Chapter Text
“Are we gonna play good cop, bad cop? Cause I would love to show you how good of a cop I can be,” Jackson flirts away as he drives to the convenience store Bam and Yugyeom had gone to.
Jinyoung raises an eyebrow at him in question without saying anything.
“Or maybe you want me to be the bad cop so I can handcuff you to me and be stuck together for the next twenty four hours,” Jackson wiggles his eyebrows and throws in that bright smile.
Jinyoung snorts at Jackson’s antics and can’t help the smile that graces his face,
“You finally smiled during my flirting!” Jackson beams and Jinyoung helps to redirect his attention to the road while driving,
“First of all, focus. Second of all, why don’t you just handcuff me to the bed and have your way with me?” Jinyoung replies and Jackson just smirks,
“I never thought you’d ask.”
Jinyoung realizes he fell so easily into his trap before finding himself cheesing at Jackson being such a dork.
“Alright, I admit, you got me there,” Jinyoung ends up laughing.
God, when did he start letting his guard down so much around Jackson? Where he feels so relaxed and comfortable that he’s able to show more sides of him toward the alpha. Something real and not a mask he likes to put up.
“Has anyone ever told you how breathtaking you look when you smile? And that your laugh makes their heart go thump thump?” Jackson breathes out as he pulls into the empty parking lot of the convenience store.
Jinyoung is taken off guard by this before giving him a confused look, “Thump thump?”
Jackson nods, turning off the car as he puts a hand over his chest,
“It’s still beating like that for you, wanna hear?”
Jinyoung starts to become flustered as he’s not used to Jackson being well, Jackson. The alpha then reaches over and has Jinyoung feel over his one pec.
“See? I’m not lying. You make my heart sing. Watch, I can make yours sing back as well like a lullaby.”
Jinyoung has no time to react as one never knows what Jackson Wang is gonna do next. Hell, Jackson probably doesn’t know what he’s gonna do next but he’s gonna do it. And so with his hand still wrapped around Jinyoung’s wrist, he lightly lifts his hand before leaning down and pressing a kiss to the inside of Jinyoung’s wrist.
It was so light and feather-like and yet still left a warm burning sensation that sent pleasant tingles through Jinyoung’s body. It has Jinyoung gasping and Jackson smirks because he can hear how fast the alpha’s pulse picks up after skipping a beat.
“I bet I can make it go even faster---” Jackson continues but Jinyoung is quick to pull his hand back.
Jackson whines, already reaching over to try and keep touching Jinyoung,
“No come back,” Jackson urges but Jinyoung is already opening the door and getting out,
“We have an investigation here, Jackson,” Jinyoung tells him as he’s shutting the door.
Jackson is fast in getting out so he can remain by the alpha’s side,
“You can call me by my native name if you’d like. It’s Jiaer.”
Jackson seems really hopeful that Jinyoung will say his name and there he goes making those puppy eyes again!
It distracts Jinyoung that he isn’t paying attention to where he’s going and walks into the door--
Clang!
Talk about embarrassing here…
Jinyoung just wants to crawl into a hole now especially as Jackson is still looking at him. He’s even being sweet and asking if he’s ok and touching him and it’s overloading Jinyoung---
So the alpha lifts his head and silences the man with a kiss. It works wonders as Jackson malfunctions and Jinyoung can go inside with the incident of him hitting the door all forgotten about. Oh look, even the guy working didn’t see it as he just came out from the backroom when Jinyoung entered…
Jackson enters after finally coming back down to Earth and finds Jinyoung already talking to the guy at the counter. Jackson would love to join but it seems the urge to pee has taken place so he heads towards the back looking for the restroom.
“Another one of you? Can’t you see I’m trying to do my job here? I already told the other two everything they wanted to know.”
“Ok, but what about the cameras? You said you see her walking by all the time so can I look at the cameras around that time to see the guy you mentioned walking with her?” Jinyoung sasses right back as he’s clearly not budging.
“Fine, come with me, the camera feed is back here behind the counter in this room.”
Jinyoung follows the guy behind the counter and into the room…
Meanwhile Jackson is doing the pee dance by now as he remembers he never did use the restroom after being woken up this morning. It seems his bladder has reminded him and that he better go now or he’s gonna pee on himself. But what do you know, the men’s room is out of order and the women’s room is locked.
This was a dire emergency here! He can’t make a fool out of himself in front of Jinyoung!
Think! Think…think…Ah! Just break into the women’s restroom!
The urge to pee is so bad that Jackson only has to grip the handle and maybe use his super strength illegally as he breaks the door knob and inside he goes. You can hear him expressing himself from outside the closed door and rustling of pants before an audible ahhh sound followed by peeing.
Looks like Jackson made it just in time…
Jackson flings open the door in a much more relaxed state with freshly cleaned hands and ready to continue on with this investigation---
Um, where did everyone go?
Jackson takes a step forward before catching a whiff of something that he was too distracted from having to pee earlier to notice.
Blood…
His head whips back towards the men’s restroom. It was hard to pinpoint exactly with all the other smells but wolves have a sharp sense of smell and once locked on like a canine would, he can tell it’s coming from inside the restroom.
Tilting his head back to see the store is still empty with no one at the counter, Jackson looks back to the door.
I mean, he already broke one door handle. Why not two?
Making it quick, he breaks the door handle and opens the door. Flicking on the light, it takes a second for them to adjust to a good level of brightness. The restroom definitely reeks like how a convenience store would and Jackson can feel his nose burning from it. But he moves forward and checks around the sink. There’s no clear sign of blood to the naked eye but you can see water all over the counter and sink like someone hastily washed their hands. If he recalls, the door knob was wet too.
But where is he smelling the blood from?
There’s only a urinal in here along with a small stall and a toilet. He didn't notice anything else as the trash can was just full of paper towels and toilet paper…
Jackson looks back at the mirror when he notices something off about it. Now to most normal people, they wouldn’t pick up on it but with the alpha working in the police force he’s able to. Because like with their job, their interrogation room allows them to be able to watch what’s going on with the other side of the wall. And the way the mirror is on the wall…
Jackson feels around it, sliding his fingers behind until he feels a small little latch. Undoing it, he finds the mirror actually comes off the wall and inside you can see into the women’s restroom. And by seeing, meaning you can see not only the one toilet with no stall but when a lady will stand directly in front of the mirror.
God, that was creepy. It upset Jackson that some peeping tom was watching poor innocent women who think they’re alone and have some privacy.
Feeling disgusted, Jackson puts the mirror back as his mind starts going. Was the store owner behind all of this? Or was it one of the employees?
His gut feeling was trying to tell him something and the faint smell of blood captured his attention once more. A small noise has him looking up to see the air vent that’s circulating and blowing air through.
Could it…
Jackson uses the counter to get up higher and finds one of the screws is loose when trying to undo the air vent. Being careful, he undoes the screw and slowly lets down the vent. He then reaches a hand in and sure enough, feels a material of some sort like clothing. Bringing it out, Jackson has hit the jackpot as a soaked hoodie, pants and mask are bunched up together that was described as dark attire from the convenience store guy. Not only that but they most likely tried to wash all the blood out and though they ‘succeeded’ Jackson can still smell faint traces---
Holy shit! That meant that the convenience store guy---
A loud bang is heard followed by loud scuffling noises. Jackson drops the attire and rushes out to find Jinyoung fighting with the guy. Cigarettes and tobacco fall off the shelves as the guy is trying to stab Jinyoung with the big knife.
“Jinyoung!” Jackson exclaims in horror as he’s ready to jump in and save his mate.
But it seems Jinyoung didn’t need any saving as he swiftly uses his hunter’s skills to twist the guy’s arm, snapping it so the guy drops the knife to the ground. He then gets enough distance between them that he can use his leg to kick the guy back and he ends up falling backwards and slamming his head against the cash register and down he goes.
Blood starts pooling out everywhere from the head injury as Jackson appears from the other side and sees the dead body. Jinyoung adjusts himself after the scuffle while Jackson wastes no time in doing a group call with the others,
“Jinyoung killed the convenience guy!”
Jinyoung rolls his eyes as Jackson is making him look like the bad guy here.
Of course Jackson had to be overly dramatic as he says it and it sends shock through everyone before Jinyoung is seen grabbing the phone,
“Jiaer, give me that. You gotta tell them the whole part first!”
“But it’s true! You were torturing him and then you killed him!”
“Because he was---” Jinyoung starts before he notices something behind Jackson.
Suddenly the phone is being moved back into Jackson’s hand and during the chaos, you can see the convenience store, blood, a mess of the store and then the guy about to attack them again before Jackson is shouting,
“Oh shit, he’s still alive?!”
The two look at where the guy’s head wound was and how black vein like vines are covering it.
“Dude, it’s just like the other guy! The venom!” Jackson is shocked before this guy growls, fangs bared and very feral.
His eyes are set on Jackson as he launches himself forward and the alpha forgets he’s even holding the phone in the first place. It captures everything and the exact moment of the guy coming at Jackson before Jinyoung is taking action by grabbing the machete and stabbing it into the guy’s leg high enough that he starts to go down. Jinyoung then removes the machete and on the way down jams in through the guy's neck, severing his spinal cord and lets go. The guy falls forward and plops onto the ground, the venom no longer spreading and falling off slowly like dead skin on the outside…
“My hero!” As he makes kissy faces for Jinyoung to provide one.
Jinyoung gives him a look after what just took place.
“You were so bad ass! Like mmm, ten out of ten, such a turn on, please do it again soon.”
Jinyoung can’t win against this man who seems unphased by everything. So ending the call with the group chat, he kisses Jackson speechless before pulling back with a smirk,
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Jinyoung moves away as he gets back to business but Jackson is beyond happy,
“Did you just flirt back with me too?!”
He’s really just like a giant puppy…
“What in the hell just happened?!” Jaebum lets out as he bursts through the front doors.
The officers from down the road where the victim were are now here along with Neil,
“Not even an hour in and you’re already causing more trouble,” Neil tells Jaebum.
Jaebum cuts his eyes at him, “Don’t even start with me on that.”
Mark moves forward, taking in everything that’s happening as he hears his brother nearby.
“I’m telling you, it was so cool!” Jackson exclaims as he’s telling the others.
“The way Jinyoung walked into this store meaning business and already torturing the man by demanding answers…”
Jinyoung has found that Jackson can be very overly dramatic but in this case, he’s not upset because Jackson didn’t rat out that he ran into the door. Secondly, he’s been hyping him up and boosting his ego by complimenting him every other second.
“Man, I had to pee though so I missed out on a bunch but I know Jinyoung didn’t let up one bit and while I found the clothing stuffed into the air vent of the men’s restroom along with the mirror that can see into the ladies room…”
Bam, Yugyeom and Danny are all nodding as they listen intently until Jackson says some vital information there and was just gonna keep on going,
“Wait, what?” Yugyeom does a double take as Bam grabs Jackson’s shoulders,
“Hold up, you found what?”
Jackson seems upset at being interrupted but repeats himself.
“Really?” Danny voices as he’s already moving toward the restroom area with some other officers.
Mark moves closer to where Youngjae and Jinyoung are with the body,
“So you were getting the camera feed of when the victim would walk by and he suddenly attacked you?” Youngjae voices in shock as he crouches down next to the body.
Jinyoung nods, “Caught it out of the reflection of the monitor with the machete raised in his hand. I didn’t even hear him moving.”
It was pretty impressive as Jinyoung normally picks up on things like that.
“Nothing hinted at him being suspicious either?” Youngjae questions and Jinyoung shakes his head.
“It was weird for someone who just killed. He didn’t act any differently and what’s more is that it was like he didn’t even know he killed her. He kept talking like the guy wasn’t him. That he was still in the store just doing his job and had no idea about anything.”
Jinyoung frowns in confusion at this cause the guy didn’t act like one who got caught would act. Wasn’t even nervous when they came back to question him again. Seemed chill even after news that she was dead. Like he was blanking it all out.
But it was clear that he was the killer. From Jackson finding the clothing, the faint blood and the damn murder weapon trying to be used on him, this guy was the killer. It would also explain why the victim felt comfortable around her attacker as she frequented this store often. And if their hunch is correct, the guy was a creepy stalker preying on a poor female omega. She probably either had a boyfriend or maybe she turned him down and friend zoned him, who knows. Either way, it shouldn’t have lead to murder.
But the venom…
Jinyoung notices Mark is quiet but is still looking at the body of the killer. Where his eyes are focused on the venom decaying…
Just what was happening here?
They go home as it was well off into the morning after being questioned and searching the area for more clues. It turned out their hunch was right as the guy had secret footage of the victim for months. Even had pictures that he took from when she would go to the bathroom. He was obsessed with her. It didn’t explain the venom though or what this had to do with the main killer. How did this guy know about Mark? How did it connect with Kyle and the others? It didn’t…it couldn't. This was just some random guy; a whole nother story in itself. So how?
Neil sent them home to get some sleep before coming back later in the day.
Mark was happy to go check on his babies and finds Vivian is sitting on the couch with the twins who had just woken up and were snuggling close as they look at their baby pictures.
“I should’ve known you’d locate that,” Jaebum snorts and his mother smirks at him.
“I need something to make up for time lost,” She replies as Jaebum was rushing over to see for himself.
Mark watches fondly as the two coo over the twins and the twins giggle happily. Kyo even tells them that they’re right there with Lilly stating that they’re cuter now. Jinyoung tries to take a shower so he can get the blood off but of course Jackson tries to join. It ends up with Jinyoung manhandling Jackson in the shower with the alpha exclaiming in delight of how much he likes that. Jinyoung may have scrubbed him a little too hard to clean him off as punishment, but he did go soft and easy over the prior wound that was healing up. Soon, it’ll be like it never existed as you gotta love that part of being a hybrid.
And this is where Mark and Jaebum end up, as the alpha came to check up on the omega when he noticed he slipped out of the room earlier. Where he finds Mark lost in his thoughts as he stared into the bathroom mirror. Jaebum comes up behind him, arms wrapping around him in a safe embrace that breaks Mark free from the darkness.
The alpha places a kiss to the back of his neck softly,
“Why’d you leave?”
Mark leans back against Jaebum in response, his body relaxing,
“Figured I’d give you two more time with the twins.”
Jaebum places another kiss to the back of his neck before nuzzling close,
“My Mom isn’t mad at you, you know. Now that she understands it was my brother’s fault, she really wants to talk with you and apologize.”
Mark nods, remaining quiet as he doesn’t know what to say. They remain quiet together as they just hold each other. Mark clasping their hands together over his front and just basked in one another.
“We…we eventually need to talk about them…about us…” Mark slowly voices as he’s afraid of the outcome.
They both have separate lives. Jaebum in Korea and him in America. He’s worried about the twin’s future and how everything is gonna work out.
“Shh, we will but for now, let’s try and get some rest. This case is enough to worry about. So we should enjoy the moments we can…I promise that this time, I won’t run once it’s over. Whatever the outcome may be, I will face it with you.”
Mark really appreciates Jaebum and has seen how much he’s grown. How much a few years' time can change everything.
Mark bites his lip as so many emotions come forth but the omega doesn’t hesitate to be vulnerable in front of Jaebum again. Where he lifts his one hand and trails along Jaebum’s jawline as he leans up on his tippie toes,
“Bummie…kiss me…”
He pleads softly and the alpha is already leaning in to do just that. The two kissing slowly as they fall apart in each other’s arms so the other can hold them together. Keeping them from completely shattering as they leave pieces of them to sink into the other and sew together.
It was a loving and warm moment that brought smiles to both of their faces before they heard two little giggles.
Pulling apart some but not completely, the two turn to look at the doorway where the door is cracked and two pairs of eyes stare at them.
Their smiles soon grow as they caught the twins watching,
“And what is so funny?” Mark asks as he comes forth and opens the door more to reveal the smiling twins,
“Not funny, happy,” Kyo corrects and Lilly nods,
“Yes, happy. We’re happy Mommy is smiling so much.”
Mark gets hit right in the feels, especially when Kyo adds,
“Mommy seems happier. We want you happy.”
Oh, he’s gonna cry and actually starts to tear up on the spot.
“Mommy, no cry!” They both exclaim as they rush forth to hug Mark as the omega tries to stop the tears but can’t.
Jaebum continues to hold him as he goes all eye smile at the three people he loves with all his heart while Mark explains to the kids that he’s crying out happiness.
Thinking that maybe things would really be alright this time around no matter what might be going on outside these walls. That this time he doesn’t have to be afraid to let Jaebum have his heart and keep it for good…