The Mafia's Dove (Hyunjin centric)

Dish Soap

"What exactly do you expect to happen when you break in?" I opened my eyes to see Changbin still looking at me, his food forgotten as he gave me a concerned and inquisitive expression.

"That they'll be so happy to see me that they throw a parade in my honor." He seemed unamused by my sarcasm as I offered him an innocent smile, and knowing his habit of not letting me eat in peace, I was quick to once again fill my mouth with bacon.

"Your goal was to eventually become friends with him, right? I'm not sure breaking into his friend's house is a good way to go about it."

I shrugged before swallowing. "Maybe he appreciates assertiveness. You don't know."

He sighed. "You're a difficult person to reason with."

"Because I'm so right all the time?"

". . . Sure."

"If he wants to go get a restraining order placed against him, you should let him." Jeongin spoke up for the first time all morning, his expression disinterested as he poked at his scrambled eggs.

I nodded before grinning. "I'm starting a collection. Though I'm a little disappointed my first one isn't from Minho. I was going to put his in a frame."

Minho directed a pointed stare at me from the corner of his eye as he stirred his coffee, his eyes narrowed though lacking fire. "Don't tempt me."

"But I'm so good at it."

He rolled his eyes before staring into his coffee, and I once again turned back to my food as the conversation finally stalled.

I wasn't exactly sure if I was going about this in the right way. I was good at socializing with people in high standing and those related to dangerous organizations, but someone like the pickpocket was out of my wheelhouse.

Showing up at his friend's place would probably freak him out, but I had already shown my true colors. Attempting to befriend him the normal way would be near impossible after our first meeting, but was illegal assertiveness an effective method?

Eh. Fuck it.

As soon as I finished eating I stood up and grabbed my plate, and I headed towards the kitchen to clean my dishes off before turning to the sink filled with dirty dishes. Felix wasn't exactly the "clean up as you go along" kind of cook, which meant there were numerous dishes that were now piling up from his cooking frenzy.

I rolled up my sleeves before opening the empty dishwasher, and I began to rinse off dishes and place them on their designated rack as the sound of light clanking and running water filled the otherwise silent space.

That silence continued even as Seungmin came up to stand beside me, and I moved over so he could start filling the dishwasher with the dishes I handed him. I assumed we would continue to work in silence, the white noise and the sunlight spilling in through the drapes creating a peaceful atmosphere. But surprisingly, that peacefulness didn't dissipate even as his voice broke the silence.

"I'm sorry I didn't look into them like you asked me to." I looked over to see him staring intently at the dishes he was handling, and I smiled softly before turning back to my task.

"Don't worry about it. I know you've had a lot on your mind lately, as well as a lot of pressure. If anything I should be apologizing for adding onto it."

I handed him another dish as he hummed, and I started scraping off pancake remnants from the pan Felix had used. "I like what I do, and tracking people down is fun so I don't mind doing it for you, but I just . . ." He trailed off, and I made no move to interrupt as he seemed to debate over his next words. "For a little while I struggled to do anything productive, and I was worried I was losing my touch. A part of me feared I would have to leave the group if I continued to fail so miserably, and so working on the computer began to stress me out. Most of my time was spent trying to find information for the missions, because it was taking me way longer than usual. So I'm sorry that I couldn't be of help, but to be honest, if I had attempted to track them down earlier I would have failed." His expression was hidden as he twisted in order to place a plate on the bottom rack, but I didn't need to see his face to know what expression he was making.