The rest of the school day went by slowly for the four boys, who were lucky enough to walk in just as the bell was ringing for the lunch break to be over. Throughout the day, Jackson, who had the most classes with Mark, was eyeing his partner with concern every now and again. He still wasn't able to comprehend his strong hyung being able to cry as much as he did earlier that day. Whenever he could, he would slide next to the emotionless Tuan and put his own hand over his, giving him a gentle squeeze; Mark had yet to say much of anything about it. Wang could only assume that he was too deep in thought to care, or perhaps drowning his mind with the mind-numbing lessons.

Although that was somewhat the case, Mark had something more important crammed into his mind.

When he was getting into his locker to grab some books earlier, a yellow notecard suddenly flew out and was quickly caught by his hand. He examined both sides of the small sheet, only to see somewhat familiar handwriting with only a few short words:

'Roof

   after school

           be there.'

The same card was burning a hole in his pocket as the clock continued to tick by painfully slow. Jackson’s small squeezes were somewhat assuring, even though they felt uncertain; Mark was too out of it to complain about it. He knew he was gaining death glares from the giant Junhong, but he didn't much care for that either, though he suspected that Zelo was the one that left the note.

"Mr. Tuan!" The teacher scowled, knocking the boy out of his train of thought.

"Can you tell me some of the history of, what we call, assassins?"

The question made him tense up, causing him to clench his free hand tightly.

"Ye-yes ma'am." He replied.

"The most earliest time of the origin was around 1080, although not much is known around that area other than the fact that it was created before the First Crusade. There is no other amount of historical evidence on what they did, due to the fact that most of the writings were burned in 1256."

"And what did they use as their tactics?"

"Popular military strategies from the Middle Ages."

"And who were their original targets?"

"Political, economical, or religious figures."

The grouch hummed in approval, and turned her attention back to the board. Mark leaned back into his chair, releasing the oxygen he didn't know he was keeping. However, he didn't feel as comfortable as he felt familiar eyes burn into the back of his head; Junhong’s stares were recognizable. There was no doubt that he would be the person who wrote the note, and would expect to want to converse in something involving the Youngjae case.

Tuan let out another deep sigh, out of annoyance this time, and stared blankly at the written blackboard. Before him was nothing but gibberish, scribbled in fancy-looking writing and partial chicken scratch. He knew all of this already, I mean, he is one after all; he would have to know what he was and what he was up against, right? He would've loved to just say 'They would kill just about anyone, for the right price' but that would probably sound really weird and suspicious.

And since he wasn't the only one in the classroom, he would probably get his ear nagged off for even hinting at it. In a business like his, it wouldn't be the best (or cleanest) situation in the world.

Out of the corner of his eye, Mark saw Jackson looking over him worriedly, a hesitant hand slowly reaching over and grabbing the other’s hand; their desks were close enough for him to do so. The Taiwanese American didn’t really mind the boy’s touch as much as he used to, so he didn't jerk his hand away when the latter's squeezed his gently. To be honest, the small touches were helping Tuan relax himself, making him feel less worried about the small meeting or the wallowing Jinyoung. He didn’t even realize that he responded with a squeeze himself until he felt Wang’s loose grip stiffen.

It’s wasn’t the most pleasing sense of awkwardness in the world, but it was just sitting there, resting on the hands of the two males. Mark could hear some of the girls behind them squeal at the skin ship, chittering amongst themselves as the witch was completely indulged in her own discussion. Neither moved, however, and just kept their hands together. Jackson didn’t know how much Mark actually enjoyed the small touch now, and that he didn’t really plan on letting go anytime soon; well, until the class was over.

_______xOperation Kill This Lovex_______

After their last period class, the quintet were beginning to escape the dastardly waves of the departing students and to their classes. Jinyoung's father was kind enough to write them all a pass for the first half of their day, and in return they would have to talk to the teachers after school to see what they've missed. Having to have no work at all would’ve been great, but they didn’t want to be yelled at by Mr. Park, or their Umma when he returned to school the next day, so they reluctantly obeyed.

First period was their first stop, so the boys went their separate ways, Jaebum walking solo, and the other four partnered up; Jackson with Mark and BamBam with Yugyeom. The first few moments of silence were all but pleasing for Wang, so he was thinking of trying to start a conversation when Mark was walking a completely different direction.

“Hey, Park’s class is this way!” Jackson proclaimed, pointing down the hallway before him.

“I know,” the older replied, “I really want to check in with my third period first! I’ll try and come back as soon as I can!”

Mark felt guilty for lying to the boy who was only seeking to help him out, but he didn’t want to get his chewed by the younger giant.

“You sure?” the latter asked with a worried tone, causing Mark to bite his lip nervously.

“Yeah…”

Jackson stayed silent and only looked at him, until he uttered quietly, “You don’t want to show weakness to Mr. Park huh?”

Mark was confused at that for a second, until he pieced it together; Wang thought that Mark was afraid he would break down in front of their teacher. Thanking God that the younger currently had the mindset of a mother hen, Tuan had put on his small pout and nodded shyly, looking down for a more believable effect. He then felt a strong hand pat on his shoulder, most likely from Jackson, and blushed when he also felt a pair of lips brush against his temple.

“I’ll make sure to get your work too.” The other whispered as he left in haste, baffled by his actions, mainly by the fact that he did them so calmly. Mark, continuing to blush profusely, his heels and headed to the end of the other hallway, where he was told the staircase to the rooftop would be. It was indeed there, sticking out like a sore thumb as it was a dull gray door on a white wall. He pressed up on the doors handle and looked behind him, making sure Jackson wasn’t trying to follow him, and closed it behind him when the coast was clear.

Except he didn’t notice there was something, or someone, stalking close behind. Mark also didn’t notice the sound of the door opening and closing for a second time, and footsteps echoing behind him; he brushed them off as his own. There were a plentiful amount of stairs that Tuan had to embark upon before reaching the metal door leading outside, which gave him enough time to organize his mind on how to go through with this colloquy. If he was able to have a say in this, which is slim, he would make sure to put that boy in his place.

Hopefully.

He pushed open the metal door, his face meeting the coolness of the fall air and a patient Zelo perched at the edge of the roof. The blondie didn't seem to notice the smaller entering the room, so Mark took this as an opportunity to start this thing off.

“So-” Not even able to let out another syllable, Junhong cut him off with a venomous tone.

“Just listen and listen good, because what I’m about to say should get you to put your into gear.”

The boy jumped off to the concrete ground and faced Mark with an almost annoyed expression plastered on his face.

“Before you start whining at me, your little friend has been left unharmed...as of right now, that is. Believe me when I say that Keke was just as upset about doing this as you were upset as to see it; Youngjae's like a son to him. They’ve spent a lot of time together in the coffee shop, and when together, never fail to make some pretty damn good pastries. Whenever me and the rest of the gang pop in, he never fails to get us laughing and smiling over the most stupidest of things. Hell, even Yongguk-hyung likes the kid, and he doesn't take much interest in other people besides me and the other six.”

There was some genuine emotion in those words, lead Tuan to believe that Zelo thought of Youngjae as a brother; another member of his gang. Never being one to work with others, Mark didn’t know what it was like to be surrounded by people who are forever partnered up in a fiasco like that, never to be able to bring out the behave like the child he still was. Little Happy Face must’ve been his little ray of sunshine after the work day was done, to go into the warmth of the café and meet the face of a normal and younger highschooler. A small smile began to show on the youngster’s face, only to slip off as his eyes averted back at Tuan.

“But, because of your emotional attachment to Jackson, and the fact you still have yet to kill his , Choi's locked up tight in an unidentified area that will hopefully not be where he breathes his last breath.”

Mark didn't come back with anything of course, because Zelo was only saying the truth; a painful yet warming truth. Mark then tensed, as Junhong seemed to be grabbing something from his back pocket, whether a weapon or maybe a piece of candy, the latter didn’t know.  Though alarmed, he didn’t dare break the eye-contact, for that would show weakness on his behalf.

“Consider this a much needed act of kindness, from me and my hyungs.” The tall blond exclaimed, tossing the mysterious object into the hands of the Taiwanese-American. He opened his hands to reveal a vial filled nearly to the top with a clear liquid substance. He looked over at the other with a raised eyebrow, a small sigh being the response.

“What I just gave you is some pretty deadly , and will take some time to react but it can do the job for you. All you have to do is slip the fluids into Jackson's drink and you got yourself a deadman. And the best part of that is the fact that it doesn’t leave a trace in the body, as the sorted chemicals will go and flow their way into the bloodstream, to create a sort of toxin and diminishing the blood cells and creating blood clots. To put it simply, the liquid is just water with an extra kick.”

Mark was sure that he was familiar with this sort of poison, as one of his sisters once mentioned using it on a guy during one of their earlier missions. There was a temporary cure to it, but it would also take months in order to get it out of the system completely.

“What if I don’t use this?” He dared asked.

Zelo looked at the shorty with an obvious face, and grabbed him by his shirt collar (Mark failed to notice that Zelo even walked over to him).

“If you don’t, the next friend of yours is going to meet my Walther.”

He shoved Mark away from the doorway, taking a step back inside before looking back and saying with a somewhat pleading voice, “Make sure you try and visit Daehyun today, or maybe tomorrow...he’s not the same without his precious little boy in his life.”

And like that, he left Tuan alone in the breezy afternoon air, only accompanied by a shadowy figure that he had yet to witness.

“...Maybe I’ll do just that today…” Mark said to no one in particular, as he went to the door and lead himself off, one small boy sitting there solemnly.

“My poor hyungs…”

_______xOperation Kill This Lovex_______

(Note: Helllooooo~~~~!! As most of you may or may not already know, I live in the good ‘ol state of Texas, and it’s officially Winter Break! Now, this surely doesn’t mean I’m gonna be posting all that much faster, because of Christmas and other family stuff, but I will be writing a lot more at a time! But anywho, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this as much as I loved writing it, and as always, talk to you later my lovely Pyschopaths~