Entry tags:
walk the walk ; one-shot
Title: Walk the Walk
Pairing: Himchan/Yongguk
Rating: R for violence, blood, AND dicks
Length: 5.8k
Summary: Himchan’s made a lot of dumb decisions in his life, but he’s pretty sure that sleeping with an ex-cop would be right up there on the list. Mob AU.
A/N: surprise!! i'm still in this fandom!! this is self-indulgent as HELL and for![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cinderellaboy bc this stemmed from a conversation we had months ago
Pairing: Himchan/Yongguk
Rating: R for violence, blood, AND dicks
Length: 5.8k
Summary: Himchan’s made a lot of dumb decisions in his life, but he’s pretty sure that sleeping with an ex-cop would be right up there on the list. Mob AU.
A/N: surprise!! i'm still in this fandom!! this is self-indulgent as HELL and for
cinderellaboy bc this stemmed from a conversation we had months agoThe first time Himchan meets him, Yongguk is barging right into his office.
“There’s a kid in your employ,” he says. Himchan raises one well-groomed eyebrow as high as it will possibly go. He’s not accustomed to men just barging into his space like this. He’s going to need to have a little chat with Daehyun, clearly. “His name is Choi Junhong. He’s a good kid, and I think you should cut him loose, before he gets in any deeper.”
“Excuse me?” Himchan says. “And you are?” He flicks his tablet off - an old habit, but he has no idea about this guy’s motivation and he doesn’t need him catching a peek of anything he shouldn’t see.
“Bang Yongguk,” the man replies immediately.
Himchan takes a long second to look him over. Yongguk had offered up his name without hesitation - honest. And it was a name Himchan recognized, too, since he makes it his business to know who’s involved in law enforcement in this city. Yongguk is an ex-cop, left the force six months ago. One of the good guys. Adorable. “Listen,” Himchan sighs, barely looking up from his tablet in front of him. He has a meeting later tonight, something far more important than some ex-cop’s teenage ward. “I don’t even - what did you say his name was? Choi Junhong?” He has to admit, he sounds faintly familiar. Maybe Jongup had taken him on recently. “What makes you think I care at all about your little dilemma?”
“He’s a good kid,” Yongguk says stubbornly. He’s not particularly big, but there’s a certain strength to his body that Himchan notices. He even looks like a cop. Why on earth had Daehyun let him in?
Himchan doesn’t need this right now. He’s supposed to be meeting Yoo Youngjae in less than ten minutes and he’s not somebody Himchan wants to fuck around with. He’s been trying to broker a deal with Youngjae and his family for months now, but it’s difficult. Youngjae is young and ruthless and Himchan needs all of his focus to be certain that Youngjae isn’t outthinking him. “I don’t have time to deal with you right now,” he says sharply, and he dismisses Yongguk with a flick of his hand. Funny enough, that’s when Daehyun darts into the room, eyes wide. He mouths an exaggerated ‘sorry’ to Himchan, and Himchan closes his eyes for a second. So hard to find good help in this city. It’s a good thing that Daehyun is such a good shot, because this is embarrassing. “Daehyun can show you the door.”
An unfortunate side effect of Yongguk’s cop training is that he seems to be very difficult to remove. Daehyun, to his credit, places himself between Yongguk and Himchan, and puts those arms to good use. “This is important,” Yongguk says stubbornly, and Himchan sighs. It’s touching, really. It’s been a long time since he’s met anyone so unrelentingly good.
“I have a meeting,” he says flatly. He waves his hand one more time. “You will leave, or I will have you removed.” Yongguk tightens his full lips, but Himchan shakes his head. “No, this isn’t an argument. If you want to speak to me, you will do so at a time and venue of my choosing.”
Before Yongguk can respond or leave Himchan’s goddamn office, the door barrels open. Youngjae is flanked by his second in command, a fearsome woman, Han Sunhwa. “Kim Himchan,” Youngjae says, and Himchan presses his fingers to his temples. Great.
“Yoo Youngjae,” he says, standing and greeting him with a not-quite-respectful-enough bow. This whole night is turning into one big headache, and frankly, Himchan would like it to be done with.
Youngjae looks, as ever, impeccably well-dressed and faintly dangerous. His smile is amiable, if not quite friendly - they’re rivals, not mortal enemies. “Let’s get this -” His eyes get cold and hard when they fall on Yongguk. Fuck. “A cop. This is a set up.”
Behind him, Sunhwa pulls out her gun and cocks it. This may be deep in Himchan’s territory, but Youngjae has always been a bit fearless. Himchan is standing in his own office with his greatest rival, a cop, and a gun pointed at his head. Fantastic.”Hold on,” Himchan says, holding out his hands. Sunhwa’s aim doesn’t waver, unfortunately for him. “It’s not a set up. He’s an ex-cop, and he definitely wasn’t invited to the party.” He doesn’t miss the way that Yongguk’s eyes dart to his for a second in surprise.
“You deal with cops, now?” Youngjae shakes his head. “You’re scum, Kim. I knew I couldn’t trust you.”
Himchan does not take well to being scolded by children. He’s played this game for longer than Youngjae has, and he won’t stand for this bullshit. “‘Scum’?” he says, face hard. “I’m the one with the grace to offer you a place in my city, punk.” Behind Youngjae’s shoulder, Daehyun shifts quietly, and in a second, he has a knife pressed to Youngjae’s throat. Well, at least he’s making himself a little bit useful today. “Now, I’m thinking I won’t be so gracious.”
It’s admirable, the way that Youngjae doesn’t flinch. He glances at Daehyun out of the corner of his eye, throat working. “I don’t need your grace,” Youngjae says. He darts away from Daehyun and drives his elbow into his gut, hard, and then all of a sudden, everyone is in motion.
It’s sheer instinct that sends Himchan to his knees, a heartbeat before Sunhwa fires. He hears the crack of it when the bullet collides with wall where his head had been, just a second before. “That’s mahogany, come on!” he snarls, ducking under the desk. That shit is expensive. He reaches up to pry his gun from where it’s secured to the underside of his desk. And Daehyun made fun of him for always being prepared.
There’s another couple of cracks and Himchan flinches when the last bullet breaks through the desktop and misses his ear by a couple of inches. Son of a bitch. He cocks the gun and darts around the desk. He’s not really expecting the scene he sees. Daehyun has Youngjae in a headlock, blood dripping down his arm from where the knife had nicked him. At least he’s got him occupied. Sunhwa, on the other hand...she smiles at him cheerfully, pushing her long red hair out of her eyes, and points the gun at his head. Sometimes, Himchan really hates this job.
He throws himself sideways just in time, but he still feels the searing burn of the bullet grazing his temple. “Fuck,” he hisses, clapping one hand to his head and shooting blindly. The yelp she lets out when the third one hits home is gratifying, but Himchan doesn’t waste time celebrating. He is being shot at.
At the sound of Sunhwa’s voice, Youngjae jerks out of Daehyun’s grip. She clutches her arm, blood seeping between her fingers and Youngjae doesn’t hesitate to take her pistol. This is getting so old. He can bolt for the other door and hope to barricade himself in his bathroom until he can call for backup, or maybe back to the desk, or if he’s really feeling brave, he could go after Youngjae himself. He’s fairly certain he’ll end up shot, first.
Before he can decide, Youngjae is aiming at him and Himchan swallows. What hits him, however, isn’t a bullet. It’s the solid weight of someone’s shoulder, throwing him back into his desk with a painful thump. It’s Yongguk, holding him down, his face half an inch from Himchan’s face. It’s not a bad view, even if it’s a bit baffling. “What - ?”
Behind them, Daehyun lunges forward, wrenching the weapon from Youngjae’s hands. Youngjae is a smart man, and he knows when it’s a stand off. He pushes Sunhwa through the door first, eyes fixed on the gun Daehyun has leveled at him. Himchan is deeply, deeply grateful that he doesn’t say anything. Still, before he leaves, he looks at Himchan, and his expression is wrathful enough to be clear.
When he’s gone, Daehyun sinks to the floor. “That went well,” he says.
Himchan sighs, his head falling back against the desk. Yongguk is still uncomfortably close, fine-boned hands pressed against his hips. He has to admit, he’s surprised. Yongguk used to be a cop, and if he’d just stood back, he could’ve let all of this play out. But he hadn’t. He also smells pretty good. Huh. “Now will you talk about Junhong?” Yongguk asks. He shifts backwards, away from Himchan, and he smiles a little. There’s a bloody streak on his shoulder, and Himchan’s stomach lurches when he realizes that Yongguk had taken the bullet meant for him. Huh. He really is one of the good ones.
“I guess we can work something out,” Himchan agrees begrudgingly, touching gentle fingers to his head. He’s had worse. He hesitates before he pushes himself up. Daehyun is grumbling and mopping up the blood on his arm, frowning, but Himchan focuses his attention on Yongguk instead. “Since I seem to owe you a bit of a favour, Bang Yongguk.” He holds out a hand, and Yongguk takes it. “Maybe we can get you cleaned up, too.” Seems the least he can do, since he’s the reason Himchan’s not dead.
“Thanks,” Yongguk replies. He tests his shoulder when he stands, rolling it a bit and grimacing at the fresh drip of blood down his back. He’s got this expression on his face, like he isn’t quite sure what he’s done. Maybe Himchan’s not the only one surprised by his little display of heroism. Cute.
Himchan doesn’t trust the hospital, and none of them are badly hurt anyway. That’s why he ends up crosslegged on his desk, dabbing at the scrape on Yongguk’s shoulder. It’s ragged, but shallow, bleeding at a steady seep, but it doesn’t take much for Himchan to clean him up. Not the usual behavior for a boss of the biggest syndicate in the city, perhaps, but Himchan inherited this position, he didn’t create it. He’s got some hobbies he never could shake.
“You’re not what I expected,” Yongguk says mildly. He watches Himchan press on the dressing and then tests it himself with his fingertips. “I thought maybe you’d be taller.”
Himchan purses his lips and presses his hands down on Yongguk’s dressing. “I’m plenty tall,” he says, and does his best not to delight in the way that Yongguk winces. “I don’t need height to be intimidating.”
“Guess not,” Yongguk agrees, the corner of his lips turning up. It’s not like he’s any taller than Himchan, either. Up close, his shirt off, Himchan’s got a nice view of Yongguk’s body. He’s not bulky, he’s lean, well-muscled. He’s kept himself busy, it seems. He can’t help but appreciate that.
“Please,” Himchan says dryly. “You could at least pretend like you agree.” He straightens and touches his own bandage gingerly. He hopes it doesn’t scar. He’s sure it’d give him a certain je ne sais quoi, but he’s rather fond of his flawless complexion.
Yongguk laughs and shakes his head. Himchan could try to play the role, to keep his distance and play the cold boss, but when Yongguk has already seen him bleeding and scrambling around on the floor, cultivating a sense of dignity seems like a bit of a lost cause. “I don’t know this Choi Junhong kid,” he admits, cleaning his fingers of blood. “But I’ll see what I can do.” He points a finger at Yongguk. “And then this debt is settled.”
“Is it?” Yongguk asks, but he doesn’t argue. The kid means a lot to him, it seems. Himchan’s got a lot of leverage in this city, and all he’s asking is to make sure some bag boy doesn’t get into a life of crime. It’s kind of sweet.
Daehyun pokes his head around the door, flanked by Jongup. “Hey, boss,” Daehyun says. He’s changed his shirt, thankfully. He raises his eyebrows pointedly, and Himchan jerks his chin in acknowledgement. That’s about as much of a breather as he gets, he supposes.
“Thank you,” Yongguk says seriously. He reaches for his torn shirt and tugs it on again, doing his best to cover up his wound. Shame.
Himchan nods. This has been an interesting night. “Nice meeting you, Bang Yongguk.” He turns to Daehyun and Jongup, waving them in, and Yongguk recognizes a dismissal when he sees one, because he slips out the door. He pauses for a second, smiles a little at Himchan, and then heads down the hall.
Himchan gives himself a brief moment to mourn what could’ve been, and then he slides off his desk. “Alright,” he says, and he cracks his knuckles and settles into his chair. “That motherfucker made me bleed.” He narrows his eyes. “I’d like to return the favour.”
Himchan doesn’t expect to see Yongguk again, but somehow, there he is. It’s been three months since the encounter with Youngjae, and Himchan has been kept very, very busy. When you’ve gone from an uneasy truce to an outright, simmering war, you end up getting a lot less sleep. On a rare night to himself, Himchan had grabbed Jongup and gone to one of his bars, hoping to unwind at least a little, but he hadn’t expected to find Yongguk sitting at the bar, nursing a beer.
Hyosung slides him over a vodka, neat. Bless her heart for remembering his drink. “He’s a bit of a regular these days,” she tells him, watching the way his eyes follow Yongguk’s throat as he swallows. “Funny, huh?”
“No lip,” Himchan cautions her, throwing back his drink. “I got you this job, you know.”
That’s the thing about Hyosung. Utterly fearless. She beams at him and turns back to her job.
Jongup settles into the stool next to Himchan, sipping a water. Himchan glances at him and Jongup smiles and flashes him a thumbs up. “Got your back, boss,” he says cheerfully. Everyone around him is so happy. Himchan eyes him suspiciously and shakes his head.
He’s working on his second drink when someone clears their throat at his other elbow. Jongup doesn’t flinch, so they must be harmless. “Thanks for the drink,” Yongguk says, looking amused. He raises his beer in a salute.
Himchan blinks at him. “I didn’t -” At the other end of the bar, Hyosung bats her eyelashes at him and waves. He is being conspired against. Mutiny. He clicks his tongue. “Ah, you’re welcome.”
As Yongguk sits, Jongup makes himself mysteriously scarce. Himchan isn’t too worried. Jongup can be a bit spacey, but he is the most capable person Himchan has ever worked with, and he trusts him with his life. “Fancy seeing you here,” Yongguk says.
“It is my bar,” Himchan points out. He glances at Yongguk sidelong. “One you apparently frequent now. Imagine that.”
The flush that spreads across Yongguk’s cheeks is not entirely from the beer. “I had no idea,” he says. It’s a patent lie. Himchan grins.
This feels good. There are a lot of perks to Himchan’s position, but time to date is not one of them. Especially not if your taste runs towards, well, more masculine types. “You look good,” he says, because it’s true. He likes Yongguk’s broad shoulders, and his dark hair is a bit longer, curling down the back of his neck.
Yongguk looks at him for a long second and then he snorts, rubbing a hand through his hair. “Do we have to play this game?” he says. He’s still kind of red, and it’s funny to Himchan, that Yongguk is the type of guy who will jump in front of a bullet, but flirting makes him blush. “Can’t we just…”
Himchan’s made a lot of dumb decisions in his life, but he’s pretty sure that sleeping with an ex-cop would be right up there on the list. But he’s tired. He’s spent months hiding away and planning and strategizing and for once, he kind of wants to do something for himself, not the syndicate. “Yeah,” he says, and Yongguk’s relief is palpable. “Yeah, let’s get out of here.”
So is his discomfort on the ride home. Jongup is in the front seat, driving, as he always does, and Yongguk’s eyes are fixed on the back of his head. “Is uh, that -” he gestures at Jongup, “- really necessary?”
Himchan snorts. “You accidentally caused a gang war, and now you’re wondering why I’m on high alert?” He raises an eyebrow and Yongguk rubs a hand across the back of his neck. “Relax. I never drive myself anywhere. It’s terrible for my image.” He pulls himself up very straight and pushes out his chin, putting on his best ‘deadly’ expression.
“What image?” Yongguk asks, smirking.
It surprises Himchan, how much he wants to kiss it away. So he does. He leans in, resting one hand on Yongguk’s bicep, tentative. It’s not that he’s nervous, but the last time they’d touched, there had been bullets in the air. Yongguk is steady though, his smile softer, and when Himchan kisses him, he decides that his mouth is divine. There is a definite skill to the way that he coaxes Himchan into parting his lips under his, and Himchan can even tolerate the horrid aftertaste of his beer because Yongguk’s lips are so lush. God, he’s missed this. Kissing is so nice.
He doesn’t realize how much time has passed until Jongup is turning around in the front seat, clearing his throat. “Uh, hyung?” he says.
“Oh my god,” Himchan mutters against Yongguk’s mouth, and Yongguk is laughing. Making out like a couple of teenagers in the backseat. He’s embarrassingly turned on already. Terrible. He pulls away again, straightening his hair and his shirt. “Thank you, Jongup.”
Jongup looks slowly from Himchan to Yongguk, and then back again, eyes wide. “I’ll, uh, be downstairs,” he tells them, and then he makes a quick getaway. Himchan doesn’t really blame him.
“That was…” Yongguk pushes a hand through his hair and shakes his head.
“We’re not discussing this,” Himchan says. He pushes Yongguk out the door and then climbs out after him. It’s been so long since he’s done something like this, and he stalls. “Upstairs?” he suggests.
Yongguk presses his palm flat against the small of Himchan’s back. Funny, how that helps relax him. “Yeah, that sounds like a plan,” he says, and his mouth quirks up into a smile. He doesn’t stop smiling even when Himchan kisses him again, although he makes the nicest noise when Himchan catches his lip between his teeth and pulls. Oh yeah. He likes this.
Himchan has never been much of the hand-holding type, but Yongguk’s slim fingers fit nicely between his as Himchan leads him up the stairs. He glances back at Yongguk, and he’s not sure he’s ever seen anyone look at him so fondly. He could get used to this. He definitely could.
He does. Whatever they are, whatever this is, dating, fucking, hooking up, it’s so ill-advised and yet Himchan can’t bring himself to break it off. He rolls over, looking at Yongguk’s sleeping face. Moonlight streaks through the window, casting stripes across the bridge of Yongguk’s nose and his full lips. He always pushes himself hard, refusing to go to sleep until he’s practically nodding off sitting up, and then he sleeps like the dead. For someone in Himchan’s position, that’s kind of huge. Yongguk has never hesitated to stay the night with him, and that means something.
He shifts a little in bed, feeling the after effects of the night’s activities in the best way possible. A smile plays on his face. Yongguk doesn’t leave bruises on him, not unless he’s asking for it, but he always finds a way for Himchan to feel it, long after they’re done. Himchan likes it. He yawns and shifts closer and Yongguk reaches for him automatically, pulling him in. “‘S the middle of the night,” Yongguk mumbles, tugging Himchan to his chest and pinning him there.
Himchan flattens his hands against Yongguk’s belly and pushes. “Get off me,” he laughs, but Yongguk’s waking up now, and he doesn’t actually want him to go anywhere. He should feel a bit guilty for waking Yongguk up, but he doesn’t seem too upset by it. His eyes ease open as he noses at Himchan’s throat, mouthing wetly at the curve of his jaw. “I mean it. I’m not going to deal with your sleep breath.”
Yongguk’s more affectionate tonight, and Himchan just eats it up. He’d spent the past week and a half trapped in Tokyo with a potential import contract, and it would have been impolite to interrupt their negotiations to sext his guy back home, so this is the first time they’ve seen each other since he’d left. It shows, in the possessive clutch of his hand on Himchan’s hip and the way he presses Himchan into the mattress, holding him there. There aren’t a lot of people in Himchan’s life that are willing to push him around like this, and Himchan trusts himself in Yongguk’s hands.
After all, he makes good use of them. Yongguk wiggles a hand down between them and starts to jerk Himchan off lazily. Himchan whines. Yongguk knows it’s too slow for him, and he smiles against Himchan’s skin. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he says. He’s definitely awake now, deliberately avoiding kissing Himchan on the mouth in favour of closing his teeth on Himchan’s shoulder. “Should I go back to sleep? I am pretty tired.”
When he shifts his hips up, Himchan can feel the drag of Yongguk’s half-hard cock through his boxers. Yongguk has never been able to sleep entirely naked. “If you do not finish what you have started, I swear to God, I will put you to sleep,” Himchan threatens and Yongguk laughs. “That’s not a joke, you -”
Yongguk has always been infuriatingly good with his hands and he tightens his grip now, just to shut Himchan up. Himchan would be annoyed but then Yongguk is rolling them over, settling back on Himchan’s thighs to finally, finally jerk him off properly. His free hand presses into the softness of Himchan’s thighs, and he tips his head, looking down at Himchan. “You’ll what?” he asks amiably.
Himchan decides to wait until after he’s gotten off to strangle him. “Don’t stop,” he warns, curling his hand over Yongguk’s, urging him to pick up the pace. Yongguk is grinning down at him, not the same polite-cop smile he offers to old ladies when he holds open the door for them at the store, but a fond, unselfconscious smile that Himchan would like to think is just for him. It’s perfect.
He leans forward to kiss Himchan, and that’s when Himchan sees it. A red dot, neatly trained on the centre of his forehead. “Get down,” he hisses, reaching up to yank Yongguk down to him. It’s not a second too soon - all he hears is the crack of his window shattering and the snap of a bullet hitting the far wall. “Fuck.”
It’s been quiet from Youngjae’s camp lately, and Himchan’s gotten complacent. It’s too easy, unfortunately, to let himself get distracted by Yongguk’s hands and his mouth, and now he’s paying the price. “I always thought you were exaggerating this stuff,” Yongguk mutters, flattened against Himchan’s body. He’s gone stiff, alert, and for once, Himchan is grateful for the whole ex-cop thing.
“Give me some credit,” Himchan snaps at him. Now is not the time for this, not when the mystery shooter’s sight is crawling down Yongguk’s hairline again. Ugh, this is so inconvenient. He grips Yongguk by the shoulders and throws him off the bed, then he rolls in the other direction, taking the sheet down with him. It’s dark in the room, and giving them two targets will make it a little tougher. “Stay down.” He growls, fruitlessly trying to disentangle himself. He only spares a second to mourn their ruined moment before he’s reaching up under his pillow again.
In the half-light of the room, Himchan can see Yongguk’s eyebrows raise on the other side of the bed. “Seriously?” he asks, watching Himchan pull a gun out from under his pillow. “Like, really?”
Shit. There’s only a few rounds. “I run the largest, most well-established crime syndicate in Seoul, you know,” he says. He knows he has an extra clip around here somewhere. He starts feeling around in the drawers of his bedside table as his mattress takes another flurry of bullets. “Did you think I keep Jongup around for the company?”
“Yeah,” Yongguk says mildly. Himchan catches the glint of his grin. “You do.”
Himchan hunches his head as another bullet slices through his window, sending the rest of the glass showering over him. “Not important,” Himchan reminds him. Yongguk is right, of course - Jongup has been with him for years, and he’s been Himchan’s closest friend since long before he came into power - but Himchan hates telling Yongguk he’s right. His fingers close around his extra clip, finally, and he clicks the old one out, sliding the new one into place. “Jonguppie is useful in many ways.”
“I’m sure,” Yongguk says. Himchan hears the clink of him sweeping the broken glass under the bed so he can move. “Maybe he could be useful, oh, right now?”
Himchan grimaces. “You would think,” he says. Jongup, however, is a whole floor away, and right now, they have to deal with a shooter. He cocks his gun and fixes his eyes on the window, waiting for the next bullet. It’s hard to judge the angle in the dark like this, but he thinks that the shooter must be high up on a tree by the window. Maybe he should’ve listened to Daehyun about those when he’d moved in. He closes one eye, using the moonlight reflecting off the barrel of his pistol to aim, and squeezes off a few shots.
There’s silence from outside the window, nothing but the sound of wind moving through trees. Himchan knows better than to assume he’s hit his mark - he’s always been kind of a shitty shot. “Do you think -” Yongguk begins, and that’s when the door opens.
A man levels a gun at Himchan’s head. “I really have to work on my security,” Himchan grits out, and he scoots backwards, clutching the sheet against his junk. He shoots without hesitating, and he’s lucky that point blank lends him some help. The man throws himself sideways - towards Yongguk - but he lets out a grunt that lets Himchan know that at least one of those bullets hit home. “Not too pleased about this.”
Yongguk throws himself forward, catching the man’s hands in his wrists and folding them in towards his body. “Big mob boss’ best security is the gun under his pillow?” he says breathlessly trying to wrestle the gun out of the attacker’s hand. Himchan is an adult who does not spent a second appreciating the way the muscles in his shoulders flex or the slope of his back. Not the time, Kim.
All it takes is a couple of slams into the dresser (Himchan winces - that’s a family heirloom, damnit) before the gun shakes out of the attacker’s hand. With Yongguk holding the man steady, Himchan could definitely take him out right now. Except when Himchan stands and aims, his gun clicks on empty. “Shit.”
“Nice,” Yongguk says, and Himchan glares at him.
The man wrenches his hands out of Yongguk’s grip and dives for the gun on the floor. Himchan lunges, one hand still holding the sheet over his crotch. He steps on a shard of glass, but he still manages to kick the gun out of the guy’s reach and under the bed instead. “I don’t need this from you right now, Bang Yongguk,” Himchan says, pointing at him with his empty gun.
Their attacker swings at Himchan but Yongguk is faster, his fist snapping out and catching the man in the temple, sending him sprawling. “I bet you need this, though,” Yongguk says. He brandishes a clip, dug out from the depths of Himchan’s other bedside table.
Of course, now Himchan’s got a dilemma - he can’t reload his gun and protect his modesty at the same time. On the floor, he can see the man groan and reach out to something on the floor. “Goddamnit,” Himchan grumbles. He drops the sheet and the empty clip, slapping the new one up and pointing the gun at the attacker’s head. Yongguk, helpfully, pins the man to the floor with one bare foot. “I hope you’re happy,” Himchan tells the man, cocking the gun. “This -” he gestures at his nakedness, “- is the image that you are going to take to your grave.”
It seems their mystery shooter, however, has recovered. A bullet whines through the air in front of his nose and Yongguk lets out a shout, clutching his shoulder. Himchan spins to see the blood leaking between his fingers, and a hot rage settles into his gut. His hand doesn’t shake when he turns back to the window and shoots three rounds into the darkness between the leaves. This time, he hears the choked off noise the shooter makes and the thud when he hits the ground is satisfying. “This is done,” Himchan says, and he steps forward, ignoring the jerk of pain in his feet when he steps on more broken remnants of his window. His gun barrel is less than a foot from the man’s head when he shoots, twice, to be sure.
“Are you alright?” Yongguk asks, and he gestures to the bloody footprints Himchan is leaving all over his nice, hardwood floors.
Himchan has to scoff. “How about you, Mr. Stoic?” he says. There’s a lot of blood, running darkly down Yongguk’s forearm and dripping off his elbow, adding to the puddle growing under the dead man’s head. It’s worrisome. It’s certainly out of Himchan’s expertise, which is unfortunate. Hospitals do tend to ask questions about bullet wounds, but Himchan will not let Yongguk leave this to chance.
“Hyung?” Jongup dashes through the open door, eyes wide and one hand pressed to a very, very nasty looking gash across his forehead. “I - oh. Huh.” His mouth snaps shut and he raises his eyebrows, looking impressed. Then he glances down and his eyes get even bigger and he spins away. Whoops.
“I took care of it,” Himchan says. His feet are starting to kill him, but he’s more worried about Yongguk, and Jongup for that matter. “Call Daehyun, I want security tripled, and I want it done now.” He hands Jongup the gun. “And get Hana in here too, we’ve got another body outside the window and if we don’t get rid of them before sun-up, we’re going to be in trouble.”
He glances at Yongguk, but his expression is hard to read. Might have something to do with the blood he’s losing. “Guess this isn’t what you signed up for, huh,” he says.
There’s a dead man on their floor, and the two of them are bleeding all over Himchan’s hardwood floors (and his carpet, it’s going to take a fortune to replace that), but Yongguk leans forward and presses his forehead against Himchan’s. “I knew what I was getting myself into,” Yongguk tells him.
“Hana’s on her way,” Jongup announces, very pointedly not looking anywhere below the waist. Himchan takes pity on him and grabs a pillow. He’d put on clothes, but honestly, he isn’t even certain where his briefs had ended up when Yongguk showed up this evening. “And Daehyun’s called in Jieun and her boys.” He flashes Himchan a cheerful thumbs up. “We’ve got it.”
Himchan nods. “Thank you,” he says. He grimaces as he steps forward, over the dead man, and he rummages through his dresser, coming out with a less favoured shirt. It takes a second to peel Yongguk’s bloody hand from his wound, but he manages to create a makeshift bandage by tying it around his shoulder. “It went straight through, at least,” he says. “Nice and clean. Should heal well.”
Theoretically, Himchan could call Hana off. He could call the cops, tell them it was in self-defense, and he’s fairly certain that would work, too. It is the truth, after all. But Himchan does not need the kind of heat that comes with a double murder investigation, not when he’s going to be focusing all of his efforts on readying his retaliation. He squeezes Yongguk’s bloody fingers and he frowns. This may have started with an accident, but Himchan will end it.
He knows that Yongguk is in a tough situation, too. He may no longer be on the force, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have morals. He’s always been so good. “Let me get you a doctor,” Himchan says. “I know a guy.” He licks his lips. “I’ll understand, you know, if you want to -” Leave. Seems so final, but Himchan knows he’s got to do it. Even if Yongguk has been privy to more than Daehyun even, Himchan would let him go, if that’s what he wants. Himchan was born to this, and this kind of violence and death is all he’s known. Yongguk should have the right to opt out.
Yongguk grimaces and shifts his injured shoulder. “I don’t think leaving would make me any safer,” he says. Himchan purses his lips and drops Yongguk’s hand. He’s right, Himchan should’ve thought about it - “And someone’s got to watch your ass.” He glances down and very obviously takes a second to enjoy the view behind Himchan’s pillow. “Right?”
“I’m touched,” Himchan says dryly, but when Jongup turns away, saying something to Daehyun about the bloody carpets, Himchan rests his head for a second against Yongguk’s shoulder. An attack like this, in Himchan’s own home, he won’t hesitate to retaliate. He feels a bit invincable, though, with Yongguk here. “Now please, put some clothes on. We need to stop bleeding all over my beautiful floors.”
“So damn fussy,” Yongguk tells him. He kisses Himchan before he can step away, and Himchan smiles.
Now, all they have to do is get rid of a couple of bodies. Just a day in the life.
“There’s a kid in your employ,” he says. Himchan raises one well-groomed eyebrow as high as it will possibly go. He’s not accustomed to men just barging into his space like this. He’s going to need to have a little chat with Daehyun, clearly. “His name is Choi Junhong. He’s a good kid, and I think you should cut him loose, before he gets in any deeper.”
“Excuse me?” Himchan says. “And you are?” He flicks his tablet off - an old habit, but he has no idea about this guy’s motivation and he doesn’t need him catching a peek of anything he shouldn’t see.
“Bang Yongguk,” the man replies immediately.
Himchan takes a long second to look him over. Yongguk had offered up his name without hesitation - honest. And it was a name Himchan recognized, too, since he makes it his business to know who’s involved in law enforcement in this city. Yongguk is an ex-cop, left the force six months ago. One of the good guys. Adorable. “Listen,” Himchan sighs, barely looking up from his tablet in front of him. He has a meeting later tonight, something far more important than some ex-cop’s teenage ward. “I don’t even - what did you say his name was? Choi Junhong?” He has to admit, he sounds faintly familiar. Maybe Jongup had taken him on recently. “What makes you think I care at all about your little dilemma?”
“He’s a good kid,” Yongguk says stubbornly. He’s not particularly big, but there’s a certain strength to his body that Himchan notices. He even looks like a cop. Why on earth had Daehyun let him in?
Himchan doesn’t need this right now. He’s supposed to be meeting Yoo Youngjae in less than ten minutes and he’s not somebody Himchan wants to fuck around with. He’s been trying to broker a deal with Youngjae and his family for months now, but it’s difficult. Youngjae is young and ruthless and Himchan needs all of his focus to be certain that Youngjae isn’t outthinking him. “I don’t have time to deal with you right now,” he says sharply, and he dismisses Yongguk with a flick of his hand. Funny enough, that’s when Daehyun darts into the room, eyes wide. He mouths an exaggerated ‘sorry’ to Himchan, and Himchan closes his eyes for a second. So hard to find good help in this city. It’s a good thing that Daehyun is such a good shot, because this is embarrassing. “Daehyun can show you the door.”
An unfortunate side effect of Yongguk’s cop training is that he seems to be very difficult to remove. Daehyun, to his credit, places himself between Yongguk and Himchan, and puts those arms to good use. “This is important,” Yongguk says stubbornly, and Himchan sighs. It’s touching, really. It’s been a long time since he’s met anyone so unrelentingly good.
“I have a meeting,” he says flatly. He waves his hand one more time. “You will leave, or I will have you removed.” Yongguk tightens his full lips, but Himchan shakes his head. “No, this isn’t an argument. If you want to speak to me, you will do so at a time and venue of my choosing.”
Before Yongguk can respond or leave Himchan’s goddamn office, the door barrels open. Youngjae is flanked by his second in command, a fearsome woman, Han Sunhwa. “Kim Himchan,” Youngjae says, and Himchan presses his fingers to his temples. Great.
“Yoo Youngjae,” he says, standing and greeting him with a not-quite-respectful-enough bow. This whole night is turning into one big headache, and frankly, Himchan would like it to be done with.
Youngjae looks, as ever, impeccably well-dressed and faintly dangerous. His smile is amiable, if not quite friendly - they’re rivals, not mortal enemies. “Let’s get this -” His eyes get cold and hard when they fall on Yongguk. Fuck. “A cop. This is a set up.”
Behind him, Sunhwa pulls out her gun and cocks it. This may be deep in Himchan’s territory, but Youngjae has always been a bit fearless. Himchan is standing in his own office with his greatest rival, a cop, and a gun pointed at his head. Fantastic.”Hold on,” Himchan says, holding out his hands. Sunhwa’s aim doesn’t waver, unfortunately for him. “It’s not a set up. He’s an ex-cop, and he definitely wasn’t invited to the party.” He doesn’t miss the way that Yongguk’s eyes dart to his for a second in surprise.
“You deal with cops, now?” Youngjae shakes his head. “You’re scum, Kim. I knew I couldn’t trust you.”
Himchan does not take well to being scolded by children. He’s played this game for longer than Youngjae has, and he won’t stand for this bullshit. “‘Scum’?” he says, face hard. “I’m the one with the grace to offer you a place in my city, punk.” Behind Youngjae’s shoulder, Daehyun shifts quietly, and in a second, he has a knife pressed to Youngjae’s throat. Well, at least he’s making himself a little bit useful today. “Now, I’m thinking I won’t be so gracious.”
It’s admirable, the way that Youngjae doesn’t flinch. He glances at Daehyun out of the corner of his eye, throat working. “I don’t need your grace,” Youngjae says. He darts away from Daehyun and drives his elbow into his gut, hard, and then all of a sudden, everyone is in motion.
It’s sheer instinct that sends Himchan to his knees, a heartbeat before Sunhwa fires. He hears the crack of it when the bullet collides with wall where his head had been, just a second before. “That’s mahogany, come on!” he snarls, ducking under the desk. That shit is expensive. He reaches up to pry his gun from where it’s secured to the underside of his desk. And Daehyun made fun of him for always being prepared.
There’s another couple of cracks and Himchan flinches when the last bullet breaks through the desktop and misses his ear by a couple of inches. Son of a bitch. He cocks the gun and darts around the desk. He’s not really expecting the scene he sees. Daehyun has Youngjae in a headlock, blood dripping down his arm from where the knife had nicked him. At least he’s got him occupied. Sunhwa, on the other hand...she smiles at him cheerfully, pushing her long red hair out of her eyes, and points the gun at his head. Sometimes, Himchan really hates this job.
He throws himself sideways just in time, but he still feels the searing burn of the bullet grazing his temple. “Fuck,” he hisses, clapping one hand to his head and shooting blindly. The yelp she lets out when the third one hits home is gratifying, but Himchan doesn’t waste time celebrating. He is being shot at.
At the sound of Sunhwa’s voice, Youngjae jerks out of Daehyun’s grip. She clutches her arm, blood seeping between her fingers and Youngjae doesn’t hesitate to take her pistol. This is getting so old. He can bolt for the other door and hope to barricade himself in his bathroom until he can call for backup, or maybe back to the desk, or if he’s really feeling brave, he could go after Youngjae himself. He’s fairly certain he’ll end up shot, first.
Before he can decide, Youngjae is aiming at him and Himchan swallows. What hits him, however, isn’t a bullet. It’s the solid weight of someone’s shoulder, throwing him back into his desk with a painful thump. It’s Yongguk, holding him down, his face half an inch from Himchan’s face. It’s not a bad view, even if it’s a bit baffling. “What - ?”
Behind them, Daehyun lunges forward, wrenching the weapon from Youngjae’s hands. Youngjae is a smart man, and he knows when it’s a stand off. He pushes Sunhwa through the door first, eyes fixed on the gun Daehyun has leveled at him. Himchan is deeply, deeply grateful that he doesn’t say anything. Still, before he leaves, he looks at Himchan, and his expression is wrathful enough to be clear.
When he’s gone, Daehyun sinks to the floor. “That went well,” he says.
Himchan sighs, his head falling back against the desk. Yongguk is still uncomfortably close, fine-boned hands pressed against his hips. He has to admit, he’s surprised. Yongguk used to be a cop, and if he’d just stood back, he could’ve let all of this play out. But he hadn’t. He also smells pretty good. Huh. “Now will you talk about Junhong?” Yongguk asks. He shifts backwards, away from Himchan, and he smiles a little. There’s a bloody streak on his shoulder, and Himchan’s stomach lurches when he realizes that Yongguk had taken the bullet meant for him. Huh. He really is one of the good ones.
“I guess we can work something out,” Himchan agrees begrudgingly, touching gentle fingers to his head. He’s had worse. He hesitates before he pushes himself up. Daehyun is grumbling and mopping up the blood on his arm, frowning, but Himchan focuses his attention on Yongguk instead. “Since I seem to owe you a bit of a favour, Bang Yongguk.” He holds out a hand, and Yongguk takes it. “Maybe we can get you cleaned up, too.” Seems the least he can do, since he’s the reason Himchan’s not dead.
“Thanks,” Yongguk replies. He tests his shoulder when he stands, rolling it a bit and grimacing at the fresh drip of blood down his back. He’s got this expression on his face, like he isn’t quite sure what he’s done. Maybe Himchan’s not the only one surprised by his little display of heroism. Cute.
Himchan doesn’t trust the hospital, and none of them are badly hurt anyway. That’s why he ends up crosslegged on his desk, dabbing at the scrape on Yongguk’s shoulder. It’s ragged, but shallow, bleeding at a steady seep, but it doesn’t take much for Himchan to clean him up. Not the usual behavior for a boss of the biggest syndicate in the city, perhaps, but Himchan inherited this position, he didn’t create it. He’s got some hobbies he never could shake.
“You’re not what I expected,” Yongguk says mildly. He watches Himchan press on the dressing and then tests it himself with his fingertips. “I thought maybe you’d be taller.”
Himchan purses his lips and presses his hands down on Yongguk’s dressing. “I’m plenty tall,” he says, and does his best not to delight in the way that Yongguk winces. “I don’t need height to be intimidating.”
“Guess not,” Yongguk agrees, the corner of his lips turning up. It’s not like he’s any taller than Himchan, either. Up close, his shirt off, Himchan’s got a nice view of Yongguk’s body. He’s not bulky, he’s lean, well-muscled. He’s kept himself busy, it seems. He can’t help but appreciate that.
“Please,” Himchan says dryly. “You could at least pretend like you agree.” He straightens and touches his own bandage gingerly. He hopes it doesn’t scar. He’s sure it’d give him a certain je ne sais quoi, but he’s rather fond of his flawless complexion.
Yongguk laughs and shakes his head. Himchan could try to play the role, to keep his distance and play the cold boss, but when Yongguk has already seen him bleeding and scrambling around on the floor, cultivating a sense of dignity seems like a bit of a lost cause. “I don’t know this Choi Junhong kid,” he admits, cleaning his fingers of blood. “But I’ll see what I can do.” He points a finger at Yongguk. “And then this debt is settled.”
“Is it?” Yongguk asks, but he doesn’t argue. The kid means a lot to him, it seems. Himchan’s got a lot of leverage in this city, and all he’s asking is to make sure some bag boy doesn’t get into a life of crime. It’s kind of sweet.
Daehyun pokes his head around the door, flanked by Jongup. “Hey, boss,” Daehyun says. He’s changed his shirt, thankfully. He raises his eyebrows pointedly, and Himchan jerks his chin in acknowledgement. That’s about as much of a breather as he gets, he supposes.
“Thank you,” Yongguk says seriously. He reaches for his torn shirt and tugs it on again, doing his best to cover up his wound. Shame.
Himchan nods. This has been an interesting night. “Nice meeting you, Bang Yongguk.” He turns to Daehyun and Jongup, waving them in, and Yongguk recognizes a dismissal when he sees one, because he slips out the door. He pauses for a second, smiles a little at Himchan, and then heads down the hall.
Himchan gives himself a brief moment to mourn what could’ve been, and then he slides off his desk. “Alright,” he says, and he cracks his knuckles and settles into his chair. “That motherfucker made me bleed.” He narrows his eyes. “I’d like to return the favour.”
Himchan doesn’t expect to see Yongguk again, but somehow, there he is. It’s been three months since the encounter with Youngjae, and Himchan has been kept very, very busy. When you’ve gone from an uneasy truce to an outright, simmering war, you end up getting a lot less sleep. On a rare night to himself, Himchan had grabbed Jongup and gone to one of his bars, hoping to unwind at least a little, but he hadn’t expected to find Yongguk sitting at the bar, nursing a beer.
Hyosung slides him over a vodka, neat. Bless her heart for remembering his drink. “He’s a bit of a regular these days,” she tells him, watching the way his eyes follow Yongguk’s throat as he swallows. “Funny, huh?”
“No lip,” Himchan cautions her, throwing back his drink. “I got you this job, you know.”
That’s the thing about Hyosung. Utterly fearless. She beams at him and turns back to her job.
Jongup settles into the stool next to Himchan, sipping a water. Himchan glances at him and Jongup smiles and flashes him a thumbs up. “Got your back, boss,” he says cheerfully. Everyone around him is so happy. Himchan eyes him suspiciously and shakes his head.
He’s working on his second drink when someone clears their throat at his other elbow. Jongup doesn’t flinch, so they must be harmless. “Thanks for the drink,” Yongguk says, looking amused. He raises his beer in a salute.
Himchan blinks at him. “I didn’t -” At the other end of the bar, Hyosung bats her eyelashes at him and waves. He is being conspired against. Mutiny. He clicks his tongue. “Ah, you’re welcome.”
As Yongguk sits, Jongup makes himself mysteriously scarce. Himchan isn’t too worried. Jongup can be a bit spacey, but he is the most capable person Himchan has ever worked with, and he trusts him with his life. “Fancy seeing you here,” Yongguk says.
“It is my bar,” Himchan points out. He glances at Yongguk sidelong. “One you apparently frequent now. Imagine that.”
The flush that spreads across Yongguk’s cheeks is not entirely from the beer. “I had no idea,” he says. It’s a patent lie. Himchan grins.
This feels good. There are a lot of perks to Himchan’s position, but time to date is not one of them. Especially not if your taste runs towards, well, more masculine types. “You look good,” he says, because it’s true. He likes Yongguk’s broad shoulders, and his dark hair is a bit longer, curling down the back of his neck.
Yongguk looks at him for a long second and then he snorts, rubbing a hand through his hair. “Do we have to play this game?” he says. He’s still kind of red, and it’s funny to Himchan, that Yongguk is the type of guy who will jump in front of a bullet, but flirting makes him blush. “Can’t we just…”
Himchan’s made a lot of dumb decisions in his life, but he’s pretty sure that sleeping with an ex-cop would be right up there on the list. But he’s tired. He’s spent months hiding away and planning and strategizing and for once, he kind of wants to do something for himself, not the syndicate. “Yeah,” he says, and Yongguk’s relief is palpable. “Yeah, let’s get out of here.”
So is his discomfort on the ride home. Jongup is in the front seat, driving, as he always does, and Yongguk’s eyes are fixed on the back of his head. “Is uh, that -” he gestures at Jongup, “- really necessary?”
Himchan snorts. “You accidentally caused a gang war, and now you’re wondering why I’m on high alert?” He raises an eyebrow and Yongguk rubs a hand across the back of his neck. “Relax. I never drive myself anywhere. It’s terrible for my image.” He pulls himself up very straight and pushes out his chin, putting on his best ‘deadly’ expression.
“What image?” Yongguk asks, smirking.
It surprises Himchan, how much he wants to kiss it away. So he does. He leans in, resting one hand on Yongguk’s bicep, tentative. It’s not that he’s nervous, but the last time they’d touched, there had been bullets in the air. Yongguk is steady though, his smile softer, and when Himchan kisses him, he decides that his mouth is divine. There is a definite skill to the way that he coaxes Himchan into parting his lips under his, and Himchan can even tolerate the horrid aftertaste of his beer because Yongguk’s lips are so lush. God, he’s missed this. Kissing is so nice.
He doesn’t realize how much time has passed until Jongup is turning around in the front seat, clearing his throat. “Uh, hyung?” he says.
“Oh my god,” Himchan mutters against Yongguk’s mouth, and Yongguk is laughing. Making out like a couple of teenagers in the backseat. He’s embarrassingly turned on already. Terrible. He pulls away again, straightening his hair and his shirt. “Thank you, Jongup.”
Jongup looks slowly from Himchan to Yongguk, and then back again, eyes wide. “I’ll, uh, be downstairs,” he tells them, and then he makes a quick getaway. Himchan doesn’t really blame him.
“That was…” Yongguk pushes a hand through his hair and shakes his head.
“We’re not discussing this,” Himchan says. He pushes Yongguk out the door and then climbs out after him. It’s been so long since he’s done something like this, and he stalls. “Upstairs?” he suggests.
Yongguk presses his palm flat against the small of Himchan’s back. Funny, how that helps relax him. “Yeah, that sounds like a plan,” he says, and his mouth quirks up into a smile. He doesn’t stop smiling even when Himchan kisses him again, although he makes the nicest noise when Himchan catches his lip between his teeth and pulls. Oh yeah. He likes this.
Himchan has never been much of the hand-holding type, but Yongguk’s slim fingers fit nicely between his as Himchan leads him up the stairs. He glances back at Yongguk, and he’s not sure he’s ever seen anyone look at him so fondly. He could get used to this. He definitely could.
He does. Whatever they are, whatever this is, dating, fucking, hooking up, it’s so ill-advised and yet Himchan can’t bring himself to break it off. He rolls over, looking at Yongguk’s sleeping face. Moonlight streaks through the window, casting stripes across the bridge of Yongguk’s nose and his full lips. He always pushes himself hard, refusing to go to sleep until he’s practically nodding off sitting up, and then he sleeps like the dead. For someone in Himchan’s position, that’s kind of huge. Yongguk has never hesitated to stay the night with him, and that means something.
He shifts a little in bed, feeling the after effects of the night’s activities in the best way possible. A smile plays on his face. Yongguk doesn’t leave bruises on him, not unless he’s asking for it, but he always finds a way for Himchan to feel it, long after they’re done. Himchan likes it. He yawns and shifts closer and Yongguk reaches for him automatically, pulling him in. “‘S the middle of the night,” Yongguk mumbles, tugging Himchan to his chest and pinning him there.
Himchan flattens his hands against Yongguk’s belly and pushes. “Get off me,” he laughs, but Yongguk’s waking up now, and he doesn’t actually want him to go anywhere. He should feel a bit guilty for waking Yongguk up, but he doesn’t seem too upset by it. His eyes ease open as he noses at Himchan’s throat, mouthing wetly at the curve of his jaw. “I mean it. I’m not going to deal with your sleep breath.”
Yongguk’s more affectionate tonight, and Himchan just eats it up. He’d spent the past week and a half trapped in Tokyo with a potential import contract, and it would have been impolite to interrupt their negotiations to sext his guy back home, so this is the first time they’ve seen each other since he’d left. It shows, in the possessive clutch of his hand on Himchan’s hip and the way he presses Himchan into the mattress, holding him there. There aren’t a lot of people in Himchan’s life that are willing to push him around like this, and Himchan trusts himself in Yongguk’s hands.
After all, he makes good use of them. Yongguk wiggles a hand down between them and starts to jerk Himchan off lazily. Himchan whines. Yongguk knows it’s too slow for him, and he smiles against Himchan’s skin. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he says. He’s definitely awake now, deliberately avoiding kissing Himchan on the mouth in favour of closing his teeth on Himchan’s shoulder. “Should I go back to sleep? I am pretty tired.”
When he shifts his hips up, Himchan can feel the drag of Yongguk’s half-hard cock through his boxers. Yongguk has never been able to sleep entirely naked. “If you do not finish what you have started, I swear to God, I will put you to sleep,” Himchan threatens and Yongguk laughs. “That’s not a joke, you -”
Yongguk has always been infuriatingly good with his hands and he tightens his grip now, just to shut Himchan up. Himchan would be annoyed but then Yongguk is rolling them over, settling back on Himchan’s thighs to finally, finally jerk him off properly. His free hand presses into the softness of Himchan’s thighs, and he tips his head, looking down at Himchan. “You’ll what?” he asks amiably.
Himchan decides to wait until after he’s gotten off to strangle him. “Don’t stop,” he warns, curling his hand over Yongguk’s, urging him to pick up the pace. Yongguk is grinning down at him, not the same polite-cop smile he offers to old ladies when he holds open the door for them at the store, but a fond, unselfconscious smile that Himchan would like to think is just for him. It’s perfect.
He leans forward to kiss Himchan, and that’s when Himchan sees it. A red dot, neatly trained on the centre of his forehead. “Get down,” he hisses, reaching up to yank Yongguk down to him. It’s not a second too soon - all he hears is the crack of his window shattering and the snap of a bullet hitting the far wall. “Fuck.”
It’s been quiet from Youngjae’s camp lately, and Himchan’s gotten complacent. It’s too easy, unfortunately, to let himself get distracted by Yongguk’s hands and his mouth, and now he’s paying the price. “I always thought you were exaggerating this stuff,” Yongguk mutters, flattened against Himchan’s body. He’s gone stiff, alert, and for once, Himchan is grateful for the whole ex-cop thing.
“Give me some credit,” Himchan snaps at him. Now is not the time for this, not when the mystery shooter’s sight is crawling down Yongguk’s hairline again. Ugh, this is so inconvenient. He grips Yongguk by the shoulders and throws him off the bed, then he rolls in the other direction, taking the sheet down with him. It’s dark in the room, and giving them two targets will make it a little tougher. “Stay down.” He growls, fruitlessly trying to disentangle himself. He only spares a second to mourn their ruined moment before he’s reaching up under his pillow again.
In the half-light of the room, Himchan can see Yongguk’s eyebrows raise on the other side of the bed. “Seriously?” he asks, watching Himchan pull a gun out from under his pillow. “Like, really?”
Shit. There’s only a few rounds. “I run the largest, most well-established crime syndicate in Seoul, you know,” he says. He knows he has an extra clip around here somewhere. He starts feeling around in the drawers of his bedside table as his mattress takes another flurry of bullets. “Did you think I keep Jongup around for the company?”
“Yeah,” Yongguk says mildly. Himchan catches the glint of his grin. “You do.”
Himchan hunches his head as another bullet slices through his window, sending the rest of the glass showering over him. “Not important,” Himchan reminds him. Yongguk is right, of course - Jongup has been with him for years, and he’s been Himchan’s closest friend since long before he came into power - but Himchan hates telling Yongguk he’s right. His fingers close around his extra clip, finally, and he clicks the old one out, sliding the new one into place. “Jonguppie is useful in many ways.”
“I’m sure,” Yongguk says. Himchan hears the clink of him sweeping the broken glass under the bed so he can move. “Maybe he could be useful, oh, right now?”
Himchan grimaces. “You would think,” he says. Jongup, however, is a whole floor away, and right now, they have to deal with a shooter. He cocks his gun and fixes his eyes on the window, waiting for the next bullet. It’s hard to judge the angle in the dark like this, but he thinks that the shooter must be high up on a tree by the window. Maybe he should’ve listened to Daehyun about those when he’d moved in. He closes one eye, using the moonlight reflecting off the barrel of his pistol to aim, and squeezes off a few shots.
There’s silence from outside the window, nothing but the sound of wind moving through trees. Himchan knows better than to assume he’s hit his mark - he’s always been kind of a shitty shot. “Do you think -” Yongguk begins, and that’s when the door opens.
A man levels a gun at Himchan’s head. “I really have to work on my security,” Himchan grits out, and he scoots backwards, clutching the sheet against his junk. He shoots without hesitating, and he’s lucky that point blank lends him some help. The man throws himself sideways - towards Yongguk - but he lets out a grunt that lets Himchan know that at least one of those bullets hit home. “Not too pleased about this.”
Yongguk throws himself forward, catching the man’s hands in his wrists and folding them in towards his body. “Big mob boss’ best security is the gun under his pillow?” he says breathlessly trying to wrestle the gun out of the attacker’s hand. Himchan is an adult who does not spent a second appreciating the way the muscles in his shoulders flex or the slope of his back. Not the time, Kim.
All it takes is a couple of slams into the dresser (Himchan winces - that’s a family heirloom, damnit) before the gun shakes out of the attacker’s hand. With Yongguk holding the man steady, Himchan could definitely take him out right now. Except when Himchan stands and aims, his gun clicks on empty. “Shit.”
“Nice,” Yongguk says, and Himchan glares at him.
The man wrenches his hands out of Yongguk’s grip and dives for the gun on the floor. Himchan lunges, one hand still holding the sheet over his crotch. He steps on a shard of glass, but he still manages to kick the gun out of the guy’s reach and under the bed instead. “I don’t need this from you right now, Bang Yongguk,” Himchan says, pointing at him with his empty gun.
Their attacker swings at Himchan but Yongguk is faster, his fist snapping out and catching the man in the temple, sending him sprawling. “I bet you need this, though,” Yongguk says. He brandishes a clip, dug out from the depths of Himchan’s other bedside table.
Of course, now Himchan’s got a dilemma - he can’t reload his gun and protect his modesty at the same time. On the floor, he can see the man groan and reach out to something on the floor. “Goddamnit,” Himchan grumbles. He drops the sheet and the empty clip, slapping the new one up and pointing the gun at the attacker’s head. Yongguk, helpfully, pins the man to the floor with one bare foot. “I hope you’re happy,” Himchan tells the man, cocking the gun. “This -” he gestures at his nakedness, “- is the image that you are going to take to your grave.”
It seems their mystery shooter, however, has recovered. A bullet whines through the air in front of his nose and Yongguk lets out a shout, clutching his shoulder. Himchan spins to see the blood leaking between his fingers, and a hot rage settles into his gut. His hand doesn’t shake when he turns back to the window and shoots three rounds into the darkness between the leaves. This time, he hears the choked off noise the shooter makes and the thud when he hits the ground is satisfying. “This is done,” Himchan says, and he steps forward, ignoring the jerk of pain in his feet when he steps on more broken remnants of his window. His gun barrel is less than a foot from the man’s head when he shoots, twice, to be sure.
“Are you alright?” Yongguk asks, and he gestures to the bloody footprints Himchan is leaving all over his nice, hardwood floors.
Himchan has to scoff. “How about you, Mr. Stoic?” he says. There’s a lot of blood, running darkly down Yongguk’s forearm and dripping off his elbow, adding to the puddle growing under the dead man’s head. It’s worrisome. It’s certainly out of Himchan’s expertise, which is unfortunate. Hospitals do tend to ask questions about bullet wounds, but Himchan will not let Yongguk leave this to chance.
“Hyung?” Jongup dashes through the open door, eyes wide and one hand pressed to a very, very nasty looking gash across his forehead. “I - oh. Huh.” His mouth snaps shut and he raises his eyebrows, looking impressed. Then he glances down and his eyes get even bigger and he spins away. Whoops.
“I took care of it,” Himchan says. His feet are starting to kill him, but he’s more worried about Yongguk, and Jongup for that matter. “Call Daehyun, I want security tripled, and I want it done now.” He hands Jongup the gun. “And get Hana in here too, we’ve got another body outside the window and if we don’t get rid of them before sun-up, we’re going to be in trouble.”
He glances at Yongguk, but his expression is hard to read. Might have something to do with the blood he’s losing. “Guess this isn’t what you signed up for, huh,” he says.
There’s a dead man on their floor, and the two of them are bleeding all over Himchan’s hardwood floors (and his carpet, it’s going to take a fortune to replace that), but Yongguk leans forward and presses his forehead against Himchan’s. “I knew what I was getting myself into,” Yongguk tells him.
“Hana’s on her way,” Jongup announces, very pointedly not looking anywhere below the waist. Himchan takes pity on him and grabs a pillow. He’d put on clothes, but honestly, he isn’t even certain where his briefs had ended up when Yongguk showed up this evening. “And Daehyun’s called in Jieun and her boys.” He flashes Himchan a cheerful thumbs up. “We’ve got it.”
Himchan nods. “Thank you,” he says. He grimaces as he steps forward, over the dead man, and he rummages through his dresser, coming out with a less favoured shirt. It takes a second to peel Yongguk’s bloody hand from his wound, but he manages to create a makeshift bandage by tying it around his shoulder. “It went straight through, at least,” he says. “Nice and clean. Should heal well.”
Theoretically, Himchan could call Hana off. He could call the cops, tell them it was in self-defense, and he’s fairly certain that would work, too. It is the truth, after all. But Himchan does not need the kind of heat that comes with a double murder investigation, not when he’s going to be focusing all of his efforts on readying his retaliation. He squeezes Yongguk’s bloody fingers and he frowns. This may have started with an accident, but Himchan will end it.
He knows that Yongguk is in a tough situation, too. He may no longer be on the force, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have morals. He’s always been so good. “Let me get you a doctor,” Himchan says. “I know a guy.” He licks his lips. “I’ll understand, you know, if you want to -” Leave. Seems so final, but Himchan knows he’s got to do it. Even if Yongguk has been privy to more than Daehyun even, Himchan would let him go, if that’s what he wants. Himchan was born to this, and this kind of violence and death is all he’s known. Yongguk should have the right to opt out.
Yongguk grimaces and shifts his injured shoulder. “I don’t think leaving would make me any safer,” he says. Himchan purses his lips and drops Yongguk’s hand. He’s right, Himchan should’ve thought about it - “And someone’s got to watch your ass.” He glances down and very obviously takes a second to enjoy the view behind Himchan’s pillow. “Right?”
“I’m touched,” Himchan says dryly, but when Jongup turns away, saying something to Daehyun about the bloody carpets, Himchan rests his head for a second against Yongguk’s shoulder. An attack like this, in Himchan’s own home, he won’t hesitate to retaliate. He feels a bit invincable, though, with Yongguk here. “Now please, put some clothes on. We need to stop bleeding all over my beautiful floors.”
“So damn fussy,” Yongguk tells him. He kisses Himchan before he can step away, and Himchan smiles.
Now, all they have to do is get rid of a couple of bodies. Just a day in the life.
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