Mingi rolled over onto his side as flipped open his book. He had asked for something to read to pass the time while waiting for training or an assignment, so Yunho had brought him a selection of books from his own library.

This one was a fantasy adventure that actually followed a thief so he was getting into it. He had always loved reading and had nicked a books from some houses that he found interesting, but reading them way another story. He had always been so busy that he had yet to finish one.

He probably should be training right now, but he needed something to distract himself from thinking about Hongjoong.

God he was like a lovesick school girl... Could he be more pathetic?

Probably. But he would cross that bridge when he got there because that would depend on Hongjoong.

And really it would depend on what happened with the team too. Mingi liked the idea of what they were doing since his targets had always been gang and mafia members too. That and after what happened to his parents, the idea of taking them down once and for all was appealing.

But they needed to work on being a team. He had hardly interacted with anyone outside of Jongho and their sparring matches.

Mingi sighed when he realized he read the same paragraph three times and closed his book after slipping in the bookmark Yunho had given him.

Right as he did, there was a gentle knock on the door. "Come in." Mingi called, grunting as he sat up.

He froze when he saw Hongjoong slip into his room and quickly close the door. The older looked flushed and out of breath, like he had run there.

They locked eyes and just stared at each other for a long moment.

Hongjoong was the first one to break contact. He looked down and ran his hand through his hair before bringing it down to rub his eyebrow. "Hey."

"Hi?" Mingi tilted his head a little. What was he doing here? Could it be...?

"What was that yesterday?" Hongjoong asked suddenly, his face hardening as he glanced back at Mingi.

The taller gulped and clenched his hand. What he angry?

"Well?"

"I don't know what you want me to say." Mingi said quietly, not taking his eyes off the older. "I thought I made it pretty clear."

"Do you normally hit on people you just met?" Hongjoong crossed his arms, trying to look intimidating, but the look on his face had Mingi's heart doing flips with how cute he looked.

"No. Just you."

Hongjoong's hard face faltered and a soft look crept onto his face. "Why me? Why now?"

"Well that's kind of a silly question, isn't it? It's only happening now because I just met you. There's nothing special about right now. I see it as I'm a man with a second chance, so why not treat it like we are two people who met in a coffee shop on a random Sunday? We don't have to be a thief for the chief of police if we don't want to be. And why you? Why is anyone attracted to anyone else? It just... Happened. I can't really explain it. Probably not the way you are looking for at least. But... I found you attractive from the moment I saw you, and..." Mingi looked at the ground and felt his face getting hot as he mumbled, "I think the energy you give off as a leader sexy."

He peeked up to see Hongjoong's mouth open a little. His adams apple even bobbed a little, as if he wanted to say something but the words died in his throat.

Then the older surprised him by walking forward, grabbing the sides of his face, and connecting their lips in a heated kiss.

Mingi hesitated for a second before he pulled Hongjoong closer to him. He wrapped his arms around Hongjoong's waist to hold him in place while he tilted his head back a little to make the kiss easier for the older.

The tiniest of moans escaped Hongjoong's lips before he stepped back.

Mingi didn't fight it and let him go, even though he felt so empty at the loss of contact.

Hongjoong was bright red as he spun in a circle. He fluffed out his hair repeatedly and made a few grunting sounds that only succeeded in turning Mingi on a little.

"I must be crazy." Hongjoong muttered. "Like we could actually get away with dating. We have a job to do."

"Yes, we do." Mingi said, causing the other to pause and look at him. "And I won't deny that one bit. But we are allowed days off... Right? Even you can't work seven days a week. And I do have this." Mingi held up his wrist to show off the bracelet. "So really, you have control over the entire situation."

Hongjoong pursed his lips and nodded.

Mingi's heart started to pound a little faster. Was he actually considering this?

"I... I don't know how to date." Hongjoong confessed, looking off to the side.

"Neither do I." Mingi reached out slowly to grab his hand. "So we can figure it out together, if you'll give me a chance."

Hongjoong was quiet for several minutes. "I don't want anyone else to know for right now." He whispered.

"That's fine. I can make that compromise."

The older sighed and nodded again. "Ok then... I'll... I'll check my schedule and we can figure something out." He said in a cute, quiet voice.

"I'd like that." Mingi gave him a crooked smile that made Hongjoong blush again before he left the room.

Then the taller fell back onto his bed and beamed.

What he thought had been his worst mistake on the job had actually turned into something that could be amazing.

.

.

.

.

Wooyoung was feeling restless just staying in his room all the time, so he decided to try and find something to do.

If he was being honest, he was a little hurt that he hadn't been asked to go on the mission too. He was dying to get out of the prison and just try to be a normal person again.

But he supposed that would come with time. Once he earned his freedom again.

He missed going to the movies, or even just going for a walk around the park.

But that was probably something that required a little more trust, and he knew he was on thin ice after attacking San the other day.

But it sounded like Hongjoong and Yunho didn't entirely blame him. Which was good because he really didn't mean to snap like that.

It's just that word...

Wooyoung sighed as he walked down the hall.

Then he heard a dull thud and he turned his head to the door next to him. He knew exactly what that sound was, but who was practicing with knives right now?

He opened the door and poked his head into the practice room.

Seonghwa was standing next to a table he had lined with several knives. He picked a few up, tossing one in the air to flip it around and catch it again, before he threw it at the target positioned on the other side of the room.

His aim was good. It was definitely going to wound someone. But it could be better.

Wooyoung stepped inside and cleared his throat.

Seonghwa turned and stared him down. The younger shivered as the dark grey eyes held him in place before Seonghwa turned back to the table. "Can I help you?"

"I was actually going to ask you that question." Wooyoung stepped forward slowly and picked up one of the knives.

He shivered as the cold metal kissed his skin. It was almost like the knives could speak to him. He knew exactly how heavy this one was, where the center of balance had been placed, and the best way to throw it so it was deadly.

"I'm fine." Seonghwa said harshly before picking up a couple more to throw across the room.

"Mind if I practice too then?" When Wooyoung didn't get an answer, he picked up five more knives and went to stand in front of the other target.

His ego was still a little bruised after the impromptu competition with San, so he was determined to do well today.

He twirled one knife nimbly between his fingers. Then he flicked his wrist in one quick, snappy motion that wouldn't have been detected by anyone who was looking at him from behind. The knife landed right where the heart would be on the target.

Then he watched as Seonghwa threw his knife. He still had to use his entire arm.

Deciding he wanted to show off a little, Wooyoung repeated his wrist flick technique, changing his stance only slightly to try different angles.

"How do you do that?" Seonghwa asked.

Wooyoung turned to see he had a curious look on his face. It was much more pleasant to look at than his stone-cold look he normally had on.

"A lot of it is dictated by the knife itself. You need to know the best place to hold it so it does most of the work. Watch."

He turned back to the target after getting three identical knives. Then he turned to the side and tried flicking his wrist while holding the knives in three different placed.

While he still had fairly accurate aim, and all the knives would have done damage, there was still a large space between them because of the balance and way he had been holding them.

"You have to let the knife be an extension of yourself. Plus then you'll exert less energy and be able to do a little more if needed. And it can be a good sneak attack." Wooyoung turned to the older and paused.

Seonghwa's eyebrows were furrowed as he focused on the knife in his hand and Wooyoung found his eyes drawn there too. His long slender fingers looked amazing as they twisted the knife between them. So much so that Wooyoung wanted to reach out and see if they were as soft as they looked.

He stepped a little closer, part of him wanting some kind of contact. He had felt that way earlier with Yunho too. Part of him just wanted to be touched... To be...

"So find the center of balance and go from there?" Seonghwa's deep voice cut through Wooyoung's thoughts.

"Yeah. Here, watch one more time." He turned to face Seonghwa's target and went through each step slowly. Seonghwa copied him, his gaze focused intently on Wooyoung's hands.

It took the older a couple of tries, but he managed to get a successful flick to at least hit the target.

Wooyoung watched as his eyes lit up in excitement and he even bounced in place a little.

So he wasn't as stone cold as he liked to let others believe he was. Wooyoung smiled and took a step closer. "Now try again with a different one."

"Ok." Seonghwa said, quickly turning to grab another one.

They practiced for a few hours, never talking about anything other than finding the balance of a knife or a certain way to throw it.

Wooyoung shared a couple of his other tricks with the older, knowing that his skills were good enough to handle them.

"Thank you." Seonghwa said as they finished up and were returning the knives to their place on the table. "I've always been better with guns, so I had focused on that for my training."

The younger paused, surprised that Seonghwa was talking about himself. "What was your training like?" He asked, feeling himself drifting closer to the older again.

"Intense. It was almost pass or fail."

"Almost?" Wooyoung went to return a knife next to where Seonghwa was and their fingers brushed together.

Seonghwa withdrew his immediately and Wooyoung bit his lip to hide his disappointment. "I had some special circumstances. But things were still intense. I had to do so well in order to pass the training."

"And once you did... That's when they started giving you assignments?"

"Yes."

"Did you like it?" Wooyoung looked up at him, his heart pounding on his chest. Out of all the others, he related to Seonghwa the most and was dying to know what it felt like for him too. "The killing?" He whispered.

"I don't think it was ever a matter of like or dislike for me. It was just getting the job done. I never took enough time to think about who it was I was killing. I just did what I was told to do. It was all I knew..."

"What made you turn yourself in?"

Seonghwa's breath hitched in his throat and he looked down. "That doesn't matter."

Wooyoung bit his lip again and just nodded before running his fingers along one of the knives on the table.

"Did you like it?" Seonghwa asked, not looking at him.

This was it. This is where the older would hate him.

"Yes. I enjoyed every second of it. The feeling of my knife running across their throat, knowing that I was the last thing they'd see." A chill went down Wooyoung's spine as he remembered some of the looks he got.

Each one of those bastards deserved it after what they had done.

Especially a couple of them... The deserved it after what they had done to him.

"Wooyoung?" Seonghwa's voice cut through his thoughts as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

The younger leaned into the touch and closed his eyes.

"Are you ok?" The older whispered.

"No. But I don't know that I'll ever be ok again." Wooyoung kept his eyes closed. "Do you hate me for enjoying it?"

There was a long pause. "It sounds like you probably had your reasons, if you wanted your face to be the last thing they saw... No I don't hate you, because I understand, to an extent, where you're coming from."

Wooyoung felt his shoulders sag in relief, then he did something that surprised both of them.

He turned and pressed his forehead into Seonghwa's chest. "I wish that I didn't... But every one of them deserved it." He whispered.

His entire body started to shake as he tried to hold back his tears.

Whore.

Filth.

Slut.

Two arms wrapped around him in comfort as the tears started to fall. He lifted his hands up to fist Seonghwa's shirt. "I'm sorry..." He whimpered. "I'm sorry..."

Trash.

Dirty.

Whore.

"I'm sorry..."

Seonghwa tightened his grip to try and pull him in closer.

That's when Wooyoung froze. All crying and shaking halted as he felt the grip on him tightened.

Then his breathing quickened and he started to hyperventilate. "No..." He pushed against Seonghwa's chest.

"Woo?" The older leaned back a little to look down at him.

"Please..." Wooyoung pushed against the older again as it felt like walls were closing in on him.

Seonghwa reached up to cup his chin to make Wooyoung look at him, but Wooyoung was able to shove him away.

The older stumbled back, a look of shock on his face as Wooyoung covered his mouth.

Then he fled from the room, tears flooding down his cheek again.

Pathetic.

Trash.

Whore.