SBB 2011 Entry #19: Stealing the Wind (1/2)
Title: Stealing the Wind
Pairing/Focus: Minho/Onew, Jonghyun/Key
Rating: R
Word count: 20,383
Summary: Minho never wanted this life for his little brother, but when Taemin finds himself in more trouble than he can handle. Minho will be forced to call in some old friends for help, including the one man who used to be so much more.
A/N: I owe my two wonderful beta’s a great deal, both of whom looked over this in only a day. Without them this whole thing would have made a lot less sense, so thank you my lovely ladies. Also these are the five cars mention in this fiction: Minho’s ’71 Charger, Krystal’s Lexus LFA, Taemin’s Nissan Skyline, Onew’s Aston Martin V12 Vantage, Victoria’s Porsche GT3
“You thought you could just not do the job and run away? That you could get away with that?” the man asks sharply, followed by a swift kick.
“No,” the young man moaned out, and curled in on himself, certain that his ribs cracked with the latest kick.
“You know,” a voice said dryly from somewhere behind him. “If you break his body he can’t really go and get anything for you, G. Dragon.”
There was a grumble of response then a sigh and suddenly a blond man’s face filled his vision. “Do I need to break all of your bones so that you understand what is going on?”
Before he could answer, his phone rang in his pocket the familiar ringtone that was set to his brother’s number. The swift fingers of the man snatched the device from the denim and lifted it. He studied the screen for a moment, likely trying to figure out who the name ‘the nag’ could be associated with before holding it out for the second man to take.
“Hello,” the man said calmly, as if it was normal to answer the phone of others.
‘Who is this?’ he could hear his brother’s voice on the other end of the phone, and he wondered for a moment, if it was normal for his hearing to be that sharp.
“That depends, who am I speaking with?” the man replied.
‘If you are one of Taemin’s friends he told to answer his phone, I suggest you hand it over to him,’ he could hear irritation in his brother’s voice and a part of him wanted to call out, but the threat of further beating was hanging, quite literally, over his body.
“I’m not a friend,” the man said, and he could hear the amusement in his voice. “And he can’t come to the phone right now.”
‘Who are you?’ his brother repeated, anger beginning to sneak into his voice.
“Someone for whom your brother should have finished what he started.”
‘What the hell have you-?’
“I have heard of you, Choi Minho,” the man said calmly, right over his brothers raging. “You are the man that they say could never be caught, as long as he had a car.”
‘I don’t do that anymore,’ his brother replied flatly.
“Well I certainly hope that you can recall your skills. If the job is not finished in 72 hours, your brother truly will not be able to come to the phone any longer.”
‘Taemin!’ his brother called, voice panicked. The man bent and laid the phone on the cold concrete beside Taemin’s head.
“Seventy two hours,” he repeated, and then flicked his hand toward the other man. The blond man snorted and rose, following him out of the building.
“You spoil all of my fun T.O.P,” he heard the man gripe before the door slammed behind them.
His brother’s voice was still coming from the phone on the ground. He tried to wiggle to it and pain flared up, white and hot along his side. “Minho,” he croaked, certain that he couldn’t really be heard anyway. Black spots were beginning to swim in his vision and no matter how hard he tried, he didn’t think he could stay awake a moment longer. The last thing he heard, as his eyes sagged closed, was the sound of his brother’s voice screaming his name.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Tires squealed along the pavement as they came to an abrupt stop, signaling that someone had arrived after a drive at high speed. At the moment, however, he couldn’t be bothered with caring about that. His brother was the only thing that mattered. There was no answer to the frantic calls he was making into the device in his hand and his efforts to discover what was needed in his desk, was only resulting in a scattered mess of papers that he would have to clean later.
“Minho!” a voice called sharply as the door banged open. He spun to find Jonghyun, one of Taemin’s friends, panting and bleeding from a cut across his cheek.
“Where is he?” Minho growled, pulling the phone away from his ear.
“There was a job that a friend took. It was a stupid idiot thing to do and Taemin just wanted to help so we took the job too, but it was asking us to do the impossible. He-”
Minho had crossed the room before Jonghyun could utter another word, fisted his hands in the young man’s shirt, and slammed him forcefully against the wall. He ignored the wince his actions produced. “Where is he?” he asked again, sounding dangerous.
“Warehouse, on the outskirts of town. It was the drop point. He was going to go tell them,” Jonghyun gasped out.
“And you let him go all by himself?” Minho growled. “How naive are you?! You don’t just fail a job and walk away from it!” He pulled Jonghyun way from the wall and then slammed him back into it for good measure. Then, he turned, flinging the younger man in the direction of the door.
Jonghyun stumbled outside and Minho followed, barely taking the time to close and lock the door behind him. He briskly moved around the house to a car covered with a tarp that was parked there. “Get in, we are going to go get him.”
With one hand Minho tugged the tarp, pulling it free and casting it carelessly to the ground. The other lifted the phone to his ear. “Hang on Taemin I’m on my way.”
-o-o-o-o-o-
“What the hell were you thinking?” Minho growled.
“He would have… died without our help,” Taemin groaned from the backseat.
“And you almost died for helping,” he snapped.
“In our defense-” Jonghyun started.
Minho cut him off. “You don’t get a defense. I told you to stay away from this life,” he glared through the rearview mirror at his younger brother. “I ordered you never to do anything like this. You can’t handle it, Taemin.”
“The hell I can’t!” the younger man snapped then winced and placed a hand lightly on his side. “I can drive just as well as you can, maybe better.”
“Then why did I have to come pick up your beaten ass in a warehouse?” Minho sounded dangerous and Jonghyun edged subtly closer to the far window.
“No one could do that job, not even you,” Taemin snapped. “My friend was an idiot for accepting it.”
“And you were an idiot for offering to help,” Minho shot back. “If you think you are going to live this life, then rule number one is never take a job you can’t complete.”
Taemin glared right back at his brother. “You think I would have taken a job to go into North Korea if I had known that was what it was?!”
At his words, Minho slammed on the breaks and jerked the steering wheel spinning the car and coming to a complete stop on the shoulder of the road, facing the opposite direction. Jonghyun was clutching the dashboard, face pale while Taemin’s clutched at his side. “You accepted a job to cross the border?” Minho said dangerously soft, turning to face his brother.
“I didn’t know,” Taemin groaned.
“The moment you find shit like that out, you bail. No one crosses the border both ways.” For a moment no one said anything, the younger two fearing what the elder man in the car would say. “Who ordered the job?”
“I don’t know,” Taemin mumbled. “They didn’t give us a name.”
“Who!?” Minho yelled, as if that would make his brother know things that he didn’t.
“I don’t know!” Taemin yelled back. Then softly, “One of them called the other G. Dragon. Then as they were leaving, he called the man that talked to you on the phone T.O.P.”
Minho’s face cleared and set expressionless. He turned back to face the road and shifted the car into gear. Picking up speed, he drove against traffic along the shoulder. Jonghyun closed his eyes to avoid the sight of it, but he still felt when Minho jerked onto the road, hit the break, downshifted, spun the car, and then shifted back into gear before accelerating.
“Minho?” Taemin said softly.
“Not a word Taemin,” Minho growled, “Thanks to you, we will probably all be dead in less than seventy two hours.”
-o-o-o-o-o-
“Where are we?” Jonghyun asked a few hours later as Minho put the car into park outside a building.
In the backseat, Taemin stirred from his dozing state and lifted his head. “Is this dad’s garage?” he mumbled. Minho didn’t say anything as he climbed out of the still running car and moved a small box outside one of the large doors. Quickly he keyed in a number and the door groaned before beginning to slide upwards.
By the time it had raised all the way, Minho had climbed back into his car and was pulling it carefully forward into the large space. Once inside he cut the engine and climbed out to close the door again. Taemin and Jonghyun climbed out as well, gazing around the space in awe.
Along the walls and ceiling were all the tools and equipment that was needed to build a car from the ground up. The massive space with only two doors allowing things in and out, looked like a large warehouse had been purchased and converted into a garage. In one corner was a simple cot and desk with a small refrigerator/freezer. The rest of the space was devoted to being a workspace, including a large work table near one wall. In half of the garage there were four tarp covered cars that Taemin longed to go and investigate.
“Damn,” Jonghyun whistled as he looked around the area.
“Watch your mouth,” Minho scolded as he moved back to them and put Taemin’s arm around his shoulder to help him over to the small living area. Jonghyun offered him a look like he hardly had room to talk, but said nothing in disagreement as he followed them across the room.
Minho deposited Taemin on the cot, pulled a small bag from a desk drawer and opened the door to the freezer. After depositing several ice cubes in the bag, he tied it shut and handed it to his brother.
“What is this place?” Jonghyun chanced asking. Minho, who was digging through a desk drawer looking for something, said nothing.
“I think,” Taemin said softly. “That it’s our dad’s garage.”
“You think?” Jonghyun asked, sounding puzzled.
“Yeah, I’ve never been here. Minho wouldn’t let me. Dad used to build the fastest cars in the country.”
“You couldn’t even come to your own family’s garage?” Jonghyun asked.
“I was trying to protect him from exactly this,” Minho growled. “Because this life killed dad before he could show Taemin this garage.” He waved a hand around the area angrily.
“It wasn’t the cars that killed dad,” Taemin snapped back, “It was the gun that some idiot pointed at him.”
“The gun,” Minho glowered as he turned to look at his brother, “was only pointed at him because he couldn’t help getting mixed up with people like T.O.P. Where do you think he got the money for all of these cars?” Before Taemin could respond he snapped the drawer shut with a loud clatter. “I have to go make some calls.” Taemin said nothing as he watched his brother storm to the far end of the space.
-o-o-o-o-o-
“Thanks, I’ll see you in a few hours,” Minho said into the phone softly before he ended the call. He glanced down at the sheet of paper with names and numbers that he had printed on it not thirty minutes earlier. Only one name remained without a slash through it.
He took a deep breath and dialed the numbers before he could stop himself. The soft trill of the ring sounded in his ear twice before it was answer by a familiar voice. ‘Jinki’s delivery service, how can I help you?’
“Onew,” he breathed softly.
There was a moment of silence, then the voice replied, ‘Minho.’ The cheer that had previously been present in the voice had vanished, replaced by a flatness that made his chest clench painfully.
“I need your help,” Minho said slowly.
‘My answer is no.’
Afraid that the phone would be hung up before he could say what he need to, words spilled out of Minho’s mouth rapidly. “Taemin took a job he has no business taking, the clock is ticking and if he fails then it’s game over.”
Taemin had always been something that they had both cared about no matter what was going on between them. ‘How long?’ Onew asked after a pause.
Minho checked his watch, “Sixty eight hours.”
Silence stretched between them, long enough that Minho feared they had been disconnected. Then Onew’s voice sounded from the other end again. ‘I’ll be there.’ It was followed immediately by a click, signaling that the call had been ended.
“Thank you,” Minho whispered into the phone before pulling it away from his ear. He had done all he could do, now all that was left for him to do, was to wait.
-o-o-o-o-o-
“This is the place? You’re certain?” the young woman asked her. Sulli glanced her way with narrowed eyes and she sighed. “I mean I know you’re sure but can we trust these guys?”
“Amber,” Sulli said patiently as she downshifted so her car could more easily handle the two track gravel drive. “I’ve been working with Minho since I was eight. I’m sure.”
“If you are sure that is good enough for me,” Amber agreed just as the building came into sight. A large garage door was open with a black car parked inside. She was no expert in cars, but that wasn’t what she was here for anyway. Bent over the engine was a young man with tussled dark brown hair. Tall and toned, he wasn’t exactly her type, but he was nice to look at anyway.
Sulli pulled up just outside the door and he glanced up and smiled faintly. A gesture waved them inside and she carefully nudged the car forward, pulling it past his and into the garage. Once inside, she cut the engine and both of the women climbed out.
“Sulli,” the man greeted her warmly, pulling her into a hug. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Sulli replied, and she could see the affection in the younger woman as she returned the affectionate gesture. Then pulling away she gestured her direction, “This is Amber.”
“Ah, I hear you are a language expert,” Minho said, his voice falling into the dialect of the area they were currently in and extending his hand.
“I am,” she answered in kind, taking the offered hand to shake. “I know a bit.”
“A bit?” Sulli laughed. “She speaks English, Korean, Mandarin, Thai, and Cantonese fluently. She also speaks a bit of Spanish, and she can speak almost every dialect of Korean for both the South and the North.”
Minho smiled at the young woman’s boasting. “A good talent to have.”
“I thought you were putting together a team?” Sulli asked him, “for a sizable job? Where is everyone else?”
“They should be here at any point,” he told her. “Once they are, then I’ll tell everyone exactly what is going on.”
“Well then,” she said with a sweet smile as she linked her arm with his. “What does a girl have to do to get a drink around here?”
-o-o-o-o-o-
Taemin had seen his brother many ways over the years. He had been certain that his brother was the most at home in the garage, that he was comfortable with cars. His brother, he had known, was a natural leader even though the only time he had seen him take charge was when he had accompanied Taemin’s class on a field trip and three students had wandered off. Minho was nearly brilliant, since the way Taemin figured it, it took a lot of brains to finish college, work and take care of a sibling all at the same time. He knew all of this about his brother, but never had he seen Minho quite the way he was now.
His brother stood in his white muscle shirt smeared with grease, staring down at an engine with a young woman that Taemin didn’t know, arguing over something about it. Yet at the same time, he knew that Minho was aware of where everyone was in the room. The three women behind a computer, the woman cleaning a gun while leaning against the bike she had ridden in on, and the young man with colored streaks in his hair who seemed to be talking at her rather than to her.
He watched Minho glance their direction for a moment before looking back towards the young woman who was talking to him still. His brother seemed to be waiting for something or rather someone judging by the way he kept glancing towards the open door.
A car purred up to the door and the engine cut. Taemin would know the sound of that car anywhere and he climbed off the cot, wincing as he stretched his side causing pain to flare up. That didn’t stop him from moving forward so that he had a clear view of the man that climbed out of the car.
“Onew!” Taemin called. For a moment, the man that he hadn’t seen in five years, looked at his brother for a long minute before his gaze shifted and he smiled.
“Taemin,” he said affectionately as he pulled the younger man into his arms. “What sort of trouble have you found yourself in now?” he asked.
Taemin winced both in pain from the hug and at the fact he had caused trouble for anyone. “It isn’t like I do this all the time.”
“No, you’re right. I think this is the first time you have done something this truly stupid,” Onew scolded. The younger man swallowed thickly and Onew laughed. “Don’t worry, we will get this taken care of before you even have time to worry about it.”
The man’s eyes scanned the rest of the room and then he nodded, “Looks like I’m the last to arrive. Let’s go see what your brother has planned.” Together they walked to where Minho was still leaning over his car, Onew’s arm around his shoulders supported him more than he would have guessed he needed.
“That should do it,” the young woman said with a smile. “She should purr like a kitten for you now. As long as you treat her right of course.”
“She ran fine before,” Minho replied sounding exasperated as he lowered the hood of his car and then closed it. With it down it was as if he was just seeing Onew for the first time and he offered the man a curt nod, “Onew.”
“Minho,” Onew returned, his face unusually expressionless. It wasn’t what Taemin had expected. After all it had been five years since the two had seen each other and they had been closer than anyone he had ever seen.
Something in his brother shifted and it was if all his walls were up, in a way that Taemin hadn’t seen since their father had died. The sight of it made him frown as he and Onew followed Minho to the work table in the middle of the room where the three girls were already at a computer.
“Now that we are all present we can get started,” Minho stated calmly.
“Finally,” Jonghyun said with a sigh, dragging his stool closer to the table before perching on it again.
Minho offered him a chilling look before continuing. “You all know you are here for a job and I’m certain that most of you have figured that it is a large one due to the number of people gathered here. In short we have sixty three hours to cross the border into North Korea, pick up three cases of unknown contents and make it back across. If there is pay we will split it equally but the payment for completion may simply be the life of my brother. I can’t force any of you to go on this job with me, but most of you owe me a favor, I’m calling that due if you let me.”
He paused for a moment, as if he was waiting for someone to leave. When no one moved he continued. “The job is ordered by T.O.P, one of the richest CEOs in Korea. He is famous for producing fine jewelry and fabrics that no one else can. If he wants something he can just get it since he is a multi-billionaire. The fact that he hired some stupid kids to do this job means that he either can’t get anyone to go and pick things up for him over the border, or that he wants to assess the danger before throwing away his own people. I’m guessing the latter.”
Minho spread a map out on the table. “This,” he pointed at a spot just north of the border of the two Koreas, “is the pickup point. Once we have what we came for, we have to get it back across the border and to a warehouse here,” he tapped the map again, “to drop it off.”
“Oh sounds simple,” the young man with streaks of color in his hair said, “except for the small fact that crossing the border once is difficult, twice in a short period would be impossible.”
“That is why you are all here,” Minho said.
“No offence Minho,” the young man replied, “the ladies are nice to look at, especially this sexy little fox right here,” his gaze flicked over to the young woman who still held a gun, “but besides eye candy they aren’t going to be much good.” The young woman beside him snapped a clip into her gun with a dangerous smile.
“I’m pretty sure that not only could Victoria beat you in a fight,” Minho replied smoothly, “she could beat you on the street too. Meet the expert in weapons and agile motion in vehicles.” The young woman whom he had just named, tucked her gun in its holster against her upper thigh.
“I’m sure,” the young man said as he looked her over.
“Try it any time you like,” she replied to his gaze, “but you might find a surprise.” Her voice was heavily accented, indicating that she didn’t come for Korea.
“This is Sulli,” Minho continued.
“A kid,” the young man added helpfully.
“If it is technology she can work it. Any computer system she can crack, almost better than you can,” Minho added.
The young man snorted, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“And Amber,” Minho named the blond haired young woman standing beside Sulli. “I have been told she an expert in language and dialect. Krystal,” he gestured the third woman behind Sulli, “is one of the best drivers I have seen. This is Luna,” he gestured to the young woman who had been looking over the car with him. She smiled sweetly and Taemin decided the messy pile of blond hair pulled onto the top of her head coupled with the streak of grease across her cheek, suited her. “She can build a car from the ground up better than any man I know.”
“The annoying one is Key who is pretty much useless most of the time,” Minho told them.
“Excuse me?” the young man snapped back. “There isn’t a lock I can’t crack or a thing I can’t open.” Taemin rolled his eyes at the man and then snorted under his breath at Jonghyun who couldn’t seem to take his eyes off the newly introduced Key.
“Then we have the idiots responsible for this mess, Jonghyun, and my brother Taemin,” he gestured to both.
“And finally Onew,” Taemin noted that his brother didn’t look at the man when he said his name. There was a pause, then “a friend.”
“Wait, like the Onew. The one who has never been beaten on any Circuit?” Luna asked excitedly. “That Onew?”
Onew shifted uncomfortably beside Taemin, not liking the praise. “Yeah that is me I guess.”
The gaze Luna fixed him with was somewhere between awe and wonder, “Can I see your car?”
“Uh sure?” Onew answered nervously.
Minho’s hand on her arm stopped her. “Later, right now we have work to do. We have to find a way across the border and back again.”
“Well with this team it should be a bang up task,” Key grumbled. Minho shot him a look as he pulled Luna towards Sulli’s computer, avoiding the entire time, Taemin noted, even glancing at Onew.
-o-o-o-o-o-
“This might just work,” Sulli declared with a small smile as she leaned back in her chair.
Minho who was working on cleaning a piece of a car engine, placed it on the table beside her computer and moved closer. “You found a way in?” he asked.
“And out,” Sulli agreed with a nod. A few clicks had displayed a glowing line over what looked like a terrain map.
Onew, called over by her declaration, stepped closer peering at the screen. “This,” he said, leaning forward and placing a hand on Minho’s shoulder to balance himself as he did so, “is where we cross the border?” He pointed to the spot.
Minho tried to focus on their conversation, on the important details they were discussing, and far away from the hand on his shoulder that was sending warmth spreading through him. Likely Onew didn’t even realize who he had placed a hand on, simply that there had been a place for him to stabilize. His guess was confirmed when Onew’s gaze sliced sideways and his hand was removed abruptly as if it had been burned.
“It is,” she confirmed. Minho swallowed and looked back at the screen, trying to ignore the other man. “I’m still trying to work out the details of all of it, but I think I have the path down.”
Minho nodded. “Key, Jonghyun, get on this with her. Find us a way in.”
Jonghyun nodded, clearly eager to have been asked to do something, while Key looked like he was planning on protesting rather loudly. He didn’t disappoint as not a second later he muttered, “Great everyone else gets to work on a car or play with guns and I have to help the toddler and one of the idiots who got us all into this mess, figure out how to get us out of it.”
“So what you are saying,” Victoria said smoothly, looking down the length of one of her guns, “is that you are not smart enough to figure out how to get us through the border.”
“I could do that in my sleep,” he snapped back.
She glanced pointedly at the computer. “Really?”
“Yes really. Move over,” he ordered Sulli, as he pulled up a chair. She frowned at him but scooted to the side to give him room.
Minho nodded, satisfied that they were working and moved back to the piece of one of the cars he had been working on. A least that was something he knew was consistent and would likely never bother him like the feeling of Onew’s less than subtle glances at him did.
-o-o-o-o-o-
“I didn’t even know there was a house back here,” Taemin murmured softly.
“There wasn’t,” Onew answered, swirling the liquid in the bottle he was drinking out of. “Your brother had it built after we started doing more jobs. He doesn’t like everyone in the garage all the time and he needed somewhere to kick them to.”
That sounded exactly like his brother, especially since he had eventually done just that. It wasn’t as though the small bathroom, tiny bedroom, and a room that doubled as the kitchen and living room could count as a house, but it was somewhere to rest. Half of their team was spread out either upon the furniture or floor, dozing while they could. “You guys spent a lot of time here didn’t you?”
He watched Onew’s eyes scan the small space as if he was seeing something else then what was currently there. “We did,” he murmured.
“Why did you leave?” Taemin asked softly. “I used to see you around all the time, then one day you were gone and Minho never told me why.”
Onew didn’t answer right away as he drained the remainder of his bottle. He set the glass object down on the countertop, careful to make as little noise as possible. “Things change,” he replied simply. Then, “You should get some rest while you can, and get some more ice on those ribs or you will regret it.” He didn’t wait for Taemin to answer before turning and walking back out the door, disappearing into the darkness.
-o-o-o-o-o-
He was growing older by the minute, of that he was certain. In fact he would hardly be surprised if he found grey hairs on his head the next time he checked. He hadn’t been able to stand one more squabble from Sulli, Key and Jonghyun or the racket that the rest of the team was making. Luna accidently dropping the wrench had been the last straw on his patience and he had banished everyone from the garage for two hours, purely to give him some time of peace. It probably wasn’t the wisest decision on his part, but if they were in the small house and not in the garage, at least he wouldn’t have to watch Taemin making eyes at Krystal every time he turned around.
He was up to his elbows in the front of one of his cars when he heard the door open. Whoever it was stepped in silently and closed the door behind them, giving him time to finish replacing the piece he held before speaking. Minho pulled his hands out of the car and wiped as much grease as he could off on a towel before glancing behind him.
Onew was leaning casually against the wall, arms crossed, and watching him work. His gaze made warmth spread through Minho’s body that wasn’t entirely welcome, at least not anymore. “Couldn’t stand them anymore?” he asked, turning back to his car and loosening a bolt just so he could tighten it again.
“Taemin was asking why I left,” Onew said simply.
“I’m surprised he is the only one,” Minho replied with a snort. “Most of them knew us at one time or another, from back then.”
“They know to leave well enough alone. Taemin is still a child. He never should have been allowed to get himself into this,” Onew’s voice was soft, deceptively calm.
“It wasn’t like I just let him run out and jump on the most dangerous job he could find. Hell I didn’t even let the kid near a car. He stole one of mine, and crashed it for all the good it did him,” Minho snapped.
“They say the more you keep a toy from a child, the more he will want it.”
Minho’s hand tightened around the wrench in his hand. He wanted to lash out at something, but after the hours he had put into his car, he could hardly hit it. “If criticizing the way I’ve been raising Taemin is all you are here to do, then you can just leave. I can do this job without you.”
“Can you?” there was a tone in Onew’s voice that was off, and different from anything he had ever heard. “I was under the impression that it took some desperate need to contact me after nothing for five years.”
Minho understood what he was really saying, what it was, or at least a part of what it was, that was bothering Onew. “I was busy trying to keep my family feed without resorting to anything illegal.”
“Ah, so busy you couldn’t even pick up the phone when I called,” Onew muttered sarcastically.
His words were the last straw for Minho and he spun, hurling the tool in his hand to the ground with a clatter. “You don’t get to say a word about that. You left us, remember? Left us with an unfinished job, and a twelve year old with a head full of promises.”
Onew’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t make this about Taemin. It has always been all about you.”
“About me?” Minho laughed in disbelief. “You walked away Jinki. You just left, without a word or explanation.”
“And your,” Onew snapped back, pushing away from the wall, his voice rising, “damn pride wouldn’t even let you pick up the phone for the explanation!”
“I’m right here aren’t I?!” Minho spread his arms. “What could ever have possessed you to walk away from your family?!” Minho shouted right back.
Onew’s face fell for a moment before the anger returned to his eyes. “I saw you with her!”
Minho froze, entirely at a loss for what Onew was talking about. “What?”
“Krystal,” he snapped. “I saw you with her on your bed.”
“Christ Onew,” Minho replied gesturing wildly as the moments Onew was talking about replayed in his head. “She was sixteen. She fell asleep at the work table and I moved her to the cot so that she could be comfortable and get some good rest. What the hell did you think happened?”
“What do you think I thought?” Onew hissed. “I know you. Too much testosterone for anyone. For all I know you were planning to screw her senseless and then work your way through the rest of the team.”
Suddenly angry, Minho stormed forward, forcing Onew back against the wall. He slapped a hand on either side of the man’s head and stared into the eyes that were burning with intensity. “The only member of the team,” he said lowly, his voice dark, “that I ever screwed senseless, is you. So when Taemin asks you why you left, you tell him the truth, that you were too much of an untrusting idiot to actually talk to me before deciding things for yourself.”
“That isn’t why,” Onew said softly, his eyes falling.
“Then what is your reason?” Minho growled.
“If I didn’t leave, I was afraid I would do something I would regret.”
Minho couldn’t stand to see the fear of the undone in his eyes and surprisingly it softened him. “Not you Jinki, you wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“You’re wrong,” Onew whispered. “I would kill to protect you, and Taemin. I would kill, for you.”
Minho wasn’t certain what caused him to shift forward. Perhaps it was the whispered words that although steady and uncertain, were mutual in his heart as well. Perhaps it was the look on Onew’s face, the look of a man who knew what he was capable of and was terrified by it. Or perhaps it was that he had never forgotten, could never forget, what it was that had walked out of his life. Regardless of the reason he edged forward, nudging at Onew’s lips with his own, encouraging him to tip his head back and give into the press.
For a moment, Onew’s eyes sagged closed and he pressed his lips against Minho’s. It was as if no time had passed between him, and Minho shifted, kissing the man just as he knew he liked to be kissed. Soft presses of lips with a teasing nip here and there, pulled a shiver from Onew and only encouraged him further. Minho tilted his head slightly, asking with his mouth for permission to deepen the kiss and Onew gave with a soft sound.
It was the sound that pulled him back to reality, and Minho pulled his lips away faster then he would have liked to. “I have to go finish my car,” he breathed against Onew’s lips, glad for the excuse of something else to do. He was tempted to steal another kiss, but that would only make things even more complicated than they already were. Instead he pulled away, turning and moving back to his car. There was a belt that needed to be put back into place and he immediately set back to work on that. Only after he had wrestled it back to where it belonged, did he chance looking back, and when he did, he found that Onew was gone.
-o-o-o-o-o-
“Minho, I think I am in love with your car,” Key purred as he ran finger tips over the hood of a red Porsche GT3.
Minho finished tightening the windshield wiper and then glanced at where the voice had come from. He took note of the car, one of his father’s prized ones, and the look of lust on Key’s face. Just beyond him Jonghyun was wearing the same expression but he was not, Minho noted, looking at the car. “Key, there is no way you are going to be anywhere near the driver’s seat of that car.”
Key gave him an indignant look. “Why not?” Then he ran his fingers over it again, “She suits me.”
“Because I have seen how you drive. Since our goal is to get through the border, not wrapped around a tree meters from it, you are not driving,” Minho said shortly, turning his attention back to the car he was tuning up, a silver Aston Martin V12 Vantage.
“That was one time!” Key exclaimed, scowling. “And it wasn’t a tree.”
“You’re right,” Minho agreed, not looking up. “It was a traffic sign.”
“No one looked at that sign anyway!”
“Sure, they didn’t,” Taemin added with a grin.
“Shut up!” Key snapped. “You were like, ten. You weren’t even there.”
“What were you doing driving seven years ago?” Taemin snapped back, his grin widening. “Weren’t you like, thirteen?”
Minho laughed, still focused on the car. “When the car you are in is one you picked up from the side of the road, things like a license to drive become technical details.”
“You stole a car when you were thirteen?” Jonghyun asked, awe in his voice.
“Several, actually,” Key sounded smug.
“And he ended up owing the person who sent him on the jobs more times than not,” Onew added. Jonghyun snorted.
“You shut up,” Key snapped. “At least I have stolen a car. You are clearly a car-stealing virgin.”
Jonghyun flushed bright red. “I am not!”
“Really?” Key’s grin was dangerous. “Clearly there is something virginal about you,” he murmured.
Minho turned to see Key sauntering closer to where Jonghyun was turning a deeper shade of red by the moment. “There is nothing virginal about me,” he stuttered.
“Mm, so,” Key was close enough to reach out a drag a single finger down Jonghyun’s neck. “How loud did you make her moan?” Jonghyun sputtered as if he didn’t know what to say about that. “Or maybe a him is more your preference.”
Jonghyun looked as though he wanted to melt into the floor or simply die on the spot. Minho was about to move to pull him away when Krystal beat him to it. “Come on, Tiger,” she said with a grin, wrapping her fingers in the back of Key’s shirt and tugging him away. “Can’t have you causing any aneurisms for the team. That would be messy and I’m not cleaning that up.”
“I would never!” Key replied, feigning shock. “I can’t get blood on these clothes.”
“Then I suggest you cool it a bit,” she grinned at him. “Especially since Victoria was irritated enough she might have put a bullet in you. Or at least something sharp.”
Key glanced to the young woman who was polishing a dagger and grinned. “Have I told you lately how hot it is that a chick can handle a dagger like that?” he asked, sauntering over to her.
“Have I told you lately how easily a man’s body parts can leave his body?” she returned, her accent coming in thicker than usual.
“I like a woman who is good with her tools,” he retorted.
Minho rolled his eyes and glanced back to Jonghyun who looked grateful that he had been saved, but a bit irritated as well. He sighed and turned his attention back to the car beneath his hands. The last thing he needed on top of the job that could cost them all their lives, were a couple of confused individuals who couldn’t figure out their own desires.
-o-o-o-o-o-
It was quiet at last in the garage. Sulli, whom had worked on it for thirty-three hours straight, had finally solidified all of the details of the plan into something acceptable. As soon as she had finished, Minho had sent a portion of the team off on separate tasks to obtain the final things necessary for the plan and sent her to bed. Krystal, despite her protests, had been sent off to bed as well.
In hindsight, it may not have been a great idea to send Jonghyun and Key on the same job together, but he needed Key’s skills and someone to drive him that could afford to lose a bit of sleep. Since it didn’t seem as though Jonghyun would be getting much rest anyway due to all of the extra energy he seemed to have discovered around Key, he had simply gone with his gut.
Taemin was, finally, getting some much needed healing rest, and he had sent Onew back into the small house with his brother to make him more comfortable. Amber had decided to head to the library and study up on the skills she would need for their task and had taken Victoria with her. Minho was glad for that since as much as he knew they might need Victoria, the ease with which she handled a great variety of weapons greatly unnerved him.
With everyone else banished from the garage, it left Luna and himself to put the finishing touches on the cars they had been working on. Two of the cars had been sitting for longer then he knew. The other two had only been used on and off for the past few years, leaving only his own black mustang as a regularly used car. They had test driven them earlier, and every one had handled fine now that they were through with them.
Luna was putting the final touches on the cars which involved a thick green substance in a bucket that she was wiping onto the windows with a rag. Every sweep of her hand made him wince. “I hope you know what you are doing,” he murmured.
She offered him a look, “I have been rebuilding cars since I was three years old. I think I know exactly what I am doing.”
“It’s just that…” he trailed off, not certain he really wanted to finish that statement.
“You don’t like that a woman is touching your cars,” she finished for him, dipping the rag back into the bucket.
“What is it with men anyway?” she asked with a sigh dragging the rag over the windshield again. “They love a woman to bring them satisfaction and touch them all over their body, but when a woman tries to lay her hands on their cars they freak out.”
Minho laughed, “I’m not freaking out.”
“Yes, you are,” she gestured to his legs. “You have shifted your weight over a hundred times since I started. Go away so I can work.”
He chuckled, knowing that she was correct. “Alright, alright,” he agreed, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. Then as he turned and walked away, he couldn’t resist one more comment, “by the way, women don’t touch my body either. I prefer only men touching my cars, as well as everything else that is mine.” He heard he sputter in surprise and he grinned as he moved back to his car.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Minho must have had a sadistic streak, Key decided, and he rather liked what it had produced. In the driver’s seat of the car, some model that he hadn’t cared to memorize since it was nothing but ordinary, Jonghyun shifted for the hundredth time. Key was highly amused that he had to do little more than look at the man to pull a reaction from him. It wasn’t as though the looks were particularly remarkable either. Admittedly he had thrown in one sultry look just for flair, but primarily they bordered on curiosity.
He had been joking when he had dropped the line about virginity, but it seemed as though he had struck a nerve somewhere in the young man. Besides Key was hardly naive and always aware of just when someone was lusting for him. If this kid wasn’t lusting after him, then he wasn’t a man.
“Relax,” Key murmured, “you are acting like you are a virgin in this, too.”
Jonghyun blanched just as Key expected. “It isn’t like I make a habit of stealing semi trucks,” he stammered, “or have ever stolen one for that matter.”
“Don’t worry, babe, stealing one type of vehicle is just like sex. Once you have done one, you can do anything,” Key said with a smirk.
Color rushed back into Jonghyun’s face so quickly that Key was pondering if he should stop just so the young man didn’t have a stroke or something of the sort. However Key could hardly simply let it go. “But if you have never had sex either, well, then we might have problems.”
“I-” he stuttered.
“Don’t worry, babe,” Key repeated softly, leaning over and placing a hand high on Jonghyun’s thigh. “I’ll do all the hard work; all you have to do is sit back and reap the benefits.” He was talking about the approaching theft, but clearly Jonghyun took it differently as he swerved out of his lane and then back into it.
“Key,” he hissed.
“Call me Kibum,” Key purred. Jonghyun flushed further and Key decided right then and there that this was his new favorite game.
“Kibum,” Jonghyun murmured, then with more force, “If you don’t want me to start driving like you, please remove your hand.”
That was simply insulting and Key jerked his hand away, sitting back in his seat. “Fine, I was just trying to get you to loosen up.”
There was a long pause then, “I’ll return the favor soon.” Jonghyun’s voice was tentative and unsteady, but Key was amused with the attempt.
“I’ll hold you to that,” he replied, satisfied for the moment.
-o-o-o-o-o-
He had checked and checked again every inch of all of the cars, but with less than thirty hours to go before they were out of time to do what needed to be done, he knew they could afford no mistakes. It wasn’t as though he could sleep anyway. Too much was on the line for him to be able to quiet his mind properly for that.
The GPS system that had been installed into the dash of his ‘71 Charger was properly functional and linked with Sulli’s computer, but he powered it up again, just to double check. He was in the process of pushing the button to pull up the main menu when he heard the door open and footsteps on the garage floor.
“I told you to go to bed,” he scolded, powering down the GPS and climbing out of the car. His speech was half prepared in his mind when he turned and actually looked at the person who had entered the garage.
“I stopped listening to what you told me to do years ago,” Onew replied, a soft smile on his face.
“Oh,” Minho murmured, at a loss for what else to say. “Is Taemin alright?” His brother seemed like a safe topic to bring up between them.
“Taemin is fine. Sleeping like a baby after what he did with Krystal.”
“What?! What happened?” Minho pressed, all awkwardness forgotten as he slammed his car door closed perhaps a bit harder then he meant too.
Onew smiled at Minho’s tone, not bothered in the slightest, but perhaps that had been the goal all along. “Oh, Krystal got tired of him staring at her and she told him to either make a move or, and I quote, ‘get the hell over it’. Taemin kissed her right then and there.”
“I’m going to kill him,” Minho muttered.
“Why? Kissing people senseless must run in the family, since she was hardly complaining.”
Minho wasn’t certain how to answer that so he went with honesty. “Sorry about last night. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“I believe that was how we ended up in this predicament in the first place, because one of us wasn’t thinking straight,” Onew said softly, moving forward.
“Don’t,” Minho murmured, holding out a hand.
In a matter of moments, Onew’s chest was pressed to the outstretched palm and continued to press forward until Minho had backed against the car, trapped there by Onew’s body. “Don’t what?” Onew challenged.
“Start something that we can’t finish,” Minho breathed, curling his fingers into fists to keep from reaching for the man.
“Who says we can’t finish it?” Onew asked, leaning forward the rest of the way and capturing Minho’s lips.
It was hardly fair that after five years Onew still remembered what he liked, still remembered the teasing swipe of tongue followed by the invitation that would make him come undone. It was like the first time all over again, yet so very different. Back then Onew had been spread over the hood of his car, now he was pressed against the door, trapped by the heat of the other man’s body, and finding out first-hand just how difficult it was to continue with conscious thought when being kissed there like that.
“Jinki,” he murmured into the other man’s mouth, his hand on the man’s chest sliding lower to curve around his waist. His other hand reached up to cradle the back of Onew’s head and tug him closer, as if he couldn’t get enough of him. Onew’s hands were bracing him against the car, but he chanced moving one so he could run it down Minho’s side, then up and under his thin shirt.
“Wait,” he gasped, tearing his mouth away, fighting for the last shred of control he had. “Jinki, I can’t. Not for just one night. I can’t.”
“Who said anything about just one night?” Onew asked, dipping his head and pressing his lips to Minho’s neck.
A deep breathy sigh left Minho as he tipped his head to the side, giving the man more access. “Different lives,” he muttered struggling to want to put up a protest.
“I run a legitimate business now,” Onew murmured into his skin. “I have lots of clients willing to pay me real honest money for what I do. I could use a partner.”
“Taemin,” Minho tried futilely.
“We could keep him out of trouble together,” Onew reassured him.
“But,” Minho tried to find another protest, something that would prove that this was an all around bad idea.
“I never stopped wanting you,” Onew whispered, pulling his head back so they could look at each other.
Minho swallowed thickly. Truthfully there hadn’t been a single day where he hadn’t missed this, missed Onew and his smiles, his touch, his laughter, and everything else about him. “I missed you,” he admitted, not wanting to sound too pathetic.
“Then stop resisting me,” Onew ordered with a grin. His hand slid down to Minho’s thigh and as he leaned in to capture the man’s lips again, he gave a sharp tug, lifting the leg and shifting his hips. The motion brought his body in closer so that when he rolled his hips, Minho could feel the full slide of his body and it was just as he remembered.
-o-o-o-o-o-
“Lee Taemin, one kiss does not mean you own me!” she declared, storming after him.
“I almost got killed trying to do this job. There is no way I am letting you risk yourself,” he argued, heading straight for the door.
“I will have you know,” she announced as she leapt in front of him and thrust a hand onto his chest to hold him back. “That I have been driving cars since before you were even thinking about it. I have been shot, broken three ribs and my left arm. I have totaled six cars and still am alive to tell the tale. And,” she jabbed a finger into his chest to make her point. “I have been successfully completing jobs with your brother since I was fifteen. I have no plans to stop now.”
“You are not that much older than me,” Taemin snapped, the only thing he could come up with after her argument. “I don’t care. I’m going to Minho and asking him to pull you off the job.”
She released a frustrated noise as he pushed around her and out the front door of the house. “This isn’t a military establishment!” she yelled from the front step. “Minho can’t order me off the job! And he won’t anyway! He called me to come and be on the job!”
“Then if you are so certain of that, you won’t mind me going to tell him!” Taemin retorted, not halting his progress through the yard to the garage.
“Ugh!” she exclaimed, stomping after him. “If you think that we will be in any sort of relationship after this you are poorly mistaken!”
“I’ll take my chances!” he snapped, hand on the door handle.
“I will break your ribs!”
“Already been there and what are you? Five?” He pulled open the door. “I’m going to tell him to take you off and there will be nothing you can do about it.” Taemin strode into the garage intent on finding his brother and froze when a loud moan echoed through the area.
“Minho, don’t-” Krystal began, storming in behind him, but digressed into muffled mumbles when Taemin’s hand covered her mouth.
“Shh,” Taemin hissed. “Don’t disturb them.” Confused, she mumbled into his hand a string of syllables that sounded suspiciously like curse words. “Shh, I have been waiting for five years for them to get back to this.”
She glanced up, following his gaze, until it fell on the cot in the corner of the room. Upon it, were two men intertwined in pleasure. Krystal released a squeak and backpedaled directly into Taemin’s body.
“About damn time,” Taemin murmured, sounding proud, then he shuddered. Walking in on his brother while engaged in his current activities was much like walking in on his parents, he reasoned. As excited as any child was that their parents were still in love, the last thing a child wanted to do was think about their parents having sex. She clenched her eyes shut, not believing how Taemin could act this calmly. She would never be able to look at Minho the same now.
“I’ll just have to tell on you later,” he whispered to her. “Let’s get out of here before we get scared for life.”
He walked backwards towing her after him. She knew she should really make a comment about there being nothing to tell, but the only image she could see in her mind was of Minho, without his clothing, poised over Onew in the same state.
-o-o-o-o-o-
“Why does this always happen on nights before we think we are going to die?” Onew asked, holding up their intertwined hands so he could marvel at it.
Against his back, Minho snorted. “Probably because we think we could die so we might as well have one last time.”
“It makes the sex good,” Onew mused, shifting backwards into Minho’s body.
“Mm,” he hummed in agreement and placed a soft kiss to the back of Onew’s neck. “The sex with you is always good.”
Onew smiled. “How are we going to tell Taemin?”
“We are not,” Minho said firmly. “He does not need to know that sex exists, let alone who is having it.”
A chuckle came from the man in front of him. “Taemin is not a child anymore. He knows what sex is and I guarantee you that the moment he finds out we are around each other again, he will figure out that we are having sex as well.”
“We are not telling him,” Minho said firmly. Any response that Onew might have made was cut off by the rumble of a large engine outside the garage. “Either that is the truck that we needed, or someone has come to rob this garage.”
“Either way,” Onew said with a grin. “I think we are going to need some pants.”
-o-o-o-o-o-
“Alright,” Minho began after a deep breath. “We have one hour before we set the plan into motion. Any questions before that point?”
“I have one?” Key asked with a sarcastic smile. “Is it before I go into North Korea or after, that I put my head between my legs and kiss my ass goodbye?”
Minho gave him a look that clearly said he was not going to dignify that with an answer. Victoria smiled dangerously at him. “I would like to see you pull that off.”
“I’m incredibly flexible,” Key replied, his voice dropping in tone. “It gives me a certain advantage for certain things.” Minho didn’t miss the way Key’s eyes darted to Jonghyun or the way the young man’s face deepened in color at the look.
“Key’s personal problems aside, I think we are ready to go. Remember to stay connected and do not deviate from the plan,” Minho ordered. He gave each and every member around the room a pointed look. “Good, let’s load them up,” he ordered.
Various people climbed into five of the parked cars and started them up. “Are you sure I can’t drive her?” Key asked as he moved over to the red Porsche.
“No,” Minho replied promptly, climbing into his own Mustang and using the mirrors to back it out of the garage.
“She wants me!” Key yelled after him.
“Men,” Victoria scoffed as she walked by. “You know so little about cars. A car like this needs the touch of a woman.” She slid her delicate appearing fingers along the smooth red surface before gently opening the door and sliding in. “Would you like me to take you for a ride?” she asked him suggestively.
Key grinned and shot a look at Jonghyun, who was frowning at him. “I would like nothing better,” he purred, opening the door and sliding inside. She smiled at him, a smile declaring that she fully understood what his goal was and found it amusing. Key couldn’t think of a better way to spend the last few hours of his life than to be teasing the living daylights out of a certain young man. Not entirely true. He could think of one thing that would be better, but they needed Jonghyun for their plan to work, so it would have to wait.
Victoria backed the car out of the garage smoothly and backed it up the ramp and into the semi truck after Minho’s car. It was almost disturbing the ease that she maneuvered it with and he glanced at her. She cut the ignition on the car and rested back in her seat, eyes closed.
Once all five cars were loaded into the truck, they shut the door from the outside, locking them in the darkness. Victoria reached down and switched the GPS on. It glowed softly, its logo flashing for a moment before it cleared to the home screen.
“Is everyone on?” Sulli asked, her voice coming from the small device and accompanied by a tiny camera image of her. One by one the team sounded off, confirming that they were all present and operational. “We are going to get going. Amber is a great driver so you don’t have to worry. Stay safe everyone. I’ll be here with you the whole way.”
Luna’s face suddenly filled the screen. “And for heaven sakes Krystal, shift smoothly! I won’t be there to put in a new transmission if you ruin that one.”
“Don’t worry so much,” Krystal’s calm voice came over the device. “We were just getting to know each other. We are acquainted now.”
“Good,” Luna said firmly.
“Ok,” Sulli cut back in, pushing Luna aside. “Amber is getting ready to pull out. I’ll transmit the route to your GPS so that you all know where you are at all times. Good luck.” Key decided immediately that he did not like how uncertain this little girl was sounding.
There was a slight lurch as the truck began moving yet after a moment it settled into the steady hum of tires on the road and smoothed out. Key waited for a minute before yelling out his open window. “Hey Minho! What are we supposed to do now?”
“Now,” Minho replied, just loud enough to be heard. “We wait.”
“Great,” Key mumbled, “My least favorite thing.”
On the seat beside him, her eyes already closed in a peaceful slumber, the corners of Victoria’s mouth turned up in a smile.
Next
Pairing/Focus: Minho/Onew, Jonghyun/Key
Rating: R
Word count: 20,383
Summary: Minho never wanted this life for his little brother, but when Taemin finds himself in more trouble than he can handle. Minho will be forced to call in some old friends for help, including the one man who used to be so much more.
A/N: I owe my two wonderful beta’s a great deal, both of whom looked over this in only a day. Without them this whole thing would have made a lot less sense, so thank you my lovely ladies. Also these are the five cars mention in this fiction: Minho’s ’71 Charger, Krystal’s Lexus LFA, Taemin’s Nissan Skyline, Onew’s Aston Martin V12 Vantage, Victoria’s Porsche GT3
“You thought you could just not do the job and run away? That you could get away with that?” the man asks sharply, followed by a swift kick.
“No,” the young man moaned out, and curled in on himself, certain that his ribs cracked with the latest kick.
“You know,” a voice said dryly from somewhere behind him. “If you break his body he can’t really go and get anything for you, G. Dragon.”
There was a grumble of response then a sigh and suddenly a blond man’s face filled his vision. “Do I need to break all of your bones so that you understand what is going on?”
Before he could answer, his phone rang in his pocket the familiar ringtone that was set to his brother’s number. The swift fingers of the man snatched the device from the denim and lifted it. He studied the screen for a moment, likely trying to figure out who the name ‘the nag’ could be associated with before holding it out for the second man to take.
“Hello,” the man said calmly, as if it was normal to answer the phone of others.
‘Who is this?’ he could hear his brother’s voice on the other end of the phone, and he wondered for a moment, if it was normal for his hearing to be that sharp.
“That depends, who am I speaking with?” the man replied.
‘If you are one of Taemin’s friends he told to answer his phone, I suggest you hand it over to him,’ he could hear irritation in his brother’s voice and a part of him wanted to call out, but the threat of further beating was hanging, quite literally, over his body.
“I’m not a friend,” the man said, and he could hear the amusement in his voice. “And he can’t come to the phone right now.”
‘Who are you?’ his brother repeated, anger beginning to sneak into his voice.
“Someone for whom your brother should have finished what he started.”
‘What the hell have you-?’
“I have heard of you, Choi Minho,” the man said calmly, right over his brothers raging. “You are the man that they say could never be caught, as long as he had a car.”
‘I don’t do that anymore,’ his brother replied flatly.
“Well I certainly hope that you can recall your skills. If the job is not finished in 72 hours, your brother truly will not be able to come to the phone any longer.”
‘Taemin!’ his brother called, voice panicked. The man bent and laid the phone on the cold concrete beside Taemin’s head.
“Seventy two hours,” he repeated, and then flicked his hand toward the other man. The blond man snorted and rose, following him out of the building.
“You spoil all of my fun T.O.P,” he heard the man gripe before the door slammed behind them.
His brother’s voice was still coming from the phone on the ground. He tried to wiggle to it and pain flared up, white and hot along his side. “Minho,” he croaked, certain that he couldn’t really be heard anyway. Black spots were beginning to swim in his vision and no matter how hard he tried, he didn’t think he could stay awake a moment longer. The last thing he heard, as his eyes sagged closed, was the sound of his brother’s voice screaming his name.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Tires squealed along the pavement as they came to an abrupt stop, signaling that someone had arrived after a drive at high speed. At the moment, however, he couldn’t be bothered with caring about that. His brother was the only thing that mattered. There was no answer to the frantic calls he was making into the device in his hand and his efforts to discover what was needed in his desk, was only resulting in a scattered mess of papers that he would have to clean later.
“Minho!” a voice called sharply as the door banged open. He spun to find Jonghyun, one of Taemin’s friends, panting and bleeding from a cut across his cheek.
“Where is he?” Minho growled, pulling the phone away from his ear.
“There was a job that a friend took. It was a stupid idiot thing to do and Taemin just wanted to help so we took the job too, but it was asking us to do the impossible. He-”
Minho had crossed the room before Jonghyun could utter another word, fisted his hands in the young man’s shirt, and slammed him forcefully against the wall. He ignored the wince his actions produced. “Where is he?” he asked again, sounding dangerous.
“Warehouse, on the outskirts of town. It was the drop point. He was going to go tell them,” Jonghyun gasped out.
“And you let him go all by himself?” Minho growled. “How naive are you?! You don’t just fail a job and walk away from it!” He pulled Jonghyun way from the wall and then slammed him back into it for good measure. Then, he turned, flinging the younger man in the direction of the door.
Jonghyun stumbled outside and Minho followed, barely taking the time to close and lock the door behind him. He briskly moved around the house to a car covered with a tarp that was parked there. “Get in, we are going to go get him.”
With one hand Minho tugged the tarp, pulling it free and casting it carelessly to the ground. The other lifted the phone to his ear. “Hang on Taemin I’m on my way.”
-o-o-o-o-o-
“What the hell were you thinking?” Minho growled.
“He would have… died without our help,” Taemin groaned from the backseat.
“And you almost died for helping,” he snapped.
“In our defense-” Jonghyun started.
Minho cut him off. “You don’t get a defense. I told you to stay away from this life,” he glared through the rearview mirror at his younger brother. “I ordered you never to do anything like this. You can’t handle it, Taemin.”
“The hell I can’t!” the younger man snapped then winced and placed a hand lightly on his side. “I can drive just as well as you can, maybe better.”
“Then why did I have to come pick up your beaten ass in a warehouse?” Minho sounded dangerous and Jonghyun edged subtly closer to the far window.
“No one could do that job, not even you,” Taemin snapped. “My friend was an idiot for accepting it.”
“And you were an idiot for offering to help,” Minho shot back. “If you think you are going to live this life, then rule number one is never take a job you can’t complete.”
Taemin glared right back at his brother. “You think I would have taken a job to go into North Korea if I had known that was what it was?!”
At his words, Minho slammed on the breaks and jerked the steering wheel spinning the car and coming to a complete stop on the shoulder of the road, facing the opposite direction. Jonghyun was clutching the dashboard, face pale while Taemin’s clutched at his side. “You accepted a job to cross the border?” Minho said dangerously soft, turning to face his brother.
“I didn’t know,” Taemin groaned.
“The moment you find shit like that out, you bail. No one crosses the border both ways.” For a moment no one said anything, the younger two fearing what the elder man in the car would say. “Who ordered the job?”
“I don’t know,” Taemin mumbled. “They didn’t give us a name.”
“Who!?” Minho yelled, as if that would make his brother know things that he didn’t.
“I don’t know!” Taemin yelled back. Then softly, “One of them called the other G. Dragon. Then as they were leaving, he called the man that talked to you on the phone T.O.P.”
Minho’s face cleared and set expressionless. He turned back to face the road and shifted the car into gear. Picking up speed, he drove against traffic along the shoulder. Jonghyun closed his eyes to avoid the sight of it, but he still felt when Minho jerked onto the road, hit the break, downshifted, spun the car, and then shifted back into gear before accelerating.
“Minho?” Taemin said softly.
“Not a word Taemin,” Minho growled, “Thanks to you, we will probably all be dead in less than seventy two hours.”
-o-o-o-o-o-
“Where are we?” Jonghyun asked a few hours later as Minho put the car into park outside a building.
In the backseat, Taemin stirred from his dozing state and lifted his head. “Is this dad’s garage?” he mumbled. Minho didn’t say anything as he climbed out of the still running car and moved a small box outside one of the large doors. Quickly he keyed in a number and the door groaned before beginning to slide upwards.
By the time it had raised all the way, Minho had climbed back into his car and was pulling it carefully forward into the large space. Once inside he cut the engine and climbed out to close the door again. Taemin and Jonghyun climbed out as well, gazing around the space in awe.
Along the walls and ceiling were all the tools and equipment that was needed to build a car from the ground up. The massive space with only two doors allowing things in and out, looked like a large warehouse had been purchased and converted into a garage. In one corner was a simple cot and desk with a small refrigerator/freezer. The rest of the space was devoted to being a workspace, including a large work table near one wall. In half of the garage there were four tarp covered cars that Taemin longed to go and investigate.
“Damn,” Jonghyun whistled as he looked around the area.
“Watch your mouth,” Minho scolded as he moved back to them and put Taemin’s arm around his shoulder to help him over to the small living area. Jonghyun offered him a look like he hardly had room to talk, but said nothing in disagreement as he followed them across the room.
Minho deposited Taemin on the cot, pulled a small bag from a desk drawer and opened the door to the freezer. After depositing several ice cubes in the bag, he tied it shut and handed it to his brother.
“What is this place?” Jonghyun chanced asking. Minho, who was digging through a desk drawer looking for something, said nothing.
“I think,” Taemin said softly. “That it’s our dad’s garage.”
“You think?” Jonghyun asked, sounding puzzled.
“Yeah, I’ve never been here. Minho wouldn’t let me. Dad used to build the fastest cars in the country.”
“You couldn’t even come to your own family’s garage?” Jonghyun asked.
“I was trying to protect him from exactly this,” Minho growled. “Because this life killed dad before he could show Taemin this garage.” He waved a hand around the area angrily.
“It wasn’t the cars that killed dad,” Taemin snapped back, “It was the gun that some idiot pointed at him.”
“The gun,” Minho glowered as he turned to look at his brother, “was only pointed at him because he couldn’t help getting mixed up with people like T.O.P. Where do you think he got the money for all of these cars?” Before Taemin could respond he snapped the drawer shut with a loud clatter. “I have to go make some calls.” Taemin said nothing as he watched his brother storm to the far end of the space.
-o-o-o-o-o-
“Thanks, I’ll see you in a few hours,” Minho said into the phone softly before he ended the call. He glanced down at the sheet of paper with names and numbers that he had printed on it not thirty minutes earlier. Only one name remained without a slash through it.
He took a deep breath and dialed the numbers before he could stop himself. The soft trill of the ring sounded in his ear twice before it was answer by a familiar voice. ‘Jinki’s delivery service, how can I help you?’
“Onew,” he breathed softly.
There was a moment of silence, then the voice replied, ‘Minho.’ The cheer that had previously been present in the voice had vanished, replaced by a flatness that made his chest clench painfully.
“I need your help,” Minho said slowly.
‘My answer is no.’
Afraid that the phone would be hung up before he could say what he need to, words spilled out of Minho’s mouth rapidly. “Taemin took a job he has no business taking, the clock is ticking and if he fails then it’s game over.”
Taemin had always been something that they had both cared about no matter what was going on between them. ‘How long?’ Onew asked after a pause.
Minho checked his watch, “Sixty eight hours.”
Silence stretched between them, long enough that Minho feared they had been disconnected. Then Onew’s voice sounded from the other end again. ‘I’ll be there.’ It was followed immediately by a click, signaling that the call had been ended.
“Thank you,” Minho whispered into the phone before pulling it away from his ear. He had done all he could do, now all that was left for him to do, was to wait.
-o-o-o-o-o-
“This is the place? You’re certain?” the young woman asked her. Sulli glanced her way with narrowed eyes and she sighed. “I mean I know you’re sure but can we trust these guys?”
“Amber,” Sulli said patiently as she downshifted so her car could more easily handle the two track gravel drive. “I’ve been working with Minho since I was eight. I’m sure.”
“If you are sure that is good enough for me,” Amber agreed just as the building came into sight. A large garage door was open with a black car parked inside. She was no expert in cars, but that wasn’t what she was here for anyway. Bent over the engine was a young man with tussled dark brown hair. Tall and toned, he wasn’t exactly her type, but he was nice to look at anyway.
Sulli pulled up just outside the door and he glanced up and smiled faintly. A gesture waved them inside and she carefully nudged the car forward, pulling it past his and into the garage. Once inside, she cut the engine and both of the women climbed out.
“Sulli,” the man greeted her warmly, pulling her into a hug. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Sulli replied, and she could see the affection in the younger woman as she returned the affectionate gesture. Then pulling away she gestured her direction, “This is Amber.”
“Ah, I hear you are a language expert,” Minho said, his voice falling into the dialect of the area they were currently in and extending his hand.
“I am,” she answered in kind, taking the offered hand to shake. “I know a bit.”
“A bit?” Sulli laughed. “She speaks English, Korean, Mandarin, Thai, and Cantonese fluently. She also speaks a bit of Spanish, and she can speak almost every dialect of Korean for both the South and the North.”
Minho smiled at the young woman’s boasting. “A good talent to have.”
“I thought you were putting together a team?” Sulli asked him, “for a sizable job? Where is everyone else?”
“They should be here at any point,” he told her. “Once they are, then I’ll tell everyone exactly what is going on.”
“Well then,” she said with a sweet smile as she linked her arm with his. “What does a girl have to do to get a drink around here?”
-o-o-o-o-o-
Taemin had seen his brother many ways over the years. He had been certain that his brother was the most at home in the garage, that he was comfortable with cars. His brother, he had known, was a natural leader even though the only time he had seen him take charge was when he had accompanied Taemin’s class on a field trip and three students had wandered off. Minho was nearly brilliant, since the way Taemin figured it, it took a lot of brains to finish college, work and take care of a sibling all at the same time. He knew all of this about his brother, but never had he seen Minho quite the way he was now.
His brother stood in his white muscle shirt smeared with grease, staring down at an engine with a young woman that Taemin didn’t know, arguing over something about it. Yet at the same time, he knew that Minho was aware of where everyone was in the room. The three women behind a computer, the woman cleaning a gun while leaning against the bike she had ridden in on, and the young man with colored streaks in his hair who seemed to be talking at her rather than to her.
He watched Minho glance their direction for a moment before looking back towards the young woman who was talking to him still. His brother seemed to be waiting for something or rather someone judging by the way he kept glancing towards the open door.
A car purred up to the door and the engine cut. Taemin would know the sound of that car anywhere and he climbed off the cot, wincing as he stretched his side causing pain to flare up. That didn’t stop him from moving forward so that he had a clear view of the man that climbed out of the car.
“Onew!” Taemin called. For a moment, the man that he hadn’t seen in five years, looked at his brother for a long minute before his gaze shifted and he smiled.
“Taemin,” he said affectionately as he pulled the younger man into his arms. “What sort of trouble have you found yourself in now?” he asked.
Taemin winced both in pain from the hug and at the fact he had caused trouble for anyone. “It isn’t like I do this all the time.”
“No, you’re right. I think this is the first time you have done something this truly stupid,” Onew scolded. The younger man swallowed thickly and Onew laughed. “Don’t worry, we will get this taken care of before you even have time to worry about it.”
The man’s eyes scanned the rest of the room and then he nodded, “Looks like I’m the last to arrive. Let’s go see what your brother has planned.” Together they walked to where Minho was still leaning over his car, Onew’s arm around his shoulders supported him more than he would have guessed he needed.
“That should do it,” the young woman said with a smile. “She should purr like a kitten for you now. As long as you treat her right of course.”
“She ran fine before,” Minho replied sounding exasperated as he lowered the hood of his car and then closed it. With it down it was as if he was just seeing Onew for the first time and he offered the man a curt nod, “Onew.”
“Minho,” Onew returned, his face unusually expressionless. It wasn’t what Taemin had expected. After all it had been five years since the two had seen each other and they had been closer than anyone he had ever seen.
Something in his brother shifted and it was if all his walls were up, in a way that Taemin hadn’t seen since their father had died. The sight of it made him frown as he and Onew followed Minho to the work table in the middle of the room where the three girls were already at a computer.
“Now that we are all present we can get started,” Minho stated calmly.
“Finally,” Jonghyun said with a sigh, dragging his stool closer to the table before perching on it again.
Minho offered him a chilling look before continuing. “You all know you are here for a job and I’m certain that most of you have figured that it is a large one due to the number of people gathered here. In short we have sixty three hours to cross the border into North Korea, pick up three cases of unknown contents and make it back across. If there is pay we will split it equally but the payment for completion may simply be the life of my brother. I can’t force any of you to go on this job with me, but most of you owe me a favor, I’m calling that due if you let me.”
He paused for a moment, as if he was waiting for someone to leave. When no one moved he continued. “The job is ordered by T.O.P, one of the richest CEOs in Korea. He is famous for producing fine jewelry and fabrics that no one else can. If he wants something he can just get it since he is a multi-billionaire. The fact that he hired some stupid kids to do this job means that he either can’t get anyone to go and pick things up for him over the border, or that he wants to assess the danger before throwing away his own people. I’m guessing the latter.”
Minho spread a map out on the table. “This,” he pointed at a spot just north of the border of the two Koreas, “is the pickup point. Once we have what we came for, we have to get it back across the border and to a warehouse here,” he tapped the map again, “to drop it off.”
“Oh sounds simple,” the young man with streaks of color in his hair said, “except for the small fact that crossing the border once is difficult, twice in a short period would be impossible.”
“That is why you are all here,” Minho said.
“No offence Minho,” the young man replied, “the ladies are nice to look at, especially this sexy little fox right here,” his gaze flicked over to the young woman who still held a gun, “but besides eye candy they aren’t going to be much good.” The young woman beside him snapped a clip into her gun with a dangerous smile.
“I’m pretty sure that not only could Victoria beat you in a fight,” Minho replied smoothly, “she could beat you on the street too. Meet the expert in weapons and agile motion in vehicles.” The young woman whom he had just named, tucked her gun in its holster against her upper thigh.
“I’m sure,” the young man said as he looked her over.
“Try it any time you like,” she replied to his gaze, “but you might find a surprise.” Her voice was heavily accented, indicating that she didn’t come for Korea.
“This is Sulli,” Minho continued.
“A kid,” the young man added helpfully.
“If it is technology she can work it. Any computer system she can crack, almost better than you can,” Minho added.
The young man snorted, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“And Amber,” Minho named the blond haired young woman standing beside Sulli. “I have been told she an expert in language and dialect. Krystal,” he gestured the third woman behind Sulli, “is one of the best drivers I have seen. This is Luna,” he gestured to the young woman who had been looking over the car with him. She smiled sweetly and Taemin decided the messy pile of blond hair pulled onto the top of her head coupled with the streak of grease across her cheek, suited her. “She can build a car from the ground up better than any man I know.”
“The annoying one is Key who is pretty much useless most of the time,” Minho told them.
“Excuse me?” the young man snapped back. “There isn’t a lock I can’t crack or a thing I can’t open.” Taemin rolled his eyes at the man and then snorted under his breath at Jonghyun who couldn’t seem to take his eyes off the newly introduced Key.
“Then we have the idiots responsible for this mess, Jonghyun, and my brother Taemin,” he gestured to both.
“And finally Onew,” Taemin noted that his brother didn’t look at the man when he said his name. There was a pause, then “a friend.”
“Wait, like the Onew. The one who has never been beaten on any Circuit?” Luna asked excitedly. “That Onew?”
Onew shifted uncomfortably beside Taemin, not liking the praise. “Yeah that is me I guess.”
The gaze Luna fixed him with was somewhere between awe and wonder, “Can I see your car?”
“Uh sure?” Onew answered nervously.
Minho’s hand on her arm stopped her. “Later, right now we have work to do. We have to find a way across the border and back again.”
“Well with this team it should be a bang up task,” Key grumbled. Minho shot him a look as he pulled Luna towards Sulli’s computer, avoiding the entire time, Taemin noted, even glancing at Onew.
-o-o-o-o-o-
“This might just work,” Sulli declared with a small smile as she leaned back in her chair.
Minho who was working on cleaning a piece of a car engine, placed it on the table beside her computer and moved closer. “You found a way in?” he asked.
“And out,” Sulli agreed with a nod. A few clicks had displayed a glowing line over what looked like a terrain map.
Onew, called over by her declaration, stepped closer peering at the screen. “This,” he said, leaning forward and placing a hand on Minho’s shoulder to balance himself as he did so, “is where we cross the border?” He pointed to the spot.
Minho tried to focus on their conversation, on the important details they were discussing, and far away from the hand on his shoulder that was sending warmth spreading through him. Likely Onew didn’t even realize who he had placed a hand on, simply that there had been a place for him to stabilize. His guess was confirmed when Onew’s gaze sliced sideways and his hand was removed abruptly as if it had been burned.
“It is,” she confirmed. Minho swallowed and looked back at the screen, trying to ignore the other man. “I’m still trying to work out the details of all of it, but I think I have the path down.”
Minho nodded. “Key, Jonghyun, get on this with her. Find us a way in.”
Jonghyun nodded, clearly eager to have been asked to do something, while Key looked like he was planning on protesting rather loudly. He didn’t disappoint as not a second later he muttered, “Great everyone else gets to work on a car or play with guns and I have to help the toddler and one of the idiots who got us all into this mess, figure out how to get us out of it.”
“So what you are saying,” Victoria said smoothly, looking down the length of one of her guns, “is that you are not smart enough to figure out how to get us through the border.”
“I could do that in my sleep,” he snapped back.
She glanced pointedly at the computer. “Really?”
“Yes really. Move over,” he ordered Sulli, as he pulled up a chair. She frowned at him but scooted to the side to give him room.
Minho nodded, satisfied that they were working and moved back to the piece of one of the cars he had been working on. A least that was something he knew was consistent and would likely never bother him like the feeling of Onew’s less than subtle glances at him did.
-o-o-o-o-o-
“I didn’t even know there was a house back here,” Taemin murmured softly.
“There wasn’t,” Onew answered, swirling the liquid in the bottle he was drinking out of. “Your brother had it built after we started doing more jobs. He doesn’t like everyone in the garage all the time and he needed somewhere to kick them to.”
That sounded exactly like his brother, especially since he had eventually done just that. It wasn’t as though the small bathroom, tiny bedroom, and a room that doubled as the kitchen and living room could count as a house, but it was somewhere to rest. Half of their team was spread out either upon the furniture or floor, dozing while they could. “You guys spent a lot of time here didn’t you?”
He watched Onew’s eyes scan the small space as if he was seeing something else then what was currently there. “We did,” he murmured.
“Why did you leave?” Taemin asked softly. “I used to see you around all the time, then one day you were gone and Minho never told me why.”
Onew didn’t answer right away as he drained the remainder of his bottle. He set the glass object down on the countertop, careful to make as little noise as possible. “Things change,” he replied simply. Then, “You should get some rest while you can, and get some more ice on those ribs or you will regret it.” He didn’t wait for Taemin to answer before turning and walking back out the door, disappearing into the darkness.
-o-o-o-o-o-
He was growing older by the minute, of that he was certain. In fact he would hardly be surprised if he found grey hairs on his head the next time he checked. He hadn’t been able to stand one more squabble from Sulli, Key and Jonghyun or the racket that the rest of the team was making. Luna accidently dropping the wrench had been the last straw on his patience and he had banished everyone from the garage for two hours, purely to give him some time of peace. It probably wasn’t the wisest decision on his part, but if they were in the small house and not in the garage, at least he wouldn’t have to watch Taemin making eyes at Krystal every time he turned around.
He was up to his elbows in the front of one of his cars when he heard the door open. Whoever it was stepped in silently and closed the door behind them, giving him time to finish replacing the piece he held before speaking. Minho pulled his hands out of the car and wiped as much grease as he could off on a towel before glancing behind him.
Onew was leaning casually against the wall, arms crossed, and watching him work. His gaze made warmth spread through Minho’s body that wasn’t entirely welcome, at least not anymore. “Couldn’t stand them anymore?” he asked, turning back to his car and loosening a bolt just so he could tighten it again.
“Taemin was asking why I left,” Onew said simply.
“I’m surprised he is the only one,” Minho replied with a snort. “Most of them knew us at one time or another, from back then.”
“They know to leave well enough alone. Taemin is still a child. He never should have been allowed to get himself into this,” Onew’s voice was soft, deceptively calm.
“It wasn’t like I just let him run out and jump on the most dangerous job he could find. Hell I didn’t even let the kid near a car. He stole one of mine, and crashed it for all the good it did him,” Minho snapped.
“They say the more you keep a toy from a child, the more he will want it.”
Minho’s hand tightened around the wrench in his hand. He wanted to lash out at something, but after the hours he had put into his car, he could hardly hit it. “If criticizing the way I’ve been raising Taemin is all you are here to do, then you can just leave. I can do this job without you.”
“Can you?” there was a tone in Onew’s voice that was off, and different from anything he had ever heard. “I was under the impression that it took some desperate need to contact me after nothing for five years.”
Minho understood what he was really saying, what it was, or at least a part of what it was, that was bothering Onew. “I was busy trying to keep my family feed without resorting to anything illegal.”
“Ah, so busy you couldn’t even pick up the phone when I called,” Onew muttered sarcastically.
His words were the last straw for Minho and he spun, hurling the tool in his hand to the ground with a clatter. “You don’t get to say a word about that. You left us, remember? Left us with an unfinished job, and a twelve year old with a head full of promises.”
Onew’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t make this about Taemin. It has always been all about you.”
“About me?” Minho laughed in disbelief. “You walked away Jinki. You just left, without a word or explanation.”
“And your,” Onew snapped back, pushing away from the wall, his voice rising, “damn pride wouldn’t even let you pick up the phone for the explanation!”
“I’m right here aren’t I?!” Minho spread his arms. “What could ever have possessed you to walk away from your family?!” Minho shouted right back.
Onew’s face fell for a moment before the anger returned to his eyes. “I saw you with her!”
Minho froze, entirely at a loss for what Onew was talking about. “What?”
“Krystal,” he snapped. “I saw you with her on your bed.”
“Christ Onew,” Minho replied gesturing wildly as the moments Onew was talking about replayed in his head. “She was sixteen. She fell asleep at the work table and I moved her to the cot so that she could be comfortable and get some good rest. What the hell did you think happened?”
“What do you think I thought?” Onew hissed. “I know you. Too much testosterone for anyone. For all I know you were planning to screw her senseless and then work your way through the rest of the team.”
Suddenly angry, Minho stormed forward, forcing Onew back against the wall. He slapped a hand on either side of the man’s head and stared into the eyes that were burning with intensity. “The only member of the team,” he said lowly, his voice dark, “that I ever screwed senseless, is you. So when Taemin asks you why you left, you tell him the truth, that you were too much of an untrusting idiot to actually talk to me before deciding things for yourself.”
“That isn’t why,” Onew said softly, his eyes falling.
“Then what is your reason?” Minho growled.
“If I didn’t leave, I was afraid I would do something I would regret.”
Minho couldn’t stand to see the fear of the undone in his eyes and surprisingly it softened him. “Not you Jinki, you wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“You’re wrong,” Onew whispered. “I would kill to protect you, and Taemin. I would kill, for you.”
Minho wasn’t certain what caused him to shift forward. Perhaps it was the whispered words that although steady and uncertain, were mutual in his heart as well. Perhaps it was the look on Onew’s face, the look of a man who knew what he was capable of and was terrified by it. Or perhaps it was that he had never forgotten, could never forget, what it was that had walked out of his life. Regardless of the reason he edged forward, nudging at Onew’s lips with his own, encouraging him to tip his head back and give into the press.
For a moment, Onew’s eyes sagged closed and he pressed his lips against Minho’s. It was as if no time had passed between him, and Minho shifted, kissing the man just as he knew he liked to be kissed. Soft presses of lips with a teasing nip here and there, pulled a shiver from Onew and only encouraged him further. Minho tilted his head slightly, asking with his mouth for permission to deepen the kiss and Onew gave with a soft sound.
It was the sound that pulled him back to reality, and Minho pulled his lips away faster then he would have liked to. “I have to go finish my car,” he breathed against Onew’s lips, glad for the excuse of something else to do. He was tempted to steal another kiss, but that would only make things even more complicated than they already were. Instead he pulled away, turning and moving back to his car. There was a belt that needed to be put back into place and he immediately set back to work on that. Only after he had wrestled it back to where it belonged, did he chance looking back, and when he did, he found that Onew was gone.
-o-o-o-o-o-
“Minho, I think I am in love with your car,” Key purred as he ran finger tips over the hood of a red Porsche GT3.
Minho finished tightening the windshield wiper and then glanced at where the voice had come from. He took note of the car, one of his father’s prized ones, and the look of lust on Key’s face. Just beyond him Jonghyun was wearing the same expression but he was not, Minho noted, looking at the car. “Key, there is no way you are going to be anywhere near the driver’s seat of that car.”
Key gave him an indignant look. “Why not?” Then he ran his fingers over it again, “She suits me.”
“Because I have seen how you drive. Since our goal is to get through the border, not wrapped around a tree meters from it, you are not driving,” Minho said shortly, turning his attention back to the car he was tuning up, a silver Aston Martin V12 Vantage.
“That was one time!” Key exclaimed, scowling. “And it wasn’t a tree.”
“You’re right,” Minho agreed, not looking up. “It was a traffic sign.”
“No one looked at that sign anyway!”
“Sure, they didn’t,” Taemin added with a grin.
“Shut up!” Key snapped. “You were like, ten. You weren’t even there.”
“What were you doing driving seven years ago?” Taemin snapped back, his grin widening. “Weren’t you like, thirteen?”
Minho laughed, still focused on the car. “When the car you are in is one you picked up from the side of the road, things like a license to drive become technical details.”
“You stole a car when you were thirteen?” Jonghyun asked, awe in his voice.
“Several, actually,” Key sounded smug.
“And he ended up owing the person who sent him on the jobs more times than not,” Onew added. Jonghyun snorted.
“You shut up,” Key snapped. “At least I have stolen a car. You are clearly a car-stealing virgin.”
Jonghyun flushed bright red. “I am not!”
“Really?” Key’s grin was dangerous. “Clearly there is something virginal about you,” he murmured.
Minho turned to see Key sauntering closer to where Jonghyun was turning a deeper shade of red by the moment. “There is nothing virginal about me,” he stuttered.
“Mm, so,” Key was close enough to reach out a drag a single finger down Jonghyun’s neck. “How loud did you make her moan?” Jonghyun sputtered as if he didn’t know what to say about that. “Or maybe a him is more your preference.”
Jonghyun looked as though he wanted to melt into the floor or simply die on the spot. Minho was about to move to pull him away when Krystal beat him to it. “Come on, Tiger,” she said with a grin, wrapping her fingers in the back of Key’s shirt and tugging him away. “Can’t have you causing any aneurisms for the team. That would be messy and I’m not cleaning that up.”
“I would never!” Key replied, feigning shock. “I can’t get blood on these clothes.”
“Then I suggest you cool it a bit,” she grinned at him. “Especially since Victoria was irritated enough she might have put a bullet in you. Or at least something sharp.”
Key glanced to the young woman who was polishing a dagger and grinned. “Have I told you lately how hot it is that a chick can handle a dagger like that?” he asked, sauntering over to her.
“Have I told you lately how easily a man’s body parts can leave his body?” she returned, her accent coming in thicker than usual.
“I like a woman who is good with her tools,” he retorted.
Minho rolled his eyes and glanced back to Jonghyun who looked grateful that he had been saved, but a bit irritated as well. He sighed and turned his attention back to the car beneath his hands. The last thing he needed on top of the job that could cost them all their lives, were a couple of confused individuals who couldn’t figure out their own desires.
-o-o-o-o-o-
It was quiet at last in the garage. Sulli, whom had worked on it for thirty-three hours straight, had finally solidified all of the details of the plan into something acceptable. As soon as she had finished, Minho had sent a portion of the team off on separate tasks to obtain the final things necessary for the plan and sent her to bed. Krystal, despite her protests, had been sent off to bed as well.
In hindsight, it may not have been a great idea to send Jonghyun and Key on the same job together, but he needed Key’s skills and someone to drive him that could afford to lose a bit of sleep. Since it didn’t seem as though Jonghyun would be getting much rest anyway due to all of the extra energy he seemed to have discovered around Key, he had simply gone with his gut.
Taemin was, finally, getting some much needed healing rest, and he had sent Onew back into the small house with his brother to make him more comfortable. Amber had decided to head to the library and study up on the skills she would need for their task and had taken Victoria with her. Minho was glad for that since as much as he knew they might need Victoria, the ease with which she handled a great variety of weapons greatly unnerved him.
With everyone else banished from the garage, it left Luna and himself to put the finishing touches on the cars they had been working on. Two of the cars had been sitting for longer then he knew. The other two had only been used on and off for the past few years, leaving only his own black mustang as a regularly used car. They had test driven them earlier, and every one had handled fine now that they were through with them.
Luna was putting the final touches on the cars which involved a thick green substance in a bucket that she was wiping onto the windows with a rag. Every sweep of her hand made him wince. “I hope you know what you are doing,” he murmured.
She offered him a look, “I have been rebuilding cars since I was three years old. I think I know exactly what I am doing.”
“It’s just that…” he trailed off, not certain he really wanted to finish that statement.
“You don’t like that a woman is touching your cars,” she finished for him, dipping the rag back into the bucket.
“What is it with men anyway?” she asked with a sigh dragging the rag over the windshield again. “They love a woman to bring them satisfaction and touch them all over their body, but when a woman tries to lay her hands on their cars they freak out.”
Minho laughed, “I’m not freaking out.”
“Yes, you are,” she gestured to his legs. “You have shifted your weight over a hundred times since I started. Go away so I can work.”
He chuckled, knowing that she was correct. “Alright, alright,” he agreed, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. Then as he turned and walked away, he couldn’t resist one more comment, “by the way, women don’t touch my body either. I prefer only men touching my cars, as well as everything else that is mine.” He heard he sputter in surprise and he grinned as he moved back to his car.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Minho must have had a sadistic streak, Key decided, and he rather liked what it had produced. In the driver’s seat of the car, some model that he hadn’t cared to memorize since it was nothing but ordinary, Jonghyun shifted for the hundredth time. Key was highly amused that he had to do little more than look at the man to pull a reaction from him. It wasn’t as though the looks were particularly remarkable either. Admittedly he had thrown in one sultry look just for flair, but primarily they bordered on curiosity.
He had been joking when he had dropped the line about virginity, but it seemed as though he had struck a nerve somewhere in the young man. Besides Key was hardly naive and always aware of just when someone was lusting for him. If this kid wasn’t lusting after him, then he wasn’t a man.
“Relax,” Key murmured, “you are acting like you are a virgin in this, too.”
Jonghyun blanched just as Key expected. “It isn’t like I make a habit of stealing semi trucks,” he stammered, “or have ever stolen one for that matter.”
“Don’t worry, babe, stealing one type of vehicle is just like sex. Once you have done one, you can do anything,” Key said with a smirk.
Color rushed back into Jonghyun’s face so quickly that Key was pondering if he should stop just so the young man didn’t have a stroke or something of the sort. However Key could hardly simply let it go. “But if you have never had sex either, well, then we might have problems.”
“I-” he stuttered.
“Don’t worry, babe,” Key repeated softly, leaning over and placing a hand high on Jonghyun’s thigh. “I’ll do all the hard work; all you have to do is sit back and reap the benefits.” He was talking about the approaching theft, but clearly Jonghyun took it differently as he swerved out of his lane and then back into it.
“Key,” he hissed.
“Call me Kibum,” Key purred. Jonghyun flushed further and Key decided right then and there that this was his new favorite game.
“Kibum,” Jonghyun murmured, then with more force, “If you don’t want me to start driving like you, please remove your hand.”
That was simply insulting and Key jerked his hand away, sitting back in his seat. “Fine, I was just trying to get you to loosen up.”
There was a long pause then, “I’ll return the favor soon.” Jonghyun’s voice was tentative and unsteady, but Key was amused with the attempt.
“I’ll hold you to that,” he replied, satisfied for the moment.
-o-o-o-o-o-
He had checked and checked again every inch of all of the cars, but with less than thirty hours to go before they were out of time to do what needed to be done, he knew they could afford no mistakes. It wasn’t as though he could sleep anyway. Too much was on the line for him to be able to quiet his mind properly for that.
The GPS system that had been installed into the dash of his ‘71 Charger was properly functional and linked with Sulli’s computer, but he powered it up again, just to double check. He was in the process of pushing the button to pull up the main menu when he heard the door open and footsteps on the garage floor.
“I told you to go to bed,” he scolded, powering down the GPS and climbing out of the car. His speech was half prepared in his mind when he turned and actually looked at the person who had entered the garage.
“I stopped listening to what you told me to do years ago,” Onew replied, a soft smile on his face.
“Oh,” Minho murmured, at a loss for what else to say. “Is Taemin alright?” His brother seemed like a safe topic to bring up between them.
“Taemin is fine. Sleeping like a baby after what he did with Krystal.”
“What?! What happened?” Minho pressed, all awkwardness forgotten as he slammed his car door closed perhaps a bit harder then he meant too.
Onew smiled at Minho’s tone, not bothered in the slightest, but perhaps that had been the goal all along. “Oh, Krystal got tired of him staring at her and she told him to either make a move or, and I quote, ‘get the hell over it’. Taemin kissed her right then and there.”
“I’m going to kill him,” Minho muttered.
“Why? Kissing people senseless must run in the family, since she was hardly complaining.”
Minho wasn’t certain how to answer that so he went with honesty. “Sorry about last night. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“I believe that was how we ended up in this predicament in the first place, because one of us wasn’t thinking straight,” Onew said softly, moving forward.
“Don’t,” Minho murmured, holding out a hand.
In a matter of moments, Onew’s chest was pressed to the outstretched palm and continued to press forward until Minho had backed against the car, trapped there by Onew’s body. “Don’t what?” Onew challenged.
“Start something that we can’t finish,” Minho breathed, curling his fingers into fists to keep from reaching for the man.
“Who says we can’t finish it?” Onew asked, leaning forward the rest of the way and capturing Minho’s lips.
It was hardly fair that after five years Onew still remembered what he liked, still remembered the teasing swipe of tongue followed by the invitation that would make him come undone. It was like the first time all over again, yet so very different. Back then Onew had been spread over the hood of his car, now he was pressed against the door, trapped by the heat of the other man’s body, and finding out first-hand just how difficult it was to continue with conscious thought when being kissed there like that.
“Jinki,” he murmured into the other man’s mouth, his hand on the man’s chest sliding lower to curve around his waist. His other hand reached up to cradle the back of Onew’s head and tug him closer, as if he couldn’t get enough of him. Onew’s hands were bracing him against the car, but he chanced moving one so he could run it down Minho’s side, then up and under his thin shirt.
“Wait,” he gasped, tearing his mouth away, fighting for the last shred of control he had. “Jinki, I can’t. Not for just one night. I can’t.”
“Who said anything about just one night?” Onew asked, dipping his head and pressing his lips to Minho’s neck.
A deep breathy sigh left Minho as he tipped his head to the side, giving the man more access. “Different lives,” he muttered struggling to want to put up a protest.
“I run a legitimate business now,” Onew murmured into his skin. “I have lots of clients willing to pay me real honest money for what I do. I could use a partner.”
“Taemin,” Minho tried futilely.
“We could keep him out of trouble together,” Onew reassured him.
“But,” Minho tried to find another protest, something that would prove that this was an all around bad idea.
“I never stopped wanting you,” Onew whispered, pulling his head back so they could look at each other.
Minho swallowed thickly. Truthfully there hadn’t been a single day where he hadn’t missed this, missed Onew and his smiles, his touch, his laughter, and everything else about him. “I missed you,” he admitted, not wanting to sound too pathetic.
“Then stop resisting me,” Onew ordered with a grin. His hand slid down to Minho’s thigh and as he leaned in to capture the man’s lips again, he gave a sharp tug, lifting the leg and shifting his hips. The motion brought his body in closer so that when he rolled his hips, Minho could feel the full slide of his body and it was just as he remembered.
-o-o-o-o-o-
“Lee Taemin, one kiss does not mean you own me!” she declared, storming after him.
“I almost got killed trying to do this job. There is no way I am letting you risk yourself,” he argued, heading straight for the door.
“I will have you know,” she announced as she leapt in front of him and thrust a hand onto his chest to hold him back. “That I have been driving cars since before you were even thinking about it. I have been shot, broken three ribs and my left arm. I have totaled six cars and still am alive to tell the tale. And,” she jabbed a finger into his chest to make her point. “I have been successfully completing jobs with your brother since I was fifteen. I have no plans to stop now.”
“You are not that much older than me,” Taemin snapped, the only thing he could come up with after her argument. “I don’t care. I’m going to Minho and asking him to pull you off the job.”
She released a frustrated noise as he pushed around her and out the front door of the house. “This isn’t a military establishment!” she yelled from the front step. “Minho can’t order me off the job! And he won’t anyway! He called me to come and be on the job!”
“Then if you are so certain of that, you won’t mind me going to tell him!” Taemin retorted, not halting his progress through the yard to the garage.
“Ugh!” she exclaimed, stomping after him. “If you think that we will be in any sort of relationship after this you are poorly mistaken!”
“I’ll take my chances!” he snapped, hand on the door handle.
“I will break your ribs!”
“Already been there and what are you? Five?” He pulled open the door. “I’m going to tell him to take you off and there will be nothing you can do about it.” Taemin strode into the garage intent on finding his brother and froze when a loud moan echoed through the area.
“Minho, don’t-” Krystal began, storming in behind him, but digressed into muffled mumbles when Taemin’s hand covered her mouth.
“Shh,” Taemin hissed. “Don’t disturb them.” Confused, she mumbled into his hand a string of syllables that sounded suspiciously like curse words. “Shh, I have been waiting for five years for them to get back to this.”
She glanced up, following his gaze, until it fell on the cot in the corner of the room. Upon it, were two men intertwined in pleasure. Krystal released a squeak and backpedaled directly into Taemin’s body.
“About damn time,” Taemin murmured, sounding proud, then he shuddered. Walking in on his brother while engaged in his current activities was much like walking in on his parents, he reasoned. As excited as any child was that their parents were still in love, the last thing a child wanted to do was think about their parents having sex. She clenched her eyes shut, not believing how Taemin could act this calmly. She would never be able to look at Minho the same now.
“I’ll just have to tell on you later,” he whispered to her. “Let’s get out of here before we get scared for life.”
He walked backwards towing her after him. She knew she should really make a comment about there being nothing to tell, but the only image she could see in her mind was of Minho, without his clothing, poised over Onew in the same state.
-o-o-o-o-o-
“Why does this always happen on nights before we think we are going to die?” Onew asked, holding up their intertwined hands so he could marvel at it.
Against his back, Minho snorted. “Probably because we think we could die so we might as well have one last time.”
“It makes the sex good,” Onew mused, shifting backwards into Minho’s body.
“Mm,” he hummed in agreement and placed a soft kiss to the back of Onew’s neck. “The sex with you is always good.”
Onew smiled. “How are we going to tell Taemin?”
“We are not,” Minho said firmly. “He does not need to know that sex exists, let alone who is having it.”
A chuckle came from the man in front of him. “Taemin is not a child anymore. He knows what sex is and I guarantee you that the moment he finds out we are around each other again, he will figure out that we are having sex as well.”
“We are not telling him,” Minho said firmly. Any response that Onew might have made was cut off by the rumble of a large engine outside the garage. “Either that is the truck that we needed, or someone has come to rob this garage.”
“Either way,” Onew said with a grin. “I think we are going to need some pants.”
-o-o-o-o-o-
“Alright,” Minho began after a deep breath. “We have one hour before we set the plan into motion. Any questions before that point?”
“I have one?” Key asked with a sarcastic smile. “Is it before I go into North Korea or after, that I put my head between my legs and kiss my ass goodbye?”
Minho gave him a look that clearly said he was not going to dignify that with an answer. Victoria smiled dangerously at him. “I would like to see you pull that off.”
“I’m incredibly flexible,” Key replied, his voice dropping in tone. “It gives me a certain advantage for certain things.” Minho didn’t miss the way Key’s eyes darted to Jonghyun or the way the young man’s face deepened in color at the look.
“Key’s personal problems aside, I think we are ready to go. Remember to stay connected and do not deviate from the plan,” Minho ordered. He gave each and every member around the room a pointed look. “Good, let’s load them up,” he ordered.
Various people climbed into five of the parked cars and started them up. “Are you sure I can’t drive her?” Key asked as he moved over to the red Porsche.
“No,” Minho replied promptly, climbing into his own Mustang and using the mirrors to back it out of the garage.
“She wants me!” Key yelled after him.
“Men,” Victoria scoffed as she walked by. “You know so little about cars. A car like this needs the touch of a woman.” She slid her delicate appearing fingers along the smooth red surface before gently opening the door and sliding in. “Would you like me to take you for a ride?” she asked him suggestively.
Key grinned and shot a look at Jonghyun, who was frowning at him. “I would like nothing better,” he purred, opening the door and sliding inside. She smiled at him, a smile declaring that she fully understood what his goal was and found it amusing. Key couldn’t think of a better way to spend the last few hours of his life than to be teasing the living daylights out of a certain young man. Not entirely true. He could think of one thing that would be better, but they needed Jonghyun for their plan to work, so it would have to wait.
Victoria backed the car out of the garage smoothly and backed it up the ramp and into the semi truck after Minho’s car. It was almost disturbing the ease that she maneuvered it with and he glanced at her. She cut the ignition on the car and rested back in her seat, eyes closed.
Once all five cars were loaded into the truck, they shut the door from the outside, locking them in the darkness. Victoria reached down and switched the GPS on. It glowed softly, its logo flashing for a moment before it cleared to the home screen.
“Is everyone on?” Sulli asked, her voice coming from the small device and accompanied by a tiny camera image of her. One by one the team sounded off, confirming that they were all present and operational. “We are going to get going. Amber is a great driver so you don’t have to worry. Stay safe everyone. I’ll be here with you the whole way.”
Luna’s face suddenly filled the screen. “And for heaven sakes Krystal, shift smoothly! I won’t be there to put in a new transmission if you ruin that one.”
“Don’t worry so much,” Krystal’s calm voice came over the device. “We were just getting to know each other. We are acquainted now.”
“Good,” Luna said firmly.
“Ok,” Sulli cut back in, pushing Luna aside. “Amber is getting ready to pull out. I’ll transmit the route to your GPS so that you all know where you are at all times. Good luck.” Key decided immediately that he did not like how uncertain this little girl was sounding.
There was a slight lurch as the truck began moving yet after a moment it settled into the steady hum of tires on the road and smoothed out. Key waited for a minute before yelling out his open window. “Hey Minho! What are we supposed to do now?”
“Now,” Minho replied, just loud enough to be heard. “We wait.”
“Great,” Key mumbled, “My least favorite thing.”
On the seat beside him, her eyes already closed in a peaceful slumber, the corners of Victoria’s mouth turned up in a smile.
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