Some times, Kangin can’t help but to wonder if he has made a bad decision by choosing to side with Donghae. Not that he had vast varieties of options to begin with, since they basically are friends, more or less, if growing up together can be enough to define people as friends.

Don’t get him wrong, Donghae is an okay guy. He’s nice and cheerful (perky, but he’ll never tell Donghae that) to the point of childish some times (okay, most of the times). Even though Donghae barely got formal education, the guy is smart and clever. He’s also loyal and a great company. Donghae would make a great friend if he wasn't a psycho with agendas.

It’s bad enough that when they worked for a crime organization Donghae could get away with whatever he has done. Now when Donghae had thrown the throne of the said organization and claimed it as his, he seemly started to act like he owned the world.

Donghae has barely reached his late-twenty and while he's capable of running the organization, it’s quite obvious he’s overwhelmed by the sheer amount of power he gets along with the title of Crimeboss. Kangin sadly noted that it’s not for the organization benefits to indulge Donghae his unhealthy obsession with super-villains. He clearly thinks he is one. Which resulted on Donghae using his psychotic behavior and wild imaginations for every decisions he made (before Kangin talked him out of it) which were mostly reckless and often dangerous ones.

It’s Donghae’s one and only weakness. And while Kangin desperately wants to keep faith in Donghae, in their line of work, it will cost them their life one day. Kangin just hopes that the day will eventually come, later than sooner—preferably after he fixes the problem.

Strange enough, the solution come in unexpected form: a high-maintained boyfriend. In some ways Kangin doesn’t know (and doesn’t want to know) the said boyfriend can, honest-to-god, tame Donghae and his tendency to act like a spoiled brat.

This all thing is just too new for Kangin and he has problems coping with it. He just can’t, for the life of him, understand how this guy suddenly appeared one night, turned his lifetime friend homo and put said friend on a leash. To say Kangin despise the guy is an understatement.

“You are what?” Kangin asks, carefully enunciating the question with a tone that doesn’t give away how close to lose his temper he is right now.

“We are moving in together,” Donghae says easily even though Kangin can tell the guy is trying to keep his happiness from showing. “Or rather, he’s moving in with us.”

Kangin lets Donghae drown in his happiness for a while. It’s important to keep his friend (now Boss) in a good mood when you want to confront him in an argument. Donghae can be as petulant as a kid at bed time and as stubborn as rock if he wants to. And when that happens, it’s too late to make your point across.

“Do I have to remind you why it’s a bad idea?” Kangin finally says.

“No,” Donghae says, hands efficiently going through a stack of files in front of him, signs them off then throws them aside to the ‘done’ pile. “But you wouldn’t pass an opportunity to lecture me and make my day miserable, so, knock yourself out.”

“Okay, sure. Point number one: You barely know him,” Kangin says and expecting Donghae to respond to the bait. Donghae never disappoints him.

“I know him long enough!” Donghae bristles.

“Three months!” Kangin says.

“It’s long enough,” Donghae petulantly says.

Well, in one hand, it’s true for Donghae, since the longest ‘serious’ relationship Donghae ever had with someone lasted a month twenty-seven days and twelve hours. In another hand, for ‘normal’ people and given the circumstances, it’s not long enough to get to know someone before moving in with them, let alone if you’re a paranoid Crimeboss with the temperament of a five year-old.

“We don’t know him,” Kangin says, because at the mention of the organization maybe Donghae’s sense of responsibility would kick in a bit.

“You ran thorough background checks on him, like five times already,” Donghae’s lower lips juts out a bit like a promising pout. “He’s convincingly clean.”

“Yeah, except for the fact that he spent two years in Tibet,” Kangin says, unimpressed, “meditating and making sure to cut off his connections with the outside world.”

“Like I said,” Donghae's putting on an annoyed face now in hope to scare Kangin. Kangin doesn’t buy it even a little bit. “You ran thorough checks. Or are you saying your flawless job actually has a flaw?”

Kangin sighs as he realizes that he can’t win this one. Kangin had really, truly tried any and every approaches to check on to the story and even with every resource he got, including owning favors to people he principally doesn’t like, he got nothing to prove that two years in Tibet hadn’t happened.

Even if it’s not the only point in this argument, Kangin knows it's a lost battle.

“Okay. Two: He’s too public for you,” Kangin gives in and hopes he’ll win this one.

“By this you mean that his choice of job isn’t approved by you?” Donghae looks up from his paper-signing to give Kangin a raised eyebrow.

“By this I mean that his choice of job isn’t suitable for you,” Kangin parrots.

“Whatever. I still can’t get why I can’t date a celebrity.”

“You have like, oh, I don’t know, a dozen of illegal activities a day and possibly as much rivals trying to either overthrown you or kill you in the same day. And, hey! Don’t forget about the cop and other alphabetically-abbreviationated multi-national enforcement of the laws that put interest on you. I will ensure you that you will do better without letting the general population aware of your,” Kangin makes an air quote and obnoxious play of eyebrows, “interest. Not that your dearest boyfriend is such big of celebrity, but you know we have to take all the precautions.”

“Sarcasm doesn’t suit you, hyung. Besides, over calculating isn’t good. You know, the Knight and the Horse scenario?”

Kangin growls, “It's necessary precautions.”

Donghae rolls his eyes. “Like you said, he’s not a big name,” the yet is implied with more confidence than Kangin can be comfortable with, “He’s just started. It’ll be long before he's even known.”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Kangin says. He means it. Unlike his Boss, Kangin hasn’t put too much faith in the boyfriend. Sure he’s pretty and all, but if Kangin’s first attempt at escorting the guy to an event of photo shot told him anything, it’s that the guy has little to zero talent at modeling. Actually, if the guy ever consults his career with him, Kangin sees potential and future at the way the guy swings his . And Kangin is being serious about that.

Donghae eyes him suspiciously, as if he can hear Kangin’s ‘it will’ rather than ‘he’ll’.

“Look, hyung, I understand your concern and worry. But I thought this through.” When Kangin was about to open his mouth, Donghae raises an intimidating finger. “I really did. Even if I’m head over heel in love, I’m not about to start disregarding anyone safety.”

Kangin raises his eyebrows, because Donghae is contradicting himself right there. But okay, if Donghae thought getting in a line of fire is something not to worry about, Kangin will put it aside and accepts the point Donghae tries to communicate.

Anyway, the annoyed-face Donghae pulls right now is more genuine than the one he had earlier, and even if people say Kangin’s mouth can give anybody a run for their money, Kangin does know when to shut up. He saves the fight for another night.

As if on a cue, the boyfriend (who sometimes is ‘the ’ in his head) struts into the room, graceful as a cat. Donghae’s face lits up and he abandons his work to let the boyfriend straddle his laps and bury his long, sharp fingers in Donghae’s hair. A surge of distrust rushes down Kangin’s chest as the boyfriend throws him a not so subtle glance that's all sly and knowing as if he’s trying to mark his territory and scare off another little kitten. His lopsided smile screams ‘Mine, mine, mine!’

“Hyukjae,” Donghae all but breaths out the name.

“You busy?” the boyfriend asks, all the time not taking his eyes off Kangin.

“Depends,” Donghae says, a little playful and definitely hopeful. “You planning keeping me busy?”

The boyfriend grins and finally pays Donghae attention. “Depends,” the boyfriend shifts his hips on Donghae's laps and makes the later squirm on his seat. “on what kind of busy you expected.”

“Uh-huh?” Donghae very deliberately moves his hands and covers both of the boyfriend’s buttocks with his paws and squeezes them. “This kind?”

“Aw,” the boyfriend purrs. “Maybe we can get to it soon, like right now, if we don’t have audience.” The boyfriend glances casually at Kangin’s direction. “Or… is voyeurism your thing, babe?”

Kangin balks at that and the words come out before he can think better of it. “Please, I'd rather you shot me to death than watch you two having .”

The boyfriend simply raises his eyebrows at that while Donghae laughs his off before waving him out. “Out hyung. Before Hyukjae takes that as your death wish.”

Before Kangin can entirely shut the door, he hears the boyfriend nonchalantly says ‘maybe it is his death wish’. Goddamned smelly . Kangin will not let him get his way as long as he is still breathing. It will be his mission to prove that there’s something under the sleeves. He’ll personally give Donghae the proof and he’ll make sure he’ll be present when Boss is skinning the alive.

Except, it’s easier said than done. If the two years in Tibet is of any indication, the knows how to cover his tracks very well. Which only makes the boyfriend even more suspicious. And why the hell Donghae can’t pull his head off his and see what a devilish little he got for a boyfriend?

Fine. If Donghae is not going to look over the treacherous leech, Kangin will do it for him. Unfortunately it involves watching. A lot of watching. And not the kind of watching Kangin is comfortable with. Since the boyfriend seems very fine by getting in the kitchen very early in the morning, all messed up hair and half-open lids heavy with the left over of sleep, smelling like , wearing Donghae’s white dress shirt that hangs low below his defined collar bones and barely covers up half of his thighs and making no effort at hiding the fact that there’s nothing more under the shirt.

Well, at least Kangin now knows how the bastard turned his Boss gay.

He scowls at his traitorous and how his other colleagues are doing the same and despises the boyfriend even more as he recognizes the sly smirk that's slowly marring his pretty, sleepy face as he sips at the coffee Kangin made for his team mates.

“Good coffee,” the boyfriend says off-handedly, and started to make inappropriate noises as he takes more sips of his cup. “Very good.”

All the security details are smart enough to take their leaves from the premises at that second. Kangin lingers a moment to give the boyfriend a death glare. It’s a game now. Kangin has never backed down from a game before.

The only one person except Donghae who is soft on the boyfriend is Sungmin.

“Come on, hyung, Hyuk isn’t so bad,” Sungmin says like he has no clue why the other is trying hard on ignoring the boyfriend.

Kangin very manly suppresses the urge to hit Sungmin’s head at the use of the nickname. “Just because he bought you nail polish, doesn’t mean he’s a good person.”

“Hey!” Sungmin exclaims, sounding offended. “It’s nail vitamins!”

“Whatever,” Kangin says, rolling his eyes. “Point stands.”

Kangin should feel victorious when he gets an hard evidence of the boyfriend's treachery. But his head is pounding so bad he barely can see straight. Besides, he’s tied to a chair and possibly has a few broken ribs. He’s disoriented when he regains consciousness. He wearily looks around his surrounding while waiting for all of his senses to go back online.

It looks like a warehouse. An abandoned one. The glass roof on top has shattered here and there and the ground has been covered by well grown grass. His head is pounding again, and he closes his eyes in an attempt to ease it out. All the while trying to remember how he ed up.

The day was dull and Donghae sent him to investigate a small group of drug dealers disregarding Donghae’s territory. It should have been easy. A routine alpha show-off and subtle dead threat, but apparently, there was a bigger player playing a part on this and Kangin who was outnumbered then played the punch bag to protect his other team mates from harm. He doesn’t think he did very good at that anyway. He thinks one of his team is dead or dying. Possibly dying. Hopefully not dead yet.

If Kangin isn’t dead yet, it means their assailants want something out of him. That means they will show up sooner or later to collect it. He just hopes that he’s their first source of intels. Hopefully they keep his other team mates alive for alternative resources if Kangin refuses to give in.

The headache recedes a little and Kangin opens his eyes again to investigate. He looks up the sky and sees it's night time. So he has been out for no more than eight hours. Oh, but wait. Is that dawn, or an ominous bonfire?

Kangin squints his eyes and when he sees how the orange light dances around, he decided it's a big bonfire. It requires another explosion before Kangin realizes why he’s been awake in the first place.

The second explosion's taking place closer than the fire, making the earth shake and the glass roof rattles unhappily. Some of them drop right in front of Kangin. Kangin curses. He feels a little urgent all of sudden and tries to take his surrounding faster than his last attempt. He’s found a lump of a body to his left. When he cranes his neck a little harder, he discovers the body is a bloody, unconscious Sungmin lying on the floor on awkward angles and unerringly unmoving body.

When he tries to figures if a bloody Sungmin is an alive Sungmin, the door to the warehouse creaks open and a soft curses echo all over the empty room. It’s the business time and Kangin braces himself a little tighter despite of the disagreement of his broken ribs.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the one walking down to him is the boyfriend himself. But Kangin can’t help but to wonder why he hasn’t seen this coming.

“You,” Kangin says accusingly, but it all comes out wrong. His voice is raw and he had lost the threatening effect on it.

The boyfriend seems unhappy to see him, but makes no recognition over his impromptu regards. He notices the leather jacket and cargo pants the boyfriend is wearing. All is unsurprisingly black and fashionable.

“Tsk,” the boyfriend starts. “Looks what you got yourself into.”

“You bastard,” the voice is still raw, but it doesn’t sound as pathetic as the previous attempt. “You've been waiting long for this moment, huh? Setting your claws deep inside Donghae’s heart before tearing it off his body huh? You traitorous scum!”

The boyfriend stops on his track and blinks.

“I knew what a lie you were from the start! And don’t think I’ll give you anything! I’ll not betray Donghae even if it costs me my life!”

And screaming has cost Kangin a lot of air. He hitches a breath and wills down his ribs to stop hurting. The boyfriend just stands there while there’s a beginning of a frown on his forehead.

“Well,” he starts, consciously choosing his words. “I could say Donghae would be glad to hear that.” He then waves his hand at the general direction of the fires. “You hear it?”

Kangin strains his ears, but can’t make out any noise except the distant creak of fire and collapsing buildings.

“Good news is I was the one clearing the premises. Seventeen body counts if you please. And I’m not here to pull teeth and words out of your mouth. I’m here because Donghae asked me to.”

Kangin is gaping and tries to comprehend what has just been said while the boyfriend resumes his approach then straightens a toppled-off chair in front of Kangin. Kangin sees him straddles it while putting his crossed arm on the head rest and then watches Kangin with interest.

“Donghae asked you?” Kangin finally says.

“What?” the boyfriend says. “It’s a little insulting to doubt your boss like that, you know. Donghae is not that dumb, okay. He knows what a BAMF I am. Right from the start.”

“But why didn’t he just tell the truth?” Kangin is genuinely confused. Or is it just the concussion? The headache is definitely a concussion.

The boyfriend rolls his eyes. “Would you give him a rest if you knew I'm not just a wanna-be celebrity?” Kangin thinks it out and realizes the guy has a point. “Besides it will make you sleep better at night not knowing I can kill you easily in your sleep. With my pinky.”

Well, it’s a little bit disturbing to hear.

“So, you playing seducing game is actually a lure to a deadly trap?” Kangin doesn’t know he can be stupid with his mouth in front of a dead threat, but he figures he can use the concussion for excuse.

The boyfriend laughs at that. Something genuine and that Kangin has never heard before. It makes him a little more real than just a character on a conspiracy theory.

“Maybe you were right about my swinging . I can make a career out of it.” Huh, Kangin thinks. He doesn’t remember when he has voiced that thought to the boyfriend. “Anyway, at first I liked to do it just to make Donghae jealous. He’s all pouty and possessive when he’s jealous. And did I mention the ? The angry, make up is always amazing! So…” he shrugs, as if it concludes things.

“So, what, you've made rescue operation your career too, huh?” Kangin doesn’t know why they are so chatty in this kind of situation. Shouldn’t they be out of this -hole before officers of the law got attracted to the two explosions and big bonfires?

“My current jobs are a wanna-be celebrity and a trophy boyfriend. Helping my boyfriend out seems what is expected from a serious relationship. Even though every favor has a price.” At the last sentence the boyfriend looks thoughtful and dreamy.

“Speaking of…” the boyfriend suddenly gets up and claps his hands together. “I’ll collect the payment as soon as I’m back at home.”

Home, Kangin thinks.

But what the boyfriend means by it is not taking Kangin home, but he’s going home. Because he passes by Kangin to inspect the lump of a bloody body on the floor and carefully lifts it up his shoulder then goes straight for the door.

“Err,” Kangin says when the boyfriend is half way to the door. “Where are you going?”

The boyfriend turns and giving him a ‘are you serious?’ look, says matter-of-factly, “Home. Cops are on their way.”

They are. In fact, Kangin can predict by the sound of their siren how far away they actually are.

“What about me?” Kangin doesn’t want to ask for a favor, really, but this guy is full of surprises and his head is as big of a confusing territory as his boyfriend’s. Who knows if he has just forgotten to save him?

The boyfriend looks at him, amused.

“No offense, dude, but you don’t seem to like me very much. And Donghae asked me to save your . ‘Please, Hyukkie, I don’t want Kangin-hyung to die’ are his exact words. And since the cops possibly have paramedic with them, I think your life isn’t in an immediate danger. At least I believe you aren’t facing your demise tonight, so, my job is done here.”

“But you're saving Sungmin!”

“He bought me seaweed facial masker and I kinda like him.” The boyfriend says as a way of explanation. “See you later hyung.”

“What? You going to give me up to the cop?” Kangin asks, but the boyfriend is already out of the room. “CAN’T YOU ATLEAST UNTIE ME FIRST?”

Silence is the only response. Kangin kicks his foot in frustration, but it’s tied to the chair and he nearly tipped off with the gesture. “GODDAMNIT!”

He just gets to the wrong side of grace of someone that he should avoid in the dark long alley—or in the same room, really—and he's stuck here, tied to a chair, ribs broken, with an headache from hell and bruises all over his body, waiting for the cops to find him, just because he tried to protect his people.

Kangin wonders if all his life has been bad decisions.

Or having a psychopath as a Boss who has a creepy ninja assassin as a boyfriend is the only one bad call he has ever made.

Finish?

Notes:

- I know, it’s annoying to keep using ‘the boyfriend’ over and over again, but this was supposed to be from Kangin’s perspective. How he thinks and reacts. And for Kangn, Hyukjae will forever be ‘the boyfriend’ or ‘the ’. Maybe.

- Crossposted in AO3