powerboys | Namjoon can't even

"Finally, I've been waiting here for an hour. An hour! I have important information, like I said, it was about 12.03 at night, I made a note of it in my notebook, 12.03am and I saw people congregating. Now I live in a bad neighbourhood, I'll admit it, there aren't the best people around so I try to keep notes and--" Namjoon looked up from his little notepad and frowned as he took in the guy across from him.

Was that... no, it wasn't. It wasn't him because if it was him then everything was terrible and wrong. He didn't even know what to do now.

So he just openly stared. Very reassuring.

"There is always a lot of work to do, Mr Kim, sorry that's inconveniencing you." Waiting an hour? Yoongi had had longer waiting times at the dentist's. But people liked to complain, especially people like this, who did their own neighbourhood watch. He suppressed a sigh and actually noted down the time, hoping he'd hear something worthwhile.

But then the guy just stopped talking, so Yoongi finally looked up, raising his eyebrows. "And-?"

And then he realised and he blinked. What? "...Joon-ah?"

"Yoongi-hyung." Well. This was awkward. He didn't know what to do now. He cleared his throat and then bowed because he was supposed to do that. It was only polite. "It's been a while. I see you moved back. Good. The house prices in Seoul are less intimidating now." There. Small talk achieved.

Swallowing hard, Namjoon looked down at his bad, totally losing his place. Oh God, oh God. This was like his nightmare.

"... You know what? They probably weren't deal drugs. Never mind." Namjoon got up very swiftly.

"Please sit down." Yoongi looked at Namjoon, frowning. Was it strange to think about how Namjoon looked exactly the way he had imagined he would when he was older? Filling out his shoulders. Tall, slender. Probably still a clumsy and awkward guy inside that beautiful body. Yeah, that was a strange thought. He shoved it to the back of his mind and shook his head. "I need to take your statement, we can follow up on it ourselves."

"Okay." Sitting back down, he supposed he owed lady justice this bit of strength. He looked at his notepad again, his mouth really dry. "They opened the boot of the car and exchanged bags, only briefly checking them. It was suspicious. They often deal outside my house, starting to think it's a hot spot for it."

Namjoon hadn't moved far since he was a kid. He grew up in a dodgy neighbourhood and he was still very much there. And, unlike most the kids who lived there, he hadn't succumbed to drugs or crime. The opposite, in fact. "I got the license plates..."

"Do you have a list? You can just leave it with me, I'll copy it." That was useful information, more useful than what they usually got. Even if it could be nothing. But, given the neighbourhood, maybe they had finally found the hot spot that would allow them to crack down on that drug network.

Yoongi looked at Namjoon, because now it seemed impossible not to. Damn it. "So. What do you do?"

Maybe they could talk again. Maybe they could finally move on.

"Well. This. I'm a private investigator." Of sorts. He shrugged his shoulders and tried to look away from Yoongi for a few moments so they didn't just awkwardly lock eyes and stare at each other. "I have four stars on yelp. Some guy ranked me down for being, and I quote, a bit too 'eccentric' but he underpaid me so his review is barely valid." So there.

Namjoon adjusted his trench coat and tried to give off some dark, mysterious vibes. "I mostly work at night, you know. I'm always on the prowl. Looking for my next target." Wait. "Not in a creepy way, I mean -- I find crime and solve it. That's my target. Crime."

Just to be clear. "I'm married to lady justice."

"Well, I hope she's better as a wife than she is as a boss." Yoongi still wasn't over his lack of coffee. But also... Damn it. Private investigator? "You have a license, right?" He didn't want to have to explain why he couldn't do this without a license to Namjoon. Also he strongly felt that someone like Namjoon shouldn't be doing a job like that. It was dangerous, and more dangerous still for someone who was so bad at social cues.

"I have experience and reviews." And no license but he didn't want to get into trouble for it so he just didn't admit to it aloud. Ha! Check mate. "Don't worry about me, I know what I'm doing. I've helped in many sting operations." Set up by himself. "And I helped find Suran when she went missing. She was up a tree, unsurprisingly."

There was a long pause before he clarified. "Suran is my neighbours kitty." Not the real kpop star. That'd be weird.

"...right." He had had a moment of wondering about the kpop star, so Yoongi welcomed the clarification. "You really, really need a license. Not being licensed can land you in jail, Joon-ah. Besides, this is a dangerous business to be in. I'm sure you could do something else. Safer."

There he was, years later, thoroughly rejected, not caffeinated, looking at what used to be his best friend and crush and still feeling the urge to protect him, in spite of it all. "You can't investigate without a license."

"I know my calling. Thank you for your time." Namjoon was sensing this was going to a bad place so he got up very swiftly and bowed because if he got made to show his license or get a license then he wouldn't have a job again. And when he didn't have a job, things got bad. He needed his job or he'd never go out. "It was nice to see you. I didn't think I would see you ever again."

For many, many reasons. "I hope Daegu treated you well."

"Better than y-- Than Seoul. Better than Seoul." Yet he was still back in the city and, yes, he'd just almost said 'better than you'. And yet he was here with Namjoon again and he had no idea what to do. He had a lot of ideas on what not to do and so he went ahead, doing the first one of that. "We should meet up. Have lunch."

Have coffee, he still wanted that. Maybe if he had had coffee, he would have handled this differently. Better.

"Okay. Lunch is good. I'll look forward to lunching." Namjoon remarked, feeling so intensely awkward that he just started to back up and up ... until he backed into an officer and jumped out of his skin. "Sorry! My bad." Once the guy had passed, he eyed up the exit and then gave Yoongi a nervous, awkward smile.

"Fun catching up. We'll talk soon." And then he all but ran out of there.

Some things apparently didn't change. Yoongi looked after Namjoon, his chest constricting painfully. It was funny, maybe, but the way Namjoon had just run out of him was so much like it had been when Namjoon ran from him after his confession. Really took the humour out of it and made it more like a gut punch.

He sighed and started noting down the numbers of the license plates that Namjoon had witnessed, glancing over at Gyungho. "Is there coffee yet?"

"Yeah, I made some. How was detective freakshow?" Gyungho asked playfully as he smiled at Yoongi, unsure if he was in shock and looking so weird cause he had never experienced a guy like that before but that was how most people looked after talking to Namjoon. Either confused, amused or pissed off. Very little wiggle room there.

"He comes in weekly. We're his little hobby, I think. You'll learn to get used to him, trust me."

"I went to school with him." It felt surreal to say and if Yoongi hadn't still been so baffled and thrown, he probably wouldn't have shared that piece of information at all, but it was almost as if he needed to hear himself say it out loud. He shook his head, muttering. "He hasn't changed much."

Not exactly a romance movie's idea of what the one who got away should be like, but whatever. Yoongi just had unusual tastes. "Where's the coffee, hyung?"

"I'll get you some." Gyungho got up to grab the coffee pot, coming over to pour it into his cup. "You knew him at school? Huh, here, right? Cause that guy has always been lurking around. According to what I heard. Fancies himself a detective, thinks he's like Sherlock Holmes. He's absolutely nuts." Setting the pot aside, he sat back down and smiled playfully up at Yoongi.

"Now there's a kid who was a target at school if ever I've seen one. No way was he popular, right?"

"Yeah, I went to school here for a few years. Then we moved back to Daegu." And now he was here again. Seoul was a gigantic city, how come he kept running into Namjoon all the time? Yoongi shook his head, unable to come up with an answer. "At least he's smart, if he is anything like he was in school."

Yoongi took a sip of the coffee, closing his eyes. Better. Not the best coffee, but honestly, right now it tasted heavenly. "He wasn't popular. We were friends though. For a while. Fell out before I moved."

"Oh yeah, he's smart. He's like Rain Man or something." He was useful, they'd give him that, but he was weird, intense and never went away. "He lives on the edge of the worse part of town so he gets us the deets we need. Even if it's not above board." They knew it was wrong to use the tips from him but... he never claimed fame and he was good at being down low on it all.

"You..." Wait, did he heard that right? "You were friends? He had friends?" Woah. Gyungho raised an eyebrow. "What did he do?"

"Nothing." Well, he broke his heart, but Yoongi had matured since then, he knew he couldn't blame Namjoon for what happened. He had never really blamed him. Just blamed himself for being stupid. "We just wanted different things." What was he supposed to say? He had just transferred here, he couldn't casually out himself. "He kissed a girl."

There, he could go with that. Not even lying. "I was jealous."

Yoongi shrugged and stared at the coffee. Better. "Whatever. Just weird running into him here."

"You were jealous of that? I guess... I can see it." He could not but he was trying to. He supposed he wasn't bad looking but his personality was a giant turn off. "He's kind of weird so it's hard to see his hotness through it but you know, teenagers and all. Sorry you got all... rejected and stuff."

Rejected by the weirdo. Fascinating.

"Bet that was super awkward."

Yoongi blinked. What? He had assumed that Gyungho would assume the heterosexual explanation of him wanting to be with the girl. Everyone always did. That Gyungho didn't... Were there rumours about him being gay? Or was Gyungho...

What did he even do now? Yoongi took another sip of coffee to buy himself some time. All right, maybe he was overreacting. Yeah, no, he was. He replayed what exactly Gyungho had said. No, he was the one jumping to conclusions here. Or was he?

Whatever. Yoongi just kept it neutral. "Teenagers are always overly dramatic, huh? Although I'm still no good at dating."

"Me neither. Doesn't matter who I date, it crashes and burns." Gyungho didn't seem so bothered, he was a lot more chill about himself these days. After years of struggle, chaos, pain and trying to off himself... he told his eomma and she didn't care so he didn't care. Nothing about sexuality bothered him, he was pretty open. "The last girl I dated, she burned my suits when I cheated on her. And the guy I cheated on her with, I dumped him cause he stole from me. I attract crazy."

He looked up at Yoongi, just to check that he had it right. That his gaydar was on key. He just wanted to make sure that Yoongi wasn't gonna get weird with him.

"Also I'm just bad at dating so it's more on me. Maybe I'm the true crazy."

"I doubt Namjoon is any good at dating either. I mean, for all I know he's married with four children, but..." Well, he didn't seem to have changed much, so Yoongi doubted that was it. he shrugged and shook his head. Damn, it was still so very weird and almost unsettling, seeing Namjoon like that. No preparation, just him sitting across from him. "Anyway. Maybe we both just haven't met the right person. That's what they say, don't they? I just keep meeting a lot of the wrong person."

"No, that boy is single. He told me that he's married to lady justice. And he has a cat... otherwise, no. He lives alone. I've seen his apartment... it's terrifying." They came in once when he reported a break in and Gyungho had never seen so much stuff. He gave Yoongi a serious look. "Straight up hoarders nest, man. There's stuff everywhere."

And he was happy to never go back. "I always meet the wrong people. I kind of like it though, that's my fun and all."

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