"You actually came!" Jongdae shouted upon seeing his friends exiting the academy. The tall glass building glaring back at the afternoon sun.

"I already regret it." Kyungsoo commented when he saw the boy's smiling face.

"Oh, Soo, you don't mean that." Jongdae reached for his friends, pulling them into a tight hug. Baekhyun scrunched up his nose in distaste at the sudden touch. Everyone was so persistent in hugging him all the time.

"So you're finally leaving." Baekhyun teased while escaping the unwanted hold. Today Jongdae was departing for his much anticipated mission in China. A month he was going to be in another country.

"How much will you miss me?" Jongdae leaned forward with his cat smile, hands clasped behind his back as he teased back. Baekhyun wasn't going to admit it but he would miss the hyper boy more than he liked.

"Not at all." Kyungsoo cut in smoothly and Jongdae's expression fell.

"Ya!" He shouted, blinking in disappointment. "I wasn't even asking you." He turned away with a pout. His arms crossed tightly over his chest like he was trying to comfort himself with a hug.
A dark car pulled up in front of them, cutting off the moment. The driver got out hurriedly to grab Jongdae's luggage and pack it into the back.

"Okay, be safe." Baekhyun offered the boy a warm smile and Jongdae returned it brightly. "Don't do anything too stupid." Kyungsoo added on. Jongdae's smile widened even more if that was possible. "I love you, guys." He pulled them in for another unwanted hug before jumping into the passenger seat. He waved at them enthusiastically through the tinted window, smile never faltering. The two stood there watching as the car drove of with their friend. Silence engulfed them momentarily.

"Lunch or training?" Kyungsoo turned to him, eyebrows raised questioningly.

"I'm not hungry."

"Good."

~'ㅅ'~

Baekhyun leaned his head back as the warm water rained down on him. His muscles ached in every place they could and he knew it was from training with Kyungsoo. He swore the boy was Satan in disguise. He kneaded at the ache as the water worked to soothe it.

When he was done he stepped out of the shower and shivered at the touch of the damp air. It didn't take him long to get dressed. His tank top leaving his arms exposed and his jeans clinging to his legs. He hung his towel around his neck and pulled his bag onto his shoulder. Earlier he had gotten a text from Suho explaining that he was wanted in the head office. This wasn't something he could push off so he had left Kyungsoo and gathered his things.

As he exited the shower room he could still see the male through the glass windows in the side room, swinging at the punching bags with all his power. Baekhyun had to wince imagining getting hit like that.

Luckily they had chosen to use the training room at the academy so he only needed to go up to the top floor. He made a short stop at his dorm to drop his bag and grab a sweatshirt. None of his roommates seemed to be in. Jongdae was in China and the other two avoided him anyways.

Like Kyungsoo there were four of them in his dorm room, but unlike Kyungsoo they all had separate rooms. The dorm rooms changed the higher you got in the building and the only way to get higher was to be selected by the officials. Kyungsoo was on a lower floor and although he was promising, he was younger and hadn't been there as long. There weren't many floors left above Baekhyun and Jongdae's own. Most of the dorms above them were there for the leaders like Suho.

When he finally arrived at the door of the head office - an entire floor to itself. He had to stop and take a deep breath. Straightening himself out so he was presentable before lightly tapping his fist on the wood. The door opened for him and he spotted one of the boss's men gesturing for him to come in.

"There you are, Baekhyun." Was the greeting he got. His eyes switched from scanning the office like he didn't already know everything in it and landed on SM sitting at his desk with a faint smile adorning his features. Baekhyun bowed low before he came to a stop in front of the wide wooden desk. All around the office were overflowing bookshelves - most of the books collected over seas. Baekhyun knew that as he had read them all. Being one of the youngest to join the academy he had been practically raised by SM himself and he had spent lots of time in this room.

"You wanted to see me?" Baekhyun questioned. SM nodded before clearing his throat.

"I wanted to give you a mission." Something in Baekhyun jumped. He was always thrilled to get away from the academy and take on a job.
"But there is one thing." Baekhyun froze, not liking the caution that tugged at the boss's voice. "I want you to go with a partner. I already have one for you." He pulled away fast. His nose scrunching up but SM seemed to have predicted this as he spoke quickly and sharply.

"Refuse now if you won't do it." The boss glared at him in waiting. Baekhyun hesitated, his fingers tugging at his sweatshirt in thought. He hadn't had a partner since- he shook the thoughts away. It wouldn't kill him, not like he'd even have to speak to his partner anyways. He could just ignore the other the entire time. Unless the boss had other plans to try and pair him up. Although he couldn't see the boss trying to do something that cruel, he already knew Baekhyun's feelings on it. He bit at his bottom lip. He really wanted to get out.

"What's the mission?" He asked. SM leaned back in his seat at the desk with a satisfied smile.

"One of our assassins seem to have taken off. I want you to go to London and retrieve him." There was a short pause. "Alive."

"I need a partner for that?" Baekhyun couldn't help himself from asking.

"Yes." SM left no room for argument in his response. "Will you do it?" Baekhyun felt himself hesitating again. He couldn't see why he needed a partner just to go collect a rogue assassin. London sounded exciting though. He hissed out a sigh through his teeth. Whoever his partner was, they really weren't going to like him after this.

"I will."

"Very well. Your target is Kim Jongin."

~'ㅅ'~

He looked over the files. He looked over them again and again.

Name: Kim Jongin
Nickname: Kai
Birthdate: January 14, 1994

Went missing after he was sent on a mission in Europe to shoot and kill the son of a large business owner. It was nothing that involved the academy but something that was requested with a large sum of money. His partner reported Kai rogue after Kai had shot him in the shoulder.

It seemed like the most simple task in the world to collect the boy so why did he need a partner? Baekhyun sighed and threw the files down on the desk in front of him. This startled Suho as he jumped in his seat.

"What?" The leader asked, eyes widening in an almost comical way. When he realized what it was that happened, he went back to what he was doing with a roll of his eyes. "Why are you bugging me again?" Baekhyun couldn't really answer that. There was more then one reason. Originally he came to see if Suho knew anything about his partner but the other didn't even know about Baekhyun's mission. He stayed after that out of curiosity on Lay. It wasn't his place to pry but he couldn't help the questions he had no answers to. It all seemed so strange, Lay's appearance, and he wanted to know more. He'd already heard a few things from the other assassins gossiping. Apparently they found out Lay was Chinese when he broke out in fluent Mandarin one day - speaking it easier than he did Korean. Although it was an assumption it was confirmed more when the boy remembered his name, Zhang Yixing. Lay was only the name the academy gave to him in place of his missing identity. But no one ever spoke about the box, not even Lay. Since Lay was still under Suho's care he hoped to get something out of the leader.

"What are you doing?" Baekhyun asked suddenly, disturbing the leader from his task.

"I'm writing a report on Lay's condition." Suho replied easily, glancing at Baekhyun suspiciously.

"I see. You seem stressed recently, is everything alright?" Baekhyun watched for anything strange but nothing happened. The leader simply returned to his task, pen moving smoothly across the paper.

"There's just a lot going on." Suho mumbled.

"Like what?" Baekhyun leaned forward. Praying for anything that'll help him find answers.

"Things above your pay grade." Baekhyun deflated, that wasn't what he wanted. Although it was suspicious.

"Fine then." Baekhyun gathered his things before strutting out of the room. He almost missed the relieved sigh that slipped past the leader's lips.

~

Now with nothing to do, he was absolutely brain-numbingly bored. He clutched the folder with all the files to his chest tightly. He had decided to wander down the hallways of the academy, feet hitting against the tiles of the floor. It was something he always did when he was younger. He would wander around and map the building in his head until he had it memorized. He swung his feet with ever step, lazily leaning back as he walked so that the ceiling lights shone down in his eyes. In defence he squeezed his eyes shut and lost his balance, almost stumbling into the wall. He cursed at himself. Eventually he made the decision to go down to the training room again. Kyungsoo might still be there, but he doubted it.

When he arrived the training room was filled with trainees and in the back of his mind he recalled they had a class. Some of the kids glanced his way in curiosity but the rest payed him no mind, too focused on the trainer who paced in front of the targets as he shouted out instructions. Kyungsoo was no where to be seen. Baekhyun chose to sit down on a far bench and look over the files for the umpteenth time.

There didn't seem to be much on Kai's mission, but then he came to realize his job wasn't to figure out why the boy went rogue, it was only to retrieve him. He sighed running the information over in his head until it was stuck. He wouldn't be gone for very long so Kyungsoo wouldn't be too annoyed with him. Also if he recalled correctly the younger male had classes of his own.

He put the files away in the folder again and watched on at the trainees. Most of them were probably 13-14. Some of them looked promising but others couldn't even hit the target with the blade. He couldn't help recall his own trainee days. Throwing knives had been something easy to him, like second nature. As a young child he never understood why everyone else struggled so much in their training.

He's pulled from his thoughts when a flash of red caught his attention - turning the corner from the main office and through the doors that led out of the training room. It was something familiar that piqued his interest. He rose from the bench and rushed towards the exit. His heart racing as he contemplated what he saw. But when he made it into the hallway it was empty. Even after he raced around the floor he found nothing.

"But I saw it." He whispered breathlessly to himself.

~'ㅅ'~

"Why do you keep your hair so long?" Baekhyun asked one day, dropping the book he was reading down on his bed, focused entirely on the other boy.

Chanyeol glanced up from the school work he was doing. Eyes widening like they always seemed to when Baekhyun asked a question, like he was surprised the small boy was even talking to him - even if they had been partners for over 5 months. Baekhyun had come to accept his fate, even came to enjoy it. There was no one he deemed suitable as his partner other then the lanky boy himself.

"My hair?" Chanyeol's hands reached up hesitantly to brush against his bangs.

"Yeah." Baekhyun uncurled himself from his bed to join Chanyeol at his own. He reached for Chanyeol and the other pulled away, but not before he caught a black strand between his fingers and rolled it around. "It's so long. I was just curious if there was a reason you kept it like this."

"It's because-" Chanyeol paused, cheeks flushed as he ducked his head in embarrassment.

"Because?" Baekhyun urged.

"My ears are so big. So my hair covers them." The tall boy seemed to flush even more at the revelation. Baekhyun blinked in shock, he'd seen the boy's ears before and never seen anything wrong with him. He didn't even know Chanyeol had insecurities like that with the way the boy carried himself. Baekhyun burst out laughing and Chanyeol whined in shame, muttering to himself.

"I like them." Baekhyun managed to get out between breathless laughs, making the other boy freeze. "Like them?" He questioned uncertainly.

"Yeah, I like your ears, more than your awful haircut. They make you unique and I like that, so you shouldn't be so ashamed of them." Again Chanyeol gave him that strange look Baekhyun couldn't understand. It was a mix of awe but with something else in it, something he couldn't decipher. "I think you should cut your hair. Face your fears head on." Baekhyun added as an afterthought. Then he abandoned the bed for his own, returning to his book. But Chanyeol didn't return to his homework, too lost in his thoughts.

Baekhyun's hand came up to ruffle against his own honey blonde locks. Chanyeol hadn't ever seen him with dark hair and he contemplated getting a change himself. He dyed it to change things up in the first place and it's been so long. He pursed his lips in consideration. He was the type of person who wanted to always be moving, for things to always be changing. Because of this he was always wandering around like he was lost. It gave him a sense of relief. Something strange he couldn't understand that reflected in his appearance and his behaviour. But now that he thought about, glancing at the distracted boy across from him, he wanted this to remain the same.

A few days later Chanyeol came into the dorm late at night, hair cut short and ears sticking out proudly. Baekhyun felt admiration for the boy in that moment - pride even, for the steps he had taken.