#ating

“So why does the all-not-so-mighty Y/N Y/L/N want to talk to me?” Hongjoong asks lowering his hands and reaching for his now cold cup of coffee.

“I’m here to offer you something you can’t refuse,” you explain, “cliche to say, I know. But I want to be sure I can trust you and that you’re ready to give 100% to this idea I have.”

“Why should I even bother to help you? You’ll just throw me back out on to the street again when the job is done,” Hongjoong sneers as he eyes you from the corner of his eye.

“We both know that wasn’t my call to make,” you angrily respond.

“And it’s now suddenly your call?” Hongjoong asks, face scowling, and he quickly approaches you. His face inches away from yours, and his eyes stare you down.

“It is,” you answer, eyes meeting him in the same deadly stare, “I no longer associate myself with that man. I broke things off a long time ago.”

“A year doesn’t seem very long,” Hongjoong counters.

“It is when you’re busy building a new team and climbing the ranks at the same time,” you tell him, “and you’re the last piece I need.” You poke his chest and slightly push him away.

“If you don’t want apart of stealing the one thing the two of us stole in the first place. Then fine by me. I’ll go find another petty theft,” you growl.

“You’re going to steal the diamond?” Hongjoong asks, his attitude and anger instantly dropping.

“Yeah that’s the plan,” you annoyingly remark as you turn around to leave, “I was hoping to get someone who knows the place so I don’t have to teach it, but clearly you want no part.” You continue to make your way to the door and Hongjoong contemplates with himself over the opportunity, but what might happen afterwards slightly holds him back.

“Wait!” Hongjoong calls out an your turn your head to face him, “if I help you. What’s in it for me?”

“You help me,” you say as you turn around to face him completely, “you’ll have a permanent spot on my team and you’ll have a more stable place to live. You won’t have to worry about anything other than risking your life when we have things to get done.” Hongjoong stares at you for a minute and chews on his inner bottom lip.

“Deal,” Hongjoong states and walks up to you and holds out his hand for you to shake to agree, “but if you break thi-”

“You know I never break deals,” you tell him and he stares at you for a second as he relives back to when you two worked together although it was a brief time, and he nods his head.

“Before we doing anything or leave,” Hongjoong speaks up pulling his hand away from hers, “why did you throw me out. You knew I was good. We worked well- in more ways than one.”

“My father didn’t want you near me anymore. You were becoming a distraction,” you tell him before looking away, “when I found out my father had plans to kill you I had to get you out and far away as possible. You know I wouldn’t do it willingly, but you’re life was on the line.” Hongjoong stares in disbelief at you, his face dropping, and a wave of guilt floods him momentarily.

“I’m sorry I could never tell you. I was afraid that if I tried to even contact you they would find you,” you tell him meeting his eyes again, “I couldn’t risk it. I’m sorry.” Hongjoong swallows the build up in his throat and nods his head understandingly.

“But anyway,” you change the topic and smile at the completion to your team, “welcome to the A TEAM.”

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Four weeks is all it takes for Hongjoong to adjust into his new team and home. Everyday is hell as they train and plan accordingly to steal the diamond. You and Hongjoong remade the original plan that you two had to steal the diamond from the original owner. You two then made edits and changes accordingly to the new home of the diamond.

You see... most kids in the mafia usually kill or overthrow their parents and take over their mafia to show power and to scare others away. But you? You’re a little bit different. You know how the game works and you’d rather piss someone off and take them out little by little while rising in the ranks rather than hit all at once. You know you’re team is just made up of rookies, but their the best rookies you’ll ever find. You also know that if you were to charge in and take over your father’s mafia group you would be slaughtered easily and you’re not about to risk the lives of your eight boys for something that can bee done over a period of time.

After a straight week of playing out your plan and teaching the rest of your team what they have to do you’re finally ready to put everything into place, and just in time for your father’s annual ball.

You watch from the back of the hallway over the banister at the group of eight boys dressed in red velvet suits with their layers of gold necklaces, chatting amongst themselves. You push off the banister rails and walk down the staircase, the small train of your dress following you down a step behind.

“Well now one of us is gonna have to change,” Seonghwa jokingly grumbles when you reach the end of the stair case. Everyone laughs but quickly calms down to do a final round of checks.

“Everyone has their ear pieces?” You ask making sure the disguised matching earring everyone has is hanging from their ear, “now for the invitations?” You look at each member in a quick swift motion then back to San who pulls out the  pristine white envelope.

“Do we also have our facial recognition put in there?” You ask turning to Wooyoung, the hacking specialist. He nods his head and you break into a joker smile.

“Well let’s get going then,” You call out to the boys who all cheer and run out the front door towards the limo waiting at the end of the driveway.

“You ready to go steal something for a second time?” Hongjoong hold out his arm for you to take.

“When am I not?” you challenge sweetly. The two of you are the last to enter the car and you hand over the directions to your fathers address.

“Everyone knows our cover story, yes?” You ask one final time looking over the boys and just as Mingi opens his mouth you’re quick to stop him, “Mingi if I even hear about the invention you want to talk about tonight I swear you will not have chicken for a week.” Mingi closes his mouth and the rest of the boys bite on their lips to stop themselves from laughing.

Everyone exits the car once the limo makes its way to the top of the driveway. Hongjoong exits before you and hold out his hand for you to take. You step out of the car and your arm wraps around Hongjoong’s and the two of you lead the rest of the team up to the security at the door.

You all pass the dumbfound photographers who question how such a young group of entrepreneurs could be attending such a formal events with other world class famous business men and women.

You hand your invitation over to one of the men waiting by the front door and you let all your boys go through facial recognition before you. They wait for you to lead them in to the large ballroom.

“Okay. You know what to do. Everybody knows your teams and where to go. Good luck my boys,” you smile over your shoulder to your boys. You meet eyes with Hongjoong for a minute before he and Wooyoung go off to complete their part of this mission. Yeosang quickly joins your side handing you a glass of champagne.

“Why thank you dear,” You smile immediately playing into your role. You look around the room and quickly spot your father starring your way, his friends around him laughing over something probably stupid. You lead Yeosang and cut straight across the room earning everyone’s attention. You’re red velvet lightly hugging floor length dress almost shimmers under the light cascading several different shades of red. The three layers of gold necklaces hang around your neck at different lengths and glimmer slightly under the light. You even looked better as Yeosang matches you entirely in a red velvet suit, making the two of your look like a hell of a power couple.

“Father,” you force a sugar sweet smile upon your lips as you approach the man and his group. His group silences as you approached and dare not to make eye contact with you.

“I don’t remember putting you on the guest lists,” you father states, the tone in his voice rather low and threatening.

“Looks like you did. How else would I have gotten in here?” You ask rather sarcastically. You mentally begin to prepare yourself to keep your cool during your father’s rage fit, which will be the signal to finally grab the diamond and bail out of this place.

“But enough chitchat. My husband and I have people to meet, allies to make, and champagne to drink,” you tell your father before turning around to walk the way you came, “three two one,” you whisper.

“You’re what?” Your father voice booms silencing the room. The two of your stop and you take a deep breath before letting go of Yeosang and turning around to face your father.

“Do you have a problem with that?” You ask calmly.

“Do I have a proble- hell yeah I have a problem! You are set to marry another man!” You father hollers at you. You stand facing him unfazed, facial expression flatter than paper, but your heartbeat picks up.

“Go wait in the car,” you tell Yeosang. The last part of the mission has finally be set in place and the diamond should be out of the mansion within the next minute. Yeosang walks past the crowd of people and out the door and you face your father once more.

“I was never going to marry that low-shit man you picked out for me,” you growl, “I’m tired being used a doll to your advantages. I have been for a long time. I just can’t wait to watch you fall.” Your fathers face scowls even further and you pretend to tuck some of your hair behind your ear, but instead place your ear piece into your ear to hear how the rest of your team is doing.

“I think you underestimate me daughter,” you father growls walking towards you.

“No,” you back back even louder, “I think you underestimate me. I’ve got more power and more brains than you and your top team.”

“We have the diamond. You have about ten seconds before the alarm goes off,” Wooyoung speaks into his coms which relays to everyone. You take a deep breath before staring at your father. Just as your father goes to open his mouth the alarms go off and he looks around and then at you who breaks into a joker smile. Everyone else in the room begins to panic and you blend yourself in with the crown and make your way outside successfully. You pull your hair out of its high ponytail and manage to tie up the long dress to hang at the knees for you to be able to run faster. You pull off your heels and hand them randomly to someone telling her she could keep them. 

You hurry through the yard and as you turn around to see if anyone has followed you, you bump into someone. They manage to grab you before you fall and you turn to face Hongjoong.

“Hey,” you smile as you catch your breath, “did we get it?”

“Wooyoung and San are already in route back to the house,” Hongjoong smiles as he helps you stand straight up, his arm still wrapped around the lower of your back and your right arm holding onto his bicep.

“We really did it, didn’t we?” You ask looking at him.

“Yeah. We did. Pulled it off twice,” Hongjoong says, “best partners. Best thieves in the game.” You two slightly chuckle before Hongjoong inches closer to you as you inch closer to him. You hear a gun shot and then Hongjoong falls on top of you onto the grass. He cries out in pain as he tumbles over onto his back. You notice blood seeping through his red vest as the color gets darker. The bullet enter through the back shoulder blade and just under his right collar bone. You quickly grab the blade that strapped to your ankle and throw it at the shooter who falls over, the blade piercing the side of his neck.

“Come on. We gotta get up,” you tell Hongjoong and help him up. You two some how quickly hurry off through the tall bushes and to the dark alley way and into the car Mingi drives.

“What happened?” Jongho asks as he closes the door behind you two.

“Hongjoong got shot. It doesn’t look good. Mingi step on it!” You yell. Mingi floors the car and quickly gets onto the highway and weaves in and out of cars.  Hongjoong groans with the constant movement of the car.

“Give me your jacket,” You ask Jongho. He quickly pulls it off and hands it over to you.

“This is gonna hurt,” you tell Hongjoong and quickly place the jacket over his wound and apply pressure to it. He cries out in pain and you try to hush him.

“Eden’s already waiting on us for him,” Jongho gets off the phone with someone from the team. You nod your head and watch over Hongjoong. You can feel the blood seeping through the jacket so you fix it and reapply the heavy pressure causing his to cry out in pain again.

You guys quickly arrive home and Jongho helps you take him out of the car and Eden takes your spot and the two boys help carry Hongjoong in and to the infirmary. You stand practically numb next to the remaining members of your team. You start to feel your legs give out under you but San is quick to grab you and pick you up. He carries you inside and to your room.

“He’s going to be okay,” he tells you as he ties your hair up into a messy bun and begins to take your make-up. You stare ahead at the wall, mind spacing out but it doesn’t bother San. You two are like siblings, he was the first person you recruited to your team and you two had a bond like no other. He finishes taking off your make up and pulls out clothes for you to change into and leaves your room.

You close your eyes and take a deep breath, you don’t realize till they are half way down your cheeks but you’re crying. You haven’t cried in a long time.... actually the last time you cried was when you had to get rid of Hongjoong for his safety. You didn’t want to leave him, and he sure as hell expressed that he didn’t want to leave you. 

You pull off your dress and change into the large hoodie and sweats San picked out and you lay on your bed, but choosing to not fall asleep. A quiet knock at your door gets you attention and you lift your head up as Eden pops his head in.

“He’s going to be okay. He’s stable and resting now,” he explains as you quickly get out of bed, “you can go see him. I’ll be down in the morning to check on him.”

“Thank you,” you tell him hurrying past him and to the other side of the warehouse. You quickly open the door and walk down the steps into the basement and you see Hongjoong peacefully sleeping on one of the three beds in the room. You quietly grab a chair and set it down next to his bed. You take a seat and just look over him. A large hoodie is covering his bandages and he’s under a few blanket due to how cold the room is- even you’re shivering.

You eventually fall asleep, your head resting on a small part of his bed and your hand lightly holding his. The two of you sleep soundly next to each other for a little while before Hongjoong wakes up. When he see’s you sleeping peacefully in the chair with your head resting on his bed he smiles softly.

He lightly shakes you awake without moving too much incase it hurts him.

“You’re awake,” you sit up and rub your eyes.

“Yeah. It’s cold in here,” Hongjoong tells you quietly.

“Eden likes it cold for some reason. Even when he’s not here,” you laugh but stop and look over at Hongjoong, “how are you feeling?”

“Pretty damn sore if I’m honest,” Hongjoong answers shifting around a little to get comfortable.

“I’m sorry,” you tell him, “the only person that should of gotten hurt tonight was me.”

“Hey stop,” Hongjoong grabs your hand to get your attention, “things happen. We were both in a moment that should of waited. We can’t blame anyone.”

“But I’m the leader of this team. I feel like I need to be at blame. I can’t be putting you at risk like this over some feelings,” you tell him.

“Wow you’re going to give me a cold heart again. We really gotta start over from square one?” Hongjoong sassily remarks causing you to try not to break into a smile when you’re wanting to have a serious conversation.

 “Y/N, I’m going to be fine. We don’t need to worry about what happened,” Hongjoong tells you. You look over him with sad eyes and he pulls your hand and lightly kissing your knuckles. You break into a little smile and you shiver after his warm touch leaves you. It doesn’t go unnoticed by him and he shuffles over in his bed and pulls the blankets open.

“Come on. You’re cold,” Hongjoong tells you and pats the spot next to him.

“No. You need the room. I don’t want to take it,” You quickly decline. Hongjoong groans in annoyance and grabs your wrist and tugs at you. 

“Fine, fine,” you give in. You climb onto the bed and under the covers and pull them over your shoulders. You lay on your side and face Hongjoong as he lays on his back and turns his head to the side to look at you.

“Now go to sleep,” you tell him.

“I will once you go to sleep,” Hongjoong counters.

“No, no, no. Not how it works,” you tell him.

“That’s always how its worked,” Hongjoong reminds you and you bite back a small smile.

“Just get some sleep,” you tell him. You close your eyes and almost immediately fall asleep and when Hongjoong hears the all familiar soft snores he smiles and looks over your sleeping face.