It's been a year now since the members of Charmer and Stray Kids ended up coupled by their fellow rivals and the two bases have now made peace with each other.
Bang Chan, Charmer's leader, grudgingly proposed the idea of combining the two groups since everyone had basically made both bases their second homes and now, the eight members became part of one group- Straykids.
It was definitely a new experience for all of them, but, no one minded. There was also a surprisingly less number of serious arguments, however the absolute chaos that had ensued once everyone moved into Straykids's base was horrendous.
If a group of the members went out for a case, they would come back home to see the place trashed by the members who were left behind, three out of the four of them often eating takeout, unbothered with the mess they made.
This made both Chan and Minho, the unofficial parents of the group, grumble and huff but secretly they loved it too. Especially when Minho would roll his eyes or Chan would raise his eyebrows and everyone would fall over their feet to start cleaning up. The two shared a private laugh over moments like these, and even though the members knew about it, the routine would continue.
__________________
Today, Seungmin, Changbin, Minho and Jisung were out on a case. Someone, either extremely brave or exceptionally stupid, had managed to obtain crucial information from their base about an ongoing operation of theirs and Jisung had an inkling of who the person, or people, might be.
To test their theory, the four were out today spying on TXT's base, their plan being they would watch for a while, then create a big enough distraction to lure most of the people out of the building. Jisung was stationed at the back exit, Seungmin near one of the windows and Minho and Changbin together were to keep watch at the front entrance.
Changbin had gotten blueprints of the base and the four had already memorised most of the escape routes but just in case mishaps happened, they also had the rest of the group, who were also stationed at a short but unsuspecting distance from the base, on their ear pieces.
"Jisung did you put on the security guard uniform I gave you yet?" Minho asked as he watched a security guard walk out of the enormous glass sliding doors of the building. The boy scoffed silently at all the pomp and show of the base.
"Yes love" Jisung's answer could be heard over the earpiece, voice sounding rather bored and Changbin, who could also hear him, chuckled when he saw the tips of Minho's ears grow red even in the dark.
"Careful with your flirting Ji" Felix's amused voice came from over their devices. "Or else Minho will burst into heart confetti even before the mission starts" Everyone cracked a smile at that, laughing when they heard Minho's annoyed huff.
"Okay guys it's 10 pm right now" Seungmin said over the earpiece, bringing everyone back on track. "When are we raising the alarm?"
Minho thought for a moment, trying to forget about Jisung's voice temporarily. He checked his laptop which showed the hacked CCTV footage of the hallways. "Okay, Jisung once the elevator lobby gets empty, go in. Hyunjin will tell you when that happens, since I don't have access to every camera. In the front lobby or the elevator lobby there should be a fire alarm. Raise that and make sure no one sees you. Then, when everyone starts panicking, go up to the ninth floor which is where Soobin's office is. Check the office and come back out immediately. Do not look around or waste your time in there. And you better be out alive in five minutes or else I'm going in" The firmness in his voice made Changbin smirk.
"Okay okay calm down Min. You can trust me" Jisung laughed. "You do realise that you've gotten your ass whooped twice by me before this even though you have more skill than me, right?"
"I think we collectively agreed not to bring that up anymore" Minho grumbled and Jisung laughed.
"Okay Hyunjin tell me when I should go in"
"You've got your keycard?" Hyunjin inquired, still giggling.
"Yup"
"Okay" The older's voice trailed off as he focused on his computer. "Okay" He said again. "There's one man waiting in the lift lobby. As soon as he's inside one of the elevators I'll say Go and you'll step into the building, take a left after you exit the back wing and then walk straight down the hallway. With luck it'll be empty but if not don't worry. Just make sure your disguise is perfect."
"It is" Jisung said, peeking around one of the walls to see a guard enter the building through the back door.
"Okay..... go"
Wasting no time Jisung speed walked to the back entrance and pushed it open. "Here goes nothing" He mumbled as he exited the wing and took a left, walking as fast as he could through the dimly lit corridor.
Luck seemed to favour as the corridor was entirely empty and Jisung could jog to the end without anyone stopping him. "Okay I'm in" He whispered, looking around the wide space. The silence and business like air seemed strange and alien to what he was used to, but Jisung couldn't afford to get distracted by that right now.
"Great" said Hyunjin. "Look for the fire alarm"
Jisung looked around once, spotting a few people sitting at a desk and a few more around the room. The place seemed like a normal office building, except it housed secrets only the people inside knew of. The realisation reminded Jisung of his own group and members.
At another glance, Jisung spotted the fire alarm on the far side of the room.
Great, now he would have to walk up to the other corner of the room and then pull the lever of the alarm and then walk back all without looking suspicious.
Sometimes Jisung wondered why he hadn't gone for making music after all.
Sliding open the glass doors to the front lobby Jisung walked in, the soft soles of his shoes not making a sound against the marble floor. Darting through the people he managed to walk up to the corner where the alarm was located. Turning his back to the alarm he looked around the room once again to make sure no one had noticed him.
Satisfied, Jisung turned back around, using a poor tactic of admiring the, rather ugly, artwork on the wall as a decoy while he felt around for the red lever.
Crank. The lever made a loud sound as Jisung pulled it down, but the boy didn't have to worry as almost immediately fire alarms sounded throughout the building, red light washing the room as the doors automatically opened and people began rushing out.
"Ninth floor" Hyunjin reminded as Jisung ran to the other side of the room, straight through the glass doors and into the lift lobby which was even more crowded with all the frantic people pouring out of the five elevators. The boy pushed through them and rushed to the furthest elevator on the left punching the button frantically. It seemed to take an eternity for the numbers to go from 5 to 4 to 3......
Finally the elevator dinged and Jisung squeezed past all the people who were coming out of it, this time punching the door close button frantically before anyone could catch up with him.
_____________________
Minho fidgeted restlessly with the rings on his fingers, wondering why all he could here was panicked shouts and screams from Jisung's earpiece and not the boy's voice himself. Of course, this meant that the diversion tactic had worked- halfway at least- but Minho would have liked to hear Jisung's voice, even a murmur, at least once to know he was okay. The fact worried him more that he would have liked to admit.
Changbin noticed the older's behaviour and took off his earpiece so he could talk to Minho without anyone else hearing.
"Jisung will be fine, you know" He said gently and Minho looked at him, big, brown eyes betraying fear in them.
"How can you be sure?" He asked on taking off his earpiece as well. "We can't hear him anymore. Who knows if he's okay or not. What if someone caught him or something? Fuck I should have gone in there instead of him. What if-"
Changbin shushed the panic in Minho's voice. "He's fine, Minho. This is Jisung we're talking about. Remember, I used to work with him before our companies combined. He's one of the best people for the job. And trust me when I tell you to trust his abilities."
Minho sighed, chewing on his bottom lip. "I do trust his abilities. It's just.... I still have a bad feeling about this" He mumbled before putting his earpiece back on.
Changbin internally marvelled at how much Minho had changed on falling in love with Jisung before putting his earpiece on as well, a small satisfied smile making it's way onto his face despite his hidden concern about how Jisung was doing in there as well.
After all, if something happened to him, none of them would be able to forgive themselves.
____________________
Inside the elevator, Jisung couldn't stop tapping his leg, a nervous habit of his as he heard the hushed voices of his members on his hidden earpiece.
Luckily no one entered the lift which he was in, seeing that he was going up instead of down. So the ride went smoothly apart from Jisung's own anxiety. "Okay I'm going up now" He spoke into the earpiece and the conversation on the other side stopped immediately.
"Fucking finally" Minho whispered and everyone heard Changbin's iconic laugh.
"Jisung thank God you finally said something. Minho, aka our big baby here was almost ready to cry his big brown eyes out- Hey hey hey! No hitting!"
"You're not saying anything" Minho hissed and Jisung laughed.
"Well I didn't think you loved me this much, jagi. I thought I still got on your nerves" The boy said teasingly as he looked up at the numbers on the screen which now showed the sixth floor.
"Just because you get on my nerves sometimes doesn't mean I don't love you!" Minho exclaimed and Jisung could hear a series of teasing "oooohhhs" and "aahhhhs" from all the other members which only made his blush worsen.
The elevator dinged and the doors opened onto the ninth floor.
"Okay everyone shut up now" Jisung said quickly before walking out onto the landing. "And Minho?"
"Yeah?" Minho answered immediately, sounding breathless.
Jisung steeled his nerves a little before biting his lip. "I love you" He said softly and his earpiece erupted into chaos once again. "Okay okay okay everyone silent" He hissed as the alarms continued to blare on this floor too.
A quick look around told Jisung that Soobin's office was at the complete end of the corridor and there weren't many rooms along the way to just dart into and hide.
Jisung sighed. This was gonna be a long day. Or night.
He began walking towards the office, looking around to make sure there was no one else on that floor.
"Fuck!" Jisung whispered suddenly as he immediately darted into the closest, thankfully unlocked room just as the door of the private office opened and a tall man with snowy hair dressed in a dark suit stepped out.
Choi Soobin. The leader of TXT.
"Jesus this guy's tall" Jisung muttered as he watched Soobin hurry past his hiding place quickly, heart still beating out of his chest at his extremely narrow escape. "Hyunjin don't you have access to the camera inside Soobin's office?" He asked softly, checking to make sure the giant was out of sight.
"No because he doesn't have cameras inside his office" Hyunjin said.
"And you decided to tell me that now?!" Jisung hissed as he cautiously tip toed out of his hiding place.
"Sorry" Hyunjin mumbled sullenly at his irresponsibility.
Jisung mumbled an it's okay before stepping out of the storeroom silently. He tip toed to the end of the corridor, almost getting whiplash with the amount of times he was jerking his head around at the slightest creak and hum.
The corridor was empty, of course, and Jisung took a moment to observe the dark panelled doors leading to the leader's private office.
"Okay I'm going in" Jisung muttered, and he pushed open the wooden doors, surprised that he didn't face triggered booby traps or even a simple locked door.
The inside was huge, spacious and tastefully decorated with black and beige walls and colour matched furniture and curtains; sparse but eye catching. In other words, nothing like what Jisung's base looked like.
Wasting no time the boy beelined towards the huge mahogany desk as he wondered fleetingly if the dude had converted an office building into a mafia base, wondering with genuine curiosity if TXT was actually a mafia base or if they were just trying to land acting gigs in a Vincenzo remake.
Casting that silly thought aside, he began sifting through the sheafs of papers and meaningless documents in the drawers as a low murmur of conversation rose over his earpiece.
Jisung kept checking over his shoulder and on top of the desk, watching the door as he knelt down to check the cabinets as well. The murmurs over the earpiece became distracting and Jisung took it out from his ear, pushing it into his pocket for a few minutes so he could search properly without his mind wandering away.
Jisung would only face the consequences of his actions later.
A few minutes passed searching through the alarming rate of papers in and on top of the desk until Jisung decided to check the pendrive lying on the desk.
He opened the laptop, deftly pressing seemingly random keys until the device was open, before plugging the pendrive in. The file loaded before the document opened and Jisung sucked in a pained breath.
Look Up.
"Oh fuck no" The boy whispered. Slowly, as if immersed in syrup, Jisung looked up, his eyes registering the figure standing at the doorway through blonde fringes.
Snowy hair, a dark suit, tall.
Choi Soobin.
Han Jisung had walked into a trap.
"Hi" Soobin started, irritatingly informal for having organised a fucking ambush.
Jisung straightened slowly, putting up his guards immediately. Seeing this Soobin chuckled. "Oh there's no need to be on guard right now. It's just you and me in here, courtesy to your... clever distraction." The older raised his eyebrows at the disguised mockery. "Oh and maybe a bomb ticking in that cabinet your standing next to" The leader continued, inspecting his nails as if he had all the time in the world.
Jisung stepped away from the cabinet even though he knew it wouldn't do much good. He even took off his earpiece which meant the others wouldn't be able to hear his conversation right now and help him out here. Plus, no security cameras in the office for Hyunjin to check.
I'm screwed, the boy thought, even as he found a little solace in the knife concealed in his sleeve.
"So" Soobin stepped forward slowly. "What brings you here.... alone?"
Alone? Jisung wasn't— Oh. Soobin didn't know about the rest.
Jisung decided to use this to his advantage. "I was sent on a case"
"Well obviously" The younger scoffed. "Or else I don't think anyone in their right mind would want to go poking around in a rival mafia base"
"Exactly" Jisung nodded along, trying to buy himself time for God knows what.
"What I want to know" Soobin started again. "Is why you were sent here? And" The boy's intelligent eyes scrutinized Jisung closely. "You came alone?"
"Yeah I did" Jisung answered. "Funny isn't it? My teammates seem to trust my abilities quite alot"
Soobin stared in silence. "I'm a little cautious about where this conversation is going but curious nevertheless" He said finally and Jisung walked out from behind the desk, hands hanging at his sides.
What are you doing?! Jisung's insides screamed at him. You're supposed to attack right now!
"I joined this mafia business when I was seventeen" Jisung started, shrugging. "I've worked with lots of kinds of people and believe me when I say I can recognise people in a heartbeat."
"...right" Soobin said, sounding decently confused.
Jisung smiled, a sinister glint in his chocolate eyes and for a moment it felt like Jisung's old persona was back. Before Stray Kids. Before his friends. Before Minho.
"My teammates don't give me good vibes" Jisung said finally his heartbeat in wild contrast to his steady, siren like gaze. "I mean come on, my teammates were idiots anyways for pairing up with the rival base but... Stray Kids members are pretty sharp. And I don't trust them. It's obvious they "recruited" us for their personal gains so..." The smile on Jisung's face rose into a smirk. "Why not do the same?" He continued.
Soobin's confusion showed freely on his face now. "Aren't all of you dating?"
The older's eyebrows rose. "So?"
Soobin's eyes widened. "You'll betray your own members" He stated, broken off by an airy chuckle.
"Well" Jisung's unbothered smile widened. "When you say it like that–" He pulled the knife out of his sleeve slowly, twirling it between long fingers as if it were a toy knife and not a lethal weapon. "I suppose it does sound bad."
Jisung paused, then looked up at Soobin with a lowered gaze, not missing the tiny gulp that disrupted the lines of the younger's throat.
"Why?" Soobin asked, leaning forward slightly out of curiosity at the sudden unforseen but potential ally standing across him, lazy grace like a snake, unbothered but dangerous when provoked.
"Well.... you see," Jisung stepped forward until he was inches away from the now slightly uneasy younger. "Curiosity kills the cat."
A cold blade slipped underneath Soobin's chin from behind, and deftly and silently a mouth appeared close to the boy's ear. "And you my dear, happened to be a little too curious."
Jisung looked up at the intruder, and a smile stretched onto his face. He looked back at Soobin again, wide brown eyes, terrified and pleading. Against his will, a bubble of pity rose in the older's chest. After all, he too was once like this.
Inexperienced, scared, vulnerable in front of the wrong people.
Help, Soobin's eyes screamed and Jisung realised he was naive. The boy had believed Jisung's crap about turning sides and now expected him to help. The bubble of pity swelled. Choi Soobin still had a lot to learn.
Jisung's eyes rose to meet his boyfriend. Silently their gazes spoke.
Let him go.
Are you sure?
He's scared.
So?
Teach him a lesson and let him go.
Minho nodded, knowing there was no point to argue with his stubborn boyfriend, especially when he had a valid point.
The brunette stepped back. Immediately a punch landed on his chest. The next five minutes were a whirl of stabs, punches, grunts and kicks as the three fought, and betrayal slowly dawned in Soobin's eyes.
"Han!" The snowy haired boy spat, coughing as he lay on the ground, Minho and Jisung standing above him, a knife pointed to his chest as heaven resonated throughout the room.
"Yes?" Jisung asked.
"This was all a plan wasn't it?" Soobin asked, panting as well.
The blond shrugged. "Improvisations occurred here and there but I must say, you are extremely naive."
Minho crossed him over to the desk to log into the computer and retrieve the hacked files as Jisung stood guard above the lying male.
"Well you're an exceptionally good actor" Soobin said, trying in vain to defend himself, as Jisung laughed while towering above him.
"Why I must say I'm flattered" The boy chuckled. "But the first rule you should know when you get into this mafia business—" Jisung continued, slowly pocketing his knife. "Is don't believe anyone."
"Done" Minho whispered almost immediately as he flourished a black pendrive in the air, smiling at Jisung.
Even in his current preoccupation Jisung found it in himself to smile back, his eyes following Minho as the older walked back to where Jisung was standing.
"Oh and Soobin" Jisung turned back to the snowy haired male. "Try not to ambush someone more experienced than you with all your members out on a... case"
As Jisung and Minho walked out of the now trashed cabin, Soobin got up, slowly putting two and two together as he recognised the elaborate plan Stray Kids had set up.
____________________
"God I am so grateful that you came just at the right time jagi" Jisung laughed out as soon as they were out of the office, turning to look at Minho with his gummy smile on display.
Minho however continued to look straight ahead, not giving even an inkling that he had heard the younger. This made Jisung frown but he decided to talk about it after they were out of enemy territory.
Within two minutes the duo had navigated throughout the sprawling building until they were out of the grounds and in sight of the rest of the members clustered together in front of two black vans.
"Minho!" Jisung finally exclaimed, struggling to keep up with Minho's long strides.
"Minho wait!"
The older still ignored him until finally Jisung caught up and tugged at his sleeve. At this Minho whirled around, an expression of utmost fury on his face that made Jisung shrink back almost immediately.
"Oh now you remember me?!" Minho finally cried out, eyes burning.
"Wha—"
"You could have died in there, Jisung! And we wouldn't have even known! Because you decided to be fucking irresponsible and take off your earpiece! Do you know how many times Hyunjin screamed at you to get out of there?! No! Because you weren't using your fucking earpiece! Do you know how worried I was when you weren't replying for so long?! Five minutes, remember?! I wanted to go in sooner but no one here let me else you have no idea what else you would've had to hear from me" A broken chuckle resounded through the night air as Minho raked his fingers through his hair, eyes rimmed red with frustration.
"I'm sorry" Jisung finally murmured, stepping forward meekly and reaching out to take Minho's arm in his hand, the older shaking his hand off instead. "Really" Jisung continued. "I am sorry. That was irresponsible of me"
"Glad you know it" Minho muttered, looking back towards the building of TXT's headquarters outlined against the night sky to make sure no one had come after them yet.
"Minho" Jisung started again pleadingly. "I'm sorry. I promise I'll be careful next time"
Minho stayed silent for a minute before sighing in annoyance. "Goddammit I can't even stay mad at you for long" He mumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose and Jisung smiled, immediately pulling his boyfriend into a hug.
"I'm right here, see?" He murmured, as he felt Minho dig his face into his neck, sighing as arms wrapped around the younger's frame.
"Yeah" Minho sniffled softly before chuckling again. "I can kick you out of the group for this y'know?" He said, smiling into the crook of Jisung's neck.
At this Jisung let out a mock gasp of betrayal. "You wouldn't!" He exclaimed, separating slightly from the older.
"Oh I would" Minho smiled cheekily, before pulling Jisung closer again and pressing a sweet kiss to his lips. "But my heart wouldn't let me" He murmured against the younger's cheek.
"Well thank God for your heart then" Jisung whispered, smiling as he pressed his forehead against Minho. "I love you"
Minho smiled. "I love you too but I will not hesitate to kill you if you ever pull shit like this on me again."
"Right. You still love me though"
"I just said that"
The rest of the members watched the two's banter, as some pretended to gag. But at the end of the day, everyone understood what the two shared.
A real bond. Love.
***
Word count: 4051
Guess what? I'm not dead. Also idk y but I feel like I fuck up requests all the damn time. Like I start with a picture in my mind and then my story turns out to be absolutely something else.
I genuinely do not know what this turned out to be because this strayed waaaaaaaaayyyy off track but I have also not been in a very good metal state lately and I know that's not an excuse to deprive you guys of good stories because everybody deserves good stories but if anyone has constructive criticism to give I am completely open to that because I know I need to improve lol cause I feel like even my writing has been down in the dumps lately.
Nevertheless I am really thankful for you guy's patience and for the person who requested this, I hope you stuck around to read this crap.
Ah, found you MHKUNS. Hope you like this.
Anyways tell me how you guys like it!
Have a great day/night!
<3