D.O. was standing in the club like an outsider: there were tables spinning in the air, bullets piercing the air like little locomotives at the speed of sound, fists raised against others, teeth gritting so hard they could fall of any moment from the impact of a punch…

He was in the middle, dressed ad Kai had told him, with a military suit and combat boots, nothing in his bare hands. He had one mission: find the owner of the high class illegal club who was stealing costumers from Exo Planet and terminate him. Easy, he had thought, I’ve done this before, It cannot be worse the second time around. But memories of death never go away, you never get used to the feeling of having a life in your hands and deciding to take it away from the body.

In the middle of all the chaos, he moved his first step toward his goal: a man hidden behind the mahogany counter, a butter knife raised defensively in front of his chest. It was a pitiful sight. he was sure he was going to die, but he was so attached to his little life he just couldn’t stand and do nothing; such a little gesture, such a big meaning.

Wanting to live, it was the first time after his parent’s death he had that thought. He had talked with Kai until late up at night, so much his voice was almost a low rasp when they finished. He hadn’t used his voice in so long it had felt weirdly satisfying. They had talked about the past, the pain, the future and the happiness, but, above all, the loneliness. And now there he was, about to take a life because that young man had asked him to.

Kai was surprisingly soft on the inside, but because there was nobody around him to carry the weight of his work with him, he had built the hardest of the shelves around his skin to protect himself and he was not going to let anyone break it, not even D.O. But he was good, almost too much: for a brief moment he and seen the desperate lost kid who was crying in the corner of his mind, the one he had to abandoned too soon and that was now lost. Kai was stuck in a limbo between his lost youth and his new blooming into maturity.

-I’m sorry- he whispered into the man’s ear.

He was so concentrated on the other’s guns and knives, he had lost track of D.O. and he was now totally exposed. He tried to shove the little knife in his chest but Kyungsoo blocked his arm and twisted it, making him lose the grip on the blade.

-I’m sorry for what I’m about to do. May God have mercy of your soul and mine-

With a sonorous CRACK, he broke his neck in a single flowing movement, leaving him crookedly hanging from one side. He could not breath anymore, he could not open his eyes and run away. D.O. looked at his trembling hands and, for a moment, his vision blurred: a tear. A single heartbreaking tear alighted on his index finger like a dragonfly.

-I’m sorry mother, I’m sorry father. This will be the last time I’ll be mourning you upon the corpse of a dead one. I promise-

Xiumin was wiping off the makeup from his face while looking at his reflection: would he had been different if he had lived with his family and not with Exo? The thought of his father him like a punch in the stomach: after all these years he still couldn’t believe he had been sold like a book or a packet of cigarettes by his own father. Oh, how much his mother had cried, but they couldn’t repay Chen in any way if not by selling the house.

He hadn’t wanted to cry, so he had put on his brave face, holding in his tears and had said that it was fine. He was going to live and that was the most important thing. It had been the last time he had seen them; not a letter, not a call, not a visit.

He had ceased to exist in the life on the outside the moment he had taken Chen’s hand and walked away from his home. He had felt so bad, the guilt of not regretting his choice back then was still lingering in his body, but he learnt not to think about it.

Chen silently entered the room, a feline smile on his face. Three slow steps and he was laying on his back, his face buried in his hair, finally free from the gel. The player softly pressed his lips on his neck, not really kissing him, but in a more intimate gesture.

Don’t cross the line.

He held up his hand and their fingers interlaced. Xiumin closed his eyes, biting the inside of his mouth so hard he dug a wound in his flesh with his teeth.

The real issue wasn’t that they couldn’t, but if they would try. Would you dare to cross the line? If only Kai had known they would be dead in a heartbeat, but some things seems to weight more than your own life at times.

-We have no more work to do- whispered Chen –But I haven’t finished to uninstall the cameras in our rooms, so why don’t we go greet the new boy? He is back from his frist job-

Xiumin’s mouth broke off in a smile while Chen started giggling.

-Why are you laughing? -

-I don’t know, why are you smiling? -

-I don’t know. Let’s just go-

D.O. was in Kai office, sitting on one of the burgundies chairs, waiting to report on his first job, but the young man was nowhere to be found. He was still wearing the ripped clothes from before, stained with the blood of another man, sot the one he had killed, but one who was shot in front of him.

He felt numb, as if he had taken a sedative. He tried to move his fingertips but he couldn’t even feel his skin clutching the fabric of his shirt. Was that the future that the stars had written for him? He couldn’t decide if he liked or not, but he had nowhere else to go if not to die of hunger in a dark and grimy alley.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t even see the two men entering the room and sneaking up behind him.

-Heyooo-

D.O. jumped in his chair and turned: two guys in burgundy clothes, one with the eyes of a feline, one with the mouth of the devil, were looking at him with a sly smile. He was so stunned he couldn’t think of anything to say, so he let the other two study him in silence.

-You are quite different from what we had imagined- Chen said, carrying a chair in front of him and sitting on it, shortly followed by Xiumin.

Now it was D.O.’s turn to study them: there was something running under their skin, inside their blood, something that made them look so alike yet different in his eyes. Their movements were coordinated one by the other, like only the people who know each other for a very long time are able to do, even unconsciously. He knew because his parents had been like that, always offering a shoulder even before the other one needed it.

-What did you expect? - he asked.

Chen and Xiumin looked at each other bemused: the young man had a very deep voice, almost like an entire chorus of baritones singing in his every word.

-Well… a very well built up man, older than you are. You are quite a surprise here-

D.O. couldn’t understand if they were joking or dead serious, so, instead of going along, he changed the topic to what really mattered to him in that moment.

-Do you perhaps know where Kai is? -

Xiumin tilted his chin and looked at him perplex, Chen did the same.

-You can call the Boss by his name? Bizarre for the newbie-

-He told me to call him that way. He also told me to treasure my new family, but that part I didn’t understand-

Chen shot a glance at his partner sending a message that he received faster than lightning: Kai had never accepted anyone in the Family this quick. What had the new guy done to deserve all the respect from the most powerful man alive?

Something about D.O. was unsettling: there was the way he looked at things, not really admiring them, cutting them through and through with his eyes like blades, there was the way he spoke, always polite, but almost too much, as if he was hiding his true self behind his kind words, and then there was the way he flexed his hands, slowly, with his fingers flowing through the air like it was liquid.

-You…- started Chen, but he decided it was safer to keep his words for himself –Never mind. The Boss will be there shortly; he is never late. If you want to wait for him here, feel free to do whatever you want-

After politely bowing, the two gamers left the room.

-He is weird- said Xiumin in a whisper, almost too low for his partner to catch.

-Indeed, but now we know why he chose him-

-Care to explain?-

-I could almost feel the murderous intent. One wrong word and I’m sure we would have been on the floor with our necks in pieces-

-Damn you rusty piece of iron!- shouted Chanyeol after crashing into the car’s hood for the fourth time.

His plan was almost on the verge of starting, the only thing they needed was getting that damned car to function. He was almost there, almost there.

-You will pay in blood, Exo, I promise-

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Between school and exams this is proving to be difficult to update, but I'll do my best. also, I have a new sweet spot for mysterious and dangerous Kyungsoo and forever careless Chanyeol eheheh ^__^