i. partner in crime | vkook

7. dainty hands

the flustered jeongguk was just about to check out of the bed n breakfast and disappear forever when there was a knock at the door.

jeongguk groaned, thinking for sure he was caught now. sighing and shutting his eyes, he clicked the safety off his 9mm and held it behind his back, slowly turning the handle and peaking through the doorway.

an upset boy stood on the other side of the door, the one with the familiar honey features and wire glasses crooked and falling off the tip of his nose. jeongguk sighed let the door casually swing open and leaned against the doorframe, relieved to see it was just him and not some sort of investigative police officer. but the bed n breakfast boy's usual giggly demeanour wasn't there; he had his arms crossed and a grumpy look on his face as if he were trying to be mad at jeongguk.

"who do you think you are???" the boy spluttered out in jeongguk's face, staring at the nonchalant criminal in disbelief.

"i-i'm not who you think," jeongguk muttered, slipping his gun into the back pocket of his jeans. "just listen, okay?"

"listen to what??? you threatening me again??? what????? youre being so stupid, mr. hyo, or should i say jeon jeongguk—"

jeongguk's eyes widened. he quickly grabbed and covered the boy's mouth with his free hand and pinched his nose shut with his fingers so he couldn't scream at him, threateningly placing his gun around the boy's back and dragging him inside.

"nO nOnoNonOno," the boy whined while being muffled and almost suffocated as jeongguk pulled him into the room and threw him to the floor, shutting and locking the door.

while he was kicking and thrashing around with his awkward limbs, moppy hair flying everywhere, jeongguk exhaustedly exhaled from that stressful ordeal and quickly glanced over the contents of the room.

breathing rapidly, the boy winced when jeongguk moved around the carpet, expecting him to kill him again. "oh no, you're gonna kill me," his head fell back dramatically as tears start pooling up in his golden brown eyes and eventually streaming down onto his cheeks.

"i'm not going to kill you," jeongguk argued, scoffing, switching the safety back on and placing the gun on the tv stand, casually walking around the room. "quit the little hissy fit."

"you're gonna kill me because i thought i was all big n tough and could confront you but now i'm— you're gonna kill me, i'm gonna die, no ones gonna know because you probably know where to put my body, because—" the boy said in between sobs, exasperatedly balling up his fists and staring straight up at jeongguk who had his arms crossed and looked unimpressed at the least.

jeongguk pushed his dirty bangs out of his face. "will you shut up already??? i'm not trying to kill you. if i wanted to kill you i would have done it already, and plus, i'm over that."

the boy slowly came out of his tantrum and coyly wrapped his arms around his long legs, resting his head on his knees and staring at the carpet. "oh yeah," he mumbled. "because all serial killing is just a phase to you or something."

jeongguk glared at the boy on the floor and sighed. "did i hurt you?"

he turned his head, not wanting to look at the guy intently observing him. anger and the feeling of helplessness swirled around in his tummy. "no," he muttered, moodily squinting his eyes and pretending not to notice his eyes all over him.

"that's, uh, good i guess," jeongguk turned his back to the boy, relaxing his gaze. he didn't want to scare the poor thing anymore, so he tried to act normal about it and plopped down on the foot of the bed beside him.

when sat down on the messy bed, the boy slowly let his eyes wander back up to the man, who was staring quietly at the muted tv with the news report on. neither of them wanted to say anything.

after a few minutes of more crying, jeongguk sighed and softly smiled, seeing that the boy had calmed down a bit and was sitting cross legged, ignoring him and focusing on the weather report. his face was red and flustered from crying so much and he wiped his sniffly nose with the sleeves of his button up shirt.

he was sometimes watching the tv, which was still the weather report, with a lady in a grey suit and a stick pointing to different small towns, talking about sunshine and chances of rain, but most of his consciousness was focused on trying not to cry anymore in case the man got mad at him and threw him on the floor again.

quietly murmuring to jeongguk, the boy looked up and tried to break the silence. "you didn't mean to do that, right?"

jeongguk furrowed his eyebrows and stared down at him from the bed. "no."

the boy examined the man who was glancing at him from the corner of his eye. he looked pretty normal, as far as the boy was concerned murderers were deranged old men with frizzy hair and missing teeth like they show in movies, but he wasn't. the boy squinted, taking particular fascination in the slope of the man's nose. he had a sharp jawline that made him look even more handsome and soft eyes, except he was always grumpy so they never really looked as nice as they probably could. he thought they'd probably look really nice if he smiled or was having fun, which made him question if murderers even have fun. his hair was darker than his, more black than chocolatey, but it was golden and pretty in the sunshine (even though it was sweaty and messy right then.) he had dark eye bags and he guesse she didn't care too much about sleeping. he looked like a careless frat boy that skipped lectures but still got straight a's, except he wasn't and he was wanted for murder. oh!!! and he was stuck in a room with him. great.

"why are you staring at me," jeongguk mumbled, watching the boy weirdly stare at him with bambi eyes.

the boy looked away and boredly set his gaze on the ceiling. "because you're a stupid criminal."

"you're the one on the floor crying, i'm the one with the gun and the korean mafia on my side," jeongguk muttered.

"stop scaring me!!!" the boy whined, threatening to cry again.

"i'm not. but you don't understand; i'm a hired criminal, okay??? i don't just go out and murder everyone because it's fun, i kill for a business. it's not some sort of sick fantasy. i don't like killing people. and if you call the police on me, i won't have to kill you because someone else will, because i'm protected. so you're either gonna have to promise me you're not gonna tell on me, because you have literally no reason to get involved, let me go, and it'll be like it never even happened. so quit being so difficult, ohmygosh."

the boy placed his cheeks in his hands, gazing softly at the door and wishing he could just break out. "too late."

jeongguk's eyes widened. "what."

"i called them already," he said quietly to jeongguk. "i called them and told them you were here and about the gun."

"you've got to be fuckigng kidding me," jeongguk mumbled, looking away.

the boy kept his face in his hands, slumped over and feeling completely empty inside. five minutes ago he was sobbing, but now he couldn't feel anything. he thought about how stupid he probably looked, snotty nosed and hair all messed up from being thrown and covered in tears, and how he could explain this all to his mom, or if he would ever even see his mom again. he blankly stared at his sneakers, wiggling his toes in silence.

jeongguk stared out the window at the blue sky in disbelief. "you like trains?"

"no," the boy mumbled grumpily.

"that's nice," jeongguk retorted, standing up and clumsily grabbing his gun off the tv stand and slipping it in his pockets, grabbing the boy off the ground by his dainty hands. "say bye now."