"so... would you rather... eat a snake or... or have a whale eating you?"

"chenle, what are those questions?!" jisung rolled his eyes.

"come on! answer!" chenle urged him.

"eat a snake i guess." the mafia leader answered with a shrug.

since chenle was at the dorms and would sleep over, jisung and him decided to play games.

they had started by a game of uno which they had stopped when it became to chaotic, and now, both were lying on the couches in the living room, playing 'would you rather'.

"now, your turn." chenle informed, looking at jisung whose eyes were glued on the ceiling.

"would you rather live as an idol and not being able to date who you want your whole life, or stop your career to find the love of your life?" jisung asked, his eyes not leaving the white ceiling of their dorm.

"ooh! that's a hard one..." chenle frowned. "huh... but what if i could find the love of my life while being an idol?" the chinese male asked. in fact, the love of his life was lying on the sofa just next to him, he didn't know it yet though.

"you need to choose one."

chenle sighed. "so... it's basically either i have a love life or i'm stuck with you?" he asked playfully.

"pretty much yeah." jisung hummed.

"then i'm choosing to stay with you." the chinese boy stated, making jiung lift his head and look at him.

"me?" he asked. "you're choosing me over someone that will make you happy all your life?"

"you make me happy jisung. i'm fine with this." chenle informed.

the mafia member sighed, lying back down.

he made chenle happy. this meant a lot to him.

it wasn't every day in the life of a mafia leader that someone told you that you made them happy.

"now, would you rather... have 3 arms or 3- "

"come on! ask questions about things that can actually happen!" jisung tsked. "and you already asked me if i'd rather have 3 arms or 3 eyes last time we played, and i told you that if my 3rd eye was behind my head, then i'd want 3 eyes and otherwise 3 arms." he stated, making chenle huff and pout.

"you're no fun..." the chinese male whined. "then... would you rather start your solo career but leave nct, or stay in nct and never have a solo performance."

"stay in nct." jisung said without hesitating.

"you didn't even think about it!" chenle squeaked.

"i auditioned to get in a group, not to sing alone on a stage." jisung shrugged, taking a breath before asking a question that had been on his mind for a while – and there was no other way to ask it outside of a 'would you rather' context. "now my turn. if someone you know had killed someone else voluntarily..., would you rather have them disappear from your life, or have them still being around?"

chenle snorted loudly, making jisung lift his head. his answer was kind of important for jisung who had killed just more than one people in his life.

"what?" jisung asked, sitting up on the sofa to look at chenle who had a brow raised.

"i thought we were supposed to ask about things that could actually happen." chenle told, crossing his arms over his chest.

"it could happen." jisung nodded.

"oh, really? who in my relationships is a killer?"

me jisung thought, keeping his lips pressed together so that nothing slid past them.

he knew that chenle's thoughts on that topic would surely make him mad and sad, but he couldn't help but ask.

he felt lonely having to keep this huge secret to himself, and acting as if everything was normal.

sometimes, jisung wondered if he wouldn't feel better if he said everything to someone he could trust. someone of his age who would help him deal with it, and take his mind off those awful things he had to do.

the only person coming to his mind for that was chenle, his dearest friend. but then, the thought of tainting his perfect innocence and scaring him made jisung forget about it immediately. but this didn't mean he would never try to tell him. and this required knowing if chenle would accept it at first.

"look, i don't know, it doesn't matter." jisung rolled his eyes. "what would you prefer?"

"them disappearing from my life i guess." chenle shrugged. "i don't want to have a murderer in my relationships. what if he came to kill me?"

"yeah..." jisung sighed, his hopes slowly dying right in front of his eyes.

"okay, next question!" chenle exclaimed as if they hadn't just been talking about a dark subject. "would you rather fall in love with a boy or never fall in love...?"

it seemed like jisung wasn't the only one trying to get answers from the other boy.

in fact, chenle was also asking things that he genuinely wanted to know, like if he had a chance to end up with jisung one day, or if it would never ever happen...

"is there even a dilemma here?" jisung scoffed. "fall in love with a boy."

"you'd fall in love with a boy?!" chenle almost gasped, shocked from the answer – and internally cheering as this meant the boy wasn't homophobic and so, that he maybe had a chance with him.

"yeah, is this a problem?" jisung asked. "wouldn't you?"

"no, no!" chenlel shook his head. "i mean, i would fall in love with a boy too. as much as i would with a girl. like... it's your heart who chooses, not you, so...yeah, there's no problem liking a boy, right?"

jisung chuckled at the sight of a blushing-red chenle, trying to form a coherent sentence.

could it be possible that chenle actually had a crush on a boy?

"no, it's totally fine." jisung assured. "my turn?"

"yes." chenle nodded.

"if one of the members was part of a mafia, would you rather have him tell you about it or... or not?"jisung asked, making chenle think for a while.

"i'd say not tell me." chenle replied. "because if i knew, i would be in danger, and i would also have to help with all the illegal stuff and everything, and i don't want that."

jisung hummed. "seems logical."

"okay so... if someone had a crush on you, would you rather have them telling you or not?" chenle asked a similar question, waiting for jisung's answer in anticipation. he knew that, depending on the answer the other boy would give him, he'll think about voicing his feelings out to him.

on the other hand, jisung sighed in despair.

if someone had a crush on him... this better never happen, because this would lead to a total disaster. not because jisung never had a relationship before – actually, he never had the time to have any so he was completely unexperienced, but this wasn't the problem.

jisung didn't have feelings, he wasn't able to love or to get attached – well at least he tried to. and this meant that having a lover right now was unimaginable.

"not telling me." jisung replied.

"w-why...?" chenle raised a brow.

"because... huh... i guess it would be better if i figured it out myself." jisung justified himself the best he could.

"but... if you're not interested yourself, how will you ever figure it out?" chenle asked with puppy eyes, making jisung melt on the inside for a quick second – he quickly recollected himself, as if he had just done something wrong.

"well... i don't know..." jisung sighed. "maybe i'll accept them to tell me if i don't notice it after a long time...?"

"hmm, okay." chenle nodded, content with the new answer. "your turn."

"right, huh..."

and so, time passed with the two younger boys asking each other questions.

and both were too preoccupied by the matters on their mind to realise that jisung had only asked mafia-related questions, and that chenle had only asked about love and relationships...

⇄

"where is he?" jisung asked, passing through the door of the park, the mafia's base in seoul, where they could keep prisoners and hostages hidden under the namsan park.

"room number 6." one of the mafia members answered, making jisung thank him behore walking quickly to the room in question.

he knocked on the door twice, and it was soon opened by a man on the other side of it.

"you're finally here." he stated, allowing jisung in.

"yes, sorry. one of my members wouldn't leave me alone. i had to wait until he fell asleep." the leader replied. "so, what did you get from him, jihu?" he asked to his parents' friend, and head of the murder section of their mafia.

"nothing much." he replied, eying the man that was tied to a chair in front of them, bruises and cuts littering his body as his eyes were closed, surely because he had been knocked out. "he's from death park that's for sure, but he wasn't very cooperative."

"well, i'll try then." jisung declared, placing his gun back in the waistband of his trousers. "pass me the salt."

jihu obliged, reaching for a jar filled with white powder. it was resting on a table, surrounded by a variety of knives and torture tools one which blood had dried and made the metal rusty.

jisung took a handful of salt and approached the knocked-out male, smirking as he locater a deep cut on his arm. without hesitating, he put some salt on both of his hand, then pressing it against the cut on his arm, and also on his face that seemed very bruise.

the salt took effect immediately, burning the man's wounds and making him jolt awake as he screamed in pain.

the mafia leader pressed the white power inside of the boy's wound for a few seconds more before standing up in front of him and crossing his arms over his chest.

"so." he stated, catching the attention of the prisoner. "do you know who i am?"

"j-jisung... from nct...?!" he exclaimed, looking around to make sure he was still imprisoned in a room.

"well, that's not false, but here, people call me young skull." he said with a small laugh, smirking as he saw the man's face decomposing.

"n-nct's m-maknae is... part of death park?!" he stuttered, not believing his eyes.

jisung pulled his gun out and shot in the man's direction, hitting the chair right between the man's legs, a few centimetres under his dick, creating a hole in the material.

this had the prisoner gasping and blinking when he looked at jisung who now had a cold face on.

"i'm the one to ask questions here." jisung said in a low voice.

the man gulped.

"so, you are part of dark danger, right? what are they planning to do?" jisung asked.

"i won't tell you." he stated.

"wrong answer, try again." jisung scoffed. "what are they planning to do?"

"don't think i'm going to get scared by an idol child." the prinsoner laughed, obviously not knowing what jisung was capable of. "you better go back to singing and dancing, that's the only thing you're good at."

"how long have you been interrogating him?" jisung faced jihu.

"we brough him here in the afternoon, interrogated him twice with minor torture. but he didn't give convincing answers." the man replied. "we were waiting for you to go a step further."

"perfect then."

jisung turned around, pointing his gun at the boy's foot and shooting once, hitting the man right in the ankle, and making him scream in pain.

he then took a step forward, gripping the boy's hair with his hand and pulling his head back so that their faces were close enough for the prisoner to see anger in his eyes.

"you should start answering before all your blood leaves your body." jisung informed. "so, now, tell me what the fuck they are planning to do!"

"aghh!! okay! okay!" the man yelled and cried. "we want to gain enough influence to convince everyone that dark danger will be able to keep the people safe."

"from what?" jisung asked, unphased by the way the grown-up man in front of him was crying in pain.

"aghhhh!!"

jisung shot again, the other ankle this time. "keep the people safe from what?" he repeated, venom laced through his voice.

"f-from death park..." he whimpered, screaming again.

"what the hell does my mafia have to do with this shit?" jisung frowned.

"i-if we manage to make the p-people think death park are attacking t-them and dark danger is p-protecting them, we'll b-become more r-respected and b-be able to make you the p-public enemy."

jisung sighed turning around to face jihu once again.

"that's what i feared..." jihu stated.

"they're making people hate us. and then they would be able to get rid of us." jisung nodded. "i'm positive they're attacking people under the name of death park and set the scene of dark danger saving them so that they show that they're able to protect the people."

"assholes." jihu glanced at the man tied to the chair, slowly getting drained of his blood. "we could still have a chance though. it depends if they have bighit on their side. and sm entertainment too."

"sm is with them." jisung sighed. "lee sooman had their octopus."

"shit. and bighit?"

in a nick of time, jisung was standing once again in front of the injured male.

"who do you have on your side?" he asked.

"i don't know..."

"look, you only have two ankles, so i'll need to shoot you somewhere else." jisung informed. "who is on your side?"

"i don't know!" he replied alarmed. "they don't tell us!"

"why did we find your fingerprints on the crime scene in front of the bts dorm then?" jisung asked with a brow raised.

"i-i..."

"liar." jisung chuckled before pulling the trigger for the fourth time, hitting his right shoulder, earning another shriek. "tell me right fucking now." jisung growled.

"i-i'm n-not lying!" he whimpered. "t-they ask us to k-kill and s-sabotage. b-but they d-don't tell us w-why... only t-them know..."

"i'll have to kill you then. that's sad." jisung shrugged.

"n-no! please!" the man begged. "d-don't kill me! i'm n-not lying! i-i don't know who's on our s-side! i-if i d-did i would! p-please! i-i have a w-wife and- "

a last deafening shot was heard before the room went silent, the prisoner's head tilting backwards as his forehead bore a hole, right when jisung's bullet hit him, making his blood and his brain flow out of his body.

"great now." jisung put his gun away. "we learnt almost nothing."

"at least one of them is dead." jihu declared.

"yeah." jisung pulled his phone out of his pocket. "i think i'll go back to the dorms now that this is done."

"i'll drive you back there." jihu informed, pulling his car keys out of his pocket.

"oh god, i'd appreciate that."

twenty minutes later, after a silent ride, jisung was walking into his bedroom where chenle was fast asleep on the bed, curled up in a ball, making jisung chuckle.

the mafia leader placed his gun back in its hiding spot before grabbing his pyjamas and walking out of the room to have a quick shower and brush his teeth.

he was able to slide down under his covers ten minutes later, turning on his side to look at the chinese boy that was sleeping in the bed next to him.

chenle usually slept with renjun when he slept at the dorms, because renjun's bed was far more comfortable than the couch. but since renjun and jisung had swapped rooms, chenle was now sleeping with jisung – not that he minded, actually.

jisung admired the older boy's features lit by the moonlight coming from the window. chenle's skin was so pale yet smooth, contrasting with his black hair that was now messy and partially hiding his eyes. he looked so peaceful sleeping in jisung's bed, with his cheek squished against the pillow and the covers above his body.

the mafia leader found him absolutely beautiful right now, and he was dying to trace the outline of his face with a caress of his finger. he gave in to his temptation quickly, his pointer finger poking the sleeping boy's nose and then brushing against his cheekbones.

the sudden contact made chenle squirm lightly, making jisung pull his hand away at the light of speed, hoping he hadn't woken the boy up.

in fact, he hadn't, because chenle only inched closer to the source of heat that was jisung's body, until he was curled up fully against him. jisung tensed, suddenly having trouble breathing.

this made the mafia leader stress, because he wasn't asthmatic or anything, meaning he wasn't supposed to feel so out of breath right now; and chenle's head sure was pressed against his sternum, but it hadn't hit hard enough to cut jisung's breathing. so, what the hell was wrong with him?

his breathing came back to normal after long seconds, allowing jisung to go back to staring at the sleeping boy who was now in his arms. he felt air starting to lack in his lungs again, but this time, he placed his hand above his chest, trying to feel if something was wrong with him.

and that's when he understood the source of the problem: his heart was beating so fast, just because of chenle's actions...