I forgot how time zones can be a total

To say my good friend Kevin is not too happy about being woken up at three in the morning is an understatement. Despite the fact that he’s done worse to me in the past but I suppose I should cut him some slack because really, I know it’s not the best move right now but I need someone who I can trust.

Plus at least Kevin won’t think I’ve gone off the planet when I tell him half of this bull either.

He practically deals in making up conspiracy theories as a part time hobby to make a little extra cash so some of the stuff he knows is more than enough to make every head turn.

Thankfully he agrees to help look into everything, after finishing calling me a million different swear words in about seven different languages and then hangs up saying he’ll send me the address and flight details because he’s based in Japan currently.

Sighing as I get off the phone, I cast my eyes to Becky who nods and takes off the technical stuff so that hopefully unsavory eyes and ears won’t have picked up the call. “Unless someone has access to the same system as me, which is highly unlikely, they shouldn’t have picked up that call.”

“Yeah, I know,” I smile towards the geeky looking girl, “Kevin will have a load of his own protection up regardless. Thanks though.”

“No problem,” Becky smiles and automatically begins working on something else, “What you going to tell Cage?”

I shrug because there’s not really a lot to tell and I don’t know how we’re going to manage it in the slightest. She gives me a look and I roll my eyes at her before smirking and walking off with a two wave. I’m unsure about how Cage will react, I know fine well that he’s sort of involved with all this mess thanks to knowing me but there’s a little voice in the back of my head that is telling me that I’m best leaving him out of it. This isn’t something he needs to be worried about or dealing with; he has bigger fish to fry regardless.

I find him on the roof, playing a form of golf with no real end goal but I don’t question in. It’s not the worst thing I’ve walked in on, trust me on that.

“When’s your flight?” Cage asks in a knowing tone.

I sigh, flopping down onto a nearby wall to stare across the cityscape, “Probably soon. Kevin will send the details across.”

Cage nods and sends a golf ball flying off into the buildings, “He’ll only give you five tickets, won’t he.”

A nod is his reply but he just smirks, dropping a golf ball from about chest height and then easily slamming it with the club so that it goes sailing through the air, “Don’t sweat it kid. I’m not your parent who has to keep you tied to my apron strings.”

“I know that,” I reply, sighing, “But I still owe.”

Cage just snorts, “Nicks, whatever crazy idea you’ve got in your head about that drop it right now. I see the way you look at those boys; they’re your family, just like this lot of nomads are mine. You couldn’t have run away from them even if they had tried to push you away.”

I frown at him; unable to quite understand what he is saying towards me because there is no way in hell he could have known anything about that. Hell, until recently I only remembered little bits and pieces and now I’m not sure what to believe in.

Cage chuckles, “You’ve always cared for them, regardless of the consequences of yourself. Whatever this is all linked to, you chose to leave in order to protect them for some reason and now that protection has to change.”

“You make me sound like some kind of weirdo,” I complain but I know what he means, deep down. Me and Suho planned to split everyone up to keep them safe and now we’re all being pulled back together for some reason, something that is big and we won’t remember it fully until we’re all back together again.

“Nah, it’s just part of growing up and being responsible, but it’s the truth,” Cage smirks and sends another golf ball off, “Plus we’ve picked up a trace on those who may have been further involved in getting us all branded as public enemy number one to one thousand so we’re going to chase that avenue.”

I gulp, “Won’t me being missing be a danger to that?”

“No,” Cage replies, “Strangely your name isn’t there anymore. You’re listed as dead.”

The way he says it so casually sends a shiver down my spine, “What?”

“Nicks Zhou is dead, there’s even a newspaper report about it and everything,” Cage replies, “We’re checking it out but I think someone wants you completely out of the picture with me and I’d say take it whilst you have the chance.”

For a few more seconds I’m stunned and then shake my head, “Well I’m pretty good looking for a dead guy walking, right?”

“No one better,” Cage chuckles and then whacks another golf ball into the city and I smile. Things are certainly going to get interesting now, if I’m not careful people will start calling me by my real name.

Something I’m not too sure about in the slightest.

~*~

“Geeze man, I was hoping you would totally be over this by now,” I groan as I rub light circles on Luhan’s back as he vomits really loudly into the airplane toilet and I smile sympathetically towards a sour faced looking woman on the back seats who is not best pleased. Not that I am either but technically I’m the one whose responsible for this boy, even though the git is older than me, and the others are firmly staying in their seats pretending to be asleep.

The joys of being a leader, apparently.

I’m going to kill Yixing for forgetting the sleeping pills for Luhan, five hours of him throwing up and being in a fitful state all because he’s afraid of heights wasn’t fun back then and it’s even less fun now.

Sighing when Luhan stops hurling after about twenty minutes, I hoist the smaller man up and gently clean away the sputum from his face before guiding him back to the seat. Part of me wants to trap him in the middle of the row so that he cannot go pelting to the toilet again when he needs to because he’s drawing unwanted attention to us but I know that’s a really stupid idea. For one thing, it’ll just make him worse and for another I really don’t need vomit all over my trousers.

They’re practically new and I don’t want them wrecked.

Yixing looks up sheepishly as we return, mouthing a sorry to me but I just wave it off, it’s not like we have much of a choice right now and it’s probably better that one of us stays awake whilst we’re on this flight. Baekhyun is sleeping with his mouth open, loudly snoring which is annoying more of the passengers around us and Sehun is still doing his cute little kitten curl sleep. I swear that kid is going to be the death of me in terms of cuteness, if he lost the resting face then he’d be cute and adorable all of the time and that would probably be a bad thing on my part.

Damn my obsession with cute fluffy things.

Luhan settles down with a groan, pulling the sleep mask over his eyes and grumbles something but I don’t pay him much attention right now cause I can’t be bothered. Plus, Yixing is reading through some information on his tablet with a concerned frown on his face.

“What’s that?” I ask conversationally, trying not to stick my tongue out at the rude lady who just glared at me from the opposite side of the isle.

“Something Becky received about an hour after we left them and sent on,” Yixing says, handing the tablet over to me, “You sure that your friend Kevin is trustworthy?”

I nod, “Yeah, known him longer than you guys so...wait, someone sent her this?”

“Yeah, untraceable e-mail apparently,” Yixing mutters quietly as he shifts his arm because Baekhyun was trying to cuddle into it.

That’s made me more worried than before, I know Kevin is good but he’d contact me rather than Becky unless he was certain that we weren’t going to get on the plane and considering this document is one that I prayed I’d never have to see again it’s no surprise that I’ve now got cold sweat rolling down my back.

“Do me a favour and delete it,” I say to Yixing, handing him back the tablet and leaning back in my seat a little.

“What? Why?” he whines immediately and I really wish we weren’t surrounded by members of the general public so I could just throttle him without getting into some form of trouble.

I sigh, “Trust me, that document is not good in the slightest and will only screw things up. Delete it.”

“But what if it contains...” Yixing continues

“Delete it Yixing,” I say again.

“But hey,” he tries again.

Another sigh escapes me, “I’ll tell you what it is when we land, after you delete the bloody thing.”

He moves his fingers as if he is doing so but I know Yixing and quickly make a grab for the tablet, holding it out of his reach as I delete the document from the tablet along with the copy and the hidden one as well. I even clear out his recycle bin as well just to make sure that he can’t see any more of that document than he’s already seen because right now he doesn’t need to see it.

He pouts when I give the tablet back, “You didn’t need to go that far.”

“Yes, I did,” I state back, “And don’t try relaying the e-mail loop either. I cleared that to.”

“That’s not fair Daizhyung!” Yixing pouts

I shake my head, “Look I already told you I’d tell you what it was, just not right here and right now and trust me by the time I tell you half of what it is you’ll wish that you never even knew about it in the first place.”

Yixing narrows his eyes, “Really?”

“Really really,” I reply and then groan, “Though excuse me, Princess Sick Bag is back in the house.”

Luhan has jolted forward and made a grab for the bag just in time apparently, which is good. So, it’s another trip to the toilets at the back of the plane. I really hope that Kevin is there to pick us up, though knowing him he’ll be in some place where blending in will mean wearing something strange. He has this thing of standing out and looking different because apparently, no hacker worth their salt would look like mister joe average. I’ve never understood that, I just hope he hasn’t wound up in some famous street in Japan otherwise my wallet is going to be empty before we even get there.

authors babbling: anyone got any guesses as to where they may just end up? teehee ^^ also if you do guess, advice of styles would be greatly appricated too