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“Shut up, SHUT UP, SHUT UP! What’s that goddamned NOISE!” Luhan stumbled out into the hallway trying to rub the sleep from his face, his voice cracked at least twice but he really couldn’t care less. Some god awful racket had woken him before the sun was even up; he was not a happy camper.

He was even less of a happy camper when he heard different thuds approaching in front of him causing him to look up through his disheveled hair and catch a glimpse of skin before he was literally tackled to the floor.

Strong arms wrapped themselves around his head and upper body before somehow twisting so that Luhan landed on top of the person instead of crushed beneath him. He winced at the high pitched noise caused by skin skidding across the few feet of hard wood floor their momentum threw them across, popping his head up through the protective cage the arms created he was able to confirm that it was indeed his personal bodyguard that he was laying half on top of.

He only got a second long look at Xiumins pain filled face before the world seemed to go to hell. Glass shattered and the sounds of bullets being fired and subsequently lodged in various objects or powering through them filled the apartment. Xiumin was already up and scrambling to get Luhan into the guest bathroom across the hall from the outside facing rooms.

“It the tub, in the tub, in the tub, get in the tub!” Xiumin had kicked the door shut behind them before practically throwing Luhan over the lip and immediately flinging himself down over the Chinese male. Just a few moments’ later bullets sliced through the walls and hit the porcelain enamel, shattering it to reveal the steel base beneath. Luckily none of the bullets ricocheted into the tub itself but they could feel the vibrations from every single impact.

It was all too much for Luhan, waking up less than a hand full of minutes ago, being tackled by his admittedly attractive half body guard, being man handled into a bath tub that he’d never even used and bodily shielded by said attractive bodyguard. His fingers scrabbled at bare skin before coming in contact with the top of Xiumins sweat pants where they caught and clutched for dear life.

Luhan felt Xiumin shift his head so that his lips were actually touching the outer edge of Luhans ear and could only just make out his voice over the din of metal hitting metal.

“Shhhh, shhhhhh, it’s okay, I’m here.” His free hand had trailed up Luhans torso to feather over the side of his face before settling in place, the gentle stokes his thumb was making over Luhans cheekbone ended up being the last straw. The tears he’d been fighting back ultimately spilled from the corners of his eyes pooling against the web of Xiumins hand on one side and awkwardly running into his ear on the other.

The comforting words whispered to him didn’t stop the entire time the bullets were raining down around them, neither did Xiumins fingers stop softly fluttering and smoothing over the side of his face that could be comfortable reached.

Luhan was startled out of his crying fit when he felt warm wetness against his chest; opening his eyes through the tears he caught sight of Xiumins shoulder, Xiumins shoulder that was bleeding, quiet badly. This revelation was enough to snap his eyes wide open, luckily or unluckily the bullets stopped just then and before he could even voice any comment about the injury Xiumin was hoisting himself out of the now wrecked tub.

“People might come through the broken window, I’ll protect you though, just stay put, okay?” His voice was sure even with the blood running down his dominant arm and dripping onto the floor from his slender fingertips. Even though he might not be able to reach his weapons, the room he’d been staying in for the past week after the funeral on the other side of the living room. Even though these men will most definitely have guns, even though he could get hurt, even though he could…. die.

Luhan wanted to hyperventilate.

Instead he reached shaking fingers to the recess in the wall above the tub, there used to be a set of decorative vases there, now they were most likely broken, all the same really. His fingers rummaged around briefly for the largest shard he could feel never once taking his eyes off the door. Noises has started to come from the direction Xiumin had disappeared in, followed by gun shots, grunts, thuds, more gun fire and then screaming.

Quickly snapping the medium sized washcloth off the ring next to the tub he wrapped the base of his makeshift shiv as best he could while not even looking down. He quickly found that not only his hands were shaking; his legs shook just as badly when trying to extract himself from his temporary refuge.

He wasn’t exactly sure where to hide; the walls had been pretty efficiently shredded, so he crouched beside the toilet so that the door wouldn’t open directly on him at least.

Having found a weapon and a hiding place Luhan had only time on his hands to wait for Xiumin or one of the assailants to walk through the door. Surprisingly he wasn’t panicking as badly as he thought he would be, not until he saw movement through the holes in the wall. His breathing all but stopped when the door slowly creaked open.

If nothing had been said by now then it was most likely not Xiumin who would be walking through the doorway, he tensed his legs, ready to lunge with his shiv gripped too tightly in both of his trembling hands. The first thing that came into view was the tip of a gun, almost definitely not Xiumin; he would need to time this perfectly, he’d never killed before, not even an animal, but adrenalin was pumping through his veins and he had no flight course, leaving him with only the option to fight.

He lunged just as the man’s face started to clear the door burying the porcelain shard into his neck. Movement to his left drew Luhans eyes to a sight be would probably never be able to forget. There had been a second man ready to enter the bathroom that he hadn’t known about.

He would have been dead except this second man’s body was already slithering to the floor revealing Xiumin standing in the middle of the hallway, covered in blood, chest puffing with exertion, cat like eyes on fire. In his small hand he clutched what he recognized as his Uncles largest glass cologne bottle. The square edges were covered in and dripping blood and gristle, Luhans stomach immediately heaved, unfortunately he wasn’t able to prevent himself from throwing up onto the still twitching bodies on the floor in front of him.

His attention was momentarily pulled forward as the heavy glass bottle thudded to the floor, then Xiumins hands were on him, pulling him up and over to the spare bedroom Luhan had been sleeping in directly across the hall. It was a mess, pretty much everything was in tatters, feathers were still settling on the floor from his torn up pillows and mattress.

“We need to get out of here Luhan! Grab whatever you can, I’ll be right back!” He’d shoved a backpack into Luhans hands that seemed to have survived the devastation.

“What?! What’s going on Xiumin! I don’t understand!” He hadn’t moved from the spot Xiumin had left him at yet, too confused to comprehend what was going on.

“Look at the uniforms Luhan! It’s the ing police! Someone paid them to kill you!” He could hear Xiumins voice grow slightly more distant as he moved towards his own room.

Then Luhan did look at the man lying out in his hallway, this wasn’t happening, it couldn’t be.

He must have stood there dumbfounded for longer then he thought because all of a sudden Xiumin was in the doorway mostly cleaned up and changed into a black tee shirt with some words printed across the chest that Luhan couldn’t focus on to save his life with his own backpack slung over his shoulders.

“Come on! They might send reinforcements! LUHAN!” He’d sped past Luhan to rummage through the chaos strewn all over his once relatively clean room.

All he could focus on as Xiumin chucked things at him that didn’t have bullet holes in them was the shining silver pendant dangling from the frantic man’s neck. Funny how the human mind works, he was so past panic that he didn’t even know he was panicking.

Xiumin obviously noticed though because he was swiftly stripping Luhan of his soiled sleep shirt and pants and dressing him in one of his least favorite pairs of jeans and buttoning up a blue and white plaid top before stuffing anything he could find that was undamaged into the leather bag before slinging it over Luhans back.

Pulling Luhan into the master bathroom, you know, the one without dead bodies in it, he splashed Luhan in the face with cold water which actually snapped Luhan out of his silent panic attack.

He mimicked Xiumin in combing his hair and brushing his teeth as fast as he possibly could, then they were out the door and down twelve flights of stairs as fast as they could manage.

They sprinted out the back door and down a side alley, then another, and another. Xiumin never let go of Luhans hand, neither of them looked back. They ran until they couldn’t anymore.