Chapter Text
Wifies stood in the warehouse, humming to himself and sorting through the storage.
His phone buzzed twice. He went to pick it up, seeing the text was from Zam in a groupchat involving everybody inside the Mafia. More messages were sent as he read.
Someoje help
Alley beihd thr drugstore
Ijsut gorcjumped by like three people
Theyree goen now but imlkke bleeding oit help
Wifies didn't wait. There wasn't any time to panic. He grabbed an emergency bag that was prepared for things like this off a table, quickly getting into his car.
Wifies definitely drove over the speed limit, but he's done worse things. He parked far enough from the drugstore to not be suspicious, but close enough to get to her fast.
He went into the long alley that was between and behind two rows of various shops. He sprinted down it, waiting to see anything.
After a minute, he spotted Zam, sitting against a wall. "Zam!" He called out, hopefully loud enough to be heard.
"Wifies- holy shit, I might actually be dying?" They breathed heavily, clutching their chest.
Wifies stopped in front of them, leaning down and opening the bag. "Where are you hurt? Biggest ones first."
"Um- uh, I think I was shot right here." she pointed to her bicep. "And- I got hit by a knife here- I think they were trying to cut my throat? They missed bad." Zam pulled on the collar of his shirt, showing a slash between his shoulder and neck.
"Okay, okay. I'll work on these, tell me what happened." Wifies opened the medical kit, putting gloves on. He cleaned around the knife wound first, planning on stitching it up quickly and making it better once the situation was a little less dire.
"I was headed down the street- I was just gonna do some errands- then I got jumped by three people. Out of nowhere. I- I don't know who they were- none of them looked familiar, and they didn't have anything that told me they were related to a specific mafia..." Zam explained, talking fast.
The sun was setting, just barely bright enough for Wifies to be able to see. "Did they say anything?" He asked, about halfway through stitching up the cut on her shoulder.
"No. I think I heard one of them say something when I ran away, but I don't know what it was and I couldn't tell anything about their voice." Zam's breathing was slowing, most likely losing some adrenaline. "Wifies, I'm really dizzy."
"Blood loss. Don't talk if you're too out of breath." Wifies tied off the stitches, moving to work on the bullet wound. He cleaned the area, going in with tweezers to try pulling out the bullet.
It reminded him of his first actual interaction with Derap outside of the Mafia, having to fix up his leg and help him relearn how to properly use it. Alas, now wasn't the time to start thinking about the past.
He had a job, he was going to do it.
Eventually Wifies took the bullet out, placing gauze over the hole and taping it down. "Can you move your arm?"
Zam moved his arm, bending his elbow. It looked like it worked fine.
"Lucky. Should we go to the warehouse or somewhere else?" Wifies asked.
"Home. I- I just wanna go home." Zam asked, voice slightly cracking.
"Okay... I can take you to my car and drive you back to wherever you live. You should probably have someone stay with you for a while, just to be safe. Sound good?" Wifies began packing up the supplies, keeping the bullet for inspection later.
"Yeah, okay. I have a roommate." Zam answered, sighing.
"Come on. Let's go, then." Wifies helped Zam stand up.
The walk back to the car took some time, with Zam having to lean on Wifies.
Once at the correct door number, Zam fumbled with the keys, visibly relaxing when the door finally opened.
"Pangi? You better be home." She called out. Pangi did appear, saying something that Wifies couldn't hear well, oddly enough.
Zam turned around. "Okay- you can go now. I think... I'll let you know if anything is up. Thank you so much." She leaned on the doorframe.
"No problem." Wifies nodded and made his way out of the building.
. . .
Wifies sat on the couch, absentmindedly scrolling through files while listening to the TV.
The bedroom door opened, prompting Wifies to turn and look. Derap was standing there. He looked like he was going to leave.
"I'm going out. I have a... commission I need to take." Derap said, walking to the door. He avoided meeting Wifies's eyes.
"Alright. Good luck, stay safe." Wifies responded, going back to looking through the stock files.
"I'll try. See you." Derap said as he left the apartment.
He hesitated too much. Wifies grabbed his phone, barely second guessing himself as he called Parrot.
Parrot picked up fast. "Hi, Wifies. What is it?"
"Have you sent Derap on any extra commissions? He just said he had one he was going to."
There was silence from the other side of the phone. "Wifies." Parrots voice was low and just barely quieter. "I haven't sent him on any missions."
Wifies's heart sank. They both knew what that meant.
"Can you get someone to follow him somehow?" Wifies asked, hoping that maybe it could be proved wrong. Maybe it was just a commission he accepted personally.
"I think Jaron is available right now. I'll tell him."
"Okay. Do that. Let me know what you find." Wifies said before hanging up the phone, rubbing his temples. He would write about this in his notebook- as he always did when something happened- but he didn't have it.
Wifies sighed, deciding to search the apartment for any piece of paper he could write on. He started journaling when he was younger, using it as an outlet.
If Jaron found out that Derapchu really was betraying them, what would he do? What would Parrot do?
Wifies knew he wanted to confront Derap. He had to, because Wifies wanted to listen to him.
Something about what happened a few nights ago still threw him off. Was it an admission of his guilt about what he was doing?
Nobody else knew that, only Wifies. That's why he wanted to be the one to say something- because he knew more.
Wifies found a piece of paper from the same notebook he wrote his little message about going out on a walk. Sitting on the bed, he pressed a pencil against the paper and started writing.
He planned on ripping up the paper.
. . .
Wifies's phone rang. He read the caller ID, seeing it was from Parrot. He picked up.
"Hey, Parrot. Did you find something?"
"Yeah. Basically, Jaron did follow him, and found out he went to an old house that, from the looks of it, was a Mafia base. He didn't go in- I told him not to- but I think we have enough evidence to justify our suspicion." Parrot said, making Wifies feel a little sick.
"Should we... Talk to him?" Wifies asked, still wondering if there was something else at play.
Parrot thought for a second. "I think we should. I can do it-"
"No- no, it's fine." Wifies interrupted. "I'll do it."
"Are you sure?" Parrot questioned. Shit. How was Wifies supposed to explain without revealing anything about him and Derap?
"Yeah. I just think it's best if I do it." Wifies said, as vague as possible.
Parrot paused. "If you think so..."
"Mhm. I can talk to him tonight." Wifies was really hoping Parrot wouldn't get too suspicious. It was hopeless, Parrot wasn't the type of person to not notice.
"Do that. Let me know what happens." Parrot said, sounding slightly less panicked. "How come you're always with Derapchu anyway?"
Wifies froze. "What do you mean?" He asked, stalling.
"Maybe I'm just delusional, but it feels like you're always with him." Well, shit.
"Really? I guess you have a point... I do talk with him a lot." Wifies was really hoping that Parrot wouldn't go any further.
"Yeah. Suppose I'm just glad you two are getting along... Really well." Parrot sighed, audible from the phone. "Well, I'm not sure if that'll be the case for long."
Wifies didn't know if that was true. He couldn't hate Derap, so what would happen after all of this?
"Anyways, I have some work to do. See you, Wifies." Parrot said abruptly, barely letting Wifies respond with an "oh, bye" before hanging up.
Weird.
Wifies closed his eyes, tilting his head back. He just had to wait for Derap to get home.
He wasn't ready to talk to him. He didn't know what to say.
. . .
Wifies heard the front door open, bringing him back to reality.
Shit. He was home already?
After maybe two minutes, Derap entered the bedroom. His hood was still on, which wasn't common.
"Hi Wifies." Derap looked tired, but he smiled anyway.
"Hi. How was it?" Wifies asked, struggling to say what he was supposed to.
"Mostly good. I'm just exhausted now, I guess." He stretched his arms.
Wifies didn't want to say it. It felt like he was ruining something, but he had to.
"I see." Wifies stared at the bed. Derap sat down on the edge. "Derap? Can we talk about something... Important?"
"Yeah? What is it?" He sounded uneasy. Did he know what was coming?
"I..." Wifies sighed. There was no easy way to say this. "There's a lot of evidence that's been found so far of you going behind our backs and working with other mafias. I'm not really- I don't want to accuse you of anything, but... I have to ask."
"Oh my god." Derapchu said quietly. He put his head in his hands. "You can't know. They're gonna- shit."
Wifies watched him. "What do you mean? Derap, please be honest with me."
Derap took a shaky breath, taking his phone out of his pocket. He opened it and found a thread of messages to another person, sliding the phone over to Wifies silently, as though he was ashamed.
Wifies read through it carefully. The message was sent today.
How's Zam doing? I know you know what happened.
And you know it's your fault.
So, are you gonna cooperate this time, or will I have to do this again?
Wifies reread the message. What? What did this mean?
He scrolled up, finding even more messages. Pictures of his friends, taken from afar, going through their day without knowing someone was watching them.
Wifies even found photos of himself, going on walks, oblivious to what was going on.
Derapchu had responded to most of these messages, asking them not to hurt anybody and giving them information.
"I've been lying to them as much as I can without it seeming too obvious." Derap's voice cut through the silence. "I just... I don't want them to do anything to you guys. Then it'll be all my fault. I don't know what else to do, Wifies."
"It's not your fault. You're doing what you can, that's what matters." Wifies said softly, still looking through the messages.
He could lie all he wanted, but the reality would always be there. What could they do? He had not a single realistic idea for how they could fix this.
"Now that you know- Wifies- I don't want them to hurt you." Derap said, stumbling over his words.
Wifies reached over and held Derap's hand, intertwining their fingers. "We'll figure something out. Tomorrow, I can talk with Parrot and see what we can do. Okay?"
"I don't want to bring anyone else into this." Derap shook his head. He pulled his hand away as though he might hurt Wifies just by holding his hand. "I can't let this happen to anyone else. They let Zam live. They chose not to kill her."
"If more people know, we have more options. Handling things alone isn't always an option." Wifies said. He didn't know what to do with his hands- he wanted to hold Derap, to comfort him, but he wouldn't let him.
Derapchu knew he was right, but he couldn't stand it. He had no idea what they were going to do with Wifies if they found out he knew.
"...I need to tell Parrot about this." Wifies said. "Can you open your phone for me? It might be easier to explain with some pictures."
"Yeah." Derap said quietly, putting his password in.
Derap laid down on his back, the lower half of his legs still dangling off the edge of the bed. He stared up at the roof. It never brought him any comfort, so he still had no idea why he always looked there.
"I'd go to sleep, but I think I should stay up a little longer in case Parrot needs something." Wifies commented, putting his phone down and rubbing his eyes. "We can... See what can be done tomorrow."
"Okay." Derap didn't move. He kept looking up at the ceiling. He didn't like being so dry- it didn't feel like him- but he couldn't bring himself to act differently.
Wifies didn't like that. He couldn't quite tell what Derap was thinking based on just his blank stare and oddly monotone voice.
"I love you. You know that, right?" Wifies asked. He really just wanted to make sure Derap still knew.
Derap turned his head away from Wifies. He didn't want to say it, but he wondered why. What made him still loveable after what he'd done?
Derap could feel Wifies lay down beside him, even though he was laying on the bed incorrectly.
He wondered if Wifies felt like he was laying next to a corpse.
Someone who was too afraid to acknowledge him, too much of a coward to do anything but hide.