BLOOD MONEY || bts mafia au

eleven.

Taehyung anxiously wiped his palms on his pants, attempting to hide the fact that they were covered in sweat. His heart pounding against its cage of bone like it wished to soar right out of his chest, Taehyung fought the urge to put his head between his knees to soothe his nerves. Why had he ever thought that this would be a good idea?

Jungkook frowned a little as he leaned over to the blind boy situated to his right. Without thinking, he set a comforting hand on his thigh, removing it with a blush as soon as he did so. "You okay?" he murmured.

Taehyung nodded, knowing that if he tried to speak the words would get caught in his throat. If he showed any sign of hesitation, Jungkook would send him right back to the den and everything he had done to set his plan to prove himself into motion would all be for nothing. He had to make it count.

Jungkook knew Tae was lying, but he decided not to press the other boy any more. If there was a reason he wasn't telling Jungkook the truth when he had always been nothing but candid with him, it had to be a good one.

"Where the hell is Yoongi?" Hoseok demanded as he straightened up in their nondescript van, leaning around the equipment Taehyung would be using to hack into the facility's system to look at their boss. "Does he need this much time to get dolled up to steal a drug shipment?"

"You know Yoongi," Jungkook muttered. "He always has to be a drama queen."

"He probably doesn't need any time to look good," Jimin mumbled under his breath. Tae shot him a weird look.

"I hear something," Taehyung whispered, stretching out one of his hands to brush Jungkook's. The boss flushed a little at the casual contact but jumped up in response to the other boy's warning.

Jimin snatched one of the uniforms he'd snuck into the facility earlier yesterday to steal and tossed it toward Jungkook, who caught it in one deft movement. "Don't forget this," he said.

Stripping off his outer layer in favor of the uniform, Jungkook snuck a glance toward Taehyung in the corner of the vehicle. Despite his status on the streets and the icy, uncontrollable temper he was known for, he was helpless when it came to his growing feelings toward the older boy. This would have been the perfect opportunity to catch his attention - displaying his hard-earned muscles while he changed to engage in the most daring job they'd ever attempted - but, unfortunately for him, Taehyung was blind.

Jimin noticed the look he gave the other boy. Dropping one of his eyes into a wink, he said not-so-subtly, "Wow, Jungkook, I didn't know you had such good abs."

Hoseok whipped his head toward the short boy in confusion, but Jimin was just giving Jungkook a thumbs-up, to which he replied with an embarrassed glare.

Taehyung ducked his head a little, oblivious to the others' chaotic gestures, cursing himself for imagining what it'd be like to run his fingers over those muscles, memorizing the rise and fall of each individual one, instead of thinking about the mission.

Jungkook mistook the red burning along the tops of his cheeks as mortification and whirled toward Jimin. "I'm going to kill you once this is over," Jungkook mouthed. The older boy simply flashed him a mischievous grin, forming a circle with his left hand and sticking his index finger inside it in an inappropriate gesture

Hoseok wasn't sure whether he should laugh at Jimin's playful behavior or start running from the dark look in Jungkook's eyes.

Deciding to spare his right hand for now, Jungkook slid his gun into the holster of the uniform. As much as he'd rather spend his night slapping the shit out of Jimin for almost blowing his cover, there was a shipment to be intercepted and a rival to think about destroying-