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There’s something unique about Agent Zhang Hao and Agent Hanbin’s relationship. Perhaps it’s the way how there's some invisible magnetic force that always seems to stick them together during missions, or the reluctance to be apart for any length of time longer than a day. Maybe it’s the amount of unnecessary physical touch applied to their supposed ‘friendship,’ like the holding of hands while changing locations or the hugging before sending each other off into the field.
Everyone in Base Zero has known for long that there’s something unusual going on between the two of them, but they’re both too seemingly oblivious to understand when the behaviour is pointed out.
Agent Gyuvin, on the other hand, has had a whole lot on his mind. He watches like a hawk as Agent Hanbin says goodbye to Agent Zhang Hao, the former on his way to accompany Gyuvin on their latest mission: overseeing a trade between underworld figures that cannot be detected for the sake of overworld politics.
Hanbin joins Gyuvin as they make their way to the top of an abandoned building, binoculars in hand along with other essential gear to make sure that everything goes smoothly. As they scale the stairs, Gyuvin’s heart pounds as he considers bringing up the topic he’d been too scared to for the last few days, and he finally gets the courage to when they’re both sat on top of the building with their equipment set up and ready.
“Ahem… sir?”
Hanbin turns towards him. “Yes?”
“So…” Gyuvin takes a deep breath, anxiety crawling around his stomach. Hanbin is renowned in the global assassin scale for his skill in execution, and Gyuvin is terrified of being massacred in the case that he messes up this chance. He thinks carefully about how to word it, before he gives his question straight: “Do you like Agent Zhang Hao?”
There’s an indescribable emotion that flits across Hanbin’s eyes that, for a moment, Gyuvin thinks it was never even there. He gulps as Hanbin speaks, a smile now spread across his face. “Of course.”
“No… I mean… do you like Agent Zhang Hao?” Gyuvin asks a bit more softly, feeling his skin crawl with the way Hanbin’s eyes pierce into him. It’s unusual, considering that his senior is smiling and therefore his eyes shouldn’t have this effect, but his pupils have daggers etched into them and his aura is handcrafted of strength and absolute dominance.
Despite Gyuvin’s fear, Hanbin simply tilts his head. “What do you mean?”
“Mmh…” Gyuvin considers asking one more time but he saves his breath when he really feels as though Hanbin could take him out right here, right now. “Nothing. But anyway… I have something I wanted to tell you.”
“Go ahead.” Hanbin smiles, that same edge to it that Gyuvin just can’t put his finger on.
“Well… So Agent Ricky had checked on Agent Zhang Hao yesterday before his mission, right? And it involved some undercover makeovers.” Gyuvin hesitates but continues when Hanbin nods. He recounts the story in his head, or at least the story that Ricky presented him, and gives a deep sigh.
(Ricky approaches the changing room warily, knocking on the door lightly. “Agent Hao?”
His senior opens the door quickly, a smile on his face. His tone changes when he begins to speak in his native language, Chinese, which only Ricky can understand out of the rest of Base Zero. “Yeah? What?”
“You look stunning for this mission, by the way.” Ricky says thoughtfully. He’s always had this vocal colour that makes him sound quite mysterious, but Hao knows that he’s being genuine and gives him a toothy smile. Ricky continues, “Well, did you see how Agent Hanbin was looking at you earlier? You know I don’t like speculating, sir, but I really think he has a crush on you.”
“Hm? Is that so?” Hao simply laughs as he pulls off his elbow-length gloves in a swift motion for each hand, fitting on fingerless leather gloves instead. “That’s quite funny.”
“Huh?” Ricky furrows his eyebrows, a shimmering glint catching his eye. Being careful not to draw attention to his stare, he looks more closely, finally realizing what Agent Hao is wearing. “Uh… Sir, may I ask a question that might come off as a bit nosey?”
As Hao continues adjusting the new gloves onto his palms, he nods.
Ricky eyes the golden mass around his ring finger, confusion seeping into his usually indiscernible voice. “Is that a wedding ring?”
“O-Oh, this?” Hao immediately reddens, a rosy pink blooming upon his face. “Yeah. Happily married, haha.”
“Oh.” Ricky says.
Shit, Ricky thinks.
There’s a lot going through his mind right now, mainly the fact that his and Gyuvin’s plans are now broken in half, irreparable and left to burn. They’d been working together to try and set the two oblivious lovebirds up, especially because of Hanbin’s very obvious crush on the older man, using Ricky as Hao’s trusted right-hand man and Gyuvin as Hanbin’s. Now that Hao is married, Ricky doesn’t know how to break this devastating news to his best friend. Everything they’d been working for, down the drain by the hand of— well, the ring of— a man with a spouse.
Hao quickly clears his throat to clear the awkwardness. He looks at his watch and, without skipping a beat, makes a ‘tsk’ noise with his mouth. “Sorry, cat, I have to go. I’ve got to prepare for my mission at six and I need to be at the site by five. We can talk later, okay?”
Ricky is a little frazzled by the sudden turn of events, but he nods after a moment. “Okay, good luck.” He frowns before adding, “And stop calling me a cat, please!”
“You know I’ve never needed luck.” Hao winks, to which Ricky forces a smile, before he disappears into the shadows without a comment on the cat nickname.
Ricky returns to the Base center with a lot on his mind and no answers at all.
(They didn’t talk about it when Hao got back to base due to the older being ‘too drained’ to hold a conversation.)
(Ricky has not understood the conversation since.))
“Yeah, so Agent Ricky saw Agent Zhang Hao taking his gloves off and… he was wearing a ring. He’s married.”
Hanbin’s face almost immediately flushes a low shade of red. For the first time, Gyuvin sees his senior speechless, nervously twisting his own gloves in mindless circles. Though it’s getting harder to distinguish in the dimming light, his blush is growing stronger and stronger to the point where Gyuvin begins to get concerned. “Uh, are you okay, sir?”
Hanbin, on the other hand, is flushing from embarrassment— and hard. He twists his glove around his left hand inconspicuously as he finds the ring settled at the base of his fourth finger, and he can’t even begin to explain himself as his junior stares at him with worry. He runs his fingertips over the grooves that read to be Zhang Hao’s name in Chinese, matching with his spouse’s ring which has ‘Sung Hanbin’ written in Hangul, and a burning feeling rises onto his cheeks. “Oh— uh… is that so?”
Gyuvin sighs with the feigned experience of having heard this before. “I know you like him, sir, and I’m sorry you had to find out like this…”
Hanbin doesn’t respond, still too frazzled to manage words. Gyuvin begins to frown. “Woah, sir, are you okay?”
“Y’know what?” Hanbin begins, the confident edge to his voice beginning to return. His pursed lips gradually curl into a smug grin, accompanied by his fierce eyes and a mischievous glint to his expression. “I… I think I’m more suited for him. I think I’m better.”
“What?” Gyuvin almost drops his binoculars. He processes his senior’s words for a second, looking him up and down from his scarlet face to his nervous fidgeting, and repeats himself with a scream: “What?!”
Oh, fuck it. Hanbin thinks, putting on a show of pride. He’s feeling a little playful and maybe, just maybe, he wants to cause some problems to get his husband’s attention. “Yeah. I mean, I’m infamous. Ask anyone in any of the bases stationed around the world— they’ll know who Sung Hanbin is. Surely Agent Hao’s hus… spouse… can’t be any better than I am.”
Gyuvin’s jaw drops to the floor. “You— that’s—”
A voice intercepts the conversation, the headsets in their ears buzzing to life immediately. Head Monitor Jiwoong’s voice cuts through. “Our clients are arriving. I can see you guys yapping through the drone. If you’d screamed any louder, Agent Gyuvin, you might’ve blown our cover.”
Gyuvin flushes a shade that matches Hanbin’s cheeks very quickly. “Sorry, sir.”
“Focus.” And Jiwoong’s voice is gone as quickly as it had arrived.
“Well, let’s save this conversation for later, Agent Gyuvin?” Hanbin smiles, slipping into his assassin-like state of precision and concentration.
“Mmh… yeah…” Gyuvin can barely manage, still dizzy from everything that had just unfolded before him.
Now, how is he going to explain this to Ricky?
. . .
Turns out, telling Agent Gyuvin about his fake homewrecking desires had been the worst decision Hanbin’s ever made. How was he supposed to know that the little recruit was a loudmouth when it came to spoiling things that should not be spoiled? He groans as he stares at the texts on his phone, already regretting his decisions.
[wife hao <3]
> Sung Hanbin
> Why is there a rumour going around base that I’m married
> And why is there also a rumour that you think you’re better than my wife
> How did this happen???
> Don’t leave me on seen
> Nevermind, don’t even bother typing
> 笨蛋 *
> 你疯了吗？？？*
> You fucking idiot
> Wait till I get home
He picks up his phone reluctantly.
[binnie <3]
> Well
> You see
> Ok to be fair I only caused one of those problems
The reply is instant:
[wife hao <3]
> And that makes it better ??!?!?
> I’m outside the building
> Brace now
Hanbin hears the door open and quickly puts his phone down. When Hao appears in the doorframe, Hanbin cracks an awkward smile. “Hi, babe.”
“You’re so goddamn dumb, you know that right?” Hao can’t even hide his smile as he approaches Hanbin, pulling off his gloves as he does so. He climbs on top of Hanbin and lays on his outstretched arm comfortably as he glares, trying to keep up the facade of anger but losing to a giddy grin. “Well, I guess I am too.”
“I heard Ricky saw your ring.” Hanbin steels, pretending to be unamused. “This is your fault. I didn’t let up at all. I should be mad at you.”
Hao pouts before glancing at his ring. A thought occurs to him, and he immediately draws back. “Actually, this is Ricky’s fault. It’s because he can’t read.”
“Huh— what?” Hanbin splutters, eyes widening. “Hao, you can’t just say those things about the newbies—”
“No, no, I didn’t mean it like that!” Hao quickly grasps Hanbin’s hand, turning his ring in place until the engravings of his name reflect against the dim light. “See, it’s my name, right?”
He then quickly turns his own ring. “If Ricky had looked closer, he’d have noticed that it says your name. But he didn’t.”
Hanbin deadpans, admittedly a little lost. “This is not Ricky’s fault.”
“It’s Head Monitor Jiwoong’s fault for putting me on a mission where I had to take off my gloves, then.” Hao supplies.
Hanbin shakes his head. “No, no, you cannot blame anyone else!”
“That aside, what’s this about you being ‘better than my spouse,’ you homewrecker?” Hao questions, an eyebrow going up.
“Well…” Hanbin breaks eye contact, looking in other directions than his husband. Hao grabs his chin, forcing Hanbin to look towards him. “I just wanted your attention, hehe.”
“There are so many ways to go about that that aren’t making a name for yourself as the resident Base Zero homewrecker, Bin.” Hao chastises, slapping his wrist lightly. Hanbin whines and Hao only rolls his eyes.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Hanbin presses a kiss to Hao’s cheek, now pouting. “Please forgive me?”
“Fine, you fool.” Hao kisses Hanbin on the lips, locking them into what seems to develop into a makeout session. He breaks away to take a breath, commenting, “Wrecking your own fucking home, you lovely bastard—” before pushing his mouth back into his husband’s.
Hanbin only smiles against his lips.
“Love you too.”