Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hey baby, that's a fine looking ass ya got there. How much ya chargin'?” A man yells behind her, his voice rough and scratchy. Most likely from years of smoking, sucking in nicotine and shrivelling up his lungs to sad, cancerous lumps in his chest. She can almost see the scratchy 5 o'clock shadow covering his wrinkled chin. An old man judging by the old speech patterns. And experienced with this type of thing based on the forth coming nature of his request.

She rolls her eyes. “Nice try, old man. But if you knew us well enough you'd know all the good girls get off at 4.” She yells back. The only thing lighting the street around her is the dim headlights of his rumbly old car. She should be scared, a lady as small as her at half past 4 in the morning, walking home alone in the dark with a sketchy old man hitting on her. But she's been in this business long enough to handle herself.

“That so?” He chuckles, a small wheeze and a cough coming out at the end. “Well how about you help an ol' fart like me get off at 4, too?”

She snorts. “I made my money tonight. Maybe come back tomorrow and see if I'm still around, yeah?”

The sound of a car door shutting and footsteps echo from behind her. Before she knows it there's a big hairy hand grasping her wrist and flinging her back towards him. He grabs a hold of her and spins her around, keeping her held against his belly tightly with one hand on her ass. She can smell the alcohol on his breath from this close. It doesn't surprise her really, with such a big beer gut he probably wakes up and fills his morning cup of joe with vodka shots.

“Come on, sugar, I gotta lotta money” He sing songs, words slurred slightly. She pushes herself off him.

“I may be a hooker but I'm still a lady, ya old bag of lard! Treat me with respect or you ain't getting shit!” He's obviously taken aback by her surprising strength for a moment and re-evaluates his plan. She mentally thanks herself for all the hours she spends at the gym for moments like these.

“Alright, I'm sahrry.” He says, waving his hands around. “I just want a quick blow. I'll give you three fifty for it, since it's late and yer already off work and all. Consider it a personal favour.”

“I don't do personal favours.” She says. “But for $350... I can give you one quick blow, alright? I'm tired after working for so long.”

He grins. “I knew you couldn't resist the big bulge of cash.”

~roughly 30 minutes later~

She wipes her mouth and shoves her chest back in the skimpy dress she's got on. “That good enough for ya?” She says, stepping form the car and spitting on the ground.

The man laughs and wheezes, a heavy sigh coming from him. His pants still down, he starts the car. “It was perfect, doll. Keep the tip.” And he speeds off, tires screeching through the night.

She begins counting and smiles to herself. “Damn, the guy gave me a whole $400... and he wasn't even that dirty down there. Hopefully he comes back tomorrow and I can get another couple hundred off him.”

She begins walking home again and as soon as she turns the corner to her block her phone rings.

“Hello?” She answers. “Honey, I'm on my way home now, okay? Mommy's at the end of the street. She'll be another 10 minutes, don't worry. Okay. Mommy loves you. Bye bye.”

She sighs. “Fuck...” She curses to herself, inhaling deeply, only to exhale abruptly. “What the fuck is that smell?”

A heavy metallic stench fills her nostrils. She walks further, covering her nose. Eventually she reaches an alleyway 3 buildings from her apartment and the smell gets too intense. She vomits at the corner behind the building, hiding herself from view of her apartment in case her daughter is watching through the windows for her.

“At least it got that old cunts cum taste out of my mouth.” She muses to herself. But as she looks into the alley she sees something on the ground. It looks like someone laying on the ground. “Fuck, did another druggy OD?” She whispers.

Approaching slowly, she takes out her phone and turns on her flashlight. Her heels splash as they hit some sort of sewage on the ground. Only when she turns on her phone's flashlight she realizes it's not sewage. It's a crimson, syrup, covering the ends of her stilettos.

Blood.

She follows the trail up to a body lying on the ground ahead of her. 2 large gashes in the persons back, lying face down in a pool of their own blood and old cigarette butts.

“Holy shit...”

~The next morning~

His shoes slap on the ground as he steps from the old car he's been driving since college. Wiping the sweat from his brow he takes a look around him. Police tape covering the area and officers surrounding the area, writing notes and taking pictures for evidence later.

His partner steps from the passengers seat, heels clacking loudly and hair bouncy in a pony tail.

“Fuck, the weather today is ridiculous.” She says. “How are you wearing a shirt and tie with an under shirt right now?”

“I honestly don't know. Probably a bad decision on my part.” He responds.

“You should text your fiance to bring you a change of clothes when we're done here.” She grins, poking him in his side. “I still can't get over the fact that you proposed. Adorable. I've been waiting for this for years and you finally got the guts.”

“Shut up, noona!” His skin goes strawberry. “I was afraid he would say 'no'.”

“Oh my god, Jungkook.” Dawon rolls her eyes. “It's Hoseok, for god's sake! He's nuts about you, he would have said yes in his sleep if you had asked him.”

“He seemed distant for a while, I couldn't be sure!” Jungkook defends himself.

“Because he was trying to hide the fact that he was searching for a ring for you!”

“I know that now.”

“Detectives! Enough about Jeon's love life. We've got a corpse here just waiting to be assessed.” A tall man yells from the alleyway to them. They walk through to the body laying in the shade created between the buildings on either side. A man in his late 30's lies on the ground, clothes ripped and soaked in blood. His body is contorted, with one arm held pinned underneath his chest. 2 large gashes in his upper back that stopped leaking blood hours ago.

“He's been dead a while.” Jungkook states, crouching down and feeling a patch of non bloodied skin. “Ice cold.”

“No decay as far as I can tell, though.” Dawon points out.

“Forensics put time of death between 12 and 14 hours ago.” Jungkook and Dawon's boss Seungmin says. He stands at a towering height of over 6 feet tall. The height alone intimidates most of their coworkers, but with him being able to bench press Dawon even while drunk(as he's demonstrated before) he rates as possibly the scariest man on the team. No one would guess he's actually a teddy bear in disguise had they not seen it happen with their own two eyes.

“Did they state cause?” Jungkook asks, despite the clear answer.

“Uh, did you even look around?” Dawon asks, gesturing to the blood covering the alleyway around them. “I'm gonna guess blood loss, probably from the massive gashes on his back.”

Seungmin sighs, shaking his bald head. “I regret promoting you.” He speaks, his voice a deep baritone. “You're too sarcastic.”

“No you don't, abeoji.” Dawon grins. “You love me!”

“I'm not your father, detective.” He protests, despite the involuntary curl of his lips.

“You're somebody's father. 3 somebody's to be exact.”

“Well look here we've got a smarty pants.” Seungmin chuckles. “But not the smartest clearly, as blood loss is not cause of death.”

“What?” Dawon asks.

“Ha.” Jungkook teases, sticking his tongue out. “One to nothing.”

“Shut up you little rat.” Dawon growls.

“Cause of death is a puncture wound in the back of the skull. Very small, but it severed the brain stem.” Seungmin says. “I'm leaving the rest of this up to you. It's your third case now together, you should be able to handle this one without my constant supervision, right? I have to get stuff ready for my daughters birthday party tonight.”

“We got it, boss.” Jungkook nods.

“Alright, good.” He smiles, patting Jungkook's shoulder. “And congratulations on your engagement, Jungkook.”

“Thanks.” Jungkook smiles.

Seungmin was a part time assistant teacher for Jungkook's class on criminal psychology in his final year of university. He remembered the man as being Dawon's boss from the case that happened a few years prior in which he was involved. It was that case that made him want to pursue a career in criminal science. Dawon was close to him since she got along well with his oldest daughter who had wandered into the precinct one day looking for her dad to remind him to buy milk on the way home. He treated Dawon like his own after her parents were killed. It was through Seungmin and Dawon that Jungkook got a job here actually. He started as a criminal profiler and desk jocky, but slowly worked his way up through ranks throughout the years until he eventually landed a spot next to Dawon as an official homicide detective filling Seungmin's place when he got promoted to chief.

“They've got the woman who found the scene just down the street. She's been questioned partially but I told them to leave the bulk to you two.” Seungmin comments as he walks away. “Good luck.”

“We should probably question the girl.” Jungkook notes. “My least favourite part.”

“You can do it alone, I want to ask the officers about some crime scene stuff.” Dawon waves her hand dismissively, looking around the crime scene.

Jungkook scoffs. “You just want to leave it to me because I hate it.”

“I would lie and say no, but that's 100% correct.” Dawon grins up at him, eyes squinting shut against the bright sky. “Plus the heat is making me dizzy and I don't want to stand up and black out.”

“Bitch.” Jungkook grumbles under his breath as he walks away.

“I heard that!” She calls to him.

“And you know it's true!” He calls back, not turning around.

She clicks her tongue. “What a rude dongsaeng... he's perfect for Hobi.”

Jungkook approaches the shifty girl standing next to an officer in the sunlight. Her hair is damp with sweat and she squints past the sun rays. Jungkook nods at the officer watching her and he walks off. Pulling out his paper and pen, Jungkook clears his throat to get he attention.

“Hello, Ma'am. I'm detective Jeon, I just have a few questions for you.” He speaks. Just as rehearsed.

“My name is Ahn Choora, I'm 29, and I work at a bar a couple blocks from here.” She speaks quickly.

Jungkook raises a brow as he scratches the information down quickly. “That was quick. You deal with police a lot?”

She nods. “You learn to get to the point when you live in a shady neighbourhood. A lot of people have a lot of places to be. Better to be quick.”

“Fair point.” Jungkook acknowledges. “Let's start simple, when did you stumble upon the scene of the crime?”

“Sometime after 5 this morning.”

“What were you doing out at 5 in the morning?”

She shifts her weight, looking around. “Got off my shift at the bar late.”

Jungkook looks her up and down. She's wearing a short, skimpy dress and 6 inch stilettos, a faux fur scarf draped over her neck and a clutch in one hand. Her body is held tightly together, arms hugging herself and slightly hunched over. Her make up is messy, almost all traces of lipstick gone, and her hair is a mess as if someone had been pulling it. “That so?” Jungkook asks, unconvinced.

She glances at him and scowls. “Yeah. People get rowdy sometimes and make a mess. Someone has to clean it up, right?”

“Right.” He sighs, writing on his paper pad. “What brought you into the alley while you were walking home from...work?”

“The stench. I threw up and I had to know what was causing a smell so bad even I couldn't handle it. I've got a kid ya know, and if a single mother can't handle something ya know it's gotta be gross.” She shivers.

“Oh yeah? How old's your kid?”

“She's 6. So beautiful, such a smart kid. Got a lot ahead of her in life.” She smiles. “She's gonna be better than me that's for sure.”

“Right.” Jungkook sighs, upset by the sad atmosphere. “Well, I think that's all I need to know for now, thank you for your time.”

“No problem. Can I go home now? My daughter is waiting for me.”

“Yes, you can leave now.”

She walks away briskly and immediately starts making a call. Jungkook hears a muted 'mommy' but he doesn't stick around to hear the rest of whatever depressing talk is about to come from that woman and her phone. He heads back over to Dawon who's inspecting the body closely, poking around with a glove on one hand.

She looks up as he approaches. “What'd you get from the girl?” She asks, peeling the glove off her hand.

“Nothing.” Jungkook sighs. “She's a prostitute. Probably on her way home from her last appointment when she smelled the blood. She said she threw up but all I got is that this area of town is shady.”

“If someone's body could be dumped here without anyone noticing at some point around 8 pm last night this place has got to be shady.” Dawon points out. “I'm sure somebody around here saw something. Maybe a dealer or another working girl?”

“I don't know I don't think we're gonna get much from the people around here. The girl was defensive, clearly didn't wanna be talking to cops. I doubt anybody else here is gonna be any better than her.” Jungkook says. “What'd you get from the body and the officers?”

“Well he was apparently found like this. The cigarette near his face had DNA so we're going to run it for testing at the lab, but it's probably the victims. Speaking of which according to the wallet found on the person this is Kim Wooyoung, 37 year old branch manager for a local bank. We haven't found any indication about anything other than that though. He seemed like a clean dude over all. No points on his license, lived up town in an apartment, clean criminal record.”

“What was this kinda guy doing in this part of town?”

“I have a feeling that's gonna lead us to his killer.”

“My bet is on drugs.” Jungkook scrunches his face up. “These kinds of cases always end up in a drug deal gone wrong.”

“This is a pretty brutal death for a simple bad deal.” Dawon points out. “I'm gonna vote... jealousy. Maybe love.”

“Well the coroner will tell us if he had anything in his system.” Jungkook sighs, jotting down some notes on his pad. “Alright,” He calls to the officers around. “Pack it up! We're done here.”

“Good, the smell of blood is starting to make me nauseous.” Dawon grumbles.

*

Jungkook pushes through the swing door to the morgue and hikes up his jeans with one hand, phone in the other pressed firmly against his ear.

“How can we be running out of milk so fast? You're the only one in the house who drinks it.” Jungkook asks the receiver. “Wait a second... have you been feeding the stray cat outside our building?”

A short woman in scrubs turns away from the slab in front of her at the sound of Jungkook speaking. She makes eye contact and Jungkook mouths a name to her. She nods and pulls off her gloves and mask before heading into an office on the other side of the room.

Jungkook sighs. “Hyung, we can't keep him. Don't get me wrong, I want to, but our landlord said that pets have to be quiet, spayed, and vaccinated. We can't just pick up strange animals off the street, put a collar on it, and say it's ours.”

A man a few inches taller than Jungkook walks out holding a file and skimming over it before briefly glancing up at Jungkook. When he sees the phone against Jungkook's ear he grins.

Jungkook rolls his eyes. “I know, I know. Honey, listen I gotta go there's a corpse waiting for me and I think he's getting impatient. I love you, too. Bye bye.”

Jungkook puts his phone in his pocket and the head coroner smiles up at him, file in his hand completely forgotten. They have a stare down for a solid minute before the woman speaks.

“You guys gonna talk or are you just gonna eye each other up for a couple more minutes?” She asks.

“I'm waiting for it.” Jungkook mumbles.

“Waiting for what?” She asks.

“Sappy little shit.” The coroner says.

“That.” Jungkook answers.

The man runs up to him and throws an arm around his shoulders, laughing and running a hand through Jungkook's hair. “Congrats on your engagement, Kook.”

“Namjoon hyung,” Jungkook whines. “Why do you always have to mess up my hair?”

“What else would I live for other than to piss you off, just a little bit?” Namjoon grins.

“Oh I don't know, maybe the murder? You know, the case we're working on currently? The thing I came here for?” Jungkook suggests.

“Oh yeah.” Namjoon mumbles. “The dead guy.”

“Yeah, the dead guy. What did you get from the autopsy?”

“Well we confirmed cause of death as the puncture wound on the back of his skull. I had Sohee take a cast of the wound and it looks like it was some sort of small blade. We couldn't get a good idea as to the weapon exactly since whatever the killer used was moved around in the wound in an effort to obscure the type of blade used.” Namjoon says, reading the file.

“Guess they succeeded.” Jungkook comments.

“Clearly.” Sohee says, putting her mask back on as she goes back to the slab. “The cast ended up looking like some sort of morbid play dough creation.”

“But the most interesting part of the body was the slashes on his back.” Namjoon says, leading Jungkook to a body covered by a thin sheet. “2 separate strikes on his shoulder blades. They both dug in pretty deep, leaving behind most of the blood at the crime scene. Before he could bleed out his brain stem was severed.”

“Damn...” Jungkook whistles. “Alright let me see the wounds more closely.”

“Wait,” Namjoon speaks. “Before I pull back the sheet, I want to warn you.”

“Hyung, I've been looking at dead people for years, I doubt this one guy with minimal wounds considering my last case is gonna really shake me up all that much.”

“It's not the brutality of it. When he was covered in blood it was harder to see exactly what the cuts looked like but now that he's cleaned up it's much more clear. And it might... remind you of something. Something not so pleasant to be reminded of.”

“I'll be fine, hyung. Just show me the body.” Jungkook rolls his eyes.

Namjoon sighs and shakes his head. “Alright...” He pulls back the sheet revealing the body of the man Jungkook saw in the alleyway. The body lays face down, pale skin appearing dry and stiff in the lighting of the morgue.

Two deep gashes on the shoulder blades take the focal point of the image in front of Jungkook. They run vertically from equal distance away from the spinal cord about 4 inches long. The skin around is clean now and the wounds are prominent against the white surface of the back, highlighting the image Namjoon was trying to subtly hint at.

It's so close Jungkook nearly stumbles backwards. The memory surfaces, searing the image in his brain where it's been laying dormant for years. His breathing stutters and he can feel the walls close in on him. A bead of sweat rolls down his neck.

Blood covers his torso and upper thighs. His pants are soaked through and his wet shirt clings to his body. There's nothing around him anymore, all his senses have shut off. He can't hear whats happening around him, everything sounds like it's under water. He's looking around frantically, moving his eyes rapidly in all directions, but his brain isn't registering anything to see. There's people, but are there? Something is touching him. He can feel it. But he can't feel anything. He's numb, but there's pressure all over his body. He remembers eating something sweet, but there's no taste of it anymore, the only thing left is a dry desert covering his tongue and cotton balls replacing his throat. He feels sick. He feels nothing. What is that noise? Beyond the barrier, behind the water. Something is grating on his ears. He can barely hear it but it's so agonizing, so painful. It hurts.

“-ook?” Namjoon's voice pierces through, snapping Jungkook back to reality. “You okay?”

Jungkook blinks and looks at Namjoon. “Sorry, I didn't catch that. What did you say?”

Namjoon eyes him carefully, a brow furrowed. “I just went over the dimensions of the wound. I asked if it matched any type of weapon you can think of.”

“Oh.” Jungkook mumbles. “Right, uhm, I don't know. I can ask detective Jung if she knows anything. Have you gotten a cast yet?”

“Yeah.” Namjoon nods. “I just told you I had the cast setting now.” He puts down the file, covering the body with the sheet again and laying his clipboard on top. “Are you sure you're okay? You want me to get Dawon noona? Or call Hoseok?”

“No.” Jungkook barks out, too quick and too loud. “No, I'm fine. I'm just tired. I didn't sleep well last night because Hobi left the window opened and the sounds of the city kept waking me up.”

“Huh. The city sounds used to lull you to sleep when we were in college.”

Jungkook fake laughs. “I was doing a double major and a minor, what didn't lull me to sleep in college?”

Namjoon gives half a chuckle back. “Fair point.”

“Anyways, I gotta go. I have a bunch of paper work. If I run into detective Jung on the way back to my office I'll let her know to drop by later when the cast is fully set.” Jungkook says, looking at his phone for the time.

“Sohee left a couple minutes ago, you can drop the formalities here about Dawon noona.” Namjoon says. “Honestly if Sohee were here you could drop them too because they're pretty much best friends anyways.”

“Right. I'll see you later, hyung.”

“Later, Kook.”

Jungkook heads out, mind scattered in a mess of memories that are so vague they're crystal clear. He sighs and takes a step out into the fresh Seoul air. A deep inhale, a deep exhale, and he shakes his head. He can't let this shake him, hes still got the whole day ahead of him, and the full case as well.

The image of a lifeless body on the ground at his feet and blood on his shoes flashes through his mind.

It's going to be a long day.

Chapter Text

A file slaps down on Jungkook's desk right next to his hand as he reaches for his drink. It hits the wood with a loud thwap sound and Jungkook doesn't even look up to see who gave it to him. He already knows it's Dawon. She's the only person in the whole precinct who is that dramatic and obnoxious with paper work. Jungkook asked once why she always slaps paper down and she explained that she wanted to 'set the mood' of a TV police drama to shake up their boring lives.

“Do you know what this is?” Dawon asks. Jungkook can hear the smug grin in her voice.

“Looks like a file folder.” Jungkook says, typing quickly. “My guess is that it's made out of pulp. I wouldn't go so far as to rule out plastic entirely, but the style is definitely giving me paper vibes.” His chair is suddenly spun away from the computer and one of Dawon's heeled boots is placed on the seat next to his thigh. She has her tongue stuck out and her arms crossed.

“It's the autopsy report, smart ass.” She says. “And it's paper. Who would use plastic folders in a workplace?”

“What about it?” Jungkook crosses his arms, mimicking her. “And maybe some people want a more durable folder.”

“It may be more durable but it's also more childish.” She shakes her head, foot dropping to the floor. “Look at the tox screen.”

Jungkook opens the folder and skims the pages until he comes across the sheet she wants him to read. “Huh. Nothing.” Jungkook muses. “Well that sure was an interesting read. Now if you'll let me get back to my paper work that'd be great.”

He goes to spin his chair around but she stops him. He sighs. “Not so fast. Look at it. Nothing. No drugs.”

“Yeah, I got that form the negatives on everything.”

She scoffs. “Come on you little shit. You know what I'm getting at. You were wrong. It wasn't drugs.”

“Okay?” He nods. “That just opens up a million other leads we have to follow now, why are you so excited?”

“Because,” She drags out, leaning against his desk. “You were wrong. That's 1 for me. Now we're even.”

Jungkook chuckles. “That is so not one for you. Just because I was wrong, doesn't mean you were right.”

“Oh, but it does my little brother-in-law.” She grins. “I went and tracked down the girlfriend of the victim while you were eating lunch. She was angry with him, thought he was cheating.”

“Was he?”

“Don't know. But that's not important,”

“Kinda is, if he was cheating then we need to find who he was cheating with. They could-”

“It's not important because,” She cuts him off loudly. “The girlfriend doesn't have an alibi to my knowledge. And I checked his phone. He's got a pretty threatening message history with her. Some things along the lines of 'I'm gonna cut your heart out you lying bastard' or something similar.”

Jungkook whistles. “Damn.”

“Yup.” The 'p' sound popped satisfactorily. “So, what does that make it now? 2 to 1?”

Jungkook rolls his eyes. Dawon just grins. “Alright, I'll leave you to it now then. Good luck with the paper work big boy.”

“Shouldn't you be calling Namjoon hyung that?” Jungkook teases.

Her face goes red. With anger or embarrassment, Jungkook can't tell. But he takes solace in the fact that he at least ticked her off a little bit. “Fuck you, Jeon.”

“Love you too, Dawon noona!” Jungkook laughs. Her heels click angrily as she stomps away.

*

“I think I want white roses for our wedding.” Hoseok says, scrolling lazily though his phone, body draped across the couch. He's wearing nothing more than boxers as the fan blows over his abdomen, oscillating very slowly around the room. The summer heat in Korea was beginning to drive everyone slowly insane, especially Hoseok. He teaches dance classes to hyperactive kids and overachieving adults all day long so by the time he gets home he's always covered in sweat and dead on his feet.

“Doesn't white imply purity, though?” Jungkook asks, dropping his bag. He has just stepped in the door having gotten home later than his fiance for once when Hoseok greets him with the plans for the wedding. Of course they weren't seriously considering anything yet, but it always made Hoseok giddy to think of the little things and Jungkook was more than happy to watch the little grin that came every time they talked about the wedding. “We are far from pure, hyung.”

“Yeah but we could just lie and pretend we're pure.” Hoseok says.

“Wouldn't we be lying to God then? Isn't that how priests unite people in marriage anyways? Like, by the power vested in them from God? Pretty sure that's a ticket straight to hell.”

“If any of that stuff was serious we would have already sealed our place in hell from all the sodomy.” Hoseok laughs.

“Speaking of sodomy, can we have sex?” Jungkook asks. Hoseok looks up at Jungkook's abruptly unjoking tone with a raise of a brow. He puts his phone down and sits up a little, leaving space for Jungkook to sit down next to him.

“Not that I don't want to, but,” Hoseok begins, his smile from before becoming small with the sense that something is wrong. “Why?”

Jungkook sighs, plopping down on the sofa with Hoseok. He let's his head fall back against the couch. “I'm stressed.” Jungkook says, loosening his ties slightly. “And I want to destress. What better way to destress than to get off, right?”

Hoseok lets out a small chuckle. “We just got engaged. We should be tearing each others clothes off in excitement, not stress.” He holds Jungkook hand and gives it a squeeze. “What's got you down?”

“I just...” Jungkook turns his head to look at Hoseok. “I thought I was past this.” He speaks quietly.

“Past what, love?” Hoseok frowns.

“Everything. What happened in university.” Jungkook mumbles. “But I saw something today that reminded me of it and I got this horrible flashback. And I just...froze. And my senses went all wonky, and I wanted to cry.” He tears up just a little and sniffles. Hoseok rubs his back. “God, it's been years I shouldn't be this sensitive about it anymore.”

“Yes you should. It hasn't been that long, Kook. Dawon still can't even visit our parents old place without having a panic attack and it's been longer that our parents have been dead.” Hoseok comforts.

“Only a few weeks longer. And that's her parents she had a strong emotional attachment to them. This was just some guy, an ex-boyfriend.”

“Some guy you really cared about. Your first boyfriend.” Hoseok pulls Jungkook into a hug. “He died in front of you. That's really traumatizing. Your psychiatrist was surprised you even made this much progress so fast. You're allowed to be shaken up, Kookie.”

Jungkook sighs, tears flowing freely now. “I know, I'm just...God I'm such a mess.” Jungkook chuckles, blinking his tears away even though his cheeks are already wet. “Are you sure you want to marry me? I'm the worst.”

Hoseok pulls away from the hug and settles them so their sitting face to face, legs crossed and knees touching.

“Of course I want to marry you, Jungkook.” He whispers. “You're the light of my life. When I'm with you my heart beats a million miles an hour just like the first time I saw you. The best moments in my life are spent with you. When I picture a future with little Hobi's running around and a calm peaceful life in the country with 40 dogs, I imagine it all with you by my side. If I didn't have you I'd be suffering. You're the reason I wake up everyday. So yes, Jungkook, I still want to marry you. I'll always want to marry you.”

Jungkook starts crying all over again, but this time it's happy tears. “How did I get so lucky to have you?” He asks, laughing. Hoseok kisses Jungkook's tears away and then steals a kiss from his lips.

“I love you so much.” Hoseok grins into the kiss.

“I love you too.” Jungkook chuckles.

Hoseok, with his hand wrapped around Jungkook's loosened tie, speaks between kisses. “Now,” He smirks. “About that sex...”

*

Namjoon sighs, leaning against the desk with one arm propped on a stack of paper that his girlfriend clearly has yet to take care of. Dawon paces around her desk looking frantically for the paper she's managed to lose for the third time this week. Namjoon swears, if it wasn't attached to her body she'd lose her own head. “This is why you need to get organized.” He says.

“I am organized.” Dawon mumbles, digging through her purse.

“No, honey,” Namjoon lifts his hand from the paper and gestures wildly to the mess covering the surface of what Namjoon knows is definitely a desk, but he hasn't seen personally so he can't prove it to be. “This is not organized. There's papers everywhere. You have at least five folders with nothing in them and 2 staplers, without staples might I add-”

“You might not.” She growls.

“And 2 of your drawers don't even close properly anymore because of how much stuff you've been shoving into them over the years. Look at Jungkook's desk compared to yours. You can actually see the wood beneath his papers. He even has a little cup to hold pens in.” Namjoon points out, swiping a finger over the top of Jungkook's desk. “And no dust!”

“I know it doesn't look like I'm organized, but really I am!” Dawon defends. “There's a system here. My pens are usually in or around the disposable water cup I grabbed from the break room a couple months ago when I forgot my water bottle, current cases that take priority are to the right of the keyboard with the most important case touching the sticky patch on the number keys, and all these piles are holding things categorized into on-going, cold-case, tips, and dead-ends. See? I know where everything is.”

“Really?” Namjoon chuckles, eyebrow raised. “Then what is it that you're doing right now?”

Dawon walks over to the other side of her desk, standing face to face with Namjoon and making a face. “Ha, ha, I see your point.” She spins around and lifts up some things before dramatically standing up and spinning around to Namjoon.

“Aha!” She exclaims. “Here it is! Under the Mexican food take out container. See? I told you. There's a system.”

Namjoon rubs his hands up and down her arms and makes a mock concerned face. “Oh, honey... we haven't eaten Mexican food in over a week.”

She rolls her eyes. “You're the worst, why am I dating you?”

“Because I'm tall, dark, and handsome?” He grins.

She scoffs. “Tall? Yes. Dark? Maybe. Handsome?” She pauses, looks him up and down, and then shakes her head. “Nah.”

“Oh really? So you don't think I'm attractive?”

“Nope.”

“Not one bit?” He asks, sliding his arms down around her waist.

She grins form ear to ear. “Not in the slightest. A little ugly in my opinion.”

He tugs her closer to him abruptly, pulling her body flesh against his. The paper she had in her hands being squished between their bodies. Her arms instinctively wrap around his neck. “You sure about that?” He asks

His foreheads drops level with hers. “Positive.”

Leaning in and meeting half way, they kiss slowly. His hands run down her sides slightly before he pulls away. “What about now?”

“You're getting there.” She teases. “I'm gonna need some more convincing though.”

“Well I'd be happy to oblige.” He laughs.

They kiss again for a much shorter time because only moments later a voice breaks the moment, causing them to pull away with a small 'smooch' sound.

“Oh. My. God.” Jungkook gasp dramatically. “I come into my office, in my workplace, to see such an intimate act happen in front of my own eyes? This is blasphemous! This is a professional work environment, Jung Dawon-ssi. Not your personal place to play hanky-panky with our co-workers.” He shakes his head disapprovingly in the doorway to their shared office.

Dawon clicks her tongue and glares at him. “Coming from the one sporting a love mark that looks like it was given by Zeus himself over there.”

Jungkook smirks. “I know you're bluffing because I specifically remember where your brother had his mouth last night and I don't recall it being above the-”

“SHUT UP!” She screams. “Oh my god, never say these things to me. He's my little brother and you're like a toddler! I don't want to have to get a lobotomy before the age of 35.”

“I'm 25!” Jungkook squeaks.

“Weeks old!”

“Alright you two.” Namjoon butts in. “Now, now, no fighting. You don't want me to have to get Seungmin do you?” The both drop their heads and frown. A chorus of 'no's come from them. Namjoon nods. “That's what I thought.”

“But he's-” Dawon starts.

“Ah!” Namjoon warns. She frowns.

“I'm your girlfriend you're supposed to be on my side.” Dawon whines.

“I'm on the side of justice.” Namjoon jokes. “Speaking of justice, I have to go.” He checks his watch and plants a quick kiss on Dawon's cheek. “I'll see you later at home, noona. Love you.”

“Love you too, Joonie. See you.”

“Later, Jungkook.”

“Later, hyung.” Jungkook smiles.

“So,” Dawon speaks as soon as the door falls shut behind Namjoon. “What's up, cockblock?”

“I've been thinking about the case.” Jungkook says, searching through his desk for the appropriate papers. “We should talk to the victims boss and coworkers, see if they new anything we don't yet.”

“What about the girlfriend?”

Jungkook rolls his eyes. “I'm calling it right now that she didn't kill him.”

“I will be very happy to take the point when it turns out she in fact did murder her boyfriend in cold blood.”

“I just don't buy it. You mention all the time how much you wanna strangle me but you've never done it, yet.” Jungkook points out.

“That's indirectly though, and the 'yet' is a key word in that sentence. She directly said 'I'm gonna rip your dead heart out of your chest you cheating bastard'. That gives me murder-ish vibes.” Dawon quotes.

“Yeah but his heart was intact.” Jungkook adds. “And his back was cut open at his shoulder blades. That's weird. I've only seen cuts like that once before and it was weird then, too.”

“Speaking of the wounds...” Dawon sits down at her desk and starts pretending to sort out papers, not looking directly and Jungkook. “Joonie mentioned you got a little...weird...when you saw the cuts on the victims back.”

Jungkook sighs, eyes shutting tightly before turning towards his computer. “Did he now?” He asks tightly.

“Yeah.” She glances up at him. He sits straight backed and typing away at his computer keyboard, although Dawon doesn't recall seeing him turn it on yet. “If you don't want to work this case, you know if it's triggering or anything, just let me know. Seungmin would understand and he'd be happy to take over for you. I think he's getting bored just watching us in action anyways.”

“I can handle a little blast from the past. I'm better now.” Jungkook clips.

“I know, I don't doubt you're better.” Dawon is quick to explain. “But I just mean, if maybe you aren't as comfortable with it as you thought you were-”

“I'm fine!” Jungkook snaps. Dawon's eyes shoot open, startled by the outburst. She stares blankly at him eyes wide. He glances over and stops typing. Turning his chair, yet still not look at her directly, he breathes out heavily. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you, that was out of line.”

“No, it's okay.” Dawon says calmly. “I shouldn't have prodded.”

“It's just...” Jungkook sighs, slouching over. He puts his head in his hands and runs the calloused palms over his face. “How do you do it?” He whispers. “How do you look at him, the victim, and not see... them?”

When Jungkook looks up he sees Dawon staring into the distance. She looks blank, eyes unfocused and glassy. Face straight and unsmiling. She blinks very slowly, never looking away from the spot in the spot in the corner where they once housed a stray dog they found on a case a while back. The pile of old sweaters still there from the makeshift bed they formed for it to sleep on.

“I don't.” She says. “I see them. All of them. The old rural woman, the young urban girl... my parents. My innocent, human parents. I see them in every face. Just like I know you see... him. It's normal, we're only human, right?

“I just... try not to think about it, you know? If I'm not working the case in that moment, if I'm not looking at the body at that exact second, I just try and put it out of my mind. Think about something else, like their family or their life before. You can't dwell on death in our line of work. You need to focus on life. The lives of those around the victim. The life of the victim. We work to find justice and to tell the story of the people who this world has lost, and most importantly, to protect those who are still around.

“So instead of thinking of the death that occurred, I try to think of how it impacts the lives that are still here.”

Jungkook doesn't say anything. Nobody does for a moment. But then Dawon smiles and starts speaking again.

“You know,” She says. “When I was little, my mom tried this new recipe. She loved cooking so much. She told me that food is the only thing in life that's worth the money you spend on it.” She laughs. “But anyways, she tried this new recipe, and she had me try it when I got home from school. Hoseok was still too little to go to school so he was at home all day, so she could have had him try it instead, but somehow she knew I was feeling neglected with all the focus on Hoseok and his milestones and whatnot, you know walking and talking and all that, so she waited for me to come home. She kept it warm all day, and I was the first person to try it. It was this sweet and salty dessert that tasted like absolute heaven.”

As she kept talking her eyes started watering. “That was how she was showing me that she wasn't forgetting about me, that I was still her little girl, her number one princess.” She giggles, tears rolling down her cheeks. “And anytime I was having a bad time after that, anything, she made it for me. And she would always keep it warm and make sure I was the first one to eat it. When I was getting bullied in middle school, she made it for me when I came home. After my first boyfriend broke up with me in high school, she made it for me when I came home. It was her way of saying 'I see you, I see your pain, and I'm here for you'.

“When she died... I used to go home and sit in the kitchen, just like I would when I was a kid. And I just waited, for hours sometimes, for her to come in and give me the dessert. I would wait for her little way of saying 'I'm here for you'. But it never came. And it never will come again.” She wipes her face. “But what I learned from sitting there, was that I could still smile, even when I was hurting. I could still smile when I thought of the way she would walk over to the table with a little grin and a plate. I could still smile when I imagined laughing with her while I ate. Because I was focusing on her life, not her death.

“So, I know I'm not that much older than you, but, if I can pass any wisdom on to you I want it to be that.” Dawon nods, tears slowing to an almost complete stop. “Even when all you have in front of you is death and despair, there's still a beautiful, blooming life with every death that you can focus on instead.”

Jungkook has been staring intensely at her the whole time she spoke. She never once looked at him. But as soon as she's done speaking, and the tears have stopped flowing, and she's wiped her face over, she looks at him. Stares at him is more accurate, really. She looks right into his eyes, her own flitting back and forth as she looks between the right and left. Jungkook nods at her. A soft, curt nod to convey an understanding, an emotion. She nods back the same way; understood. And that's all that's needed.

Chapter Text

Jungkook inches slowly, traffic piling up and keeping them from going anywhere. Dawon scrolls through her tablet at the forensic reports and makes notes on the file on the dashboard. Jungkook just stares ahead into traffic and regrets waiting until the lunch rush to head out.

“Anything of interest?” Jungkook asks for the fourth time in 10 minutes.

“No.” Dawon sighs. “The DNA on the cigarette was too small to be tested but we're assuming it's the victims. So we need to keep our eyes out for cigarettes around his apartment while we're there.”

“I can literally see the building from here. We could just park here and walk if there wasn't a literal wall of cars surrounding us.” Jungkook grumbles. He's agitated. They've been sitting in traffic for almost 10 minutes with their destination in view but unreachable. They're on their way to the victims apartment to get a read on his personal life and see if they can get an idea of who might have killed him.

“This is why I suggested we leave later.” Dawon says. “I think I'm starting to get dizzy from seeing the same red car lights for so long.”

“I have to get stuff done early today because Jimin wants to see me.” Jungkook explains. “So I wanted to leave early. But I don't think we would have gotten here any faster at this point.”

“How is Jimin? I haven't seen him since his house warming party when he moved back into the city a couple weeks ago.” Dawon asks, distracting herself from her work as usual.

“He's adjusting. Apparently Taehyung is having a harder time adjusting back to city life than he is. But the shop is up and running and he's getting customers. Apparently he's actually seen an old regular come all the way from Busan for his famous tea.”

“That's good. I imagine Taehyung is struggling with not having as much space to stretch out his legs anymore. They had such a big yard in Busan.”

“Yeah, I mean, they tried to get a house with a yard here but still it doesn't compare to the one in Busan. Luckily they kept the house, so they can go back on vacations and everything.” Jungkook shrugs.

“Where is Taehyung teaching?”

“He recently landed a substitute position for the district around our station actually. He keeps meaning to stop by the precinct and see us when we're working but apparently he's been busy since one of the teachers at his school is on maternity leave right now and he's the one filling in for her.”

“That's good for him, I'm proud of my little Tae. I'll have to treat him in congratulations.” Dawon pulls out a pen and writes a note on her hand to remind her of this.

“Jin hyung made him a big bag of those little dog bagels and he was practically over the moon about it.” Jungkook chuckles.

“Oh! The traffic is moving!” Dawon yells.

“Finally!”

By the time they make it into the building they've driven for another 10 minutes looking for somewhere to park and the lunch rush has finally passed. They get the building manager to lead them to the room of the victim which just so happens to be on one of the highest floors of the building so they get stuck in an awkward elevator ride with a nosy old woman asking for every detail of her tenants murder.

“I bet it was his poor girlfriend. She knew he was cheating but she could never gather up the guts to break it off with him. They fought a lot though. My guess is she finally snapped.” The woman says.

“Oh, is that so?” Dawon asks, feigning interest. She gives a dirty smirk to Jungkook who just rolls his eyes.

“So, you're saying he had a girl on the side?” Jungkook prompts.

“More than one.” The lady says. “He probably had dozens of them. Boys too. I can't imagine what his girlfriend felt knowing he was sleeping with men when she wasn't around. If my husband left me for some skinny little twig of a boy I'd surely kill him. Oh, I guess I shouldn't be saying this to the police, should I?”

Finally the elevator reaches the floor of the victims apartment. The little old lady leads them to the room on the far end of the hall, unlocking the door and holding it open for Jungkook and Dawn to walk through.

“I'd stay and wait with you, but I have to finish some paperwork. The door automatically locks behind you, so I'll leave the spare key with you. Please be sure to give it back on your way out.” She says, handing the key over to Dawon and heading out.

“What did I say?” Dawon sing songs. “It's totally the girlfriend.”

“If you recall,” Jungkook says, scanning the apartment. “The ahjumma said that guy had dozens of other people he was playing around with. It could be any of them.”

“I still don't understand why we aren't questioning her yet.” Dawon whines. “She could have valuable information.”

“We haven't questioned her yet because we don't know her last name and there are literal hundreds of Hana's running around Seoul right now.” Jungkook mumbles as he steps further in.

The apartment is relatively large and decorated in a modernist style. Abstract art is placed around to add character to the apartment but it ends up making the place look more like a home decor catalogue than a real home someone lived in. What gives the sense of someone living here is the messy coffee table and scattered articles of clothing leaving a trail on the floor to the bedroom.

Dawon hums. “Look at that.” She gestures to a pair lacy panties on the floor in front of her feet. “Someone got lucky recently.”

“Think we should bag it?” Jungkook asks.

“Might as well. Could have something on it, assuming it's not his.” Dawon sighs. “And I'm gonna assume you're gonna make me do the bagging.”

Jungkook scrunches his nose up. “I don't wanna touch some strangers panties.”

Dawon rolls her eyes and pulls an evidence bag out of her bag. Jungkook walks over to the window and looks out. The windows run from floor to ceiling and look out across the nicer parts of the city. He can see a park in the distance he vaguely remembers visiting for a date once.

“Guys got money.” Jungkook notes. Dawon shuffles through a pile of papers on the table.

“No kidding.” She chuckles. “This guys got a rolex just laying around.” On the floor below the table is a watch sitting nicely face up between the rug threads.

“How does he have this much money?” Jungkook asks, walking towards the bathroom.

“Isn't he a bank branch manager? Working for a bank you gotta make a lot of money, right?” Dawon suggests.

“Well, yeah, I mean you make a bit working for a bank.” Jungkook responds, checking the medicine cabinet for any drugs. “But I can't imagine you'd make enough to live in this sort of luxury.”

“Maybe he's got a second job.” She moves over to a stack of mail on the kitchen counter and starts shifting through that.

“He'd have to to have this much stuff.” The cabinet is full of various pill bottles and vitamin bottles. There's creams and cleansers and moisturizers filling every shelf. Taking a few bottles down and checking the labels Jungkook calls out to Dawon again. “He's got a lot of expensive medication. Hair treatments for receding hairline, supplements for hair loss, some wrinkle creams by a brand I've never heard of but sure looks like it'd cost more than my wedding.”

“I can see why he needs all the hair supplies. He's got dozens of overdue bills and even an eviction notice from the owner of the apartment complex. He's probably losing hair from the stress. Maybe he could afford all these pleasures because he was stingy on paying bills.” Dawon says. “Speaking of the wedding, what's the budget looking like?”

“We don't know yet. We haven't thought too in depth about much of anything. I only proposed 2 weeks ago.” Jungkook sighs. “Although with all the things Hobi hyung texts me wanting for the wedding throughout the day that he's seen in some sort of wedding catalogue somewhere it's looking to be expensive.”

“What do you want?” Dawon asks. “I know Hoseok well enough to know he hasn't asked you what you thought yet.”

Jungkook laughs and puts the medications away, heading towards the bedroom with Dawon behind him. “You're right, he hasn't asked yet. I think he wants to name off every possible thing we could have for our wedding before we make any choices.” Jungkook steps in and walks towards the closet. Dawon heads for the bedside tables. “I think I want something small. I want us to go cheap and small on the wedding, and then blow thousands of dollars on a honeymoon travelling all around the world.”

“Ooh, that sounds romantic. Hoseok would love that, you should suggest it.” Dawon comments.

“I want to let him have his fun dreaming of a big white wedding before I overload him with the possibility of world travel.” When Jungkook opens the door of the closet he nearly gasps at the size. “Damn, this guys got a walk in, too?”

“Have you seen this bed? It's a king size. And he's got like a billion types of condoms and lubes down here in the drawer.” Dawon responds. “ And judging from the stain on the bottom of the drawer and the fruity smell wafting out of it, I'm gonna say his favourite type of lube was probably peach flavoured.”

Jungkook steps in and runs his hands over the line of suit jackets in the closet. The closet is filled with a variety of clothing for all occasions with the largest section being occupied by various button down shirts of all patterns and materials. “He's got a lot of clothes. And about a dozen pairs of shoes.”

Dawon walks over to the other bedside drawer and starts shuffling through one of the drawers. “He's got quite the collection of sex toys here.” She notes. She closes the drawer and attempts to open the one below it only to find it locked. “Hey, this drawers locked.”

“Oh yeah?” Jungkook asks, lifting up some shoe boxes. “Look around for a key.”

“Oh thanks my next plan was to disassemble the whole drawer.” Dawon remarks sarcastically.

Jungkook rolls his eyes and starts pulling out drawers of carefully rolled ties. He opens five separate drawers before he reaches a large drawer on the bottom. Opening it he finds more ties, but something doesn't strike him as quite right. “This drawer is too big to just hold one layer of ties...” He whispers to himself. As he pulls a few ties out he finds a bright pink one is glued to the bottom on one end. “Bingo.”

He lifts the whole false bottom out of the wide drawer and finds two duffle bags zipped shut. As he unzips them he finds not exactly what he thought he would, but something equally as rewarding.

“Hey noona!” Jungkook calls. Dawon comes strolling in from the living room where her search for a key had taken her a moment prior. “Check this out.”

“What is it?” She asks.

“I found out how he affords all of his riches.” Jungkook leans to the side to give a better view to Dawon.

Jungkook is kneeling on the floor with Dawon bent over above and behind him. In front of him is two black duffle bags filled nearly to the brim with wads of cash.

“Well this case just got a little more complicated.” Dawon remarks.

*

Jungkook holds his cup with both hands, waiting until they get cold and then placing on his neck. The heat is still beating down on Korea in what seems to the nation like an unending heat wave. He sips the iced coffee with a thirst he never knew imaginable. Except maybe the first time he saw his fiance naked but that's not the same kind of thirst.

Jimin sits opposite him in a loose tank top and shorts. Jungkook is jealous of this because he's wearing a shirt and slacks like the good respectable adult he isn't. The cafe bustles around them with life in the city that is undisturbed by the news of a late night murder a mere 2 days prior.

“So, you working on that case with the guy in the alley?” Jimin asks.

Jungkook sighs. “Yeah. Don't ask too many questions, I'm not allowed to talk about the case with civilians but I suck at keeping secrets.”

Jimin snorts. “I know.” He sips his smoothie and pushes his hair back. “Mom has been nagging me to remind you to call her.”

“Oh shit, I totally forgot.” Jungkook groans. “I've been a mess since I proposed honestly. I proposed almost immediately after starting vacation so we would have the whole week to celebrate, or for me to sob if he said no, before coming back to work and I was so busy the whole time and then as soon as I come back of course the first thing on my desk is a fresh murder because the city cannot rest for one freaking night.”

“Jungkook,” Jimin chuckles. “You're a homicide detective. What did you expect to be on your desk when you got back? A fluffy teddy bear and some expensive teas?”

“Korea is one of the safest countries on the planet, I didn't expect to come back to an immediate murder. I thought I would just have to tie up loose ends on old cases, fill out paperwork, maybe open a cold case or two.”

“Oh no, the actually cool part of your job, what a drag.” Jimin mocks.

“I find cold cases cooler. They're frustratingly hard to solve.”

“You're a sadist.”

“Maybe.” Jungkook grins. Jimin laughs. “So, how are you and Tae adjusting back to city life?”

“I'm falling into routine relatively well, just have to get used to all the people again.” Jungkook nods. “Taehyung is... well he's not super pleased with the house we're in right now. He claims the backyard is too small for our dog but I know it's just too small for him when he shifts.”

“I can't believe you got a puppy, that's so cute. I can't imagine how adorable Taehyung and the little fluff ball looks when they're playing together.”

“It's so cute, she likes to nip at Tae's tails when they run.” Jimin pouts. “I die every time.”

“I wonder if she misses Taehyungs gumiho form when he switches back to human form.” Jungkook wonders aloud.

“No, I think she knows it's him actually. She's got like some sort of sixth sense. Like how dogs can sense ghosts.”

“Is that real?”

“I don't know but I'm gonna assume it is.”

“What's her name again? Dawon keeps asking me but I keep forgetting.”

“It's Rae.” Jimin hums. “Because when Tae saw her he said 'well look at that little ray of sunshine'.”

“Ugh, that's adorable.” Jungkook groans. “Me and Hobi need a pet. He keeps trying to steal stray cats off the street. I'm 90% sure he's hiding one from me somewhere in the apartment right now.”

“I wouldn't put it past him. His singing would easily attract friendly animals.”

“That makes so much sense, I was wondering why we keep finding so many stray cats. It's because he's always singing that one old love song now a days.”

“That's so gay and domestic, I love it.” Jimin sighs dreamily. “You guys are too cute. I know you proposed like 2 weeks ago but I can't wait for the wedding Hobi's gonna cry like a baby it's gonna be so emotional.”

Jungkook snorts. “You say that as if you're gonna stay all dry eyed being the best man.”

“Wait seriously?” Jimin gasps. “You want me to be your best man?”

“Yeah, of course.” Jungkook shrugs. “I thought that was obvious. You're pretty much my brother anyways. Especially since Jeonghyun died.”

Jimin's lip quivers. “Oh my god, I'm gonna fucking cry, Jungkook. That was so sweet.”

Jungkook laughs. “Don't cry! You're gonna make me start crying!” Even though there's already a few loose tears in his eyes.

Jimin chuckles and wipes his tears, Jungkook following suit. “But seriously,” Jimin speaks, reaching out a hand to grab Jungkook's arm and rub it gently. “How are you? I know how tough it can be. You know I lost my mom so I know what it's like, you can be honest.”

Jungkook sighs. “I don't know. It's hard. I miss talking to him. I'm almost more at peace with his death than with...”

“Those are different circumstances, Jungkook.” Jimin speaks firmly.

“I know, I know.” He says quickly. “I've heard it all from my therapist.”

“I'm sorry, honey.” Jimin whispers.

“It's okay. I'm working on it. I'll get better eventually.” Jungkook smiles. He really does have confidence in himself to get better, he's just starting to get frustrated at how long it's taking.

“You want to see Tae?” Jimin asks after a moment of silence. “He should be at home with Rae right now.”

Jungkook chuckles. “I'd love to, but I can't. I have to get home to Hobi. He said he had something to show me. I'm willing to bet money on it being another stray cat and I have to make sure that he doesn't name it before I get there to take it away.”

Jimin laughs. “Alright well, it was really nice seeing you today. I'm actually hosting a get together at mine and Tae's house this weekend. Like we used to do at Jin hyung's back in university.”

“Oh, that sounds nice, I'll tell Hobi about it. We'll definitely be there.”

*

“Kookie!” Hoseok yells from the bedroom. “Come here! I want to show you something!”

Jungkook shuts the door behind him and kicks off his shoes. He pulls his tie loose around his neck and laughs. “If this isn't something sexy I'm gonna be really disappointed.”

“Well it depends on your definition of sexy but I'm sincerely hoping you don't find this sexy otherwise I'm gonna have to rethink our engagement.” Hoseok giggles.

When Jungkook walks in he sees Hoseok sitting on the floor, legs crossed, and a sleeping dog in his lap.

He blinks. “Hobi...” Jungkook says slowly.

“Yes, sweetheart?” Hoseok grins.

“What is this?”

“A dog.”

“Where did you find this dog?”

“At the shelter.”

“...Hyung, did you adopt this dog?”

“...Maybe.”

The dog opens it's eyes and lifts it's head up at the sight of Jungkook. It barks a little bit and Hoseok pets it to quiet it down, shushing it softly as he does.

“Hyung, I can not believe you adopted a dog while I was at work today.” Jungkook sighs. “Are you serious right now? Is this really happening? Is there a hidden camera somewhere in the room?”

“Isn't he cute?” Hoseok squeaks. “Pet him!” And suddenly there is a dog being held up to Jungkook's hips.

Jungkook pets the dog carefully, making sure it wont bite him or bark. “He's so soft.”

“I know, right?” Hoseok giggles. “His name is Mickey!”

“When did you even go to the shelter?”

“When I texted you that I had something to show you I hadn't even walked in yet so maybe like 2 or 3 minutes after that text.”

“So you just saw an animal shelter and thought 'I'm gonna go get a dog' immediately?”

“Pretty much.”

“What about the agreement we signed? Did you ask the landlord?”

“I did!” Hoseok grins. “She said that as long as he's neutered and got all his shots and doesn't bark 24/7 we can stay here.”

“Is he all of those things?”

“Yes! I mean, barking I don't know but he's only barked once since he left he shelter!”

“What about getting stuff for him? A leash, toys, food and water dish, bed, carrier-”

“They gave me a leash when I adopted him and there was a special on so we got his carrier too. I bought some cheap pet dishes from the dollar store, they're ceramic so they should last him. And he's not very big, he can sleep with us in bed. I also got him a couple little toys but honestly I've got so many stuffed animals from when I was a kid that I would be happy to donate to him, and I bought him a massive bag of dog food so he should be good for at least a week.”

“What about when we're at work? What if he gets lonely when we're not here?”

“I thought long and hard about that and I discovered that you work over time a lot and my studio doesn't open until 11 anyways so I can take him for walks before work and you can take him after work when you start coming home at a reasonable hour. Or he can come to the studio with me. And if all else fails, Jimin and Tae live in town now so he can stay over at their place with their new dog and socialize.”

“Do we have the budget for this? What if he gets sick?”

“I balanced our budget and we have more than enough to cover him if he gets sick right now. We have so much saved up and you get a nice paycheck for working homicide and running my own studio has it's perks when it comes to income.” Hoseok stands up and puts Mickey down, pulling Jungkook into an embrace. “I thought about it all, Kookie.” Hoseok kisses him.

Jungkook sighs. “You really did think about it all, didn't you?”

Hoseok grins, squeezing Jungkook's waist a little as he can already tell he's won. “Yeah.” He nods.

“And you really want this dog, don't you?”

Hoseok nods frantically. “Yeah!”

Jungkook chuckles and watches Mickey grab one of the little toys and start shaking around, little squeaks coming from the toy as he thrashes about.

“He is very cute.” Jungkook gives in. “Okay. We can keep him.”

“Yay!” Hoseok half yells. “You will not regret this! I promise!”

“You have to promise me one more thing.”

“What?”

“That you will not do this with children when we're married. I don't care how cute they are or how much they need two weird gay parents, I do not want to come home to a surprise child sitting on our couch watching TV. Got it?”

“I promise.” Hoseok laughs.

“Okay. What breed is he?”

“Shih tzu! I can't wait to show you what he looks like when he's all styled up!”

Chapter Text

Dawon sighs and wipes her mouth. The odour of vomit reeks in the bathroom as she flushes the toilet for the fourth time.

“You okay, babe?” Namjoon calls from the kitchen of their apartment.

“Yeah!” Dawon yells back, pouring a giant glob of tooth paste on her toothbrush. “Still trying to get over that flu!”

When she emerges from the bathroom Namjoon is leaning against the opposite wall and holding out a cold water bottle for her.

“You are an absolute saint.” She says, pouring the water back.

“Maybe you should skip out on work today, call in sick and get some rest.” Namjoon suggests. “You've been sick for almost a week now. I'm worried you're not getting any better because of the stress from the new case.”

“If there's any reason I'm not getting any better it's from the fact that yesterday the only the thing I ate is a slightly out of date fruit cup.” Dawon explains.

“I'm gonna force feed you one of these days. You need to eat!” Namjoon nags as usual. “You're too thin.”

Dawon rolls her eyes. “I'm just fine actually, thank you very much. I think I actually gained some weight recently. Which is a surprise considering I haven't kept anything but peanut butter, tacos and yogourt down in almost a week.”

“I'm seriously getting worried about you though.” Namjoon hugs her. “If you throw up again today I want you see a doctor. This isn't healthy.”

“Relax, I was sicker than this the time you gave me food poisoning. And I have an appointment with Dr. Kim next week, so if I'm still sick then I'll ask him while I'm there.” Dawon smiles. “I'm getting my mandatory checkup. He nags if I don't come in at least every 3 months.”

“Oh no, someone cares about your health.” Namjoon chuckles. “I wonder who else might be concerned.”

*

“We found the girlfriend.” Jungkook says as he enters their office.

“Yes!” Dawon fist bumps the air. “Now we can see that it was her and we can close the case easily.”

“Or we can see that it wasn't her and follow some actually promising leads like the bags of counterfeit money in this guys closet.” Jungkook adds. “That seems like some gang activity to me.”

“I'll admit that's strange, but I'm sticking to my instincts.”

“Lets go check out the girlfriend and see how well your instincts work out.”

“She's here?”

“Yeah she's in interrogation room 3.”

“Alright I'll meet you there in a couple minutes.”

Jungkook looks up from his phone and frowns a Dawon. “I thought you'd be more excited to question the girl you seem to think killed this guy.”

“I'm actually really hype about it but I think I'm gonna throw up again in roughly,” She checks her wrist which holds no watch. “30 seconds.”

“Oh god...” Jungkook mumbles, lifting up the garbage can by the door to hand it to Dawon. She takes it gratefully and leans over but Jungkook backs up and closes the door before he witnesses the kimbap he brought her for lunch come back out a lot less pretty than it went in.

*

When Dawon gets around to the interrogation room Jungkook is already in there so she heads for the observation room that corresponds. Seungmin is watching Jungkook question the girlfriend with a careful eye, only glancing briefly over when Dawon enters.

“Tell me about the messages you sent Kim Wooyoung.” Jungkook says with a straight face.

“I said I was gonna rip his heart out.” She answers.

“Lee Hana. 37. Kim Wooyoung's secretary.” Seungmin speaks.

“Ooh, office romance.” Dawon grins. “Maybe she killed him because he fired her.”

“No, her position was solid according to her coworkers. The couple were crazy in love or something,” Seungmin responds. “But that's not what's interesting.”

“Well, what is?” Dawon asks.

“Tell me about your husband, Lee Minho.” Jungkook says.

“She's married.” Seungmin grins.

“Oh shit!” Dawn laughs. “She's a cheater, too.”

“Oh yeah.” Seungmin chuckles.

“He's a good for nothing, joke of a man.” Hana mumbles. Dawon sees Jungkook give a slow blink before nodding. He makes some notes and stands up and leaves without a word. A few seconds later he comes walking in with the file in hand.

“It's not her.” Jungkook smirks.

“What!?” Dawon squeaks. “We can't know that yet. We haven't asked her anything meaningful yet.”

“I kind of agree with the twirp, Dawon-ah.” Seungmin shrugs. “She isn't suspicious at all.”

“I don't know whether to thank you or not.” Jungkook says.

“I want to question her! I'll get her to confess you just wait and see.” Dawon narrows her eyes.

“Go ahead.” Jungkook raises his arms in surrenders. “You'll see.”

“Give me the earpiece.”

She strolls into the room casually and slams the door shut behind her, startling Hana who had been almost dozing off in the chair.

“Hello.” Dawon greets with a smile. “I'm detective Jung Dawon. I'm here to question you.”

“Hi.” Hana says. “At least you're nice. The other guys are so cold.”

Dawon sits down and rolls her eyes. “They treat everyone like a murderer. I like to see the good in people.”

“That's beautiful.” Hana smiles softly.

“So, tell me...” Dawon flips through the file. “You were dating your boss?”

“Yes. I was dating my employer.”

“Was it a hassle to hide it in the workplace?”

“Oh we didn't hide it. The whole bank knew. Frankly, my coworkers were jealous. Wooyoung was quite a looker when he was alive.” She gives a sly look. “And he was exactly what the rumours said he was like.”

Dawon raises a brow. “Rumours? Like, how good he was in bed or he was secretly a softie behind the tsundere thing rumours?”

“Kind of both.” She says, leaning forward. “He was rumoured to be some sort of god in bed, which he was. But he was also rumoured to be an ex-gangster or something and that made him tough and cold. It was kind of hot.”

“An ex-gangster? Was that true?”

“You didn't know? I suppose it's no harm telling the cops now that he's dead...” She hesitates. Dawon nods encouragingly. Hana sighs. “He used to make fake bills. He always claimed he still had a stash hidden somewhere but I think he was just talking big. The idea that he still had some crime left in him was only really to attract people who liked bad boys. Probably how he got all those whores.”

“Oh right, he was cheating on you.” Dawon nods. “You were pretty angry about that, weren't you?”

“Well of course I was, who wouldn't be mad if they found out their partner was cheating on them?”

“I don't want to be rude but,” Dawon bites her lip. “You were cheating on your husband with him.”

Hana rolls her eyes. “I know, I know. I'm a hypocrite. I married him because he was a nice guy but I learned pretty quickly that he's bad in bed.”

“So, you're sure you didn't kill Kim Wooyoung?” Dawon asks. “Not maybe because your husband found out and threatened to leave you?”

“No. I wouldn't be too fussed if he left me to be honest. We haven't had a spark in over a year.” Hana scoffs. “ Besides, I had no reason to kill Wooyoung.”

“You had anger.”

“I was angry, sure, but not angry enough to kill him. I needed him.”

“Why would you need him? Because he's your boss?”

“No.” Hana says simply. “Because he got me pregnant.”

“Oh.”

“If he were alive he would have either had to help me raise the child or pay for me to raise it alone. He's no good to me dead.”

“Does your husband know this?”

“No. And I don't want him to. The only reason I haven't filed for divorce is because I can't raise this kid alone. I need the old fart now since the baby's father is dead.” Hana sighs. “You're not gonna tell my husband are you? He thinks it's his.”

“Not unless it's necessary to the case.” Dawon promises. “You don't look very big yet.”

“I'm 6 weeks.” She smiles.

“You don't seem very upset about Wooyoung's death.” Dawon points out. “I would have thought you would miss your child's father.”

“He was good in bed, loaded, and had a tragic backstory. I was excited to sleep with him, but he's not good father material and to be honest his personality wasn't very good.”

“Then why were you upset he cheated if you didn't really care about him?”

“Because he knew he was gonna be a father and he still slept around. He promised me he would stay with me so I could leave my husband but he kept bailing on me. I was sick of his lies.”

“I think I've gathered everything I need. Thank you for your cooperation and congratulations on the pregnancy.”

“Thank you.” Hana smiled. “And keep me updated on who killed Wooyoung. I want to know who took my potential alimony cheques.”

Dawon gives a small smile. “Of course.”

As she walks into the observation room she sees Jungkook standing with a dirty grin and his arms crossed. He stares at her for a moment while she fumes on the spot in silence.

“It's not her.” Dawon mutters quietly.

“What was that?” Jungkook asks, putting a hand against his ear. “It sounds like you said 2 to 2. Kind of like you said we're even. Was that it?”

“Fuck you.” Dawon says. “How did you know she was pregnant with his kid?”

“I didn't.” Jungkook says while shrugging. “She claimed she had an alibi and it checked out.”

“You had an unfair advantage, I vote to retract your point.” Dawon points out.

“Nope, you were wrong, I was right, it wasn't her.” Jungkook grins. “Get fucked, noona.”

Dawon turns to Seugnmin who's behind them scrolling through his phone. “Abeoji, can we fire him? Please?”

“Nope, he's the only one who will work with you besides me and I'm getting kind of sick of you, too. He can't get sick of you though, you're his fiances sister so he has to put up with you.” Seungmin grins.

“I hate this family!” Dawon swings her arms up wildly in the air like a dramatic teenager. “I'm going to live with mom!”

*

Namjoon and Dawon arrive to the dinner last. Dawon kept complaining of being dizzy and they almost decided not to come but at the last minute Dawon claimed she felt well enough to go. They're dressed up nicer than usual and she wants to meet the dogs.

“It smells like dog.” Dawon claims when they walk up the walkway.

Namjoon laughs. “That tends to happen when you have two dogs running around.”

“If the smell of dog is this strong we are never getting a puppy.” Dawon scrunches up her face.

“Yes we totally are, don't fight me on this honey you will lose.” Namjoon says. “Besides it's not even that strong.”

They knock on the door and get greeted warmly by Jimin and Taehyung with hugs and a golden retriever licking at their toes while a small shih tzu jumps around them. Dawon giggles and smiles at them.

“Okay maybe we can get dog.” She gives in.

Namjoon looks at Jimin and mouths 'we're totally getting a dog' to which Jimin lets out a laugh and a nod.

“Dawon noona!” Yoongi yells in greeting. “I haven't seen you in weeks how are you?”

“Yoongi!” Dawon yells, pulling him in for a tight hug. “I've been okay, I caught the flu so I've been sick all week.”

“And she won't take any time off!” Jungkook whines from where he sits on Hoseok's lap. “She keeps getting sick at work! I swear to god, the janitor is gonna kill her if he find another vomit filled trash can in our office.”

“Do you want to move our appointment up? I can see you probably tomorrow if I chip a little time off my break.” Jin offers.

“No, Jin, I'm fine really.” Dawon says waving her hand dismissively. “I don't need you going all Dr. Kim when we're here to have fun.”

Jin rolls his eyes. “I'm always Dr. Kim. I spent 8 years in medical school I take pride in the title and I will flaunt it all day every day.”

“Oh god, please don't provoke him, he will flaunt it and I'll have to deal with it.” Yoongi mutters.

“You're the one who asked me to marry you.” Jin laughs.

“Yeah, but you agreed! Honestly sometimes I wonder why.” Yoongi shakes his head.

“Because you're amazingly sweet and perfect to me.” Jin grins. “And you've got a nice dick.”

“Oh gross!” Dawon shrieks. “Don't mention my little brothers dick around me.”

“He's not actually related to us, noona. I'm your brother, if you recall.” Hoseok says.

“Don't remind me.” She puts a hand in his face and walks right past to flop down on the couch and sigh.

“Can I like, family divorce someone? Is that a thing? Could I just kick her out of the family?” Hoseok wonders allowed.

“I'm pretty sure you can't but you can always dream, hyung.” Jungkook suggests.

“Guys I invited you here for a reason.” Jimin announces. “Mostly because I want to drink wine and reminisce about old times so we can all be nostalgic and a little drunk, but also because we have good news.”

“Tell us what the news is then.” Namjoon says as he makes his way to sit down, everyone following except Taehyung who stands next to Jimin.

“So, after a long time of begging and pulling strings and a little bit of lying to the government-” Taehyung says.

“-it wasn't lying it was just not telling the full truth-” Jimin interjects.

Taehyung continues, “Me and Jimin are officially in a gay relationship!”

“Wait, do you mean...?” Yoongi trails off.

“Yup!” Taehyung grins. “I got my gender marker officially changed! It's on my birth certificate and everything! I'm a man in the eyes of the law now.”

A chorus of 'congratulations' comes from around the room and Jimin pulls him in for a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Oh!” Taehyung says, shushing everyone. “Jimin also has news!”

Jimin blushes. “It's not really news. It doesn't actually mean anything but my store got featured in a pagan magazine recently. It could mean more business which is good.” He shrugs.

“That's awesome hyung! You deserve it!” Jungkook congratulates. The group reiterates similar sentiments and Jimin shrugs them off.

“I'm gonna get wine.” Jimin calls. “Who wants some and who's DD?”

“I will definitely take some.” Jin says.

“Agreed.” Hoseok echoes.

“I'm not feeling super well so I'll pass.” Dawon says. “But I will take a nice cool glass of water.”

“I want to drink but apparently I've gotta drag a drunk Hoseok home.” Jungkook sighs.

“No, you go ahead and drink. I'll drive you guys home before I take Jin home.” Yoongi says. “I don't want to drink tonight anyways.”

“Namjoon hyung?” Jimin asks.

“I'll have a glass or two. I have to be up early tomorrow. I stupidly left all the paperwork to be done tomorrow.” Namjoon sighs.

“Okay so that's 4 plus me, Tae do you want some wine?” Jimin asks.

“Only if it's the stuff we got imported. I want to feel like a high class bitch tonight.” Taehyung says.

Jimin laughs. “Alright, cool. I'll be right back with 6 wine glasses, a bottle and, 2 glasses of water?”

“Actually can I get a coke? Is that too much to ask?” Yoongi asks.

“If the request is coming from you it's always too much, but I'll do it anyways.” Jimin teases.

When he returns with a tray of drinks and glasses in one hand and 2 bottles of fancy wine in another language everyone cheers ad starts chatting about what they've been up to.

“Cheers!” Jin calls. “To drinking with the world's first recorded male gumiho and a famous witch with his famous store!”

“Cheers!” They all call, clanking their glasses.

“I'm not famous, hyung-” Jimin starts.

“Shut up Jimin I want a superficial reason to drink more than is acceptable about an achievement that isn't mine.” Jin says, erupting laughter from the group around him.

“Okay, hyung.” Jimin laughs. “Food?”

“Yes!” They all yell in unison and he laughs again. Dawon grins and sips her water. She may have a headache and want to shut all the guys up, but she's glad they all make her laugh, and that's what counts in friendship. Namjoon grins at her and she grins back.

To this group of 8, it's another night that will stay fuzzy with the countless others they've shared over the years.

But to someone else, this night will be burned in the back of their memory for the rest of their life...

Chapter Text

Jungkook steps up to the scene, a white shirt and slacks on, sweating through. He looks down at the body laying there, face up, eyes open and glassy. One of the forensics team members takes pictures from different angles of the body while another takes notes of the scene. There's an inconsolable man at the end of the driveway with 2 officers questioning him.

Lee Hana lays surrounded by her own blood, splattered everywhere, her stomach cut open and stabbed repeatedly. Her throat is cut and her arms have bruises and cuts all over them. She was found a few hours prior by her own husband, laying on her door step with her arm stretched out almost reaching the doorway.

“This is brutal.” Jungkook says. “How long has she been here?”

“Probably around 6-8 hours. Were not entirely sure yet.” Seungmin says from the door frame of the house.

“There's clearly an emotional motive to this.” Jungkook says. “Have you questioned the husband?”

“I've got a couple guys questioning him now.” Seungmin says.

“You think the husband did this?” Dawon asks, her eyes not leaving the stomach of the woman.

“It would make sense.” Jungkook shrugs, examining the scene around the body. “If he found out the baby wasn't his he might lash out and do... well this.”

“But, it's a life. He was so excited to be a dad.” Dawon defends. “Even if it wasn't his he wouldn't do this.” Her voice shakes.

Jungkook raises a brow and looks over at her. Her face is shrouded by her long hair falling down. “Noona, we don't know anything about him. He very well could have done this.”

“No!” She says, sadly. “He wouldn't... he was gonna be a dad, it doesn't matter that it's not his biological kid, he was still gonna be a dad. She was pregnant with what he thought was his kid. He wouldn't be this upset if he killed her himself.”

“Could be an act.” Seungmin says, not sensing the shifting atmosphere around Dawon. “Or he might have done it without realizing in an act of passion.”

“Noona...” Jungkook says slowly, seeing her body shake slightly. “Are you okay?”

He approaches her and places a hand on her shoulder. She looks up at him with teary eyes and a deep frown.

“She...” Dawon whispers. “She was just 6 weeks pregnant. She was excited. You could see it in her eyes that she was so excited to have a baby.”

“Noona...” Jungkook sighs, pulling her into a tight hug. Dawon begins quietly crying into Jungkook's chest. “Hyung, I'm gonna take her to the car, okay?”

Seungmin nods. “Yeah, of course.” He frowns.

Jungkook leads her back to the car, the other officers noticing a distraught Dawon and shooting Jungkook confused looks. He opens the passenger door and sits her down carefully, a hand rubbing down her arm slowly and the other pushing her hair out of her face.

“Noona, look at me.” Jungkook whispers. “What's wrong? This isn't like you.”

Dawon sniffles and wipes her face, her body leaning out of the car like she's going to be sick. “I don't know, I just,” She cries. “It's just really upsetting. She was a young pregnant woman, they were gonna be parents. And they won't get that chance now.”

Jungkook crouches down to look at her closer. “I know, it's sad. You've never worked a case like this before and it can be really traumatic. But I'm here for you, okay? You want a hug?”

Dawon nods and reaches out for Jungkook who meets her in the middle with open arms. “Usually I'm not like this. I've worked cases with child victims before. I've worked multiple child killings before. I don't know what's wrong with me, my emotions are just all over the place.”

“Maybe you're on your period?” Jungkook suggests. “I don't exactly know how that stuff works but mood swings are common right?”

“No, I'm not on my period.” Dawon sniffs. “I'm on birth control so I haven't had a period in over 2 months and I know it isn't PMS or I'd be cramping.”

Jungkook scrunches up his face. “Honestly this kind of grosses me out.”

Dawon chuckles at that. “Sorry my menstrual cycles can't be more predictable and attractive. It's probably just because I'm getting old and my grandma instincts are taking over.”

“Noona, you're not even close to old yet.” Jungkook rolls his eyes and pulls away to wipe her tears. “You're only 32. Do grandma instincts set in that early?”

“I don't know, I'm not a real grandma.” She sniffs. “Ugh, I'm sorry. I'm making a scene because I'm a softie.”

“Hey,” Jungkook whispers. “Don't be sorry. This is a sad scene, you're the only one acting like a regular human being here. The rest of us have cold, dead hearts.”

She laughs. “Okay, I'm fine let's go back and take a look around.”

“No.” Jungkook insists. “I'll take you back to the precinct. You're uncomfortable here for some reason, maybe it's the flu you've caught making you vulnerable to emotions or maybe your grandma instincts are setting in, but whatever it is it's upsetting you. I'm not gonna let you go back and see that if it's having this impact on you.”

“Jungkook-”

“It's fine, I'll tell Seungmin you're not feeling well and you can call Namjoon to meet you at our office and head home early, okay?”

“It's literally our job to do this-”

“Not today it's not.” Jungkook shakes his head. “I'll take you back and then head back up and deal with this myself. Don't worry about it. Just go home and rest. I'll fill you in later.”

Dawon nods and sits in the passengers seat while Jungkook heads over to Seungmin.

“Is she okay?” Seungmin asks immediately. “What happened back there?”

“She's not feeling too well right now. I'm gonna take her back to the office and she's gonna head home early, okay?”

“Okay.” Seungmin frowns. “Will you be staying with her at the precinct?”

“No I'll be heading back once Namjoon hyung comes to get her.”

“Okay, tell her I hope she gets well soon and that she has 3 sick days compiled if she needs them.”

“You got it, boss.”

*

Seungmin looks up just as Jungkook is returning to the scene. Jungkook jogs over and is slightly out of breath when he stops at the body just across from Seungmin.

“I'm here.” Jungkook says breathily.

“That was quick.” Seungmin comments. “You were gone for just over 20 minutes.”

“Yeah, Namjoon hyung was there when we got there so he took her home right away. I was in and out in less than a minute really.”

“That's good. I hope Dawon feels better soon.”

“Yeah, she's been sick for over a week now. Namjoon hyung says he's gonna take her to the doctor this weekend or something if she doesn't get better before Friday. Speaking of which, hyung says he'll be in to look at the body when it's ready for the post mortem he's just gonna get her settled at home first and to call him when the body is ready.”

“He doesn't have to come in, I can call in Sohee. But I'll call him anyways.”

“So,” Jungkook turn to the corpse. “What did I miss?”

“Not much, you weren't gone long.” Seungmin reports. “Photos of the crime scene are cluing up slowly. Forensics found a hair on the ground that doesn't match the victim so we'll run some tests with it.”

Jungkook crouches down to examine the body closer. A glove on one hand to pick around carefully. “She's got defensive wounds on her arms so we should test to see if there's any skin under her nails from scratching her attacker.” Jungkook notes. Seungmin takes notes above him.

“Whoever killed her clearly didn't care about hiding her. The scene is brutal and out in the open.” Seungmin says.

“I don't know if you've checked already but I'm gonna go ahead and say there's probably no signs of attempting to clean the crime scene.” Jungkook looks up towards Seungmin with a squint against the sun.

“Yup.” He sighs. “You're gonna question the husband at the precinct, by the way.”

Jungkook groans. “Why?”

“You're the friendliest kid on the whole squad and his pregnant wife just died. I'm trying to give this guy a break.” Seungmin shrugs.

“Lies. You're doing this because I hate it and you want to see me suffer.”

Seungmin laughs. “Maybe.”

*

“I'm sorry.” Dawon sighs as she sits on the bed. “I've been such a hassle these past few weeks. I've been weird and moody, I'm getting sick. Maybe I'm dying.”

Namjoon laughs. “You're not dying. And don't be sorry, I love you and part of loving you is learning to deal with the worst parts of you as well.” Namjoon pushes her down gently until she lays down and begins tucking her into bed. “To me it sounds like that flu is getting to you and making you tired and irritable.”

“Oh my gosh, you're totally right.” Dawon yawns. “I've got the flu and it's making me tired so I'm probably just not all here right now. I just need some sleep.”

“Don't take my word as ultimate truth. The reason I didn't become a pediatrician was because I sucked at dealing with the living.” Namjoon mumbles. “You're still going to the doctor.”

“I don't need to or want to.” Dawon groans. “They're gonna weigh me and I don't want to see the numbers on the scale.”

“Why? You're a perfectly healthy weight.”

“I used to be. Most of my pants won't fit anymore, and my bras are getting too small and making my boobs hurt. I've definitely put on weight and I don't want to know how much.” Dawon yawns again.

“I did the laundry recently, maybe I just shrunk all of our clothes by accident.”

“No, I've definitely gained weight. I think my big ass stomach is starting to cave in on my bladder because I always need to pee now-a-days.” Dawon sighs, patting her stomach.

“You're being dramatic.” Namjoon rolls his eyes. “You're probably the exact same weight as you've been for the past year give or take.”

“You're just saying that to make me feel better because you've noticed it too.”

“No I'm not, stop being difficult. And lay still, you need to sleep.”

“All my extra weight will cushion me while I drift off.” She shuts her eyes.

“Sure, whatever.” He lifts her up slightly to put another pillow below her head, noticing she is a little heavier than he remembers. “Probably gained a few from eating nothing but Mexican takeout while Hoseok and Jungkook were away for the week.” Namjoon mumbles.

Dawons eyes dart open and she glares at him. “Ex-fucking-scuse me?”

Namjoon's eyes widen. “That was clearly the wrong thing to say. I'm sorry. I didn't mean you're fat or anything I just meant it like 'hey maybe you should eat healthier' you know?”

“I never said anything about being fat. Do you think I'm fat?” She all but yells.

“No!” Namjoon squeaks. “Listen, let's not fight right now. You've had a bad week, you've been yawning non stop since we got home so you're clearly tired. Just get some rest and cool down and I'm gonna go back to work and I'll be back to check on you during my break in a couple hours, okay?”

“Okay, fine.” She sighs. “But I'm not fat.”

“Of course you're not.” Namjoon soothes as he backs out of the room. “Love you, sleep tight, don't murder me when I sleep tonight.”

“Love you too, no promises.” She grins.

*

“This sucks.” Jungkook mutters. “Paperwork sucks.”

Hoseok laughs from the screen. Dawon has been out of work for 2 days and Jungkook has decided to combat his boredom and loneliness in the office by video chatting his fiance while he teaches dance classes. Hoseok currently has a 30 minute break between classes which he's using to actually talk to Jungkook.

“This is what you signed up for when you took that promotion.” Hoseok says, drinking a bottle of water. “Seungmin told you it was gonna be more paperwork.”

“Yeah but he also said it would be more field work which is much more interesting. I wanna go out there and shoot guns at murderers. Not sit here bored and alone filling out endless papers on stuff I already know.”

“Well tell me a bit about the case while you write stuff down.” Hoseok says. “I don't know any of this stuff, so it'll be new to me and you can make it more interesting by trying to explain it to someone.”

“I'm not supposed to talk about this with people outside of the case.”

“That hasn't stopped you before.”

Jungkook sighs. “Okay well, the latest victim-”

“Wait, 'latest' victim? Is it a serial killer?”

“No, not officially. There would need to be 3 killings for that. And there's only been 2.”

“Okay, first victim was the bank guy right?”

“Yep.”

“Alright who's the second?”

“Bank guys assistant who he was having an affair with.”

Hoseok whistles. “Damn, this just got interesting.”

“Yeah well that's where it stops.” Jungkook grumbles. “They died in 2 completely different ways and completely different places, but they both share similar looking wounds on their backs so the theory is they were both killed by the same person.”

“Why is that the theory? What if it's just a coincidence or a copycat?”

“No way. The placement of the wounds were almost identical and the information of the wounds on the first body wasn't released to the public. Plus the two murders were obviously related.”

“Who's your first suspect?”

“Lee Hyunseung. The second victims husband. What we think as of right now is that he found out his wife was cheating with her boss so he killed the boss. But then found out that his wife was pregnant with the bosses baby and killed her too.”

“Oh damn this is like a TV drama. So what's the problem with this suspect? Why isn't he arrested?”

“We have him in custody for questioning right now but we have no evidence to hold him for longer than-” Jungkook looks at the time in the corner of his computer screen. “-roughly 20 minutes from now. I've questioned him probably 5 times already in the past 2 days and I just cant see it being him. He doesn't fit the criminal profile. He didn't even know the wife's baby wasn't his until we told him.”

“You're good at reading people, so if your gut is saying it isn't him then I would trust it probably isn't him.” Hoseok shrugs.

“But then we have no suspects and we're back to square one.” Jungkook sighs. “This is frustrating. I just want anything new to happen at this point because I'm going insane.”

Hoseok chuckles. “Okay then forget about the case for a couple minutes and let's talk about the wedding. I've been going on for however long about all the things I want, but you haven't said anything yet. What do you want?”

“Specifically or broadly?”

“Both. How do you want it to go down? What kind of cake do you want? Do you want to wear a dress or a suit? All the things you're thinking of.”

Jungkook smiles softly. “I want to wear a suit obviously.” He rolls his eyes. “I swore never to wear a dress after agreeing to do drag with Taehyung in senior year of college.”

Hoseok giggles. “I still think you looked hot in high heels.”

“The beauty was not worth the pain.”

“Back to the wedding. What else do you want?” Hoseok grins.

“Honestly?”

“Honestly.”

“I want it to be small.” Jungkook says. “I want it to be close knit and not overly fancy. I don't want to do anything super big or spend a lot of money. Instead of spending tons of money on the wedding I want to spend a fortune on the honeymoon. We could travel the world or something. I want to come back to Korea completely broke and crawling to work with bags under my eyes and a million stories of how awesome the trip was and how excited I am to be married.

“But I know you want a crazy big wedding with a billion people and decorations to blind us and white suits and diamond bedazzled cakes. So I'd be willing to splurge a bit more on the wedding and save some destinations for my next vacation time down the road.”

“Okay.” Hoseok chuckles. “First of all, I don't want a diamond bedazzled cake. Second, I would totally be down for travelling around the world on our honeymoon, that's honestly the coolest idea ever. Third, I do want to do something special for the wedding day though. Although I would be willing to cut down on the decorations that blind us and the billion people I had on my list.”

“Good, because I'm pretty sure most of the people on my list would have been the same people on your list so I don't know how we would fill all the seats.” Jungkook snorts.

“Seriously though, I like the idea of a small, close knit wedding. I think it would be meaningful.”

“One thing I will absolutely not budge on is white suits. I don't want to spend a fortune on a pristine white suit only to stain it permanently when you shove cake on my face and spill champagne on it.”

“And I won't budge on making Mickey the ring bearer.”

Jungkook rolls his eyes. “You're lucky I love you.”

“And you're lucky I love you too.”

“I wish I could kiss you right now. But instead I'm sitting at a desk in my office doing stupid paperwork.” Jungkook huffs.

Hoseok laughs.

Suddenly a knock comes from the door and Seungmin steps in.

“The results of the test on the hair at the crime scene are back. Namjoon wants you to go meet him in the morgue.” Seungmin says.

“Hi Seungmin hyung!” Hoseok yells from the monitor facing Jungkook.

“Oh, hi Hoseok. Sorry to drag Jungkook away but justice awaits him.”

“It's cool. My next class starts in 3 minutes so I gotta set up for them anyway. I'll see you at home, Kook. Love you.”

“See you at home. Love you too.” And Jungkook hangs up. “Finally something interesting.”

Chapter Text

Namjoon is scribbling something down when Jungkook enters the morgue. Sohee is sewing up parts of the woman's corpse. Jungkook is pretty used to blood and gore by now, but seeing the sweet little Sohee covered in blood over her torso and arms still makes Jungkook a little sick. Seeing the living covered in blood always reminds too much of... that night.

“Namoon-ah, Jungkook is here.” Sohee calls when she notices him.

Namjoon turns around and smiles. “Jungkook! Hey!”

Jungkook raises a brow. “You seem a little excited for someone who works in a morgue. Especially since Sohee noona is literally elbow deep in someones stomach right now.”

Namjoon shrugs. “You get used to it.”

“Alright well Seungmin hyung said you had the results from the hair.”

“Yes, we do.” Namjoon nods flipping through a file he picked up. “The hair most likely came from a head and we had the follicle so we were able to make a DNA profile.”

Jungkook smiles. “Finally, something interesting. Did you run it through the database?”

“Yes, but we didn't get a match.” Namjoon frowns. “Sorry.”

Jungkook frowns as well. “Well it can't be the victims hair. She has a criminal record and we have her DNA file, it would have matched if it was hers. Did you check the husband?”

“Yeah, Seungmin had us run it by a sample of his but it didn't match him either.” Namjoon walks over to the body, Jungkook following. “The hair was found in the victims hand so it has to be the attackers DNA. She probably grabbed them by the hair when they fought.”

“But whoever killed her also killed the first victim, and it doesn't look like this was done by someone inexperienced. How does someone with 2 lives on their hands not have a record?”

“They probably haven't been caught before.” Sohee suggests, pulling her gloves off. “As much faith as I have in the police, not every crime gets solved.”

“Well that was a dead end then.” Jungkook sighs.

“Not quite.” Namjoon says hopefully. “We have a DNA sample for when we do catch the criminal to match them to.”

“That makes me feel no better considering we're currently in the moment of not having a criminal to try to match it to.” Jungkook mutters.

“Think on the bright side, if another body shows up with matching shoulder blade marks then you'll be officially working your first serial killer case as an actual detective.” Namjoon pats Jungkook's shoulder as he speaks.

“You're right, I should be hoping for more murders like a kid on Christmas Eve.” Jungkook rolls his eyes. “But you confirmed the slashes on her back were done by the same person who did the first?”

“Yes, but they were significantly less deep this time than the last ones. Really only minor injuries considering the rest of the attack.” Sohee adds.

Jungkook nods. “Alright, I'll look into other leads and give Dawon noona a call. How is she doing, by the way?”

“She's doing a bit better.” Namjoon nods. “Sohee you can take your break early if you want.”

“I will never say no to taking a break.” She laughs as she pushes her way through the doors of the morgue.

“You got something to tell me you can't say while Sohee noona was around?” Jungkook asks, concerned.

“Not exactly.” Namjoon sighs. “Listen, Dawon and I are going to the doctor this evening when I get off work because I'm forcing her and I'm just stressed out. She's started feeling a bit better, she isn't as nauseous as she was a couple days ago but her moods are still all over the place.”

Jungkook smiles softly. “You didn't have to kick Sohee noona out to be a big softy, she already knows you're whipped for Dawon noona.” He chuckles. “But seriously hyung, she's gonna be fine. You said she's getting better, right? Maybe it was just a flu after all.”

“I know I just, I don't know what could be wrong. I went to medical school for gods sake I should be able to tell a flu when I see one.”

“In your defence hyung you focused a lot more on dead people in medical school than you did on the living.”

Namjoon chuckles at that. “Fair enough. Alright I'll let you get back to work now.”

“Ugh, I don't want to go back to work right now.” Jungkook whines. “Everything is boring without noona.”

Namjoon laughs. “Then give her a call, she's going stir crazy at home with no one to talk to right now. She's been texting me non-stop demanding I let her back to work.”

“Yeah, I gotta update her on the case anyways. Hey, keep me updated on what the doctor says, okay?”

“You got it.”

*

Jungkook flops down on the couch face first, landing right across Hoseok's lap, the latter jumping when Jungkook's stomach hits his thighs. He mutters something from the cushions where he's planted his face but Hoseok just laughs at him.

“I can't understand you when you speak into pillows, Jungkook.” Hoseok says.

Jungkook pulls his face sideways just enough to get his mouth away from the cushion. “I said I'm hungry.”

“Then eat something.” Hoseok deadpans.

Jungkook groans. “You're the worst fiance ever. You're supposed to say 'oh Jungkookie, sexy man of my dreams, I'll get you something right away'.” His vice takes a higher mocking pitch when he imitates his hyung.

Hoseok smacks his butt. “Yah! I don't sound like that! And I'm not getting you something to eat no matter how sexy you are or how much you fit the term 'man of my dreams'. I'm tired from dancing all day. My fine ass isn't leaving this couch until I go to bed.”

“How about we order something then? That way we can both plant our fine asses right here and not move until bed.”

“Oooh, yes!” Hoseok agrees, shifting slightly as Jungkook rights himself on the couch next to him. “I want pizza.”

“Alright let me get my phone out.” Jungkook says, pulling his phone from his back pocket.

“Speaking of phones, Dawon called me today.” Hoseok says.

“Oh yeah? How did the doctors appointment go?” Jungkook asks, scrolling through toppings with Hoseok's head on his shoulder.

“She didn't tell me. She said she wanted to tell us in person this weekend. I'm nervous though, what if something's seriously wrong?” Hoseok cuddles closer to Jungkook and points to toppings.

“I'm sure she's fine, hyung.” Jungkook says softly, placing a kiss on his hyungs crown. “Namjoon was nervous before they went to the doctor too but he didn't seem upset or anything when he was texting me on my way home.”

“Yeah but what if he's just hiding it from you. What if she's like, super sick or something? What am I gonna do?”

“Hey, hey, don't think like that.” Jungkook grabs his hand. “It could be great news, you never know.”

“Why would she invite us over for dinner just to say she's fine?”

“She is kind of dramatic sometimes, I wouldn't put it past her to do that.”

“I hope she's just being dramatic or something. If she's not seriously ill I'm gonna kill her for making me worry about her. She invited us for dinner on Sunday so we still have to wait for like 5 days to find out anything anyways.”

Jungkook laughs. “Then let's not worry about it until then, okay? I ordered the pizza and it'll be here in 20 minutes so be ready to answer the door, alright?”

“Oh hell no. I am not getting up, you have to get the pizza.”

“That's funny, hyung.” Jungkook laughs. “You're not seriously gonna make me get the pizza when I just got home and you've been home for 2 hours.”

Hoseok looks at him seriously. “I actually am the worst fiance ever and I will 100% make you get that pizza.”

Jungkook groans. “Hyuuuuuung!”

*

“Hoseok is going insane.” Jungkook says.

Dawon laughs from her desk opposite Jungkook's. “Good for him.”

“I'm also going insane.” Jungkook says.

“You'll be matching.” She doesn't even look up from her paperwork when she speaks.

Jungkook whines. “Seriously, noona? What is it? Why won't you tell us? At first Hobi was worried you were dying or something and now he just wants to fight you.”

Dawon sighs. “You can tell Hoseok to calm down, because I'm not dying. But that's all the information you're getting until Sunday.”

“That's two whole days away. Why can't you just tell us over the phone?”

“Because it's something I want to tell both of you in person. And the only time I can get both of you in person is on Sunday.”

“We're worried, though. You might not be dying but there are things worse than death.”

Dawon chuckles. “Relax, Jungkook. Everything is fine. Just don't worry about it until Sunday, okay?”

Jungkook looks up to see Dawon finally looking at him. She stares sympathetically into his eyes with a small smile on her face. He sighs. “Okay.”

“Now, the case.” She says. “You've ruled out the husband, right?”

“Yeah, there's no way it's him.” Jungkook speaks, flipping through the files. “I still feel bad about being the one to break it to him that the kid wasn't his.”

Dawon scrunches her nose. “I feel bad for you for having to do that. I can only imagine the emotions that followed.”

“So. Much. Crying.” Jungkook whines. “I thought I would get used to handling distraught loved ones after working murder cases for so long but I just freeze up when anyone starts crying. I'm probably the worst person to be delivering bad news to people and yet Seungmin just loves sending me to do it.”

Dawn laughs. “He's trying to help you learn how to deal with it. I just think that maybe he underestimated how socially awkward you are.”

“I would get offended but you're so right.”

“Anyways, if it's not the husband than it's gotta be somebody else.”

“But we don't have any other suspects.”

“Well we could take this one of two ways right now.” Dawon explains. “We could either follow this from the suspects side and try and build a more in depth profile, or we could follow this from the victims side and question more people around the victims.”

“I don't know how we're gonna flesh out this profile. There's not much to go off of yet. Let's go with the victim route first and ask around at their workplace.”

“Alright, I'll run it by Seungmin then.”

*

“Do you really think it was the butler?” Dawon asks. “It just seems too common a trope to be the butler in my opinion.”

“I know but what if they're trying to work off of that thought and twist it again so we really don't see it coming?” Jungkook suggests. “Making it so obvious we think 'no it can't be him' only for it to actually be him.”

“I think you're over thinking it.” Dawon shakes her head. “It's a video game, I can't imagine that much thought went into the plot.”

“Hey! Some of the greatest stories out there have been plots of video games.” Jungkook defends. “Don't doubt video game developers. They spend hours making in depth plots and art that inspires millions. Imagine what kind of wisdom and tricks they have up their sleeves.”

Dawon rolls her eyes. “As soon as this elevator stops I gotta go to the washroom and try and remind myself that you are actually an adult and not secretly a 5 year old.”

Jungkook snorts. The elevator comes to a stop at the 9^th floor with a short ding and an announcement. They step out to a floor filled with cubicles and office workers who look far more dead than the corpses at the morgue. Jungkook briefly wonders if he looks like this when he does paperwork. Dawon makes her way over to the secretary with a bright smile.

“Excuse me,” She speaks quietly, not to disturb the workers. “I'm detective Jung Dawon. I called ahead about an hour ago, I'm here to speak to who ever is in charge at the moment.”

The secretary looks up and nods. “Yes, Mr. Won is in his office just down that hallway there.” She points. “He's been awaiting you.”

“Thank you.” Dawon smiles. Jungkook nods.

As they walk in the direction the secretary pointed them Dawon spots a washroom. “Go find out who Mr. Won is and what connection he has to the victims. I really do need to pee.”

“You peed like half an hour ago!” Jungkook protests.

“I have a weak bladder don't judge me!” Dawon says running off to the washroom.

Jungkook sighs and knocks on the door to one of the offices. A man inside yells a quick 'come in' and Jungkook is opening the door swiftly and shutting it behind him.

“Hello.” The man speaks. “You must be the detective. Please, have a seat.” He looks up to Jungkook just as the detective plants himself in a chair and his eyebrows go up. “Oh, you must excuse me, I thought you were a woman on the phone.”

Jungkook chuckles. “That was my partner, detective Jung Dawon. She had to run to the washroom but she'll be back in a moment. I'm detective Jeon Jungkook.”

“Won Sunghoon, nice to meet you.” The man smiles. He looks dishevelled and pale and he fiddles with a pen in one hand.

Jungkook raises a brow. “Nervous?” He asks while pulling out a notebook and pen from his pocket.

“No, just stressed.” Won says. “And trying to quit smoking. Haven't had a smoke in 3 days and I'm really starting to feel it”

Jungkook nods and writes something in his book. “Why are you stressed out?”

“Well, I got promoted when Wooyoung died because I used to be the assistant manager. I didn't expect it to be this much work. Now I know why he was always so short-tempered.”

“He wasn't a nice guy?”

“Not particularly. Really sweet to his assistant but we all know why that was. And now she's dead too and we haven't found anyone to fill her place so I've got her workload on top of mine.”

“Being on top wasn't all it cracked up to be, was it?” Jungkook smiled.

“You got that right. I don't know why I even wanted a promotion. Everyone knows the higher you are the harder it gets.” Won shakes his head.

“So you wanted his position? Looks like you got lucky then.”

“I know how it sounds but I didn't kill Wooyoung for his position.” Won says. “I couldn't have if I wanted to, blood makes me lightheaded.”

Dawon comes in then and introduces herself. “What were you two discussing while I was gone?” She asks as she sits down.

“Apparently blood makes this guy queazy.” Jungkook says with a smile. “So he claims he can't be the killer.”

“Okay.” Dawon nods. “Let's assume you're telling the truth-”

“I am.” Won cuts in.

“-then,” Dawon speaks up. “Is there anyone else who works here who might have wanted them dead?”

“Oh jeez I don't know.” Won sighs. “I don't act too chummy with anyone around here. They're all gossips and I'd rather stay in the dark to the things they say about me behind my back so I don't ask.”

“I assume you're the one in charge since Mr. Kim passed?” Dawon questions. Won nods. “Would you mind if we asked a few of your employees for some information? I understand you have a business to run but it'll only take a couple minutes.”

“Knock yourself out.” Won flicks a hand. “I'm sure there's a good number on their lunch break right now so you can check the break room down the hall.”

“Thank you very much, Mr. Won.” Dawon smiles.

“We'll be on our way then.” Jungkook says, holding the door open for Dawon.

When the door closes Dawon whispers to Jungkook while scanning the floor for the break room. “It definitely wasn't him.” She nods towards an open door across the room. “He was too messy and chaotic to have not left anything but a hair behind at the crime scene.”

“You got that right.” Jungkook mumbles. “He looked like he was about to jump out the window when I walked in. His stressing was making me stress.”

“Well they do say stress is bad for babies.” Dawon comments.

“Oh very funny,” Jungkook rolls his eyes. “Let's just go ask the people in the break room.”

Dawon grins and leads the way. The break room is moderately sized and holds a table with four chairs, a full sized fridge, microwave, and sink with extra counter space on both sides. There's two women eating at the table and a man speaking to a woman while the microwave runs.

“Damn, I wish we had a break room this nice in the precinct.” Dawon speaks up. The workers look up to the detectives in the doorway.

“Are you the detectives?” A woman at the table asks.

“Yes, we are.” Jungkook says. “We're here to ask a few questions, get a better idea of who Kim Wooyoung and Lee Hana were in life.”

“You're not bound to get much about Wooyoung. He was a very private man. But Hana was an open book.” The man at the microwave says.

“That so? Tell us about her.” Dawon says.

“She was a sweet girl really.” A woman at the table. “Loved to brag and brush people off but she cared deeply about Wooyoung.”

The woman opposite her scoffs. “You sure we're talking about the same Hana?”

“Didn't like her?” Dawon asks.

“Don't listen to her.” The other one says. “Sooyoung and Hana fought a lot.”

“I assume you're Sooyoung?” Dawon nods to the woman who previously scoffed.

“Yes.” Sooyoung answers. “But I had a reason. She stole my boyfriend! I had Wooyoung first and she just came along and lured him in with her fake charms and he forgot all about me.”

“You broke up with him first.” The woman across rolls her eyes.

“Shut up, Yeri!” Sooyoung snaps. “I didn't really break up with him. I told him he either quit or I would leave him.”

“And he stopped talking to you. So clearly he didn't quit.” Yeri sighs, sipping her coffee.

Jungkook furrows a brow. “Quit what?”

“Drugs.” Sooyoung says. “I caught him snorting some powder and I told him if he didn't quit using I was gonna leave. I guess his drugs were more important than me.”

“He was an addict? Now way. I never would have guessed such a straight edge guy would be into that kind of stuff.” The guy at the microwave says.

“His job was really stressful.” Yeri pointed out. “And he was beyond stressed when he found out Hana was pregnant. He didn't think he was ready to be a dad.”

“You seem to know quite a bit, Yeri, was it?” Dawon notes.

“It's because she's a gossip.” Sooyoung smirks.

“And I take pride in it.” Yeri smiles, high fiving Sooyoung. “But I was also one of Hana's only friends at work. Once she started sleeping with Wooyoung nobody took her seriously anymore.”

“It's because she didn't need him.” Sooyoung says. “She had her own husband she didn't need my man on the side.”

“He wasn't your man.” Yeri mutters into her cup.

Jungkook can physically see the tension rising in the room and he glances at Dawon before speaking loudly, cutting off Sooyoung who was no doubt about to say something less than kind. “Okay, well thank you for this talk, it was very helpful to the investigation. But we really have to be going now.” He says.

“Anytime officers.” Sooyoung smiles slyly. “Especially you, young man.” Sending a wink to Jungkook.

Jungkook blushes and Dawon holds in a laugh while waving off the girls and pushing Jungkook out of the break room.

When they get in the elevator to go back down to ground Dawon lets out a laugh.

“Why do I only get hit on by people I don't want to be hit on?” Jungkook whines.

“The only person you want to hit on you is my brother and he's terrible at flirting.” Dawon smiles.

“I'm aware. I didn't even know he liked me until someone else pointed it out. Now I know he was lowkey flirting but at the time I thought he was just being super bro to me.”

“In his defence you are also oblivious.”

“I honestly don't know how we even got together, we're both separate train wrecks.”

Dawon laughs loudly and messes up Jungkook's hair, reaching over her own head to touch the top of his. “Truer words have never been spoken.”

Chapter Text

Hoseok and Jungkook sit opposite Namjoon and Dawon as they eat in silence. Dawon and Namjoon smile to themselves and make the odd comment about the food to each other. Hoseok violently stabs his salad and Jungkook doesn't even touch his food. The inviting couple has been avoiding saying exactly what they called Jungkook and Hoseok over for for the full hour that they had been there. Hoseok is planning to let them speak in their own time, not wanting to push his sister knowing she would have to let the news out at some point, and Hoseok is planning to out wait her. Jungkook, however, is impatient and finding Hoseok's incessant tapping on his thigh while he waits a major piss off so he's just about ready to explode.

Jungkook sighs after another 5 minutes of silence. “Yah!” He half yells.

Dawon looks up, amused. “Speaking informally to your elders?”

“Hiding things from your family even though you've kept them stressed about your health for almost a week?” Jungkook retorts.

Dawon rolls her eyes and laughs. “Okay. I've kept you waiting long enough I suppose.”

Namjoon smiles, putting his fork down and rubbing his hands together excitedly. “Thank god, it's hard keeping secrets. Especially when they're exciting.”

“Why are you excited? She could be dying!” Hoseok questions.

“I'm not dying, Hobi.” Dawon grins. “In fact, I'm kind of doing the opposite.”

“Living?” Hoseok asks.

Dawon sighs. “Hoseok. Jungkook. I'm creating life. Literally.”

Hoseok and Jungkook's eyes narrow. “You mean...?” Jungkook trails off.

Dawon grins and nods. “I'm pregnant.” Silence.

Hoseok starts tearing up immediately. “Oh my god! Are you serious? You're not fucking with me right?”

Dawon laughs and tears up herself. “No, Hobi. I'm being serious. I'm gonna be a mother! You're gonna be an uncle!”

“Noona, that's incredible!” Jungkook grins. He gets up and hugs her tightly. “Congratulations! Wait, you do want to have it right?”

Dawon giggles. “Yes. Namjoon and I talked a lot about it over the past couple days and we think that it's a good time to have a baby for us.”

Jungkook looks over to Namjoon for the first time and sees his hyung is crying and staring at Dawon's stomach with a glee Jungkook hasn't seen in an adult in a long time. “Hyung... you're gonna be a dad!”

Namjoon sniffles. “I know! I'm so excited.” He whispers, grabbing Dawon's stomach softly.

Hoseok has tears streaming down his face and he pulls Dawon up to wrap her in a tight hug. “I am so fucking happy for you, Dawon.” He whispers to her. “You're gonna be the best mother a kid could ask for. Mom would be so proud of you.”

Dawon cries into her little brothers shoulder. “Thank you so much, Hoseok-ah.”

When they let go of each other Hoseok rubs Dawon's stomach and she giggles. “I can't tell if I'm happy that one of my best friends is gonna be a dad or a little angry that he got my sister pregnant.” Hoseok laughs.

“Please be the happy one.” Namjoon laughs. “It's an unplanned but very much wanted pregnancy.”

Hoseok hugs Namjoon. “Congratulations man, you're gonna be an amazing dad.”

Namjoon grins at Hoseok and pulls Dawon into a swift kiss full of tears and smiles.

“Ahh you guys had enough of that making the baby!” Hoseok complains. They all laugh.

“How far along are you noona?” Jungkook asks. “I haven't even noticed a baby bump.”

“9 weeks. The fetus is the size of a grape right now so there's pretty much nothing there in terms of a bump at this stage. Although in a few weeks I'll probably start showing. Some of my pants already aren't fitting since I've started putting on weight.” Dawon answers.

“Does Seungmin know?” Hoseok asks. “I don't want him to be too hard on you at work.”

“No, not yet. I'm gonna tell him on Monday because I'm gonna need to start setting up days for my doctors appointments ahead of time.”

“Do any of the other guys know?” Jungkook asks.

“Nobody besides Jin, but only because he's my doctor.” Dawon says. “I don't want to tell the others until I'm past my first trimester. I'm over 30 now and I don't know anything about my families history with pregnancy complications so I want to keep it quiet until we're sure we're in the clear. I told you because you're the most important people in my life besides Namjoon and I knew you guys would catch on sooner rather than later that all my nausea was morning sickness rather than a flu.”

“Your grape-sized secret is safe with us.” Hoseok grins.

*

Dawon wakes up slightly nauseous on Monday morning and with a mild headache to her phone ringing. She groans and reaches blindly to the bed side table to pick it up. Not checking caller I.D., she clicks answer.

“What?” She snaps. Whoops, she didn't mean to sound so mean.

“Dawon? What's with the attitude?” Seungmin asks. “Did I wake you up?”

“Yeah.” She sighs. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. What's up?”

“It's okay, no worries.” Seungmin says. “There was another body found an hour ago. About a mile from the first one.”

“Shit, really?” Dawon looks at the time. “Who's awake and out of the house before 8 in the morning?”

Seungmin laughs over the line. “Me clearly. Side effect of having children, I guess.”

“Great.” She mumbles. “Alright, I'll call Jungkook and we'll be there in 45 minutes to an hour.”

“I already called him first. He's actually more snappy than you in the mornings.”

Dawon shudders. “I pity you.”

Seungmin laughs. “See you in an hour.”

Dawon hangs up and she sees a text from Jungkook asking if she needs a ride to the crime scene. She texts back a quick 'please' before dropping her phone on her pillow. Namjoon rolls over and sighs, placing a kiss on her neck, and then one on her shoulder, and finally one on the top of her stomach.

“Good morning, beautiful.” Namjoon grins sleepily, eyes still half closed. “And good morning to the little one, too.”

Dawon giggles when Namjoon hums into her stomach. “Morning Joonie. Unfortunately your tummy talk will have to wait until later. There's a fresh body awaiting me downtown.”

Namjoons face scrunches. “No wonder you kept throwing up. You literally wake up to corpses, I can only imagine how much that added to the nausea.”

Dawon hums. “Yeah well, I'm still nauseous so please take your hands off me.” He retracts his hands in an instant.

“Have a good day at work. Love you.” Namjoon sighs, already drifting off again.

“Love you too, Joonie.” Dawon says, slowly setting herself upright. “Oh but I don't love morning sickness.”

*

“What are you drinking, it smells gross?” Jungkook scrunches his nose.

“Ginger tea.” Dawon comments, sipping it slightly. “It is gross.”

“Then why are you drinking it?” Jungkook asks, turning down the street to the body. Caution tape already covers the area and there's a flurry of officers running around.

“It's supposed to help with not throwing up in your future brother-in-law's car.” Dawon hums.

Jungkook makes a face. “Drink up, then.” He stops the car and puts it in park. Dawon is unbuckling her seat belt and opening the door before Jungkook even takes his key out of the ignition. “Do you need help getting out of the car or anything?”

“If you touch me I'll punch you.” Dawon grumbles.

“Okay, no help then.” Jungkook nods. “I hate mood swings.” He mumbles.

“Me too.” Dawon mumbles back.

When they step up to the crime scene there's a blaring detail that takes first notice above all others.

“Where's all the blood?” Jungkook asks.

“In his body.” Seungmin says simply.

“Why?” Dawon asks.

“I'm pretty sure that's where it's supposed to be.” Seungmin answers.

Dawon rolls her eyes. “You know what I meant.”

Seungmin grins. “He appears to have been strangled.”

“That doesn't fit the usual MO.” Jungkook comments. “But then again I guess none of this does.”

The body that lay on the ground is of a young male in his late teens or early twenties. His skin is pale and his lips are blue. There's virtually no blood around him and he has long bruises on his neck. His eyes are wide open and his pupils dilated.

“This is a kid.” Dawon mutters.

“Yeah.” Seungmin. “It gets worse. He was found by a middle schooler who was walking to school.”

“Found by an even younger kid.” Dawon sighs.

“Who is he?” Jungkook asks.

“We don't know yet. He didn't have any I.D. on him or anything.” Seungmin says. “He only really had one thing on him besides his clothes actually.”

“Which was?”

“Envelope with a couple hundred in cash inside.”

“Kid was rolling in money?”

“Maybe.” Seungmin says. “We haven't found much of anything besides the envelope yet, but they're still combing the scene. In the mean time I'm gonna question the kid who found him. I figure this is probably a job for me this time. You guys should look around more.”

“Got it.” Jungkook nods. “What do you got on first glance, noona?”

Dawon hums and inspects the body. “Well he died pretty recently. His pupils are still dilated.”

“Forensics dates time of death between 1 and 3 am this morning.” An officer says from behind them. He holds a camera up to his face and snaps a shot of the victims face.

“That was really recently.” Jungkook comments.

Dawon kneels down to get a closer look at the body, hair falling in front of her face. “He's got a little bit of blood below his left shoulder so I assume there's a wound on his back we can't see yet.”

“When do you think we'll be able to send the body back to the morgue?” Jungkook asks the camera officer.

The officer shrugs. “I've been here since we started and since there's not much around I'd say another hour or two?”

“Alright.” Jungkook hums. “First thing we'll do is try to I.D. this kid.”

“His parents are probably looking for him right now.” Dawon comments.

Jungkook looks over to see a frown on Dawon's face as she stands up. “Try not to think too much about it, noona.”

“Yeah.” Dawon sighs. “You're right. Sorry, kids kinda get to me now.”

“I understand. Let's head back and start the paperwork ahead of time. I doubt they'll need us here for anything else.” Jungkook says, leading Dawon away from the crime scene and back to the car. “You still need to talk to Seungmin, too. Don't forget that.”

“Yeah, I know. I'll text him when we get back to see if he has some free time.”

“Now drink your gross tea and let's get some breakfast in you.” Jungkook closes the car door behind him, looking over to her. “You're eating for two now.”

Dawn rolls her eyes. “I feel like I've been eating for 5.”

“That's just you on a normal day.” Jungkook comments.

“Yah!”

*

Jungkook comes strolling into the morgue with a coffee in each hand and a smile on his face. Namjoon turns around when he hears his the doors swing open and he visibly relaxes when he sees it's Jungkook.

“Here's a coffee for the dad-to-be.” Jungkook grins. “Wait is Sohee noona here yet?”

Namjoon sips his coffee and smiles. “No, thank god. You could have blown our cover.”

“You make it sound like you're doing a heist.” Jungkook laughs.

“Gotta make it seem cooler than it actually is. I keep getting waves of excitement followed immediately by waves of fear. I'm gonna be responsible for a life!”

“From what my mom has complained about every year since my hyung was born I heard that's normal for first time parents.” Jungkook puts down the other coffee on the table and sticks a note to it with Sohee's name scrawled on messily. “Dawon is probably having it even worse. She's gotta think about the birthing process too.”

“I'm not gonna have a hand by the time the baby is born.” Namjoon stares off into the distance dramatically.

“Anyways, let's not talk about every woman's nightmare.” Jungkook chuckles. “Tell me something interesting about the case.”

“I ran fingerprints and found out who your kid victim is.” Namjoon hums, picking up a folder swiftly. “I haven't been able to do a formal autopsy yet because Sohee doesn't come in for another hour but I managed some small tasks in the time being.”

“Tell me about our boy.” Jungkook sighs, walking up to the covered body.

Namjoon uncovers the torso, revealing the slim young man laying peacefully on the slab. “Park Hyungsik, 19 year old father of one toddler who lives with his ex-girlfriend in London, England. Several petty theft charges, currently out on probation for possession of and selling illegal weaponry. High school dropout and runaway at the age of 16, presumably when he got his girlfriend pregnant.”

Jungkook nods. “This is one sad kid.”

“Oh yeah. I'm gonna make sure I raise my kid to not run away and get killed.” Namjoon nods.

“Good to know you're setting high standards for your parenting.” Jungkook jokes. “Why hasn't the probation officer reported him yet? It's definitely past the usual morning check in time.”

“Don't know. That's a you job.” Namjoon comments. “But there's more about his death I've been able to learn.”

“Spill the tea, sis.”

Namjoon blinks. “That might be the gayest thing you've ever said. Please don't speak in outdated gay memes when we're standing over the corpse of a teenager.”

Jungkook chuckles a little bit. “Just trying to lighten the mood. Nobody likes working with dead kids.”

“Fair point. Moving on,” Namjoon sips his coffee again. “I ran a tox screen on him and he was a pretty clean kid surprisingly. Usually see these ones with addictions.”

“Well good for him.”

“That's not all. Seungmin said he was probably in the middle of a sale when he got attacked so the first suspect then is the buyer. I ran prints on the envelope he had on him and there's two sets. His and an unknown party, most likely the one who bought whatever secret ninja weapons he was selling.”

Jungkook whistles. “You are good, Joon hyung.”

Namjoon raises a hand. “Hold that thought, there's one more thing.”

“Oh? What else could you have found without doing a full blown autopsy?”

“I inspected his body a little bit, mostly checking for any other bruises, cuts, et cetera. Anyways, I checked his back for marks like the others and he's got 'em,”

“That settles it, this is a serial killing case.”

“He was most likely walking home when he got attacked. Probably security footage of him walking past the convenience store a block away, you might be able to catch someone following him.” Namjoon grins. “Now you can proceed with compliments.”

“Amazing hyung, really.”

“I know.”

“Send me the report as soon as possible. I want to find his probation officer and talk to his ex.”

“I get the officer could be the witness, but why the ex?”

“She might know who his enemies were and then we could find out who might have killed him.” Jungkook says. “And somebody has to tell her that her baby daddy won't be paying anymore.”

“You got it. Everything I've found so far will be up to you by lunch. Anything after that will take until supper at least.”

“Cool. I'm gonna tell Dawon about the ex-girlfriend and see if she can take that while I hunt down the officer.” Jungkook heads to the door of the morgue.

“Alright tell her to remember to take her prenatal vitamins and to eat something healthy for her.” Namjoon calls. Jungkook just hums.

“Oh, one more thing.” Jungkook says as he opens the door. “Did you check the first victims hair to see if he used drugs anytime in the past couple months?”

“No, we only ran a tox screen for time of death. Why, do you want me to check his hair?”

“Yes, please. We got word from the office gossip that he was a drug user at some point and I'm thinking that with 2 out of 3 bodies showing up in a sketchy area it could be a dealer.”

“Smart move. I'll get Sohee to do it after the autopsy of Park is done.”

“Thanks, hyung! You're the best!” Jungkook says running out of the morgue.

Namjoon leans back against his desk and sips his coffee slowly. “I know.” He hums.

Chapter Text

A soft knock comes on the door which catches Seungmin's attention. “Come in!” He calls.

Dawon peaks her head in with a small smile. “Hey, can we talk for a second?”

“Yeah, come on in.” Seungmin says, putting down his pen. Dawon closes the door behind her and walks over quietly, sitting down with a small plop in the seat across the desk from Seungmin.

“You're being quiet.” Seungmin narrows his eyes. “What did you do?”

Dawon laughs a little. “I didn't do anything. Well, nothing bad anyways.”

“Oh god...” He sighs.

Dawon sits up straight. “I just have to discuss something with you.”

“Okay. What is it?”

“Well, something has changed recently in my life.” Dawon starts. “And it might begin affecting my job soon. And since you're my boss, you should know about it. I'm gonna be visiting the doctor a little more often and I won't be doing as much straining activities as I used to.”

Seungmin's face is carefully blank. “And why is that?”

“Uh, well...” Dawon scratches her neck. “I'm pregnant. 9 weeks.”

Seungmin nods and smiles slowly. “Dawon-ah, I know.”

“What?” She asks.

“I've known for well over a week now.”

“That's impossible. I didn't know until last Wednesday.”

“When you're wife has been pregnant 4 times you learn to read the signs fairly early on.” He smiles. “You have morning sickness, mood swings, and you have what my wife refers to as the 'pregnancy glow'. Also you had ginger tea this morning and there's no way anyone would willingly drink that without reason.”

“Why didn't you say anything?”

“I was waiting for you to be comfortable enough to tell me yourself. Some women find it difficult to or intimidating to reveal a pregnancy to their boss in fear of losing their job or getting a pay reduction.”

“That's illegal, though. If you pay me a cent less I will fight you.” Dawon points out.

Seungmin laughs. “I know. Your pregnancy will not be a hindrance to us as far as I can tell right now, you're a strong woman you can handle yourself, but when you need to take maternity leave during the weeks leading up to your due date and afterwards let me know and I'll prepare someone to fill your spot while you're gone.”

Dawon softens. “Thank you, abeoji.”

Seungmin smiles. “My pleasure. I have 3 kids and I was there every step of the way during my wife's pregnancy so don't be afraid to ask me if you need any help or have any concerns. My wife also wanted to reach out her support to you.”

“Can I ask you something personal?” Dawon asks slowly.

“Go ahead.”

“You said your wife has been pregnant 4 times, but you only have 3 kids.” Dawon says. “What happened?”

Seungmin sighs and his smile fades. “Many years ago, when we first got married, she got pregnant with our first child. But there were some complications and she couldn't carry the child to term. She ended up having a miscarriage.”

“I'm sorry.” Dawon whispers.

“Don't be. We've moved on now. With 3 healthy children running around you can't really dwell on the past.

“If there are any complications, or if you're worried about that type of thing, my wife said she's here to help. Just give me a call if you need anything.”

“Okay. Thanks again.” Dawon smiles. “I gotta get back to work now.”

“Yes, me too.” Seungmin sighs. “I've got a pile of paperwork to go through.”

Dawon scrunches her nose. “Good luck.”

“I'll need it.” Seungmin chuckles.

*

Jungkook and Dawon are standing in the break room with cups in their hands. Jungkook with coffee and Dawon with water. A couple of their coworkers are engaging them in light conversation while they're on their break. Jungkook doesn't talk to many of the other officers in their precinct because he's a workaholic so although this is the first time he's speaking to these people for more than a few minutes, he's finding that he rather enjoys their company.

“So I said, 'you can't take the phone back, it's evidence' and this guy starts flipping out.” The officer, Jackson, speaks. “And I look over to Mark hoping he'll help me out or something but he just shrugs.”

“I don't like dealing with stuck up suits.” Mark defends. “I would have just cursed him out and then it would have been worse, you should be glad I didn't get involved.”

Dawon laughs. “Man, if Jungkook left me to suffer the wrath of an angry middle aged man I would fight him.”

“Oh you mean like you always leave me to do?” Jungkook rolls his eyes. “She's the worst. I am the backbone of our partnership.”

Dawon scoffs. “You little shit. He's the worst.”

Jackson and Mark laugh at their bickering but they get interrupted when Seungmin comes rushing in.

“Detective Jeon.” Seungmin sighs. “There's a man here who says he knows something about our ongoing investigation and refuses to talk to anyone but you.”

Jungkooks brows go up. “Me? Why me?”

Seungmin shrugs. “Beats me. But he demands it be you and he demands it be right now.”

Jungkook groans. “I'm on my break.”

“I've been stalling for 10 minutes already, Jeon, get a move on.” Seungmin smiles as he slips out quickly.

Dawon laughs. “Good luck.”

“I hate this. I hate people. Why do I work to protect them?” Jungkook grumbles, earning a few laughs as he steps out of the break room and into Seungmin's office.

When he steps in he sees a man in his early 40's fidgeting in his seat. He wears a short sleeved button up tucked into his faded and stained jeans. His chubby hands rub up and down his thighs repeatedly in rapid back and forth movements that are making his palms burn a bright strawberry.

“This is the guy who wanted to see me?” Jungkook asks, confused.

“Yeah.” The guy says in a voice a little too soft for his slightly wrinkled, naturally frowning face. “It's me. You detective Jeon?”

“That's me.” Jungkook confirms slowly. “How would you feel taking this to an interrogation room?”

“Fine by me.” The guy stands up abruptly. Jungkook leads him out and down to the nearest interrogation room, grabbing a pen and pad of paper before setting up a recording of the interrogation.

The man looks concerned and doesn't make eye contact with Jungkook.

“Are you hungry? Thirsty?” Jungkook asks. “I can get you something if you want.”

“No, I'm fine, thank you.” The man shakes his head. “You seem young, maybe too young for this job.”

“I'm sorry.” Jungkook says after a pause. “I have to ask. You don't seem to know who I am, and I most certainly don't know who you are. So then, why did you ask to speak to me?”

“My brother. Kim Wooyoung. He's dead, and you're the lead investigator.”

Jungkook writes thing down silently. “We weren't informed Kim Wooyoung had any living relatives. What's your name?”

“Lim Hongsung.” He says carefully. “I'm not his blood brother. We just acted like it.”

Jungkook nods. “I see. You weren't listed in his cellphone contact list, I'm sorry you weren't told earlier of his passing.”

“Don't be. We haven't talked in years. I didn't even know his real name until I saw his face on the news.”

It kind of clicks in Jungkook's head how this guy knows the first victim at that moment. “I see. You could say you're old friends, am I correct?” He asks slowly, carefully. Eyes squinting slightly.

Hongsung glances up at Jungkook quickly. “The uh... the lady who found his body said you didn't rat her out you and would do the same for me.

Jungkook thinks, considers his word choice carefully. “So,” he clears his throat. “I make no direct claims about this, but I wouldn't say anything if I had no reason to suspect anything. Catch my drift?”

“Yeah, I gotcha.”

“So tell me, why are you here?”

“He wasn't a bad guy. I know it looks like he was a bad guy but he's not like that anymore.” Hongsung says. “I know all the fake cash and the history of drugs looks bad but he was trying to turn it all around. He wanted to be there for his kid. I know sometimes when you see a guy like this dead you don't take it seriously as cops but he deserves better than that.”

Jungkook scribbles down in his paper pad and nods. “Well, I assure you we're taking his case seriously. How do you know he wanted to turn his life around?”

“He called me on a payphone before he died. He said he got a girl pregnant and he was worried he wouldn't be a good dad with his past. He was scared it would come back to haunt him and get him and his kid in trouble one day.”

Unsure of how much the man knows about the situation Jungkook holds back on remarking the morbid irony with his statement. “How exactly was he planning to turn around this life of his?”

“I don't know. He didn't get that far in the phone call before he had to get back to work. But he was a really trustworthy guy and I don't doubt him.”

“Thank you for the information, Mr. Lim. I'm just wondering what exactly you expect me to do with this?”

“I want you find who killed him.” He says, a little angrily. “I don't trust cops to take this seriously because he was an addict but I want to give you a reason to solve this.”

“Sir, I can assure you we're taking this very seriously. The case is ongoing and currently the top priority.” Jungkook states, collecting his belongings. “If there's nothing else you're free to go.”

The man stands up. “Please just solve his murder. And please don't rat me out.”

Jungkook nods, holding the door room open. When the man leaves Seungmin comes walking out of the room on the hidden side of the double sided mirror.

“So, ex-gangster was trying to leave the thug life behind for his kid?” Seungmin asks.

“Looks like it.” Jungkook answers, flipping through some notes. “I'm gonna be honest, hyung, I don't know how that can help me with the case.”

Seungmin smiles. “I'll give you a hint, kid. Victims aren't chosen randomly. The more you know about the victims and how they connect to each other, the more you can infer about the killer and how they choose their victims.”

“You think I can use this to build on the profile?” Jungkook looks confused.

“I know you can.” Seungmin nudges Jungkook. “Think about it.”

*

Jungkook hasn't let what Seungmin said go all day. He keeps running over details of each victim to try and figure out how to connect the third victim. He remembers discussing it with Dawon earlier over dinner.

~a few hours ago~

“Well, let's think about what we know first.” She said, trying to lead Jungkook through one of his first official serial killer profiles. “Tell me what you have.”

Jungkook sighed, not knowing how to start. “Well, the unsub-”

“No, about the victims. What relates the victims that we can use for the unsub?” Dawon cut him off.

Jungkook sighed again. “Well, they all had a bad past?” He suggested, shoving a piece of meat in his mouth. “The first victim was an ex-gangster. The second was a cheating spouse pregnant with a child out of wedlock. The third was a dropout-runaway with a bastard child in another country.”

“Wow, way to make it sound like a movie.” Dawon chuckled, sipping water. “So what do you take from that?”

Jungkook was getting frustrated because it was clear that Seungmin and Dawon had figured out something that he hadn't caught onto yet. While he understood it was helping him train he didn't like that it was going on when another victim could be getting killed. “You know we have max a week to find this killer before they strike again, right? If you know something you should just say it so we can move faster.”

“If we try to move too fast we might miss something important. ” Dawon smiles. “Plus, you need to learn to profile without my help for when I go on mat leave. You have the skill set to do this, Kook, you just need to put it into use. Come on, what do you take from it?”

Jungkook grumbled quietly before speaking. “I don't know. Maybe the killer thinks these people don't deserve their lives because they wasted it.”

Dawon nodded. “Good start. But then why would they kill a pregnant woman? The fetus couldn't have wasted anything.”

“Collateral damage, maybe?”

Dawon hummed, slurping up some noodles. “I don't buy it. Second vic wouldn't really qualify enough as a wasted life for that. Sure, she was cheating but that's hardly anything compared to the first or third. Plus her life was on an upwards slope, she was excited to have the kid and raise a family, with or without the dead beat dad.”

Jungkook hummed. “Turns out the dead beat wasn't so dead beat after all.”

“Oh?” Dawon prompted.

“Yeah, an old friend of the bank man came in today.” Jungkook elaborated. “He said the guy was gonna try and turn around to take care of the kid. Leave the gang life behind and earn an honest living I guess.”

“Wow, guess they both had a life turning moment with the kid coming.”

Jungkook stopped eating. “Wait...”

“What?” Dawon squinted

“What if that's the connection?”

“Kids?”

“Yeah, maybe the killer lost a kid and doesn't think these people deserve their children.”

“Well, that's what Seungmin's leaning towards.” Dawon pointed out.

“You don't buy it?”

“It's not that, it's just... I don't know, I feel like that's too brutal. And why would they kill the pregnant woman if they thought the kid didn't deserve her bad mothering?”

“Well, for brutality, that's never mattered to a killer before.”

“Fair point.”

“And I honestly don't know why they'd kill the pregnant mother. Maybe she wasn't intentional but knew too much?”

“I don't know, something just doesn't sit right with me on this.”

“Are you sure it's not your motherly instincts hoping no one would kill a kid?”

“Seungmin said the same thing but I still want to look into other possibilities. Either way this doesn't help us narrow down the next victim anyways. We still can't warn the public by saying 'if you have kids you're fucked' you know?”

“I understand you, but this is our best guess yet.”

“Alright, we'll explore it. Only because Seungmin thought of it first though.”

Jungkook scoffed. “You petty bitch.”

~present~

He turns his head to look over at his fiance sleeping peacefully next to him. Hoseok's chest rises and falls rhythmically. It's almost calming enough to put every bad thought out of Jungkook's mind. Almost. The way his eyelashes fall on his cheek, the way his mouth hangs a little bit open, drool pooling on the pillow beneath him, the way he snores very slightly, all reminds Jungkook of why he asked the man to marry him. It's the times like these when he sees the beauty and innocence that his fiance holds. It warms his heart.

Jungkook can still remember meeting him for the first time. Hoseok was so careless back then, very happy-go-lucky and friendly. The way his heart shaped lips would stretch over his teeth when he smiled made Jungkook's head spin.

As he lays on his back, staring at his better half, he reminisces on all the time they shared together since meeting. The jokes, the dates, the love. He smiles softly thinking of the memories. But reminiscing always brings back the pain that came with every positive in their relationship, and soon Jungkook isn't smiling anymore. He can't think of Hoseok and the good times anymore, all he can think of is the bad times that came the first year they knew each other.

He turns his head back up to the ceiling and stares.

“Jungkook they're gone! They're dead!” Hoseok cries. His cheeks are wet and he whimpers with every breath.

“Who? Who's dead hyung?” Jungkook can feel a cold wave flow through his body, fear seeping into his every fibre.

“My parents!”

A shiver he remembers all too well rolls through him again in the present.

Blood covers the room. Every surface painted with a dark crimson that makes everyone sick. It's smeared on the walls, there's drag marks on the floor, puddles laying everywhere. An intricate drawing done on one wall with blood that's now dried and cracking. Hoseok weeps into his sister's shoulder, his cries holding more pain than Jungkook had known a person could feel in their life.

Jungkook feels his stomach clench and roll, nausea flooding his system. Whether it be because he hasn't eaten more than a sandwich in over 24 hours or the horrific memory playing back like a movie reel in his mind, he doesn't know. He sits up quickly, putting his hands to his forehead and rubbing roughly with his eyes screwed shut. He can feel his head begin to ache.

He looks at Hoseok again, still sleeping soundly. He shows no trace of worry or pain in his expression. Just peace. Jungkook is glad his hyung could move on from such a traumatizing past. He remembers the months and years it took for Hoseok to fully come to terms with his parents murder. He remembers being there while his hyung cried and screamed and lashed out about how it wasn't fair. He can still clearly feel the weight of his hyung on himself after he would pass out from crying for so long. It hurt him that he couldn't fix it. It hurt him that he couldn't do anything to make it better. But it made it all the more fulfilling to finally see Hoseok become the person he was before tragedy struck. It filled Jungkook with a pride he had never experienced for another person, and that was the moment he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with this man.

But he still can't wrap his head around why Hoseok wants to marry him. Jungkook is still healing, still numb as the day he witnessed it. Jungkook hasn't managed to become the person he was before tragedy struck his life. Every time he would almost get there, another bad thing would come crashing in, disturbing what little peace he had managed to find within himself. Hoseok can sleep peacefully, take care of himself, move on. Jungkook is still shaken to the core, laying awake in bed at ungodly hours of the morning, losing his appetite more and more by day. He still clings to the past like a child to their blanket. And sometimes he wonders if maybe he's holding Hoseok back from what he could be. Hoseok swears up and down this isn't the case, and Jungkook wants to believe him, but he still thinks about it. Still dreads the day when Hoseok realizes the life he could have lead had it not been for Jungkook holding him down.

Jungkook shakes his head, now throbbing, and lays back down. He turns on his side and mentally scolds himself for thinking such things. He should have faith in his fiance, he thinks. Although really he knows it's not faith in Hoseok he's lacking. He has faith his fiance is loving and wants to be with him. He fails to have faith in himself to provide what's best for the other.

Chapter Text

Jungkook wakes abruptly to a blaring alarm. His head aches and he's already dreading the day ahead of him. Hoseok sleeps soundly, seemingly not phased at the screeching that disturbs Jungkook's momentary peace. With only 4 hours of sleep under his belt and too many things to do today he slaps his arm around in search of his phone, quickly shutting off the alarm and sitting up. A rush of nausea trickles down to his stomach as he swings his feet off the bed. Sighing heavily and closing his eyes for a moment, he tries to breathe away the anxiety of the upcoming day.

Hoseok groans and reaches out to touch Jungkook without opening his eyes. “What time 'sit?” He slurs, the rooms dim sunrise light burning the backs of his eyes. Mickey wiggles his way into the arms of Hoseok, who pulls the little fur ball into his chest.

“6.” Jungkook grumbles.

“In th' morning?”

“Yeah.”

Hoseok cracks an eye open at this. “Why are you up? You don't work until 10.”

“I have an appointment with my therapist before work.” Jungkook answers quietly, standing up and searching around for a pair of underwear.

“Isn't it only Tuesday? Don't you usually go on Thursdays?” Hoseok mumbles.

“Yeah.” Jungkook sighs. “I made an early appointment.”

Hoseok sits ups, startling Mickey slightly. “What's wrong?” He tilts his head, now awake with concern.

“I don't know. My appetite is down, I've got headaches, I'm always nervous.”

“Is it the case? Namjoonie told me that something was weird about you when they gave you this case.”

“Yes. No. I don't know. I just keep getting flashbacks.”

“Is that why you're not sleeping at night?”

“You could tell?”

“I keep waking up because you aren't cuddling me like normal.”

“I'm sorry.” Jungkook climbs over the bed to give Hoseok a swift kiss, carefully avoiding the dog who lays where he did a minute ago. His shirt is only half buttoned.

Hoseok pulls Jungkook closer and finishes buttoning while they kiss. “Don't be.” He says into the kiss. “I've been worried about you, you know? You don't seem excited about the wedding.”

“I am excited, I wouldn't have proposed if I wasn't over the moon about marrying you.” Jungkook defends.

“I know, I know, that's not what I mean.” Hoseok says, rubbing Jungkook's back. “I'm not trying to suggest you're getting cold feet, I'm trying to suggest that maybe something is getting to you.”

“I'm sorry.” Jungkook whispers. “I've been the worst recently.”

“You've been amazing as always.” Hoseok mutters. “Don't doubt yourself so much. Do you want me to go with you to your therapy session today? I know sometimes it can be tough on you afterwards.”

“No.” Jungkook quickly says. “You need to sleep more, you have classes today.”

Hoseok chuckles. “Yeah, with toddlers. It really won't be a hassle to go with you. I don't have a busy day ahead of me.”

“I don't care. I want you to be asleep. If I can't be asleep I'm gonna need to live vicariously through you.” Jungkook jokes.

Hoseok laughs. “Alright, well I'm making you breakfast.” Hoseok gets out of bed and pulls a pair of boxers on, letting his wings droop behind him. He scuttles over to give Jungkook a back hug, and they waddle out to the kitchen where Hoseok promptly starts the coffee machine. Jungkook just stares at Hoseok's back and wings, watching them sway as he moves around and prepares an omelette for his beloved. Mickey comes trotting out of their room a moment later.

“You know, you're the most beautiful fairy I've ever seen?” Jungkook speaks softly while Hoseok flips eggs.

Hoseok chuckles. “You're only saying that because you love me.”

“No, I'm serious. Your wings have the most intricate, mesmerizing design. I could trace the patterns all day.”

“I know, you've done so many times.” Hoseok grins. “It tickles.”

“I like the sound of your laugh. Sounds like sunshine.” Jungkook steps up behind Hoseok and runs a hand down the edge of the left wing. It flutters, and Hoseok gasps. Jungkook does it again.

“If you keep doing that you're gonna hear me moaning, not laughing.” Hoseok giggles.

Jungkook hums and places a kiss on Hoseok's neck. “I love the sound of your moans.”

Hoseok hums back and flips the omelette again. “Well it's gonna have to wait because this omelette is almost done and you have an appointment to get to.”

“My therapist doesn't give me the same pleasure you do.” Jungkook frowns.

“I sure hope she doesn't.” Hoseok laughs. “Go check the mail while I finish your breakfast you horny teenager. And take Mickey out to pee while you're at it.”

Jungkook rolls his eyes and groans. “Fiiine...” He heads out to the doorway of their little apartment. He leashes up the jumping bean at his feet and opens the door to their apartment. Mickey steps out and starts sniffing, prompting Jungkook to look down. On the carpeted floor in front of the door is a small bouquet. He picks it up and raises an eyebrow, leading Mickey back into the house.

“Hobi?” Jungkook calls, shutting the door behind him.

“What? I though you were taking Mickey out.” Hoseok calls back from the kitchen. Jungkook walks in slowly.

“I was,” he says, Mickey whimpering at the door, leash still on. “Did you get me flowers?”

Hoseok turns around from the stove. “No? What's that?”

“A bouquet.”

“Who's it from?”

“I don't know, It doesn't- oh there's a little card.” Jungkook says, pulling a tiny white card out of the flowers. Hoseok takes the bouquet while Jungkook flips the card over to read the tiny black lettering on it.

“Looks like Rhododendrons, Zannias, and...” Hoseok smells the leaves. “...basil?”

Jungkook just stares at the card with a frown on. “What does it say?” Hoseok asks. “These flowers don't really mean... positive things.”

“It says, 'sorry for your loss'.” Jungkook mumbles.

“That's it?” Hoseok frowns. “That's... really weird.”

“Do you think it's Jimin trying to mess with us?” Jungkook asks.

Hoseok opens the trash can and shoves the flowers in. “I don't know, but if it is I'm gonna punch him in the face. I don't want to be receiving creepy hate bouquets to my door, joke or not.”

“He always did have a morbid sense of humour.”

“We'll see how funny he finds it when I break his legs.” Hoseok growls.

“Calm down, Hobi.” Jungkook soothes. “It's probably just Jimin trying to scare us now that he's back in town. Just tell him later to fuck off.”

Hoseok sighs. “Alright.” Mickey whimpers at their feet. “You don't have time to take him out now. Just eat your breakfast and I'll take him out after you leave.”

“Such a needy puppy.” Jungkook shakes his head and pats Mickey. “I'm kinda glad we got him.”

“Ha!” Hoseok grins. “See! I told you we needed a pet!”

*

Therapy ends uneventfully. Jungkook doesn't open up to his therapist today, he's not there yet. He let's little things slip, gets small advice, and then leaves and books an appointment for two days time. Work starts like usual, he's early, Seungmin's early, and Dawon is exactly on time. By the time lunch rolls around he's browsing through online wedding books while Dawon rambles on about some sort of pregnancy thing.

“And my boobs are really tender, too. That sucks the most because I wear heels a lot and they make me bounce and jiggle which makes them more sore.” She sighs, throwing a ball up in the air over and over again. Somehow it reminds Jungkook of a scene from an 80's movie.

“Wow, you know as much as I love hearing about your breasts, I'm gonna have to stop you there. I want to go get lunch and not be thinking about my sister-in-law's milkshakes when I eat.” Jungkook smiles fake politely.

“What, you don't like my lovely lady lumps?” Dawon teases. “Isn't this how it goes in those highly accurate life time films? A guy is wedding planning with his future sister-in-law and just so happens to look over at her soft, milky bosoms hanging tenderly from her tight tank top. He can't help himself so he reaches over and grabs them, then she moans, and they kiss, and he fucks her boobs, right?”

“Wow, you know, that just might be the most upsetting thing you've ever said.” Jungkook nods thoughtfully.

“Well we could always go traditional and do a standard bent over the desk type and take it from behind type of thing if you prefer?”

“Well, I appreciate the offer but it actually makes me want to vomit so I'll have to politely decline.”

“Like 80% of foods and scents make vomit right now.” Dawon mutters. “I wouldn't recommend it.”

“That's 'cause hyung didn't wrap it up.” Jungkook smirks.

“Eat shit, Jeon.” Dawon smiles sweetly.

“Hmm, I think I'll actually go for tacos today.”

“Oh fuck, bring me back something. Tacos are in the 20%.”

Jungkook hums back an affirmation before shoving on his jacket and leaving the office space. Dawon sighs and runs through files some more. Seungmin and Jungkook have a theory it's related to kids but she's no so sure about it. The evidence just doesn't make sense for that to be the case. Why would they kill the mother and fetus if they wanted to kill people who they thought weren't worthy of having kids? If they wanted to kill kids then none of the victims would have been adults and so far none of the victims have been under 18.

If it had to do with kids then why would the first victim be the father and not the mother? Why would the killer pick someone whose child isn't even born yet? Why would all the victims be trying to make an effort to be there for these kids if the killer wanted to target people who weren't deserving? Dawon feels like she's missing something and she hates it.

The biggest mystery is why the cuts are appearing on the backs of the victims. It doesn't make sense. It has to have some significance, but it isn't obvious enough. Her mind wanders to the original case and she shakes her head. These people are human, it doesn't make sense. What of the killer knew who was working the case and wanted to taunt the detectives by reminding them of their past? No, then the first victim wouldn't have had any cuts. She thinks and thinks so much her head hurts. She groans and slams her head onto her desk. Then her phone vibrates next to her and she sighs before picking her head up.

She picks up her phone and swipes to answer. “Jung.” She greets.

“Another body dropped. Right in the heart of Itaewon, corner of XX and YY, by that new falafel place that opened up.” Seungmin greets. “Grab Jeon and get a move on, this one's different.”

She hums out a quick 'okay' and scribbles down the address before hanging up. As she reaches to gather her things Jungkook walks in carrying a paper bag that both smells like heaven and makes Dawon nauseous.

“I made sure not to get any sour cream since I know you hate it and I really don't want to be upsetting you or your stomach right now.” Jungkook says, looking through the bag. When he pulls his head up from tacos he sees Dawon shoving some things in her purse and grabbing her jacket. “Where are you going?”

“New body downtown. Apparently there's something different about this body, so we gotta eat on the way.” Dawon smiles. “Thank you for considering my sour cream hatred by the way, I appreciate that.”

Jungkook shrugs and holds the door open for Dawon. “Honestly I also hate sour cream so I wouldn't give myself too much credit.” And she walks out rolling her eyes.

*

At first the difference in this body as opposed to others isn't quite so obvious. When they step out of the car it looks like a regular crime scene. It's got blood, a body, police officers roaming everywhere, ape up to block the streets, a group of people surrounding the streets around the area, and about 40 cars blocking any place for Jungkook to park for almost 5 minutes. The body is laid on her side with a pool of blood flowing from a large gash on her neck.

“I'm gonna take a wild guess at cause of death and say blood loss from a cut to the jugular.” Jungkook mumbles as they walk closer to inspect the body. It's a girl who looks young, maybe 22 at the oldest, wearing a strapless, short dress and flats. Her left arm is slightly outstretched to where a phone covered in crakcs lays just out of her reach.

“I'll go with you on that.” Dawon says. “What do we got?” She calls to a nearby officer.

“Female, no identification on her so we don't know an age or name.” He says. “Couple officers found her while patrolling. She's been here a about 12 hours by now I'd say.”

“She looks young, but she's wearing a lot of make up so it's a bit hard to tell.” Dawon notes.

“Has anyone checked her phone for ID?” Jungkook asks.

“Not yet, you can check it now though.” The officer gestures.

Jungkook bends down and pulls a latex glove out of his back pocket, slipping it on over his right hand. He reaches out carefully and grabs the phone from the pool of blood, pressing the button to see if it works. Lo and behold, the screen lights up with a picture of 3 girls sitting in a park together and laughing. He unlocks the phone with no passcode and finds he first social media app he sees. As he reads through the page he repeats what he sees out loud.

“Ahn Eunmi, 15, first year at the local high school. Her most recent Facebook status is criticizing her mother. Posted 2 days ago during school hours.” Jungkook says.

Dawon frowns. “Another kid. See if you can find her parents profiles.”

“She linked her mother in the post where she calls her a 'cheap whore'. Ahn Joohyun, 31, works at a local sports bar as a server. She's got 2 other kids, a boy and another girl, but no relationship status is stated on the profile.”

“There a number on there anywhere?”

“Yeah, you can call her when we get back to the precinct.”

Dawon groans. “Why me?”

“Because I've talked to pretty much every other person in this case so far and I'm getting real tired of human interaction.” Jungkook notes, dropping the phone in an evidence bag after writing down what he needs. “Also because I hate talking to mothers of victims, you never know how they'll react. I don't like surprises.”

“Ugh fine.” Dawon puts on some gloves of her own and pokes around the body a little bit, looking for cuts on her back and any other evidence. “Ooh, lookie here.” She mutters. “Tweezers, please!”

As an officer hands over a pair of tweezers and a test tube, Jungkook wanders over to see the commotion. Dawon picks something off the body with the tweezers and lets out a little 'aha!' in triumph. “A thread!” She grins, dropping it in the tube. “We'll have to test it.”

“Nice job, noona.” Jungkook acknowledges.

“Hell yeah it was. I should be called hawk eye. Bow before me bitch.”

“And you ruined it.”

*

“I guess you can rule out kids as the motive then.” Namjoon comments as he leads Dawon and Jungkook to the autopsy table.

“Yeah, that bitch didn't care at all that her daughter died. And the daughter didn't have any kids either.” Dawon mumbles. “I knew it didn't have anything to do with kids. But I still can't figure out the real motive then.”

Jungkook and Dawon had come back from the scene and called the mother of the victim to deliver the unfortunate news. Dawon was the one actually telling the mother and she had expected some crying, screaming, maybe even denial and anger towards the police. What she didn't expect was a scoff and an 'is that all?' but that's exactly what she got. The mother didn't seem to have any interest in her daughters death or have any input on what her life was really like. According to the mother, Eunmi onyl stayed at their house 2 o 3 times a week, and that was just to sleep or wash clothing. She spent much more time at her friends houses, and Dawon didn't blame her due to the aura the mother gave off. Eventually the mother got fed up with questioning and told the detectives to go ask her school friends if they wanted to actually learn anything about her. Once the mother had left and they filed the paperwork Namjoon called them with autopsy results.

“What a terrible mother...” Namjoon mutters. “Poor girl.”

“We'll go to her high school tomorrow and question her teachers and peers. For now tell us what you got from the autopsy.” Jungkook sighs.

Sohee stands next to the table with gloves on, prepared to move the body for inspection. “Well, you guys were right about cause of death.” She says. “Definitely the result of blood loss due to the cut to her jugular.” Jungkook and Dawon nod.

“She has bruises all over her and some defensive wounds. We checked her nails for skin cells and we found some, they're being tested at the lab right now. Although we suspect the DNA profile to match our unsub.” Namjoon explains. Sohee points to various bruises and abrasions all other the body.

“She has a shattered arch in her left foot and some of her toenails were pulled up from the bed, which I find particularly disturbing.” Sohee mutters.

“Torture?” Dawon asks.

“Could be.” Jungkook says. “Killer wants to see them suffer a bit longer before death.”

Namjoon shivers. “She has the cuts on her back.” Sohee makes to turn the body slightly but Namjoon stops her. “Wait, I don't think they need to see the cuts.”

“Why not? Isn't it good to see everything first hand?” Sohee asks, seemingly oblivious to the undertone in Namjoons careful voice.

“It's just-”

“No, she's right, hyung. I want to see the cuts.” Jungkook interrupts. Namjoon sighs but lets Sohee continue.

Seeing the cuts never gets easier for Jungkook. He always gets a curl in his stomach, starts getting cold sweats and shaky hands. He tries breathing exercises quietly, so he doesn't alert the others to his internal panic. He just stares and stares at the wounds as Sohee continues to hold the body up just enough to let them show.

“I think that's enough.” Namjoon says, pushing the body down to hide the cuts.

“You get anything from the thread found at the crime scene, yet?” Dawon asks quickly.

“No, nothing came back yet.” Namjoon answers. “Sorry.”

“Thanks, we'll be heading out now. I'll see you at home, Joonie.” Dawon says, placing a kiss on Namjoons cheek. He smiles and waves them off as Dawon drags Jungkook from the morgue.

When they get in the elevator Dawon rambles on about some pregnancy things to try and keep Jungkook present and to avoid a panic attack in him. But he doesn't listen. He doesn't say anything back. He stares at the floor and remembers painful things.

Jungkook looks at his mouth. He smiles softly, shaky and full of hope. His lips stretched wide in a way that makes Jungkook shiver, but he can't tell if it's good or not. The way his hair falls in front of his eyes makes Jungkook recall when they discussed new haircuts he should get. Those days seem long ago now, even if they aren't.

“Can I kiss you goodbye?”

Jungkook looks into his eyes. He can see it. The destruction. The pain. The blood. He sees it reflected off his irises, reminding him of the future hey can't have together because of the deadly choices he's made. He can see the victims, the wings, the sheer lack of remorse. The spark of adoration when his eyes land on Jungkook. He can see it all. He swallows hard and smiles through the sick feeling in his stomach.

“Yeah.”

*

Hoseok stands in the elevator of their apartment building, phone to his ear and a lazy smile on his face. He chuckles.

“So what? You're gonna watch every movie about baseball from 1970 to present until you find the one you're looking for?” Hoseok asks amused.

“I have to! I remember the scene I'm looking for I just don't know the movie name or release date. I know it had to be after 1970 though because the quality was definitely beyond 60's technology.” Jungkook says through the receiver.

“You know there's, like, a million movies fitting that description, right? It would take you years to watch them all.” Hoseok grins, getting off the elevator and heading down the hall.

“Well, I know what we're doing for our honeymoon, then.” Jungkook teases.

Hoseok laughs. “If you turn on a single baseball movie at any point during our honeymoon I will divorce you right then and there.”

“Duly noted.” Jungkook laughs. “I'll be home in 20.”

Hoseok steps up in front of the door of their house and sees a package on the floor. “So I guess I should wait for you to open the package, then?”

“What package?” Jungkook asks curiously.

Hoseok lifts the box up and takes it inside with him, placing it on the counter, Mickey running in between his legs as he walks. “So you mean to tell me this isn't some cool new sex toy off the internet you're surprising me with?” His voice carries suspicion, clearly accusing Jungkook of doing just that. Something he would expect from prior experience.

“What?” Jungkook sounds genuinely confused. “No? I didn't order anything. Did you?”

Hoseok frowns. “Oh. I mean I ordered a dog toy for Mickey but that was only 2 days ago, it shouldn't be here yet.”

“Is there any indication as to what's in the box? Like a company name?”

“No. It doesn't even have a return address on it. Or ours.” He mumbles. “I'm gonna open it and see what it is. Maybe it's a hand me down dog toy from Jimin and Tae,”

“This sounds weird to me, Hobi...” Jungkook mutters. “Maybe you should wait for me to get home to open it.”

Hoseok chuckles. “Relax, Kookie. It's not like it's gonna be a bomb or anything.” He rolls his eyes and cuts the tape holding the box closed. When the flaps open up there's tissue paper filling the box. He pulls some paper out and his jaw nearly drops when he sees what's hidden under.

“Oh my god...” Hoseok whispers.

“Hobi? Honey, what's wrong?” Jungkook calls. Hoseok doesn't answer, his hand lets go of the phone and he jumps back, covering his mouth and nose. The phone makes a loud smack sound when it hits the floor. Mickey barks.

“Hyung! Hyung, are you there?”

Chapter Text

Jungkook slams the elevator buttons, praying to every God out there that his lover is okay. “C'mon...” He repeats, watching the numbers on the elevator descend quicker than he expects yet still somehow too slow. As soon as he elevator opens Jungkook is jumping on and smashing the 10^th floor button and the close door button, silently urging the elevator to close faster and starts it ascent. Jungkook debated taking the stairs on the way over in the car but he knew it would take too long with him being so high up and his buildings elevator being so quick, and he needs to get to Hoseok as fast as he can.

He heard Hoseok gasp on the phone, mumble something, and then it went quiet. He heard a smashing sound and Mickey barking but there was nothing after it. The call ended. He tried to call back but he wasn't getting any answer, an automated voice kept repeating that the phone was off or without service. He definitely went over the speed limit after that. After zooming into his parking space and entering the elevator in record time he was relieved to see it had only been 5 minutes since Hoseok hung up so if anything happened there's still time to save him.

But Jungkook tries not to focus on what might have happened and focuses on speeding to the end of the hall when the elevator opens on his floor. He swings the door open after finding it locked and having to scramble with his keys only to find Hoseok in tears waiting just beyond the coat closet. Jungkook wraps his arms around Hoseok tightly and lets his hyung cry into his shoulder and he whispers quietly into his ear.

“Hyung, what's wrong? What happened? Why isn't your phone working?” Jungkook asks frantically. “You scared the shit out of me, I was so worried about your safety.”

Hoseok breathes heavily and sniffles. “Jungkook... oh baby... I don't want you to see this.”

“What is it?” His brows furrow, worry growing.

“The package. The one at the door.” His voice is thick with tears.

“What about it? Where is it?” Jungkook releases Hoseok and makes his way through the house.

“It's on the island in the kitchen.” Hoseok mumbles. Jungkook spots it upon walking in and approaches it slowly. The box is open and there's a stench slowly wafting over to where Hoseok waits at the entryway to the kitchen.

Jungkook nearly gags when he gets close enough that all he really smell is the rot and decay, a smell he knows too well from his line of work, but feels so off coming from his own home. Mickey waits patiently by Hoseok's feet, whimpering and pawing at Hoseok, sensing something is wrong.

As Jungkook peers over the edge of the box and through the mess of tissue paper within, his stomach drops to his feet. Some sort of organ, mangled and rotting sits wrapped in tissues and paper. “Dear God...”

“I dropped my phone and it broke so I couldn't call anyone.” Hoseok mutters. “Do... do you think this is some sort of threat?”

“I don't know.” Jungkook mutters, walking out of the kitchen ad leading Hoseok away to the living room. “I'm gonna call Seungmin hyung, okay?”

Hoseok nods, tears still running down his cheeks. Jungkook hugs him again and this time he doesn't let go for a while before calling.

Seungmin arrives with a forensic team and Dawon and Namjoon come trailing behind him within the hour. Hoseok has stopped crying but he still looks shaken up, eyes wide and scared. Jungkook keeps him close, rubbing a hand over his arm to try and keep him calm. The forensic team is analyzing the organ in the box. No one having moved the box it started leaking on the counter and Jungkook is not looking forward to cleaning that up. He's definitely going to have to replace the whole counter top.

“Seungmin is talking to the forensic team right now.” Dawon says. “What happened? Where did it come from?”

“I don't know.” Hoseok says. “It was just sitting in front of the door when I got home.”

“That doesn't even make sense, don't you have a mailbox on the main floor?” Namjoon asks.

“Yeah, that's why I thought it was some weird trick Jungkook was pulling on me at first.” Hoseok answers. “But he said it wasn't him so I got curious and opened it because I thought if it wasn't Jungkook then it might be one of you guys.”

“Do you have any idea when it got there?” Dawon asks.

“Well, I can't imagine it was there for very long.” Jungkook answers, thinking hard. “It's been sitting on our counter for an hour and the fluids of whatever it is has started leaking through to the counter, but there was no spot on the carpet outside from where the box sat.”

“So it must have been there for less than an hour.” Dawon sighs. “That's so little time, whoever put it there must have known your schedule, and possibly Hoseok's schedule as well. To avoid both of you in such a short time.”

“Bu if it was in the box while transporting it here wouldn't it have leaked sooner? Like if someone put the box in their car and drove it over here, there would have been leaking if it was soaking through since it was placed in the box, right? So then the car would have spots, and the box would be wet.” Hoseok suggests.

“But the box was dry when you picked it up, right?” Jungkook asks.

“Yeah, it just felt like a regular package, not wet or slimy or gross.” Hoseok shudders.

“Do you think someone brought over the organ in a separate container and put out the box before placing the organ in it and sealing it in front of the door?” Dawon asks, incredulous. “That would make the time slot even smaller and the risk of getting caught would be through the roof.”

“Whoever did this would have to be extremely confident. Or stupid.” Seungmin interjects, appearing at their sides.

“What did they say?” Jungkook asks.

“Well, it seems to be a heart. It's rotting, turning to mush.” Seungmin grimaces. “Could it be one of our victims? Maybe the killer is teasing Jungkook?”

“No, all our victims hearts were intact.” Namjoon answers. “But..”

“But?” Seungmin prompts.

“Well...” Namjoon sighs. “Maybe I'm biased but I think the killer is trying to rile Jungkook up.”

“Why would you think that? What did I do?” Jungkook asks, distressed. Hoseok pulls him close and rubs his arm.

“I don't think you did anything. But the reason for the cuts on the shoulder blades of our victims has been irking me. It matches the cuts from the case a few years ago. I might be biased because that was a personal case for all of us but I really think this has something to do with it. The cuts can't be a coincidence.” Namjoon voices. This has been on his mind for some while, Jungkook can tell, but he's been holding back on saying it.

“You mean...” Jungkook mumbles. “It could have something to do with... Junseo?” Just saying his name hurts. It makes Jungkook's insides twist, he feels like he's going to throw up. Hoseok squeezes him tighter, giving support to Jungkook who hasn't said his name since he died.

Seungmin sighs. “Did you date anyone before Hoseok that might have done this? The organ is a heart, it might be a sign that his was from an ex.”

Jungkook shakes his head. “The only people I've ever dated are Hoseok and Junseo. Oh, well I guess I dated Jimin for a number of years during high school but he wouldn't do something like this.”

“We need to question him.” Seungmin says. “We're going to have to question everyone who would know your schedule. That includes Dawon and Namjoon. We'll also have to question people who know Hoseok's schedule since we can't rule out that this has nothing to do with him.”

“We should test the heart and see if we have the DNA record of whoever it belongs to. It might be our next victim.” Namjoon says.

“I'll have them test it. You guys should rest though. You can check it all tomorrow. It's late and if I miss dinner one more time this week my wife is gonna cut my head off.” Seungmin jokes.

Tomorrow is gonna be a long day, Jungkook thinks.

*

“I'm bored.” Hoseok says, sitting in Jungkook's chair. “This is boring.”

Jungkook rolls his eyes. “You've said that every 5 minutes for the past hour.” He leans against the desk, skimming through the most recent victims file. Dawon sits across from Hoseok in her own desk, also clearly annoyed by Hoseok's incessant whining. “You're the one who wanted to stay with me until we got the results back on the heart.”

“Yeah, because we don't know if it has to do with you or me and I don't want to be alone when someone could potentially be out to kill me.” Hoseok sighs. “Plus I get to see my sexy fiance in action as a real life cop.”

“Hate to break it to you but my job isn't actually very glamorous.” Jungkook chuckles.

“I noticed.”

“What do you expect to get from the results that will calm you down?” Dawon asks “What do you think the heart will tell us exactly?”

“I don't know!” Hoseok exclaims. “If the DNA matches someone then maybe it will be a new victim and then we'll know that me and Jungkook are safe and it's just a taunting manoeuvre or something.”

“Hobi...” Jungkook sighs. “At this point it doesn't matter who sent the heart or who the heart belongs to, we're not safe. A person, potentially an uncaught serial killer, sent us a human heart. They know where we live, and they're trying to fuck with most likely me.”

Hoseok deflates. “Well, maybe they'll tell us something else that can make me feel better. I don't know. I don't wanna be alone right now.” He stands up and pulls Jungkook in for a hug.

Jungkook breathes in slowly. “I know, hyung. I'm sorry, this is my fault. I never wanted to bring you into this type of thing. I hate making you so scared that you won't go to work.”

Hoseok sighs. “It's not your fault, you're literally saving our city from criminals, this just comes with the job. And I'm only taking one day off. Besides, I'm tired of dancing right now, I just want to follow you around while you solve a murder case for a while.”

Jungkook laughs and pulls away, keeping his arms around Hoseok's waist. “You'll never get tired of dancing. And it's unlikely I'll solve the case today.”

“Shut up.” Hoseok giggles and kisses him.

“Ew.” Dawon groans from across the room. “This is so gross. You guys are so gross.”

“I have to look at you and know that one of my best friends impregnated you! You can stand to see me innocently kiss my future husband.” Hoseok grins.

“You don't have an innocent bone in your body, you little shit.” Dawon grumbles. “I'm creating life, I'm doing something really fucking cool. You're just over there being gay. That's lame.”

“Bitch, you're straight, that's even more lame!”

“You know, I have duct tape in my desk, I could just tape your mouths shut.” Jungkook mumbles.

“But then what would you kiss?” Hoseok pecks his cheek.

Jungkook smiles widely. “The duct tape.” Hoseok's face flashes betrayal as Jungkook pushes him away. “You're both being annoying. I'm trying to figure out the connection between the victims now with kids being ruled out.”

“Well, we have to question the kids at our latest victims school, why don't we go do that while we wait for the results on the heart. Seungmin is still questioning your friends anyways, it could be a while before we hear any news on it.” Dawon suggests.

“Ooh that sounds exciting! Can I come?” Hoseok asks.

“No.” Jungkook says. “I'd get fired immediately if they found out I brought you along.”

“Well, then I guess they just won't have to find out, will they?” Hoseok gives him puppy dog eyes and Jungkook's resolve shakes a little.

He sighs. “Noona? A little help?”

Dawon smiles. “I mean, I won't snitch.”

Hoseok grins. “So I can come?”

Jungkook sighs. “Nobody says a word about this or the next heart you'll see is your own.”

*

“Are we just allowed to come question these kids? Like shouldn't there be adults around or something?” Hoseok asks.

Jungkook and Dawon lead the way through the school, Hoseok shuffling behind them. “As long as we give them their rights and they understand they can request to have their parents or a lawyer with them during questioning, they don't require parental permission to be interrogated.” Dawon explains. “Although we will need the schools permission to take them out of class since it's class hours currently.”

“There's only really 3 students we need to talk to, apparently our victim wasn't especially popular around here according to her parents.” Jungkook says.

“Oh I see the office,” Dawon points. “Let's talk to the principal.”

The principal granted them permission to talk to the students and gave them a quiet room for the students and officers to talk in. A leather couch, desk, and chair are laid around the room, book cases covering all the walls filled with binders and books make the room seem smaller than it is. The schools fluorescent light hurts Hoseok's eyes but he was instructed not to say anything so he refrains from whining. After some time of small chit chat the girls start coming in, one by one, until all three are seated next to each other on the leather couch. Hoseok sits in what he assumes is principals chair behind the desk and Jungkook and Dawon stand up in front of the desk, reading the students their rights. They don't look particularly scared and Hoseok doesn't know if that means anything significant but he'll ask later when they leave.

“Do you understand you can refuse to answer any questions or request a lawyer or parent any time during the process?” Dawon asks, voice smooth and friendly.

“Yes.” The girls chorus. “You're not the first police officers we've had to speak to, we know all this stuff.” One of them speaks. She said her name was Suji, if Hoseok recalls correctly. She's 15, but she could easily pass for 19.

“That so?” Jungkook prompts. “Do you speak to the police often?”

“Kind of, yeah.” Another girl answers. Minji, 16, the oldest of them. She's short and a little chubby for her age, but she doesn't seem self conscious like other girls her age, she wears revealing clothing and make up to attract attention. “We're not exactly innocent.”

“What do you mean?” Dawon asks.

“Well, for starters, we all knew what Eunmi was doing for money. Police have come to question us a couple times regarding that.” Minji explains.

Hoseok raises a brow. “What did she do for money?” Jungkook asks.

“She sold herself.” The last girl explains. Her name is Sooyoung and she's 15, the only one who looks like a simple high school girl. “Mostly to other guys around the school, but also to some of the students parents, and occasionally to strangers.”

“She was an underage sex worker?” Dawon questions, incredulous.

“Yeah. She had to earn money somehow. Her parents hated her.” Suji says. “They refused to pay for her food and tuition, but she really wanted to finish high school.”

“How does someone her age get into a job like that?” Jungkook asks.

“She was staying at my house one night,” Sooyoung says. “And she told me that she couldn't afford her tuition for the next semester and get food to eat everyday. My mom gave her some money for food but apparently she didn't have enough even after that. So she was asking people around for extra lunch money.”

“Apparently, one of the guys in her chemistry class offered to buy her lunch if she gave him a blowjob.” Minji adds. “She did it, and he said his friends would be happy to do the same thing when she needed it. So she started giving guys sexual favours for lunch. I don't know how but she managed to hook in a parent one night and he paid her a lot of money to go all the way. And then she just kept going from there.”

“Do you have any idea which parent she got started with? Or any others she slept with?” Jungkook asks, his voice unwavering. Hoseok has no idea how he does this, acts so unfazed when dealing with such hard subject manners. It's almost scary how calm and collected he is.

“No. She never told us.” Minji answers.

“So we wouldn't be able to accidentally spill it and get her clients put away.” Sooyoung finishes.

“Poor kid...” Hoseok lets slip. His hand shoots to his mouth immediately and Dawon glares at him.

“Her life wasn't all sad.” Suji speaks up. “She recently got a job offer at the grocery store by her uncles house and she was planning to take it so she could earn an honest living. Her uncle said he'd house her free of rent but he couldn't do much else. She was just excited to have a place to stay and a stable income without handing out to sleazy middle aged guys.”

“Her life was just about to turn around. I think that's what makes it the most depressing.” Sooyoung sighs.

“I'm surprised a couple of high school girls like you can keep it together right now. You're friend just died. Are you guys getting counselling or anything?” Dawon asks.

They shake their heads. Hoseok notices then that they all speak in a sort of empty monotone. None of them make eye contact, and none of them smile or react in any way to stimuli. These are the kids he'd keep a careful watch out for if they were in his dance class. He remembers a kid in his young adult classes used to come in for after school lessons covered in bruises. After a couple months and meeting the parents it was clear he was being abused at home. It shook Hoseok to the core but the kid would beg and plead with him to not call social services. One day he kid stopped showing up and he told Jungkook about it, but the family had gone off the grid. He waited for a while to see if the kid would ever come back, but it's been over 2 years since then and there hasn't been a word. He's pretty certain he'll never see the kid or the parents ever again. Hoseok looks away from the girls and gulps. He hopes to God they don't end up like that kid. Never heard from again, falling helplessly into the trap life left for them.

“Alright, well thank you for your help, and I'm sorry for your loss.” Jungkook says. “You should seek help if your struggling, and don't go out alone late at night.”

The girls all stand up, about to head back to class when Sooyoung stops at the door. The other girls wait outside and Sooyoung doesn't make eye contact or make a sound.

“Can we help you with something?” Dawon asks.

“Did...” She pauses. “Did it hurt?”

Dawon tilts her head in confusion, prompting Sooyoung to elaborate.

“When she died. Eunmi. Did her death hurt?” She explains.

Dawon smiles easily and quickly. “No. She wouldn't have felt a thing.” Sooyoung nods and heads off, other girls in tow behind her. When they've gone and the three begin leaving the school Hoseok can't help but shake this feeling of uneasiness.

“Did she really die painlessly?” He asks when they get in the car.

Dawon sighs. “No. She would have been in pain. And cold. And alone. But the worst thing was probably the overwhelming feeling of terror as she felt herself die.”

Hoseok doesn't ask any questions after that.

*

“Hey, we got the results back in for the heart at your doorstep.” Seungmin says over the phone.

“Really? I'll grab Dawon and Hoseok and we'll-” Jungkook starts. Stepping out of the cafe, croissant in hand.

“Jungkook.” Seungmin cuts him off. His voice is heavy. Something isn't right.

“Hyung?”

“Come to my office. They're already here.”

Jungkook does as he's told, hangs up and goes back to the precinct. Hoseok and Dawon are there when Jungkook steps inside. Seungmin is sitting with his hands together. Dawon stands next to Hoseok who sits opposite Seungmin.

“Sit.” Dawon says, pointing towards the empty chair next to Hoseok.

“Shouldn't you be sitting? You're pregnant.” He asks.

“No. This time you should be sitting.” Dawon speaks quietly.

Jungkook knows something is wrong. Very wrong. He sits down slowly and watches as everyone stares at him with pity in their eyes. He wonders why people would treat him so carefully wonders how bad what he's about to hear is.

Seungmin sighs. “Jungkook-ah, the heart...”

He gulps, Hoseok grabs his hand tightly.

“It's Jeonghyun's.”

Chapter Text

Jungkook walks out of the cafe and sighs. This case is kicking his ass. He loves cold cases, having an odd knack for being able to solve the ones they thought unsolvable. He especially loves the satisfaction he gets when old killers get pissy because a 'kid' like him managed to pin their crimes on them. But this one is giving him a run for his money, that's for sure. He just can't figure out why this guy would kill his sister-in-law. And it's always easier to get a confession when you get in their face with their motive. It looks like they were having an affair and he killed her before she could tell her sister, but there's no evidence supporting the affair besides the victims ex-husband's theory.

His phone rings, and he startles, nearly dropping his croissant. “Hello?” He answers.

“Jungkook-ah!” Jeonghyun greets through the receiver.

“Hyung! Hey, how's it going? How's Sooyoung?” He asks, smile stretching his cheeks.

“She's good. She's taking care of Jihyo right now.” Jeonghyun's wife Sooyoung recently gave birth to Jungkook's niece Jihyo. He's been over the moon ever since her birth, absolutely ecstatic to be a dad. “Jihyo recently started crawling. It's adorable, I have to send you a video!”

Jungkook laughs. “That's precious, I can't wait to see it. You're still coming over for dinner tonight, right?”

“Yeah, for sure.”

“And bring Jihyo! I wanna play with my adorable little niece.”

“If she's awake I'll bring her.” Jeonghyun laughs. “Oh, I gotta get back to work, love you Kook, see you later.”

“Love you too, hyung. See you.” Jungkook smiles and hangs up. When he gets back to work he has an epiphany of sorts and thinks to check the suspects workplace security footage to see if he had been secretly banging the victim in his office, which turns out to be a good place to start. The cameras outside of the office showed her walking in, but the cameras inside the office were conveniently turned off for 45 minutes. He'd love to see the suspect try to explain why they had footage of her going in, but no footage of her in there several times in the weeks leading up to her murder after denying having an affair with her.

That night Jeonghyun brought his wife and child over for dinner and they all had a wonderful time. Jungkook loves his niece, he loves his sister-in-law, and he loves his brother. It couldn't possibly have been a better night for him.

And God does he ever wish he could relive that night on repeat forever.

It was the next morning when he got the call. He didn't expect to get a call this early, especially from Sooyoung.

She was crying over the receiver, sobbing really. It was almost hard to make out a coherent sentence with how much she was wailing. But what he did make out changed him. It shook him to the core.

“Jeonghyun... he's gone, Jungkook!” She yells.

Hoseok holds him as he cries that morning. He cries and cries and doesn't manage to stop when it's time for him to go to work, so Hoseok calls his sister and tells her to let his boss know he won't be in. Hoseok doesn't even know why Jungkook's crying until that afternoon when he finally manages to calm down long enough to eat something.

“It was an accident.” Jungkook mumbles, staring blankly at some soup Hoseok put in front of him. Hoseok doesn't say anything, just wraps an arm around him and waits for him to continue. “He was driving this morning. To work. And a truck drivers breaks stopped working at the red light. He got T-boned at the intersection. Jeonghyun, he... a piece of metal pierced his abdomen and he bled out in minutes. He was probably unconscious from the way his head hit the window. But who knows? He could have been staring into the distance, waiting for the death he knew was creeping up on him, fully conscious. Imagining Jihyo growing up and living life in his final moments. Seeing Sooyoung old and wrinkly. Killer bugs for her.”

“Jungkook... I'm so sorry.” Hoseok whispers. He just cries more.

Jungkook rolls over in bed. Shutting his eyes tight and forcing the memory away. It was 7 months ago, he needs to move on. Nothing could have prevented it. Yet he still feels partially responsible somehow. Sooyoung still feels guilty about it. She puts on a strong outer appearance like always, something Jeonghyun loved about her, and raises her daughter as a newly single mom. But it's still hard to see Jungkook. She feels guilty, like if she had waken him up earlier or something he could have avoided the light and just missed the truck. And when she sees Jungkook she sees her late husband, and she feels responsible for taking his brother away.

He can never tell her about this. She can never know. They're still close friends, he still sees his niece regularly, Sooyoung even still talks to his mom. But this is something he can never share with her. She's only recently started understanding it wasn't her fault, only just started really moving on. He can't do this to her now, not ever.

Jungkook: Hey, how's Jihyo? Has she started speaking sentences yet? 11:30 AM

Sooyoung: Hey! A little bit, yeah. She's been able to start saying “I'm hungry” recently. 11:37 AM

Jungkook: Adorable! You have to send me videos~ 11:38 AM

Sooyoung: Do you and Hoseok want to come over for dinner this weekend? Jihyo loves seeing her uncles, maybe she'll even be able to say one of your names ;) 11:44 AM

Jungkook smiles and thinks of his beautiful niece and sister-in-law. Smiling happily, finally growing past the tragedy.

Jungkook: That sounds great! She'll finally be able to tell us who her favourite uncle is keke 11:50 AM

Sooyoung: Awesome~ Sunday at 7, okie dokie? 11:53 AM

Jungkook: See you then! 11:54 AM

No. He can never tell her.

*

“You know, this means I was right.” Namjoon says, sitting down with Dawon, Seungmin, and Hoseok. They all sit around Seungmin's desk, discussing what to do next.

“Now isn't really the time to be saying 'I told you so', Namjoon.” Dawon mutters.

Namjoon sighs. “You know what I mean.” And rolls his eyes. “It means someone has something against Jungkook, like I suggested.”

“I don't really love thinking about that, Joon.” Hoseok mumbles.

“But we have to.” Seungmin adds. “This clearly has something to do with Jungkook and his past. His brother died over 7 months ago and someone had kept and preserved his heart until recently to deliver it personally to Jungkook's door.”

“I still think it has something to do with Junseo. The cuts on the back of the victims are identical.” Namjoon points out,

“We still don't even know if our serial killer is the same person who sent the heart.” Dawon says.

“It's obvious it is. The cuts make sense that way. We've all been avoiding it since the first case because of this possibility but we have to face it.” Namjoon sighs.

“But if he's involved with the case I'll have to take him off it, and I don't want to do that.” Seungmin says. “He would hate me if I took him off the case.”

“I'm surprised you didn't take him off the case when we got the bouquet.” Hoseok mumbles.

“What bouquet?” Dawon inquires.

Hoseok furrows his brows. “He didn't tell you guys about the bouquet?”

“No, what happened with a bouquet?” Seungmin asks.

“Not much, I guess. We got a hate bouquet delivered to our door.”

“A hate bouquet?” Seungmin prompts, confused.

“All the flowers and herbs in the bouquet had negative meanings.” Hoseok explains. “It also had a little card that said 'sorry for your loss' with it.”

“I didn't even know hate bouquets were a thing.” Dawon mutters.

“They were more popular in the Victorian era.” Namjoon notes.

“So then this is the second threat you've gotten.” Seungmin says. He frames it like a question but it isn't really a question. Hoseok nods. “When did this happen?”

“I don't know, a couple days ago, I guess?” Hoseok sighs. “We didn't really think much of it, just thought it was one of our friends fucking with us, but with the heart I guess it now seems threatening.”

“Like 'a couple days ago' when you got the heart or 'a couple days ago' like last week? Because to you 'a couple days ago' could be anywhere from yesterday to 4 years ago.” Dawon asks.

“Like literally a couple days ago, maybe the same day as the heart or the day before I don't know, it wasn't a priority as much as a heart was.” Hoseok snaps.

“That's really fucked up.” Dawon notes.

“No kidding.” Namjoon scoffs.

“Well it makes sense he didn't mention it then.” Seungmin comments. “Listen, I know I should remove him from the case, but I really think we need his help with this. He would be the best person to know about what it could be in his life that someone is holding a grudge about.”

“It has to be something to do with Junseo.” Namjoon says. “There is literally no way this has nothing to do with Junseo.”

“Junseo is dead, though.” Hoseok interjects. “I saw him die, there's no way he somehow survived that. This isn't a Hollywood movie, it's real life.”

“Maybe it's someone in his family?” Dawon suggests.

“His family is dead.” Hoseok shakes his head. “Our parents, which were his, are dead. He killed them. My fairy parents, the ones who enslaved him, are also dead. He killed them, too. And there's no way Mr. Murphy could have not known if they had more than one kid hiding in their house. There's no way he's got any siblings besides you. Blood relation or otherwise.”

“Okay, so his family is dead. Maybe he had friends who want revenge?” Dawon suggests.

“I don't remember him talking to anyone else in the time that Jungkook was dating him but I guess if anyone would know it would be Jungkook.” Namjoon says. “We'll need his help with this. You can't take him off the case, Seungmin.”

“He has to, Jungkook's too intertwined with this, he's biased.” Dawon says.

“And he's not exactly in the right mind set to be doing this right now.” Hoseok adds.

“But he's the only one with the information we need.” Seungmin mumbles. The room is silent for a moment until Seungmin eventually sighs. “He's staying on the case until further notice. We need all the help we can get. This killer has killed 4 people and they have their eyes set on Jungkook. We have to use all our man power to find them before they kill again.”

*

“We're going to see Sooyoung and Jihyo on Sunday.” Jungkook says as soon as Hoseok steps in the door. He's been at meetings all day sorting out a break from running the dance studio for a while until his and Jungkook's safety is guaranteed, and figuring out what to do with Jungkook and the case as a whole.

“Are you gonna tell her?” Hoseok asks carefully.

“No.” Jungkook mumbles, hovering over a pot on the stove. “She doesn't need to know.”

“Alright.”

Hoseok walks through the apartment to Jungkook, wrapping around his fiance in a back hug as he cooks ramen. Hoseok notices he put enough on for the both of them. How Jungkook could think of Hoseok at a time like this is beyond him. He sees Jungkook as one of, if not the, strongest people he's ever met. Having gone through so much a such a young age, one after another, is unimaginable to Hoseok. When he sees him suffering it hurts him, but he doesn't know what to do. All he can do is support him through the pain as best as he can.

Of course he knows Jungkook doesn't see himself the same way Hoseok sees him. He's sure Jungkook thinks something similar of him and he wouldn't claim himself to be up to par with whatever level Jungkook holds him even on his best days. They're both caught in a self deprecating cycle like 99% of the human population, but sometimes Hoseok wonders if maybe Jungkook's cycle lasts a little too long for him to handle.

Jungkook doesn't say anything when Hoseok hugs him, just sinks into the touch. He worried all day about Jungkook, but he had so much to do that Jungkook insisted he leave to finish. He knows it was so Jungkook could be alone for a while, cry to himself without the pressure of having others around him. But he still wanted so badly to stay and care for him.

“Are they taking me off the case?” Jungkook asks. He pours the flavour packet in.

Hoseok sighs. “No.” He lays down some bowls.

“No?”

“No.” Hoseok brings the bowls to the table and they sit down to eat. “They need you.”

“You can say why.” Jungkook slurps, emotion wiped from his face. “I know why they need me.”

“Because of him. They think it has something to do with him. Because of the cuts on the victim's backs.”

Jungkook sighs. “I know. I've known since I saw the first victim. But I can't think of any possible way he could have lived through that. It doesn't make sense.”

“I know, let's not think about that right now. Your shaking.” Jungkook stiffens but it doesn't stop the tremors.

“I'm going in to work tomorrow and we'll discuss it more there.”

“You shouldn't be going to work. I wanted them to take you off the case.”

“I knew you would want me off the case,” Jungkook mumbles. “I wanted to be off the case. But I need to be able to help. They can't do this without me.”

“If you want off the case then just leave the case, they can figure it out on their own.” Hoseok pleads.

“No. They're most likely just gonna interrogate me and then take me off when they have everything they need anyways.” Jungkook pulls some bowls out of the cupboard. “And since I don't have much to give them it won't be long.”

Hoseok sighs and grabs chopstick from the drawer. They set out the food and eat in silence, one hand with chopsticks and the other grasping each others. Hoseok stretches his left arm around to reach Jungkook's comfortably, and he rubs his thumb along the length of his palm the whole time they eat.

“I have therapy before work tomorrow.” Jungkook eventually says. The food long gone and them both moved to the couch to cuddle comfortably in front of the TV. “I want you to come. Can you?”

“Yeah, of course. I was gonna come with you to work anyways.” Hoseok answers, not looking away from the the screen, faking some sense of normalcy.

“Your studio will be okay without you there?” Jungkook turns slightly, face unintentionally sad and concerned. Like a kid asking if their parents will still love them after the birth of their little sibling. “You worked everything out already?”

“Yeah it didn't take long.” Hoseok mumbles. “I had to talk to all of my teachers which was a pain because there was always a few in class at any given time so I had to wait around and explain everything like 5 times, plus make some calls for the people who weren't there, but everyone just gave me a thumbs up and said they had everything under control. It helps to have this protocol in place ahead of time.”

“You have a protocol set up for the case in which you have to leave for an extended time for your safety?” Jungkook asks, genuine confusion overtaking his previous worry.

“Of course I do, you're a homicide detective. You make a lot of enemies at work, hun, I need to be ready to uproot my life at any time in case you make the wrong enemy on the wrong day.” Hoseok shrugs nonchalantly. “I thought I mentioned this to you when we implemented it.”

“When did you implement this?”

“When you got promoted. Did I completely forget to mention this to you?”

“Apparently. Either that or I have the worst memory.”

“I want to say I definitely mentioned this but your memory is fucking superb so I must have forgot.”

Jungkook smiles a little and nod softly. “Damn right it's fucking superb.” He mutters. Hoseok laughs at that. Hopefully he can laugh a little more in the coming days, but he doesn't anticipate it.

*

“Jungkook.” The secretary calls through the waiting room. Jungkook stands up, Hoseok following behind with a careful hand on his back. The waiting room is empty other than them, so as they leave an uneasy silence falls that marks every therapists office he's ever been to. It sends a shiver down his spine.

“Hoseok coming in today, too?” The secretary smiles. She knows Jungkook now, he's been coming to this therapist for years now and he knows almost all the staff in the building. Hoseok used to come to every session for a while back when Jeonghyun first died, so his face is not unfamiliar either.

“Yeah, I missed you guys!” Hoseok smiles brightly, taking the spotlight off Jungkook so early. The secretary laughs and makes a note on the clipboard in front of her.

“We missed you too, Hoseok! You could always become a patient here, you know...” She winks.

Hoseok giggles. “I think my current therapist would get jealous if I left him.”

“Well, we do have an extra office if he's thinking of moving.”

“I'll mention it to him, but I think he likes his current office. Although, I think I could sell him on your pretty face.” He winks. The secretary laughs and Hoseok grins at her as they turn to into Jungkook's therapists office. The long hallway is always a little less daunting when conversation flows easily, and who better to make small talk than Hoseok, Jungkook thinks.

The office is brightly lit by natural light flooding in through the wide windows. Jungkook's therapist smiles at him. The walls have books piled everywhere, the comfortable chairs in front of her desk have dents where people always sit, and the zen garden sitting on the small table between the chairs have paths laid out through the sand, made by whoever was here last.

“Hello, Jungkook.” She smiles softly. “Oh and Hoseok. How are you, today?”

“Not too bad, and you, Dr. Kim?” Hoseok asks politely.

“I'm fine myself.” She shoves some papers into a file and rolls her chair over to put it in cabinet. “How about you, Jungkook?”

He hums. “Been better.” When Jungkook sits, Hoseok sits right net to him and reaches out a hand for comfort. Dr. Kim's eyes follow their movements, reading Jungkook's discomfort easily.

“It hasn't been long since you were last here. Has something happened since our last meeting?” She asks, pulling out a thick folder and laying on her desk as she rolls back over.

“Yeah, I received a human heart at my doorstep.” Jungkook says in monotone. He hasn't displayed any emotion in his face or voice since he woke up.

Dr. Kim's eyes widen. “Oh dear, that's threatening. Does it have something to do with your current case?” She asks, aware of his career.

“That's what we think.” He answers. “It was rotting. Because it was old.”

“How does it make you feel to receive a, uh, human heart at your doorstep?”

“Really bad.” He nods blankly. “As you can imagine.”

“Yes, I'm sure it would be frightening.”

“I don't think I'm scared, though. Just sad, because it was my brothers heart.”

She flinches a little at that. “Are... are you sure?”

“Yes.” He answers quickly. “We had the DNA on file and it matched my brother.”

“Well, um,” She stutters, clearly not used to hearing this. Her career is still new, Jungkook was one of her first clients, and one of her toughest, as she's still young. Hearing these things aren't common from the rest of her clients. She's heard a lot of things from her war veterans, but receiving a threat like this is new. “I didn't do much physical medicine in school, obviously, but how could it have been his heart this long after he passed? Shouldn't it have been much worse off by now?”

“It appears whoever left it at my doorstep has kept it preserved since he died. Which means whoever did it has been planning this for months, possibly over a year or even longer.” His voice doesn't break or change once while he talks. The things he's saying should be the scary part, but to Hoseok it's the way that he says them with no emotion that is scariest.

“Are you here because this scares you? Knowing someone is after you in a sense?” She asks.

“No.” Jungkook answers. “I'm not scared. Not for me anyway, if anything happened to Hoseok I don't know what I'd do.” He squeezes Hoseok's hand.

“Well if you're not scared, do you know what you're feeling then?”

“Hopelessness.” And his cold demeanour breaks. His voice cracks and his face shows misery. “All yesterday I couldn't stop thinking about how every time something good happens in my life, it's ruined by something awful, always worse than the last time. Nothing good can ever happen to me because every time it does it means something bad is coming next. I don't know if I can ever be happy. If I can't be happy what even is the point? Am I gonna be stuck in this loop forever? Just grinding away until I die?” His eyes are watering and he's breathing heavily but he won't let any of his tears fall.

Dr. Kim lets her pity show. “No, Jungkook.” She speaks softly. Hoseok rubs Jungkook's back slowly but he still shakes. “You're thinking of this all wrong. Life isn't about having constant happiness, because nothing is constant. Everything is temporary, even happiness, even sadness. The 'point' isn't to try and reach for this forever escaping permanent ecstasy, because if everything was perfect, perfect would mean nothing. It's the fact that things and people are temporary that makes them so special. The 'point' is to be experiencing things in the moment, because the moment won't ever happen again.

“When you have a bad day and you think, like we worked on, 'once this day is over, I never have to do it again', that applies to good days, too. You have to remember to treasure the good times because it won't be forever, the same way you have to remember that the bad times won't be forever either. And that's good, because-”

“If everything was good all the time, nothing would mean anything.” Jungkook finishes. “I remember we worked on this a couple months ago.”

“Yes, it's good that you remember that. Maybe we should work on it again.” She suggests.

Jungkook nods. “Yeah. I think I need to work on it again.”

“Actually,” She says, clicking around on her computer. “I have something a coworker gave me recently that you can take home to remember and work on when you're not here.” She pulls out a shelf on the bottom of her desk holding a printer and swiftly pulls out each page as it shots from the top, stapling it together and handing over to Jungkook.

He takes the papers, still warm to the touch, and reads over the text briefly while she speaks.

“So, next time we work on this, right? Read it over at home and remind yourself of everything and then next week we'll keep going with this, okay?”

Jungkook nods and stands, Hoseok close to his side. They give each other parting greetings and leave. Jungkook breathes in and processes things slowly on his way to work, it's a good thing Hoseok drove today.

It's gonna be okay, he thinks. It'll be okay.

Chapter Text

Dawon fidgets while she waits. Seungmin is still slowly pacing as he reads over the files. Of course Jungkook is late, she thinks. He's never late but of course the one time he is his life is in danger. Namjoon taps his fingers rhythmically and Dawon is almost ready to snap, mood swings and work stress really grinding on her last nerve when Seungmin finally puts down the file and sighs. He doesn't say anything but his sudden change in movement gathers attention enough to offset the unease that settled around them, even if only momentarily.

Jungkook and Hoseok come through the door less than a minute later, once again cutting off Dawon as she nearly yells at her beloved to stop fucking tapping his goddamn fingers.

“Hey, sorry we're late. Therapy ran over a little, and then traffic was crazy.” Jungkook says easily. He pulls out a chair around the conference table across from Dawon and Namjoon, Hoseok sitting quickly next to him.

“No worries, let's just get started.” Seungmin says. “We need to know everything you know.”

“Well then you're done. I don't know anything.” Jungkook shrugs. “I cannot think of anyway he could still be alive to be doing this. He died in front of me.”

“I don't think it's Song Junseo.” Seungmin says. Everybody flinches. Nobody has said his name since the case closed all those years ago. “It could be a friend of his. Did he have any friends?”

Jungkook thinks. “I don't think so? I never met any. It was a long time ago, hyung, I was still in my second year at college then.”

“Well, you need to think harder, because the odds it's a copycat are lower than low considering the case never went public.”

“I don't know! I barely remember that time of my life entirely.”

“Isn't that when you met Hoseok, shouldn't you remember it better?” Dawon prompts, immediately knowing it came across in the wrong way as Jungkook and Hoseok's faces shift into anger.

“Noona, what the fuck does that mean?” Hoseok grumbles.

“Oh, I'm sorry, I should have thought not to repress the worst memories of my life but that was kind of taking a back seat to finding out I was dating a fucking serial killer!” Jungkook yells defensively.

Dawon sighs. “That came out wrong, I didn't mean to-”

“I know!” Jungkook cuts her off. “Fucking Christ, I know that! I'm sorry, I can't-” He breathes heavily, grasping at his hair. “This is a fucking lot right now and I'm really trying to think but I just don't know.” Hoseok wraps his arms around Jungkook carefully, loosening the grip the younger has on his hair and whispering small words of reassurance.

Nobody says anything until Jungkook calms down a little. When he does he apologizes again quietly and everyone cuts him off with a 'don't'.

“Okay.” Seungmin nods. “Okay, so you don't know anything, at least not right now. Keep thinking about it but for right now let's just focus on what we know at hand. What can we say about the unsub?”

“I've been thinking about the heart.” Namjoon speaks and everyone turns their heads. Namjoon is the one with the most knowledge on organs here. “It wasn't rotted enough to have been not preserved for, what 7 months, 8? But it was still too rotted to have been preserved from death until delivery. So, either the person didn't preserve it properly or it hasn't been preserved the entire time. There must have been some time when it was left to rot somewhere.”

Jungkook flinches at that thought. “Well, his body was donated to science. Where does it go when that happens?”

Namjoon perks up. “Okay, this is news to me but this helps. Because the most likely scenario was that his body was sent to a university for students going into various fields dealing with corpses to study decomposition. There was a place at the university we went to that had that.”

“So, then there would be a time after death where his heart was unattended to.” Seungmin comments. “We can contact the university where his body was and see what records they have.”

“I appreciate the lack of names and reference to him, but you can just call him by his name. We all knew Jeonghyun and I'm sure he would like us to call him by his name.” Jungkook comments.

“Right.” Seungmin nods.

“I'm sorry, are we all gonna gloss over the fact that the university Namjoon, Jungkook, and I went to had a fucking human corpse amusement park?” Hoseok shrieks.

“It wasn't an amusement park, it was for educational purposes and it was kept off campus.” Namjoon reassures. “Can't believe you didn't know that.”

“We don't deal with a lot of bodies in the arts department.”

“Well, we have a lead now right? We should contact the university they sent Jeonghyun to.” Dawon comments. “What university was it?”

“I don't know, they didn't tell me.” Jungkook shrugs. “By pure proximity I would have to guess probably ours.”

“I'll check the records to confirm but as far as I'm aware that's the only one in the city because I think another university uses the same body park.” Namjoon says.

“Okay. Is there anything else we need to talk about right now?” Dawon asks.

“Yes, a lot. But I think it can probably wait.” Seungmin says, as he checks his phone. “We got another body.”

*

“So,” Jungkook starts awkwardly, one hand on the wheel and one tapping at the GPS in his car. “Noona.”

Dawon turns her head, not lifting it from the seat. “Jungkook, I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I was just trying to trigger your memories, I wasn't trying to insinuate you didn't remember meeting Hoseok or that you were inadequate in anyway.” She frowns. The car ride had been silent until then, which was strange as they almost always had things to talk about being so close for so many years.

Jungkook shakes his head. “I know, I'm sorry about how I reacted I wasn't thinking straight. I haven't been thinking straight for weeks.”

“I know how you feel.” She chuckles. “Baby mind has made me a little wonky.”

“I can only imagine.” Jungkook smiles. “How's pregnancy, by the way? It's been a couple weeks since you found out right? Any baby bump yet?”

“Yeah actually. I noticed a small little bump starting a couple days ago. I'm only just reaching 11 weeks so it's still small yet but its getting there. Not noticeable under most all of my clothes and it kind of just looks like I'm fat, but it's distinctly round so I can definitely tell it's the bump.”

“That's so cool... I've always been jealous of people who can get pregnant. It must be amazing to be able to create life in your own body. That's just wild to me.”

Dawon laughs. “It's not all glamorous, but it is certainly incredible.” As she speaks her hand absentmindedly rests on her belly. She smiles out the window and Jungkook looks over and grins. He's so proud of her. Something he never thought he would feel for other people. He used to think he would never be able to be happy for another person but therapy taught him differently, and he honestly enjoys being able to feel for other people this way.

“Oh, I see it.” Jungkook says suddenly. “There's Seungmin's car.” Dawon looks where he points and sees the car and tape surrounding the area.

When they arrive on scene, the body is slumped against a wall and looks like it could be just a homeless man fallen asleep in an alleyway. What gave it away that the man is dead is the combination of the lack of a rising and falling in his chest and the giant gash that leaked the mans intestines over his outstretched legs. For the first time since Jungkook started working with her, he sees Dawon legitimately gag upon the scent of blood reaching her nose. Jungkook looks away, not wanting to gag himself at the sight of his future sister-in-law most likely going to throw up at a crime scene. He quickly grabs a large evidence bag from one of the forensic team walking past and hands it over to Dawon who opens it and continues to gag as she slowly backs away from the scene. Jungkook goes to pat her back but she puts a hand up and groans.

“Don't.” She mutters. “Touch me. I'm not Hobi, I don't like company when I'm sick.” Jungkook nods and looks around.

“Go check out the scene. Update me later. I'm gonna go throw up.” She says, stumbling around the corner. Jungkook just nods and sends an officer to watch after her while he makes his way to the body and his boss who frowns as he approaches alone.

'Where's-”

“Vomiting.” Jungkook scrunches his nose. “Just lemme know what we got, I'll update her when she's done.”

Seungmin glances around and sighs before shaking his head. “Some homeless guy as far as we can tell.”

Jungkook raises a brow, walking around the body and examining the scene. “That's it?”

“Antemortem, yeah.” Seungmin shrugs. “Perimortem, his gut was slashed open and he bled out. Postmortem, his back was cut at the shoulder blades.”

Jungkook nods. “Any idea how he connects to the other victims?”

Seungmin shakes his head. “As far as we can tell just from looking, he doesn't.”

“Copycat?”

“Unlikely, shoulder blade cuts weren't publicized. Unless someone talked or...” Seungmin trails off, eyeing Jungkook carefully.

Jungkook doesn't look away from the body. “Let's just not talk about that right now. We need to find out everything we can about this body and what it was like when it was animated.”

“That's a very Frankenstein way to talk about a corpse.”

“Yeah, been thinking of swapping careers. What do you think of mad scientist?”

Seungmin laughs. “There's math in science, Jungkook-ah.”

“Shit, you're right.” He chuckles. “Guess I'll have to stick to what I do best.”

“Whine?”

Jungkook glares playfully. “Solve murders.”

“Alright, what's your action plan?” Seungmin challenges.

He stands back and sighs again. “Okay. I need to figure out how to get information on this guy. First, we'll get Namjoon hyung to run prints, see what we get from the system, if anything at all. Then, we'll go from there.”

“If there's nothing in the system?” Seungmin prompts.

“Unlikely since he's obviously homeless, unwashed and unkempt hair and clothes give that away, and statistically he's more likely to have addiction issues in that case, may have had a stint in prison if he's been on the streets for a while. Although I won't rule out he's just a victim of mental illness. But in the off chance he's not in the system, people are rarely found far from where they frequent in life so someone around here probably recognizes him and can name him. We can check local food banks and charity stores.”

Seungmin nods proudly. “I've taught you well, my child.” And swings an arm around Jungkook's shoulder.

*

Sooyoung opens the door with a big grin and a little girl on her hip. Jungkook instantly breaks out into a big smile.

“Hi, Jihyo!” Jungkook shrieks, reaching out to hold her.

“And hello to you too, Jungkook.” Sooyoung rolls her eye as she passes the baby over. “And Hoseok.”

Hoseok chuckles. “Hey Noona. He's been going on all day about how excited he is to play with Jihyo.” They step in, Jungkook kicking his shoes off and rocking absentmindedly with Jihyo in his arms.

“It's been like, 3 years since I've seen this precious little bean.” Jungkook defends.

“It hasn't even been a month, she's not even old enough for it to have been that long, Kook.” Sooyung chuckles. “But I'm glad you're here to tire her out, she's been hyper all day and nothing I seem to do will get her tuckered out enough to sleep.”

“He'll have her out in an hour tops.” Hoseok notes, closing the door behind him. “And then you can feed us!”

Sooyoung sighs. “It's like I have three children.”

After playing for 45 minutes, Jihyo manages to say a syllable that very slightly resembles 'gu' and Jungkook takes that as his cue to claim victory as being the favourite uncle. Hoseok protests this but they all have a good laugh when she sneezes in Hoseok's face and he accepts it as defeat. Sooyoung finally manages to get her down just after 8 and then she whips out her phone to order takeout.

Sooyoung puts on a playlist of songs from the 1980s and they all sit down and wait for the food to come. “So, it's been a while since you've updated me on anything. How's the wedding plans?”

Hoseok grins. “Okay, well we're planning something relatively small so that we can go all out for the honeymoon but we're still debating what we're even gonna do on the honeymoon. I vote backpacking trip, Jungkook is lazy.”

Jungkook scoffs. “I am not lazy, I just think that maybe we could rent a car and have the privacy of our own vehicle while we tour Eurasia.”

“So in other words you wanna have car sex in every country on the way and you can't do that if you take public transportation?” Sooyoung smirks.

Jungkook sputters. “I- listen this- you've got-”

She rolls her eyes. “Come on, Kook. I know what it's like to have a honeymoon and I know you want to bang everywhere.”

Jungkook scrunches his nose. “I don't want to think of you doing the nasty, Noona.”

“Babe she has a whole ass kid asleep in there. She had to bang at some point.” Hoseok chuckles.

“You can't prove to me that child came from her, I refuse to believe she's been sinning in this house of God.”

“A prostitute lived here before we did.” Sooyoung comments with a raised eyebrow. “I still think you should backpack at least some of the way, though.”

“Thank you! I think it would be nice to get some exercise in nature.” Hoseok exclaims.

“We don't need nature to get exercise. We can do that in our own home with the help of a home gym, or a soft bed.” Jungkook whines.

Sooyoung nearly gags. “Please don't pull whiney baby shit while you suggest sex as an alternative to exercise.” Her phone goes off and she smiles. “Ooh speaking of exercise, who wants to walk to the building entrance and get the food. The delivery guy just texted me, he'll be here in 2 minutes.”

“I vote Jungkook.” Hoseok slouches back into the couch.

“I also vote Jungkook.” Sooyoung smiles, putting her feet on the coffee table in front of her. “Two against one.”

Jungkook sighs and reluctantly stands up and shuffles off to put his shoes on. “I'm gonna eat it all in the elevator!” He yells on his way out.

As soon as the door shuts, Sooyoung frowns at Hoseok. Hoseok just stares back confused. They sit in silence for no longer than 3 seconds before Sooyoung sighs.

“What?” Hoseok whines. “What did I do?”

She sighs again. “What's up with him?”

Hoseok narrows his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I've known Jungkook since he was in high school, he can't even look me in he eyes right now. He keeps staring at the floor and speaking in our vague directions. What aren't you guys telling me?”

This time Hoseok sighs. “He's having a tough case at work. It's really grating on him but he doesn't want to get taken off the case because he thinks he can solve it.” Peppering in some little white lies to take away from the heaviness he feels knowing he's talking to the widow of the heart at his doorstep.

“So he can't look me in the eye? Why does he feel uncomfortable around me from this? What's going on in this case?” She asks, clearly upset. “Does.. does it have something to do with Jeonghyun?”

“No.” Hoseok answers too fast, now also avoiding her gaze.

“Hoseok...” She whispers. “I'm okay. I'm coming to terms with it. You can tell me if it has something to do with him.”

They hear the elevator ding through the apartment door. Hoseok stares heavily into her eyes, never having been good at lying straight to someones face. “No.” He says. “I can't.”

Jungkook walks in after a moment of silence and with him he brings the smell of Chinese food. “Okay so the delivery guy was wearing the worst possible pants, they physically hurt my eyes. I had to take a quick picture when he walked off and it's a bad picture but they're worse pants so I'm gonna show you guys anyway.”

Sooyoung plasters a quick smile on her face. “Fashion disaster is my middle name, lemme see the picture, Kook.”

Jungkook hands the food over to Hoseok who begins unpacking it and setting everything out. “I also need to see these pants, don't hide the pants away from my eyes.”

Hoseok pulls Jungkook down onto his lap from where he stood showing his phone screen to a laughing Sooyoung and looks at the phone. A man in otherwise completely normal clothes is walking towards a bike with the most fluorescent yellow pants with vomit green triangles covering the ass and knees.

“I think I lost my appetite seeing these pants...” Hoseok mutters.

“Well I can eat your food for you.” Sooyoung says, already chewing on her own noodles.

Hoseok snatches his food from the table and holds it on Jungkook's lap in front of him. “No, I'm good thank you.”

Jungkook doesn't move from Hoseok's lap a he reaches to grab his own food. As soon as he gets a bite of food in his mouth he moans a little too loudly to be appropriate. “I haven't eaten all day, I could literally eat this whole building.” He mumbles through a mouth of beef.

“You gotta eat more, you'll be too skinny by the time the wedding comes around.” Sooyoung nags.

“Aren't people usually worried they'll be too fat for the wedding?” Hoseok questions.

“Not this bitch, he couldn't get fat if he tried. He's like, made of muscle tissue.” She grumbles, looking down at the baby fat still holding onto her waist.

“I'm just busy a lot doing work.” Jungkook shrugs. “And I need to be fit to have my job.”

“Speaking of work,” Sooyoung prompts slowly, eyeing Hoseok. “How's it going? Are you working on that new case with the random victims?”

Jungkook chews slower and swallows. “Yeah. Dawon noona and I are working it together.” His voice is flat and he has no smile. “The victims aren't random, we just haven't figured out what the motivation is.”

Sooyoung continues to eat, pretending not to notice the tension. She watches as Hoseok runs a hand slowly over Jungkook's waist, eating with the other. “Must be a tough one then, huh? Any juicy cop stuff I can know ahead of time?”

Jungkook forces a fake chuckle. “You know I can't talk about details of the case.” He doesn't take another bite, just continues to stare at his food and fiddle with his chopsticks.”But it is really tough this time around.”

She frowns slightly and glances over to a picture of her, Jeonghyun, and Jihyo in the hospital just after her birth. “Is... is there anything specifically troubling about it? Maybe talking about it could help you figure it out.”

Jungkook is quiet for a long time, staring off at the same picture. “We can't figure out how the victims connect. What they have in common. They were all troubled but... it wasn't gonna stay that way. They were gonna get out of it. Because it wasn't permanent. It was-”

Jungkook stops abruptly, eyes widening comically as he stands up. Hoseok shuffles and puts down his food. “Kook? What's up?”

“Jungkook? Are you okay?” Sooyoung asks, concern in her voice.

“I got it.” He whispers, looking at the picture with wide eyes. “I need to call Dawon.”

Chapter Text

“Absolutely not.” Jimin says through the receiver.

“Please, hyung, I need to remember something. It has to be related to Junseo and I can't remember much from that time but I'm the only person who would know it has to be hidden in there somewhere.” Jungkook pleads. He looks across the office to Seungmin holding Hoseok back with his mouth covered. Hoseok wriggles around trying to speak but his sounds are muffled by Seungmin's hand.

Jimin sighs. “Jungkook, there's probably a good reason why those memories are repressed. You have no idea what could happen if you take it.”

“I know what could happen Hoseok's listed it all.” Jungkook says.

“And what did he say? There's no way Hoseok is okay with you doing this.”

Jungkook glances to Hoseok, tears in his eyes. “He said it was our last resort. And it is, Jimin. People are in danger, Hoseok's and my life are in danger, and this might be the only way to get answers.”

“You're sanity is at risk here if you do this, Jungkook! Do you realize you may never come out of it? There's no guarantee it even works, there's no formal backing to this being effective. It has a 66% mortality rate! Nobody has used it in over 200 years for a good reason and-”

“Jimin.” Jungkook interrupts. “I can either get it from you, or I can find someone else to make it. I know the risks, and I'm willing to go through with it. It's this or nothing.”

Jimin doesn't say anything for almost 5 minutes, just humming and mumbling with someone else on the other end of the line, too far from the receiver for Jungkook to pick out any words. Finally he sighs and his voice breaks when he speaks. “Fine. But you do this by my rules, got it?”

~earlier~

Jungkook speed walks through the precinct, making his way to his office in record time, almost half an hour before his shift starts. Officers whom he pushes through mutter small insults, but he pays them no mind as he continuously rings Dawon only to receive no answer each and every time.

“Fucking pregnancy.” Jungkook mumbles. “I know she needs her sleep but she also needs to be accessible when I have case breakthroughs at odd hours.” He swings open the office door and boots up his computer to immediately shift through the information on the most recent victim. Namjoon got fingerprint matches the same day they found the body and Dawon had gone in to question local food banks and shelters yesterday. Jungkook had been off work for 2 days by order of Seungmin after Dawon snitched that Jungkook was dissociating while they filled out paperwork in the evening after they discovered the most recent body.

It's just that the abdominal wound reminded him so much of... he shakes his head. Not the time to dissociate again.

Kwang Sungjin, 45 year old homeless male. Untreated paranoid schizophrenia lead to a lot of public disturbances and homelessness lead to a lot of loitering. Frequent run ins with some of his own officers. It's typical stuff, nothing surprising, but that's not what Jungkook's looking for. He scrolls down through notes to see if Dawon had digitized anything yet. Fortunately she had actually managed to get notes from questioning in on time for once.

Jung's Shelter staff:

-Kanghee: stopped by 3 times a week for a meal

-Yujin: despite outbursts very nice man

-Suho: stopped coming by for past 2 weeks after being scouted by MenBo nurse

 

MenBo records:

-accepted for gov funded program

-free treatment and hospitalization for mentally ill homeless folk

-to be admitted in upcoming week

-didn't show to most recent meeting with nurses (postmortem)

“Bingo.” He mutters. His reading cut off by his phone ringing, he pics up glad to see caller ID showing Dawon returning his calls.

“Noona, why was your phone off?” Jungkook answers.

“It died and I put it on the charge last night but I forgot to turn it back on it's been off all night, I'm so sorry and I'm gonna be late because my alarm is on my phone.” She says breathlessly, clearly running through her apartment realizing she's up late. “Is everything okay, you called like 20 times? I was worried you were in trouble.”

Jungkook sighs. “No, I'm fine, sorry to worry you. I had a breakthrough, I know what the motive is.”

“Shit, okay, get Seungmin, I'm leaving right now I'll be at the office in 20 minutes, and we'll discuss it then.” She hangs up, well aware when Jungkook has a breakthrough it's almost certainly correct.

And as she said, she comes bursting through the office door no more than 17 minutes later with messy hair and an unbuttoned jacket showing off her increasingly noticeable baby bump. “I'm so sorry I'm late, my phone died and-”

“I don't care, Dawon. You've been later with worse excuses.” Seungmin chuckles, vacating Dawon's desk chair for her to sit. “Nice belly, though.”

Dawon laughs. “Thank you. I'm proud of what little bump I have so far.”

“It's very cute and I will definitely obsess over it later, but I figured it out.” Jungkook smiles impatiently.

“Right, motive.” Dawon says, plopping down on her chair. Seungmin leans against her desk and nods to Jungkook to start.

“All the victims have a bad history, they all have some sort of morally grey background, some sort of run in with the law, they all drew the short stick in life.” Jungkook says.

“You think they're being targeted for having bad luck?” Dawon asks.

“Just the opposite.” Jungkook shakes his head. “They all have a bad past but that doesn't mean they're future looked bad. In fact most of their futures looked good.

“Victim one, previously part of a gang, still had ties to criminal past and bags of counterfeit money. But he knocks up a girl and devotes himself to being a good dad. His life was taking a turn.

“Victim two, in a loveless marriage, previous drug charges, no real friends. Finds a rich man and gets knocked up, she's gonna be a mom she changes and she's gonna raise this kid properly. Her life was taking a turn.

“Victim three, young father in with a bad crowd. Selling illegal firearms but saving up to go back to his ex and be in his kids life. His life was taking a turn.

“Victim four, underage prostitute with a shitty family life. Few friends and negative reputation, sleeping with old men to eat and get an education. Finally gets a proper job and a place to stay. Her life was taking a turn.

“Victim five, homeless and mentally ill, fell through the system-”

“He was chosen at his shelter for a new government program that offered free treatment for his illness and a hospital facility to stay at to try and get him back on his feet and back in society.” Dawon interrupts, eyes wide with realization.

“His life was taking a turn...” Seungmin mutters. “How did we miss it?”

“They're being targeted because they're finally getting a second chance. Because it's finally working out for them after all the pain. Because the bad times are being replaced.” Jungkook notes.

“Like you.” Seungmin says to Jungkook. “After Junseo and Jeonghyun you're finally recovering, and you're getting married. You're moving on. The killers sending you a message.”

“It's a sign, they're ultimately after your life.” Dawon mumbles. “You're the final target.”

“I know.” Jungkook whispers. “But the problem is we don't know how many they're gonna kill before they get to me.”

“You could be next.” Dawon gasps.

“That's not what I'm worried about, I'm worried they're putting it off. More people could be potential victims and it'll be my fault.” Jungkook looks at his hands.

“It's not your fault.” Dawon says, rushing over to Jungkook to wrap him up in a tight hug. “The killer has some sort of grudge against your happiness, but that doesn't mean your happiness is the reason they're killing. They're killing because they're fucked up.”

“Well it's gonna be my fault if anyone else dies, so we need to work fast.” Jungkook mutters. “There's no doubt in my mind this has something to do with Junseo and we need to figure it out.”

“But you said there was nobody else in Junseo's life and he is 100% dead.” Seungmin says. “Who else would even know about this stuff?”

“It has to be someone who knew him. Nobody else would know about the case unless they were close to me or him and everybody in my life has been ruled out.” Jungkook mutters. “I have to be forgetting someone he mentioned. There's no way he didn't mention someone else, we spent so much time together in those few months he must had said something at some point...”

“But if you can't remember there's nothing we can do to make you remember. Hypnotism is all suggestion, we can't rely on that, especially not with your fragile psyche.” Seungmin says. “We can't guarantee you'll actually remember or you just say what you think you should when under.”

“If we don't do something more people are gonna die. Including me.” Jungkook responds.

*

Hoseok wakes up with Jungkook not by his side. “Shit.” He mutters. “That little shit.” Jungkook was tossing and turning all night, he must have left early, Hoseok thinks. Dawon didn't answer any calls last night and Jungkook kept in his mind after he had hi case epiphany. Hoseok's seen it happen twice before, Jungkook suddenly realizing the missing piece of the puzzle while doing some random mundane thing. It's almost amazing to see his brain connecting the dots, he gets a blank look in his eyes and you can almost hear gears turning. Hoseok admittedly finds it kind of creepy but he'll always tell Jungkook it's cute anyways.

Hoseok drives to the precinct with a bagel in hand and Mickey in the backseat. He can surprise Jungkook at work with their adorable dog and his adorable fiance and hopefully keep him safe. He hadn't originally planned to come with Jungkook to work today, instead planning to take Mickey to play with play with Rae at Jimin's house and help Jimin out with some things for his shop. He doesn't feel safe yet going back to work, but Seungmin is getting a little mad having Hoseok around during an ongoing investigation and Hoseok honestly finds Jungkook's job mostly boring. So he'll stop by to Jungkook and Dawon, see if they're going to do anything interesting, and then probably head over to Jimin's afterwards.

He's mentally singing an old trot song when he steps into the precinct, Mickey on a leash at his ankle. Officers he knows greet him and some he doesn't know come to see Mickey, but he quickly steps away to get to his favourite person in the back.

As he steps up to the door he can hear them mumbling inside. Just as he's about to knock he hears one clear sentence come from his beloveds mouth.

“People are gong to die. Including me.”

His heart stops and he bursts in without knocking. Mickey lets out a little yip at Hoseok's feet as he spots Jungkook, and Hoseok lets go of his leash to let him run around the small office, slamming the door behind him.

“Hey honey I thought-” Jungkook smiles easily.

“Why are you gonna die? What's going on?” Hoseok begins tearing up immediately.

“No, what?” Jungkook stands up to pull Hoseok into a hug. “It's okay, I'm not gonna die.”

“You just said you're gonna die, I heard it myself don't lie to me.” Hoseok mutters, clinging to Jungkook like his life depends on it.

Jungkook sighs. “I did say that, but it's not certain.”

“But it's still a possibility.” Hoseok whispers.

“Yes, an unfortunately real possibility.” Seungmin says.

“Hyung-” Jungkook starts.

“No,” Dawon interrupts. “Seungmin is right, and Hoseok should know. You're both in danger. The killer is taunting you, they might go after Hoseok, too.”

“What did I miss? What do we know that I don't?” Hoseok asks, pulling away from Jungkook but still gripping his hand tightly.

They fill Hoseok in while Dawon plays with Mickey and quietly talks to Namjoon over the phone. Hoseok asks a lot of questions and gets progressively more uncomfortable as the conversation goes on.

“I'm putting Namjoon on speaker.” Dawon call suddenly before putting her phone on the edge of her desk. “You're on.”

“So we've basically confirmed it has to do with Junseo, right? And the motive is a turning point in the victims lives that are representative of Jungkook finally finding some sense of peace? Am I understanding this correctly?” Namjoon asks through the speaker of Dawon's old cellphone that's two generations too old.

“Yes. The problem is we don't know anything about Junseo, so we can't look him up and figure out who he knew.” Seungmin answers. “Jungkook is the only one who knew anything about him and he doesn't remember anything.”

“Makes sense, it was a serious trauma. You could try hypnotherapy to trigger memories but it's not guaranteed it'll give you anything.” Namjoon comments.

“That's why we're not doing it, we don't have time to make mistakes right now when Jungkook's life is on the line.” Dawon comments.

“And Hobi's. It's not just me.” Jungkook adds.

“This isn't even the first time someone has been after my head.” Hoseok mutters. “I'm not worried about me.”

“You're still important. Especially to me.” Jungkook says.

“Yeah, well I won't be very important to you if you're dead, babe.” Hoseok mumbles.

“And none of us will be important to all the other innocent people that could potentially be in danger right now because we still don't know if the killer is ready to move onto the final target yet.” Seungmin says. “There's gotta be something we can do.”

“I need to remember but there's no way to force a memory.” Jungkook says.

“Well...” Namjoon trails off through the phone.

“What?” Dawn asks, straightening up. “What do you know?”

Namjoon thinks for a minute before answering. “There's one thing I can think of that might be able to trigger Jungkook's memory, but it's incredibly dangerous.”

“What is it?” Jungkook asks.

Namjoon sighs. “There's a sort of potion. It can resurface troubling memories from ones past.”

“No.” Hoseok growls. “That's way to dangerous.”

“You know what it is?” Jungkook asks.

“Yes, I know what Namjoon's talking about and it kills two thirds of everybody who drinks it. Jungkook is not drinking that potion.” Hoseok says.

“Does it mess with the memories?” Seungmin asks.

“No less than the way a regular memory works. In this case, Jungkook would remember what Junseo said normally as if he had never repressed the memory. But it's not full proof, Jungkook can still remember wrong just like witnesses can remember details of a crime wrong.” Namjoon pauses. “But it doesn't make Jungkook susceptible to suggestion if that's what you're asking.”

“If Junseo said anything to me, I could remember it.” Jungkook mumbles, pulling out this phone. “If anyone knows it;s potions it's Jimin.”

Hoseok grabs Jungkook's arm. “Yeah, at the risk of your life. I don't want you drinking it.”

“I'm gonna have to agree with Hoseok. I don't think Jungkook should take it. I didn't suggest it to say he should take it I just mentioned it because I thought of it.” Namjoon says.

“My life is already in danger, and so is yours.” Jungkook says to Hoseok. “I will not let people die when I can do something to stop it. Especially not you, Hobi.”

“What if it doesn't work though?” Dawon asks. “What if Junseo really never said anything and you don't come back with anything worth it?”

“And what if he did?” Jungkook counters.

“And what if you die before you can tell us, then the only person with knowledge will be dead.” Seungmin suggests.

“Then the killer stops anyways, it's me they want, right? So, if I'm gone they have no reason to keep killing.” Jungkook answers.

“You know that's not how killers work, Kook. They could kill again.” Dawon says.

“They could. Besides,” Jungkook suggests. “If I'm gonna die anyways but not doing this, isn't it better that I at least try and potentially come back with something that could save us all? I either die from the killer or the potion. And if I take the potion before the killer can kill anyone else then I can save any innocent bystanders in the crossfire ahead of time. Either by dying or by figuring out who the killer is.”

Nobody protests him. “You can;t be seriously considering this?” Hoseok asks Seungmin. “You're putting your best detective in mortal danger for a maybe?”

“He's right, though.” Seungmin mumbles. “He's already got a death sentence. He's really in no more danger, but your life could be saved, and others could, too.”

“This isn't one of the 'sacrifice to save many' things, you guys, this is Jungkook's actual fucking life we're talking about!” Hoseok cries. “I'm not gonna lose my husband before he even gets that fucking title!”

“Hobi...” Jungkook whispers, tears falling slowly. “I have to do this. I can't risk you for me, it's not worth it.”

“Yes it is!” Hoseok whimpers. “I'm older, I'm just a dancer. You solve murders and keep the city safe, you've saved lives, you're more worthy of a life than I am.”

“I know I'm supposed to be rational but I don't think he should do it, there's serious-” Dawon hangs up before Namjoon can finish.

“You saved my life, love. I would never have made it this far without you and now it's time for me to return the favour.” Jungkook strokes Hoseok cheek softly. “I'm calling Jimin.”

:No, please don't. I can't lose you.” Hoseok cries, reaching for Jungkook's phone, but Jungkook pulls back and Seungmin grabs Hoseok, holding him back. “Jungkook, don't-”

Seungmin slaps a firm hand over Hoseok's mouth. “I'm so sorry Hoseok but I'm gonna lose my resolve if you keep talking. Call him quickly, Jungkook. Before I change my mind.”

Jungkook dials Jimin's phone number and glances over at Dawon before pressing call. Dawon holds Mickey close to her chest and looks at Jungkook worriedly and nods slightly.

“Jimin,” Jungkook says as soon as he answers. “I need you're help.”

Chapter Text

Jungkook sits on Jimin's bed, Mickey in his lap calming him down from the anger that bubbles inside him. Sooyoung is here, against his wishes, and he knows it's Hoseok's doing.

“Hyung, why would you tell her what's going on?” Jungkook sighs. He's angry, but he's just too tired to show it.

“Jungkook, I'm not a child, I can handle the truth.” Sooyoung says, holding Jihyo in her arms, fast asleep. “I know something is up and I want to know what it is.”

“It doesn't concern you.” Jungkook looks away.

“It does if you're in danger!” She raises her voice. “I know Jeonghyun is gone but I still care about you. I'm your sister-in-law and I've known you for more than 10 years. I will not let you throw yourself into mortal danger without being there for you.”

Jungkook just stares at Mickey. He knows it's dangerous, he knows his mother is going to have a fit when she finds out he's doing this. He knows Hoseok is terrified. But he needs to do this.

“Jimin, shouldn't there be less people around for this?” Jungkook asks. Jimin works from a book laid out on the floor, glancing back and forth between three vials of what looks to Jungkook like murky water but what he assumes are potions.

“I don't have any qualms with multiple people being around while you do this.” Jimin mumbles, not looking up from the book.

“Aren't you scared?” Dawon asks from where she leans against the wall behind Jimin. She fiddles with her hair and keeps glancing at Namjoon who has an arm around her neck in comfort. “You realize you're risking your life, right?”

“Wait, nobody said anything about potentially dying. What exactly are you doing?” Sooyoung asks, rocking Jihyo carefully.

“When he goes under,” Jimin starts, still not looking up from his big book. “There's a couple things that can happen. In the best case scenario, he remembers something and wakes up with no lasting side effects and he's strong enough to move past the memories and we can all move on with our lives. In a less pleasant scenario he could get essentially stuck in his memories, reliving random moments throughout his life for the rest of his time in a coma-like state.”

“...What's the worst case scenario?” Sooyoung asks.

Jimin glances up briefly. “We skip the coma and he just dies.” He mumbles.

Sooyoung gasps dramatically. “What's the most likely?”

Jimin sighs. “He gets stuck in his memories.”

“And dies?” Jimin nods.

“Jungkook... Kookie sweetie...” Sooyoung's lip quivers. She hands Jihyo over to Hoseok who has been pacing since Jimin started talking and sits herself next to Jungkook, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “You must be scared.”

Jungkook sighs and rests his head on Sooyoung's shoulder, closing his eyes tightly to stop any tears from flowing. “I'm fucking terrified, noona.” He whispers. “I could lose everything. I could lose a future with the most amazing fairy I've ever met. I could lose the chance to see Jihyo grow up. I could lose my sanity to being stuck reliving Junseo and his havoc for the next 60 years at most.”

She rubs his arm softly. “I'm so sorry you have to go through this.”

Nobody says anything for a long time until Jimin abruptly stands up with a heavy sigh. “Alright, let's get this started.” He picks up two of the vials and hands them to Jungkook. Sooyoung stands up, taking Jihyo back into her arms and watching with fear in her eyes.

“One of those will protect your mind from getting confused or lost in your memories.” He points to the darker potion in Jungkook's right hand. “The other will help you focus your mind so you can narrow down what memories you're trying to access.”

“Do they interact with the other potion at all?” Namjoon asks.

Jimin shrugs. “This isn't an exact science. Nobody has made this potion in centuries so there's not a lot of recorded history on it.”

Jungkook downs both potions like shots and nearly vomits immediately from whichever one tasted to him like mouldy gym socks that were left in the sun for too long. Hoseok comes over and kneels in front of Jungkook as Jimin hands him the last vial, trading it for the two empty ones.

“I love you so much, you know that right?” Hoseok asks, tears pouring steadily down his cheeks.

Jungkook nods. “I love you too, Hobi, so damn much.”

Hoseok chuckles. “You're about to risk your life for me, I know how much you love me.” They share a soft prolonged kiss before Hoseok backs away, pulling Mickey off Jungkook's lap to cuddle.

“Okay, Jungkook listen carefully. We need to try and minimize the time you're in there and keep you focused, alright?” Jimin asks. Jungkook nods and gulps. “Don't drink it yet, just listen to instructions. You're gonna drink half of it, lay down and close your eyes and think of Junseo and anything you think might trigger what memory you're searching for. Then once you start feeling sleepy you're gonna drink the rest of it and it's basically gonna feel like you're falling asleep, but really fast.

“You're gonna play through a lot of memories, but you have to try and focus and remember to look for the right one. It's gonna be really hard but you have to keep going. If the memory you're searching for doesn't exist, you might get stuck looping through a similar memory and if that happens you have to try to get out. If you find what you're looking for you should get a jolt of urgency that's suppose to try and wake you up. Do whatever you feel like you need to do to wake up, it could be anything but you'll know what it is.

“Lastly, if you get stuck you won't be able to tell you're in your memories anymore and you'll feel as if you were living those memories again in real time. If at any point you start to feel like you're unsure if what's really happening is a memory or not, try to wake up so you don't get stuck. Understand everything?”

Jungkook nods and stares at the vial. “So,” he hesitates. “Can I drink it now?” Jimin nods.

Jungkook opens the vial and drinks what he thinks is about half and lays down on his back. “How long until it takes effect?”

“30 to 60 seconds hopefully.” Jimin mumbles, flipping through pages of the book.

“Hobi.” Jungkook says. “I want to wear a flower crown at our wedding. And I want you to wear one, too. I think it'd be cute and gay and that's our aesthetic, right?”

Hoseok lets out a wet chuckle. “Yeah, definitely.”

“I'm tired.” Jungkook breathes.

“Drink the rest of it now.” Jimin says quickly. Jungkook downs the rest of the drink sloppily and drops the vial onto the floor. He breathes heavily for a few seconds and almost panics but quickly everything around him fades and he can't focus on anything besides falling asleep.

Once Jungkook is out nobody speaks for a few minutes while Jimin continues reading from his book. At some point a pawing comes at the door and Namjoon opens the door to see Taehyung in gumiho form carrying a small bucket of water with a rag in his mouth. He trots over to Jimin and puts it down at his lap, Jimin petting him absently. “Thank you, sweetie.” He smiles into the book. “Go play with Rae and bring Mickey with you too.”

Taehyung nods his little head and looks over to Hoseok who puts Mickey down, before leading him out, Namjoon closing the door behind them. Nobody flinches but Sooyoung who stares between Jimin and Hoseok. “Um,” she says. “Who was that?”

“Oh.” Jimin almost jumps as if he forgot he wasn't alone. “Sorry, that's my partner, Taehyung. He's a gumiho.”

“Oh.” Sooyoung nods. “Okay. I um, I thought they were women.”

“They usually are.” Namjoon says, not intending on elaborating.

“Okay.” Sooyoung sighs. “How long will Jungkook be out?”

Jimin tilts his head back and forth thinking. “Anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 hours. Anyone's guess is as good as mine. There's no way to tell how long it will take him to find the memory he needs, if it's even there.”

“I'm sorry if I'm asking a lot of questions. I knew magic existed obviously, I've just never been involved with it before.” Sooyoung speaks. “Jeonghyun tried to keep most of it away from me.”

“It was a good thing he did. It's obviously dangerous. That's why I stepped away from it honestly.” Namjoon speaks.

“I just... I'm sorry, I have one more question.” Sooyoung mutters, tucking some hair behind her ear and rocking Jihyo carefully.

“What's up?” Dawon prompts.

“I don't really know what's going on.” Sooyoung explains. “All I know is that Jungkook needs to remember something about an ex-boyfriend, but why?”

Hoseok sighs. “Around when Jungkook and I met, Jungkook also met another man who he dated for a while.”

“It was his first serious boyfriend after me.” Jimin says. “Song Junseo.”

“He was a serial killer.” Hoseok says. “And he wanted to kill me and every other fairy in existence in some kind of revenge genocide.”

“Christ...” Sooyoung whispers.

“He would cut the wings off of his victims, leaving large wounds on the shoulder blades.” Dawon explains. “And the current string of murders in Seoul appears to be taunting Jungkook by bringing back memories of that time. But the only people who would know anything about Jungkook's ex is Jungkook, his ex, and his exes friends.”

“Why can't you ask the ex?”

“He killed himself less than three feet in front of Jungkook.” Hoseok mutters.

“Oh...” Sooyoung mumbles. “Isn't there a police file on him?”

“No, he was using a stolen identity so we don't even really know anything about who he was or anyone he knew.” Namjoon answers. “The only living person we know who knew anything about him is Jungkook, but the whole event gave him a terrible trauma so he can't remember much of anything from that time.”

“That's terrible.” She says. “Jeonghyun mentioned Jungkook was going through a traumatic break up but he never mentioned anything in any detail. I never knew.”

“Jungkook didn't want you to know. He doesn't want anyone to know. The only reason we all know is because we were all involved in the case.” Jimin says, wiping Jungkook's forehead with a cool cloth.

“He looks uncomfortable.” Hoseok mentions, worrying glances thrown towards his lover. “Is he okay?”

“He's probably remembering something uncomfortable. He's sweating a lot.” Jimin explains. “Actually, Namjoon can you go get a bucket just in case he throws up when he wakes up?”

Namjoon nods and heads out without a word.

Sooyoung paces back and forth, rocking Jihyo who has been sound asleep the whole time. Dawon plasters on a small smile and approaches her.

“What's her name?” Dawon asks.

Sooyoung smiles. “Jihyo. Hoseok mentioned you're expecting?”

Dawon genuinely grins and unconsciously reaches for her stomach. “Yeah. 14 weeks.”

Sooyoung chuckles. “You've still got a ways to go, huh? You're starting to show though.”

Dawon looks down at her now slightly noticeable baby bump. “Yeah, I don't fit into any of my pants anymore.” She chuckles.

Sooyoung laughs. “Treasure it while it lasts. You'll miss the baby bump someday. When you're close to due you can use the belly as a table and it's amazing honestly.” Sooyoung shifts Jihyo slightly then glances at Dawon. “You wanna hold her?”

Dawons eyes go wide. “If you wouldn't mind.”

“Yeah, she's a dead weight when she sleeps so she probably won't even notice, here I'll show you how to hold her.”

Hoseok watches as Dawon and Sooyoung bond over babies and he smiles unconsciously at the thought of raising kids with Jungkook. They both agreed they would have a baby at some point, but the end goal was to foster older kids. And he was determined to make that dream come true, he will not let this potion or this killer kill him or his love.

*

There's laughing.

And crying.

And screaming.

But he doesn't feel any of it. He's floating. There's no emotion for him, he's disconnected. There's nowhere. It's so peaceful.

Is he dead? Is this what death is like? It's so comfortable. It's so nice. He's being pulled in every direction but he's still in one piece. Where does he end and where does the abyss begin?

Suddenly it's cold. He opens his eyes and he see's murky green and grey. It's so bright. Is this water? Is he drowning? What way is up?

A hand comes out of nowhere and pulls him up out of a lake.

“Jungkook? Jungkook are you okay?” Jeonghyun asks him. He's no more than 17, just a kid looking at his even younger brother.

Jungkook coughs, but he doesn't feel it, he doesn't do it. He throws up water. “I'm okay.” He wheezes through coughs. But he isn't in control. His body moves on it's own. It feels familiar. Jeonghyun clings to him in a tight hug, but Jungkook doesn't feel it.

He blinks.

He's behind Hoseok. His beautiful lover Hoseok. Hoseoks wings spread out and block the sunlight from the window. He turns around and looks at Jungkook, who's laying in bed, naked. Hoseok smiles softly at him.

“Good morning, beautiful.” Jungkook says, but he doesn't, not on purpose.

Hoseok chuckles. “I'm not the beautiful one.” His cheeks are swollen from sleep, and his skin glistens under the rays of sunshine. Hoseok is his sunshine. They've done this. This is Hoseok's old bedroom from university. He remembers this.

Remembers. Memories. He needs to find Junseo. He wants to stay in this memory forever, waking up to the most beautiful sight he's ever laid eyes on. But he doesn't have time.

He closes his eyes and thinks of Junseo. He doesn't even really remember Junseo's face. Suddenly he's in the mall, running and laughing with Junseo. Security is chasing them. He broke something and didn't pay for it. Junseo's face is non-descript. He's just a tall any-man.

Jungkook blinks.

He's standing in front of Junseo in his apartment. Junseo goes to kiss him but he declines, he says something about needing time. Jungkook feels sad, but he doesn't. He blinks. He's in the washroom of the apartment, looking at an earring. He blinks. He's standing in front of Junseo. Lying about Jimin having food poisoning. His stomach is turning, he's anxious. Junseo kisses him.

He blinks.

Junseo looks at him with a smile and picks him up off the ground.

“Hey.” His voice booms. It's too loud, Jungkook can feel it in his chest. But he can't feel anything.

He blinks. Junseo kisses him in front of his apartment.

He blinks. Junseo throws the police files everywhere.

He shuts his eyes and this time doesn't open them. He focuses, he thinks of Junseo, thinks of him speaking. He thinks of a date.

He opens his eyes. Junseo is sitting next to him on a bench, they're at the Han river, eating street food. Junseo smiles at him. Jungkook says something to him. He can see Yoongi and Jin kissing across the bridge.

He blinks. Junseo has a knife to Hoseok's throat and is yelling. Jungkook yells back.

“I don't believe you!” He yells.

“...a goddamn changeling!” Junseo yells back.

“I was their son!”

“I'm Hoseok!”

“I was a slave!”

“...I just planned to kill them... I found someone... just like me, my age and everything!”

“...wanted revenge... killed their real parents, their fairy parents, the changeling...”

“...ran, before anyone could catch them...”

“He needs to pay!”

Jungkook suddenly feels like he needs to run. But this isn't how it plays out. He can't run, he can't move his body.

He blinks.

Junseo is in front of him, telling him he loves him.

No. He doesn't want to see it again. He doesn't want to feel it again.

But it comes, there's no stopping it. Junseo kills himself. Blood spurts all over Jungkook.

He screams. He screams and he screams and he screams and his voice never seems to give out. Time is frozen, Jungkook just sees Junseo's face, but there's no face. It's just smooth skin and blood.

He tries with all his might to run but he can't. He can't move.

He blinks.

He looks at Jeonghyun, sitting across from him with his leg shaking. He's nervous, he's in a hospital. A doctor calls Jeonghyun up. Jeonghyun insists he come along. Jungkook follows, but he can't control anything. They walk through the maternity ward. Jeonghyun says something about Sooyoung, the doctor says something about a c-section. He blinks. He's holding Jihyo, as a newborn. Sooyoung sleeps in a hospital bed. His niece is beautiful.

But this is a memory. He needs to leave. He knows what he needs, he needs to leave. He closes his eyes.

When he opens them he's looking at a razor blade. It has blood on it. Jimin is crying in front of him, gripping Jungkook's wrists tightly. Jimin is younger, still in college. Jungkook tries to push Jimin away but he's bloody and slippery. He just wanted it to all stop. He wanted to stop thinking for a while. He didn't want to hurt anyone.

But this is a memory. He needs to leave the memories.

He blinks.

He's seeing Junseo again, in front of him, repeating what he said earlier, but his voice is louder. He blinks. Junseo is in front of him. Jungkook's wrists are bloody. There's a razor on the floor. Junseo's holding his wrists. Junseo is bloody. His guts hang out of his torso.

He feels sick. This isn't a memory. He doesn't remember this. This never happened, this is new. He can't control his emotions anymore. He's crying and screaming but he isn't really feeling any of it. His head feels heavy and full, but his body feels light and empty.

He sees Hoseok. Hoseok smiles at him, a big, open mouth, heart smile. Jungkook relaxes at the sight. But then Hoseok flickers like a light. And he has blood coming out of his mouth. Hoseok has blood pouring from his mouth. His smile is gone. His eyes are empty. Hoseok's guts hang out of his torso. Jungkook is covered in Hoseok's blood.

Blood is filling up around him. He looks up, he sees a hand reaching down, but it's covered in blood too. He shuts his eyes, tightly. He screams. He screams and screams but no noise comes out. He keeps going, keeps screaming and he kicks, his body moves he can hear his screaming. His eyes are still shut, he doesn't want to open them, he doesn't want to see anymore blood.

His limbs feel heavy, he feels weighted at his ankles and his wrists. He feels anxious. He feels. He feels. But he's not in a memory. Where is he? He's still screaming, his throat hurts.

He thrashes but he can't move.

It's cold. And wet. Something, he can hear something.

He stops screaming, and he listens.

“......op.....”

“..ease.....ook.....st......”

“...”

Nothing. It's quiet.

Chapter Text

Hoseok paces back and forth, reading through one of Jimin's books. It's been almost 4 hours. Sooyoung left shortly after Jungkook went under upon Jihyo waking up. Dawon left for an appointment with her OB-GYN half an hour ago and wouldn't let Namjoon come with her just in case he was needed. Namjoon has been sitting on the floor just staring at the ceiling petting Taehyung in gumiho form who had left the puppies to play amongst themselves downstairs two hours prior.

“I don't know why he had to do this.” Namjoon says. “I never should have brought it up. Anyone of us could have done it and probably got something of use. We were all there when he died.”

“I was the only other one close enough to him to hear him talking clearly and he had a knife to my throat.” Hoseok says. “I spoke to Jungkook about it and he said he wouldn't let me do it.”

“You didn't want him to do it either.” Jimin notes.

“Yeah but he trumped me with the whole 'you don't want to die' thing.” Hoseok sighs. “And he's right. I don't want to die.”

Jimin hesitates. “Are you saying Jungkook wants to die?”

Hoseok sighs. “I don't know. His psychologist has been saying some weird shit to him recently and I think he's interpreting it in all the wrong ways. I don't think he wants to die but at this point... I don't know. I think he's tired.”

“Hobi hyung... I'm so sorry...” Jimin mumbles.

Hoseok shakes his head. “I think if he solves this case he'll be able to move on. The killer wants to prove he can't be happy, and he's starting to believe it.”

“What has his psychologist been saying?” Namjoon asks.

“I don't know,” Hoseok sighs again. “Just some stuff like-”

Jungkook shakes. Everyone darts their heads to him. He starts making some moaning noises and writhing in spot. Hoseok approaches him slowly and grabs his hand. “Jimin, what's happening?”

“I don't know, he could be experiencing a particularly bad memory or he might be starting to wake up or...” Jimin rambles.

“Or?” Hoseok prompts.

“He could be losing.” Jimin trembles. “I don't know.”

Jungkook starts whining louder and moving more violently.

“Jungkook.” Hoseok whispers, rubbing a cold cloth over his forehead.

Jungkook begins screaming bloody murder and it scares Hoseok so much he literally jumps away. Jungkook begins thrashing around violently, still screaming and what appears to be crying.

“Namjoon, Taehyung, hold him down!” Jimin yells. Taehyung swiftly transforms back to Human form and holds his arms down. Namjoon comes over and holds down his ankles. “Hoseok back up!”

Hoseok backs away to the other corner of the room, covering his ears to muffle some of the screaming. It sounds so pained and panicked.

Jimin yells to Jungkook to stop kicking and screaming, but it doesn't get through. Jimin eventually touches Jungkook's forehead and throws the entire bucket of cold water earlier delivered by Taehyung over Jungkook.

Hoseok begins singing with as much fairy magic he can put into his voice to keep Jungkook as calm as he can. He sings Jungkook's favourite lullaby Hoseok uses when he can't sleep. After another 30 seconds of struggling Jungkook abruptly stops screaming and thrashing. Jimin steps back and pulls Taehyung and Namjoon with him. Hoseok peers between the bodies and sees Jungkook laying completely still. It doesn't even look like he's breathing.

And Hoseok's heart sinks.

But before he has time to process it, Jungkook is sitting up abruptly with a deep gasp. Jimin hands Jungkook the bucket but Jungkook throws it on the floor and clutches his throat, motioning for something to drink. Taehyung reaches behind Hoseok and hands Jungkook a half empty water bottle that somebody had earlier.

Jungkook takes three huge gulps and breathes incredibly heavily for a moment before Hoseok pushes through his friends to grab his fiancee in a tight hug, which is returned with just as much urgency as it's given.

“Hobi...” Jungkook rasps, his throat raw from screaming. “Oh my god, I'm so glad you're okay.”

“Me?” Hoseok cries. “I thought you died.”

“So did I.” Jungkook coughs.

“Did...” Jimin starts quietly. “Did you find what you're looking for?”

Jungkook nods. “He knew someone. And I think we actually have a chance to find them.”

“I'm gonna look for flower crowns all day tomorrow.” Hoseok chuckles wetly.

Jungkook laughs. “Wait... Why is Taehyung here? And naked?”

Taehyung quickly covers his exposed genitals with his hands. “Ah, you were screaming and kicking and someone needed to hold you down and Namjoon hyung and I are the strongest because, you know, animals and all, but I was in gumiho form and-”

“Okay.” Jungkook rubs his head. “That's enough. I get the point and I have a huge headache right now.”

“Are there any lasting effects he could face now?” Hoseok asks Jimin.

Jimin lets out a breath. “He could start remembering things randomly, good or bad. They could be vivid reenactments, dreams, anything. Alternatively, he might also have a hard time remembering somethings that he previously had remembered.”

“He seems fairly coherent at the moment, but we should monitor him for a while to make sure he's okay.” Namjoon says. “What kinds of things could he forget?”

“Anything.” Jimin shrugs. “I'm sorry I can't be more specific but there's not a lot of data from people who lived through this.”

“I'll be sure to give you my experience so you can record it for future use.” Jungkook mutters, throat cracking at every other syllable.

“Would you actually be willing to? I'm gonna have to ask a lot of invasive questions.” Jimin says. “You should think about it while your throat heals. I'll get you some tea for that.”

“Thank you.”

*

Seungmin sits opposite Jungkook, separated by a cold, plain table. Jungkook sips carefully on a warm tea with honey, his throat still sore after the events of last night. After a night of sleep for everyone involved, Jungkook called Seungmin and said he had something that could help. The interrogation room is somewhere Jungkook has spent a lot of time over the years, but he has not once been the one being interrogated.

Seungmin writes some brief notes in a file in front of him and turns on a recorder before clearing his throat and sitting back.

“Shoot.” He says simply.

Jungkook breathes a heavy sigh and thinks back to his memories. “Okay.” He starts, voice rough. “When Junseo had Hoseok held hostage on the bridge he was kind of all over the place but he mentioned someone else he knew.”

“When was this?” Seungmin asks, despite knowing exactly when it was.

“The night Junseo committed suicide.” Jungkook explains. “He had a knife to Hoseok's throat and he was yelling about how Hoseok took everything from him.”

“What was this persons name?”

“He didn't say. He just said he knew someone who had killed their real parents, fairy parents, and the changeling in their place and got away with it which is what gave him the inspiration to kill.”

“Did he give any defining characteristics of this person?”

“Just that they were the same age as him and had gone through the same thing.”

Seungmin nods and turns off the recorder. “That's the only time he ever mentioned anyone else?”

“When it wasn't a lie, yes.” Jungkook nods.

“How does this help us? We know nothing.”

“We know that around the same time Junseo killed his fairy parents somebody else the same age would have died along with their parents and the murderer was never caught. So if we can solve that case, we can find out who Junseo knew.”

“They're probably also going by a stolen identity, but it's better than nothing.” Seungmin admits. “We need to figure out what case that is then.”

“Exactly.”

“I'll get started looking for it. You need to rest your throat.” Seungmin notes, standing and gathering his things.

“I can do paperwork.” Jungkook says, mimicking Seungmin.

“Jungkook,” Seungmin stops him. “You can go home. You just went through your biggest trauma for a second time.”

Jungkook shakes his head. “No, it's better to keep focusing on work. We need to catch this killer before anyone else gets hurt.”

“You don't have anything until I find that old case anyways.”

“I've got other cold cases.”

“Ju-”

“Hyung.” Jungkook shuts his eyes. “I don't want to be thinking right now. I just need to keep busy, alright?”

Seungmin gulps and nods slowly. Jungkook brushes past him before he can say anything else. Seungmin pulls out his phone and shoots a text to Jimin with a sigh.

*

“Noona?” Jungkook prompts, looking blankly at his computer screen.

“Yeah?” Dawon responds typing, not looking away from her keyboard.

“Do you think Seungmin hyung will find that case?” Jungkook asks. “It's the only lead we really have and if it goes nowhere I'm gonna feel really bad about risking my life for bullshit.”

A chuckle bubbles up from Dawon's throat and she shakes her head slightly, still typing away. “Of course he's gonna find it. He's the best detective in Seoul, if there's a report about it he'll have it by the end of the week.”

“Do you think he'll solve it?”

“Definitely. If he doesn't you will.” Dawon glances over. “You're especially good with cold cases, remember?”

“Yeah, I know.” Jungkook sighs. “I guess I'm just worried about it.”

“That's natural, but you gotta have faith.”

“I have faith in a lot of things.” Jungkook mumbles. “Though not Hobi's ability to be able to choose a wedding venue.”

Dawon laughs. “Aren't you supposed to decide that together?”

“We narrowed it down to 3 places but we can't decide on exactly where so I told Hobi to pick and he said he'd have a decision by tomorrow but you know how he is with decision making.”

“Yeah, you're not getting an answer.” Dawn grins. “Where were you guys thinking, if you don't mind me asking?”

Jungkook sits back and smiles. “We thought of the backyard of the house Hobi lived in in university because it's the first place we said we loved each other.”

“Oh my god that's adorable.” Dawon squeaks. “Jin still lives there with Yoongi right?”

“Yeah, so it's a viable option we just aren't sure yet. Apparently they also thought of getting married there but they ended up deciding on the beach last minute.”

“Their wedding was so precious.” Dawon remembers crying a lot. “Anyways, what other places did you have in mind?”

“We considered that secret lake at the edge of Seoul we used to go skinny dipping at but I don't think that one is gonna be the choice.”

“Oh, I love that place, why don't you think it'll make the cut?”

“I heard it's been raided by teenagers in the past couple years and now the lake is filled with trash.”

“Awe that's sad. What's the last one?”

“My childhood house and possibly the backyard of it. My mom has been begging for us to do it there.”

“Do you want to do it there?”

Jungkook considers, tilting his head back and forth. “I mean I wouldn't mind it but it doesn't have any special connection to us really.”

“Sounds like a tough decision. If I was getting married I wouldn't have the first clue where to do it.” Dawon shrugs. “You should think about it a little longer, Hoseok definitely hasn't decided yet and you still have time since you haven't set a date for the wedding yet.”

“We're gonna decide the place first so we can plan it around a time it would actually work out for that location.”

“Makes sense.” Dawon smiles. “So why have you been stalling logging onto your computer?”

Jungkook scoffs. “I'm not stalling.”

“You haven't used your computer once today and you definitely need to log on to input the notes you took earlier on your unsolved double homicide from 2 years ago but you still haven't even put your hands on the keyboard to type.”

Jungkook rolls his eyes. “I just wanted to write out the notes physically first.”

“You haven't picked up your pen in 30 minutes, you're done with the physical notes.” Dawon points out. “What's the deal, Jeon? You afraid to open your e-mail?”

“No.” Jungkook says, reminiscent of a defensive toddler. “I just... I can't remember by log in password.”

Dawon stares at him for a minute. “You can't remember the password to your open your computer?”

“Yes.”

“The password you've used almost everyday since you started working here?”

“Yes.” Jungkook huffs. “Christ, I get it I'm stupid, can you just help me? Do you know it?”

Dawon blinks at him a few times.

“Well?” He prompts.

“Uh,” Dawon stutters. “Yeah, sorry. It's the name of Hoseok's old street dance group.”

Jungkook types it in and lets out a breath when his desktop loads up. “Thanks.”

Dawon mumbles about it being no big deal before she claims she has to get back to work. Grabbing her phone she pulls up Jimin's contact and shoots him a text then watches Jungkook flip back and forth between files and type things out for a moment. He goes about everything normally and she narrows her eyes when she sees him knock a file off the desk. As he picks the papers up his hands shake slightly and Dawon doesn't miss it.

“You okay?” She says abruptly.

Jungkook looks at her skeptically. “Yeah?”

“Is that a question?”

“No?” He clears his throat. “No. Don't use interrogation techniques when talking to me, I can see through you.”

She nods silently and goes back to work, filing the memory away for later.

*

“Alright Jungkook,” Dr. Kim says sweetly. “Let's get started shall we?”

“Sure.” Jungkook nods.

“So, what did we work on last time?”

“Coming to terms with impermanence.”

“Right and what do you remember from that session?”

“Everything ends, good times and bad times, so even if my happiness isn't forever neither are my struggles.”

“Perfect.” Dr. Kim smiles, scribbling some notes on a pad of paper placed carefully on her lap. “We can continue working on that today if you'd like, or we can work on something else.”

“Can I just talk today?”

“Absolutely.”

Jungkook shifts his weight in his chair and lets out a small sigh. “I think I'm still trying to get over someone's death. But I don't think I'm making any progress.”

Dr. Kim nods. “May I ask who this person is?”

Jungkook hesitates. “It's not my brother.” He says eventually. “I worked on this with my last psychologist and I thought I was over it by the time I got transferred to you but recent events have sort of... brought back the same problems I had before.”

“What problems did you have before?” She asks, staring carefully at Jungkook as he shakes his leg and picks at his fingernails.

“Guilt.” He admits. “I'm sure there's tons of notes in my file from the psychologist before me that can tell you all about the situation I'm talking about but I just feel guilty. Like it's my fault they got killed.”

Dr. Kim hums softly and makes some quick notes. “So you blame yourself for this person's death. How long ago did it happen?”

Jungkook almost chuckles. “A long time ago. When I was still in college.”

“So it's been a few years.”

“More than a few.”

“And how long have you been feeling guilty?”

“Well I felt guilty for a long time but I was basically over it for a little while and now, the past few days, the guilt has been back.”

“How did this person die?”

Jungkook looks down at his hands and then up out the window. “They committed suicide.” He gulps.

Dr. Kim nods. “And why do you think you're feeling guilty about this? Did they indicate you were the reason for their suicide?”

Jungkook sighs. “I mean,” He hesitates. “I don't know. He... he told me he couldn't live knowing I would never forgive him.”

“Would you have forgiven him?”

Jungkook shakes his head. “No.”

“So, correct me if I'm wrong, you feel like, in essence, you killed this man because he was correct in saying that you would never have forgiven him and he couldn't live with that.”

“Yeah.” Jungkook sighs. “And I know, rationally I know that it's not my fault, I didn't actually kill him or tell him to kill himself, he could have moved on from me or something, but I just can't help but feel like if I had even just lied to him and said I would have forgiven him he would still be here.”

Dr. Kim quickly jots this down. “Maybe he would have.” She says. “Still been here, that is, if you had forgiven him. Do you think he deserved your forgiveness?”

“No.” Jungkook says quickly. “What he did was inexcusable.”

“Would you have stayed in contact with him to keep up this lie of forgiveness?”

Jungkook shakes his head quickly. “No. I would have never gone to see him. I would have probably changed my name to make sure he never found me again.”

“So, really this lie would have been no good anyways. Because surely he would have figured out you didn't forgive him if you disappeared out of his life, correct?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess.”

“So then no matter what, he would have committed suicide.”

Jungkook thinks for a second. “Yeah, I guess he would have. I never thought of it like that before. I can see how you're trying to say it wasn't my fault then, since it was inevitable?”

Dr. Kim tilts her head slightly to one side. “I'm not saying it wasn't your fault. It may very well be your fault, because you couldn't forgive him and that is the reason he killed himself after all. But I think this kind of comes back to the idea of impermanence again.”

Jungkook, taken aback slightly, mutters a quiet”what?” and Dr. Kim shifts her position to be leaning slightly more forward. “Well,” she starts. “you said this guilt was gone for a while and came back because of recent events in your life, right?”

Jungkook nods. “Yeah, but-”

“And if you remember how we talked about how nothing is forever, that includes your inner peace with this event. While your guilt seemed to last for a long time the first time, and then you experienced some peace with this guilt for a while, neither of them lasted forever. So perhaps your ability to find peace with this mans suicide that you feel if your fault is also impermanent.”

“So I might find peace with it again?”

“Yes, but you will also most likely find guilt with it again. And as much as it hurts me to say, that is something you might need to come to terms with.” Dr. Kim explains. “We should continue working on the idea of impermanence. I think we're finally getting somewhere with it.” She checks her watch. “But it seems we're out of time for today.”

“Oh.” Jungkook says simply.

“You're doing well. Remember to make another appointment with the secretary on your way out, it was nice seeing you today Jungkook.”

Jungkook stands. “You too, Dr. Kim. Have a nice day.” He says, shuffling out of the office and through the hallway back to the waiting room where he walks straight past the secretaries desk and to the elevator without a word.

As he drives home he continues to think about his guilt. And Dr. Kim. He's known for a while that this psychologist is nowhere near as good as his last one, but he feels like that was just a little too much for him. Considering trying to find another knew psychologist is a big deal because he would have to get comfortable again and he risks pricing changes which would shake up their monthly budget, not that they're struggling at the moment anyways but he knows how much Hoseok likes spoiling their new dog Mickey. He also considers that Dr. Kim is possibly correct in saying his suicide was Jungkook's fault and that maybe he just has to come to terms with that and she has been the first one to tell it to him straight.

“I can't live knowing you're with someone else...”

Jungkook gasps as a vivid memory flashes in front of his eyes. He blinks tightly and realizes he's swerving his car off the road and quickly towards a tree. He slams on the breaks but his car still ends up slamming roughly into the trunk of a small tree just a little too close to the road on this slightly unkempt road on the outskirts of Seoul. As he hits the trunk he hears some unsettling crunches and feels his body violently jerk forward, being held to the seat only by the seat belt he's glad he remembered to buckle.

It happens so quickly Jungkook barely processes it, but once he snaps back into reality he realizes his neck is in pain and he can't feel his left arm. He looks at the hood of his car, bending slightly around the trunk of the tree, definitely going to cost him a bit. Another driver comes around the corner and stops upon seeing the mess Jungkook is in. A woman gets out and rushes over to his door, a phone to her ear, clearly calling police.

“Shit...” He mutters to himself. “My fucking car.”

Chapter Text

Jungkook can hear Hoseok before his beloved gets to the door. Hoseok is loudly and embarrassingly asking where his fiance is, clearly panicked. If Jungkook wasn't in so much pain he would get up and put the poor nurse out of her misery by opening his room door, but before he even has a chance Hoseok comes barrelling through the door ignoring the nurses protests and startling the doctor out of his instructions on how to use the pain killers he's prescribing.

“Jungkook, oh my god are you okay?” Hoseok asks, rushing over to where Jungkook sits, upright with his arm in a sling to his chest.

“I am so sorry, he's gets nervous.” Jungkook immediately says to the flustered nurse and doctor. “Yes, honey, I'm fine.”

“The hospital said you were in a car crash.” Hoseok has tears almost falling and Jungkook's heart breaks to see his love so scared for him.

“I'm okay, it was a minor crash. My car is worse off than I am.” Jungkook reaches out his good arm to run it carefully down Hoseok's back.

“What happened to your arm?”

“There was a small dislocation in the accident.” The doctor says. “And he has moderate whiplash. Which he can receive physiotherapy for.”

“I don't need physio.” Jungkook sighs. “I swear, my neck is fine. It's just a little sore when I turn it in some directions.”

“And that's why you've been whining for stronger painkillers to the nurses for the past 45 minutes?” The doctor questions.

Hoseok glances at Jungkook. “He's a tad stubborn, don't worry I'll get him to physiotherapy.”

“Very good. Make sure he wears the sling for at least a week as well.” The doctor nods. “Other than that, you should be all good to go. Here's your prescription.” The doctor hands Jungkook a slip of paper and slips out the door.

Jungkook grabs his coat from next to him on the bed and slips off, careful not to fall. Hoseok takes the jacket from him immediately and frowns. “What happened, Kook?”

The younger sighs. “I was just coming back from my shrink and I had a lot on my mind and I lost control of the car. It wasn't a big deal, it was only a minor crash but it's gonna cost a bit to get the car fixed, which I'm sorry about by the way.”

Hoseok stops him and gently grabs both Jungkooks shoulders. “Hey, look at me.” He says softly. “It's not the car I'm worried about. What had you so distracted like that? You've never been in an accident like this before.”

Hoseok can see Jungkook's exhaustion and distress in his eyes. His shoulders sag and his feet drag when he walks. “I remembered something Junseo said to me before he killed himself. It was so clear, like I was really in the moment again. Like a flashback you'd see on TV or something.”

Hoseok pulls Jungkook into a soft hug, careful not to put too much pressure on his injured arm. “Hey, baby, it's okay. It's probably side effects of the potion, we'll go see Jimin soon and you can see what he has to help with it, alright?” Jungkook nods into Hoseok's shoulder.

“I want to go home.”

“Okay.” Hoseok whispers, pulling away. “Let's go home.”

*

Jimin sits across from Jungkook on a day when neither of them have work. Jungkook is glad to finally be out of work and it not being because of his situation, Jimin is just glad he doesn't have to work on his current customers request and he's excited to get whatever he can out of Jungkook. They sit in Jimins dining room, the elder having made his famous tea to keep Jungkook grounded while he talks about his reaction to the potion. Jimin fumbles with his phone to start a voice recording and lays out a book and pen to write in.

“Okay,” Jimin hums. “I got everything set up, we're good to start now.”

“This reminds me eerily of doing an interrogation.” Jungkook comments.

Jimin chuckles. “Well, we witches like to keep everything recorded clearly for future use.”

“Makes sense.” Jungkook nods. “So, do you ask questions or do I just talk?”

“I have a couple questions written down,” Jimin fiddles with his pen and reads out of his book. “and we'll see how it goes from there. Sound good?”

Jungkook nods so Jimin begins. “First, what did you see while you were under?”

Jungkook furrows his brows and recalls all he can. “I was going through memories as if I was reliving the situation again. But I couldn't feel anything, I had no senses.”

Jimin scribbles notes as he talks. “What do you mean?”

“Like... I saw the memory of when I almost drowned as a teen and Jeonghyun pulled me out of the water. It was just like I was there again. I was looking around the water, a pond we were swimming in, and then Jeonghyun grabbed me and pulled me out. And I spoke to him and interacted with him, but I wasn't trying to do any of it, I didn't have control over my body while it was happening.”

“Like, you couldn't feel the temperature or texture of anything?”

“Yeah, but I also couldn't feel the emotions I was having. Like I remember clearly feeling terrified when I almost drowned, but when I was under I had no emotional connection to the situation.”

“Were you aware of it being a memory?”

“Not yet. I didn't realize until I was in the next memory.”

“How did the memories switch?”

“I just blinked and was in a different memory. It was instant.”

“And how did you find the memory you were looking for?”

Jungkook sips his tea, letting out a breath and thinking. “I was feeling this sort of deja vu and realized it was because I was remembering and had to find the memory. So I closed my eyes and thought about Junseo and when I opened them again I was going rapidly through memories with him, they would switch every time I blinked again.”

“Were you able to focus on any of the memories?”

“Eventually. It took me a minute but I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself down and didn't open them again until I could focus again.”

“What did the memory you needed look like? Was it like the other memories or was it different?”

“No, it was different.” Jungkook shakes his head softly. “It was like it was broken, and some pieces weren't filling in. I only had bits and pieces of things he was saying, and his face was completely blank, there were no features. Like a horror movie.”

“I think it's because this memory was repressed as opposed to the others that you can remember regularly.” Jimin makes some notes and flips a page. “How did you know you needed to leave the memories?”

“I saw Junseo kill himself and I felt like I needed to run. Away from the memory. But I couldn't.”

Jimin glances up. “Was there anytime you felt stuck in the memories.”

Jungkook fidgets and sips the tea again to calm himself. “Yeah. I was stuck for a little.”

“What was being stuck like?”

“I-” Jungkook clears his throat. “It was like little pieces of various memories were blending together and creating corrupted false memories. Like I had a memory to when... to when I tried to kill myself in college, and you found me in the bathroom. But it played again, this time instead of you holding my bloody wrists, it was Junseo holding my wrists, and the blood was his. And I saw Hoseok, and he was smiling, but he flickered and then he was bloody and his guts were hanging out, like Junseo's were. And-”

“Okay,” Jimin interrupts Jungkook's nervous rambling and Jungkook sips his tea again to calm himself. “So the memories were getting mixed together.”

“Yeah, and this time I could feel the emotions from them again. And there was even some points I wasn't in any memories.”

“What was it like then?”

“Well the first time I thought I was dead, but then I started having memories. The times after that was when I was stuck, and instead of mixing memories together it was like I was being surrounded by blood that I was gonna drown in, but it wasn't quite the same as the drowning memory. It was complicated.”

“Did any memories repeat normally?”

“No, they all repeated with some twist or mixing with others.”

“What was waking up like?”

“I was thirsty, and my throat hurt. Because I was screaming.”

“You were somewhat half under for a little while.” Jimin nods. “Could you hear us outside of the memories?”

“No. I wish I could have, maybe I wouldn't have screamed then.”

“That's fine. Let's talk a little bit about how things have been since you woke up. What kinds of symptoms are you having?”

“I've forgotten some simple things like the password for my work computer and which cupboard has the dishes. Nothing major as far as I'm aware, though.”

“Are you remembering anything?”

“Yeah, I had a vivid memory. It played back like I was reliving it again. I was driving at the time and I got in an accident, hence the sling.” He gestures to his arm that's been tucked in his sweater this whole time.

Jimin makes a face. “Sorry about that. Any headaches or stress?”

“No headaches. I would say no stress but I am stressed, and I can't tell if it's because of the memories or everything else.”

“Yeah, I can sense the stress.” Jimin hums. “And those are the only symptoms you've been having?”

“Yeah.” Jungkook hums. “Oh, well I've been having pretty vivid dreams and they're all memories. Mostly trivial stuff though, like a class from high school or a plate of food from a restaurant.”

“Alright, why don't we test your memory a bit?” Jimin asks.

“How?”

“I've known you since we were toddlers, I know almost everything that's happened in your life. I'll just quiz you on life events.”

Jungkook laughs a little, bewildered by the idea. “Alright, go for it.”

“Okay,” Jimin thinks for a moment before holding up a finger. “What was the first class we had together?”

“Japanese. You failed your first year and had to repeat it and got placed in my class.” Jungkook smirks.

Jimin rolls his eyes. “It was a tough class, my first teacher was a bitch.”

Jungkook scoffs. “Mrs. Lim was nice, you just didn't study at all.”

“Anyways.” Jimin sighs. “When did you have your first kiss?”

“Age 12, I went on a shitty date to the park with that girl who transferred to our school just before summer and she kissed me before she ran home.”

“Ah yes, the one who got away.”

This time Jungkook rolls his eyes and grins. “She moved away the next week without a word.”

“How many people have you slept with?”

“One, Hoseok. I don't believe you'd know if I slept with anyone else though.”

“I was testing to see if you remembered the time you tried to jump me when we were teens.”

Jungkook groans. “You won't ever let me live that down. It was one time!”

“It was actually 3 times, and we almost went all the way the last time.”

Taehyung bursts into laughter from the doorway where he has been standing for the past 10 minutes. “Oh my god, Jimin you almost slept with Jungkook?”

“Those other times don't count! I was inebriated!”

“At way too young, might I add.” Jimin tsks.

“You might not.” Jungkook slouches. “Besides, you never let anything go below the belt anyways, it doesn't count.”

Taehyung makes a face. “I don't think I could look at you the same if you did actually sleep with Jungkook.” He walks over and places a kiss on the top of Jimin's head.

“Yeah, I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing I stooped so low.” Jimin chuckles.

“This has nothing to do with the memories, you're just a dick.”

“Can I ask something?” Taehyung asks. Jimin nods. “What game did you school me at when you came to our house for the first time in college?”

Jungkook frowns and taps his fingers for a moment. “Overwatch?”

Taehyung nods. “And how did we meet?”

“You were in fox form at a park. And you scared me shitless.”

“What did you do when you discovered magic?” Jimin asks.

“Called my mom. Because you said she knew your family were witches.”

“What is your mom?” Taehyung asks.

“Uh...” Jungkook squints. “Oh my god, I know this. I know I know this.” He bites his cheek while Jimin and Taehyung exchange a glance. “Nymph!” He yells.

“Alright, that was a little tough but you got it.” Jimin makes some notes. “When is Yoongi hyungs birthday?”

Jungkook blinks. “You have to promise not to tell him I can't remember that.”

Taehyung snorts. “I'm definitely gonna tell him. It's March 9^th, by the way.”

“He's gonna kill me.” Jungkook mutters.

“He's understanding.” Jimin consoles. “But also savage, so maybe approach carefully.”

“I gotta go, the kids have a field trip today and I have to stop by the museum before we go to make sure they have everything set up.” Taehyung smiles and gives Jimin a chaste kiss. They mumble small goodbyes and Taehyung makes his way out.

“So-” Jimin gets cut off.

“Where does Taehyung work again?” Jungkook asks quickly.

Jimin raises a brow. “An elementary school near your precinct.”

Jungkook nods once and mutters something to himself.

“You seem to have forgotten quite a few things.”

“Am I gonna remember them by myself or will I have to be reminded?”

Jimin hesitates. “I... actually don't know. I assume you just have to be reminded but you might remember some things on your own. Why, are you trying to remember something?”

Jungkook shakes his head slowly. “No I just... I feel like I'm forgetting something. Do you think there are gonna be things I won't be able to remember?”

Jimin sighs and writes some notes. “Honestly? Probably. So far it seems to have affected your memory pretty randomly, but if you feel like you're forgetting something specific it might be something you'll remember on your own.”

“I hope so…”

Jimin shuffles his belongings around and sighs, knowing the next line of questioning is going to be uncomfortable.

“Jungkook,” Jimin starts, “I’m gonna have to ask some questions you might not like to answer.”

Jungkook just nods, slouching back a little in his seat. If Jimin wasn’t about to prod Jungkook in a way he knows the younger hates, he would think to tease him about obvious it is Jungkook is trying to seem nonchalant around an empath.

“How are you?”

Jungkook blinks. “Uh, I’m okay? A little hungry, but-“

“No, I mean, how are you. Since reliving the memories.”

“Oh,” Jungkook averts his eyes. “I’m fine.”

Jimin stares him down for a moment. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” But he’s too quick, and Jimin can sense the unease.

“I need you to be honest with me, not only for record keeping purposes but also for your health and safety. I care about you, Jungkook. Please, tell me how you have been.”

Jungkook rolls his eyes, irritation rising. “Why doesn’t anybody believe me when I say I’m fine?”

“Because it’s obvious you’re not.” Jimin is reaching his limit with dealing with Jungkook’s angst but he needs to keep himself calm because he knows fighting back will get him nowhere. “I’ve received texts from multiple people commenting on your state.”

“What do you mean my ‘state’?”

“Well besides your obvious memory gaps people have noticed the shaking, the avoiding being alone with your thoughts, the laying awake at night, the dissociating, not to mention the fact you can’t stand still, and should I bring up the grocery store incident-“

“Shut up!” Jungkook yells. “Fine! I fucking get it. I’m not okay. But what are you gonna fucking do about it? You’re not my damn therapist.”

“Well clearly your therapist isn’t doing their fucking job, are they?” He’s had it. “Tell me what’s bothering you or I’m demanding you be removed from the case immediately.”

Jungkook growls and stands up, he paces but makes no move to leave the room.

“I just-“ He cuts himself off. Running a hand through his hair, Jungkook leans himself against the table, back to Jimin, and breathes deeply. “I can’t remember his face.”

Jimin hesitates. “What?”

“Junseo. I can’t remember what his face looks like. I mean, he killed himself in front of me. I looked into his eyes multiple times. I should be able to remember what he looks like, but even though I relive memories almost every time I close my eyes I can’t remember his fucking face. I don’t even remember what colour his eyes were.”

“Jungkook that’s normal.” Jimin softens seeing him so distressed he won’t even look his way. “It’s been years and you repressed the memories of him, of course you don’t remember his face.”

“But I should!” He practically yells, beginning to pace again. “I should remember his face, I should be the only one who does remember his face. He killed himself because of me, he took his life because of me, and I can’t even remember what he fucking looks like? What kind of bastard am I?”

“You know he didn’t do that because of you, you know he did it because he was sick.”

“But I don’t!” Jungkook finally looks into Jimin’s eyes and the elder almost recoils from the sheer amount of guilt dripping out in the form of salty tears. “I don’t know that. I though I was over it but my shrink was right, it’s always gonna come back. This guilt, this responsibility. It was my fault Jimin, somebody is dead because of me and I just- I can’t fucking take it!”

“You have to realise this wasn’t because of you. He took his own life, that was his decision. You had nothing to do with that.”

“You weren’t there,” Jungkook whispers. “He said to me, y’know what he said? He said ‘I can’t live knowing you won’t forgive me’ that’s what he said.”

“Ju-“ Jimin reaches out a hand to comfort Jungkook, feeling the stress and guilt roll off him in thick, suffocating waves now.

“It’s my fucking fault. It’s all my fucking fault. And now it’s happening all over again because I fucked it up with him the first time.”

The emotions in the room are too much for even Jimin to handle without shedding a few tears himself.

“Nothing ever lasts. Not will ever last. My happiness, my life, nothing. Nothing will ever last, and it’s my fault.”

“What are you talking about?”

But Jungkook doesn’t answer, before Jimin can say anything else, Jungkook has grabbed his coat and rushed out the door, not even closing it behind him, leaving Jimin reeling and confused in his seat, tear tracks still on his cheeks.

“Shit…” Jimin curses, pulling out his phone and dialing the first number that comes to mind.

Chapter Text

“What?” Hoseok snaps into his phone. “What the fuck are you talking about Jimin?”

“He left. I prodded too much and he stormed off. He was rambling on about his guilt and how he couldn’t take it and then he just left. Hobi, I don’t know where he’s going or what he’s gonna do but I’m worried about him.” Jimin sounds exhausted and concerned, even through the phone.

“Christ, you don’t think he would… would he?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t sound anything like he did back then. But his life is still in danger, and he’s running around on the verge of a breakdown in a city with someone who wants him dead.”

Hoseok sighs and shuts his eyes tight, leg bouncing, which disturbs Mickey, whose head was previously laid on his lap to sleep.

“Okay. Okay, well, I need to stay and see if he comes home. He’s capable of handling himself, he’s a cop. He should be okay, right?”

“Hyung… I don’t know. His emotions were all over the place. They were heavy, almost suffocating. With his emotions strung like that I don’t know if he’s mentally in the right place to hold his own should he need to. Or even want to.”

“Fuck,” Hoseok whispers. “Fuck!”

Jimin sniffles from the other end and Hoseok can tell the tears he cried weren’t his own, his voice is too steady to be crying. Which means he’s still reeling from Jungkook’s emotions, trying to organize himself after the onslaught that was his younger friend in his greatest time of need.

“Alright,” Hoseok mutters into the phone. “I need to wait here, it’s not safe for me out and about either. I’ll call Dawon. You settle down, and when you’re done call Yoongi and update him. We’ll wait to see if he shows up anywhere first.”

“Okay.” Jimin hangs up.

The first thing Hoseok does is call Jungkook. He’s not surprised when his fiance doesn’t pick up. He didn’t expect an answer anyways. He knew he should have been taken off the case, he knew he shouldn’t have taken that memory potion, and he knew he shouldn’t have let Jungkook go alone to Jimin’s today. But it’s too late to dwell on that right now, he needs to keep everyone updated.

He dials Dawon’s number and rubs his forehead while it rings. Mickey whimpers in his lap, and wiggles his way further into a sort of hug. Hoseok’s anxiety stops rising with Mickey to ground him, leaving him wishing he could be holding his lover to calm him down completely. 

“Noona?” Hoseok says when she picks up. “We’ve got a problem.”

*

Jungkook curses himself for crashing his car. It’s probably better for him to be walking anyways, keep his mind off things and focus on putting one foot in front of the other. He doesn’t even know where to go. He needs to think, but not about all the things that are stuck on his mind. He needs to not think.

He’s already been wandering for god knows how long, an hour probably, through some random streets he doesn’t entirely recognize. He wants to go to his office, work on his cold cases, work some steam off. But he can’t go to work, Dawon will be there, and Jimin is sure to have alerted everyone to his freak out earlier. He can’t go home either, he’s not ready to face his future husband as a failure. He can’t go to another friends house for the same reason he can’t go to work. He’s not ready to face people who know how badly he’s fucked everything up just yet. He can’t even go to the gym because he doesn’t know how to get there from wherever he is right now.

So he just keeps walking. Hoping he’ll recognize something, anything, to point him in the right direction. Whether that be a physical place or some sort of epiphany.

He has no such luck, however, and he keeps wandering for an indeterminable amount of time since his phone died after leaving Jimin’s house. He knows they’re probably worried about him, but he has to do something. Everyone is coddling him like they did when he was a teenager, and it’s driving him up the fucking wall.

He kind of wishes his mom would give him a hug like she did then, though.

He shakes his head, recognizing his emotions and thoughts contradicting each other.

“I fucking hate this thing,” he mutters, pulling the sling over his head and tossing it onto the street corner. He doesn’t need a sling, he barely has any real injuries from what was only a car accident in the literal sense. Just because his car was totalled doesn’t mean he was actually that hurt.

As he drops his arm from his chest he feels pain in his shoulder and the rational part of his brain says he should turn around, pick up the sling, put it back on. But the other side is telling him to leave it, the pain is better than thinking anyways.

Luck has it that someone accidentally shoulder checks him on the sidewalk, and he nearly falls into traffic. The pain in his shoulder momentarily forgotten as the adrenaline of nearly being hit by a car floods his system. He thinks he hears whoever it was apologize, mabe ask him if he’s okay, but he doesn’t stick around to answer. Just walks off with a hum.

He’s about to turn a corner when his head spins and he reaches a hand out to hold a light pole next to him.

He sits on a bench at night. It’s chilly, and he’s holding something warm in his hands. Looking down he sees a familiar fish-shaped pastry in his hands, a bite out of the face. He smiles a little, but he’s on edge. He doesn’t smile for very long.

He looks ahead of him, and he can see two familiar faces. Well, some of their faces. 

Yoongi and Jin sit across the bridge on a bench similar to the one he sits on himself. They share little smiles and Jungkook can see they’re talking amongst themselves. He wishes he could give them shit right now.

He watches as Jin reaches a hand up and swipes a hair out of Yoongi’s eye, and they make eye contact for a few seconds. Jungkook can almost see time slow down for them while they lean in, each a little unsure if this is a good idea. But as soon as their lips make contact all their resolve goes away. A head is tilted, the kiss gets deeper, and Jungkook nearly chokes on his bungeoppang when he swears he sees the flicker of a tongue.

But he covers it up with a cough. He can’t let him know he’s surprised to see them there. That would give him away. He can’t have any detail catch him off guard, or everything could go horribly wrong.

He bites his snack, and hears a throat clear next to him.

“So,” he says, voice practically right next to his ear, he can almost feel the breath on his face. “We’ve been out having fun for hours.”

Jungkook turns to address him and he sees it.

There’s no face on the man next to him. Just a smear of blood where a mouth should be. But he knows Junseo’s voice anywhere.

“You want me to kill them?”

Jungkook gags, earning a few looks from strangers passing him by. He nearly empties the contents of his stomach onto the pavement at the memory. After a moment of just letting his stomach settle he begins walking again. 

A few minutes later he recognizes something on the street and his body starts moving on autopilot. He’s not thinking, not really, his head is full of thoughts but he’s not really thinking any of them. He’s just letting his body do what it wants. He’s only really inhabiting his flesh.

He blinks.

But he couldn’t have. 

Because he’s not on the street he recognized anymore. He’s here.

He stands and stares at the bench. He knows this bench. He’s sat here before.

He steps over to it slowly, and a pigeon flies away from where it had perched on the edge. Strange Jungkook didn’t notice it before. 

He slowly lowers himself to a seat. When he looks down at his hands he almost expects to see a sweet pastry from his childhood, but of course all he really sees is his hands. He looks up and across the bridge. 

He wonders if Yoongi and Jin ever come back to this bridge and think about their first date. Their first kiss.

Probably not. It’s a tainted memory. Stained with the blood on Jungkook’s hands. He doesn’t even know why he’s here. He hasn’t come back to this bridge since then. He hasn’t had a reason to. It’s a small bridge, only used by pedestrians and cyclists. He usually takes his car everywhere.

He shuts his eyes tightly.

“I can’t live knowing you’re with someone else in the outside world.”

His eyes shoot open. 

When did he lie down?

“You know you’ve been missing for over 7 hours?”

Jungkook startles and sits up. Jin stands in front of him with a gentle smile.

“What?”

“They’ve got cruisers all around town looking for you right now.”

“Why?” Jungkook asks. “I haven’t been gone long. I only just got to the bridge a little while ago.”

“Are you sure?” Jin steps over and seats himself next to Jungkook on the bench. “What time is it?”

“I-” Jungkook clears his throat. “I don’t know. My phone died after I left Jimin’s house earlier. Maybe around 4?”

“Jungkook, look at the sky.”

He looks up and blinks a few times. When did it get dark?

“How- how long did you say I’ve been missing?”

“Over 7 hours.”

“Oh.”

It’s quiet for a moment while Jungkook tries to orient himself in reality again.

“It’s not your fault he’s dead.”

Jungkook looks away. “I know,” he lies.

Jin sighs.

“Hoseok has been worried about you.”

“Yeah, I should probably get home.”

“Do you want a ride?”

Jungkook nods. “Is your car around here?”

“No.”

Jungkook is confused, but he gets up and follows Jin as he leads his way through the streets to a bigger road where a few cop cars are parked. Jungkook doesn’t know why the police are here, if Jin called them he isn’t sure when he did, he didn’t see him take out his phone.

“What were you doing at the bridge?” Jungkook asks as they approach a group of people huddled by one of the cop cars.

Jin shrugs. “I was on my way home.”

Jungkook accepts that, choosing to ignore the fact that this is nowhere near where Jin lives or works. 

He looks again at the group by the car and recognizes it as Dawon, Namjoon, and Seungmin.

"Oh my god, Jungkook," Dawon gasps, rushing over to embrace him. She squeezes him a little too tightly, he can feel her firm belly against him and he smiles at the thought of having a new niece or nephew to play with. He hugs her back tighter.

"Are you okay?" Dawon pulls away, a hand still on Jungkook's back, leading him to Namjoon and Seungmin.

He nods, but he doesn't answer. Because he is okay, but he doesn't feel okay. And he can't lie to Dawon.

"Jeon, where were you?" Seungmin asks.

"The bridge," Jin answers behind him. Jungkook had already forgotten he was there.

"What were you doing on the bridge?"

All eyes land on Jungkook and he finds he doesn't have an answer. What was he doing on the bridge? He doesn't even remember walking there, really. He just showed up. He doesn't even know what he did there. Presumably he fell asleep, but he doesn't have any memory of the past several hours.

"I don't know," he answers honestly.

It's quiet for an awkward moment as everybody processes his answer and what it means. 

"Let's get you home, yeah? Hobi's been worried sick about you." Dawon gently leads him to her car, speaking about whatever comes to mind. He doesn't really listen though. He can feel the aura of everyone around him and it's suffocatingly tense. He knows what they're thinking. They think he's lost it.

And maybe they're right.

*

"And you don't remember getting to the bridge?" 

"Like I said, I remember being there, not going there."

"And you have no memory of what you did on the bridge?"

"Yes, again, as I explained, I remember looking across the bridge and then suddenly I woke up on the bench and Jin hyung was there."

"So you think you slept on the bench for those hours?"

"Yes, christ, do we really have to do this?" Jungkook sighs. "I've told you everything five times already. Can I go yet? I want to see Hobi."

He's been locked in a bedroom with Jimin for the past 45 minutes while everyone else sits in the living room presumably discussing what to do with him, and he wants to have a say. 

When they got him home there was a lot of hugging and few tears from Hoseok, and a lecture on losing his sling while his arm still heals, they shared a brief kiss, and then he was being whisked away by Jimin to the spare bedroom with the excuse of documenting the memory lapse, but he's starting to doubt that was an honest explanation. 

Every time he's tried to leave Jimin has stopped him with 'just a couple more questions, it'll be really quick' and he's starting to get more irritated than anything else, even with the tea he was brought a few minutes after he got home.

Jimin pushes his hair out of his eyes and takes in a breath.

"I need to make sure your memory isn't still warping as we talk. I'm trying to see if you can tell the story the same way multiple times," Jimin explains.

"Well, clearly I can, so can I go now?" He huffs.

"There have actually been a few minor changes so I'd really like to run through it one more time to see if it changes again."

"There haven't been any changes! I've been telling the same story for 40 minutes on repeat now! I left your house, I walked a bit, I flashed back, I showed up at the bridge, I sat down, and I woke up. There, done, can I fucking go?"

"Jungkook, just go through it slowly with me, okay? I want to get this down crystal clearly. So, you-"

"I know you're stalling, hyung. I'm not stupid," Jungkook sighs. "They called you here to feed me your calming tea and distract me while they deliberate out there whether or not to send me to the fucking psych ward."

"They're not gonna send you to the psych ward, Kook."

"Damn right they're not, because I'm not fucking crazy! And I can tell them that, with you to back me up, if you let me out of this goddamn room."

Jimin just shakes his head leans back against the wall.

"You would back me up, right? You don't think I'm crazy too, do you?" Jungkook narrows his eyes, arms crossed in a pathetic self embrace.

"Of course not, you're not crazy Jungkook, you're just-" he hesitates.

"Just what? Nuts? Loco? Insane? Cra-"

"You're having a fucking breakdown, Jungkook, for christ's sake! You're not crazy you're just feeling the side effects of taking a potion that fucks with your mind!

"Your reaction to this is expected but it's still not ideal. You're putting yourself in danger while you're walking around losing time, and you're incapable of understanding that properly right now with the level of stress you're under.

"I can barely get a read on your emotions right now, even with the strongest calming tea in my entire shop on you. Your aura is just screaming but it doesn't make any sense, and we're fucking worried about you." 

Jimin drags his hands down his face.

"We don't think you're crazy, we're just trying to figure out how to help you, and we need to know you're safe while we think about it." Jimin meets eyes with Jungkook and can see the exhaustion in the way his shoulders sag and his eyes are empty.

This whole time he’s been so focused on figuring this out and moving on, he hasn’t stopped to think about the toll it’s having on his friends and family.

“I’m sorry,” Jungkook mumbles, reaching a hand across the bed to squeeze Jimin’s. “I know this is hard on you guys as well.”

Jimin chuckles. 

“You don’t need to apologize, somebody wants you dead, of course you’re restless.”

“Hoseokie wasn’t this restless when we were in college.”

“Well Hoseokie just wanted to accept his death, you’re actually fighting back,” Hoseok says from the doorway. They were so focused on fighting they didn’t notice Hoseok knock and open the door.

“Honey,” Jungkook rushes over to hug his fiance. Hoseok returns the hug tightly. Jungkook ignores the pain in his shoulder.

“It was because of you that I decided to fight y’know,” Hoseok smiles into Jungkook’s neck. “You didn’t want to let me go so easily and made this whole action plan.”

Jungkook pulls back and places a firm kiss on his mouth.

“You’re just trying to do the same thing for me now, I know.”

“We have a plan of sorts, care to hear it?”

Jungkook nods and follows Hoseok as he turns out to walk to their living room. Jimin follows behind quietly. 

The living room has Seungmin, Dawon, and Namjoon seated around their coffee table looking grim, each with empty cups of what was once tea leaving rings on the wood where not a single one of them grabbed a coaster. If Jungkook was in a better mood he would scold them but he finds their unsettling quietness to be enough to get him off their backs about it this one time.

Hoseok sits down at the only empty spot on the couch and pulls Jungkook to be sitting on his lap, arms wrapped firmly around his waist and face buried into his back.

“We’re placing you under 24/7 surveillance.” Seungmin says unprompted.

Jungkook blinks. “Okay,” he says, unsure why this is such a big deal to them all. He somewhat expected guard cops by this point.

“And you’re not to leave this apartment until the case is over.”

Oh.

Wait… what?

“So you’re basically putting me under house arrest?”

Seungmin sighs but nods.

“How am I gonna help solve the case? Are you guys gonna bring me copies of the files to read over here?”

Dawon looks away.

“You’re off the case, Jeon.” Seungmin explains.

Reasonably, Jungkook should be relieved. He didn’t want to be on this case when he first heard it was about him. He didn’t want to be on this case when he found out Hoseok was in danger. He just wanted to quit his job and move away into the woods with his soon-to-be husband and live out the rest of his life peacefully. 

But for some reason his temper rises. It goes up and up, until it’s bursting through the roof, and he can feel his face heat up, his fists clench, and his jaw tense. 

He’s not surprised, not even slightly. But somehow this feels like a direct insult to him. He wants to yell and kick and throw a fit. He really wants to deck Seungmin in the face, not that he’d get much out of it besides a broken hand. 

He just wants to finish this stupid fucking case.

He looks over at Mickey, sleeping in the corner on his little dog bed and lets out a deep breath.

“Do you need anything else from me before I’m released?” 

Dawon nearly gets whiplash from how fast she turns to look at Jungkook in bewilderment at his cooperation.

Seungmin hesitates for no more than a second.

“No. I think we have everything we can get from you at this point. It’s just up to us to solve the missing case.”

Jungkook nods, and stands up. Mickey wakes up at the little movement and comes trotting over to be pet. Jungkook scoops him up and holds him like a baby, willing himself to calm down at the cute little floppy ears and the eager kisses he gets. It doesn’t work. His arm strains under the dogs weight.

“Then get out of my house,” Jungkook says simply. And he walks away to his bedroom, Hoseok doesn’t follow. They hear a door shutting, not quite a slam but close enough, and Dawon flinches.

Seungmin sighs and runs a hand through his hair. Hoseok offers a small smile but he leads them all out nonetheless.

That night when he gets in bed, Jungkook is already there. He’s curled around Mickey’s sleeping form on the blankets, and when he lifts them for Hoseok to crawl under he tries not to disturb the sleepy dog. It’s a little too much jostling though when Hoseok gets under, and Mickey removes himself to go to the end of the bed. Jungkook just pulls Hoseok against him to cuddle.

“I’m all over the place, aren’t I?” Jungkook mumbles into the darkness.

“A little. Nobody is surprised or upset with you, though,” Hoseok answers honestly.

Jungkook scoffs.

“They should be. I hate myself right now.”

“Well, I love you enough for the both of us,” Hoseok places a kiss on whatever skin he feels in front of his face. It’s Jungkook’s collarbone.

Jungkook sighs.

“Are there already cops outside?”

Hoseok nods. “They’ve been there since you got back.”

“Well at least I know you’re safe.”

Hoseok pushes himself impossibly closer to Jungkook. They hear Mickey huff and then the sound of his claws on the floor as he jumps off the bed and trots away into the night.

Hoseok lifts his head a little to look for Mickey and giggles.

“Did he just leave?”

“He hates when we’re gay around him.”

“Did we adopt a homophobic dog?”

“He doesn’t get like this around Jimin and Taehyung hyung, though.”

“Right,” Hoseok agrees, “so he’s only homophobic about us.”

Jungkook snorts.

“I think it’s more likely that he doesn’t like when we move around and disturb his sleep because we’re gay and cuddly.”

“Ah okay, so he’s just a cockblock.”

“Listen bucko, there’s no cock to be blocked tonight,” Jungkook teases. “I’m tired.”

Hoseok hums.

“You’re no fun. You’re on house arrest and you don’t even want to bang.”

Jungkook laughs fully at this, chest shaking against Hoseok. 

“Is this some sort of weird fantasy you have yet to tell me about? You want to sleep with a criminal or something?”

Hoseok chuckles.

“Maybe,” he teases, but sighs deeply into Jungkook’s neck. “My only fantasy right now is actually getting some sleep for once. I haven’t felt safe enough to actually pass out in weeks.”

“Of course,” Jungkook mumbles. “Less talky, more sleepy.”

“Exactly.”

*

The next day is spent exactly how Jungkook wants, minus Hoseok forcing his arm into another sling he found at the back of their closet. He and Hoseok wake up late and end up lounging in bed until noon. By the time they actually leave the bedroom they’ve already gone through a million different wedding and honeymoon Pinterest boards on Hoseok’s phone, and when they settle on the couch with they’re late brunch they’ve filled their own board with ideas they both know they’ll never actually use.

They watch a movie, and play with Mickey. They play a board game, cook dinner together, dance around during golden hour, and laugh at old memories from college. They do it all without leaving their pajamas, too.

It’s everything Jungkook has ever wanted from a life with Hoseok. Just this domesticity heals his soul a little. He’s a little calmer when they go to bed the following night.

Come day two he’s so happy to be living his dream he traps Hoseok in their bed for hours after waking up, then drags him to a romantic bath that lasts until the water is cold and both their stomachs are growling violently.

But when he carries Hoseok to bed that night, his fiance having passed out bingeing an old anime, as he pulls the covers up around his lover’s waist he can feel it in his brain. The nagging.

This won’t last. This can’t last. Not while they’re out there.

He places a soft kiss on Hoseok’s forehead and wonders to himself when he’ll ever learn to let others handle things on their own. He doesn’t need to be working on this case. He knows Seungmin and Dawon can handle it themselves, they did it plenty of times before Jungkook was recruited.

But he just can’t ever let anything go.

He looks out the window to where the cop car sits on the street, two forms barely visible inside in the darkness. He glances back towards Hoseok and smiles.

His love will be safe here.

But he knows what he needs to do.

Chapter Text

Jungkook sits in a dark room that's become increasingly familiar to him over the years. Even if he didn't have the dim lamp light to read files by he could navigate this room with his eyes closed. He's spent many late nights huddled around stiff bodies and half filled files, grasping at straws, fueled by caffeine, and hating the world in this very room. Seungmin's office is almost a comfort to him now when he's struggling with a case. So many cases he and Dawon have helped Seungmin solve, vowing not to leave until somebody either solves the case or passes out, and though it's strange to be going this one alone he knows he needs solitude to figure this one out. 

He's not allowed to be here, he shouldn't be here for his safety, mentally and physically, but if Seungmin won't grant him access to the files himself, he'll take matters into his own hands. Will he be furious when he comes in in the morning and finds his office ransacked? Absolutely. But Jungkook knows by now that Seungmin is all bark and no bite, and he'll easily be forgiven when he finally has a breakthrough that can get them somewhere in this damn case.

Once he narrows down which case it is, they'll be one step closer to catching this killer, and one step closer to Jungkook being able to finally live his life in peace.

Getting passed the protection wasn't so hard. The officers assigned to his house for the night shift weren't taking their jobs super seriously, which admittedly left Jungkook a little worried for his lovers safety alone at home. He couldn't take his car, lest the officers notice him drive right in front of them and out of his apartment building, and the busses stopped running at this hour, but this is the time when Jungkook is infinitely glad he still has a bike hiding in storage that he can sneak out the side door of the building and peddle his way to the precinct. He has a key for the building, but he ended up having to pick the lock to Seungmin's office; one of the few times he's glad for his rebellious phase in high school. 

But once he's made it passed the series of almost video game spy-like tasks to get to his own place of work at 2 in the morning, it's smooth sailing. The files are thankfully laid out on the desk neatly, Seungmin having clearly been looking over them earlier that day. Jungkook just flips them open and reads until he finds the one he's looking for. 

Which admittedly takes a long time, he's about to open the last file and he hasn't found anything that sticks out in the 40 minutes he's been here and he's beginning to think he'll be here rereading files for longer than he originally intended. Though just as he is about to flip open the next file, Seungmin's door swings open, startling Jungkook.

"He's here." Dawon says into her phone, looking unimpressed and irritated. She stands in the doorway, looking tired and angry.

"Noona?" Jungkook asks, confused. "How did you-"

"Yes, you can talk to him. I'll put you on speaker." She holds her phone out and nods at Jungkook to indicate he say something.

"Uh, hello?" He speaks carefully.

"Oh thank god," Hoseok says through the receiver. "I was so worried, why the fuck did you run off at this hour?"

"Babe? I need to figure this out, I can't be sleeping when I can help."

"You're not allowed to be working right now, you know that. And don't think I didn't notice you left your sling behind. Your arm is never gonna heal at this rate."

"I don't think he cares." Namjoon calls from where he's hiding behind Dawon.

"Joon hyung? Why are you both here?" Jungkook sighs.

"Hobi called me just after you left," Dawon explains, shuffling into the dimly lit room and taking a seat. "He heard you lock the door behind yourself and figured you were going to do something stupid and didn't know who else to call."

"How did you know I was here? And why is Namjoon here too?" 

"Because I've come here with you before during tough cases, this is the only place you would have reasonably gone under the current circumstances." 

"That's fair, to be honest."

"And Namjoon is here because he insisted he come with and I didn't feel like arguing."

"Okay, well, now that you know where I am, you can go home." Jungkook waves them off, flipping open the case file, but a hand is slammed down on the page in front of him quickly.

"No, we'll be staying here with you until you're done. Your life is in danger, we're not leaving you alone," Namjoon cuts in.

Jungkook glances up, removing Namjoon's hand from the page it obstructs, and blinks slowly.

"You're not gonna drag me home?" He asks.

"No, we're not going home. We're here to help you speed this up," Dawon explains.

Jungkook frowns. "You're serious?"

"I know I said you weren't supposed to be working, but I also know I can't stop you from doing it anyways," Hoseok explains, still on the phone in the background. "So I'd rather stay up and help you as best I can."

"And we will also be helping you," Dawon says, not looking at Jungkook, irritation clear in her features as she reaches over for a file Jungkook has already read through.

"What are you even doing here?" Namjoon asks. "Why are you in Seungmin's office and not your own?"

"Help's get the juices flowing a little better," Dawon explains, placing her phone, still opened to a call with Hoseok, on the desk. "What's your goal here, Jeon?"

Jungkook sighs, all fight gone as the late hour hits him full force. 

"I'm trying to pinpoint which of these cases is the one we need to solve to find the killer. I've read through almost all of them so far and I'm still not sure," he explains.

"Alright, well then let's try and narrow it down some more. How can you rule certain cases out?" Namjoon prompts, leaning against a wall.

"Well," Jungkook starts, "we can pretty much rule out anything that happened around the time I was dating Junseo."

"Right, it needs to have happened before Junseo starting his spree since it inspired him." Dawon nods. 

"So basically before my second year of university." Jungkook starts skimming the file he's opened.

"Actually," Namjoon frowns. "If I remember correctly, though he was never charged with it, Junseo originally started by killing his own captors, and so it would have had to have been just before your first year, because he killed his parents over a year before he started his signature spree."

Jungkook just blinks. 

"I can't believe I haven't considered that yet. I've been so focused on the timeline of his murders I haven't considered the one that started it all." 

"This is why you need us," Dawon smirks.

"Wait, if I haven't considered this yet we need to rethink the timeline. We might actually be able to do this," Jungkook says, shutting the file.

"Okay, then let's run through it," Namjoon starts, pulling up a chair to sit in. "So we have Junseo escape his captors, then meet someone who killed their captors and inspires him to do the same. Sound right?"

"But why would he wait a year between killing his captors and beginning to kill other fairies?" Dawon asks.

"Maybe he needs time to get situated? He just got out to the real world, he wants to start university, clearly." 

"It doesn't make sense though, if he killed a first time having already planned a genocide wouldn't he have the taste for blood, craving his next kill? He only ever had a few weeks between kills when he started killing fairies at random."

"Unless…" Jungkook mumbles, eyeing the desktop seriously, wheels turning in his head.

"Is he doing the thinking face?" Hoseok asks through the receiver, seemingly still awake on  the other end.

"Yes," Dawon calls, "what is it Jungkook?"

"What if…" Jungkook sits up more in his seat. "What if he had already killed before meeting the inspiration?"

"What like, an undiscovered kill on his record?" Namjoon asks.

"No, like what if he killed his parents first, and then met the inspiration to start killing more?" 

"What?" 

"Think about it, if Junseo was really held captive and abused how would he get out so easily without incapacitating his captors? What if he killed them, went on to start his life and go to university, then eventually met someone like him.

"Wait what if that's what he was saying? When he explained it on the bridge that night he said he met someone like him and it made it realize he should just commit genocide and solve this problem for everyone. He must have met them after he killed his parents, in the year he was getting himself together. That's why it took so long to get him started on the spree."

"So then we need to consider it possibly being before him even getting into university. Because this person would have been telling a story from the past, to him, before he even started killing," Dawon cuts in.

"If this person was the same age as Junseo then we would have to assume an age at which they could have reasonably been the youngest they could be while still killing their captors and being able to survive without adult supervision afterwards," Namjoon expands.

"We need to pull cases from even further back," Jungkook concludes. "I don't know how Seungmin finds all the supernatural cases though, how are we gonna get any more cases without his help?"

"I'll just log onto his computer and see if he has anything there that can help us, switch seats with me," Dawon says, standing up. Jungkook does as told.

"You know his password?" Jungkook asks, sitting where Dawon was before.

"Yeah, of course. I know everyone's log in stuff for this system." Dawon shrugs, turning on the computer and typing.

"Jungkook, before I forget, did you remember to call and cancel your therapy appointment in two days?" Hoseok calls out, sounding as if he's far from the phone.

"Yeah, I told her the case put me in jeopardy and I was on house arrest for a while," He says, leaning back.

Namjoon scoffs. "You're not on house arrest, you're in danger."

Jungkook shrugs. "Same difference."

"I don't think you should go back to her at all. I don't think she's a good match for you."  

"Oh yeah, Hoseok mentioned that your therapist has said some weird stuff. What kind of stuff did she say to you?" Namjoon asks.

"She's really hard on the idea of accepting impermanence, which is cool and all, but it seems like everything just ties back to that," Jungkook explains. "Like when I told her about my guilt surrounding Junseo's death she said it might be my fault and I had to accept the guilt coming ba-"

"Wait, she said what?" 

"Well I was explaining to her how I felt like it was my fault that Junseo died, she agreed that it very well could have been my fault he killed himself, even if he was likely to kill himself no matter what I had said."

"She said that to you?" Namjoon asks incredulously. "What the fuck is her problem, that's not your fault. A psychopath committing suicide because he's too attached to you isn't your fault."

"Well, she's right, he literally said it was my fault." Jungkook is too tired to bother fighting anything at this point.

"No, any sane, well-trained mental health professional would be able to tell you that's not your fault. What's her name? I want to check her credentials." 

"Dr. Kim Junghee, but it's not that big of a deal."

"Yes it is, you just had a major breakdown because of the things she said." Namjoon sounds angry as he pulls out his phone and begins typing. "I want to make sure she's actually a licensed therapist with real training, because that's bullshit."

“Noona, how’s the search going?” Jungkook asks, ignoring his fiancee and friend fretting over his therapist in the background. It wasn’t a major breakdown, it was just… a bad moment.

“Not so bad, it seems Seungmin mostly grabs things through connections though, so it’s gonna be impossible to find anything he hasn’t already searched up without asking him directly,” She explains, stretching her back and rolling her neck. Jungkook sees a flash of your typical movie hacker in her and chuckles to himself. The fact that he’s laughing about hacker stereotypes in his bosses office which he broke into at 4 in the morning is how he realizes he’s overtired. 

“She’s young, go figure if she’s saying that shit,” Namjoon mumbles to Jungkook’s right. “She won’t have a job much longer if she keeps this up.”

Jungkook just rolls his eyes.

“Well, has he searched any further back than the files we have here right now?” Jungkook tries to stretch his neck around to see the computer screen but he can’t reach.

“Well, sort of,” Dawon mutters.

“What do you mean?”

“Someone sent him basically an archived list of all unsolved murder cases in the magical community from the past decade or so. It looks like he was still sifting through it, probably narrowing it down to exclusively fairy murders.”

“Is that a lot?”

“Apparently more fairies have been murdered in the past 10 years than any other magical creature in all of Seoul.”

Jungkook curses, if they have to go back through that list themselves it could take hours of time they don’t have.

“Right, cool, I get she’s working at whatever building now but can you show me any source for her credentials, Christ,” Namjoon has taken Dawon’s phone in his hand now, seemingly discussing what he’s found with Hoseok. Jungkook doesn’t care enough to bother.

“Is there any way to narrow it down further than just eliminating everyone who isn’t a fairy?” Dawon asks.

“Make sure you filter out any single fairy murders, he said they killed their parents, plural.”

“Okay, I can work with that.”

“That’s… strange,” Namjoon continues mumbling to the phone and Jungkook is about two seconds away from strangling him. They need to focus on the case, not Jungkook’s shitty therapist.

“Alright, well assuming it was a straight couple considering they presumably had a child which they switched out for the human one, that does actually narrow it down to only 14 cases,” she sighs. “Which is still a lot.”

“Well how many of them have we already looked through?” Jungkook prompts.

“Uh, maybe 11 are physically here, the others seem to be only available digitally despite being more than 5 years cold.”

“Alright, well we can just print off the notes for the cases and I can take them home with me and read them there. I’m starting to get tired.”

“When was the last time you slept?”

Jungkook thinks. “Maybe 26 hours ago?”

Dawon sighs.

“Hey honey, could you do a quick background check on somebody for me?” Namjoon calls, not looking away from his phone.

“Yeah, what’s the name?”

“Dr. Kim Junghee.”

“Seriously, hyung?” Jungkook growls. “Now isn’t the time to be thinking about my fucking therapist we need to focus on the threat to my life and this case.”

“No trust me, you’re gonna want to know the results.”

“Huh,” Dawon says, scrolling.

“Huh?” Jungkook perks up.

“That’s… odd.”

“What? What’s odd?”

“Kim Junghee seems to have just sprung up out of existence around 13 years ago.”

“What?” Jungkook asks, standing to look over Dawon’s shoulder.

“I knew it.” Namjoon smiles.

Sure enough Jungkook sees the oldest record for Kim Junghee is a technically sealed juvenile charge when she was 17.

“Open the notes for that case,” Jungkook commands.

Dawon clicks and types something in until a pop up of the case file opens. It shows what appears to be a younger and slightly less worked on version of his therapist and a charge for petty theft for which she spent a night in a cell for.

“That’s her. Younger and without a couple small cosmetic surgeries but definitely her,” Jungkook confirms.

“Why did she spend a night in jail for petty theft at 17?” Namjoon asks, appearing over Dawon’s other shoulder.

“From what I can tell of the notes it’s because nobody knew who she was,” Dawon explained. “They picked her up for lifting from a local grocery store and at first she wouldn’t even give them her name so they brought her down to the station.”

“She didn’t have any ID on her and claimed to have no parents when prompted,” Jungkook continues to read. “They kept her around assuming she would either fess up who her parents were or somebody would come looking for her but after 24 hours nobody showed up, so they just let her go.”

“They couldn’t find any record of her birth?” Namjoon asks.

“Apparently not. The officer who picked her up stayed the entire night with her, he wanted to make sure she got home to her parents, but he couldn’t find anyone by her name who was missing from any schools or even local shelters and foster homes.”

“They just assumed she was a street kid and she walked off the next day.” Jungkook taps his foot.

“When was she heard from again after that?” Namjoon asks.

A few more clicks and Dawon is reading down a digitized newspaper column. “She got into a local college with a semester paid at 20 after winning some sort of radio contest.”

“Did she graduate?” Namjoon asks.

“It doesn’t say, she’s gone again until she suddenly takes the job where she currently works.”

“And there’s no social media?” Jungkook asks.

“As far as the internet is concerned she’s never even touched a computer. Besides the juvie charge and the newspaper article there’s nothing else about her I can find.” Dawon shrugs. “Every birth record in all of Korea should be in this database by now, but there’s no Kim Junghee born in the year she would have had to have been born to be 17 during her arrest. Unless she lied about her age to the police and the newspaper.”

“This doesn’t make sense, how does she have her job if she doesn’t have a past?” Hoseok asks through the receiver.

“Why does she have this job, more importantly,” Namjoon says. “Why would she take on Jungkook as a client if she isn’t even really qualified for this job when it clearly says in his file he’s a high stress client?”

“Print off these records, would you?” Jungkook asks, checking his watch. “And tomorrow can you find out where I can find the cop who watched her over night when she was a minor? We should get going, It’s almost 5, people will start coming in soon.”

Dawon nods and begins clicking away.

“What are you gonna do?” Namjoon asks.

Jungkook sighs.

“I’m gonna figure out who the hell Kim Junghee is and what she wants with me.”

Chapter Text

Jungkook checks his watch as Jimin and Taehyung laze around on his couch. It's a little after 1 pm and Jungkook wants to get going soon. The cops outside should be swapping shifts any minute, during which they'll check up on them to see if they're still there and safe, and once they've done their check Jungkook and Hoseok can sneak out the fire escape and get on with their secret mission.

Well Jimin is calling it a secret mission. Hoseok is calling it a dangerous plan and Jungkook is calling it necessary. Taehyung is just calling it cool.

"So how long are you guys gonna be gone anyways?" Taehyung asks from where he plays with Mickey and Rae.

Hoseok sighs.

"Maybe 2 hours? Depends on how willing the college is to cooperate," Jungkook explains.

"Plus travel time because we aren't supposed to be leaving the house right now," Hoseok mutters.

"And you can't just drive because…?" Taehyung trails off.

"Yeah didn't your car just get fixed?" Jimin adds.

"We can't take the car because then the cops would know I'm leaving and I'm not supposed to be doing that," Jungkook explains. "And we can't take yours either because they would need to check your car upon coming back in. Make sure you have nothing dangerous."

"So then why are we even here?" Taehyung whines. "I was gonna teach the kids about bugs today, and despite the fact I'm well into my 20's I still think it would be really fun to talk about bugs."

"Hey, you didn't have to come, I only asked Jimin to be here in case the cops come up to check on us, someone will be here to assure them I am in fact inside just doing something and can't come to the door." Jungkook raises his hands in mock surrender.

"I brought you because I'm not sitting in their house alone with Mickey for two hours," Jimin says.

"Can't believe I skipped work for this c-rated mission impossible bullshit," Taehyung sighs dramatically.

A knock comes on the door and Jungkook rushes over to answer.

"Hello detective Jeon, I'm just here to show you my face, I'll be the officer taking the next shift downstairs," a man explains from the door. Jimin makes sure to get a good look at him to remember for later. 

"Of course, thank you for working hard to protect me." Jungkook bows as the man walks away and he shuts and locks the door.

"Alright Hobi, let's go. I don't want to waste any time."

"Why is Hoseok going with you?" Jimin asks as the two fiances head towards their bedroom. The window in that room has access to the fire escape that they intend to climb down on and sneak away from.

"So he doesn't hurt himself again. He refuses to wear the sling and refuses to do physio, I'm gonna beat his a-"

"Alright, cool, whatever. What do I do if the cops come up and ask for you?"

"I don't know, tell them we're having sex or something," Hosoek shrugs.

"Please don't tell them that, just say I'm in the bath or whatever," Jungkook interjects.

"Let's just get this over with," Hoseok mumbles as he climbs out the window, waving bye to Jimin who holds Mickey so he doesn't attempt to follow his dad's.

Jungkook smiles and shoots a quick 'thanks' to his friends before they begin making their way down the fire escape.

Taehyung walks up behind Jimin and lays his chin over his shoulder.

"So we're gonna tell the cop they're having sex right?" He asks.

"Definitely," Jimin confirms.

*

Jungkook and Hoseok walk through the streets, weaving through back alleys to make sure no patrolling officers take notice of them and tell Seungmin they're out of the house. It's probably one of the most illegal things Jungkook has ever done, him having grown up on the right side of the law and even becoming a detective himself. But he's admittedly a little concerned with how easily Hoseok seems to be keeping low and in the shadows.

They're close to the college by the time Jungkook finally decides to ask.

"Why are you so in your element hiding from cops?" 

Hoseok smirks.

"I was gonna save it for Yoongi's best man speech but I guess it'll be funny to tell you now," Hoseok says quietly. "When Yoongi and I were in high school, we used to hang around with a somewhat shifty crowd. Kind of like a schoolyard gang type of thing."

"Are you kidding me right now?" Jungkook scoffs. His Hobi? On the wrong side of the law? He's practically made of sunshine and purity.

"Nope," he smiles widely. "I was charged with four counts of vandalism and got caught joyriding twice over 3 years in that school."

Jungkook shakes his head but spots the college and nudges Hoseok's side to alert him to where they're going.

"Bullshit. You don't have a criminal bone in your body, you baby."

"Hey, you can call Yoongi hyung when we get home and he'll confirm it for you," Hoseok leads them across the road between traffic. "It's long behind me now, but I seriously considered gang life with hyung when we were younger."

Jungkook rolls his eyes, not buying into it at all. 

"Right. What made you change your mind?"

"Dawon said she wanted to be a cop and we knew we couldn't disappoint her," they duck into the building quickly upon spotting a cop walking across the campus. "She could have easily kicked our asses to the moon and back at that age."

Jungkook doesn't believe a word his hyung has said but he just nods and let's it go, because they're about to approach a woman behind a desk that says 'admissions' and they need to focus.

She sits, tapping away at her computer quickly, long graying hair tied up in a low bun behind her head. She doesn't have many signs of aging, but Jungkook can feel the authority that comes with age radiate off her with how she holds herself high and wears clothes a little too professional for a local community college admissions clerk.

She glances up towards them as they approach and Jungkook sees a warm smile grace her face, probably engrained there after so many years working with the public.

"Hello sirs, how may I help you today?" She says kindly, voice raspier than they expected. Though the colour of her nails suggests she's painted them in order to hide what is clearly signs of a long term smoker.

"Hi, I'm detective Jeon Jungkook," Jungkook starts easily, "and I just need to ask about a few records of a student who went here maybe ten years ago? Perhaps a little less?"

"We're not supposed to give out information about the students who have or currently attend our campus, I'm afraid," she speaks back just as easily.

Jungkook pulls out his ID proving he really is a detective and holds it up for her to see.

"I understand, miss, however it's a really strange set of circumstances and any help would be greatly appreciated."

She eyes the badge but goes back to typing.

"You'll need to come back with a warrant if you want access to our files. I'm really sorry, officer, I just can't-"

"Are these your siblings?" Hoseok asks suddenly, pointing to a picture behind her computer.

"Hm?" She turns around and spots the picture. "Oh no, they're my children."

"Children? They must be teenagers. Surely you aren't old enough to have had them!" 

She blushes. "Oh, you're sweet, son. I'm likely old enough to be your mother."

"Nonsense! How long have you worked here?"

"25 years."

Hoseok fakes a gasp. 

"You don't look a day over 30! I simply don't believe you." Hoseok smiles warmly.

The woman giggles, blush now spread to her ears.

"Y'know what, miss? Maybe we wouldn't need access to your records after all. If you're being honest, which I doubt," she grins, "perhaps you'll remember the student we have some questions about?"

She bites her lip, clearly considering the offer, and ultimately sighs. 

"Well, I do have a good memory for my age. I never forget a face," she says.

"Excellent! Do you remember a young woman who came to the school on prize money, say 10 years ago give or take? Her name would have been Kim Junghee." 

Jungkook holds up a printed out picture of his therapist from some time ago that they got from the newspaper.

The woman narrows her eyes and appears to think for a moment.

"Kim Junghee, hmm…" she mutters, and then her eyes widen in recognition. "Oh yes! I do remember her, she won the radio contest. I had quite the ordeal trying to get her set up for classes here, she was a handful if I remember correctly."

"Oh? Why is that so?" Jungkook prompts.

"Well, because she won the scholarship on a radio contest her admission was considered special circumstances. I had to meet with her a few times directly to get her courses and payment settled between the radio and her and here."

"That sounds like the radio being a hassle, not her." 

"Oh no, the radio was very straightforward with the funds. The trouble was getting her to agree to take courses here in the first place."

"She didn't want to attend school here?" Hoseok asks.

The woman shakes her head. 

"She never even applied. She was hoping to be able to cash out the tuition cost but the radio refused to give her the money outright, they would only send it straight to us a voucher for a semester with a full class load covered."

"What made her decide to do the classes?"

"I talked her into it, mostly. She wasn't going to get the money, the radio was fully prepared to give it to the second place winner if she wouldn't accept, so I told her she might as well use it. There's no loss for her if she doesn't have to pay."

"What courses did she take?"

"I can't remember now exactly, all entry level courses, a wide spectrum because she didn't know what she wanted to do. Let me just pull her file here quickly." 

Hoseok and Jungkook smile at each other, glad the woman hasn't noticed she's doing exactly what she said she shouldn't.

"Ah, yes. Here we go. She took the adult learning program courses. Applied math, career development, English for adults, public speaking, and intro to psych."

"Why did she take the adult learning program?"

"She didn't have a high school diploma, so the first course of action was get her a GED so she would be qualified for more specific classes if she chose to come back."

"Is intro to psych an adult learning course?" Hoseok asks.

"No, she had enough to cover a bonus course with the award so she told me to sign her up for a random elective and I picked the one with the least seats taken for her. She seemed to really like it though if her professors were being honest."

"You kept up with her?" Jungkook asks.

"A little bit, she reminded me of myself a little so I took a liking to her and decided to follow her academics. I was a little heart broken when she decided not to return for another semester, honestly. We got along quite well."

"Do you know where she went after she left here?"

"If I recall correctly I believe she went to a community funded program to finish her GED. She didn't have the money to finish our program, even though I told her she would likely be a candidate for multiple bursaries, but the community program was free so she took their offer over ours." 

"And she never came back? Even after finishing her GED?"

"Unfortunately no."

"Do you happen to remember what community program it was she joined?" Jungkook prods.

"Oh goodness, no. I know the program isn't still around. I think the community centre it was in was the one just three blocks down. They only service women now I believe, though."

"You've been such a help, thank you so much," Hoseok smiles, "and with a memory as good as yours I doubt even more that you're the age you say you are."

She blushes again. 

"Oh stop! You're flattering me," she chuckles, "may I ask why you're inquiring about her? She's not in any trouble is she?"

"No ma'am, no trouble at all," Jungkook says quickly with an easy smile. "We just need to ask her a few questions about someone she knows is all."

"I hope she's not a suspect of anything. She seemed like a sweet young girl, a little stubborn but very kind."

"Of course not, she's all clear in our books."

The woman smiles hesitantly. 

"Well, alright. If you do find her, tell her to come by and catch up with me, will you? It's been so long and I've never stopped wondering about her."

"Of course," Hoseok says gently. "We'll get out of your hair now."

They trade a quick goodbye and some directions before heading out. As soon as they're out of the building Jungkook begins heading in the opposite direction they came and takes Hoseok off guard.

"Where are you going?" He asks.

"The community centre she described. I think I know which one she's talking about. It's a women's focused one now, but they have all their files from the past in a giant room in the back," Jungkook explains.

"You think they'll know where she went after all this?"

"I think so yeah," Jungkook shrugs. "And I'm also hoping to find out if she met Junseo at that program."

"Isn't it a women's only centre?"

"Now yes, but a few years ago it was co-ed before they sold it to new owners. I had a case here once and I remember the owners telling me they kept all the old records from the previous owner in a tower of boxes in this storage room in the back."

"And you think they'll just give you the files? Like just hand them over? Isn't that illegal?"

"Yes, technically, but they owe me."

Hoseok rolls his eyes. 

"Y'know what? Fine. Let's just get this done with. Jimin and Taehyung can wait an extra 2 hours."

"It'll only be a quick stop, chill."

Chapter Text

Seungmin approaches Dawon slowly, and that's the first sign she gets that something is wrong. Because he always walks with a purpose. Confidently, like he knows exactly who he is, and what he wants. And this is… unlike him. He doesn't immediately grab her attention, she continues to type away at her desk for a few moments before she gives in and glances up to him.

"Yes, abeoji?" She smiles sweetly, anticipating she's in trouble somehow. She doesn't remember throwing up in anymore trash cans around the precinct just yet, but the janitor might be preemptively telling Seungmin to fire her at this point.

"Why was my office a mess when I got in?" He asks simply.

She smiles a little at not being called out for calling him abeoji, and quickly stirs up a lie. She knows full well that if he finds out Jungkook got out of his house and into his files and she helped him do it, her head is going to be hanging from her door before the end of today.

"I was looking through your files. I wanted to try and help you figure out which one was the one we need to solve," she says smoothly. "Hobi texted me that Jungkook is getting restless and I feel kind of bad, so I'm trying to close this case up quickly."

"Did you find anything of use?" He asks surprisingly. She didn't expect him to buy it so fast. Not that she thought the lie wasn't solid, she could sell a boat to a man living in the desert, but Seungmin is always skeptical of her.

"Not totally, though I noticed your time period is a little narrow. Maybe expand it back a little further? We don't know how long it was before they met and the killer did in their parents plus inspiring Junseo."

Seungmin thinks for a moment and nods.

"You're right. I'll sift through them again." He nods and he's about to walk off when Dawon parks up.

"Oh, one more thing!" She says, finger pointed up.

"Yes?"

"I have an OBGYN appointment this afternoon, is it okay if I leave early today?"

"Of course, whatever you need to do for the pregnancy." Seungmin smiles warmly.

Dawon grins back.

"Thanks, abeoji."

"Course," he nods, turning to leave. "And I'm not your father."

Later when Namjoon and her are walking out of the precinct to her car, she pulls a file out of her bag and hands it to Namjoon.

"Okay, so I called his ex-partner and even though he retired he still consults sometimes on cases so he lives in town. This is the address they gave me, put that in your phone and read me directions, I'll drive," She steps into the driver's seat and lands on the seat with a little plop.

"They just gave you his address? No fight for it at all?" Namjoon asks, inputting the address.

"Yeah, cops tend to trust each other," she shrugs. "That and I said I wanted him to consult on a case."

Namjoon sighs and buckles his seat belt as she begins pulling out of the parking lot. She takes a sharp right and he reads out some directions.

"It's not too far from here," he notes. "What's your plan when we get to him? What are you gonna ask him?"

She breathes out as she comes to a red light.

"I'm just gonna be honest. Tell him I'm looking for her and ask if he knows anything, or even remembers her at all."

"You gonna mention that she's running an illegal therapist gig?"

"No, that's not important." 

Namjoon just stares at her.

"I feel like that's a little important."

"Nah."

"Nah?"

"Nah." She steps on the accelerator as soon as the light turns green. "I don't want word circling back around to Seungmin that we're doing this behind his back."

Namjoon looks ahead and nods.

"Nah."

"Exactly!" She smiles.

Namjoon shakes his head and chuckles. She's so cute when she smiles, it's times like this when he thanks the gods that she agreed to go on a date with him that one time in college.

She didn't want to, she said it would be weird to go on a date with her little brother's housemate, but he nagged her about it for weeks until she finally agreed just to shut him up. To his relief and her surprise the date went well and they agreed to do it again. After a few weeks of dates here and there Namjoon asked if they could be exclusive. She was hesitant, wanted to focus on her career, moving up to being a detective rather than just an officer. He promised he wouldn't get in her way though, so she agreed. And it's all history after that.

He glances down at her stomach, protruding slightly above the seatbelt, and he can't help but think of how excited he is to have a child with her.

She spots his giddy grin.

"What? Is my hair messed up?" She asks.

"No, you look perfect," Namjoon chuckles. "I'm just excited to raise a kid with you. You're going to be the most amazing mother."

She rolls her eyes.

"Don't make me cry while I'm driving."

And they share a laugh.

When they reach their destination and find parking, Namjoon grabs her bag and the file and steps out of the car, still reading over the notes.

A few words are exchanged while they make their way down the street but once they step up to the front gate they both become quiet. Dawon rings the buzzer and waits for a response, hoping the retiree is home.

"Hello?" A soft, tired voice speaks through the speaker.

"Hello, is this the residence of retired officer Lee Junho?" Dawon reads off the file politely.

"Yes, who's this?" He asks.

"Hi, sorry to show up unannounced. This is detective Jung Dawon from the precinct a few blocks over. I was speaking to a friend of yours about getting a consult on a case and he told me to find you here."

"Oh, yes, of course. Seunghoon mentioned you. Come in." And the door buzzes and makes the distinct sound of unlocking. 

She pushes her way through the gate with Namjoon trailing behind her and meets a short and stout elderly man at his open door. He smiles warmly at them, a few teeth missing from his smile.

"Hello, dear!" He speaks, reminding Dawon distinctly of Winnie the Pooh.

"Hello, sir! It's wonderful to meet you!" She grins, bowing quickly as she takes the few steps up to his doorway.

Namjoon follows as he leads them into his home, through a small hallway and into a quaint little kitchen. He gestures to a little round table for them to take a seat at and pulls a few cups out of his cupboard, going on about serving them some drinks.

"I'll make us some tea and you can tell me about this case," he says.

"You really don't have to serve us anything," Namjoon assures politely.

"Nonsense! I was just going make myself some tea anyways, I can make a little extra for you two as well."

"No caffeine for me, please. I'm pregnant." Dawon says proudly.

"Of course, my dear." 

They exchange polite small talk as he prepares some herbal tea for Dawon and some black tea for himself and Namjoon. As he sits down with the cups, Namjoon getting up take his own so he doesn't have to make two trips, Dawon notices his hairline is receding and his cheeks are plump. He looks truly like a pleasant old fellow and she's glad this will go over smoothly if he's always as welcoming as he is right now.

"So, what can I help you with?" He smiles.

"Well, I'm working a case at the moment and one of the suspects bears a shocking resemblance to someone you once encountered a while ago," Dawon explains. "There's not much in her history so I was just wondering if you could tell me anything you remember about her to help me track her down now."

The man nods.

"I'll see what I can do, my memory isn't quite what it used to be these days." 

"Her name is Kim Junghee, and there was a report you picked her up as a teenager for petty theft. The record states she claimed to have no parents, and no one ever came looking for her."

"Do you have her picture?"

"Yes, this is the photo you took at that time," Namjoon says, lifting the photo they printed from Seungmin's room last night.

He squints and leans over, taking the picture and holding it out a little ways, eyes darting above the rim of his square glasses.

"Oh, yes, I do remember this young lady," he says, handing the picture back, "her case left me puzzled for a few months."

"Because she had no one looking out for her?" Dawon asks.

He nods.

"I thought it was strange and sad that she hadn't any parents or siblings searching for her. I wanted to keep her at the precinct for another few hours but my higher ups wanted her to vacate the cell." He sits back in his chair as he recalls memories.

"Was there any reason they wanted her out? Was she rough with you?"

"Oh no, no, nothing like that," he assures, waving a hand. "She was quite reserved actually. Very quiet, didn't speak unless spoken to, that sorta thing. They just thought she was a street kid. I wasn't so convinced, though."

"Why's that?" 

"Well, I suppose the way she conducted herself. She wasn't overly skinny, malnourished looking or anything like that, and she wasn't dirty either. It appeared as though she came from a regular home life, which is why I was so confused as to why nobody had come looking for her."

Dawon and Namjoon exchanged a glance.

"She didn't speak very much but when she did she was well spoken," he continued. "And she was wearing normal clothes for a teenager."

"What kind of things did she say?"

"She just answered questions, really. Told us she didn't have any parents, she was 17, and her name."

"What was she caught stealing, might I ask?" Namjoon interjects.

"Groceries," he sighs, shaking his head. "I thought maybe she came from a poor family or she was down on her luck and wanted something to eat, you know? I kind of felt bad for her."

Namjoon types some notes up on his phone and Dawon thinks for a brief moment as the older man sips his tea. 

"Why do you need to know about her?" He asks curiously. "I haven't thought of her in years."

"We think she may have some information that could be useful to the investigation we're working on," Dawon explains.

"Have you found her birth records yet? I found it really strange we couldn't find any birth records for her, and her fingerprints didn't match any in the system either."

"We still haven't found any record of her, no. That's kind of why we're here today." 

“Well I’m not really sure how much more I can say about her, she was only with me for a short time.”

“That’s okay, you’ve really given us a lot to go off so far,” Dawon smiles.

“Before we leave, do you mind if we run over these details one more time?” Namjoon asks.

“Yes, of course, go ahead. And drink your tea, too,” He smiles warmly. “So…”

*

Three short knocks come upon the door of the apartment. Jimin and Taehyung instantly look at each other from across the couch, panic in their eyes.

Jimin scrambles up as quickly as he can, and Taehyung does the same, startling both dogs in the process, who were previously sleeping peacefully in the quiet apartment with their babysitters.

Taehyung runs into the back of the apartment and Jimin steps up to the door, smoothing his clothes out quickly and plastering a small smile on his face.

Another set of knocks come and he glances behind him before finally opening the door just enough to show his body standing in the doorway.

A police officer seems surprised to see Jimin in the hallway.

"Hi officer, how can I help you?" Jimin says sweetly.

The officer hesitates but makes eye contact with Jimin carefully.

"I'm looking for detective Jeon," he says.

Jimin hums.

"Are you? Why's that?"

The officer just blinks at him suspiciously.

"There was some odd activity down the street reported, and I wanted to come in and check on him. To make sure he's okay," the officer explains. "Can I see him?"

"Oh, um, no," Jimin says quickly. "I can assure you he is here, though. And perfectly okay."

"Then why hasn't he come to the door himself? He was instructed to be the one to answer." The officer looks very suspicious and tries to peek around Jimin's shoulder, but he shifts his weight quickly.

"He's uh, preoccupied. Right now."

"Is he? With what?"

"That's not really important. He just can't come to the door at this very moment."

"Jimin-ssi, is it? Your behavior is very suspicious. I really need to see detective Jeon to be sure he hasn't come upon any harm."

"I know, officer, I don't mean to be rude or anything really. It's just that, he really shouldn't be disturbed at the moment."

"Why?"

"He's with Hoseok."

"So?"

"So…"

The officer shakes his head. 

"I'm gonna need to come in, Mr. Park." The officer moves to push the door but Jimin stops him, putting a foot firmly behind the door to stop it from opening any further.

"They're being intimate! Sir!" Jimin yelps somewhat loudly.

The officer pauses.

"What?"

"They're, detective Jeon and Hoseok, being intimate," Jimin cringes.

The officer raises a brow.

"Having sex," Jimin whispers.

Just as the officer opens his mouth to say something he gets cut off by the sounds of something hitting a wall, sounding suspiciously like a bed frame. Followed immediately by barely muffled moaning, heard from the bedroom.

The officer's eyes widen a fraction and his face begins to turn red.

"Oh."

"Yeah." Jimin shrugs.

"While you're here? As a guest?" The officer whispers, professional persona falling.

Jimin makes a face. 

"Yeah, y'know how it is. They're newly engaged and all," he chuckles painfully. "All over each other!"

There's more moaning and the sound of the bed frame hitting the wall even harder this time. What sounds like someone saying 'harder' comes a little too clearly through the walls. Jimin blinks but doesn't drop his smile.

"I'll just come back a little later. Then." The officer stutters, looking positively mortified as he backs away from the apartment.

Jimin just nods and wishes him goodbye as he shuts the door, locking it behind him. He presses his ear to the door and listens for the sound of the elevator leaving. 

Once he hears the elevator ding he runs to the back of the apartment and opens the bedroom door to see Taehyung standing on top of the bed, holding pillows, mid fall from what was clearly a jump.

"Did he leave?" Taehyung asks once he lands.

"Yeah, you were pretty convincing," Jimin chuckles.

Taehyung slides down off the bed and sighs.

"Thank god, I was worried my moans would be too deep to sell as Hobi hyung or Jungkookie."

Chapter Text

Jimin and Taehyung are nearly half asleep when Jungkook and Hoseok come crawling back through the window, two old files in hand. Some random anime playing in the background, dogs napping on their laps, and a deep frown set in their faces as Jungkook and Hoseok enter the living room giggling about something.

Jungkook sets the files down and pulls his jacket off while Hoseok scoops a sleeping Mickey off of Jimin’s lap.

“What happened to 2 hours? You’ve been gone nearly 5!” Jimmin exclaims. 

Hoseok rolls his eyes, petting Mickey who’s now fully awake and licking his cheeks excitedly. 

“We had a new lead and Kook was all ‘it’ll only be 15 minutes, don’t worry hyung’ about following it up.” Hoseok explains, pitching his voice up to mock his fiance. 

“What new lead took you 3 hours to follow up on?” Taehyung prompts.

“We found out that my therapist and Junseo went to the same program to get their GED’s, and I needed to get the files from the program coordinator so I could see if they ever overlapped or anything,” Jungkook explains.

“Are those the files?” Taehyung nods towards the stack Jungkook laid on the coffee table.

Jungkook nods and plops himself down on a chair.

“Now I just have to read them.”

“Your job includes a lot of reading, huh?” Jimin says. 

“Yeah, I followed him to work and nearly died of boredom. Most of the time he just sits around and does paperwork. Copaganda TV does not accurately portray this field of work,” Hoseok shakes his head. Jungkook just rolls his eyes and throws a file over to Hoseok.

“Here, just read the timeline of this file out to me and I’ll compare it to the one I have,” Jungkook smiles. “You’ll be my Dawon for now.”

Hoseok makes a face.

“I don’t want to be pregnant, that sucks.”

“You sound just like her! Let’s go.”

“Why am I marrying you?” Hoseok grumbles. “Okay, I’ve got Junseo. That means you have Junghee.”

“Yessir.”

“Uh, Junseo seems to have signed up for the program in early December and began the program in early January of the following year. That match up?”

“Uhh,” Jungkook scans the pages in his hand. “Yeah. Junghee started at the same time, though it doesn’t say when she originally signed up.”

“Cool, it says Junseo got along well with other classmates in the program during the weeks he was in there,” Hoseok hesitates. “But he was extra close to Junghee, that settles it. They knew each other.”

"I knew it, she's gotta be the one that's behind this then," Jungkook frowns. "We can catch her and get this thing over with."

"I'm still confused as to why she would want to become your therapist, and why she hasn't already killed you during one of your sessions," Taehyung mumbles.

"Tae!" Jimin scolds.

"What?" He defends. "It just doesn't make sense. She's had ample time to kill you at this point, why hasn't she?"

"She probably became his therapist as some sort of weird way of inserting herself into the whole thing. Isn't that what serial killers do?"

"You're not wrong, Jimin. Though usually they insert themselves into investigations differently, it might be a power thing," Jungkook shrugs. "Like she knows she could kill me but she's showing restraint in some weird toying thing. Honestly, I couldn't care less. I just want this thing over with at this point."

"I'm with JK, I don't care why she's doing it, I just want it to stop," Hoseok agrees.

Jimin opens his mouth to say something but before he can get a word out a knock comes on the door. They all look quizzically at each other, and Jungkook gets up to answer the door. 

He opens it to see the officer who introduced himself earlier standing in front of Dawon and Namjoon in the hallway. Dawon and Namjoon are smiling, but the officer looks severely uncomfortable. 

"Hey," Jungkook greets, confused. Dawon and Namjoon are allowed access without an escort so he's not sure why the officer is here.

"Hello detective. I decided to bring them up personally, just in case," the officer says tightly.

"Just in case?" Jungkook questions, eyeing Dawon and Namjoon who both shrug, also confused as to what the officer is talking about.

"I wasn't sure if you would want guests at this time."

"It's only just after 7, why wouldn't I want guests right now?"

The officer clears his throat and leans in somewhat.

"I didn't know if you were, ahem, busy ."

Jungkook just blinks at the officer, thoroughly baffled.

"What?"

"Y'know, like you were earlier." The officer attempts to keep his voice low, speaking in somewhat hushed tones.

Jungkook blinks again, unsure of what exactly the officer is trying to say but he figures it's better just to let it go. He doesn't know what happened while he was gone and he's not entirely sure he wants to anymore.

"...right," Jungkook nods slowly. "Thanks for that." He pats the officer's shoulder, startling the man enough to jump. He just nods and steps away, winking to Jungkook as he lets his friends in.

Dawon and Namjoon shuffle through the door quickly, looking confused but not particularly bothered. 

"What was that about?" Namjoon asks as he kicks his shoes off.

"No idea," Jungkook shrugs, dropping some guest slippers on the floor in front of his guests.

Dawon thanks Jungkook with a quick pat as she runs off towards the bathroom without a word.

Jungkook raises an eyebrow at Namjoon.

"She needs to pee a lot since she's pregnant. As the fetus grows it pushes on her bladder," he explains.

Jungkook nods with a quiet 'ah' and then leads Namjoon into the living room where Hoseok, Jimin, and Taehyung are still sitting and casually chatting about the dogs.

Some small talk happens as they wait for Dawon to come back, and when she comes in she sighs and plops herself down unceremoniously on the couch.

"My back hurts," she whines. "But that's not why we're here."

"We have some interesting news to share," Namjoon fills in. 

"So do we," Jungkook leans back in his seat. "We can nearly prove Junghee is the one behind this. She knew Junseo."

"Holy shit, that's big news!" Dawon exclaims.

"More exciting than ours for sure," Namjoon says.

"Well what do you have?" Hoseok asks.

"Confusing information from the cop who picked her up as a teen," Dawon explains. "She was apparently well groomed and well spoken. The cop thought she was a regular kid down on her luck."

"Like she was dressed regularly, wasn't dirty, and was relatively polite. Strangely so," Namjoon elaborates.

"That doesn't really make a ton of sense for a street kid who escaped abusive captors," Jimin comments.

"Junseo's file from this place you guys went to explains he was really unkempt when he got there. Apparently an older male staff member taught him how to clean up properly in hopes he would land a job when he graduated," Taehyung adds in, scanning Junseo's file in his hands.

"See that's what I expected of Junghee as well," Namjoon agrees. "Which is really weird since she seemed to just walk out of a regular life and into their cell."

"That is weird," Hoseok says. "But what does it mean?"

"I think we're missing something," Dawon pipes in. "There's something that isn't adding up here, I just don't know what it is." She startles, looking down at her pockets she pulls out her phone which is buzzing quietly in her hand.

“It’s Seungmin,” Dawon says.

“Put it on speaker,” Jungkook orders.

Dawon sighs but does as he asks.

“Hello, abeoji!” She cheers into the receiver. “What’s up?”

Seungmin laughs on the line.

“I wanted to call and check on you and your OBGYN appointment. Did it go well?” He asks.

“Oh yeah, all healthy looking right now,” she smiles and subconsciously puts a hand to her stomach. “Is that really all you called for?”

“You know me too well, I actually have an update on the case. Are you with Jungkook right now?”

Jungkook shakes his head furiously and Dawon rolls her eyes.

“No, why?”

“I don’t want him kept up to date, it’ll just stress him out further.” Dawon frowns.

“...Are you sure? It might be worse not to tell him. He’s already restless.”

“I’m certain. Do you promise not to tell Jungkook about this?”

Dawon sighs audibly, “alright.” She’s not technically lying, she won’t tell Jungkook, he’s just going to hear it firsthand with her.

“I can’t narrow down these cases whatsoever, there’s just not enough information from Jungkook’s memories to get us anywhere on this.”

Jungkook shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

“Okay, well what are you gonna do now?”

“I’ve thought about it and if there was a murder involving two parents than surely there would be a missing persons report for the child they left behind, so we’re going to start scanning missing children’s reports.”

“What if the parents kept her secret like Junseo’s did?” Namjoon butts in with furrowed brows.

“Namjoon? Oh, hi, I didn’t realize you were there.”

Namjoon blushes.

“Sorry, we’re at home and I just overheard,” he lies easily.

“No worries, just startled me.” There’s shifting on his end. “Anyways, I’ve thought of that, but I figure it has to do us any better than what we have right now. I didn’t want to say it but Jungkook’s trip through his mind hasn’t given us enough, we have to branch out. We might be able to cross reference cases this way.”

“Right,” Dawon mutters uncomfortably. “So we’re gonna branch out to missing kids then?”

“Basically,” Seungmin hums. “Listen, if you want off the case to spend more time with Jungkook while this is playing out, feel free to take some time, I can mark it down as medical for the baby and you can still get paid. I know you’re worried about him.”

“Of course I am, he’s my baby brother-in-law and my partner,” Dawon says, shooting a smile to Jungkook who seems somewhat flustered. “I still think we should keep him updated but I’m staying on this case. More heads means more progress. Send me the files of the missing kids and I’ll see what I can do to help run through them.”

“Already sent your way.” She can tell he’s smiling on the other end. “I’ve gotta go, let me know if anything stands out to you, you’re sharper than I am these days.”

Dawon grins and exchanges quick goodbyes with Seungmin before hanging up. Jungkook seems lost in space, frowning seriously at the floor in front of his feet.

Hoseok glances to Dawon before he reaches a hand out to grab Jungkook’s. His fiance startles slightly but returns his grip.

“Honey, what he said…” Hoseok starts but he isn’t sure where he’s going with it. He wants to tell him that Seungmin isn’t trying to keep him in the dark, he just wants to keep him safe, but he can’t find the right words for it.

“Noona,” Jungkook says suddenly. “I want you to send me a copy of those files. I have a theory.”

“What’s the theory?” She asks, but she's already pulling out her phone to forward the email his way.

Jungkook shakes his head. 

“I don’t want to say it until I’m sure. I can’t risk messing up again, if it’s wrong I don’t want you to think about it too much. Just focus on following Seungmin’s orders for now, I’ll work on my side here.”

“You didn’t mess up,” Dawon says automatically. “What would you have messed up?”

Jungkook doesn’t answer, just checks his phone to see the email as it comes in.

“Listen, you should get home and get some rest.” Jungkook smiles towards Dawon. “You’re all out and about right now, while pregnant, and stress isn’t good for the baby.”

Dawon scoffs.

“It’s barely a baby yet.”

“Well it’s gonna be, so go chill out at home. You can also go home and relax, thank you so much for helping me today,” he says to Jimin and Taehyung, “It really means a lot that you’d do this for me.”

“Of course, Kook,” Jimin says seriously, finding his dongsaengs actions somewhat out of character. “You know I’d do anything for you. We’re brothers.”

Jungkook just nods.

“The trip today has tired me out. Climbing the fire escape isn’t exactly easy,” he chuckles but everyone can tell it’s fake. “Thank you all for today, go eat some food and get some sleep, yeah?”

Everyone agrees and before anyone can even express concern Jungkook escapes the group with the excuse of taking a quick shower and leaves Hoseok to shuffle everyone out of their apartment again.

Hoseok is really a saint, always dealing with Jungkook’s mood swings with ease, not treating him too softly or too roughly when he needs it. Jungkook feels like he could do anything so long as Hoseok is behind him the whole way, he’s his rock. 

When Hoseok curls around him in bed that night, his head on his fiance’s chest, arm tracing intricate tattoo patterns on his skin in the moonlight, most of it muscle memory by now, his lover’s weight on him helps ground him. 

But it’s not quite enough.

He wants so badly to keep it in tonight. He doesn’t want to upset Hoseok any further, he tries so hard to hold it in, just until Hoseok’s fallen asleep. But it’s just too much.

When a small, shaky sigh leaves his mouth, he can feel Hoseok shift around him and he knows he’s been caught.

Hoseok reaches for the lamp next to their bed and as the light suddenly blinds them he sees, all too clearly for Jungkook’s comfort, the tear tracks down his cheeks, creating little wet stains on the pillow beneath his head. Knowing he’s caught crying himself to sleep again he lets out a small whimper, barely able to hold in a full blown sob this time.

“Baby…” Hoseok whispers, pulling Jungkook up and into his arms.

And the dam breaks. It’s no time until he’s full on weeping into Hoseok’s chest, crying so hard he can’t even speak. Hoseok just cradles him, placing kisses on the top of his head, rocking him back and forth and whispering reassurances.

When Jungkook finally calms the sobs a bit, he can feel his emotions flip flop as his mind races, and he’s angry. He’s still crying, he’s still upset, but he’s mad now.

Jungkook inhales deeply, catching his breath and he looks up at Hoseok.

“Hyung,” he whimpers. “Everything is always so fucked up. It’s never gonna get better, I don’t want to do this anymore.”

If Jungkook were more stable in the moment he might have been able to see Hoseok’s heart truly break in that moment. It reminds Hoseok so much of the time in college, when the younger was at his worst. The breakdowns, the outbursts, all the things Jimin described to him later when they first got serious. All he wants is to make life easy for Jungkook. He just wants to see him smile all the time, see him embrace his life and his own happiness for the first time.

But everything comes at just the right time to kick him, just when his footing is almost solid again, it swipes his balance out from beneath him and he’s landing hard once again.

“Oh, baby, no,” Hoseok sniffles, he doesn’t cry. He can’t, he needs to be strong for Jungkook right now. “It does get better, I know that, you know that. If I could stop all of this from happening I would in a heartbeat.”

Jungkook hiccups.

“Everything always fucking sucks! I hate it! You’re the only good thing that’s ever happened to me and people keep trying to take it away. Why?”

Hoseok can feel how fragile the boy is right now. 

“I don’t know.”

“It’s fucking bullshit! It’s stupid, everything is stupid!” Jungkook cries, wiping his face roughly. Hoseok takes his hands, knowing where he’ll go if he isn't stopped. “And my arm always fucking hurts these days.”

Hoseok huffs, and a tear escapes as he pulls his lover back into a firm embrace, making sure not to put too much pressure on his shoulder.

Jungkook sighs, all the fight and anger and tears draining away.

“I’m so tired, hyung.”

Hoseok keeps his feelings in for his lover. Keeps his voice intentionally steady. Fills it with all the things he doesn’t know how to say, all the love he feels, everything. He just holds him for a moment, and when he’s ready he whispers.

“I know.”

Chapter Text

When Hoseok wakes up the first thing he notices is that Jungkook isn’t in bed. At first he briefly panics, shooting up in bed and glancing around frantically. Though he quickly spots Mickey laying on some discarded clothes on the bedroom floor that appear to be the same pajamas Jungkook slept in and he hears the shower running from across the hall. He lets out a huge sigh of relief and runs his hands through his hair.

Mickey hears him sigh and quickly comes trotting up the side of the bed to receive his morning belly scratches, and the routine of it all places a little smile on his face. He hears a thud in the shower, then Jungkook loudly curse and yell ‘I’m okay!’ and he giggles. After a minute of just enjoying Mickey’s soft fur between his fingers he reaches out for his phone to check the time.

Nearing 11 AM. They’ve been sleeping late recently. 

He sees a text message from Dawon and frowns when he opens it.

Noona: another murder, this time a double, an elderly couple 7:26 AM

Me: what was their thing? 10:54 AM

Hoseok is aware of the strange motive behind the murders. Killing people who are about to have their life turn around. Like some sort of sick taunt to his fiance. His phone buzzes in his hand.

Noona: not sure yet, but its looking like its something to do with their kids, maybe a strained relationship or something 10:57 AM

Me: im not telling jk 10:59 AM

Noona: he already knows 11:00 AM

Hoseok sighs. He doesn’t think Jungkook should have been told, but he wouldn’t have been surprised if he had rigged some sort of set up to listen in on police radios Spider-man style, it wouldn’t be the first time he’d done that. Most of the time he loves his fiance’s ingenuity, but sometimes it pisses him off.

He’s shuffled his way to the kitchen by the time he hears the shower shut off. He’s glad there’s no papers on the island but he fully expects that when he walks into Jungkook’s home office later today he will see the remnants of a tornado having taken place.

It’s probably the hardest thing he’s ever gone through, watching his lover slowly fall apart under the stress and the head games by some twisted, blood thirsty, sicko. He can see it everyday when he wakes up next to Jungkook. How the weight of the case, of the world, keeps pushing him further and further down. The bags under his eyes, his beautiful doe eyes that Hoseok could drown in, they get darker and darker every hour. Every dream, every hope, every bit of peace that Jungkook had been gathering since the college incident, pulled out from under his feet in a mere few months. 

And Hoseok is watching with a broken heart as Jungkook wastes away to nothing.

He flips pancakes on the stove, he’ll offer a portion to Jungkook, and the man will say ‘I’m not very hungry, thanks though’ and shuffle off into his office the way he always does. When was the last time Hoseok saw Jungkook eat a full meal? When was the last time he saw him well rested? When was the last time he didn’t hold him as he cried himself to sleep?

It’s breaking him, too. But he’s too entranced watching Jungkook shatter to really notice.

Jungkook’s arms snake around his waist from behind as he flips the final pancake. He feels his breath on his neck, damp hair on his cheek, and the pain in the deep sigh that leaves his lips.

“Morning,” Jungkook mumbles into his collarbone.

Hoseok just hums, twisting his head slightly to plant a kiss on Jungkook’s freshly washed hair.

“Hungry?” Hoseok asks, already expecting a negative response.

Jungkook surprisingly nods into his neck.

It takes Hoseok off guard, and he almost asks again to be sure he’s heard right, but he thinks better of it and just serves up the final pancake. One last cake on top of the stack he’s been building. Jungkook pulls away to get himself a plate and he grabs the syrup from the fridge while he’s at it.

Hoseok balances the tall stack over to the bar stools next to the island and slides them down carefully. Jungkook immediately starts pulling pancakes quickly onto his own plate, he picks two medium sized ones and Hoseok’s mouth twitches. He’s glad he’s eating, but what happened to the man who could eat this whole stack?

They eat in silence for a while, only the sound of utensils on plates to be heard. Until Jungkook eventually clears his throat.

“Hyung,” he prompts slowly.

Hoseok glances up from his plate and quickly swallows. 

“Yeah, hun?”

“Would you,” he hesitates. “Do you want to join me today? While I sift through some files, I mean. In my office. I don’t, uh, I don’t want to do this alone anymore.”

He doesn’t make eye contact when he speaks but Hoseok knows it’s a good sign. While Hoseok isn’t exactly thrilled to read through a series of missing children’s cases, he hasn’t seen his fiance for more than 20 minutes in almost four days. Jungkook has been isolating since his breakdown the other night, and if he’s ready to start accepting company again then Hoseok wants to be the first one he spends time with.

“Of course.”

Jungkook darts his eyes up from his pancakes and Hoseok gives him a small smile.

*

Jungkook had slid a separate connected monitor towards Hoseok, handing him a mouse to scroll down the screen while his laptop sat in front of him on the desk. Dawon sent over all the files digitally, and it was well over 150 missing kids to comb through. Jungkook had been scrolling through them mostly digitally, printing off anything he thought was valuable. He had crossed off more than 70 kids at this point and he didn’t expect anything to come up any time soon, so having Hoseok read through files doubled the speed at which he could cover case files.

Except having Hoseok read through files also meant he had to deal with a lot of whining.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you read a book,” Hoseok comments. “I didn’t peg you for being a reader, why did you take his job if it was gonna be reading, like, 90% of the time?” He scrolls lazily through a file about a girl who went missing nearly 20 years ago. He’s almost become numb to the circumstances surrounding these disappearances at this point. Almost is key, because he has to look away when photos of an empty child’s bedroom come up with blood stains covering every surface.

Jungkook has his chin rested upon his hand, eyes focused on the tiny screen in front of him.

“I used to be a reader when I was a kid. The job didn’t seem so bad.” He shifts his weight, pulling up a new file. “I don’t read anymore because all I do at work is read. Kinda takes the fun out of it.”

“Yeah I can imagine,” Hoseok scoffs. “Pull me up another file, yeah?”

They’ve been at it for at least 2 hours at this point, and Hoseok isn’t even sure what exactly they’re looking for, but as the next file comes loading up he thinks he figures out what it is.

“Woah,” Hoseok mutters.

“Hmm?” Jungkook prompts from his right, not looking up from the screen. Hoseok has had far worse reactions to opening files prior to this moment, so he’s not expecting anything surprising at this point.

“Jungkook, isn’t this… isn’t this your therapist?” Hoseok asks, squinting at the screen.

His head perks up.

“What? Lemme see.”

Jungkook rolls his chair over next to Hoseok, who turns the screen towards him. On the screen comes a clear picture of what appears to be Junghee in her mid-teens, her hair tied up and a bright smile on her face as she looks to the camera, clearly hugging someone who’s cut off the side of the image.

“What the hell,” Jungkook mutters, grabbing the mouse from Hoseok. “What year was this photo taken? How old is she here?”

Hoseok hums as he scrolls down, showing two more photos of Junghee. One close up of her from what was apparently a group shot of a sports team, and another of what appears to be her school photo. She’s smiling in both of the photos, something Jungkook’s coming to realize he hasn’t seen her do any other time, or in any other photo.

“She would have been about 15? Maybe 16, in the first photo. The second one she was definitely 16, and in the school portrait she’s gotta be almost 17.” Hoseok scrolls back up to look at the photos once again. “It’s her, right?”

“Definitely. She hasn’t had any work done yet, and she looks like she’s happy, but it’s her.”

Jungkook leans in further and searches for some defining feature he remembers of her. And he sees it, a mole she has beneath her left ear is pictured in the first photo and the school portrait.

“What case is this? What were the circumstances of her disappearance?” Jungkook quickly asks.

Hoseok scrolls down and they both start reading together, brows furrowing as they read further into each statement.

“That… can’t be right. She said she didn’t have any parents,” Hoseok mumbles.

“But here it says her parents reported her missing almost 24 hours after she was last seen. And in Chuncheon of all places,” Jungkook reads aloud.

“That’s impossible, her parents aren’t even technically magical. The mother’s only half nymph and her father is entirely human. She didn’t even take after her mother. There’s a good chance she didn’t even know her mother was supernatural in nature. Most nymphs don’t tell their children unless the child is also affected.”

“Yeah, I know.” Jungkook rolls his eyes.

Hoseok winces. “Right, sorry.”

“Hobi, that’s only just over an hour from here, we could drive up there and get more information on her disappearance.”

“Are we sure we wanna do this? How can we be certain that’s her? The background doesn’t add up and the name is wrong. This lists her as being called Park Jieun, not Kim Junghee.”

“Yeah, well, I’m starting to think she lied. What’s their number?”

*

Dawon has been interrogating for the better part of 5 hours and she’s starting to get real sick of people telling her they don’t know why they’re beautiful, amazing, precious loved ones would have been hurt so badly. She knows they’re mourning, and she gets that no one wants to speak ill of the dead, but they still don’t know what this couples connection was to put them in the line of fire. They must have done something to warrant turning themselves around but it’s almost like nobody wants to talk about what they did wrong.

If no one is gonna admit the couple did anything wrong then it changes the MO and therefore everything, and at this stage? With so many variables and a lead towards Jungkook’s therapist, it could get even more dangerous for him to be out snooping around on his own. If something changed in the killer’s mind they can’t know what to expect anymore.

Dawon sighs, sitting with a distraught woman with a toddler in her arms who refused to be anywhere else during the questioning.

“Mrs. Oh,” Dawon speaks carefully, quietly to avoid waking the toddler who’s dozing off slowly on his mother’s shoulder. “Are you certain, absolutely certain, that there was no life changing turn that your parents could have been taking? No strained relationships, no past mistakes, no nothing?”

The woman sniffs and rocks slowly.

“No,” She answers. “There wasn’t anything like that. We had a fine relationship, and so did my brother. They were honestly very sweet people. Maybe when I was a teenager I would have said differently but they haven’t done anything wrong that I know of in over 10 years at this point.”

“See, that’s what your brother said, and your neighbours, and your aunts and uncles and whoever else we questioned about them. But the fact of the matter is, they were murdered by a serial killer whose targeting people who are specifically turning their lives around after living a somewhat morally grey life. If they were as pleasant as you all say then they shouldn’t have been targeted.”

The toddler shifts in her arms with a little whine and both womens eyes widen, expecting a fussy toddler to wake up and start crying. There’s a moment of tense silence before the toddler goes back to breathing deeply and they let out a breath of relief collectively.

The woman sighs and shakes her head.

“I’m sorry, if I knew anything that could help bring them justice I would tell you. But I really don’t. They were just simply nice people. They didn’t do much, they didn’t boast much, they just lived a quiet life.” She tilts her head back and blinks away tears. “Are you sure this serial killer is the one who killed them? Maybe it was something else? Like a house intruder.”

Dawon shakes her head. “No, I’m sorry, there’s a signature to the murders. It was definitely the killer.”

The woman shrugs.

“Then I can’t help you.”

Dawon nods and shuts her eyes for a moment, tapping her pen on the table in front of her.

“Thank you for your help.” And she stands. “You’re free to go, I’ll lead you out to your wife.”

After the couple and their child leaves, Dawon sighs deeply and paints a scowl on her face as she makes her way through the precinct. Her blazer sways around her as she steps, no longer able to button around her belly as she keeps growing in size. She steps into the elevator, pressing the button for the basement and running a hand down her stomach idly to cool herself off. Stress is bad for the baby and the only way to calm down these days is to think about how she’ll be a mother in a couple months.

Lately she keeps dreaming of a little baby in a crib, all smiles and giggles, and it fills her with so much love she keeps waking up having shed a few joyous tears in her sleep. She knows she’s only in the second trimester but she can’t help but get excited as she keeps reading about childhood milestones. And everyday she sees Namjoon and how widely he smiles as he talks to her belly, and she finds herself beyond excited to see him become a father. 

Admittedly she never really thought she would have kids. She was also so career focused she didn’t ever see herself having time for a relationship, let alone a chance to pop out a baby. She was blindsided by how well she got along with Namjoon when they first started dating, and she was even more blindsided by how quickly she fell in love. It’s not like she never wanted it, it’s just that she never really stopped to think about it too deeply. But she wouldn’t change a thing that led her to where she is now. 

She steps out of the elevator feeling far better than when she stepped on. A small smile on her mouth as she steps out to the morgue. Her heels click loudly on the tile floor so when she swings open the door Sohee is already there to greet her.

“Unnie!” She greets with a wide smile.

“Sohee!” Dawon pulls her in for a quick hug. “I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve seen you around here.”

“I work a lot of night shifts these days, they pay extra and I’m saving up for a vacation right now,” She explains.

“Ooh, where are you going?”

Sohee turns around and Dawon follows as she leads her through a door to another room in which Namjoon is working over a body with a pair of tweezers in hand. He glances up as they come in but makes no movement to stop picking around.

“Japan,” she explains with a grin. “I want to go to a couple theme parks they have there.”

Dawon nods, standing a bit away from the body with Sohee. 

“Sounds fun! You’ll have to tell me about it when you get back, I’ve always wanted to visit Japan.” Dawon watches as Namjoon pulls some sort of organ out from the body and holds her gag as he drops it into a little tray to his left with an unsettlingly wet splat.

“You are gonna be so good with the diapers,” Dawon mutters.

“I’d hope so,” Sohee mumbles. “That’s a stomach so there’s going to be partially digested food in there.”

“Ew.”

“It’s not ‘ew’, it’s cool. It’s the halfway point between food and poop,” Namjoon speaks for the first time since she entered and she suddenly wishes he didn’t.

“That’s ew. Please, baby daddy, take your hands out of the abdomen and answer me these riddles three,” Dawon shivers as Namjoon pulls off his bloody gloves.

“Sohee, you want to take over?” He asks as he steps to the side, pulling his mask down.

“I’d be glad to, sunbae.” She nods.

“That’s weird, you’re best friends with my girlfriend just call me oppa.”

Sohee snorts as she pulls a pair of latex gloves over her hands. “In your dreams, Namjoon-ssi.”

Namjoon rolls his eyes but steps out of the way. “What can I do for you, my beautiful and not rude lover?”

“I need deets on the bodies. I see you’re halfway through the male but I assume you’ve got a cause of death by this stage?”

“Oh yes, I’ve got the file at my desk, I was gonna send it up when I finished his abdomen.” Namjoon smiles. “It was blood loss, as expected by the scene. The female is still uncertain but I’ll have it before sunset for sure.”

“Take your time, and they’ve got the signature marks, right? They are definitely from our serial killer?”

“100% our unsub,” Namjoon confirms with a nod. “Have you found their sob story yet?”

“No, that’s why I’m asking if you’re sure,” Dawon shakes her head, staring at Sohee rifling through a body. “It doesn’t look like they had one.”

“Doesn’t that change the MO?”

“Yeah, and that’s what I’m afraid of.”

They stand in silence for a moment before Dawon’s phone pings in her pocket and she reaches down to pull it out, not expecting to see a text from Jungkook. But she nearly drops her phone when she reads it.

Baby Bro JK: we found her parents 5:42 PM

Baby Bro JK: they’re alive 5:42 PM

*

The phone rings in her ear, eyes darting between the computer in front of her and the door to her right. Namjoon can’t abandon ship on the bodies downstairs, but Dawon isn’t going to let this major lead go down the drain with Jungkook and his recently illegal habits of working on the cases when he’s not allowed to. 

If he doesn’t pick up she’ll pile drive him into the sun when she sees him next because god only knows what he’s doing with the information he found. The call connect to voicemail and she curses, putting the phone down next to her. She types in the details of the case he says he found and starts scrolling when her phone begins to ring besides her. Jungkook’s caller ID comes up.

She slides to answer and immediately puts the phone on speaker.

“What are you doing right now, Jungkook?” She asks, impatience prevalent in her voice.

“Before I say anything else I just want to tell you I’m really sorry because you’re about to get in a lot of trouble with Seungmin hyung,” he says into the phone. She hears a horn honk somewhere over the line and what sounds like Hoseok cursing nervously. “I’m evading police cars on my way out of Seoul and I’m about to lose the guys who keep watch outside of our apartment.”

“You’re engaged in a fucking police chase? Are you insane? Seungmin won’t hesitate to have you and Hoseok arrested if you get in the way of this investigation, you do realize that, don’t you?”

“That’s why I’m calling you right now, because I need you to do damage control. Any second now word that I’m out of my apartment is about to trace back to him and you need to convince him not to skin me alive, got it?”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because I just fucking solved the case, noona, now will you please listen to me before it’s too late?”

She sighs, but notes the desperation in his voice and nods nonetheless before remembering he can’t see her.

“What do I need to do?”

“I emailed you the notes basically explaining everything, but if you read through the case I told you about you should be able to piece it together yourself. I’m on my way to her parents to get the full story but I’m pretty sure I have it figured out.”

“How is this gonna stop Seungmin from unleashing his wrath on both you and me for enabling you?”

“Trust me, this changes everything and Seungmin is gonna have to acknowledge that if he wants to stop any more murders from happening. He’ll have to switch tracks too quickly to kill us, just fill him in on everything that’s been going on, and make him call off the hunt for my license plate.”

“You want me to distract him?”

“Basically,”   Jungkook mutters something on the other end that Dawon doesn’t quite catch. She isn’t sure she even wants to know what it is at this point. “I gotta go, but read the file as fast as you can, calm Seungmin, and for god’s sake, arrest her ASAP.”

The call cuts off before Dawon can ask any questions, but she curses to herself and logs into her email. She’s already two seconds from losing her job, so she might as well fight to keep it as best she can.

She mostly skims the details of the case Jungkook referred her to, but she starts realizing what he’s talking about before she even gets to his long and rambly email about his theories. Though when she hears Seungmin’s door slam open from the other side of the precinct she knows where to start, and that’s better than nothing.

When the door to her and Jungkook’s office swings open violently, she’s got one hand in the air and a frenzied look in her eyes.

“I know what you’re about to say, abeoji, but before I say anything else you need to call off the chase because he’s fucking got it, boss, he’s got it .”

Chapter Text

Despite losing the police before hitting the main highway, Jungkook still decides to park somewhere with less visibility, a short walk from the house he and Hoseok are visiting and behind some trees. Hopefully Dawon’s attempts to calm Seungmin actually work. He hates having to shove her into the middle of his fight between Seungmin and himself, but if Seungmin is going to listen to either of them it’s going to be her. 

Even though he pretends to hate it, he secretly loves that she calls him abeoji. He takes his fatherly role above her quite seriously, especially after her parents died under his case. He really loves her like a daughter, and Jungkook has the utmost faith that he will actually listen to what she says. And right now, to not lose his job, he’s going to need Seungmin to really listen carefully.

“I’m worried about noona,” Hoseok says, shutting the car door behind himself. “Stress isn’t good for the baby and Seungmin has a real set of lungs on him. I’ve seen him yell at you.”

Jungkook cringes, recalling the instance Hoseok is referring to. When Jungkook was intent on catching a decades old serial killer. It was the first cold case he solved, and he was eager to go and arrest the surprisingly still alive killer. Seungmin said it could wait, Jungkook had other cases to work on and this guy wasn’t going anywhere. They could just send some other officers to arrest him and Jungkook could do the interrogation when he had the time. 

The thing is, Jungkook didn’t want to wait. So he didn’t. He took some random newbie officer from the precinct with him and went out to arrest the guy himself. Seungmin was beyond furious, rambling about unprofessionalism, not listening to him, officer safety, and a bunch of other stuff Jungkook wasn’t really listening to. It wasn’t fun, and it was one of the first times he understood how Seungmin became a cop. He could be scary when he needed to.

The case worked out, they got a confession, and the guy went to jail where he still rots to this day. But Jungkook learned to take Seungmin’s commands seriously that day, and now he’s doing exactly what he did that last time, and he knows it isn’t going to be pretty this time either.

“Don’t stress about it, he’s gentler with Dawon noona,” Jungkook says, locking the car behind them. “Especially now since she’s pregnant. Now come on, the house should be on that street over there.”

They walk side by side, hands together through the neighbourhood in the direction Jungkook pointed. Hoseok’s eyes dart back and forth around them, clearly on edge. Jungkook feels bad he brought him with, but he couldn’t go alone. He needs there to be back up proof for the record, because his own word is a lot less useful in this case. And with the entire police force off limits to him, all he has is his loved ones. The closest of which was Hoseok, who insisted they not be separated for anything right now.

Jungkook squeezes his hand tightly and gives him a soft smile as they turn the corner to the street they’re looking for. The first thing Jungkook takes note of is that the neighbourhood is beautiful and expensive looking. The houses aren’t small by Korean standards, and the streets are lined with nice looking cars and foliage that he’s certain aren’t native to the area. 

“Who would run away from their life when they live like this?” Hoseok mumbles, voicing what Jungkook was thinking.

“The more I learn about her the more I see what’s really going on here,” Jungkook admits.

“What is going on?” Hoseok shudders.

Jungkook doesn’t answer, just drops his hand and nods ahead to where he sees a couple standing on their front porch with a cup in both their hands. It’s the parents from the pictures, clearly older, and with stress and despair clinging to their faces, dragging them downwards. They don’t touch each other, they don’t even really look at each other. They just coexist with matching mugs as they await the detectives who called them two hours ago.

Jungkook calls out from the street as they approach the gate, and the woman glances over, quickly plastering on a fake smile and she steps down to let them in. Welcoming words quickly greet them as the gate opens, but Jungkook can tell it’s all surface level. The years of not knowing have taken their toll on this couple. The husband doesn’t even fake a smile anymore, just nods towards them as they follow his wife into the house. The weight of a missing child has settled in his features a long time ago. Jungkook wonders when the last time he smiled is.

But it goes deeper than the inability to smile at a stranger, he can see it in the way they interact. The relationship fell apart some time ago, and all that binds these two together anymore is the shared trauma and judging eyes of society on divorced couples. The wife refills his mug but he doesn’t look at her or thank her. The husband sips the tea but it’s clear he doesn’t even like it, there’s just no use in arguing anymore.

“So, you said you had some questions about our daughter over the phone. Ones that you needed to come here to ask,” the wife speaks. She’s not unkind, but there’s no hope behind her words. Clearly she’s been dragged along one too many times, and Jungkook feels sorry for doing it all again.

They’re all seated in the living room, tea laid out on a table in front of the couch. The couple sits on the love seat, all physical touch avoided between the two of them. Hoseok sits on a chair that matches the one Jungkook sits on, and he nods while he sips his tea. It’s bitter.

“Yes, we were hoping to speak to you directly rather than read through the case notes again,” Jungkook answers smoothly with a practiced smile. Hoseok merely nods beside him.

“I’m not sure how much more we can tell you about her at this point, everything has already been said.”

“It’s not always about what you say, rather how you say it. I like to hear my information from the source.” He’s polite, and he can see skepticism in her eyes but he needs her talking honestly. “I want you to tell me about your daughter, Park Jieun.”

She puts her tea down and sighs slightly.

“Well what do you want to know? She was like every other girl her age, I suppose. She went to school, she played the flute, and she had some friends.” The wife shrugs. “She was rather average, I’d say.”