It was eerily quiet with muffled sounds of shouts in the distance. But the intense staring between Myungsoo and N made them oblivious to this fact.

N moved first, smirking while running his fingers through his hair. “Look at you. Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome. You certainly have the skills.” He grinned at him. And my goodness, L. I never knew you cared for me so much. I’m flattered.”

Myungsoo scowled. “I didn’t do it for you.”

“Guys.”

Myungsoo and N looked at the direction of the entrance of the new voice. K was still sitting in this chair, but the ropes that were binding him were no more. He had managed to escape from them during that period of time.

And in the back of his mind, Myungsoo realized that N had also relieved himself from his binds sometime ago. He had to wonder if they could easily remove the rope why didn’t they have done it earlier. And if that meant they were going along with V’s flow.

“Don’t do it,” K continued.

Myungsoo looked back at N who was also had his gaze locked on him. All three of them knew that K’s words were an empty warning. Words that could mean many things. Don’t start fighting. Don’t start this petty argument again. Don’t make it more complicated than it already is. Don’t destroy the relationship you already have even more.

But Myungsoo knew that it was impossible to not to do anything. Not when he had finally made his resolution to face what he had been avoiding for years. That this unsaid strain between them wasn’t going to solve itself.

N shrugged, seemingly to be listening to K’s words as he started to walk away.

“No.”

N paused mid-step and glanced behind him. “Excuse me?”

Myungsoo looked up at him with intensity that pierced him. “Stop running away.”

N blinked at him and scoffed before laughing hysterically. “Stop running away? Stop running away?” he snorted with an increasing force of tone with each word. “You’re the one who’s been running away.”

Myungsoo shook his head. “I might have before, but not anymore. And you have been too.”

“Oh, look at you. Standing up for yourself. My little L is growing up,” N mocked.

Myungsoo simply kept his gaze, letting it speak for itself.

N sighed in a laid-back motion. “Fine. What do you want from me? That is why you’re here, isn’t it? It always is. You only come when you want something from us.”

Myungsoo set his mouth in a thin line. “You need to stop.”

“Stop? You need to elaborate more, my dear L,” N chuckled.

“Stop everything. This organization. Your manipulation of everything. Stop this.”

N stared at him with unblinking eyes before bending over in maniacal laughter. He went on for a while until he stood upright, rubbing his face with the palm of his hand. “My god. When were you this hilarious, L? Stop? Didn’t V already have that in mind? Yet, you stopped him to tell me the same thing?” he laughed. The smile left his face as he sneered, “You must be joking.”

Myungsoo didn’t say anything, knowing well enough that N knew what his answer was.

N’s eyes flashed dangerously as he narrowed them at Myungsoo. “Who the hell are you to tell me what to do? Or what I can’t do? You lost that privilege when you backstabbed me ruthlessly.”

“I had to make a choice back then,” Myungsoo replied calmly.

“The wrong one!” N snarled. He shook his head as stuck his hands in his pants’ pockets. He looked up askew as he scoffed. “You disappoint me.”

Myungsoo took a deep breath. “I’m not doing this just for myself. I’m doing it for…you too.”

N laughed loudly. “For me? For me?” he shouted. “Like hell you’re doing it for me! How is this,” he cried hysterically as he gestured to the area surrounding him, “For me? In my honest opinion, this and everything from before was all for yourself. You’re just a selfish coward.”

Myungsoo was not deterred by N’s rambunctious shouts. “Even I believed that it was for myself, and it probably was. But now, I’m not doing it for me, but you guys. Do you think I want to be here? I would much rather be somewhere else having the time of my life. But instead, I’m here. Because despite of everything that happened and even though I denied it several times, we are friends.”

With the last word, N’s head shot up as he glared intently at Myungsoo. In one swift movement, Myungsoo was back against the wall and N’s hands were curled around the top of Myungsoo’s shirt.

“Friends?” he shouted angrily. “Friends don’t do this to each other! Friends don’t blatantly betray each other! Friends don’t do like this! Friends aren’t this. We aren’t friends. Not in that sense.”

Myungsoo remained calm despite the feeling of his shirt tightening. “There is something I observed over the years. Friendship is a funny thing. It can be strong at times; but at the same time, it can be as fragile as a thin piece of string. And sometimes you do unexplainable things in the name of friendship.” He smiled softly at N. “Do you know why friendships break so easily?”

N’s eyes were slit as he stared at him, breathing heavily.

“Miscommunication. Not being able to say what you want to say and not being able to listen to what is being said. Until it’s too late and finally you have to stop and listen or say what you want to say.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” N murmured, his eyes wilding searching his face.

“Take Hoya for example,” Myungsoo continued, “He didn’t listen to his brother. And when it was too late, he finally understood. Albeit, he still has his tendencies to go wild, but I would say he wasn’t as rash as before. Even V. Maybe it was because he didn’t know how to say what he wanted that caused him to take action in such an extreme way.”

N laughed bitterly. “Why the hell should I care about whether or not Hoya and his siblings get along or not?”

Myungsoo shook his head, continuing on. “Or this boy I met, Sanghyuk. Even he didn’t listen. And same old routine, he didn’t try to do anything until it was too late. But it made me think. How I was always running away. Trying to live my life as casually as possible. It made me face thoughts that I have considered but always rejected. How maybe if I did do something back then, none of this would have happened. How maybe if I would have tried a little harder, I might have been able to do something. But then I realized something else. That it’s never too late to try. To try and do something. On either end. Especially if you care.”

“Shut up!” N growled, pulling in Myungsoo close and spinning him around that he threw him on to the floor. Myungsoo winced as he skidded back before slowly propping himself up. “What the hell are you telling me these things for? Who cares?”

N stood before Myungsoo with narrowed dark eyes. “It’s not the same. You just got up and left. Left me and K for your other friends. I trusted you; you were the first person that I ever trusted. But it’s obvious that you didn’t feel the way.”

Myungsoo glanced at N before looking away. “It’s because of the same reason that I left,” he murmured.

N snorted. “What?” he sneered. “Because you trusted me, you left? What are going on about?”

Myungsoo shook his head solemnly. “No, I mean it’s because you’re the first person I trusted, the first person who understood me.”

“So why?” N yelled. “Why did you do that to me?” He shook his head exasperatedly as he spun away from Myungsoo, dragging his fingers through his hair as he looked up. “You know, when you left, I kept asking myself what the hell I did wrong? Why would you do this? It couldn’t be because he liked his other friends better. I knew that you weren’t like that. You might have hung out with them more, but you always knew where you belonged. I couldn’t understand,” he said softly. He turned around to look at Myungsoo once more. “So I gave up trying to understand. And you are the reason why I don’t trust anyone anymore besides K. Even with V, I didn’t completely trust. But he reminded me of you, so I suppose I let my guard down.”

“I couldn’t do it.”

N looked at Myungsoo with annoyance. “What?” he asked in response to his words.

Myungsoo looked up at N and sighed. “Because it was you, the first true friend I made, that I couldn’t just tell you to stop. I didn’t like what you were doing, but you were in so deep that I didn’t know how to tell you. I didn’t want to disappoint you so I kept quiet, but in the end I suppose I did anyways.”

N stared at him before give a small scoff. “Because of that? That’s why you left?”

Myungsoo looked down staring at his lap now that he was sitting cross-legged. “I think deep down I thought that, but I was only thinking that I couldn’t handle what you were doing. And I couldn’t bear to tell you to stop, so I ran away. Like always.”

Myungsoo looked up to N who was silently staring at him. “You might not believe me, hell, I don’t even believe it, but I still care about you. So I stopped running away to tell you that you need to stop. You’re just making yourself worse for the wear. You’re becoming more corrupted by the minute you keep doing this. Stop before you destroy yourself. And the people around you.”

Myungsoo was left with silence. He then felt a strong grab as N pulled him up by the arm and grabbed him by the collar with both fists.

“Shut up! Shut the hell up! You got to be ing kidding me,” N hissed. “What kind of pathetic idiot are you? Don’t act like we’re still friends.” N screamed, looking at Myngsoo with wild eyes. “This is ridiculous. You’re ridiculous. He glared at Myungsoo. “Leave, L. Before I do something even I wouldn’t want to do.”

“I’m not leaving, not until you understand.”

Before he could blink, Myungsoo felt his punch before he could see it. He felt his body sway with the force of the hit as he fell backwards a few feet. He pulled himself up and gingerly touched the side of cheek which was beginning to swell. The metal taste of blood was slowly filling his mouth which he spat out. Myungsoo gave a wry laugh and muttered bitterly, “Looks like you won’t understand unless I do this.” And without another word, he repaid the favor, pulling N close and punching him in the stomach.

N grunted as he winced and held a hand to his stomach. He looked up and glared darkly at Myungsoo as he threw another punch. However, Myungsoo was expecting it and blocked it with his arm and swung his foot over which connected to N’s stomach.

N was thrown off balance as he fell and hit the cold concrete wall, his shoulder and arm now feeling the beginning of a nasty bruise.

He growled as he threw himself at Myungsoo and tried to throw another hit, this time succeeding and swelling up the edge of the other boy’s eye.

Myungsoo cringed for pain shot through his body when he tried to blink. But with little time to react, he felt two successions of punches to his stomach which brought him down to his knees. He saw N’s knee move up a split second before it reached his chin and used it to hoist himself up and give another punch to N.

The rest of it was a blur as blows, punches, and kicks that were exchanged back and forth. Neither relented as the battle dragged on until both were breathing heavily and using the wall as support for neither had the stamina to continue.

Myungsoo fell first as he slid down the wall and finally lying down on the hard chilly floor. N stumbled towards him, presumably about to land the final blow. But with his strength leaving him by the second, he could no longer hold himself up, and he too, fell forward.

N to his back so that he was staring at dark ceiling as well as Myungsoo was.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”

Myungsoo blinked once, feeling the pain from his body aching all over. “I’m always serious.”

N laughed bitterly. “I know you. You never liked to involve yourself into fights. Of any kind. The fact that you did this…” He trailed off, as the silence of the room echoed back.

He laughed again. “Why does it seem like you care? You never cared. About me, about you, about us. Why… why do I feel like everything just went wrong?” he murmured softly, desperately. He took the effort to turn his head and look at Myungsoo’s profile. “Why do I feel like everything that I believed in is wrong?”

Myungsoo didn’t respond, as N continued on. “I hate you, you know? Or at least I tried to. Every time I thought of what you did, it made me furious. But for some reason, I couldn’t hate you.  I just couldn’t.”

“Hakyeon,” Myungsoo said softly.

And with that single word, he broke down. His hands were in his face as racks of sobs echoed throughout the room.

“I can’t do this anymore, I just can’t. I thought I could. But it’s too hard. Help me. Help me, Myungsoo.”

Myungsoo looked tentatively at the male next to him before staring at the ceiling once more, a small half-smile on his lips. “Hey, what do you think friends are for?”

Minutes passed after Hakyeon had calmed down and with them lying on the floor without a single word passing through them. The silence was comforting, but each knew that they both couldn’t stay there. So Myungsoo pushed himself up, now that his body was feeling only slightly better.

He then turned to Hakyeon and helped him up as well. Hakyeon grimaced as the pain shot through his body as he slightly moved to gauge the pain. He stopped mid-turn to stare at an empty chair.

“Hey, where’s Taehyun?”

“What do you think he’ll do?” Ken asked as he swung his legs back and forth in a playful manner as he sat on the railing.

“What do you mean?” Hoya asked as he looked up from drawing lines in the dirt with a stick from where he was crouching.

Ken rolled his eyes. “I mean, you don’t really think Myungsoo is going to just talk to him?”

“You mean you think he’ll do something more? Like what? Beat him senseless?” Ravi questioned from where he was sitting cross-legged on a slab of broken marble where a column had broken. “You know that Myungsoo doesn’t like fights.”

Ken grinned. “Yeah, but this is the big one. You know, the final boss? Plus, he would have to if N won’t listen to him.”

“You’ll just have to trust him to do the right thing, whether it will be simply talking or engaging in a fight,” Leo commented as he continued to tinker with a small mechanical box in his hands.

“In my opinion, it would be a lot cooler if Myungsoo busted in like a superhero and took down N like a boss,” Ken laughed.

“You advocate violence?” Hoya muttered from beside.

Ken laughed again as he kicked his legs up and then down, promptly hitting Hoya on the back with his feet, who uttered a small yelp of surprise and pain. “I advocate anything fun and interesting.”

Soojin wasn’t exactly paying attention to their conversation from where she was sitting on the floor. He legs lay in front of her as she was in the only spot where there was light. Leo had led them to a smaller warehouse building, away from the large abandoned station. Windows were broken and some were boarded up. But sufficient amount of light entered into the building, but Soojin wanted direct moonlight.

Because somehow she naively believed that looking at it in a different angle would produce different results. That perhaps it was trick of the light. Or perhaps she had somehow become so used to it that even her brain wouldn’t register it anymore.

But no matter how long she stared at her left pinkie, the dark vibrant red from the string would not appear.

It unsettled her. The way that it simply disappeared. One moment it was there and then it wasn’t. It wasn’t as if it snapped or broke, it simply…disappeared. She didn’t understand what it meant or if it even meant anything bad. But nevertheless, she was nervous. She looked up at the window the light was shining through to where in the distance the old station was still standing.

She looked down and sighed, squeezing her hands and eyes closed simultaneously. She only hoped that he would alright.

A loud boom suddenly reverberated throughout the area, shaking and unsettling loose dirt from the ceiling of the building. Everyone stopped what they were doing and froze before rushing to the window or outside.

“Holy .”

Everyone stepped outside where Ken was shading his eyes with a palm hanging over his eyes, staring directly at the old station building. Everyone stood motionless as they watched parts of the building crumble down and dissolve into rumble and dust.

Another explosion was heard and another part of the station fell down into pieces.

Ken whistled. “Damn, I didn’t think those bombs we put in there would cause such destruction. Did we even put in that many?”

Ravi frowned. “No, we didn’t. And it wouldn’t cause this large of damage either.”

Soojin blinked before looking at the others in shock and worry. “Wait! They’re still in there, right?”

The rest stared down at her, looked at each other, before running toward the crumbling building.

A/N: Hey, everyone. I’m sorry that I’ve been MIA for about a month. I’ve been really busy and haven’t been able to focus on my stories. I know, the same old excuses. But it’s true. I recently had finals, so I was busy studying like crazy.

Thankfully, I have a small time for a break, but not too long. I think I might be able to update a little faster, but no promises.

I also felt like this chapter was also a bit cliché, but what can you do? Cheesy friendship scenes at its best. I thought it fit. Or maybe not?

Thanks for reading and continuing to support this story. I know this isn’t one of my best stories, but I got a soft spot for it. Plus, we’re almost done. Honestly.

Thank you for reading!