“Hi Kyu,” Eunhyuk chirped as he let himself in.

Kyuhyun eyed him warily, but was at least decent enough to greet him back with a simple, “Hi.”

“Have you seen the sky tonight? Man, it’s beautiful—”

“What do you want?”

Eunhyuk pretended to clutch at his chest, as if Kyuhyun had just shot an arrow right through his heart. “Why, Kyuhyun, I’m offended. Can’t a guy just drop by at his friend’s house for no reason?”

“A guy can, but you never come here unless you want food or need someone to whine to about your lack of a life.” He pointed out. “So which is it tonight?”

“Neither,” Eunhyuk cleared his throat, struggling to keep his designated mission in mind. “But you know what, Kyu? You and I never talk anymore. What’s up with you lately?”

“You know what’s going on.” He said, slightly irked by his suspicious behavior. “We see each other every day, Eunhyuk.”

“I know, but I want to know what happens behind closed doors.” He persisted.

“I think you know as much as I do, considering you always somehow ‘forget’ to knock every time Sungmin and I are in the room.”

Eunhyuk shuddered at the memory of his two teammates and wrestling under the covers. Fortunately for him, he has never seen anything really dirty (yet), except maybe for the occasional glimpse of Sungmin’s bare . “Well, we have had a lot of free time lately. Read any good books?”

“No.”

“Really? Not even any spy novels?”

“You’re being weird.” Kyuhyun placed his hands on his hips. “Did you do something bad, or do you want food?”

“Kyuhyun,” Eunhyuk braced himself. “We know you’re a spy.”

Eunhyuk expected Kyuhyun to get angry. He expected him to point his gun at his head and/or threaten to kill him if he doesn’t shut up. But he did none of those. He just looked confused. Very, very confused.

“I’m a what?” he blinked, the apparent revelation taking him aback.

“A spy. Kyuhyun, we saw you meeting up with those mobster guys.” He said, his tone solemn.

“You followed me?”

“It was our job—”

“To put your noses in something that’s neither of your guys’ business?” He scowled. “This is unbelievable, Eunhyuk. We’ve known each other for years; how could you think I’d betray you? Eunhyuk—what are you doing?”

Kyuhyun gaped as he saw Eunhyuk carefully take out his gun, dust it slightly with his sleeves and then turn off the safety lock. “So you didn’t come here because you were or hungry. You came here to kill me? Hyuk, you’ve got some serious issues, man.”

“Kyuhyun—”

“Hyukjae, think about what you’re doing here. You would never kill a friend, would you?”

“Kyuhyun—”

“Hyuk, you can’t seriously think I’m a spy. I mean, come on. Drop the gun.”

But Eunhyuk did nothing of the sorts. In fact, he pulled back the slide on top of the barrel, emitting a small clicking sound and pointed it towards him.

“I can’t believe you’re actually going to kill me after everything—”

“I’m not pointing the gun at you.”

It took a moment for Kyuhyun to register what Eunhyuk said. Once it finally got through to him, he slowly turned around and met the eyes of a murderous maniac, better known to them as Kim Kwangsoo. He was pointing his pistol directly at Kyuhyun’s head; he had never seen anyone so angry before. He could practically steam blowing out of his ears.

“What the hell is going on here?” Kyuhyun was afraid to move, considering he was the only one in the room without a weapon. He mentally slapped himself for leaving his gun in his bedroom.

“Kim Jaekyung. Does that name ring a bell to you?” Kwangsoo asked, slowly drawing nearer to the cornered man.

Eunhyuk was hesitant to fire a shot, since the odds of him pulling the trigger on Kyuhyun first were scarily high. So he just stood there, gun pointed at their employer and eyes glued on his every move.

“Is there a reason you’re asking me this now?” Kyuhyun said.

“It’s a yes-or-no question, Mr. Cho.” He shoved the cold metal tip of the gun at the back of Kyuhyun’s neck, making him jump. Kwangsoo held him in place by straddling his neck with his free arm.

“Fine, if you’re gonna be so snippy.” He huffed, wondering why Eunhyuk hadn’t killed the man yet. “As a matter of fact, yes, it does. Back in my rookie days, I was assigned a mission to kill a Kim Jaekyung for God knows what.”

“She was my daughter.”

“You have my deepest condolences.”

“Don’t joke with me, Cho.” He pushed the gun further into Kyuhyun’s skin, making him wince.

“Eunhyuk,” he called desperately. “Help me out here, would you?”

“Not yet.” He replied simply.

“What? Why the hell not?” He snapped. “Are you waiting to see my brains on the floor before making a move?”

“Nope,” Eunhyuk seemed a little too casual for the given situation. “There’s someone out here that would much rather do the job. I promised I’ve give him the pleasure of killing our lovely boss personally.”

Kwangsoo jumped when he felt something cold and hard up against the back of his head. In the corner of his eye, he spotted that stupid bob of blonde hair behind him.

“Well, well,” Kwangsoo chuckled. “Look who came to play.”

“I’m not playing, you bastard.” Sungmin hissed. “Let him go and you just might get away alive.”

“No can do, kid.” He clucked his tongue. “I’m afraid this boyfriend of yours deserves to die. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“I do.”

“Sungmin!” Kyuhyun cried in disapproval.

“But that doesn’t mean I want it to actually happen.” The blonde finished. “Now we can do this the hard way, which is mainly me putting a nice, shiny bullet through your tiny, d brain, or we can do this the semi-easy way, which means you letting Kyuhyun go and tell us where you’re holding Leeteuk. I cannot guarantee your life for both though.”

“So you’ve figured it out, huh?” he appeared unfazed. “Leeteuk is probably dead by now so there’s probably no use looking for him.”

This only provoked Sungmin as he shoved the gun even harder against his head. “For a so-called professionally trained assassin, you’re pretty lousy at covering up your tracks. Did you seriously think we wouldn’t suspect you to begin with?”

“I wasn’t trying to be discreet, blondie.” He said. “All I wanted is this dead, and you two couldn’t even do it.”

“You gave us one-day’s notice!” Eunhyuk protested. “It’s only been twelve hours.”

“I’m an impatient man.” He stated, and they couldn’t agree more. “By the way, I feel the need to inform you all that I will have no difficulty whatsoever in killing all three of you single-handedly. I’d normally be fair and ask who wants to go first, but I’d prefer if Mr. Cho here stopped breathing first.”

“Frankly, I’m getting a little bit tired of standing here with a gun at my head, so will somebody please just kill somebody already?” Kyuhyun griped.

“My pleasure,” Kwangsoo smirked.

Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Kyuhyun swiftly slipped out of his grasp and kicked him in the shin, causing him to fall over and drop the gun. But not before he misfired, one which didn’t shoot the intended target, but rather the blonde behind him.

Sungmin lost grip of his weapon as he lost balance over his bleeding shoulder. Kyuhyun’s first instinct was to tend to him immediately, without even noticing that Kwangsoo had gotten hold of his gun once again and used the advantage to shoot them both dead.

His mistake was forgetting Eunhyuk was still there, and so, he went down with two shots in the stomach. Kyuhyun, relieved, sighed and kissed the side of Sungmin’s head. Unfortunately, the blonde couldn’t even muster enough energy to smile, as he was in the middle of bleeding profusely.

Eunhyuk stared at the body on the floor (which was now surrounded in a messy, red puddle) to make sure it was dead before helping Kyuhyun carry Sungmin to the car.

“Thanks for not killing me.”

That was the first thing Kyuhyun said once Sungmin woke up. He was restrained to a hospital bed, with tubes and needles in and out him everywhere. Sungmin, seeing as he couldn’t lift his head, puckered his lips and Kyuhyun gladly obliged by giving him a kiss.

“That line where you agreed I deserved to die kinda hurt though.” He chuckled and held Sungmin’s hand.

“I was being humorous.” He replied in a weak voice.

Kyuhyun felt terrible just seeing him in such a state. Hearing how feeble he had become was like a punch in the face. “You had to pick that of all times to be humorous?”

The only good thing at the moment was that Kyuhyun had never seen Sungmin smiling that long; usually, his smiles lasted no more than a minute. It was probably the painkillers…

“I’m just glad you’re alive.” He gathered just enough strength to lift his hand and touch Kyuhyun’s cheek.

“I’m sorry you got shot.” Kyuhyun started to plant small kisses on his palm. “I can’t believe you of all people failed to carry out a mission though.”

“Only to save a teammate.”

“Whom you didn’t even give a rat’s about the first time you met him.”

Kyuhyun smirked as he moved closer to Sungmin’s face, and the blonde took the opportunity to give him a quick kiss on the lips, and then a soft, “I love you.”

“I know,” he nodded. “You too.”

He patted Kyuhyun’s head before adjusting to a more comfortable position in the bed, and then asking, “So where’s Eunhyuk?”

“He went home. Apparently, he has a dog to feed.” He chuckled and shook his head. “It’s probably for the best though. Hyuk’s a terrible liar. To avoid suspicion, we told the doctors this is all a robbery gone wrong and we can’t risk Eunhyuk blowing it all.”

“I guess we owe that dip for saving our lives.” He sighed with a small smile across his face.

“He’s not much of a dip anymore, is he?” He said. “He’s saved our asses twice now.”

“I hate to admit it, but I’m actually glad he’s on our team.” He mused. “In fact, I kinda miss him right now.”

“Okay, now I know for sure that they put you on way too many painkillers.” He quipped before brushing Sungmin’s bangs away from his face and kissing his forehead. “Do you think you can get out by tonight?”

“I think so.” Sungmin managed to sit up, albeit with much difficulty. “After all, it’s only a bullet in the arm, right?”

“Yeah, that and some pretty major blood loss.” He revealed. “I can take care of all of the paperwork though. I can get you discharged in a matter of thirty minutes or so. Do you think you can wait until then?”

“Sure,” he smiled as Kyuhyun kissed his cheek. “Take your time.”

“You know, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.” Sungmin held onto Kyuhyun’s arm for support as they walked down the hallway of the hospital.

“Are you gonna me ask me to marry you?” Kyuhyun smirked.

“Not until it’s legal here.” He smiled. “It’s something else.”

“What is it?” he asked. “Sounds serious.”

“It sort of is,” he started. “Earlier today, Eunhyuk and I followed you and I think we saw something we shouldn’t have.”

“Which is—?”

“You were talking to the mafia people Kwangsoo mentioned.” He said. “I know you wouldn’t betray the company, but I can’t think of any good reason of why you’d be talking to them.”

“You want the truth?”

“Nothing but.”

He took a deep breath. “Well, it’s kind of complicated—”

“We have a patient in his mid-twenties, suffering from massive blood loss and three shots in the chest and abdomen. He’s also suffering possible blunt force trauma in the head from a car accident, as well as dislocated and broken bones. Current state: unconscious with an unsteady pulse. Needs to be immediately admitted in the ICU.” A group of paramedics came in, rolling in a stretcher containing a severely injured man. A very familiar, injured man.

“Holy ,” Kyuhyun muttered before grabbing one of the paramedics’ arms to get some information. “What happened?”

“Sir, I don’t have time to—”

“We know that man; he’s our friend.” He stated. “His name’s Lee Hyukjae and I demand to know what the happened to him.”

Although slightly frightened by the look on Kyuhyun’s face, he carefully informed him of what took place not more than an hour ago. “Your friend was driving and was shot three times by an unidentified perpetrator, police suspect that it was premeditated attempted murder. He lost control of the wheel and the vehicle rolled down a hill. A witness called paramedics and when we found him, he was upside down, barely conscious and had lost a significant amount of blood already. Now excuse me, we have to put him in the intensive care unit. I’m sorry to say this, but your friend’s chances of survival aren’t looking too good. We’ll let you know if anything happens.”

“I told you that idiot’s a terrible driver.” Sungmin said crossly.

“Who the hell would shoot him?” Kyuhyun asked.

“He’s an assassin, Kyu. Anyone could have a motive.” He pointed out. “The most probable one is Kwangsoo, but he’s already dead—”

“Are you sure he’s dead?”

“Didn’t you check his pulse?”

“We went to the hospital right away after Eunhyuk shot him.”

“Dammit, Kyu. Always check the pulse!”

Once they finally made their way to the ICU, they could do nothing but watch through the glass window as several doctors crowded Eunhyuk and operated on him. Kyuhyun found himself getting more anxious as he observed the worried looks on the doctors’ faces.

“Sungmin.”

“Yeah?”

“Hold my hand.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

Sungmin wrapped his fingers around Kyuhyun’s, who squeezed his hand in return. Sungmin would’ve wrapped his other arm around Kyuhyun’s shoulders, but since it was stuck in a cast, he merely pulled him closer and planted a reassuring kiss on his cheek.

“Excuse me, but we thought you should know,” a female nurse approached them, holding a clipboard and a pen. “We’ve just been informed that the shooter is in custody. He’s being held at the police station for question.”

“You have a name?” Sungmin asked.

“Yes,” she glanced at the clipboard before answering. “Kim Kwangsoo.”

“If Kwangsoo kidnapped Leeteuk, why would he hide him in the company’s building?” Kyuhyun questioned. “Why would he keep him at such an obvious place?”

“Remember, Kyu, Kwangsoo’s an impatient man. He wouldn’t go through all the trouble to hide Leeteuk somewhere where we couldn’t find him.” Sungmin explained. “He probably kept him somewhere around here; maybe even the last place we’d suspect.”

Kyuhyun browsed through the desk drawers and something caught his eye. It was a pair of car keys. “This is Leeteuk’s.”

“He’s still in the building.” Sungmin concluded. “If you were a kidnapper, where would you stash your victim?”

“In the basement?”

“Perfect.”

“Looks like you were right, Kyu.” Sungmin said after turning the lights on in the basement.

“I can’t believe he was inside the building the whole time.” Kyuhyun remarked as he went to untie Leeteuk.

Leeteuk’s eyes fluttered open at the sound of voices. Once he was fully awake, he started to speak, but neither of them could understand him as his mouth was taped shut. Sungmin was gracious enough to rip the duct tape off gently. It still hurt though.

“What took you guys so long?” he scolded.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Leeteuk.” Sungmin said sarcastically. “Perhaps it was the bullet in my shoulder that slowed us down. Or the fact that Eunhyuk is currently fighting for his life in the ICU. It could be either of those; I’m feeling generous so feel free to choose which one.”

“Eunhyuk’s what?” Leeteuk asked, alarmed.

Kyuhyun was still struggling to undo the ropes around Leeteuk’s wrists. “It’s a long story…”

“Lee Hyukjae is awake.”

The three immediately rushed down to his hospital room, where Eunhyuk was laying helplessly in an incapacitated state. He didn’t even have the strength to greet them as they entered the room.

“Eunhyuk,” Kyuhyun said, afraid to even touch him as he might hurt him. “Are you okay?”

They could tell that Eunhyuk was trying to say something, but couldn’t.

“Save your energy, Hyuk.” Leeteuk told him. “You’ve had a hard day.”

“I know you’ll never let me hear the end of this but,” Sungmin cleared his throat. “I’m glad you didn't die.”

Once Eunhyuk managed to emit a small squeaking sound, they decided to stay silent and let Eunhyuk say whatever it was he wanted to say. After clearing his throat and letting out a few croaks, what he had to say shocked everyone in the room.

“I quit.”