Day 6 ❀ Believer ❀
Oct. 14th, 2017 06:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
colorful_worldb>Title: Believer
Prompt-#: 30
For: aff - imadv0123
Pairing: Jongkey (2min if you really squint)
Author: reikyrou@aff
Word count: 8033 words
Rating: R
Warnings: Nothing too major, but mentions of killing/murdering/crime
Summary: The man before him didn’t look familiar – the young hacker would have remembered such a gorgeous man – but his voice. It was a voice he would recognize everywhere, having heard him speaking almost three years, nearly every day. His eyes widened, heart flipping at the mere thought that the other came here for him. [Lookout AU]
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“Are you sure it’s a good idea?”
A low chuckle escaped smiling lips as the dark haired male glanced at the street camera on the side of the road. Twinkling dark chestnut eyes stared right through the lens knowing that the other was watching him. Humming slowly the brown haired male shook his head letting the last rays of sun play with his dark tawny locks, flashing one final smile at the camera, causing small breath hitch from the male on the other end of the line. Luckily for him, the other was concentrating on nagging at him.
“Jjong, how many times I need to tell you I know what I’m doing”, the walking male stated while rounding a corner getting slowly closer to his destination. It was mid-October, getting darker a lot faster and he knew he had to hurry if he didn’t want to walk back in pitch black.
“First, don’t call me that, Bum, you know I hate it. Second, I know you do but I’ve heard they’re not just a regular group of small-action criminals and there is something a lot greater behind this than they let on. I just feel like this has been way too easy to this point”, the unappreciated nickname made the other pout a little, even though in reality he loved when Jonghyun called him cute names. But he could never tell it to the other man.
“And I feel like you are overreacting. I know you get easily anxious but I have everything under control. Besides you can hear me all the time”, fingers were playing with the small microphone inside his ear trying to prove his point.
“I know I know, stop fiddling with it, the screeching is killing my ears. Just… Try to be quick, okay?”
“Yes, you big baby.”
A small ‘humph’ was heard which made Kibum smile fondly. He knew that Jonghyun was just worried about him and he knew what the older male was getting at – this has been a little too easy mission to be completed just like that and he also knew that. However, there was a reason he had to do this. He had to know.
Jonghyun and Kibum have been after them a few weeks now. The older male just couldn’t understand why Kibum was so obsessed with this case – it was obviously too big for just the two of them. But the younger male refused to give up and had already put himself in danger way too many times. Fortunately, he was also good at getting out of trouble, but Jonghyun was scared that this would be too much. He didn’t know where they got involved but he had this ominous feeling for a while now. He tried to talk Kibum out of this but when the younger stated that he would do this alone if Jonghyun didn’t help him, he got no options. In no way he would leave the younger hacker alone in this.
Last two weeks the two hackers have observed from behind the lenses various shipments being delivered back and forth to the harbour where the group of men was staying. Nothing looked especially suspicious or illegal, but Jonghyun being good at recognizing human mannerism just by looking, he knew they were up to something. What – was yet to be known and that’s why Kibum was currently sneaking around the harbour full of armed men. Of course he had his handgun with him – which he hoped he would never have to use – but it wouldn’t really save him from a dozen of bigger, bulkier men.
The sun was already behind the big trees around him, making it easier to hide but also harder to detect possible threats. Soon Jonghyun would lose his visual contact of Kibum, making him even more anxious.
“You can still turn back.”
“I know. But I won’t”, Kibum whispered lowly, silently hiding behind one of the trucks when he heard voices. Jonghyun heard them too, feeling his heart rate quicken as he too held his breath. Footsteps slowly coming closer, voices getting louder, soon Kibum could hear what they were talking about. One of the voices sounded remotely familiar and he could only hope his suspicions were wrong – he didn’t want to believe it.
“Why are you still keeping his photo with you? I thought- “
“It doesn’t matter what you thought, it doesn’t concern you in any way. All you need to concern your little hopeless brains with is this package. It needs to be delivered to Japan for Osaka’s bastard before he loses his shit and kills one of you. Can you handle it?”
“Y-Yes sir, sure sir.”
Suddenly Kibum felt nauseous. The voice was all too familiar but he didn’t want to believe it was true. He wouldn’t believe before he saw with his own eyes. Jonghyun also heard Kibum’s quickening breath getting worried about the youngers state of mind. He knew this case was somewhat important to Kibum, the younger gave enough hints about it. He didn’t yet know why and how, but he would solve it. But he needed Kibum back alive.
“Kibum, everything alright?”
The younger stayed silent seeing silhouettes of three men standing a little further. He wasn’t sure if they could hear him so he waited a little longer, watching them walking away from his hiding spot. Letting out a heavy breath trying to get his breathing back to normal he opened his mouth in a quick whisper, wanting to inform impatient hacker on the other line that he was indeed alright. He hadn’t seen the faces of any of the men so he couldn’t be sure yet.
“Yeah, all good. I don’t think they- “ his sentence was cut off. All Jonghyun could hear was loud ‘thud’ before everything went silent.
“Kibum? Answer me. What happened?” The older could feel himself getting more nervous as seconds went by and Kibum didn’t answer him.
“Kibum? Kibum! KIBUM!”
His name was the last thing the younger heard before everything faded into blackness.
Starting from strangers nearly three years ago they sure have gone a long way.
Kim Kibum, uses cover name Key. Twenty-six, born September 23th, Kyungpook National University graduate in the technology field. Lived in Daegu most of his life before moving to the capital city a few years ago. An only child, had a mother, father and grandmother, but lost his family five years ago in an accident.
This was the information Jonghyun found before getting to know Kibum. However, there was much more to the younger male than he could have ever believed.
Smart, independent, stubborn. Incredibly so.
Strong, caring and stunningly beautiful.
When he first saw the younger, even if it was through the dirty lens of Kibum’s mobile phone’s front camera, he felt his breath getting stuck in his throat. It was from a little unflattering angle from underneath, Kibum just waking up, eyes hazy from sleep, his dark hair a mess on top of his head and still Jonghyun found him simply the most beautiful person he had ever seen.
And beautiful Kibum was, inside out. Jonghyun couldn’t think of an adjective which described Kibum more. He wasn’t either overly masculine or feminine, he was simply himself and dressed whatever he thought looked nice or felt good. He liked to take care of himself, always talking about this and that cream he just bought and nagged at Jonghyun to use at least something, because “I’m sure you’ll have wrinkles soon, you are so old!” even though Jonghyun was only a year older. There wasn’t any norms that held him down. He believed in equality and tried hard not to have any prejudices about anyone. Kibum always tried his hardest to think positively, giving out the impression he was always happy and outgoing which unfortunately wasn’t the case. Jonghyun knew there was some pretty dark stuff in his past what he always tried to cover with his positive attitude. He was simply heartwarming person.
Jonghyun often found himself guilty thinking about Kibum as some kind of higher being, always admiring and praising him from afar. Afar, since they still haven’t met in person. In fact, Kibum didn’t even know how Jonghyun looked like.
Many times Kibum has voiced his wishes to meet. Or at least get a picture or something, just to know what Jonghyun was like. It wasn’t that Jonghyun was particularly insecure in himself – he too knew how to take care of himself. Well, at least physically.
Jonghyun really wasn’t people-person. He didn’t like strangers and had only very few closer friends who he kept in touch. He had a hard time making new friends since most of the time he didn’t want to even try. Other times he would get too anxious to try and usually just left things at that. The problem wasn’t that he didn’t believe in himself or that he didn’t like his features, no. He knew he was handsome, he liked to keep his physique in check, mostly out of boredom but anyway. It wasn’t something that one could easily explain but he just felt uneasy when there were people he didn’t know.
That was part of the reason why they still haven’t met and Kibum knew that. What he didn’t understand was that they weren’t exactly strangers anymore. They could talk about almost everything and anything, from puppies to porn and still Jonghyun didn’t want to meet him. The younger has tried to reason this to Jonghyun but he always got the same answer: “We will meet, just not yet.” There were times when Kibum wanted to get angry at Jonghyun but he just couldn’t because the older was still just a soft puppy. Kibum knew his difficulties and tried not to pressure him too often. It just made the younger a little sad, because what if Jonghyun still didn’t trust him enough?
The main reason behinds Jonghyun’s hesitation was just one incredibly stupid reason – he was afraid. That in itself wasn’t that stupid reason, but he was scared because Kibum was just too gorgeous. It was a silly reason because the older knew that Kibum wasn’t that kind of person who judged people by their appearance and Jonghyun looked good enough, but still. At first it was just a thought that he thought would pass but it got stuck in his head and he couldn’t get rid of the nagging feeling. The what ifs started to surround him and for this long he had just cowardly avoided the subject.
But how did they actually meet? Jonghyun was an amazingly talented programmer and he could hack himself almost into anything. Three years ago he didn’t really use his skills that much, only for small deeds like sending the police right recordings and messing with people for fun, anonymously of course. It was one night in December he noticed unusual traffic in one of the security cameras he was watching over. And no, on the screen there wasn’t anyone but just looking confused at his computer for a few seconds he noticed that indeed – someone has hacked into his system. Usually when someone tries to meddle with him he’ll just banish them but this one was quite interesting. For one, he couldn’t believe that someone could actually hack into his computer. Secondly, he was curious as to what the other was searching.
Curious enough to boldly send the intruder a short message ‘What u looking for?’ For few seconds the movement stopped and Jonghyun thought that maybe they left when caught. That was not the case, he got to witness a few minutes later; ‘I need that document you sent to police.’ The other was demanding in his message and Jonghyun got even more curious. It wasn’t really like him to get interested when other people were involved but something about this person made him answer his demands. They didn’t start working together right away but somehow it happened. More often than not Kibum, he learned, would message him to check this or that camera and help with things he couldn’t crack himself. It took over a year when Jonghyun started to really feel comfortable around Kibum – it helped a lot that the younger himself was pretty talkative and he could blabber his head off when Jonghyun just sometimes let small sound in between his sentences to tell he was listening. It was quite soothing to listen to Kibum talk, in Jonghyun’s opinion he had a really nice voice. Soft, but still a little high-pitched especially when he got excited. He had the most obnoxious laugh and the older really loved it – it was genuine.
Nowadays Kibum knew he was always stalking him. That’s why one could sometimes witness a silly male in the middle of the street sneering at security cameras. It was hilarious to see peoples’ faces when they caught Kibum making faces for seemingly no-one.
The first time he saw Kibum it wasn’t really planned. Somehow the older gave into his cravings to connect face to the sweet voice always talking to him and he did it without Kibum knowing. Soon the younger anyway caught on and he was furious. He kept silent almost two days and Jonghyun couldn’t take it anymore. He begged the younger to talk to him again even though he didn’t understand the reason Kibum was so angry. Of course he understood that the younger hacker was disappointed as he didn’t even ask for a permission but that furious? Later Kibum then muttered in a small voice that he wanted to look at least a little bit more presentable when Jonghyun first saw him. He didn’t really believe when Jonghyun said that he found just awakened Kibum utterly adorable, but at least the older got a small reddish hue to appear on Kibum’s face as a victory.
It made Jonghyun fall even deeper for the younger man.
And now the one he loved was in danger and he couldn’t help him from his computer.
He was nervous about his decision but there was nothing else he could do – he had to go out and help Kibum. He couldn’t leave the younger in trouble, not knowing what kind of threat was facing them. Quickly the older hacker got up from his worn-out seat, telling a silent story of how he spent maybe little too much time in front of his screens, rushing out the apartment after getting everything he needs.
His head was pounding, giving an uncomfortable feeling of an upcoming headache. Small sounds were heard – someone talking, footsteps coming closer, faint beeping signaling door code being put in. Someone was coming inside wherever he was right now. For a second Kibum couldn’t remember what happened and where he could possibly be, but then it struck him. Panicked, he sat up and opened his eyes, regretting his decision almost right away as the pounding increased. A small groan left his lips, hands holding his head trying desperately to open his eyes. Jonghyun was probably going crazy with worry not getting contact with him since he couldn’t feel his earpiece. Jonghyun… If he got out of here alive he won’t hear the end of it since the older did warn him.
“Finally awake?”
His blood froze in his veins. All he feared started to become reality and it wasn’t just that he was in enemies’ territory and possibly in life-threatening danger, no. That voice was all too familiar, having listened to them talking years and years. Of course the tone had changed a little – a little rougher, deeper, more intimidating. Well, it has been over five years. Slowly he dared to open his eyes, rising dark chestnut orbs to look at the source of the voice.
Before him stood the same male he knew since they were toddlers. Five years felt so long without the other, and surely he had changed so much. They both were. The man standing looked taller, built in a more masculine way than before. Dark hair swept back giving out the impression of a young and rich heir. Expensive looking clothing, black turtleneck showing off his defined chest, combined with black trousers complimenting his long legs. A dark burgundy trench coat made him look much more mature than Kibum ever remembered him looking. Everything about the male looked so adult, which wasn’t far from the truth but in the young hacker’s memories there was only shy and silent little boy.
“Minho.”
The said man’s face softened noticeably at the sound of his small voice. Hardness in his eyes gave room for a little bit of fondness, small smile ghosting over his lips.
“At least you still remember me”, Minho said slowly, taking a seat in the chair in front of the couch Kibum was on, “I was sure you would have forgotten. It’s been so long, over five years, right?”
With a shaky breath Kibum tried to get his swirl of emotions and thoughts in control, failing quite miserably. He was starting to miss Jonghyun’s encouraging words since the older always knew what to say to make him calm down. It was only then that he noticed that he wasn’t tied down in any way. Wasn’t he a hostage? They did knock him out. Maybe there was still something left of the Minho he once knew.
“How could I forget my best friend of almost twenty years?”
Leaving his car a little further than where he lost his visual contact of Kibum earlier, the older hacker silently sneaked closer to the empty looking building. This wasn’t really his kind of thing – it was usually Kibum who did these dirty works of snooping around and opposing the bad guys – but that didn’t mean that Jonghyun had no skills at all. Right now he was driven by his feelings, fear being the most dominant one. He knew these people were killers - he was scared to death that he would be too late, that something bad happened to Kibum, or in the worst scenario… No, he shouldn’t think like that. He can’t lose Kibum.
Quickly scanning the area with his eyes Jonghyun saw four men – one by the exit of the building, other two walking little further talking to each other, and one with longer hair just sitting back to him on top of car’s trunk just looking far away with a thoughtful expression. The other two seemed quite occupied with each other so they wouldn’t be a problem, but he needed to knock out the guy by the door to get in, and then the last one would probably notice him. At first glance they all looked like Jonghyun could easily take them down in a fight, but within years he has come to conclusion to never judge a book by its cover, as cliché as it sounds. And they also had guns, so one against four felt a little unfair.
With small observing could be seen that there wasn’t any kind of lock on the door. It was most likely because this was only a temporary hiding place and didn’t need that much of guarding, or they were just plainly stupid to think no one noticed their suspicious actions. The first option seemed a little more realistic option at least with the information Kibum and Jonghyun already got. Which wasn’t much, but even they could see that this whole operation was well covered.
He needed to think fast. The tracker in Kibum’s ear piece told him the younger was held on the third floor, in a room window to the left side of the building. Thankfully, even when he couldn’t hear Kibum anymore, at least the tracker still worked. As he had been studying the floor plan earlier, he had noticed that the whole structure was quite simple and with the knowledge that there weren’t many men present at once, made it all easier. Seeing a couple of silhouettes from second floor windows where there was lights on, otherwise it looked pretty dim inside. In dark blending to the shadows gave so much more opportunities to sneak in, which he was quite grateful.
Trying to get some kind of plan together in his head he started moving. He wanted to avoid killing as long as he could, so he needed to be careful. He could always first sneak upon the guy by the car to knock him out – if the man by the door was still so into his mobile phone he wouldn’t notice a thing. Leaving the first man behind the car so it wouldn’t be noticed quickly and then the one by the door, throwing him in the shadows of the night too. Then what would meet him inside, well, he’ll improvise.
Not wanting to waste any more time he made his decision, not really caring about the consequences.
Kibum sat rigidly observing the man before him. To be honest, he wasn’t sure what would happen now. He didn’t know if their friendship meant anything to Minho anymore, if he had become a completely different person. Would he kill him? After all, in movies everything went by that scheme – the bad guy would pretend to be nice, then tell their plan and kill the good guy – but Kibum knew this wasn’t any movie, no. This was real life. And you couldn’t really predict anything.
To him Minho looked relaxed, a complete opposite of him. Sitting there with a straight posture, legs crossed and just looking at the window with a peaceful expression. When the dark eyes turned to look at the young hacker, Kibum wanted to flinch but he kept his cool. At least externally, just looking straight into other orbs with a blank face. A small smile found its way onto Minho’s face.
“Still the same stubborn little boy, I see.”
“I’m older than you, Minho”, sneered Kibum making the other let out a quiet laugh.
“And as witty as always. It’s not a bad thing, you know. I’m happy at least one of us still has their youthful spirit”, the slightly younger one let out an exaggerated sigh but still smiling at Kibum. The older found this whole situation absurd.
“I don’t… Understand. What happened, Minho? You just disappeared.”
“Ah… It is a little bit complicated and-“, suddenly he fell silent. Kibum was just about to open his mouth and ask what was wrong when he also heard it – nearing thudding sounds and hurried footsteps. Minho looked alarmed, but listening closely could be heard only one pair of steps, so most likely they weren’t police. The young hacker noticed the other’s hand going inside his jacket, probably to get his handgun, looking at the door intently all the time as the sounds grew closer.
Suddenly the door was thrown open, revealing another dark haired male and judging from Minho’s expression he wasn’t one of his crew. Kibum frowned, getting nervous by the situation. If the younger didn’t know who this was, then why was he here? The young hacker was defenseless – he knew basics of self-defense but he couldn’t really fight with men stronger than him. And his gun was taken by Minho’s men since he couldn’t find it anywhere.
Minho rose to his feet, towering slightly over the new figure in the room, frowning when he saw a gun in the shorter man’s hand rising to point at him. Even though the newcomer was wearing dark covering clothes it could be seen that he was built, muscles tensed as he gripped his weapon tightly. The man was panting lightly, looking with deep expressive eyes around the room before landing his gaze on Kibum, his posture relaxing only slightly.
“Thank god.”
Now, instead of nervousness Kibum froze out of whole another reason. The man before him didn’t look familiar – the young hacker would have remembered such a gorgeous man – but his voice. It was a voice he would recognize everywhere, having heard him speaking almost three years, nearly every day. His eyes widened, heart flipping at the mere thought that the other came here for him.
Taking in the sight of the newcomer Kibum could admit that he wasn’t what he had imagined. Not that he really knew what to expect – he tried to keep his mind open and not to rise his expectations in fear of being completely wrong and disappointing himself. Of course he would have accepted him as he is because looks aren’t what drew Kibum closer to begin with, but now looking at the other he really wasn’t disappointed.
“Jonghyun?” Kibum heard himself asking in a small voice, still needing some kind of reassuring that he wasn’t imagining things and this man really was his Jonghyun. When the dark haired man shot him gentle smile he could be sure of it, feeling so relieved that small tears tried to make their way on his cheeks. In an emotional rush he let out a small sound resembling a mixture of laughter and sobs, quickly wiping his eyes clear. He wasn’t the type to cry easily but right now all the emotions of fear, anger, betrayal, tried to make him lose his mind.
Minho observed the situation with great interest. This man who just barged into his office pointing a gun at him was obviously someone Kibum knew even when in the beginning he looked unsure. He could see emotions in Kibum’s face he hasn’t seen in years, not after his first love in high school. Not that the new man in the room, now known as Jonghyun, looked any better. He could have sworn when the man rushed into the room he saw pure rage in his eyes, wild like an animal, but at the sight of Kibum it all melted away.
They heard more quick footsteps running closer and soon there was various guns aimed at Jonghyun, who was still pointing his towards Minho. Kibum felt his heart beating impossibly fast at the sight of all of the guns, feeling uncomfortable lump creeping up his throat. He understood how much damage one little bullet could do.
“We are sorry, sir, he surprised us!” One of the men shouted looking almost scared facing Minho. They had let the intruder get in and face their boss, which wasn’t good thing. Most of time Minho wasn’t a nice guy – when leading his men he tended to be very strict and ruthless, but either way he never killed without a good reason.
“It’s fine this time. But next time I won’t be so forgiving, remember that. You can all leave now”, Minho said in an authoritative way, dismissing all the men without sparing them a glance.
“B-But sir-“ One of them still tried, not really understanding the situation. Their boss was threatened with a gun and he wanted them to leave? But as soon as Minho turned his eyes on them, everyone grew quickly quiet.
“Leave. Now.”
Almost panicked, all of the men scurried away with tails between their legs. If the situation was any other, Kibum would have laughed at them being so scared of Minho, his shy little quiet Minho, but he himself saw it – the man has changed and not really for the better.
Cautiously, Jonghyun still holding his gun up towards Minho, started to move closer to Kibum.
“You know, it’s pointless to point me with that thing. I’m not going to do anything”, Minho tried to reason with Jonghyun, full well knowing it probably didn’t help a bit. Quickly the guarded look was back in the oldest man’s eyes, throwing invisible triggers at the boss figure.
“Anything? Besides the fact that you already beat him and kept him hostage here?” Kibum could have sworn that he had never heard Jonghyun sound so angry, the words barked out of his mouth. The tallest male pouted a little at the other’s words, which didn’t really suit the serious businessman look he had.
“No one beat him, they knocked him out before I knew it was him. And I wasn’t keeping anyone hostage, we were just talking here before you barged in”, Minho explained calmly, trying to convince the shorter man that he had no bad intentions, “I would never hurt Kibum.”
Deep dark eyes glanced at Kibum looking for confirmation, not seeing anything else than unsure Kibum biting his lips, Jonghyun wasn’t very assured. Soon both men looked at the younger hacker in anticipation, Minho looking quite comical with his big eyes, not that Jonghyun was any better with his pleading puppy eyes look.
“Can I really trust you, Minho?” Kibum asked silently, really wanting to trust his former best friend – even if he disappeared from his life so suddenly and now he was involved in something Kibum wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
“Yes”, was the only answer he needed. He wanted to trust his word, Minho had never betrayed him before and he wanted to believe that he wouldn’t do it now.
“Okay, then. Jong…”
A little reluctantly the addressed man put his gun back where it belonged, still glancing at Minho from time to time to make sure he wouldn’t try anything, before letting his guard down and engulfing Kibum in a tight hug. Inhaling the younger’s scent, he felt so relieved. Kibum was well and alive, a little shaken but still fine. The younger hacker, barely able to move his arms, quietly sneaked his fingers to hold Jonghyun’s sides tightly.
Kibum on the other hand felt like he was in heaven. The other’s surprisingly strong hands around him made him feel secure and the calming scent which could be only described as Jonghyun relaxed his nervous body entirely. Closing his eyes for a second he wanted to sink into this pleasant feeling, but then he remembered Minho who was still looking at their interaction from the side. To his surprise, when he loosened his hold on Jonghyun, he saw the youngest grinning at him knowingly – and that was the Minho he knew. A little embarrassed Kibum felt his face getting a little warm he turned now to wholly look at his former best friend, but still not letting go of Jonghyun’s hand. The other squeezed his fingers telling that he wasn’t going anywhere.
“So now that your little lovey dovey moment is over…” Minho grinned at the sight of blushing Kibum, not really knowing what he should do now. He will let them go if they wanted to, but for some reason he wanted Kibum to stay. He had also missed his bestfriend, not knowing what to explain and afraid that Kibum will hate him if he told him the truth. For a moment there was silence, but then it became too much. They had to have some closure.
“I just want to know why. Why, Minho?” This was the question he was dreading. Minho inhaled deeply, he could feel Kibum’s expecting eyes on him. They had never had secrets, so why start now? If Kibum hated him after this, it would be better to live with that than lying to him.
“It’s a long story”, he started hesitantly, “And I want you to understand that all that happened was not by my choice. And that I’m sorry.”
Kibum nodded surely, squeezing Jonghyun’s hand in his a little tighter because of anxiousness. He was finally hearing an explanation why his best friend had suddenly disappeared from his life, never telling him what happened or ever contacting him. Jonghyun squeezed back reassuringly, watching the youngest man with great interest, fearing a little bit that Kibum wouldn’t like what he was about to hear.
“You remember my father? Of course you do, no one could forget a strict man like him, but he wasn’t bad. He was very serious about his work, but what I didn’t understand then was just what kind of work he was doing. Then he became sick. I’m sure you remember when I told you – it was a night before our graduation. They told me that he had from half a year to year time to live. That information felt like the whole world had fallen on me - as you know my mother has been gone for years. But despite his condition, he continued to work. I thought he was crazy for doing so but I guess he had his reasons.
Well, he lived for two years after his diagnosis. Before his death told me something that – in loss for better words – changed my whole life. He was a leader of organized crime. In other words, he was a mafia leader”, Minho took a deep breath before daring to glance at Kibum’s reaction, but the other looked calm. So he decided to continue.
“And to think I thought I knew my father? Apparently I didn’t. He told me that he wanted me to take his place after his death. Me? A criminal? I was so angry at him, ready to turn him to police. But what good that would do to a dying man? And despite all of that, I still loved him. He was my father and he loved me too. I didn’t call the police but I wanted him to explain. To this day I’m still not sure why or how he really got involved in this whole organization, or better yet how he came to lead it. But somehow he did and he didn’t take his work lightly.
Only a few days before his death he told me the one thing that was still driving him to do this and why he wanted me to so desperately take after him. It was because of mother. We were still so small when she died that we couldn’t understand it, Kibum, but she was murdered. Not just that, she was assassinated. In criminal underworld you have many enemies and most of them know how to hurt you the worst. And it’s by hurting the ones that are close to you. That’s why my mother was killed, Kibum, just because someone wanted to hurt my father. Then I understood why he was still doing this – he wanted to find mother’s murderer.
That’s why I decided to do it. I wanted to continue what he couldn’t, but the risks were way too high. You were the closest to me, just like family, especially after my father died. And when I realized how dangerous it really was, it was too late. I’m so sorry, Kibum, your family…” He paused his explanation to examine Kibum’s face. For a while he looked confused, not really understanding the weight behind Minho’s words. When it was finally starting to sink into his head, he couldn’t focus. Jonghyun understood all too well, tightening his hold of Kibum’s hand which had started to tremble.
“I… You mean… Are you telling me that… It wasn’t really an accident?” The younger hacker asked in a whisper, fearing his voice would betray him. The solemn look on Minho’s face told him all he needed to know.
“Yes, Kibum”, Minho answered, trying to keep his own voice steady since it hurt him to see Kibum so vulnerable. He knew how much the older loved his family. Minho himself knew Kibum’s parents and grandmother almost better than his own, since they would always welcome him into their home when he didn’t want to stay alone if his father was working.
“They made it look like an accident, yes. Police reports say it was an accident, that since the road was slick, your father lost the control of the car. What my men could gather, there was evidence that someone had violated the brakes. The car’s brake didn’t work right when it was needed and… Yeah. And I feel responsible for all of that, because if you weren’t friends with me, then-“.
“Stop that right now Choi Minho”, stern voice of his former best friend interrupted him. Timidly, he looked at Kibum, feeling again like that small and shy boy that always looked up to Kibum, “I’m not saying that I don’t miss them because I sure as heck do. But I don’t want you to blame yourself in anyway. It’s not your fault, you didn’t kill them.”
Minho couldn’t really understand how forgiving person Kibum could be.
“I’ll try, but I can’t guarantee anything because I really do feel responsible. And that’s why I cut my contacts with you, Kibum, why I disappeared so suddenly… I knew I couldn’t protect you if you were close to me, I didn’t want to lose you too.”
“If you want to, maybe we could stay in contact after this…? You were, you still are my best friend and now that I know, it’ll be easier to avoid trouble”, Kibum slowly suggested, little scared that Minho would decline but the happy glint in his eyes told him otherwise.
“Sure”, the youngest said with a small smile, inwardly grinning at the sight of frowning Jonghyun – he sure looked like a jealous boyfriend, “And I think you already have a nice little guard dog who will come barking whenever you’re in trouble”, he smirked. It was Jonghyun’s turn to look a little embarrassed but he still didn’t let go of Kibum’s waist he had gripped at some point.
Smiling, Minho turned to look for pen and paper, where he wrote down his private phone number.
“Just call me whenever. And you”, Minho poked at Jonghyun’s direction, ”Don’t worry, I have a boyfriend of my own.”
“What?! Who, when, where?!”
“His name is Taemin. He supposed to be back half an hour ago though…”
“Um… If he’s the one with longer hair because that dude surely wasn’t any kind of gang member, you might want to check outside behind that black Hyundai”, Jonghyun quickly piped in, little embarrassed, before grabbing Kibum’s hand and smoothly pulling him outside.
(“Jonghyun! Did you knock out Minho’s boyfriend?!”
“Uh… Maybe?”)
Now that they were sitting comfortably in Jonghyun’s car, the day’s events started to really sink in. All the feelings swirling inside both of them, most of them being unfortunately negative - anger, fear, sadness, anxiety - but still there was small rays of happiness, warm feelings and different kind of nervousness. Only now Kibum really had time to look at Jonghyun. It was something he had wanted to do so many times, but he wasn’t allowed. But now here he was, a breathing living being in front of Kibum’s eyes and not just a gentle voice through his speakers. And he was fascinated.
Hands on the wheel, small veins visible, as he was gripping the object tightly. His posture now slightly slouched, not too tensed but still a little nervous. The dark clothes really complimenting his build, but not too build frame and honestly Jonghyun looked a lot better than Kibum could have ever imagined. And his face… Even his profile was so sharp, but so soft at the same time. The younger hacker could see his tensed jaw, eyes then going to his plush lips, nose, which looked a little uneven but adorable either way, dark eyes, strong eyebrows… Kibum was so lost in his admiring he didn’t notice the evident blush on the older’s face. Only when he let out a little embarrassed laugh Kibum fell back to reality, cursing himself a little bit for being so obvious with his staring, making himself blush a soft hue too.
“Ah, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to stare”, Kibum mumbled, turning his head to look out of the window in hopes to make the situation less awkward. Jonghyun just hummed, turning his car to the street Kibum lived in and he younger wasn’t really even surprised that the older hacker knew where he lived.
“It’s okay, I guess it’s only fair. I’ve got to stare at you over two years already”, Jonghyun showed him a little smile, which made Kibum’s heart skip a beat. He knew that the older had stalked him for some time but somehow hearing the other admit it like that…
“Yeah, so prepare now, you need to compensate for those two years of me not seeing you”, Kibum still tried to compose himself and answered the other with his usual witty smile, which seemed to break the ice around them. Jonghyun snorted, feeling the little nervousness still left in him dissipate slowly, and parked his car right in front of the building Kibum lived in.
“Anything you want, your highness.”
A small giggle left Kibum’s soft lips before he glanced at the window he knew was his on the fourth floor, biting his lips.
“Then, if you really will do anything I want… Could you come with me tonight and spend the night? I don’t want to be alone right now…”
At first Jonghyun wanted to make some inappropriate comment about spending the night together but he had a feeling Kibum had a deeper meaning behind his request. Smiling softly and shutting down the engine of his car, he opened his seatbelt.
“I’d love to.”
Soon they were in Kibum’s small apartment. It wasn’t really spacey, but it was enough. In Jonghyun’s opinion it was really cozy, and so much Kibum-like. Of course he had seen glimpses of the apartment before through the cameras he used to guard Kibum (stalking sounded just a little bit too extreme, so he preferred guarding).
“Do you want anything to eat?” Kibum asked the other like the good host he was. Even though it was almost midnight, he wanted to treat his guest right. And for his guest to be Jonghyun, it made him extra nervous.
“I don’t need anything. If you want to eat, then do so or we could just eat in the morning?” Kibum shook his head, wanting nothing more than to sleep. Today has been a lot to take in. But in the end it was okay because Kibum finally got to see Jonghyun – even though it wasn’t really ideal way to meet but anyway.
Kibum rummaged through his closet to get some sleeping clothes for Jonghyun – even though the other had told him he liked to sleep only in his boxers or sometimes naked, he knew the older was still a little uncomfortable with him, and Kibum didn’t want to make the other feel uneasy. Finding an old loose tank top and pajama pants, he walked to the bed to give them to the elder who was sitting on the said mattress.
“I hope it’s okay that we sleep in the same bed, I don’t really have anything else… Or I can sleep on the floor if you’d like”, Kibum said slowly while trying not to watch Jonghyun change his shirt. They were both males, yes and Kibum was pretty familiar with male anatomy but holy baby jesus-
“Oh, no, don’t even think about it. I think we’ll fit in your bed just fine, so don’t worry”, finally Jonghyun had some clothes on which made Kibum’s breathing a little more easier again. He smiled shakily at the older, wanting just to disappear through the floor with his inappropriate thoughts. Well, it wasn’t his fault Jonghyun looked so good.
After changing into his own night clothes which consisted just of boxers and huge t-shirt, they were ready for bed. They were both dead tired but the warmth from the other body kept them awake. Both of them were extremely nervous about the situation since they were so close, but still so far.
Jonghyun wanted so badly to touch the younger, to have him in his arms, but he didn’t know if it was acceptable. He was feeling self-conscious because Kibum was even much more gorgeous up close than through the lens. Jonghyun himself wasn’t bad looking but compared to Kibum he looked like a hobo. And since Kibum hadn’t said anything about his appearance, it could be either pretty good or awfully bad thing. But he just wanted to have Kibum, even if the other hated how he looked. He had crossed today so many boundaries without even thinking so maybe one more wouldn’t hurt.
“Kibum-“
“Jonghyun-“
They both started at the same time, glancing at each other and bursting out laughing. The whole situation was just too tensed and they weren’t really used to it – their relationship has always been relaxed since they were pretty much opposites and maybe that’s what attracted them. Well, it was more like friendship but still not quite. There was always little too much teasing and flirting just to be casual friendship.
“You first”, Kibum said quickly, wanting to desperately hear what Jonghyun was going to say. For a second the older hacker was about to say the same thing, getting too embarrassed, but decided to one more time be brave.
“I just… I just wanted to say I’m so glad you are okay. You don’t know how worried I got after we lost our connection”, well, it wasn’t what he was supposed to say but close enough. Kibum turned a little bit to look at the other and smiled slightly.
“I know… And I’m sorry, I know I should listen to you more.”
“You certainly should, I’m always worrying myself sick when you are up to something”, Jonghyun mumbled, making the younger smile a little more.
“But luckily this day ended well. I met Minho and I… Met you. Finally”, Kibum said, moving his hand under the covers to lightly touch Jonghyun’s arm. The older shivered at the feeling, turning also to look Kibum in the eye, looking for hints.
“Yeah. It wasn’t really planned but I just couldn’t leave you there. I was so scared that they had done something to you, or maybe even killed you”, Jonghyun said, his voice getting a little bit emotional at the mere thought of losing Kibum, “I was so terrified…”
The younger blushed lightly, finally finding the courage and moving closer to Jonghyun on the bed, placing his head on the other’s chest.
“I’m glad you came.”
For a short while they just laid there, with Kibum’s head on Jonghyun’s chest and at some point the older’s fingers found their way into the younger’s warm brown locks.
“Why didn’t you meet me sooner?” Came younger’s sudden question but not really surprising Jonghyun, since he knew it was coming. Rising his head little to rest his chin on the same spot on Jonghyun’s chest, he looked sleepily at the other’s eyes, looking a little nervous and curious.
“Well, at first it was just normal anxiety, you know me that well”, he said to which Kibum nodded his head slowly, “But after that… It’s so silly, I know, but I just couldn’t show myself when you are so beautiful. I didn’t want to disappoint you”, the older muttered quietly, somehow hoping the other didn’t quite catch what he said but he knew that wasn’t the case. For a while Kibum was quiet which was slowly getting on his nerves.
“You are so silly”, he whispered while looking at Jonghyun straight in the eyes, “You say I am beautiful but have you seen yourself? And I’m not just saying this to make you feel better, you know I’m not like that, but really. You are the most beautiful, handsome, gentle person I’ve ever met. Even if you looked like a sexy wild beast earlier”, he added with a teasing smile, but wanting to convey his feelings through his eyes. He wanted the older to know he wanted nothing more than to be with him.
Finally Jonghyun’s hands found their way to Kibum’s waist. He held tight, just looking at the mesmerizing dark chestnut eyes which didn’t fail to impress him even in the dim room. Slowly, he brought his other hand to caress the younger’s cheek, slowly, gently, before bringing their faces closer. Both their hearts were beating rapidly, anticipating. In the silent room they could hear each other’s breaths, they could feel it on their faces. Slowly, their noses touched, which made them close their eyes, tilting their heads a little. They were both nervous, but at the same time so sure about it.
A breathy voice then whispered,
“I love you.”
And their lips were brought together.
Prompt-#: 30
For: aff - imadv0123
Pairing: Jongkey (2min if you really squint)
Author: reikyrou@aff
Word count: 8033 words
Rating: R
Warnings: Nothing too major, but mentions of killing/murdering/crime
Summary: The man before him didn’t look familiar – the young hacker would have remembered such a gorgeous man – but his voice. It was a voice he would recognize everywhere, having heard him speaking almost three years, nearly every day. His eyes widened, heart flipping at the mere thought that the other came here for him. [Lookout AU]
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“Are you sure it’s a good idea?”
A low chuckle escaped smiling lips as the dark haired male glanced at the street camera on the side of the road. Twinkling dark chestnut eyes stared right through the lens knowing that the other was watching him. Humming slowly the brown haired male shook his head letting the last rays of sun play with his dark tawny locks, flashing one final smile at the camera, causing small breath hitch from the male on the other end of the line. Luckily for him, the other was concentrating on nagging at him.
“Jjong, how many times I need to tell you I know what I’m doing”, the walking male stated while rounding a corner getting slowly closer to his destination. It was mid-October, getting darker a lot faster and he knew he had to hurry if he didn’t want to walk back in pitch black.
“First, don’t call me that, Bum, you know I hate it. Second, I know you do but I’ve heard they’re not just a regular group of small-action criminals and there is something a lot greater behind this than they let on. I just feel like this has been way too easy to this point”, the unappreciated nickname made the other pout a little, even though in reality he loved when Jonghyun called him cute names. But he could never tell it to the other man.
“And I feel like you are overreacting. I know you get easily anxious but I have everything under control. Besides you can hear me all the time”, fingers were playing with the small microphone inside his ear trying to prove his point.
“I know I know, stop fiddling with it, the screeching is killing my ears. Just… Try to be quick, okay?”
“Yes, you big baby.”
A small ‘humph’ was heard which made Kibum smile fondly. He knew that Jonghyun was just worried about him and he knew what the older male was getting at – this has been a little too easy mission to be completed just like that and he also knew that. However, there was a reason he had to do this. He had to know.
Jonghyun and Kibum have been after them a few weeks now. The older male just couldn’t understand why Kibum was so obsessed with this case – it was obviously too big for just the two of them. But the younger male refused to give up and had already put himself in danger way too many times. Fortunately, he was also good at getting out of trouble, but Jonghyun was scared that this would be too much. He didn’t know where they got involved but he had this ominous feeling for a while now. He tried to talk Kibum out of this but when the younger stated that he would do this alone if Jonghyun didn’t help him, he got no options. In no way he would leave the younger hacker alone in this.
Last two weeks the two hackers have observed from behind the lenses various shipments being delivered back and forth to the harbour where the group of men was staying. Nothing looked especially suspicious or illegal, but Jonghyun being good at recognizing human mannerism just by looking, he knew they were up to something. What – was yet to be known and that’s why Kibum was currently sneaking around the harbour full of armed men. Of course he had his handgun with him – which he hoped he would never have to use – but it wouldn’t really save him from a dozen of bigger, bulkier men.
The sun was already behind the big trees around him, making it easier to hide but also harder to detect possible threats. Soon Jonghyun would lose his visual contact of Kibum, making him even more anxious.
“You can still turn back.”
“I know. But I won’t”, Kibum whispered lowly, silently hiding behind one of the trucks when he heard voices. Jonghyun heard them too, feeling his heart rate quicken as he too held his breath. Footsteps slowly coming closer, voices getting louder, soon Kibum could hear what they were talking about. One of the voices sounded remotely familiar and he could only hope his suspicions were wrong – he didn’t want to believe it.
“Why are you still keeping his photo with you? I thought- “
“It doesn’t matter what you thought, it doesn’t concern you in any way. All you need to concern your little hopeless brains with is this package. It needs to be delivered to Japan for Osaka’s bastard before he loses his shit and kills one of you. Can you handle it?”
“Y-Yes sir, sure sir.”
Suddenly Kibum felt nauseous. The voice was all too familiar but he didn’t want to believe it was true. He wouldn’t believe before he saw with his own eyes. Jonghyun also heard Kibum’s quickening breath getting worried about the youngers state of mind. He knew this case was somewhat important to Kibum, the younger gave enough hints about it. He didn’t yet know why and how, but he would solve it. But he needed Kibum back alive.
“Kibum, everything alright?”
The younger stayed silent seeing silhouettes of three men standing a little further. He wasn’t sure if they could hear him so he waited a little longer, watching them walking away from his hiding spot. Letting out a heavy breath trying to get his breathing back to normal he opened his mouth in a quick whisper, wanting to inform impatient hacker on the other line that he was indeed alright. He hadn’t seen the faces of any of the men so he couldn’t be sure yet.
“Yeah, all good. I don’t think they- “ his sentence was cut off. All Jonghyun could hear was loud ‘thud’ before everything went silent.
“Kibum? Answer me. What happened?” The older could feel himself getting more nervous as seconds went by and Kibum didn’t answer him.
“Kibum? Kibum! KIBUM!”
His name was the last thing the younger heard before everything faded into blackness.
Starting from strangers nearly three years ago they sure have gone a long way.
Kim Kibum, uses cover name Key. Twenty-six, born September 23th, Kyungpook National University graduate in the technology field. Lived in Daegu most of his life before moving to the capital city a few years ago. An only child, had a mother, father and grandmother, but lost his family five years ago in an accident.
This was the information Jonghyun found before getting to know Kibum. However, there was much more to the younger male than he could have ever believed.
Smart, independent, stubborn. Incredibly so.
Strong, caring and stunningly beautiful.
When he first saw the younger, even if it was through the dirty lens of Kibum’s mobile phone’s front camera, he felt his breath getting stuck in his throat. It was from a little unflattering angle from underneath, Kibum just waking up, eyes hazy from sleep, his dark hair a mess on top of his head and still Jonghyun found him simply the most beautiful person he had ever seen.
And beautiful Kibum was, inside out. Jonghyun couldn’t think of an adjective which described Kibum more. He wasn’t either overly masculine or feminine, he was simply himself and dressed whatever he thought looked nice or felt good. He liked to take care of himself, always talking about this and that cream he just bought and nagged at Jonghyun to use at least something, because “I’m sure you’ll have wrinkles soon, you are so old!” even though Jonghyun was only a year older. There wasn’t any norms that held him down. He believed in equality and tried hard not to have any prejudices about anyone. Kibum always tried his hardest to think positively, giving out the impression he was always happy and outgoing which unfortunately wasn’t the case. Jonghyun knew there was some pretty dark stuff in his past what he always tried to cover with his positive attitude. He was simply heartwarming person.
Jonghyun often found himself guilty thinking about Kibum as some kind of higher being, always admiring and praising him from afar. Afar, since they still haven’t met in person. In fact, Kibum didn’t even know how Jonghyun looked like.
Many times Kibum has voiced his wishes to meet. Or at least get a picture or something, just to know what Jonghyun was like. It wasn’t that Jonghyun was particularly insecure in himself – he too knew how to take care of himself. Well, at least physically.
Jonghyun really wasn’t people-person. He didn’t like strangers and had only very few closer friends who he kept in touch. He had a hard time making new friends since most of the time he didn’t want to even try. Other times he would get too anxious to try and usually just left things at that. The problem wasn’t that he didn’t believe in himself or that he didn’t like his features, no. He knew he was handsome, he liked to keep his physique in check, mostly out of boredom but anyway. It wasn’t something that one could easily explain but he just felt uneasy when there were people he didn’t know.
That was part of the reason why they still haven’t met and Kibum knew that. What he didn’t understand was that they weren’t exactly strangers anymore. They could talk about almost everything and anything, from puppies to porn and still Jonghyun didn’t want to meet him. The younger has tried to reason this to Jonghyun but he always got the same answer: “We will meet, just not yet.” There were times when Kibum wanted to get angry at Jonghyun but he just couldn’t because the older was still just a soft puppy. Kibum knew his difficulties and tried not to pressure him too often. It just made the younger a little sad, because what if Jonghyun still didn’t trust him enough?
The main reason behinds Jonghyun’s hesitation was just one incredibly stupid reason – he was afraid. That in itself wasn’t that stupid reason, but he was scared because Kibum was just too gorgeous. It was a silly reason because the older knew that Kibum wasn’t that kind of person who judged people by their appearance and Jonghyun looked good enough, but still. At first it was just a thought that he thought would pass but it got stuck in his head and he couldn’t get rid of the nagging feeling. The what ifs started to surround him and for this long he had just cowardly avoided the subject.
But how did they actually meet? Jonghyun was an amazingly talented programmer and he could hack himself almost into anything. Three years ago he didn’t really use his skills that much, only for small deeds like sending the police right recordings and messing with people for fun, anonymously of course. It was one night in December he noticed unusual traffic in one of the security cameras he was watching over. And no, on the screen there wasn’t anyone but just looking confused at his computer for a few seconds he noticed that indeed – someone has hacked into his system. Usually when someone tries to meddle with him he’ll just banish them but this one was quite interesting. For one, he couldn’t believe that someone could actually hack into his computer. Secondly, he was curious as to what the other was searching.
Curious enough to boldly send the intruder a short message ‘What u looking for?’ For few seconds the movement stopped and Jonghyun thought that maybe they left when caught. That was not the case, he got to witness a few minutes later; ‘I need that document you sent to police.’ The other was demanding in his message and Jonghyun got even more curious. It wasn’t really like him to get interested when other people were involved but something about this person made him answer his demands. They didn’t start working together right away but somehow it happened. More often than not Kibum, he learned, would message him to check this or that camera and help with things he couldn’t crack himself. It took over a year when Jonghyun started to really feel comfortable around Kibum – it helped a lot that the younger himself was pretty talkative and he could blabber his head off when Jonghyun just sometimes let small sound in between his sentences to tell he was listening. It was quite soothing to listen to Kibum talk, in Jonghyun’s opinion he had a really nice voice. Soft, but still a little high-pitched especially when he got excited. He had the most obnoxious laugh and the older really loved it – it was genuine.
Nowadays Kibum knew he was always stalking him. That’s why one could sometimes witness a silly male in the middle of the street sneering at security cameras. It was hilarious to see peoples’ faces when they caught Kibum making faces for seemingly no-one.
The first time he saw Kibum it wasn’t really planned. Somehow the older gave into his cravings to connect face to the sweet voice always talking to him and he did it without Kibum knowing. Soon the younger anyway caught on and he was furious. He kept silent almost two days and Jonghyun couldn’t take it anymore. He begged the younger to talk to him again even though he didn’t understand the reason Kibum was so angry. Of course he understood that the younger hacker was disappointed as he didn’t even ask for a permission but that furious? Later Kibum then muttered in a small voice that he wanted to look at least a little bit more presentable when Jonghyun first saw him. He didn’t really believe when Jonghyun said that he found just awakened Kibum utterly adorable, but at least the older got a small reddish hue to appear on Kibum’s face as a victory.
It made Jonghyun fall even deeper for the younger man.
And now the one he loved was in danger and he couldn’t help him from his computer.
He was nervous about his decision but there was nothing else he could do – he had to go out and help Kibum. He couldn’t leave the younger in trouble, not knowing what kind of threat was facing them. Quickly the older hacker got up from his worn-out seat, telling a silent story of how he spent maybe little too much time in front of his screens, rushing out the apartment after getting everything he needs.
His head was pounding, giving an uncomfortable feeling of an upcoming headache. Small sounds were heard – someone talking, footsteps coming closer, faint beeping signaling door code being put in. Someone was coming inside wherever he was right now. For a second Kibum couldn’t remember what happened and where he could possibly be, but then it struck him. Panicked, he sat up and opened his eyes, regretting his decision almost right away as the pounding increased. A small groan left his lips, hands holding his head trying desperately to open his eyes. Jonghyun was probably going crazy with worry not getting contact with him since he couldn’t feel his earpiece. Jonghyun… If he got out of here alive he won’t hear the end of it since the older did warn him.
“Finally awake?”
His blood froze in his veins. All he feared started to become reality and it wasn’t just that he was in enemies’ territory and possibly in life-threatening danger, no. That voice was all too familiar, having listened to them talking years and years. Of course the tone had changed a little – a little rougher, deeper, more intimidating. Well, it has been over five years. Slowly he dared to open his eyes, rising dark chestnut orbs to look at the source of the voice.
Before him stood the same male he knew since they were toddlers. Five years felt so long without the other, and surely he had changed so much. They both were. The man standing looked taller, built in a more masculine way than before. Dark hair swept back giving out the impression of a young and rich heir. Expensive looking clothing, black turtleneck showing off his defined chest, combined with black trousers complimenting his long legs. A dark burgundy trench coat made him look much more mature than Kibum ever remembered him looking. Everything about the male looked so adult, which wasn’t far from the truth but in the young hacker’s memories there was only shy and silent little boy.
“Minho.”
The said man’s face softened noticeably at the sound of his small voice. Hardness in his eyes gave room for a little bit of fondness, small smile ghosting over his lips.
“At least you still remember me”, Minho said slowly, taking a seat in the chair in front of the couch Kibum was on, “I was sure you would have forgotten. It’s been so long, over five years, right?”
With a shaky breath Kibum tried to get his swirl of emotions and thoughts in control, failing quite miserably. He was starting to miss Jonghyun’s encouraging words since the older always knew what to say to make him calm down. It was only then that he noticed that he wasn’t tied down in any way. Wasn’t he a hostage? They did knock him out. Maybe there was still something left of the Minho he once knew.
“How could I forget my best friend of almost twenty years?”
Leaving his car a little further than where he lost his visual contact of Kibum earlier, the older hacker silently sneaked closer to the empty looking building. This wasn’t really his kind of thing – it was usually Kibum who did these dirty works of snooping around and opposing the bad guys – but that didn’t mean that Jonghyun had no skills at all. Right now he was driven by his feelings, fear being the most dominant one. He knew these people were killers - he was scared to death that he would be too late, that something bad happened to Kibum, or in the worst scenario… No, he shouldn’t think like that. He can’t lose Kibum.
Quickly scanning the area with his eyes Jonghyun saw four men – one by the exit of the building, other two walking little further talking to each other, and one with longer hair just sitting back to him on top of car’s trunk just looking far away with a thoughtful expression. The other two seemed quite occupied with each other so they wouldn’t be a problem, but he needed to knock out the guy by the door to get in, and then the last one would probably notice him. At first glance they all looked like Jonghyun could easily take them down in a fight, but within years he has come to conclusion to never judge a book by its cover, as cliché as it sounds. And they also had guns, so one against four felt a little unfair.
With small observing could be seen that there wasn’t any kind of lock on the door. It was most likely because this was only a temporary hiding place and didn’t need that much of guarding, or they were just plainly stupid to think no one noticed their suspicious actions. The first option seemed a little more realistic option at least with the information Kibum and Jonghyun already got. Which wasn’t much, but even they could see that this whole operation was well covered.
He needed to think fast. The tracker in Kibum’s ear piece told him the younger was held on the third floor, in a room window to the left side of the building. Thankfully, even when he couldn’t hear Kibum anymore, at least the tracker still worked. As he had been studying the floor plan earlier, he had noticed that the whole structure was quite simple and with the knowledge that there weren’t many men present at once, made it all easier. Seeing a couple of silhouettes from second floor windows where there was lights on, otherwise it looked pretty dim inside. In dark blending to the shadows gave so much more opportunities to sneak in, which he was quite grateful.
Trying to get some kind of plan together in his head he started moving. He wanted to avoid killing as long as he could, so he needed to be careful. He could always first sneak upon the guy by the car to knock him out – if the man by the door was still so into his mobile phone he wouldn’t notice a thing. Leaving the first man behind the car so it wouldn’t be noticed quickly and then the one by the door, throwing him in the shadows of the night too. Then what would meet him inside, well, he’ll improvise.
Not wanting to waste any more time he made his decision, not really caring about the consequences.
Kibum sat rigidly observing the man before him. To be honest, he wasn’t sure what would happen now. He didn’t know if their friendship meant anything to Minho anymore, if he had become a completely different person. Would he kill him? After all, in movies everything went by that scheme – the bad guy would pretend to be nice, then tell their plan and kill the good guy – but Kibum knew this wasn’t any movie, no. This was real life. And you couldn’t really predict anything.
To him Minho looked relaxed, a complete opposite of him. Sitting there with a straight posture, legs crossed and just looking at the window with a peaceful expression. When the dark eyes turned to look at the young hacker, Kibum wanted to flinch but he kept his cool. At least externally, just looking straight into other orbs with a blank face. A small smile found its way onto Minho’s face.
“Still the same stubborn little boy, I see.”
“I’m older than you, Minho”, sneered Kibum making the other let out a quiet laugh.
“And as witty as always. It’s not a bad thing, you know. I’m happy at least one of us still has their youthful spirit”, the slightly younger one let out an exaggerated sigh but still smiling at Kibum. The older found this whole situation absurd.
“I don’t… Understand. What happened, Minho? You just disappeared.”
“Ah… It is a little bit complicated and-“, suddenly he fell silent. Kibum was just about to open his mouth and ask what was wrong when he also heard it – nearing thudding sounds and hurried footsteps. Minho looked alarmed, but listening closely could be heard only one pair of steps, so most likely they weren’t police. The young hacker noticed the other’s hand going inside his jacket, probably to get his handgun, looking at the door intently all the time as the sounds grew closer.
Suddenly the door was thrown open, revealing another dark haired male and judging from Minho’s expression he wasn’t one of his crew. Kibum frowned, getting nervous by the situation. If the younger didn’t know who this was, then why was he here? The young hacker was defenseless – he knew basics of self-defense but he couldn’t really fight with men stronger than him. And his gun was taken by Minho’s men since he couldn’t find it anywhere.
Minho rose to his feet, towering slightly over the new figure in the room, frowning when he saw a gun in the shorter man’s hand rising to point at him. Even though the newcomer was wearing dark covering clothes it could be seen that he was built, muscles tensed as he gripped his weapon tightly. The man was panting lightly, looking with deep expressive eyes around the room before landing his gaze on Kibum, his posture relaxing only slightly.
“Thank god.”
Now, instead of nervousness Kibum froze out of whole another reason. The man before him didn’t look familiar – the young hacker would have remembered such a gorgeous man – but his voice. It was a voice he would recognize everywhere, having heard him speaking almost three years, nearly every day. His eyes widened, heart flipping at the mere thought that the other came here for him.
Taking in the sight of the newcomer Kibum could admit that he wasn’t what he had imagined. Not that he really knew what to expect – he tried to keep his mind open and not to rise his expectations in fear of being completely wrong and disappointing himself. Of course he would have accepted him as he is because looks aren’t what drew Kibum closer to begin with, but now looking at the other he really wasn’t disappointed.
“Jonghyun?” Kibum heard himself asking in a small voice, still needing some kind of reassuring that he wasn’t imagining things and this man really was his Jonghyun. When the dark haired man shot him gentle smile he could be sure of it, feeling so relieved that small tears tried to make their way on his cheeks. In an emotional rush he let out a small sound resembling a mixture of laughter and sobs, quickly wiping his eyes clear. He wasn’t the type to cry easily but right now all the emotions of fear, anger, betrayal, tried to make him lose his mind.
Minho observed the situation with great interest. This man who just barged into his office pointing a gun at him was obviously someone Kibum knew even when in the beginning he looked unsure. He could see emotions in Kibum’s face he hasn’t seen in years, not after his first love in high school. Not that the new man in the room, now known as Jonghyun, looked any better. He could have sworn when the man rushed into the room he saw pure rage in his eyes, wild like an animal, but at the sight of Kibum it all melted away.
They heard more quick footsteps running closer and soon there was various guns aimed at Jonghyun, who was still pointing his towards Minho. Kibum felt his heart beating impossibly fast at the sight of all of the guns, feeling uncomfortable lump creeping up his throat. He understood how much damage one little bullet could do.
“We are sorry, sir, he surprised us!” One of the men shouted looking almost scared facing Minho. They had let the intruder get in and face their boss, which wasn’t good thing. Most of time Minho wasn’t a nice guy – when leading his men he tended to be very strict and ruthless, but either way he never killed without a good reason.
“It’s fine this time. But next time I won’t be so forgiving, remember that. You can all leave now”, Minho said in an authoritative way, dismissing all the men without sparing them a glance.
“B-But sir-“ One of them still tried, not really understanding the situation. Their boss was threatened with a gun and he wanted them to leave? But as soon as Minho turned his eyes on them, everyone grew quickly quiet.
“Leave. Now.”
Almost panicked, all of the men scurried away with tails between their legs. If the situation was any other, Kibum would have laughed at them being so scared of Minho, his shy little quiet Minho, but he himself saw it – the man has changed and not really for the better.
Cautiously, Jonghyun still holding his gun up towards Minho, started to move closer to Kibum.
“You know, it’s pointless to point me with that thing. I’m not going to do anything”, Minho tried to reason with Jonghyun, full well knowing it probably didn’t help a bit. Quickly the guarded look was back in the oldest man’s eyes, throwing invisible triggers at the boss figure.
“Anything? Besides the fact that you already beat him and kept him hostage here?” Kibum could have sworn that he had never heard Jonghyun sound so angry, the words barked out of his mouth. The tallest male pouted a little at the other’s words, which didn’t really suit the serious businessman look he had.
“No one beat him, they knocked him out before I knew it was him. And I wasn’t keeping anyone hostage, we were just talking here before you barged in”, Minho explained calmly, trying to convince the shorter man that he had no bad intentions, “I would never hurt Kibum.”
Deep dark eyes glanced at Kibum looking for confirmation, not seeing anything else than unsure Kibum biting his lips, Jonghyun wasn’t very assured. Soon both men looked at the younger hacker in anticipation, Minho looking quite comical with his big eyes, not that Jonghyun was any better with his pleading puppy eyes look.
“Can I really trust you, Minho?” Kibum asked silently, really wanting to trust his former best friend – even if he disappeared from his life so suddenly and now he was involved in something Kibum wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
“Yes”, was the only answer he needed. He wanted to trust his word, Minho had never betrayed him before and he wanted to believe that he wouldn’t do it now.
“Okay, then. Jong…”
A little reluctantly the addressed man put his gun back where it belonged, still glancing at Minho from time to time to make sure he wouldn’t try anything, before letting his guard down and engulfing Kibum in a tight hug. Inhaling the younger’s scent, he felt so relieved. Kibum was well and alive, a little shaken but still fine. The younger hacker, barely able to move his arms, quietly sneaked his fingers to hold Jonghyun’s sides tightly.
Kibum on the other hand felt like he was in heaven. The other’s surprisingly strong hands around him made him feel secure and the calming scent which could be only described as Jonghyun relaxed his nervous body entirely. Closing his eyes for a second he wanted to sink into this pleasant feeling, but then he remembered Minho who was still looking at their interaction from the side. To his surprise, when he loosened his hold on Jonghyun, he saw the youngest grinning at him knowingly – and that was the Minho he knew. A little embarrassed Kibum felt his face getting a little warm he turned now to wholly look at his former best friend, but still not letting go of Jonghyun’s hand. The other squeezed his fingers telling that he wasn’t going anywhere.
“So now that your little lovey dovey moment is over…” Minho grinned at the sight of blushing Kibum, not really knowing what he should do now. He will let them go if they wanted to, but for some reason he wanted Kibum to stay. He had also missed his bestfriend, not knowing what to explain and afraid that Kibum will hate him if he told him the truth. For a moment there was silence, but then it became too much. They had to have some closure.
“I just want to know why. Why, Minho?” This was the question he was dreading. Minho inhaled deeply, he could feel Kibum’s expecting eyes on him. They had never had secrets, so why start now? If Kibum hated him after this, it would be better to live with that than lying to him.
“It’s a long story”, he started hesitantly, “And I want you to understand that all that happened was not by my choice. And that I’m sorry.”
Kibum nodded surely, squeezing Jonghyun’s hand in his a little tighter because of anxiousness. He was finally hearing an explanation why his best friend had suddenly disappeared from his life, never telling him what happened or ever contacting him. Jonghyun squeezed back reassuringly, watching the youngest man with great interest, fearing a little bit that Kibum wouldn’t like what he was about to hear.
“You remember my father? Of course you do, no one could forget a strict man like him, but he wasn’t bad. He was very serious about his work, but what I didn’t understand then was just what kind of work he was doing. Then he became sick. I’m sure you remember when I told you – it was a night before our graduation. They told me that he had from half a year to year time to live. That information felt like the whole world had fallen on me - as you know my mother has been gone for years. But despite his condition, he continued to work. I thought he was crazy for doing so but I guess he had his reasons.
Well, he lived for two years after his diagnosis. Before his death told me something that – in loss for better words – changed my whole life. He was a leader of organized crime. In other words, he was a mafia leader”, Minho took a deep breath before daring to glance at Kibum’s reaction, but the other looked calm. So he decided to continue.
“And to think I thought I knew my father? Apparently I didn’t. He told me that he wanted me to take his place after his death. Me? A criminal? I was so angry at him, ready to turn him to police. But what good that would do to a dying man? And despite all of that, I still loved him. He was my father and he loved me too. I didn’t call the police but I wanted him to explain. To this day I’m still not sure why or how he really got involved in this whole organization, or better yet how he came to lead it. But somehow he did and he didn’t take his work lightly.
Only a few days before his death he told me the one thing that was still driving him to do this and why he wanted me to so desperately take after him. It was because of mother. We were still so small when she died that we couldn’t understand it, Kibum, but she was murdered. Not just that, she was assassinated. In criminal underworld you have many enemies and most of them know how to hurt you the worst. And it’s by hurting the ones that are close to you. That’s why my mother was killed, Kibum, just because someone wanted to hurt my father. Then I understood why he was still doing this – he wanted to find mother’s murderer.
That’s why I decided to do it. I wanted to continue what he couldn’t, but the risks were way too high. You were the closest to me, just like family, especially after my father died. And when I realized how dangerous it really was, it was too late. I’m so sorry, Kibum, your family…” He paused his explanation to examine Kibum’s face. For a while he looked confused, not really understanding the weight behind Minho’s words. When it was finally starting to sink into his head, he couldn’t focus. Jonghyun understood all too well, tightening his hold of Kibum’s hand which had started to tremble.
“I… You mean… Are you telling me that… It wasn’t really an accident?” The younger hacker asked in a whisper, fearing his voice would betray him. The solemn look on Minho’s face told him all he needed to know.
“Yes, Kibum”, Minho answered, trying to keep his own voice steady since it hurt him to see Kibum so vulnerable. He knew how much the older loved his family. Minho himself knew Kibum’s parents and grandmother almost better than his own, since they would always welcome him into their home when he didn’t want to stay alone if his father was working.
“They made it look like an accident, yes. Police reports say it was an accident, that since the road was slick, your father lost the control of the car. What my men could gather, there was evidence that someone had violated the brakes. The car’s brake didn’t work right when it was needed and… Yeah. And I feel responsible for all of that, because if you weren’t friends with me, then-“.
“Stop that right now Choi Minho”, stern voice of his former best friend interrupted him. Timidly, he looked at Kibum, feeling again like that small and shy boy that always looked up to Kibum, “I’m not saying that I don’t miss them because I sure as heck do. But I don’t want you to blame yourself in anyway. It’s not your fault, you didn’t kill them.”
Minho couldn’t really understand how forgiving person Kibum could be.
“I’ll try, but I can’t guarantee anything because I really do feel responsible. And that’s why I cut my contacts with you, Kibum, why I disappeared so suddenly… I knew I couldn’t protect you if you were close to me, I didn’t want to lose you too.”
“If you want to, maybe we could stay in contact after this…? You were, you still are my best friend and now that I know, it’ll be easier to avoid trouble”, Kibum slowly suggested, little scared that Minho would decline but the happy glint in his eyes told him otherwise.
“Sure”, the youngest said with a small smile, inwardly grinning at the sight of frowning Jonghyun – he sure looked like a jealous boyfriend, “And I think you already have a nice little guard dog who will come barking whenever you’re in trouble”, he smirked. It was Jonghyun’s turn to look a little embarrassed but he still didn’t let go of Kibum’s waist he had gripped at some point.
Smiling, Minho turned to look for pen and paper, where he wrote down his private phone number.
“Just call me whenever. And you”, Minho poked at Jonghyun’s direction, ”Don’t worry, I have a boyfriend of my own.”
“What?! Who, when, where?!”
“His name is Taemin. He supposed to be back half an hour ago though…”
“Um… If he’s the one with longer hair because that dude surely wasn’t any kind of gang member, you might want to check outside behind that black Hyundai”, Jonghyun quickly piped in, little embarrassed, before grabbing Kibum’s hand and smoothly pulling him outside.
(“Jonghyun! Did you knock out Minho’s boyfriend?!”
“Uh… Maybe?”)
Now that they were sitting comfortably in Jonghyun’s car, the day’s events started to really sink in. All the feelings swirling inside both of them, most of them being unfortunately negative - anger, fear, sadness, anxiety - but still there was small rays of happiness, warm feelings and different kind of nervousness. Only now Kibum really had time to look at Jonghyun. It was something he had wanted to do so many times, but he wasn’t allowed. But now here he was, a breathing living being in front of Kibum’s eyes and not just a gentle voice through his speakers. And he was fascinated.
Hands on the wheel, small veins visible, as he was gripping the object tightly. His posture now slightly slouched, not too tensed but still a little nervous. The dark clothes really complimenting his build, but not too build frame and honestly Jonghyun looked a lot better than Kibum could have ever imagined. And his face… Even his profile was so sharp, but so soft at the same time. The younger hacker could see his tensed jaw, eyes then going to his plush lips, nose, which looked a little uneven but adorable either way, dark eyes, strong eyebrows… Kibum was so lost in his admiring he didn’t notice the evident blush on the older’s face. Only when he let out a little embarrassed laugh Kibum fell back to reality, cursing himself a little bit for being so obvious with his staring, making himself blush a soft hue too.
“Ah, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to stare”, Kibum mumbled, turning his head to look out of the window in hopes to make the situation less awkward. Jonghyun just hummed, turning his car to the street Kibum lived in and he younger wasn’t really even surprised that the older hacker knew where he lived.
“It’s okay, I guess it’s only fair. I’ve got to stare at you over two years already”, Jonghyun showed him a little smile, which made Kibum’s heart skip a beat. He knew that the older had stalked him for some time but somehow hearing the other admit it like that…
“Yeah, so prepare now, you need to compensate for those two years of me not seeing you”, Kibum still tried to compose himself and answered the other with his usual witty smile, which seemed to break the ice around them. Jonghyun snorted, feeling the little nervousness still left in him dissipate slowly, and parked his car right in front of the building Kibum lived in.
“Anything you want, your highness.”
A small giggle left Kibum’s soft lips before he glanced at the window he knew was his on the fourth floor, biting his lips.
“Then, if you really will do anything I want… Could you come with me tonight and spend the night? I don’t want to be alone right now…”
At first Jonghyun wanted to make some inappropriate comment about spending the night together but he had a feeling Kibum had a deeper meaning behind his request. Smiling softly and shutting down the engine of his car, he opened his seatbelt.
“I’d love to.”
Soon they were in Kibum’s small apartment. It wasn’t really spacey, but it was enough. In Jonghyun’s opinion it was really cozy, and so much Kibum-like. Of course he had seen glimpses of the apartment before through the cameras he used to guard Kibum (stalking sounded just a little bit too extreme, so he preferred guarding).
“Do you want anything to eat?” Kibum asked the other like the good host he was. Even though it was almost midnight, he wanted to treat his guest right. And for his guest to be Jonghyun, it made him extra nervous.
“I don’t need anything. If you want to eat, then do so or we could just eat in the morning?” Kibum shook his head, wanting nothing more than to sleep. Today has been a lot to take in. But in the end it was okay because Kibum finally got to see Jonghyun – even though it wasn’t really ideal way to meet but anyway.
Kibum rummaged through his closet to get some sleeping clothes for Jonghyun – even though the other had told him he liked to sleep only in his boxers or sometimes naked, he knew the older was still a little uncomfortable with him, and Kibum didn’t want to make the other feel uneasy. Finding an old loose tank top and pajama pants, he walked to the bed to give them to the elder who was sitting on the said mattress.
“I hope it’s okay that we sleep in the same bed, I don’t really have anything else… Or I can sleep on the floor if you’d like”, Kibum said slowly while trying not to watch Jonghyun change his shirt. They were both males, yes and Kibum was pretty familiar with male anatomy but holy baby jesus-
“Oh, no, don’t even think about it. I think we’ll fit in your bed just fine, so don’t worry”, finally Jonghyun had some clothes on which made Kibum’s breathing a little more easier again. He smiled shakily at the older, wanting just to disappear through the floor with his inappropriate thoughts. Well, it wasn’t his fault Jonghyun looked so good.
After changing into his own night clothes which consisted just of boxers and huge t-shirt, they were ready for bed. They were both dead tired but the warmth from the other body kept them awake. Both of them were extremely nervous about the situation since they were so close, but still so far.
Jonghyun wanted so badly to touch the younger, to have him in his arms, but he didn’t know if it was acceptable. He was feeling self-conscious because Kibum was even much more gorgeous up close than through the lens. Jonghyun himself wasn’t bad looking but compared to Kibum he looked like a hobo. And since Kibum hadn’t said anything about his appearance, it could be either pretty good or awfully bad thing. But he just wanted to have Kibum, even if the other hated how he looked. He had crossed today so many boundaries without even thinking so maybe one more wouldn’t hurt.
“Kibum-“
“Jonghyun-“
They both started at the same time, glancing at each other and bursting out laughing. The whole situation was just too tensed and they weren’t really used to it – their relationship has always been relaxed since they were pretty much opposites and maybe that’s what attracted them. Well, it was more like friendship but still not quite. There was always little too much teasing and flirting just to be casual friendship.
“You first”, Kibum said quickly, wanting to desperately hear what Jonghyun was going to say. For a second the older hacker was about to say the same thing, getting too embarrassed, but decided to one more time be brave.
“I just… I just wanted to say I’m so glad you are okay. You don’t know how worried I got after we lost our connection”, well, it wasn’t what he was supposed to say but close enough. Kibum turned a little bit to look at the other and smiled slightly.
“I know… And I’m sorry, I know I should listen to you more.”
“You certainly should, I’m always worrying myself sick when you are up to something”, Jonghyun mumbled, making the younger smile a little more.
“But luckily this day ended well. I met Minho and I… Met you. Finally”, Kibum said, moving his hand under the covers to lightly touch Jonghyun’s arm. The older shivered at the feeling, turning also to look Kibum in the eye, looking for hints.
“Yeah. It wasn’t really planned but I just couldn’t leave you there. I was so scared that they had done something to you, or maybe even killed you”, Jonghyun said, his voice getting a little bit emotional at the mere thought of losing Kibum, “I was so terrified…”
The younger blushed lightly, finally finding the courage and moving closer to Jonghyun on the bed, placing his head on the other’s chest.
“I’m glad you came.”
For a short while they just laid there, with Kibum’s head on Jonghyun’s chest and at some point the older’s fingers found their way into the younger’s warm brown locks.
“Why didn’t you meet me sooner?” Came younger’s sudden question but not really surprising Jonghyun, since he knew it was coming. Rising his head little to rest his chin on the same spot on Jonghyun’s chest, he looked sleepily at the other’s eyes, looking a little nervous and curious.
“Well, at first it was just normal anxiety, you know me that well”, he said to which Kibum nodded his head slowly, “But after that… It’s so silly, I know, but I just couldn’t show myself when you are so beautiful. I didn’t want to disappoint you”, the older muttered quietly, somehow hoping the other didn’t quite catch what he said but he knew that wasn’t the case. For a while Kibum was quiet which was slowly getting on his nerves.
“You are so silly”, he whispered while looking at Jonghyun straight in the eyes, “You say I am beautiful but have you seen yourself? And I’m not just saying this to make you feel better, you know I’m not like that, but really. You are the most beautiful, handsome, gentle person I’ve ever met. Even if you looked like a sexy wild beast earlier”, he added with a teasing smile, but wanting to convey his feelings through his eyes. He wanted the older to know he wanted nothing more than to be with him.
Finally Jonghyun’s hands found their way to Kibum’s waist. He held tight, just looking at the mesmerizing dark chestnut eyes which didn’t fail to impress him even in the dim room. Slowly, he brought his other hand to caress the younger’s cheek, slowly, gently, before bringing their faces closer. Both their hearts were beating rapidly, anticipating. In the silent room they could hear each other’s breaths, they could feel it on their faces. Slowly, their noses touched, which made them close their eyes, tilting their heads a little. They were both nervous, but at the same time so sure about it.
A breathy voice then whispered,
“I love you.”
And their lips were brought together.
