Hunted

News had traveled fast. As soon as it reached Nele, he shot into action, speeding down the street from the arcade. Couldn't get home from there, but there was hardly any point in going home when it was all ruins anyway, so he headed for Kiyoshi's place. If Leandor couldn't call any of his friends, then they had no other choice.

He arrived after a minute of sprinting. There, he ran into the building and banged on the door with his fist as hard as he could. “Open up!”

Of course, the yellow-haired bastard was the one who opened. He seemed to have an odd determination about him, but relaxed up with a smirk as he saw Nele. "If you want to knock the door down, you have to hit harder. Not much energy left, Duracell? I could always recharge you..."

“They fucking blew up my house!” Nele growled through his teeth, ignoring Takuya's taunt. “I need to talk to your friends. I need help. Big help. What the fuck am I supposed to do? My best friend almost fucking died!”

Takuya frowned skeptically. "Dude, reality check? Had a bad day-nightmare, little fella?" Fortunately, Kiyoshi and Luo were making their way over... so he wouldn't have to talk to the prick for much longer, hopefully.

“You have to help me!” He pushed past Takuya and rushed to Kiyoshi. “There was an explosion. Wasn't big enough to take down the building, but there's not much left of our home. If Leandor hadn't found the timer, he'd of been blown to smithereens, but now we've got nowhere to go... What can I do?”

Wrapping an arm around to Nele's back, the black-haired Japanese pulled their bodies together. He put his other hand on the back of the other's head, hugging him tightly. After standing in silence for a while, he sighed. "Who would do something like that?"

With a deep shaky sigh, Nele brought his hands around Kiyoshi's waist and squeezed him lightly. “I don't know. I'm guessing that bigass friend of ours and his dumb-as-fuck bother. But now me and Leandor are screwed. I don't know where we can go to be safe. He can't call any of his friends because he doesn't know which of them would stab him in the back.”

"Damn..." Kiyoshi shivered, then started stroking Nele's back. It took a while to build up the courage, but he eventually made the obvious request. "He can stay here, can't he?"

The redhead heard Choi's voice over from the couch. "If that was Ramesh' doing, then this place is likely to be the next blown up. We should all get out of here, if we can think of somewhere safer..."

There was a light pat on Nele's head. "Sure, you can stay here for now." Luo didn't sound at all bothered by the idea, and he added almost apologetically, "might not be safe, but we'll have to take turns watching out... and I have a call to make."

“... You mean it?” Glancing at Luo, Nele suddenly flashed a bright smile. “Seriously? Both me and Leandor could stay? The fuckers waited until we were both gone to do it so as long as there's always someone here, it shouldn't be too dangerous, right?” He kissed Kiyoshi hard and then glanced around. “Now my only problem will be to talk my hard-headed roommate into it.”

Luo quirked a brow. "Hold on a minute. Who's this Leandor fellow?" He cast a brief glance over at a mattress on the floor, then sighed lightly and slid a hand into his pocket.

“Leandor is my best friend. Has been since I beat him off with a stick when he tried to pick me up years ago.” He frowned, not liking the look on Luo's face. Would he really deny his friend a safe place? “I told Takuya that he almost died, didn't you hear that part?” He moved away from Kiyoshi and went toward Luo. “Please! If Leandor is stuck sleeping in some crack house or the YMCA, then I will be too.”

With a cell phone in his hand, the taller Korean looked at him with a sigh. He thought for a bit, then eventually shrugged. "He can come, but if I don't like him, he can go somewhere else."

Nele sneered at that, but kept his comments to himself. The guy had almost been cool, and then had to go and ruin it by talking more. He shook his head and turned back to Kiyoshi. “I guess that's the best I can get from him, huh? Would it count as a reason to kick Lee out if he hits on Takuya?”

A brief smirk was headed his way before the Japanese leant forward to whisper in his ear. "Don't worry. From what I saw of Leandor, unless he tries to hit on Luo, he'll be okay."

“Oh good, there won't be a problem then.” Nele put an arm over Kiyoshi's shoulder, using the other to gently caress the Japanese face. “He will probably stay far away from Luo, and I'm sure now that he knows you're a seme there's no problem here...” He looked over at Takuya and flashed a sarcastic grin. “So long as you say something, you have nothing to worry about either.”

The yellow-haired guy let out a faked erotic pant, then licked his lips intently. "So I just have to stay silent to get some? Is he cute? Strong?" He chuckled, then moved over to them to give Kiyoshi a pat on the back. "I guess you want the little ginger in our room, so have a think about what you're going to offer me..." With an innocent smile, he moved past them, heading for the kitchen area.

Couldn't help but glare after that guy. The redhead rolled his eyes, and then looked over at Luo. “What about my animals? I've got four kittens and a dog now. Can't put them at the shelter; the kittens are still a bit sick.”

Luo didn't seem all too happy about that. "Animals? This just keeps getting worse..." he grumbled, then pushed to his feet with an exaggerated sigh. "I don't want to see a single one of them out there. If they're going to be in the apartment, then talk to Takuya. Maybe he'll let you keep them in the little room."

He wanted to call Luo a cold bastard but figured that wouldn't get him any further with it. Instead Nele simply turned his focus completely to Kiyoshi. “Well I expected it to go a lot worse. Think if we let Mr. Ice King cuddle one of the kittens, it'll warm his tiny little heart?”

His attention was appreciated, the message conveyed to the tighter grip around him and a soft kiss on his lips. Kiyoshi smiled, gazing lovingly at him for a moment, before leaning forward to whisper again. "Which of them would that be?"

---

House blown up?

That was a harsh reality check. It didn't take more to remind Luo of what they were. Nobody. Sometimes they forgot, enjoying each other's company and doing well what they did best. Being practically unbeatable in pit fights - barring Jeong-Hwan and Taro - gave Luo a lot of respect from some people. Kiyoshi had a veritable fan club at the local arcade, and Kyun made enough money betting with idiots to cover whatever parts of the rent the others couldn't find for any given month.

But everyone that counted knew that they were nobodies. No education, no qualifications that society sought - hell, they didn't even have any valid papers. If people who actually were someone happened into a mess like this, they could just call the police. What would that solve for them? A few in prison for years, rest of them sent out of the country? Yes, now that was a great prospect. Knowing the authorities, they probably wouldn't even take them seriously. Odds were Ramesh would still get away with it.

Troubled times indeed. Luo knew that he was supposed to take a step forward and make the right decisions in this situation. Lead them through the stormy waters to the calm shore on the other side. But he didn't know how. He felt helpless in this situation; even with a name to connect to the figure, noone he knew had any clues whatsoever. He was even reluctant to go search for long himself; somehow being around the others in case there'd be a fight was the only thing keeping him from feeling completely useless.

He couldn't do it. As annoying as it was, he had to call Jeong-Hwan. Sympathy from that man was completely unpredictable, and if the guy's mood was 'right', he could even suffer ridiculing from calling. Or maybe be yelled at? Luo closed his eyes, wishing strongly to hear that voice fill with resolve, saying they'd be right there and that everything would be okay. It was possible, wasn't it? Or maybe it was just wishful thinking.

Luo dialed the number, his heart beating faster. He felt a bit silly for not seeing that coming; the emotions were plain overwhelming. Being in love with the guy was an understatement, and they had been a couple for years. Well, couple... back then, most of them had two people they slept with, but Jeong-Hwan had only him, until Taro showed up. Bastard Taro...

"Hello?"

Being ripped out of his train of thought confused the spiky-haired Korean for a moment, but he felt a bit better simply having reached the guy. That was not always a given. Now how to present the issue? "Jeong-Hwan... we need your help."

The guy laughed. "Such a grim mood, mate? Dishes piling up for ya?"

At least it sounded like those guys weren't in trouble at the moment. Luo took a deep breath, wondering where to start. Deciding to ignore the prompt, he went for the big issue first. "Kiyoshi's boyfriend's home got blown up a few hours ago. This place may be next. There's this huge, crazy guy who apparently has set his mind on removing us from the face of the planet."

He heard his old friend hesitate for a moment, then sigh and pick up a half-annoyed, half-encouraging voice. "What are you calling me for? I'm sure you can take him, Luo. Don't waste your time, show him what you're made of!"

Did Jeong-Hwan think he called for a pep talk? Luo swallowed. Wasn't admitting his insufficiency once enough? "No. Listen. I don't even know where he is. Nobody knows. I don't know what to do, and time is running out."

"If you can't find him, what makes you think I can? You know more people there than I do."

Luo sighed. He had expected the guy to know what to do, but perhaps that wasn't reasonable. Still, he'd already humbled himself, and could just as well ask. "What would you have done?"

"Gotten laid and forgotten about it?" Jeong-Hwan chuckled. Why couldn't that guy take him seriously anymore? He'd never have responded like that a year ago... unless Luo's memories had brightened over time.

"Let me talk to Taro." His mouth spoke the words without a proper processing beforehand. But as much as he despised Taro for running away with his favourite person, and worse, being seen as better than him by said person, he knew the guy would care more than that. He wouldn't let something like this happen to his friends, would he?

"Hmm..." The other Korean pondered that for a bit. "Nope. He's meditating. And next time I talk to him, I'll tell him to fuck me into the mattress again."

The guy finished that off with a playful, teasing moan, and Luo felt himself boiling on the inside. How could he rub that in his face at a time like this? He was sure if they were in the same room, he'd have strangled the fucker. Well, tried and failed, at least. He forced himself to calm down enough to make his voice comprehensible, yet still unsteady. "You really don't care? At all?"

A deep breath was head, then a loud sigh. "Not giving up, are ya? Okay, I'll talk to him. Maybe we'll get tickets for next week, if we can find the money. Now stop nagging me!"

And the guy hung up. Luo squeezed his eyes shut. As if he wasn't in enough pain already. Worried voices in the other room reminded him of how out of control everything was. Next week? They could be dead by then! But if he called back, that offer probably would be retracted anyway. Shit. At least if they were there, they could take turns keeping watch... with the size and strength of that guy, he couldn't really ask Kyun to. A 24 hour watch on his part wouldn't work either, so...

Yeah. Fucked indeed.

~~~~~

This is a collab, written together with Chlover. You can find her author profile here: http://original.adult-fanfiction.org/authors.php?no=26260