A yawn.

A turning page.

A sip from a McDonald's styrofoam cup.

All normal little sounds that are created late at night in the house of Mark Tuan. He was laying in his bed peacefully, papers showered about in a somewhat tidy manner with some McDonald's wrappers and crumbled notebook paper. Since he came home from the Mourn Fest that was held at Jinyoung’s home, Mark’s been nonstop working on strategies and ideas to end this fiasco that has plagued his friend’s lives. For two full hours, he’s written everything that would pop into his head, even if they were deemed ‘impossible’ in most cases.

However, as hard as he tried, there was just nothing that he felt deemed worthy of being the end of Jackson’s life. With a sigh, he threw his notebook and pen to the side and rubbed his eyes in an aggravated manner. He knew there was no way he could find himself killing Jackson, especially not after the sweetness that the idiot had shown him earlier.

Hours before, back at the house, while BamBam and Yugyeom were helping the fatherly figures Jaebum and Mr. Park, it was Wang who Mark continued to cling onto for dear life. Now, Tuan didn’t usually get all emotional over things, but Jinyoung was the first friend outside of the family company that he had ever made; there was no way he would not cry over it.

He had always kept to himself, even as a child, and never made anything more than acquaintances with people until that very mission, when he first stepped into that very class and was befriended by the motherly boy. Even at that moment, while he was thinking about killing off the main problem, he couldn’t take his mind off his friend; how in pain Jinyoung must’ve been in if Junhong really meant his threat. Sadly, he wouldn’t be able to know for himself unless he knew where B.A.P was located, and he sure as hell didn’t know about all that.

“Heh, well doesn’t that make me the best investigator ever?” Mark thought out loud, sarcasm dripping with each word.

He let out another deep sigh, simply because of the fact he was in this stupid situation. Before he ever went on this operation, he thought that the life of an assassin was the ; the coolest job anyone would want to have, just to end the lives of the ones they despised most. But then, when he met those six smiling faces on his first day, one happening to be his target, his whole point of view changed; for the better or worst, he had yet to know.

“ing hell.”

He didn’t know how to deal with this sort of thing; he never had to deal with his emotions or social life, because he tried hard not to have one. There was supposed to be no difference in this situation; stay the wallflower he trained himself to be; that was not the case there however. Because of those goddamn rabbit men, he was stuck watching that Yongguk bastard use his friends as puppets in his little show, confused on what to do and how to do it.

At any rate, the only gleam of hope he had was what remorse Junhong seemed to have when they talked on the roof. Other than that, there was nothing that Mark could look forward to except painfully seeing Jackson go six feet below.

"Why can't I just kill him?!"

Mark threw the blanket angrily off his form, the papers once laying on it flying everywhere across the room. He couldn't just sit there in the bed and wallow over his failure; he at least wanted to eat to appease his grumbling stomach to keep his mind off it. With a nod, more to himself than anything, he carefully stepped around the scattered notes and right through the open door. Sadly, Jackson continued to plague his mind as he headed to his fridge, as the boy bought Mark a ton of McDonald's burgers and fries before walking him home.

"Jackson...why you gotta be a douche? Acting all nice and when I have to take your life." He whined to no one in particular.

"I mean, you're making this harder than it was originally planned to be, which was not at all!"

Mark continued to rant to an imaginary Jackson as he pulled out the McDonald bag from the bottom shelf of the white box.

"I swear, you yourself are going to be the death of-"

When he turned around, his outer thoughts got interrupted by a familiar-looking ominous figure crawling in the dark living room from the window. Mark stayed quiet as he walked slowly and quietly, with eyes still glued on the black shadow, to the living room light switch. Thankfully, the shadow didn't show any sign of acknowledgment towards the redhead, up until the lights the flashed brightly in the room.

Frozen before Mark was a man on his hands and knees, with a fluffy head of dark brown atop his head and his mouth occupied by a paper brown bag. Tuan knew he saw that person somewhere before- he had to -especially by the look of the...apron?

"...Daehyun?"

"...Hi."

_______xOperation Kill This Lovex_______

Daehyun and Mark were sitting on the couch quietly, eating the contents, which happened to be 'untampered' cookies, from the questioned small bag. It was awkward, to say the least, as Daehyun was just sitting there watching the redhead nibble, with vacant and empty looking eyes.

‘Where did the shine go? I could’ve sworn his eyes had an irremovable light to them last time...’ Mark thought worriedly. He couldn't bring himself to ask, however, mainly because of the fact his mouth was occupied by the sweet delights. Even then, as he was chewing, Tuan couldn't think of what to say to bring up Dae-hyung's hollowed orbs without sounding stupid to the elder. Hell, he probably only came to not be alone; to not have to talk about anything involving himself.

'But if Youngjae were here, he would be worried sick about his hyung...'

With a sigh, Mark placed the chocolate chip cookie he was once eating on the table and turned his attention directly to Daehyun.

"Hey...is everything alright?" He asked.

Silence.

"I mean, you're more quiet and spaced out than the last time I saw you. At the Coffee Shop, you were just full of life and acted just as childish as Youngjae was-"

"How are you dealing with this?"

This shocked Mark, hearing the chirpy male sound so monotone and almost robotic; no sound of his old self.

"Come again?"

"I asked, how are you dealing with this?"

It was Tuan's turn to go dead silent, biting his lip nervously and looking down. He felt that he couldn't speak clearly tonight, with Daehyun's cold eyes staring at him like that. But, even if he wanted to, he didn't think he could put his own emotions into words. With all that was going on, and the fact that Mark was Mark, there was no way for him to describe his feelings easily. When he looked back up, Daehyun was still looking down at the redhead, but this time, his eyes looked more alive; more calming.

"Now, do you want to ask if I'm alright again? Because I don't think you need the answer if you already know it."

There was a certain tone in the elder's voice; one that Mark didn't think he would ever hear from a quote-unquote 'cold-blooded killer'. Then again, this mission was just a box full of surprises, so he supposed anything could happen, even the mask of an assassin falling to nothing.

"You almost look surprised at this." Daehyun remarked, grabbing a small sugar cookie and biting it.

"Well...it's um, just kind of weird...to see something like this."

"Hm? Like what?"

"Like...someone like us, who've been told throughout the years to be heartless and throw emotions in general to...look depressed."

The brunette tilted his head in confusion. Mark sighed at this, though he didn't much understand himself either.

"What I mean is, you've been in the field for maybe a couple years longer than I, yet you seem emotionally more distressed. You should've been able to just not have emotions a long while ago, so what…what happened?”

Daehyun took a deep sigh, and began to twiddle his thumbs.

“...You’re right. I have been, to some extent, very emotionless whenever it comes down to it. Even when I spoke to other people that weren’t on my team, I would either sneer at them behind their back or give them the cold shoulder. I know what I was doing; how I was acting; but if I didn’t, then I would get in trouble. Hell, it was to the point where I didn’t even think about others, like it was my job to be this hateful, cold-blooded, emotionless shell of a man. Until...I was allowed to open the café.”

This peaked Mark’s interest.

“When I first looked through the possible list of employee’s, I didn’t much care of who I was stuck with; I just wanted to get it over with, and possibly settle down. That was my original goal, but of course, everything changed up when Youngjae just had to appear in my office. I didn’t mean for him to make me feel normal; I didn’t mean to have him get me to smile; I didn’t mean for him to walk into my life at all.”

Mark stayed silent, nomming on the cookies one by one as he listened intently to Daehyun.

“But...we’re still human. We still feel things, even when we try not to…” the elder sighed, “So, believe me when I say you’re not the only one missing him, or perhaps them.”

Mark stared at him with bewildered eyes.

“What? What do you mean by that? You get to see him, can’t you? I mean, you were the person that...well...did the deed, in a sense, right?”

Daehyun shook his head with teary eyes.

“Yongguk doesn’t trust me to watch over the boy...so I’ve been ordered not to go near him...Hell, I don’t even know where your friends are locked up to do so. The only ones who know besides the boss are Tats and Dada, and they’re too loyal to tell another living soul of the location.”

He could feel the tears coming on, but kept his eyes down to not look weak in the younger boy’s eyes. Daehyun was not one to look weak in front of the younger generation, and Mark was no different, even if he was the very person who started it all. However, it may have somehow showed, as he suddenly felt weight tackling his front, and something wrapping around him and hugging him tightly.

“I’m sorry.” Mark whispered in the elder’s ear, pity and guilt dripping from the soft voice.

Daehyun couldn’t comprehend the strange gesture; yes, he had given and taken hugs by Youngjae, but this boy, Mark, whom he’d thought was more of a stoic and angry brat, was different. Tuan was acting almost foreign with the hug, as if he’d never really gave any hugs before that moment. Although, Daehyun didn’t really feel the need to complain, as hugs were indeed something he needed before he would burst into emotions. So, with small tears silently trailing down his cheeky face, he squeezed the young boy in return, making a small sniffling sound.

“It’s okay,” he replied, “I know you’re new to these things just as much as I am. I’ll help you in any way I can with your mission, not only for your sake, but for your friends; for Youngjae.”

They stayed like that for a small while, just hugging it out; to be honest, Mark was getting used to the whole ‘hugging’ thing, with how many he had received during the short period of time.

“Hey…” Mark spoke up, after their long silence.

“Hm?”

“Can you stay here tonight? I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep with all that’s running through my head…”

Daehyun smiled, though Mark wasn’t able to see it, as they were still hugging.

“You know what? Sure. I don’t want to feel alone right now anyways.

_______xOperation Kill This Lovex_______

(Note: ...My poor Dae ;-; he’s been so sad and lonesome without his ray of sunshine...and Mark is just eating like the cute little piglet he is XD Yeah, I’m actually proud of this in a way, considering it’s out earlier than I thought it would be (probably because I used most of my monday off to write...) But anyways, here’s the next installment! Don’t expect me to release the next one so soon XD!! As always, I’ll talk to you later, my lovely pyschopaths~