Author's Note: Trigger warnings for mentions of ual abuse, nothing graphic though.

Chapter Seven: A Promise Kept

By the time they returned to the house Youngbae had fully passed out, leaving it up to Jiyong to carry him. He did so without much difficulty, taking Seunghyun by surprise at how strong the man actually was. Seungri opened the front door for them and then followed Jiyong into his room to help get Youngbae into bed. Seunghyun followed, making sure the door was locked behind them, he slipped the car keys into his pocket and watched as the other two saw to the ill detective.

“, he has a fever,” Jiyong muttered as he touched his hand Youngbae’s forehead.

“Side effect of the venom, he’ll be fine,” Seunghyun assured him, “He just needs to sleep it off.”

“Shouldn’t we call a doctor?” Seungri asked, wringing his hands together worriedly. Youngbae looked awful. His skin had paled and was clammy to the touch, yet a fever had produced a thin layer of sweat over his brow. His breathing was slow but his pulse was fast and he seemed to be having nightmares as he groaned and moved in the bed restlessly.

“We could, but it wouldn’t help,” Seunghyun replied, “There’s no antidote for this.”

“Well we can’t just sit here!”

“What do you suggest, Seungri?”

“We should be out there looking for her, we shouldn’t have let her go.”

“Be quiet, both of you!” Jiyong insisted, annoyance in his tone at their bickering. The two fell silent and they exchanged looks, feeling slightly foolish for arguing while their…neither of them knew what to call Youngbae exactly. Friend? That seemed too familiar. Comrade? Sounded too cold. Associate? That was even worse. But this person who had been actually decent to them was hurt and they didn’t know what to do.

“I’m sorry,” Seungri said, bowing his head “He just looks so sick.”

“Just leave us for now,” Jiyong told him, “I’ll watch him.”

“Do you need anything?” Seunghyun asked.

“Something to help with the fever might be a good idea.”

“On it,” Seungri offered. He retreated into the bathroom to fill a bowl with cool water and grabbed a cloth, after returning to Jiyong’s side he handed the items to him. The detective muttered a quick thanks and started to dab Youngbae’s face, soaking up the sweat in an attempt to cool him down. Seunghyun placed a hand on the detective’s shoulder.

Jiyong visibly tensed, “What?”

“I swear to you, he’s going to be fine,” the man said softly, “Even at its worst, Minzy’s venom cannot kill. He’ll be out of it for most of the night. I suggest you rest, there’s nothing else for you to do at this time.”

“I can’t leave him alone,” Jiyong replied firmly, “If he wakes up and I’m not here…”

He trailed off and Seunghyun nodded, “Alright then, I’ll check up on you two later.”

The pyro and Seungri left and shut the door behind them, leaving Jiyong to watch his best and closest friend suffer. A feeling of hopeless settled over him just then, a dull ache in his heart that persisted no matter how hard he tried to remind himself of Seunghyun’s words that Youngbae would be fine. What if he wasn’t? What if there was some lasting effect that even he didn’t know about? A sudden bitterness towards mutants and their blatant disregard for the damages that their powers could cause replaced the despair and made Jiyong grit his teeth.

No, he had to stop thinking like this. Not all mutants were like that girl. Seungri and Seunghyun were different and he’d be stupid to not admit that. The two of them had every opportunity to escape while he had been seeing to Youngbae, but instead of taking that chance they came back and helped him. Why would they do that anyway? They didn’t know either of them. And he had hardly given them a reason to want to help him.

He rubbed his face, feeling exhausted. His thoughts ran wild, searching for an explanation that just refused to come to him. Jiyong looked at Youngbae longingly. If he was awake he’d have the answer he was looking for. His friend had a way of seeing the world though eyes that still believed in the good in people. Jiyong had lost that after seeing too much of what evil people did to others. How could he believe people could be good?

He took Youngbae’s hand and held it in his own. If people couldn’t be good, then there wouldn’t be people like Youngbae in this world he reminded himself.

“I’m right here with you, Bae,” he said softly, “I’m not leaving you, so you can’t leave me.”

***

Seungri was pacing the living room floor while Seunghyun sat on the sofa, reading a book and sipping a glass of wine. Seungri had no idea how the man kept so calm while he felt like he couldn’t even keep still. He threw a look his way and was surprised to see that the older man was watching him with an amused smile on his face.

“How can you smile at a time like this?” he demanded. He wasn’t really angry with him, just frustrated with the whole situation.

“Well, let’s see, I have a good book, a very decent wine in my glass and a handsome man pacing in front of me giving me an excellent view of his…assets.”

Seungri couldn’t help but scoff, “You ever going to make good on all this flirting you do?”

Seunghyun arched an eyebrow, “Don’t start something you don’t intend on finishing, Seungri.”

“Look whose talking.”

Seunghyun stood to his feet and closed the distance between the two of them in three long strides. Seungri was close to taking a step backwards but hesitated, not sure if he really wanted to move away. He felt the man’s hands on his hips, pulling him closer and his own hands gripped Seunghyun’s shoulders. The pyro’s intense gaze held his and Seungri found himself holding his breath, unsure of what was going to happen next.

“You’re stunning,” Seunghyun whispered, “You know that right?”

Seungri blushed, not really sure if he would ever describe himself as such. He cast his glance down and felt a rush of disappointment when Seunghyun released his hold on him, sighing as he did.

“I need to get out of here,” he mused suddenly. Seungri’s head shot up, “What?”

“Calm down, I’ll be back, it’s just too tense here,” the older man said with a grin, “Come with me?”

“I don’t know; what if Jiyong needs our help?”

“I’ve said this many times, Youngbae will be fine; will you trust me on this?”

Seungri glanced towards Jiyong’s room, it had been awhile and the detective hadn’t left the room. Would it really be so bad if he stepped out for a bit? And it was his job to keep an eye on Seunghyun after all. He looked back at the pyro, “What did you have in mind?”

He lifted up the keys to Jiyong’s car, “I made a promise to someone, and I intend to keep it.”

“You mean Bom?”

“Yes, and I might need your help.”

The younger man shifted his weight, “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

Seunghyun looked taken aback and placed his hand on Seungri’s arm, “I would never, ever, ask that of you, Seungri.”

“Then why do you need my help?”

“I need someone to watch my back, and right now you’re the only one I’d trust with this.”

It made Seungri feel good to know that someone like Seunghyun trusted him. This was the second time today he had asked him for his help and he didn’t want to let him down. So he nodded, “Alright, let’s go then.”

***

Leaving the house had been relatively easy, considering that Jiyong was far too distracted to notice what they might be doing. Still, Seungri decided it was best to leave a note for the man, explaining that they would be back soon and to not worry about them. After looking it over he felt slightly silly for writing it but he honestly didn’t want Jiyong to think that they had abandoned him or Youngbae, especially after today.

He left it on the kitchen table, where he was sure it would be seen and then followed after Seunghyun, who was waiting for him by Jiyong’s car. As he approached, the pyro arched an eyebrow, as if to ask what he had been up too.

“I left Jiyong a note,” he blurted, making the older man laugh.

“With any luck, we’ll be back before he even noticed that we’re gone, come on.”

They climbed into the vehicle and after looking around to make sure they weren’t being followed, Seunghyun started the car and pulled away from the house. As he did a sense of unease settled over Seungri, he wasn’t sure why but this all seemed like a bad idea.

***

Seunghyun, who apparently drove as if he had been born doing it, took the quickest way to the city and Seungri had found that while it hadn’t changed much in his six year absence everything felt different. Considering he had only been 18 when he was sent to the facility he hadn’t seen much of Seoul’s night life so this was an altogether new experience for him. The familiar anxiety of facing many new people returned but he did his best to follow the advice that Seunghyun had given to him earlier.

One person at a time.

It didn’t take them long to find the popular party district, called the Octagon, for the shape that the streets seemed to make. It consisted of nothing but various clubs pumping loud music, bars which had shady characters lurking in the front and red light hotels where various men and women stood in the windows, advertising their bodies for any who were interested.

“I suddenly feel very out of place and terribly under dressed,” Seungri pointed out, looking at the dolled up women and men in their expensive clothes. Seunghyun grinned, “Don’t worry, we’re not looking for a fancy club anyway. The place we’re looking for is on the sketchy side of things. I’m sure you’ll feel overdressed once we get there.”

“Wonderful,” the young replied sarcastically, then in a teasing tone he added, “Why don’t you ever take me someplace nice?”

Seunghyun glanced at him and let out a laugh. Seungri liked his laugh, it was one of those real ones that came right from your stomach, and when you laughed too much it always felt like you had done a work out for your abs.

“I’ll take you out to dinner sometime then,” the pyro promised.

“Are you asking me out?” Seungri asked, unsure where this daring side of him was coming from. Seunghyun was flirting with him, and he was actually flirting back without making a complete fool of himself.

“I suppose I am; what do you think?”

“Sounds fun.”

“Good.”

The man turned his full attention back to driving while Seungri tried to force away the obvious blush that was marring his face. So much for not allowing this man’s charm get to him, but maybe it would be okay to let go a little bit. He knew that he could trust Seunghyun to watch out for him, just like the man had asked him to tonight.

Everything would be fine.

***

The Cave Pub was the perfect example of a dive bar and Seungri pulled a disgusted face when he saw it. The neon lights advertising the name flickered on and off, the place needed a fresh coat of paint and the broken front windows were in terrible want of replacing. The bouncer at the door looked like he could break a person in half and he eyed the two of them with a look of distain.

“Don’t cause trouble,” he growled. Seunghyun nodded and placed his hand on the small of Seungri’s back as they walked inside. The smell of stale sweat, smoke and beer assaulted Seungri’s senses and he was thankful for not being a mutant with enhanced senses as they probably would have turned around and ran right out of the place.

Seunghyun didn’t seem overly impressed either, shaking his head at the distasteful décor inside; including many posters of women, graffiti that had been done with spray paint along with many obscene gestures. The thing that bothered him the most; all of the girls