#and of course the chihuahua is very scared and barking and snarling and tries to bite the fireman when he gets picked up

[lesbianuhaulindustrialcomplex]

i think its very funny (not funny as in ha-ha, funny as in sad) that the good people of tumblr are so capable of empathy for even insects with all the "killed for the crime of being small" type posts i see. to be clear i think this is great! it's just that most people on the rest of the internet and irl don't even have empathy for things as small as chihuahuas.

[pengychan]

[Coco] Problems and Piñatas

Summary:  Dante is on a mission to replace the piñata he destroyed. But he’s not the only alebrije hunting for one. Characters: Dante, Ernesto’s chihuahuas, Pepita. 

This is for @tammyhybrid21​, who requested something with all the alebrijes. Hope you like it!

***

Dante had a PROBLEM.

Normally, whenever he smashed or ate or chewed something, the humans would sigh and shake their heads but that would be it, which told Dante what he had caused was only a problem and not a PROBLEM.

The charred remains of what once was a piñata did, however, represent a PROBLEM. Not that the knocking over of a table and sending a lit candle flying through the air had been intentional, of course, but that didn’t make the piñata any less burned-up. The human who always snuck him food under the table had walked in with it just the previous day, proudly proclaiming she had managed to get the VERY LAST ONE for sale at the market nearby.

“They’ve sold out everywhere - next year I’ll buy one sooner to make sure we don’t miss out on Las Posadas!”

Dante was not very good at the thing the humans called ‘math’, but he knew that if that piñata had been the VERY LAST ONE then there wasn’t one anymore and that made the lack of piñata in the household a huge PROBLEM that was also Entirely His Fault. 

Dante whined to himself, kicking more earth over the remains of the VERY LAST piñata to hide it and trying to think of a solution, which was not easy because thinking made his head really ache. But clearly, the only thing that could make up for no piñata was getting another piñata to replace it, and maybe the human had been wrong when she had said it was the VERY LAST ONE.

There had to be at least ANOTHER ONE, maybe at another market or in possession of other humans who could do without one that year. Because Dante knew his family could not. He knew the tall human wanted really badly to break the star-shaped piñata with his daughter for the first time in a very, very long time. So he’d get another one. He had to.

He was a good alebrije, it was his job to fix the PROBLEM he had caused, and so he would. 

Dante snorted some earth off his nostrils, jumped over the ledge, and flew - well, plummeted at reduced speed - down towards the markets.

*** 

Their master had a PROBLEM.

Not that any of them knew exactly what the PROBLEM was. Truth be told it seemed like he had Many Problems ever since the night he hadn’t come back to the Big Place where they used to live, and they eventually found him hiding out in a shack near the water. He had never stopped hiding since, and of course they have stayed in hiding with him even though they were not sure what it was about. 

Clearly things were not going well for him, which meant that as his alebrijes, they were supposed to do something about his PROBLEM, make it go away. But they had always been pets more than spirit guides, and had little knowledge of what guiding someone really meant. Until they figured that bit out and managed to make his PROBLEM go away, they would settle for trying to make him feel better. 

Which they attempted often, with varying degrees of success between the four of them.

There were times when their task was harder than usual, and this was one of them. Until not too long ago, bright lights and loud celebrations across the land meant their master would throw celebrations just as bright and loud in the Big Place, which usually resulted in lots of treats for them as well. But they had never returned to the Big Place, and celebration only seemed to put their master in an even worse mood than usual. 

Currently, he had drunk more of that smelly stuff that came in bottles and he could be charitably described as asleep - more realistically, passed out - on the mattress on the floor of the shack. They usually slept on it with him, but not this time. Today, they were on a Mission to try and help him stop thinking about his PROBLEM that was actually Many Problems they didn’t fully grasp. 

As well as the lights and celebrations, they knew that particular time of the year included gifts - and their master loved gifts. No one had seemed inclined to give him any for a long while, but no matter. 

They were there, and it would have to be enough.

*** 

For a while, it looked like the piñata he had burned really was the VERY LAST ONE. 

Dante had gone through every market within flying range, which admittedly was not a lot because he was not very good at flying yet even though he flapped his new wings very, very enthusiastically. 

Maybe he should have asked the Big Cat to help him out there, but he wasn’t sure where she was and he had little time. He needed to solve the PROBLEM within… well, he had no concept of hours, but definitely within a very short time. 

But more time than that had passed, and he hadn’t seen a single piñata left in any markets, which were beginning to close down for the evening. It was beginning to look like his mission may fail - and what would the humans say? - when suddenly, he spotted THE VERY LAST ONE. A nice, star-shaped piñata just like the one he had… accidentally incinerated. 

A skeleton was taking it away from the market, so he clearly would have to take it from someone who had already paid for it, which of course was not a Good Boy thing to do. But that was an Emergency and, to be fair, it wasn’t like he would have been able to exchange those pieces of metal and paper for it the way humans did, anyway. 

“What the-- agh! Hey!”

The man yelped, but he wasn’t fast enough to move out of the way. Dante zoomed past him, the piñata firmly in his mouth, soaring up and up, past buildings, right towards--

-- a window being thrown open. 

SPLAT.

Though splatters of his own saliva, Dente faintly saw a girl covering her mouth and yelping in surprise before he slid down the glass, and fell and fell and fell… right in the water below.

Well, at least this piñata was not on fire. If anything, it was the opposite of on fire. But it would dry up, possibly without need to be on fire, Dante thought as he climbed back to the nearest shore and then up a steep hill. He put the piñata down on the ground, and gave himself a good shake to get himself ready to fly again before he went to pick up the piñata again.

His teeth closed on nothing.

… Weird. The piñata had been there until a second ago.

Dante leaped several feet in the air in his surprise, head swivelling to try and locate the piñata. Oh, oh, did piñata melt in water like sugar skulls did? If that was the case he had such a big, huge PROBLEM he had no idea how he could possibly solve it. One piñata burned to a crisp, one liquified, and only a few hours left before--

“Yip! Yip!”

Dante caught it in the corner of his eye, a flash of lime green barely visible behind the bulk of the piñata it was dragging. He blinked at the vision for a few moments before what he was seeing really began to sink in his brain.

Tiny Alebrije. Piñata. 

The words kind of chased each other in his head for a few moments before they clicked: a Tiny Alebrije was stealing the piñata. 

Oh no. Absolutely not. Dante couldn’t let any alebrije, tiny or otherwise, steal the piñata he had stol-- borrowed for his family. He immediately charged forward, barking; a few leaps were enough to reach the Tiny Aebrije with the Tiny Legs, and he snatched up the piñata. Plus the Tiny Alebrije still attached to it, Tiny Legs kicking uselessly in the air and it refused to let go. 

Dante found itself staring right at its eyes, and tried to bark around the piñata; the Tiny Alebrije let out a growl around the piñata as well. It was muffled, but the message it conveyed - I’ll eat your face - was still loud and clear.

Under normal circumstances, it may have been enough to intimidate him into letting go, but that was the VERY LAST piñata and the solution to the PROBLEM he had caused, so Dante was Not Letting Go, no matter what--

Furious barking rang out suddenly, and so did a jolt of pain up Dante’s leg, like tiny sharp teeth. He let out a yelp, dropping the piñata in the process, and whipped his head around to see that the pain like tiny sharp teeth was caused by… tiny sharp teeth. The set of tiny sharp teeth was attached to the same Tiny Alebrije who’d been hanging on the piñata and was now hanging on his leg.

… No, wait. The Tiny Alebrije was now trotting away with the piñata, but it was… also hanging onto his leg? That wasn’t right, how could it be in two places at the same ti--

“YIP! YIP!”

As another set of teeth sank in his other leg, Dante howled and jumped straight up in the air, wrigglingly enough to make both sets of tiny teeth come loose. He landed a few paces away, whining, and looked around frantically. Now there were two Tiny Alebrijes dragging away the piñata, and two more standing between them, snarling and yapping to tell him to go away. 

Either Dante was seeing… more than double, or he was severely outnumbered. Given how painfully real those tiny teeth had felt on his back legs, he was almost sure it was the latter. Four Tiny Alebrijes, looking to steal the piñata. That put Dante at a clear disadvantage, regardless of the honestly embarrassing size difference.

Now that was a PROBLEM on top of a PROBLEM.

Dante stood up to full height and barked, trying to lunge for the ones taking away the VERY LAST piñata, hoping to scare them off. It didn’t work: his barking was met with more barking and all four alebrijes threw themselves at him, aiming for his paws with their tiny sharp teeth. 

Dante was probably not a strategic genius, but he knew what his real advantage was and knew he had to make use of it. To be fair, it almost worked: he was able to jump past the Tiny Alebrijes, snatch up the piñata they had left on the ground, and leap again to take flight. 

Unfortunately, the ‘taking flight’ part took a few moments too many and the Tiny Alebrijes were fast, the grip of their jaws tight as a snare on his tail as he frantically flapped his wings to escape. Dante howled in pain, causing the piñata to fall again, and plunged after it the next moment, thought not exactly intentionally. The Tiny Alebrijes’ combined weight dangling from his tail was not much, but still too much for Dante to remain airborne, no matter how hard he flapped his wings. 

He really should have asked the Big Cat for assistance.

SPLASH.

The water’s surface closed down over him for the second time in less than five minutes, and Dante didn’t turn out to be a better swimmer now than he was then. It took a lot of thrashing about before he made it closer to shore, because now his back legs and tail were sore and he was unable to find the piñata in the water anymore. 

When he finally spotted it, it was being dragged by the four Tiny Alebrijes back ashore - a good distance ahead of him.

Oh no. No no no no no.

“WOOF! WOOF!”

Dante barked furiously, paddling through shallow water until his paws touched the muddy ground, and began running towards them at full speed, desperate to catch them before they ran off with his family’s VERY LAST piñata, the solution to the PROBLEM he had caused and… and…

...That beneath his paws didn’t feel like mud anymore. 

It wasn’t often that Dante was hit by a Realization, but this turned out to be one of those times. It helped that the Tiny Alebrijes suddenly stopped dragging the piñata away and ran back towards the water, barking and howling frantically. 

It was not aggressions or intimidation, this time: it was a warning. Not the kind that tells you they’re going to eat your face, but the kind in which they tell you something else is about to try and eat your face… plus everything attached to it. 

The thing Dante was standing on, which was Not Mud, was scaly and leathery and shifting. Actually, it was several scaly and leathery things shifting. Through the muddy water he could see a flash of green, some yellow, hues of orange and… teeth. Lots of teeth, which were sharp and decidedly Not Tiny.

Rogue alebrijes.

That really was a big, massive PROBLEM on top of a PROBLEM on top of every other PROBLEM he’d had to deal with that evening.

A yellow eye stared at him, and Dante whined, paralyzed with fear. He should move, even his brain caught on that quickly, but his paws seemed glued right where they were. Which was, as luck would have it, on top of several rogue alebrijes bunched together beneath the water, who also happened to be… mostly crocodiles, plus something else he couldn’t discern but that also looked dangerous.

“YIP! YIP! YIP!”

The frantic barking of the Tiny Alebrijes caused Dante to snap out of it. The four of them were running back into the shallow water, making a lot of noise and splashing up water, occasionally trying to bite into a scaly tail or back or whatever was within the reach of their teeth. 

Diversion. Run.

Dante leaped forward just a split second before powerful jaws snapped shut where his leg had been, which would have probably hurt a lot more than the tiny teeth he had sampled before. More jaws snapped, the water churning, but the rogue alebrijes seemed taken aback by the confusion and still sluggish; by some miracle Dante managed to make it to the shore in leaps and bounds, without any of those jaws closing around him. 

He came to a stop a couple of leaps away from the water, panting and shaking, and turned back to see the rogue alebrijes were coming out of the water, definitely less sluggish and decidedly ANGRY. The closest one, a crocodile with a tail that was uncomfortably similar to that of those Rattly Snakes, tried to lunge towards him on powerful legs - only to let out a hiss and rear back when three of the four Tiny Alebrijes jumped on its back, yapping and trying without much success to bite through its scales. 

The fourth one suddenly slammed against Dante’s side, barking and snarling. It was the same one that had grabbed the piñata, but rather than ‘I’ll eat your face’, the snarl now said ‘move, idiot’. It was a sound idea, but the other Tiny Alebrijes were still trying to chase off the rogue one and it seemed… a Bad Thing, just flying off and leaving them there. Even if they had tried to steal the piña-- oh! OH! The piñata! Where was--

A sudden yelping noise caused Dante to turn again, just one time to see one of the Tiny Alebrijes land a few feet from him after being hit by a powerful lash of that snake-like tail. It tried to stand, clearly dazed, and Dante steadied it with a nudge of his muzzle before he glanced over to see where the other two were. 

They were backing off now, still barking, while several rogue alebrijes tried lunging towards them and snapping their jaws, barely missing a couple of times. Dante rushed forward, snarling furiously and baring his teeth, hoping to startle them just enough for the Tiny Alebrijes to turn and flee. Just a moment’s hesitation, just a moment would be enough…

The rogue alebrijes froze. All of them.

Dante blinked, his growl ceasing in surprise. He stared at the rogue alebrijes. The rogue alebrijes remained still. Had he… scared them? Was he SCARY? Had he done a Good Job? Oh! This was good, he had done a Good Job! If only the Big Cat could see him now--

“ROOOAAAAARRRR!!!!!”

Ah. She did see him now.

Dante tilted up his head to see the Big Cat standing right behind him - towering above him, more accurately - and gave her a toothy grin, tongue lolling as the rogue alebrijes scampered back in the water. The notion it had not been him they had been scared of went well over his head, and his tail thumped on the ground in pride.

I stopped them, did you see, did you see?

The look the Big Cat gave him was not precisely impressed, but there wasn’t much time to dwell on that before frantic barking resumed and all four the Tiny Alebrijes threw themselves at the Big Cat, trying to attack her paws. She reared back with a startled noise, clearly wondering what exactly they were trying to achieve. 

Dante immediately threw himself in the way, shaking his head in a way he hoped would convey the fact she was a Friend and not someone whose face they should eat, as the Tiny Alebrije with a few loose screws growled rather insistently. Luckily, they seemed to catch up pretty quickly: in a few moments they paused, stared, and finally sat. They all sat for a while, catching their breath and kind of elaborating all that had happened.

Well. That had been an Adventure, but now sitting there staring at each other was just a tad Awkward, considering that it had started out with the theft of a pi-- oh! The piñata!

Dante immediately jumped back on his paws, looking around frantically for the piñata to fix his PROBLEM. He couldn’t see it and he whined anxiously, turning to look at the Tiny Alebrijes. They seemed to hesitate, looking at each other, then one of them stood and tilted his head to their left, where a log was, and tucked behind it something star-shaped and-- oh! There it was! 

Dante let out a woof and ran to pick it up, showing it to the Big Cat proudly. It was wet and a little worse for wear than it had been when he… borrowed it, one of the star’s arms a little bent, but it was still in one piece and ready to be broken. Dante could see the appeal because it was fun, tearing things apart; only he wasn’t sure why the humans would scold him for it and then go buy something with the purpose of doing exactly the same thing. 

Ah well, he would mull over it another time. Now he had to go back home with it. He gripped it more securely, tail wagging, and turned to look at the Big Cat. She tilted her head, clearly not seeing what a big deal it was, recovering the piñata; then again, she was unaware of the PROBLEM he had caused. Which was kind of the point, so her lack of enthusiasm did not spoil Dante’s mood.

What did spoil it was the realization that the Tiny Alebrijes looked rather dejected, and it occurred to him that they would have to go back with empty paws now… wherever they lived. Dante hadn’t wondered why they had been trying so very hard to get the piñata, but maybe they had his same issue - a PROBLEM to solve, their own human to cheer up.

He really had to get the VERY LAST piñata home, but maybe they could help them find… something else. It wasn’t dark yet, after all. They still had time. 

And with a little lift from the Big Cat, they’d be done in a pinch.

*** 

“Where did you get that from?”

Ernesto stared in utter disbelief at the large basket his alebrijes had somehow managed to drag all the way to their hideout while he was asleep. Or rather less charitably, passed out in a stupor. Either way, he’d just regained consciousness and that was not something he had expected to see when he’d sat up and looked around for a bottle that was not yet empty. Truth be told, he’d briefly wondered if he was hallucinating.

His alebrijes couldn’t answer his question, of course, but they still looked extremely proud of themselves as Ernesto peered into the basket, which turned out to be filled with Buñuelos, Polvorones, Cochinitos, candied nuts and more. A small bounty compared to what used to pile up in his mansion over festivities, but still far more than he’d seen in… a longer time than he wanted to acknowledge. He laughed, a rare occurrence those days, and sat back on the mattress with an armful of sweets. “Hah! Who are good boys and girls? Who are? You are!”

The alebrijes immediately jumped up to lick his face at the praise, and got even more enthusiastic when Ernesto began sharing the prize. 

It was a lot to eat all on his own, after all, and they had earned a treat.

*** 

“What… happened to the piñata?”

“It looks like it’s been dropped from someplace real high.”

“In water.”

“And then dried off in a tumble dryer.”

“Ay, it was that perro, I am sure! Where is he?”

“I saw him taking off with Pepita…”

“Trying to escape punishment, of course.”

“Heh. Like we ever really punish him! He’ll be back for dinner, you’ll see. Well, the piñata is still in one piece, so I guess that’s what matters. Coco, come here! We have a piñata to hit! You should go first!”

“Papá, I don’t have to be the first--”

“Children first!” A huge grin, and her papá held up a blindfold. “Here you go! I’ll help - like we did in 1920, remember? You climbed on my shoulders!”

There was a fond laugh, and Coco entirely gave up on the notion of trying to remind her father she was almost ninety years too old to be, in good conscience, considered a child. The glee that filled her at the idea of hitting a piñata with her papá again was rather childish, after all.

“Of course.” Coco laughed, and took the blindfold. “Of course I remember. And if what I remember about Las Posadas in 1920 is correct, the lot of you may want to get out of striking range...”

[sor-vette]

four, circus!! (index/description)

☜ three, an all-out fight club!!

☞ five, dots!!

t/w: dead bodies, mention of overdose

"This has got to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen," Yoongi thinks to himself as he blankly stares at Jimin, transferring the PPT file to the projector.

123 slides in "Reasonable arguments as to why we should date, _̵͚̾͌_̶̢̛̘̅͛̕_̶̡̧̝͗̒̋̌̚_̴̮̒̍̿̃͠ .

"Wrong PowerPoint bro," Jungkook grunts with closed eyes. No doubt the idiot had tried to stalk you throughout the night. It's been three days since Erik had officially enrolled.

Namjoon also has his eyes fixed on the projector, his expression giving nothing away.

"Resigned to death, poor bastard, as you should."

Jimin momentarily looks behind him to see why Jin had started to snort in laughter before scrambling to choose another file.

56 slides in "What do we know about Erik and what to do about it?"

"The title could be less verbose," Jin remarks, spinning his chair around the room.

"You're one to talk, literally," Jimin sneers but, there is very little malice in his voice if any. Besides Namjoon, V and Hope, who actually stuck to his word of minding his business, Yoongi didn't know anyone personally in the room. Though he sure has heard of the connections they had with you. Each weirder than the other.

Namjoon, the CEO, the one who went overboard in commitment and scared you off. Rumour was he offered marriage before the first "I like you." But that as well could be bullshit.

Hope, with the most cordial contact out of all. And also the most distant. You two had fundamentally different perceptions of how the world worked. Incompatible match, as the saying goes.

Jin. Despite the grandeur of his character, Yoongi knew very little of him. Even less as to why you left. He presumed the lack of commitment on both sides.

Jimin, the almost. For five months Yoongi had to hear nothing but coy whispers of just what good friends you two were. What good time you both had jumping back and forth from Paris and home. And then with zero explanation, you weren't. Every once in a while, he'd see the two of you in the hallway. Working hard to suffer through an exchange of pleasantries between long awkward pauses. The whispers had been effectively stomped to death, with no one the wiser as to what the hell had happened.

V, the one you hated and the one who hated you. How the two of you even met was beyond anyone's understanding. How you didn't rip each other's throat out even more so. Why he was here? God only knew.

And the last one, JK. Your trainee before Erik. The one who'd shamelessly bounced, leaving you in the dust when the enrollment came with a nary of thank you. After that, you officially joined the cleaner department and largely went missing from the public eye.

And, of course, Yoongi himself. The only official boyfriend. The one who officially broke both of your hearts.

"If all of you could please focus!" Jimin snapped, standing with a wad of paper in hand, waving it like a teacher in front of particularly annoying group of students.

"He even made notes," Namjoon whispered faintly.

"More like a manifesto," Yoongi snickered, letting his eyes wander over the sheer thickness of the file.

"Silence!" For a split second, Yoongi wanted to make a jab about a chihuahua being able to bark, but having considered his own height, he chose to be silent.

"So, let's start with basics. Erik Genyer. Joined two and a half years ago through a recruitment agent. He's 24, lived in Seattle before moving here. No known parents or siblings." Jimin recounted with ease.

"I hope you didn't look through his records," Namjoon frowned at the screen. "Because I did not authorize that."

"Does it count as looking if it's a brief glance?"

"Yes."

"And yet here you are benefitting from it." Namjoon could only breathe through his nose a tad harder.

"Why are you telling us this?" Jin interjected. "Mr CEO here could just give us his file - we'd read for ourselves."

"I will not. That's against company policy."

"And what you're doing here is completely legal and non - invasive." Jin raised his eyebrows, not phased even in the slightest that he was much below Namjoon's position.

"Silence!" Jimin yelped again at the front. "Has anyone here worked with Erik?"

"Hope definitely has," V piped up from his seat, looking as uninterested as one could. Yoongi narrowed his eyes at him. V took the piercing glare in stride, haughtily turning away.

"Well, yes but..." Jimin shuffled on the stage almost awkwardly. "He has strictly declined the invitation to our little... boy band."

"Wait does that mean he could tell _̸̢͉̦͔̣͈̱̅́́̓͊̇̂̓́̕͝ͅ_̸̨̙͚̻̬͖͉̻͔̑̓͐͜ - I mean R.D.?" Jungkook suddenly asks, eyes wide. Even Yoongi blanched at the thought. Everyone straightened in their seats. This was all fun and games until the moment you knew. Oh, you'd rip each and every one of them a new asshole. All of them could kiss goodbye to any attempt of trying to mend bridges. By that point, there wouldn't even be a river stretching underneath.

"I sincerely hope not." Jimin whispers and they sit in a moment of silence, weighing the risks.

"Heh, hope not." Jin suddenly gives a breathy laugh solely to be met by a general aura of disapproval.

"It's not funny." Namjoon scolds slightly but, Jin being Jin, openly looks him into eyes and goes -

"I know."

Amidst the banter, JK raises his hand shyly.

"I trained with him for a short while."

"And what is he like?" Jimin's eyes almost sparkled at anyone giving an actual insight.

"He must be wearing contacts or something," Yoongi mused, pushing the cap of his water bottle around the table. He knew Jimin to be attractive. No one in the entire company would shut up about it, nevertheless, something about him seemed almost supernatural.

JK shrugged in response.

"A bit rude and careless but talented. He finished training early."

"Did it seem like he was particularly going after her?" Namjoon interrogated further. There was a deep scowl of resentment on his face.

"Uhh, no. I think he was interested in the cleaner department in general. Apparently, he spent most of his orientation there."

"He also spent a month in surveillance. Did you speak with him...V?" If V was surprised by Jimin addressing him personally, he didn't show it as he continued to inspect his nails.

"Didn't even know he was there."

"Why did he stay so long in the cleaner department?" Yoongi asked as he ran over the information on the screen. Besides the already mentioned month in surveillance and a week in networking and relations, this Erik hadn't even tried to apply anywhere else.

"Poor communication skills. I had to throw him out. That's why he was only there a week." Jin explained.

"So you spoke to him?"

"Well, no, Irina," he was interrupted by a hollow thud. Without prompt V had dropped his steel thermos onto the desk, tea splattering everywhere and staining JK's jacket in the process. Both of them fumbled to clean it up with anything they could. V dabbed the desk harshly, the wood creeking at every aggressive wipe. Yoongi saw Jin looking sideways, the same confused expression echoed on his face.

"Well, as I was saying, Irina, R.D.'s friend, I'm sure you're familiar, came to me, said he was causing trouble and asked to refer him."

"And you sent him to R.D.?"

Jin gave a deeply suffering sigh.

"No, I did not send him. I referred him to general management and they gave him to the cleaners ."

"Ok, I get all of this. But what are we supposed to do about him?" Namjoon interrupted, jaw set in a tight grip.

Jimin fell silent at the front of the room.

"Yeah, this was the main question." Yoongi thought bitterly.

It was all a question of ethics, wasn't it? JK could pretend all he wanted to be above it all, to be respectful but then he trailed secret circles around you. Whether from guilt or perhaps a sense of entitlement. Yoongi didn't know or really care. Nevertheless the kid clearly had a hard time differentiating between what he said and what he did. Yoongi was however surprised to see Namjoon be so eager. He quite fancied making himself bald from worrying about the nature of evil. Just how easy it was to hide it behind big aspirations of providing aid. But it seemed as of late all of that was tossed aside.

Jimin was the one who orchestrated this in the first place, and so naturally, everyone looked at him for guidance. He was still shuffling around, nervously fiddling the blue pen.

"Well, first of all, I think we should talk more to R.D." A huff passed around the room.

"Talk to her?" V asked sceptically, mouth set in a straight line and heavy wrinkles carved between brows.

"Do you have any idea how difficult that would be?"

"Certainly it would be for you," Yoongi snarled, earning a harsh glare.

"Listen, at the end of the day, it's not really about us trying to force her into something. It's just to make sure... she's living a safe life. Well, the safest that's possible." Jimin said with enough sincerity to trigger certain insecurities within Yoongi and by the look of it also Namjoon.

It was no secret that between the seven, they were the most possessive over you. Both having the wrong idea that you were theirs. Which is why you left and why you probably were so caught up in Jimin. The purity and sheer selflessness of his sentiments acted like a punch to the gut. The genuine care that he reflected like a sun made the raw wound in Yoongi's chest seep even more. To be loved like that would be a dream come true. Yoongi shifted his attention to the laminated floor.

"We talk to her, find out what her life is like, keep a close eye on what Erik does. Talk to other cleaners about him, and once we find out, she's happy. That's. The. End. Of. That." There was no uncertainty. Jimin was dead serious.

The meeting was adjourned, quite amicably actually, but Yoongi knew that the rest of them had ulterior motives and plans. He had them too.

Jin and JK were no threat. Both were too uncertain of what to do with you.

Jimin had some deep-seated self esteem issues. Despite his 123 slide presentation, the way he spoke made it clear. That's probably why the abrupt parting, Yoongi mused. Both of you most likely shared the same anxiety about not being good enough for the other.

V was just V.

Namjoon was the only one Yoongi was truly worried about. Even from looking at his back, walking headstrong up the stairs, Yoongi could see how stubborn Namjoon was. In a way, it was like looking in a mirror. The possessiveness, the mulish mindset. They'd saw you, all of you and had decided that this was it. Yes, Namjoon would certainly be the toughest rival. However, Yoongi was very good at playing the long game. Especially if he wanted something so bad it felt like his thorax slowly being ripped out.

All that was left was Hope. But he wasn't even a viable player. After all, he hadn't even shown up.

***

"Why the fuck is he so heavy?" Erik grunted, swaying left and right and holding onto his dear life to the bagged pair of legs.

"Rigor mortis...set in," you huffed in answer, from the upfront of the body. "At least he wasn't rotting already. That's just nasty. 1, 2, 3."

Both of you lift the body into the van and let the poor bastard drop with a soft thud. Sweat pooled underneath your white hazmat suit with plastic glasses digging straight into your brain. You banged hard against the "EMT" van, and it drove away, carrying Dr. Martin Leyster to the morgue.

Should the neighbours see anything, it was a sad story of a depressed psychiatrist accidentally overdosing on his own meds. The evidence of him manipulating his most vulnerable patients into bankruptcy erased in you any stray feelings of sympathy though.

"You have the peroxide?" You rifled through the cleanup bag, but instead of answering, Erik began to actively point somewhere behind your back. A cold chill ran up your spine as you realize someone has been watching you stuff the body in the trunk. It quickly dissipates when you see a familiar smile.

"Hard at work, I see," Hope whistled, bounding towards you more like a kid on a school trip, rather than what the reality was.

"May I borrow your mentor for a bit?" He asked politely, still smiling up at Erik. There was no warmth in his expression.

"You are after all now an official member of the cleaner crew. Surely you can handle this on your own."

Erik looks at you for a moment before giving a loud sigh and trudging back to Leyster's office, the white toolbox angrily swishing back and forth in his hand.

Without hesitation, you remove the glasses from your head, revelling in the ease of pressure. Hope had stopped smiling altogether, looking quite pensive.

"What brings you here?" You ask lightly. To see him here is not worrying per se, but certainly interesting. He gives a quick shrug.

"Nothing much. Wanted to see how you were doing after that runt's little stunt." You only laugh at the shallow animosity. Erik's talent to drive people out of their patience was truly remarkable.

"I'm doing fine. You know... working. What about you?"

"I've been working as well."

You both fall silent.

"You ever thought about leaving the BH?" He suddenly asked, and you quirk a brow at the question.

"Not particularly. Have you?" Hope focuses a blank gaze at the grey walls of the multi-story apartment complex.

"A little bit. Last few days especially." You stand in muted shock. Hope was the last person you thought would quit. He was, without doubt, the most devoted, the most passionate out of all the hundreds of employees. He lived for the cause, he himself said so. And yet now he stood uncertain in front of you. Not really the bright and friendly Hope everyone knew, not really the strict and somewhat terrifying training teacher. He was just...quiet. It was an upsetting scene.

"Do you want to go for a drink or a lunch, maybe?" You offer, reaching for the zipper of the white suit. Yes, Erik could handle this on his own. He was a big boy. Hope hastily placed his hand atop of yours, pausing the movement. Even through the fabric, it radiated warmth. No wonder people called him sun. He frowned at the conjoined hands, lightly stroking his thumb over your knuckles before lighting up like a Christmas tree.

"No, no. I don't want to burden you with my problems." You didn't believe his smile for a second.

"Well, I won't steal you away for much longer, the pup might get anxious." He turned around, by the looks of ready to sprint off.

"Hey, wait!" He paused, not looking back.

"Do you why JK has been stalking me?"

"He has?"

He had. The first time you noticed a shifting figure in the background, you wrote it off to the combination of hangover and exhaustion. The second time he'd run off into the night faster than you could catch up. The third time you nearly flung yourself off the roof when seeing a pair of doe eyes staring back at you from an empty apartment building.

"There isn't like an alliance going around between some of my... acquaintances?" Truth be told, you found the very idea ridiculous, but it had wormed its ugly way into your brain and was now near impossible to get out. JK, Jimin, Yoongi and Namjoon wouldn't even get along with each other. Even though those four were most likely to meddle in your business. However, if looking realistically, it was probably just your paranoia taking an intensive round. Seeing suspicious cars, watchful eyes and snooping noses where there were none. Hope threw you a sardonic smile.

"That would just be stupid."

(a/n)

In this story people have their names and codenames and will be often used interchangeably. It all depends whether in the story the POV character knows the names of others or not.