XUIMIN POV
"Who are you?" The guy in front of me smiled. His tank top fell down enough so that I could see his mark, the curled snake crossed with a 1. Identical, to mine and Tao's.
"My name is Chen," he said, again flashing that smile. My heart started beating, loud thumps in my chest. Why?
"Xuimin," I told him, offering him a smile of my own, although I kept my hand on my shard in my belt. I didn't know him, or the short brunet pacing behind him. Why did Tao bring them here? Why had I given him my name, anyway? That was a carge move, but I felt like I could trust him, and after surviving in the streets this long, I've learned to trust my instincts. But only so far, and I had just crossed that invisible line. Oh well. You can't stuff a word back in after its left, my mother used to say. Before she died, my father already gone, and I was left alone, to run. To eventually find comfort in the streets, and the closest thing you could get to happiness in the shadows of Iksan.
Tao appeared again, wearing a rare smile, and grinned at me. "That's Chen, and that's Baekhyun," He told me, pointing towards Chen and then towards the still pacing brunet. Baekhyun stopped pacing and walked up to stand next to Chen, his eyes narrowed, chin jutting out. He was clearly as suspicious of us as I was of them, but Tao and Chen looked completely relaxed.
Chen met my eyes again, his brown orbs seemly drawing the light, and the crooked, mischievous smile on his face fit him. He walked up closer to me, until we were a couple inches apart, and then tilted my head to the light, his hand on my chin. As he did, a finger strayed up to below my jawbone, where someone would feel for a heartbeat, and pressed his finger into my neck, like to feel for my rapid pulse. Another crooked smile grew on his face, growing until it was just a smile, too big for his face, and his hand fell back to his side. Lips still curved into that smile, he held my gaze once again, which I would usually take as a threat, but with him, I didn't feel the urge to shard him.
"Xuimin," he said, lips perfectly shaping my name, his eyes still on mine, us still locked in our own world.
Xuimin, he mouthed again, but no sound left his mouth.
"Oof," I hissed out almost silently as something collapsed onto me. For a second, my brain flew, and I thought it was Chen. But he was gone. Chen was gone.
I fished under the sofa, found my shard, and pressed it against the throat of the attacker before my eyes were open, my mind still hazy, my eyes, no matter how I cursed them and me and my weakness, they began to fill with tears, but I quickly blinked them away. I had dreamed of him. It had been a while since I had.
My eyes open, I realized the attacker was D.O, but I didn't move. This brast will get us killed, and, as much as I longed for that sometimes, I didn't want everyone else to die.
"Lay, should I down him?" I asked the first person I saw.
"Yes," he said, "go right ahead."
D.O made a noise, but he was on his back, his face away from me, so I couldn't see his expression.
"Xuimin, let go of the shard," Boss told me.
I wrinkled my nose.
"Xuimin, let go of the shard," Boss told me, monotonously.
"But I wanna down him," I said.
"Xuimin, let go of the shard."
With a noise of annoyance I released the probably hyperventilating D.O onto the floor, tucked my shard safely back under the cushion, and closed my eyes. Maybe, if I fell asleep fast enough, I would see him. I would see my Chen. Because no matter how much it hurts, no matter how painful it was to wake up and realize that it was all a dream, that he was gone, gone forever, I would suffer through it to see Chen. I would always choose him, even at the price of pain.
LAY POV
Xuimin slept through D.O collapsing on a chair. He slept through Tao rushing out, and then Tao coming back with Kris and Baekhyun, quietly pissed in that way of his for the two sweets to abandon him in a tavern with a gang trying their very hardest to kill him. He slept through Baekhyun and Kris getting yelled at by Suho, and D.O being yelled at by Suho, and Tao getting yelled at by Suho. I played my way through it. Chanyeol just ate, every now and then flicking his eyes toward the depressed Baekhyun, making as if to get up, and then sagging back in a chair again, clutching his faithful food. Suho, finally, ran out of steam and collapsed on the ground beside me, wordlessly rejoining the game.
Slowly, the sun came up. Slowly, buttery streaks were drawn on the floors and the air began to warm, but still Xuimin slept, and still we played, with not a single word exchanged. Finally, as the city was fully woken up around us and Iksan's life began to start again, Suho unfolded himself from the floor, stetching his limbs, making sure Xuimin was fully asleep and all the members were long gone, disappeared to rooms around the building, or into Iksan, before turning to me
"I'll be back by noon," he told me, voice barely a whisper, and I could only nod. He swept down the stairs, pausing to change quickly into suitable city clothes, like I know he always does on Saturday mornings, and gave me a last look; sad, and yet always with that glint of happiness, the same look he's always had when he leaves every week.
Only I know about her. I know she's a weakness, I know he could get caught, but I know his mind can't be changed. It's hard. I know that. And so I let him to visit her, to spend a precious few hours with her every week, even though she can never know who he is. Love hurts. It does, and I had learned that all too well. In the past, and in these last years. It hurts like hell. But you keep living, because you're expected too. And you keep loving, because love is life, love is death, love is everything.
Baekhyun POV
"Whaddya want?" I asked, poking the half asleep Chanyeol with my finger. He half turned over.
"Donuts."
I sighed. "You always want donuts."
...
"Donuts."
"Fine. I'll get your donuts," I sighed, accepting the fact that Chanyeol probably wouldn't budge.
I walked out the door, money tucked in my shirt, dressed in casual clothes. Merging into the flowing crowd, I visibly relaxed, but never let down my guard. I passed two street dancers, one with a tattoo on his cheek that I had never seen before, the other with jet black hair and a smirk that would send the girlies right to him. I passed restaurants, a lot closed as it wasn't even noon, and street vendors. Tourists mingled in the crowd, sporting cheesy Iksan shirts and expensive phones so ridiculously easy to steal, but I knew that wouldn't help me in my effort to stay invisible, nicking a phone from a back pocket. So I continued on, finding a donut shop easily enough. I bought a dozen, then started the walk back to the crib.
The street dancers were still there, with quite a large crowd ringing them. But, with a part in the oohing people, one caught my eye with his own. He had the cheek tatto I had noticed easier, and a slightly dark red hair color. He would look just like another motorcycle rider to anyone else, but there was something different about him, and the other dancer. They both had that unconscious grace of a long-time streeter. They both had sweeping eyes, taking in every detail without missing a beat. The red-haired one held my gaze for a second longer, and as he turned around, sent me a tip of an imaginary hat and a wink, like he knew something I didn't. Then he turned fully, to rejoin the black haired one, and it was like the encounter had never happened. But it had, and it left a pit in my stomach.
~~~~~
Who do you think the street dancers are?
Im sorry if this story is a bit boring right now, but it'll get better. It's only the beginning. :)
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