Characters: Kyungsoo, Yixing, Zitao

Three years prior.

Yixing stood in the hallway, ears pressed against the door, trying to hear something on the other side of the door. Sehun stood next to him, his hands clasped around Yixing upper arm.
“Do you hear something?” he whispered.
Yixing shook his head, “No, not a thing.”
“I'm too scared to do it,” he whined.
“Sehun, for God's sake, you're turning 24 in a few months!” Yixing scoffed in response.
“Ge, you know how he is. I still have bruises from the last time.”
“That was two weeks ago?”

Wordlessly, Sehun lifted his hoodie and pulled his pyjama pants slightly down, revealing a fading greenish-yellow bruise the size of an orange.
“, couldn't that have been handled as attempted homicide?”
“Attempted? That was failed manslaughter. I just tried to wake him up.”

Yixing massaged the bridge of his nose; this would be hella fun.

Inhaling deeply, he pressed down the door handle cautiously, peeking into the room while holding his breath. Pushing the door open fully, the duo was greeted with a lump beneath the covers, blinds almost fully closed with some daylight pouring in, illuminating the covers and the smell-
“It reeks like a smashed bottle of beer and an ashtray,” Sehun covered his nose with his hoodie.
“You should have seen how much he actually drank yesterday. I'm more surprised he didn't vomit.”

Yixing felt bold today and entered the room. Striding up to the bedside, he slowly sat down and stared at the mop of hair and back to Sehun. Sehun stood hidden behind the door and watched him intently.
“Ge!” Sehun whisper-shouted with wide eyes. Yixing  grimaced and braced himself physically for impact when he reached out and carefully threaded his finger through the hair. It was longer than usual and hadn't been cut in months.

There was slight movement under the blankets and Yixing almost jumped away if it wasn't for the almost inaudible whimper followed by a ‘stay’ from beneath the covers.
Yixing went back to playing with a curl of messy bed hair while signalling Sehun to leave and close the door, worry etched into his facial features.

“Didi?”
“Ge-” the voice sounded was muffled from under the covers, but Yixing heard the pain in it.
Yixing carefully pulled the covers away and the dim light from outside shone off Kyungsoo's eyes.
He cupped Kyungsoo's cheek, away a dried tear stain under his eyes, “Why did you cry?”
His voice was soft and new tears welled up in his didi’s eyes.

“I-I had a nightmare-” Kyungsoo choked on his words. It was serious when he had a nightmare and woke up crying.
Yixing his cheek once more before swinging his legs on the bed and draping his arms over the covers, pulling the younger one to his chest, “What was it about?”

“I dreamed about uncle, t-they ki-k-killed m-” his voice cracked once again.

“Hush, it's alright. I won't let them do anything to you,” he pulled him closer to his chest and propped his chin on Kyungsoo's crown. He knew he had to do something about the assassins they tried to track down for ten years now. ”We need to get up, didi.”

“A few more minutes,” Kyungsoo freed his arms from under the covers and wrapped them around Yixing’s torso. “Alright.”

The few more minutes turned into more than half an hour until Sehun knocked on the door, “Hyung, Ge? You have to get up.” Yixing nudged Kyungsoo until the younger woke from his slumber.

“Yixing, I think I'm also hungover,” he whined.
“We have to get up, we need to get moving.”
“But I don't like that dude.”
“I know, I know, I'm sorry. Go take a shower and wear some comfortable clothes for the drive.”

After some breakfast, Yixing pushed Kyungsoo, still hungover, towards their car. “What kind of boss are you?”
“You er, I have the strongest liver in the whole gang.”
“And yet you're still hungover,” Yixing laughed and coaxed Kyungsoo onto the passenger seat.

“You guys will be alright?” Sehun stood at the car, fumbling with a loose string of yarn on his gun holster.
“We’ll just be gone for three days. We'll be alright and you too; you have Kai by your side,” Yixing winked.
Sehun grimaced and shuddered, “That isn't helping either.”
“You're the capo bastone, show more confidence,” Yixing patted Sehun's shoulder and smiled at him, car keys jingling in his other hand.

Suddenly, a high pitched shout was heard, “Sehun! My baby!”
“Oh no, he's already here, Ge, save me!”

Yixing was almost in the car, laughing he added, “No can do. Hey Kai, don't pull stupid !” Kai waved at him and smiled mischievously.

An hour later.

“Awake, sleeping beauty?” Yixing playfully nudged Kyungsoo's knee when the car stopped at a red light. “Lunch?”
Kyungsoo rubbed his eyes, “Lunch?”

Even at 29, Kyungsoo sometimes behaved like a child, especially when he was hungover or tired. Yixing was still kind of happy that he was assigned to Kyungsoo and Sehun years ago.

He met both of them at the age of twelve and seven for the first time, when Yixing was 26 and Sehun was just adopted.
“Yixing? Will you tell me about Claire? You know, it has been years now, but I always liked when you talked about her,” Kyungsoo tilted his head towards Yixing, eyes fixated on the street.

“Where is this coming from?”

Yixing only got a shrug in response, engaging the gear he started the engine. “What do you want to know?”

He heard a lighter click before the smell of a burning cigarette invaded his nose and the passenger window was opened, “Everything. How you guys met. How you fell in love.”

The last statement was mumbled and Yixing wasn't sure if he heard right, but he decided not to comment on it. Side glancing at Kyungsoo, he drove out of the city. His boss was spacing out and stared out of the window, deep in thought.

“You really want to get over the next three hours, don't you?”, he laughed softly, “It was five years before I met you two. I think I already mentioned it. That means I was, uh, around 21? Or 22? Claire was 27 at that time.”

Yixing smiled fondly at the remembrance of his first real love.

“She took you under her wings when you entered the gang, didn't she?” Kyungsoo stared at the glimmering tip of his cigarette. His voice sounded off.

Yixing decided to ignore it for the meantime, “Haha, yes. I stumbled into her my first day when the older guys made fun of me and my appearance. Looking ‘too flawless’ and Chinese, you know, and now the same guys work under me. I wasn't here for long and my English was still not the best. Your uncle was out for the day and I didn’t have anyone I could talk too. That's how I met her. I actually crashed into her and almost broke my nose on her bulletproof vest.”

Kyungsoo looked to the backseat where their own vests laid, “were you running? You need some force to make that happen.”

“Well, she was a good ten centimetres taller than me, and yes, I was running. You can imagine it a bit like those cringey rom-coms; the heroine stumbling and her love interest catching her, all this awkward staring included. Literally, we stared each other for a good two minutes before she said something like ‘quite the catch I made here’.”

“And that's how you fell in love?”

Yixing laughed and waved him off, “No, it actually needed quite a few opportunities like that. She was almost the only woman there and the men were quite smitten with her, but apparently I piqued her interest. Much to the others dismay, that's how the guys started to be even rougher with me. Claire was always there for me, bolstering me up and at some point she even told your uncle because she was that fed up. The pep-talks you received from him were harmless.”

“You're kidding me. He wanted to hang me by my toes that one time!”

“Better your toes than your balls, don't you think?”, Yixing stopped at a red light and spotted a little bakery he and Kyungsoo could get coffee from. Kyungsoo shuddered next to him and hid in his oversized sweater he borrowed from Jongin because he and Sehun almost only owned semi to formal wear and a few dress shirts, but nothing like that. Yixing thought to himself that he should take both of them for a shopping trip once they're back.

“Kyungsoo, mind getting coffee for us? I have to make a phone call, I just remembered I forgot to tell Sehun about a few tasks for today.”

Kyungsoo nodded and opened the door, hissing as he climbed out of the old car. Opening the door of the bakery, he embraced the warmth and his glasses fogged up. Grumbling, he took them off and slid them on top of his beanie. Squinting at the price list, he tried to decipher the prices for a coffee, but someone had awful handwriting.

“Hey, little fellow, the hot chocolate is $2.80.” Kyungsoo didn’t move a muscle. He was about to explode; he didn’t have his earlier hungover explosion and this was the perfect opportunity. He wanted to start a brawl today. Inhaling sharply, he turned around. The suit in the queue behind him was grinning smugly, and he was even taller than Sehun and Chanyeol, but if the man thought Kyungsoo would be imitated, he was mistaken. “Excuse you? What did you say?”

“I said ‘hey, little fellow, the hot choc-’”
“And I ask again, what did you say?” Kyungsoo cut him off again.
This time, the man raised an eyebrow. It looked like he understood and he grinned again. Everything about the man was ticking Kyungsoo off, but he just turned around once again and smiled at the cashier, “One tall black coffee and a double espresso to go.”
“Someone’s trying to be an adult here.” Kyungsoo just rolled his eyes.

Glancing at the price on the cash register, he handed the money over, plus tips. “Could you spit in the giraffe’s order for me? I could do it as well, I wouldn’t mind.”
The cashier stared wide-eyed at him, but Kyungsoo just took his order and was about to leave.
“Feisty one, aren’t we? I’d like to know how you’d scream under me.”

Kyungsoo’s eyebrow twitched and so did his trigger finger, the gun hidden under his shirt burning itself into his skin. He was furious, but his calm demeanour didn’t show it. He just left and met Yixing outside at their car. Handing over the tall coffee, he asked, “Did you see the tall blonde giraffe coming in after me?”

“Yes, I did, and he stared at you.”
“Thank you, thought so. Did you see which car he came with?”
Yixing raised an eyebrow, “Did he piss you off? That one over there.”
“You sure? Alright, hold my coffee, I’m back in a sec,” Kyungsoo snapped his knife open and found a big enough glass shard on the ground. Looking around, he kneeled down and the knife made contact with the tire. Using enough strength, he slightly turned the knife to widen the opening for the compression and put the shard in.

“Soo, he’s about to leave the shop,” Yixing whisper-shouted. Retreating his knife, he lowered behind the parked cars and made his way over to his car and slid into the passenger seat. “That’s what you get, you er, for the last statement.”

Before Yixing manoeuvred the car down from the parking space, Kyungsoo made eye contact with the stranger and flipped him off.

“Mind holding my coffee?” Yixing handed Kyungsoo his coffee, “I feel like I saw his face before.”
“So it wasn’t just me.”
“So, does it mean you have a bad feeling as well?”
Kyungsoo gave a sound of approval while sipping his espresso.

“But back on topic, want to know more about Claire?”
“Yes, please.”

23 years ago.

 

“Want to see what kind of trouble we can get into this time?”
“Oh god, Claire, we’re going to die, aren’t we? Or at least someone will have a few broken bones.”
“It’s just the end of March, I know how to restrain myself.”
“You absolutely do not.”

“Claire, Lay, I can hear you.” The figures huddled in a corner froze on the spot, their Don appearing behind them, “Claire, you should be more responsible at your age.”
“Ah, boss, we-” she stumbled over her words.
“Alright,” their boss squatted down, Yixing was so shocked he flopped down on his . “No need to be afraid. Since tomorrow’s the first of April and I found you soon enough, I won’t be this year’s victim, so who will it be?”
He excitedly rubbed his hands together and that’s how the youngest, the troublemaker and then serious boss sat together for an hour and planned their strike. This year’s victim would be the consigliere and they would stick to easy pranks, but a lot of them.

The next day was full of laughter; not only did they design lamp insects, but placed an air horn beneath his desk chair and one mounted on the wall as door protector.

“Ah! Where’s the with the ing air horn coming from!” Kyungsoo exclaimed loudly, pointing an accusing finger at Yixing. It became a tradition that someone was pranked with an air horn on April 1. Yixing tried not to crack up since he was driving and Kyungsoo was the go-to victim for the air horn.

With each passing day, Yixing fell more and more in love with Claire and she sensed it. She seemed to be flattered and it seemed that she was falling for him as well. That was until one day, she disappeared without a trace a year later. Everyone was searching high and low for her, but with no result, the search took months. Even other gangs were asked for support, but they couldn’t come up with anything. Yixing was heartbroken, he fell deep for her and never had the chance to voice it. He hated himself for it, but also Claire because she disappeared from the surface of the world. It was like a piece of him was missing, that was until he met a frightened small Sehun and his older brother Kyungsoo, who eyed everyone with suspicion and didn’t trust anyone, not even his uncle, a few years later.

The brothers gave him a new goal in life, even if it wasn’t romantic love, but something equal to him. The first time he told them about Claire was when Kyungsoo came over in the dead of the night with Sehun in tow, because his little brother had a nightmare. They caught him in his room while he was sobbing and staring at a photo of him and Claire since it would have been her birthday that day.

“I wish I could have met her, she sounds like a fantastic woman,” Kyungsoo sighed.
“She would have been, what, 50 now?”
“Wow, that’s old” Kyungsoo grinned, “By the way, how much longer until we arrive?”
“Women aren’t old, they’re just like wine and ripen with age. Almost there.”

They arrived at their destination, a hotel where they would meet with their business partner the next day.

Shouldering his trekking backpack, Kyungsoo voiced his concern about their business meeting, ”Ge, I don’t have a good feeling about it. You know, everything's reeking of foulness.”
“Are you sure you don’t smell yourself?” Yixing received a well-aimed kick on his .
“I’ll never call you brother again!”
“We’ll see about that,” Yixing laughed and pulled his suitcase behind him, throwing an arm over his little brother, whispering a question all while smiling, “Is it just me, or do I feel watched.”
“Nope, it’s not just you. The guy at the bakery a few hours ago smelled like danger.”

They arrived at the reception desk and checked in. “How may I help you, Sir?” the receptionist batted her eyelashes at Yixing after she gave Kyungsoo a short disapproving once over. He didn’t mind. He looked like fresh out of the trashcan compared to Yixing, who wore fitting semi-formal clothes, while he was wearing an oversized hoodie, turtleneck peeking out of it, an old coat and jeans and the trekking backpack. The hotel was one of five stars, and the reason Kyungsoo decided to show up in that attire was he despised such locations.

“We made a reservation,” Yixing smiled sweetly at her. She was wearing way too much make-up and the powder collected itself in her creases around the eyes.

“One of which name?”
“Mr Qiang Li and Mr Minho Li-Kim,” Yixing pulled Kyungsoo closer, planting a chaste kiss on his cheek and he saw Kyungsoo gleefully grinning the girl down. “It’s our honeymoon.”
Kyungsoo turned to him, eyes glinting, he whispered into Yixing’s ear, “You er, you gave me a double name. I’m going to kill you tonight.”
“Please do. That’s because you love me,” he winked suggestively and he answered louder in response and his cheek.

The colour drained from the girl fast and she did her work. Giving out the key cards and room numbers, she wished both men a delightful stay.

In their room, Kyungsoo flopped down on the bed and sighed in content. “So soft,” he purred in delight and rubbed his face a bit more into the pillows.
Meanwhile, Yixing was calling Sehun, “We arrived. Everything’s still standing?”
“You’ve been gone for not even five hours now. But Kai is getting on my nerves.”
“You’re overreacting. I’ll call back tomorrow. If anything’s come up, don’t hesitate to call your hyung or me.”
“Alright. Enjoy your stay and my greetings to Mr Kim-Li.”
“Sehun, I’ll ing skin you alive,” Kyungsoo growled from next to Yixing who was laughing. Disconnecting the call, he also flopped down on the bed.

“At least undress when you want to sleep,” Kyungsoo chided him, “I have some more work to do, I’ll be in the next room.
Yixing just hummed in response before drifting off.

Kyungsoo sat in the living room of the suite at the window and stared out of it, a mug of steaming hot coffee next to him and laptop on his knees, “Who are you?”
He searched high and low for his business partner’s name, but apparently, he used an alias as well and after consultation with Sehun, his suspicion was just confirmed.
“Looks like he’s Chinese as well, but he knows how to get rid of his online footprint or he’s just dumb and doesn’t even use it.”

Laying on the ground, he stared at the ceiling until his stomach demanded food, “Maybe I should get take out and get something for Yixing too?”
“Sounds good to me. I want pasta funghi.”

Kyungsoo let out a shriek of surprise, glaring at his ge who appeared upside down in his line of vision. He rolled on his stomach and got up, “Don’t ever surprise me again!”
“Can’t promise that, it’s just too funny,” Yixing sleepily smiled at him.

“Alright, I’m coming back in around an hour,” Kyungsoo pulled over his coat and beanie, checked his pockets and slipped into his shoes, waving Yixing goodbye, he left the room. He stuffed his hands into the pockets and huddled his face until his nose was buried into the turtleneck since he forgot his scarf. Nudging the elevator button with the cap of his knee, he watched the lights closing in on his floor. The elevator pinged open and he entered, pressing the ground floor button. He yawned into his turtleneck and closed his eyes, crossing his arms as he leaned onto the side panel of the elevator.

“I think I’m developing a headache,” he mumbled to himself when the elevator came to a stop. Cracking an eye open, he saw that he reached the ground floor. Pulling his hood over his beanie, he hung his head low and exited it, walking through the people who wanted to enter it in return. Suddenly, he had the feeling he was watched again. Spinning around, the elevator doors already closed.

“Weird.”

He walked past the reception desk where the girl was still sitting, who kind of glared at him and he winked in return, showing the ring he wore on his right ring finger, it actually being a family emblem which Yixing and Sehun also had.

Outside the hotel doors, he stretched and yawned. Pulling out his phone, he started the navigation program to the next Italian restaurant. Once there, he ordered the food and espresso while waiting, standing outside on the patio while he smoked and sipped his coffee until his order was ready. The cold air helped with his headache and he felt better. Once he paid for the food, he went back to the hotel without a detour like before.
He shivered when he entered the foyer. Pushing the call button for the elevator, he waited for it and checked his phone, scrolling through his chats. He entered the elevator. Kai sent him some photos of Sehun's with words about how he understands why his brother talked so much about it, Sehun sent complaints about Kai, and Chanyeol sending him some goofy selfies from work. Another person also entered the elevator, but he didn't pay mind to them.
That was until he registered that the person didn't push a button and allowed the doors to close. He heard a chuckle and froze, “Same floor I see, Mr Kim-Li, or is it just an Alias? And thank you for stabbing my tire, I didn’t think it was actually you until I saw your car in the parking lot.”

An arm passed him and pushed the stop button while Kyungsoo just stared ahead, gulping heavily as the weird feeling from earlier came back. The person pushed him against the wall and effectively cornered him. Both arms on each side of Kyungsoo’s face. Invading his personal space, he leaned further down, retreating one hand just to grab his chin and lift it for the smaller one’s eyes up to meet the man’s sly smirk, “Guess you can pay me back for the tire.”

“You!” Kyungsoo spat it out like an insult, “Fancy seeing you here.”
He was back to being pissed as hell. He hadn’t eaten yet and he still had a lingering hangover, and it was just fueling his hatred towards everyone that moment.

“ off, giraffe,” swatting the hand away, he forcefully pushed the taller man away and the man’s eyes widened for a split second, probably not expecting such strength from Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo almost stabbed the stop button and the elevator was back on track. With his bag of food in one hand, he pointed a finger at the man, forcefully poking his chest he few times as he spit out, “Touch me again and I’m going to ing skin you alive, carrot.”

The elevator came to a halt on their floor and the doors opened, revealing a stressed-out Yixing, “Didi, you’re alive! I was worried sick! I couldn’t contact you,” tears were b in his eyes and Kyungsoo’s whole features softened in an instant and a soft smile danced around his lips.
“Ge, it’s alright, I just took the wrong street earlier.”
Yixing threw his arms around him and almost squeezed off his air supply, awkwardly he patted his back.
“Let’s go eat, I’m hungry,” Kyungsoo smiled at Yixing and softly dragged him away to their room, not paying any attention to the other man.

The next day.

“Ge, I don’t wanna wear a suit. Those oversized clothes are way too comfortable.”
“No can do, we have a business meeting with a potential partner. And we’re meeting them for brunch so you even get food.”
Kyungsoo wasn’t one to whine a lot, but that day he was. Pulling on his suit jacket, he smoothed down the dress shirt and his tie, slightly loosening it. Yixing draped his coat over the shoulders and patted Kyungsoo cheeks, “It will be alright, you can get rid of the suit once we’re back.”

With his usual attire, they made their way down and Kyungsoo walked with long strides through the foyer, an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips. Yixing was behind him, his suitcase and laptop bag with him. The receptionist from yesterday was there as well and he gasped when she saw Kyungsoo with a tailored three-piece suit that probably costs her a few months of pay and his hair loosely styled back. She probably didn’t even recognise him at first. His aura was totally different compared to yesterday. Fortunately, no-one saw his gun holster, but he wasn’t playing around today.

They arranged to meet with their potential business partners outside a restaurant down the road. Kyungsoo lit his cigarette and fixed his glasses on his nose, lightly scratching the scar on the bridge of his nose. Yixing and he were walking in silence, that was until Kyungsoo stopped dead in his tracks and squinted towards their destination. Yixing followed his line of sight and nudge him forward, “Don’t tell me you stabbed the tires of our business partner.”
“ me,” Kyungsoo grimaced, “I stabbed his tires and I threatened to skin him alive. I think I messed up our deal.”
“We’ll see about that.”

The man still hadn’t spotted them and was in deep conversation with another man.
“Yo! Giraffe! What’s poppin'?” Kyungsoo shouted with a grin. He obviously didn’t care about the outcome of the deal anymore and Yixing just facepalmed.
“Your uncle would turn himself in his grave.”
“As if he was any better,” Kyungsoo’s eyes crinkled from smiling and smoke was escaping from his nostrils.

The man turned around, shocked, “You!”
“I guess you guys are our appointment,” Kyungsoo was still smiling, cigarette still between his lips. Yixing saw that he had way too much fun with this whole situation right now and he rolled his eyes. Holding out his hand, the man grabbed it.
“You may call me Lay. I’m the consigliere. I’m sorry about the stabbed tire and I hope it won’t limit our possible collaboration. We will gladly pay the repair of the tire.”
“Zitao Huang.”
“Ah, Chinese, I see. I am as well.” He let go of the hand.
Zitao turned around to Kyungsoo, eyeing him with suspicion. Kyungsoo, on the other hand, put out his cigarette before extending his hand. The taller one reached out hesitantly.
“Zitao,” he said reluctantly.
“Do Kyungsoo. Don,” he smiled mischievously.