Ava hated to admit that she still found Kim Taehyung alluring. Maybe more alluring than she had before.

He leaned into the rise of masculine tensions at the dice tables, as well as into each roll, with a velvety smoothness that matched his voice and perfect features. Finally, Ava thought, he seemed to properly fill out his own swagger. In that dim yellow glow of the windowless casino areas, she was transfixed by his hands, his soul-seeing eyes, and the slimming tuxedo that fit his Adonis form so dang well.

Ava also hated to admit that somehow, in this game that was supposed to be based on chance, Kim Taehyung was very good at it.

There was yet another quietly pleased win for Tae and another roar of dejected defeat from a losing crew, this time of three older men sporting equally bushy mustaches.

Ava put a hand on Tae's arm and said, sounding less impressed than she actually felt, "I'm going to snag a drink. You want anything?"

Tae placed the green dice in his hand carefully down onto the velvety orange table. "I'll come with you."

Tae offered Ava an arm. She reluctantly took it, and they glided their way through the steadily growing crowd inside of the club and casino area. The sea of made-up faces and bodies done up in black tie all glowed with that delicate yellow light, and Ava thought she heard something akin to swing music playing beneath the hum of voices. The bar they walked up to was made of gleaming, polished wood and an impossibly large mirror hung behind it with assortments of bottles in every shape and color arranged at it's base.

"A Scotch and a...Linu for the lady," Tae said suavely, passing a few note pieces across the counter to the bartender. Then he leaned up against the standing counter backwards on both of his elbows as he waited for the drinks.

"What's a Linu?" Ever-curious, Ava wanted to know how well the fiend had pegged her tastes.

"It's a sweet and sour drink. Kind of like you," he said, a small smile touching his velvety voice.

"The hell kinda line is that, Kim Taehyung?"

Ava and Tae's heads swiveled to the left, where a man stood slouched over the bar and looking like he'd just washed up out of the ocean. Or, out of a bathtub full of alcohol. He was taller than anyone in the room and had buzzed, pale orange hair the color just beneath the outer layer of an orange peel.

He was practically cradling the tall green bottle in his arms as he leaned forward, glaring through slitted eyes at Ava and Tae.

"Sehun?" Tae sounded completely aghast. "What are you...? Are you alright, man?"

He waved a hand flippantly, his mouth in a mock pout. He was clearly drunk off his ass and it wasn't even near dinnertime yet.

"Why wouldn't I be? I'm at the party of the season, I look fly as hell, I'm with people that I care about...."

Ava noticed that he looked completely alone, actually. Oh yes, the signs of heartbreak were dripping from this poor human being. She knew that trashed and treasonous look.

"Your date bailed on you, huh?" Ava asked pointedly.

Sehun made a very childish pouting face. "How'd you know?"

Ava walked over and patted the tall man on the shoulder. He was slumped over so far that Ava was looking down on him.

"Relationships can be rough sometimes, but, you gotta believe that eventually they'll work out. In the right way, the right time. You just gotta give it time to happen naturally, that's all."

She patted his shoulder as he hiccupped a few times, casting a warm and doey eyed smile at her. "That's so kind of you to say."

"What a load of complete bullshit," a raspy voice interjected. The offending figure came strolling up to the bar and leaned into it, turning to face towards Ava, Sehun and Tae.

Ava reached for the drinks that had just been set in front of her and Tae. She went for a large gulp of her bright orange liquid, and didn't even register the taste. Damn, I didn't know Min Yoongi could get any better looking. But add a suit and bowtie... Phew, Lord, I'm finished.

"What do you want?" Tae asked grumpily.

"A drink. Obviously." He rapped on the countertop and the bartender didn't even wait for Suga to tell him what drink to make. He brought over two glass bottles of fiery red. Suga took one of them and busted it open against the side of the counter, then threw back a swig of it.

"No one asked for your opinion," Ava sassed.

"Hey, I've known this chicken shit longer than you have. I think I've a right to an opinion." Yoongi have a vague gesture towards Sehun then took another swig of his red drink.

Sehun seemed more confused than hurt. How did Yoongi fit into the blurry narrative of his present emotional turmoil? His tipsy brain couldn't compute it.

"I heard your friend's been having a rough time in the top box today." Yoongi enjoyed watching Ava tick her fingers in annoyance around the short glass in her hand. "I'm not sure if it's Joon who can't keep his hands off of her, or if it's Hoseok.... The whole story slips my mind."

He's just so dang irksome I can't stand it, Ava thought.

Tae reached out a hand to Ava's arm, but she brushed him off and clunk-clunked her heels across the length of the bar and straight up to the watching eyes of Min Yoongi. Her hand lashed. He reacted in perfect timing, and caught her wrist in the air before her palm made contact with his face. He twisted her arm around as if to pin her into the bar counter from behind.

Yoongi whispered into her ear, "It's not polite to pretend you're better than your teacher."

Ava reared one leg forward, then drove the sharp heel of her pumps hard into his shinbone. Yoongi's grip released immediately, and he let out a groan as he stumbled backward, gingerly bouncing around on his uninjured leg. He scowled.

"Bitch...." Yoongi muttered.

"Funny, that's exactly what you look like right now," Ava retorted as she looked him up and down superiorly and then stalked up to the bar and grabbed her orange drink that had a tiny fake zebra-colored seahorse curled around the rim of the glass. She sipped the sweet-and-sour drink while her glare poured over Yoongi.

"Let's head back to the dice tables, Tae. I think the present company is beneath us."

Tae was the open mouthed puppy of the hour. Sehun sent a grievous glance between Ava and Yoongi and she said to the moping man, a hand on his shoulder, "You're welcome to join us, doll."

He grinned sleepily at her. "That's nice of you, miss, but I'm pretty sure as soon as I let go of this bar I'mma pass out on this carpet. But thanks though. You're a peach."

She patted his shoulder again. "Any time. Tae. Let's go."

Tae followed after her, in awe of her kickassery and the way that she'd just knocked Yoongi down a peg. What a woman.

Yoongi was ruing the day he'd taken his time showing Ava those close combat tricks. He shot back one more swig of his red drink. Then to Sehun he growled, "The hell are you lookin' at?"

Sehun smirked sleepily at him. "Ain't no kink like getting put in yah place, is there?"

It took all of his self control not to push Sehun right off of the edge of that bar counter and to his drunked demise. Yoongi gripped both red bottles, one by the neck in each hand, and stalked over to the dice tables.

Jung Hoseok suddenly appeared out of the crowd, and he and Yoongi slid up to the same dice table which Tae and Ava had returned to. Yoongi pushed the extra red bottle into Hobi's hand. The two made a whispered exchange in huched tones, both looking agitated at each other. Then Hoseok nodded and stalked his way through the crowd, a bright beacon of color in his pink-magenta suit when everyone else was sporting black-on-black.

Yoongi dropped his bottle heavily onto the table, then declared boldly, "Let's play for some different stakes."

Tae argued, "I'd rather just play to win."

"Spill the sauce."

Ava muttered the words under her breath, wondering if it was supposed to be some kind of euphemism.

Yoongi clarified, looking across the dice tables at her, "It's like truth-or-dare but without the dare part."

Tae rolled his eyes. "What are we, children?"

"What are you, a chicken shit? You in or you out?"

Tae scowled and took the bait. "In."

"This some kinda preteen pastime ya'll used to play together?" Ava asked.

Tae mumbled in Ava's direction, "It's a game we used to play, all seven of us, back during our training days. Back when we were still getting to know each other."

"Oh."

The dice rolled. The round went. Tae won this one.

Tae shot, "Spill. You didn't actually leave Noon Mool because of Hobi, did you?"

Yoongi didn't even blink before he answered. "No."

The two prepared for their next roll.

The dice landed again. Yoongi won this one.

"Spill. Who helped Joon rig the detonator in Kiara and Dai Yu's shuttle."

Tae swallowed. "I did."

The weight of the tension that fell in that statement was deafening. It was like the world beyond the edges of that dice table stood still for old friends turned enemies: Suga and Tae Tae.

Their dice landed again. Taehyung won.

"Spill.  How did Hobi convince you to leave Noon Mool?"

Yoongi spat out a bitter laugh. "You've got it all backwards, kid. I'm the one who convinced HIM to leave with me. I wanted to steer my ship in a different direction than Namjoon was taking Noon Mool. Thank God I left when I did."

They rolled again. Yoongi won again.

"Spill. Why did Joon tell you to do it? To bug their ship in the first place?"

The ripple in Tae's body, the way his slender limbs started to shake, and the heat rose in his face, made him seem like a teapot ready to burst steam. "He didn't tell me to do it."

Yoongi looked across that orange velvet dice table at Tae like he'd never seen him before. "The fuck did you say?" His words were barely audible.

"He didn't tell me to do shit, Min Yoongi, I did it on my own! I Killed them, you stupid, self-centered idiot!" Tears were boiling in Tae's eyes but he was resisting setting them free with everything in him. "It was them or us. I planted the explosives. I waited for the right timing. I pulled the trigger."

Yoongi just stood paralyzed and gaping.

"Yeah, you heard me. Everyone's been losing their minds over Kim Namjoon, vicious murderer and egocentric maniac, but SURPRISE. It wasn't him. It was me! It was all me, and he covered for me, because he said it'd be easier for you to hate him than me, because you hated him already. And look how that's turned out for everybody."

Ava couldn't help it. She took a few steps back from Kim Taehyung.

Yoongi looked directly at her and said with a hint of...kindness...in his biting words, "You've gotta get out while you still can, Ava. Before these shits take you down with them on their way to hell."

At those words, Tae's fists slammed heavily down onto the table, rattling all the pieces resting upon it. Without argument, without contradiction, Tae turned and stormed away from the dice tables and slammed his way through the front doors of the casino. He was finished.

Ava gripped her fruity drink in both hands and lifted it to her lips to take a sip. "Well that escalated quickly."

"You know you're not safe with them anymore, don't you? Neither you, nor your friend."

Ava eyed Yoongi's face. He sounded suspiciously sincere, she thought.

She scoffed, "And what am I supposed to do, come over to the dark side with you and your asshole friend, Hoseok? First you assault my best friend, then you kidnap Jungkook and Chiminie, and then you try and schmooze me like some young doe just born yesterday? You've got flair, I'll give yah that. But I'm not about to trust you with my life."

"That's a shame. If you did, there's no way in hell I'd let you down," he replied in a low voice.

"E-excuse me? Says the guy who just tried to pull a fast one on me at the bar!"

Yoongi shrugged into his suit jacket and ignored that last statement. "You wanna walk the lanes with me? This casino just got boring."

Ava was immediately taken aback by the question, the nonchalant delivery, and the way that Min Yoongi's veiny hands had started carelessly adjusting the cuffs of his delicious looking suit jacket.

He didn't offer her his arm or anything, not even a hopeful and endearing gaze; just the bored-sounding question.

What are you doing, Ava?

What. Are. You. Doing.

"Sure. Why not?"