Thread by @anemotions

#joongdok mafia rivals with benefits au (note: crack(?) taken seriously)

———

kdj—a rising figure in the underground scene—had been hooking up with yjh—a prominent figure from a rival faction—for the past 5 years.

but all of a sudden, kdj finds out that yjh is already engaged.

———

how did it come to this?'

kdj wonders as he reloads his pistol before jumping behind a pillar for cover. he leans against a column, raising the barrel in the air with his pointer finger resting on the trigger.

he wipes the blood trickling down his forehead, waiting for-

-the barrage of bullets to come to a standstill before stepping out of the pillar to fire shots at his pursuers with great precision.

his counterattack grants him a few seconds of escape so he quickly makes a run for it before enemy reinforcements arrive.

“dammit, it's that jerk's fault!” kdj hisses under his breath as he heads to the emergency exit leading to the port in the back of the hotel.

the establishment is owned by EDEN—the organization that hosts the annual conference of the 'gourmet association', which is basically-

-the annual gathering of the top brass among the mafia.

the container port behind the hotel is where eden conducts most of its underground operations, so kdj is hopeful that he could make an escape from there, though he's still not sure of what awaits him on that side.

the salvation church (the faction that is currently chasing after him) isn't just some measly, run-of-the-mill gang, so kdj wouldn't be surprised if he gets ambushed on the port.

still, that place is his only escape route so he'll have to leave it all to fate.

the night wasn't supposed to end that way.

earlier, kdj was just in the hotel's function hall, enjoying his first time attending the infamous gourmet association's banquet.

he'd been working his ass off for the past few years to make the association acknowledge his faction, &-

-getting invited to the banquet was pretty much the stamp of approval that he had always wanted, yet the salvation church just had to ruin the fun by turning the conference into a bloodbath.

so why did the salvation church suddenly wreak havoc? well, rumor has it that they-

-refused to attend the conference for reasons unknown—though they did end up revealing that reason when they suddenly gate-crashed in the middle of the banquet, just when the desserts were about to be served.

it turned out that their leader, nirvana, was enraged because-

-the leader of murim, namgung minyoung, suddenly cancelled yjh's engagement with nirvana.

kdj dropped the chicken drumstick he was holding when he heard that.

so yjh—nmgy's right-hand man, who also happens to be the bastard kdj had been sleeping with—is, or was(?) engaged?!

“it was already set in stone. we had an agreement. you dishonored me!” —was what the nirvana said, looking thoroughly pissed. what followed after that was the flipping of tables & mayhem.

kdj wasn't sure of the details, but if nirvana's claims were true, then they had the right-

-to be furious. still, they've gone too far.

while it's quite unbecoming of an esteemed faction such as murim to dishonor an agreement, the salvation church is even more of a disgrace for instigating war over it (& on the night of the annual banquet, on top of that).

“ugh, things will be hectic for a while because of this,” kdj grumbles as he leans against a steel shipping crate, grabbing a fresh magazine from his suit's inner breast pocket to reload his pistol.

he's already in the port's vicinity, but he's surrounded & heavily outnumbered.

well, it's not his first time being in a pinch. he wouldn't have made it this far in the field if he were the type to go down easily.

“i must survive so i could give that bastard a piece of my mind. & my fists.”

kdj cocks the gun with a sneer as he listens to the footsteps of-

-his pursuers drawing closer.

actually, the reason why kdj is being pursued even though he's not involved with murim is because the salvation church apparently knows that he's involved in 'other ways' with nirvana's ex-fiance, yjh.

his relationship with yjh is rather peculiar-

-if kdj must say so himself. it was also supposed to remain undisclosed to other parties, though he's not surprised that nirvana, who has a habit of snooping into the private lives of others, found out.

kdj thought a newbie mafia boss like him wasn't worth snooping into, but-

-then he realized who his rival-with-benefits is.

“fuck. he better not die before i get the chance to beat him up,” kdj wishes, both in rage & worry.

he can't believe he's worrying about the person who got him into that mess, but then again, that same person had also been his-

-source of warmth in this cold, cruel world. he can't afford to lose him.

kdj laughs as he shakes the sentimental thoughts off (coz those are like death flags in mafia films).

he hears the sporadic sound of gunshots around the port, but the bullets never hit the crate where-

-he's hiding. then there's the sound of grunts & screams, followed by the cracking of bones, tearing of flesh, & lastly, bodies dropping to the ground.

kdj cautiously pokes his head out of his hiding spot to see who had dealt with his pursuers. perhaps hsy & jhw had already-

-finished things on their end & have come to his aid? the 3 of them attended the banquet together as the founders of kimcom but got separated during the chaos.

it's not like he needed help, but he'd be relieved to see them safe & sound.

“come out, kim dokja.”

but no, it just had to be the person that kdj feels very conflicted about at the moment.

the bastard, who is still concealed by the smoke screen that he had thrown earlier when he commenced his one-sided attack, slowly makes his way to kdj.

kdj steps out of the crate. with a sharp exhale, he looks up at his rescuer, who is also the cause of this commotion. “yoo joonghyuk.”

not a single scratch could be seen on the bastard's handsome face. as expected of the 'supreme king'.

yjh inches closer & raises a hand to-

-run his fingers along the trail of dried blood on kdj's forehead. his already maddened expression contorts further, so kdj instinctively pulls him closer, gently patting his back to placate him.

“i'm fine,” kdj tells yjh. “but you have a lot of explaining to do.”

kdj bites his lower lip in disdain. he's supposed to be mad at yjh, yet there he is, hugging the jerk to soothe him. he rationalizes with himself that both of them going mad wouldn't do them any good, given the current situation.

‘why am i such a softie for this grumpy bastard?'

kdj suddenly remembers a time from the distant past—back when he was just an underling in some shady faction while yjh was the enslaved killing machine of a now-defunct gang.

back when they used to be at each other's throats, almost killing each other at every chance they'd get.

their scuffle had dragged on for years, & only came to a stop after the great mafia war which had shifted the power balance, with most of the domineering gangs back then exterminated & the new ones rising to power.

after the war, kdj was freed from his previous organization-

-& later formed kimcom with hsy & jhw. yjh, on the other hand, joined murim.

murim was already relatively prominent even before the war, compared to kimcom which was still unknown. kdj was quite ambitious in his early days as a gang leader, so he often picked fights with yjh-

-& for absolutely no reason, most of the time. he probably wanted to prove something, though what he ended up proving was that yjh wasn't just a monster on the field, but also in 'other' areas.

kdj can't exactly remember when or how things escalated into 'that' between them.

from getting tangled in bloody power struggles & gang wars, to getting tangled beneath the sheets, limbs intermingled and bare bodies flushed against each other.

the sudden 180-degree turn of events was surreal, yet it happened so naturally that kdj, at some point, stopped-

-wondering what led them to the bed instead of the battlefield.

as for who jumped on who first, does it really matter? it's hard to remember the specifics when they've been at it for 5 years now.

kdj's co-founders even told him that they'd seen it coming from miles away; that

-the sexual tension between him & yjh had always been there; that exchanging bullets & fists & intense gazes had become their twisted love language—among other ridiculous things.

kdj was mortified, but perhaps they were right all along.

“okay, so first—” kdj is the first to pull away, & when he looks up, he is greeted by yjh's grimacing face, which he now finds adorable, unfortunately. “let's get out of here.”

still frowning, yjh grabs kdj's hand, leading him to the port while remaining alert.

winter nights are particularly cold in jeju, yet yjh's hand is enough to keep kdj warm. it's not even the first time they've held hands—heck, they've done more than just hold hands—yet he’d always feel some type of way whenever they touch.

maybe it's the adrenaline rush, or-

-maybe it's simply because yjh would always have that effect on kdj.

“you never told me you were engaged,” kdj points out passively as they scurry along the port. they're almost at the quay where the boats are docked, but the rest of the salvation church has caught up.

they stop behind a container to shield themselves from the incoming gunfire. “so, when did it happen?”

yjh sighs as he loads his gun, then sends a couple of rounds to the enemies before answering, “it wasn't a done deal. my master turned nirvana down on the spot.”

“but they must've taken a liking to you,” kdj teases, earning him a glare. he loads his own gun with fresh ammo and takes out the pursuers that yjh had missed. “why did minyoung-nim turn the offer down? it would've been beneficial for murim to have an alliance with salvation.”

yjh shoots him an incredulous look. it's almost funny how offended he looks. “master knows i have a lover.”

kdj, who's about to step out of the container to shoot, almost slips due to surprise, giving the enemies an opening to attack him. it's a good thing yjh's got him covered.

yjh shoots at the enemies aiming for kdj, then he drags kdj to another container while scolding him for being reckless.

the berating remarks fall on deaf ears, because all kdj could focus on is the thrumming of his chest & his mind replaying that word in yjh's voice: “lover.”

of course, he isn’t stupid enough to not know that yjh is referring to him as that lover.

but he is apparently not smart enough to realize that yjh had been seeing him as lover all this time.

they've never labeled their relationship as anything, so kdj thought they were just-

-fuck buddies, or something. although he’s been aware of his own feelings for quite some time already, he wasn’t sure about yjh's.

'or maybe it’s because I refused to ask, like the fool i am.'

“kim dokja,” yjh calls out, cupping kdj's cheek. “stop getting distracted.”

kdj finally snaps out of it. “and whose fault is that? why am i...since when were we...i mean, we're lovers?!”

yjh gives him a perplexed look, brows knitted & all. “we've been seeing each other for 5 years.”

“yeah...to fuck!”

yjh sighs. “we also moved in together 3 years ago.”

kdj blinks. “i thought we got that apartment unit in seoul so we could...have a rendezvous point to...” at the sight of yjh's frown deepening, kdj's voice slowly trails off. “...fulfill our needs?”

“we literally live there.” yjh points out. “it's not just some rendezvous point.”

“oh.” kdj stares off into space. “yeah. that makes sense.”

the initial feeling of disbelief soon wears off, replaced by relief. kdj chuckles, then suggests on impulse: “what do you say about getting engaged to me then?”

this time, it's yjh who almost loses his balance.

yjh trips on a steel pipe & almost face plants on the ground if not for kdj holding him by the arm.

kdj then fires at the attackers who are taking advantage of yjh's few seconds of vulnerability. the supreme king regains his composure incredibly fast, joining kdj in-

-warding off the pursuers as they jump behind another container.

kdj takes some time to catch his breath before making up some kind of awkward excuse for what he said on a whim. “haha, i was just kidding. kimcom isn't even on par with murim yet—”

“so it's for an alliance?”

for some reason, yjh looks hurt, even though he's pretty much just grimacing. still, kdj can't bear to see him like that, so he clarifies, “i mean, if we want to convince minyoung-nim, we should at least be reasonable.”

grasping yjh's arms, kdj looks at him with determination.

“but actually, i just don't want my lover to receive another marriage proposal from someone else.”

yjh stares at kdj, looking adorably stupefied. “you fool,” he mutters with a scowl, though there's no strength to it.

oh, kdj is down bad for this sunfish bastard.

“the engagement can be discussed later, but right now, i just want to make it clear that i like you, yoo joonghyuk,” kdj confesses with a smile.

yjh's intense gaze never leaves kdj's face as he takes something out of his suit's inner pocket. “kim dokja, i—hold on.”

they've both run out of ammo so yjh hurls a hand grenade at the remaining enemies before turning his attention back to kdj. “my feelings never wavered since the day i realized that i like you.”

“& since when was that?”

“does it even matter?”

kdj snorts. “pfft, i guess not.”

they gaze at each other hand in hand, amidst the thick plumes of smoke & flying debris behind them.

with the explosion still ringing in their ears & the aftermath of the detonation still evident in the background, they pull each other in for a kiss.

- 𝓯𝓲𝓷 -

twitter removed my drafts (😭😭😭) so i wrote a new au to cope. this one was revamped from my old xia0ae fic & i figured it fits jd's dynamic too so voila!

thank you for reading! 🫶❤️
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