The sound of a door slamming shut jolted me awake.
Morning light streamed from the window onto the bed I was in.
I slowly sat up, yawning and rubbing my eyes.
"You awake now?"
I looked up blearily to see Jungkook leaning in the doorway of the hotel bedroom. He was now dressed in ripped jeans and black T-shirt with a denim jacket to complete the look.
"Why am I in the bed?" I looked around me, slowly regaining proper function of the mind.
"You don't remember last night?" he frowned, cocking his head to the side a little.
My face reddened slightly as memories began to wash over me.
"Yeah, I cried a bunch and screamed a lot, so sorry about that," I mumbled in embarrassment.
"You actually passed out in my arms," a little grin tugged at the edge of Jungkook's mouth. "Hence why I put you in the bed. I wasn't going to try and shove you back into the lamp or something like that."
"Thank you for your consideration," I began before something hit me. "Did we sleep together in the same bed last night??" I demanded.
"What? Was I supposed to sleep on the cold couch last night?" he retorted.
Just the imagination of Jungkook and I in the same bed, good gravy I didn't know how I felt about that. Then the memory of my nightmare came back to me. The stranger. Whispering things between kisses.
I cringed and squeezed my eyes shut, sucking in a deep breath in efforts to block out the disgusting dream. I'd much rather sleep in a bed with Jungkook than the man from my nightmare.
"It's still bothering you?" A softer tone filled Jungkook's voice. "The dream from last night?"
I forced myself to smooth out my features and stood up, running my hand through my hair in efforts to appear as casual as possible. "Yeah but I'm fine now. I'm a tough cookie."
He smirked a little, but a grave seriousness lingered in his eyes. "You don't always have to play the tough cookie you know. Especially around me since I've seen you be a soft cookie."
"Just last night though," I tried to dismiss his words.
"And on the plane," he added with a grin.
"Hey, Agent Seagull, we agreed never to bring that up again," I pointed a finger at him.
"Not with others, but between us I can if I want to," he declared with haughty air.
"Moving on." I cleared my throat. "What's the latest update on our travels and destination?"
"Well, I was in communication with Namjoon and Yoongi this morning and they ordered me to take the car into the shop," Jungkook explained. "So that's going to take all day. Thus, we're basically stuck here for another night. I'm hoping the car will be finished first thing tomorrow and then we can blast in the morning."
"How far away are we from the hideout?"
"About two days, however," Jungkook straightened the collar of his denim jacket. "I think we can cut it to about a day if we drive nonstop at about 100 MPH."
"Oh no no no," I mockingly laughed. "We are so not going to be zipping around like that."
"It's not going to be a car chase, relax," Jungkook sniffed. "I thought by now you'd trust my driving skills."
"A llama would drive better than you do," I scoffed. "My very lamp would drive better than you and it's not even an animate object."
"My heart," Jungkook clutched his chest dramatically. "Such little trust between partner Agents."
"So we have an entire day to kill?" I checked the time. "It's almost noontime. Can we order room service?"
"Later if you want," Jungkook brushed past my words. "I'm not going to let you mope around the hotel room all day."
"I'm not going to mope!" I exclaimed indignantly.
"On my over to the workshop I spied a laser tag place, a couple blocks from here."
"A what tag?" I gaped.
"Please don't tell me you've never heard of laser tag," Jungkook gaped back at me. "You're not that outdated are you?"
"I'm a Genie, not some dusty vase from the Incan times," I placed my hands on my fists. "Don't call me outdated."
"Okay, anyways, I say we stop by this grill near the laser tag place, grab lunch there, and then go to laser tag," Jungkook seemed proud of himself for his plan.
"You want to play on our day off?" I raised a brow skeptically. "No planning or coming up with criminal escape plans to better help our mission?"
"Remember, Agent Love, our mission is just scouting the place, confirming location, and then heading back. We're not to actually engage the enemy," Jungkook reminded me.
"Hmm," I hummed uncertainly.
Also the name itself: laser tag. It made me think of people with big blasters that released red beams that easily slice me in half.
"Oh come on, Agent Love," Jungkook laughed at my uncertainty. "It'll be great. I love doing things like laser tag to get my mind off things if I had a bad night or something."
"Do you get nightmares?" I couldn't help but ask, even though it was a little off topic.
Jungkook blinked in surprise at the shift. Then his expression became more serious. "Yeah. Not so much anymore since I'm no longer an active combatant like before, but I used to have nightmares."
"When did you start training as a Red Agent?" Now curiosity was bubbling up in me as Jungkook seemed willing to talk openly with me at the moment.
"Twelve," Jungkook's eyes took on a more distant look. "I was the oldest in my training unit. Most kids are about six or seven years when they begin training. Everyone thought I would fail because I was a too old."
"You didn't fail though," I smiled a little.
He nodded. "Yeah, I didn't fail and beat all the odds. The trainers went especially hard on me from beginning to training to the very end. First because they wanted to see me break so they could send me out of the program. But when I beat every challenge they threw at me they began to intensify my training to transform me into the best Red Agent they ever had."
"That sounds horrible," I wrinkled my nose a little.
"It was alright once you got used to the lifestyle," Jungkook shrugged. "Action every day. Always on the move. Never the time to dwell on the past. You always had to look forward and continue into the future."
"And every member went through the same type of training as you?" I asked Jungkook.
"Pretty much," Jungkook confirmed. "Now, enough of me." A more closed off expression drifted across his face as if realizing how much he'd spilled to me. "I want to leave here for the grill in T-minus five minutes. I'm hungry."
"Weak," I snorted at Jungkook.
"When we get to the bar Agent Love, I plan on introducing you to a magical food," Jungkook leaned forward, shooting me an almost flirtatious grin.
"Even more magical than thin mints?"
"Yes."
"What are they called?"
"French fries."
"Huh," a little mischievous grin tugged at my mouth. "Is it tastier than whatever is tasty in Busan?"
Just as Jimin predicted Jungkook clicked his mouth shut, falling silent and glowered at me as if he wanted to smote me on the spot with his eyes.
Well dang. Whatever the heck was tasty in Busan Jungkook certainly had a dark mind.
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