The voices couldn't be mistaken. It was the kind of chatter that was definitely coming your way.
Shit!
Instantly switching to defence-mode, you launched towards the cutlery drawer and opened it, only to find a cheese knife, and a silver spoon with teeth marks in it.
You took both, just to be safe.
You ran back towards the couch which, luckily, had the spine facing the door. You jumped over it and summersaulted into a position where you could hide effectively.
Drawing the cheese knife towards the entry point of the room, your eyes peered over the couch and locked onto the door.
Just as expected, the door opened.
The room was instantly filled with two deep causal-conversation-having voices. Chattering away as if you weren't just about to launch this knife into the skull of at least one of them.
"Stop!" you ordered loudly, anxious to engage too quickly.
The voices immediately silenced and the room became thick with anxiety and tension, before you even got a glimpse of who was coming inside.
What if it's Taehyung and Jimin bringing the weapons? Or one of the new teammates?
You can't kill them yet. Friendly fire has always been a punishable offence. Especially if uncalled for.
That was what made you hesitate, only, the fear that the face you'd meet would be one you recognised.
Into the room stepped two of them.
You recognised both of their faces, but not enough to be comfortable letting your weapon down. They both had some sort of item to cover their face, so you couldn't be sure.
One had glasses, the other had a low cap-hat.
In a matter of seconds, one of them had drawn his handgun in your direction. He positioned himself ready to fire, and shouted:
"Identify yourself!"
Standing up straight, fully exposing yourself, and holding the knife behind your shoulder, prepared to throw it with some sort of accuracy, you replied:
"You first!"
There was no way you were backing down first.
But he didn't look like he was going to either. His eyes were so angry and focused. Dragon-like.
You were still only wearing your sports bra and track pants.
Only a few measly, sweaty, angsty seconds later, in wondered Taehyung and Jimin, seemingly without a care in the world. Holding the crates you were promised, he walked right into the centre of the stand-off.
You, and one of the others, with weapons drawn, eyes focused, breathing hard-trained.
He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I see introductions are going well?"
—————
"Seriously though," dragon-eyes mentioned, chattering casually with the rest of the boys on the couch. "What on earth we're you going to do with a cheese knife, against a Glock-19?"
You shook your head, being the only person sat on the second couch, while all four of the others shared the first.
"You wanna find out?"
You raised an eyebrow. It could have been perceived as a threat, or a tease. The new guy was fond of neither.
"So you're..." Taehyung interrupted the dispute, asking for the names of the newbies, while trying to break the tension you had with everyone.
"Kim Namjoon." said the taller one (the one that wielded the gun at you just ten minutes ago), "'Ghost' in the field, though."
Taehyung nodded, you made a mental note of his code name. You liked code more than birth-given names.
"Redstone." said the slightly shorter boy with the light-brown hair. He seemed to have confidence that perfectly matched the other's, "I'm Jung Hoseok."
Redstone suited him. Just like Ghost suited the other guy.
Everyone had picked out code names that perfectly combated their visual, as well as general demeanour.
"So introductions are done," Ghost reported. "What's next?"
The room was slightly uneasy for a few short moments, as everyone came up with different answers to the question in their brains.
"How about me?"
All five of you swung your heads towards the door, quickly trying to identify the new voice.
Standing in the doorway with a classic grin, was Jungkook.
"Ayeee!" Hosoek cheered, getting up from his seat and rushing to the newcomer to greet him with a handshake and hug. "Jungkookie~."
The nickname made you raise your eyebrow.
They had seemed to have gotten very familiar, in such a short amount of time.
"Come on in," said Namjoon—who, somehow, had managed to hand-craft the hierarchy of the group with him at the top without anybody else noticing. "Now that everyone is here, we can get familiar."
You couldn't help but feel like that was directed at you.
There was a very subtle feeling in the room.
It indicated this concept of you, versus them. And it was discrete, but you noticed.
You couldn't pick why, just yet. But you were sure something was up.
Looking around, and chewing on a lollipop you had just pulled from your carry-on bag, you were feeling more and more overwhelmed by all the faces.
Namjoon and Hoseok, half the team. They seemed to work well together. Namjoon had blonde hair and tanner skin while Hoseok had brown hair and wore slim-framed circular glasses.
The way they spoke back and forth, with similar mannerisms and casual jokes, made it clear that they had known each other for a long time.
Jungkook and Jimin obviously were best friends. Jimin's hair was a pinky orange, and he had soft features.
Jungkook was a whole different breed of human.
Tall, assertive, sometimes warm, like there were two sides to him and it was always a lucky dip which you were going to get. His hair was longer, darker than the others. His body was lean-bulk, covered in tattoos, similar to yours.
His strongest attributes, you had observed, were in his accuracy. Not that you had seen much of his handiwork, but you could tell by his physique. The way he trained bullets to follow his lead.
Boys like Namjoon and Hoseok had seemingly focused more on physical strength. Technique. Weaponless-battles. Both have their pros and cons.
You had the upper hand.
Being trained relentlessly, in both.
Not to say that they hadn't, though. The files on these boys had given you little information. But there was simply no way the boss would bring this many people in, if they didn't have the kind of skill that she wants.
One, two, five boys.
Five goddamn boys.
"Now can I ask the obvious question of why you're all here?" you finally said, cutting off the small talk between them. "How'd you get the address?"
It was like they had formed an alliance against you already, the way they all looked at each other and exchanged words without speaking.
"Uh," Hoseok started, hesitant. "Probably the same way you got it?"
"What do you mean?" you wiggled down the couch a little to make room for Jimin who couldn't find a spot on the other one.
"I mean, we're all here together, so why would they only send the address to one of us?"
You felt your whole world cave in all at once.
"What."
Over and over in your brain flashed images of the weeks to come. You'd have no time to yourself, no time to focus or study or do what you normally need to complete your missions.
You needed space to breathe.
Space in general.
Quiet. Peace.
With this many people around—how were you ever going to be able to do this?
"No- No, you can't-" you muttered.
Quick flashes of the sounds of their laughter, their arguing, what it would be like having to try to work with no many other people.
It was too much.
Looking down at the floor, it was spinning. The carpet was moving and swirling with the heat rushes from your brain.
You're going to fail.
You're never going to find the jewel. You won't.
The boys are going to hold you back.
It felt like your throat had closed. Like you were at the bottom of the ocean and were never going to resurface.
You're going to let your boss down.
"Y/N."
You opened your eyes and looked to the voice.
Jungkook had moved to the spot beside you. He had placed his hand on your shoulder, and half-smiled at you. His voice was deep, soft, and nurturing.
And just like that, you could breathe again.