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“You’re a little young for alcohol.”
“And you’re a little underpaid to tell me what to do.” Chenle slapped a card on the counter and pushed it towards the bartender. “Pour.”
“We have strict rules about selling alcohol to underaged people.”
“I used to have strict rules about shooting people who disagreed with me.” Chenle smirked, slowly pulling his jacket apart to reveal a gun underneath. “But I can always break that.”
The bartender of The Joker quivered at the sight. He took the glass and poured bourbon in it. He almost collapsed in relief when Yuta showed up.
“What do you want?” Yuta said, crossing his arms.
“No warm welcome for me?” Chenle shrugged disapprovingly. “I’m so disappointed. Is that any way to treat a guest?”
“Don’t you have an angel to pretend to be?” Yuta sneered.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your little fuck session.” Chenle’s eyes drooped down to Yuta’s jeans, which were carelessly left open. Any decent human being would zip it up in shame, but Yuta was anything but a decent human being. “But I have a job offer.”
“You’re offering us a job?” Yuta scoffed.
“It’s of the highest calibre, and I need a team.”
“We don’t come cheap.”
Chenle pulled out a briefcase from under his bar stool. “I’m ready to pay.”
Anybody willing to pay up front must be desperate, and it definitely excited Yuta at the thought of taking money from that Chinese weapons dealer in disguise as a dumb teenager.
“Fine. Come with me.” Yuta led the teenager upstairs to Taeyong’s office. He knocked on the door and opened it, a strong scent wafting into his nose.
“Gosh hyung.” Yuta coughed. “Is everything alright?”
“It’s fine.” Taeyong said, closing a window. “The ventilation in the lab broke down while Ten was cooking meth. I’m trying to make sure no smells enter the room.”
“What a fucked-up day for it to break down.” Ten sighed, throwing his gas mask into a corner. “I was supposed to have a batch ready for next week.”
“If you work for me, you won’t have to worry about money for the next two months.” Chenle said, pinching his nose.
“Ah Chenle.” Taeyong sighed, taking his seat. “What are you here for?”
“I would like to hire you.”
“Hire us?” Johnny scoffed. “You know we don’t come cheap.”
“That’s what I said.” Yuta laughed.
“Yuta zip up your pants. Your ugly penis is distracting me.” Taeyong snapped and the Japanese man pulled it up swiftly. Chenle sniggered behind his hand while he shot Yuta a teasing glare. “What exactly do you need us for?”
“I need protection.” Chenle said. “I have a client coming down to Seoul in a couple of days and we have a business transaction to conduct. He’s…not exactly one of my best clients and I definitely do not trust him.”
“You think he’s coming to kill you?” Ten raised an eyebrow.
“Can I help?” Yuta smirked.
“You know I could rip your penis out, but I wouldn’t know what to do with a short hairless rodent like that.” Chenle snapped. The Japanese man was reaching for his knife but Taeyong raised a hand, a direct order to stop.
“Continue.”
“There are two things I need you to protect.” Chenle patted his suitcase. “The weapons I plan to sell and the greatest assets of all.”
“What?”
“Me.”
“What would he want with you?” Johnny scoffed. “Unless he wants to stop having a sex life.”
“There is some bad blood between us.” Chenle shrugged. “It’s a long story but basically I don’t trust him and he doesn’t trust me. He’s rich as fuck and he wants my latest technology. I’m also rich as fuck and I want his money.”
“Who’s this client?” Taeyong asked.
“His name is Cai Xukun.” Chenle cleared his throat. “He’s the leader of Nine Percent, the largest underground society in China. His father was the founder.”
“I take it he’s dangerous.”
“Dangerous is a gross understatement. There is not a single government official in China who isn’t kissing his feet or marrying their daughters to him. Sons too if you were desperate.”
“You know the rules kid.” Johnny said, removing the cigarette from his lips and blowing out smoke into his face. “Show us how much you need us.”
Chenle dug into his wallet and pulled out an empty piece of paper, except it wasn’t a paper. It was a blank cheque with his signature on it.
“Fill in any number from one to 500 million.”
“You must be very desperate.” Taeyong chuckled.
“Thankfully so are we.” Ten snatched the cheque and hid it in his pocket.
“Ten!”
“Hyung with this money we can fix the lab!”
“I’ll throw in my private laboratory for you to use in the meantime.” Chenle said. “It’s bigger, more advanced and you will have free reign to use it whenever you want.” Ten’s eyes literally grew wider and started sparkling.
“Ten, don’t…” Johnny tried to stop him but the smaller man pushed him aside.
“You got yourself a deal.” Ten said, shaking Chenle’s hands.
*********************
“What do you have planned for Mark’s birthday?” Jaemin asked Donghyuck as the gang sat on one of the tables in Taeil’s café folding napkins. Donghyuck slapped a hand over his mouth and shushed him.
“Shhhh.” Donghyuck looked around carefully. “I don’t want him to know I’m planning anything.”
“He’s not here.” Jeno said.
“You don’t know that!” Donghyuck whispered. “He has eyes everywhere.”
“That is ridiculous.” Renjun said, slapping him with a napkin.
“It’s just every time I try to surprise him he always goes ‘you can’t surprise me, I see through everything’.” Donghyuck sighed. “Just once, just once, I would like to do something that would make eyes drop out and his heart stop.”
“Start walking around your apartment naked then.” Donghyuck kicked Jeno under the table, causing the other to pull a face making him look like a monkey with a needle in his back.
“Surprises work when you least expect it.” Jaemin said. “Is there anything we can do that would seem totally unexpected?”
“Not unless we don’t celebrate it.” Donghyuck scoffed. He mumbled to himself for a bit and raised an eyebrow. “Although, now that you mention it, maybe there is something we can do.”
*********************
“Hyung, why is Ten walking around the lounge throwing Monopoly bills in the air and singing Wu Tang Clan?” Kun asked as he, Sicheng and Yuta walked into Taeyong’s office.
“We uh, just came into some cash.” Taeyong was very careful not to mention Chenle’s name in fear of Kun, his doctor cousin, finding out about the teenager’s criminal side. “He’s excited because that would mean getting the lab fixed.”
“So what are we doing?” Sicheng asked.
“It’s a protection job. Our client,” he gave Sicheng a peculiar look, hoping the hacker would understand. The hacker winked back in response. Yuta must have told him what happened. “Wants us to protect him from a potential assassin.”
“Who’s the assassin?”
“That’s why I asked you here.” Taeyong said. “Are you guys familiar with the Nine Percent gang?”
The two Chinese men stared at Taeyong. Kun was in shock and there was a flash of horror across Sicheng’s face. “They…” Kun gulped thickly. “They are here?”
“We’re not sure yet. I’ve asked Jaehyun and Doyoung to find out.”
Kun turned to Sicheng to mumble something in Chinese. The hacker mumbled something back.
“So, do you two know anything at all?”
“There is a reason why Sicheng and I fled China to be here.” Kun swallowed thickly.
“Wait, were you two part of the Nine Percent gang?” Johnny asked.
“I wasn’t, but my grandfather knew them.” Kun replied. “I’m not sure what kind of business he had with them and I didn’t care. One of them found out I was a doctor and tried to get me to work with them.”
“Why didn’t you?” Taeyong asked.
“I did, for a couple of months.” Kun said. “Then I was offered a job in Seoul, so I had made plans to move here. At the same time, one of their gang members died from a bullet shot and I couldn’t save him in time. That gang member was one of Xukun’s right hand men. Xukun was convinced that it was my fault and he fired me. I packed all my bags and left for Korea the next day.”
“What about you Sicheng?” Taeyong asked. “Were you a member?”
“A member?” Sicheng scoffed. His lips quivered as he clasped his hands together. “I wasn’t even worth that.”
“What?”
“I was their whore, Taeyong.”
*********************
“Excuse me.” Doyoung walked up to the reception of the Crown Imperial Hotel and tucked his sunglasses into his back pocket. “I would like to make an inquiry about a hotel room.”
“Of course.” The receptionist was a sweet, polite lady with the name Jisoo written on her name tag. “How can I help you?”
“My fiancé and I are thinking about spending our honeymoon here in this hotel.” Doyoung picked up a random brochure and flipped through it. “Do you have any special packages for newlywed couples?”
“Yes we do. We have this package here. It comes with a bottle of wine, some chocolates and the romantic presidential suite where we will decorate it to your liking.”
“That is fascinating.” For 1000 dollars a night and some stinky rose petals on the floor? I could do that for 50. “That sounds very interesting. Is it possible for us to see the presidential suite?”
“I’m afraid not sir.” She shook her head. “We have a guest occupying the room.”
“Oh? And who is he?”
“I’m afraid I can’t divulge our VIP name list.”
Doyoung licked his lips looking around the lobby. He spotted a few Chinese relics and a golden plaque on the wall with Chinese names on it. “Is this a Chinese hotel?”
“Yes sir. The parent company is from China.”
“Fascinating.” Doyoung nodded, handing over his credit card. “Keep this a secret. I want it to be a surprise.” He gave his details and purchased a night in a ridiculously overpriced hotel and walked back to the lobby where Jaehyun was engrossed in a magazine. He snatched the magazine and slapped Jaehyun with it. “Hey fiancé, they won’t tell us if they are here.”
“Strictly confidential?”
“Yep.”
“Want to try bribing her?”
“We’re not even sure if they are here yet.” Doyoung shook his head. His head turned outside and he saw black armoured cars rolling into the porch. “I think I spoke too soon.”
The two of them sat down on the couch. Jaehyun had his arm around Doyoung as they pretended to be discussing about something they saw in a magazine. Nine men in black Givenchy suits walked into the lobby. The first man in front had dirty blonde hair, tinted sunglasses and a hand carelessly tucked in his pocket as his other hand carried a suitcase. He was taller than most of them and Jaehyun noted the way everyone else walked at least two steps after him.
“Mr. Cai!! How are you doing?” A man from the inner staff office came out to shake his hand. Jaehyun wouldn’t be surprised if he bent down and started kissing his feet. They couldn’t see anything anymore as their backs were facing them. The other 8 men after this Mr. Cai, also dressed in expensive suits, had a symbol tattooed on the back of their necks. One of them unbuttoned his jacket and Doyoung caught sight of the Glock he had by his hip.
“Jesus.” Doyoung muttered. “How did they get through immigration with that?”
“I’m guessing economy seats are a little beneath them.”
“Hey guys.” Mark came up from behind them. “What’s going on?”
“I think that’s the Nine Percent gang.” Jaehyun said. “They match the photos Chenle gave to us.”
“So they really are here.” Doyoung bit his lip. “We should figure out how long they are going to be here for and which floor they are on.”
“Why?” Mark raised an eyebrow.
“Because we have to protect Chenle from them.”
“Why? What does he have to do with them?” Mark asked.
“I don’t know. Taeyong didn’t tell us much.”
“Why?”
“For fuck’s sake Mark if you ask why one more time…” Doyoung snapped.
“Shut up you cretins!” Jaehyun shushed them. The Nine Percent gang started moving towards the elevator. The man who was attending to them gave Jisoo instructions. She nodded her head and shuffled papers around.
“We have to get those papers.” Doyoung whispered. “Mark, you steal the papers. Jaehyun and I will distract them.”
“Got you.” Mark nodded.
“Okay.” Jaehyun stood up, holding Doyoung’s hand. “Which one is it? Scenario A or B?”
“What’s Scenario A and B?” Mark asked curiously.
“I’m in a pretty feisty mood today. Let’s do A.” Doyoung answered.
“What are you…”
SLAP! Mark reeled in terror at the sound of Doyoung’s hand meeting Jaehyun’s cheek.
“HOW DARE YOU JUNG JAEHYUN?!?!!?!” Doyoung cried out loudly in the middle of the hotel lobby after slapping Jaehyun’s cheek. “How could you break my heart like that?!?!!?”
“Baby please it was just one night…” Jaehyun pleaded, trying to grab his hand but Doyoung turned around and stomped through the lobby, making sure his stomps were real stomps.
“How could you sleep my sister?!”
You could hear a very loud gasp as other patrons of the hotel stared at the couple in shock. Jisoo and her colleagues stared at each other, wondering what they should do.
“I didn’t mean to! Baby it was a mistake!”
“Marrying you is a mistake!!!” Doyoung sobbed loudly. “I can’t go through with this! And to think I gave you the best years of my life and my virginity! I am cancelling this wedding and the hotel room I just booked!!”
“Oh no!” That got Jisoo’s attention as she and her nosy colleagues rushed out of the reception counter to soothe a hysterical Doyoung. Mark snuck behind the counter and quickly shuffled through the papers.
“Sweetheart please, you know I love you. It was a horrible, drunk mistake and your sister came on to me. I could never love her as much as I love you.”
“You liar!” Doyoung sobbed. “All men do is lie!!”
Mark rolled his eyes. If Doyoung wasn’t a lawyer, he would have made an incredibly dramatic soap opera star.
“Doyoung please, I love you.” Jaehyun begged. “I will do anything you want, anything if you will take me back.”
“Don’t take him back! He’s a scum!” one of the female patrons said.
“Take him back! He didn’t mean it and he loves you so much!” Jisoo pleaded.
Bitch please you just don’t want me to cancel on my room.
“Take him!!”
“Don’t take him!!”
“Take him!!”
“Don’t take him he’ll just ruin your life!!!”
Jesus why is everyone so invested in this?
“Baby I love you.” Jaehyun pulled Doyoung into his arms. “You are my one and only. Nobody, whether man or woman, can ever replace you.” He took Doyoung’s face in his hand and kissed him.
“Awwww…” Mark nearly gagged at the sound of the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ the crowd made while watching Jaehyun suck out Doyoung’s tongue. He tucked his phone away and quickly left the counter.
“I love you too.” Doyoung sniffled. He hugged Jaehyun and the crowd cheered at the happy make-up. Emotions died down as the receptionists returned to their desk, hotel patrons went back to whatever it was they were doing and Jaehyun and Doyoung walked out hand-in-hand.
“Well?” Doyoung asked Mark who was waiting for them outside.
“I think Shakespeare wrote less dramatic romances, and everyone dies in his plays.”
“Not that.” Doyoung rolled his eyes. “You got the papers?”
“I sent them to your phone.” Mark extended his hand. “Cough up.”
“Here.” Jaehyun took out a couple of fifty’s from his wallet. “Thanks for the help.”
Mark tucked the bills away and grinned. “What are you guys going to do with the hotel room you bought?”
“We’re going to use it.” Jaehyun answered.
“Why? You’re not even married.”
“Hey, for one night we get to fuck in a nice hotel room with complimentary wine, chocolate, sexy R&B music and rose petals on the floor.” Doyoung grinned. “It’s better than our old apartment where the walls are so thin you could hear the baby screaming next door.”
“So, what’s the difference between scenario A and B?”
“B is the same as A, except the sister is also pregnant and instead of us making up, I knee him in the groin and walk out.” Doyoung answered.
“And this works?”
“Nothing like creating drama to distract everyone from their humdrum lives.”
“Said the most dramatic person in the world.” Mark laughed. He narrowly avoided a flying rock as he said goodbye and hopped back onto his bicycle.
*********************
“Johnny, I want you to take everyone else out of here and leave Sicheng and I alone.” Taeyong ordered.
“What, me included?!” Yuta pointed to himself incredulously. “I’m…”
“It’s okay.” Sicheng breathed. “I can say this in front of all of you. You guys are my home now.”
“You sure?” Taeyong checked.
Sicheng nodded as Johnny and Yuta grabbed chairs and sat down next to him. Sicheng looked up at Taeyong and breathed before he started.
“I was born into a poor family. My mother passed away before I could get to know her and my dad worked in a factory. He was a good man and he tried to provide for me…”
“But?” Taeyong asked. These stories always have a ‘but’.
“He was also a gambler.” Sicheng continued. “He would bet all his earnings from the factory and every penny we had in the house. There wasn’t a single dollar, not even a coin in our house because my dad gambled it all.”
“Then, as his addiction worsened, he started borrowing money from loan sharks, and one of them worked for Nine Percent. My dad must have borrowed over 100,000 or more and he obviously didn’t have the means to pay them back. When they finally came for him, my dad was hiding in the kitchen cabinet, shivering and fearing for his life, leaving his 15-year-old son outside to fend for himself. That was when I first met Xukun and his dad.”
“Xukun and I were roughly the same age when we first met. He was just following his dad, you know? His dad said that since our family could not repay the loan plus it’s interest, the only way we could settle the debt is if he took me. So he did. I followed them home and never looked back for my dad. My first night in the Cai house I spent it tied to Xukun’s bed while he raped me repeatedly.”
Kun’s face was pasty white. Johnny shifted uncomfortably while Yuta’s jaw clenched tight, his fist curled up so tightly his nails were digging into his palms. Taeyong gulped loudly. “Continue.”
“After that it was just… kind of like a cycle I guess.” Sicheng spun one finger in the air. He paused for a minute to collect his emotions. “It was like Saturday with one guy, Sunday with another, Monday I had two appointments with two different people you know? Sometimes it’s guys my age, but sometimes it’s men two, three times my age, sometimes it was Mr. Cai himself, but mostly it was…”
“Xukun.”
“Yes.” Sicheng nodded. “I lived in his house for two years and everyday I went to bed wishing I could die in my sleep so that I didn’t need to live through another day. Finally, I had enough. You see, when I was in school, some friends and I used to hack into our school’s computer system for fun. Hacking for me became a passion, and I quickly discovered a way to hack into Xukun’s bank account and funnel the money to my own.”
“What did you do?” Taeyong pressed on.
“One night I made my escape. I had to kill a kitchen maid to do it, but I did it.” Sicheng sniffled, his voice cracking. “I spent the money on plane tickets and getting a hotel room. I left China and the when I arrived in Seoul, the first person I called was Kun. I couldn’t believe I managed to escape without getting caught along the way.”
“We met several times at the hospital.” Kun explained. “He used to have…bruises and scars. We did plastic surgery and laser treatment to remove most of it but…you know.”
“Then I met you.” Sicheng looked at Taeyong, eyes welling with tears. “You took me in and for the first time I felt safe, I felt stable. I felt loved.”
Taeyong couldn’t speak. His throat was tightening, and his chest ached in pain. He looked at Yuta and it was worse. Yuta looked absolutely broken.
“Taeyong, Xukun is a monster.” Kun said. “He is just like, if not even more, of a maniac like his father. Did you know that his father killed 7 wives just because they couldn’t bear him a son? Wife number 8 finally did it and Xukun was born. She gave birth to a girl after that and bye-bye, her job was done.”
“Xukun was groomed and pampered ever since he was a child to take after his father.” Sicheng continued. “Their family has bloodlines going back to some of the most powerful emperors in China. Savagery and fierceness is not a reputation, it is in their blood.”
“The top members of his Nine Percent gang are trained and primed to respond to his every command. It’s loyalty or die for them. If there was a burning building and Xukun asked them to run inside and not come out, they would do it.”
“I can’t believe he’s here.” Sicheng buried his face in his hands. “It’s…my past has finally caught up with me.”
“No one is going to hurt you.” Taeyong said, taking Sicheng’s hand in his. “We will keep you safe and I would sooner kill Xukun with my own hands than let him get an inch near you.”
“You might have to get in line.” Yuta said, wrapping his arms around Sicheng’s waist. He kissed the hacker’s cheek and hugged him tight.
“Thank you for sharing.” Taeyong smiled weakly. “I know it was not easy. Take a break and please if you know anything that could leverage us against them, let us know.”
Kun nodded. He took Sicheng and Yuta out as Taeyong rubbed his temples.
“What now?” Johnny asked.
“I was afraid of this.” Taeyong sighed. “This is the worst kind of mission. The one where it gets personal.”
*********************
It’s fairly obvious when anyone of the gang members were upset or throwing a hissy fit. Loud music would be blasting through the room and suddenly all of the candy, chocolate and ice cream in the refrigerator would disappear. In Sicheng’s case, he was lying on the couch, watching What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim on TV and eating ice cream from the tub.
“Can I sit here?” Yuta asked Sicheng, gesturing to a spot on the couch.
The Chinese man moved his legs and made space for him. He took Sicheng’s spoon and dug out some of the ice cream. “Vanilla?” he made a face.
“Mark forgot to go to the grocery store again.” Sicheng shrugged.
“It’s better that he didn’t.” Yuta winced at the icy cold ice cream on his tongue. “Last time he brought back 7 tubs of cookie and cream ice cream.”
Sicheng chuckled and the two of them ate out of the tub for a few minutes.
“Are you mad?” Sicheng asked.
“Depends.” Yuta answered. “I’m not exactly thrilled right now.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” Sicheng said. “I just didn’t want you to think less of me.”
“You know I would never do that.”
“You know, I still remember the first day I met you all.” The Chinese man pondered, a spoon stuck in his mouth. “I could barely speak Korean except for a few words. Kun had to translate everything and we met at the corner of this empty shipping yard. Taeyong looked so terrifying with that cold stare and the cigarette in his mouth. Jaehyun and Johnny were wiping their guns down. Doyoung was on the phone, and then you were in the background, sleeves rolled up to show off your tattoos, hair swept upwards with more holes in your jeans than a cheese wheel.”
“I was sexy then wasn’t I?” Yuta joked.
“I liked you from the first time I saw you.” Sicheng blushed. “I didn’t want you to think I was a whore. I kept this part of my life hidden because I was embarrassed. I was nothing more than a cheap sex toy abused by many others.”
“No, you are not.” Yuta put the ice cream tub down and cradled Sicheng’s face in his hand, wiping his tears off with his thumb. “You are so much more than that.”
“Sometimes…” Sicheng cried softly. “Sometimes I just… I just wanted it to end.”
Yuta’s heart broke piece by piece as Sicheng wept.
“I don’t deserve you.”
“Don’t say that. Don’t you ever say that.” Yuta kissed Sicheng over and over again. “I love you so much Dong Sicheng, more than you can imagine. You are mine to protect and nothing will ever happen to you again.”
“What if he finds me?” Sicheng sobbed. “What if he takes me back?”
“I’ll kill him. I’ll kill him with my bare hands.” Yuta growled. “It’s not going to happen. I won’t let it, and neither will Taeyong. You are one of us now and no one can take that away.”
“Thank you for loving me.” Sicheng said, holding Yuta’s hand tighter than ever. “Thank you for giving me the family I never had.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Yuta buried his hands in Sicheng’s hair, bringing him close as they attached their lips together in an open-mouthed kiss. His fingers sneaked under Sicheng’s shirt as he slowly pushed him onto the couch. He felt Sicheng’s soft skin under his fingertips, searching for cracks, wrinkles or fragments of his past but he couldn’t find anything. He thought about how a young, beautiful boy like Sicheng hid in the house of terror for two years. He thought about the marks and scars that must have been left behind. He looked into Sicheng’s eyes and realized the biggest scar was not on his body, but in his heart.
He made love to Sicheng on that couch. They have done so many times before and in god forsaken places, but this time it was different. This time it wasn’t about love, it was about healing. It was about repairing broken souls and patching broken hearts. It was about a boy who grew up without love, and someone who would later love him forever.
*********************
“This is an obnoxiously large swimming pool.”
“Big ego, big swimming pool.” Lucas rolled his eyes as he, Johnny and Jaehyun entered a private compound owned by Zhong Family Corporations, a.k.a Chenle himself. When he moved to Korea his family was generous enough to buy Chenle his own plot of land for him to build a house upon. Chenle accepted the gracious gift and spent millions erecting his fantasy mansion. It was made of odd shaped rectangular blocks, each coloured differently but stacked perfectly in such a way that there was nothing sticking out. It reminded Jaehyun of something.
“Doesn’t it look like a giant Tetris set?” Jaehyun said.
“He’s 17. What do you expect?” Johnny said, coming to the front door. Taeyong sent his three best men (who coincidentally were the strongest and sharpest shooters) to Chenle’s house to protect him. Johnny knocked on the door and a maid opened it.
“Hello. We are here to see Chenle.”
“Yes, the young master is expecting you.” She bowed politely and showed them in. The interior of Chenle’s mansion was nothing if not extravagant. Plush furniture, state-of-the-art electronics and a glass waterfall in the middle of the building, separating the entrance from the rest of the mansion. Once they walked past the glass waterfall they came upon the living room which overlooked a second pool and into the most stunning view of Seoul anyone had ever seen.
“Shall we take your luggage?” the maid asked.
“Oh you didn’t… yeah sure.” The maid gave no time for them to response as they hauled their luggage away. Lucas rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
“There you are.” Chenle appeared from the kitchen. He was still dressed in his school uniform and had his hand in a bag of chips. Apparently he still was a teenager. “My protection for tonight.”
“You built this place?” Jaehyun asked, eyes scanning the room.
“Of course I did.” Chenle scoffed. “Oh, where are my manners? Drinks anyone?” he snapped his fingers and a square panel on the wall flipped around. It was a huge drink dispenser with over 30 different kinds of drinks. All of them were soda.
“Uh…no thanks.”
“You could get diabetes from all those.” Jaehyun said.
“Help yourself to the liquor cabinet then.” Chenle said, pointing at the bar on their left.
“You’re too young to drink.”
“Doesn’t mean my clients don’t.”
“These are for your clients?!” Johnny rushed to the cabinet, opening the doors to grab the bottles inside. “Hennesy, Johnnie Walker, Macallan… there’s more alcohol here than our club.”
“I have a wine cellar in the basement.”
“But… you don’t drink.” Johnny stared at him in confusion.
“My family has a winery business in France.” Chenle shrugged. “I have a very exclusive palate.”
“You live alone in this giant house?”
“Not always. My parents stay here with me when they have the time, and I have friends over.”
“You?” Jaehyun scoffed. “You have friends?”
“Snowstorm is an alter ego of mine. Otherwise I’m just your friendly, neighbourhood billionaire child.” Chenle grinned.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this.” Lucas groaned. “Stuck babysitting a kid? What kind of mission is this?”
“This ‘kid’ can buy and sell your house in Seoul and Hong Kong like trading fucking gift cards.” Chenle licked his fingers clean of cheese dust. “Come on. I have ten minutes to show you the house before Jisung comes over.”
“Wait what?!” Jaehyun stared in shock. “Taeil’s younger brother?!”
“That’s right.”
“Does he know about…”
“Yes.” Chenle said. “He knows about Snowstorm.”
“And he… I mean he’s not…”
“I can see fucking a lawyer hasn’t done much for your own social skills.” Chenle rolled his eyes at Jaehyun. “Then again I can’t see your mouth being used to do anything else but suck his dick anyway.” The teenager turned his head and walked off while Jaehyun seethed.
“Never mind the Nine Percent gang. I’ll kill him myself.”
“Jaehyun.” Johnny stopped him. “He’s our client. Just bear with it.”
“Hey ladies!” Chenle called after them. “Gossip time is over! Get in here!”
The three men sighed deeply as they walked after Chenle.
*********************
“Yuta, you wanted to see me?” Taeyong said, looking up from his computer in his office.
“Yes.” Yuta nodded. “There is something I would like to ask for.”
That was rather odd, because Yuta rarely asked for anything. Ever since he became a member he was more than content with just following orders and taking whatever that was given to him. He knew Taeyong had his best interests at heart and would always look after him. Ten was sitting on one of Taeyong’s couches, reading a magazine. He heard Yuta talk to Taeyong and immediately tossed the magazine aside to pay attention.
“Is there something you’re not satisfied with?” Taeyong asked.
“I’m not here to make a request. I’m here to ask for permission.”
“Permission?”
“Permission to kill.” Yuta said. His jaw was clenched tightly, and his hands tucked behind his back in military form.
“Who?”
“Cai Xukun, the leader of Nine Percent.”
Yuta waited for Taeyong to catch his breath. “He raped and tortured one of our own, and not just one of our own but the man I love more than anything in the world. I would love nothing more than to serve justice by cutting off the head of a snake that tortured not just millions of young people, but is slowly trying to kill a country from the inside. The way I see it, we would be doing the world a favour.”
Taeyong stared at Yuta, fingers drumming against the table. Yuta relaxed and let a small smile come through. Taeyong has been nothing if not fiercely protective of his own organization. He would understand why Yuta wanted this.
“No.”
“What?” Yuta dropped his hands.
“No.”
“Tae…”
“Permission denied.”
“But Tae, he’s a monster. He has killed and raped, tortured and bullied, not just anybody but one of our. How could you not want a man like him dead?!”
“It is not our job to kill him. That is not what we are here to do.” Taeyong glared at Yuta, his voice rising in volume bit by bit. “We were hired to protect someone and that is our job. End of story.”
“So we are just going to let him create havoc in our city?”
“For all we know we do not have reason to suspect him of wanting to do anything aside from conducting business with Chenle.” Taeyong explained. “Doyoung and Jungwoo have been watching him for days and there seems to be nothing sinister in motion.”
“Tae…”
“Yuta, I understand that you hate him after finding out what he did. Believe me, I hate him too, but this situation is too dangerous and reckless. Killing him would start a war between us and his gang, which if Kun and Sicheng are accurate in describing, could easily wipe all of us out.”
“I cannot believe this.” Yuta fumed. “I cannot believe you are choosing to back out of this. You fucking coward…”
“Do not call me a coward for prioritising the safety of my gang members over your petty idea for revenge!” Taeyong slammed his hand against his desk, standing up in the process. Ten whimpered silently. An angry Taeyong is rare but lethal.
“You are not the only one who is hurt. You are not the only one who cares. Sicheng may be your lover and Kun may be just a friend but they are also my family. My loyal subordinates. If we charge head first into a fight with no plan I am putting my entire organization in danger.”
“But we…”
“If there is a power vacuum with no one to take over, even worse things than the Nine Percent gang could be born.” Taeyong said. “I am not taking that chance. The satisfaction of killing one man is not worth the millions more we are putting in danger, including our own people.”
“That man killed the millions we could be saving if we just…”
“I am your leader, and as your leader I order you to lay down your arms.” Taeyong uttered every word clearly and slowly, to make sure the Japanese man got exactly what he was trying to say.
“What kind of a leader are you that you wouldn’t step up to defend your own people?”
“Yuta!!” Ten stood up, unable to bear the conversation. “How could you say that?!”
“You were the one who said that the justice system is a failure, and that we should take justice in our own hands for the government cannot give us what we need to sleep at night. I cannot even fucking close my eyes without thinking of my baby wrecked by the hands of that man. We finally have the power to do something right, to avenge our brothers and to potentially save a country from total destruction. We have the chance to do something and you choose nothing.” Yuta’s voice cracked with anger, eyes welling with tears.
“Yuta, if Cai Xukun gets even a scratch on his face,” Taeyong threatened. “I will punish you myself.”
Yuta blinked hot, angry tears down his cheek. “I thought you were there for us.” He turned around and slammed the door so hard the pictures on Taeyong’s wall almost fell.
“Tae…” Ten ran to Taeyong, who sank down in his seat and buried his head in his hands. “He didn’t mean what he said. He’s just angry and hurt…”
“Ten,” Taeyong turned to his lover. “I need to be alone.”
“Are you sure?” Ten bit his bottom lip. “Let me stay with you. I can be quiet.”
“No.” Taeyong shook his head. “I need to think.”
Ten paused for a bit. He eventually nodded, pressing his lips against Taeyong’s to plant a soft kiss. He left the office and closed the door behind him, leaving the leader to his thoughts.
*********************
“How is it out here?” Johnny asked Lucas outside the mansion. Nightfall had crept in and there was only 12 more hours left until Chenle met with Nine Percent. Doyoung and Jungwoo were stalking their hotel while Johnny, Lucas and Jaehyun were at Chenle’s house. So far there has been no news from either side, and in the game of surveillance, no news is definitely good news.
“It’s nice. Very cooling, if not insanely boring.” Lucas rolled his eyes. “I don’t think Nine Percent would try anything tonight.”
“Still, can’t hurt to be safe.” Johnny said. “I talked to Taeyong on the phone and he said that Nine Percent was more dangerous than we think.”
“Does he have a plan?”
“I don’t know. He doesn’t want to talk about it and Ten said he hasn’t been in a good mood since he argued with Yuta. However, he did dispatch him and Kun to China, for some god awful reason.” Johnny sighed.
“I think he has something.” Lucas said. “Taeyong has our back. He always does.”
Suddenly, a loud piercing scream came from inside the mansion. Johnny and Lucas ran inside at top speed, nearly bumping into Jaehyun that was running down the steps from the upper floors.
“Where is he?!” Jaehyun ran after the source of the screams.
“Chenle?!?!?”
The three of them ran into the game room, where they found Chenle in his Pokemon pyjamas playing Mario Kart, screaming at the top of his lungs. “COME ON YOU SONS OF BITCHES!!!! GO FASTER!!!”
“This is unbelievable.” Jaehyun rolled his eyes.
“Yes yes yes!!!! I WON!!!” Chenle jumped up and down excitedly. “Who’s the best Mario Kart racer in this house?! I AM!!”
“False alarm.” Lucas sighed and the three of them were ready to go back to their post when Chenle stopped them.
“Hey, wanna play?”
“We can’t play. We’ve got a job.” Lucas said.
“Wouldn’t protecting me be easier if you could actually see me?” Chenle said, swaying his body left to right. “Come on, one more round of Mario Kart.”
“No way.” Johnny scoffed.
“Why? Afraid you’ll get your ass kicked by a kid?” Chenle smirked.
“Bitch please. I’m a racer. Mario Kart is too easy for me.” Johnny scoffed.
“Then put your money where your mouth is.” Chenle threw him a controller. “Beat me.”
“God you have no idea how many times I have dreamt of doing that.” Johnny sighed. The three of them came back into the room and played video games with Chenle until 2am. They laughed, screamed, cried, argued until Chenle was completely tuckered out. The teenage boy fell asleep on the couch, turned on his side with his legs curled up in a foetal position.
“He’s out like a light.” Lucas said, nudging him softly.
“Should we get him to bed?” Jaehyun asked.
“Knock me over with a gun or something, but I think he’s actually kind of cute.” Lucas smiled.
“Yeah. He looks like a baby, if he wasn’t an evil mastermind with enough bombs to tear a country apart.” Johnny nodded.
“Maybe we should bring him to bed. It’s not comfortable here.” Jaehyun looked at the two of them.
“Jesus will you look at us?” Johnny sighed. “Are we actually getting soft for this kid?”
The three of them sat around for a little while, watching Chenle sleep. A few minutes later, Johnny tucked his arms under Chenle’s body, lifting him up. The teenager turned and wrapped his arms around Johnny’s neck, legs dangling on either side of his hips like he was a giant baby. He nuzzled his face into the crook of Johnny’s neck and snored slightly.
“You know I just thought of something.” Jaehyun said as Johnny placed him on the bed. “He’s not that different from us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well he’s a big brat and a giant pain in the ass and all, but he’s smart and resourceful, pretty cunning and streetwise. Deep down he’s still just a kid. If he has been doing this for years, imagine how much he had to grow to keep his business.”
“Maybe he didn’t get much of a chance to be a kid.” Lucas pouted.
“Neither did we.” Johnny said.
The three bodyguards said nothing as they watched Chenle fall asleep. They took turns watching him throughout the night, and by the time daylight came, there was only so few hours left until it was all over.
“You three look like shit.” Chenle said during breakfast a couple of hours later.
“You try staying up all night to watch your sorry ass fall asleep.” Jaehyun rubbed his eyes.
“You watched me in my sleep?” Chenle almost spat out his yoghurt. “That is creepy.”
“You come up with another way to keep you safe.” Lucas groaned.
“Relax. In a few hours you’ll be rolling in money and rubbing them against your genitals.” Chenle grinned. “And I’ll be out of your hair by then.”
“Not so fast.” Jaehyun said. “I still need to beat your high score on Mario Kart.”
Chenle smiled so widely his eyes disappeared. Lucas and Johnny looked at each other, smiling behind their breakfast sandwiches.
“You better pray we stay alive till then.” Chenle grinned.
“Don’t worry.” Johnny rolled up his sleeves to show off his tattoo and winked. “We will.”
*********************
Mornings for Mark are the best. The sun shining into his bedroom, birds chirping softly outside his window, and Donghyuck’s head resting against his chest as he snored cutely. Mark kissed the top of Donghyuck’s head and wrapped his arms around his naked chest, pulling him in closer. He circled the marks on the back of Donghyuck’s neck, a small reminder of their ‘festivities’ the night before.
He saw the clock on his wall and sighed, closing his eyes to cuddle his lover a little longer.
Wait a minute.
“OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE!!”
“Woah!!!” Donghyuck almost fell off the bed when Mark pushed him and flew out of the room, not even bothering to grab some clothes to cover his naked ass. “Mark? What’s going on?”
“Fucking shit I’m late!!!” Mark grabbed a toothbrush, squeezed out a lazy amount of toothpaste and stuck it into his mouth. “I’ve gosh a misshion…”
“You’ve a got a what?” Donghyuck rubbed his eyes.
“Misshion Taeshong hyungsh gonna kill me.” Mark spat out the toothpaste and hopped around with one foot in his jeans. “I have to go.”
“But Mark today is…”
“I know babe I’m so sorry.” Mark kissed Donghyuck briefly. “But if I don’t get over there now I won’t be able to take you out on another date.”
“That’s not what I was trying to…”
“I really need to go shit.” Mark grabbed his belongings and flew out the door. “I’ll be back soon!!!” he screamed before slamming the door in haste.
Donghyuck sighed. He saw Mark’s boxers lying on the floor and laughed. “My boyfriend is the only mafia in the world who kills without wearing an underwear.” He grabbed his phone and called someone.
“Hello? Jeno? Yeah, he’s gone. You guys can come over.”
*********************
“Here’s the plan.” Taeyong said, tucking his Glock into his back pocket. He was dressed handsomely in a dark button up and a blazer thrown on top of it. His dark red hair was swept up and his eyes were lined with eyeliner, giving him a ‘try fucking with me and you’ll know what pushing up daisies mean’ look. He slammed his hand down on top of the table in the lounge, thrusting a piece of paper forward.
“Chenle and Xukun will conduct their meeting in this room. The rest of Nine Percent will wait here and here. All of us will be stationed here and here. There are security cameras installed in this warehouse so Sicheng and I will be monitoring from the control room. No one, and I mean this, no one moves without my orders, capisce?”
“Why are we waiting outside and not in their room?” Yuta asked.
“I specifically asked for it to be this way.” Chenle said. “I don’t want Xukun to think I don’t trust him.”
“He’s right. If everything goes well, we can all go home and pat ourselves on the back, but if something does happen, Doyoung make sure you grab Chenle and get him out of there. He is our number one priority and even if we have to blow the building apart, he must get out safely.” Taeyong said.
“Did you plan a bomb in there hyung?” Mark asked, adjusting his bulletproof vest underneath his suit.
“No, but not because I didn’t think of it.” Taeyong shrugged. “Something tells me it won’t be necessary. Let’s go.”
All of them made their way to the rendezvous point, an old abandoned warehouse in the middle of an industrial complex. Chenle was dressed confidently in a white tux, looking very much like Snowstorm with tinted sunglasses. The boy had a briefcase in his hand, containing the weapons he had designed. He may stand tall but Taeyong noticed the way his hands were shaking.
“Don’t worry.” He said, holding his hand. “We got you.”
“If something happens to me…”
“It won’t.” Taeyong said. “Trust us.”
Chenle decided he didn’t have much of a choice. As the gang got into their positions, two armoured cars rolled up in front of the warehouse. The whole gang stood to attention as the doors opened and a tall man with dark hair, sunglasses and a fake fur coat in South Korean summer came out of the car.
“Xukun.” Chenle called.
“Chenle.” Xukun said in Chinese, smirking as he took off his sunglasses. “Or shall I call you, Snowstorm?”
“You’re late.”
“You’re early.” The Chinese gangster scoffed. “Let’s not waste time, shall we?” he stopped and looked at his surroundings, eyeing the men behind Chenle who were all staring back at him. “You brought an arsenal?”
“You always travel with yours, I don’t see why I can’t have one.”
“Such a brat, always wanting what others have aren’t you?”
“Right now,” Chenle patted his suitcase. “You’re the one who wants what I have.”
*********************
“It has been 15 minutes.” Doyoung said as he entered the surveillance room where Taeyong and Sicheng have been watching the Chenle and Xukun make a business deal. “Is it over?”
“Almost.” Sicheng answered.
“Did you do what I asked you too?” Taeyong asked Doyoung.
“Yeah, Johnny hyung is getting them in place.”
“What are you doing?” Sicheng asked.
“Just some backup.” Taeyong shook his head. “What are they talking about?”
“They are signing the deal. Chenle’s going to hand over the suitcase.” Sicheng said, listening to their conversation with the headphones.
“What is even in that suitcase?” Doyoung asked.
“Wait.” Sicheng raised his hand. “Xukun wants to test it. He wants to do it outside.”
“Get out.” Taeyong ordered Doyoung. “Get everyone we have on standby.”
Taeyong walked out with Doyoung as Chenle and Xukun left the room. The Nine Percent gang-or rather an army- joined Xukun the minute he stepped out of the room and into the warehouse space. Everyone watched as Chenle placed the briefcase on the floor and retrieved a bunch of beads from the briefcase.
“What the hell is that?” Jaehyun muttered to Mark.
Xukun smiled happily at the beads. He gave one bead each to his members and took one string of them to wrap around his wrist. He pressed on one of the beads and the band lit up instantly.
“Holy shit.” Mark gaped in awe as a holographic image emitted from the beads. “Chenle invented real life kimoyo beads.”
Xukun was enjoying himself. He turned to his gang and spoke to them in rapid fire Chinese, laughing away. He pressed one of the beads and suddenly their guns started firing. “DUCK!!!” Taeyong ordered as the Nine Percent members started firing their guns upwards, shattering glass and shooting holes into the warehouse’s concrete walls. Taeyong pulled Chenle towards him and cradled the boy’s head in his chest, protecting him from fallen glass.
“THIS IS FUCKING AMAZING!!!” Xukun cackled. The rest of Taeyong’s gang stared at him in shock and anger. Yuta cocked his gun and the rest followed suit.
“What did you do?” Taeyong growled, letting Chenle go from his embrace.
“The beads can be controlled from the master band.” Chenle explained. “With that he can make any gun he want fire at his command as long as the beads are attached to it.”
“You fucking idiot.” Taeyong snapped. “You could have killed us all!”
“Then imagine the millions I will kill with this.” Xukun grinned, now speaking in fluent Korean. Taeyong was surprised by the change in language, but not enough to lose his ground.
“Is this your gang?” Xukun asked Taeyong.
“If you’re done I suggest you leave.” Taeyong warned. “This is my city.”
Xukun seemed to hesitate for a bit. He probably wanted to show off more but refrained from doing so. He grabbed the briefcase and gave Chenle and Taeyong a small salute. “Pleasure doing business with you all.”
The Nine Percent gang tucked their guns away and was ready to walk away. Taeyong’s gang watched as they walked towards the warehouse exit. The minute Xukun walked past Yuta, he heard Yuta say ‘bastard’.
Then, he stopped. Taeyong clenched his fist. Fuck.
“What did you say?” he whipped his head at Yuta.
Yuta did not answer. Instead he glared at him intently.
“What did you say?” Xukun demanded, walking up to Yuta.
“Bastard.” Yuta said.
“You talking to me?” Xukun cracked his knuckles.
“Bold of you to assume I even want to talk about you, bastard.”
Xukun’s fist flew to meet Yuta’s face. Jaehyun and Doyoung flinched at the cracking sound as Yuta fell to the floor and Taeyong’s gang drew their guns immediately at Xukun.
“Son of a bitch.” Xukun reached for his gun.
“Yuta hyung get up!!!” Mark yelled, hands holding onto his gun for dear life.
Yuta spat out the blood in his mouth. He reached for his gun but he remembered something.
If Cai Xukun gets even a scratch on his face, I will punish you myself.
He couldn’t. He was loyal to Taeyong no matter what. His word is law, but this bastard, this son of a bitch, raped and tortured Sicheng. Sicheng, his beloved. His everything, his world…
Yuta’s hand shook. He stood up and shaky knees, but he didn’t reach for his gun.
“Your blood will be the first I taste on this land.” Xukun growled. He cocked his gun, aimed it at Yuta, his finger at the trigger…
“STOP!!!!”
“Sicheng?!” Chenle gasped as the hacker, who was hiding in the surveillance room this whole time ran out and stood in front if Yuta, blocking his gun.
“Please.” Sicheng begged in Chinese. Xukun was visibly confused and lowered his gun slightly. “Don’t kill him.”
“Who are…” Xukun stared at Sicheng for a bit. “You.”
“Xukun.” Sicheng breathed. He hadn’t said that name in years, not since he left China. He swore to God he would never see him again, and now here he was, face to face with the man that tortured him.
“Oh my god.” One of the Nine Percent members gulped. Sicheng knew who he was. Wang Ziyi, Xukun’s loyal right-hand man. “It’s that boy. The whore that ran away.”
“Who?” asked one of the members. He had blond hair was taller than most of them. He looked young, despite his size and deep voice. He couldn’t have been any older than Mark. Of course he wouldn’t know who Sicheng was, he was probably just a child back then.
“So this is where you ran to.” Xukun smirked. “Are you playing a whore for South Korean gangs now?”
“For your information,” Taeyong stepped forward, putting a hand in front of Sicheng. “He’s mine now. He works for me.”
“Works?” Xukun scoffed. “All this son of bitch knows how to do is fuck and ride in 7 different positions.” He looked at Yuta and gave him the sleaziest and most disgusting smiles God had ever created. “Have you tried them all?”
“You fucking...” Yuta cursed but Sicheng stopped him.
“If you lay a hand on my members.” Taeyong moved in front of him, pushing Sicheng and Yuta back. “You will live to regret this.”
“You obviously don’t know me.” Xukun raised his gun back again and pointed the barrel at Taeyong’s forehead. His gang stared at him, instinctively raising theirs at Xukun. Nine Percent was fast to follow and raised theirs too. “My gang and I can wipe out all of you in seconds, and thanks to Chenle’s new technology, I can wipe out half of Seoul too.”
Taeyong made a sign with his fingers. Doyoung saw it and grabbed Chenle by the arm. He placed a hand around the kid’s mouth and dragged him outside.
“You have some balls underestimating me on my own turf.” Taeyong scoffed cockily. “You think you’re the only who came prepared?” Taeyong grabbed the gun and placed his thumb over the barrel. He twisted the gun away from him, grabbing Xukun’s neck with one hand.
“There are 60 men outside this building, every single one of them ready to fire into this building at my command.” Taeyong growled into Xukun’s ear. “Though it doesn’t matter how many of yours die here, does it? Because they don’t matter. Nothing has ever mattered to you, except one.”
Xukun’s eyes widen. His breath hitched, and his heart almost jumped out of his throat. Taeyong smiled. He had Xukun right where he wanted him.
“You see, I don’t need all 60 men to shoot you. Killing you will not bring you down. I just need three.” Taeyong smirked, pushing Xukun’s head and twisting the gun out of his hand. “Three, and me to shoot him.”
Everyone turned to where Taeyong’s gun was pointing. It was a smaller man with dark hair, standing at the back of the gang. He didn’t notice that everyone was looking at him, and when he did, he looked at Xukun, swallowing hard with his eyes shaking.
“I have three of my best snipers, aimed at him.” Taeyong said. Xukun looked around but he couldn’t see anything.
“You liar.” He spat.
“Go ahead. Take the risk.” Taeyong tossed the gun at Xukun’s feet. “Zhengting is his name isn’t it?”
“You… you fucking…”
“It’s your call.” Taeyong cut him off. “Shoot the whore you spent years torturing and tearing apart, and we’ll shoot the man you promised to give a son too.”
Sicheng’s jaw unhinged and Yuta’s eyes fell out of their sockets. The rest of Nine Percent seemed quite shaken too, all except Zhengting.
“You son of a…” Xukun growled, picking up the gun from the floor. He drew it at Sicheng but as he turned, he saw a faint red light on Zhengting’s forehead.
No. No.
“Xukun.” Zhengting called out weakly. No one was sure if it was a cry for help, or a call of encouragement, but it made Xukun drop his gun and raise his hands.
“Nine Percent, fall back.” He ordered.
“Boss are you fucking…” Ziyi stared at him.
“DO AS I SAY!” Xukun snapped. The gang folded their guns in, hands up as a sign of surrender.
“Walk back to your car and make sure you never step foot in this country again.” Taeyong said. Jaehyun, Mark and Doyoung escorted Nine Percent back to their cars, watching and poised to shoot if anything goes wrong. Xukun looked up at the surrounding buildings and found three men on different rooftops, all pointing their snipers at them.
He knew this was a round he couldn’t win.
Xukun glared at Taeyong, giving him a middle finger. They hopped in the car and drove off, leaving a dust cloud in their trail. They waited for a few minutes, then Taeyong let a huge sigh of relief as Chenle burst out of the safe room, bouncing and squealing.
“DID YOU SEE THAT?!!??! OH MY GOD THAT WAS SO COOL YOU GUYS ARE SO BADASS!!!!”
“Yuta, are you okay?” Sicheng asked, cradling Yuta’s face.
“Oh my god.” Yuta pulled Sicheng into a tight hug and kissed him. He kissed Sicheng’s tears away, rubbing his back in comfort.
“Doyoung, go over to the next warehouse and thank Daniel and Monkey.” Taeyong said, handing him a wad of cash. “Tell Johnny to pull up the car. It’s time to go home.”
*********************
“I have never been more grateful to be alive.” Mark breathed, walking back to the lounge on shaky knees as he flopped down on the couch. “Oh thank you God for giving me life. Thank you for letting me live another day.”
“Go home Mark.” Taeyong chuckled, grabbing a bottle of champagne. “Donghyuck is waiting for you.”
“How did you know?”
“I was given orders.”
“You take orders from Donghyuck?” Johnny stared at the leader in shock.
“Only from him.” Taeyong grinned. “Go Mark.”
“Thanks hyung.” Mark gave his members a hug as he removed his gun and grabbed his backpack.
“Taeyong hyung, how did you know to do all this?” Sicheng asked, taking a glass of champagne from Jaehyun.
“I knew we could never win against Nine Percent. Did you see their fire-power?” Taeyong said. “Fighting with them with fire would mean both sides getting burned, so I had to resort to other methods, a.k.a good old spying. I sent Ten and Kun to China for 24 hours to find out whatever they could about Nine Percent. Doyoung and Jungwoo have been spying on them for days while they were in Korea.”
“How did you know about Xukun and Zhengting?” Yuta asked.
“That was us.” Jungwoo raised a hand, shuddering at the thought of what he had to see. “I enjoy porn as much as the next person, but there’s only so much live action fucking I can take.”
“It was Kun who told me about the baby. He found out Xukun and Zhengting have been visiting a doctor and talking to surrogate mothers.” Taeyong continued. “Then, I called Daniel and Monkey to ask them to form a coalition with us. Usually Daniel is an asshole but in this case, we found something in common, a foreign power threatening us on our home turf.”
“That’s why he asked Johnny, Jungwoo and I to get up to the roof and aim at Zhengting.” Lucas said.
“I had no doubt he would kill either one of you, especially you.” Taeyong pointed at Yuta. “You could never control your mouth and that’s one of your fatal flaws. If you had just shut up they could have walked away and we didn’t need to go through this.”
Yuta ducked his head down in shame. Taeyong patted him on the back in comfort, as if to say don’t worry it’s all over.
“You put yourself at risk, for us?” Sicheng asked, his eyes teary.
“I don’t think I was ever in any real danger, especially since I asked Jungwoo to swap Xukun’s personal gun for a fake the night before.” Taeyong grinned. “He should have tried shooting us. It would have been funny to see purple foam come out of the barrel instead of a bullet.”
“One of my very first inventions.” Chenle chuckled. “I used to make prank guns before I started making weapons.”
“I can’t believe you thought of all of that.” Johnny laughed, raising a glass at Taeyong and kissing him on the lips.
“It’s called knowing your enemy, and most importantly your own team.” Taeyong eyed every one of them. “I knew this was going to happen so I had to make preparations.”
“So we could have won either way.” Jaehyun said.
“Not necessarily.” Taeyong said. “If Xukun was the real monster everyone said he was we wouldn’t be sitting her drinking champagne now. We would be fertiliser for the grapes instead.”
“Then how did he know he wasn’t?” Doyoung furrowed his eyebrows.
“Because of something Ten and Kun found out, and it had to do with you.” Taeyong looked at Sicheng.
“Me?”
“Remember how you told us the story, of how you got here? You said you were amazed you weren’t caught.”
“Yeah.”
“It wasn’t because you were amazing at hiding, it was because no one wanted to catch you.”
“What?” Sicheng stared at Taeyong in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“Shit.” Jaehyun cursed, his eyes widening in realization.
“You don’t mean…” Yuta stared at Sicheng and Taeyong.
“I don’t know if he was capable of caring about anything back then,” Taeyong said “but he could have caught you. You know that. Yet he didn’t.”
“No.” Sicheng shook his head. “He couldn’t. He…he did all those…”
“The point is, he wasn’t always the monster people made him out to be.” Taeyong said. “He was willing to have a son with someone. He backed out when I threatened to shoot one of the members that he least expected. He is a disgusting, evil person, but not without his weaknesses.” Taeyong took Sicheng’s hand is his. “I think you were one of his at some point.”
The gang looked at each other in silence. Jungwoo wrapped his arms around Lucas for comfort. Jaehyun let Doyoung sit on his lap while Johnny tucked Chenle into his embrace, letting the kid lean against his body.
“Thank you.” Chenle extended a hand to Taeyong. “You saved my life.”
“Pleasure doing business with you.” Taeyong shook back. “Even if you are a headache.”
“I’m still not done beating your sorry ass in Mario Kart.” Jaehyun grinned. “We need a rematch.”
“You’re on asswipe.”
“What do you think?” Johnny asked Taeyong a couple of minutes later on the way to his office. “Think he’ll make a good fit?”
“Only if he wants to.” Taeyong smiled. “He’s going to need a lot of disciplinary training though.”
“Yeah, it’s going to take more than soap to wipe that kid’s mouth.”
“If he wants to join he’s your responsibility.”
“What?! But I…”
“He seems to have taken a liking to you.” Taeyong teased Johnny. “Plus with you being so tall and him being so small, it’s like you are his father.”
“Please.” Johnny rolled his eyes. “I’m nobody’s daddy, except…”
“Why do you always get horny after a mission?” Taeyong pushed Johnny playfully when the second-in-command wrapped his arm around the leader’s waist to squeeze his ass.
“I didn’t get to shoot anybody, I’ve got pent up frustrations that need to be released.” Johnny pulled him close to lick the shell of his ear. “If I can’t blow somebody up, then I’ll blow my load in you.”
“Can’t we wait for Ten? He’ll back in an hour.”
“Just in time for round two then.” Johnny smirked.
“Taeyong?”
“What?” Taeyong groaned, pushing Johnny aside to find Yuta at the side.
“I just… I wanted to apologize.” Yuta bowed slightly. “I shouldn’t have accused you like that the other day. I was just so angry, and so hurt. I’ve never seen Sicheng so broken like this before, and I just wanted to wrap my hands around his…”
“Yuta, I know.” Taeyong hugged the Japanese man. “I know how you feel, but sometimes you can’t fight fire with fire. I don’t blame you for feeling like this.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You could have disobeyed me and shot him, but you didn’t.” Taeyong patted him. “That proves something.”
“No offence but can we wrap up this sob story?” Johnny groaned. “I’m this close to whipping my dick out and jacking in front of you.”
“No thanks. I hate worms.” Yuta made a disgusted sound. Johnny kicked him in the ass as the Japanese man ran back to the lounge, slamming the door behind him.
“Now, where was I?” Johnny smiled, holding Taeyong’s hand and leading him into his office. He slipped his gun holster strap over the door, a sign to not be disturbed for at least 8 hours.
*********************
“Babe?” Mark called as he entered the apartment. It was pitch black and no sound could be heard. “Hello?”
“SURPRISE!!!!!” The lights came back on a bubbly Donghyuck in a birthday hat popped out in front of him. He looked around and saw Jeno, Jaemin and Renjun in the living room, wearing birthday hats and carrying a cake.
“What…what’s the surprise?” Mark stared at them in confusion.
“You did not.” Donghyuck slapped his arm.
“Did not what?”
“You forgot about your own birthday?” Jaemin laughed at him.
“My own… wait, what’s today’s date?”
“August 1st.” Donghyuck laughed.
“Wait, my birthday’s not until tomorrow.” Mark raised an eyebrow.
“We know, but we figured the only way to make a surprise party a surprise is to give it to you when you least expected it.” Jeno said.
“Hurry up and blow the candles!!!” Renjun said, bringing the cake to Mark’s face. Mark laughed and blew it off, letting Donghyuck cling to him like a koala.
“Happy early birthday Mark!!” they cheered.
“Thank you guys.” Mark smiled at his best friends. “Did you do this?” he asked Donghyuck.
“Yeah, that’s why I called Taeyong two weeks ago and told him about it.” He chuckled. “I tried calling Taeyong an hour ago but Johnny picked up and told me to fuck off.”
“Oh.” Mark giggled. “Don’t be offended. When he tells people to fuck off, it really means ‘don’t interrupt’.”
“I know, I can wear a desk squeaking in the background and some high-pitched pig squealing.” He shuddered. Donghyuck wrapped his arms around him and kissed him. “Happy birthday.”
“Thank you.” Mark kissed him back. “Thank you for doing this.”
“I got you a present, I hope you like it.” Donghyuck giggled playfully.
“I don’t need a present, I already have you.”
“I knew you would say that.” Donghyuck took Mark’s hand and guided it under his T-shirt. He lifted the hem slowly as Mark’s hand came in contact with Donghyuck’s soft skin and his fingertips grazed upon a thick, silk ribbon around his waist with a tiny bow around the back. Mark’s eyes grew wide at the pretty sight of pink ribbon against Donghyuck’s sun-kissed skin. Donghyuck buried his head in Mark’s chest, moaning into his shirt as Mark’s thumb rubbed the skin underneath the ribbon, fingers dipping into the waistband of his jeans as he sucked on Donghyuck’s neck.
“Hey hey, can you guys like, not get nasty in front of your guests?” Jeno rolled his eyes. “It’s rude and no one wants to see Hyuck’s hairy ass.”
Donghyuck threw his hat at Jeno and Mark almost died laughing. “Now this,” he wiped the tears from his eyes. “Is a party.” The four of them cut cake, sang birthday songs and threw confetti all over the place.
“I can’t believe you did this for me.” Mark kissed Donghyuck again and again as they snuggled on the couch, covered in confetti and streamers. It was late at night and Jeno, Jaemin and Renjun had left about half an hour ago, tuckered out from the party.
“You weren’t expecting it huh? I knew I could surprise you.” Donghyuck laughed. “Did everything turn out okay today?”
“Yeah. We almost had a shootout but Taeyong hyung had everything covered. Crisis averted.”
“Your brothers didn’t say anything?”
“I think we all forgot about it. It’s been a rough week considering the circumstances, Sicheng hyung coming to terms with his past, Yuta hyung and Taeyong hyung had a fight and all that shit.”
“Well they’ll probably do something for you tomorrow.” Donghyuck lifted his leg and straddled Mark’s waist. “For tonight, you’re mine and mine alone.”
“So,” Mark pulled Donghyuck’s face in to kiss him lovingly and slowly, hands trailing down his chest. “Can I open my present yet?”
“It’s technically not your birthday yet.”
“But I…”
“Maybe tomorrow.” Donghyuck teased.
“You can’t tease me about my present and leave me hanging, that’s not fair.”
“Only because it’s worth it.” Donghyuck laughed, kissing the frustration lines off Mark’s face. He got off his lap and ran to his room. To be honest he would have jumped on Mark then and there, he was still dressed in his black button up and tight ripped jeans from his mission and he looked so fucking hot, but Donghyuck smelled a little from the silly string they poured all over him and he felt icky and disgusting.
He took a shower and changed into a hoodie and short shorts for sleeping. He spent a couple of minutes playing with his phone until he heard a knock on the door. He opened it and there stood Mark, with his shirt partially opened to reveal his well-sculpted chest, the ends of the shirt half-tucked, soft and slightly messy hair and a completely fucked-out glaze in his eyes.
Donghyuck gulped. His heart was pounding so fast, blood racing south and fuck he wanted this.
“It’s midnight. Time to rip the wrapping.” Mark said, closing the door behind him and pulling Donghyuck in his arms. He didn’t waste time in planting his lips on Donghyuck’s, tasting the mint toothpaste on his tongue and feeling the heat of their skin pressed against one another. He trailed his hands down Donghyuck’s back, lifting his hoodie. He kissed Donghyuck’s bare skin, leaving a mark next to the one he made nights before, loving the way the purple mark shone like a gemstone. Fuck how did I get so lucky? Did I save the world in past life to have someone so beautiful in my arms? God damn it Lee Donghyuck.
“Happy.” Donghyuck said, popping a button on Mark’s shirt.
“Birthday.” Another one.
“To.” Another one.
“You.” Another one.
“Mark.” A final one.
“Lee.”
And the clothes were off.