and seemingly not breathing either. At least his mouth wasn't hanging open. "Not like you, Taehyung. You're on the very front lines so to speak. No department would be stupid enough to attempt such a thing."

"Yeah that would be...be real fucking stupid," Taehyung agreed with a slow nod, dropping his hand back to his lap as he did.

"Rats are good but they're not perfect, a man would slip up," Jungkook explained in a slow voice, turning his head to look back at the window. "All of that pressure on his shoulders, he would slip up or go mad or turn."

"Turn?"

"Yes, turn away from the department. I have no doubts that there have been quite a few men in the past that have found Haedogje Pa satisfy their interests more than the law. But no matter what the case is, he would slip up."

"Is Lim the first rat you've ever came in contact with?" Taehyung asked in a rather quiet voice.

"It's been quite some time since one has been sniffed out. It happened to my grandfather once, back when daddy was still a teenager." Jungkook realised that he had just said 'was' rather than 'had been' but he wasn't going to go back and change his words now. "There was a rat, daddy actually spent a lot of time in his company. I suppose that he actually learned a lot from that man but he was still a rat and rats must be exterminated." Jimin sniffed a few times and seemed to be coming around again. "Daddy told me that he really hadn't imagined that the man - I think his name was Moon, he hadn't imagined that Moon would be a rat but he had been."

"Kuh...Kookie," Jimin mumbled against his throat. "You...the gun-"

"I know, I know, babe, I'm sorry that you had to see that. But I had to shoot him, it was quicker," he explained. "I know that you're OK with blood so long as it's not a gun but it was my only option." Jimin didn't reply. "How could a man like Lim breed such a man like you, Taehyung?" Jungkook asked as he shifted to place his head on the top of Jimin's, letting his breath out in a heavy sigh. "You just can't tell the difference between rats and men anymore."

"I...I trusted him," Taehyung said as he shifted on the seat and dropped his gaze to the flooring of the car. "He was like...like a fucking uncle to me, Jungkook. That fucking bastard."

"My own uncle, uncle Kyungsoo, he was an informant for the SMPA," Jungkook replied. "Never trust your uncles: lesson learnt."

Just like Jungkook had told him on the morning on the funeral Taehyung suddenly found that the penthouse suite was missing his presence when the weekend came around. It had gone so startlingly quick, four days passing in a hazy blur that he couldn't seem to recall much of because very little had happened at all. Taehyung was used to days so busy and filled with business and violence that it was impossible to forget a single thing, but after Jeon's funeral there was very little activity. He had expected an upheaval of sorts, an instantaneous reaction to the chaos that the man's death had caused but of course that hadn't happened. Such a reaction was rather dangerous and filled with risks and gambles. It made much more sense to ensure that Jungkook kept a level-head and acted slowly and smartly. Slow and steady won the race after all, and fast and careless got their brains shot out all over a church floor.

Jungkook had spent much longer in the penthouse than usual and Taehyung found it highly strange. There was no hectic morning rushes to get ready and leave for meetings for he did all of them on his computer instead; no goodbye kisses and orders for the day before he was escorted out and into the elevator. No, Taehyung found himself watching the younger man on the phone for several hours of the day, or listening to him hidden away in his office on his computer and talking to his webcam because his voice sounded through the quiet suite. He didn't stop working and instead kept up the same level of commitment that he had before Jeon's death. Jimin had taken to this new situation very well, for he had flitted around the suite as happy as could be. Taehyung had noted that his Valium intake had lowered down to a rather reasonable two a day with champagne as opposed to three in one go which was a nice sign he supposed.

The same could not be said of him and the morphine. Taehyung hadn't lowered his intake nor the amount of times he injected over the course of the day. In fact it had increased to 60ml shots spaced out every six hours now, the craving waking him up some nights and forcing him to shoot up in the bathroom like a fucking addict.

Which he was of course: a fucking addict.

But the increase of intake wasn't the only thing that Taehyung had started to become aware of. The morphine had started started affecting him in more ways than just numbing him and fighting away the pain in his shoulder, ways that were both worrying and embarrassing. With Jungkook present in the suite there had been much more opportunities for intimacy between the three of them, which had been rather enjoyable until he had went and done something rather stupid. That stupid thing being injecting a nice big dosage of morphine just ten minutes before climbing into bed with them both and as a result Taehyung had found that he had been unable to achieve anything close to arousal. No matter what Jungkook or Jimin had tried there had been nothing, no blooming heat in his loins or soft throbs in the pit of his stomach. He hadn't even managed to achieve stiffness and that had been a rather worrying sign. Taehyung had noticed a lack of drive for quite a while now but had thought nothing for it because he had always managed to perform, but not that time. He supposed that that was the sign that he had needed to get him to try and kick the habit but when said kicks started hitting him as the comedown started and the muscle spasms appeared he cared very little about the idea of erections.

Morphine or orgasms? Well, he could handle not having one without going through agony so he guessed that he knew which one to pick. Besides, his mouth worked perfectly fine, as did his ass. So long as those worked Jungkook shouldn't care too much. The younger man had been doing it all as a distraction anyway, something to stop him from thinking of his dead father and the crumbling empire that he was stuck with. Jimin had just quietly asked him if he had wanted to take a pill, one of those little blue pills that were hidden away in the now unused bedroom with the rigged up cameras.

Taking Viagra aged twenty was not something that Taehyung had ever envisioned for himself. Riding another man's cock and feeling literally nothing no matter how hard he tried was a situation that he had once thought impossible but sadly he had learnt the truth. Just another thing to add onto the list of reasons why Taehyung couldn't look at his own reflection anymore. That and the fact that he had started losing weight and couldn't seem to gain it back.

So when the weekend finally came around and Jungkook left them both in the apartment Taehyung was almost relieved. Over the course of the week he had left the block to buy cigarettes in the late evening one night and he had called the department up on another shitty disposable phone to try and arrange something, something more substantial than a phone call for once. An actual face to face meeting with Namjoon and whoever the fuck he wanted to bring along for support. He had had only several minutes to do so, talking on the walk back to the block and then slotting the phone down into the sewers by way of a rain gutter, but he had still arranged to see Namjoon during the early afternoon hours of Saturday when he had known that Jungkook would be completely absent in Dongjak-gu meeting with Bae Goohee. The meeting had been pencilled in to meet in an abandoned lot not too far from his old apartment block and that had been that.

Except when Saturday came around Taehyung found himself with a slight problem. The problem being Jimin of course.

Jungkook had told him that Jimin wasn't allowed to leave the apartment block and without explicitly stating why Taehyung knew why he had been given such an order. Jungkook did not want Jimin ending up in the back of another car just like his father's Ssangyong, stopping at a set of lights with another car only for the side doors to be pulled wide open and armed masked men to let rip on the car with fucking Uzis. Jungkook did not want Jimin being in a department store buying clothes and products to make himself pretty for him only for men to storm the building and spray the place up regardless of civilians just like the casino. In short, Jungkook was terrified of the idea of Jimin being murdered like his father and so forcing him to babysit the other man meant that nothing like that could possibly happen. Yet this very babysitting was what had him stuck in place at 10am that same Saturday, eyeing the clock and knowing that he had to hurry up and leave but finding that he couldn't.

Jimin was doing the usual, lying in bed with his cat, head on her tummy and tablet in hand that he was looking at. He would swipe his fingers across it every now and again, making soft noises under his breath that varied from interest to disgust. Taehyung knew that he was looking at a fashion editorial of course.

"Apparently pastels are in," Jimin remarked as he lazily rolled his head to look at him. "Wouldn't you look funny in pastels mmm, baby?"

"I'd look funny in most things," Taehyung retorted with little interest. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the other man looking at him, no doubt wondering why he had been so brusque. "You'd look nice though, but you always look nice, Jimin."

"Look who's talking," Jimin said with a smile. He could barely suppress a wince at this because it was a lie, a big fucking lie. Taehyung hadn't looked good for quite some time now, back before the shooting had left him with a disgusting scar, before his skin had been marked with ink and the morphine had started taking its toll on his body and mind. No, Taehyung knew that he looked far from nice and that Jimin was just saying it to make him feel better. The suite fell silent for a minute and then Jimin rolled onto his stomach and placed the tablet down. "Tae, are you OK?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm good it's just...feeling kinda restless," he replied, shifting on the chaise lounge as he did for effect. "I'm not used to sitting around on my ass all day, y'know?"

"That's true, you're always working. Just like Kookie, I swear he could never have a day off even if he was allowed one. He never stops, it's bad for him but I don't think he can stop, if you get what I mean?" Taehyung mumbled something in agreement about understanding what he meant. "I'm not surprised that you're feeling so restless right now, it's not that nice being locked up here all day. Is it?" The hint of snark in his voice was completely unmissable.

"No, it ain't nice, I feel claustrophobic, " he agreed with a nod, finding his eyes once again drawn to the wall clock. "Don't you wanna get out, get some fresh air huh?" Taehyung suggested as he cocked his head and studied him from across the suite. "I bet that Wangbi's itching to get outta this block and go for a walk."

"Yes but...but Kookie said no and you know what that means, Tae," Jimin said in a quiet voice as he looked at his cat. "He didn't say behave, like usual. He said stay in the penthouse and means not leaving at all. It's probably a good idea to just stay. It's only the weekend, after that point he'll come back and everything will be back to normal again. You can work and...and I can be trapped in here like always."

"I gotta get out, Jimin," Taehyung said, effectively brushing all of his words away without a care. "Sitting around like this all day is killing me, I can't stop thinking about...about fucking morphine and I hate just sitting here staring at the clock waiting for the next dosage time." At this Jimin shifted on the bed almost uncomfortably, like he always did when the drug was mentioned. "I need to get out and clear my brain but I can't leave you here alone. "

"No, but I could come with you," Jimin suggested.

"What'd you mean?"

Taehyung had not expected this response at all and he was both surprised and also worried by it. He had expected Jimin to just repeat what he had said a moment ago, to tell him that it was just two more days and that he should be able to handle it. He had not expected him to ask him to escort him out of the apartment block with him. But Taehyung couldn't do that, most certainly could not do that. He wasn't going for a walk to clear his mind but to meet his teammates in a covert location across the capital; something that Jimin could not find out about. How was he supposed to do that if Jimin decided that they could sneak out for a quick walk?

"...There is one thing," Jimin said in a quiet voice, shifting on the bed to sit up and fold his legs to the side. He stroked at his bare ankle slowly, tracing the bone with his forefinger. "I kind of wanted to...to see Yoongi again."

"Min, you wanna see Min?" Taehyung asked rather dumbly as he stared at the other man. When he nodded in agreement he furrowed his brow. "Why?"

"Why? Because he's my friend," Jimin remarked before laughing softly. "I wanted to see him again, is that a bad thing?"

"No but...but I'm-" Taehyung paused and found himself floundering for words, mouth opening and closing for a few seconds as he tried to figure out what to say to him. "Me and Min just don't really get along, y'know?" he bullshitted with a forced smile.

"What? I didn't...well, I mean he did say you were a little strange," Jimin said in a quiet voice. Strange, huh? Well fuck Min Yoongi. "I didn't know about anything like that, Yoongi's pretty nice so I thought that you would both get along too."

Taehyung really didn't have the heart or energy to tell Jimin that Yoongi was the pretty nice guy and he was the fucking asshole that had upset him; that had assaulted him in fact. That wasn't something that Jimin needed to know about, especially not with the almost empty vial of morphine currently tucked away in his suit jacket pocket. But Taehyung needed to think of something, as fast as he could, and try and fix this clusterfuck before he said or did something wrong

"Look, Jimin, if I drop you off at the den I can't stay there, OK?" Taehyung shifted to mean forward, elbows on his knees in a rather authoritative stance.

"...OK," Jimin said slowly, eyes not leaving his face once as he waited for him to explain. The other man's interest had been piqued clearly and he knew that he could reel him in if he played this right.

"I need to leave the den, so what I need you to do is this: stay in the den with him. Call me when you need collecting and I'll come and get you, alright?"

"Alright."

"Stay as long as you want, yeah? Take fucking Wangbi with you if you want, but I can't stay in the den. Also, you need to promise me something." The other man asked him what he wanted him to promise, tone a little hesitant and at odds with his rather eager expression. "Promise me that you won't tell Jungkook that I don't get along with Min. I don't want the situation blowing outta proportion, yeah? It's just a small problem, I don't want to make something outta it."

"If I promise to not tell him, does that mean you'll let me see Yoongi?"

"Yeah," Taehyung confirmed with a nod. "You can see him and I can just get outta the block and get some fresh air before I go fucking nuts."

Jimin thought this over for a minute but Taehyung knew that he had him sold. It was all an act, a game of teasing just for the sake of it. The second that he had promised to let him go visit Yoongi Jimin had already agreed to his offer and now he was just pretending that he needed time to think it over, as if he were a businessman considering realty. So after the minute of silence he shifted to get to his feet and he promised to keep silent as he crossed the floor to get to the stairs. Okay, so this had almost worked but there were still a few hurdles to get over. But Taehyung thought that he could do it, that he could make the meeting with his teammates if he played his cards right and didn't slip up.

It took Jimin just five minutes to get dressed and bound back down the stairs again, studded leash in hand that he proceeded to snap onto Wangbi's collar. He looked very happy about the prospects of getting to go and see his stoner friend and the smile on his lips made Taehyung feel rather disgusted with himself as they rode down the elevator together to get to the ground-floor. Dongjun didn't tell him that they weren't allowed out of the block and the two bodyguards for the day didn't stop them. Obviously they hadn't been informed about their temporary house-arrest because Jungkook had entrusted them both to just stay in the block. As a result they were able to jump into one of the block cars without a single problem and then the vehicle was pulling away from the curb to go to the exact location that Taehyung has told the driver.

It was incredibly lucky that Yoongi's den was located in Yongsan-gu just like his department station was. He had agreed to meet Namjoon and Hoseok at a select location and if luck remained on his side then he might just be able to get there on time and not leave them waiting and worried about if he had gotten into a spot of trouble. Or if he has even been caught out. The drive to the other district seemed to take too long, much too long, and Taehyung could barely keep still in the back of the car. It could have been to do with the fact that he was nervous or the fact that he was starting to edge close to his comedown and he would need another hit of morphine soon enough. It was probably a good thing that the sight of him wriggling and twitching was rather normal now because it meant that Jimin would suspect nothing was wrong with him at all.

No more nervous sweating to worry about, no need to worry if he started twitching and mumbling shit under his breath because that was completely normal behaviour for him.

When the vehicle finally stopped outside of the den Jimin popped the door open and Wangbi jumped out first, eager to finally stretch her legs even if just for a moment.

"I'll behave," Jimin said as he paused in the doorway. "Promise me that you'll behave too?"

"'Course I will," Taehyung replied without a hint of hesitation. "You don't need to worry about me, remember: call me when you want me to come and collect you and stay inside the den. I'll message you when I'm outside the building. Don't leave."

"Sure," Jimin said before shifting to press a quick kiss in the corner of his mouth. "Don't go looking for trouble." Taehyung knew what he meant by that and it was don't try and score more drugs. Well, he still had the last of the morphine in his inner coat pocket so that really didn't matter right now. The other man patted his head softly and then climbed out the car after his cat, slamming the door shut as he did. He waited until he was inside the building out of sight and then he also popped the door open.

"Stay here, I'll be back soon. I've got business to attend to." The driver remained still and silent and so Taehyung climbed out of the car and closed the door again.

A quick scan of the street that he was on showed him that he was perhaps fifteen minutes away from the lot and that wasn't good. As he fixed his jacket he started walking down the street and as soon as he was out of sight from the chauffeur he started jogging lightly. Exercise had never been a friend of his and he wasn't at surprised that he could barely manage more than a few streets before he was breathless and he needed to stop. Taehyung rooted around his wallet and luckily found a slight amount of paper inside. Good, he didn't need to worry about a charge for a taxi ride showing on his account in case someone went looking. So Taehyung waited on the street corner for a taxi, flagging one after just a minute of impatient waiting and fiddling, and as he climbed in he gave the street name that the lot was on. He didn't bother with his seatbelt or even sitting comfortably but rather stayed as close to the door as possible. After five minutes he was handing the money over to the man and telling him to take it all as a tip and then he almost jumped out of the car.

Taehyung really didn't have a clue how risky this planned meeting was but he did know that Namjoon had promised him that his safety wouldn't be compromised. He had decided to take the other man's words and experiences for it. As he drew closer to the lot he found himself on edge and he couldn't help but scan around himself to make sure that he wasn't being tailed in anyway. The sight of the two other men standing behind the brick wall that cut it off from the rest of the street was of no surprise to him because he had just known that they would have stayed and waited for him, no matter how long it took.

They were both wearing plain clothes, absolutely nothing giving them away as police officers currently. Not that Taehyung wanted anyone to be looking their way, he would much prefer not even a single glance. Namjoon was dressed as casual as he could possibly be, wearing a cable knitted grey jumper over a shirt with a pair of loose jeans, a denim jacket over that to keep the early spring chill away. Hoseok was wearing a white pullover without an identifiable logo on it under a plain black parka with a pair of black trousers. They both looked like average Joes and that was the exact look that was needed. Sadly for him he stood out a bit more in his suit with Jungkook's wool overcoat on but he owned nothing close to casual to wear to the rendezvous.

"Sorry for being late," he muttered as he stepped into the alley. "I had a little trouble getting here but don't worry, it's cool."

"Started worrying that you wouldn't show up," Hoseok said before cocking his head in the direction of the other man. "But he kept saying that "he'll show up, brother, just gotta be patient"."

"Told you so," Namjoon retorted with a rather smug expression. "I never doubted you for a second."

"You're wearing wires, aren't you?" Taehyung asked as he studied them both. He lifted his hand to gesture at his shirt front, waving it vaguely around the rib area. Namjoon nodded to confirm that they were and he let out a soft laugh. "Who's listening to us right now? Is this live? 'Cos y'know I've gotta be careful, can't let you say my name or shit and give myself away."

"Why can't your name be said?" Hoseok asked in confusion.

"In case there's rats on your end listening in that'll snitch on me," Taehyung explained as he filched the cigarette packet out of his suit jacket pocket and popped the top up with his thumb. "Last thing I need is a double-crossing motherfucker selling me out."

"No one's listening, we're not live," Namjoon replied with a head shake. "We've got wires on purely to record everything that you say for our own sake. It goes onto the database so I have evidence for the case, for when this is all over and we have proof of all of the conversations that we had to show that we didn't falsify a single thing. No one's going to hear what we say today except for whoever reviews the case when the operation is finished. You haven't been ratted out by our station yet, brother, I think that's a pretty good sign that you're safe."

"...OK, OK I trust you," Taehyung muttered as he slipped a stick free and shoved it between his lips. He held the packet out to the other two men, offering them one before he shoved it back into his suit jacket pocket.

"Shit, hit me," Hoseok muttered as he held his hand out. Taehyung knew that he had kicked the bad habit shortly before he had been moved into their department and yet his teammate seemed to very much be craving a cigarette. It was probably a bad idea to let him give into it and break his clean streak but why the fuck not? It was just a fucking cigarette and he wanted one. Both he and Namjoon knew intimately that there were worse things than cigarettes.

"You sure?" Taehyung asked around the stick, raising his eyebrows as he did. Just to make it look like he gave a fuck. Hoseok nodded vigorously and even twitched his fingers at him, telling him to hand him one. So he slipped the stick free and handed it to him. "Probably get cancer some other way in the end anyway, right? Fucking oxygen gives you cancer these days..." Taehyung lit his own cigarette first and then he leaned over to do his, taking a few quick drags to get the flame smouldering and breathing them out of his nose hard. As he was slipping the lighter back into his pocket Hoseok took his first drag and proceeded to cough it right back out again.

"There go my lungs, protesting already," the other man joked in a wry tone. Taehyung reached up to pull his stick free for a second to wet his lips and he saw Namjoon's eyes latching onto his tattooed left hand, right on the knuckles where his 'B.A.B.Y" tattoo was.

"I've got a couple now," he remarked. "Wanna see the big boy?" Taehyung shoved the cigarette back in his mouth to hold it between his teeth, freeing up his hand so that he could reach up and unbutton his third shirt button. With a little effort he managed to shrug the coat and jacket down to reveal his shirt. The movement made his shoulder ache again, just like always, and when he wrenched down on the cotton collar to reveal his left breast the two other men fell still and silent. There might not have been hideous stitches all over his shoulder now but that horrible welt of scarred flesh was still there demanding attention, almost as much as the actual lotus tattoo. Taehyung didn't bother fixing his shirt and rather he just shrugged the jacket and coat back up to hide it.

"How are you holding up, brother?" Namjoon asked him, standing a few feet away and most certainly not partaking in the cigarettes. Taehyung pulled the stick free again, breathing the smoke out of his mouth as he did. "Some crazy shit has happened these last two weeks."

"Fucking Jeon," Hoseok muttered.

"Not good, uh, it's not good, Namjoon, it's just..." he dropped his gaze to their shoes for a moment. Both of them were wearing canvas shoes, completely different to his leather dress shoes. "Jeon's dead, Lim's dead, who's next huh? Me?"

"Lim's dead?" Namjoon asked with a dumbstruck expression and beside him Hoseok started choking on a lungful of smoke, sputtering so much that his partner had to reach over and thump him hard on the back. "What, since when?"

"Since Jeon's fucking funeral," Taehyung explained as he flicked a dab of ash off the end of the stick. "Jungkook had him dragged into the church, made up some bullshit excuse about him working for Kim Jinwoo and told everyone that he helped murder his daddy so he, uh, he shot him in the head." He stuck the cigarette back in his mouth and looked between the two of them. "Blew his brains out in front of the whole congregation. He lied about him being a murderer but he knew that he was a rat."

Hoseok managed to stop coughing, rubbing at his eyes rather roughly with the heel of his hand for they had welled up. He sniffed a few times but made sure to not take another drag just yet to save himself repeating the mistake. Namjoon didn't take his hand off his back however and Taehyung had a feeling that that was because he had grabbed hold of his parka tightly, the material bunched between his fingers.

"I'm living on borrowed time, man," Taehyung said in a low voice, fingers trembling so that the cigarette almost slipped free to land on the damp tarmac. "None of his men had a clue that he was an informant but that doesn't mean that my ass is safe. All it takes is a fucking iota of suspicion to cross Jungkook's mind and then what?" He lifted his hands up in a shrug, looking at them both to see if they would reply and yet neither officer did. "I'll tell you what, he'll kill me."

"There's nothing to link you back, Taehyung," Namjoon argued with a head shake. "Your department record was suspended by me, personally by me. No one is getting that record out. There's literally no proof that an officer of the law called 'Kim Taehyung' even exists until I remove the suspension and let you appear back on the database. How is The Boy going to find any links to the police when, so far as any records of you go, you've got a couple of falsified minor charges and nothing more than that from a false ID?"

"Lim had no record either but he still caught him out."

"Lim's probably been under investigation by Jeon for months now and only after his death did The Boy act," Hoseok said. "He had a whole lotta freedom unlike you. He had time to amass hundreds of connections to powerful men but not you, Tae. You've been right there beside The Boy from the start, he's had his eye on you. Do you think he's the kind to admit to making such a big fucking mistake or will his pride get in the way and stop him?"

Taehyung thought about the fact that Jungkook thought he was a God and that certainly hinted at pride. But that didn't mean that he wouldn't find a way at twisting the responsibility onto someone else to cover his own shortcomings and ignorance. Jungkook had told him that he would kill him and therefore he very much believed him. He knew that the younger man was not one to break his promises, especially not ones in regards to betrayal and death. No, Jungkook had most certainly told him the truth that evening when he had told him that he would kill him. But Jungkook had also voiced his intense fear of failure by being unable to run Haedogje Pa on his own, telling him that he needed him by his side. Was Jungkook so blinded by his fear that he might just overlook him? It was possible but it seemed much too good to be true.

Jungkook was the personification of pride and yet he was also the embodiment of crippling insecurity.

"You think that The Boy would kill you just like that?" Hoseok added as he took a slight drag off the cigarette. "Just get a little suspicious and off you without any hesitation?"

"Jungkook told me that he would kill me, after I fucked him," Taehyung argued, seeing how the two other men's gazes shifted to look across the lot instead of hold his eyes. "He said that he-he-he would gut me like a fucking fish and play with my intestines if I ever betrayed him. Honestly, if he just said that he'd fucking shoot me then it'd be alright. I've been shot already, a bullet in the head can't be that bad but I know that he really will fucking play with my organs whilst I'm still alive and that's-" he paused to move his tongue around his dry mouth for a second, "that's the part I'm scared of. Not death, the pain."

"Stop thinking about death," Namjoon instructed in a firm tone. "Thinking about anything other than the operation and your own ass, Taehyung. Dead men can't help you, can't keep you safe, only you can do that."

"I dunno if Jungkook'd do it without hesitating," Taehyung explained as he lifted the cigarette and took a final drag on it before dropping it to the ground and crushing it under the heel of his shoe. "I like to think that he'd hesitate after all of the shit that I've been though for him. But I dunno, I'm just hoping that his heart will get in the way and make him think otherwise."

"If he's even got a heart," Hoseok remarked, cigarette hovering in front of his lips. "Crazy bastard like him probably doesn't have one, couldn't have one."

"Yeah yeah, Hoseok, believe it or not," Taehyung spoke over him as he waved his wrist, almost brushing his words away, "I've done some bad shit too and hearing you say that about him it's just..."

"Just what?" Hoseok asked him as he breathed a lungful of smoke out.

"...It's fucking with my head," Taehyung finished in a quiet voice as he reached up to started rubbing at his eyes roughly.

That wasn't what he meant at all and he wondered if his teammates knew it too. It wasn't about him being equated with Jungkook, with his deeds being seen as equally abhorrent. Not at all. It was hearing them insulting Jungkook right to his face that was fucking his mind up because Taehyung had went almost four months now without hearing a man say a single negative thing about him. The ones that did...he ended up killing not long after. Just hearing them both speaking about Jungkook in such a way made him uncomfortable and his fingers were starting to twitch again.

This was wrong, this meeting was all wrong. It made him feel on edge and strange and Taehyung didn't like it but it had been his own fucking idea to do this. It was no different from trying to contact Namjoon by phone, in fact it was probably more reliable. He had needed to see them today with his own two eyes, to ground himself back in reality and help him remember what the entire point of the mission was before he got in too deep and risked losing sight of the target. But he couldn't shake that horrible sensation in the pit of his stomach telling him to drop this and walk away; to jump back into the car and go back to the den to get Jimin. They could go back to the apartment block and Jungkook would know that he was loyal, that was wasn't like the other Haedogje Pa men that wanted him dead or deposed from his throne.

Those thoughts were cowardly, were weak. He knew that they were but fighting them was a lot harder than it should have been. This was his life right now and keeping everything perfect with Jungkook was much more important in regards to his own safety and the mission. But...well, there was also that niggling voice in the back of his mind telling him that Jungkook needed him right now too. The younger man had told him that he needed his guidance and his support to help him run his empire and that was a lot of trust and responsibility on his shoulders.

First there was his team from the Yongsan-gu, waiting on him and him alone to get his hands on prosecutable evidence to use against Jungkook and bring Haedogje Pa down. That had been almost seven months of burden including the three months of training to get him into the gang in the first place, not that far from a year in total. Taehyung had felt that crippling certainty that he was going to fall at the first hurdle but he hasn't, and he had went through hell to get to this current position. Now Taehyung was starting to feel another burden on his shoulders and it was that of Jungkook depending on him, needing him to assist him because he had no one else that could.

His shoulders could only take so much weight. One shoulder had already been wounded and stitched back up again, and he wasn't at all sure that they were as strong as they had once been.

"Jungkook's got a heart just like the rest of us, that won't help you sleep at night but it's true," Taehyung muttered. "He's got a heart, I've seen it so I know, and it's that very human weakness I'm hoping will save my ass. Lim took the fucking fall for me, how'd you think that makes me feel, huh?" he asked to rub at his aching head again. "Makes me feel like a fucking murderer but-"

"You're not a murderer, Taehyung," Namjoon disagreed.

"But I am , I'm a fucking murderer. Just last week I helped tuh-torture a man," Taehyung explained, voice a lot louder than he had intended, "and then I poured gasoline over his fucking body and just-" he turned away from them because he couldn't stand the weight of their eyes on his face. "You don't understand what that does to you, and I know what you went through, Namjoon, but this, this is something else I swear it's gonna eat me alive. It's not even fucking guilt, I haven't felt that in so long that it's kinda disturbing. I don't feel guilty, I don't feel bad, those men were fucking scum and I don't give a shit."

"That's not you talking, Tae," Hoseok remarked in a soft voice, tapping ash off the end of the stick. "That's fear, stress and trauma speaking. You wouldn't ever wish that shit on another human, we know you."

"Oh yeah?" Taehyung said, raising both eyebrows at him challengingly. "You dunno me, you don't even have a clue what's going on up here anymore, ain't that scary?" He tapped his fingers against the side of his head thrice hard. "All of that fucking trauma."

"He's right, Taehyung," Namjoon agreed, "you're a good man and-"

"Nam Jaebum, that fucking prick - he tried to rape me!" Taehyung shouted at them, seeing Hoseok flinching and then reeling back in surprise. "He tried to rape me just 'cos he could and Jungkook made me cut his cock off." He pulled his cigarette packet free again so that he could get another stick between his lips, even though it was useless. The smoking wouldn't calm him down, wouldn't curb his craving for something stronger. He shoved the packet back and grabbed his lighter, struggling to get the end of the stick to smoulder because his hand and lips were shaking so bad. "That man pimped out children," Taehyung talked around the cigarette, voice slightly muffled, "that man ruined Jimin's life, and that man tried to rape me. I feel nothing."

"...Christ," Hoseok muttered as he tossed his cigarette at the tarmac and then turned away from them both. He placed both hands up on the back of his head and Taehyung heard him making several noises under his breath. Clearly his words had upset him but Taehyung wouldn't ever take them back. He wanted them both to know just how much shit he had went through to get to this point just so they could feel a little of the pain too.

Shit he had plenty to go around, they were more than welcome to take a nice big pound of scarred flesh.

"I'm not a good man, Namjoon," Taehyung said in a quiet voice as he finally managed to light the end of the stick. "But since joining Haedogje Pa I learnt a pretty funny thing, there's no such thing as 'good' or 'bad'." He took a deep drag on the cigarette and breathed it out of the corner of his mouth. "Morality is a fucking grey zone, yeah? Today I feel like a murderer 'cos Lim's dead, by tomorrow I'll probably be relieved 'cos he couldn't snitch me out, and give it another couple of days and I won't give a shit. He's dead, I'm not, big-fucking-woop. That's morality for you. Murder is bad but if a murder results in me breathing for another day...let's just say if Jungkook'd handed me that gun and asked me to do it I would've."

The lot fell silent for a moment when he stopped speaking. Taehyung decided to take that as a sign that he had unloaded too much personal shit in them but right now he didn't really care. He had been hoping to feel something after doing so, to feel like he had managed to purge some of his anger, fear and shame, yet he had done no such thing. He still felt like a monster standing in front of them. He was not the Kim Taehyung that they had sent off four months ago, a nervous and smart young man who's only vices had been shitty KBS dramas and the occasional cheap gay pornographic video should he have stumbled across a rare one online. Now...now he was so fucking ruined it was impossible to believe. Did that scare the other men? Did it scare them or upset them that they had let him get into this state for the sake of their operation? Taehyung was good at reading people and he was more than certain that it was the latter that they were feeling. A horrible mixture of guilt, pain and shock.

"Just tell me that I can do it, Namjoon," Taehyung said in a quiet voice. "Just tell me that I can 'cos I'm scared that I can't do it; that I'll turn on you guys, that I'm gonna fuck it all up on you."

"Look, Taehyung, the fact that you're scared of turning on us is a good thing, right?" Namjoon stated and so he asked him what the hell he meant by that. "If you're scared of turning your back on us then it's a sign that you're still good. A good person wouldn't be scared because they would have already changed right?"

He had a point but Taehyung wasn't sure that it was the right one.

"Jungkook told me that he didn't think a rat would try and infiltrate too deeply, said that the fact Lim was working property and shit gave him away 'cos it's a safe place to hide. I don't think that he has a fucking clue right now but I'm still risking a lot of shit. I know I ain't got long left before I'm found out so that's why we gotta do this; gotta move quick and get our asses in gear."

"Do what? Tae, we've got nothing on him that-"

"There are hard drives," Taehyung announced in a rather mundane fashion. "Jimin told me about 'em. Jungkook has a couple of hard drives containing so much info on his men, gang activity and more; the keys to the fucking castle."

At this both of the officers fell still and silent, seemingly taken aback by his words. Taehyung could see that they were both speechless and for nearly a minute there was no noise save for the droning of the passing traffic and the occasional squawking gulls. Then there was an explosion of sound and they both started exclaiming things at him, gesturing wildly. In normal circumstances it would have been amusing but right now his head hurt too much and he found it more of an irritation. After a few seconds they both seemed to figure this out and Hoseok stopped talking to allow Namjoon to take charge.

"Hard drives, there are hard drives? Have you seen them with your own two eyes?"

"No, can't go into Jungkook's office but that's where they are."

"How do you know for sure that these hard drives are real? How can you be certain that- Jimin, right? That he didn't lie to you?"

"Trust me, he ain't lying," Taehyung retorted. "I've got Jimin wrapped around my cock, he ain't lying." At this he saw Hoseok's lips twitching at the corners but he managed to keep a straight expression. "The hard drives exist, trust me. I used Jungkook's fucking laptop when I was too injured to work properly, Jimin got it for me from his office and it was missing a drive so I asked him why and he told me. He said that there were a few, maybe five? Can't remember the figure just that he told me that there was a few of 'em. Why'd he tell me that if it was a lie?" He studied the two other officers to see that they had no reply to this. "Just like Jungkook, he told me 'cos he trusts me."

"OK, so you've just gotta get the hard drives out of the apartment," Hoseok stated. "It can't be that hard to do, right?"

"No, no you don't understand, you don't-" Taehyung hunkered down with a heavy groan so that he could bury his head in his hands. "There's no way in fucking hell that I can get those things outta the penthouse suite. Jimin's always in the suite like a guard dog, I can't enter Jungkook's office without him seeing me. If he ain't in the suite it's 'cos me and Jungkook are out and he leaves, only then. There's no way in hell I can get 'em out right now."

"So you need a way in," Namjoon suggested, "and that way in seems to be through Jimin."

"Getting close to Jimin...that would be useful," Hoseok remarked as he started fiddling his lips, running his thumb over his lower lip. "You might just be able to get him to do you some favours. He's a sex slave, right?"

"Was," Taehyung corrected. "Not under Jungkook, he was a sex slave under Nam."

"You sure he still isn't one?" Hoseok asked in a soft voice, eyebrows raising slowly.

Taehyung held his gaze for a few seconds before finding that he had to look down at the tarmac instead. He knew that he should deny his words again like he had a moment ago but there was a niggling feeling deep down that told him that Hoseok was actually telling him the truth. Hadn't Jungkook literally offered him to him as a reward that night? Told him that he could fuck him without even letting him know if Jimin had even wanted any of that. And he had went straight for him, had went straight for the pretty face and pliable body that would do exactly what he had wanted no questions asked. It was enough to make a surge of disgust course straight through him.

Jimin was a human being and yet...yet he had used him like a fucking sex doll, and right now he was planning on using him that much more.

"I'll bet you could promise him so many things and he would help," Hoseok said as he turned his head to look at Namjoon. "Assisting the operation like that, giving witness testimonies, considering his situation that could result in a pardon. He could walk away from this without a single charge, I'm pretty fucking sure of it."

"Full cooperation with the police," Namjoon made a soft noise under his breath and then nodded. "I'm pretty certain our department could pull strings in exchange for whistle-blowing on Jimin's end."

"Think or know, I don't deal in hypothetical," Taehyung said in a rather snappy tone. "Can he get off Scot-free or is he looking at the rest of his life in prison, I need to know?"

"...I think he can," Hoseok said after a moment of thought. "I've seen men walk free for whistle-blowing a dozen times, they get their assets seized and they have to go to court and all of that shit, but the info that they possess is so much more important than a conviction. I think considering his situation he could get off Scot-free, yeah."

"OK, OK that's good," he muttered under his breath, fingers still rubbing at his head. In his current position he could feel his legs starting to tremble and the idea of standing upright seemed much too difficult for him right now. Here were the full-blown twitches, come to get him before he could finish the rendezvous. Would either of them notice? Would Namjoon start to see his behaviour and start to think of the similarities between his own past addiction? "It's good, I can use that knowledge if worse comes to worst."

"Have you been trying to sidle up to Jimin too?" Namjoon asked, sidling being a polite way of asking if he was fucking him good. "Or has the main focus been The Boy?"

"I'm...I'm working on it," Taehyung explained as he lowered his hands from his face and looked up at them both. "I'm working as hard as I fucking can but Jimin's smart and he's unpredictable. He says that he trusts me, that he confides in me but he's got his eye on someone, on Crazy Min's son. They've been palling around with each other a few times and I'm scared that he's gonna slip up and tell him and then my ass is grass."

"Crazy Min's son?" Hoseok asked in surprise. "You're kidding, right?"

"No," Taehyung shook his head at this. "He and Jimin have something going on right now, think they're friends or something. Maybe fucking, I dunno..." He briefly thought of Yoongi that day in the office, the bright pink hand print on his cheek and the way that he had trembled in fear. "Don't think they are though."

"I imagine The Boy wouldn't approve," Namjoon remarked.

"Pfft, you're kidding right? Jungkook'd fucking record it, probably join in," he retorted. "Jungkook used Jimin as a...a kinda reward right? First he rewarded me with this," Taehyung reached inside his coat and under his jacket to grab hold of the well of his Cz75 and he pulled it free. Both officers stared at the gun with wide eyes. "Which came in handy 'cos I've had to kill like half a dozen men with it."

"Remember when you said you wouldn't even get close to a gun?" Hoseok said with a wry smile.

"I was wrong and I've been wrong about a great many things," Taehyung agreed with a nod and he shoved it back into the holster. "After the gun he gave me Jimin, I mean he literally brought me to the penthouse and...and there was sex." Which they already knew about of course, thanks to the website being brought down by the cyber squad. "There was-was drugs too I snorted coke and lost control but from that point onward I think that Jungkook started opening up. Through Jimin he deduced that I was good, that I was safe to open up to and trust. Jungkook might think that it was all him but it wasn't, it was Jimin. Had Jimin found something off about me back then I think that my corpse would've been dumped in a river a long time ago, let's just put it that way."

"The Boy's not a very open person, is he?"

"No, Namjoon, he's like a fucking clam hiding a pearl. You've really gotta pry around to open him and I think that I have, but it's not him that I need opening up now. It's Jimin."

"It can't be that hard to open him up, right?" Hoseok remarked. "If you got to The Boy, you can get to The Bitch."

"It's not that easy, OK?" Taehyung groaned. "I'm too close to the top right now and one wrong word and I could end up fucking dead. Jimin's a bitch, yeah, but he's literally the most important person in Jungkook's life. I still dunno for sure where his loyalties lie. Sure he can tell me shit but that doesn't mean that he would pick me over Jungkook if he had to. Jungkook's everything that Jimin needs in his life right now, why would he side against him?"

"'Cos he's a fucking slave, Tae," Hoseok retorted, "and maybe he's sick of it?"

"Oh yeah? Well maybe I'm sick of this shit too?" Taehyung snapped at him, voice a lot louder and words more aggressive than he had intended. He managed to stand upright but he had to lean back against the wall for support. "Maybe I'm sick of waking up every-fucking-day and wondering if it's the day that I die? Maybe I'm so fucking tired of waiting for another bullet to find me and end up with another scar to add onto the list? Maybe I-"

"Hey calm down, brother, " Namjoon said in a placating tone as he held his hands up to him. "We understand that it's tough, that it's fucking terrifying, but you doing so good, Taehyung. You're doing so good that so many people in this city are going to be knocked right on their asses."

"It's just that..." Taehyung took a deep breath and let it out slowly, the sound escaping in an uneven sigh. "I keep having these thoughts, y'know? Like these really overwhelming thoughts and I don't like 'em."

"What kind of thoughts?" Hoseok asked. "Tell us about the thoughts, Tae, that's one of the few things you can tell us about."

"I just get these thoughts and feelings and I just-" he bit down on his lower lip and before he could even control himself his eyes started welling with tears. "I feel so fucking guilty, I feel like I'm doing something buh...bad and it scares me. I'm scared that I'm gonna pussy out. Jungkook's...he's not the fucking monster that I thought he was when I started this. I was naïve, I was stupid. I thought that if I kept looking at him like some kinda inhuman creature that I wouldn't feel anything but I was wrong. I was so fucking wrong. Shit, I just feel these things towards him, towards Jimin, and I can't stop 'em." His teammate asked him to be more specific. "Like fucking luh-love, Hoseok. I'm pretty sure that I love 'em both."

Was the silence a result of sheer horror and disgust at the thought of one of their own loving The Boy? Or was it something else, something like defeated resignation? Taehyung was much too busy trying to choke any sobs down to figure it out, reaching up to rub at his eyes roughly. His fingers were shaking and not only from the onset of his withdrawal.

"It's not love, Taehyung, you understand that...right?" Namjoon said in a soft voice, and beside him Hoseok tried his very hardest to keep his expression neutral. "You're mistaking sexual gratification and dependency for something genuine, something secure."

Sexual gratification didn't make his chest almost ache when Jungkook pressed a chaste kiss in the corner of his mouth and said "good morning" to him. Sexual gratification didn't explain that lovely warmth that seemed to spread through him whenever Jimin met his eyes from across the suite and his full lips curved up in a soft smile.

"No, no I know what I feel and it's love. There's no point in pretending it ain't 'cos I know that it is, and I'm fucking... fucked ," Taehyung whined, feeling the corners of his lips pulling down. "I'm so fucked guys, I can't...I can't duh-do this shit much longer. I feel like I'm gonna die and-" Namjoon reached over to grab hold of his upper arms and Taehyung dropped his head just so he didn't have to look at him. "I've never fuh-felt something like this before, it hurts so buh-bad and I can't fuh-fucking breathe right now."

"Deep breaths, come on. Take deep breaths, brother."

"He wuh-was supposed to be a-a-a monster but he's-" Taehyung took a gulping breath and hiccupped on it, eyes stinging as his tears started spilling free, "he's a person too and I duh-didn't-"

"Tae, just stop taking and breathe," Hoseok suggested in a soft voice.

"I wasn't tuh-told that he was a person," he continued in a breathless voice. "How cuh-can I- it's fuh-fucking-" Namjoon let go of his arms and instead grabbed hold of his head instead, holding it tightly so Taehyung stopped talking for a moment to try and control himself. "Jeon Jungkook is...is a monster that luh-loves his parents more than anything else in the world and he-"

"Taehyung," Namjoon scolded in a gentle tone, trying to get him to stop talking about the younger man.

"He's a monster that's a walking host of muh-mental and emotional disorders and that's alright, that's alright," Taehyung repeated before letting out a bark of a laugh, "'cos I'm the exact same right now. He's a fucking kid, Namjoon. He's eighteen years old and he's gonna go down 'cos of me and that's a lot of shit. I dunno if I can sleep knowing that, it's been eating me up for weeks now."

"Tae, I'm gonna break it to you the hard way," Hoseok said as he reached up to rub at his brow. "Either we take him down or his own men do. You know it's gonna happen, it's only a matter of time until The Boy bites a bullet too and then this entire operation was a fucking failure. We put all of this hard work into it, you've been put through the fucking wringer and pulverised. Do you want that to go to waste? Do you want to go down with him?"

Hoseok had a point, a great point that he had been too blinded by his own emotions to even notice. Jungkook had had one assassination attempt on his head so far and that was most certainly not going to be the last. Even if Jinwoo was blown away in a storm of bullets then there would always be another man in line waiting to pick up where he had left off, and right now Jungkook was not in the position to be dealing with such matters. He hadn't even been given enough time to purge Haedogje Pa and pick his own men, his own loyal subjects, and so there would be so many strict Jeon supporters still lingering that fucking despised him. Jungkook was in danger, which in turn put both him and Jimin in just as much danger, if not more.

It was a kill or be killed world right now for Haedogje Pa and Jungkook was just as much a target as the rest of them.

"...No, no you're right," he agreed with a nod, sniffing hard. "Jungkook's a goner, he can't do this. He knows himself that he's fucked so what's the point? Going down with the ship might sound noble but what's so noble about dying?" Taehyung reached up to grab hold of Namjoon's hands, lightly pulling them away from his head. "Either we take him down and wipe out this fucking empire with his info or he gets murdered and we get Jack shit."

"One is a solution, one causes more problems," Namjoon added.

"I guess you gotta use a monster to catch a monster, huh?" Taehyung suggested in a quiet voice as he reached up to rub at his damp cheeks. Namjoon told him that he wasn't a monster at all and he let out a flat laugh. "If Jungkook is then I'm the exact same: I'm a monster now. I've accepted that already, people can't do the shit that we do, yeah?"

For once neither of the officers had a comeback and he was glad of it.

"I'll contact you as soon as I have an update on the hard drives," he said as he finished drying his cheeks. "Expect a phone call soon, I can't afford to waste the window of opportunity that Jeon's death presented us."

Taehyung left the lot to head back down the street, noting that the two other men lingered behind to not be caught leaving in a group. He had to go back to the den and wait for Jimin to call and he guessed that he just curl up in the back of the hired car and not move for a few hours at least. That would be a blessing but first, first he had to do something. Taehyung walked several blocks before finding what he considered to be a safe place, a sheltered alcove between two empty buildings that was blocked from view to the road, meaning that no one would see him. So he entered it and stripped his coat and jacket off so fast that they fell to the floor without a care. He dropped down on his shaking legs and rummaged inside of the jacket to find the case, his version of communion, and he slipped it free and started the usual ritual.

After rolling his shirt sleeve up and getting the tourniquet loosely in place Taehyung turned his attention to the vial to see that there wasn't a great deal left of it. He eyed the needle to see a maximum cut off point of 100ml and that was when he pierced the vial and pulled the pusher back to draw the liquid up into the syringe. It edged past his now staple 60ml dosage and started to get closer to 70...then 80...then even higher. He watched the clear liquid pull all of the way up to 95ml before there was nothing but a trickle left inside the vial and then he pulled the needle free and stared at the syringe. Taehyung jerked his head back to tighten the tourniquet, waiting for a vein to show but it took too long, much too long.

"Cuhmon," he mumbled through his teeth, the taste of rubber heavy on his tongue. "Cuhmon cuhmon juh...fuck-" Taehyung left go of the band and he closed his eyes, fingers tightening on the syringe involuntarily. He had seen his teammates just several minutes ago, had seen them for the first time in months and yet here he was: hunkered down in some filthy alley ready to shoot up again. "Fuck fuck fuck no just-" Taehyung felt all of the tears from earlier once again spilling down his cheeks and a cracked sob escaped before he managed to grab the tourniquet ends again and hold the needle right over his inner elbow.

He needed this. He did, he needed it and there was no point in pretending that he didn't when the tourniquet was pulled tightly between his teeth and there were tears streaming down his face. He needed this and it didn't matter what he told himself because it was useless. But there was a disgusting shame deep inside of him that told him that he needed to stop. His team had already gotten into so much trouble because of him and the stupid sex tapes, he was once again causing even more trouble for them.

But did any of that matter anymore? Did anything matter when his hands were shaking so bad that he could barely hold the syringe steady and he could feel beads of sweat rolling down from his hairline?

The morphine didn't hurt him like everything else. Like his team, like Jungkook and Jimin. The morphine stopped the pain so why would he try and resist it? It had brought him nothing but peace from it all: the bullet wound injury, his own terrified thoughts, the nightmares and bad feelings.

"I juh wuhna stop hurtin," Taehyung managed to grunt around the ends of the rubber band. "Puh...ease."

Because of his shaking hands he actually ended up accidentally nicking his skin a few times with the head of the needle, blood beading on his skin until he managed to slip it in and felt that wonderful sting before he dropped the pusher and injected himself. Taehyung slipped the needle free and he tossed the syringe across the alley hard and it hit the wall, the glass cracking as it fell to the floor. There, that was it. He had no needle to inject with now, no vial. He slumped to the side and landed on the pile of cast off clothing with a soft thump. Taehyung let his breath out in a wheezy sigh and just like that he felt the urge to cry had completely disappeared, so he just stayed in place for a few minutes to let that wonderful warmth flood his system and make him forget about what had happened between him and Namjoon and Hoseok. It was just as his eyelids were starting to flutter shut that a thought crossed his mind.

Shit, he was going to have to go and get Jimin soon. From the drugs den.

The thought was enough to make him struggle back up into sitting position and so he reached over to lean against the wall and get to his feet. At least his legs weren't wobbling anymore. Taehyung grabbed the coat and jacket but didn't shrug them on, rather he just folded them over his arm to cover the fact that the sleeve was still rolled up. He exited the alley, making sure to stand on the syringe as he did just to hear a satisfying crack, and then he started walking back across the district in that wonderfully numb state. By the time he had reached the den the warmth had faded back to a normal sensation but he was still delightfully numb to the world. The driver didn't even glance at him as he popped the back door open and climbed inside. Sleep called to him and so he shifted to lie down on the backseat, folding the bundle of clothing up to use as a pillow. Before he ended up slipping into that wonderful blackness Taehyung managed to fix his sleeve and pull it down to cover the bleeding punctures on his inner elbow.

The sensation of something wet against his face brought him back to consciousness and Taehyung lifted his head just in time for Wangbi's rough tongue to bat right across his nose. He jerked into sitting position in surprise, reaching up to wipe at his face before forcing his eyes open. The first thing that hit him was the fact that it was dark out, very dark for the orange glow of the streetlights illuminated the view outside of the window. Taehyung looked up from Wangbi as she crawled onto his lap just in time to see Jimin climbing into the car beside him.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," he said with a smile as he slammed the door shut.

"I told you to call, why didn't you call?"

"The car was parked outside, Tae," he argued. "What was the point in calling you when I could see it through the window, huh?" Taehyung reached up to rub at his heavy eyelids, mumbling to the driver to take them back to the apartment block. "Don't be silly. Oh but, Tae, I have something for you. Something important," Jimin said in a soft voice as he reached inside his coat and pulled a rather large bottle of something free. Taehyung saw that it was bright green and his eyes latched onto it. What the fuck was that substance? "You know what this is, right?"

"Nuh...no," he replied with a head shake, the car pulling away from the curb as he did.

"It's methadone," Jimin explained in that same soft voice. "I asked Yoongi to get it for me and he did, because we want to help you."

"Meh...methadone?"

"Instead of the morphine, it's used in clinics to fight the addiction and- before you ask because I know that you will, it feels the exact same, Tae."

"It...it does?" Taehyung asked in surprise as he dragged his eyes away from the bottle.

"It does, Tae, I promise you that it does," Jimin said with a smile as he slipped it back inside his coat out of sight. "So you're going to start using it instead, because that way we can get you away from the morphine. Don't you think that that's a good idea, mmm?" Taehyung's mouth was too dry for him to reply beyond a couple of words here and there so he settled on nodding at him instead. "We're going to help you, Tae."

"I know you are, I know," Taehyung agreed. "Jimin?"

"Yes, Tae?"

"Y'know that I...that I love you, right?"

"Of course," Jimin said without the slightest hint of hesitation. "Of course I know that."

"I wish that I could help you too," Taehyung said in a quiet voice as he glanced at the window instead, watching the dark streets go past in a blur of colours. At this the other man showed slight confusion, brow furrowing. "But I...I think that I can now."

"OK, I think you need some more sleep," Jimin joked with a laugh. Taehyung sighed and shifted to use his lap as a pillow, disturbing a rather comfortable Wangbi as he did and forcing her to squeeze onto the slight gap beside the other window. Jimin's fingers went straight to his hair and he started lightly stroking it. "You're such a sleepyhead today, Tae."

"Mmm," he purred in agreement, all the while thinking that the morphine had greatly caused it. "But I can do it, Jimin, I can help both of you just...trust me."

"Sure you can, baby," Jimin agreed in a soothing tone and his fingers lightly rubbed concentric circles on his brow. "You can do anything, remember?"

"'Cos I'm a...a God?" Taehyung asked before feeling his lips lifting up in a lazy attempt at a smile. "Sometimes I think that...that I'm a monster instead, Jimin."

"The Gods are really nothing more than monsters," the other man said as he played with his hair. "A God can't be a human after all."

"I'm just a fucking monster..." Taehyung said in a voice barely above a whisper as his eyelids closed on him again. Before he sank into blackness he heard Jimin mutter something in reply to his words.

"Aren't we all, baby?"