Archive of Our Own ^beta

Felix thought that he could put his past behind him, start life anew and move onto greener pastures. Unfortunately for him, fate had other plans in store, and they involved putting his wonderful boyfriend Chan in danger.

“Where is he, Jisung?” Felix snarls on the phone, knuckles whitening as his grip tightens enough to make the device creak in protest.

“Lix, you can’t—” Jisung tries to plead with the angry Australian.

“I said, where. is. he?” There’s a growl to his voice that Jisung doesn’t recognize, too used to the happy-go-lucky Felix that bakes treats and radiates sunshine everywhere he goes. This almost-demonic voice sends shivers down his spine.

“I—I don’t know! He’s… been taken, Lix. We haven’t heard anything from our sources yet, it could be too late.”

“Fuck this shit,” Felix mutters, hanging up the call on Jisung, “If you need to get something done, it’s always best to do it yourself.”

With a heavy sigh, Felix dials in a number that he’s had memorized for years, a number that he’s wanted to forget. He presses the call button and hopes that the number is still in service.

Ring. Ring —

“Yongbok, I never expected you to ever call me again.”

A gruff voice filters through the phone, sounding pleasantly surprised at receiving the call. He hears screaming in the background, echoing into his ears through the phone. There's some broken sobs and tearful pleading interspersed, making him smile a bit at the nostalgia it brings on.

“Changbin-hyung. I need a favor.”

“Ah, you never call just to catch up with your favorite hyung. Shame.” Changbin sounds almost disappointed, his voice mocking as he mimics baby-speak. He continues, “I was in the middle of something fun, maybe you’d like to join in?”

“Maybe next time, hyung,” Felix replies dryly, “Chan-hyung’s been taken. I need information on who and where.”

“It’ll cost you,” Changbin taunts coyly and Felix recognizes the sharp crack of a bone being broken as he hears Hyunjin’s almost hysterical laughter. He almost shakes his head at that—Hyunjin hasn't changed a bit.

The beautiful homicidal maniac, he thinks to himself fondly.

“I’m not rejoining the gang, if that’s what you mean,” Felix frowns, wondering if he can’t just get the information on his own. It might be too late for Chan if he goes down that route though.

“Nothing like that, I know you’re living the domestic life with your boy toy.” There’s a hopeful sigh, “Just come visit me and Jinnie after you’re done, tell us all about how you’ve been doing. We miss you, you know that? Things haven’t been the same since you left us.”

“I miss all of you too.”

Felix thinks of how much he’s gone through with his family, all the bloody fights and turf wars, he misses hearing Hyunjin’s laughter as he cuts through their enemies like an Angel of Death, smelling Changbin’s odd cigarette brand as he smoked (it smelt like a chimney and made him want to puke, so maybe not), playing with Seungmin and Jeongin as they tried to take him on together (they wanted to see if they could ‘accidentally’ kill him).

Good times.

“I’ll come visit after I collect Chan. Mind getting me the info ASAP?”

“I’m gonna grab Innie and see what he can dig up,” Changbin replies in the affirmative and passes the phone on to Hyunjin.

“Bokkie! You gotta come play with us soon! I miss you lots!” There it is, Hyunjin’s infamous childish whining. If Felix could see him in person, he would most likely end up going along with whatever the beautiful man asked him to do just because he’s whipped for Hwang Hyunjin.

“Hyunnie, you know I can’t do that.” He can practically feel Hyunjin pouting through the other end of the call.

“Channie-hyung can join in, if that’s what you want.”

“Or… you can come help me bake,” Felix suggests instead, not wanting Chan to see him in the way he was before. "Baking is a great stress reliever, trust me. I've pounded on dough and it's therapeutic, you'll love it. It's like punching in the face of your worst enemy, except they're gonna taste delicious after you're done with them."

“I’ll come... only if you feed me!”

“I’ll feed you to Berry if you keep being—”

“Yongbok, we’ve got a lead on Chan. He was last seen making a deal with Kwangmin from Spades.”

“Fuck!” Felix swears, trying to think of how to get Chan out of that mess. Spades are a big gang, not as powerful as Stray Kids or 3Racha, but they definitely have more manpower.

That means more meat-shields for Felix to get rid of. It also means that he’s going to need backup to be able to get to Chan safely.

“I’m gonna need some backup, I’ll have to make a call—”

“We’re in this too, Yongbok. I’ll get Jeongin to track down their location and I’ll bring Minnie with us,” Changbin interrupts, planning out their next move. “Minnie’s improved from before, so he can handle the perimeter while Jinnie and I charge the front with you. It’s been a while since we last played together, we miss seeing you in action.”

“You’re idiots—but you’re my idiots. Thanks Binnie-hyung, I really owe you one.” Felix laughs over the phone, picturing how Changbin must be pouting.

“Are you really gonna call hyung-nim? I don’t think he’d appreciate being disturbed for anything,” Changbin asks hesitantly, almost nervous for Felix.

Felix smiles ruefully, “Sacrifices have to be made. Besides, I have a deal for him. As long as I don’t ask for a favor for free, he won’t get mad at me.”

“Tch. Only you could get away with being so casual with hyung-nim, Yongbok. It kinda pisses me off, I knew him longer—I bet it’s because you look like a cat. He’s so fucking soft over them, it makes me wanna puke,” Changbin scoffs, irritation coating his words.

“You’re just mad that he likes me better and calls you a dwaekki. Don’t let him hear you talking this way, you know what he says—”

“Talk shit, get hit.”

“Talk shit, get hit.”

They both echo simultaneously, laughing at the iconic words of their boss.

“Yeah, I know, you don’t gotta remind me every time,” Changbin grumbles. “Jinnie’s still traumatized over the air fryer threat from two years ago.”

Felix giggles, remembering how Hyunjin called him up one afternoon, crying as he complained that Lee Know hyung-nim wanted to cook and eat him up, and how he was too beautiful to die so young. It was very entertaining, really.

“I’m gonna call Lee Know hyung-nim now, it’s the same number, right? Text me if you have any extra details. Love you, Binnie-hyung. Jinnie too, take care!”

“Yeah, it’s the same as before. Love you too, Yongbokkie. Good luck with hyung-nim!” The dial tone sounds as Changbin ends the call, leaving Felix to stare at the phone as he recalls the boss’s number.

With a pounding heart, he enters the numbers exactly as he remembers it and taps the ‘call’ icon on the screen. The sound of his beating heart rings in his ears along with the ring tone—

“Yongbok. Why are you calling me?” Lee Know’s voice is a calm monotone, exactly the same voice that Felix has heard so many times before and he breathes out softly.

“Lee Know hyung-nim, I need your help. My boyfriend got captured—”

“It’s Minho-hyung to you now. I’m retired,” Minho interjects dryly, sounding amused. Felix can hear the soft purring of a cat and concludes that it’s the reason why he isn’t annoyed with him.

“In case you didn’t know, I’m retired too, hyung.” 

Minho chuckles quietly at that, “And what do I get out of it?”

“If you help me, I can pull some strings and get you answers that I know you want,” Felix tries, hoping that his not-so-subtle bribe works and that Minho doesn’t make his life a living hell instead. The man could easily do that on a whim.

“Silly Yongbok, I’m over it—but you know what? I’ve been bored lately, so I’ll come fetch your little boyfriend.” Felix can tell that Minho sounds very bored, which doesn’t bode well for anyone. “In fact, you’ll owe me a favor that I can collect anytime I please.”

Felix sighs at that, a favor owed to Minho could be anything from a harmless kiss on the cheek to outright murder. It’s a huge gamble, but he’d rather owe him than have Chan’s blood on his hands because he was too chicken.

“Alright hyung, it’s a deal.”

“Please tell Changbin to send Jeongin over to watch my cats. And remind him that he’s not allowed to bring in rats for them to eat. Otherwise, I’ll skin him and return him to Seungmin like that.”

“Yes, hyung. I’ll let them know.” Felix sweats, hoping that Jeongin won’t do anything stupid like last time. Minho loves their youngest member, appreciates his skills and dotes on him like a son, but he loves his cats more than anything else in the world. “I’ll text you with the details when it’s time to head out.”

“Bye Yongbok! Next time you bother me, it better be about hanging out! Or else, I’ll have to kidnap your cute boyfriend,” Minho teases Felix, ending the call before he can get over his shock and respond. He definitely knows that Minho would go through with his threat, no matter how jokingly he said it.

Felix opens up the texting app on his phone, sending a few quick texts to Changbin’s number.

Felix

talked to hyung, he’s down 

he said to send innie over 

no funny business or he’s skinning him alive 

Changbin

ok

need anything?

Felix

no i got my stash at home

i’ll come by when i’m ready 

Changbin

got it, i’ll tell the others that you’re coming by

are you bringing anyone else?

Felix

i’ll grab jisung, he’s chan’s right hand

he can be a good distraction too

Changbin

that’s kinda...

Felix

cruel?

Changbin

hilarious

Felix

lol i’ll ttyl

Felix puts the phone down on his desk and turns to the bed. With how much he wants to bury his past, he’s gone and done it literally—he pushes the bed away from the center, kneeling down on the floorboards. Carefully, he pries one open to reveal a large box that’s been hidden inside.

Back when he first started dating Chris, he worried that the older man would see his things and freak out. He took precautions to hide his other side, not wanting to leave a bad impression on his not-yet boyfriend.

Felix loves Chris, so much so that he doesn’t care that Chris is also Bang Chan, 3Racha’s leader. Despite Chris trying to keep it a secret, Felix is no stranger to gang life and recognizes all the little signs, the bruises, the late hours, the exhaustion... but he’s content to ignore it if it makes Chris happy.

After all, Chris has always done his best to make Felix happy and comfortable. Now, it’s Felix’s turn to make sure his boyfriend comes home safe and sound, if not a little traumatized from the deal gone wrong.

Thoughts filled with determination, Felix opens the box and peers at the items inside. There they are—his beautiful brass knuckles. They glimmer from the overhead light, all the raised areas glinting enticingly at him. He picks one up, caressing it fondly. It’s been a while since he last wore them, but he makes sure to keep them well-maintained.

Placing it back down, he reaches for his black gloves and wears them, clenching his fists in the stretchy material. He enjoys the familiar feeling for a brief moment before pulling out the rest of his outfit and wearing it.

Over his t-shirt, he slides on a leather jacket that would have several members of the underworld shitting themselves as soon as they see it. The back of the jacket has his old gang insignia, a bold ‘SKZ’ embroidered in golden thread, along with a large dragon coiling around the jacket with its head over his left shoulder, its body extended to entangle with the logo on his back.

He discards his stiff jeans for his favorite stretchy leather pants, over which he dons sturdy combat boots that are lightly scuffed.

Felix stares at his silver hair in the mirror, bangs lightly falling over his eyes and decides to slick it back so that it won’t get in his eyes as he fights. He toys with the ring on his finger (a gift from Chris, a promise to always come back to him), contemplating whether he should take it off or not. Finally, he decides against it, leaving it on display on his finger.

He pockets his knuckles, grabs the car keys and heads out, driving to where 3Racha are headquartered. As he reaches, he notices that there’s only one person guarding the entrance and wonders how the heck are they not invaded yet. Shaking his head, he parks his car and walks out, heading straight for the doorman.

“Beat it kid, we don’t have time to deal with you.” The guard’s eyes are glued to his phone, browsing through his Twitter feed with nonchalance.

“Get me J.One right now or I’ll make sure that you’re crawling to get him,” Felix growls out, annoyed that this stupid insect isn’t doing his job properly. If this is the level of incompetence in Chris’ gang, no wonder he was captured by Spades. He’s definitely going to bring this up to Chris, make him whip his forces into shape.

“Who the fuck do you think you—” the guard starts, looking up from his phone and pales when he recognizes Felix, glaring at him with narrowed eyes, “U-uh, Y-Yong—I mean Immortal Yongbok-nim! I’m—I’m so sorry! I’ll get J.One right now!” He tries to pocket his phone under Felix’s cold gaze, completely missing his pocket and dropping it to the ground. He glances at it but decides that his life is worth more than his phone, stumbling through the door and running to find his quarry.

Felix looks at the open door, shrugs and enters. He looks around, admiring how Chris had turned what was once a dingy warehouse into a fully functional office space. Members of the gang run around, nervously avoiding looking into Felix’s eyes and giving him a wide berth.

He almost forgot what it was like to be feared, especially now that he had spent so long being Chris’ loving and completely harmless boyfriend.

“Felix? What are you—you’re Yongbok?!” Jisung’s high pitched voice calls out from the side and he turns, smiling beatifically at the man. “Why are you here?”

“You’re coming with me.” Felix grips tightly around Jisung’s elbow, yanking him to follow along.

“Ow, ow! Loosen the grip, I’m about to lose my arm!” Jisung whines, struggling to keep up with Felix’s strides as they head to his car. He releases Jisung, who rubs his elbow with a grimace, and gets into the car, starting the engine.

“Give me one good reason why I should come with you.” Jisung leans into the open window, still not entering the car.

“I have a lead on Chan.”

Jisung quickly opens the door, climbing in before slamming it shut behind him, “You should’ve started off with that in the first place!”

“We’re meeting up with the rest of Stray Kids,” Felix explains briefly, glancing at Jisung who starts panicking and wildly gesticulating.

“WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?! FELIX, WE’RE GONNA DIE!” Jisung tears up, looking up at the car roof in prayer, forgetting that Felix is also a part of Stray Kids. “I hope the guy who whacks me is Hyunjin, I heard he’s gorgeous.”

“Actually, he’s most likely to torture you first before killing you. You’ll find that he’s extremely good at keeping his prey alive until he wants them gone,” Felix corrects, focusing on the road instead of Jisung’s hysterics. “Besides, they won’t kill you.”

“They won’t?” Jisung looks at Felix like he’s an angel sent from above.

“No, you’re going to be our distraction.”

“Of-fucking-course I’m the distraction—” Jisung throws his hands up in the air, looking very exasperated.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine,” Felix reassures him, “You’re not called the Escape Artist for nothing.”

Within minutes, they reach Stray Kids’ base and are greeted by a patrol group, who quickly salute at Felix and professionally resume their stations. Jisung gawks at them, remembering the pitiful guard that they had posted outside their headquarters, who came in crying to him at the first sign of trouble. Compared to that, Stray Kids is practically a fortress.

“Bokkie!”

The most beautiful man Jisung has ever seen prances up to Felix and gives him a hug, spinning him around. He is smitten for all of two seconds before his eyes fixate on another man, even more gorgeous than the blond with Felix in his humble opinion, and blushes when their gazes meet. The man smiles at Jisung, eyes crinkling at the edges and gives him a little wink that sends his heart beating into outer space.

Jisung looks away, feeling awkward at being in a place where he isn’t friends with anyone. He’s watching Felix get several ‘welcome back’ hugs when a hand on his shoulder makes him yelp in shock and jump five feet in the air.

“Calm down, I’m not gonna eat you—unless you want me to.” It’s the attractive winky guy from earlier. Jisung isn’t sure if he’s being flirty or not, but he doesn’t appreciate being surprised like that.

“Can’t you make some noise?” Clutching his chest, he glares at the vision of beauty that his stupid heart won’t let him stay angry at. “I nearly had a heart attack!”

“I’m an assassination specialist,” the man replies simply, making Jisung gulp. He could’ve been dead before he even realized it. “Sorry, do you want me to wear a bell next time?” He winks again.

Abruptly, he imagines the man wearing a collar with a bell hanging off it and his blush comes back full force. Jisung is pretty sure his blood pressure has increased more in the past five minutes than during a whole turf war with another gang.

Before he can even think of a witty comeback, Felix yells out to the man next to Jisung and he blanks out.

“Lee Know hyung-nim!”

“It’s Minho-hyung to you, brat! I already told you I’m retired.”

The name repeats itself over and over in Jisung’s head, and he realizes that shit, he fucked up. He was rude, downright disrespectful to the Lee Know, the former (no one really acknowledged that though) leader of Stray Kids. His balls would be chopped off and fed to the dogs, his body is going to be tortured and then probably incinerated and his ashes disposed off—

“I, uh… I’m sorry, I’ll just go now, my… uh, my friend is calling!”

“But your phone isn’t ringing?” Minho looks at him bemused, wondering if the weather is particularly hot—the cute squirrel-y man’s sweaty face tells him that it might be the case.

“It’s—It’s on silent! Okay, be right back!” Jisung clutches his phone like it's his lifeline and rushes to the car, pretending that he’s on a call with someone.

Felix looks at the retreating Jisung with a raised eyebrow. “Hyung, I think you terrified him.”

“Nonsense,” Minho scoffs, keeping a predatory eye on Jisung, “I just overwhelmed him with my handsomeness. He’ll come around, I can practically smell his attraction from a mile away.”

“That’s the scent of fear, hyung,” Felix deadpans, walking away to get Jisung.

“He wants me,” Minho whispers to himself in full confidence.

Felix opens the car door, laughing at Jisung’s panicked expression. He looks ready to bolt, like a prey that just met a predator and is going against his flight instinct.

“C’mon, we’re gonna have a call with Innie. He’ll give us more info on Chr—Chan’s location.”

“No way, I’m not going back there! Lee Know hyung-nim said he wants to eat me!” Jisung wails, unable to look away from Minho who is still staring back at him, like a gazelle making eye contact with a lion in the Serengeti.

“He’s harmless.” Mostly, he finishes in his head. “You’ll be fine, I can stand between you two if you want.”

“Can’t… Can’t I stand next to Hyunjin?” he pleads, eyes wide. “I’m scared of Lee Know hyung-nim…”

“If you’re okay with Changbinnie-hyung gouging your eyes out, be my guest,” Felix shrugs lightly. “He’s very protective over Hyunnie, y’know?”

“Fuck, I’m sorry I asked.” Jisung takes in a rattling breath of air, mentally steeling himself. He can do this, he can stand there and not get eaten by Minho. “Okay, let’s do this.”

They all gather together, the sun setting upon them as they call Jeongin. The atmosphere is almost tense, each person feeling different emotions about the rescue mission. There’s restless energy in the air, making them all the more volatile.

“Tell me you have something, Innie.”

“Good news, I think I got Chan’s location,” Jeongin’s voice chimes in from the cellphone, mood grim and somber. “Bad news, it’s gonna be tough to get to him.”

“Where is he, exactly?” Felix clenches his fist, nervously fiddling with the ring on his finger.

“There’s a warehouse south of Gangseo-gu, along Haneul road,” Jeongin begins, rapid clacks from his typing audible through the phone, “According to the warehouse database, they just had a huge shipment earlier today — addressed to a certain Cha Kwangmin.”

“Those fucking rats…!”

“That’s not all, seems like he’s sent a sizable amount of his men there to keep watch. And get this,” he continues, “Security footage has Kwangmin placed right there at the warehouse. He hasn’t gone anywhere else from what I can see.”

“So he’s toying with Chan, that bastard—” Minho grips Felix’s shoulder tightly, restraining him from swinging his deadly fists around. “When I get to him, I’ll break every fucking bone in his body and then some.”

“Calm down, Yongbok. Save your anger for when you’re there,” Minho soothes Felix, smiling ominously, “We don’t want you knocking out your allies instead of your enemies, right? If you’re a loose cannon, I’ll call it quits and the rest will do the same.”

Felix balks at that, face pale as he processes Minho’s words. He’s right, of course he is—that’s why he’s the (former) leader and Felix isn’t. “Sorry, hyung-nim…”

Minho pats Felix’s head, laughing, “It’s okay, I understand! Hyung will definitely erase their gang for even thinking of touching your boyfriend.” Jisung is about to wet himself at the bloodthirsty, feral grin that’s on all their faces.

“Yeah! Don’t worry Bokkie, I’ll make it hurt a lot!” Hyunjin chimes in, twirling his metal bat around like he’s a batter at a baseball match. Jisung can faintly make out a few dents, the shape and size of them too different to be from a baseball.

“Thanks, everyone. Let’s go prepare to rescue my boyfriend,” Felix smiles gratefully at them. “Innie, keep us updated on their status.”

“Will do, hyung. Bye bye, have fun! I’ll be watching!” 

And destroying all evidence of their involvement, is left unsaid.

The call ends, leaving the rest of them to continue with planning.

“Right, Yongbok.” Felix looks at Changbin questioningly. “I’m gonna assume that you’re not gonna use guns, right?”

“You know that I prefer feeling their bones crunch, yeah?” Felix raises an eyebrow at Changbin, wondering if he forgot that detail about him so soon. 

Changbin shrugs nonchalantly, taking Felix’s hand and rubbing his knuckles. “You haven’t been playing with us for over a year, don’t you think that you’ve lost your edge?”

Felix smiles at Changbin, knowing that it’s true concern behind his voice. He’s right to question him, after all, Felix has been spending his days doing domestic chores and living a normal life instead of beating people up like he used to.

“Don’t worry about me, hyung,” he reassures Changbin, allowing him to do as he pleases with his hand. “I can keep up—I haven’t stopped training, just in case something happened and I needed to defend myself. Although…” he continues, cracking his knuckles one by one, “I didn’t think I’d need it for other reasons.”

“I trust you to handle yourself then. Jinnie and I are gonna take out the shooters.” Hyunjin wraps himself around Changbin in a back hug, resting his chin at the crook of his neck. He nuzzles their cheeks together affectionately, then looks at Felix with a half-lidded stare.

“I’m excited to see you in action, Bokkie!”

Tilting his head slightly, he sees the gleam of madness in Hyunjin’s eyes. It’s something he’s missed very much, the admiration he gets as he displays his brutality—he knows that Chan would be shocked at how violent Felix really is, when all he’s ever known is the soft, fluffy Lee Felix who loves baking and taking care of him.

“Keep your eyes on the enemies, Hyunjin,” Minho chides, picking out specks of dirt from underneath his fingertips. “Yongbok doesn’t need to get performance anxiety just because you can’t take your eyes off him. In fact, if you do get shot, I’d say it’s well deserved.”

Jisung can practically feel Hyunjin’s fear spike the moment Minho speaks out loud and fights the urge to whimper himself. It’s like having the biggest cat predator in the world ready to eat them at a moment’s notice. He might be restrained, but it might as well be with a shoelace.

“Yes, hyung-nim,” the soft murmur leaves Hyunjin’s mouth, slightly muffled.

“So, how are we doing this?” Seungmin finally steps in, letting Minho’s sudden glare slide off him like water off a duck.

There’s tension there, likely some extensive history that Jisung isn’t ready to touch even with a ten-foot pole. From what he can tell, Seungmin is completely unbothered by it, and that, more than anything, tells him that the younger man is just as dangerous.

Part of what makes Jisung so good at escaping dangerous situations is his ability to sense killing intent in the air. And right now?

There’s a trickle of it coming from Minho, raising the baby hairs at the back of his neck and giving him goosebumps. His fight or flight instinct activates and he quickly ducks a knife that passes through his previous location.

With wide eyes, he watches as the knife then flies towards Seungmin, who catches it with a bored look on his face.

“Where’s your respect, Kim Seungmin?” Despite his anger, Minho’s tone isn’t the least agitated.

“I don’t see anyone else respecting you, Minho.” From the way no one reacts to the visible disrespect, it seems to be a common enough occurrence.

“On the contrary, everyone is being very respectful of me. Except you, Kim Seungmin.”

Seungmin approaches him, stopping in front of him and flipping the knife so that he’s holding it by the blade. He presents the handle to Minho with a placid smile. “My apologies, Lee Know hyung-nim. I won’t do it again.”

“You’ve said that at least a hundred times by now—and it’s Minho-hyung to you,” Minho grumbles faintly, but accepts the knife back and it disappears in his hand, as if by magic.

“Hyung-nim! You almost killed me!”

Now that his adrenaline has run its course, Jisung is left with the realization that Minho threw a knife in his direction.

“I knew you’d dodge it, Han Jisung.” He’s waved away by a nonchalant hand, the assassin smiling pleasantly again like he hadn’t just tried to kill one of his former underlings.

A full body shiver courses through him upon hearing his name coming from Minho’s mouth. He’s sure he hasn’t disclosed it to anyone except Felix and he trusts his friend to keep his silence, even if his friend did hide the fact that he has a gangster alter ego.

“But—” deep breaths, Jisung, take long, deep breaths… “What if I didn’t dodge it?”

“But you did, didn’t you?” Minho looks at him quizzically, like he can’t understand that he just did something fundamentally wrong. In his opinion, that’s most likely it. “Besides, if you died, it just means that you weren’t supposed to be here in the first place.”

Wow, in all his years being alive, he’s never been treated so… so callously. Like disposable chopsticks, or thrift store clothing.

It must show on his face, because Felix pulls him aside and once they’re alone, he snaps.

“How does he get off treating me like that?! I… I hate him!”

“Look, I’m sorry about Minho, but that’s just the way he is. He doesn’t see things the same way we do, he was just trying to compliment you.” It’s a shit explanation, even by Jisung’s standards, and he’s heard some pretty shitty ones from the members of his gang.

“That… that was a compliment?”

“It was. Good job, by the way. I don’t meet too many people who dodge that at almost point blank range.”

Jisung jumps, screaming at the sudden third voice in his ear. He turns around, facing Minho, who, once again appears out of nowhere behind him.

“Can you stop fucking doing that?”

“Doing what?” Minho asks innocently, though his eyes glint knowingly.

“That… that!” He gestures maniacally at Minho, like it will somehow make sense, then thinks better of it and rephrases, “Your appear-disappear thing! You keep scaring the living shit out of me!”

“Well, do you want me to wear a bell?” Minho sounds so flippant that Jisung can’t help but feel like he’s pulling his leg. “I did offer.”

Jisung’s face flushes again, a combination of anger and poorly hidden attraction. He doesn’t notice Felix slipping away, caught up in his one-sided staredown with Minho. His blood boils as Minho steps into his space, their faces close enough that he can smell him and feel the other’s breath on his face.

“I—”

Before Jisung can formulate a sentence, the assassin drags him away by the wrist. For some reason—whether it’s self-preservation or something else—he allows it, trained legs easily keeping up with Minho’s fast pace.

He catalogues every door, corridor and other points of interest that he sees, a habit borne from years of experience as a thief stealing from high security buildings. Most of the doors look alike, but Jisung knows better, able to spot the unique knicks and scratches that differentiate them.

Finally, they arrive at a door that has clearly seen a lot of use. Judging by the scuffs around the door handle, a lot of people handling weapons have passed through this door—

—It hits Jisung in a flash.

Weapon warehouse.

“I see you have an idea of what’s in there.” Minho doesn’t seem surprised by it, which makes Jisung more curious than anything.

“Weapons,” he replies carefully, not wanting Minho to suddenly turn on him. He already proved that he’s capable of killing in cold blood. “This is where all of them are stored, am I right?” He sounds more confident than he feels—it’s like he’s being tested.

“Oh, he’s not as dumb as he looks!” Hyunjin crows, arriving with the rest of the group in tow. “What gave it away?”

“There’s knife marks on the handle, scrapes from guns… those come from when someone opens the door while holding a gun or knife in their hand at the same time.” Jisung explains, gritting his teeth at Hyunjin’s comment. Minho’s hand on his shoulder startles him again, but when he turns to him, he sees something different in the older man’s expression.

“As much as I love that you’re all getting along, we don’t have much time,” Felix finally interrupts, walking past both Minho and Jisung, and opening the door to the weapon’s storage room. He walks in and leans against a wall, letting the others walk by to pick anything they need.

“Han Jisung,” Minho calls out, sauntering in with him. “I’ll let you pick anything you want from these.”

“But hyung—!” Changbin tries to protest, only to receive a sharp glare which immediately silences him.

“Really?” Even though he’s in awe at Minho’s display of dominance, Jisung is still hesitant due to Changbin’s disapproving look.

“Did I stutter?” Minho raises a single immaculate eyebrow.

“Get on with it.” Felix makes a noise of frustration, impatience curling up within him. He just wants to go behind enemy lines and break every single one of those bastards who thought kidnapping his boyfriend was a great idea.

Nobody says anything, all too aware that Felix is just tensed up due to his missing significant other. They start packing up various guns, along with knives for backup just in case they get disarmed.

“Aren’t you gonna gear up?” Jisung asks Minho out of curiosity, seeing that he just chose to hang around him instead of joining the others in grabbing weapons.

“Oh baby, my body is the only weapon I need.” Another wink. “Here, feel this.” Minho grabs Jisung’s hand and places it inside his leather jacket, “See? I’m pretty well-armed.”

After his initial shock at somewhat feeling Minho up, he realizes that he feels something familiar—Oh, a gun holster.

“If you two are done flirting, we’re ready to go,” Felix says, leaving the room with the others as Minho and Jisung catch up with them.

As they’re walking, Jisung realizes that there’s about six of them and they’re all heading the same way.

“What about cars?” he ends up asking.

“What about them?” Hyunjin rolls his eyes, clearly thinking something degrading about him.

“Are we all going in the same car?” Jisung clenches his fist at Hyunjin’s attitude. He can’t believe how annoying the blond is, behind that pretty façade is a fucking bitch that gives him the urge to punch his face in.

They all look at each other, then to Jisung who stares back blankly, wondering if he said something wrong. However, it all becomes clear when they get to the garage and he sees a number of motorbikes.

“Oh, hell no—” He pales, shaking his head. If there’s one thing Han Jisung can’t and won’t do, it’s ride a motorbike.

“You’re coming with me.” The escape artist finds himself dragged by Minho again, this time to a really beautiful bike, matte black with red highlights. It’s big enough that it seems capable of seating both of them comfortably.

A helmet gets chucked in his direction and he barely catches it, fumbling a bit as he glares, “I don’t wanna ride a stinking bike! I can take a car!”

The look he receives is absolutely chilling, and his instincts start screaming at him again.

“You think you’re gonna reach there on time with a car?” Minho scoffs, putting his helmet on and getting on the bike. “Suit yourself, you want to be useless? That’s on you, Han Jisung.”

On the verge of a reply, Jisung’s brain finally kicks in and his mouth closes with a click. He stuffs his head in the helmet and awkwardly straddles the bike, settling behind Minho. With a soft sigh, “You’re right—I’m sorry, I was just…”

“Being a spoiled brat? Don’t worry, I’m used to those.” Minho starts the bike and revs it up, closing his eyes as the engine purrs underneath his thighs. “Hold on tight, we’re going full speed.”

“Hold on? Whe—”

Before Jisung can even finish his question, the bike takes off and he ends up pressing himself to Minho’s back, hooking his arms around the assassin’s middle.

Meanwhile, Felix gets on his own designated bike followed by Seungmin climbing on behind him. They both have their helmets on, their comm units also activated.

“Hyung, don’t doubt us.”

“I’m not doubting any of you,” Felix checks that the mirror’s positioned right, meeting Seungmin’s gaze. “I’m just worried about Chan…”

Seungmin's arms wrap around Felix’s middle and he rests his head against his back. “Then trust in us, we’ll get him back for you. Maximum pain involved for those assholes.”

Felix chuckles at that, the tension dropping from his shoulders as he fully relaxes, riding the bike hard and smooth. In seconds, he’s weaving between cars without a care in the world, focused on getting to his destination.

“Guys, I have some juicy news,” Jeongin’s voice comes through the comm units installed in their helmets.

“What’s up, Innie?”

“Turns out, 3Racha has a mole.” Jisung’s eyes widen in shock, his hands trembling. “He was about to inform Spades about Jisung’s lovely guest.”

“You took care of him,” Minho states, concentrating on the road.

“Of course, his phone exploded before he could get anything out. A shame, his battery was just… faulty.”

“Faulty, of course.”

“Did it blow up in his face?” Hyunjin cackles, his voice loud in everyone’s ears.

“Quite literally, yep.”

Hyunjin’s laughter gets muted, along with Changbin’s comms of him complaining that the maniac sitting with him is pinching his thighs out of sheer pettiness at being silenced.

“We’re almost there, everyone knows their roles?” Typical of Minho to check in minutes before an operation, but it brings back nostalgia in everyone.

“Binnie-hyung, Jinnie and I are taking the front door,” Felix chimes in.

“I’ve got the perimeter, don’t worry,” Seungmin adds calmly.

“I’ll cover Yongbok and Han Jisung can go in first as a distraction,” Minho volunteers Jisung, making him squawk indignantly.

“Hey, wait—!” Anything Jisung is about to say gets cut off by a scream as Minho swerves dangerously through traffic, which then promptly gets muted by Jeongin.

If he lives through this, he’s going to retire.

Fuck what everyone else says, fuck Chan in particular for getting himself kidnapped—Jisung does not deserve to be put in this damn situation. If anything, Chan better pay him a premium on his pension for this shit.

With those thoughts in mind, he clings to Minho for dear life and prays for his own safety, not for the first time today.

Minho and Jisung arrive first, the latter staggering off the bike like an alcoholic with too much to drink. He’s this close to kissing the floor, but refrains as Felix arrives with Seungmin in tow, both of them looking unruffled in the least.

“...Are you sure he’s going to be fine?” For Seungmin, this detached statement can be considered the height of his concern.

“Jisung’s made of stern stuff, I’m sure he’ll recover just fine.”

By the time Changbin and Hyunjin reach them, Jisung feels much better, especially after getting some fresh air while standing on solid ground. 

They’re all gathered a block away from the warehouse, where Jeongin has taken precautions to avoid alerting the other group. The cameras in the area are looped, playing footage from various different nights at the current hour.

Seungmin ends up parting from them, citing his need for a tall enough building to get a vantage point that will allow him to play his favorite game—snipe the enemies till they’re all dead or incapacitated.

Jisung’s blood goes cold, realizing that Seungmin is a sniper.

While he’s lost in his thoughts, Minho also disappears without him noticing. The others pay him no heed, walking down to the warehouse like they’re strolling through a garden.

“Hyung-nim seems to have a thing for you, Sungie,” Hyunjin casually opens up the topic, as though they’ve been friends forever. He studies Jisung with a keen eye, something that belies his persona as a crazy person. “I wouldn’t have guessed that you’re his type.”

“His type?” Jisung echoes, brows furrowed in confusion.

“Oh yeah, his type is more along the lines of Seungmin—they used to be together, you know?” Changbin continues for Hyunjin, nodding to himself.

No, Jisung did not know.

He’s not sure if Hyunjin is trying to rile him up or something, but now he’s just stuck with the thought of Seungmin and Minho together.

“Jisung.” Felix’s voice catches his attention. “You can stew on this later, we need you to bring your A-game to this thing.”

“Dude, I don’t even have a C-game. Let’s face it, I’m more likely to die than any of you in there.”

Of course he has pride in his skills, and his title as ‘The Escape Artist’ didn’t just happen out of luck, but this is just out of his scope. The most he’s ever rescued is a bunch of jewelry from its owners, not a man from a warehouse filled to the gills with armed men.

“Listen, just do what you need to do to survive. Don’t worry about us, save your own skin.” It makes him feel a bit better, knowing that he’s not expected to protect any of them—not that he thinks he can, but it’s the thought that counts.

Once they’re in front of the warehouse, they notice two men standing by the large gates.

“Hey, you’re not allowed here!” Dead Meat One yells at them from afar, waving around an HK33 assault rifle at them.

“Beat it kids, or else…!” Dead Meat Two threatens them, aiming loosely in their direction.

“Seungmin.”

“On it, Lix. They’re lined up like pins at a bowling alley, guess this is the two for one discount.”

Within a few seconds, both men drop to the ground like marionettes with their strings cut off. There’s a slow-trickling pool of red forming beneath them, but only Jisung looks uneasy as they step past them into the warehouse proper.

“Strike.”

“Good job, Minnie.” Hyunjin’s just as enthusiastic as ever, though he curbs down his volume a lot more to not attract attention. “They look much better in red.”

“It was too easy,” comes the murmur in their ears, “I hope there’s more of them, I’m a bit rusty.”

The area past the gate is full of huge warehouse storage units, big enough to hide them from view. However, this worked both ways, with people suddenly appearing from corners and freezing in shock or attempting to shoot at the quartet.

Unfortunately for the poor peons, it’s simple enough for Seungmin to get in headshots whenever he can or for Felix to knock a person’s skull in with a heavy punch or two and a crunch.

“Wow, this is therapeutic.” There’s blood staining his brass knuckles, but it doesn’t bother him much—not when he’s going to end up covered in it by the end of the night.

“Remind me not to piss you off, Lix,” Jisung remarks dryly, grimacing as he accidentally steps on a puddle of blood. “God, this is never gonna get out. I don’t think I can afford new shoes.”

“It’s okay, Minho would probably get you some,” Hyunjin cuts in slyly, “if you beg prettily. He loves that.”

“For fuck’s sake, he doesn’t li—” An arm unexpected comes out from nowhere, a knife in its grasp and headed straight for Jisung—except, a gunshot to the head takes care of it before they even get within five feet of him.

“Oh, thanks Seungmin,” Jisung breathes out shakily, running a hand through his hair.

“That wasn’t me.”

Jisung looks at Changbin who shakes his head.

“It was me, dipshits.” Minho walks towards them, stepping on top of the dead body with irreverence. “Next time, pay attention to your surroundings.”

“Guys, security is heavy over at container 2241. It should be about 600 feet north from where you are now.”

With Jeongin’s directions passed on, Minho splits up from them again as he takes an alternate route to eliminate any potential backup.

Meanwhile, the quartet manages to make their way to the container and like Jeongin had said, it’s crawling with armed men.

“Jisung?” Felix calls out as the man starts running around in plain sight, ducking behind containers.

“Fuck, we have intruders!” one of the men yells, only to get shot by Seungmin a moment later.

Chaos breaks out, with Felix, Hyunjin and Changbin fighting off the remaining men.

“Too slow,” Hyunjin taunts a man, laughing as he knocks his gun out of his hand with his bat. “It’s like I’m fighting a granny, it’s unfair.” He doesn’t waste much time, kicking the man behind his knees to get him kneeling and wiggling his bat in the air.

“Fore!”

Blood splatters all over the ground, and Felix shakes his head as he dodges a knife thrust at his face.

“Jinnie, you’re not playing golf.”

“Does it really matter? I scored!” he boasts, jabbing his bat into another man’s eye socket. “You can’t tell me that it wasn't beautiful!”

“Nothing’s more beautiful than you Jinnie,” Changbin shoots another man in the knee, watching him fall and beaming when Hyunjin breaks the man’s neck. “God, you’re so hot.”

“Less flirting, more killing!” Felix missed this so much, having fun with his friends—but Chan’s life is on the line here, so he has to get serious.

Jisung flies out from a different corner, tackling a man pointing his gun at Felix. He watches in shock as Felix makes his way over and crushes the man’s head underneath his boot.

“Thanks for having my back.” He leaves a shaken Jisung, who quickly snaps out of it and goes back into hiding.

The ground is a mixture of blood, guts and bodies that has Felix wrinkling his nose in disgust. If there’s one thing he doesn’t miss, it’s the overwhelming stench of blood and other unmentionable fluids that coalesces in the air into a foul odor.

“Seungmin, tell me that we’re done here.” Felix flexes his hands, clenching and unclenching his fists from the uncomfortable strain. It’s been a long time since he’s fought like this, and it shows in how hard he’s breathing and the minor bruises on his forearms that are hidden by his blood-stained leather jacket.

“No one seems to be going towards you anymore, you’re all clear to enter.”

“Let’s go, I unlocked the door.” While the others were busy fighting, Jisung managed to avoid the majority of the brawl and picked the lock practically unnoticed.

Felix blinks in surprise, then a huge grin breaks out on his face as he and the rest enter the warehouse, Jisung trailing behind them nervously.

“Well, well, well…”

The first thing Felix sees is a man standing in the middle of the room with two armed guards. A smarmy, arrogant expression detracts from his moderately good looks, which he’s determined to ruin before the end of the day.

“If it isn’t J.One...” He steps forward, revealing a beaten and tied up Chan behind him. “What’s this? I didn’t know that 3Racha and Stray Kids had an alliance.”

“We don’t,” Changbin says gruffly, glancing at Felix who’s been grinding his teeth the entire time.

Tension drains from the man’s shoulders at that, letting out a greasy laugh that has even Hyunjin frowning in distaste.

“Cha Kwangmin, at your service,” he introduces himself with a flourish, bowing at the waist. “It’s quite unfortunate that you had to kill so many of my men to get here… but I was unaware that Stray Kids themselves would be coming here.” His head tilts in confusion, “Especially the Immortal Yongbok-nim. Last I heard, you’re retired.”

“Well, I suppose you could say that there’s something you have that I’m interested in.” Felix’s teeth glint underneath the overhead lights, a shark’s smile on his lips.

“Is that so? If you can get rid of the rest of 3Racha, I’m sure we can come to an agreement.” Kwangmin points at Jisung, who cowers behind them.

Felix glances at Chan’s right-hand man, then snorts as he walks towards Kwangmin. He comes to a stop in front of him, holding his hand out for a shake. With a smug smile, the boss takes his hand.

Crack.

“Sorry, but I don’t make deals with fuckers like you that gang up on my boyfriend.”

Felix is smiling happily at Kwangmin’s screams of pain, feeling a sense of satisfaction at breaking his hand and crushing his fingers in his tight grip. While the man tries to scramble away, he laughs and spins him so that Kwangmin’s back is pressed against him, arms trapped between them.

“Shoot and you won’t have a boss,” Felix threatens, watching as the men start lowering their guns.

“Fuck—! I don’t care if I die, kill his boytoy!” Kwangmin snaps, frothing at the mouth as he stares at Chan with feral eyes.

It happens almost in slow motion—

Felix throws Kwangmin at the man readying his aim, then leaps at the second guard, sending them both to the floor with him crouched over the guard’s body. With a twist of his hands, he breaks the man’s neck, then turns back to see Kwangmin pointing the gun at Chan.

As he’s about to press the trigger, his hand literally goes flying off, still clutching at the gun.

Minho appears, kicking Kwangmin in the back and propelling him in front of Felix’s feet, who looks down at him with the rage that has always been difficult to control.

“You piece of shit…” Felix kicks his ribs, sending him to the floor. “You tried to kill my boyfriend. Well, I’m not happy about that.”

“Please…” Kwangmin pleads, spitting blood from his mouth. “I’ll—I’ll give you anything you w-want!”

“Anything…?” Felix asks, pulling the man up by his hair.

“Y-Yes!”

“Okay.” Pretending to think for a moment, he taps his foot on the floor and then decides, “I want you to die for me.”

The sheer amount of fear is palpable in Kwangmin’s eyes as Felix releases him. He tries to crawl away, but doesn’t get further than a few inches before Felix’s foot is on his back, trapping him down like a cockroach.

“Disgusting… how the mighty have fallen.” He lifts his foot and brings it down in a stomp, shattering the mobster’s spine like plexiglass and ignoring the pained shriek that followed.

“Ple...ase…”

“No, no, you don’t get to make this painless,” Felix scolds, wagging his finger playfully. “You touched my boyfriend with your filthy hands, so I have to punish you for that. Well, I don’t think you need those hands anymore where you’re going...”

Getting the message, Minho passes Felix his knife and steps back. With a grateful nod, Felix takes it and twirls it in his grasp.

“I don’t think I’ll get a clean cut with this, but I’m sure you understand that drastic times call for drastic measures.” He sounds almost mournful at that, but then hacks into Kwangmin’s wrist. After a few tries on both sides, Felix makes a sound as though enlightened.

“Oh, I think I should break the wrist to get it fully off!” He hums cheerfully, popping the entire wrist off the bone and sliding the knife through to fully slice through it.  “It’s almost like cutting out chicken legs!”

With each slice of the knife, there’s whimpers and cries, until Kwangmin fully stops making noises. Both his hands are detached, carelessly thrown aside like rubbish.

“Phew, that’s one punishment done.”

“He squealed like a pig.” Changbin hides his mirth behind fake coughs, Hyunjin clinging to him chortling.

“That looks fun, maybe I should try it next time.” The statement is immediately met with protests all around, no one wanting the maknae to get into torture.

Felix stands up and flips the man onto his injured back with his foot.

“You damaged his face, so I’m afraid… that no one’s going to recognize yours anymore.”

With that said, he starts kicking Kwangmin’s face in with his boots, knocking in his chin and jaw, followed by stomping the heel into his nose. It caves into his skull, which he then kicks like a football, causing an eyeball to pop out of its socket.

“Hmm, I think he’s dead Bokkie.” Hyunjin pokes at the corpse with his bat, sighing when it doesn't even twitch. It’s just as Felix promised, bloody and unrecognizable. Only his dental records can identify him now. “But that was fantastic! Bravo! A true masterpiece!”

“Now that the trash has been disposed of, Yongbok can have his happily ever after with Prince Charming over there.”

Felix slowly approaches Chan, who looks up at him with a bruised eye and small cuts on his face and his lip. When he’s in front of him, he drops to his knees and cups Chan’s face in his hands.

“Chris…”

“Lix?” Despite witnessing him torture Kwangmin, and the fact that he’s covered in so much blood, Chan gazes at Felix with the same love and adoration as always.

“I’m here, I came for you—” Felix chokes up, tears welling up in his eyes. “I was so worried… that I wouldn’t make it in time!” He wraps himself around Chan in a hug, mindful of his injuries.

Although Chan is still tied up, he leans into Felix’s arms as much as he can, tears silently streaming down his face. Even if he dies now, he’s happy that Felix is the last thing he sees—

He genuinely believed that he wouldn’t make it back home, unable to say goodbye to the love of his life or even let him know what actually happened to him.

“Lix… I’m sorry…”

“Shh, we’ll talk later—”

“Hyung-nim!”

BANG!

“You let your guard down, hyung-nim,” Jisung says icily, holding a gun with a smoking barrel.

Next to Minho, the first guard slumps to the ground, a bullet lodged in his forehead between his eyes.

“Han Jisung…” Minho grabs Jisung and pushes him against the wall, locking their lips together. He plucks the gun out of his hand and turns the safety on, then throws it to the floor as Jisung locks his arms around his neck.

Minho licks into his mouth and Jisung moans, granting him access—

“Ahem.”

The sound of a throat clearing behind them startles Jisung enough for him to pull away from Minho, a deep blush on his face.

“Gross,” Jeongin adds, then goes radio silent.

“Don’t forget to use protection, you don’t know where Minho-hyung’s been,” Seungmin deadpans, “I’m going home now.”

“If you lovebirds are done, we’re heading back now.” Changbin taps Hyunjin’s bat rhythmically against a pole, turning around and walking out with his lover.

Jisung notices that Felix is carrying Chan in his arms, princess style, and he can’t help the smile that grows on his face.

“We’ll pick up where we left off later.” Minho winks, sauntering ahead of Jisung whose eyes are hypnotized by the sway of his hips.

He shakes his head and quickly catches up, walking side by side with the older assassin.

“See, I knew you wanted me.”

“I’m retiring.”

“Great, that means you’ll have more time to spend with me.”

If only he wasn’t extremely attracted to this statue of a man, Jisung would’ve already bailed out and called it quits before secluding himself in a drainage sewer like Splinter. That rat had the right idea, he figured.

“Oh my fucking God, do we have to ride the bike again?”

“I’ll ride you later, now hop on.”

Well, when he puts it that way… Jisung gets on the damn motorbike like his life depends upon it.

“No take backs!”