Hooked | JJK | Twenty Two

 Pair: UndergroundFighter!Jungkook x f!reader 

Summary: Walking away from your brother was never what you intended, you just wanted to run from the ghosts of your past. But now you’re back home and ready to pick things up from where you left off. If only things could be that easy, right? 

There’s a new guy living in your house, your brother’s best friend, someone you can’t help but grow close to. And the more you find out about him, the more you learn about yourself. An underground fight club, a newspaper competition, an overprotective brother and secrets you can’t seem to escape from. Did you make the right decision by coming back? Or did you just put yourself and those you love in danger? 

Genre: Series, fluff, smut, angst. All the aus: non-idol, underground fighter, brother’s best friend, roommates, rap-scene, chaebol. 

Chapter warning: Let’s put a plan into action! 

WC: 4.3k

 JULY 25TH | 22:05

It’s been over a week by now and walking into the dressing room at the Circle still felt a little weird without Jennie’s presence. It’s not that you missed her, far from it. You just guessed that the woman had such a heavy aura around her, at least when it came to you, that it surprised you every time you walked in to get ready for a new shift. 

You tried not to feel too guilty, when her being fired was the result of her own doing, but you felt sorry for Cheyoung and Lisa; Jennie was their friend after all. You didn’t know if the three still met up regularly or not and you would never expect either of them to take sides, but you still wondered. 

“Why is everyone freaking out about tonight?” Chaeyoung spoke over the soft kpop song playing in the background. “We didn’t even get our clothes yet and they ask us to come over earlier?”

“When I asked Hatter about it, he told me to ask Dove.” Lisa answered her friend and they both looked at you from the reflection of their own dressing tables. 

“We’re trying out something tonight.” you told them sheepishly. “I offered to give Hatter some business tips and we’re testing a couple new strategies tonight.” 

“Oh, for real?” Lisa was pleasantly surprised, turning her body around to face you. “That’s nice of you to do that.” 

“It’s no big deal, really.” 

You waved them off, knowing that once they really knew just what your strategy entailed, they might not like it quite as much. But you weren’t about to bring up the reasons why everyone in the Circle was running around like headless chickens. 

For now, the three of you just had to worry about making your faces look perfect with tons of makeup, sparkle and gemstones. The three of you already had your head pieces to use on your hair; a variety of expensive looking hair clips and elegant headbands. 

You had already curled your hair to fall over your shoulders in pretty rings, pulling it away from your face to tie the fancy fabric in yet another bow at the back of your head. But instead of just looking girly and cute, the gems sparkled like diamonds and stood out against the white of the fabric they were hand-sewn into. 

Your makeup was as natural as usual, but your cheekbones looked a little higher and your cheeks were dusted with a rosy pink that made you look healthy, almost as if you’d spent the day in the sun. 

Instead of the usual light pink or sheer lip tint, you went for a glossy red that made your mouth look like candy apple; plump, juice, tempting. 

The knock on the door made you reach out for the doorknob and twist it open, allowing Solar to push in the clothing rack with the three outfits for tonight. 

“Sorry it took me a while, girls.” the older woman started apologizing as the three of you stood up to look at the clothes. “We’ve been saving these for a special occasion, so we had to make some adjustments before it was ready for you.”

“Unnie, these are incredible!” Chaeyoung was the first to reach them, looking for the name tags to find out which belonged to who. “Definitely worth the wait.” 

“This is yours, dove.” Solar held your own and handed it to you. “Good luck tonight.” 

You would probably need all the luck that you could get, but neither of the girls had any idea. For all they knew, the point of tonight was to make more money, for them, all that was on the line for you was the possibility of striking a deal, of getting on Hatter’s good side, to make the Circle advance. 

But for you… Tonight weighed a lot more. It could give you all of the answers you were looking for, or it could be a complete bust and you’d be back at square one and you just wasted everyone’s time.

“Oh, that looks complicated, you need help putting it on?” Lisa offered you after looking at your outfit. “Just let me put on mine and I’ll give you a hand.”

“Thank you! I think I’ll just need help tying it up.” you accepted it with a thankful heart. 

Solar took her leave after making sure everything was alright with the outfits, closing the door to give the three of you privacy to get changed. 

You had been put in black and white again; Lisa was in full black, Chaeyoung was in black and white and you were in full white. 

You took off your robe and bra, no longer shy to get changed in front of the girls, and stepped into the short white dress. It was well fitted and body hugging, stopping just an inch under the curve of your ass and didn’t cover much of the tops of your breasts. The dress itself was strapless, but you had the softest detachable sleeves that weren’t there to cover anything, but to tie the look in a whimsical aesthetic. The fabric of the sleeves were thin and mesh, sitting nicely against your skin. The tiny swarovski stones matched the much bigger ones on the body of your dress. 

Lisa finished zipping up the side of her own black dress, one that was similar to yours in a few ways, and came over to stand behind you:

“Let me know if it’s too tight?” the girl was already pulling on the strings behind your back. 

You only nodded and let her tie the upper bodice of your dress, feeling each pull that cinched your waist and pushed your breasts higher up. 

“I think that’s enough.” you chuckled, testing if you still had the ability to breathe. 

“You look pretty.” Lisa encouraged, which was something she said to everyone every night, but you appreciated it just the same. 

“So do you.” you smiled at her. “You too, Chae.”

“Can we all agree that we look hot every night?” the blonde girl giggled as you sat down –with great difficulty– to put on your ballet flats and tie them around your ankles. “These patrons should be paying us just to look at us.” 

“Isn’t that what they already do?” Lisa laughed along and you had to agree with them. 

“I’m going out to check something, but I’ll meet you girls at the bar, yeah?” you told the two of them, looking in the mirror one last time. 

“Yeah, go show off to your boyfriend.” Lisa teased. 

If only things were that simple. 

You were laughing lightly as you walked out of the dressing room and down the hall, pushing the furthest door open and reaching the fighting ring. That’s where you found not only a few of the fighters, but Hatter testing out the damn fire machines that would make the fights tonight look more dangerous than they they were already were, and–

“You brought Wonho back?” Jeongguk was rushing towards you, absolutely livid. “This was your idea? You put Wonho and Mingyu together?”

You sent Hatter a murderous look over Jeongguk’s shoulder. So he was just throwing you under the bus left and right today?!

“Baby, I told you that you wouldn’t like my plan.” you reminded Jeongguk softly. 

“You said I wouldn’t like it, not that you lost your mind.” your boyfriend was holding your arms, but he wasn’t squeezing or shaking you. If anything, it felt like a protective hold, like he didn’t want anyone else to touch you. “And you decided to put my best friend in the ring with him?”

“I asked Mingyu before I suggested the fight, he said he didn't mind it.” you explained, despite the slight worry that you might be bringing your friend into something he had nothing to do with. “I needed someone I knew could give him a hard time for his money.” 

“Then put me in there with Wonho.” Jeongguk suggested and it was your time to hold his wrists.

“No.” 

“You don't think I could win?” his head tilted, tongue pushing the inside of his cheek.  

“If it was you, Wonho would play dirty and you know that.” you would never let this happen, not on your watch. Besides, for you to follow your part of the plan, you couldn’t be worrying about Jeongguk all night.  

“And you don't think I would’ve prepared for that?” 

“I don't care If you are, I'm not putting you through that if I can help it!”

“Why not?!” 

“Because I love you and it breaks my heart to see you in pain!” you spilled, which was the first time you ever said those words out loud. 

It was enough to disarm Jeongguk. He just stared at you, lips moving as if there was more that he wanted to say, but this wasn’t the time or place to talk about this. Instead, Jeongguk chose to trust you and that was enough for you for now. 

“Now I regret saying yes to meeting with your brother.” he groaned. “I want to be here tonight.” 

“Namjoon asked to see you?” you asked, surprised. “Baby, you have to go.”

“Yeah, but you–”

“I’ll be fine.” you assured him. “I’ll be at the bar the whole time, I won’t even go near Wonho.”

“Can you try to keep your phone with you?” Jeongguk sighed, touching your forehead with his. 

“Look at me and tell me where you think I could hide my phone.” you deadpanned and Jeongguk did just that, staring at your cleavage most of all. 

“I can give you a couple ideas–”

“Don’t be disgusting.” you hit his arm as Jeongguk laughed boyishly. When someone else came into your line of sight, you looked away from Guk to call: “Hey, Mingoo!” 

The fighter looked up at your call, smiling brightly as he changed paths and joined you and Guk. 

“How are you feeling, bro?” Jeongguk patted the man on the shoulder. 

Tonight Mingyu was dressed in a blazer top and no shirt on, smelling of the same baby oil your boyfriend covered his body with whenever he had a fight lined up.  

“I’m okay.” the man looked a little jittery, but overall in good spirits. “Just the usual nerves.” 

“I need to ask for a favor.” your nose was scrunching and you kept your voice down. “You need to let him win.” 

Mingyu was already groaning, but you couldn’t put this target on his back. It was already bad enough that you were putting your friend against the most dangerous man in the Circle, you would never allow for any of this if it meant making Mingyu another one of Wonho’s victims. 

“You’re serious?” the boy complained, looking at Guk as if asking for your boyfriend to reason with you. 

“Yes I am.” you sounded so assured that it left no room for arguments. “You can give him some trouble, hold it out until the last round. And then you lose.” 

“Fineeeee.” Mingyu rolled his eyes. Turning to Guk, he asked: “You faced him before. Any tips on how to kick his ass?” 

“He stops blinking.” you were the one to answer, much to everyone’s surprise. “When he’s about to attack, he stops blinking.” 

“How do you know that, dove?” Jeongguk was frowning. 

“I remember it from when he attacked me at The Warehouse.” 

Mingyu gasped. “He did what? Oh, it’s personal now.” 

JULY 26TH | 00:00

It seemed that only the staff members of the Circle were on edge. All of the patrons were coming and going, getting drinks at the bar, hitting on all of you and then going back to watch the fights happening down at the ring. Everything was running smoothly and as if nothing about tonight was any different. 

That didn’t make you any calmer. 

Not when you kept looking at the entrance, not even knowing who you were expecting. 

Well. You knew his name. You didn’t know his face. 

And that made you jittery in the bad way, nervous that this night could be a bust; what if the guy you were waiting for, the same man that never missed a single one of Wonho’s fights and could be the key to figuring him out, was already here? What if you missed him already? What if he was a nobody, a betting junkie? Did you just put Mingyu at risk for nothing? 

Besides, Hatter had no problem telling everyone that the lineup for tonight was all your idea and no one was exactly happy about having Wonho out of his suspension and back in the Circle. If all of that didn’t pay off, everyone would turn against you and you couldn’t even blame them. 

Lisa had already joked that you were staring at the entrance in hopes of seeing Jeongguk walking in, so you forced yourself to play it cool and carry on with your job. But then she was the one to hush so that only you and Chaeyoung would hear: 

“Oh, shit.” she gasped and you looked at her in question. “No wonder tonight is such a big night. Look who just walked in.”

With your heart working overtime, you looked up so fast that your neck almost cracked. It was easy to spot who she meant, as the man walking in exuded power. And he seemed to know everyone and everyone seemed to know him as he greeted people as if he owned the place. 

It might be your brain tripping you out, but the man didn’t have such a common face and you kinda… Knew him. Like you’ve seen him somewhere but couldn’t quite place it. 

“Who is that?” you whispered, leaning over the counter to hand the beer to a regular.  

“That’s the mayor.” Lisa answered through her lips, putting on her best smile and fixing her posture.  

“The what–” you sucked in a breath, not able to school your expression fast enough. “That’s Lee Hee-jung?”

“That would be him.” Lisa nodded, turning around to check her teeth for any lipstick stains in the mirrored wall. “I haven’t seen him around in a little while. You haven’t met him yet, have you?” 

“No, not yet–”

Then Chaeyoung warned: “Well get ready, here he comes.” 

You didn’t get much time to get ready to meet with the current mayor of your city. You were too busy freaking out internally and placing puzzle pieces together in your brain. So the mayor came over every time Wonho had a fight lined up? He was the one always betting rivers, so certain that the man would win no matter what? 

And then your brother’s voice running through you like a warning: ‘Some politician's kid who thought he owned the world’, Namjoon had mentioned when he admitted being at the same party as Hyejin the night she died. 

“Good evening, lovely ladies.” Mr. Lee joined the bar, which made most of the patrons scramble to give him space. If by nervousness or starstruckness you didn’t quite know yet. And then the mayor himself was noticing you. “You’re new.”

“How would you know?” you answered on autopilot, but your tone was sweet and the tilt of your head was innocent. “Are you saying you’d remember me if you met me before? Because I hear that a lot, you know.” 

“Oh, she’s feisty too.” he chuckled, ignoring both Lisa and Chaeyoung in order to perch himself on your side of the bar. “Hatter keeps hiring good people, I see.” 

“Yes, we’re all good girls here, sir.” you batted your lashes, despite the uncomfortable churn in your stomach.  

“I can see that.” he could see more than he should, with the way you leaned forward in an attempt to charm him. Not that you needed to do much more, from the way he was eating you up with their eyes. “Can I get a Somaek?” 

“You can get anything you want.” you smiled sweetly, turning around to get the drink ready and saying over your shoulder: “My name is Dove, by the way.” 

Somaek was the most expensive bottle at the bar, you were yet to serve it or see the girls serving it to anyone. It was the only drink that the patrons had to pay for, even after betting on the fights. But something told you that you didn’t need to charge this man, no matter how much the milk-like substance cost. 

“What are you doing?” Lisa stopped next to you, both of your backs to the man. She reached the fancy bottle when you couldn’t grasp it with your short shoes.  

“Just trust me.” 

That seemed to be enough for her to hand you the bottle and let you do your thing. Even if you had little to no idea of what you were actually doing. Turning around to face Mr. Lee again, you pretended that catching him staring at your ass and legs was flattering. 

“Make yourself a drink too and have it with me.” the man said as soon as you placed the empty glass on top of the counter.  

“Are you the possessive kind, sir?” you giggled, pretending to struggle with opening the bottle just to seem more helpless than you actually were. “My boss might not like to see me giving all my attention to just one patron.” 

“Our Dove here is the most popular of us.” Lisa praised you, getting into the game you were playing, even if she didn’t know the rules. “I’m surprised more patrons aren’t lining up to fight for her attention right now.”  

“Is that so?” Mr. Lee raised an eyebrow, watching you with a different kind of thirst that had nothing to do with the drink you poured into his cup. “Must I be so lucky to have the honor of your company, then?” 

“Like I said, I wouldn’t want to get in trouble with my boss.” playing hard to get was exciting for the type of men you got hit on while working. When everything else in their lives came easy, toying with them was a different approach than they were used to. 

“Honey, I'm your boss.” the mayor said calmly, and you waited for him to make a joke about his position in the government. Instead, he said: “All of this is mine. From the clothes you wear, to this very drink.” 

“All of it?” your throat felt dry. If what he was saying was true, then someone possibly related to Wonho, someone close to the Blue House, owned the Circle. “In that case I should thank you for making me look this pretty every night.” 

The man had a seedy smile on his lips, basking in your attention. As if he wasn’t wearing a huge wedding band around his finger. Not that it mattered much to him. Before he could flirt with you some more, the last fight of the night was announced. 

Mingyu versus Wonho. 

If you weren’t nervous before, you were now. 

“Will you at least come watch the fight with me?” Mr. Lee invited, taking his drink and pushing off the counter. 

“If my boss wants me to, who am I to say no?”

“A good girl indeed.” 

You slipped quickly out of the bar and joined the mayor on the other side, feeling Lisa and Chae’s worried stares on your back. But you were in too deep to step out of the water now, allowing the man to place an arm around you and lead you closer to the railings as if you were his trophy for the night. 

Your heart was beating so fast, with so much anxiety, that you could barely hear what Hatter was saying when he introduced the main fight of the night. Your ears were buzzing louder than the bell that started the fight. 

“Do you have a favorite fighter?” you rested with your ass against the railing, facing the man and not the fight going on downstairs.  

“Yeah, but I might be a little biased.” the man laughed, eyes never leaving the commotion going on downstairs. Every now and then he would wince or laugh about what was happening there. 

“Oh, come on, sir, will you really tease me like this?” you insisted, running your hand up and down his arm, thankful you were only touching fabric and not skin.  

“You've been teasing me all night.” he pointed out, reading your touch as an invitation to do the same. One of his hands rested next to your hip, caging you in between his body and the railing behind you. 

“Isn't that my job?” you batted your lashes. “Don't tell me you don't like being teased, sir.” 

The man didn’t answer you, as the fight downstairs became heated enough that you had to stop fighting with yourself not to look. As you turned around, you angled your body in a way that would make your ass out of reach for the man –just in case he got any ideas–, but your body was still at a pretty angle that let him see more than he deserved. 

You immediately regretted looking down, as you saw the fighting area surrounded by a ring of fire. And all of the yells got louder whenever one of the fighters got closer to the dancing flames. Every now and then, a fire machine would spit balls of fire up in the air and you had no idea how any of that was safe. 

Not only for the fighters, but for the rest of you. Where were the fumes going? As far as you knew, the Circle had a poor circulation system. 

But then again, what did you even really know about this place? 

“I know it has to be one of them, this is the only fight you wanted to watch.” you tried again, avoiding looking at the punch Wonho threw Mingyu’s way; luckily, your friend was able to duck right on time, but he still pretended to stumble.  

“That's my son down there. Lee Wonho.” Mr. Lee spilled the confirmation you’ve been looking for. “What do you think of him?” 

“He's really amazing, sir.” you smiled, but you felt like your dress was too tight and suddenly you couldn’t breathe. “I don't think he ever loses.”

Against your own will, you couldn’t miss the last moments of the fight. You had no idea what was going on, or what the score was, when the fire ring was put out as if by magic, and Hatter walked in to separate the two fighters, Mingyu fell to the floor on his knees. 

But then Hatter was announcing: 

“MINGYU WINS.” 

Your stomach dropped to your feet, as this was not the outcome you had planned for tonight. You just wanted to attract Mr. Lee to the Circle to learn who he was and how he knew Wonho. You didn’t want to anger Wonho even more, especially not in front of his dad. 

To make matters worse, when Wonho looked up to the crowd that was now celebrating Mingyu’s victory, searching for his dad… His eyes met yours. And the his gaze moved to his father and the arm that was still around you. 

When you looked at Mr. Lee, you saw disgust in his eyes, disappointment. 

“Maybe you spoke too soon.” the mayor schooled his face when he noticed you were looking at him. “It’s alright, pretty little dove. At least you made my night pleasant.” 

“Always happy to serve you, sir.” 

You were gobsmacked and stuck into place as you watched him walk away from you and out of the Circle. You didn’t dare look down at the ring as you knew you were in enough trouble already. 

As soon as you got the chance, after helping the girls clean up and serve a few of the last patrons of the night, you rushed downstairs to find Mingyu. Lucky for you, when you made it into the fighter’s dressing room, Wonho was no longer anywhere to be found. 

“What the hell were you thinking?” you started, cutting the men’s conversation short. 

Mingyu was talking to Woozi and another fighter you knew as DK. The three of them parted to let you join they small circle and shortest of the three teased:

“You really gotta stop invading our dressing room, dove.” Woozi laughed, pushing his tongue on the inside of his cheek. “You might like what you see and drop Guk.” 

“Oh, please.” you scoffed, but the comment didn’t annoy you or irk you, you knew all of the fighters had Jeongguk as their baby brother and the two of you were the first official couple of the Circle to actually work out. “My problem is with Mingyu tonight, so if you could excuse us–”

Before you were even finished speaking, DK and Woozi scrambled away. Mingyu looked at you as if he knew what was coming. He wasn’t scared of you at all, he was almost three times your size, but he did respect you enough to not look proud about going behind your back and changing your plans. 

“Mingoo!” you whined, crossing your arms. 

“Couldn’t you have covered yourself before coming to yell at me?” the man lifted his hand as if blocking the view of your cleavage from his eyes. 

“No, I could not.” you batted his hand away, knowing he wouldn’t look at your chest regardless. “I told you to lose.” 

“I know!” Mingyu complained like a baby. “But after you told me what he did to you, I just couldn’t. You’re like my little sister.” 

“Aigo, I’m not defenseless.” you did, apparently, have a lot of protective older brothers. “What in the found family trope is this–”

“The what?” he blinked, but you waved him off. 

“You have no idea what you just did, Mingyu.” you sighed, what was done was done. “I’m not even sure I know what you just did.”