Luhan's head lolls to the left, the coldness of the brick wall penetrating his skin. Gradually, his eyes flutter open, matching the speed of the flickering light overhead, which scatters ugly, orange light into the now dark alley. As Luhan's eyes refocus, he realizes he had fallen asleep, flask in hand. He couldn't be quite sure how long he was out for, but he rubs his eyes lazily and begins to sit up properly. Slowly straightening up, Luhan masssages out the cricks in his neck, a combination result of carrying Baekhyun and sleeping against a brick wall. The thought of Baekhyun sends Luhan into a sort of panic when he realizes he's nowhere to be found. Where did he go? Luhan thinks to himself. He feels slightly worried, but more so annoyed. Considering their newly established relationhip, Luhan practically saved his life - while endangering his own - and Baekhyun just up and left? Luhan feels his eyes narrow, but he tries to shake the thoughts from his head. He tries, the thoughts leaving him momentarily only to return with a bundle more. What if something happened to him? Luhan ponders, but his inner voice nags at him not to care. So what if it did? He shouldn't have been so dumb and reckless to wander off alone. In Luhan's head, all these thoughts are justified - after all, he doesn't necessarily have a reason to like or care about Baekhyun. Though the next thing he has to worry about is how he'll explain all of this to Chanyeol, and even more importantly, Sehun.

Sighing, Luhan rises to his feet, swaying slightly from left to right. The headache Luhan suffers indicates to him that he must have fallen asleep for quite some time, maybe a few hours. He has no idea what time it is, but judging by the darkness all around him, he figures it's half past late late late. Clearing his throat and his head, Luhan tries to recover from the grogginess plaguing him. He takes a couple deep breaths and rummages through the backpack, looking for something, anything to help him get to Sehun. When his hand stumbles upon a smooth surface, he knows the feel immediately, silently rejoicing. Getting a firm grip, he pulls the object from the tangles of something, a jacket or something of the sort, revealing a black and rectangular form. With a wide grin, Luhan gently presses the button at the side, the slight pressure of his finger tip lighting up his phone screen, a happy photo of Sehun and him illuminating the dark air around it. The idiotic grin on Luhan's face begins to die down when he fails to find any bars in the top right hand corner of the screen. Great, no signal, Luhan sighs exasperatedly, remembering all the times he complained to Sehun for subscribing to such a shoddy phone company. He always nagged at him to upgrade to the more popular company, with much better coverage, but Sehun was stubborn in his choice, claiming the cheaper price made it more worth it. Luhan scoffs at the thought, knowing he was right all along, and now he felt more right than ever. But being right wouldn't give him better coverage, so he ventures off to search for Sehun in the meantime, hoping he can catch some good reception somewhere. Surely they haven't gotten off too far, Luhan hopes.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sitting in another abandoned building, Sehun and Chanyeol lounge around playing poker with a deck of cards Chanyeol happened upon earlier. Thankfully for them, there were still a few functioning lights available, the dim fluorescence allowing them just enough visibility to play. Chanyeol wasn't really concerned with the game they were playing, but he tried his best to occupy Sehun. After all, it had been a good long while since they'd fleed the dramatic scene from before, and with Baekhyun and Luhan still absent, Chanyeol didn't want Sehun worrying any further. They spent the first three or four hours doing that already.

"Go fish," Sehun intones flatly, disinterest clear in his eyes.

"What? No Sehun, that's the wrong game," Chanyeol replies. A small sigh escapes his lips as he tries his hardest to keep his patience with the younger boy.

"Whatever, this game ," Sehun pouts, laying his cards down and leaning back, stretching his legs out in front of him. "Man it's been hours already..." Sehun speculates, letting his words trail off. He'd managed to keep his concern at bay for awhile, but it's beginning to eat away at him again, the worry poking at him uncomfortably. Sehun fidgets as a result, making his discomfort apparent to the older boy.

"Don't worry," Chanyeol reassures, placing a large hand on Sehun's shoulder and massaging it as a brother would. "They'll be fine. I know my Baek."

Sehun doesn't seem convinced but nods anyway, the expression on his face either a blank page or one with such messily scribbled scrawl, his emotions illegible. Chanyeol can't really be sure, and he wonders if Luhan has this much trouble understanding Sehun too.

A shadow looming over them catches the two boys off guard, its sudden presence sending them scrambling, their surprised screams disturbing the otherwise silent night air. After recovering from the startle, Chanyeol notices the owner of the shadow, and Sehun peers from behind the now composed Chanyeol to check out the owner himself.

"...Baekhyun?" Chanyeol asks, caution creeping its way into his voice.

"Who else, ya big giraffe?" Baekhyun jokes. "Did I scare you guys?"

"...No. How did you find us?" Chanyeol questions, clearly changing the subject

"Right," Baekhyun replies. "Well, I just felt your aura coming from this place, so, you know, I thought I'd check it out." A smile breaks on Baekhyun's lips as he laughs, his eyes forming into little crescents that Chanyeol likes so much.

"Baek, what happened to you?" Chanyeol asks concerned, coming up to Baekhyun to cradle his face. A few scratches can be seen, and there was some blood smeared on his face. Baekhyun waves it off as nothing with his good arm, winking at Chanyeol.

Something seems off to Sehun though; he sees through Baekhyun's playful jabs and nonchalant remarks. More harshly than he expected, Sehun cut in with a question of his own. "Where's Luhan?"

"Oh," Baekhyun says, his expression blatantly falling. "Yeah, him. Ah.." Baekhyun clears his throat. "Luhan's not who you think he is, Sehun." Baekhyun looks dramatically away, avoiding Sehun's gaze. 

"What do you mean?" Sehun presses urgently. "Where is he?"

"I... I don't know," Baekhyun stammers. Chanyeol steps back behind Sehun, allowing the situation to unfold. He studies Baekhyun carefully; the words he says, and the way he says them. Chanyeol surely knows his Baekhyun, and Chanyeol surely knows when Baekhyun has something up his sleeve.

"What do you mean you don't know?!" Sehun outbursts. His brow creases with worry, a spice of anger mixing in as well. "How can you not know?" he deadpans seriously. "Did you leave him?!"

Baekhyun fidgets with the hem of his shirt, but doesn't waste a moment in answering. "I had to, Sehun."

"Wh-why?!" Sehun asks in a commanding tone. At that moment, Sehun is ready to bolt, to just run. He would run for miles and miles until he found Luhan if he had to, but a soft grip stops him, the pressure of Chanyeol's four long fingers sinking into his arm, and suddenly he feels as if he can't move. The touch transfers the words Chanyeol doesn't need to speak, and so Sehun stays, allowing Baekhyun to continue.

"Sehun, I'm sorry," Baekhyun apologizes. At this point, Chanyeol's curiosity piques, wondering what story Baekhyun has for them. Baekhyun only apologizes when he's being manipulative. And Chanyeol can see hints of it in Baekhyun's eyes, though he knows it's hidden well from Sehun, whose emotion clouds his judgements. Chanyeol's grip falls from Sehun's arm as he listens intently. "Luhan..." Baekhyun speaks his name with a low voice. "He tried to... He tried to kill me," Baekhyun falsely informs Sehun, who was in obvious disbelief.

"What are you talking about?" Sehun says with an even lower, deeper voice. Such an accusation did not sit well with Sehun, and he hoped Baekhyun had a good explanation, for Baekhyun's sake.

Without wasting a second, Baekhyun raises his arm up for Sehun and Chanyeol to see, the gash glistening in all its glory from some stray drops of blood that hadn't yet dried. Whether that was originally there or Baekhyun aggravated the wound for some fresh blood was trivial; he really was just going for the dramatic effect. "See?" Baekhyun asks rhetorically.

"What...?" Sehun whispers. "Why?" he asks, in such a quiet voice that Baekhyun can barely hear him. Chanyeol is taken off guard now because Chanyeol knows Baekhyun doesn't sustain injuries - especially not ones that bleed. Chanyeol knows Baekhyun couldn't have done that himself, but he also has a hard time believing that Luhan maliciously did that to him. Even though he's only had minimal interactions with Luhan from talking in the car and their conversations on the way to get gas, Chanyeol can already tell that Luhan is more of a defensive person than an offensive one. Surely Sehun knows this too? But again, Chanyeol remains quiet, letting Baekhyun talk his way through things. He is persuasive after all.

"It was Tao," Baekhyun lies. The blank look on Sehun's face instructs him to further explain. "The blonde guy," Baekhyun describes, using his hands to help the words flow out. "The one who threatened me... The leader of the gang?" The two taller boys nod in acknowledgement, allowing Baekhyun to continue with his false story. "Well, you see, they captured us not too long after we took to hiding in the building." Baekhyun looks up every so often to gauge his credibility, and he can tell that Sehun is engrossed in the story, giving Baekhyun even more confidence that he definitely does not need.

"They captured you?! Do they still have Luhan?!! How could you have left him!!" Sehun scolds, angry that Baekhyun would leave him behind. Although soaked in Baekhyun's story, Sehun still had trouble believing that his Luhan would ever attempt to kill anyone, even if he didn't like them (because it was clear to Sehun that Luhan didn't much like Baekhyun.)

"Sehun listen!" Baekhyun pleads. "Tao was going to kill us both, he was! But then he offered that one of us could live... only if one... dies at the hand of the other." Baekhyun chokes a little as if reliving the moment, hoping maybe he could muster some tears to help out his case. If not, that was okay too though. Baekhyun wasn't so mediocre he needed tears to convince someone he was right, but he figured Sehun was mediocre enough to fall for it, so why the hell not. "That Tao, man. He's one messed up guy, I'm telling you. I didn't want to do it... but Luhan. He... He was all too eager to escape..."

"No!" Sehun rejects. "Luhan would never do that!"

"I have the proof, Sehun!" Baekhyun refutes, holding up his arm. "I'm lucky I only made it out with this much!"

Sehun's face scrunches in disbelief, holding on to any kind of hope he could to reject Baekhyun and his evidences. Chanyeol knows the story is fake, but he plays along, toying with Sehun's confidence. "But what about Luhan?" Sehun pleads, tears streaming down in narrow stripes down his face, staining his innocence. "Is he... safe? Where is he?" Sehun's voice cracks with uncertainty.

"I don't know Sehun, but he's dangerous. You should forget about him and just continue on with us," Baekhyun advises, hoping Sehun will say yes, but Baekhyun knows it's never that easy. Baekhyun will wait though. Baekhyun always waits, and Baekhyun's time always comes.

"I won't believe it until I hear it from Luhan himself." Sehun resolves. As if on cue, Sehun's phone starts buzzing in his back pocket, the vibrations soft against him, contrasting the sharp noises of the heavy metal guitar solo he chose as his ringtone. Sehun slides his phone out of his pocket, a selca of Luhan greeting him, his caller ID filling the screen. Before answering, Sehun's thumb hovers over the screen for a brief second, looking up to meet Baekhyun's eyes and then taking the call.

"Sehun?" Luhan's voice speaks over the line, sounding slightly scraggly from bad reception. "Sehun are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here.." Sehun responds weakly. Baekhyun has moved over to stand next to Chanyeol, the two patiently waiting.

"Are you okay? Where are you? Are you still with Chanyeol?" Luhan shoots off questions like gunfire, ready to receive a round of answers, but is met with the single question lingering in Sehun's mind.

"Luhan..." Sehun begins, only to be interrupted by more questions from his frazzled boyfriend.

"What is it baby? Where are you? I wanna find you!"

"Did you hurt Baekhyun?" Sehun blurts, desperate for the answer. 

"What? Is he there with you?" Luhan asks with equal desperation as not a single one of his questions have been answered either. "Sehun -"

"Luhan!" Sehun shouts, cutting into whatever Luhan wanted to say next. The tears return to his eyes, the hot wells on the verge of spilling. "Did you... hurt him?"

There is a beat on the other end of the line before Luhan answers, "Well..."

"It's a simple question," Sehun begs with the statement, his voice cracking with anticipation, but so far, he doesn't like where this conversation is going. He grips his phone tightly, his shaky breath hitting the receiver nervously.

"Okay," Luhan confesses, confused at his boyfriend's desperation. "I did... but I had to! He would've gotten us both killed!"

"How could you do this?!" Sehun demands, his tears having long since fallen.

"Sehun!" Luhan cries in defense, taken aback by the sudden outburst from Sehun.

"No! Stop! How could you -? But I -..." Sehun can't seem to find the words on his tongue, so he blurts out the first ones that pop into his mind. "I never want to see you again!!" he screams, sobs catching in his throat.

"Sehun, wait! You've got it all wrong! I only did it -"

Luhan's frantic explanation stops abruptly as Sehun hurls his phone across the room, the small device forcefully hitting the wall, shattering the glass screen. Baekhyun works hard to maintain his pleasure, not wanting to obtain any suspicion from Sehun. Rubbing out the happiness from his cheeks, Baekhyun eases his mouth into a frown before he speaks.

"Do you believe me now?" Baekhyun asks.

Sehun glowers at him, reeling from all this new information. "Shut up."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Sehun? Sehun??!!" Luhan anxiously calls but hears nothing - only the dead silence of the disconnected line. "Dammit!!" Hands balling into fists, Luhan bangs the side of his fist on the nearest wall, as if he wanted to break through it. He turns back around, back against the wall, sinking down to the concrete. What was all that even about? Why wouldn't Sehun just listen to him? Luhan growls; he knows Baekhyun must be there with Sehun. How could he have been so stupid? Luhan should have never saved him - Baekhyun couldn't be trusted. Nor Chanyeol for that matter, seeing as how he's Baekhyun's other half. Shame, Luhan thinks. He was beginning to warm up to Chanyeol at least.

Sitting against the wall, face in hands, Luhan considers his options - which aren't many. The only ideas he can come up with are: 1. Find Sehun and 2. Kill Baekhyun, but as for how, he was at a loss. Finding Sehun was of course the most important thing on his mind, and Luhan knew he had to find him quick - before Baekhyun brainwashes Sehun any further and then who knows what. Luhan has no idea why Baekhyun is doing any of this, but nothing good can come from it. Luhan rises again, this time with resolve and determination to find his Sehun.

//um hello.. feels like it's been awhile since i wrote anything.... except not really lol. ah, i don't really know what happened here, i just kinda wrote and didn't think too much about it so... hope you //enjoyed a little plot twist ;) yeah, i did this all on an airplane so idk if i was delirious or what.