Chapter Text
2:16 p.m, 8.13.????, location: ???’s backyard
it was a nice gathering, mark had to admit. he wasn’t exactly sure what they were all there for, but food was involved and mark didn’t like paying absurd amounts of money to feed himself and hyuck, so there they were, surrounded (mostly) by people they knew. mark had taken one of the lawn chairs for himself, hyuck settled on one of his thighs with his feet perched on another lawn chair, with someone mark had never met sitting across from them - but hyuck seemed to know him well, considering the way that he was talking animatedly and without the use of honorifics. of course, they had been introduced to one another, mark and the stranger, but mark was horrible with names and couldn’t remember the stranger’s name to save his soul. so he suffered in silence.
that is, until hyuck mentioned his name and mark tuned back in to their conversation, dragging his eyes away from where renjun had jeno in a headlock to keep him from rushing towards the neighbors’ cat, a fluffy thing with bright green eyes that made eye contact with jeno exactly once, and he now swore he was in love.
but mark won’t let himself linger on that. instead, he focused on the words spilling from hyuck’s lovely lips, and the laugh that followed soon after. “...and we didn’t notice until like, five minutes later. renjun went to hit him or something, and mark threw his hands up real quick to protect his pretty face and we all just kinda looked at him like “what?” and mark was like “oh, yeah, i wasn’t supposed to do that”.” hyuck even imitated the way mark had said it, causing the older to pinch his side in retaliation.
the stranger laughed in response to the story and impression, gesturing for the younger boy to continue on with his story even though mark was sending him a withering glare that could kill. “so then what happened?” he asked, eyes alight as he watched the lovers’ interaction.
“well obviously, our beautiful leader aka moi had to tie him up again because that idiot,” he coughed loudly and pointedly, the sound vaguely coming out like ‘jeno’, “can’t tie a proper knot to save his life.” hyuck scoffs and shakes his head in exasperation, “they may be assassins but they’re actually really dumb, all they can do is panic and be gay for their boyfriends.”
the stranger snickered into his hand, “huh, sounds like a certain someone else that we know, eh, hyuckie?” the aforementioned male just sent the other a blank look.
“look johnny, if they were like me, then they would have been much more fabulous and less...ah... mediocre. maybe they’d actually be good at their job.” hyuck threw back, shifting as though he was gonna lunge for johnny had it not been for mark’s hands suddenly on his hips. while hyuck settled back against mark’s chest, mark was burning johnny’s name into his mind, telling himself not to forget it.
renjun scoffed in reply, his hearing suddenly increasing tenfold at the mention of one of his beloved boyfriends. “listen, lee donghyuck,” his lips curled as he playfully spat out the name of the other, while his grip loosened on jeno and the boy finally broke free, “the world doesn’t have enough room for anymore egos like yours. it’s already the size of mount kilimanjaro.” hyuck looked offended at this, tsking playfully back and muttering something under his breath.
when jaemin traipsed out into the backyard to announce that the sweets were ready, he found chaos outside that he thought he had escaped from in the kitchen. under the watchful eye of johnny, jeno and hyuck were wrestling, jeno shouting something about “renjun’s honor”.
jaemin? he turned tail and retreated back to the kitchen, preferring to deal with the two babies covered in flour over the fully grown adults playing in the yard.
--
7:34 a.m., 5.28.????, location: unknown
an abandoned warehouse was the home of a very peculiar group, one of whom was a male just surfacing from a drug-induced state of unconsciousness. a groan slipped past his lips as he forced his eyes open, feeling cold metal underneath him and something tied tightly around his wrists and ankles, and strung across his hips and chest. the material chafed when he tried to move - ‘that would be rope’, his mind helpfully supplied. with a quiet curse, he looked around, taking in the unfamiliar setting that he found himself in. “shit, how did i -- oh my god, i got kidnapped. they told me i’d never get kidnapped but yet, here i am.” his brain was still muddled from the drug, leading him to not fully process the situation, but as he took in more and more of the cracked walls and abandoned machinery, it began to fully sink in. it took everything in him not to struggle, instead trying to calm himself by taking deep breaths. “it’ll be fine, maybe they’ll just let me go. yeah, that’s it, they’ll just let me go and i’ll never tell anyone and --”
the boy’s ramblings to himself were cut short, as a loud voice boomed around the room. “lee minhyung, aka mark lee. current age is 22, born on august 2nd, 1999. you were born in vancouver, canada, but lived in new york, toronto, and now seoul, having moved here in 2009 due to your parents wanting to relocate and reconnect with their roots. currently, you manage ‘ty track’s cat cafe’ alongside lee taeyong, a seoul native born on july 1st, 1995.”
with the reveal of his own information, the boy - now identified as mark - turned to try and find the source of the voice, but to no avail. the warehouse was mostly shrouded with darkness, little sunlight slipping in through the cracks in the walls and broken windows. as more and more information slipped from the stranger’s mouth, a second shout could be heard. “he works at a cat cafe? why didn’t any of you mention that?” the second voice sounded slightly different than the first, slightly lower pitched and more upset. a thump was heard, followed shortly after by a whiny “ouch!”. “jun, why’d you hit me?” the second voice complained loudly, followed by a deep sigh that was clearly the product of many hours of suffering.
“because you were being a dumbass and ruined the whole plan!” a third voice replied, softer than both of the others. although, it sounded not quite as soft with the irritation that was clearly infused into it.
a fourth voice sighed. “i’ll get the lights.”
after a few quiet moments, there was a ‘whir’ and a ‘click’, then light flooded the room. mark squinted blearily, trying to adjust quickly to the light he was attacked with. he heard footsteps coming closer, and by the time he could see properly, there was a group of five men in front of him, and another walking towards them, hair colors ranging from cabbage green to dark brown to a peachy pink and two with faded orange. judging just by expressions, the first voice had to have come from the mousy brown haired boy with streaks of color run through his bangs. the assumption was also supported by the microphone in his hand, and the terribly unamused face he sported.
‘it looks cute on him.’ a voice whispered in the back of mark’s mind, the part that fell too hard and fast and that should really shut up.
the second voice had to be the darker brown-haired man, who was still pouting and holding the back of his head, where he was presumably hit. he kept sending pitiful glances to the shorter of the two orange haired men, who could only be the third voice. what mark assumed to be the fourth person was the cabbage haired boy, who was heading to the empty spot beside the tallest member of their group. now that mark began to look closer, the men - boys - couldn’t be much older than he was. in fact, they looked as though they were a few years younger. mark’s attention was drawn to the conversation that was being had between the dark brown haired boy, and the shorter orange haired boy - ‘jun, that has to be jun’ mark tells himself.
“--mark works at a cafe, and not just any cafe, a cat cafe! a cat cafe, jun! why wouldn’t you tell me that, of all things?” the dark brown haired boy continued to whine, hands gripping onto ‘jun’s sleeve and shaking it slightly. with a sigh, his hand was removed, but it just latched on once more.
‘jun’ gives up with a resigned look. “because we knew you’d react like this, jen.” there was an indignant huff from ‘jen’, and the pink, cotton candy haired boy moved towards the pair, sneaking his arm around ‘jen’s waist.
“aw junnie, you don’t have to be so mean to him. he has a point, after all.” he jokingly scolded ‘jun’, sending a wink his way as he ran comforting fingers up and down his side. ‘jen’ fake cried into his shoulder, making a show for all to see as he turned into the slightly shorter boy. the group could hear him uttering phrases like “you’re the only one that understands” and “see, this is why you’re my soulmate”, which caused ‘jun’ to roll his eyes at the dramatics. the pink haired boy consoled him, patting his back comfortingly. internally, mark was screaming, “this is ridiculous”, but instead of saying anything, he opted to roll his eyes.
“this is sweet and all, but we’ve got other things to do, ladies.” mark’s attention shifted to the boy with the multicolored highlights, who he assumed to be their leader. he certainly acted the part, his attitude screaming a mixture of “cross me and you’ll die”, but also “bitch i’m fabulous”, the latter making mark scratch his head. mentally, of course, given the fact that his hands were still tied. the deadpan look that highlight boy sent to the members made them stop and freeze, quieting their bickering in a second.
mark would never admit the “hot” that echoed around his brain at that.
highlights boy was perched on top of a large crate or box of some sort, twiddling with the microphone in his hands, but hopped off after he began to speak. he clapped his hands twice, drawing everyone’s attention to him. “i guess we can make our guest,” he glances quickly at mark, “feel a bit more comfortable and introduce ourselves. maybe he’ll talk easier if it’s to acquaintances, and not strangers.” he smirked a little at that, a weird twinkle in his eye startling mark for a second.
they form a half-circle around mark, introducing themselves with an air of boredom. the cabbage haired boy called himself ‘zhong’, and the tall boy next to him was ‘park’. it quickly became apparent that these were aliases when the cotton candy haired boy introduced himself as ‘nana’, then ‘jun’ and ‘jen’, who wondered amongst themselves if they should use their last names as well. ‘jun’ shrugged, and said that they should just stick with what they had already.
after their initial ‘introduction’ of sorts, the air became tense with the weight of the questions held on the members’ tongues. mark’s eyes shifted between the six, never stopping for more than a second on each of their faces - except for one. the chestnut-haired boy with the multi-colored highlights was the only one to keep his identity a secret, not even giving mark an alias or code name. there was something in mark’s head that directly associated the caramel hue of the boy's skin with the sun, officially dubbing him as ‘sunshine’ in his head. it totally wasn’t because of the images that he held in his head, the thoughts that would never see the light of day, definitely not.
‘park’ meandered forward, squatting down in front of mark so that they were eye level. ‘zhong’ followed behind, placing his hand on the taller boy’s shoulder, either to steady him or to control him.
mark wasn't sure which it was, and didn't care to find out.
“so, do you know why you're here?” ‘park’ asked flatly, draining the emotion from his voice. mark shook his head, replying with a barely heard “no”.
the pink haired boy - ‘nana’, was it? - stepped forward from their circle. “it's because you're dangerous, mark.”
with the reveal of that information, mark made a sound in the back of his throat that sounded vaguely dog-like. three of the boys stopped, their pokerfaces nearly falling, and ‘jun’ hit one of the other two. “dude, it sounded just like you!” he laughed, and ‘jen’ hissed a “shut up” in reply. ‘jun’ seemed to shrink away, nodding quickly. ‘jen’ noticed his posture, and wrapped an arm around his waist. ‘sunshine’ huffed, muttering something about “the dumb hets that he was forced to deal with”, causing the others to drop their facade completely and begin arguing amongst themselves. “you can't just call people dumb hets, haechan! especially not the ga-” ‘zhong’ was stopped in his tracks as ‘sunshine’, now known as ‘haechan’, lunged forward and dropped the green haired boy to the floor, fingers interlocked at his neck.
“And you can't just go around revealing people's aliases, ch - zhong!” haechan seemed to stutter over his words, and seemed disgruntled when ‘zhong’ began laughing, ‘haechan’ being pushed around by the force of his laughter.
mark just watched in confusion, fingers twiddling with the knot tied over his wrists. amidst their fighting, none of them heard the soft thump of the rope hitting the floor, and mark found himself unable to move due to shock.
it took a few moments for the room to quiet, but when it did, they could hear a pin drop outside if they tried hard enough. mark caught himself counting the cracks in the ceiling, aimlessly wondering if it was sound enough to not come crashing down on them if they were in there any longer. a sigh drew his attention once more, eyes flickering over individual faces before landing on ‘jun’. ‘park’ and ‘zhong’ had retreated silently, standing to the side of the others, and ‘haechan’ had moved to take their place.
“so, you really don’t know why you’re here?” he asked quietly, watching mark’s face intently. mark shook his head, and ‘haechan’ let a sigh slip past his lips. he moved to squat in front of the tied up boy, then seemed to change his mind as he nearly threw himself down and sat cross-legged instead, settling into his position with a groan. ‘zhong’ made a nearly inaudible comment about ‘haechan’ becoming an old man, said boy turning to send a glare his way that could kill if it was possible. ‘zhong’ didn’t seem phased, laughing quietly behind his hand as soon as ‘haechan’ turned away, but it didn't take long for ‘park’ to shush him and smack the back of his head, gesturing for him to listen. mark’s eyes immediately focused on ‘haechan’ again, waiting patiently for him to start speaking.
‘haechan’ tried to keep up his angry facade, but a smile slipped onto his face when ‘zhong’ just laughed harder. soon enough, the entire group had dissolved into giggles, following the leader. it was infectious, clearly, since none of them knew what was funny, but yet still laughed their hearts out. ‘jun’ was the only one to stay quiet, a fond smile on his lips as ‘nana’ clutched his sleeve, doubled over due to the force of his laughter. even mark had a small smile on his lips, but he would never admit that it was due to the loud, raucous laughter issuing from ‘haechan’. mark simply watched with something akin to fondness in his expression, but soon realized what was wrong with that. ‘they kidnapped you, you idiot!’ he internally berated himself for letting his guard down, remembering exactly where he had been prior to this.
--
11:32 p.m, 5.27.????, location: ty track’s cat cafe
mark sighed as he took a look at the rest of the paperwork spread out in front of him, covering nearly the entire countertop that he normally served drinks over. taeyong, the manager that was meant to deal with the paperwork, was currently on a vacation, leaving mark to watch over the cafe for a week and a half. with a sigh, he realized that there was no way he was going to finish this tonight, and decided to stow away what he had left for tomorrow. the cafe was empty, the other staff having already left him alone to close. the young male let a yawn escape his lips, stretching a bit, and listening to some of his joints pop in the process. he returned all the leftover papers to taeyong’s office, before beginning to put chairs up and sweep the floor, picking up the little bits of waste that were left behind. one of his coworkers, jungwoo, had already washed all the dishes and things, which just left mark to clean up the main area, wipe down the counter, and then he was free to lock up and leave.
he did just that, checking the clock every few minutes until he was finally free to leave. it wasn't until a quarter ‘till midnight that he was finally walking to his place, to the tiny apartment he called home. the streets were quiet, small groups of people milling around outside of bars or clubs, but they left mark to his own devices as he answered texts that he got during his shift, assuring his manager, taeyong, that he had closed up shop without a problem and was getting home safe.
the walk wasn’t more than ten minutes, and soon he was entering the code for his door, stepping inside and taking off his shoes before venturing inside. he didn’t even bother to put on his slippers, instead padding upstairs to his bedroom that took up the space of a small loft. he threw himself down onto the bed, only after shimmying out of his work pants and sliding on a pair of shorts instead, toeing off his socks as he tried to get comfortable. he knew he smelled of strong coffee and shots of hazelnut, but couldn’t find it in himself to care as his tired body became one with the bed and he slipped into the strange in between state of not quite unconscious, but not quite conscious, either.
he laid like that for a while, the quiet of the apartment creeping into his bones and leaving him there to stew in his thoughts for a few hours before he could drift off.
--
3:15 a.m, 5.28.????, location: mark’s apartment
a crash broke the silence in the small apartment. six figures crept not so sneakily through the space, the two youngest not even bothering to be quiet in their whispering. one of the eldest turned to them, shushing them with a finger to his lips and narrowed eyes that seemed to spit sparks at them. “park, zhong, we’re never gonna secure the target if you two don’t stop with your shenanigans.” the two youngest glanced at one another, shrugged, and crept away the second their hyungs’ backs were turned. the four left continued their journey, ignoring the crashes and bangs that echoed in the kitchen, praying to all that is holy that their target was a deep sleeper - or better yet, dead to the world.
in addition to that noise, there was a small incessant meowing that emitted from the arms of one of the taller boys. the cat bearer was the next to be reprimanded by the shorter male. “and jen, did you really have to bring the cat?” ‘jen’ snorted in response, leaning into the slightly shorter boy next to him. “nana, please tell him it wasn’t necessary to bring the cat. he has no purpose!” the shortest teen complained again, yanking at the sleeve of the significantly taller figure, identified as ‘nana’. before he could reply, ‘jen’s nose was in the air as he huffed out a “well, at least he has a purpose, unlike you” with a pointed glance at the male. he stomped off, kitten in hand, to go join the two youngest in their kitchen escapade.
“so, nana, are you gonna explain the cat?” the shortest turned to ‘nana’, and gestured towards the kitchen, where they could hear whispers of glee and the purrs of the kitten. ‘nana’ gave him a sheepish look, murmuring something under his breath that the shortest couldn’t hear, the only thing he caught being his nickname and alias, ‘jun’. “oh, none of that ‘but jun’ nonsense, spit it out.” he snapped quietly, tapping his foot impatiently. the only other person in the room with them stared at the two, watching as they tossed words back and forth like a tennis match, his eyes flickering back and forth between the two.
“you gotta believe me, i told him not to bring the cat but he gave me those eyes and you know i can’t resist our boyfriend when he gives me those puppy dog eyes.” ‘nana’ pleaded desperately, trying to escape the scorn that he knew was coming.
instead, ‘jun’ rubbed his temples and heaved a sigh. “alright, but next ti-”
his words were interrupted by a loud crash that shook the floor. ‘jun’ knew that soon the neighbors would be calling the police on them, so he grabbed ‘nana’s wrist and hauled him into the kitchen to find out what the others were doing.
the last male, who still stood in one spot and went unnamed, just rolled his eyes at the commotion. “i could have ended up with any other gay squad, but it just had to be this one.” with one more glance at the kitchen, he began the ascent up the stairs to search for their intended target - lee minhyung, aka mark lee.
--
2:50 a.m, 5.28.????, location: mark’s apartment
mark couldn’t sleep. that was not a rare occurrence, but never before had he tossed and turned so much, only to be avoided by sleep. it was as if his brain couldn’t shut off, too many things running through his mind. “i have to balance the budget and finish those papers and be up by 5 so i’ll be able to get to the cafe at 7 and --”
the thoughts just kept coming, poking and prodding at his consciousness in order to keep him from slipping into a blissful sleep. the 22-year-old rubbed at his eyes and yawned, turning on his side to fumble around in the dark for his phone. he was greeted by the blinding brightness of the screen, which he dimmed quickly as he squinted at the device in his hand.
it took a minute of scrolling through his ‘sleep’ playlist, eyes catching on anything from classic titles like ‘the nutcracker’ by pyotr tchaikovsky, and songs from disney movies. in the end, he decided to shuffle it, listening as the beginning of ‘part of your world’ from ‘the little mermaid’ began to pour from his speaker. then, it was a mission of turning to his other side in order to dig out a book from the pile on his other nightstand, before the lamp was finally flicked on, his glasses were settled on his nose, and he was leaned up against the headboard, hoping to find sleep in the pages of the book.
--
3:28 a.m, 5.28.???? , location: mark’s apartment
the unnamed male opened up doors as quietly as he could, peering inside the rooms to see if the target was in any of them. he passed by a storage closet, a bathroom, and a small guest room before finally spotting the soft light that spilled out underneath one of the doors. “of course it would be the last place i check.” he grumbled, heaving a sigh as he padded towards the door as quietly as possible. there was a small click as he loaded a tranquilizer dart into his gun, before pushing the door open with one hand, the other holding the gun with his finger just above the trigger, ready to shoot at a moment’s notice. he had expected the target to be asleep when the door opened, but instead, his eyes met with a panicked pair of brown eyes. “oh, shit.” he swore under his breath, aiming carefully before pressing on the trigger and watching the dart fly through the air as if in slow motion.
the target - mark - let out a small whine when the dart pierced his skin, and he seemed to get sluggish quickly as the two of them made eye contact once more, the unnamed male waiting for the drug to seep into his bloodstream. he was by mark’s side when his grip relaxed, the book falling to the floor and mark almost following it. he, as gently as possible (come on, he’s not a complete monster), slung the unconscious boy over his shoulder and made his way back downstairs and to the kitchen, humming a tune under his breath.
as he turned into the kitchen, the first thing he saw was ‘jun’ sitting in the corner, seeming to have lost control of the chaos. ‘zhong’ was seated on one of the countertops, ‘park’ slipped in between his legs as they had a quiet conversation, eyes darting around occasionally as they talked. ‘jen’ and ‘nana’ were watching the kitten walk around on the island, cooing every time it meowed, even when ‘jen’ had to stop and sneeze. with his free hand, the unknown figure raised his fingers to his mouth and whistled loudly to catch their attention. “it’s time to go back to base, target acquired.”
the rest of the group gaped at him, their shock seeping out as they shot rapidfire questions at him. their voices melded together, into ‘what’s’ and ‘what about our target?’ and ‘i thought we had a mission?’. their leader nodded in response, gesturing to the figure slung over his shoulder. “the job’s already done, target acquired as i said.” he repeated smugly, tucking the dart gun back into the waistband of his pants as he spoke. there was more clamoring and questions, but the one thing that stood out to the leader was the “aw, i wanted to shoot him!” accompanied with a pout, that came from ‘park’.
they all glanced at the youngest member, and he just shrugged nonchalantly. “what? i’ve never gotten to use it on a mission before.”
“that’s because you’re the baby!” ‘zhong’ cooed as he pinched the youngest’s cheeks, laughing all the while.
their leader gestured for them to follow him out of the room, the noise of ‘park’s retaliation following them. “yah, i’m only two months younger than you, hyung!” ‘zhong’ just laughed in response, curling up against his taller boyfriend as they walked. despite his pout and clear disdain for being called the baby, ‘park’ wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled the elder closer.
however, after laying mark in the back of their van and leaving the two maknaes to watch over him, they realized that their leader was not taking them to their main base. “we’re going to the investigation station!” ‘nana’ cheered, as their leader turned down a familiar road that started the journey to the abandoned warehouse that they used for questioning.
“you guys better not mess this up like last time.” their still unnamed leader spoke, barely glancing at them through the rearview mirror before his gaze was fixed back on the road, catching a glimpse of ‘zhong’ and ‘park’s faux innocent faces.
“but hyung,” the second youngest whined, “it wasn’t all our fault last time! how were we supposed to know that those cans of spray paint still had paint in them?” ‘park’ nodded along, backing up his words.
their leader arched his brow at that, sceptically looking at the two in the mirror once more. “oh so you guys just happened to spray paint on us and the target, but it’s not your fault at all, right?”
“he made us do it.” the maknaes pointed accusingly at ‘jen’ who looked offended, quickly sputtering out a reply in order to clear his name, but ‘nana’ cut in quickly with an accusing look focused on his boyfriend that quickly morphed to an innocent one as he threw ‘jen’ under the bus in order to lessen the impact it would have on the maknaes.
“but jen, i swear i overheard you saying something about a bet and --” a soft slap echoed in the van, the culprit being ‘jen’s hand landing over ‘nana’s mouth, muffling the words that the other still tried to form. the rest of the van’s occupants stared at him and ‘nana’ expectantly, but ‘jen’ just laughed nervously in response.
after whispering something inaudible into ‘nana’s ear, ‘jen’ turned to face the rest. “okay, so maybe i did something i shouldn’t have, but the past is the past, man! forgive and forget, you know?” he did his best to plead with the others. the only ones to give in were his boyfriends, one falling victim to his infamous puppy eyes and the other having been threatened into silence.
soon enough, the van was filled with complaints, ‘jen’, ‘zhong’, and ‘park’ arguing amongst themselves while ‘jun’ and ‘nana’ mediated. their leader just sighed in mild annoyance and moderate despair, sending up a quick prayer to whichever deity was willing to listen to him (he really wasn’t picky) to not give him strength, but to give him the patience it would take to endure the rest of the ride. if one of the deities gave him strength...bad things would happen, and somebody would likely end up hurt. more than likely one of the maknaes, but that was besides the point. he turned on the radio quietly, just loud enough that he could focus on it and not on the bickering in the back.
if he hadn’t, he might’ve combusted on the spot and who knows what would have happened to the rest -- he knew for sure that it would end in jail time for murder on his part, if they didn’t stop arguing. that would be ironic, he thought, considering the fact that he was an assassin. his thoughts trailed off into other careers that he might possibly be able to take up, that would allow him to never see the annoying group in the back ever again.
he made a mental note to look when they went back to headquarters.