iris . vkook

ninety

"I want Jeong-ja." Taemin grinned.

Surprisingly, Jeongguk didn't attack him. He didn't shout. He didn't curse.

He simply scoffed.

Slowly, he made his way over to Taemin and Hoseok. Crouching beside them, he ignored the way Hoseok squirmed in Taemin's tightening grip.

"Who do you work for?" Jeongguk cocked his brow, hand resting on the length of the gun as he stared at Taemin.

"I could ask you the same question, sunshine." 

"You work for the dragons?" Jeongguk asked, referring to the gang that had once abducted Ten and Taeyong: the night where Taehyung found out who Jeongguk really was. 

"What's it to you?" 

"It's just that if you were to be working for them, I could get your pretty little head severed. I'm sure your boss wouldn't be too happy to hear about his vermin annoying Mr Lee's best worker." Jeongguk replied in a patronising tone, pouting his lips slightly before smirking widely, "we're who you buy your coke off. And your pistols. I'd be real careful, and think about everything if I were you."

Taemin's arm went lax, shoulders sagging. Jeongguk took this opportunity to slap the gun out of his hand, grabbing it in his own as he pulled Hoseok towards himself.

Taemin stayed sat on the ground, hands empty and face void of emotion. Jeongguk stood, pointing a gun at the aforementioned after shoving Hoseok towards Namjoon and Jin.

"Why do you want Jeong-ja, hm?" 

Taemin mentioned something that Jeongguk couldn't quite catch, earning him a quick kick to the chin.

"Speak louder."

Jin, Namjoon and Hoseok watched warily as Jeongguk began to slip into his work personality, his shoulders squared as he held a defensive stance. They saw the mild fear in Taemin's eyes and the cruel fearlessness in Jeongguk's eyes. Taemin stared directly into the barrel of the gun while Jeongguk stared directly at Taemin. 

"She's worth a lot in the underground. I'm broke as fuck, and it'd boost my reputation in the ground."

"I don't care how little money you have, don't ever try and fucking sell my sister like she's an object!" Jeongguk roared, throwing a strong kick at Taemin's side, a crack and a groan sounding, "how could you hold a gun to your boyfriend's head?!"

"We broke up." Taemin muttered.

"So you held a gun to his head?"

"No. We broke up the day that you proposed to Taehyung, since I couldn't hide any more secrets from him. I knew about the proposal, since a gang member had seen it and reported back, and when he was talking about you two being together and cute, I couldn't bear not telling him, so we broke up."

An awkward silence blanketed the room as Taemin began to cry, sobbing over the break up. Jeongguk was left speechless, which was rare. 

"Uh, you guys can deal with this couple shit. I'm not a therapist." Jeongguk said, throwing a hand in front of his face, taking the magazine out of the pistol and pocketing it before leaving the empty gun on the floor. 

He murmured a goodbye to Namjoon, making his way down the stairs. He walked towards his car, getting his cigarettes before sitting on the bonnet. Letting one of the sticks perch between his lips, he patted his legs for his lighter, groaning when he realised it was in the car.

He searched in the compartment, pulling out a pink lighter, turning around and squealing out of surprise. Jin was stood there, arms folded around his body as his face screamed guilt.

"Apologies." Jeongguk said, raising his eyebrows before focusing his gaze on the end of the cigarette, holding up the flickering flame to it. He waited until the orange heat stuck onto the paper before shoving the plastic back into his pocket, taking a deep drag and blowing it out, looking at Jin expectedly. "If you've come to complain, Taemin's rib is probably just fractured, his jaw will bruise and he can't shoot anyone, I've got the bullets."

Jin shook his head, soft hair hitting his cheeks as he did so. His lips were pursed and his eyes were cast down, feeling as though he couldn't look Jeongguk in the eyes - perhaps out of respect. Perhaps out of fear. Jeongguk wasn't sure, nor did he care.

"It's not that."

Jeongguk leaned against the side of the car, pulling his jacket around him before exhaling another bout of smoke. Jin looked at the ink crawling up his neck and sneaking down to his hands, thinking about all the stories his parents told him about how 'he should fear those with tattoos, they're criminals, unafraid of pain and therefore will hurt you'. 

Jeongguk was a criminal. He could have so many charges pinned against him; murder, assault, theft, arson, fraud and so many more.

Jin presumed he was unafraid of pain, since his courage and bravery suggested he wasn't afraid of much. 

Yet, he still didn't think Jeongguk would hurt him. He felt safe in Jeongguk's presence, despite the man having so many weapons that could kill him. He could see a gun in the car, and he didn't doubt Jeongguk's brawl skills.

Namjoon was true with what he said, if Taehyung was happy then what did their opinions of Jeongguk matter? Taehyung clearly didn't fear Jeongguk, everyone knew that if he was unhappy, his cocky mouth would speak about it. 

But he saw how Jeongguk handled Taehyung with the utmost care. He saw the soft kisses to Taehyung's chin and forehead and cheek. He saw the way Jeongguk would hold Taehyung's hands gently when the elder was inspecting Jeongguk's rings and tattoos. He saw how Jeongguk would always give Taehyung his jacket when it was cold, hold an umbrella over Taehyung and not himself when it was raining, open the car door for him and if Taehyung's hands were full, click his seatbelt in for him.

He knew that Jeongguk always welcomed Taehyung home with a kiss, hug and a steaming cup of tea. He knew that Jeongguk walked, fed and bathed Yeontan without Taehyung asking him to. He knew that Jeongguk subconsciously knew when Taehyung was upset, stroking the nape of his neck lovingly, resting his hand on his thigh, holding his hand tight and rubbing his thumb over the skin. 

He saw how Taehyung would melt when he saw Jeongguk enter the room, cheeks flushing a light pink and the corners of his lips widening, eyes glittering and hands clasping. He saw him melt further as Jeongguk would run over to him, hugging him tightly and pressing kisses to his face, Taehyung giggling. 

He recalled Jeongguk immediately defending Hoseok from Jisom, and defending him again from Taemin despite knowing that Hoseok didn't like him.

Taehyung and Jeongguk were good together, fitting together perfectly like puzzle pieces. Taehyung fit snugly into Jeongguk's side, they both hated coffee and loved tea, Taehyung liked all the shows and films that Jeongguk did, neither of them were really good at cooking and so shared many memories of laughing at extremely burnt pizzas or too-spicy undercooked chicken, they were both affectionate, they both loved sleeping in past noon and cuddling under fluffy blankets - they were both made for each other.

With all this swirling around in his mind, Jin jumped forward, wrapping his arms around Jeongguk's torso.

Dropping his cigarette onto the stone out of shock, Jeongguk's eyes widened. He brought his hands to Jin's back, patting with one and holding with the other as Jin hugged him tightly.

"Thank you for being there for us, no matter what."