“You came.”

 

Yukwon turned as the words floated from the doorway, and he watched silently as Minhyuk entered the room.

 

“I did.”

 

It was yet another deserted location- an old house at the edge of the city that the organisation sometimes used as a hideaway- as public places were never suited to murder. As much as seeing Minhyuk provoked a fluttering feeling in his stomach, and as much as he felt his eyes linger a bit too long on the way his shirt clung to his torso, Yukwon was still tempted to shoot him then and there.

 

Why? Because he’d made a fool of Yukwon, and you never make fun of a killer unless you’re incredibly stupid, or have a deathwish.

 

“I was doubting it, to be honest. I thought you’d be too scared after last time.” Minhyuk’s smirk was sharp as he stopped, leaning casually against the wall of the hallway.

 

“You obviously don’t know me well enough.” The killer returned, standing his ground with his arms crossed over his chest. Minhyuk raised an eyebrow.

 

“We could fix that.”

 

Yukwon rolled his eyes, shaking his head. “I’d prefer it if we didn’t.”

 

This change in attitude visibly startled Minhyuk, before he realised something and laughed.

 

“What? Afraid I’ll foil any more of your murder attempts by getting too close to you?” His tone was light, but Yukwon could hear the poison underlying the words. The killer scoffed.

 

“Nope. Afraid that if you come any closer, I won’t be able to stop myself from shooting you.” Yukwon wasn’t playing around this time; he wasn’t looking to confuse, to tease. He was hoping to intimidate. Frighten, and then kill.

 

“Ah,” Minhyuk tilted his head to the side warily, “You’re carrying a gun? My, Yukwon, you’ve come prepared this time.”

 

The killer shifted his weight onto his other leg, hand slowly reaching behind his back. Suddenly, all playfulness disappeared from the mark’s face, and his lips turned into a frown. Without saying a word, he pushed himself up off the wall and walked back over to the door. Yukwon was all too ready to give chase when, instead of leaving through it, Minhyuk merely pushed the cold wood closed.

 

“So today’s the day, huh?” Minhyuk said after a pause, still facing away from the killer. Yukwon still said nothing, but he rested his hand on the gun handle sticking out of his back pocket. “The day you finally decide to kill me.”

 

The black-haired boy spun around just as the gun came out of Yukwon’s pocket, and the mark bit his lip, eyes fixed on the black metal in the killer’s hand.

 

“You’re good, I’ve said this before.” The hitman grinned, spinning the gun around his finger once before swapping it to his stronger hand. Minhyuk nodded, eyes still fixed on the deadly weapon.

 

“What? Scared of a bit of metal?” Yukwon’s laugh wasn’t friendly, by any stretch of the imagination, but it seemed to snap Minhyuk out of whatever trance he’d been in. The mark met Yukwon’s gaze, a small smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

 

“I wouldn’t say scared. More... concerned that you don’t know what you’re doing.” Minhyuk leant his back against the door, aiming for nonchalance, but Yukwon could see that it was just for protection. Ah, finally, he’d made the mark scared. If pulling out a gun was all it took, Yukwon was slightly surprised he hadn’t done it sooner.

 

“Believe me,” The killer brought the gun up as a test, aiming it just to Minhyuk’s left. He watched in delight as the mark bit his lip. “I know what I’m doing.”

 

Minhyuk took a hesitant step forward, defiantly, and a Yukwon felt a small sense of admiration. This mark was braver than most men with a gun pointed at them, Yukwon would admit that.

 

There was a beat of silence before the mark spoke again. “Hold on, let’s talk for a second.”

 

“Talk, talk, talk,” Yukwon rolled his eyes. “All we ever do is talk!”

 

“Yeah, okay, but I bet you want to know some things,” The mark bargained. “It would be a waste of information to just kill me, wouldn’t it?”

 

The killer thought for a second. He wasn’t paid to know things, he wasn’t paid to spy, he was paid to kill and only kill. However, this man was just so interesting. He’d threatened Jaehyo so badly that the footsoldier had betrayed his best friend, he’d stopped Yukwon so quickly the other night, and he’d actually wanted to know something about the killer’s life at one point. All of these added up to one question: Why?

 

Yukwon lowered the gun back to his side, tilting his head in question, and Minhyuk breathed a sigh of relief.

 

“What did you do to Jaehyo?” Were the next words out of the hitman’s mouth. Minhyuk frowned for a second, taking another uncertain step closer.

 

“We had a little incident.” Minhyuk smirked at the memory. “Years before you were even put on my case, there was a... scandal, to do with Jaehyo’s brother and I.”

 

Yukwon waited for him to continue, and the mark let out a short laugh.

 

“It ended badly, for his brother. Let’s just say there was a huge mess, a murder inquiry, and a couple of bodies found in the woods.”

 

Yukwon raised an eyebrow. So this mark was dangerous. He’d heard from Jaehyo that his brother was dead, but the other man had revealed no further details on the subject. Yukwon was suddenly reminded of something his friend had said the day he confronted him about Minhyuk.

 

’He explodes, and anything that stands in his way is brought crashing down.’

 

“So what, once you heard that I was on your case, you threatened him into giving you information, knowing that he was still weak after his brother’s death and terribly afraid of you.” Yukwon guessed, and the mark grinned.

 

“Precisely.”

 

“That’s pretty heartless.” Yukwon felt the beginnings of anger spark in his stomach at the information about his friend, frowning at the man in front of him.

 

“That’s rich coming from a hitman.” An amused smirk adorned the mark’s face, and Yukwon watched as Minhyuk took one final step towards him. There was only a few feet between the two now, and Yukwon flexed his fingers warily around his gun. Yukwon suddenly thought of another question.

 

“Who do you work for? No one could commit that sort of crime and get away with it if they worked solo.”

 

Minhyuk ran a hand through his hair, looking away, and Yukwon gulped as his gaze was drawn to the mark’s flawless profile.

 

“Your little organisation never told you? What exactly did they say about me?” The mark raised an eyebrow, fixing Yukwon with a piercing stare.

 

“Only that you’d ‘caused a stir’ in the inner circles. I was surprised, as the inside system of the organisation is pretty impenetrable.” Yukwon noticed the mark’s pleased smile at this, as if the killer had complimented him in some way.

 

Minhyuk shrugged, “I don’t work for anyone, but I have connections. Black Dragon’s Main Boss is actually my father.”

 

Yukwon tensed, hand clutching protectively around his gun. Black Dragon were his organization’s rivals, and the largest gang in the city. They specialised in emotional torture, in breaking down their victims slowly. Minhyuk had obviously had good training.

 

A pressing urgency was nagging at the back of the killers mind. As more and more information was revealed, the importance of this man’s death became clearer and clearer. If this man wasn’t eliminated, thousands of people in the city were in danger. Black Dragon weren’t really fussy about choosing their victims, they tended to just kill anyone who tried to stop them.

 

Suddenly Yukwon realised that his own death, just as much as Minhyuk’s, was important. There was no doubt that Black Dragon knew he was on Minhyuk’s case by now, and with a sickening lurch in his stomach, Yukwon realised that it was only a matter of time before they came after him.

 

He needed to act, he needed to make the hit.

 

Yukwon braced himself, and slowly raised the gun again. The barrel was aimed right in Minhyuk’s direction, pointing directly at the mark’s smirking face. This time, Minhyuk’s expression didn’t change into one of fear.

 

No sound left the mark’s mouth, but his eyebrow raised in challenge. Silently, he dared Yukwon, dared him to pull the trigger, dared him to end his life with one single bullet.

 

That was all it would take. One shot, and all of this trouble would be over. One shot, and he’d receive his most satisfying pay packet in months. Just one shot, and he’d never have to worry about this dangerously gorgeous man ever again.

 

But his arm was shaking, his focus everywhere but the gun. His finger hovered over the trigger, and with a start Yukwon realised that he didn’t even have the intention of pulling it.

 

This man was too good, he’d awakened feelings inside the hitman that he hadn’t previously thought he was capable of. Thoughts of pale skin juxtaposed against jet-black hair, of pretty red lips, expensive aftershave, and a tongue as sharp as a blade, raced across Yukwon’s mind. He realised that he couldn’t even kill him if he wanted to, that his brain simply thought far too much of the man in front of him to let him die by Yukwon’s hand.

 

He wasn’t sure, but he had a feeling that Minhyuk had noticed this, as his smirk grew a little more.

 

Another breath of silence, and Yukwon tried desperately to summon up every ounce of courage he possessed. He steeled himself again, set his finger on the trigger, and straightened his arm- to no avail.

 

“Is it always this hard, killing someone?” Minhyuk echoed the same words he’d uttered when the two had first met, and Yukwon suddenly realised that this had been his plan all along. His arm was beginning to hurt now, and Minhyuk began taking more steps forward. Fearlessly, he walked closer and closer to the barrel of the gun. 

 

Yukwon stood his ground, but when Minhyuk’s hand came up and gently pushed his arm down, the killer didn’t even attempt to stop him. The black-haired man came closer still, right into Yukwon’s personal space, but Yukwon couldn’t move. No, the realisation that he couldn’t make the hit, that he had actually developed feelings for another person, had him frozen to the spot.

 

Arms slid over his shoulders, hands clasped behind his neck, and Minhyuk smiled down at him.

 

“You can’t kill me.” The mark purred softly, gaze searching Yukwon relentlessly. The killer didn’t know what to think, he didn’t know how to feel, but when warm lips pressed against his, he didn’t hesitate to kiss back.

 

Yukwon felt like he was being torn apart, but in the nicest possible way. He felt like he was thinking too much, but not enough at the same time, like his body was alight with a fire he had no way to extinguish. Leaning into Minhyuk’s embrace, Yukwon felt the gun slip from his grip and clatter onto the floor, leaving his hands free to wind around the slim waist pressed against him.

 

This felt like flying, like jumping out of a plane with no parachute. It felt dangerous, poisonous, and miraculous. It felt perfect.

 

The boys fell against the wall, still kissing intensely, and neither noticed the door being opened a crack. Neither noticed the eyes fixed on them, and neither noticed when the figure whispered softly.

 

“I warned him.”