Okay so can I start this out by saying, I'm really sorry for the delay. I ended up getting really busy suddenly. Last minute plans for U2 concert and then going to DCI when it was in town.

But regardless, here's the new chapter. There's finally some minor revelations going on, with more to come soon enough.

And I hope you like the new chapter image! A friend of mine drew it for me~ :3

Lastly, I did not edit this, simply because i wanted to get it up faster. I'll try to edit it later if there are mistakes.

comments/reviews are appreciated as always!

      Hyunseung couldn’t help but feel incredibly taken aback by Junhyung’s response, his mouth falling open in an expression of sheer shock.  His heart skipped a beat, performing a funny little flip-flop within his chest. Sure, he probably could have guessed as much— that Junhyung had been involved in the “act of jumping,” so to speak, at least once in his lifetime. How else would he have gotten on bad terms with a gang, after all? But that didn’t make it any easier for him to accept; nor did it mean that he wanted to. Call him foolish, but he had been so sure the other wasn’t going to be someone dangerous. So sure.

      It had been so easy to believe. Junhyung had just seemed so…. innocent before. But now…

      “Once?” Hyunseung repeated, more of a statement than a question.

      Junhyung nodded— a motion that sent Hyunseung’s stomach into a fit— seemingly unashamed and unbothered by his admittance of the act (which, he wasn’t, to be honest). Why should he be? It wasn’t as if it was totally wrong – he didn’t do it for fun, unlike others, his mind reminded. He had only done it once anyway. Still, it was hard to ignore the obvious discomfort of the brunette. Very hard.  Especially after all the other had done for him; without even knowing fully who he was.

      “I can explain,” he tried, inching closer to Hyunseung – who promptly began pressing himself against the armrest in a desperate yet futile attempt to keep as much distance between them as possible.

      Junhyung scowled, the right side of his mouth scrunching together and pulling back, and exhaled sharply. This wouldn’t do. He couldn’t have the other being afraid of him; not right now at least. As ashamed as he would be to admit, for the time being, he actually did need the other’s assistance. He couldn’t afford to get kicked out. He didn’t even have a place to go anymore; his “friends” would have surely decided he was dead by now and moved on without him. So, once more, he pulled his left hand out from beneath the blankets, wincing a little as the motion pulled at his injury, and grasped the brunette’s wrist firmly.

      This, of course, only seemed to heighten Hyunseung’s sense of panic, for the brunette began to squirm. He continued writhing in an attempt to free his arm from Junhyung’s grasp, though Junhyung showed no signs of letting up, even when the brunette’s twisting jostled his wound rather uncomfortably.

      “Stop squirming.” Junhyung demanded, tightening his grip on Hyunseung’s wrist to an almost painful point, “I’m not going to hurt you, okay?”

      “Yeah? Then how about you let go of me!” Hyunseung yelped, now using his free hand to claw at Junhyung’s fingers.

      “I’ll let go when you stop squirming.” Junhyung repeated, trying his best to keep his tone even despite the strain the brunette was putting on his wound. He gave the brunette’s arm a slight twist, just for emphasis.

      That seemed to do the trick though, for the moment he gave Hyunseung’s arm a twist, the brunette stopped moving altogether— though his eyes remained locked onto Junhyung’s. It was uncomfortable, to have a pair of eyes boring into you, unblinking and unwavering, but Junhyung wasn’t about to let that stop him. He was set on explaining himself, and he was going to do so, even if it meant he had to deal with the brunette’s frightened gaze.

      So, drawing a slow breath and dropping Hyuneung’s arm, he started to speak.

      “It wasn’t like I wanted to…uhm,” he began, pausing when he realized he didn’t know the other’s name.

      “Hyunseung.” The brunette interjected.

      “Right.” He continued, “It wasn’t as if I wanted to, Hyunseung. You’ve never been out on the streets, not in the same way at least, so I don’t expect you understand. But rivalries get rough. People fight. People steal. And people kill each other. It just so happened that this man had made a name for himself, and become a threat. So my….friends wanted him removed from the equation. Sort of like what happened to me, understand?”

      Hyunseung, feeling oddly suspicious at the other’s stress on the word “friend,” narrowed his as Junhyung finished his last sentence. So what, now he was just going to open up and lay it all out there for him? ‘As if,’ Hyunseung shook his head from side to side ever so slightly as the thought crossed his mind.

       It all just seemed a little too convenient for his liking. Far too convenient, indeed.

      “And you want me to believe this?” he thought aloud incredulously.

      Junhyung nodded once more, his expression remaining perfectly straight, not the slightest twinge of emotion building in his features.

      “You realize I hardly know you— no make that I don’t know you at all really, right?” Hyunseung went on, raising his eyebrows as he spoke.

      “I didn’t say you had to believe me,” Junhyung replied, hefting a light shrug as the words left his lips. “But—”

      “But what?” Junhyung flinched at the venomous bite in the other’s tone of voice.

      “It’d be nice if you didn’t kick me out. Not like this.” he offered simply, ‘I don’t exactly have anywhere to go.’

      This time, it was Hyunseung’s turn to sigh as he tossed his hands up in defeat. Junhyung did have a point, as much as he hated to admit. Sure, he wasn’t sure how much of the truth the other had given him; but at the same time, pushing him out into the streets didn’t seem like the best of ideas. If he did, it seemed highly possible that in a matter of days—hell, maybe even hours— he really would find Junhyung lying on the side of a street (or, god forbid, on someone else’s porch) dead. Especially if he really did have some sort of gang coming after him.

      And that, was something Hyunseung did not want to have hanging over his consciousness.

      If it did happen, then he would have to introduce himself as, Hyunseung, the jerk-who-kicks-out-injured-people-and-leaves-them-to-die. Which just happened to rank below his current, Hyunseung the good-for-nothing-dimwit, as his boss and co-workers would put oh-so-kindly.

      “And how am I supposed to know that I can trust you?” he questioned at length.

      To which Junhyung replied with a simple, “As long as you have that knife you found, consider me nothing more than an extremely large dog.”

      If this had been a cartoon, Hyunseung was certain he would have sweat-dropped at that, his eyes widening a little in a mix of amusement and slight concern (maybe they really should see if he had a concussion or something of the sort); yet, it did seem like a reasonable arrangement, he supposed. Besides, his mind reminded him, if Junhyung got to be out of hand, he could always “kick him to the curb” at a later point. Just, not now.

      “You swear?”

      Junhyung nodded for the second time. “If that makes you happy, then yes.”

      “Deal.” Hyunseung said quickly. “But only until you get better. And, before that, if you do something even remotely suspicious— and I mean if even one hair on my neck stands up— you’re gone. Understand?”

      He stuck out his hand, which Junhyung took and shook once; a silent sort of contract between the two.