The House of Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Tomorrow

Taehyung almost fell asleep twice during the car ride. It was boring and quiet, and there was no scenery other than the serenely rolling hills in the far distance. There was an air of tension in the car, and it made Taehyung feel sick. Chanyeol looked like he wanted to say something to Kole, and every so often he'd open his mouth and then close it, like he'd changed his mind. Kole was in a different world, and was either staring off into space, staring down at his phone, or staring right at Taehyung. 

Taehyung couldn't understand Kole, what his motives were, or even what he was. Kole was supposed to be dead. The man sitting in the car seat right in front of him was supposed to be dead. Taehyung tried his best not to look back at Kole, but he kept getting the feeling that he was being watched by a ghost, and it sent chills through his entire body.

Taehyung was almost half-asleep when Chanyeol pulled into the wide garage of EXO's mansion. The mansion looked similar to BTS', but was bigger because of the extra members. Chanyeol and Kole got out of the car immediately, and Chanyeol started talking in a rushed voice to someone on his phone as Kole walked to the back of the car and opened the door for Taehyung. Originally, Taehyung had planned on staying in the car so that EXO would have to wrench him out of it, but he was so touched by Kole's gesture that he exited the car without thinking twice. Kole smiled gently and led Taehyung into the mansion, Chanyeol trailing absently behind them. 

The first thing that stood out to Taehyung about EXO's mansion was how sleek and minimalistic it was. It's not that there was no decoration, but the decorations were all small and modern, so even though your eyes weren't attracted to them, they gave you a sleek, sophisticated vibe. This was very different to Taehyung's home, where every member bought decorations of all kinds and put them everywhere. Yoongi's Victorian love-seats beside Jin's Rococo vanities which shelved Namjoon's melange of statues and action figures, which sat below Jungkook's Pop Art relics and Hoseok's Baroque mirrors and frames that held Taehyung's various paintings, and which were all lit up the gentle light of Jimin's Neoclassical lamps and chandeliers. The Bangtan mansion was a fanciful myriad of art and beauty that attracted one's attention in every direction, just like the members did. But EXO was a more experienced group with skills refined through time and practice, and it showed in their choice of decor. Taehyung honestly felt like the mansion could do with more color, but there was something about the controlled splashes of color here and there that made EXO's home distinctly EXO's. 

"Do you like it?" Kole asked, startling Taehyung. "Woah, I'm sorry if I scared you." Kole waved his hands slowly, attempting to calm Taehyung down after he'd jumped nearly a foot into the air at the sound of Kole's voice. When Taehyung seemed to calm down, he continued. "This is your home now. I really hope you like it."

"It's nice," Taehyung muttered. 

Kole grinned widely. "You talked."

Taehyung shot Kole a cold glance before focusing his eyes back on the interior of the mansion. Taehyung hadn't been planning on talking until he'd gathered more information about his situation, but his little slip-up wasn't a big deal. Kole had a nice smile. 

Kole stopped in front of a large white door, which Tae guessed was the door to EXO's meeting room. They both waited patiently for Chanyeol to finish his call and open the door for them. Since Kole felt it was impolite to open the door before Chanyeol, it must have meant that he was not a true member of EXO, but he seemed like much more than an ally to them. Taehyung was, and this was starting to become a trend in the past few hours, thoroughly confused.

Every member of EXO besides Chanyeol was already inside the meeting room, discussing something in hushed voices from their seats around a long granite table. Taehyung recognized each and every one of them on sight, from months of researching them from his room. Taehyung knew each member's favorite color, area of expertise, favorite food, weapon of choice,place of birth, likeliness to kill on the job, all the normal things you'd need to know about a person. Even though BTS didn't interact with EXO as much as silently loathe them, if they ever did fight Taehyung was responsible on knowing every little thing about their enemies in order to make the fight that much easier for his family. He took pride in his vast knowledge on every mafia group in South Korea.