Mark’s temporary home seemed to grow and more safe for him each day he came home. After a meeting like the one he had the day before, along with the amount of worksheets and reviews he needed to do for his classes, he really felt the warmth of the household surround him.

He was given a deadly stare all throughout the day by his ‘colleague’ Junhong, because of all of the opportunities that he didn’t use to slip the unknown substance into Jackson’s water bottle, which seemed more coincidental than anything. There were so many times that Wang would leave his drink unattended, yet Mark would only be tempted to do it, never pull through. He knew that he had lives silently depending on him, on his choices, but just couldn’t get himself to end this one person’s life.

Though he would gladly end his own if it meant that he wouldn’t have to do the ton of homework before him.

The amount of papers was monstrous, taking up so much of the space on his desk that he even had to move his laptop over to the coffee table. There were different categories and different piles, all that would make Mark suffer for the next several hours.

“God dammit, why did that idiot have to be in Pre-AP classes!?” he shouted to no one in particular, angrily staring at the sheets in hopes of them bursting into flames. When they didn’t, which was quite obvious that they couldn’t, he took a deep sigh and started to raid his desk drawers for his text books. He needed all four of them; his government book, his calculus, his biology, and his big bulking Language Arts book. Once those were pulled out and set in what little space he saved for them, he couldn’t help himself from glaring at them once more, this time wanting to be like that one guy from X-Men with the laser eyes.

‘If only...’

He sat in his chair and continued to stare at the piles that were littering his desk. So much work to do, but no way to start, or approach it in a way he deemed successful; just like his mission status. Tuan began to swivel in his chair as the fog in his head began to get thicker and thicker the longer he stared on, to the point that he lost concentration and was beginning to just go in circles.

It wasn't until moments later, as he stopped spinning and giggling at his childish behavior that he heard his phone ding. He looked yonder at where the phone sat, which was next to his precious and closed laptop, and willingly got up from his toy to get it. His first thought was that Mino must’ve gotten the memo about his little predicament, but looked at the screen with shocked eyes as Jackson’s name flashed in bold letters.

From: Idiot Wang

xx/xx/xx 4:29pm___________

Hey Tuan! Do you happen 2 have any idea on what 2 do w/ the Government ?

Mark sighed at this, a small chuckle escaping afterwards. Even though Jackson was smarter than he looked and acted, there were surely times where Mark would wonder how he was able to stay in those high classes.

To: Idiot Wang

xx/xx/xx 4:32pm___________

Nope, not at all. I actually expected your ‘genius’ self to be somehow done by now.

Tuan kept his phone out, in case the fast texter would reply as fast as he usually does, and sat back down in his favorite swivel chair just in time for Wang’s response.

From: Idiot Wang

xx/xx/xx 4:35pm___________

I wish. Some of this I don't understand...maybe I could come over and we help each other out??? >_>

Mark considered this, looking over at the piles then back to the promising text a few times. What really tied the knot, and hopefully will help Mark's assignment, was the small vial that was still sitting in a small pocket in Mark's backpack. If he were to have Jackson over, it would give him one, or possibly many more chances to seal the other’s fate. He would have to hide most to all his personal belongings, sure, but that’s all he would have to do to make his home normal looking.

There was no need to second guess on this, as he sent a quick text and went on his merry way to cleaning.

To: Idiot Wang

xx/xx/xx/ 4:37pm___________

I suppose so. I’ll meet you here in 5.

_______xOperation Kill This Lovex_______

It was a couple hours later, and the two boys were sitting on the couch with satisfied faces from their array of homework was just about finished. They had already gotten three-fourths of their academics done, and only had to finish up their biology homework. Of course, this would lead to the many cheesy and somewhat erted pick-up lines that Wang could come up with as they breezed through their work. There was nothing unusual about the picture, of course, except for the fact that the y idiot was still alive!

The boy didn't bring his water bottle, which wasn't of much importance, but he didn't seem to get thirsty at all (even though he acts so with his flirting and small touches). Mark asked the question of thirst frequently, but kept it uncommon enough to not grow suspicion. Of course, Jackson would also reply with a ‘Yeah, thirsty for you’, but all Tuan would do for that was slap him upside the head.

Nonetheless, though the mission wasn’t going well, at least they were getting their done for their shared classes. He loved the school to death, he was a proud little nerd, but the amount of homework was unbelievable. There was still a wonder on how Jackson was able to keep up with the work and the lessons with how distracted he can get.

Tuan looked up at the clock, and was not surprised to see that it was nearly seven in the evening, but him with no food prepared was going to become a problem in a short while. There was a great chance that his partner, who was currently staring at one peculiar question with a cute scrunched up face, was starting to get hungry as well. A small growl then broke the unknown silence, causing Jackson to go wide-eyed and blush slightly, embarrassed by his apparent hunger.

With a soft and amused chuckle, Mark placed his pencil and notes on his coffee table and thought an agreeable proposal was to be made.

“Let’s take a break from this, it’s a good time for us to have dinner anyways.” Mark said kindly, as any famished and good host would do.

“That’s sounds like a plan to me!” Wang replied, copying the other’s movements and getting up from his comfortable position on the couch. He then proceeded to ask, “Can we, by any chance, have dim sum?”

Mark nodded with his kind smile, and headed towards the kitchen, warning the boy to stay in the lounge.

“But whyyyyy?” Wang whined, which cued his noted puppy pout and a playful tug on the latter's shirt.

"Because although I trust you near me a lot more now, doesn't mean I'll trust you in my kitchen."

All of what he said was true, but it was mainly the fact that it was the chance of a lifetime for him to slip the deadly liquid into Jackson's drink (or food). He took no time in heading to the glorious but neglected kitchen, failing to notice the youngster's eyes taking a long glance at his...derriere.

Hey, could you blame the guy? With a nice like Mark's, would you skip the opportunity to admire it? Didn't think so.

Back in the kitchen, Mark was feeling thankful for the fact that he went grocery shopping the day before. He hoped his guest wasn't picky with his dim sum, because the only kind Tuan had was the frozen kind in his freezer. He whistled as he took the icy package from its home and started to read the instructions, beginning to hum as he was walking around, then quietly singing as he opened the package.

He was, admittedly, one of those people who would entertain themselves by singing or doing a small dance during an activity. It was a funny habit to had, but since he usually had to be the serious type of guy during his missions, no harm should come from him having a fun ritual afterhours. So, as he was preparing a makeshift dinner, he was moving to the beat that was going through his little creative head, which happened to be a certain song from Chris Brown.

“...Nice thighs, nice waist, and you know I can’t forget about your face.” he sung out loud, at a level he hoped Wang couldn’t hear; the same boy was standing behind the kitchen entrance, listening in.

Jackson was only going in there to grab a drink, but as soon as he saw Mark's figure beginning to move, his instincts told him to hide. He was afraid that the older male spotted him, until he saw that Mark had his eyes closed shut, as if in bliss, and heard a soft sound coming from his smiling lips. It was amusing, to say the least, to see the usual serious guy dancing and humming like a child without a care in the world. That, and it was captivating and a sight for sore eyes; a sound for sore ears. He had to admit, the redhead had an amazing voice, and always heard it in the back of his head since the incident in the booth.

"I just wanna see you strip right now, 'cause it's late babe.~"

"Well then, aren't you the subtle type." Jackson blurted, scaring himself and his favorite little singer.

"Wang!"

"I'm sorry, it just kind of came out!"

Mark glared at his guest with a growing blush coming to his face. He was beginning to think that Jackson was saying those kind of lines just to agitate him, or perhaps embarrassing him for fun. Grumbling, he continued his task of making, at that moment, his own dinner, which was frozen Mandu. Jackson, with a bit of guilt, slowly walked into the kitchen with his eyes glued to the smaller figure. He didn’t know what say after yet another slip up on his part, so Wang only did what he thought would be best; he wrapped his arms around the older’s waist and hid his ashamed face into his neck.

“Jackson.” Mark warned, “Get off of me.”

“Not until you forgive me.” He mumbled back, letting his hazel eyes poke out from their hiding place.

Tuan stayed silent, ignoring the koala-boy as he pulled the mandu out and placed it in the microwave above him. There was no need to move around more than that, as he was just unfreezing some food, but began to wriggle as he suddenly felt something fluttering in his tummy. The weird but soothing feelings were anything but comfortable, especially when the one causing it was holding you and acting pathetic and cute.

“Hey, what’s in this?”

Mark looked to the side to see Jackson’s large hand, which thankfully left his waist, holding the phial he thought was previously in his pocket. A knot was suddenly forming in his stomach, but didn’t know if it was because of the fact that this was the moment of truth, or the fact that he was...scared.

He quickly took the small container out of the other’s hand and placed it in his other pocket, grabbing the plate of dim sum and turning around to place it in front of Jackson’s face.

“It’s nothing you need to touch, now here’s your food and go back to the lounge.”

Jackson raised an eyebrow at this, cautiously taking the plate and walking out, when he suddenly remembered why he was in there in the first place.

“Can I grab a drink real quick?” He asked.

His response was, as he expected, a simple motion that was pointing out the kitchen door, and an answer stating, “I’ll bring yours out when I come out.”

With a pout, Wang left the room with his plate, leaving a conflicted Mark in the cookery. As his mandu was still in the microwave heating up, he grabbed two glasses from his cupboard and was beginning to open the fridge, when he felt the familiar bulge in his pocket. He disregarded it for only a short moment, taking out the large bottle of coke and pouring it into both cups. Then, with a shaky hand, he brought back out the vial and observed it.

With every movement, the clear liquid sloshed around its prison, almost begging to be let out. Mark looked at the glasses again, then back at the vial, an unneeded conflict going through his head.

'Now's the time to finish this...but why do I feel afraid to? I've done this for so long, I thought I grew immune to feeling like this. Jackson...what are you doing to me?'

The decision, which he shouldn’t even be having a second thought of, was clouding everything in his mind, causing him to put too much pressure on the small glass and breaking it.

"!"

He slid over to the sink, weary of the stray glass pieces on the floor, and the faucet with his non-bleeding hand. He sighed in bliss as he placed his hand under some cool water, then started to take out some of the bigger shards. He couldn’t say that it didn’t hurt, nor could he say that it was painless; having glass stuck in your hand was a .

Jackson then came in with a worried look on his face, which only grew bigger as he saw the wet mess and Tuan at the sink with a pained look.

“Where do you keep your first-aid kit?”

Mark didn’t even act surprised, as he was too into getting the shards, but replied, “Under here.”

Nodding, Wang went to Mark’s spot, kneeling down and opening the cabinet beneath him and grabbing the familiar white box. He brought it up to the top counter and began to dig into is, as the other was wiping his hand gently with a washcloth.

“Mind telling me how this happened?” Wang asked, gently taking Mark’s cut hand and covering some of the cuts in small bandages.

Mark didn’t say anything about it, transfixed on how gentle and careful Jackson was being for once. It was a strange sight to see to be honest, considering how reckless Jackson could get, to be able to even know what a first-aid kit was. Tuan then began to blush as Jackson was placing small kisses on where he placed the band-aids.

“Tuan,” The younger said, looking up at his hyung, “Be careful next time, okay?”

The one standing nodded shyly in response, jumping as the sudden beep of the microwave caught his ears. Jackson kept himself from laughing at the little jumpscare, getting up from his position with Mark's hand still in his.

"Now you go into the lounge, and I'll bring your food and drink."

_______xOperation Kill This Lovex_______

(Note: HEYYYYYY!! It seems to have been a year since I last updated…*wink wink* *nudge nudge* Haha, but yeah, Happy New Year everybody (even to the people who already celebrated it)! I hope this year is better than the last!