“Donghae!” Hyukjae confronted the silence by sprinkling the hall floor with rain water from his damp hair and sodden coat, he tried to warm his arms but they seemed frozen solid.

“What” a muffled shout came from one of the adjacent rooms, kicking down the door in his stride Hyukjae, as usual taken back by the state (and smell) of Donghae’s room went straight to the point.

“We’re moving” he informed, it wasn’t a suggestion it was an order, he went over and shut Donghae’s blinds for good measure.

“Excuse me?” Donghae was still absently staring at his phone but it was snatched out of his hand and he was forced to look up to Hyukjae's face which was anything but pleased.

“We have to move. Start packing.”

“What the hell is going on” Donghae snapped, irritated at these rash decisions which seemed to have been decided without his knowledge.

“I’ll explain later. When we’re on the move” HyukJae said, throwing in a hint of sarcasm for good measure but Donghae didn’t submit.

“I’m not packing anything until you tell me what’s going on”

“Look at this then!” an envelope was jabbed into his face but before he had opened it his roommate had stormed out the room and started throwing things in boxes. The envelope was soaked through and Donghae had to peel back the paper which was barely holding it together. But inside, rather than what Donghae expected of blurred leaking handwriting it was a…stamp?

 Several things happened at once, Donghae sat straight up in bed, banging his head on his bedroom wall, Hyukjae received a text and there was a very angry knock at the door. Donghae’s head whipped around and he fell out of his bed in his haste. He was wearing nothing but boxers but he had a pit in the bottom of his stomach telling him there was no time for such trivial things as getting changed.

 Hyukjae appeared at his bedroom door and held his finger to his lips Donghae knew exactly what he meant and he followed his friend to the back of the apartment. The fire exit, something he honestly never thought he’d have to use. But just as Hyukjae was executing his be-as-quiet-as-possible movements their front door made a worrying rattling sound, he knew their locks weren’t strong enough! Hyukjae flung open the door to the fire escape and a blast of cold air hit Donghae, he squirmed uncomfortably. But Hyukjae had already started to bolt down the stairs. The rusted metal did little to cover up their whereabouts as Hyukjae’s heavy boots and Donghae’s bare feet slapped on the grime that hadn’t been touched since it had been constructed.

 For once Donghae was glad they accommodated a flat on the second floor and it only took a few more strides before they landed on solid ground (and Donghae landed on sharp gravel). There was a car and judging by Hyukjae who pulled open the back door and practically hurled himself into the back seat, they were meant to get in it. Donghae quickly followed but before he could shut the door and his legs were still sticking out, the car started to accelerate towards the main road.

 Straightening himself up and collapsing into the seat while heaving the car door shut he turned to the incredibly dangerous driver.

“Hey”

Donghae’s shoulders sagged, of course it had to be Heechul and Kyuhyun sitting in the front looking as if they’d just won the lottery as they both stared at Donghae's nearly form. Once again Donghae was wondering the question he'd thought many times, ‘why was he friends with these people?’

“Where is it?” HyukJae said, ignoring Heechul’s greeting, he was looking frantically at Donghae and was relieved when Donghae handed the almost destroyed saggy paper “so…now you understand what’s going on?”

“Pretty much” Donghae groaned “but why HyukJae. Why?”

“Well I suppose you don’t want these clothes then?” Heechul said loudly from the front, swerving past several cars while trying to turn around at the same time. He chucked back a tshirt and some jeans with Donghae gratefully started to change into, although it was a bit of a struggle when the car wouldn’t stop swerving from side to side. “Hyukjae have you not told him what’s going on yet?”

“We didn’t exactly have time. You know with all the men trying to break into our apartment and kill us”

“Kill us?!” Donghae flushed, he just thought some men where a little upset with them. And then all of them started to talk at once, determined to get their point across.

“Shut up” Kyuhyun said from the front seat, his words, as usual had the power to silence people incredibly quickly “Heechul just explain to Donghae he obviously still hasn’t caught on”

“Hey! I do know that HyukJae annoyed the K.X Group..”

“Annoyed? Are you kidding me you make it sound like a walk in the park” Heechul was already speaking loudly over Donghae who was now slumped in the back of the car.

“Well angry then…whatever”

“Donghae they want to kill Hyukjae” Kyuhyun said matter of factly, and although Donghae knew in the back of his mind that’s what the K.X  Group did he felt his breath out of him as he heard it spoken out loud.

“Then why did I have to get involved?” out of all the things that could have broken the tension in the car, he had to say that. Hyukjae cast him a seething look.

“Well duh, you live with Hyukjae and you’re best friends if they arrived at your flat and Hyukjae wasn’t there they’d grab the next best thing. You.” Heechul made a sharp turn down a one way street which distracted everyone for a few minutes as they realised Heechul was going down the wrong way and they were driving straight into an oncoming van. Heechul drove up on to the path knocking over a few bins and scratching a car in the process.

 When they had all lapsed back into silence Donghae was thinking of something to make the situation a little positive but he had nothing.

“They don’t look like they’re chasing us anymore” he said hopefully looking through the back window to the destruction they’d left behind them.

“You’re so clueless!” Hyukjae abruptly broke out of reverie “Have you never listened to the news?! Did you not grow up here?! The K.X Group are murderers! They’re going to try and kill you and then kill me, going down a one way street the opposite way won’t stop them!”

“Well why the hell did you make them angry then? If you’ve seen all the deaths they’ve caused on TV did you feel left out? Did you want them to hunt you down too?!” Donghae’s voice had risen considerably and he was now in a steely gaze with his friend who was refusing to back down.

“It’s not even my fault! If you let me explain then you’d understand!”

“Understand! Ha! How can I understand this at all!”

“Could you two babies shut up now? You can’t actually change the past so there’s literally nothing you can do about it.” Kyuhyun’s matured words hit Donghae in the stomach, he collapsed, fighting with his best friend was exhausting but he had to admit, the boy had a point.

“So, what do we do now?” was all he could muster while staring out the window, he could have sworn it had been sunny when they’d left the apartment now everything seemed to turn to drab.

“We’re going to the airport of course. Can’t stay in Seoul any longer unless you want a death wish but they’ll probably be on the look out there so we’ve got to be quick” Hyukjae decided to forgive his ignorant friend and instead turned to explanation “and that’s why Heechul and Kyuhyun are coming along. They know all the fastest routes, drive incredibly dangerously and always seem to come prepared” as if Heechul had been waiting for a queue he threw a couple of documents back to them, it seemed their flights had already been booked.

“Wait when did…”

“Kyuhyun only booked them about half an hour ago, we’re also in first class, K.X have a ton of money but they’re not going to waist it on first class seats plus they know you two got away in the car but they don’t know we’re involved yet so we’d like to keep that a secret as long as possible.” Heechul was making good time and they sped past a sign for the airport, they’d be there in about five minutes. “We’ll get you two some clothes and stuff when we get there”

“Ur…how?” the realisation that both of them had left without their phone, bank card or ID filtered through making him feel nauseous.

“I’ve got a friend who’s pretty loaded. He gave me some cash” Kyuhyun spoke, Donghae could sense he was smirking triumphantly.

“Siwon, right?” Donghae groaned, Kyuhyun’s little follower of course.

“er will do anything for Kyuhyun.” This time Hyukjae spoke and like Donghae he didn’t seem amused at how easily both Kyuhyun and Heechul managed to manipulate people and get them to do anything they so wished but he had to admit it had its advantages.

 They were at the airport, surrounded by cars full of excited people heading to some foreign destination on holiday or bored business workers where the airport had become standard and then there was Donghae, Hyukjae, Heechul and Kyuhyun there bizarre reason seemed unnoticed as Donghae tried to act as naturally as possible. He tried to ignore the fear that was nagging at his stomach.

The K.X Group were known worldwide, they would never bother you if you never bothered them but if you so much as glared at one of them…you were as good as dead. As cheesy as it sounded Donghae knew this was serious now, he didn’t want to be the next news story. His gaze flickered between people; anyone of them could be watching them, ready to take them down.

“What you so scared about?” Hyukjae said quietly, so that there two acquaintances wouldn’t hear. He felt a little more sympathy to his roommate. He was okay with this, kind of exciting actually but he knew Donghae was never quite suited for running from ruthless murderers.

“I’m just…fine” Donghae looked to the ground

“I’m sorry for getting you into this mess but honestly if I’d left you they would have taken the one thing they knew I’d come back for” Hyukjae cringed at the line but Donghae only laughed a little. Heechul and Kyuhyun both halted causing Donghae and Hyukjae to crash into their backs but ignoring their muttered complaints Heechul’s voice was low as he turned around to face them.

“Okay in case it hasn’t been rammed home to you two yet the K.X Group won’t stop just because we got on a plane. I’m only doing this because they don’t like me much either and we need Kyuhyun because he has money and brains” Heechul ignored the glowering look he received “so are you both ready to run?”

“Run? What, through the airport?” Donghae questioned, hastily looking around to see if they were being watched.

“No it’s an expression. Don’t make contact with anyone got it? If you see someone who looks like they’re remotely on to us then hide. You all ready?”

“Yes.” Only Donghae and Hyukjae responded, Kyuhyun seemed bored by the pep talk.

“Good. Let’s go.” Heechul spun around and started to walk again.

They made their way through the airport.

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