"Alright, so then you just aim through here and make sure the target's head is within the capacity of where the two black lines meet."
Taehyung let out a long yawn that he tried extremely hard to suppress for the past 4 hours spent with Jungkook; who repeatedly showed him how to use a sniper from the roof of a hotel building. Both boys were laying on their stomachs, sore elbows propped upon the slate; lifting their upper body up.
"Pay attention, Kim! After the performance you showcased today - it's evident you need this training more than your sleep."
Taehyung battled with his conscience, begging it to let him stay awake - just for a bit longer. Angering a criminal with a gun nearby wasn't on his 'to do' list and was certainly something he wanted to avoid at all costs. However, it quickly became inevitable.
Soon, his upper and lower lip slowly parted ways and opened a doorway for a thin string of saliva to freely dangle amidst the midnight chill - still connected to his plump bottom lip.
Jungkook couldn't banish the disgusted look painted on his heavenly features; the soft dark eyebrows that were once straight were now knitted together - littering his smooth forehead with wrinkles whilst he stared at Taehyung's thread of drool; dancing in the same rhythm as the bitter wind, like a swing in a children's playground.
As sleep weighed down on Taehyung's eyelids, Jungkook heaved sigh; understanding this was a signal to take a long awaited break from the training, for now at least.
"Alright, I get it. Now swallow your spit, that's revolting." Jungkook spoke clearly and loudly in order to snap Taehyung out of his trace while he continued to brush the dirt off of his black jeans, "Up you get, Kim. The sooner you get up and walk to our designated room, the sooner you can fall asleep."
But the half conscious boy, still lying on his stomach with his head hung low, refused to pay the slightest attention to the dark indefatigable haired male standing above him with two hands occupying his hips.
Rolling his eyes dramatically, Jungkook bent down and began to lift Taehyung up. His hands tucked into Taehyung's armpits as he tugged the blonde on his two feet - who was still groggily replying to Jungkook's demands; trying to prove the criminal that he hadn't fallen asleep just yet.
"Be careful on the way down. Don't injure yourself and give me a hassle over where to take you for treatment - because I never visit hospitals."
Taehyung nodded with his eyes gently shut as darkness enveloped his vision -- akin to the pitch black curtain draped over the sky. It towered over the two boys with a canopy of dimply lit stars, scattered across the ocean of blackness.
. . .
Earlier that day, 6:54 am.
"Kim! Hurry up and grab the two bags by the fridge, we have 5 minutes until he finishes his night shift." Jungkook ordered as he made sure no fingerprints, strands of hair or any type of DNA was left behind.
Taehyung bit his nails, unsure of what to do, "u-uh Jungkook, maybe we could leave these two behind -- I mean he needs some money to get by. How will he eat or drink or pay his rent and even--"
"That would defeat the whole purpose of robbery if the damn robbers were so generous and put their life on the line to steal a pair of socks. I don't have time for this!" Jungkook ran over and grabbed the two sacks filled with jewelry and stacks of money before throwing it over his back.
Taehyung knew he had to obey as he didn't want to raise any suspicion of being an imposter but the thought of this man returning to his home only to find his house empty had filled Taehyung's fragile heart with guilt.
"Yeah I know, I'm sorry." Taehyung softly apologised, watching Jungkook frantically throw all the gathered money into the boot of his BMW.
Taehyung waited for Jungkook to reenter the plain looking apartment, that surprisingly held a large amount of money, before he rummaged through the car and retrieved a bag of jewels. He dashed back into the house and placed the single sack in a cupboard with a yellow note attached.
After Jungkook had locked his car, he grew impatient waiting for the arrival of his partner in 'crime' and so decided to check up on him and see what was taking him so long. Walking up to the front door, he caught Taehyung returning a stolen bag of jewels without his permission.
Jungkook narrowed his eyes from afar, his dilated pupils following the scene intricately from behind the front door.
Interesting..
Jungkook walked towards the oblivious blonde, leaving the front door to shut behind him, each step became more audible the more he neared the trainee - raising Taehyung's awareness.
"Say, Kim, what have you got hiding in that cupb-"
But Jungkook was soon interrupted by the sound he detested the most -
A shuffling of keys,
followed by a sharp click to resonate throughout the apartment.
"Shit" Jungkook muttered under his breath as he harshly tugged a wide eyed blonde into the nearest room and clasped a hand over Taehyung's mouth.
Taehyung shivered as fear thrashed up and down his spine - whispering worries and regret into his ears.
Jungkook left a very small gap in the door for him to peak through and to watch a brown haired male, who just entered his own apartment, like a hawk. A thin strip of golden light was casted onto Jungkook's face, flowing down past the middle of his iris all the way to his chapped lips that parted; ready to whisper the first part of his new made plan.
"Kim, get the gun."
There was a moment of sheer silence as the blonde registered Jungkook's words, his brain working quickly as he began putting two and two together. Taehyung's throat ran dry, words evaporating before they could even reach past his teeth, he could never harm someone -- let alone deprive them of their right to live. It's wrong.
Jungkook glanced down at starstruck boy in anticipation but to all dismay, Taehyung merely stared back, hoping he heard incorrectly or that there was some sort of misunderstanding of the harsh, short sentence that slipped past jungkook's lips so easily and freely - it made Taehyung sick.
"Well?" Jungkook taunted further with a harsh whisper, his patience wearing thin by every millisecond Taehyung foolishly wasted.
"W-why...?"
"What do you mean 'why?' Are you disobeying me?"
"N-no sir."
"Then?" Jungkook inquired with an eyebrow raised exceptionally high.
Taehyung hadn't to speak further, only to comply by crouching down next to the door and sneak his hand through the gap, that Jungkook had previously used to stare at the muscled man ripping his tight leather jacket from his bulky arms, and reach for the pistol under a cabinet just outside the bedroom.
Taehyung didn't know why a gun was there and had just assumed Jungkook was prepared and took a lot of precautions.
Of course, Jungkook kept a strong stare on the chestnut haired male who tiredly slumped on his couch with a can of Pepsi.
Once the pistol was retrieved, Jungkook placed it in the waistband of his jeans, pulling his black hoodie over it, covering his mouth and nose with a black mask and finally motioned Taehyung to follow.
Both boys snuck past the brown couch, a ball of brunette hair poked out at the top of the couch with loud snores erupting -- the man was asleep with his TV on as a blue can of Pepsi weighed his hand down, drool leaking onto his chin.
Jungkook quietly clicked open the front door with much caution, having experience from this type of situation before.
Before the mission could end in all success, throughout the series of sneaking past the back of the couch, Taehyung had been extremely panicky and couldn't help but frantically turn his body around to check if the brown haired male was still soundly asleep and wasn't instead towering over Taehyung with a weapon, smirking evilly. However, when he was passing by the kitchen counter, Taehyung had heard a few uneven snores - not following the rhythm it had just previously flowed in.
Taehyung immediately snapped his body around to make sure there wasn't any consciousness sparked within the owner of the apartment, leaving his elbow to spin around and knock off a vase, with flowers standing inside the hollow ceramic container, onto the floor.
This produced a loud smash which was enough for Jungkook to pinch the bridge of his nose and for the sleeping male to cease his snoring, jolting in his sleep.
Taehyung remained frozen, his eyes wider than ever and guilt decorating his features.
Jungkook thought fast and speedily brought out his gun from his waistband and forced it into the palms of Taehyung's hands.
"Here's your mission, I've done my part - now you do yours."
That whisper was all it took for Taehyung to snap out of his trance, "wait, w-what?" He stuttered but only to find Jungkook had already disappeared somewhere Taehyung didn't catch.
Is he crazy! Oh my god, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do-
"Who are you!" The sonorous voice boomed, piercing through the silent panic attack Taehyung just faced.
Taehyung flinched and quickly hid the gun behind his back, "u-um..." Taehyung gulped as his eyes travelled up to the male who stood a few metres away from him, in a white vest and jeans, his biceps full on display as he flexed them with anger, the green veins menacingly protruding beneath the epidermis of his tanned skin. His black jacket long forgotten on the couch beside the remote and can of Pepsi.
"Uh, d-delivery?"
"What kind of joke is this!" The man had began taking large strides towards the blonde who was abnormally shaking and sweating; his clammy hands gripping onto the raven gun.
"Stand back!", Taehyung shut his eyes tightly and pulled out the gun, pointing it towards the aforementioned male who now halted his steps and held his arms up in surrender.
"Woah, calm down there, young man." The man breathed out, surprised at the appearance of a gun, seemingly more calmer and less aggressive than he had just proved himself to be, "you don't want to do anything that you'll regret. Just put the gun down and we can talk this out."
"N-no, stand b-back before I sho-shoot!" His unstable voice had made Taehyung inwardly curse at how cowardly he came across, I'm not going to shoot him, I'm just making him stay away from me.
I'm not like Jungkook, I'm not a criminal.
"Listen, uh..."
"V", Taehyung didn't know where the name had came from but had merely spoken the first thing he had thought of whilst staring at the man's V - necked vest.
"Yeah, uh V, there's no need to involve any unnecessary violence!" He took a small step forward, "look, let's compromise. How does ten grand sound? is that good enough?"
The male had began lowering his hands slowly, and inched towards the blonde boy.
"I mean, just look at the mess you made" he spoke as if he were dealing with a child, a toddler who didn't know what he was doing.
Taehyung hated that. He was all too familiar with the patronising tone that reeked of downright belittlement.
The male had pointed to the millions of tinted pink shards spread across the tiled floor, Amaryllis flowers laying atop the shards in a more distressed manner. Taehyung turned his head around to stare at the mess he had made in utter guilt, that was an accident.
The male had took this as an opportunity to switch the level of authority and pounce on Taehyung, snatching the gun away and capturing the blonde in a head lock. The gun dangerously pressed up against his head.
"who do you work for?!"
"I-i don't know!" Taehyung frantically shouted back, fearing the male would shoot him if he didn't hear Taehyung's answer clearly.
"Don't give me that bullshit!" The man was seething with anger, "I bet it's those bastards, they must've fucking tracked me down again."
"I really don't know, please." Taehyung begged with tears streaming down his face, he was beyond terrified. His hands shaking uncontrollably and the image of abuse and death flashed through his fragile mind.
"Useless bastard" the man muttered as he continued to dig the gun harshly into Taehyung's head, ready to pull the trigger.
"No please!" Taehyung screeched and shut his eyes tight.
Jungkook was watching from inside of a closet -that was conveniently near the front door - with a small gap for him to peak through, and he decided Taehyung had enough experience for one day and so he began to casually pick up an isolated baseball bat near his foot and gently push open the door before strolling out from behind the sweaty man.
"What the fuck? it's not even loaded!" the man exclaimed, frustrated with the outcome of stealing the futile gun.
Jungkook steadied the bat in his hand and inhaled sharply before bringing the bat away from the man's head and with one mighty swing from Jungkook, the man instantly dropped to the floor unconscious; which meant that his tight hold on Taehyung's head lessened and the blonde lightly fell to the floor with heavy pants and tear stained cheeks.
Taehyung stared up at Jungkook like he was a warrior without shield, even a hero without a cape - his true saviour. Taehyung's aureate-glass eyes shone with admiration and glistened with awe, green creeping in around the edges as if it was threatening to dominate his eye colour into a grassy vibrant green.
At least, Jungkook thought Taehyung was staring up at him for that reason.
"Are you just going to sit on the floor beside an unconscious man and continue to stare at me like i'm God - or will you make an effort to get out of here before the police arrive?"
Taehyung glowed bright red out of humiliation, "Yes, sir" he voiced out as deep as he could and immediately stood up, wiping his already dried tears with his red and white striped sleeve.
"W-wait, the police are coming?"
"The neighbours aren't deaf, i'm certain they must have already called the police after hearing your screaming and sobbing non-stop."
"Sorry" Taehyung mumbled before trying to catch up with Jungkook who already sped down the stairs and was starting up the car, not bothering to hear Taehyung's apology.
Once Taehyung hopped into the seat beside Jungkook, vague police sirens were detected and Jungkook winced at the treacherous sound as if it was equivalent to sharp nails clawing at a blackboard.
And the rest of the afternoon was spent with a haggard male gripping at the steering wheel, strings of curse words dancing past his lips every few moments and a terrified Taehyung crouching down in case of 'the police putting me on the news'.
As there was a challenge; which included Jungkook losing the myriads of blaring police cars that alarmed every house it speedily dashed by, within 3 hours.
It was completed in 2 hours and 46 minutes, courtesy of Jungkook placing a timer on his phone.
Taehyung had too much of a shock to just suddenly fall asleep, not after what just happened. Instead, he stared past the glass with his head leaned against it but bumping harshly against the cold windows whenever Jungkook ran over a speed bump.
"Say kook."
"It's Jeon."
"Sorry," Taehyung awkwardly coughed before starting again, "say, Jeon?", much more cautious of the way he addresses Jungkook.
"Yeah?"
"Um.. t-thanks for saving me today.." The blonde nervously fiddled with the hem of his top for no apparent reason. The irony of the situation almost making him laugh - a criminal saving someone.
"Mm" Jungkook hummed back as a his way of acknowledging Taehyung's gratitude.
"But - why did you hand me a gun that wasn't loaded?"
"It's your first mission, I can't be handing over bullets and a gun straight away - you need to earn it. Think of this mission as a tester, we'll get better missions later but for now try working on less crying and more fighting, hm?"
Taehyung nodded, "will the man be okay?"
"Yeah, I'm sure he will. He's a member of the CS, so who really cares."
"The CS?"
"An opposing gang. We've had conflict with them for years." Jungkook sighed,
"But anyways, good job at not exposing our gang name and covering your identify, V."
I honestly didn't know the gang name.
"Yeah... It was a close call" Taehyung smiled widely.
Behind Taehyung's sweet smile and gratitude, he clenched his fists, knowing he will do whatever he can to get away from this lunatic.
He's insane, if this was his idea of a 'first easy mission' then I can't bare to phantom what other psychotic plans he has next for what he'd consider 'normal' or even 'hard' missions.
I must continue looking for him - the only meaning behind escaping my orphanage. But Jungkook is driving me further and further from him. I need to escape.
. . .
Present, 11:46 pm
Taehyung lazily stared at the tank of goldfishes swimming freely whilst Jungkook was at the counter, booking a hotel room for the night and trying to convince the lady with smeared pink lipstick on her thin lips, that her room's were over priced.
Taehyung dug his hand into his pocket and sat himself on a worn out leather seat, picking at the dark foam seeping out of the rip with his fingers.
He dragged his eyes up to stare blankly at an old fashioned telephone box just outside the hotel's entrance with a dim light hung above, flickering eerily, contrast to the darkness engulfing the exterior of the rectangular box.
A thought struck the blonde boy, he dug his hands further into his pockets until he felt a small piece of paper slip between his fingers.
He skipped over to Jungkook with a huge smile on his face, "Jeon?"
"I told you, 51 is the highest I'm going!" Jungkook angrily exhaled, glaring at the woman who tiredly stared at Jungkook - unamused at his persistence.
Jungkook glanced over at Taehyung, "yes, Kim?"
"Can I borrow some money for the telephone box? I need to ring someone." Taehyung battered his eyelashes in an innocent manner.
Jungkook lazily opened his wallet and drained out any loose change before handing it over to Taehyung without a second thought or questioning, he was far too exhausted after all the arguing with the lady and just dismissed it.
His usual self would have probably questioned further and took more precautions of who Taehyung contacts and what information he may give away.
As Taehyung turned away, he couldn't control his smile. He opened the hotel door with a harsh tug but only felt himself get more giddy the more he neared the telephone box.
Why hadn't I thought of this sooner?
After pushing the coins into the slots he began dialing numbers according to the piece of paper and pressed the phone against his ear with two hands.
It rang once.
Twice.
Thrice.
"Hello, brother?"