Vice

Chapter 14

"Oh, god!" Seokjin whined, the moment he crossed the threshold of his penthouse.

"Did you ask me to come here for a gangbang? Because if so, I'm not interested," he continued, each word sounding more affected as the questions left his mouth. "No, we all just want to talk-"

"You can fuck right off, for a start," Seokjin snapped, interrupting Jaehwan's honey sweet voice and hanging Taehyung's scarlet coat in the hall closet. "Why are you all in my house?" he asked, crossing his arms and spinning to face the three people in his living room.

Taehyung (his new short hair still seemed foreign to Seokjin after so many years of long curls) was standing in between Yoongi and Jaehwan, and all looked grim. "Baby, we really do need to talk to you," Taehyung replied, holding a hand out for the hacker. Seokjin didn't take it.

"Did it occur to you that I never want to speak to or see you ever again?" Seokjin asked, giving his ex-best friend a look that could have melted steel. "Yes, but I'm a constant fixture in your life. You'd miss me too much if I ditched you again," Jaehwan replied, winking and delicately resting his palm on Taehyung's shoulder.

The hacker's temper flared instantly. "Don't fucking touch him, poisonous bitch! And get the fuck out of my penthouse!" he snarled, glaring at Jaehwan for all he was worth. To his complete annoyance, the other coder flashed his signature catlike smile and didn't move.

Knowing this line of conversation would only end in a real fight, and not having the energy for it at the moment, Seokjin turned to face Yoongi. "What's your excuse, Yoongi? We don't have any emotional baggage, so I'm guessing you aren't here to torment me. Or, are you going to tell me that you and Tae have been fucking on the side for years or something?"

"No, I'm here to pass along some information," the thief replied, glancing momentarily at Taehyung, who had shaken Jaehwan off and stepped away. "What information is that? Talk quickly, I'm not staying long."

"Do you know you and Jungkook were in the newspaper?" Jaehwan asked, head cocked and hand on hip. "Yes, obviously. What does that have to do with anything?" Seokjin replied coldly, crossing to the kitchen and grabbing a bottled coffee from the fridge. The hacker mentally cursed whichever architect had designed their open-concept apartment. It meant there was nowhere to hide.

"Baby, don't have coffee, it's not good for-"

"I will drink whatever I damn well please! You lost the privilege to tell me what to do when you stuck your dick in that skank!" Seokjin shouted, whirling and throwing the bottlecap at Taehyung's head. Unfortunately, the gamer neatly dodged it and gave Seokjin an exasperated look.

"Getting back to why we're here," Yoongi said, raising his normally soft voice to catch everyone's attention. "Being seen in public with Jungkook was a terrible idea. People in... my circle have taken note, and in all probability, you now have a target on your back. You're guilty by association. I'm only telling you this because Taehyung is my friend and you getting hurt would hurt him too."

"There's similar gossip going around in our circle," Jaehwan said, filling the silence that followed Yoongi's words. "You would already know that if you ever checked the stupid forum or talked to any of our friends. I swear to god, I have gotten 13 phone calls about you this morning, not including all the spam I woke up to."

"The fact that I also work for Jungkook isn't public knowledge, but the fact that we're close is. Everyone either wants you to get them a job with him, or they want to know what the hell you're doing messing around with such a notorious criminal."

"And since when do I care about gossip?" Seokjin hissed, trying not to think about Yoongi's ominous words and crossing over to the couch. "Any time that it benefits you. Don't put an act on for me, I know you way too well for that to work," Jaehwan replied, coming to collapse on the cushion next to him.