fic: A Hundred and One little Complications, Chapter 1
Title: A Hundred and One Little Complications, Chapter 1
Length: chaptered
Author: M_K Yujji
Rating: pg-13 (rating subject to increase in later chapters)
Genre: AU
Pairing/Characters: Doojoon, Gikwang, Yoseob, ofc of the child and grandmotherly varieties
Warnings: RPS
Disclaimer: Though real people are used as characters, this fic bears no resemblance to Real Life and these people are not owned by me.
Comments/Notes: Right, so anyone who knows me knows that I watch way too many cop dramas and murder mysteries and that I'm a sucker for tough mercenary/cop/soldier getting drug into the family life. Loved all the James Bond movies (I almost called this From Seoul With Love, lol. and I still might change the title eventually) I've done my best to avoid a flat out WiP chaptered fic in this fandom, but we all knew it was a matter of time, right? >_> Yeah.
Inspired by snb123's prompt of DooSeob as spies, although this really has nothing to do with spies at all. ^^;; And I'm still working on her actual spy fic.
Also, if anyone knows the group picture where Yoseob is standing in between Dongwoon (who's sitting) and Gikwang (who is leanging against something?) and is wearing the all black with the ass kicking boots and actually manages to look like a badass instead of a kid playing at it? :x That would be another large piece of the inspiration for this. ^^;; it's one of my wallpapers.
Summary: Doojoon is a gay reporter with too many enemies in too many places, the divorced father of a beautiful little girl. Gikwang is his deceased ex-wife’s last husband and the closest thing he has to family since his blood relatives disowned him. When an assassination attempt almost kills them all, Gikwang calls in a favor.
As if Doojoon's life isn't already complicated enough...
~*~*~
“I don’t like this, Gikwang.”
Gikwang sighed and nodded. “I know. You’ve said that a million times already. We’re out of options.”
“I’m uncomfortable meeting him at all. Why would he insist that we bring Cheon?” Doojoon held his daughter closer. “Maybe he’s one of them.”
The younger man stopped walking for a moment, a hurt look crossing his face. “Doojoon, I would never do anything to put Cheon in any more danger than she’s already in. If you don’t trust me in anything else, trust me in that.”
Doojoon bit his lip and glanced away. He did trust Gikwang. They’d been friends for a long time and their lives had gotten so intricately entangled over the years. Gikwang was closer to him than his blood family, far more of a brother than his actual brother who hadn’t spoken to him in years.
And he knew how much Gikwang loved Cheon.
“I’m sorry.”
Taking a deep breath, Gikwang shook his head before continuing on. “It’s okay. We’re both a little paranoid right now.”
A little paranoid didn’t quite cover it. They’d been jumping at shadows for weeks, questioning every single thing anyone said or did around them.
Doojoon pressed a kiss to Cheon’s hair as the little girl sighed in her sleep and snuggled closer to his neck. The cast on her arm was a hard, heavy weight on his shoulder, a reminder of just why they’d been backed into this corner.
He’d always accepted the risks in his life.
Those risks had never come so close to taking away the most important person in his world before.
“So who is this guy anyways?” Gikwang had called him an ‘old friend’, but been largely close mouthed about anything else. “I’ve never heard you mention him before.”
Gikwang shrugged as he finally spotted the small restaurant they’d been looking for. He glanced back at Doojoon and Cheon as he led the way, a hooded look in his eyes. “Military buddy.”
“Ah.” Doojoon shut up, then, not knowing what else to say. Gikwang seldom talked about the time he’d spent in the military. Doojoon got the impression that he’d been in some kind of special task force and that whatever he’d seen and done had been bad… The kind of stuff that gave the man night terrors and made him dangerous to approach from certain angles in the dark. “You sure he’s going to be willing to help us?”
“He owes me a favor.”
“But this could get him killed.”
Shrugging, Gikwang glanced around the street before opening the door and gesturing for Doojoon to go in. “It won’t matter.”
That wasn’t very reassuring. Doojoon wasn’t sure he wanted to meet someone who didn’t consider the threat of death to be an important consideration, but as they entered the restaurant, he had a feeling it was too late to back out.
“Ah, Kwangie, it’s been so long!” A matronly woman pulled Gikwang into a hug and clucked over him. “You never write, you never call… I would almost think you don’t love this old woman anymore!”
“Sorry, Granmama.” Gikwang laughed, a blush staining his cheeks as he hugged her back. “You know how it is… life gets in the way.”
She accepted the excuse with a knowing look and a nod. Then she turned and gave Doojoon a look up and down, her eyes narrowed in consideration. “You, I don’t know.”
“Umm.. Yes, ma’am.” Doojoon offered her a small smile, trying to be polite. “Yoon Doojoon.” Reluctantly, he nodded towards the small girl in his arms, glad that Cheon remained asleep even though he hated the medication that made her so sleepy. “This is Cheon.”
“I’m Yunja. This is my place.” She waved a finger at him. “You behave in my place, you understand? I will throw you out if you bring trouble in here.”
“….” Doojoon glanced at Gikwang who just shrugged helplessly. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Hmph. Anyone else and he wouldn’t bring you back here. Only because it’s Kwangie who asks for help.” Yunja sighed and shook her head before holding her arms out for Cheon. “Here. I’ll keep the little one while you boys catch up. Talk like that isn’t something for little ears.”
When he hesitated, Gikwang nudged him. “She’ll be okay, Doojoon. Granmama raised a lot of kids over the years.”
She snorted. “Yes, half of you weren’t even mine and none of you ever come back to see me.”
It was only because of how much he trusted Gikwang that he finally handed his daughter over. She made a soft noise of protest, clinging to his neck with her good arm. “Hush, baby. It’s all right.”
Once she was safely in Yunja’s arms, she blinked sleepy eyes at him for a moment before drifting back off to sleep.
“All right, then,” Yunja nodded towards the back. “You remember where to go?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Gikwang smiled and led the way towards the back of the restaurant.
Doojoon waited til they were out of earshot before whispering, “Granmama? She doesn’t look old enough to be your grandmother.”
Not that he’d ever met any of Gikwang’s actual family. It was another subject the man avoided.
“You’d be surprised. She’s looked almost exactly the same as long as I’ve known her.” His friend shrugged. “I spent a lot of time here growing up. A lot of us from the neighborhood did. We all called her that, though I think Seobie is the only one she was actually related to.”
Two young women glanced up from their tasks as Gikwang led Doojoon through the back, but no one offered them any obstruction. One of Gikwang’s hands trailed over worn grooves in the wall as they went up a flight of stairs. “We did this, Seobie and I… Granmama was so mad when she realized it.”
“Sounds like more than a ‘military buddy’,” Doojoon said softly.
Gikwang shrugged. “We grew up together. Joined together, served together. It … changed him.” He sighed and shook his head. “Hell, it changed us both. When I got out, I just wanted to get as far away from all of it as I could.”
“Which meant getting as far away from me as you could.”
They glanced up to see a young man leaning in an open doorway watching them. He wore black, from the cargo pants and tank top to the steel toed boots and gun holsters strapped around his torso. It made the white blonde hair more striking.
An old scar, faded and white, trailed down from somewhere near the back of his ear and disappeared into the top of the tank top. Another, smaller but no less eye catching, ran from just above his left eyebrow all the way to his hairline.
His cheeks were still rounded with youth and if Gikwang hadn’t already said they’d grown up together, Doojoon would have sworn the man was little more than a boy. Until he got a closer look at the hooded eyes and the way the man held himself, all grace and poise like a predator waiting for the right moment to swoop in for the kill.
Doojoon shivered slightly and wondered if this Seobie was what people meant when they used the term ‘baby-faced killer’.
“Seobie.”
“Kwangie.”
The pair stared at each other for a long moment before Gikwang smiled a pained little smile and reached out with one hand. The other man stared at it for a long moment before reaching back, grasping Gikwang’s hand, and pulling him into a hug. “I’m surprised the old lady didn’t give you more flack downstairs. You didn’t have to stay away from her to stay away from me, you know.”
Despite the tone, Doojoon got the impression that the man was only scolding Gikwang for not keeping in touch with his grandmother… That he understood Gikwang’s need to avoid him and memories they shared.
“It’s good to see you,” Gikwang said softly, holding onto the other man tightly. “I should have stayed in touch.”
Yoseob shrugged as he pulled back. “You needed out. No shame in that. Not after… everything.”
Gikwang smacked his head and pulled Doojoon forward. “This is Doojoon. My… umm..”
He bit his lip and stared at Doojoon with wide eyes.
Doojoon could sympathize. Their relationship had gotten annoyingly complicated over the last couple of years.
Luckily, Yoseob just snorted. “Yeah, yeah. I know who he is.”
Most of Korea knew who he was. That was half of his problem. He was an extremely visible, high profile target. Still, Doojoon managed to dredge up a semblance of a smile. His mother had ingrained politeness into him that he still tried to follow even if she, like the rest of his family, hadn’t been particularly welcoming recently. “Hello, Yang-sshi. Thank you for taking the time to meet with us.”
Dark eyes gave him a long look over. “Kwangie wouldn’t have called me if it wasn’t important.”
Beside him, Gikwang flinched slightly even though there’d been no accusation in the man’s voice. Doojoon wondered how much of the distance had been because he needed to be away from the memories and how much had simply been Gikwang feeling too guilty to face Yoseob once he’d gotten over the worst of it.
Yoseob caught the flinch and rolled his eyes, smacking Gikwang in the back of the head before gesturing into the room he’d obviously been in before they’d come up the stairs. “Idiot.”
Doojoon’s lips twitched as Gikwang pouted. “Yah, Seeooobiee.. Why are you so mean?”
“If you weren’t an idiot, I wouldn’t have to be mean.” Yoseob replied loftily, turning a chair backwards and settling into it, his arms crossed over the backrest. He gestured towards the two other chairs around the small table.
Once everyone was settled, he nodded to Doojoon getting right down to business. “So the accident was on the news, no surprise there, but while there’s been a lot of speculation I haven’t really seen a lot of facts being offered.”
“It wasn’t an accident.”
“Yeah, I gathered.” Yoseob didn’t roll his eyes or let any sarcasm drip into his voice so Doojoon couldn’t really tell if he was being patronized, but he bristled slightly regardless.
“The brake lines were cut,” Gikwang offered quietly, glancing away. “Most of the evidence burned up when the tanker exploded, but I was driving.”
He went on to explain what had happened in the same quiet, toneless voice. Doojoon knew he still felt guilty about Cheon and the other people who’d gotten hurt. There was no need, as far as Doojoon was concerned. Gikwang hadn’t cut the wires that had caused the accident and his actions, his training, had saved a lot of lives.
Yoseob listened carefully, asking a few questions here and there for clarification, but he seemed to be taking it seriously which was more than they’d gotten from the police.
To them it had simply been another bad accident on a busy, accident-prone freeway. They hadn’t called Doojoon a crazy, paranoid freak to his face, but they’d treated him like it.
Who he was hadn’t even factored into their considerations, it had just given them more annoyances and more reason to want to wrap it up as quickly as possible.
When Gikwang quieted, Doojoon found himself pinned by those eyes again as they considered him for a long moment. Yoseob tapped his chin as he looked down, deep in thought, and Doojoon found himself staring at the man’s hands. The rest of him was tiny, smaller even than Gikwang, though obviously well toned and in peak condition, but those hands… Doojoon had a feeling that if he put one his own against one of them, it would be dwarfed.
He was still staring when one of those hands snapped fingers in front of his face and he jerked back slightly, blushing when he caught sight of Gikwang’s raised eyebrow. “Sorry, I spaced out.”
“Mmhmm…” Yoseob gave him a suspicious look, but let it go. “So who do you think tried to kill you?”
Doojoon sighed and pushed his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know. I mean… I can think of plenty of people who’d probably have a motive, but I wouldn’t have thought most of them would have gone this far… I can’t think of anyone who’d involve kids.”
Cheon hadn’t been the only child out there that day.
“They didn’t care, Seobie.” Gikwang looked away. “They didn’t care who got hurt or how many people died.”
Nodding, Yoseob twisted around and grabbed something off of a shelf behind him. When he dropped the files on the table, Doojoon couldn’t help but gape slightly. “How did you get these?”
Yoseob just snorted and shook his head. “I’m very good at what I do and so are the people I work with.” He fanned out the photos from the police report. “The first thing you should know is that the police lied to you.”
“Huh?”
“Well, someone in the police lied to you, at any rate. All of the evidence didn’t burn up. And someone knows it wasn’t an accident.” He pushed something towards Doojoon. “These have been doctored. Damned professional job of it too. If my guy wasn’t a fucking computer and forensic Einstein, even we wouldn’t have caught it. We haven’t been able to figure out who the mole is, though.”
Doojoon felt numb as he thumbed through the reports and photos. And stupid, too. It hadn’t even occurred to him that he could be facing police corruption. He let out a bitter laugh and rubbed his eyes. “Some investigative reporter I am. I didn’t even think…”
“Your daughter was in the hospital, I think you can be forgiven for being too stressed to consider all the angles.” Yoseob’s voice was sympathetic. “Besides, like I said. It wasn’t exactly easy to catch.”
“So professional enough to have cops on the payroll and vicious enough to kill kids…” Gikwang sighed and dropped his head onto his arms. “Does that help us narrow it down at all?”
“Not really,” Yoseob said, shrugging. “D.W. Is going through the evidence personally, but I think it’s a dead end.”
“So you can’t help us after all,” Doojoon said quietly, feeling bleak. He’d been so adamantly against coming to this man for help, but somehow he’d still let himself hope.
“I didn’t say that.” Another handful of folders were sat in front of him. “Over the last year and a half, you’ve had three car accidents, one nasty fall, a little more than half a dozen close encounters with gang skirmishes - four of which actually ended up getting you shot, one of those almost fatally - and you were nearly gored by a bull… Ah yes, and who could forget… you were drugged at the club you frequent. Twice.”
Doojoon twitched slightly. “I’m a reporter. I lead a dangerous life.”
Yoseob arched a brow. “Ever consider a career change?”
Every day since the accident, though he wasn’t about to admit that aloud. “No.”
“Hmm, I guess idiocy is contagious.”
“Hey!”
“It’s never spilled over onto my family before.”
“I’d say the risk spills over every day.” The man pulled out one of the reports - the near fatal shooting, Doojoon realized - and stared at it before sighing. “Have you ever stopped to consider what would happen to your daughter if you got yourself killed?”
Doojoon swallowed but stayed quiet, not really wanting to think about the answer to that question.
“Luckily, D.W. Looked through all of this stuff too.” Yoseob traced his finger over something in the report after he sat it back down before moving along to the others. “Your job is dangerous, but there’s a pattern here.”
Giwkang leaned in closer an intent look on his face before he glanced up. “It’s the same attacker?”
“I think so. Not all of them, of course. Some of them seem to actually be random, but no one is this unlucky.” Yoseob flicked a long finger over the near fatal shooting again. “And that weapon is no amateur gang crap. It’s professional. The sort of thing I’d use.”
“Did you?” Doojoon asked, his earlier suspicions stirring slightly again at the words.
Yoseob’s smile was cold and predatory. “If I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead.” He raised two fingers and mimed shooting at Doojoon. “When I shoot, I don’t miss.”
Doojoon shivered slightly and looked away. He had a feeling that wasn’t just empty bravado or egotistical bragging.
“Okay, so can you ask around, find out who the hitman is?” Gikwang was frowning at one of the files as he spoke, and Doojoon sighed. He hadn’t told his friend about all of the incidents Yoseob had just laid out before them, only the worst ones that he hadn’t been able to keep under wraps.
“I don’t think it’s a professional.”
“But you just said-”
“I said they were using professional grade weapons. None of these are professional work. I went out to look at some of the scenes… I found at least a dozen different sniper locations that would have been far more effective. Car accidents are messy. You can’t contain the collateral damage unless you’re driving the second vehicle and then you run the risk of being identified. And your ‘fall’… Only an idiot thinks that you’re going to kill someone with a twenty foot drop. A professional would have knocked you off of a skyscraper … if they were going for a suicide angle.”
Gikwang was quiet for a moment. “I only called you yesterday.”
“Yeah, well… Like I said. The accident was all over the news.”
“You knew I’d be calling.”
Yoseob shook his head in denial but didn’t look at Gikwang. “No. They almost killed you. I’d have been looking into it regardless.” He looked up at Doojoon. “The attacks are escalating. You pissed someone off but good.”
“I’m an investigative reporter. I expose a lot of criminal secrets.” Doojoon sighed. “I piss off a lot of people.”
“So I’ve noticed. The good news is that amateurs running around trying to pose as professionals and making a mess piss people off too. I’ve already put out the word about the weapons.” He shrugged. “They had to get them from somewhere and the market is more exclusive than you’d imagine. Hopefully someone will know something. The bad news is that I’m not sure any of you will be safe while we snoop around.”
“You think they’d attack again so soon?” Gikwang’s voice wasn’t surprised, just bleak.
Yoseob stood up and moved to the window, pulling the curtain back slightly and nodding towards something. “You’re being followed.”
“What?” Doojoon hopped up and looked.
Sure enough, there was a dark car parked at the corner. Two men with shades on were watching the restaurant entrance with far more intent than it would have warranted otherwise.
“Amateurs.” Yoseob snorted and shook his head as he let the curtain drop. “They weren’t that far behind you. I’m surprised you didn’t notice them yourselves.”
“I was distracted,” Gikwang offered in a small voice, pressing one fist to his forehead.
Doojoon twitched the curtain back for a second look. “They look professional to me.”
“No, they look like two guys who’ve seen too many movies. A professional doesn’t follow you. A professional finds out where you’re going, gets there first, and sets it up so he can listen well out of view. You never know he’s there.” Shrugging, Yoseob sat back down. “But then again, I’m sure they had plenty of opportunities to kill you on the way over if you didn’t see them at all and they didn’t. Which doesn’t fit with the pattern.”
He sighed and went back to tapping his chin. “The whole mess is confusing. I don’t like it.”
“So what do we do?”
“You don’t do anything. You live your life as usual.”
Frowning, Doojoon glanced up to see if Yoseob was serious. “Someone is trying to kill me. Someone almost killed my daughter. You can’t just expect me to -”
“I can, and I do. Look, I’m still not sure what’s going on here or who the target is. Once I know, I can deal with it. Until then, the only thing I can do is protect you as best I can.”
“Seobie… Won’t they just go to ground with you around? You can’t guard us 24/7 for the rest of our lives.”
Yoseob quirked a grin. “They’ll only spook if they know who I am and what I’m doing. Luckily for you, I have an established cover. My presence won’t be suspicious at all.”
Doojoon shared a skeptical look with Gikwang. “I don’t understand.”
“I just so happen to be your amazingly adorable, semi-stalkerish on again off again lover.” He made an exaggerated sad face. “Your marriage fell apart because of me, which is horribly sad, but who can stand in the way of true love? And since Gikwang married your ex anyways, it all worked out in the end... Even if you do refuse to make an honest man of me."
Doojoon’s mouth fell open and he shook his head. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“On the contrary.” Yoseob’s expression turned serious as he leaned closer. “I always knew you were going to get Kwangie into trouble… I’ve spent years cultivating this cover." He waved a hand in the air, adopting a careless look. "There are dozens of witnesses who can testify to the fact that I follow you around like a puppy whenever you come to the club and that I’ve left with you on more than one occasion. The bartender will swear on his mother’s grave that he’s had to listen to me wax poetically about your eyes for hours on end. Your doorman knows me. Half of your co-workers know me. Hell, your amateur followers know me. They were at the hospital while you were in surgery… I was very pathetic and hand-wringingly worried about you and Cheon, but of course I knew it would be inappropriate for me to show my face while your mother was there.”
“My mother-” Anything Doojoon might have said to Yoseob’s words ground to a halt at that. No one had told him his mother had come to the hospital.
“She was worried about you,” Yoseob said softly. “But she asked the nurses not to tell you.”
Gikwang was staring at Yoseob. “Seobie…”
Yoseob looked away with a sigh. “Look, you needed to be away from me and I respected that. But if you honestly thought there was any way in hell I was letting you run around without some way of protecting you if the need arose, then you’re dumber than I ever accused you of being. Especially when you took up with this charmer here. He has a lot more enemies than either of you realize.”
“You drugged me,” Doojoon said, trying to piece together what was missing from the picture. “I never filed reports on those… You did it.”
“No,” Yoseob shook his head. “But I was there and I dealt with it.”
Doojoon’s eyes slipped closed and he struggled to remember past the fog that had blanketed both of those nights. There was nothing, though. His memory blanked out sometime in the club and didn't pick back up til he'd woken in his own bed the next morning.
His system had never handled drugs particularly well. He’d just been thankful neither case had ended with him in the hospital. “You brought me home.”
“It certainly helped my attempts to establish a cover in your life.” Yoseob’s expression was amused. “You’re very... handsy when you’re inebriated. Your doorman got to see a little more of both of us than I’m sure he’s comfortable with.”
“Did we have sex?” Doojoon asked, not sure how he’d handle it if the answer was yes. Yoseob wasn’t unattractive, but he was dangerous and Doojoon hadn’t been in the position to be entirely consenting.
The man smirked. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Then the grin slid off his face and he shrugged. “You should thank me, really. The first guy who drugged you had every intention of fucking you in the most degrading ways possible and filming it so he could blackmail and humiliate you. Apparently one of your expose’s on some seedy club ruined his life and he wanted to return the favor.”
“I suppose he told you that?”
“He did, in fact… it was mixed in with the rest of the babble while he was begging me to let him go and promising he’d seen the error of his ways.” Yoseob propped his chin on his hand as he watched Doojoon process that. “The second was supposed to drop you off somewhere. He didn’t know who’d hired him or what they wanted with you. All he knew was that he’d been paid ten grand and he’d get another ten once you were delivered.” His grin returned. “I took you home that night, too.”
Doojoon scowled at him.
“As per established at the hospital, I’ve simply gotten tired of sitting on the sidelines waiting for someone to think to tell me you’re dead. I’ve insisted that I be acknowledged and allowed to be with you on a more official basis.” He glanced up at the ceiling. “Mr. Lee was very sympathetic. He said I deserved to be more than your dirty little secret.”
“I don’t have dirty little secrets.” The entire point of coming out to his family after the divorce had been so there would be no more secrets… no more lies. His honesty had cost him dearly, but keeping up the lies had been just as bad.
“None that you know of,” Yoseob replied absently, tapping his chin. “Hmm… I wonder….”
“You wonder what?” Gikwang asked. He’d stayed quiet through most of the conversation, but Doojoon expected he’d be hearing about his carelessness once they were gone. To get drugged once in a club was an understandable mishap. Things happened. Twice? Even Doojoon wondered at his own lack of vigilance.
Yoseob’s face cleared and he shrugged. “Nothing.”
He sat straight again. “When you get home, let your doorman know to expect me. I’ve got to make a few quick stops and swing by to check on D.W’s progress. Don’t worry about the guys following you. Gikwang can handle them in a pinch, but I don’t think they’re going to do anything.”
“You don’t think?”
Yoseob shrugged. “Call it a hunch, but if they’d wanted to kill you, they could have done it already. They’re just watching.” Standing, he grabbed a long sleeved white shirt and tugged it on. “C’mon.
Leaving the files scattered on the table, he led the way downstairs, back through the kitchen.
At the register, Yunja was coloring pictures with Cheon. Both females glanced up at their approach.
“Daddy! Papa!” Cheon beamed at them, hopping down awkwardly from her chair and holding up one of the completed pictures from her pile. “Granmama helped me draw a horse for you!”
Doojoon smiled and took the picture. “Woah, that’s a really good horse.” He looked at her with perfect seriousness. “Can we ride it home?”
She giggled and smacked her good hand at him. “Daddy’s so silly. It’s a paper horse! You can’t ride a paper horse.”
His heart swelled. His marriage had been doomed from the start, but it had given him Cheon and that had made every bad moment worth it. She was almost seven, but tiny for her age with a sweet smile and a gregarious personality that he thought was more Gikwang’s doing than his or her mother’s. She’d been quieter since her mother had died, but was slowly coming back to herself. The accident and her injuries hadn’t hurt her progress, thankfully.
Yoseob stepped around him and crouched down so that he was level with the little girl. The pair stared at each other for a long moment before Yoseob held out a hand. “Hello, my name is Yoseob.”
Part of Doojoon wanted to pull this dangerous man away from his daughter, but he held himself still. It sounded like Yoseob intended to be around a lot in the near future, probably even moving in if his words had been any indication. This meeting would decide whether or not he’d allow it or put his foot down and insist they find another way.
She stared at his hand for a long moment before looking back at the man, her eyes traveling down to the gun that was peeking out of his shirt and up to the bright white blond hair. Then she searched his eyes before slowly reaching her own hand out. “My name is Cheon. I’m seven years old.”
“Yeah? Wow… That’s pretty old. You must be really smart, then, right?”
Grinning, Cheon shook his hand hard even as she curtsied. Gikwang had started showing her old movies with princesses and courtiers and she’d been mimicking them when she played. Doojoon dreaded the day she decided she wanted to be more like the knights than the princesses and started tearing around the house with sticks pretending to ‘joust’. No doubt Gikwang would be right alongside her. “My daddy says so!”
“Well, your daddy is pretty smart too, so I bet he’s right.” Yoseob smiled back. “Let’s be friends, okay?”
“Okay!”
He picked her up gently and deposited her in Gikwang’s arms. “Say baibai to Granmama.”
“Baibai, Granmama!” Cheon parroted obediently, waving her hand at the older woman.
“Bye, little bit,” Yunja crooned, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she smiled at the little girl.
Yoseob led them to the door, holding it open so they could step out. Before Doojoon could leave, though, Yoseob’s hand reached out to snag him back.
“Wha-” His words were cut off as a warm, firm body pressed against him and soft lips captured his own. In some dim corner of his mind, Doojoon knew that it was an act - something to convince their observers of their fictitious relationship. Mostly that was lost under the the realization that whatever else he might have been, Yoseob was a damned good kisser. The smaller body fit against his perfectly and Doojoon’s arms slid down and around Yoseob’s back without any conscious thought on his part. He lost himself in the kiss, exploring and teasing, tasting the sweetness of spearmint on Yoseob’s tongue, pressing as close as he could manage.
It wasn’t until Cheon started giggling that awareness returned and he realized that he’d backed Yoseob against the door.
Yoseob’s smile was lazy with satisfaction as he stretched up to place a chaste kiss against the corner of Doojoon’s mouth. “See you at six.”
As they walked away, with Cheon making kissey noises for her paper horses and Gikwang casting him amused looks over her head, Doojoon had to wonder just what the hell he’d gotten himself into.
~*~*~*~
go to Chapter 2
Length: chaptered
Author: M_K Yujji
Rating: pg-13 (rating subject to increase in later chapters)
Genre: AU
Pairing/Characters: Doojoon, Gikwang, Yoseob, ofc of the child and grandmotherly varieties
Warnings: RPS
Disclaimer: Though real people are used as characters, this fic bears no resemblance to Real Life and these people are not owned by me.
Comments/Notes: Right, so anyone who knows me knows that I watch way too many cop dramas and murder mysteries and that I'm a sucker for tough mercenary/cop/soldier getting drug into the family life. Loved all the James Bond movies (I almost called this From Seoul With Love, lol. and I still might change the title eventually) I've done my best to avoid a flat out WiP chaptered fic in this fandom, but we all knew it was a matter of time, right? >_> Yeah.
Inspired by snb123's prompt of DooSeob as spies, although this really has nothing to do with spies at all. ^^;; And I'm still working on her actual spy fic.
Also, if anyone knows the group picture where Yoseob is standing in between Dongwoon (who's sitting) and Gikwang (who is leanging against something?) and is wearing the all black with the ass kicking boots and actually manages to look like a badass instead of a kid playing at it? :x That would be another large piece of the inspiration for this. ^^;; it's one of my wallpapers.
Summary: Doojoon is a gay reporter with too many enemies in too many places, the divorced father of a beautiful little girl. Gikwang is his deceased ex-wife’s last husband and the closest thing he has to family since his blood relatives disowned him. When an assassination attempt almost kills them all, Gikwang calls in a favor.
As if Doojoon's life isn't already complicated enough...
~*~*~
“I don’t like this, Gikwang.”
Gikwang sighed and nodded. “I know. You’ve said that a million times already. We’re out of options.”
“I’m uncomfortable meeting him at all. Why would he insist that we bring Cheon?” Doojoon held his daughter closer. “Maybe he’s one of them.”
The younger man stopped walking for a moment, a hurt look crossing his face. “Doojoon, I would never do anything to put Cheon in any more danger than she’s already in. If you don’t trust me in anything else, trust me in that.”
Doojoon bit his lip and glanced away. He did trust Gikwang. They’d been friends for a long time and their lives had gotten so intricately entangled over the years. Gikwang was closer to him than his blood family, far more of a brother than his actual brother who hadn’t spoken to him in years.
And he knew how much Gikwang loved Cheon.
“I’m sorry.”
Taking a deep breath, Gikwang shook his head before continuing on. “It’s okay. We’re both a little paranoid right now.”
A little paranoid didn’t quite cover it. They’d been jumping at shadows for weeks, questioning every single thing anyone said or did around them.
Doojoon pressed a kiss to Cheon’s hair as the little girl sighed in her sleep and snuggled closer to his neck. The cast on her arm was a hard, heavy weight on his shoulder, a reminder of just why they’d been backed into this corner.
He’d always accepted the risks in his life.
Those risks had never come so close to taking away the most important person in his world before.
“So who is this guy anyways?” Gikwang had called him an ‘old friend’, but been largely close mouthed about anything else. “I’ve never heard you mention him before.”
Gikwang shrugged as he finally spotted the small restaurant they’d been looking for. He glanced back at Doojoon and Cheon as he led the way, a hooded look in his eyes. “Military buddy.”
“Ah.” Doojoon shut up, then, not knowing what else to say. Gikwang seldom talked about the time he’d spent in the military. Doojoon got the impression that he’d been in some kind of special task force and that whatever he’d seen and done had been bad… The kind of stuff that gave the man night terrors and made him dangerous to approach from certain angles in the dark. “You sure he’s going to be willing to help us?”
“He owes me a favor.”
“But this could get him killed.”
Shrugging, Gikwang glanced around the street before opening the door and gesturing for Doojoon to go in. “It won’t matter.”
That wasn’t very reassuring. Doojoon wasn’t sure he wanted to meet someone who didn’t consider the threat of death to be an important consideration, but as they entered the restaurant, he had a feeling it was too late to back out.
“Ah, Kwangie, it’s been so long!” A matronly woman pulled Gikwang into a hug and clucked over him. “You never write, you never call… I would almost think you don’t love this old woman anymore!”
“Sorry, Granmama.” Gikwang laughed, a blush staining his cheeks as he hugged her back. “You know how it is… life gets in the way.”
She accepted the excuse with a knowing look and a nod. Then she turned and gave Doojoon a look up and down, her eyes narrowed in consideration. “You, I don’t know.”
“Umm.. Yes, ma’am.” Doojoon offered her a small smile, trying to be polite. “Yoon Doojoon.” Reluctantly, he nodded towards the small girl in his arms, glad that Cheon remained asleep even though he hated the medication that made her so sleepy. “This is Cheon.”
“I’m Yunja. This is my place.” She waved a finger at him. “You behave in my place, you understand? I will throw you out if you bring trouble in here.”
“….” Doojoon glanced at Gikwang who just shrugged helplessly. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Hmph. Anyone else and he wouldn’t bring you back here. Only because it’s Kwangie who asks for help.” Yunja sighed and shook her head before holding her arms out for Cheon. “Here. I’ll keep the little one while you boys catch up. Talk like that isn’t something for little ears.”
When he hesitated, Gikwang nudged him. “She’ll be okay, Doojoon. Granmama raised a lot of kids over the years.”
She snorted. “Yes, half of you weren’t even mine and none of you ever come back to see me.”
It was only because of how much he trusted Gikwang that he finally handed his daughter over. She made a soft noise of protest, clinging to his neck with her good arm. “Hush, baby. It’s all right.”
Once she was safely in Yunja’s arms, she blinked sleepy eyes at him for a moment before drifting back off to sleep.
“All right, then,” Yunja nodded towards the back. “You remember where to go?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Gikwang smiled and led the way towards the back of the restaurant.
Doojoon waited til they were out of earshot before whispering, “Granmama? She doesn’t look old enough to be your grandmother.”
Not that he’d ever met any of Gikwang’s actual family. It was another subject the man avoided.
“You’d be surprised. She’s looked almost exactly the same as long as I’ve known her.” His friend shrugged. “I spent a lot of time here growing up. A lot of us from the neighborhood did. We all called her that, though I think Seobie is the only one she was actually related to.”
Two young women glanced up from their tasks as Gikwang led Doojoon through the back, but no one offered them any obstruction. One of Gikwang’s hands trailed over worn grooves in the wall as they went up a flight of stairs. “We did this, Seobie and I… Granmama was so mad when she realized it.”
“Sounds like more than a ‘military buddy’,” Doojoon said softly.
Gikwang shrugged. “We grew up together. Joined together, served together. It … changed him.” He sighed and shook his head. “Hell, it changed us both. When I got out, I just wanted to get as far away from all of it as I could.”
“Which meant getting as far away from me as you could.”
They glanced up to see a young man leaning in an open doorway watching them. He wore black, from the cargo pants and tank top to the steel toed boots and gun holsters strapped around his torso. It made the white blonde hair more striking.
An old scar, faded and white, trailed down from somewhere near the back of his ear and disappeared into the top of the tank top. Another, smaller but no less eye catching, ran from just above his left eyebrow all the way to his hairline.
His cheeks were still rounded with youth and if Gikwang hadn’t already said they’d grown up together, Doojoon would have sworn the man was little more than a boy. Until he got a closer look at the hooded eyes and the way the man held himself, all grace and poise like a predator waiting for the right moment to swoop in for the kill.
Doojoon shivered slightly and wondered if this Seobie was what people meant when they used the term ‘baby-faced killer’.
“Seobie.”
“Kwangie.”
The pair stared at each other for a long moment before Gikwang smiled a pained little smile and reached out with one hand. The other man stared at it for a long moment before reaching back, grasping Gikwang’s hand, and pulling him into a hug. “I’m surprised the old lady didn’t give you more flack downstairs. You didn’t have to stay away from her to stay away from me, you know.”
Despite the tone, Doojoon got the impression that the man was only scolding Gikwang for not keeping in touch with his grandmother… That he understood Gikwang’s need to avoid him and memories they shared.
“It’s good to see you,” Gikwang said softly, holding onto the other man tightly. “I should have stayed in touch.”
Yoseob shrugged as he pulled back. “You needed out. No shame in that. Not after… everything.”
Gikwang smacked his head and pulled Doojoon forward. “This is Doojoon. My… umm..”
He bit his lip and stared at Doojoon with wide eyes.
Doojoon could sympathize. Their relationship had gotten annoyingly complicated over the last couple of years.
Luckily, Yoseob just snorted. “Yeah, yeah. I know who he is.”
Most of Korea knew who he was. That was half of his problem. He was an extremely visible, high profile target. Still, Doojoon managed to dredge up a semblance of a smile. His mother had ingrained politeness into him that he still tried to follow even if she, like the rest of his family, hadn’t been particularly welcoming recently. “Hello, Yang-sshi. Thank you for taking the time to meet with us.”
Dark eyes gave him a long look over. “Kwangie wouldn’t have called me if it wasn’t important.”
Beside him, Gikwang flinched slightly even though there’d been no accusation in the man’s voice. Doojoon wondered how much of the distance had been because he needed to be away from the memories and how much had simply been Gikwang feeling too guilty to face Yoseob once he’d gotten over the worst of it.
Yoseob caught the flinch and rolled his eyes, smacking Gikwang in the back of the head before gesturing into the room he’d obviously been in before they’d come up the stairs. “Idiot.”
Doojoon’s lips twitched as Gikwang pouted. “Yah, Seeooobiee.. Why are you so mean?”
“If you weren’t an idiot, I wouldn’t have to be mean.” Yoseob replied loftily, turning a chair backwards and settling into it, his arms crossed over the backrest. He gestured towards the two other chairs around the small table.
Once everyone was settled, he nodded to Doojoon getting right down to business. “So the accident was on the news, no surprise there, but while there’s been a lot of speculation I haven’t really seen a lot of facts being offered.”
“It wasn’t an accident.”
“Yeah, I gathered.” Yoseob didn’t roll his eyes or let any sarcasm drip into his voice so Doojoon couldn’t really tell if he was being patronized, but he bristled slightly regardless.
“The brake lines were cut,” Gikwang offered quietly, glancing away. “Most of the evidence burned up when the tanker exploded, but I was driving.”
He went on to explain what had happened in the same quiet, toneless voice. Doojoon knew he still felt guilty about Cheon and the other people who’d gotten hurt. There was no need, as far as Doojoon was concerned. Gikwang hadn’t cut the wires that had caused the accident and his actions, his training, had saved a lot of lives.
Yoseob listened carefully, asking a few questions here and there for clarification, but he seemed to be taking it seriously which was more than they’d gotten from the police.
To them it had simply been another bad accident on a busy, accident-prone freeway. They hadn’t called Doojoon a crazy, paranoid freak to his face, but they’d treated him like it.
Who he was hadn’t even factored into their considerations, it had just given them more annoyances and more reason to want to wrap it up as quickly as possible.
When Gikwang quieted, Doojoon found himself pinned by those eyes again as they considered him for a long moment. Yoseob tapped his chin as he looked down, deep in thought, and Doojoon found himself staring at the man’s hands. The rest of him was tiny, smaller even than Gikwang, though obviously well toned and in peak condition, but those hands… Doojoon had a feeling that if he put one his own against one of them, it would be dwarfed.
He was still staring when one of those hands snapped fingers in front of his face and he jerked back slightly, blushing when he caught sight of Gikwang’s raised eyebrow. “Sorry, I spaced out.”
“Mmhmm…” Yoseob gave him a suspicious look, but let it go. “So who do you think tried to kill you?”
Doojoon sighed and pushed his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know. I mean… I can think of plenty of people who’d probably have a motive, but I wouldn’t have thought most of them would have gone this far… I can’t think of anyone who’d involve kids.”
Cheon hadn’t been the only child out there that day.
“They didn’t care, Seobie.” Gikwang looked away. “They didn’t care who got hurt or how many people died.”
Nodding, Yoseob twisted around and grabbed something off of a shelf behind him. When he dropped the files on the table, Doojoon couldn’t help but gape slightly. “How did you get these?”
Yoseob just snorted and shook his head. “I’m very good at what I do and so are the people I work with.” He fanned out the photos from the police report. “The first thing you should know is that the police lied to you.”
“Huh?”
“Well, someone in the police lied to you, at any rate. All of the evidence didn’t burn up. And someone knows it wasn’t an accident.” He pushed something towards Doojoon. “These have been doctored. Damned professional job of it too. If my guy wasn’t a fucking computer and forensic Einstein, even we wouldn’t have caught it. We haven’t been able to figure out who the mole is, though.”
Doojoon felt numb as he thumbed through the reports and photos. And stupid, too. It hadn’t even occurred to him that he could be facing police corruption. He let out a bitter laugh and rubbed his eyes. “Some investigative reporter I am. I didn’t even think…”
“Your daughter was in the hospital, I think you can be forgiven for being too stressed to consider all the angles.” Yoseob’s voice was sympathetic. “Besides, like I said. It wasn’t exactly easy to catch.”
“So professional enough to have cops on the payroll and vicious enough to kill kids…” Gikwang sighed and dropped his head onto his arms. “Does that help us narrow it down at all?”
“Not really,” Yoseob said, shrugging. “D.W. Is going through the evidence personally, but I think it’s a dead end.”
“So you can’t help us after all,” Doojoon said quietly, feeling bleak. He’d been so adamantly against coming to this man for help, but somehow he’d still let himself hope.
“I didn’t say that.” Another handful of folders were sat in front of him. “Over the last year and a half, you’ve had three car accidents, one nasty fall, a little more than half a dozen close encounters with gang skirmishes - four of which actually ended up getting you shot, one of those almost fatally - and you were nearly gored by a bull… Ah yes, and who could forget… you were drugged at the club you frequent. Twice.”
Doojoon twitched slightly. “I’m a reporter. I lead a dangerous life.”
Yoseob arched a brow. “Ever consider a career change?”
Every day since the accident, though he wasn’t about to admit that aloud. “No.”
“Hmm, I guess idiocy is contagious.”
“Hey!”
“It’s never spilled over onto my family before.”
“I’d say the risk spills over every day.” The man pulled out one of the reports - the near fatal shooting, Doojoon realized - and stared at it before sighing. “Have you ever stopped to consider what would happen to your daughter if you got yourself killed?”
Doojoon swallowed but stayed quiet, not really wanting to think about the answer to that question.
“Luckily, D.W. Looked through all of this stuff too.” Yoseob traced his finger over something in the report after he sat it back down before moving along to the others. “Your job is dangerous, but there’s a pattern here.”
Giwkang leaned in closer an intent look on his face before he glanced up. “It’s the same attacker?”
“I think so. Not all of them, of course. Some of them seem to actually be random, but no one is this unlucky.” Yoseob flicked a long finger over the near fatal shooting again. “And that weapon is no amateur gang crap. It’s professional. The sort of thing I’d use.”
“Did you?” Doojoon asked, his earlier suspicions stirring slightly again at the words.
Yoseob’s smile was cold and predatory. “If I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead.” He raised two fingers and mimed shooting at Doojoon. “When I shoot, I don’t miss.”
Doojoon shivered slightly and looked away. He had a feeling that wasn’t just empty bravado or egotistical bragging.
“Okay, so can you ask around, find out who the hitman is?” Gikwang was frowning at one of the files as he spoke, and Doojoon sighed. He hadn’t told his friend about all of the incidents Yoseob had just laid out before them, only the worst ones that he hadn’t been able to keep under wraps.
“I don’t think it’s a professional.”
“But you just said-”
“I said they were using professional grade weapons. None of these are professional work. I went out to look at some of the scenes… I found at least a dozen different sniper locations that would have been far more effective. Car accidents are messy. You can’t contain the collateral damage unless you’re driving the second vehicle and then you run the risk of being identified. And your ‘fall’… Only an idiot thinks that you’re going to kill someone with a twenty foot drop. A professional would have knocked you off of a skyscraper … if they were going for a suicide angle.”
Gikwang was quiet for a moment. “I only called you yesterday.”
“Yeah, well… Like I said. The accident was all over the news.”
“You knew I’d be calling.”
Yoseob shook his head in denial but didn’t look at Gikwang. “No. They almost killed you. I’d have been looking into it regardless.” He looked up at Doojoon. “The attacks are escalating. You pissed someone off but good.”
“I’m an investigative reporter. I expose a lot of criminal secrets.” Doojoon sighed. “I piss off a lot of people.”
“So I’ve noticed. The good news is that amateurs running around trying to pose as professionals and making a mess piss people off too. I’ve already put out the word about the weapons.” He shrugged. “They had to get them from somewhere and the market is more exclusive than you’d imagine. Hopefully someone will know something. The bad news is that I’m not sure any of you will be safe while we snoop around.”
“You think they’d attack again so soon?” Gikwang’s voice wasn’t surprised, just bleak.
Yoseob stood up and moved to the window, pulling the curtain back slightly and nodding towards something. “You’re being followed.”
“What?” Doojoon hopped up and looked.
Sure enough, there was a dark car parked at the corner. Two men with shades on were watching the restaurant entrance with far more intent than it would have warranted otherwise.
“Amateurs.” Yoseob snorted and shook his head as he let the curtain drop. “They weren’t that far behind you. I’m surprised you didn’t notice them yourselves.”
“I was distracted,” Gikwang offered in a small voice, pressing one fist to his forehead.
Doojoon twitched the curtain back for a second look. “They look professional to me.”
“No, they look like two guys who’ve seen too many movies. A professional doesn’t follow you. A professional finds out where you’re going, gets there first, and sets it up so he can listen well out of view. You never know he’s there.” Shrugging, Yoseob sat back down. “But then again, I’m sure they had plenty of opportunities to kill you on the way over if you didn’t see them at all and they didn’t. Which doesn’t fit with the pattern.”
He sighed and went back to tapping his chin. “The whole mess is confusing. I don’t like it.”
“So what do we do?”
“You don’t do anything. You live your life as usual.”
Frowning, Doojoon glanced up to see if Yoseob was serious. “Someone is trying to kill me. Someone almost killed my daughter. You can’t just expect me to -”
“I can, and I do. Look, I’m still not sure what’s going on here or who the target is. Once I know, I can deal with it. Until then, the only thing I can do is protect you as best I can.”
“Seobie… Won’t they just go to ground with you around? You can’t guard us 24/7 for the rest of our lives.”
Yoseob quirked a grin. “They’ll only spook if they know who I am and what I’m doing. Luckily for you, I have an established cover. My presence won’t be suspicious at all.”
Doojoon shared a skeptical look with Gikwang. “I don’t understand.”
“I just so happen to be your amazingly adorable, semi-stalkerish on again off again lover.” He made an exaggerated sad face. “Your marriage fell apart because of me, which is horribly sad, but who can stand in the way of true love? And since Gikwang married your ex anyways, it all worked out in the end... Even if you do refuse to make an honest man of me."
Doojoon’s mouth fell open and he shook his head. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“On the contrary.” Yoseob’s expression turned serious as he leaned closer. “I always knew you were going to get Kwangie into trouble… I’ve spent years cultivating this cover." He waved a hand in the air, adopting a careless look. "There are dozens of witnesses who can testify to the fact that I follow you around like a puppy whenever you come to the club and that I’ve left with you on more than one occasion. The bartender will swear on his mother’s grave that he’s had to listen to me wax poetically about your eyes for hours on end. Your doorman knows me. Half of your co-workers know me. Hell, your amateur followers know me. They were at the hospital while you were in surgery… I was very pathetic and hand-wringingly worried about you and Cheon, but of course I knew it would be inappropriate for me to show my face while your mother was there.”
“My mother-” Anything Doojoon might have said to Yoseob’s words ground to a halt at that. No one had told him his mother had come to the hospital.
“She was worried about you,” Yoseob said softly. “But she asked the nurses not to tell you.”
Gikwang was staring at Yoseob. “Seobie…”
Yoseob looked away with a sigh. “Look, you needed to be away from me and I respected that. But if you honestly thought there was any way in hell I was letting you run around without some way of protecting you if the need arose, then you’re dumber than I ever accused you of being. Especially when you took up with this charmer here. He has a lot more enemies than either of you realize.”
“You drugged me,” Doojoon said, trying to piece together what was missing from the picture. “I never filed reports on those… You did it.”
“No,” Yoseob shook his head. “But I was there and I dealt with it.”
Doojoon’s eyes slipped closed and he struggled to remember past the fog that had blanketed both of those nights. There was nothing, though. His memory blanked out sometime in the club and didn't pick back up til he'd woken in his own bed the next morning.
His system had never handled drugs particularly well. He’d just been thankful neither case had ended with him in the hospital. “You brought me home.”
“It certainly helped my attempts to establish a cover in your life.” Yoseob’s expression was amused. “You’re very... handsy when you’re inebriated. Your doorman got to see a little more of both of us than I’m sure he’s comfortable with.”
“Did we have sex?” Doojoon asked, not sure how he’d handle it if the answer was yes. Yoseob wasn’t unattractive, but he was dangerous and Doojoon hadn’t been in the position to be entirely consenting.
The man smirked. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Then the grin slid off his face and he shrugged. “You should thank me, really. The first guy who drugged you had every intention of fucking you in the most degrading ways possible and filming it so he could blackmail and humiliate you. Apparently one of your expose’s on some seedy club ruined his life and he wanted to return the favor.”
“I suppose he told you that?”
“He did, in fact… it was mixed in with the rest of the babble while he was begging me to let him go and promising he’d seen the error of his ways.” Yoseob propped his chin on his hand as he watched Doojoon process that. “The second was supposed to drop you off somewhere. He didn’t know who’d hired him or what they wanted with you. All he knew was that he’d been paid ten grand and he’d get another ten once you were delivered.” His grin returned. “I took you home that night, too.”
Doojoon scowled at him.
“As per established at the hospital, I’ve simply gotten tired of sitting on the sidelines waiting for someone to think to tell me you’re dead. I’ve insisted that I be acknowledged and allowed to be with you on a more official basis.” He glanced up at the ceiling. “Mr. Lee was very sympathetic. He said I deserved to be more than your dirty little secret.”
“I don’t have dirty little secrets.” The entire point of coming out to his family after the divorce had been so there would be no more secrets… no more lies. His honesty had cost him dearly, but keeping up the lies had been just as bad.
“None that you know of,” Yoseob replied absently, tapping his chin. “Hmm… I wonder….”
“You wonder what?” Gikwang asked. He’d stayed quiet through most of the conversation, but Doojoon expected he’d be hearing about his carelessness once they were gone. To get drugged once in a club was an understandable mishap. Things happened. Twice? Even Doojoon wondered at his own lack of vigilance.
Yoseob’s face cleared and he shrugged. “Nothing.”
He sat straight again. “When you get home, let your doorman know to expect me. I’ve got to make a few quick stops and swing by to check on D.W’s progress. Don’t worry about the guys following you. Gikwang can handle them in a pinch, but I don’t think they’re going to do anything.”
“You don’t think?”
Yoseob shrugged. “Call it a hunch, but if they’d wanted to kill you, they could have done it already. They’re just watching.” Standing, he grabbed a long sleeved white shirt and tugged it on. “C’mon.
Leaving the files scattered on the table, he led the way downstairs, back through the kitchen.
At the register, Yunja was coloring pictures with Cheon. Both females glanced up at their approach.
“Daddy! Papa!” Cheon beamed at them, hopping down awkwardly from her chair and holding up one of the completed pictures from her pile. “Granmama helped me draw a horse for you!”
Doojoon smiled and took the picture. “Woah, that’s a really good horse.” He looked at her with perfect seriousness. “Can we ride it home?”
She giggled and smacked her good hand at him. “Daddy’s so silly. It’s a paper horse! You can’t ride a paper horse.”
His heart swelled. His marriage had been doomed from the start, but it had given him Cheon and that had made every bad moment worth it. She was almost seven, but tiny for her age with a sweet smile and a gregarious personality that he thought was more Gikwang’s doing than his or her mother’s. She’d been quieter since her mother had died, but was slowly coming back to herself. The accident and her injuries hadn’t hurt her progress, thankfully.
Yoseob stepped around him and crouched down so that he was level with the little girl. The pair stared at each other for a long moment before Yoseob held out a hand. “Hello, my name is Yoseob.”
Part of Doojoon wanted to pull this dangerous man away from his daughter, but he held himself still. It sounded like Yoseob intended to be around a lot in the near future, probably even moving in if his words had been any indication. This meeting would decide whether or not he’d allow it or put his foot down and insist they find another way.
She stared at his hand for a long moment before looking back at the man, her eyes traveling down to the gun that was peeking out of his shirt and up to the bright white blond hair. Then she searched his eyes before slowly reaching her own hand out. “My name is Cheon. I’m seven years old.”
“Yeah? Wow… That’s pretty old. You must be really smart, then, right?”
Grinning, Cheon shook his hand hard even as she curtsied. Gikwang had started showing her old movies with princesses and courtiers and she’d been mimicking them when she played. Doojoon dreaded the day she decided she wanted to be more like the knights than the princesses and started tearing around the house with sticks pretending to ‘joust’. No doubt Gikwang would be right alongside her. “My daddy says so!”
“Well, your daddy is pretty smart too, so I bet he’s right.” Yoseob smiled back. “Let’s be friends, okay?”
“Okay!”
He picked her up gently and deposited her in Gikwang’s arms. “Say baibai to Granmama.”
“Baibai, Granmama!” Cheon parroted obediently, waving her hand at the older woman.
“Bye, little bit,” Yunja crooned, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she smiled at the little girl.
Yoseob led them to the door, holding it open so they could step out. Before Doojoon could leave, though, Yoseob’s hand reached out to snag him back.
“Wha-” His words were cut off as a warm, firm body pressed against him and soft lips captured his own. In some dim corner of his mind, Doojoon knew that it was an act - something to convince their observers of their fictitious relationship. Mostly that was lost under the the realization that whatever else he might have been, Yoseob was a damned good kisser. The smaller body fit against his perfectly and Doojoon’s arms slid down and around Yoseob’s back without any conscious thought on his part. He lost himself in the kiss, exploring and teasing, tasting the sweetness of spearmint on Yoseob’s tongue, pressing as close as he could manage.
It wasn’t until Cheon started giggling that awareness returned and he realized that he’d backed Yoseob against the door.
Yoseob’s smile was lazy with satisfaction as he stretched up to place a chaste kiss against the corner of Doojoon’s mouth. “See you at six.”
As they walked away, with Cheon making kissey noises for her paper horses and Gikwang casting him amused looks over her head, Doojoon had to wonder just what the hell he’d gotten himself into.
~*~*~*~
go to Chapter 2