pairing: ChenLay
length: 1993 words

It was a relatively bare studio apartment. There was only a wooden square table in the middle of the room with one white chair next to it. A coffee maker with a glass decanter filled halfway with warm coffee was plugged into a nearby outlet and an empty white mug was adjacent to the machine. One square windowpane was above the twin-sized bed at the far side of the studio apartment. The bed was neatly covered with gray sheets and a matching gray duvet. It was currently fifteen minutes past three in the afternoon, so slight shadows were cast over the furniture and the wooden floor.

Chen walked around with his hands clasped behind his back, dressed in all black attire. His leather shoes clacked against the wooden boards of the floor as he stepped lightly around the studio apartment, drinking in his sparse surroundings with round eyes. His sharp chin jutted over the edge of his turtleneck jacket that fit snugly on his slender body.

Lay unlocked the door to the studio apartment, a bag of groceries in his hand, and stepped inside. His breath caught in his throat when he saw Chen inside, but that moment of weakness lasted for just a millisecond. He managed to school his expression into a neutral one as he walked in.

By this time, Chen had already realized that the older male was now present and was staring openly at Lay. The younger male’s thin lips curled up in a sly, cat-like grin. He kept his distance and circled around the other side of the table as Lay walked straight to his bed and set down the bag of groceries.

The silence then broke as the older male moved to the table and began pouring himself a cup of coffee. “What are you doing here?”

Chen’s smile widened as he answered nonchalantly, “I have a right.”

But Lay wasn’t amused by his former partner’s response. He only repeated, “What are you doing?” before taking a sip of his drink.

“Why do you care?” the younger male shot back with a challenging glint in his eye as he rested his elbow on top of the chair next to the table.

“Explain yourself,” Lay answered coldly, refusing to back down. His grip on the coffee mug noticeably tightened, to his former partner’s delight.

“That would be difficult,” Chen replied in a sing-song tone.

Lay’s eyes narrowed as he took another swig of coffee. The bitter drink was somewhat soothing as he tried to focus on the sharp taste coursing down his throat. “Yes it would, but do it,” he finally ordered after draining the rest of the drink.

"And if I say no?" Chen taunted fearlessly.

Without a moment's hesitation, Lay threatened, "I'll kick you out."

“I don’t think you can,” the younger male rebutted as his cat-like smirk widened.

“I think I can,” Lay answered confidently as he strode across the floor with Chen carefully watching his every move.

“Interesting,” the younger male drawled, as if ridiculing his former partner.

“Not really.”

“Very interesting,” Chen reiterated as he straightened up and turned to completely face Lay.

“Just get out,” the older male impatiently gritted out as he placed his right hand on the door handle and used his left hand to gesture to the exit.

“Why should I?” Chen asked haughtily, knowing full well that his former partner would not take kindly to his tone of voice.

“Because I said so,” Lay answered curtly.

The younger male responded mockingly, “Ah, because you said so.”

“Yes.”

“Another interesting thought,” Chen stated as he nodded in exaggeration with a devilish smile still adorning his face.

“Not really. Get out.” Anger was swirling in Lay’s eyes now. He no longer had the patience to deal with his former partner’s pointless games.

And Chen could see that. His playful grin instantly disappeared and an unfathomable expression was left in its place. “Do you really want me to go?” he asked with a hard edge to his voice, contrasting greatly with his usually light tone.

“Believe it or not, I do,” Lay snapped.

“But we could have so much fun!”

The older male abandoned the doorway and began crossing the floor back towards his bed, seeing that Chen was still refusing to leave. “Doing?”

“Old times!” the younger male reminded his former partner.

“Old times ,” Lay retorted, his voice rising in volume as his frustration continued building up inside him.

“Old times were great!” Chen yelled back indignantly as he stubbornly followed the older male around the studio apartment.

“Old times were twisted,” Lay roared as he whirled around and stared down at Chen.

“Not true!”

Lay spat, “I’m beyond that. Way beyond,” while his former partner groaned in exasperation. “So move along,” the older male continued in an icy voice, gesturing again towards the doorway.

Chen looked downwards and sighed heavily before locking eyes with the older male and saying, “You don’t mean it.”

“I do.”

After sighing deeply once more, Chen plastered a fake smile onto his face and chirped in an equally fake voice, “You haven’t asked me about me.”

Lay bit his tongue to prevent himself from spewing dozens of curses at the younger male and instead decided to humor him by asking, “How are you?”

“Fine, thanks!” Chen beamed brightly.

That only aggravated Lay even more. “Great. Get out,” he growled.

The smile slid off of his face once more as Chen asked incredulously, “Just like that?”

“Just like that!” the older male shouted as the two former partners began an intense staring match. Even though his eyes began to sting from holding them open for so long, Lay refused to blink first. This was a matter of pride.

But Chen knew that this wasn’t the way to get his message across. Although he also had his own pride to uphold, the stakes were too high for him to continue this immature fight. So the younger male flicked his gaze downwards as he slowly moved his right hand to his zipped up jacket pocket and undid the tiny zipper. Lay’s gaze followed his and landed on Chen’s right hand tugging the grip of his revolver out of his pocket.

And then everything clicked into place.

That’s why Chen was here.

He should’ve known that he wouldn’t have been able to stay in hiding forever.

It was simply a matter of time before someone was sent to find him.

At the very least, his former best friend had been the one charged with this task.

Well, perhaps this was the answer that he had been looking for this past month.

Chen’s hand had dropped from the revolver’s grip, but it was still poking out of his pocket. The sunrays beaming through window glinted against the black metal that camouflaged against the younger male’s black jacket.

After forcing his emotions back into the mental safe that he usually kept them in, Lay pointedly turned around and sat down in the chair by the table. He reached across the table for the coffee pot and his white mug. With a strange sense of calmness washing over him, the older male slowly poured the black liquid into the mug.

Meanwhile, Chen watched his former partner perform such a stupidly mundane task, even though they were both aware of the reason why the younger male was here. The weight in his pocket suddenly felt a thousand times heavier, like a gigantic stone pulling him down. It was as if they had come full circle and they were back at square one with Lay drinking his coffee in silence. And as much as Chen wanted to hate his former best friend for selfishly abandoning him, he couldn’t bring himself to.

In a cruel world that dealt awful cards, Chen had been given the worst of the deck. Luckily, he had also been given an ace that would trump everyone else’s hands.

But that ace had been taken away from him a month ago.

All he wanted was to take the ace back. To bring it back to its rightful place.

With light, gradual steps, the younger male walked up to Lay’s chair and stared at the back of his former partner’s neck. He observed the wispy black hairs against the pale, smooth skin. The end of an angry red scar was barely discernible, but Chen could see it peeking out from underneath Lay’s navy blue shirt. He knew this scar would never fade; no scars ever faded from their battered bodies. Chen had a matching scar on his own back to attest to that.

After inhaling and exhaling loudly, the younger male solemnly said with the slightest waver in his voice, “There’s so much you don’t know.”

But Lay wasn’t tempted. “Yeah.”

“A lot you don’t understand,” Chen continued in a more patronizing tone.

“That’s tough to believe,” the older male deadpanned as he pushed his mug away from him. And in a flash, he seized Chen’s revolver from the younger male’s jacket pocket and began twirling it in his right hand. As he toyed with it, Lay used his fingers to deftly check the magazine well.

Just as he thought. Chen always came prepared.

And in another split second, Lay shoved the revolver back into his former partner’s open hand.

To Chen’s dismay, the safety was unlatched.

He froze, because this hadn’t been part of his plan at all. The ending he had foreseen—and had hoped for—had been the complete opposite. Even though he had been ordered by the higher-ups to do this, Chen didn’t know if he could actually carry it out. Even though he had more than a hundred kills under his name, this was different.

Lay was different.

But Lay had also left him alone. It didn’t matter that they’d had a partnership that spanned decades.

Lay had disappeared without a trace.

No goodbye note. No explanation. Nothing at all.

“Give me a minute,” Chen croaked out as he turned his back on the older male and grabbed at his hair, desperately staring up at the ceiling, as if it would give him the answer he was looking for.

Lay stared out of the window with a blank expression as he evenly responded, “You’ve had more than a minute.”

The younger male immediately his heel and stared at the back of Lay’s head again. “I can change your mind,” he stated in an effort to convince his former best friend, but it sounded more like he was begging Lay at this point.

“Impossible.”

“Nothing’s impossible!” Chen exploded as he glared daggers at the back of Lay’s head. Even until the very end, why did his former best friend have to be so stubborn?

“Some things are.” And without warning, the older male’s right hand wrapped around Chen’s wrist in a vice-like grip and pulled it upwards so that the muzzle of the revolver was pressed against Lay’s right temple. The metal was cold against his scalp. Frigid. Just like the weather.

Chen stared helplessly at his former best friend, feeling his heart shatter into a million pieces. “Not this,” he whispered, feeling his eyes begin to well up with tears.

Lay’s fingers only pressed harder against Chen’s wrist. “You’ll see,” the older male said simply as he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And even though seconds ticked by with nothing happening, Lay believed in Chen.

Because that was all they knew.

How to kill.

And even in his last moments, Chen didn’t disappoint.

Mischievous, little Chen whom Lay had grown up with for twenty-some years.

Talented Chen who always followed orders, no matter what they were.

Even if he had been ordered to kill his former best friend for going rogue.

Chen always carried out every mission he had been assigned.

So he pulled the trigger.

And Lay’s head slammed forward onto the table, a ghost of a smile decorating his blood-spattered face.

♈♈♈