A Bullet to the Heart, for vivacelavida [part 1/3]
Title: A Bullet to the Heart
For: vivacelavida
Word Count:15,403
Rating: G
Summary: Wu Fan is FBI's heartless killing machine. Yixing may just be the bullet he needs.
Wu Fan has never thought that guns were dangerous. It’s just an object. Just a tool made by someone else’s hands. What’s dangerous though is the person holding the gun with a finger on the trigger. He hates it. He hates it the most. He hates how someone can selfishly take someone else’s life like they’ve started it, like it’s theirs, like they own it. He hates how anyone can die anytime in the hands of someone they’ve never even interacted with before. He hates how victims always lose and criminals win. It’s an unchanging balance in the society, in the world, and Wu Fan refuses to accept that the wheel may never be turned around.
His philosophy is flawless. It’s objective and fair.
That’s why, with the gun on his hand, he pulls the trigger on those he passes his judgments to. Because he is absolute. His judgments are absolute.
“Ah.” Wu Fan turns beside him. “You killed him.” Junmyeon, their analyst, tells him, dropping the again in his sentence as to avoid sounding so redundant. After all, tomorrow, today or yesterday, the outcome is always the same.
“He drew out his gun first.”
Junmyeon subtly glances at the gun lying atop the criminal’s cold and lifeless hand as he continues to sprawl around the crime scene. He doesn’t understand why Wu Fan remains in this twisted trajectory. Even just by one look, Junmyeon could tell if someone has put the gun on an already cold hand. Wu Fan doesn’t even try. It makes Junmyeon laugh. Indeed, he is a dead man.
“You’ve done your job here, Wu Fan. You can leave the rest to us. Go back to the HQ.”
Wu Fan doesn’t say a word and instead just walks away.
Well, better. Junmyeon doesn’t want that stinking smell of a murderer in here anymore.
“Wu Fan! You’re back early!” Kyungsoo, their analyst, immediately greets him by the door.
Wu Fan hears Kai laugh from the kitchen. “Did Junmyeon kick you out?” And chooses to ignore him.
Somehow, this place has become rather homey. With Kyungsoo dressed so casually, even cooking their meals and Kai carelessly making himself fat with all the food he eats all day, it doesn’t look like much of an HQ anymore. Up until now, he doesn’t get Junmyeon’s way of handling things, especially with this weird setting. But he’s working under his command so he really had no choice but to comply with his condition of living together.
“Are you hungry? I can cook you some food.” Kyungsoo asks while walking back to the kitchen.
Wu Fan proceeds to the hallway while mumbling, “No. It’s fine.”
“Are you sure?”
Wu Fan stops by the stairs. “Did anything arrive from the base?”
Kyungsoo looks up, thinking. “From the base….ah!” He immediately ran towards the drawers and pulled out a letter. “This memo came earlier today! It’s for this Friday, I think.”
Wu Fan immediately takes the paper. “Thanks.” He walks up the stairs, his mind completely occupied with the case earlier. Sure, Wu Fan has been doing this for years now but no matter how much he pulls the trigger to a criminal, the image of his first kill always comes back to him, haunting him, that no matter how many times he kills, it will never be enough to make him forget about that trauma.
Kyungsoo looks back at him, remembering something. “Ah, Wu Fan, by the way-“ He pauses when he sees Wu Fan turn to the hallway and decides not to continue. He sighs. Wu Fan always had that closed-off aura around him but no matter what, Kyungsoo can’t seem to get used to it.
Wu Fan immediately hopped on his bed after turning the lights on. He heaved a deep sigh. It seemed like a long time since he got to lie down like this, starting at nothing but the ceiling. Nowadays, as soon as he gets home, he immediately falls asleep. It’s like time always skips for him and the only thing he remembers by the end of the day and at the start of the day when he wakes up is him pulling the trigger, again and again.
He stretched his arms to his side while his pushes his shoes off with his feet.
But then he suddenly felt a bump above his head and paused before he sat up in confusion. There it was. There was a prominent bump sticking out from under his sheets. He was imagining an animal or some sort but even so it seemed like a dangerous circumstance that he immediately grabbed his gun and pointed at it. Then with his free hand, he grabbed the sheets and quickly pulled it away.
In utter surprise, he accidentally pulled the trigger.
“He saw him.” Jongin says after hearing the gun shot. Kyungsoo nods. Both were apparently too occupied with the show they were watching to even bother.
Wu Fan stares with a horrid expression at the person sitting on his bed. “W-WHO ARE YOU?!”
The guy rubs his eyes open, and waking up with a sound of a gunshot even. “Oh, hi…”
“DON’T Oh, hi… ME! SPEAK! INTRODUCE YOURSELF!”
“Stop yelling! Okay, okay, I’m Zhang Yixing-“ He didn’t even get to finish seeing as Wu Fan had immediately grabbed him by the collar and pulled him with him outside the room.
“Do you think he killed him?” Jongin asks after a while.
Kyungsoo hears the heavy stomps from the second floor. “There’s your answer.”
“DO KYUNGSOO!!!”
Both Kyungsoo and Jongin looked up at the same time to the sight of Wu Fan manhandling poor Yixing who’s struggling to free himself off of Wu Fan’s filthy hold. “I found an intruder! Let’s kill him!”
“ARE YOU MAD?!” Yixing yells yet Kyungsoo is already walking towards the drawer where they hide the hand guns.
“Just so you know, he’s not an intruder.” Kyungsoo says while throwing one gun to Jongin and then reloading one for himself.
“WAIT-WHY ARE YOU HOLDING GUNS?!”
Kyungsoo and Jongin then get into stance with the guns in front of them and pointed directly towards Yixing.
“You must be kidding m-“
Gunshots were simultaneously fired after another and in a second, Wu Fan was being kicked to the side while Yixing had successfully broken out of his grip. Yixing then grabbed the steel table behind him to block the bullets and then jumped behind, leaving the steel table to drop on the floor, as he holds out two guns from under his shirt. As soon as the table reached the floor, Yixing was pointing his guns back at Jongin and Kyungsoo. Wu Fan was frozen at the side, obviously caught off guard.
Kyungsoo chuckles as he and Jongin lower their guns. “Did you see that, Wu Fan? He’s your new partner!”
Wu Fan immediately stands up. “All the more reason to kill him! What do you mean partner?! I don’t take partners!”
“Sorry, orders from the organization,”Kyungsoo tells him while putting the guns back inside the drawer. “It was written on the letter I gave you earlier.”
“Don’t give me that bullshit! I’m not going to take any partner! You can all go die!” Wu Fan yells in exasperation before walking back to his room, completely ignoring Yixing who’s standing by the hallway.
“Man, he’s difficult.” Kyungsoo mumbles.
Jongin scrunches his nose while looking around. “He’s injured.”
“Huh?”
“So he really did hit you, huh?” Kyungsoo asks while gently putting the patch on Yixing’s right leg. Yixing had just finished explaining to him that Wu Fan accidentally pulled the trigger and accidentally shot him on the leg. Although, it wasn’t more than a scratch. “There. All done.”
“Thank you.”
Kyungsoo stares at him. “You know it’s been bothering me since you got here earlier. Why would they assign a newbie to be Wu Fan’s partner? And we’re talking about Wu Fan here. Everybody in the organization knows his mantra is ‘I work alone, all of you can die’.”
“I’m sorry but I can’t disclose that information.”
“Well, I’m your resident analyst. I’m bound to know sooner or later.”
Jongin leans back to his seat and places his legs on top of the table. “The Chairman must’ve gotten sick of Wu Fan killing all of the suspects in every mission. They can just stop giving him missions.”
“You know when that happens this whole unit is going to suffer. I wouldn’t want to go back to that damn training camp and serve directly under those damn politicians.”
“Touché.” Jongin says with a nod.
“Anyway,” Kyungsoo turns back to Yixing. “You could’ve easily dodged the bullet altogether judging from your reaction when we shot you earlier. Why’d you let him hit you?”
Yixing shrugs his shoulders. “I guess I trusted him too much? Since I’m a stranger and all and I don’t think I looked that harmful.”
“Oh, honey, he kills criminals on a daily basis and they’re more than just strangers to him. Of course he won’t hesitate to kill you.” Kyungsoo says while cleaning up the first aid box. “Anyhow, we originally planned that you sleep in Wu Fan’s room but given the circumstances, I guess that’s impossible. Will you be fine here in the living room? We haven’t prepared a room for you yet.”
“I’m fine wherever.”
Kyungsoo smirks at him. “Ehhh, as expected from on-field types. Very well. I’ll go get the folding bed I placed on Wu Fan’s room.”
“…there was a folding bed there?”
“You didn’t see it? Then where did you sleep earlier?”
“On his bed.”
“Ah,” Kyungsoo deadpans. “Of course he’ll kill you.”
As expected, sleep didn’t come to Yixing easily. He knew seeing Wu Fan face to face would give him that much impact. Now he can’t stop remembering it all. The fire, the screams, the cries, his plead for help; he remembers them all like it was just yesterday.
“Wu Fan, huh…” Yixing runs the name through his tongue. “He doesn’t remember me at all.”
Wu Fan stirs awake at the sound of loud thuds and groans. The feeling suddenly brings back memories. He hasn’t woken up like since the training camp and that only means one thing. It’s obviously the new guy. And it’s not even 4 AM yet. “Just how much does this guy want to die?” He curses while forcing himself to get off his bed.
Kyungsoo watches Yixing carefully in great awe. He accidentally found him outside when he went down for a glass of water and has stayed to watch since then. After a few minutes, Jongin came down and agreed to spar with Yixing since they’re both on-field types.
“Oy,” Wu Fan says, almost sounding like a groan, while leaning against the doorway. “What the hell are you doing? It’s 4 AM for fuck’s sake.”
Kyungsoo looks up from the bench. “Stop being so grumpy and embrace the morning.” Wu Fan glowers at him. “A-anyway, Yixing was practicing earlier so Jongin joined in. Why don’t you watch with me? Maybe you’d change your mind about him.” Kyungsoo adds, pertaining to Yixing.
Jongin was skilled with manipulating guns or other weapons to his advantage while putting his body work into good use while Yixing was just simply skilled in body maneuvers that could make even weapons useless against him. Yixing was close to snatching Jongin’s weapons many times but as skilled as he was, so was Jongin who have avoided his attacks the same times. Of course, they weren’t holding real weapons but it was easy to imagine them with that image.
Yixing gives the final blow by slicing away Jongin’s gun from his wrist and pointing it back at him.
“Whoa!” Kyungsoo exclaims. “He got him!”
“Tsk. Why are you giving him credit for beating someone with a handicap? Seriously. This is foolish.” Wu Fan walks back inside without showing any indifference at all.
Yixing looks back to Jongin in confusion. “Handicap?”
“Jongin’s right arm is injured,” Kyungsoo says while putting butter on the scrambled eggs he’s cooking. Jongin was laying down a map on the dining table. It’s now 5:30 AM. A mission came in just a few minutes earlier. “He got it during one of our chases.”
Yixing looks up from the disclosed files. “I see. I thought it was just your style but your arm is really injured.”
“It’s not useless though. Wu Fan says really extreme things.” Jongin says with a faint chuckle. “Anyway, why are they giving us a mission now? It seems so sudden.” He adds while observing the map.
Kyungsoo places the scrambled eggs on the plates and says, “Maybe they wanted to put Yixing on-field already.”
“You could say that but with a simple mission like this even Wu Fan himself can handle this.”
Kyungsoo walks over to the dining table to set down the plates. Then he takes a few papers from the pile of folders. “Well according to the last five units who have failed this mission, the target has a really extreme sniper that was hard for them to track. That might be the reason why this was given to us after his addition.” Both Jongin and Kyungsoo turn to Yixing who seems a little bit puzzled. Kyungsoo chuckles.
“You’re an on-field, right? Jongin has noticed it too. Aside from textbook skills you acquired from the training camp, you have really fast reflexes and reaction time. When I watched the both of you fight earlier, it’s as if I was watching a video from Nat Geo. That said, you even managed to point Jongin’s gun back at him. You could say it’s like you have animal instincts. Jongin is a keen observer in nature but you don’t observe, you just react really fast. That’s useful against bullets you have no idea where they’re coming from. In short, it’s perfect for this kind of mission.”
“Animal instincts?” Yixing wonders while staring at his hands.
“Anyway, this sniper…”
“Yeah.”
Yixing bites his lip. “They move.”
“It’s not impossible to have snipers move around the area but it’s not common,” Wu Fan says while carefully (although almost aggressively) throwing armories at the back of the van. “Being a sniper means hiding yourself entirely in one place. But when you start running around with a rifle on hand, it’s hard not to draw attention to yourself.”
“What if the place isn’t so crowded?” Yixing asks.
“That’s even more impossible. If there aren’t people around to distract your presence then it’d be easier to find you,” Wu Fan answers before sighing. “Can’t you use a bit of your common sense?”
“I was just asking!”
Wu Fan closes the trunk before giving Yixing a look. “Tsk. Good-for-nothing newbies.”
“What is your problem?!” Yixing yells while following Wu Fan who’s already walking to the front.
Kyungsoo immediately grabs Yixing’s arm. “Now, now. Don’t get to hot-headed. Wu Fan’s always like that. If he’s not like that, then he’s not Wu Fan.”
Yixing sighs in defeat. “Fine.” Kyungsoo then pulls him to the back seat with him. Wu Fan is on the front seat while Sehun on the driver’s. At 11:00 AM they head off to their mission.
“Alright now I’m going to orient you,” Kyungsoo says while turning to face Yixing. “As we have discussed earlier, you will be on the field with Jongin while Wu Fan and I walk around the mall to support you from the background without drawing suspicion,” That last line obviously points to Wu Fan. “Keep your earpiece on. I’ll be giving you instructions,” Yixing nods. “Also, there’s a 50% chance that the wires are tapped so to be safe, we call each other using our nicknames when on field. I’m D.O, Jongin’s Kai and Wu Fan’s-.”
“Kevin.”
“Kris.” Kyungsoo enunciates.
Wu Fan glowers at Kyungsoo.
“Kevin is your other name not your nickname, moron,” Kyungsoo turns back to Yixing after snapping at Wu Fan. “How about you? Do you have a nickname yet?”
“Uh…I don’t…”
“Ah, bummer. Should we come up with one for you? Jongin, hit me with your best name!”
“Lay.”
“Lay it is then!”
So fast! Yixing, rather than amazed, is in a state of culture shock.
“Alright, from now on, whenever we have a mission, you’re Lay. Do you remember ours?”
Yixing nods. “D.O. Kai. And…Kris.”
“Alright! Now for the codes we use in our conversation!”
Wu Fan looks outside the window. The sky seems calm and the weather is nice but when he thinks about it, nothing in this world is calm. Humans and animals aren’t entirely different. They both prey to those inferior to them regardless of the method. He’s one. Moreover, all of this comes from the fact that until now he is still extremely irritated that the organization decided to give him a partner. Not only does it pose a huge burden to him, it changes all of the flows of his missions in the future with the addition of a new face. Their unit has functioned independently and properly even with just the three of them so he sees absolutely no benefit in the addition of another agent.
Wu Fan sighs. His thoughts are clouded with Yixing’s laughter ringing from the back seat. Not that it annoys him, well it does, but it’s because the sound isn’t so familiar with him. He’s getting pissed for all the wrong reasons.
At 12:00 PM sharp, they arrive at the local mall at Incheon. They are all dressed as casually as they can to avoid drawing too much attention to themselves. Wu Fan is already at the third floor while Kyungsoo at the second so it’s easier for them to check on both Yixing and Jongin.
This mission is just like any other mission they have, Wu fan thinks, with Jongin on the field as a decoy, Kyungsoo giving instructions and Wu Fan in reserve as a backup, just that this time there is a really annoying pest sprinkling excitement everywhere.
Yixing gasps in front of a stall. “Cotton candy!”
Wu Fan groans after hearing Yixing yell from his earpiece. Then he hears Kyungsoo’s laugh next. Wu Fan presses his earpiece. “You. We’re not here to buy things we’re here to do sightseeing.”
Sightseeing is equivalent to doing a mission . Yixing pouts. “I was just excited. I haven’t eaten one since-“
“I didn’t ask.”
Yixing pouts even more. “Fine!”
“Kai, help me out here, will you?...Kai?”
Wu Fan walks over to the railings and finds Jongin staring intensely at a pair of running shoes. “Kai!”
Jongin immediately snaps out. “What? What? Am I dead?”
“Dammit! I have no time to babysit all of you!”
“Kris, relax, will ya? I doubt the vampires will come out in broad daylight yet .” Kyungsoo interrupts from the other side.
Vampires = targets.
Wu Fan notices that Yixing has suddenly gone silent. He likes to think he’s beginning to understand the weight of this role in this mission and has decided to act in accord to that weight but the atmosphere is rather alarming. It’s an instinct.
Yixing saw the red light. “Shit!” And in a moment, the person he’s keeping an eye on was instantly shot to death. Yixing immediately grabbed Jongin to run as gunshots begin to fire unanimously towards the citizens around them.
“Where is it coming from?!” Wu Fan yells while trying to make his way against the panicked citizens around him. The gunshots grow and the citizens’ panic doesn’t decline.
“All of you get inside the nearest elevator!” Kyungsoo yells through the earpiece. “Kris, there’s an elevator to your right at six o’clock! The mall is going to shut all elevators and shops while the civilians run outside! I’ll breach in the system from one of the elevators so stay inside the elevator!”
Kyungsoo immediately drops his suitcase down after closing the elevator door. He opens the suitcase, revealing his built-in laptop with an OS capable that of supporting each of their missions. He immediately takes out the cord from the laptop to connect to the system of the elevator.
He presses his earpiece. “You all in?”
“Yeah we’re in.”
Kyugsoo types in the keyboard as fast as he can, alternating codes and whatnot while also breaching the security cameras. He locked the elevators the four of them are in, mimicking the way the other elevators are, and then proceeded to check on the cameras. All of the citizens are almost out. Some of the shops are only half-closed. It’s obvious that the criminals have already infiltrated the mall’s operating system.
“Robbery?”
“What a problematic group of robbers.”
“Still, for a robbery this is…”
“This is really annoying.”
Kyungsoo sighs. “Alright, guys, they’re here.”
Not that the mission was anything special. They were able to catch (not kill, thanks to Yixing desperately stopping Wu Fan from shooting the criminals’ head) the criminals and get some merchandise in the mall for free. However, because of the former, Wu Fan is emitting immense amount of dark aura from the front seat.
“When we get back, he’s not going to kill me right?”
“That depends.”
“What do you mean depends?”
“Depends when we’re around,” Kyungsoo laughs at the look on Yixing’s face. “I was kidding. No. Besides, we’re not going back to the house.”
“Huh?”
“We’re driving straight to the main base. Meeting two days from now, remember?”
“Why do we have to go now?”
“You’re really laid-back, aren’t you?” Kyungsoo says. “We all have to make reports and prepare for the meeting so we have to arrive there days before the meeting.”
Yixing nods at him after getting the picture. “Ah! But I didn’t bring clothes.”
“We don’t need them. When we’re at the base, we’re only allowed to wear the uniforms.”
It’s a lot given that he’s only started and met these people two days ago but rather than feeling exhausted, his excitement builds up more and more.
Yixing has only been to the base three times. The first time was when he took the exam, the second time was during the tour and the third time when he was finally dismissed and assigned as Wu Fan’s partner. The base is huge of course; it’s exactly what you see in the movies. The only thing he can’t seem to get used to is the heavy atmosphere. Everyone’s movements seem so calculated and that a single mistake could blow up your entire future and of course that’s understandable because in this field there are no room for mistakes-you could really die, however, as much as he likes the job, he hates how everyone gets so judgmental that it gets harder to breathe.
He knows someday he’ll get used to it. But he still wonders how much more people does he have to kill before he turns into any of his teammates who has made a hobby out of pulling the trigger.
Their quarters are separated based on their rankings. Since Yixing is new, he ended up along with his fellow newbies in the first floor where they get to share a room with someone. The rest of his teammates are either in the third or fourth. He knows for sure Wu Fan’s quarter is on the fifth floor where he gets the room all to himself.
And after shaking all these unnecessary thoughts away and settling in his room, Yixing finally realized something.
He doesn’t know how to write a report. And at this very moment that he is thinking about it, his roommate is already writing his and the thought of asking someone he barely knows for help is a bit embarrassing, okay not just a bit, very embarrassing. You have to know the people you should trust.
So he went to visit Kyungsoo and Jongin in the third floor.
The door opens before he can even knock and Kyungsoo appears to be surprised and all groomed up. “Oh, Yixing, what are you doing here?”
“I just want to ask for a favor, if it’s okay,” Yixing starts while getting distracted by Jongin behind Kyungsoo running around the room. “I don’t know how to write a report.”
“Oh gosh I’m so sorry. We’ve been summoned. We’ll be busy the whole afternoon.” Kyungso says while putting on his boots.
“That’s okay maybe later tonight-“
“You can ask Wu Fan to teach you!”
“That’s a joke right?” Yixing deadpans.
“He did all our reports before he became a killing machine. He got bored of it and taught me how to do it so now I do all of those. Anyway,” Kyungsoo looks back. “Jongin! Come on! You know the drill!”
Jongin finally runs to the door and Kyungsoo walks out. “See you!” He says as they start running.
“I am so alone.” Yixing whispers in a sigh.
It’s not that he’s scared of Wu Fan. He just doesn’t know how much he can hold against him. At least since Kyungsoo’s an analyst, he can’t do much harm to him since analysts aren’t exactly trained to fight on-field. Jongin’s an on-field so he’s pretty sure he can defend himself against him when things went the other way around. But Wu Fan, Wu Fan is the problem. He looks so secluded and stand-alone, he probably knows more than textbook skills.
And killing machine definitely threw probably out of the window.
So why is he in front of Wu Fan’s room?
“Yixing, you’re a grown man with enough combat skills,” Yixing whispers to himself. “You’re not gonna die in there.” However, looking back to what he did in their mission earlier, Wu Fan probably has some killing intent built up for him that he might actually die. “No, no, no.” He says while shaking his head. “You’re his partner. You have to at least make sure you’re in a truce…” He nods. “For the rest of our lives.”
Yixing starts pacing back and forth in front of Wu Fan’s room. “I mean, when he sees me, he’s not gonna shoot me right? I’m unarmed. He probably won’t.” Probably. “Maybe I should apologize first? But if I do there’s a chance he might get angrier…but if I don’t say something about it he might also get angrier.” He groans in frustration. “Why am I not a good judge of character? I don’t want to say something stupid!”
“What are you doing?” Wu Fan says while leaning against the doorway.
“Shh. I’m having a crisis.”
Wu Fan rolls his eye while lighting a stick of cigarette.
Yixing immediately snaps after smelling the smoke and turns beside him. “Uh…” In his mind, he is extremely shocked that Wu Fan is standing by the doorway, giving him a weird look, and probably heard the nonsense he was sprouting earlier. On the other hand, his face is absolutely dead. “Hi.”
“You shushed me.”
“Sorry.” And he ended up apologizing for an entirely different reason. Yixing immediately clears his throat after noticing Wu Fan looking expectantly at him. “So, uh, I’m actually here to ask for a favor.”
Wu Fan immediately slams the door shut.
Yixing glances around him awkwardly. “It’s really important!” He yells to the door. “Very vital to being a newbie! I’m your partner too! So this is inevitable you know! You can’t run away forever!”
Wu Fan opens the door and suddenly pulls Yixing inside wherein he almost tripped. Almost.
Yixing immediately fixes his clothes once inside. “So you decided to listen-“
“You were yelling everywhere.”
Yixing clears his throat in embarrassment. “Uh, you smoke.”
“What about it?”
“Nothing.” Yixing says immediately. “My father used to smoke. He died.”
Wu Fan gives him a look.
Yixing chuckles awkwardly. “But that’s not what I came here for.”
Still giving the look.
“I…uh, the favor, um…I don’t know how to write a report.”
“You don’t know how to write a report.” Wu Fan repeats, a bit stupefied.
Yixing nods slowly. “…that’s what I said.” He kind of has a hunch that the more he talks, the more the killing intent that’s building up increases.
Wu Fan closes his eyes while pressing on his temple. Yixing can see how stressed he was. He looks absolutely exhausted not just physically but mentally. He watches as Wu Fan leans over to his desk to grab a folder. Then Wu Fan suddenly throws the folder at him and luckily, one-in-a-million luckily, Yixing catches it without the papers inside falling messily on the ground.
Yixing stares at him. “Um.”
“Use that as a guide. Follow everything on it.” As if the enunciating wasn’t obvious enough, Wu Fan had to give him the look. Again.
“Thanks.” Yixing gulps. “Stop judging me.”
“I’m not judging you.” Wu Fan teases with a smirk.
Yixing slowly walks to the door while still keeping an eye on Wu Fan. “You’re still judging me.”
“I’m telling you I’m not judging you.”
Yixing continues to stare at him through the decreasing space between the doors. “I’m watching.”
Wu Fan snickers. The door finally closes shut and he shakes his head. “He doesn’t even know how to write a report. What an idiot.”
“He’s adorable though?” He hears Kyungsoo say through the speakers of his phone.
“Do we call agents adorable?”
“Admit it.”
“I know what this is, Kyungsoo. You told him to come to me. Summoned my ass. You and Jongin just want to walk around the base hand in hand.”
“Irrelevant remark coming from someone who doesn’t believe in true love. Goodbye Wu Fan. Thank you for babysitting Yixing. Make sure you get familiar enough with him. He’s your partner after all,” Kyungsoo laughs. “No sexual innuendos.”
“I hope not.” Wu Fan ends the call. He leans on his chair while thinking deeply. It’s not that he doesn’t believe in true love, he just thinks the idea is irrelevant in the field.
It’s not important.
The thought of it is even ridiculous.
Wu Fan walks towards his bed and stretches before dropping exhaustingly on it. His body isn’t tired. His work got lighter with the addition of his partner but his mental state has definitely become exhausted lately. He just doesn’t understand why he’s so worked thinking about Yixing. Yeah he hates the idea of having a partner and all the changes that come with it but his thoughts about Yixing aren’t even work-related. It’s all about the younger’s character. And he never cared about anyone’s character. He only cared about what they can contribute. That’s true even to his teammates. He approved of Kyungsoo and Jongin because they’re the best of their batch.
It’s turning into curiosity and Wu Fan is not amused.
Next
For: vivacelavida
Word Count:15,403
Rating: G
Summary: Wu Fan is FBI's heartless killing machine. Yixing may just be the bullet he needs.
Wu Fan has never thought that guns were dangerous. It’s just an object. Just a tool made by someone else’s hands. What’s dangerous though is the person holding the gun with a finger on the trigger. He hates it. He hates it the most. He hates how someone can selfishly take someone else’s life like they’ve started it, like it’s theirs, like they own it. He hates how anyone can die anytime in the hands of someone they’ve never even interacted with before. He hates how victims always lose and criminals win. It’s an unchanging balance in the society, in the world, and Wu Fan refuses to accept that the wheel may never be turned around.
His philosophy is flawless. It’s objective and fair.
That’s why, with the gun on his hand, he pulls the trigger on those he passes his judgments to. Because he is absolute. His judgments are absolute.
“Ah.” Wu Fan turns beside him. “You killed him.” Junmyeon, their analyst, tells him, dropping the again in his sentence as to avoid sounding so redundant. After all, tomorrow, today or yesterday, the outcome is always the same.
“He drew out his gun first.”
Junmyeon subtly glances at the gun lying atop the criminal’s cold and lifeless hand as he continues to sprawl around the crime scene. He doesn’t understand why Wu Fan remains in this twisted trajectory. Even just by one look, Junmyeon could tell if someone has put the gun on an already cold hand. Wu Fan doesn’t even try. It makes Junmyeon laugh. Indeed, he is a dead man.
“You’ve done your job here, Wu Fan. You can leave the rest to us. Go back to the HQ.”
Wu Fan doesn’t say a word and instead just walks away.
Well, better. Junmyeon doesn’t want that stinking smell of a murderer in here anymore.
“Wu Fan! You’re back early!” Kyungsoo, their analyst, immediately greets him by the door.
Wu Fan hears Kai laugh from the kitchen. “Did Junmyeon kick you out?” And chooses to ignore him.
Somehow, this place has become rather homey. With Kyungsoo dressed so casually, even cooking their meals and Kai carelessly making himself fat with all the food he eats all day, it doesn’t look like much of an HQ anymore. Up until now, he doesn’t get Junmyeon’s way of handling things, especially with this weird setting. But he’s working under his command so he really had no choice but to comply with his condition of living together.
“Are you hungry? I can cook you some food.” Kyungsoo asks while walking back to the kitchen.
Wu Fan proceeds to the hallway while mumbling, “No. It’s fine.”
“Are you sure?”
Wu Fan stops by the stairs. “Did anything arrive from the base?”
Kyungsoo looks up, thinking. “From the base….ah!” He immediately ran towards the drawers and pulled out a letter. “This memo came earlier today! It’s for this Friday, I think.”
Wu Fan immediately takes the paper. “Thanks.” He walks up the stairs, his mind completely occupied with the case earlier. Sure, Wu Fan has been doing this for years now but no matter how much he pulls the trigger to a criminal, the image of his first kill always comes back to him, haunting him, that no matter how many times he kills, it will never be enough to make him forget about that trauma.
Kyungsoo looks back at him, remembering something. “Ah, Wu Fan, by the way-“ He pauses when he sees Wu Fan turn to the hallway and decides not to continue. He sighs. Wu Fan always had that closed-off aura around him but no matter what, Kyungsoo can’t seem to get used to it.
Wu Fan immediately hopped on his bed after turning the lights on. He heaved a deep sigh. It seemed like a long time since he got to lie down like this, starting at nothing but the ceiling. Nowadays, as soon as he gets home, he immediately falls asleep. It’s like time always skips for him and the only thing he remembers by the end of the day and at the start of the day when he wakes up is him pulling the trigger, again and again.
He stretched his arms to his side while his pushes his shoes off with his feet.
But then he suddenly felt a bump above his head and paused before he sat up in confusion. There it was. There was a prominent bump sticking out from under his sheets. He was imagining an animal or some sort but even so it seemed like a dangerous circumstance that he immediately grabbed his gun and pointed at it. Then with his free hand, he grabbed the sheets and quickly pulled it away.
In utter surprise, he accidentally pulled the trigger.
“He saw him.” Jongin says after hearing the gun shot. Kyungsoo nods. Both were apparently too occupied with the show they were watching to even bother.
Wu Fan stares with a horrid expression at the person sitting on his bed. “W-WHO ARE YOU?!”
The guy rubs his eyes open, and waking up with a sound of a gunshot even. “Oh, hi…”
“DON’T Oh, hi… ME! SPEAK! INTRODUCE YOURSELF!”
“Stop yelling! Okay, okay, I’m Zhang Yixing-“ He didn’t even get to finish seeing as Wu Fan had immediately grabbed him by the collar and pulled him with him outside the room.
“Do you think he killed him?” Jongin asks after a while.
Kyungsoo hears the heavy stomps from the second floor. “There’s your answer.”
“DO KYUNGSOO!!!”
Both Kyungsoo and Jongin looked up at the same time to the sight of Wu Fan manhandling poor Yixing who’s struggling to free himself off of Wu Fan’s filthy hold. “I found an intruder! Let’s kill him!”
“ARE YOU MAD?!” Yixing yells yet Kyungsoo is already walking towards the drawer where they hide the hand guns.
“Just so you know, he’s not an intruder.” Kyungsoo says while throwing one gun to Jongin and then reloading one for himself.
“WAIT-WHY ARE YOU HOLDING GUNS?!”
Kyungsoo and Jongin then get into stance with the guns in front of them and pointed directly towards Yixing.
“You must be kidding m-“
Gunshots were simultaneously fired after another and in a second, Wu Fan was being kicked to the side while Yixing had successfully broken out of his grip. Yixing then grabbed the steel table behind him to block the bullets and then jumped behind, leaving the steel table to drop on the floor, as he holds out two guns from under his shirt. As soon as the table reached the floor, Yixing was pointing his guns back at Jongin and Kyungsoo. Wu Fan was frozen at the side, obviously caught off guard.
Kyungsoo chuckles as he and Jongin lower their guns. “Did you see that, Wu Fan? He’s your new partner!”
Wu Fan immediately stands up. “All the more reason to kill him! What do you mean partner?! I don’t take partners!”
“Sorry, orders from the organization,”Kyungsoo tells him while putting the guns back inside the drawer. “It was written on the letter I gave you earlier.”
“Don’t give me that bullshit! I’m not going to take any partner! You can all go die!” Wu Fan yells in exasperation before walking back to his room, completely ignoring Yixing who’s standing by the hallway.
“Man, he’s difficult.” Kyungsoo mumbles.
Jongin scrunches his nose while looking around. “He’s injured.”
“Huh?”
“So he really did hit you, huh?” Kyungsoo asks while gently putting the patch on Yixing’s right leg. Yixing had just finished explaining to him that Wu Fan accidentally pulled the trigger and accidentally shot him on the leg. Although, it wasn’t more than a scratch. “There. All done.”
“Thank you.”
Kyungsoo stares at him. “You know it’s been bothering me since you got here earlier. Why would they assign a newbie to be Wu Fan’s partner? And we’re talking about Wu Fan here. Everybody in the organization knows his mantra is ‘I work alone, all of you can die’.”
“I’m sorry but I can’t disclose that information.”
“Well, I’m your resident analyst. I’m bound to know sooner or later.”
Jongin leans back to his seat and places his legs on top of the table. “The Chairman must’ve gotten sick of Wu Fan killing all of the suspects in every mission. They can just stop giving him missions.”
“You know when that happens this whole unit is going to suffer. I wouldn’t want to go back to that damn training camp and serve directly under those damn politicians.”
“Touché.” Jongin says with a nod.
“Anyway,” Kyungsoo turns back to Yixing. “You could’ve easily dodged the bullet altogether judging from your reaction when we shot you earlier. Why’d you let him hit you?”
Yixing shrugs his shoulders. “I guess I trusted him too much? Since I’m a stranger and all and I don’t think I looked that harmful.”
“Oh, honey, he kills criminals on a daily basis and they’re more than just strangers to him. Of course he won’t hesitate to kill you.” Kyungsoo says while cleaning up the first aid box. “Anyhow, we originally planned that you sleep in Wu Fan’s room but given the circumstances, I guess that’s impossible. Will you be fine here in the living room? We haven’t prepared a room for you yet.”
“I’m fine wherever.”
Kyungsoo smirks at him. “Ehhh, as expected from on-field types. Very well. I’ll go get the folding bed I placed on Wu Fan’s room.”
“…there was a folding bed there?”
“You didn’t see it? Then where did you sleep earlier?”
“On his bed.”
“Ah,” Kyungsoo deadpans. “Of course he’ll kill you.”
As expected, sleep didn’t come to Yixing easily. He knew seeing Wu Fan face to face would give him that much impact. Now he can’t stop remembering it all. The fire, the screams, the cries, his plead for help; he remembers them all like it was just yesterday.
“Wu Fan, huh…” Yixing runs the name through his tongue. “He doesn’t remember me at all.”
Wu Fan stirs awake at the sound of loud thuds and groans. The feeling suddenly brings back memories. He hasn’t woken up like since the training camp and that only means one thing. It’s obviously the new guy. And it’s not even 4 AM yet. “Just how much does this guy want to die?” He curses while forcing himself to get off his bed.
Kyungsoo watches Yixing carefully in great awe. He accidentally found him outside when he went down for a glass of water and has stayed to watch since then. After a few minutes, Jongin came down and agreed to spar with Yixing since they’re both on-field types.
“Oy,” Wu Fan says, almost sounding like a groan, while leaning against the doorway. “What the hell are you doing? It’s 4 AM for fuck’s sake.”
Kyungsoo looks up from the bench. “Stop being so grumpy and embrace the morning.” Wu Fan glowers at him. “A-anyway, Yixing was practicing earlier so Jongin joined in. Why don’t you watch with me? Maybe you’d change your mind about him.” Kyungsoo adds, pertaining to Yixing.
Jongin was skilled with manipulating guns or other weapons to his advantage while putting his body work into good use while Yixing was just simply skilled in body maneuvers that could make even weapons useless against him. Yixing was close to snatching Jongin’s weapons many times but as skilled as he was, so was Jongin who have avoided his attacks the same times. Of course, they weren’t holding real weapons but it was easy to imagine them with that image.
Yixing gives the final blow by slicing away Jongin’s gun from his wrist and pointing it back at him.
“Whoa!” Kyungsoo exclaims. “He got him!”
“Tsk. Why are you giving him credit for beating someone with a handicap? Seriously. This is foolish.” Wu Fan walks back inside without showing any indifference at all.
Yixing looks back to Jongin in confusion. “Handicap?”
“Jongin’s right arm is injured,” Kyungsoo says while putting butter on the scrambled eggs he’s cooking. Jongin was laying down a map on the dining table. It’s now 5:30 AM. A mission came in just a few minutes earlier. “He got it during one of our chases.”
Yixing looks up from the disclosed files. “I see. I thought it was just your style but your arm is really injured.”
“It’s not useless though. Wu Fan says really extreme things.” Jongin says with a faint chuckle. “Anyway, why are they giving us a mission now? It seems so sudden.” He adds while observing the map.
Kyungsoo places the scrambled eggs on the plates and says, “Maybe they wanted to put Yixing on-field already.”
“You could say that but with a simple mission like this even Wu Fan himself can handle this.”
Kyungsoo walks over to the dining table to set down the plates. Then he takes a few papers from the pile of folders. “Well according to the last five units who have failed this mission, the target has a really extreme sniper that was hard for them to track. That might be the reason why this was given to us after his addition.” Both Jongin and Kyungsoo turn to Yixing who seems a little bit puzzled. Kyungsoo chuckles.
“You’re an on-field, right? Jongin has noticed it too. Aside from textbook skills you acquired from the training camp, you have really fast reflexes and reaction time. When I watched the both of you fight earlier, it’s as if I was watching a video from Nat Geo. That said, you even managed to point Jongin’s gun back at him. You could say it’s like you have animal instincts. Jongin is a keen observer in nature but you don’t observe, you just react really fast. That’s useful against bullets you have no idea where they’re coming from. In short, it’s perfect for this kind of mission.”
“Animal instincts?” Yixing wonders while staring at his hands.
“Anyway, this sniper…”
“Yeah.”
Yixing bites his lip. “They move.”
“It’s not impossible to have snipers move around the area but it’s not common,” Wu Fan says while carefully (although almost aggressively) throwing armories at the back of the van. “Being a sniper means hiding yourself entirely in one place. But when you start running around with a rifle on hand, it’s hard not to draw attention to yourself.”
“What if the place isn’t so crowded?” Yixing asks.
“That’s even more impossible. If there aren’t people around to distract your presence then it’d be easier to find you,” Wu Fan answers before sighing. “Can’t you use a bit of your common sense?”
“I was just asking!”
Wu Fan closes the trunk before giving Yixing a look. “Tsk. Good-for-nothing newbies.”
“What is your problem?!” Yixing yells while following Wu Fan who’s already walking to the front.
Kyungsoo immediately grabs Yixing’s arm. “Now, now. Don’t get to hot-headed. Wu Fan’s always like that. If he’s not like that, then he’s not Wu Fan.”
Yixing sighs in defeat. “Fine.” Kyungsoo then pulls him to the back seat with him. Wu Fan is on the front seat while Sehun on the driver’s. At 11:00 AM they head off to their mission.
“Alright now I’m going to orient you,” Kyungsoo says while turning to face Yixing. “As we have discussed earlier, you will be on the field with Jongin while Wu Fan and I walk around the mall to support you from the background without drawing suspicion,” That last line obviously points to Wu Fan. “Keep your earpiece on. I’ll be giving you instructions,” Yixing nods. “Also, there’s a 50% chance that the wires are tapped so to be safe, we call each other using our nicknames when on field. I’m D.O, Jongin’s Kai and Wu Fan’s-.”
“Kevin.”
“Kris.” Kyungsoo enunciates.
Wu Fan glowers at Kyungsoo.
“Kevin is your other name not your nickname, moron,” Kyungsoo turns back to Yixing after snapping at Wu Fan. “How about you? Do you have a nickname yet?”
“Uh…I don’t…”
“Ah, bummer. Should we come up with one for you? Jongin, hit me with your best name!”
“Lay.”
“Lay it is then!”
So fast! Yixing, rather than amazed, is in a state of culture shock.
“Alright, from now on, whenever we have a mission, you’re Lay. Do you remember ours?”
Yixing nods. “D.O. Kai. And…Kris.”
“Alright! Now for the codes we use in our conversation!”
Wu Fan looks outside the window. The sky seems calm and the weather is nice but when he thinks about it, nothing in this world is calm. Humans and animals aren’t entirely different. They both prey to those inferior to them regardless of the method. He’s one. Moreover, all of this comes from the fact that until now he is still extremely irritated that the organization decided to give him a partner. Not only does it pose a huge burden to him, it changes all of the flows of his missions in the future with the addition of a new face. Their unit has functioned independently and properly even with just the three of them so he sees absolutely no benefit in the addition of another agent.
Wu Fan sighs. His thoughts are clouded with Yixing’s laughter ringing from the back seat. Not that it annoys him, well it does, but it’s because the sound isn’t so familiar with him. He’s getting pissed for all the wrong reasons.
At 12:00 PM sharp, they arrive at the local mall at Incheon. They are all dressed as casually as they can to avoid drawing too much attention to themselves. Wu Fan is already at the third floor while Kyungsoo at the second so it’s easier for them to check on both Yixing and Jongin.
This mission is just like any other mission they have, Wu fan thinks, with Jongin on the field as a decoy, Kyungsoo giving instructions and Wu Fan in reserve as a backup, just that this time there is a really annoying pest sprinkling excitement everywhere.
Yixing gasps in front of a stall. “Cotton candy!”
Wu Fan groans after hearing Yixing yell from his earpiece. Then he hears Kyungsoo’s laugh next. Wu Fan presses his earpiece. “You. We’re not here to buy things we’re here to do sightseeing.”
Sightseeing is equivalent to doing a mission . Yixing pouts. “I was just excited. I haven’t eaten one since-“
“I didn’t ask.”
Yixing pouts even more. “Fine!”
“Kai, help me out here, will you?...Kai?”
Wu Fan walks over to the railings and finds Jongin staring intensely at a pair of running shoes. “Kai!”
Jongin immediately snaps out. “What? What? Am I dead?”
“Dammit! I have no time to babysit all of you!”
“Kris, relax, will ya? I doubt the vampires will come out in broad daylight yet .” Kyungsoo interrupts from the other side.
Vampires = targets.
Wu Fan notices that Yixing has suddenly gone silent. He likes to think he’s beginning to understand the weight of this role in this mission and has decided to act in accord to that weight but the atmosphere is rather alarming. It’s an instinct.
Yixing saw the red light. “Shit!” And in a moment, the person he’s keeping an eye on was instantly shot to death. Yixing immediately grabbed Jongin to run as gunshots begin to fire unanimously towards the citizens around them.
“Where is it coming from?!” Wu Fan yells while trying to make his way against the panicked citizens around him. The gunshots grow and the citizens’ panic doesn’t decline.
“All of you get inside the nearest elevator!” Kyungsoo yells through the earpiece. “Kris, there’s an elevator to your right at six o’clock! The mall is going to shut all elevators and shops while the civilians run outside! I’ll breach in the system from one of the elevators so stay inside the elevator!”
Kyungsoo immediately drops his suitcase down after closing the elevator door. He opens the suitcase, revealing his built-in laptop with an OS capable that of supporting each of their missions. He immediately takes out the cord from the laptop to connect to the system of the elevator.
He presses his earpiece. “You all in?”
“Yeah we’re in.”
Kyugsoo types in the keyboard as fast as he can, alternating codes and whatnot while also breaching the security cameras. He locked the elevators the four of them are in, mimicking the way the other elevators are, and then proceeded to check on the cameras. All of the citizens are almost out. Some of the shops are only half-closed. It’s obvious that the criminals have already infiltrated the mall’s operating system.
“Robbery?”
“What a problematic group of robbers.”
“Still, for a robbery this is…”
“This is really annoying.”
Kyungsoo sighs. “Alright, guys, they’re here.”
Not that the mission was anything special. They were able to catch (not kill, thanks to Yixing desperately stopping Wu Fan from shooting the criminals’ head) the criminals and get some merchandise in the mall for free. However, because of the former, Wu Fan is emitting immense amount of dark aura from the front seat.
“When we get back, he’s not going to kill me right?”
“That depends.”
“What do you mean depends?”
“Depends when we’re around,” Kyungsoo laughs at the look on Yixing’s face. “I was kidding. No. Besides, we’re not going back to the house.”
“Huh?”
“We’re driving straight to the main base. Meeting two days from now, remember?”
“Why do we have to go now?”
“You’re really laid-back, aren’t you?” Kyungsoo says. “We all have to make reports and prepare for the meeting so we have to arrive there days before the meeting.”
Yixing nods at him after getting the picture. “Ah! But I didn’t bring clothes.”
“We don’t need them. When we’re at the base, we’re only allowed to wear the uniforms.”
It’s a lot given that he’s only started and met these people two days ago but rather than feeling exhausted, his excitement builds up more and more.
Yixing has only been to the base three times. The first time was when he took the exam, the second time was during the tour and the third time when he was finally dismissed and assigned as Wu Fan’s partner. The base is huge of course; it’s exactly what you see in the movies. The only thing he can’t seem to get used to is the heavy atmosphere. Everyone’s movements seem so calculated and that a single mistake could blow up your entire future and of course that’s understandable because in this field there are no room for mistakes-you could really die, however, as much as he likes the job, he hates how everyone gets so judgmental that it gets harder to breathe.
He knows someday he’ll get used to it. But he still wonders how much more people does he have to kill before he turns into any of his teammates who has made a hobby out of pulling the trigger.
Their quarters are separated based on their rankings. Since Yixing is new, he ended up along with his fellow newbies in the first floor where they get to share a room with someone. The rest of his teammates are either in the third or fourth. He knows for sure Wu Fan’s quarter is on the fifth floor where he gets the room all to himself.
And after shaking all these unnecessary thoughts away and settling in his room, Yixing finally realized something.
He doesn’t know how to write a report. And at this very moment that he is thinking about it, his roommate is already writing his and the thought of asking someone he barely knows for help is a bit embarrassing, okay not just a bit, very embarrassing. You have to know the people you should trust.
So he went to visit Kyungsoo and Jongin in the third floor.
The door opens before he can even knock and Kyungsoo appears to be surprised and all groomed up. “Oh, Yixing, what are you doing here?”
“I just want to ask for a favor, if it’s okay,” Yixing starts while getting distracted by Jongin behind Kyungsoo running around the room. “I don’t know how to write a report.”
“Oh gosh I’m so sorry. We’ve been summoned. We’ll be busy the whole afternoon.” Kyungso says while putting on his boots.
“That’s okay maybe later tonight-“
“You can ask Wu Fan to teach you!”
“That’s a joke right?” Yixing deadpans.
“He did all our reports before he became a killing machine. He got bored of it and taught me how to do it so now I do all of those. Anyway,” Kyungsoo looks back. “Jongin! Come on! You know the drill!”
Jongin finally runs to the door and Kyungsoo walks out. “See you!” He says as they start running.
“I am so alone.” Yixing whispers in a sigh.
It’s not that he’s scared of Wu Fan. He just doesn’t know how much he can hold against him. At least since Kyungsoo’s an analyst, he can’t do much harm to him since analysts aren’t exactly trained to fight on-field. Jongin’s an on-field so he’s pretty sure he can defend himself against him when things went the other way around. But Wu Fan, Wu Fan is the problem. He looks so secluded and stand-alone, he probably knows more than textbook skills.
And killing machine definitely threw probably out of the window.
So why is he in front of Wu Fan’s room?
“Yixing, you’re a grown man with enough combat skills,” Yixing whispers to himself. “You’re not gonna die in there.” However, looking back to what he did in their mission earlier, Wu Fan probably has some killing intent built up for him that he might actually die. “No, no, no.” He says while shaking his head. “You’re his partner. You have to at least make sure you’re in a truce…” He nods. “For the rest of our lives.”
Yixing starts pacing back and forth in front of Wu Fan’s room. “I mean, when he sees me, he’s not gonna shoot me right? I’m unarmed. He probably won’t.” Probably. “Maybe I should apologize first? But if I do there’s a chance he might get angrier…but if I don’t say something about it he might also get angrier.” He groans in frustration. “Why am I not a good judge of character? I don’t want to say something stupid!”
“What are you doing?” Wu Fan says while leaning against the doorway.
“Shh. I’m having a crisis.”
Wu Fan rolls his eye while lighting a stick of cigarette.
Yixing immediately snaps after smelling the smoke and turns beside him. “Uh…” In his mind, he is extremely shocked that Wu Fan is standing by the doorway, giving him a weird look, and probably heard the nonsense he was sprouting earlier. On the other hand, his face is absolutely dead. “Hi.”
“You shushed me.”
“Sorry.” And he ended up apologizing for an entirely different reason. Yixing immediately clears his throat after noticing Wu Fan looking expectantly at him. “So, uh, I’m actually here to ask for a favor.”
Wu Fan immediately slams the door shut.
Yixing glances around him awkwardly. “It’s really important!” He yells to the door. “Very vital to being a newbie! I’m your partner too! So this is inevitable you know! You can’t run away forever!”
Wu Fan opens the door and suddenly pulls Yixing inside wherein he almost tripped. Almost.
Yixing immediately fixes his clothes once inside. “So you decided to listen-“
“You were yelling everywhere.”
Yixing clears his throat in embarrassment. “Uh, you smoke.”
“What about it?”
“Nothing.” Yixing says immediately. “My father used to smoke. He died.”
Wu Fan gives him a look.
Yixing chuckles awkwardly. “But that’s not what I came here for.”
Still giving the look.
“I…uh, the favor, um…I don’t know how to write a report.”
“You don’t know how to write a report.” Wu Fan repeats, a bit stupefied.
Yixing nods slowly. “…that’s what I said.” He kind of has a hunch that the more he talks, the more the killing intent that’s building up increases.
Wu Fan closes his eyes while pressing on his temple. Yixing can see how stressed he was. He looks absolutely exhausted not just physically but mentally. He watches as Wu Fan leans over to his desk to grab a folder. Then Wu Fan suddenly throws the folder at him and luckily, one-in-a-million luckily, Yixing catches it without the papers inside falling messily on the ground.
Yixing stares at him. “Um.”
“Use that as a guide. Follow everything on it.” As if the enunciating wasn’t obvious enough, Wu Fan had to give him the look. Again.
“Thanks.” Yixing gulps. “Stop judging me.”
“I’m not judging you.” Wu Fan teases with a smirk.
Yixing slowly walks to the door while still keeping an eye on Wu Fan. “You’re still judging me.”
“I’m telling you I’m not judging you.”
Yixing continues to stare at him through the decreasing space between the doors. “I’m watching.”
Wu Fan snickers. The door finally closes shut and he shakes his head. “He doesn’t even know how to write a report. What an idiot.”
“He’s adorable though?” He hears Kyungsoo say through the speakers of his phone.
“Do we call agents adorable?”
“Admit it.”
“I know what this is, Kyungsoo. You told him to come to me. Summoned my ass. You and Jongin just want to walk around the base hand in hand.”
“Irrelevant remark coming from someone who doesn’t believe in true love. Goodbye Wu Fan. Thank you for babysitting Yixing. Make sure you get familiar enough with him. He’s your partner after all,” Kyungsoo laughs. “No sexual innuendos.”
“I hope not.” Wu Fan ends the call. He leans on his chair while thinking deeply. It’s not that he doesn’t believe in true love, he just thinks the idea is irrelevant in the field.
It’s not important.
The thought of it is even ridiculous.
Wu Fan walks towards his bed and stretches before dropping exhaustingly on it. His body isn’t tired. His work got lighter with the addition of his partner but his mental state has definitely become exhausted lately. He just doesn’t understand why he’s so worked thinking about Yixing. Yeah he hates the idea of having a partner and all the changes that come with it but his thoughts about Yixing aren’t even work-related. It’s all about the younger’s character. And he never cared about anyone’s character. He only cared about what they can contribute. That’s true even to his teammates. He approved of Kyungsoo and Jongin because they’re the best of their batch.
It’s turning into curiosity and Wu Fan is not amused.
Next