"Oh, cool, thanks." Jungkook moved through the crowd, keeping an eye on Tae and steadying him when someone nearly backed up into him. "The dance floor is alive tonight." Ten was missing and it was just the two of them, walking over to the bar to order. Jungkook asked for a beer and took a seat, gesturing for Tae to sit with him.
"I know our gangs have bad blood but I'm trying to be more personable with others outside my own." God, he sounded like he was quoting Namjoon. "Me, Kim Namjoon and Min Yoongi are trying to strike a balance, always fighting is exhausting, isn't it?"
It was for him. He used to have to study alongside it.
"Were you here alone or am I disturbing you?" He tilted his head to the side and looked at Tae, frowning a little. "Your shirt is a little..." He leaned over without asking permission and swiftly did up one of the undone buttons, afraid he accidentally opened it and didn't mean to be exposing so much chest. "Loose buttons, huh? I guess that's all the muscle."
"I thought your clan liked the fighting." Although he supposed that wouldn't extend to every member necessarily. It didn't work like that. But the idea of Min Yoongi trying to strike a balance didn't line up with what Hobi always told him. Perhaps it was better not to mention that. He looked down when Jungkook suddenly reached for his chest, then realised what he was doing and felt himself go bright red. Thankfully it was dark here.
Cool, he had to try and look cool. Muscle, sure, he had some of that. "Yeah, I don't know. Guess I need to go shirt shopping before I expose myself too much."
He smiled for a moment and then shook his head. "Nah, I'm alone. Hobi's... I mean, Jung Hoseok's boy is somewhere, but he always just runs off anyway. He's the one that pushed me."
"Oh, erm, the Thai boy? I forget his name. It's hard enough keeping up with my clans names, let alone other clans." He shrugged and took his drink, taking a small sip. "And we do like to fight but you can fight plenty without making feuds." They fought every time and they didn't even have to provoke people. They all wanted to prove that Yoongi was weak or a brat, someone worth messing with. Fuck that and fuck them for trying.
"Sometimes tiger has to fight, it's nature. They can't help it, it's innate." And that's what so many of their men were, tigers. And he was still a dog. He was okay with that though, they were loyal and aggressive when they had to be. A safer balance.
"Ten, yeah." Tae wasn't worried, the Min clan didn't do things like go after someone's lover. It was an honour thing, he supposed? Their honour system didn't make much sense to him, but he knew there were rules they didn't break and Hobi had admitted that Min Yoongi stuck to that very closely. Hell, the other day he had apparently even almost come to blows with Hobi over their partnership with the Dark Dragons, but that was a different issue. For selfish reasons, Tae would prefer that to end too.
He looked around, lowering his voice so he could make sure no one could overhear them. "Is it true that you have a tiger pit?" He couldn't help but ask, he had been fascinated with the myths surrounding the Min clan for years now. "Does your leader really have to fight a tiger to prove he's worthy?"
"No. What? No. That'd be cruel. You can't keep a tiger in a pit!" For so many reasons. He gave Tae a funny look before he had to laugh. This guy was cute, he liked him. "If we had a tiger in a pit, it'd be easy to defeat it so it's not much of a challenge. No, we have something more barbaric. Think... siths."
Yes, he just dropped a Star Wars reference. Whatever. He had his Yoda socks on right now and he was feeling in a good mood.
"We only use tiger a lot because that's just key to the structure of the clan. You have tigers and dogs. And pigs, of course. Animals hold a lot of importance."
"Siths." Tae repeated it, nodding immediately. Well, what, he liked Star Wars. "So that's what killing the father is all about? There can only be one. Or two, I guess. One student." He frowned, trying to get all of this straight in his head. Honestly, it didn't sound that much weirder than the actual tiger theory.
"Are you that? Like, are you next in line?" Was that how it worked? "Do you have to kill Min Yoongi one day?"
"Next in line is those who are related. I'm not related! God, no, I'm not even close. I can't ever be a leader. I think my clan would fall apart." The idea of him having the position he did now was just so full of ugly rumours and mockery behind Yoongi's back, he'd be shocked if he could ever lead. "Me and Yoongi are close, we're not brothers. I could never get to his place."
Thank God. He didn't want to even imagine that. "It's usually father and son or uncle and nephew. Once or twice it's been brothers. It's always been that way. One teaches so he can be defeated later by his student."
"Huh. That's kinda fucked up." Was he allowed to say that or was that rude? Well, whatever. Jungkook had to know that was fucked up. He wondered how Jimin would feel when he learned about that, if he told him. It was always a dicey thing, bringing Yoongi up around Jimin, but he was curious how he'd feel about that.
"So. Okay, I heard stories that Min Yoongi killed someone for the first time when he was three, is that true? Because I figured it was bullshit, but after what you've just told me, who even knows?!"
"No, I think it was twelve. Or thirteen. I can't remember now but he was definitely still in school." It was the year he walked him home and had a sort of dead look in his eyes, he knew at the time that something was wrong but he just held his hand and walked beside him. He always used to follow Yoongi home, even though it was two hours from his home. He hid that secret from Yoongi for a whole year.
He didn't want him to know he lived in the bad part of town or not spend the time with him. It was worth it. "If you're a tiger, you have an initiation at a young age. You have to end a life by the time you're fourteen as the end of the ceremony but some finish it earlier."
"That's fucked up," Tae said again, because seriously, it kind of was. "Man. Can you even imagine? I couldn't even hold a weapon at that age." He put a hand before his mouth, remembering who he was talking to.
"I mean... I'm sorry if you did that. Or whatever. It just sounds like something out of a ninja movie to me." Which was cool, but it also had shivers running down his back. That was insane. No wonder that Min Yoongi could just stand there that day and calmly talk about having killed his father. "It's so scary."
"No, it's okay, I guess it's weird to an outside. I never did it though. Like I said, tigers do it. I was a dog. I cleaned." And that was what he did from ten onwards. He always cleaned, carried out duties, followed whatever he was told and went to where he had to. He didn't miss it. He was so glad that Yoongi had come back. "Yoongi, he-- he sort of took care of me. That's why I am where I am."
He had yet to kill a man but he was excited for his first kill. He hoped he did Yoongi proud. "It's a strange world but I'm used to it."
"We mostly just deal and stuff like that. Business end of things. When I was little, I always wanted to be part of your clan, since it sounded like more fun." He had grown up a little since then, thankfully, all of what he had just gotten confirmed sounded pretty terrifying. He preferred the stories about them, even if a lot of them were either weirdly kinky or just straight up ridiculous, like Hobi bathing in blood or gold. At least he knew they were fake. Well. Maybe not the kinky ones.
"Are you dating Min Yoongi?" Whatever. Might as well just ask him. For Jimin!
"No gang is perfect. Look at you guys and that whole dark dragon thing. I don't think you're all in on that stuff but you do fund it. We'd never do that." They couldn't ever fund people who did that kind of thing. Yoongi had very strict rules on that. "You should break away from them, just friendly advise from one gangster to another. They're bad news."
And he hoped they were destroyed sooner or later. At the question, Jungkook looked horrified and launched forward, covering the guy's mouth and double checking Yoongi wasn't around. "Are you crazy? No! God, no. He's like my older brother and he will kill anyone who implies otherwise so please, for your safety, don't say that."
"I know, I know. It's not up to me. Trust me, if it was we'd never see any of them again." Especially Jimin. Never, ever. That was his personal mission and he couldn't even achieve that much, he highly doubted he could do anything further. Tae was an enforcer and he had the suspicion that Hobi gave him that spot mostly because he had a pretty face, it wasn't as if he had real influence over what they did.
His eyes widened when Jungkook covered his mouth and he fell silent, nodding his head and lifting his hands to profess his innocence. It was kind of cute that Jungkook was so worried about him getting killed. Well. In a slightly messed up kind of way.
"Sorry, sorry! I take it back. Just wanted to make sure." For Jimin. He didn't realise it also sounded as if he was interested in Jungkook's relationship status. "Is Min Yoongi even allowed to date? How does that work?" Was there any kind of rule? "You are allowed to date, right?"
"He can date as long as it's not going to cause any big issues. He can't date Hobi, for example, not that either of them wants that." Sometimes they looked like they could be friends, they'd laugh a little on occasion but they were always distant, always pushing each other. That was what rivals were like.
"I-- Yoongi has this thing, right? Where he has to vouch for whoever I date. He's such a weirdo. I ignore it most of the time." But he always found out somehow. It drove him nuts. "Mostly dating is just free form. Like you guys, yeah?"
"Yeah." Tae's face turned a little sinister. "Although I think we should start a more careful vetting process." Yes, he had some personal issues there. Maybe Min Yoongi was on to something, he should suggest that to Hobi. Just make Jimin break up, that would resolve that situation and he'd have his best friend back.
Perhaps slightly selfish. "But yeah, I can date whoever I want. Usually I get Panda Express and watch anime, but in theory I could do that romantically with anyone."
"Panda express! Oh my God, I love going there. Oh! Oh! What anime are you watching? I'm watching One Punch Man right now, I watched it on my phone. I never get any real time off but it's fun when I wait in the car on stake outs." He liked having a fellow nerd to talk to, helped that he was really pretty too. He pulled out his phone and decided fuck it, unless Yoongi asked him to delete it, he could get this guys number.
"This might be crazy but can you give me your number? I like chatting with you. We can veto ever talking business and just talk about stuff like, you know, what we watch and stuff."
"Yeah, sure." Tae smiled and gave him his number, pulling his own phone out and sticking his tongue out at Jimin for not having replied yet. Whatever, now he had a new friend to pester. "I don't know anything much about business anyway and it's all boring. One Punch Man is a lot better. I'm catching up on all the Detective Conan episode since they are getting so close to a thousand now, I hear it will end eventually. Maybe."
Hey, he believed it might. "I watch pretty much everything though, whatever I can get a hold of."
"Nah, it'll never happen. Like One Piece, it'll keep going and going. We'll never keep up." With their numbers swapped, he looked over Tae's and swiftly pulled up his phone, taking a quick picture of him so he had a face with the name. "Ha! God, you look so cute." He showed him the picture, he had his tongue out a little and he looked damn precious. Tae was so damn unique. "I'll save you as Tae and you can message me whenever, I'll hit you up when I'm not working."
He checked the time on his phone and the billions of messages he had from everyone he was with. "I should really catch up with my friends. They're flooding my inbox."
"Oh yeah, same here." Yeah, right. Ten was nowhere to be seen and Jimin was ignoring him and it was hard to really make friends within the family, since he was above or below most anyone who was even close to him in age, but hey. He could pretend to be cool. Even if he'd stopped for a bit in-between.
He took a picture of Jungkook and then nodded his head, so very cool and unaffected, he had places to be and not a thousand more questions about anime and the Min clan and Panda Express. "Just hit me up or whatever."
Jungkook smiled playfully and got up, bowing to his elder with respect before making a move to go. "I'll talk to you soon. This was really fun. Keep in touch and I'll do the same. Maybe we can grab some Panda Express some time." He did love Panda Express.
Tae responded quickly, grinning at Jungkook as he did so and just amused at the bow, nodding his head. "Sure, that'd be fun." He supposed it was all right, as long as they stayed inside the restaurant. He might have to check with Hobi to make sure it wouldn't count as betrayal of the family. And with Jimin, to make sure it wouldn't count as betrayal of friendship.
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no subject
"I know our gangs have bad blood but I'm trying to be more personable with others outside my own." God, he sounded like he was quoting Namjoon. "Me, Kim Namjoon and Min Yoongi are trying to strike a balance, always fighting is exhausting, isn't it?"
It was for him. He used to have to study alongside it.
"Were you here alone or am I disturbing you?" He tilted his head to the side and looked at Tae, frowning a little. "Your shirt is a little..." He leaned over without asking permission and swiftly did up one of the undone buttons, afraid he accidentally opened it and didn't mean to be exposing so much chest. "Loose buttons, huh? I guess that's all the muscle."
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Cool, he had to try and look cool. Muscle, sure, he had some of that. "Yeah, I don't know. Guess I need to go shirt shopping before I expose myself too much."
He smiled for a moment and then shook his head. "Nah, I'm alone. Hobi's... I mean, Jung Hoseok's boy is somewhere, but he always just runs off anyway. He's the one that pushed me."
no subject
"Sometimes tiger has to fight, it's nature. They can't help it, it's innate." And that's what so many of their men were, tigers. And he was still a dog. He was okay with that though, they were loyal and aggressive when they had to be. A safer balance.
Or so he'd been told.
no subject
He looked around, lowering his voice so he could make sure no one could overhear them. "Is it true that you have a tiger pit?" He couldn't help but ask, he had been fascinated with the myths surrounding the Min clan for years now. "Does your leader really have to fight a tiger to prove he's worthy?"
no subject
Yes, he just dropped a Star Wars reference. Whatever. He had his Yoda socks on right now and he was feeling in a good mood.
"We only use tiger a lot because that's just key to the structure of the clan. You have tigers and dogs. And pigs, of course. Animals hold a lot of importance."
no subject
"Are you that? Like, are you next in line?" Was that how it worked? "Do you have to kill Min Yoongi one day?"
no subject
Thank God. He didn't want to even imagine that. "It's usually father and son or uncle and nephew. Once or twice it's been brothers. It's always been that way. One teaches so he can be defeated later by his student."
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"So. Okay, I heard stories that Min Yoongi killed someone for the first time when he was three, is that true? Because I figured it was bullshit, but after what you've just told me, who even knows?!"
no subject
He didn't want him to know he lived in the bad part of town or not spend the time with him. It was worth it. "If you're a tiger, you have an initiation at a young age. You have to end a life by the time you're fourteen as the end of the ceremony but some finish it earlier."
no subject
"I mean... I'm sorry if you did that. Or whatever. It just sounds like something out of a ninja movie to me." Which was cool, but it also had shivers running down his back. That was insane. No wonder that Min Yoongi could just stand there that day and calmly talk about having killed his father. "It's so scary."
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He had yet to kill a man but he was excited for his first kill. He hoped he did Yoongi proud. "It's a strange world but I'm used to it."
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"Are you dating Min Yoongi?" Whatever. Might as well just ask him. For Jimin!
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And he hoped they were destroyed sooner or later. At the question, Jungkook looked horrified and launched forward, covering the guy's mouth and double checking Yoongi wasn't around. "Are you crazy? No! God, no. He's like my older brother and he will kill anyone who implies otherwise so please, for your safety, don't say that."
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His eyes widened when Jungkook covered his mouth and he fell silent, nodding his head and lifting his hands to profess his innocence. It was kind of cute that Jungkook was so worried about him getting killed. Well. In a slightly messed up kind of way.
"Sorry, sorry! I take it back. Just wanted to make sure." For Jimin. He didn't realise it also sounded as if he was interested in Jungkook's relationship status. "Is Min Yoongi even allowed to date? How does that work?" Was there any kind of rule? "You are allowed to date, right?"
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"I-- Yoongi has this thing, right? Where he has to vouch for whoever I date. He's such a weirdo. I ignore it most of the time." But he always found out somehow. It drove him nuts. "Mostly dating is just free form. Like you guys, yeah?"
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Perhaps slightly selfish. "But yeah, I can date whoever I want. Usually I get Panda Express and watch anime, but in theory I could do that romantically with anyone."
He was nailing this being cool thing today.
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"This might be crazy but can you give me your number? I like chatting with you. We can veto ever talking business and just talk about stuff like, you know, what we watch and stuff."
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Hey, he believed it might. "I watch pretty much everything though, whatever I can get a hold of."
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He checked the time on his phone and the billions of messages he had from everyone he was with. "I should really catch up with my friends. They're flooding my inbox."
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He took a picture of Jungkook and then nodded his head, so very cool and unaffected, he had places to be and not a thousand more questions about anime and the Min clan and Panda Express. "Just hit me up or whatever."
So cool. Aloof, even.
no subject
:P
Jungkook smiled playfully and got up, bowing to his elder with respect before making a move to go. "I'll talk to you soon. This was really fun. Keep in touch and I'll do the same. Maybe we can grab some Panda Express some time." He did love Panda Express.
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;)
Tae responded quickly, grinning at Jungkook as he did so and just amused at the bow, nodding his head. "Sure, that'd be fun." He supposed it was all right, as long as they stayed inside the restaurant. He might have to check with Hobi to make sure it wouldn't count as betrayal of the family. And with Jimin, to make sure it wouldn't count as betrayal of friendship.
Politics.